[hider=Our Dark Lady] [url=https://i.imgur.com/kqVbSqz.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/kqVbSqzl.jpg[/img] [/url] [color=00a99d][i]"Through Chaos, I shall bring Order to Life and Death."[/i][/color] [hider=Bio] [color=00a99d]Name:[/color] Annastaria [color=00a99d]Epithets:[/color] The Moon’s Shadow. The Dark Lady. The Night Queen. [color=00a99d]Age:[/color] 639 years old. [url=https://i.imgur.com/9yiQSBZ.jpg]Description:[/url] Compared to her Moon Elves sisters, Annastaria is way taller, gaunt and sinister-looking. She bears arcane markings across her body (mostly seen on her face), her skin is pale gray, as if devoid of life, her eyes glow with an eerie green light and her hands have warped into dangerous-looking claws. She favors wearing dark robes. Annastaria is best described as a slab of stone. She is cold and dead silent on the exterior, not letting much on about what’s happening inside her mind, mainly because she doesn’t feel much actually. She is a calculating and scheming sort, coupled with being pragmatic and you get an elf who doesn’t shy from using morally questionable methods to achieve results. She rarely talks at all, unless necessary. She’s secretive and doesn’t like to reveal her cards, or all of them at least. She’s not inherently evil, but her “the end justifies the mean” makes her susceptible to committing atrocities all for the sake of her goals. [color=00a99d]Backstory:[/color] Annastaria’s keen mind and aptitude with magic quickly granted her the title of “Head of the Magic Council” when her sister reformed the power system. She was in charge of magical research and all things that would require her intellect. Always a firm believer of order, Annastaria had put much effort into uniting all the races of Elvira, from the genocide of the goblin kin to the taming of the great forest beasts and finally to the subjugation of the dragons. It was actually by the end of her bargain with the dragons that she happened upon the Shard of Chaos, which was lost in the depths of the mountains surrounding the realm. Her bargain with the dragons ended into total subjugation instead. Her desire for Order grew twisted as she attained the power Chaos gave her. It was probably because of her fervent desire to bring everything under a single banner that it made her an Archon, for she would be a most loyal servant in her crusade into bringing all the planes to their knees in front of a single master. Her first step into her journey was to finalize unifying the plane of Elvira, so to this purpose she gave eternal night to the whole realm to draw out all the monsters out of hiding. She had all the monsters slain and then brought back into the undead under her command. A short time after acquiring the Shard of Chaos, Annastaria’s sisters all died of mysterious illness, or so it was claimed, leaving her as the sole ruler of Elvira. The Council of Elder was soon dismantled shortly after she took the crown, leaving Annastaria with uncontested dominion over the plane. With monsters, undead and even dragons under her command, there was no one who could challenge her rule, and she set out for the planes beyond the shores. [/hider] [hider=Home-Plane] [color=00a99d]Layout: [/color] Homeland of the elves, it is surrounded by towering mountains and the ocean, creating a natural barrier against the outside world only accessible through the air. To add another layer of protection, giant trees surround the realm at the mountains’ foot and the ocean’s shore. It was told these trees were planted by the oldest of the elves to secure the land from prying eyes. Past the treacherous mountains and the dense forests, true beauty awaits at the center of these lands. Verdant plains and glistening lakes make for most of the realm. What makes Elvira peculiar is that it is as if the waters around the island were not part of this plane, it is pitch black almost impossible to navigate without a strong source of otherworldly light. From the mountains and into the forests, night is eternal, while the plains are always lit by the sun. In her quest of power, Annastaria shattered the balance between these ecosystems, bringing the unending night to the plains and moon light to the waters surrounding the island. While travels by water became safer, now all sorts of monsters and undead came out of the woodwork to terrorize the locals, until Annastaria dealt with the unruly pests by adding them to her own personal army. [color=00a99d]Civilization:[/color] While humans conceptualize that polar opposites are keen to confront each other, the Elves rather think that opposites are two sides of a coin, forming a whole and bringing balance to the natural order of things. Only by understanding this concept can a society thrive to its fullest. Elvira is populated by two kingdoms: Solaris and Lunara. The concept of those two kingdoms dates as far back as to the creation of the Elves. A single higher power gave birth to two children, one born of gold and the other born of silver. The Elves are descendants of those children, never mixing with each other but acknowledging they are of the same divine lineage, and thus vow to look after each other even through their differences. Solaris is the Sun Kingdom, populated mostly by the Sun Elves and a handful of Moon Elves and now counts a few Dusk Elves as a recent growing trend. The kingdom stands at the very heart of Elvira, surrounded by plains and a lake. The people live their life in peace, farming the fertile lands all day and enjoying themselves in festivities during the evening. On the other hand, Lunara has taken upon the mantle of protectors. Moon Elves live in the forests surrounding Elvira’s borders, ever vigilant to potential threats that manage to reach the realm. Dusk Elves who wish to undertake the warrior’s path live among the Moon Elves, but rarer are the Sun Elves in this kingdom. While the servants of the moon are patrolling the lands and keeping it safe, the Sun Elves offer generous tributes to their nightly brethren to help and show appreciation. One could say that despite their peaceful life, a Sun Elf toiling the land has just as much fervor than a Moon Elf fighting, producing enough food for two families. [color=00a99d]Races:[/color] [i]-The Sun Elves:[/i] Peaceful and friendly folk of the land. Sun Elves are exclusively male. Usually tanned to dark skin because they spend most of the days farming outside during daytime. Tradition has it that their name starts with a “Z”, for they are the second-born of the Creator. [i]-The Moon Elves:[/i] Vigilants and protectors of the realm. Moon Elves are exclusively female. Their skin complexity ranges from pale to light blue, as their waking hours are spent during night time. As the firstborn of their Creator, the Moon Elves have a tradition of adopting names that ends with an “a”. [i]-The Dusk and Dawn Elves:[/i] Born of the marital bonding between a Sun and a Moon Elf, they can also be referred to as Dawn Elves. Dusk Elves have inherited physical traits more akin to their mother, while Dawn Elves have inherited more of their father’s traits. Both are however stronger than their parents. A recent trend among elves. Shunned for the most part by the elders or begrudgingly accepted in traditionalist elven society, especially for the Moon Elves who are far more religious and traditional than their laid-back Sun siblings. To honor both their parents’ lineage, their names both start with a “Z” and end with an “a”. [/hider] [hider=Boons] [color=00a99d]Shard: [/color] Annastaria’s shard is an emerald that reflects the verdant life of Elvira’s core, now corrupted by its wielder’s dark ambitions. As it is the heart of the plane, the Dark Lady channeled her soul magic into the shard to allow her greater ease over converting her homeworld’s denizens into becoming her mindless subjects. The Shard now effectively works as a soul reservoir. It accumulates siphoned souls to be later used to fuel Annastaria’s magic to ungodly levels. When Annastaria obtained the shard, she gained knowledge of the multiverse outside her own. It was at this moment that she became aware that the ocean around her realm was actually a passageway to the other adjacent planes. Worlds that may have been connected to her own before the shattering. [color=00a99d]Powers: [/color] Annastaria is what most called a “Spellbinder” before she became Archon. While she was adept at all forms of arcane magics, she was most proficient and interested in the art of white necromancy, or the study of souls. Now, she actively raises the dead, drains living beings from their souls and life force to force them into undeath, and infuses dark energies into stronger foes to rob them of their strength and will to fight. In the most extreme cases, when she has to get personal, she is no stranger to calling down the elements to devastate armies and obliterate single opponents. She is at her most dangerous when surrounded by death, for she claims the souls of the dead and uses them to fuel her magic. [color=00a99d]Assets:[/color] [i]-Elvira's forces:[/i] Annastaria commands everything within the realm of Elvira as its sole ruler. Elvira's forces consists of a few hundreds of elite Moon Elves warriors and mages. She also commands the few hundreds of Sun Elves that serve as her main workforce to supply her kingdom. Lastly, though various means, the Dark Lady also has a myriad of creatures at her command, ranging from anything between goblins to dragons. [i]-Magic:[/i] It is worth noting that while Annastaria has powerful magic of her own, she requires assistance of varying degrees depending on the task she is undertaking. Soul magic is known to be very dangerous both to the wielder as to those subjected to it. Thus, various magic reagents and rituals are needed to be prepared for some colossal spells Annastaria casts, for it can burn the Night Queen's soul in an instant if not properly prepared. One such example is her infamous tactics of converting whole cities into undead followers in the snap of her fingers (kinda). The ritual takes preparations in the form of digging a circle underneath an area of her choosing and placing unholy artifacts at the seven points of the circle. When darkness falls upon the unwary denizens, the ritual is performed, and all it takes is but a hour for the hapless fools to turn into a horde of the undead. [i]-Artifacts:[/i] When creating the kingdom of Lunara, the goddess left behind 2 artifacts that serve as the sword and shield of the kingdom. The first is a staff called Sanctuary. The staff grants an immensely powerful barrier surrounding the wielder when used, but nothing can go in or out of the barrier and sight is blocked from both ways, as if the wielder was cut off from existence for a brief moment. The second artifact is named MoonLight, an indestructible kriegsmesser that weights almost nothing but of legendary sharpness that comes with the power to conjure waves of silver light that slice just as well as the blade itself. [i]-The Shadow Order:[/i] Lead by Annastaria's most trusted general, Lady Talona, the Shadow Order consists of a dozen of Moon Elves hand-picked by Annastaria and Talona to become the kingdom's most useful asset. The Shadows have proven amongst the best warriors of Elvira trained by her late sister, taught magic by the Queen herself and infused with the ghastly essence of death and darkness to the point they are almost living shadows themselves. Lady Talona is in fact a ghost that the Moon's Shadow brought back from the grave. The Shadow Order is mostly used for covert operations, but have proven to be very dangerous on the battlefield, but only at night. They cannot operate in broad daylight. [color=00a99d]Gladius: [/color] Annastaria doesn't see her wing of the Gladius as a place where she would sit and wait while the invasion takes place. As such, this section of the headquarters is fit to be more practical to her main force. The wing is plunged into eternal darkness, only lit by the dim ghastly light of the torches lining the halls. Each room is attributed to the different species of her monstrous forces. The largest room of the wing is aptly named "The Chamber of Bones", for it is where corpses, both living and yet-to-be-animated, rest in wait to be ordered but the Dark Lady. At the far end of the wing lies the council room where Annastaria gathers her generals and plots their invasion. It it worthy to note that no elf live in the Gladius beside the Shadow Order. The Moon Elves are actually staying behind to protect Elvira during Annastaria's absence. Furthermore, Annastaria's invading forces are purely made of monsters and the undead hordes. [/hider] [hider=Misc] [color=00a99d]Theme:[/color] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=retUSagaQJE]Goddess of Death[/url] [color=00a99d]Familiar: [/color] Annastaria has a familiar winged snake named “Laghoss”. It was a monster orphan when she found its egg next to its dead parent. It was actually from raising the monster that she had developed ideas about unifying the various races of monsters with elven-kin. The little guy is loyal as a loving son to its mother. It often serves as Annastaria’s eyes and ears. [img]https://i.imgur.com/nA5oxall.jpg[/img] [/hider] [/hider]