Lemons
Supermaxx
Zeus23
Yankee
Raijinslayer
SkyeOfStars
Not a Sayan
VenusSundew
Kaitha Morro
20
Female
The Sea of Stars
Moon (Shadow)
- Negative Space: Embracing her aether sign, Kaitha becomes a blot, enshrouded, coated as if by ink and shadow. Pitch drips from her form, liquid dark that slithers back to her as quickly as it hits the dirt. All that remains are two glinting white pits for eyes, which seem paradoxically bored into her, and also detached, moving about her head freely to grant her a wider degree of vision. In addition to making her an absolute nightmare to look at, this ability grants Kaitha a slight enhancement to her speed and strength.
- Flitter: Only usable while in Negative Space, Flitter allows Kaitha to make herself just that much harder to hit. Her umbral edges blur, her steps stutter and she moves like a smudge, or the shadow of a nightbird passing overhead.
- Moonlit Confessional: When she was young, Kaitha would sometimes hear whispers in the dark. It was only much, much later she discovered that, with focus, she could speak back to it. While the dark never answered, she did find some use in sending her shadowy messages to others, who would hear her distorted voice crawling from the dark.
Spirited, thrill-seeking, and in desperate need of some good friends, Kaitha is a an outgoing and curious person by nature. However, growing up in such an isolated place with few people willing to associate with her means she’s still learning the ins and outs of proper socialization. Sometimes she speaks when she shouldn’t, others she’s silent when she ought to speak.
While not as deeply spiritual as some of the people from her home, she still shoulders a few quasi-religious eccentricities. As well, though she likes meeting new people, and isn’t normally one to judge, she isn’t shy about espousing her disdain for the empire.
For centuries, the great beast called Aephel, and the shell-city atop it, drifted along the Sea of Stars’ border, patrolling the few and dangerous routes to its neighbor, the Lost Sea. Aephel’s people were as enigmatic as the fog they watched, remaining largely isolated from the rest of their own nation, as well as the nations beyond. Those few outsiders who anchored there, did so briefly and would describe the culture as insular and arcane. They were largely self-governing, but frequently ceded authority to an organization of warrior priests called “Aephel’s Choir,” or, more colloquially, just “The Choir.” While not outright hostile, Aephel’s cold and unwelcoming nature towards outsiders ensured that little else was learned of it.
Kaitha, however, learned plenty.
Although they did not worship it, Aephel’s people regarded the moon in a way many would comfortably describe as “religious.” They took guidance from the waxing and waning, from the tides, even from its reflections. Omens both good and bad were derived from every facet of its being, and among them, to be born under its aetheric sign was considered great.
Most often.
Born under the vermillion light of a harvest moon, Kaitha was not what many would consider a lucky child. In fact, the word used most frequently was “cursed.” It didn’t help that her mother, Petra, was head of the Choir, and would for the rest of her days fight tooth and nail against the notion that her position should be forfeited to someone with children who were less doomed.
Kaitha grew up under scrutiny from not only the Choir, but the people of Aephel in all. When misfortune befell them, without fail there would be whispers of fated calamity, and now and then there were more heated calls for Petra to resign—calls which were quickly and severely silenced. Rather than cave to the pressure and become a recluse like her late father, or a cold statue like her mother, Kaitha did what plenty of high-spirited youths would do in her shoes: rebel.
Aephel prized solitude, so Kaitha socialized—as best she could. Whenever the rare visitors would anchor, she would talk with them and hear their stories of excitement and adventure. She would join diving crews plundering areas nearby on Aephel’s ceaseless journey, and return each time to the same scornful glares and pointed whispers she would have gotten anyway. People said she was shirking her duty, besmirching the Morro name; they would use it to justify never letting her into the Choir, as if they were ever considering it. She trained anyway. Petra would never let her daughter go to waste no matter what the others thought. Kaitha might never wear the diving habits of the Choir, but she would protect Aephel and the Sea of Stars just the same.
Things changed when she was eighteen. An argument with her mother saw Kaitha once again abandoning her duties to go play at adventuring with passing divers who were predictably and thoroughly disturbed by her, but she didn’t care. She was gone for days, living a life she only dreamed could be real, and when the fun was over, and it was time to go, she was struck with the same sinking melancholy that always followed her home.
Only, there was no home.
Kaitha saw it on the horizon, how Aephel was tilted in a strange way, how the water was darker and the fog—gods, the fog. It rolled down from on high, and though she could not see it she felt in her the fear of something very small standing before something utterly titanic. The loudest sound Kaitha had ever heard exploded through the air, louder than any thunder crash or tidal wave, a sound she could never truly describe but which would remain with her in her mind forever.
When the fog cleared Aephel was gone. Her mother, her home, the Choir, all of it was just…gone. They found wreckage in the waters, little of it salvageable and none of it bearing any hint as to what exactly had happened. She found a diving habit, and a Choir weapon, but otherwise Kaitha left the remains of her home to sink.
Afterwards, Kaitha stayed with the divers until they reached the Sea of Ancients where, with nowhere else to go and no other prospects, she joined the Diver’s Guild.
Kaitha’s habit isn’t just for pretending she’s part of a dead order that shunned her for her entire life—it also serves as a diving suit, and is perfectly functional in combat.
Her weapon, a saw-bladed staff, was designed mainly for use against the creatures of the Mother Ocean, but works just as well on anything else she can dig its teeth into. Durable and deceptively lightweight, it can even be used underwater.
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