Name: Alyssana Grey

Age: 18 (born February 2nd)

Gender: female

Appearance: Alys is not unpleasant to look at, but she is no beauty. Her skin is naturally pale, but her version of tan is still on the light side and her thin lips are likewise lacking any significant color. Her features are refined but too sharp to be properly pretty, and she does not care to use makeup beyond a very little bit of lipstick and eyeshadow. She is lean but solid, a very active young lady with the musculature to match. Her waist is narrow but so too are her hips, and she has little in the way of a bosom. Her eyes are her best feature, a stormy grey with more or less blue depending upon the day and the lighting. They are also the most reliable indication of her mood. Her hair has a bit of a wave and is cut just past her shoulders, a light brown closer to sandy or ash than it is to dirty blonde. She generally wears it pulled back from her face in a half-up style, pinned securely into place. She will put it in a full ponytail or a bun when she needs it more contained, and might do something a bit fancier with it for formal occasions, but she will never wear it down.

Alyssana favors functionality over form, including in her clothing. Her everyday attire is generally slacks and a blouse or a pants suit, though sometime she will wear a skirt instead of pants. She dresses modestly, and prefers understated patterns and delicate embroidery instead of anything flashy. A little bit of ruffle or lace goes a long way, but it is better not to overdo it. Her taste in jewelry is similarly simplistic, avoiding the ornate in favor of understated elegance. Color-wise she prefers darker tones and cool colors, particularly greys and navies.

Personality: Alyssana is an intelligent young lady who refuses to conform for conformity's sake. She demands the very best from herself and her colleagues, and anything less is unacceptable. She is a proud person, and expects respect where she has earned it. She likewise does not automatically associate a position of authority with worth. She prefers to judge people on individual merit and this can result in tension between her and people who feel they deserve more respect than she gives. She is not tactless, but generally sees little reason to sugar-coat the truth, and she will speak bluntly. She is sometimes seen as a killjoy, but this is not entirely accurate. Instead it is a product of a serious nature, a reserved demeanor, and a certain lack of patience for frivolity. Those who do not know her generally see her as impassive and aloof; those who do learn to discern the subtle differences in her expressions. She does not often lose her cool, and may be relied upon for sound decisions even under pressure. Alys has a strong sense of ethics, but in the end she is a pragmatist. Often one must either compromise or accept the consequences, and Alys does not shy from the latter. She is very intense and often judgmental, but well-reasoned arguments are given due consideration.

Abilities: Alys's magic is primarily black. She is proficient in curses, both casting and dispelling. Her signature curse is called Soul Link, which drains a subject's energy and magic to bolster her own. She also is able to cast basic offensive spells employing fire, lightning, ice, and force.

Skills: Alys took up fencing as a hobby, so she knows how to use a rapier. She is also proficient in the use of knives. She knows her way around a revolver, greatly preferring this to any sort of bladed weapon. She loves reading, and knows how to research things in a library (or at least how to ask the right questions of the librarians). She can cook and do housework well enough to get by, but these are not her preferred activities. She knows how to care for her clothes and gear, as any self-respecting witch should.

Equipment: In addition to standard witch gear, like her broom and wand, Alys owns a lovely revolver Witch Arm. This revolver allows her to channel her offensive spells into its chambers instead of using regular ammunition. She was gifted it on her sixteenth birthday by her parents.

Brief Backstory: Alyssana and her twin brother Christopher were born to a family consisting of a high-ranking witch by the name of Lani and her husband Saul. Growing up, the pair had access to a lot of magical texts, and both of them found a great deal to interest them therein. Alys was fascinated by curses, and by tales of the labyrinth beneath the city that was her home. She went to a school sponsored by the Moon Circle Society, where she took up fencing and marksmanship as extra curriculars. Academically she did well, though not as well as her genius brother. Magic, magic theory, and history were her best subjects. She's looking forward to her first trip into Notte's Labyrinth to see the ancient ruins for herself.

• Name:
  Cordelia Rowena Riswell
• Age:
  19
• Gender:
  Female
• Appearance:
  With locks of scarlet red hair, standing at six feet tall and dressed in what can be considered somewhat outlandishly risqué and perhaps revealing clothing for the times, Cordelia stands out in a crowd among her peers. Just the way she likes it. After all, a witch is someone who can defy and not conform with such societal norms that are clearly beneath them. Cordelia thusly, dresses and appears exactly as she believes all witches should. Confident, arrogant, and without consideration for others.
  
  Her dress normally consists of a single rather tight fitting black dress that ends just at her thighs. This is complemented with knee high boots and nothing much else on her legs - or for the rest of her body, for that matter save for her an extremely comfortable poofy and warm looking white jacket draped loosely over her shoulders. And her witch hat, of course. Do be careful if you touch the jacket not to disturb the snakes sleep. She bites.
• Personality:
  Confident and arrogant, but not egotistical to the point of believing everyone beneath her. Rather, she considers herself to be above even such trivial power trips and holds no illusion of that she's still young and has a lot of room for growth herself. She simply believes that if she wants to do something, she will, regardless of how difficult it is or what it is that needs to be done. There is no doubt, no second guessing herself. If she doesn't succeed the first time, then she simply has to try again. No complaining, no bitching, no doubting. This however, hides a certain quirk of hers that she has trouble getting out of the mindset of.
  
  People are difficult. People are annoying. They are hard to understand with all their complicated emotions. A contracted spirit wont. They want something, and she wants something. A mutual contract between such entities is easy to understand and reciprocate. She gives them something, they help. This contractual relationship bleeds over into most of her relationships with other people, even if she treats most others in an outwardly friendly and casual manner. This can lead to some amount of indecision and difficulties picking up on normal human interactions where she will sometimes choose willful ignorance or simply choose not to involve herself.
• Abilities:
  Cordelia's abilities lean entirely into the realm of evocation, forgoing black and white magics except the barest of the fundamentals that all witches are taught. She was taught this for a number of reasons, but mostly it was the only magic she really had access too as she was not from some prestigious or well known family. Just herself, her mother, and her grandfathers spell book which describes in great detail a number of powerful or helpful spirits one may encounter or contract. As of now, she has only contracted two from this book, as the thing was written in code.
  
  
  Book of summons [+]

  Mirai, Princess of the Thundering Heavens [+]

  
  Mirai, Princess of the Thundering Heavens
  A rather...difficult creature by the name of Mirai. A white colored serpent which typically hangs around Cordelia's shoulders, neck, and...chest area, for reasons, and the only spirit she's contracted that wasn't in her grandfathers book. An irreverent and teasing creature, it likes to poke fun, annoy, and generally be an absolute menace to anyone around them, Cordelia included. Generally though, shes useless and can't fight in this form as its little more than a fragment of her body she uses to be with Cordelia.
  
  Mirai is Cordelia's main method of fighting. By invoking the spirits full name and offering her body as her vessel, Mirai is able to manifest part of her actual body and her authority as a spirit of the heavens. Her primary ability is that of electrical generation and using it to fight in accordance with guidance from Cordelia via constant motions.
  
  Rarely, Mirai appears in a more humanoid form. That of a little girl standing just about four foot six. If she does show up like this, she still likes to drape herself over Cordelia's shoulders resulting in constant piggybacks. Cordelia only finds this slightly annoying.

  
  

  Anaximenes [+]

  Anaximenes, or Ana, as its name is often shortened too despite its great insistence on having its full name used, is a small four legged avian creature that looks like...well, if a someone slapped wings on a cat and gave it the head and tail of a bird. Being the size of a housecat he is much less intimidating than one might think from his name. He was the first creature Cordelia summoned from her grandfathers book and made a contract with. Despite his blustering and arrogant attitude, the small bird like creature is the least difficult to work with.
  
  Sometimes he comments he was a huge deal back in the day, but as of now he's just used for Recon and surveillance by Cordelia. Despite his small size he does have control over the winds and can cover most of the city very quickly, and with extremely keen vision he is quite good at tracking. Summoning him is quite simple. Offer an appropriate source of food after or before the deed is complete and clean his feathers and fur.

  
  

  Ceinrith [+]

  This creature, unlike the other two is surprisingly mellow and easy to work with. It has no fancy titles and is just fine only being called by its name. It speaks in a kind, but wizend and neutral tone. Cordelia has never seen its true form, nor what it actually looks like. It was quite eager to make a contract with her, even if the price was rather annoying to pay. It was the second creature she contracted from her grandfathers book.
  
  Ceinrith's abilities seem to be that of some sort of plant based forest nymph, fairy, or similar creature. When summoned, it rapidly causes roots, branches, plants, vines, you name it to grow at an accelerated rate. With direction from Cordelia, they are able to bind and restrain foes. If there is no plant matter or ground to pull from, vines instead grow from Cordelia's hat. What does Ceinrith ask for in return, for its service?
  
  Blood. Either that of Cordelia's or whatever it is she's restraining. It has made the comment to her, that it must feed its own garden and flowers...
• Skills:
  Outside of her magical practices, Cordelia has mostly taken an interest in the more mundane fields of song and music, and the more supernatural fields of demonology and magical beasts. Comes with the territory of primarily focusing on evocation.
  
  In the former category, if she wasn't a witch she'd probably be a singer somewhere. She sometimes still does, if she finds herself in one of her frequented many upscale or sleazier establishments that need someone to entertain. The dancing though, that was entirely at the behest of Mirai, who as using her body as a vessel needs extremely fluid, precise, and rhythmic movements to be able to channel and use her properly. Definitely not just because the snake likes watching her.
  
  In the latter category, well, it sort of comes with the territory. Knowing what kind of creature she's dealing with can often help forming contracts and not being caught off guard by something such as making a bad deal or if she has to do something specific to get a certain entities attention.
• Equipment:
  Aside from the basic wand and standard broom, Cordelia always carries around her grandfathers book with her. Her hat, while not needed most of the time can also be used to allow her spirits to be summoned if they need specific areas to, like with Ceinrith's vines.
• Brief Backstory:

One will not find the Riswell family recorded in the history of any great witch family, or even the history of witches in general. No, while some witches went such a route her family has long opted to live a quiet and unnoticed life, using magic just to make their life easier and generally simply help with day to day tasks. Every now and then, perhaps one of their lineage went off to do something notable, join some coven for some perceived pursuit of greatness, but generally throughout history their lives have been a quiet, frugal one even when involved with coven activities.

This, was at least, until her grandfather got fed up with his boring life at a young age. Being a man capable of magic, he would set off and travel the world, leaving behind her mother at a young age, or so she said. If she was to be believed. She only met her grandfather a handful of times when he finally returned, regaling her with the tales and stories of his travels.

This alleviated her homelife, if only slightly. Cordelia had never really been able to make friends or get along with other people her age. Even today, she couldn't quite explain it. She simply felt like she could never get along with them. It wasn't some kind of bullying attempt or the like. She just simply never really understood other human beings easily, preferring to spend time with animals or other critters.

Her grandfather then, was the only father figure she ever had, and probably the only person in her immediate family she would admit to caring about. Though his relationship with her mother was contentious at best it wasn't until she started actively pursuing magic did their relationship truly turn sour. She kicked him out. Little Cordelia was told in no uncertain circumstances that she'd ever practice magic. So what does a rebellious youth do? Do it anyways.

She had no formal training to start with, fumbling her way around with whatever materials she could get her hands on as her family didn't quite have the money for any kind of fancy education or to buy her good materials. Not that she would have been able to anyways, thanks to her mother.

It was either a stroke of luck or carefully planned then, her mother wasn't at home when she received a package from her grandfather. It was his old journal. Full of his writings, his observations, his mentions of various different spirits and the rituals needed to invoke them. All heavily encoded and unreadable, but it was something she loved to have nonetheless. It came with a letter, suggesting that if she received it, there was a very good chance he was no longer among the living and that she should use it to further her own interests, if she wanted too and a farewell that he couldn't have been a better parent to her or her mother.

Determined, she decided to follow through with it. She took the book, various materials to a secluded location just on the outskirts of a city that she had been too a few times with him. A lonely looking place on the outskirts of the city that she was pretty sure didn't show up reliably on any maps. It was an old, foreign looking shrine. Long abandoned.

So Cordelia got to work. She fumbled her way through a few of the instructions, doing her best to do what she thought was correct as far as summoning something went.

She was very, very, wrong.

What she summoned was not something she should have. She's not even sure if it was in the book. Maybe it was an accident. A fluke. Or maybe it was something she legitimately did. Whatever the case, it was not happy about being disturbed, and sought only one thing from her. Violence.

"Waow, did you mean to summon that or are you just dumb? Or are you into being beat up? Sheheheh...well, guess I'll have to save your loser self~" If it hadn't been for Mirai that day, she likely wouldn't be here. Long story short and after a bit of back and forth, whatever the snake says otherwise, Mirai demanded to be taken with Cordelia. Needless to say, too, her actions didn't exactly go unnoticed by the society and after a bit of time she ended up joining them, getting a formal education and catching up on what she wasn't able to learn as a youth.

Name: Alyssana Grey

Age: 18 (born February 2nd)

Gender: female

Appearance: Alys is not unpleasant to look at, but she is no beauty. Her skin is naturally pale, but her version of tan is still on the light side and her thin lips are likewise lacking any significant color. Her features are refined but too sharp to be properly pretty, and she does not care to use makeup beyond a very little bit of lipstick and eyeshadow. She is lean but solid, a very active young lady with the musculature to match. Her waist is narrow but so too are her hips, and she has little in the way of a bosom. Her eyes are her best feature, a stormy grey with more or less blue depending upon the day and the lighting. They are also the most reliable indication of her mood. Her hair has a bit of a wave and is cut just past her shoulders, a light brown closer to sandy or ash than it is to dirty blonde. She generally wears it pulled back from her face in a half-up style, pinned securely into place. She will put it in a full ponytail or a bun when she needs it more contained, and might do something a bit fancier with it for formal occasions, but she will never wear it down.

Alyssana favors functionality over form, including in her clothing. Her everyday attire is generally slacks and a blouse or a pants suit, though sometime she will wear a skirt instead of pants. She dresses modestly, and prefers understated patterns and delicate embroidery instead of anything flashy. A little bit of ruffle or lace goes a long way, but it is better not to overdo it. Her taste in jewelry is similarly simplistic, avoiding the ornate in favor of understated elegance. Color-wise she prefers darker tones and cool colors, particularly greys and navies.

Personality: Alyssana is an intelligent young lady who refuses to conform for conformity's sake. She demands the very best from herself and her colleagues, and anything less is unacceptable. She is a proud person, and expects respect where she has earned it. She likewise does not automatically associate a position of authority with worth. She prefers to judge people on individual merit and this can result in tension between her and people who feel they deserve more respect than she gives. She is not tactless, but generally sees little reason to sugar-coat the truth, and she will speak bluntly. She is sometimes seen as a killjoy, but this is not entirely accurate. Instead it is a product of a serious nature, a reserved demeanor, and a certain lack of patience for frivolity. Those who do not know her generally see her as impassive and aloof; those who do learn to discern the subtle differences in her expressions. She does not often lose her cool, and may be relied upon for sound decisions even under pressure. Alys has a strong sense of ethics, but in the end she is a pragmatist. Often one must either compromise or accept the consequences, and Alys does not shy from the latter. She is very intense and often judgmental, but well-reasoned arguments are given due consideration.

Abilities: Alys's magic is primarily black. She is proficient in curses, though with more of a focus on dispelling them than casting them. Her signature curse is called Soul Link, which drains a subject's energy and magic to bolster her own. Other curses she knows drain a target's will, speed, stamina, or strength -- generally only one at a time, but there is room for combining them as she learns more. She can temporarily blind, silence, or briefly daze a single target. She also knows a curse called Grounding that removes a creature's ability to fly for as long as it is maintained. Alys is primarily interested in the dispelling of curses, but in order to master that it is necessary to know the way they are cast, thus her knowledge of the subject. When it comes to dispelling curses, Alys can undo spells debuffing her allies, and she's working on learning how to unravel complicated curses cast on objects, or as traps. She also is able to cast basic offensive spells employing fire, lightning, ice, and force.

Skills: Alys took up fencing as a hobby, so she knows how to use a rapier. She is also proficient in the use of knives. She knows her way around a revolver, greatly preferring this to any sort of bladed weapon. She loves reading, and knows how to research things in a library (or at least how to ask the right questions of the librarians). She can cook and do housework well enough to get by, but these are not her preferred activities. She knows how to care for her clothes and gear, as any self-respecting witch should.

Equipment: In addition to standard witch gear, like her broom and wand, Alys owns a lovely revolver Witch Arm. This revolver allows her to channel her offensive spells into its chambers instead of using regular ammunition. She was gifted it on her sixteenth birthday by her parents.

Brief Backstory: Alyssana and her twin brother Christopher were born to a family consisting of a high-ranking witch by the name of Lani and her husband Saul. Growing up, the pair had access to a lot of magical texts, and both of them found a great deal to interest them therein. Alys was fascinated by curses, and by tales of the labyrinth beneath the city that was her home. She went to a school sponsored by the Moon Circle Society, where she took up fencing and marksmanship as extra curriculars. Academically she did well, though not as well as her genius brother. Magic, magic theory, and history were her best subjects. She's looking forward to her first trip into Notte's Labyrinth to see the ancient ruins for herself.

Name: Aurelia Hargrave
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Tall, lithe, and graceful, Aurelia projects an image of cool confidence. She stands at 5'11", favoring tunics and boots over dresses, so as better to perform acrobatic maneuvers in. And a fancy hat. A witch is nothing without the hat, after all.

Personality:
Underneath the confident, professional demeanor she gives off, one would never guess that Aurelia is a former criminal and thrill-seeker with no regard for established law or rights. While her poise and surety are very much real aspects of her personality, they only serve to accentuate Aurelia's need to test herself against her peers and elders rather than the Labyrinth.

Underneath all that, and motivating it, is a lingering sense of insecurity regarding her status as an adopted orphan rather than a true scion of Hargrave blood. A proper Hargrave wouldn't have the trouble she does with mana capacity, for instance. The way she carries herself and her need to compete against others are both driven by such, despite the fact that she takes pride in getting around her limitations.

She’s gotten better at hiding the more unpleasant parts of her personality, at least. Considering her status as a paroled prisoner, it wouldn’t do to get thrown right back in lockup if she can help it.

Abilities:
Black magic, black magic, black magic. There is nothing else. With Aurelia’s more reasonable capacity for spellcraft compared to her peers, she had to specialize in one field alone in order to control her spells well enough to be as efficient as possible in her use of mana.

Elemental assault is her bread and butter, with spells coming out in varied combinations and focused through her guns. However, she’s also rather skilled at debilitation, especially sapping the physical attributes of others in order to enhance her own temporarily. Aurelia possesses a knack for breaking through wards and defenses, her knowledge of how to defeat defensive white magic coming from her years of breaking and entering through magical defenses.

Owing to her lack of mana capacity, Aurelia pre-crafts many of her more taxing spells in the form of bullets to be fired through her Witch Arms, the spells releasing upon impact.

Skills:
As a (former) phantom thief, Aurelia is an accomplished acrobat, capable of feats of athleticism and nimbleness alike. She’s also a sneak thief, adept at breaking and entering even without the aid of magic, including locks and the picking thereof.

Considering the form her Witch Arms take, she’s also a more than adept marksman, capable of picking off targets from quite a ways away with mundane pistols and rifles alike. She’s more comfortable with a gun than a wand, really.

Owing to the fact that she knows how to cover her own tracks quite well, Aurelia is able to put her skills to use on the opposite end, showing a knack for investigation and forensics.

Equipment:
Considering her family’s resources, Aurelia bears a finely crafted wand and broom alike: ornate, but not overly gaudy. Just tasteful enough for anyone with an eye for craft to truly appreciate the care that went into them. And to notice how little they’re used. Considering her previous extracurricular activities, Aurelia didn’t particularly have much need for them.

Her Witch Arms take the form of a pair of mastercrafted double-action revolvers: six shots in the cylinder each. Runic engravings line the grips and silver barrels, with the latter able to fit bayonets below them, and Aurelia carries a pair for exactly this purpose.

And while she can’t wear it without alerting certain authorities, she does still carry her elegant mask from her thieving days, if only for the good memories.

Brief Backstory:

The Hargrave name is an old one: dating back to the Witch of Starlight’s time and being known for producing witches of great skill. It is not the name Aurelia was born with. The last generation of Hargrave witches died young due to various circumstances and accidents, and its elderly matriarch, Helena Hargrave, was left with no choice but to salvage something from the shame.

An infant was found, abandoned at the orphanage. Her parentage was unknown, as was the case with many orphans whose sires simply didn’t have the resources to feed yet another hungry mouth. Of all the girls available, this one at least displayed enough magical capacity to be worth training. It wasn’t as much as would be preferable, but this was what was available. Money changed hands, and the baby was adopted as Aurelia Hargrave.

Childhood passed. Aurelia was trained to carry on the Hargrave legacy. What she lacked in raw power, she would make up for in skill and resourcefulness. Specialized tools were crafted to hone the talents she did have, her adopted mother forging her Witch Arms in the form of guns after she witnessed the girl’s burgeoning talents at marksmanship.

Of course, Aurelia had her own opinions about all of this. Helena had never hid the truth of her parentage from her. While she was grateful to the old nag for raising and training her, Aurelia also didn’t want to be known solely for her name. The opposite, really. If she could prove her skills without even being known as a Hargrave, it would more than soothe her worries.

At the age of seventeen, whilst in the middle of her tutelage at one of the finer magical schools in Lumiere, Aurelia began her double life. Phantom Thief Etoile burst into the capital’s consciousness with a string of dazzling, audacious heists, all directed at valuables guarded by magical security in particular. She avoided casualties altogether and violence if she could help it: she was a thrill-seeker, not a psychopath. But Aurelia deliberately targeted Witch security rather than mundane in order to prove her skills. She started with merely arbitrary targets, selected for their security or lack thereof. Then she moved on to targeting the families of her peers, especially those that annoyed her in schooling. Aurelia was petty like that. A few other unrelated ones to throw the trail off, and then an established Witch or two. While they were out of town, of course. As good as she was, Aurelia wouldn’t have been able to penetrate a truly skilled Witch’s security while she was present without triggering some sort of alert, resulting in a fight she’d surely lose.

All good things had to come to an end, of course. Two years of heisting passed, and she seriously debated hanging up the mask before she was caught in the act. The last few heists had been far, far too close. But just fading into the limelight with a whimper would have been too pathetic to consider. At the very least, she’d have to perform one last act of grand larceny to cap off her career, now that she’d proved herself above her peers and elders in more than a few ways. The plan was made, the stage was set, and Aurelia set off to have one final, grand heist.

There was only one small hiccup, but the worst occurred: she made a single mistake and was caught in the act. Disarmed, magically neutralized, and locked up, it didn’t take long for her mother to make contact, and then, in true Hargrave fashion, have it all covered up for the good of the family name. Deals were struck: Aurelia would be released and her name would be redacted from the official press release. But in exchange, she would put her skills to use in the Society’s name as a more direct agent at their beck and call.

That was three years ago. Now, Aurelia still serves as that agent, going where she’s dictated by her superiors and solving whatever problems that arise. It’s not a life she necessarily enjoys, but she’s thankful that things could have been far worse. Rather like her childhood, really. Funny how things come in cycles.

Other:
Voice claim: Claudia Jolly

Name: Kei Kimura, of the Saiseijin

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Appearance:
The vast majority of the time, one will encounter Kei while she's wearing her coven's traditional ritual garb: a bizarre suit and mask that encompasses her entire body. This grants her a not-unremarkable amount of inscrutability... or at least it would, if she wasn't so animated. While certainly capable of being serious while out in the field, an earnest and curious personality shines through her eerie apparel, whether that be through the volume and speed of her speech, or the excited gestures that punctuate it.

Out of that garb, Kei is possibly not what you'd expect. At 5'9" with her coven's typical tanned skin and soft features, light and comfortable clothing worn over a slender frame and almost-white hair neatly kept in a single plait, she has a bearing not too dissimilar to a caring elder sister; and while that's not untrue of her, Kei 'off-duty' is not a far cry from Kei 'on-duty', differing only in how her volume and pace has slowed down slightly to accommodate expressive facial features.

Personality:
Kei has been described by others in her coven as responsible and diligent… and while that assessment isn’t inaccurate, the uninitiated might struggle to see it. Prone to going off on a whim and given to rambling energetically about whatever morbid thought exercise or topic she’s entertaining that day, she often comes across as a rather unsettling individual, especially when adorned in her ritual garb and with her voice distorted by the influence of the spirits she evokes. The Saiseijin are known even among other witches for having resisted giving up their traditional ways and pastoral lifestyle to integrate into society alongside other witches and the ever-modernising non-magical population, and she wears her love and zeal for them on her sleeve; if her ‘audience’ is discomforted, she’ll chide them for being softened by modern comforts, while any expressing outright distaste or disdain will rue the ensuing lecture.

But, as noted, her fellows’ assessment of her isn't without merit, and Kei herself is neither totally inflexible or immune to the delights of the modern age. She takes her work as a custodian for the labyrinth seriously, whether that be maintaining the delicate balance that prevents the dangerous magical creatures that prowl its depths coming close to the surface, or offering healing and support to those returning from an expedition to those same depths. She can still be a fairly difficult individual on account of this, as she's not afraid to speak her mind to those she perceives as having a lack of respect for life in any form or behaving wantonly to the detriment of others, her own sense of responsibility past experience churning up real anger rather than consternation. But she's ultimately fairly tractable so long as one doesn't cross such a line, and is open to new experiences; and she certainly enjoys company of other witches, whether they be of her coven or not, happily offering them hospitality around a pot of stew to share their thoughts on magic and swap stories from their travels.

Abilities: As a member of a notable coven of healers, it comes as little surprise to most that Kei is familiar with White magic. While her repertoire is limited, focusing on providing relief from common afflictions and maladies such as bleeding, poison and burns in either focused single-target or general area of effect based spells, creating wards that bolster the immune system and resistances to affliction of those within in amounts relative to their size, and inducing brief stasis in organic materials, they're certainly effective. A keen observer would note, however, she doesn't know any form of direct healing spell.

This is because, for Kei, White magic is simply a convenient means to an end. Her true and core ability, and that of the Saiseijin as a whole, can most readily be understood as a form of Evocation magic. By reaching out to the patron deity of her coven, the Harbinger of Decay, she can offer them a portion of her lifeforce to give substance to their kin, the 'Spirits of Decay', a horde of spirits resembling hymenopteran insects whose bodies serve as a vector for an incredibly potent corrosive effect. While the Spirits of Decay are manifest from her, Kei is considered to be the head of their collective, and so can direct them to swarm a target and eat away at their defences through to their physical form; inflicting a steadily creeping decay upon stronger and healthier targets, while potentially outright shredding weaker or flagging ones down to nothing but bones in seconds if they provide the spirits with sufficient energy.

While a terrifying form of magic, and one that Kei can certainly use to devastating effect, it isn't solely intended as a destructive power. Her coven's founder made contact with their patron deity because of their interest in the role of decay in the cycle of life and death; the death of one creature provides countenance for countless others, whether they feed directly on its corpse or benefit from the sustenance it offers to the earth once it's fully absorbed within. In accordance with this, the magic is most often used as a form of healing. By using the Spirits of Decay to convert organic matter into malleable life energy, Kei can supply it to allies who enter a pact with her or those who otherwise accept her help to stimulate recovery from all manner of wounds and maladies. The healing provided this way can be supplied in various forms, either keeping allies steadily topped up as the Spirits eat away at enemies during an encounter or providing a potent blast of rejuvenating energy when they shred a dead or dying target. The spirits can also be used, with a little precision and the aid of her equipment, to eat away diseased or cursed flesh, allowing new and healthy tissue to take its place.

Surplus life energy reclaimed by the Spirits can be isolated and sealed into biological material for later use, and Kei keeps and collects bones from non-human targets for this purpose, owing to their sturdiness and versatile use compared to other such materials. Besides using them to maintain the gardens she and her coven keep around the upper areas of the labyrinth, she often releases this stored power in blasts when dealing with inorganic obstacles and constructs during exploration; using the energy to stimulate the germination of mold and moss from the spores in the air around them to encumber their movement and function, and weakening their structure so the power of her Spirits can find purchase in them. This ability can also be used to siphon and isolate dangerous elements, such as a dragon's fuel or a hydra's poison, which she can apply her knowledge of fundamental magic to manipulate and use in emergency situations; though their utility in her hands pales compared to what someone with more specialized magic could make of them, and so during her time working the labyrinth, she's turned a small profit for herself selling on rare elements to alchemists in the Moon Circle Society or to parties heading deeper within.

Skills:
Most notable among Kei's skills is her aptitude as a medic and apothecary: though her coven specialises in healing magic, and an extremely potent brand of it at that, improper healing and handling of wounds can have effects long after the immediate danger abates. Because of this, Kei has been taught how to clean, dress and treat wounds, and also what remedies to carry for common afflictions, ensuring adequate care and favourable prognoses for those she's entrusted with in a pinch.

Beyond that, growing up out in the frontier beyond Lumiere and having been expected to pull her weight from a young age has left Kei quite strong and physically fit compared to the average witch, though this doesn't translate to a knack for hand to hand combat beyond a certain confidence in beating back monsters that get too close with her stave. This upbringing has also made her a decent cook, albeit one who generally favours simple and hearty foods made from readily-available or long-lasting ingredients such as stews, sauces and soups, unless receiving or entertaining a group.

Equipment:
Kei's main equipment are her mask and robes, traditional ritual garb of the Saiseijin tailored for use alongside their 'unique' brand of magic. The mask possesses an effect that blocks outside influence and focuses the mind so that the wearer can focus on commanding the Spirits of Decay, keeping their dangerous powers under control and allowing for precise instruction. The robes, meanwhile, help maintain the structure of the body across engagements, providing room for the Spirits to take form without their user having to worry about their body collapsing from overexertion. They also include a forager's pouch for keeping bones, generally carried at the hip for easy access.

Kei and the rest of her coven generally eschew magical equipment beyond these effects, but she at least keeps a wand and a broom. The former is closer to a stave in size and carved from the femur of a gryphon, used to direct and corral her Spirits. The latter is a tough and study-handled affair that she often assigns the role of carrying her heavier supplies, most notable among them being a bag of medical tools and supplies, a cooking pot, bowls and cutlery, as well as dry ingredients such as herbs and a handful of starches. Also included in these supplies are an assortment of sealable jars that can be used as a focal point for her temporary stasis spell; she uses this technique to both isolate the dangerous elements she recovers during forays into the labyrinth and store perishable ingredients and leftover food, and it's difficult to tell which is the original intent and which is the bonus.

Brief Backstory:
Kei's coven, the Saiseijin, originate from outside of Refne, in a country to the far east. Their founder was a healer who lived in the rural countryside during a long period of drought and famine, and who began to gravitate away from 'orthodox' magic as their studies into the cycle of life and death around her drew her attention and fascination towards the essential role of decay within. Traditional white magic was reaching its limit, only able to provide palliative care as her charges' suffering continued because of factors beyond their and her control; and so she made contact with one of her homeland's minor deities, the Harbinger of Decay, entering a pact with them to evoke their power of decay to develop her understanding further.

It worked frighteningly well. Despite some early stumbles, the power of decay harnessed through the lens of an accomplished healer was able to convert the inedible or otherwise inaccessible sources of life energy in the afflicted countryside into workable sources; besides providing ample energy to sustain the ailing people under her care, it helped to restore the land around the frontier hamlets into a arable state, accelerating the natural process of recovery. The newly-founded Saiseijin refined their craft further and further over the next century and a half, attracting many other healers who had struggled in their own demesne, as well as taking in and training up a number of magically-gifted children who had been left orphaned or destitute. Even once the long drought passed, they held strong, offering their services not only as healers, but as cullers for wildlife that grew unruly or beyond the ability of the enviroment to sustain, and cleaning up battlefields of both the corpses of invading soldiers and the supernatural beasts that their country's military was despatched to deal with.

Unfortunately, however, not only was distrust of witches rampant at the time, the magic of the Saiseijin was perceived by their country's government and spiritual body as particularly base and filthy, and their attitudes towards death and the handling of even human remains as heretical. While those out in the frontier were generally happy to accept what help they could get, and even those who professed distaste for them were interested in their services all the same, as 'freaks who dwell alongside death', they were ostracized and denied entry to major settlements for their perceived blasphemy and impurity, if not treated with outright hostility and aggression by travelling warriors, holy men and the soldiers accompanying them. Some weathered the hatred, banding together and forming their own little communes to protect each-other; but after experiencing the loss of their hamlets, a number of families opted to band together and leave their homeland, taking their teachings west in hope of finding greater acceptance there.

Kei belongs to a coven of Saiseijin descended from a handful of those families that travelled all the way to Refne two centuries ago, and while 'welcome' may be a stretch to describe how her coven is viewed, the concentration of witches around the country's capital of Lumiere and the lesser emphasis on purity and inherent stigma against their teachings and magic has allowed them to eke out a fairly steady existence. Often referred to as 'Keepers of the Rot' by Refne natives (a nickname they feel ambivalently towards, but appreciate more than the equivalent from their homeland), the services they offer are much the same as they once offered in the old country, and the handful of families belonging to the Refne coven each maintain a hamlet in the frontier beyond the capital, providing relief to travellers, maintaining the environment around their homes and taking in children either temporarily or more long-term to train them up in their arts.

Kei is one such child who joined the coven through adoption. Born to a non-magical family as 'Kei Clair', she was initially raised at a farm some distance from Lumiere, where her parents lived and worked as hands. The farm had business with the nearest family of the Saiseijin, the Kimura, and the strange figures weren't unfamiliar to the very young Kei as they came and went through the nearby countryside. Most working on the farm other than its owner would keep a respectful or at least wary distance from the 'Keepers of Rot', and even the older children on the farm were intimidated by their bizarre appearances and the unnerving sounds that accompanied them. Her mother, however, hailed from the same part of the world as them and spoke often with the Kimura when they visited, befriending one of the family's most up and coming witches- Atsuko Kimura- and soon introducing her daughter to them so that she could learn about their shared history.

Life on the farm was steady but peaceful, and it likely would have continued in such a fashion if not for the onset of tragedy. When Kei was five years old, a hunting party passing through the area carelessly lost track of their mark, a gryphon that they had already severely wounded. Tiring of the hunt and wanting to move on to new targets, they left the beast to fester and suffer the loss of its ability to fly or pursue faster quarry, forcing it towards the easiest prey within claw's reach; the farm.

It didn't take long for the Kimura to discover what had happened, but by then, it was already too late. The gryphon had spent a few days picking off the farm's livestock before the lack of consequence and its hunger led it to become bolder and attack the farm directly, shredding through the unprepared common folk there with little trouble. When they arrived, they found Kei as the sole survivor, hiding in the wreckage of the farmhouse from the beast as it picked through the destruction it had caused in desperate search for any remaining morsels of food. They hadn't arrived in time to save the farm, or even her family, but Atsuko herself took the gryphon on to protect the one thing that was left to save, digging through the wreckage to rescue Kei before setting her Spirits to deliver overdue mercy and release to the beast.

The Kimura notified the local government of the farm's destruction and the deaths of those who lived there, and their kin arrived to pay their respects, and collect their belongings and remains to be buried. But as the last mourners filed out and the remains of the gryphon were buried at the site of its demise, there was no family surviving outside of the farm that came to collect Kei. Unwilling to simply let her become a ward of the state to be passed between homes, Atsuko took it upon herself to offer shelter to the young and grieving Kei, at least until she and the rest of the family could figure out a better arrangement. As time went on, however, and they helped her to come to terms with what happened the best they could, she found herself settling into life with the family as easily as she had before. Life at the hamlet was much alike to her previous life, a pastoral environment with a number of non-magical people both passing through and living there temporarily or permanently and with a number of children for her to bond with. That and her familiarity with the Kimura gave her something comforting and familiar to hold on to, and so before long her unofficial adoption by Atsuko soon became an official one, taking up their name to become 'Kei Kimura'.

Kei spent the rest of her childhood living with the Kimura, joining them in looking after their demesne and the younger children that lived there; and as soon as she was old enough to understand how it worked, she insisted on learning the coven's magic to be able to support her mother and aunts in looking after those who passed through. While Atsuko was initially hesitant, not wanting to put her adopted daughter in any more danger after what had happened, she soon relented as she found Kei possessed an aptitude for their arts; she took readily to commanding even the spirits her adoptive mother loaned her control of, soon becoming her apprentice as well as her adoptive daughter.

When Kei was thirteen, she was permitted to form her own pact with the Harbinger of Decay and properly inducted as a novice of the Saiseijin, allowing her to accompany Atsuko on her on her travels to and from the nearest towns and cities to their hamlet. For the next few years, she continued her tutelage by directly supporting her adoptive mother, sisters and aunts in their roles as healers and guardians, gaining direct experience in the field; and finally getting the opportunity to talk with other witches outside the confines of her home and the arrangements that existed there.

Over the next few years as she honed her craft in the field in-between continuing her tutelage and duties at the Kimura hamlet, she grew steadily more curious of the world beyond those confines; while ambivalent towards 'modern comforts', she was fascinated by other witches and their magic, and of the mysteries and complexities of the world beyond. In particular, during their visits to Lumiere to meet with their aunts and sisters in the Moon Circle Society, she became fascinated with the idea of Notte's Labyrinth, the seemingly never-ending dungeon-cum-ecosystem teeming beneath the city of lights, and which a number of their coven, nicknamed the 'Labyrinth Keepers' helped to manage.

When Kei reached the age of eighteen, finally a fully-fledged if unproven witch, Atsuko accepted an offer from the Moon Circle Society to replace a previous representative of the Saiseijin who had stepped down. While at this point Kei was free to do as she wished, being both an adult in the eyes of the law and a practicing healer under the Kimura, she chose to accompany her adoptive mother to Lumiere. While she was sad to leave her home behind, the city seemed to offer the most ample opportunity to further develop her magic; and after a few years of plying her trade around the city limits, the Council approved her request to join her kin in helping support exploration of Notte's Labyrinth, alternating with the existing Labyrinth Keepers to tend to those on the surface and those charting the subterranean depths.