Infinity, at our fingertips... Isn't it exhilarating?

Age
18

Gender
Male

Appearance
Apollo stands with good posture at a slightly above average 5'10". With the paler complexion common among the northerners of Tythrae and silver hair atop his head, the bright blue in his eyes offers a colorful contrast to his face, which often wears an equally amicable smile. While not very physicsally inclined, he is healthy enough from a life of proper diet and minimal exercise, with similarly minimal tone of his musculature.

The school uniform he wears remains mostly unaltered, but adorned over it is a second, smaller capelet of a midnight color. Around his neck he wears a turquoise opal gem affixed as a pendant and strung by a golden necklace.

Personality
Apollo is a curious mixture of well-learned and naive. Most of his early life involved heavy schooling, leading him to develop not only a strong repertoire of academic knowledge but a hunger to keep learning. However, that life of relative ease and safety also kept him unprepared for the wakeup call that the war would bring. Despite growing with the lesson of mortality, Apollo never lost his youthful wanderlust, always letting his mind drift with dreams of the worlds beyond his own.

Interacting with him will often lead to a sense of his genuine nature, as he's quick to show his true colors and to trust others. This usually leads to him coming off as friendly if not a bit too eccentric, but those who keep him company will find themselves an unbreakably reliable ally.

Background
Born an only child to a somewhat wealthy pair of mages in the frigid northern metropolis of Tythrae, Apollo Sophos lived a comfortable childhood under the love and care of his parents. His father- from whom his namesake was derived- worked as a architect for the city. The geo-pyromancer led research and development of the most up-to-date archanoconductive technologies responsible for both powering and protecting the city and her people. Across the table, his mother Freyalise was a professor of alchemy and fundamentalism within the Tythrae Academy of Arcane Arts, helping aspiring mages find their unique form of magic. They were not so interconnected with the upper echelon as the politicians and most successful merchants were, but being only the next tier down was nothing to complain about from the child's perspective. His parents all but assumed he would show his true colors as a mage in due time, and so they sought to give him a head start on such an arcane education. While still too young to fully enroll in any magical institutions, his mundane education was still of high quality and Freya would use her own educational expertise to enhance his learning at home in the evenings. For ten years, Apollo enjoyed the upper class lifestyle his family could afford for him. Unfortunately, the youthful and starry-eyed boy would have his world shatter around him not long after his tenth birthday.

As tensions rose between the distant Magisterium and the very local supporters of Belworth and Anedor, the Sophos family began to fear for their safety and security. While not strictly loyal to either side on principle regarding the Belworth trial, the connections they did keep primarily threaded back to the Magisterium. There was simply no way they would be viewed as anything other than loyalists, and as suddenly as news about the rebellion began to spread, they awoke to find themselves in enemy territory. As subtlety as a couple of somewhat well-known mages could, Apollo Sr. and Freyalise fled the City of Spires with their son in hopes of finding refuge in the Cresvald capital of Pontaion. The closest thing to refuge amidst a war was found among one such friend of the family, an old and accomplished arcanist and historian within Pontaion by the name of Ezeras Ekkenhart, who not only took the Sophos family in, but took a liking to the young Apollo. Through the guidance of both Ezeras and Freyalise, Apollo was as mentally prepared for his noesis as a child could be, something his parents anticipated now more than ever.

It was the dusk of his twelfth birthday when it came to him. Wracked and bedridden with fever and nausea for a week prior, he awoke on the day of importance feeling much better, just in time for a gathering of the immediate Sophos and Ekkenhart families. The dinner might have been a more opulent celebration, if only the worry of revolutionaries storming the city at any time wasn't looming over the hearts and minds of everyone involved. Modest catering and music were hired for the night as the two families gathered in the gardens that stretched across the land owned by the arcanist.

The young Apollo looked to the sky as the setting sun gave way to the first motes of light, twinkling in the vast heavens above. A sight not new to him but one that always overflowed his heart with amazement and wanderlust, an infinite expanse with infinite possibilities. He reached up to the stars with his hand in childish hopes to grasp even a morsel of such elegant and ethereal magnificence, and for the first time in his life, the inky void beyond responded in kind. A sensation equally prickling, tingling, and burning ignited like a tiny spark in his palm, and as he withdrew his hand to look upon it, his fingers unfurled to reveal one of the motes he'd always aspired to had coalesced in his grasp. It started with only one, but after a moment, a second winked into existence just beyond his fingertips. Then a third, a fourth. He was stuck silent by awe, and it wouldn't be until the wandering eye of their host looked up from his own meal that anyone else would notice the event transpiring.

"Wh- Hey, hey! Freya!" Ezeras stammered, quickly standing and setting his plate on the table beside himself as he turned to the emerging mage's mother. "Freya, go get your husband, quickly!" Equally startled by Ezeras's sudden outburst, Freyalise gazed upon her son. Her face became alight with joy and surprise, she nodded to the historian and rushed inside to inform Apollo's father of the good news.

By the time his parents had both returned to the courtyard, a field of stars sparkled like a nebula around him, the painful and euphoric surge of mana coursed through every inch of his body as he finally managed some kind of vocalization. Pouring from his throat as he turned to see his parents was a truly bittersweet cry of actualization for his calling in life, as his body seared both within and throughout a cosmic radiance that gleamed with greater and greater intensity every second. Just as it seemed like the mana flowing through him would begin to burn and explode outward, both his noesis and his body crumpled inward with a surge of space-pulling energy, shunting nearby lightweight and unaffixed objects toward him. Flowers and the nearby tree's branches bent inward, cups and silverware on the table clattered to the floor, and even Ezeras's now empty chair slid across the stone patio an inch or two. As suddenly as the moment came, it went, and the new mage collapsed onto the floor with an onset of exhaustion.

Apollo studied under his mother and their host in more practical ways going forward, both of them ensuring he would become familiar with the general principles of spellcraft in addition to helping him discover his individual style of magic to get him ready for formal schooling. For the rest of his teen years, he attended institutions of remarkable quality within the Cresvald capital, funded by the savings his parents had brought with them since departing Tythrae. In his spare time, he took on part-time work in the library owned by the Ekkenhart family, using his magic to aid both minor tasks at hand and to share his arcane knowledge with those who would give him the time of day outside of the quiet reading areas.

Despite the difficult times across the land, things looked to be on the bright side for Apollo.

Unfortunately, the war that his parents had tried to flee from eight years prior finally caught up to him in a second shattering of what Apollo thought he new about the world. Pontaion had come under siege, and despite the warnings of both him and his mother, his father elected to take up arms to protect the two most important people in his life. Both powerful mages in their own right, Apollo's father and Ezeras allied with the city to push back against the rebellion, weaving storms of flame and lightning to sunder waves of magi that sought to take the city. Two men left that night, but only one returned, Ezeras barely managed to cling onto his life as he fell in the doorway of his own home. The pain he felt across his manaburned flesh as he delivered the devastating news was simply incomparable to the pain that struck Freyalise and her son that night.

Even with the shadow of such loss looming over Apollo, life continues to move on. In the wake of the war, the peace talks, and settling the wreckage, he awoke one day to find his things packed and a sealed letter thrust unto him by the man that had watched his father burn his own soul away to save his son. Written in fine penmanship on the front of the envelope simply read:

---

Attunement
Ouranian

Aura
Apollo's aura manifests as a prismatic nebula of stars and cosmic dust particles, tiny motes that twinkle in the space around him, gleaming with iridescent light. As he channels stronger and stronger magics, the stars shine more brightly, and thin rays of radiance connect them together in constellations.

Magic
Photomancy
Along with graviturgy, photomancy is one of the schools of magic with which Apollo is most proficient. He naturally picked up the skill and art of conjuring, focusing, and manipulating light in its many forms to create a plethora of desired effects both as cantrips and as low magic, the simplest and most abundant of his spells involve evoking twinkling motes of starlight either around him or at a distance, projecting their radiance to illuminate surroundings in just about any color. More in depth channeling of his photomancy can allow him to bestow the gift of illumination to other objects, project light around him or in more concentrated patterns such as cones and rays, and even unleash blinding flashes. The most complex spells he has yet learned combine with his space-warping graviturgy to instead control the way light moves. Such spells can bend light in ways limited only by the imagination, such as around objects to obscure them from view or back on itself to "snuff out" a source of light.

Graviturgy
Along with photomancy, graviturgy is one of the the school of magic with which Apollo is most proficient. Using mana to manipulate the fabric of space itself came to him intuitively, manipulating the paths of moving objects, pinching the gaps between two points in space, and creating wells of gravitational attraction to pull on and distort the areas around them. Inventive use of graviturgy has also allowed him to to set objects into orbit around points in space or other objects, launch things at high speeds using such orbits, and even pull himself up off of the ground to mimic a semblance of flight.

Kinetikinesis
Not to be confused with its intrinsically psychic sister-school telekinesis, kinetikinesis manipulates not the tangible with the mind, but instead manipulates forces with mana. To a similar effect, kinetikinesis can be used to push objects, lift them, and manipulate things in any way a simple directional kinetic force of varying magnitude could. For this reason, it's colloquially known as "force magic." Apollo is practiced with this school of magic a bit more than the fundamentals, but is far from proficient, and has much to learn in how to finely control the forces projected.

Chronomancy
The realm of time manipulating chronomancy is a deeply complex school, where most of the practical application requires equally complicated high magic to properly cast. For Apollo, the theory behind such magic is understandable enough, but even to this day his skill in this school is only a fleeting smidgen beyond the very basics of gently increasing or decreasing the rate in which the subject of the spell experiences time. To master the art of chronomancy is to master time itself, and while mages certainly have the time to work towards this, Apollo is still an infant by comparison to the knowledge and experience of true chronomancers.

Other / Miscelaneous
Due to his academic and arcane focused upbringing, Apollo was able to grasp the concepts behind spellcasting as a whole rather quickly. His inherent inclinations lean him towards metaphysical magics, but he knows enough about other general forms to cast very simple elemental and cognitive spells. He has never had the desire or opportunity to learn dark magics of any kind.

Arcane Items
Mage's Staff
Given to him as a final parting gift from his family friend Ezeras, Apollo carries with him a staff of dark oak wood, topped with a bright blue crystal. The staff itself has seen plenty of use, as powerful magics invoked by the elecromancer who gave it to him have burn-etched shapes of cracking lightning into the wood across the entire length of the staff. Black leather wraps around the base of the crystal and again at the midsection of the staff, both supporting the structure and giving the user a comfortable place to hold it.
Tome of Dictation
Apollo purchased this compact leather-bound book of blank pages using some spare coin from his part-time job. By opening the book to a blank page and speaking a command word, it becomes able to hear audible sounds nearby, and transcribes any clear speech it hears into words on the page. Continuous speech can fill multiple pages, so long as the page is turned at the right moment. The book becomes inert if the command word is spoken again, if the book is closed, or if the opened page is full of text.
Pendant of Protection
When the architect Apollo Sophos I learned he would have a son, he knew he would inherit not only his name, but this golden pendant adorned with a sparkling turquoise opal. The gem has been something the young Apollo would carry with him for as long as he could remember, wearing it at the request of his father without truly understanding its purpose. Once he had grown old enough to begin learning to use magic himself, the adults in his life explained to him the abjurative nature of the stone. Just as the body of a trained mage passively protects itself in a veil of arcane armor, so to does the pendant, acting as an additional layer of protection to whomever wears it.

Other
- Apollo is left handed
- His favorite color is blue
- His hair is dyed silver. His natural hair color is black.
- He likes both coffee and tea. Crazy, I know.

Name: Seraphilla Alyriana Laevataenia Omphalonius

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Appearance:

A physically matured younger woman who stands with confidence as she walks or moves about. She further has the same silvery hair of her mother, but also the silvery eyes of her paternal great-grandmother, both of which alongside her general looks has drawn the gaze of some of her peers as she’s grown up. Her build overall remains relatively fit and slim, something she had worked with personal exercise (offscreen at least) to maintain in turn over the years after some advice from her mother noted years ago that: ‘health in body is also health in the mind and leads to better excellence in magic’.

As for her uniform? It has been modified to an extent, maintaining that ‘formal look and etiquette’ as well as a small waist-cape and a back-cape having been attached for flair whilst still maintaining the ‘formal’ type of look to it. The doublet has been simply adjusted to wear comfortably without any sort of bagginess or such to it, though ultimately the belts and leggings were frankly a more notable modification to it on her part. She likewise wears the boots (ignore the shoes) that came with the uniform as part of it without any modifications to them. Outside of the ‘formal yet fashionable’ modifications to her uniform, she hasn’t done anything to the cloak and keeps it for use when she needs it in turn. (In other words, hey I am part using her appearance pic as a general-ish reference for her uniform because it works! I think. Hopefully.)

Personality:

A relaxed yet studious younger woman, Seraphilla is someone who will push herself hard to get work done and learn the things she has a desire to learn. She is the sort of person who takes charge of group projects at times, or chides a peer for not putting in the effort and complaining about the result they got. At the same time, Sera is also someone who will on occasion overwork or push herself too far if she gets too wound up about something mentally or emotionally (rather than lash out with it visibly). She is also someone who is willing to listen to others if they need it, though feels bad about having someone listen to her in return if they ever extended her the favor. Seraphilla also has a general interest in the history of the very territory the Republic exists upon, spurred in perhaps some small part by her family’s own long history and the pride they have had in that history in turn.

When it comes to personal habits she will at times tinker with tiny little projects, like making a little golem to fly or run around her room. She can also be the sort to crack open a book or tome to read if it catches her fancy. There is also doing things like seeking out some fancier food to eat on certain occasions (sometimes stress related ones), taking long and drawn-out hot baths with flowers floating on the surface, or even opening the window or sitting outside at night to feel the cool night air on her face and just relax. In short, in that vein she is a ‘stop and smell the roses’ type of person if it is relaxing to her or even a bit silly and yet still relaxing to her she'll still do it.

Background:

Seraphilla was born as the third of four children to the current head of the Omphalonius family, himself an enterprising and merit-driven Prefect in the midwest of the modern Magister’s Republic of Cresvald who had been more outgoing and active in things than his more reserved father before him. Though with the changes in generations ever moving onward, such differences in the heads of the family were seen as nothing much to the Omphalonius in general. In fact, as a rather old if not ancient line they had seen and been through quite a lot of things over the myriad centuries indeed.

From a young age, Seraphilla was raised with a general education and learned general things about magic just like her 3 other siblings were. Though while in the end only those who achieved noesis could take up the mantle of running the family as its head, even those without the boon of magic (as few and rare among the Omphalonius line as such had eventually become) would have places and roles in which to help or assist the family as a whole without ill treatment. This was also admittedly done in some part for fear of retaliation or other issues arising from such individuals, but for Seraphilla and her siblings that would manage to not be a matter of such concerns as they all achieved noesis at various points in their lives. Her older brother achieved noesis at the age of 12, her older sister at the age of 11, and her younger brother in final would eventually achieve his at the age of 13. All of these ages were generally standard times to achieve noesis within the long and generations-bred line of magi, though slightly younger and slightly older ages were not unexpected or unforeseen points to achieve noesis either.

She, meanwhile, stood out as an oddity in the family when her noesis triggered at the ripe and abnormal age of 9. It was certainly something that astonished her parents and relatives without a doubt, the youngest in about three or four generations to achieve it so young, but the occasion was also something unexpected that came both without warning but with consequences at the time. Long had Seraphilla been a playful and rambunctious child, and with her siblings or parents or caretakers she had often made a habit of hiding and waiting to be found, making playful mischief, or even just curiously going about the family estate to learn about things. On the day of her noesis, she had been hiding in the family’s backyard under some cover in the pouring rain (as a hired servant tried to find her in turn) and passing out due to the event. It did, however, cause the servant to finally and quickly locate her and rush her in after finding her almost half-drowning in a puddle she’d been sitting next to at the time. One sickly round of pneumonia later on her part, as well as a scolding from a admittedly frightened father and mother, and she would finally begin her preliminary magical education in earnest with them as her older siblings had before her.

When it came to an area of interest for her preliminary magical studies, thhough, hers would by one of the family’s various business pursuits: Mining. In particular, through being exposed to it somewhat, she found herself admiring geomancy and somewhat hydromancy, and on top of this had a growing curiosity about transmutation. It would be from this that her initial magical education would be shaped and formed around her, at least at the start of it.

But only one year later, at the age of ten, ‘The War’ would start...and with it things would begin to crumble around them.

Living where they were within the central provinces, it all began with several neighbors turning to the rebel side and trying to convince and then ultimately coerce the Omphalonius to join them. This would lead to a number of attacks on their estate as things escalated, until eventually proper skirmishes were occurring around where they lived. Despite the bringing in of many disaffected citizens to their estate for protection, magical and non-magical alike, it would only bloat the worsening situation as the warpath of Anedor and his forces began to come down toward them. Seraphilla and her remaining siblings (as her older brother was off getting an education at another magical school at the time elsewhere), meanwhile, were secreted off to the city of Akarith on the west coast with a relative living there for safety when word of Anedor’s forces marching south came along. It would also be a desperate flight to safety, however, that would see several of their escorts dying along the way to boot.

Despite her initial magical education being continued in the large coastal city of Akarith and under the careful guard of a member of their own house, after their arrival Sera and her siblings would look for news of their parents and siblings each day with baited breath as it came with merchants and news-bringers and refugees to boot. Would they be alive? Would the estate and everything be gone? What little they first heard was of their parents and large family estate having become a pocket of fierce pro-Magisterium resistance against Anedor and his hordes, with nearby magisterium forces in that area having been pushed to their estate as her family gave them refuge and in turn got help to fortify the place further. Beyond that, however, word became scarce as the focus turned mostly toward fighting back against the insurrectionists. At the same time, Seraphilla would ultimately throw herself into her preliminary magic education as she hoped to be able to get back home one day...even if she had to learn the magic to fight her way back home herself! Learning and playing and going about town or to the beach with her father's uncle and his guards was all she was much allowed to do in those days at any rate, all to try to keep her and her siblings busy, but even so the hope she’d make her parents and family proud by learning more as they fought on was there to help her mentally for the time being at least. In regards to magic it eventually become something the magic-educated siblings would be able to practice around each other during those years, at times in play, at other times competing against each other or their father's uncle's youngest two children, at times making life a little more difficult for the servants of the estate and the relative who had taken them in, and otherwise as they tried to make the best of a situation they had no real control over. Even so, in the end the paternal relative who had taken them in, Rhadegus Siegrend Alberic Omphalonius, would certainly treat them like family and even at times get in on the fun himself with a jolly laugh. Yet while he was a gracious and kind host, the mercantile-oriented mage would also likewise impress their line's value of treating family well along the way at the same time as they lived upon his personal estate within the city walls.

The city of Akarith was certinaly not a minute place either, having myriad sights and smells and goods and so forth of the large middle coastal city that supplied many goods from the sea directly to the central provinces (including being a notable mercantile location in moving goods by sea along the Republic's western coast from north to south and vice-versa by sea) as well as a place that acted as a hub of sea trade with places abroad. It was certainly a place Sera and her siblings had never seen before, with wide open beaches nearby to boot that proved fun to play upon over the years, and it was likewise during these years that Seraphilla would learn how to swim in the ocean after her first exposure to its beautiful and comfortable yet also dangerous waters as well (these being far from her common expeirences in swimming in the rather large lake connected to her family's estate back home). However, even this very place that gave them refuge likewise became a place of refugees in part as the tide of those fleeing the war would arrive and set up within or (mostly in this latter case) around/outside of the city walls. With them would trickle in further news of terrors, deaths, and destruction caused by both rebel guerillas and Anedor's forces alike, and it would cause the local Prefect to institute a number of measures such as nightly lockdowns, expelling a number of the initial refugees from within the city walls and swelling the ranks of local guards to send patrols through the forming refugee suburbs. Even Rhadegus would take Sera and her siblings with escort when they left anywhere, 'just in case' as he would always tell them, and small incidents like thieves and the occasional guerillas who had snuck into the refugee suburbs to wreak havoc certainly felt like justification for a number of the measures despite the discontent of those refugees who wanted to live within the already-packed city walls.

Midway into the war a number of more iterant and discontent refugees, despite attempts to send wagons of supplies as well into the refugee area beyoond the walls by the local Prefect to try to help keep them compliant, would attempt to storm the city gates to force their way inside after a number of guerilla attacks and incidents within this area...leading to what is even now remembered post-war as 'The Akarith Incident'. City guards and local mages assigned to the defense of the city would try to generally scatter the crowd and disperse them, until a guerilla cell who had infiltrated the mob that day tossed several spells back at the front gate and guards manning it. The gate became set ablaze by magical fire, and a number of those living inside panicked under the assumption the city was being put under siege (a real fear in the city in those days) in turn. Attempts to stop the panic inside and the raw violence developing outside finally erupted into a force led by the local Prefect personally engaging in an unavoidably bloody massacre of the mob members and most of the guerillas that had been concealed within (the rest being captured as prisoners). This in turn would lead to smaller incidents being incited by this as word was spread in twisted rumors of 'the Prefect murdering innocent refugees' and so forth, though the Prefect would consolidate a more formal authority over the space beyond the city walls with the deployment of further guard patrols and mages as well as the building-up of more permanent guard stations throughout these new refugee-wrought suburbs at the time. No more of such incidents could be tolerated, much less allowed, and the Prefect would ensure that with a fist of iron. At the same time, a number of refugees would leave after the major incident and smaller ones, with their own complains and fears about being 'purged' and otherwise due to guerilla actions that would incite further smaller 'incidents' as the local rebels would be hunted down and outed bit by bit. Even the siblings would not be exempt from what few issues managed to make their way within the city walls, Sera receiving scarring burns on her back from a rebel who tried to attack her with a torch after she snuck out once night to see the ocean again despite her uncle's myriad stern warnings.

In time the suburbs would be fully secured by the Prefect, chasing out the guerillas in final and stopping their ambushes on guard patrols and so forth, as well as better organizxe and build up these informal suburbs. Forging formal roads, altering the spacing of guard posts to more effectively distribute the manpower and reduce the former excess of guard posts, create boundaries for markets and so forth to be set up, and even better formalizing neighborhoods so things could be tidied up with the patrols and so forth. This made a good case inthe minds of many refugees, who in turn settled down to stay otherwise after losing everything where they had once lived before (and other reasons, etc, that people might find to stay by that point) by the time the war ended. At the end of the war, then, all it took was formalizing things on paper in the aftermath with the Republic and the Prefect would frankly incorporate the suburbs into the city proper before beginning construction of further outer suburb-protecting walls. This as the original city walls would be kept to protect the 'inner city' or 'old city' of Akarith and act as a boundary line. It would also be around this same time of initial celebration in Akarith (one was held to celebrate the incorporation and end of the war at the same time) that, with the arrival of some familiar messengers, Sera and her siblings would finally be brought back home on safer roads than they'd fled upon to reach greater safety years prior. The losses her family and many others incurred by the end of the war, as they would soon learn, had been notable in and of themselves, losing about half of the extended relatives and so forth that had been living on their bloodline's primary estate proper...their own mother being among those. She had died valiantly, succimbing to magic and wounds as she'd been protecting a number of injured who were being cared for in their main room (a makeshift 'hospital' at the time) from attacking rebels and waves of undead. It was a time of grief for Seraphilla, her father, and her siblings, but at the same time they found a vital source of comfort in each other in the days to come.

Rebuilding wasn’t easy at first, but the Omphalonius had been through much before and survived perhaps even worse times than this. The family would rebuild, some would remarry, and their estate would be marked by permanent outer walls and other magical defenses surrounding it after this point to boot. Her father’s prefecture would gradually begin to rebuild as well, and for the first time in years the estate was home again...and while it felt different at first it began to finally feel like such to them again over time. Despite promises and an open invitation from their father's uncle that they could visit again at any time they wished, though, the continuation of herself and her siblings' magical education back at home (rather than with their relative) would see Seraphilla looking toward where she wished to go to get a higher grade of magical training due to her age in particular. Her older sister, meanwhile, would be heading off to go to another school their father had been to, as well as try to catch up due to the effects of the war on her own magical learning before she could get a chance to go off to another magical school as well. As for Sera herself, she would be suddnly one night called into her father's meeting room upstairs about the matter.

Said room was a major place in their own home where he talked business with others, family or otherwise, but usually not his children. In that sense it was an odd place to call her up to simply to talk to her in this case, but even so she went. The two would speak together for some time on her personal motives and desires to further her magical education and learning. Then, after ascertaining what he seemed to feel like was enough about his own daughter in greater depth, her father would softly yet bittersweetly smile and withdraw a sealed letter of reccomendation from his drawer to hand to her. As it had turned out, her mother was an alumni of Glynwood itself and had expressed the idea years ago of sending Seraphilla and her younger brother there to learn. Her mother, an accomplished mage, was fond of her alma mater and had hoped to allow at least one or two of her children the same experience. This conversation had occurred about a year before the war started, but after Sera's own noesis. Ultimately, after all that had happened, her father had simply wanted to see her resolve to learn before giving her a letter of recommendation to the school itself as a way to honor her mother's wishes.

Safe to say, it was a time of some tears and joyous celebration with her family the night before she left for Glynwood.

---

Attunement: Tellurian

Aura:

Her aura looks like she is surrounded by a shining (and suspended in the air) field of gemstone-shaped various metals, ones which are constantly changing into different distinct gemstone-like shapes, which glint with light and the wet cool of water droplets sitting upon them as if they had just passed under a fresh spring rain. To the touch the aura feels cool indeed, and yet at the same time moving into or through it gives others a sticky sensation like one is touching wet clay. Her feet are likewise seemingly surrounded by a smooth floor of incredibly smooth muddy clay, which is constantly swirling around her at the center and rippling with little waves that rise up as if it was part of an ocean or she is standing in the eye of a storm. On occasion a metallic sheen will pop through the swirling floor of muddy clay torrent round her feet, which comes up to her heels at most, like something hidden that was concealed underneath has risen up for a glimpse only to disappear again under the depths once more.

Magic:

Transmutation - Most often used to: transmute earthen materials into metal for her use in terms of daily or general use, transmute earthen materials into minerals for use in fortifying her mud spells or so forth, tweak little things like the color of her clothes or food, purify water and metal and other materials or such things, and so forth along those general lines. She is rather interested in expanding these skill far and wide, however, even whilst keeping to its uses in her daily life or in tandem with her magic in a general sense.

Mud/Clay Magic (Geomancy/Hydromancy) - An art whose components are geomancy and hydromancy, it involves the creation, conjuring, and manipulation/use of mud/clay. She often employs it to the end of creating simple golems to do her bidding or carry things or grab things for her, create little platforms of shaped clay/mud to move over dangerous or inconvenient terrain, to make a place or spot as slick and slippery as possible to slip up others, and can do things like make defensive mud barriers and dense/blunt (due to mud/clay’s very nature) projectiles formed from dense mud/clay to boot.

Likewise due to her education in this area, she has some more general geomancy and hydromancy capabilities by virtue of necessity for her craft, and hopes to supplement these far more with an education, using them to do things such as (but not limited to): clean herself or other things of general of dirt and grime, dry her body more quickly after a bath or shower or after swimming, remove dirt and earthen materials from a rug or bed or such things, and even conjure and manipulate rocks to use as projectiles or barrier.

Metal Magic - Also known as ‘Métallomancy’, it is a more niche area of Geomancy that involves the conjuration, manipulation, shaping, and use/control of metals, ranging from metal spikes to thin metal wires and barriers and so forth. It is often used to protect her from things like rain and weather (and things such as falling objects), create a mirror to examine herself when getting dressed or so forth, create little tools for her work without having to buy them (at least in the more basic cases), and reinforce or add metal components/parts to her golem constructs. She could create metal projectiles and barriers and such with this, at least of a basic or personal-use sort.

Artifice - Mostly used in the daily sense by her in the creation of golem constructs of a simpler sort, or in making little trinkets of a most basic sense to make something easier. In that vein she has much room to expand or augment her capabilities in this area to be sure.

Divination - A magic she has put to more common daily use in things such as (but not limited to): Finding missing items or locating things she is seeking out, looking at other rooms or places from afar to see if someone is there, looking at the basic past history of older or historical items to see what happened to them or where they were, and alert her of something out of her sight like a falling rock from the top of a cliff or stampeding steed blitzing around the corner of the street that could hit her. Like with Artifice, she has much room to expand and develop her skills further in this area (and is interested in doing so both for this magic and in regards to Artifice).

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Arcane Items:

Pocket Memory Tome - Kept safe in a little snug leather pouch on her left hip, it stores her memories and any information she has learned automatically if it is within a certain distance from her so she can look back at them later. Can even allow her to re-experience her stored memories to boot. Prefect for the young or even very old mage on the go, or who wishes to review the past and what they’ve learned later on! An expensive but rather resilient and durable little piece of artifice her older siblings purchased for her before she left, with a little help from their father, as a gift. Also helpful for mages who can be more forgetful, such as her younger brother, who also got one of these at the same time as she did back at home.

Usually this artifice only stores memories from the time of receiving it onward, as adding the capability for storing older memories in it costs extra. Her father paid for this extra functionality however, so she’d have full functionality of the item…though admittedly there are certain points in time she does not look back at or such in the book for personal reasons as well.

Staff of Luwen - A fancy magical staff passed on to her by her family, an heirloom of some age which has been lovingly cared for and also enchanted in depth to maintain its good condition despite its further usage over the centuries. It is a proper mage’s staff and high-quality magical tool with some family history and quality preservation/durability protecting measures added to it, to put it simply.

Ring of Alert - Like a little alarm clock worn on her right hand, she can set it using a simple spell to ‘go off’ at a certain time to wake her up each day or wake her up from a nap or such. Has had it for years, as it was a gift from her mother to help her wake up for her initial preliminary studies in the first year she began to learn magic. Still keeps it and uses it to this day as a nice little tool.

Other:

• On the map Thoth made, their estate would be a dot right in the middle between where the capital of Pontaion is and where Glynwood is.
• Some Family History Stuff [+]

  Her family, the rather ancient Omphalonius line, is a line of mages that originates back far before the pre-Republic times, which has made them something of a ‘historical artifact’ in that sense of the word. Their family vault, a thing kept under their vast home compound and estate, is said to hold within it a number of familial ancient items and relics and so forth from ages long gone. Said vault is a veritable treasure trove of the past, with some things even the family by current times does not have all the information about still, and by modern times the vault’s contents have been increasingly kept under layers of enchantments and spells and doors and barriers and so forth to keep them within the family’s hands and as safe as mortally possible. Some have made jests at their excessively protective nature of said vault even going into current times, though others have mostly shrugged at them and gone on with life due to them not making trouble for anyone about it save for potential or attempted thieves. It has, however, lent a mythical air and slightly ‘ancient’ sort of mystique to the Omphalonius bloodline all the same.
  
  At the same time, however, beyond jokes about their very old bloodline the Omphalonius have long adapted to and weathered the ages through their efforts. In ways they have remained the same in their line’s overall acceptance of the trials of life and the passage of time, comparable to a great mountain remaining still standing resolute despite the changing of the world around it. On the other hand, they have kept with the ruling politics of the time and likewise adapted with the changing of local culture and ideas. ‘Flexible’ would be a word that could be applied to the bloodline in a general sense, bending and flexing without destroying themselves…or taking up means to strengthen themselves or rebuild before the erosion of the changing tides can wear them away.
  
  It would be this bloodline that ‘Sera’ (as she insists only friends or family can ever call her) was born into what amounted to great opulence and wealth, managed, wrought, and accumulated over the generations as they’ve expanded into a modestly large house of sorts without trying to ‘reach for the stars’ in the eyes of their neighbors.
• Her middle two names are taken from female ancestors of hers, who were each themselves notable magi in their day. In fact, the Omphalonius Family have long used these long, winding names for their children as a way to remember their history and pay some respects to their ancestors in turn. A local family myth even holds that the spirits of those whose names one is given will help watch over them in times of need.
• Likes the rain and swimming, she’s also enjoyed swimming and has become a great swimmer at that over the years. Sometimes has even gone off to swim in the last two years just to just help clear her head a bit, or done so to get out some stress and energy. Can hold her breath underwater pretty well to boot!

Name: Oliver Reed
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Appearance:

At the tender age of nineteen, Oliver stood tall at a height of 1.83 meters, his angular frame a testament to the rigorous training he had embraced in the wake of his mother's untimely demise. White skin, bearing the faintest traces of the sun's touch, enveloped his being, a canvas that hinted at the passage of time. His brown hair, tousled and wild, framed a face that carried the weight of sorrow and resilience in equal measure. Within the depths of his gaze, green eyes flickered with a piercing intensity, like the emerald flames of a distant inferno. The contours of his athletic physique revealed the sculpted sinew of a pugilist, each muscle etching a tale of determination and sacrifice upon his flesh. Upon his academy uniform, two brooches adorned Oliver's lapel. A mushroom, a tribute to his mother, symbolizing her profound influence. A shining star, bestowed upon him by the Hiltern family, an unexpected mark of the weight of their shared journey.

Personality:

Oliver, a vessel of suspicion and silent introspection, viewed the world through eyes clouded with a cynical haze. Wary of those born into privilege, he kept a careful distance, their inherited wealth casting a shadow of doubt upon their intentions. Solitude became his refuge, a sanctuary for his restless mind, yet within the depths of his guarded heart, a flicker of yearning for connection remained. Oliver finds solace in the company of those he deems worthy, basking in the fragile warmth of their presence. Behind his guarded facade, a complex portrait emerges, a man forged by skepticism and a relentless quest for truth.

Background:

Oliver Reed's early life was steeped in the shadow of poverty, his family struggling to make ends meet amidst the bitter winds of despair. However, fate, that wily conjurer, smiled upon his mother Ophelia, granting her passage into the hallowed halls of the world's preeminent magical academy, The Glynwood Institute For Thaumaturgical Studies. There, she delved deep into the esoteric realm of fungal magic, enthralled by the wondrous cycle of decay and rebirth orchestrated by the humble fungi. With relentless determination, she birthed a magical by-product, a strange and magnificent organism named Manaflor. Only when Oliver reached the tender age of fourteen did his mother's creation attain the shimmering sheen of commercial success, illuminating their somber existence with a glimmer of hope. Manaflor, the harbinger of transformation, possessed an uncanny ability to draw forth the very essence of mana from the earth, storing it within its ethereal form. It was this realization that spurred his mother's ambition, leading her to transform desolate landscapes into sprawling plantations teeming with these enchanted fungi—magical power plants, they became, harnessing the latent energies that coursed through the veins of the world. In areas brimming with potent mana, where magical springs and ley lines converged, the Manaflors flourished, their spectral tendrils penetrating the fertile soil, drawing forth arcane power with each passing breath.

The ink-stained contract trembled in her hands as Oliver's mother, her eyes hollow and weary, surrendered the patent for Manaflor to the insidious clutches of Enigma, a behemoth of a company shrouded in an enigmatic haze of power and greed. The weight of an absurd sum of money, a siren's call promising salvation, settled upon her shoulders like an iron shackle, threatening to extinguish the dwindling flicker of hope within. Yet, beneath the veneer of affluence, Enigma's predatory gaze bore down upon her, relentless and unforgiving, their demands reverberating through the hollow corridors of her mind. For all the wonder and potential that Manaflor held, the elusive key to harnessing its captive mana remained a taunting specter, dancing just beyond her grasp. A cruel paradox unveiled itself—Enigma's pockets bulging with wealth, yet their eyes bloodshot and feral, unyielding in their desire for immediate returns. Oliver's mother, fragile and teetering on the precipice of surrender, knew that the shadows of corporate domination loomed ever closer, threatening to consume her creation, leaving only a bitter residue of broken dreams in their wake.

As the moon cast its gentle glow upon the world, Ophelia, driven by a tenacious spark of curiosity, embarked on an audacious exploration into the realm of symbiotic fusion. The ether resonated with whispered secrets as she surrendered herself to the ethereal embrace of a Manaflor spore, its tendrils intertwining with her essence, fusing their destinies in a dance of unparalleled harmony. With each breath, she inhaled the pulsating energy emanating from the mushrooms that adorned her surroundings, a symphony of life and magic entwined. In this delicate union, Ophelia discovered a newfound euphoria, her very being suffused with the vibrant hues of optimism. She became an embodiment of metamorphosis, a vessel through which mana coursed, her existence entwined with the perpetual cycle of creation and renewal. With each passing moment, she transcended the boundaries of mortality, her dreams and aspirations entangled in the tendrils of symbiotic wonder. And in that fleeting, blissful connection, she glimpsed a world where magic and humanity converged, where the indomitable spirit of discovery prevailed, casting aside the cynical shadows that sought to snuff out the flame of possibility.

Within the confines of time's merciless grip, Ophelia embarked on an arduous journey of experimentation, her every waking hour dedicated to unraveling the secrets of symbiotic fusion. Days melted into nights as she conducted her tests, the sterile laboratory walls bearing witness to her relentless pursuit. With each procedure, she pushed the limits of her own humanity, seamlessly intertwining her essence with the pulsating manaflor fungus. Yet, as the symbiotic bond strengthened, an insidious metamorphosis began to cast its shadow upon Ophelia's very core. Her once radiant countenance grew pallid, an echo of her former self swallowed by the relentless march of fungal entwining. Oliver, a silent observer of his mother's descent, watched with a heavy heart as she became a mere vessel, her identity fading like a fleeting memory, consumed by the all-encompassing embrace of the fungus. In each passing day, the threads of her being unraveled, leaving behind a hollow shell that bore only faint traces of the woman she once was. As Enigma's impatient demands loomed, their vision of market revolution eclipsing any concern for Ophelia's diminishing humanity, Oliver bore witness to the tragic cost of progress, a bittersweet reminder that even the most profound discoveries exact a toll upon the souls of those who dare to seek them.

In the cruel throes of fate's twisted design, as Enigma's grand spectacle loomed just beyond the horizon, the haunting truth manifested its merciless grip upon Ophelia. The once-vibrant vessel of ambition and wonder was now a hollow shell, usurped by the insidious tendrils of Manaflor's dominion. No longer a creator but a mere conduit, her eyes, once filled with a flicker of defiance, stared into the abyss of resignation. The weight of her existence, stripped bare of purpose, bore down upon Oliver's soul like an unyielding burden. And in that final, haunting exchange, her voice, barely a whisper, carried the weight of a thousand shattered dreams—"We are all that will ever be"—a bitter reminder of the finite borders that encased their fractured world, where aspirations crumbled and humanity, lost amidst the relentless march of progress, dwindled into mere echoes of what once was.

Within the cold confines of Enigma's fortress, Ophelia's essence withered away, trapped in the desolate purgatory of her own existence. A grotesque semblance of life, her body moved with mechanical precision, a puppet controlled by the unseen hands of a merciless force. They whispered hollow words of her demise to Oliver, denying him the solace of closure, while the truth lingered in the shadows, veiled from his searching eyes. Ophelia's remains were concealed, hidden from her grieving son, leaving him haunted by an irreparable void. As the heir to the sum procured by Enigma for the intellectual property of Manaflor, Oliver stood amidst the wreckage of shattered dreams. The flames of Enigma's fear engulfed the once-blooming plantations, reducing them to ash, a desperate attempt to prevent the insidious tendrils of the fungus from ensnaring more souls. This heartrending reality tore through Oliver's being, the fragments of his shattered heart echoing the desolation that consumed him. In the midst of a world steeped in deception and anguish, Oliver found himself adrift, held captive by the callous dance of a fate that reveled in the destruction of hope.

Within the confines of his seventeen years, burdened by the absence of a father and a tumultuous family legacy, Oliver found himself at the mercy of Laus Hiltern, the architect of his mother's entanglement with Enigma and the guardian of his inherited fortune. Resentment simmered beneath the surface as he begrudgingly resided under Laus's roof, the weight of their intertwined destinies bearing down upon him. Yet, despite his aversion, Oliver discovered a peculiar relief in the fact that Laus never laid a finger upon his wealth, ensuring its preservation for the heir it rightfully belonged to. In a surprising twist, Laus, bearing the scars of a researcher outshone by Ophelia's brilliance in the realm of fungi manipulation, became an unexpected mentor. He nurtured Oliver's education, a continuation of Ophelia's wishes, guiding him along the intricate paths of fungal artistry. The complexities of their relationship danced in the shadows, a testament to the enigmatic ties that fate weaves.

In the tangled web of their shared existence, Oliver and Kennedy, Laus' son, separated by only a year in age, embarked upon a tumultuous dance of disdain and desire. What began as a mutual animosity, fueled by their contrasting personalities, evolved into a raw and physical connection devoid of sentimentality. As time unfurled its relentless tapestry, the boundaries between them blurred, morphing their bond into one of unlikely friendship. Through the lens of their newfound camaraderie, Oliver glimpsed the hidden layers of Laus's grief, understanding that he too had suffered the profound loss of Ophelia's absence. Memories of lasagna-filled nights, where the quartet sought consolation within the confines of Laus's abode, echoed through Oliver's mind, an unspoken testament to the ties that bound them. Within the boundaries of their fragile alliance, Oliver found ease, an avenue to heal the fractured relationship with his guardian, and a realization that the pain of loss knows no discrimination, seeping into the hearts of both lovers and friends alike.

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Attunement: Tellurian.
Aura: Oliver's aura reveals itself covering his body with a dark shadow and multiple green glowing eyes.
Magic:

Alchemy

Oliver wields the art of fungal alchemy, harnessing the diverse properties of mushrooms to create potent potions and elixirs. With a wealth of knowledge, he crafts concoctions that induce sleep, illness, and a range of other effects. His expertise extends beyond fungi, encompassing a vast array of potions crafted from both natural and mystical ingredients.

Decomposition manipulation

Through rigorous training and unwavering dedication, Oliver has honed a modest yet intriguing magical ability closely tied to the realm of decay. With precise control and focused intent, he can manipulate the process of deterioration, accelerating the natural course of fading and decomposition. With meticulous movements and a deep understanding of the delicate balance between life and death, he can coax petals to crumble, leaves to wither, and organic matter to succumb to the relentless passage of time.

Mediumship

Fuelled by the void left by his mother's absence, Oliver delves into necromancy, unlocking the ability to commune with the departed. Within dim chambers, he converses with shades of the past, their whispers lingering. Yet, his yearning for his mother's voice remains unfulfilled. Knowing the perils it entails, he guards this secret power, concealing it from society's judgment.

Tarot

Oliver possesses a partial grasp of the intricate art of tarot reading. With a deck of cards in his hands, he navigates the symbolic labyrinth, uncovering fragments of past events. Though his interpretations are tinged with uncertainty, he weaves together the threads of the past, gleaning glimpses of truth from the enigmatic imagery. Yet, a veil of ambiguity shrouds his readings, reminding him of the depths he has yet to explore and the mysteries that remain beyond his reach.

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Arcane Items:
Apothecary kit: A weathered wooden box, adorned with intricate carvings depicting various types of fungi. Within the kit, vials of different sizes hold a colorful assortment of dried mushrooms, powders, and tinctures. The earthy scent of the fungi permeates the air whenever the kit is opened, hinting at its potent and mysterious contents.

Tarot deck: A deck of tarot cards, well-worn from years of use. The cards are beautifully illustrated with rich symbolism and vibrant colors. Each card holds a story waiting to be unfolded, a connection to the mysteries of the past, present, and future. As Oliver shuffles the deck, the whisper of destiny can almost be heard in the rustle of the cards.

Crystal Ball: A flawless, transparent sphere resting on an ornate stand. Within its crystal depths, wisps of ethereal mist swirl and dance, revealing glimpses of hidden truths and veiled secrets. When Oliver gazes into the crystal ball, he sees fragments of possibilities and the echoes of forgotten knowledge, inviting him to unravel the enigmas that lie beyond.

Alchemy books: An assortment of weathered tomes, their leather covers adorned with faded symbols and handwritten notes. These books contain a wealth of alchemical knowledge, spanning centuries of experimentation and discovery. Oliver carefully flips through their yellowed pages, seeking recipes, formulas, and insights into the transformative properties of various substances.

Enchanted brooches: Two intricately designed brooches, each possessing a unique enchantment. One brooch bears the emblem of a mushroom, while the other depicts a shimmering star. These brooches are more than mere adornments; they are Oliver's lifelines in dire situations. They were enchanted by Laus and once activated by their own volition, they create a magic shield around him. Their enchantments are mysterious and potent, a last resort when all other means of protection fail. Each brooch only works once and then the spell is dismissed.

Manaflor spore jar: A small glass jar sealed with a conservation spell, housing a few spores of the intriguing Manaflor. The jar radiates a faint magical aura, preserving the spore's essence and potential. Oliver carefully tends to it, aware of the extraordinary properties it holds and the untapped possibilities that lie within its delicate confines.

Other:
1. Oliver collects antique pocket watches, each representing the preciousness of time.
2. He keeps a cryptic journal hidden beneath his bed, filled with enigmatic sketches and writings.
3. Oliver has a secret talent for playing melancholic melodies on the piano.
4. He can mimic the sounds of birds with astonishing accuracy.
5. Fragments of forgotten poetry adorn his walls.
6. Delicate pressed flowers are preserved in his closet.
7. Oliver enjoys deciphering complex ciphers and codes, challenging his intellect.