Rune Knight Dwarf [+]

Triss Bloodflame

"Show me your resolve! Anyone who challenges my strength will soon find out that magic isn't the higher hierarchy of this world!"

Name: Triss Bloodflame

Race: Dwarf

Sex: Female

Age: 20

Magic Divination: Elementalism(Fire/Earth)

Rune Crafting:A lost craft of the dwarves ever since the rise of Magitech. This outdated magic imbuing technique has been passed on through the Bloodflame lineage.

Elemental Runes - Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning. All these magical properties can be stored in minuscule inscriptions— A hollow imitation of the elements, a one-time use for those inept in using basic magecraft.

Abilities:

Giant's strength- Triss Bloodflame is strong, like really strong due to her dwarven ancestry.

Cataclysm break - Triss plunges her sword into the ground, creating multiple volcanic fissures around her area. (Consumes 1 fire rune)

Surtr's flame - Triss has a regenerative rune inside her, an inner flame that can never be extinguished. Any non-fatal wound or injury she obtained during combat is healed over time.

Equipment:

Famished Edge - A faulty greatsword with 5 rune slots embedded in it. This heavy blade is flawed and is guaranteed to break upon impact when swung with excessive force. Despite its fragile design, it magically restores its dents and crack, making it more durable and grows slightly bigger in size.

Brief Background:

A rune knight dwarf that stands tall amongst the best fighters of the realm. A honorable warrior and a blacksmith at heart.

An Orphan who is under contract by one of the ███████ family and is trained to become their super soldier.

Triss Bloodflame is a charismatic gladiator in a fighting ring held by the ███████ family in Margorotte for profit. She is one of their champions and their top prized fighter.

She always puts on a show whenever she's up—always a full seat, Always a main attraction for the people to see.

Triss has gained popularity and celebrity status amongst the crowd and the guild adventurers. So much so that her reputation has become wayyyyy exaggerated than it already is, Stories like that she fell a dragon with her bare fist or that she is one of Arteus's relatives. Each rumor people spread about her is ridiculous than the next.

Triss tries to deny these baseless claims, but people think she is being too modest and still idolize her. She is truly suffering from her own success.

Despite her imposing and revered figure, She is more sheepish than you think, Underneath this stoic and modest persona shrouds a timid self-critical girl who always second-guesses her decisions but always figures out how navigate around the situation.

She was given a pardon to join the Reavers in search of her quest. A quest to create a weapon that will slay even the Scions.

Damian Florestas [+]

"The Beast Whisperer"

Name: Damian Florestas

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Age: 24

Magic Divination: Espermancy, Galdr

Abilities [+]

Esper
Clairvoyance (Past Sight): Given a target Damian can look into the past of any person, place or thing to witness a piece of their story.

Summon (ghosts): When tracking an illusive target, Damian can summon forth a shade of said target in order to better track them down when traditional hunting methods prove too slow or unusable.

Telekinesis: Damian has a minor affinity for telekinesis, only able to move objects only a few pounds in weight off the ground.

Forced temporal realignment: Combining his Clairvoyance and Summon abilities, Damian can repair inanimate objects by forcing their current broken state to match their past unbroken state.

Invocation
Animal Magnetism: A passive ability that allows Damian to calm and befriend animals of all kinds more easily. Whether normal, magical, mystical or summoned, Damian has a greater chance to bond with them far sooner than most. Note, this ability does not hamper or interfere with the bonds Summoners and Invokers have with their own Summons.

Whisperer: Damian has the ability to communicate with and understand animals of all kinds and species. This includes the feeling emotional spectrum of any given animal he's speaking with.

Spirit Infusion: By calling upon the name of a given animal or beast, Damian can infuse his body with their strengths and abilities. This technique can be used to enhance standard objects and other people as well.

Will of the Hunt: Calling upon the trait of carnivores, Damian infuses his gaze and aura with their instinct to kill and devour. Any caught in his gaze will have their fight/flight response triggered. Those strong enough of will can resist, made easier if not the target.

Non Magical Skills [+]

Silver tongue: Due to Damian's time as a highly rated Photographer, he has a wealth of experience dealing with various levels of the upper class. Primarily, how to speak with various Nobles and not get exploited or ripped off. His reputation, presence and use of words make it difficult for most to ignore his wit and logic. Those of high intelligence and willpower can resist, but should still take heed lest Damian's own Charisma sway them without knowing.

Survivalist: Having to live in the wilderness for long periods of time in order to get the photographs he needs has forced Damian to learn how best to survive in the wild against all manner of beast, aberration and the miasma. If someone is ever stuck in the wilderness and Damian is with you, you are as good as saved.

Equipment [+]

- Well used travelers backpack (Bag of Holding)
- Cooking supplies
- Survival gear (compass, rope, flint, etc)
- Longbow (Fae-make)
- Hunting knives (Machete)
- handmade Tomahawks
- Magi-tech Pistol
- Portable camera gear
- Pendent
- Guitar
- Tea kettle and set
- Tribal paints
- notebooks

Brief Background:

Despite his unassuming looks at first glance, Damian goes by another name; photographer of world renown, The Beast Whisperer. So named due to his skill in photography, beastiary knowledge and fondness towards animals of all stripes. Despite displaying some rather... eccentric behaviors, Damian's knowledge and services have remained in high demand.

One of those eccentricities lay in regards to his companion, a raptor-cat of rare pelt and coloration who travels with the man and rarely leaves his side. Her name is Chloe.

Chloe [+]

Now, in prior years Damian has felt he had neither the time nor the interest to accept the invitations sent his way from the tower. After completing a recent job however, Damian decided it was finally time to see what all the hubbub was about. Venturing to the Tower was to at the very least listen to the Headmaster's request, alongside sating his own curiosities...

Anything else we should know about you:

Damian is a calm character, a professional known to stay focused on the job but equally known to relax when not. Apart from his reputation for excellent quality, Damian is well known for treating all clients equally, regardless of bearing or birth. Having traveled the world Damian holds a unique perspective from meeting and learning from people of all stripes, one that's a little more open to the stories of many.

This has garnered some annoyance from the upper Echelons of society, their long held beliefs being challenged. Damian on the other hand doesn't really care for his skills, achievements and reputation allow him to essentially do as he pleases. If a client proves uncooperative it's their reputation that gets damaged, not his.

Another point of contention is Damian's lack of affiliation with the Mage's Association, as Damian works as a free agent without oversight. While it has led to some slander from certain Nobles, their slander has never held water with many finding quick reason to stop. While words spoken against him barely garner a reaction, mistreatment of those unable to use magic or of common animals is a line that many learn never to cross. Though apart from bad food there really isn't much that ruffles his feathers, so to speak.

To the consternation of many, either in genuine interest or to get dirt on him, none have been able to gleam anything past what is already widely known. To many he is an enigma wrapped in mystery....

Other Notes [+]

- Has abnormally strong mental defenses against psionic and magical intrusions
- Loves to learn about different cultures, through cuisine, music and mythologies
- Has near encyclopedic knowledge of the worlds fauna
- Expert hunter and tracker
- Is an avid tea enjoyer

@AzureKnight

Please pardon the sudden ooc post here, but after looking some things over (so far) in the OOC info/lore here I must admit you've got me curious about this RP a bit here. Especially about what miasma is and what it does, and rules of how it works in setting, unless my scrolling through things missed something on my end. Or if anyone invented necromancy or some rudimentary equivalent in this setting. Etc, etc.

<Snipped quote by Crusader Lord>

I have supplementary material that I plan on adding here later, which will give a general understanding of what miasma is and the different ways it affects the world, without revealing too much of course.

As for necromancy, yes it does in fact exist in this setting, and there are different ways of imploring it.

<Snipped quote by AzureKnight>

Fascinating! I suppose in part I was wondering if someone could manage to withstand a partial corruption or transformation from it, at least from the sounds of things, or would have a reason to try to hide and contain it. Or maybe partly became a monster or something and is trying to hide it to avoid being killed. Etc. But at the same time, I will confess that was just a preliminary thought of sorts. Don't want to assume everything, or sound too crazy with any ideas for that matter.

Beyond that, how necromancy works sounds interesting as well if there are different ways of going about it. Or does it fall under a single school of magic, or multiple ones?

Er, apologies for the rambling and awkwardness on my part in the end here as well. Words and self-confidence aren't always my strong suits.... Admittedly I also saw the join status of the RP and have been feeling a fair bit tempted to ask to join after reading the rules. Definitely seems to be a well fleshed out world you've crafted here! I'm also trying not to overextend myself with RPs either, however, because ones like this get my imagination running a little bit thinking of potential character ideas and such. ^^;

<Snipped quote by Crusader Lord>

Pay it no mind, I enjoy the questions.

Malfested - the term used to describe sapient beings who under go miasma corruption, are generally treated as monsters due to losing their sanity during this process. The extent depends on the person and how much miasma they were exposed to over time or at once, but they still can't be integrated into society as they cause rot and present the danger of further malfestation in their vicinity.

Unless they or someone else found a way to mitigate it. It is possible for a semi-malfested person to live a generally normal life, but just know that if they not careful they'll end up being hunted by reavers, adventurers, or executioners from the Holy Church. They also tend to stay away from populated areas.

As for Necromancy: it is considered a fell art that normal schools would never teach their students. It's possible that some schools would safe guard scrolls that detail how it works, so the knowledge is kept out of the wrong hands. Perhaps the guardians even feel that they would know how to not misuse the power, if the situation ever called for its need.

The Six Principles of sorcery can all be involved in the resurrection process in different ways: Elementalism and Alchemy in order to be able to physically reconstruct a decayed corpse, if you wish to be able to give orders to the corpse, Espermancy would be a good way to accomplish that. If you want the corpse to have more autonomy, an understanding of Galdr would benefit being able to rouse souls froom Spectral Realm.

For more of a metaphysical use, The concept of pulling souls and cursed spirits from layers of Heaven and Hell will need a person to use Thaumaturgy and understanding The Void. They also call these places Narakk'a and "The Pure Lands".

<Snipped quote by AzureKnight>

Fascinating! I suppose, then, that being healed of miasma 'quick enough' helps one avoid the changes miasma corruption then? Or would doing something like removing a malfested limb, if it was all that has been changed so far, also be a sort of viable measure to stemming a case and stopping its progression? A combination approach of such things, perhaps? Hmm...and for that matter, is there a 'threshold wherein someone can be saved from miasma corruption' that, once gone past, is a sure point for one turning into a monster or such things?

Beyond that, I wonder if anyone could, hmm, have 'partial necromancy' applied to them in a sense. I mean something like a limb dying or rotting away, and then the necromancer uses Thaumaturgy to block infection spread but uses a necromantic approach to 'save' the limb and keep it attached to the living body. Or, perhaps, taking a dead limb and attaching it to the body of a living person like a graft to replace a lost limb? Would such a thing be viable, and would something like a cool magical skeleton arm be possible, or would it be stupid/dangerous or otherwise not possible?

Though would there also potentially be a way to 'animate' a corpse or skeleton without the need of dredging up or conjuring a soul or cursed spirit for the job? Would a Galdr user, for example, be able to 'animate' it using a generic spirit of some kind or some sort of spiritual energy instead to turn it into a souless animated 'construct' perchance?

Ah, and thank you! I do enjoy the Q&A, its been thought-provoking! Though I have had a character idea or two come into my brain now, only one of those pertaining to the asked questions admittedly, but idk if any of them would be viable to submit or if I'd sound/look like an edgy (even if attempting to be quality with it or something) or just silly dunce. ^^;

@AzureKnight

Hi there again! Thanks for answering my questions from before! :D

Though struggling to juggle between a couple of, or maybe three, ideas popping in my head since I asked the questions I will admit I am curious if you are still accepting applications to this RP. If not it's okay, but I thought I'd ask at least.

<Snipped quote by Crusader Lord>

I don't mind taking on 1 or 2 more people. Feel free to ask more questions or show me a rough draft for your CS!

@AzureKnight

Alyna Leshenaii [+]

Alyna Leshenaii

Name: Alyna Leshenaii

Appearance: https://i.imgur.com/IoqreBu.jpeg

Race: Fae

Sex: Female

Age: 24

Magic Divination: Void Magic, Espermancy

Abilities:

• Void Magic [+]

  Limited Mark-Based Teleportation - Nothing large-scale or teleporting things to the moon or such craziness, please no, but a rather small-scale level of teleportation which is just used to move herself, her puppets, and her toolbox/tools either to where she is or back to wherever they were sitting before she teleport them to where she is. Not a spell to be used on living things, as it hasn’t ever been tested nor designed for such.
  
  Lesser Void Ward - A protective magical shield wrought from Void Magic, based on some kind of spell used in Thaumaturgy from what she remembers, that is black in color but is rather semi-transparent in nature and is used for defense. It utilizes the gravity effects of Void Magic to try to ‘redirect’ away oncoming attacks away from those within its boundary, allowing it to survive somewhat bigger blows by not simply trying to ‘block and stop them’ outright. It can be cast as a ‘flat 2D pane’ or alternatively a ‘curved hemisphere’ to protect one’s self. It isn’t a full protective bubble, however, just a directional defense thing.
  
  ***Bonus: Attacks passing through the caster-side part of this ward outward and away from it, at least unintentionally, are accelerated faster (to be faster moving that is) to a minor degree.
  
  Void Flare - A signature spell of hers touching upon her more ‘instinctive’ and ‘raw’ use of the Void as a child, or at least being inspired by it in an actually controlled fashion, lashing out with a burst of dark energy emitted from a point on her body she directs the spell to be emitted from (even from the surface of her clothes, simply to avoid the awkward situation otherwise). The energy is emitted in a similar manner to flames or fire, flickering and licking up and eating away as best as it can at whatever matter it comes into contact with (not energy, just matter).
  
  While she has trained it a fair bit to improve its power and efficiency, and try to gain some better understanding of her affinity for Void Magic to boot, this spell can be said to be in its ‘nascency’ and stronger or alternatively-shaped or even larger-scale variations of it as new spells could be possible depending on GM ruling and thoughts on the matter/etc. One can visually compare this spell’s appearance and form to a ‘solar flare’ rather well, though simply as a side effect of being more of a ‘raw use of Void Magic’ on her part it does cause some rather minor and small-scale distortions both spatially and visually as simple enough side effects.
  
  More training and focus can further hone the range and coherence of the attack, eventually leading to something more akin to a “Void Bolt/Ball” being fired off in the long run that surpasses the original spell proper and might be considered its ‘own thing’ perhaps?
  
  ((Note: Secretly she nicknames this spell with the dorkier, edgier, and sillier-sounding name of “Void Eater” because to her it ‘sounds cool’. She would be highly embarrassed if this information was learned or got out by mistake somehow from her own lips. Do with that what you will.))
  
  Void Jet - A channeled version of “Void Flare/Void Eater”, simply put, that acts akin to a flamethrower of dark energy with a similar flame-like aesthetic/form as the former to boot inherently. It is notably a more focused attack than the former spell it is derived from, and has greater potential range, but unlike the former it requires focus to use and isn’t as quick to use either.
• Espermancy [+]

  Control Threads - The creation and extension of psychic threads from the user that are used to control and manipulate things, whether it be a tool like a hammer, a magitech-laden puppet/marionette, or potentially even a corpse or something like another living thing (in this lattermost case is, just to make a note, subject to “Strength of Will” theory, naturally, as much as it is inherently to GM rulings and things like ‘not using it on other players unless they agree to it OOC explicitly’ and so forth). More limited in range than something like telekinesis at a base level, even if training can perhaps extend the range of these threads based on user skill/training/experience depending on GM rulings, but allows for more complex manipulations and fine control at a base level as well as a trade–off.
  
  Normally is most often used by her to control/use simple tools, grab/manipulate stuff close enough to her while working (make a sandwich either dance on its plate or float over into her mouth to take a bite before putting it back being two simple examples), and control her magitech puppets. Though it is of note that she desires to create a way that, at least for her puppets or similarly purposely-designed-devices, would allow her to more remotely control them at even greater distance than threads allow (this would be, if possible, a specific something for her to get help with developing or to realize during the RP at some point or another…like a wireless control spell or device that is even more limited in exchange for much better range or something).
  
  Mental Partition - Aside from the threads she can create using espermancy, this is where the singularly greatest amount of effort has gone into Espermancy on her end of things in terms of raw practice and tinkering with it. It creates separate but connected ‘rooms’ inside of her mind that allow her to process/think in parallel within them, in doing this allowing her to process raw information and make calculations much faster and efficiently than normal. It is, essentially, like turning the brain into a psychic computer in OOC terms and is an ability that can assist rather well in the learning process (it doesn’t replace experience or getting it, just makes learning and retaining information far more efficient). She does wish to keep furthering her skill in this particular area of Espermancy as well in the future, she hopes, to make it even more useful potentially.
  
  Indeed, it is also useful in controlling her puppets while multitasking in the field. It used to take a number of Control Threads to control each of her puppets, yet between training with the Control Threats/puppets and growing this ability she has used this to assign a singular thread to each puppet and then assigning a number of her existing/already created mental ‘rooms’ or ‘partitions’ to control each puppet and their internals far more efficiently. This might also have been a ‘cheat’ way for her to improve control over her puppets at first, however, when training was getting on her nerves using Espermacy/Control threads in the past.
  
  On the average, though, she uses it to accelerate taking in and processing general information and making calculations, or do things like control puppets and keep an eye on the area simultaneously, or in doing things like cooking while mentally working out some sort of homework or project details at the same time, etc.
  
  But even if her mind can process things at such incredible speeds, and multi-task very well indeed, it crucially doesn’t speed up her body nor does it make her faster-moving physically. Not unless she learned enough Thaumaturgy or something of the sort to augment her body as well or such things. So no, this won’t help her dodge attacks in terms of speed or anything, but she can control her puppets at faster speeds and move them more quickly or could use this to even calculate the trajectory of projectiles or the like.
  
  Telekinesis - The power to move things with one’s mind. Thorough with it having taken a back seat to her use of Control Threads, however, it is still a useful tool when helping to hold smaller parts in place, pick up and move things out of the way while working, and even perform a feat like moving a crate of project parts alongside herself (and having one or more of her mental partitions maintain it) as she mulls over something else while walking somewhere.
  
  Familiar Sight - Magic allowing one to view the world through one or more of the senses of a familiar at even long distances, though she uses it via her Control Threads to also see through the eyes of a connected magical construct. It is possible to use this magic to see through one or more of the senses of another living thing as welll, but due to the factor of the "Strength of Will Theory" this would either need to be a mutually willing target or for the user to overpower the target (itself a riskier factor).
• She possesses a deep affinity for Void Magic that, based on examination of her by other mages, is unnaturally high (both for a Fae and in general). This has the effect of making her much more sensitive to the magic, and thus able to better detect, learn, and grasp/understand it as such. As a mage, it presents her with a rather high inherent talent for Void Magic that, with hard work, is seen as having ‘incredible future potential’ for her as a mage in general.
  
  At the same time, this deep affinity has other less-desireable side effects. This is best shown as it lashes out from her body in response to her extreme emotional states, those of a negative sort in particular, and lashes out likewise when in extreme enough physical states such as when she is ‘near death’ or experiencing issues such as extreme hunger/starvation. It is theorized that this is a ‘defense mechanism’ or ‘survival mechanism’ of sorts, even if an unintentional or instinctual one, though this odd personal phenomenon regarding Alaea and her affinity hasn’t been fully studied as of yet. The moniker of this Void-lashing-out state has semi-officially been given the moniker of ‘The Hunger’, which itself is due to it being originally witnessed when she was starving as a child after the destruction of her home Feywild.
  
  ((This isn’t intended to be some ‘auto-win’ affinity or ‘mary sue’ type of trait, but rather simply an abnormality of herself personally that has its pros and cons. Only exception would be if the GM’ing team wants to use it for something and has a use for this peculiar affinity on her part.))
• Magitech Engineering - Exposed to the development of magitech and likewise exposed somewhat to Krauser Industries via her adoptive Belua father ultimately after being taken back to the Republic of Altaria with him in turn, she would turn what began as a young childhood fascination with magitech (after first seeing some) and begin learning how to design and make it from her adoptive father at first. This mostly amounted to personal tinkering at first under the guidance of her adoptive father, but would via proper education in the matter go beyond this more so over time.
  
  By current times, she can be considered a generally solidly adept at the craft. Most often, though, she maintains and tinkers with mechanisms within and designs for her own Espermancy-controlled puppets and potential components for them (or future projects).
  
  ((Mind that she hasn’t learned any Alchemy, at least as of yet, so it's all hands-on work on her part.))
• Cooking - Hardy, basic-grade, household-tier cooking capabilities akin to a single person or wife/husband who has learned to cook in a general sense one way or another. Stews, gravy, roasted meat, soup, an understanding of generally-widespread or particularly local seasonings from where she’s lived, how to make bread and flour from scratch, the sort of basic, hardy cooking capabilities one might expect to learn from remembering what little she saw her mother cook and teach in the past as well as having to cook for a tired ‘old-timer’ of an adoptive father whose cooking skills amounted at best to even more rough ‘basic survival’ levels.
• Fae Sight - Allows Fae and Myrkr to see if a person’s intentions are pure or dishonest, and can see it displayed in their sorcery. (An inherent racial trait.)

Equipment:

• Her toolbox of magitech-tinkering tools, marked with magic (just like her puppets listed below are also marked) to recall and dismiss the toolbox and even the specific tools within it as needed.
• Puppet 1 - “Petto” [+]

  Example Of The General Style Of The Puppet [+]

  

  
  
  Her first ‘completed’ puppet after working on prototypes, created in the style of a humanoid puppet used for performances. Its simpler metal body is painted lighter tan and wood-like color, and it really is just featureless otherwise on the outside to boot while also possessing rather simplistic joints and a great range of movement. Yet in return it compensates with the second greatest durability/defense, second greatest flexibility, and second greatest overall resilience at base than the other three puppets she uses these days. Going along with its overall simplicity, the magitech gadgets installed into it are likewise on the simpler end of things.
  
  Its forearm segments each contain a lighting-element-infused metal magic wand mounted in an ‘activation device’ that is directly attached to its highly durable internal skeleton, which when used allow it to channel or alternatively fire lightning bolts from its connected hands (or just the forearms if the hands were lost). The upper arms of the puppet each also contain a magitech device that produces a hemispherical/half-sphere magical barrier when deployed, allowing the puppet to protect itself as well as be used to protect its controller/others to some extent. Within its chest segment it has three mounted shortened/sawed-off magitech shotguns in an upside-down triangle configuration within it, and these can poke through three usually-closed slats on the chest area of the puppet to fire either standard, fire-element-infused, or ice-elemental (combining wind and water elements) shells (these are the rarest in this lattermost case due to the element combination). Each of the thigh segments of the puppet’s legs also currently also contain a spool of durable but flexible enchanted wire tipped with a fine-pointed conical tip, said tip can be swapped out for a poison-dipped one or a serrated tip or even an element-infused one, that can emerge from one of three small slots on the each thigh (the front, the back, or the outer side of each thigh respectively). These wires with their tips can reach up to eight feet out from the puppet’s thighs (at most) and can be used to ensnare targets or attack them alike, offensively and defensively, as well as being able to be retracted easily back into the shins of the puppet via the automatic spool mechanism they are attached to (itself attached to the durable skeleton of the puppet as well).
  
  While this is its current loadout, Petto overall was designed by her to be a ‘testing platform’ for simpler integrated magitech devices as well as be used in the field alike. It was made to take a beating, switch out body segments or segment-contained devices for new ones, and is the simplest to maintain out of her three puppets overall to boot. It has also seen the most wear and tear, despite the replacement and repair of its parts, but it has lasted until current times well enough and stands at a height of 5’9”.
  
  ((OOC: Its name is simply derived from the original Gepetto, who in turn is from the story of Pinocchio, and who in turn was a marionette.))
• Puppet 2 - Gwath [+]

  Example Of What IRL Puppet/Puppetry Style This One Was Roughly Based On [+]

  

  
  
  As a puppet, Gwath is overall much simpler than Petto and seems to be a ‘step back’ in most senses, but at the same time it is also the most simple, flexible, and durable of Alyna’s puppets while being the ‘least magitech’ of the bunch as a consequence. Its segments are made of thicker 2D pieces of metal that are painted black, like unto a shadow, while its joints are spherical and 3D by their design and allow for a rather large range of movement and flexibility in their own right. Its ‘head’ looks fierce, monstrous, with demonic ‘tusks’ that jut up from near the front of its open-able metal jaws that are filled with rather sharp cutting-type teeth (the whole mouth is designed to cut things well when closed overall to boot) as well. Further, its profile stands as oddly ‘mostly 2D’, and it inherently as such lacks compartments or 3D space to contain devices or contraptions for the most part. Mostly. Its feet are overtly 3D compared to most of the rest of it for the sake of its operation and use. It also, as a note, can be packed up in a smaller crate or container than her other puppets.
  
  Gwath’s hands are designed with sharpened claw-like blades on the fingertips, but given that it has actual moving fingers attached to the same common spherical joints used on its body (and for its wrists) it also has a rather surprisingly dexterous capability with its hands compared to the predecessor when it is being controlled. Its fingers are also segmented with little spherical joints, and its fingertips can even be replaced with other 2D or potentially 3D segments to enhance its grasping capabilities or allow it to use a simple weapon like a sword, a weighted club, or even a spear in its hands as an alternative. Its head, however, is useful for cutting things with its ‘fierce bite’ as well, and indeed the head can alternatively be swapped with a 2D style replacement that has its sharpened teeth mounted on a hidden chain attached to a magitech device that moves the chain rapidly (like a chainsaw, so in this case it is really just a tool rather than a weapon).
  
  Its creation was a test of ‘minimalist designs’ for potential puppets, ones incorporating tools and potential combat capability, on the part of Alyna. It still finds occasional use without fully leaving the ‘rotation’ of her equipment, usually being most useful in the field in shredding brush and (if using the chainsaw-mouth head attached) clearing trees. Sometimes it is used to cut certain materials for her as well with its standard head and its notable cutting potential, and as a weapon it is a simple but effective one that does the job nicely but lacks ranged potential or even more magitech gadgets/parts. She could have the ‘claws’ on the fingertips dipped in something poisonous, as with an attachment used with the puppet Petto, and it is of note that the odd profile of the puppet makes hitting it at times more difficult than with her others to boot. Truly, its pure durability and resilience is its greatest feature atop a bed of simplicity and a fiercely-painted exterior design.
  
  ((OOC: Its name means ‘shadow’ in Tolken’s Sindarin elvish, also referring to Indonesia shadow puppetry in particular IRL in this way and in its design in a sense.))
• Puppet 3 - Elipiloea [+]

  (Can’t Find A Good Image To Roughly Approximate This One)

  
  
  Her third puppet, itself being a step into a ‘semi-automated’-type humanoid puppet that features greater complexity in design than Petto’s more simplistic overall design. Yet its parts are more fluidly connected, its joints are generally spherical and rather flexible but are also less overtly alien and stand-out in their appearance, and a consistent and armored thickness gives it greater defensive capabilities and offensive potential than its predecessors. At the same time, conducting power from its torso to elsewhere in the body means its spherical joints are more limited in their movement and thus are less flexible than its two predecessors.
  
  Within its chest lies a self-designed ‘steam engine’ that uses a design roughly based on old vertical steam engines in turn. A fire-elemental core boils water in an internal chamber at the bottom of the torso, which rises up as steam and powers/moves the parts of the compacted multi-piston vertical/compound steam engine in the upper part of the torso. Steam collects within the upper/middle torso, then, which is collected/drawn in and is channeled using an enchanted part within the mid-torso back down into the internal chamber at the bottom of the torso. Further, if the water level of the engine gets ‘too low’, a water elemental core within the lower mid-torso will begin to conjure more water into the lower chamber to compensate. It can also go into ‘overdrive’ temporarily, wearing down its engine more and putting greater strain by outputting extra water and extra heat to push its internal engine harder (this comes with risks if pushed way too far, naturally, as a result). As a result of all of this, the puppet’s torso is designed to be thicker and denser than the rest of its body in order to protect and insulate this steam engine component. This while having a ‘maintenance mode’ that opens its up from the bottom around the hip joints with hinges on the upper arm joints to boot.
  
  But what does this engine power while the puppet is active?
  
  The left and right hands/fingers of the puppet are able to be magnetized at will, making it good at picking up or finding metal objects amidst a dusty workroom or holding onto an opponent’s metal weapon, but this has more uses than this for a reason.
  
  The hands can retract back onto the forearms, remaining magnetically attached strongly during this time, while a set of four gun barrels set around a central rotating rod emerges from the forearm. Each barrel of each set is etched on its rear (the rear of it being contained within the forearm for protection) with a set of chain-reacting enchantments, and when tapped by a densely mana-charged crystal the chain reaction in each barrel rapidly conjures metal, shapes it into a bullet, and then generates a measured explosion at the base of the barrel to ‘fire’ the bullet. The barrels automatically rotate around the central rod, being powered by the internal steam engine of the puppet, and each ‘tap’ of the crystal (doesn’t have to hit as hard as a firing pin) sets off the enchantments in each barrel in a set order to fire a metal bullet. Or in short, the puppet’s forearms contain a rudimentary magitech gatling-style gun with smooth barrels on the inside, one which begins firing as soon as it begins moving rather than needing to ‘wind up’ to do so. What these weapons lack in precision, ammo variety, and the like, however, is made up for in rapid-fire capability, a lack of need to ‘reload’ at all, and the use in potentially suppressing targets in effect. These weapons do, however, have to take a few seconds to get to ‘high speeds’ when spinning and firing, not going from nothing to the fastest they can just out of the blue. Further, between a mild enchantment on the central rod that helps ‘cool’ the rotating barrels the rotation of the barrels also seeks to keep them cooled.
  
  Its ‘eyes’ (set on a much more human-like face) are also able to be switched out internally in the field, ranging from those with literal ‘telescopic’ sight, to ones able to detect heat, to finally ones designed to detect concentrations of mana. She can use magic to ‘see’ through the eyes of her puppets, much like one might use to see through a familiar’s eyes, and this allows her to use this puppet in particular for scouting as well.
  
  To top it off, the right side of the back of this puppet has a protective metal armored covering/holster. Out of this can be deployed, over the shoulder that is, a magitech long rifle with a six-round ammo cylinder attached to it mounted to a type of swivel mount. Using the eyes of the puppet via magic, and the deployed single-barrel gun, it makes the puppet able to attack targets at longer ranges than its other weapons are capable of with greater precision. The gun can then be retracted, and while holstered can switch cylinders to another one if need be. Up to four cylinders, and one attached to the gun itself, can be used with the puppet at any given time.
  
  In terms of appearance, aesthetically, it is closer to a ‘real human’ in shape by far but less so in appearance. Its exterior is a dimer golden color for the most part, not bright enough to stand out bad in the dark or such but enough to give it something of a ‘unique look’ to it.
  
  This puppet is, likewise, her most advanced and recent one that was only finished/completed about a year and a half ago.
  
  ((OOC: Its name in reverse is “aeolipile”, or in other words the name of a simple form of stream engine invented by Hero of Alexandria, and it is based upon old steam power and on the clockwork automata of the past.))
• Puppet 4 - ??? [+]

  General Appearance Concept/Idea [+]

  

  
  
  An incomplete project.
  
  Her latest puppet project is yet to be completed indeed, though she has plans for how it will look much more ‘lifelike’ than the others and will incorporate some of her Void Magic into the mix in its functions for things such as ‘flight’ or being able to ‘reassemble itself’ potentially. The level of advancement in it is something she has long debated, however, and some of the particulars have yet to be realized in her design for it. whether to seek out making it ‘just another puppet controlled by threads’, make it a ‘true automata’, or otherwise going through with her parallel desire for seeking out ‘means to go beyond just mere Espermancy threads, something to establish an improved and longer-range means of control of such devices far more efficiently’ that has crept more and more into her thinking and goals for the future over the long-term. It embodies her desire to improve her work heading into the future, her desire to push her skills and efforts to ‘the next level’, and so forth as it currently stands.
  
  The temporary name for this puppet project is “Project Elana”, using the name of her deceased mother to temporarily give a moniker to the work until she can truly finish it. To her, it is a ‘potential masterpiece’ of a work for her, though for now it is mostly a dream stored away as carefully-prepared parts and selected/purchased components she’s brought along with her along with the rest of her work all the same.

Brief Background: ((Note: Was struggling to get it even shorter, ended up with this length of write-up for her backstory at this point. Ugh. Apologies for this. (@_@).))

The child of a far-off Feywild located in the distant northeast of Morgenrote, a more remote and once-isolated location that after exposure to the rest of Morgenrote became known for its peculiar (but still roughly mutually intellegible enough) dialect of the Fae tongue, possession of a minor underground Precursor Ruin it had long cleared out some time ago, and its famous "Saiwess Peppers". A magically-inclined future scion of the magical arts who was born at the zenith of the winter solstice, and bore an unexpected and unnaturally strong (and at the time worrying to some elders) affinty for Void Magic blamed on the circumstances of her birth. The only daughter of a local Healer who combined magical and mundane arts in her craft, and a father who was the first Fae to migrate to the Feywild in over two centuries and worked to help protect the Feywild's territory. Yet who due to an unexpexted monster and miasma incursion from the north she became its last known surviving member when one of the thrice-yearly caravans coming from Morgenrote to visit the Feywild came upon her and the horrific end results of her Feywild's destruction.

Soon thereafter, she was taken in by a widower Belua man named Talgu Heng who had been working with the caravan that had found her. Finding a sort of unexpected kinship with the orphaned Fae girl discovered by the caravan, however, he had volunteered to temporarily take her in with some compensation to be paid to him for the job. While clashing with Alyna at first, however, her discovery of a magitech gadget he kept from his past as a keepsake would become the catalyst for the two beginning to properly get to know each other. From here, ultimately Talgu would take her with him back to the Republic of Altaria after some debate to 'get her a better life' than he could provide as a mere adventurer in Morgenrote. Here, he would work at a friend's garage for a while before a former superior of his who still worked at Krauser approached him to talk one evening. The end result of this would see Talgu take Alyna with him as he returned, at first hesitantly, to Krauser Industries and joined the R&D Department once more.

Giving the girl a chance to further her desire to grasp and make magitech, the topic that had first brought them together, Talgu would also get assistance to further his ward's 'catching up' in terms of a magical and general education as well via the intervention of one famous "Donovan Krauser". Krauser would send the girl to the "Morgenröte Finishing School for Girls", where the Fae girl would eventually catch up with peers and push ahead in her learning, though during this time period would initially drift into a 'rebellious' teenage phase and for a time entered the proximity and sphere of a certain "Scarlettina" who had also been sent there by Krauser. While never a formal member of the already-filled "A5 Coven", though, she would hang around them long enough and well enough that she was even present in the same room on the night of Scarlett and company used a certain artifact Ouija Board that spelled out a certain name. Witnessing the summoning of something horrific, however, the initially somewhat rebellious child would reel back hard onto the straight and narrow in her education and life alike.

Her passion went back into her work, and yet....she had to find out what happend to Scarlett afterwards. She listened in and watched her seemingly talking to her clothing when no one else was around, she saw her build up criminal endeavors both legal and illegal, and in the end would try to remain somewhat close again at first yet would find herself ultmately placed on the other side of a grand divide between her and Scarlett all the same. Even so, life moved onwards....and so did she, ultimately, move beyond this point in time along her renewed path forward. Even so, eventually the time would come as she turned eighteen years old that Alyna would reach the end of what her current magical and mundane education alike would be able to give her. It was at this crossroads that, ultimately, she would make the decision to go back to Morgenrote to further her studies and knowledge beyond the magitech related knowledge she'd accrued already. Entering into a higher magical education, then, Alyna would work for five more years to move her work and grasp of magic and the like along as far as she could push them....and hopefully to find herself a place in the world. Yet the cumulation of all of her years of education and study would, then, help lead her to hear word trickle down more and more about a ‘new tower’ being founded outside of the city. A place called ‘Eon Tower’, one where a famous sage and many associates of his were to set up shop teaching and guiding others to improved learning. In this vein, Alyna would ultimately make the move to transfer herself to Eon Tower to further her learning.

....But, of course, even this wouldn't come as simply as it seemed. Because naturally the carriages transporting people were late with her things to the capital, and now she’s being forced to be late getting there in the first place while transporting her own stuff there?! Talk about a bad first impression!

Anything Else:

• She was born at the height of the winter solstice during her birth year.
• Alyna was named after her paternal grandmother, whom her father hoped to take her to see one day alongside a minority of some of his relatives. Her name is also a name rare to her former Feywild, but wasn't foreign to it at least.
• Is potentially a bit of a dork or geek (also noted in the personality hider farther down).
• Is annoyed more easily by people chewing with their mouth open.
• Morgenrote has established an outpost where her home Feywild's cleared Precursor Ruin is, mostly to keep the miasma and monsters in check but also to enable study of the ruins themselves. Most notable of these ruins is the presence of an oddly intact building that is part of the ruins themselves. This building is an enchanted gazebo-type structure, one with with columns and a shallow pool of reflective water on its floor, whose internal domed roof reflects the real state of the sky above (night or day alike, cloudy or sunny, etc) with perfect clarity. ((Nothing major, nothing too fancy, just something very desireable for archaeologists to find and which felt fancy yet mysterious enough to add flavor.))
• Alyna isn't as sure of her future role/place in the world, hence her pushing of her skills and mastery of them as far as she can. Perhaps she could become a Sage herself eventually? Perhaps she could make a breakthrough in magitech engineering? Many options seemed to be on-board, including the life of a Reaver amidst these as she goes to Eon, in her mind.
• Her prototype or existing puppets have only exploded on her four times....t-that she’s willing to admit t-to anyways! This doesn’t, however, account for other times and when tinkering with particular gadgets or such either for (or not for) her puppets. To her, though, it's just a risk that’s part of the ‘tinkering and leanring process’ in some parts now. Not that safety isn’t important of course.
• She wants to also get to learning Alchemy, if possible, as in not doing so it has made the cost of parts, enchantments, and so forth in her magitech tinkering to be….well, certainly at least being higher than someone who could do the work themselves potentially.
• As a rather young toddler of a child, she attempted to keep a ‘super cool’ large pet slug named Jerry at home back in her former Feywild. Her mother was not amused when a one-day-accidentally-lost Jerry was found eating some of her favorite seasonal wildflowers her father had picked for her earlier that week. Her father, however, got new flowers for his wife and helped move Jerry back to the woods….but laughed about the matter with some of the other men outside of this, especially remembering his young daughter crying out “Run, Jerry, you can make it!” in gobbled Fae toddler words as Jerry was approached by (and soon thereafter captured and returned to the woods safely by) her father.
• Loves spicy foods and has a special enjoyment of them alongside a high heat tolerance, but likewise is rather personally critical of spicy foods ‘having good flavor, not just being hot for the sake of it’.
  
  In this vein, her former Feywild was famous for growing a certain kind of pepper noted in dried/dried-and-ground-up form to have ‘a distinct saltiness, more concentrated high heat, and lovely sweetness’ called the “Saiwess Peppers”. Upon her adoptive father going the serious extra mile for her sixteenth birthday, and getting ahold of some of the noted local pepper plants from her former Feywild (and some enchanted pots to grow them in and keep them alive) due to her missing their taste and flavor, she has reproduced from memory the salt-dried peppers (used either just dried or dried and then ground up) and jars of fermented/picked ones since then to use in cooking and to season food. This in turn has allowed her to remake at least a select few of the recipes of her former home, including ones using fresh peppers, alongside new ones based on local Altarian flavors or her adoptive father’s tastes.
  
  She on this note has some dried peppers, an enchanted jar of ground up dried pepper powder, and a packed jar of pickled/fermented peppers that she’s bringing with her to Eon Tower after ‘replenishing her supplies’ via her father sending her some more from back home to replenish her stocks. To her, these peppers are a distinct ‘taste of home’ she has been able to keep around. In that vein….well, having more than one family and place to have called home now is something to look at as a welcome and good thing in her mind these days (and these peppers and the memories they bring these days bring a smile to her face).
• Saiwess Peppers More Info - The fresh version of Saiwess Peppers are known for having their milder bitterness being present, as well as being ‘sweeter when cooked’ from their fresh form and naturally lacking the saltiness of the salt-dried peppers. They were also noted among the former locals of and past visitors to her former Feywild as being good roasted (where the sweetness stands out a little more in a sense and the normally higher heat is mellower) and being used in stews or soups or such recipes alike (roasted or unroasted). Naturally, use of their seeds also adds a ‘greater heat’ to dishes and these would either be saved for planting the next year or (with extras) were roasted to intensify their heat and either sold to the caravans or (more than selling them to the caravans) would be used for snacking and in certain seasonal recipes.
  
  Her former Feywild also had a recipe for “Four Seasons Soup”, made to celebrate the end of summer and transition to fall and the like, using both dried and fresh forms of the Saiwess Peppers, the contents of jars of sealed/enchanted of pickled/fermented venison and/or fish (each meat used in different pots) as well as other pickled/fermented peppers to boot dug up from being buried underground for a year, and fresh seasonal vegetables all being simmered in huge pots for hours on end. The end result was a savory soup with high heat, complex flavors, and a distinctive sourness.
• Alyna’s Personality [+]

  In terms of personality, Alyna is someone who works to carry herself with a calm manner, and seeks to otherwise generally be polite and amicable when it comes to her general social interactions with others. When it comes to putting herself to work on something or to a task she’s set for herself, she is both a curious mind and can be rather disciplined and hard working in her manner as well. She also seeks to instill a sort of stoic approach to things, in a way, to try to accept what lies outside of her control and to maintain control over herself in persistent or acute difficult times/situations without ‘losing her cool’ (at least until maybe sometime thereafter or when finding some time to decompress or ‘let it out’ properly in her mind). In this vein she doesn’t mean to ‘be emotionless in facing the world and just bottle everything up’, but rather seeks to ‘better control her emotions’ and ‘to persevere and endure the tough times’ rather than simply bottle her feelings up or avoid expressing them forever. She will also speak her mind when she feels the need to and do so without hesitation, something those who know her adoptive father say ‘yup that’s a bit of the old man in her for sure’, but isn’t as unabashed as to just stick her nose into everything with wanton abandon either.
  
  Yet it is also of note that if interrupted in the middle of focusing on a task she is apt to be more or less definitely grumpy depending on who is doing the interrupting and the reasons for the interrupting. This is even more notable a quirk when it comes to her and the matter of sleeping. At the same time, she can still be a bit excitable (or a geek/dork) when it comes to certain matters (Ex: A good meal or new magitech idea) and stubborn when it comes to yet others (Ex: Getting worked up over a project or task she’s set herself to in particular). Further, while time and effort has helped in some healing for her, and she can talk about the loss of her former Feywild and family, talking about ‘that day’ in particular is something she is still sensitive enough to. She feels guilt for her survival yet still as well, among other such things.
• (Removed the longer backstory bit for now to one day, eventually, edit in the Finishing School part of her backstory. Still expounds more on most of her backstory though, than the summary does at least.)