MAIN GOAL ⫻ (What does your character hope to accomplish in life?)

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ (What is your character's outlook on life?)

SECRETS ⫻ (What is your character hiding?)

SEXUALITY ⫻ (Your character's sexual preference?)

FEARS ⫻ (What does your character fear?)

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ (What was their reputation in the old Sycamore Tree Coven? Did they play a part in its dissolution? If they're new, simply place N/A here.)

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ (Basically, how did your character aid/hinder the against with the Stygian Snake? If they're new, simply place N/A here.)

FLAWS ⫻ (What holds your character back?)

Pretty standard affair. I'm not going to expect a super long essay here, just the basics and whatever.

TYPE ⫻ (Put Adept, Apparition, Aberration (Afflicted/Agent/Adjoined/Abscised/Abominable), Blind or One-Eyed-Open)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ (Put the name of the Abstraction here, with a one-sentence description of what the Abstraction does. If Adept, put what Lux they have, and what their channeler is.)

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ (Go in-depth with what exactly the Abstraction allows them to do. Please be as detailed as possible because if it's not in the sheet; they can't do it. If Adept, detail every individual spell.)

LIMITS ⫻ (What are the limits to their abstraction? The stronger/more complex the ability, the more limits I want. Remember Emotional-Fields will inhibit the use of certain abstractions on other Paranormal beings.)

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

Anyyyything else?

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Britney truly wants to forgive herself and be forgiven by the old Coven for her actions. In the battle with the Stygian Snake, she did some... not so great things (such as forcing curses and Apparitions onto people so they could join the fight). Afterward, the entire Sycamore Tree Coven hated her and eventually voted her out. Thus, in the ten years since, Britney has been working on herself and wishes to be forgiven.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Britney Williams believes in the power of compassion as the keystone of her life. She sees compassion as a virtue and a driving force that dictates her actions, decisions, and interactions with the world. Britney recognizes that people make mistakes, including herself. She believes in forgiveness and second chances (as she so desperately needs herself), always seeking to understand the reasons behind actions and offering support to those who genuinely want to change. Britney understands that small acts of kindness can have a significant impact on the world and the lives of others. She makes it a daily practice to perform acts of kindness, whether helping a stranger in need, volunteering, or simply offering a listening ear to a friend in distress.

Britney Williams believes in achieving the greater good, even if it requires getting her hands dirty, because she has seen that idealism has fallen short. Her philosophy involves doing everything necessary to keep the world safe for others, even if she has to sacrifice herself. While she has a compassionate side, her sense of justice can be unforgiving and brutal. She views sacrifice as something that just cannot be avoided, realizing that sometimes the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. This drives her ruthless streak, willing to cause significant collateral damage to protect the rest of the world and eliminate threats such as the Stygian Snake, the 8th Street Coven, etc. Britney believes that actual change requires hard choices, and sometimes you just can't pussyfoot when the fate of the world is at stake.

SECRETS ⫻ In the battle with the Stygian Snake, Britney held a lot of secrets... mainly that she had been purposely infecting people with Afflictions and Adjoining them with Apparitions to have more footsoldiers in the fight against it. However, after it came out, her reputation plummeted, and since then, Britney has dedicated herself to holding no more secrets.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Britney is pansexual, but she wants kids someday, so she leans a bit toward males. Other than that, Britney isn't all that picky, and she isn't above flirting with anybody.

FEARS ⫻ Britney, deep down, fears the world of magic and the Paranormal and that someday another threat along the lines of the Stygian Snake will arise. This time, they won't be able to stop it. Britney also fears herself because of a deep-rooted guilt in her previous actions.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Britney was... not very well liked. Originally, she was seen as instrumental in defeating the Stygian Snake, but after some revelations came to light about the lengths she went to defeat it... her reputation and relationship with the group plummeted. She was only kept around due to her knowledge of the magical, but even that was shaky. Shaky enough, she was voted out of the Coven a few months before their eventual collapse.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ an essential part... as when Britney was brought in, the Coven had no clue of how to defeat the damn thing and were just throwing spells at it and hoping something worked. Britney told the Sycamore Tree Coven about the artifacts known as the Apparition Killer and the Bull's Ring. With Kari Wilson's help, they could travel to different universes and locate them. Britney was also secretly forcing people to join with Apparitions and cursing them to have more hands to battle the Stygian Snake - which was not well-received by the Coven when they found out.

FLAWS ⫻ While Britney is ultimately a well-meaning person, she has an issue with forcing her ideas of what is right and wrong onto other people (one could say it's a mild God-Complex). This means that Britney was willing to screw other people over to stop the Stygian Snake and justified it to herself by saying she was doing the right thing. Britney is ultimately helpful in doing whatever it takes to get the job done, but she cannot understand when she's infringing upon someone else's autonomy.

The Williams Family is a wealthy family that owned a lot of sway in the town of St. Portwell, as they hold plenty of businesses (primarily tourist attractions) that get plenty of foot traffic. They weren't millionaires, but they had amassed enough wealth to provide their daughter, Britney, with everything she needed. However, Williams held a dark secret: they were Adepts who used their magic to bully their business rivals and make people sell their businesses to them. Of course, Britney didn't learn about this until she was far older. Britney lived her early life as a loner despite her nature, as she was used to reaching out to people only to get used to her resources. Thus, she grew up keeping people at arm's length. Still, she kept herself company by digging into her family's archives, a massive library on the world of the Paranormal, and learning about different artifacts, Apparitions, and so forth. It was her hobby to dig into such a place, and it was her quiet place, as her family never bothered her.

This was between school, interacting with her few true friends, and dance class/ballet. As she grew up, she learned how to sort out the people who had no interest in her and kept her friend group small. However, when she entered high school, the Stygian-Snake's reign of terror began; Britney was spending time with some friends when one of them was enthralled by the being and forced to kill everyone else in the room - including Britney. When the girl came at Britney with a knife, she underwent her Kindling Event and activated her connection to the Red Lux... which was useless now. Britney managed to escape and immediately retreated to her family's library, where she found information on the Stygian Snake.

Britney saw herself as the only person who was capable of stopping the damned thing, so she completely locked herself off from everything (friends, school, etc.) and practiced casting spells. She discovered her affinity was towards plant life, so she kept at it and devised several plant-based spells. After deciding she was ready, she set out to battle the Stygian Snake... Britney knew that she was one girl, but she was going to do the best that she could. This led her to her friend Auri Auclair, who asked for Britney to be there under the Sycamore Tree when they formed. Making Britney one of the founding members, however, they weren't making any headway on the Apparition, and they were losing members one by one as if the thing was trying to dry them of all hope.

Britney took the role of "Magical Advisor" (and she was considered the defacto fourth in command) as she was the most magic-knowledgeable out of the Coven and told them everything she could find on the Stygian Snake and various artifacts such as the Apparition Killer and the Bull's Ring. She was a part of the brave group that ventured to the alternate universe to find both artifacts. However, Britney didn't have complete faith in their odds, even with powerful artifacts such as the Bull's Ring, so she did a little something... that was finding Apparitions and binding them to people without their consent, and even afflicting people with curses. She would "find" these people and rope them into the Sycamore Tree Coven, and one of them was "Queen Bitch" Emily G.Reed (in Britney's defense; nobody liked her, and it would make the world a better place if she died).

On the eclipse day, Britney helped defeat the Stygian Snake by binding the bastard in vines while Ashley put the finishing blow on the bastard. However, Britney overexerted herself and passed out; thus, she was not there when the Stygian Snake was sealed into the tree. Britney had her memory of the tree wiped and joined the Coven in their adventures, who would go on to do great things...

... and those "great things" were fighting over every little tiny thing, slinging shade at each other, and overall being useless. Worst of all, Britney's little "recruitment drive" came to light, and the Coven vilified her due to her awful actions. She became the group's punching bag because of her actions and was nearly kicked if it wasn't for the fact that she was so valuable. Emily G.Reed was the least happy about it and constantly antagonized Britney and the more generous members of the Coven. Britney hung in there because she cared about her friends and knew they would get themselves killed without her. However, she was ultimately voted out for the good of the group and accepted it. They completely dissolved a few months later, and everyone went their separate ways.

Britney moved on with her life, only maintaining contact with Auri as she knew that Britney had regretted her actions. She went to college, wanting to build a life without living in her family's shadow - but she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. Eventually, Auri suggested that she could become a model, and Britney thought it was daunting (she was huge and didn't have that model built). However, Auri motivated her to go ahead with it, and she made a portfolio, found an agent, and became a plus-sized model! She appeared in food, appliances, and clothing advertisements for various companies around St. Portwell. However, she kept her ear to the ground to the events of the supernatural scene around St. Portwell, learning that Emily formed her own Coven, the extradimensional intrusion, etc. Britney had zero interest or agency in participating in it, so she kept to herself but knew the next threat was just around the corner...

However, Britney learned of the string of murders happening to the previous members of the Coven, and Auri put out the call to her - telling her that she was getting the gang back together. Britney was unsure of how the reception to her return would be, but she didn't want to see anyone else get killed.

Britney hesitantly accepted and attended their first meeting at Auri's flower shop...

TYPE ⫻ Adept.

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red Lux. Britney's channeler is her silver necklace engraved with the logo of the Sycamore Tree Coven.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Britney is a very experienced Red-Lux Adept who has an affinity towards Nature Plantlife, Water, and Light due to her compassionate and fun nature. Britney has created three "modes" for her Spells that she switches between back and forth. She is proficient in her "Land-Mode" mode due to overreliance on it and neglecting her training. However, she is learning to branch out and tap into the potential that is "Mode: Sea" and "Mode: Sky."

MODE: SEA ⫻ A new mode that Britney is seeking to experiment with. Mode: Sea marks Britney Williams' journey into harnessing the elemental power of water, which complements her Floramancy and Edafosmancy. With this evolving style, Britney delves into the depths of aquatic-based elemental magic, channeling the fluidity and adaptability of water to augment the rest of her Spellbook. Through "Mode: Sea," Britney can summon and manipulate bodies of water that dance at her fingertip and are limited by only her imagination. There is only one element that she is developing under Mode: Sea: Hydromancy.

MODE: SKY ⫻ As Britney continues to explore her Red-Lux, she delves into a new discipline known as "Mode: Sky." This is primarily a Mode she developed in the Old Coven, learning spells from Jake Valos and Elsa Connor - however, she didn't get a chance to flesh it out thoroughly and neglected this mode in favor of Mode: Earth. This style revolves around harnessing the power of light and weather manipulation. In her early attempts, Britney's control over this domain was fragile. She attempts to conjure light in various forms - Similarly, her efforts to manipulate the weather are met with limited success as she struggles to coax even a few drops of rain from the heavens.

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK (Joint-Casts) ⫻ Not quite a discipline like Mode: Earth or Mode: Sea, Mode: Mycorrhizal Network is a collection of Britney's Joint-Casting Spells.

MODE: EARTH ⫻ Britney's Floramancy is limited by range and time; she has a far easier time manipulating existing plants as opposed to creating new plant life. If she wants the plants to survive, they have to be in an area where they can logically stay - so if she makes vines on concrete, they're going to die fast, or if she creates something that lives in a different biome than St. Portwell... it won't last long. Creating plants on non-soil-life also takes far more effort and time than it would on dirt. For her Floramancy and Edafosmancy, she has to be touching the ground (she can't, for example, be on a fire escape trying to manipulate a tree beneath her).

MODE: SEA ⫻ Britney's hydrokinetic abilities are practical only within a short range (around two meters). Britney's hydrokinetic spells have a limited duration before dissipating or losing effectiveness. Her skill is minimal, but she can push past these limits as the Spell group develops.

MODE: SKY ⫻ Britney's Weather and Light manipulation spells require a significant amount of stamina, leaving Britney physically and mentally drained after extended use. Britney struggles to control the intensity and direction of her light manipulation spells, leading to erratic and unpredictable results. She may inadvertently create blinding light flashes or fail to maintain a steady illumination.

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK ⫻

MODE: EARTH ⫻ For Britney to use her Floramancy, her primary Spellgroup, she needs to donate a bit of her life force to power it. The more she uses the Spell, the physically weaker she'll become, the paler her skin will get, the more sluggish, the hungrier, and she can even kill herself if she pushes herself too far. Other than that, her plants are as vulnerable to poison, fire, and ice as other plants. For Britney to use her Edafosmancy, she must be immobile (surfing on dirt doesn't count as she's using the dirt to move), which can leave her vulnerable.

MODE: SEA ⫻ While Britney's Mode: Sea grants her the ability to manipulate water with finesse, prolonged or intense use of her hydrokinetic abilities leaves her physically drained and dehydrated. Manipulating large bodies of water or creating powerful water-based spells taxes her body, causing fatigue, dehydration, and physical weakness. This vulnerability affects her ability to continue casting spells and leaves her vulnerable to physical attacks or other threats while weakened.

MODE: SKY ⫻ Britney's ability to manipulate light can overwhelm her senses, causing sensory overload and disorientation. When she channels intense beams of light or creates blinding flashes, she may experience temporary blindness, visual distortions, or headaches due to the extreme brightness. Britney's connection to the weather in Mode: Sky makes her highly sensitive to changes in atmospheric conditions. This sensitivity manifests as physical and emotional discomfort, exacerbated during extreme weather events such as storms or intense heat waves. Britney experiences migraines, nausea, or anxiety in response to fluctuations in barometric pressure, humidity, or temperature.

MODE: MYCORRHIZAL NETWORK ⫻

Britney likes to be nude when she's alone.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ She hopes to understand more about her apparition and how she can protect herself so she doesn’t have to night-stalk at its bidding.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ She believes it’s better to be feared than loved.

SECRETS ⫻ She hides her insatiable thirst for entropy. She tries to blame it all on her apparition, but somehow, the thirst has become her own.

SEXUALITY ⫻ She is innocent, without thoughts of the such.

FEARS ⫻ She fears being alone and being trapped.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ When it became known that she had fallen into the habit of night-stalking, she wasn’t well-liked. It often led to heated arguments when she refused to change her ways. It is likely that her inability to find an agreement with the heads of the Coven played a part in the dissolution.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ She gripped the Snake in her phantom hands and sapped it of its strength, helping aid the battle and weaken it.

FLAWS ⫻ Her indecisiveness. She doesn’t want to give in to her thirst or her apparition’s demands wholeheartedly, yet she also doesn’t stop herself or seek help.

She was very young when she had dreams of walking through a dark place, what she would later learn was the Void. One of the times she walked, a being approached her, dark and smothering in its presence. It held out a phantom hand, and she, unknowing of the consequence of her action, held it.

When she awoke, the same apparition, albeit in a smaller form appeared before her. Ts voice was in her mind, and its desires were grappling with her own. They fought, and she managed to draw a figurative line between them, keeping control of herself and her body. However, its incessant thoughts and whispers continued to try and mold her to its will as time went on.

She was the only daughter of a father who was a wealthy businessman, and her mother had passed from illness early on. With a business opportunity presenting itself in St. Portwell, her father moved the family from Paris to St. Portwell. The change was difficult for Alizée, which her Void Heart took full advantage of.

During one particular night, she was battling with her apparition after she refused to use Void Entropy on a young girl, a similar age to her, who was lost in the city. The battle became rather violent and chaotic, with buildings getting knocked out and glass shattering. Luckily, Ashley Stone and a few others found Alizée before the police did, and managed to subdue both her and her apparition before things got out of hand. That was how Alizée made her first introduction with the Coven, and was soon inducted after that.

During the battle with the Stygian Snake, she sapped it of its energy and worked with her Coven to defeat it.

Tensions raised in the time after the great battle, as Alizée slowly changed. Despite being in a supportive environment, the whispers of the Void Heart were getting stronger and stronger. It was the 12th night in a row she had gone night-stalking when Ashely Stone followed her and uncovered her dirty little secret: Alizée was preying on the Blind, harming them, and causing them weeks in the hospital to recover from Void Entropy.

When Ashley confronted Alizée, she merely dismissed her accusations, trying to gaslight her. As Alizée continued to deny Ashley’s accusations, the room became more heated, and eventually ended in a physical fight where everyone intervened, holding the two girls back.

Ashley banished Alizée from the Coven, telling her Alizée wouldn’t be welcomed back until she stopped preying on the Blind. In hot, angry tears, Alizée swore she'd never return, and stormed out of the room. Little did she know those were the last days of the Coven before dissolving.

In the dissolution of the Coven afterward, more angry tears were shed. The Coven had been the one place where she felt she had family, despite their differences. And now, she was left to wander alone, with the apparition’s will crushing her at every given opportunity.

Without much to go off of, she returned to her father’s side and began learning his trade as a businessman. He owned a factory, producing different kinds of products based on the market demands in their city. She began learning more about how to run his business, even going as far as to become his official Junior Vice President when she turned 23. He had said many times he hoped to entrust her with the family business when she was ready. And if her life would be mundane and Blind, this was likely where her path would lead her.

Alas, life for the paranormal was never so cut and dry. Just a few years later, after her 25th birthday, Auri’s call reached Alizée in the form of a sealed letter, stamped in red wax with the seal of the Sycamore Tree Coven. When Alizée read the contents of the letter, she was in shock. Who was targeting them? Why? And how would the remaining Coven protect itself?

Yes, old wounds never healed, and she still held many grudges. But many of the people who were the source of her grudges, namely Ashley Stone… were dead. And death had a funny way of healing old scars, or at least numbing them, near-instantly.

Regardless, it went without saying that, despite their differences, she knew where her loyalties lay and made her way to the Coven’s meeting place, the flower shop.

TYPE ⫻ Aberration (Adjoined)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Void Light: The seams of the Void that yearn for entropy, sapping strength away.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ A purple and dark, smoky light that appears around her being whenever she uses her abilities. Also the main color of the Void Hands. If phantom hands are summoned, there is enough strength in the Void Light to bend steel rebar, which she uses to suppress the struggles of her victims. Both she and the apparition can use Void Light.

Subcategories:
- Void Eyes: Appears as purple irises with a red ring around the pupil. Cosmetic when she uses her Void Hands.
- Void Heart: Her apparition from the Void, usually floating a couple of inches above her shoulder. A ball of void light with Void Eyes. Has a thirst for entropy. Is able to use the Void Hands on a whim, and has been known to use Void Hands on Alizée on occasion when it doesn’t get its way. Being chained to her soul, the Void Heart can immediately take in and absorb any energy she siphons off using Void Entropy. This is how it eats, and it’s always hungry. Being connected to the Void, it has a special affinity for being in the in-between places of things, like dreams. The last time it dream-walked was when it was haunting Alizée before their souls became adjoined. Its haunting desire translates to Alizée’s continuous night-stalking as she ‘haunts’ her victims before siphoning off their energy.
- Void Hands: Claw-like phantom hands, made entirely of Voild Light. Can change in size from regular human-sized hands, to as large as a refrigerator, allowing her to grip humans and smaller apparitions with ease. To be touched by physical Void causes an immediate weakness in the body. Prolonged exposure saps all the energy of the target. Eventually, this is enough to slow and stop the heart, however, due to Emotional-Fields, it does not allow her to stop the heart outright, only bring it near.
- Void Entropy: Any strength that is sapped away by being in contact with her void light causes her to instantly absorb said energy, which can be used to sate the desires of the Void Heart. She must be in physical contact with her victim to sap its strength and energy. This is why her normal attack is to enlarge her hands and hold a victim by their torso with a death-like vice grip. She enjoys it when they try to struggle, but soon enough, white light in the form of energy is siphoned from their being, drawn past the hands, and coalesces through Alizée before being sucked into the cragged jaws of the Void Heart. Due to the nature of their entwined souls, the apparition’s sated thirst translates to her own phantom thirst’s satisfaction.

LIMITS ⫻ Being able to sap a person or thing of its energy does not mean she can outright kill them. The Emotional-Fields prevent her from doing so.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Accessing the Void Light opens Alizée's eyes to the Void itself... and over time, by utilizing the Void Light, she will begin to see hallucinations of the horrors of the Void. Eldritch abominations and people lost to the Void will appear alongside the mundane universe that Alizée is used to, attacking her mental state and making her doubt what is real and what is fake. The more Alizée (or the Apparition she's adjoined to) uses her abstraction, the worse this effect gets so that she will be functionally blind if she goes all out (as she'll see into the Void). This effect wears off over time, but its effects on her mentally will not. However, sapping away someone else strength and energy also begins to drain away at her - it won't be as dramatic as on the victim, but if she does this a lot, she can stop her own heart. An Abstraction like this will unnerve others and make it difficult for people to trust her.

- TikTok Tribute
- She also speaks French.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Since meeting the Void Heart, her goal has become to absorb as much energy as possible so Void has the strength to open the gates of heaven, so she can see her loved ones.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Loneliness will kill me before the entities do. Is it so bad to still want a friend, even if they might die? I’ll burn the entire world to feel a little comfort, a little warmth.

SECRETS ⫻ She continues to give ‘sacrifices’ to the void to save her own skin.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Too innocent.

FEARS ⫻ She fears the events of her childhood happening again, living every day on a fine wire, fearing the entities that play on her with puppet strings. She fears attracting the wrong attention due to her ‘sweet blood’ and causing a friend, if she had a friend, to perish.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Mainly unnoticed. She was known to be sweet, kind, and not speaking much. When there was violence or a disagreement, she usually kept quiet, fearing anyone’s anger on her. She was one of the last members to leave.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ She tried throwing white crystal roses at the snake in an attempt to get entities from the void to attack it. However, not many dared to attack such a fearsome foe, and she hid behind Stormy most of the time.

FLAWS ⫻ The belief that she’s right to be vindictive and heartless to her ‘sacrifices’ since the world was heartless to her. The stubbornness and refusal to drop her guard and let someone in, which would resolve a lot of her internal conflicts.

She figured a long while back, at least a few generations, she had some Greek in her lineage. Hence the poignant name. Always got teased for it. However, she’d take the teasing over what… happened. What… she did, any day.

The Hyacinthus family was known to be a family of brooders. Dark colors, dark home, dark expressions. This was many due to one thing, and one thing only. A secret the family kept hidden.

Other families would talk about ‘boogeymen’ and ‘monsters under the bed’. In the Hyacinthus home, these fantasies came to life. Every night, when the lights went out, in the wee hours, the quietus would be disturbed by bloodcurdling screams. Often, the lights would flicker on to expose Layla or her sister half dragged out of bed, a dark creature chewing on their arm.

‘Sweet blood’, it was called. That’s what her father said, anyway. It was a curse of the family, to have blood so sweet so as to attract the denizens of the night.

Layla was given an antique pendant containing a family portrait for her 12th birthday, had a frightening nightmare of being consumed by flowers, and ever since, she discovered she could manifest crystal flowers at will.

They had a unique quality to them, white in color, softly glowing, fragile, and easy to break. What was more interesting was how they changed the behavior of the denizens that would come to visit them - the entities she would one day discover came from the void.

Her sister had been balling from the pain of the bite a monster had given her the night before. Thinking it might help, Layla laid a crystal flower at her sister’s bedside that night. In the morning, her sister… was gone. In her place, a bloody mess, ripped flesh, a near-unrecognisable body.

The mourning in the home continued for days.

Layla blamed herself, and a few nights later, she thought she would join her sister. She created a crystal flower, and laid it at her own beside that night. After a few hours of blissful sleep, she awoke to smoke, fire, and the sound of ripping flesh.

She escaped her burning house. The report from the fire department and police later that night explained how two bodies were discovered, marred beyond being identified, before being set on fire, the fire spreading to the rest of the house.

The entities didn’t touch Layla for an entire month. That’s when she discovered, in a horrifying way, how the roses worked. Every time the denizens started to get antsy, she only had to give someone a rose, and she would be left alone. Little ‘sacrifices’ to appease the entities that haunted her.

When she was a few years older, she was walking the streets alone at night, before she heard screaming and fighting. She came across two girls fighting in the streets, whom she would later learn to be Alizée and Ashley. This was her introduction into the coven, after she tried to offer Alizée a rose, judging her to be the source of the conflict. The voidly being with Alizée immediately bit down on the rose and shattered it, spitting it out and telling Layla to ‘get lost’. Ashley was intrigued, however, and offered to meet with Layla again.

In the battle against the snake, Layla mainly hid behind Stomy and his shields, throwing white crystal roses at the snake to get as many entities to attack it as possible. Only a few showed up who were brave enough to risk it all against such a foe, and unfortunately didn’t do as much damage as Layla would have hoped.

After the fight, there were more and more arguments. Layla was never the source of any. She kept herself very private, you see. She was one of the last members to leave, and did so with a heavy heart.

After the dissolution of the coven, she began experimenting with the white roses. She started kidnapping people no one would miss, and watched the entities tear them apart. If she did this, the length of time the entities would leave her alone lengthened.

Preferring to be awake at night instead of the day, she took a nighttime job at a local gas station to pay for her studio apartment. With the Hyacinthus assets all liquified and life insurance wired to her bank, she essentially took a dead-end job to cover rent and her expenses as she continued her experiments with the white roses and what the entities wanted.

When she heard Auri wanted to bring the coven back together, she told herself she had a night shift to get ready for, and couldn’t possible attend. She didn’t want to get discovered, after all these years. Prolonged contact with people who once knew her could very well put the puzzle pieces together.

However, in her nap before her shift, a certain someone or something came to her in a dream. A flowering white field stained with darkness. A crooked grin, albeit sad, on an orb she recognized from long ago. And a dark hand, outstretched, waiting.

Of course, she took it.

What happened afterward was interesting, to say the least. She lost the ability to make crystal roses. In its place, she gained the powers of the Void Heart.

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Tincture Horrors, the ability to create and deliver poisons through needles. Master of the Hounds, the ability to call and command the hellhounds subservient to the Rill siblings. Smoke's Crossing, the ability to come and go through the Void at a moment's notice.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Layla's abstraction can be broken down into facets:
Tincture Horrors
Master of the Hounds
Smoke's Crossing

Tincture Horrors - The ability to form, summon and create poisons in vials and needles. They are shaped from what appears to be smoke, but they're really sourced from the Void.

Besides being summoned from nothing, there seems to be no other obvious difference between these needles and ordinary needles.

Almost any type of poison can be created to affect apparitions and humans the same. Effects include dizziness, hallucinations, fever, vomiting, numbness, paralysis, and near-death sickness. Emotional-fields prevent these from being outright lethal.

Master of the Hounds - The ability to summon hellhounds, the size of mid-sized dogs, from the Void. There are about 30 hellhounds in total. If injured, the hellhounds will despawn and return to the Void. They can bite, claw, and listen to basic instruction from their masters. If more than one master gives them instruction, they may become confused.

Smoke's Crossing - The ability to cross from the Shimmer to the Void, and back. This is done through the appearance of smoke. The travel itself is instant, but limited to four crossings per day as Layla's mortal form is not able to handle Crossing like apparitions can.

LIMITS ⫻ Tincture Horrors - Emotional-fields prevent the poisons from causing death automatically.
Master of the Hellhounds - If more than one master gives them orders, they will become confused. Emotional-fields prevent their bites from being lethal.
Smoke's Crossing - Layla's mortal form can only handle four Crossings a day.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Having such an Apparition adjoined to her gradually saps away at her lifespan and lifeforce as it weakens the girl longer they are adjoined. She will constantly feel tired, sickly, and far easier to wound/injure. The vials are fragile, susceptible to magic, and if broken open, they can splash on Layla and get her sick. As beings of the Void, the Hellhounds are like Anti-Matter to the land of reality, and just being in the world will gradually weaken them. They are susceptible to magical attacks as they do extra damage to them, and Layla doesn't directly control them. Finally, the Void is a perilous place full of horrors, and crossing into the Void is incredibly taxing and straining on Layla's body.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ There’s a legend that says, “Enough souls will unlock the gates of paradise.” Void has interpreted this to mean that there’s a path from the void to wherever souls go, and aims to devour as much energy as possible to become strong enough to open the gates.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Cut and dry. You are either food, or a passing whim - a toy.

SECRETS ⫻ He covers the pain of losing his wife with his predatorial nature and bloodlust.

SEXUALITY ⫻ N/A, tends to fall in love with his playthings. They remind him of his wife.

FEARS ⫻ Fears the deeper, darker parts of the void. Fears anything happening to his playthings.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Was disliked, along with the late Alizée.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Aided the late Alizée in grabbing ahold of the snake and absorbing some of its energy.

FLAWS ⫻ Can become so focused on his own goals that he puts others at risk. The late Alizée is an example of this.

Void lived peacefully in the darkness of the void dimension with his wife. Or at least, as peacefully as one can in the land of nightmares. One day, a war broke out, and his wife got caught by the enemy. He had to watch as the void denizens larger and more fearsome in power as compared to him tore, ripped, and shredded apart his wife.

He was never the same after that.

He sought power, and he sought solace. He knew of a legend passed down by past generations within the void realm revolving around the gates of paradise. Anyone with enough power, and enough energy from souls could open the gates and see those who had passed on. Moved by bitter grief, he began seeking a conduit, a hauntee to tether him to the Shimmer so he could enact his will.

That’s when he found her… the late Alizée. He chose her almost immediately simply because she reminded him of his late wife.

He was the whispering voice in her mind, pushing her to fulfill his agenda. Sometimes strangling her when she was fussy. He tolerated the coven when they showed up and, out of necessity, helped with the battle against the snake. He refuses to admit it to himself, but the camaraderie was… nice. However, that quickly vanished when they interfered with the late Alizée’s night-stalking. It made him furious, and he was happy when Alizée blew up at Ashley and was banished. Less interference with his plans.

The reunion was… surprising, to say the least. He kept an eye on the late Alizée, but it clearly wasn’t enough. His heart was broken a second time when Alizée fell at the battle against the Wolfpack. Losing his tether to the Shimmer, he was left alone in the void to weep, and to wander.

He remembered, a distant memory, of the girl who stumbled across the late Alizée while she was fighting the late Ashley. He peered into the Shimmer, and found her… Layla.

She would do… Yes, she would do splendidly.

TYPE ⫻ Apparition

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Void Light: The thirst for entropy.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Void’s abstraction covers his entire person, but he affects the world with the hands he summons. Similar to the late Alizée’s, his hands can change in size, can bend rebar, and absorb energy, or life force.

Dimensional Portal: Void is able to create a portal between the Shimmer and the Void under specific circumstances.

1) Tethering/Adjoining - Void moves from the Void to the dreams of the target he wants to adjoin to, then to the Shimmer. He is unable to go back or stop the process of tethering to someone.

2) Severing Tether/Adjoinment - In the event a hauntee dies, the tether is shattered, and the Void opens up a portal meant to reclaim Void. He is unable to resist this process, as he is not strong enough to survive in the Shimmer without getting knocked back into the Void when he is not adjoined.

3) Travel - For the purpose of traveling between dimensions, Void can open a portal. This is how one day he will fulfill his promise to Layla to let her see the 'gates of paradise', only accessible from the Void. The limit to traveling is that opening a portal takes at least 2 rounds of posts before it opens.

LIMITS ⫻ He is unable to kill a person outright by siphoning off their energy due to the emotional-fields.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Accessing the Void Light opens his eyes to the Void itself... and over time, by utilizing the Void Light, he will begin to see hallucinations of the horrors of the Void. Eldritch abominations and people lost to the Void will appear alongside the mundane universe that he is used to, attacking his mental state and making him doubt what is real and what is fake. The more he uses his abstraction, the worse this effect gets so that he will be functionally blind if she goes all out (as he'll see into the Void). This effect wears off over time, but its effects on him mentally will not. An Abstraction like this will unnerve others and make it difficult for people to trust him.

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MAIN GOAL ⫻ She's doing what she was told to do so by her boss: keep an eye on the movements of the coven. Her own goal, however, is to spy on her own terms. She dreams of being friends with the Coven once more, and is slowly working towards being what she was ten years ago - the spying friend.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ If she wants something, she'll get it. She keeps her head held up high, honored by what she has earned in her life. She only lowers her head to her father and her boss. It's okay to gently brush others aside if there's an obstacle in the way of what she wants. Brush, or get someone else to violently shove them away. She is used to fighting for her own opportunities, and believes anything can be done with a little luck and hard, bloody work.

SECRETS ⫻ It's the nature of the mafia to have one's hands dirty, and Luna is no exception. Beyond this, she is somewhat addicted to Mother Cards eyes, and tries to keep this under wraps.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Too innocent.

FEARS ⫻ The disappointment of her father, or her boss. Of failing her family. Of really amounting to be nothing other than a ‘snake’ in the eyes of her covenmates.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Sweet, humble, kind and charismatic. At least, until it was discovered that Luna was trying to steal coven members for her mafia. Then she was regarded as a bit of a snake, and an outcast.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ She fought side-by-side with her covenmates, attacking the snake and its minions with bullets and sword swipes.

FLAWS ⫻ A messed up moral code where the taking of a life can be commonly justified by any means. Blind loyalty to her family, even at the cost of her friends and coven.

Luna's known the mafia her whole life. Family ties were always tight, as her father was specially asked by the House of Cards Mafia to oversee the accounting and management of the casino before it burned down.

Growing up in St. Portwell, there was a night she suffered in a drive-by shooting, killing her mother as she protected her father. The anguish Luna suffered as a result attracted the attention of an apparition known as The White Suit. Faceless, freakishly tall, spindly, and wearing a suit with impeccable taste, the White Suit took pity on the young girl and gave her power for revenge.

Luna was 15 when she spent her years clashing against the opposing mafia who sought the life of her father, and was responsible for her mother's death. She earned her place as a made member of the House of Cards, despite her age.

It was shortly after the conclusion of the war that a new threat permeated the streets of St. Portwell. The Sygian Snake. To protect her family, and serve her boss and her father, Luna headed out to try and stop the snake. It was in one of these clashes against its minions that Luna met Alizée and Void. It was through this connection that Luna was inducted into the Sycamore Coven.

Luna tried to keep her ‘business’ and her coven separate, but the congregation of paranormal abstractions attracted the eye of Phantasia Vorpal, who began asking Luna to spy on them, and learn from them. So she posed as a friend as she made notes of everything.

After the defeat of the Stygian Snake, the coven was falling into quick disrepair. Upon being told this, Phantasia (Mother Cards) asked Luna to see if any coven members would be interested in being hired. Luna tried to be discreet as she asked coven members. However, word got out that she was trying to drag people off into ‘dirty business’, and she was quickly exiled.

Before she left, she managed to entice Alizée, who worked with the House of Cards Mafia as hired muscle for a few years.

Without the coven, Luna focused herself on serving her mafia, keeping her father and her boss happy. When she turned 25, she was rewarded with the status of Captain.

At Auri's invitation to return, after 10 years of the coven being disbanded, Luna disregarded it. Instead, she's been taking orders from Mother Cards to resume spying on the coven once again, except this time from the shadows.

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined

ABSTRACTION ⫻ White Suit's Power

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻

Luna's White Suit's Power can be broken down into facets:

White Wings - Made of white energy, these wings sprout from Luna's back, faintly glow, and allow Luna to take flight.

White Construct - Any small, handheld construct that's simple in form can be created from Luna's white energy. This includes swords and guns, which are some of Luna's favourites. However, she has been known to simply create balls of light to see, or rope to type up hostages.

White Armour - Made of white energy, Luna can conjure plate armour from head to toe, including a helmet. It is strong like steel, and packs a punch when she throws down. This protects from physical and apparition attacks. If the attack is strong enough, like a bullet, it can shatter her armour, causing Luna to need to recreate it, which is physically taxing.

LIMITS ⫻ Piercing attacks like bullets can shatter her armour. It takes energy to recreate the armour, which can quickly exhaust Luna.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The primary weakness of the White Suit's power is the color black. Against anything black colored - whether magic or mundane - the constructs will crumble and warp against it, and anything colored black will shred through her constructs like it's nothing. Creating the constructs puts a strain on her, and larger constructs, or after a prolonged period of fighting, will cause intense headaches, nausea, vomiting, and other fun things.

She has a photo album of all the instances she has spied on the coven. This includes a photo when Alizée was shot. Bird's eyes shots of the Temple's outsides, of Dairy Queen. The gazebo. The burning church…

She also speaks Japanese.

Her themesong

MAIN GOAL ⫻ She just wants to sell her books and be an artist in peace. She wants her friends close, and she wants to forget about the sadness and horrors of the Snake and the coven's troubled past. She wants everyone to be safe, and for the serial killer plaguing them to be caught, so she can get back to doing what's important - finishing her next poetry book for the publishing office.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Live and let live, peace and be peaceful, do good unto others as you would like them to do good unto you, increase your good karma and good things will happen. She is an extreme idealist with a pure heart.

SECRETS ⫻ She feels guilty about her weed habit and occasional graffiti rampage around the city.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Too innocent.

FEARS ⫻ Death by serial killer, death by brutality, anything involving pain or extreme lengths of pain, scary situations where she doesn't have any control.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ She was considered to be nearly everyone's friend. Those that didn't like her saw her as somewhat of a dreamer and weedaholic. Those that did, well, she supposed they saw the same thing.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Aislin used the environment, like power cables, to electrify and deal damage to the Snake.

FLAWS ⫻ Her idealism turns into naivete, which can make it hard to see when she is being taken advantage of or is in a dangerous situation.

Aislin had a conventional childhood. At least, as conventional as one could have within the walls of an orphanage. She spent most of her free time drawing on whatever she could get her hands on, sometimes the walls. The pristine white walls. No matter how many times the woman of the orphanage tried to discipline her, she just couldn't shake the habit, and couldn't give it up.

Despite her free spirit, Aislin attracted the attention of her adoptive parents, Mira and David Rose, who found Aislin's talent for art endearing. At the age of 7, she was adopted into a household of two business executives. They showered her with love, yes, but being the only child of two very busy parents left Aislin with lots of time alone. She had to learn how to bear the silence by herself.

It was then, at the age of 14, that her world shattered and changed forever. She had gotten separated from her parents at a late-night fireworks festival, wandering alone in the dark. A girl with white hair, strange orb hovering around her, reached out and pulled small Aislin into a dark alley. None other than Alizée, using the phantom hands on Aislin's struggling body while lifeforce was sapped.

This attack caused Aislin's Kindling event. Being unable to defend herself, it wasn't until Drake Blackmore stepped onto the scene and chased Alizée away that Aislin was saved. The two stayed in touch, and Drake was the first to hear of Aislin's abstraction development. Drake invited Aislin to the coven, promising Alizée would stay away. Aislin simply shrugged, said it was all under the bridge, and became the newest Sycamore member.

This was at the beginning of the war with the Stygian Snake.

Aislin discovered a lot about her new powers during the war with the snake, and cheered with the rest of the coven when the snake was finally defeated.

It was a bit awkward yes, seeing Alizée again. But Aislin told herself that everyone was on the same side now, that she could forgive and forget. Start over fresh. Yes. Even become friends. Alizée was just behaving naturally anyways, right?

She became fast friends with many coven members, including Alizée, Layla, and Kali Mahendra. She was usually the voice of reason when people got into arguments, and she tried her best to keep everyone together as coven members began to fight more and more amongst themselves.

Alas, it wasn't enough, and she eventually left along with the rest as the coven dissolved. It was a few years later that she really started getting into her art phase, and she did what any sane paranormal artist would do in St. Portwell - join up with the 317. The next few years passed peacefully through artworks, printed t-shirts, books of poetry, and other printed memorabilia with her art on it. She has managed to earn almost six figures a year through royalties, online store space, and attending festivals with her own booth. And when she feels devious, she takes her spray paint to the streets and leaves beautiful graffiti on the buildings of St. Portwell.

She was content to spend her time as such, happy to forget about the shadow of the Snake. However, the call from Auri changed everything again. Aislin didn't attend the first few meetings as she was in denial. There was nothing wrong. She was safe.

But when Kali ended being one of the murder victims, Aislin knew she could ignore this no longer. When Alizée became a victim in a street brawl, Aislin had to question just how safe the paranormal of St. Portwell were.

Empowered by a love for her coven, and an urge to protect so no one else would have to die, Aislin has decided to return once again.

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Animation. The ability to give life to inanimate objects. Red/Gold Lux, channeler is a worn stuffed penguin.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ The ability to give crude life to inanimate objects. This means that anything that Aislin creates a mental connection with, she can give a program, or a set, to follow. For example, she can connect with power cables, and cause them to snap at one end, with the cables spinning and dancing in the air. This wound use Set 1, Play, as its not meant to hurt anyone. However, if an intruder charged Aislin in the next moment, she could change that set to 4, Attack, and the power cable would try to restrain the intruder. Emotional-fields make it so no animation can deal immediately lethal damage to an intruder.

Each animation gains its own bit of sentience for a short period of time.

She has learned to program animations with various sets, which are listed below.

Set 1 - Play - This is the default set given to animations when they are created without purpose other than to amuse. They will appear harmless, curious in nature, and innocent.

Set 2 - Watch - This set makes the animation act like a sentinel, doing rounds where Aislin is and keeping watch. If the sentinel notices anything amiss, it will alert Aislin right away.

Set 3 - Defend - This set makes the animation defend Aislin in every which way possible from an intruder. It will even sacrifice its own life to ensure the safety of its maker.

Set 4 - Attack - This makes the animation attack in every possible way against an intruder or offender. It will sacrifice its own integrity and life to deliver damage.

Set 5 - Listen - When the need changes on the fly, Aislin will program an animation with Set 5, where an animation will have no directive except for the thoughts going on in Aislin's mind. The most risky, and most versatile type of set in Aislin's arsenal.

LIMITS ⫻ Emotional-fields prevent animations from immediately killing an intruder. Emotional-fields also prevent people and living things from becoming animated. The heavier or larger an object is, the more energy it takes to animate it. She cannot animate corpses. Animations require focus - if Aislin were to fall asleep while an animation is running around, the animation would become inanimate. She can only animate 1-2 animations at a time.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ By animating objects, Aislin donates a bit of her life force to animate them and keep them alive. By doing this, she makes herself weaker and weaker; the more significant the animating, the more life force is required, and thus, the weaker Aislin will get. By willingly dispelling the animation spell, she can return her life force to her and return to normal. However, if the Animation is suddenly destroyed, the life force goes with it. If she uses too much of her life force, she may kill herself using her own magic. Her animations are weak against Elemental-Magic, such as fire, electricity, ice, etc., and are far easier to destroy by it.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Alizée has three main goals: 1) Find Vul. She doesn't remember much, but she does remember getting separated. She remembers desperation, a burning need to reunite.

2) Vengeance. Anyone who harmed her and Void must be destroyed. She remembers leather, and the roar of motorbikes.

3) Gates of Paradise. She's seen them with her own eyes, and knows it's where she wants to be. But she is not strong enough to open the gates. She needs energy for that. And she knows where to get it.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ You are bound by what you love. The chains on Alizée are a manifestation of her love for Vul. And through her bindment is her liberation, as her chains are the main source of her power. Alizée's heart, if apparitions had a heart, is open to love and friendship, but they must cross through a yawning expanse of distrust to get there. If Alizée finds another thing she loves or befriends, she will add another chain to her ensemble.

SECRETS ⫻ Is it fair to be bound? Where is Alizée's freedom? Is she a glorified slave, bound by love and friendship? Alizée has a doubt she repressed in the value of being bound. This secret, if pressed, can cause Alizée to doubt so much she loses her chains, and a large part of her power.

SEXUALITY ⫻ N/A

FEARS ⫻ Being eaten or destroyed by Voidlings larger or more powerful than she. She fears anything happening to her bindments, her connections, such as Vul.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ N/A

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ N/A

FLAWS ⫻ She is typically blindly loyal to whatever she is bound to, unlikely to critically think when it comes to making a decision about them.

A ring of a gunshot.

Then, darkness.

It took a long time to discern darkness from herself, but eventually, Alizée woke in Void, with only burning feelings, a few flashes of images, and scrapes of information, like names.

At first, her chains were heavy, and she couldn't move. But as she learned the chains weren't actually physical, but instead a representation of something inside her, they slowly got lighter and lighter, until eventually they floated weightlessly around her.

She only remembered a few things, as she wandered the shallows of the Void. Her name. A name of someone special - Vul. The red eyes of her mask would shine every time she thought of Vul, the scrapes that she remembered.

She remembered that she died, whatever she was before, trying to protect this Vul character. She remembered the sound of steel, a thunderclap in her ear. The tinkle of a casing falling to the ground. The smell of leather. The roar of metal machines - she knew the word, ‘motorcycles.’ She didn't know exactly who or what they were, but they were at fault, and she kept her eyes vigilant in the Void.

She remembered there were Gates, and it took a little time to figure out how to get there. But eventually, she was able to form a pathway through a circle of her chains, and saw the pantheons-wide Gates of Paradise.

They didn’t open to her, despite her yearning to enter.

Thus began her descent into the depths of the Void, picking off denizens that she could handle. She continued on like this, slowly drawing in strength and power, getting used to her skills.

It's unsure how long this went on, but there was one fateful moment in the Void where she felt a tug on her chains, in her heart.

This was the same time Vul (the Void Heart) was sealed at the Temple. Alizée felt this sudden spike in energy, before it disappeared almost entirely.

She knew that energy. And, moving her chains together to create another portal, she entered the Shimmer to seek out the whispering threads of Vul’s energy.

TYPE ⫻ Apparition

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Dark Binding: Chains that bind, expend, or facilitate.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Alizée's abstraction can be broken down into several facets:

The Chains
Chain Binding
Chain Exchange: Ki Blasts
Chain Pathway
Chain Connection
Chain Seeker
Chain Doubt

Chain Binding

These chains float in nature, and are connected telepathically to Alizée's ‘mind’, though one could say these are simply a type of extension for Alizée.

When these chains, with a thought, bind around someone or something, their physical essence is slowly absorbed. As it is absorbed, the body or thing that is bound begins to slowly fade into a spectral form. This spectral form is like the equivalent of a ghost, unable to be seen by those who aren't magically adept. It can't interact with the physical world of wherever its from, be it the Shimmer of the Void. It's also very weak. There are ways to reverse this spectral form if a healer knows how to do it.

These chains appear to be physical iron, and do not affect Alizée if they are burned or shattered.

Chain Exchange: Ki Blasts

Alizée is able to sacrifice links in her chain. This sacrifice causes the link to convert into energy, which is then redirected out through her mind to an exchange site she can see. Once chosen, the link disappears and ki blast explodes at the designated site. The blast is so strong that it has the ability to blast away concrete and earth. However, it will never kill someone caught in the blast - it will only impact them and send them flying, with or without broken bones, depending on the situation.

If she runs out of links, she can no longer bind or perform exchanges. Instead, she has to go to the source of connection with her links, and build them up over time. Forming genuine connections takes time, so she could be unable to fight for hours or days.

Chain Pathway

By forming her chains into a circle, a portal opens up within that can take Alizée anywhere she wants to go across dimensions. She mainly uses this to go between the Void, the Gates of Paradise, and the Shimmer.

Chain Connection

When Alizée has a special bond with someone, a cuff with a chain appears on her arms or legs. There's a few things that need to happen before a chain connection can be made. First, the connection must be a long one. Alizée must have frequented the person or apparition many times. Secondly, Alizée must be a part of the person's secret world. People have three worlds: exterior, what everyone sees; interior, what close friends and family see; and secret, where only a select few ever get to see. A good way to get into the secret world is by having the person or Apparition share a secret. Thirdly, Alizée must trust them explicitly.

This new cuff and chain, when formed, give strength to Alizée's person all over. She's faster, can bind and absorb energy faster, and can create stronger blasts. She also has more links with which she can create ki Blasts from.

Chain Seeker

Through Alizée’s chains, she can sense the approximate location of the one she's connected to through the chains. For example, in the case of Vul, she only realized she could sense him when he experienced a dire situation, and was sealed. When sealed, her ability to detect is much lower.

If a connection is in a dire situation, she will notice her chains and her heart tug painfully.

Chain Doubt

As stated in the Secrets section, Alizée's chains need faith and subjugation to work. She has to allow herself to be bound. If she decides that she has had enough of being bound, and wants to be free, the chains will start to disappear, as well as her power.

The Body
Cursed Hands

Cursed Hands

Perhaps from a previous life, Alizée's hands became cursed. This is more of a visual cursing, without much effect except being immune to mental and essence control.

LIMITS ⫻

Chain Binding - Alizée can never kill someone outright by robbing them of their energy and essence, only turn them into a specter that needs powerful healing to reverse.
Chain Exchange: Ki Blasts - If someone is in the center of a ki blast, it will never kill them. At max, it may break bones or fling them far.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Alizée’s chains are susceptible to magical disruption. Magical attacks can temporarily break her chains, rendering her unable to use her abilities until she can re-establish the links. If Alizée is physically restrained or immobilized, she cannot mentally control the chains effectively. This means binding or trapping her in a way that restricts her movement can neutralize her Abstraction. Using her Abstraction extensively drains Alizée’s magic and stamina. Prolonged Chain Binding or repeated Ki Blasts can leave her exhausted, weakening her overall magic, including her Emotional-Field. Suppose an opponent manages to break a chain while it is binding them. In that case, the backlash can cause a psychic shock to Alizée, disorienting her and causing excruciating pain for a short period.

Her Chain Connection relies on strong emotional bonds. If these bonds are severed or if the person betrays her, the chain not only disappears but also causes emotional and mental turmoil for Alizée, weakening her overall. In certain environments, such as places with extreme elemental conditions like high heat or corrosive atmospheres, her chains can decay rapidly, losing their effectiveness and becoming easier to break. Strong emotional or mental interference, such as illusions or psychic attacks, can disrupt her connection with her chains, making it difficult for her to control them.

It's important to clarify that Alizée being bound to something or someone is different to being adjoined. She can be bound with her chains to multiple things. The chains act as a representative of a psychic connection of trust, love, loyalty and friendship. She currently has eight chains all representing her connection to Vul. Vul would be unaffected by this representation, as it's only a manifestation on her side. Even if Vul didn't love her or want to be her friend, he can't change the chains. Only Alizée can do that.

Theme: Kaleo - Way Down We Go

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Immediately, Eksa's goal in life is to help others. Though, in truth, she isn't really the kind to stew too much on what she should be doing with her life - but being that she has achieved a healthy education that now allows her to operate in pharmaceuticals, this aforementioned goal could be considered well underway. If she were to really think hard on it though, she could suppose her life has other purposes. She has always had an interest in the paranormal world she's involved with, but has had little extra time to explore it to a deeper extent. Acclimating herself further to such a realm could be a worthwhile adventure.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Eksa's philosophy is straightforward, yet compassionate. Oftentimes, things just.. happen. Not particularly because they're supposed to, or because someone or something deemed it so - but because they just do. And it can be unfair, and often is. But no matter what happens, perseverance is key. There is always a path ahead, no matter how hidden or treacherous. And there is always a second chance. And there is always someone out there who will stand by your side. Somewhere.

SECRETS ⫻ Eksa has.. a complicated relationship with who she is. Her personal deformities haunt her, and make her extremely self-conscious. Gazes and glances unnerve her, and talking in front of groups is.. unpleasant, to say the least. She doesn't trust others not to judge her for her distorted self, and as such, tries not to get too attached to people. Additionally, Eksa blames herself, in part, for her mother's passing.. if only she had been more careful, or.. been better, her mother would still be alive.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Eksa is bisexual, with a lean towards women. Though she could never see somebody liking her back, given her condition.

FEARS ⫻ Eksa is plighted with a few irrational fears, due to her past disturbances. She's an insomniac - she dreads sleeping, as she once suffered a coma that left her unable to help her mother in her most difficult moments - a fact that has lead to countless sleepless nights. The thought of never waking up terrifies her, as well. She also has a bit of an aversion to open flames -- not as severely as she fears sleeping, but enough to make her want to distance herself physically from such things. Additionally, she also fears that she will never be seen as normal. After her accident she has, in part of her own doing, never really re-acquired any friends. This has altered her perception of herself.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Eksa' reputation with the old coven was pretty amicable. She was a friendly, adventurous sort with a fondness for learning about the other coven members and their paranormal features. She wasn't one to make many enemies.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Eksa's abilities as a black-lux adept were rather helpful in the battle against the stygian snake. With a penchant for manipulating apparitions, Eksa was quite influential in their skirmishes with the snake's abominables and apparitions.

FLAWS ⫻ Eksa is, moreso than others, secluded. She has trust issues, is quite self-conscious of what others think of her, and has made no real bonds with anybody since she was a teen. Her issues and anxieties have warped her since her childhood and have her sheltering her adventurous, fun-loving nature in a shroud of cagey uncertainty. Furthermore, she has been secluded from the paranormal world for a time, in favor of her education and work. She has, however, ensured her own paranormal abilities never get too dull.

The tale of Eksa's life stems from a simple, if tragic, set of circumstances. The tale of two lovers - Ava Thresh and Mac Grieves - who knew no true love. In truth, Eksa's conception was unintended, brought on by the aforementioned two while Mac was visiting The States from Scotland. After his departure, it was brought to his and Ava's attention that she was pregnant. But where Mac had no intention of being a father, Ava was excited -- she had always wanted a daughter.

But fate would have it that she was ill-suited for motherhood. Her history of addiction and substance abuse wasn't something that was so easily cleansed by the pure-hearted desire to be a mother - no, in fact, the stresses of pregnancy and impending motherhood were vectors through which she would collapse to her old vices. She would, once again, enter a state in her life where her cares were few and irrational. Which left Eksa, newly-born, effectively motherless.. But she was fortunate enough that Mac, hesitant as he was to be involved in paternity, was not without a heart. He was her biological father, afterall, and he would see to it that she wasn't left to the mercy of the system, or some relative he'd never known.

And so Eksa grew up under his care in Glasgow, Scotland. Into her teens she would be seen-to by Mac Grieves and the company of his estate. Mac was a wealthy man who, although initially reluctant to raise a child, had a big heart, and accepted nothing but the best for his daughter. Their home - a mansion. Her schooling - the best. Her hobbies - droned over by her father, when he had the time. Luckily for her, his time was often consumed by his work as some sort of medical professional, as he said. So, while the circumstances behind her birth were perhaps contemptible, she grew up cared-for better than most. And this peacefulness of sorts lasted well into her teen years -- until she received unexpected correspondence - from her mother.

Over the almost-fifteen years of Eksa's life, she had never met Ava. Mac, in protection of his daughter who had been endangered by Ava's actions, hadn't allowed it. It was something daughter and father had argued over sometimes, but it had never really been a real issue, or something that even mattered that much, until now. With the correspondence came a request - Ava wanted to see Eksa, and not just for a meet-up. She wanted to be back in the girl's life. After almost an entire year of arguing, bickering, and the arduous convincing of Eksa to Mac, he finally folded. The decision was reluctantly made - the girl could, temporarily, move to The States and spend a semester with her mother.

And so she did - and one semester turned into several, even.

Eksa moved to St. Portwell, Oregon, and she.. liked it. It was weird, living with a woman who she.. never really knew, and was supposed to be her mother, but.. she did like it, nonetheless. The States were an adjustment, sure. But she grew to form a bond with her mom than one might expect of a daughter-mother combo. And while the schooling adjustments were equally, if not moreso, difficult, she found the people of St. Portwell to make good friends.

And even amongst all the acclimations she had to do, there was something more important, still. She had to hide her paranormal status from her mother. Being paranormal was something that she had ascertained only a year or two before moving to the U.S., triggered through a kindling event stemming from an exceedingly heated argument with her father over whether she should really see her mother. Fortunately, Mac himself had a hand in the world of the paranormal, and was there to guide her. Now was the first time she would have her own independent responsibility over her paranormal side, away from her father. And what better time was it to find similarly-afflicted individuals? It was during this period at St. Portwell that she'd make a number of advancements in her own paranormal abilities, as well as a few friends.

And for a time, her life was pretty happy, if weird. But fate always had its ways to turn the tables.

Towards the end of two years spent in The States, events took place that would quickly spiral Eksa's life into tragedy. The town was plagued by a paranormal enemy the likes of which Eksa could never have imagined - something that would spell the end of all she grew to know, should it not be stopped. But there were those who wouldn't just stand aside for such a fate- and those few managed to form a group called The Sycamore Tree Coven, which Eksa was recruited into. And for the purpose of stopping this enemy, Eksa made a sacrifice that would scar her for the rest of her life. In the battle against The Stygian Snake, Eksa fought hard.. and fell harder. She, at a point, managed to find herself outmatched by one of the Snake's abominables, and was struck unconscious in the midst of a burning building. She was fortunate that, in the chaos, someone was able to get her out of the danger, but by that time, the damage was done. Smoke inhalation and heat-damage had her hanging onto her life by a thread.

After then, she was rendered unconscious for months. Her father, upon hearing the news, immediately had her seized from wherever she was being treated and took her under the care of one of his own personal facilities - though not before doctors at a St. Portwell hospital deemed that Eksa's circumstances seemed insurmountably grim. Which was simply too much for her mother to handle.

By the time Eksa awoke, months later, her mother had fallen to her vices once again. And this time, they took her life. Eksa was stricken with overwhelming grief at the news, even as she spent the next few months in physical rehabilitation. It took some time for her to recover, both physically and mentally, but she could only imagine that her mother would wish the best for her and would want nothing more than her to live on.

And that she did.

In fact, Eksa was far from one to allow her tragedies to define her. Even before her final steps to recovery, the girl took it upon herself to continue her education - and her education was promising. She had always been a bright girl, but the vigor with which she applied herself after she got back into schooling was.. galvanizing, in a sense. She continued her path from where she left off - seeking virtuosity in the field of medicinal sciences, like her father.

And like her father, she would succeed. She was a quick learner, deft worker, and attentive colleague as she worked her way into the field as she, after many years, graduated from a Scottish university with several degrees - a doctorate among them. And from there she achieved her "dream profession" of becoming a pharmaceutical chemist.

Present day, Eksa enjoys a comfy lifestyle and a flexible job, and lives peacefully in Glasgow, Scotland.

Though, with a recent revelation brought to her attention by Auri Auclair, who managed to track her down, the members of her former coven were being.. murdered. Why? Who knew. But she doubted that someone so unhinged as to systematically kill a group of people would be hindered by the fact that she no longer lived in the states. No- that was little comfort, and as such, it seemed she'd be revisiting the states once again, to meet up with Auri and whoever else she'd gathered. The idea of getting brutally murdered wasn't one that was on her bucket list, so it was up to them to figure out how to stop it.

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Black Lux. Eksa's channeler is her mother's medallion.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Eksa is a Black-Lux Adept with a strong aptitude for manipulating apparitions. She has dabbled very lightly in the black lux's necromantic side, but never developed it much.



LIMITS ⫻ Eksa's Dominion is a spell which requires most, and sometimes all, of her focus, and engages her in a metaphysical battle with the target. This means that particularly strong-willed apparitions can overcome its effects, in which case her most potent spell is rendered ineffective. Amplified Sealing, due to it simply enhancing a sealing ritual, is obviously useless without the prep time required to set up the process. Seek Apparitions, while wide-sweeping and thorough, requires Eksa to define specific parameters -- she must look for a specific known apparition, an apparition capable of a specific feat, or an apparition with which she or her companions are partially familiar. The Black Pact is a spell limited only by its application - it serves only to ensure one keeps their word, even if they don't intend to. All participants, of course, must be willing and knowledgeable of all caveats, and are supernaturally informed of such things once a proposal is made. The Black Shroud is limited mostly by its specificity as a tool against apparitions. In any other capacity, it is useless. It is also noticeable that Eksa cannot use Dominion while using the Black Shroud for obscurity.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Below are weaknesses for each of Eksa's spells.

Eksa is accompanied, without fail, by a companion-apparition.

_{Eksa's banner color: 23527C
Eksa's signature color: 3277b3}

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Linqian’s primary long term goal has always been to fall in love and start her own family (surprising many, as she isn’t particularly maternal or even nice) eventually - though right now the thought of settling down terrifies her. Her shorter term goal is to see her younger brother through college and into independence before she can concentrate on her own life. Currently, her goal is to destroy the piece of shit that killed her twin brother.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Family is more important than anything else. Linqian believes in always prioritising her family over any other relationships and sometimes herself. The bond between close family is incredibly important in her eyes - but she also doesn’t believe it extends to distant relatives. She also thinks that others opinions (outside of family) don’t mean shit, if they disapprove of what you do then fuck them. People that hate you are just jealous, and if anyone causes you problems you should just cut them out.

SECRETS ⫻ How she always felt inadequate next to her much smarter twin brother. Sometimes she resented him. She has insecurities that come from this, deep down not feeling good enough, but she’d never let anyone know that.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Bisexual, with commitment issues. Linqian had a difficult breakup with a former coven member, which was the breaking point for her leaving the coven, and then was cheated on by her next partner. She tends to keep things casual nowadays, and has slept around quite a lot the last few years - but never with the same person twice. Her preference is probably slightly towards women when it comes to romantic attractions. While she does want to start a family, recently she's been figuring out she's probably polyamorous - it doesn't conflict with her goals, it just means her future family might be unconventional... like it always has been.

FEARS ⫻ Linqian’s worst fear has already come true - losing her twin brother. Second to this is losing the only family she has left, her younger brother. She’s scared of commitment. She also has a much more mundane fear of dogs.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Linqian’s reputation was mixed. On one hand, she was friendly and charming, especially when she first joined the coven. On the other hand she was fickle, quick to decide she disliked someone, and incredibly argumentative. There are plenty of members she got into heated fights with, and others that she gave the cold shoulder for seemingly no reason. While some might have neutral or positive opinions on her, there aren’t any that saw her as a close friend - any friendships she had were surface level only. Linqian left the coven explosively after being broken up with by her partner of the time. She wasn’t there when it dissolved, but caused enough fights after the battle that she definitely had a hand in it.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Linqian fought against the Stygian Snake’s minions, and the apparition itself, from relatively early on. While she was nowhere near the strongest, she’d had her abstraction long enough to know how to use it and help. In the final battle she helped weaken it, lowering her body temperatures to deadly levels and using that to damage and fight its darkness constructs.

FLAWS ⫻ Linqian is quick to change her opinions, especially in relation to other people or her emotions. One day she can be incredibly nice to someone, the next giving them the cold shoulder due to some perceived slight. She’s incredibly ‘hot and cold’ when it comes to relationships outside of her family. She also doesn’t hold back her opinions, often being quite blunt and harsh. She won’t back down on her opinions and is incredibly argumentative if someone disagrees with her. Once she loses her cool it's difficult for her to see reason, and normally it was her twin brother who reeled her in. For all she would deny it, she was incredibly dependent on her twin, and now that she’s gone it’s left her struggling.

Linqian was born in Tangshan, China just ten minutes after her twin brother, Jinhai. She spent the first seven years of her life there, relatively peacefully - until suddenly her dad had a falling out with his parents, cutting off all contact. Their family moved to Pointe-Noire, in the Republic of Congo, where her mum’s family was. The sudden move was a shock to Linqian and not one she took well, being in a different country speaking a language she struggled with, surrounded by family members she’d never met. Her and Jinhai grew even closer than before, practically becoming inseparable.

Half a year later her younger brother was born, then less than two years later they were moving again. This time to St Portwell in the USA. Yet another new country and language, but this time it was only their family of five. It took a while to settle in, and for a long time Linqian missed her original home, but eventually she managed and all was peaceful again.

Then at age fifteen Jinhai had his kindling event - and immediately after it he used his abstraction to freeze Linqian’s hair when she’d just come out of a shower, triggering her kindling event. It was fucking weird talking to a great grandmother she’d never met, who was convinced that she should already know about Lux and how their family line could use it. Unlike Jinhai, who’d taken to it easily, Linqian was freaked out and confronted her parents over it. If she should know, they should too, right?

Turned out, both her mum and dad came from a long line of Adepts - in fact, it was because of this their dad had cut off his family and thus been severed from his lux. His parents believed in the purity of their line, trying to keep marriage between those of red lux only. On the other hand, her mum’s family was much more relaxed - most of her relatives were green lux but there were a few mixed just like Linqing and Jinhai. For some reason they’d made the decision to not teach their children about this, even though their mum still had her abstraction. So suddenly Linqing was not only in the midst of puberty and petty highschool drama, but she also had magic. Her and Jinhai started practising together whenever they had time - frustratingly, as with all things, he was better than her.

Then, the Stygian Snake appeared. Linqian’s dad, who was only one-eye-open now, was enthralled by it and tried to kill the rest of his family. Her mother used her abstraction to stop him, sacrificing herself in the process so Linqian and her brothers could get away. While fleeing they bumped into a group called the Sycamore Tree coven. Jinhai made the decision there and then to join, which Linqian followed (reluctantly). Their brother, only one eye open and eight years old, was sent to temporarily live with a distant relative in a different city.

Linqian used her abstraction to participate in each battle with the Stygian Snake and its apparitions, primarily focusing on taking out the apparitions and thralls it created. She was always in a group with Jinhai - and always following his decisions over others. He was intelligent, and one of the group members who took part in planning with the information provided by those more knowledgeable about magic (namely Britney). Linqian, on the other hand, was there to help with the fight and cause unnecessary problems.

Somehow, in amongst all this Linqian managed to find love with another coven member. She started to drift from Jinhai, spending time with her partner in the small moments in between battling the Stygian Snake’s minions. It was her first relationship and she fell hard very quickly. It caused tension in her relationship with her brother, which they resolved after multiple arguments and before the final battle.

On the day of the eclipse Linqian helped defeat the Stygian Snake by manipulating her body temperature to deadly cold levels, using this to distract and weaken it to help Ashley deal the finishing blow, even when it required her to get close enough to touch it - sustaining injuries in the process. She was drained and hurt after the battle, barely aware of the apparition being sealed and agreeing to have her memory wiped. Then, she joined the brand new coven afterwards.

Linqian played a big part in the petty arguments and fights the coven members had afterwards, and had no interest in going after other apparitions. They’d already done enough, surely? Honestly, she was only still there because of her partner and her brother still holding some interest in it.

Then, her partner suddenly broke up with her - over text on the day of a meeting no less. Angrier than she’d been in a long time Linqian confronted them when the coven met up, and what started out as petty insults and angry words turned into her being practically dragged out by Jinhai when she tried to use her abstraction to burn her ex. She never went back. She probably would’ve been kicked out anyway, and the coven dissolved only a month later.

Linqian moved on - well, as much as she could when her parents had died. She dropped out of highschool to start working, first in supermarkets then in bars when she was old enough. Together her and Jinhai moved for his college, and their younger brother moved back in with them now that they were legal adults. It was difficult, but between her job and Jinhai working part time around his degree they made it work.

Finally, after years of being the main breadwinner of the family, her brother graduated his law degree and passed his bar exam. Her younger brother was finally in college too. From now on things would be easier for Linqian. She wouldn’t have to work herself to the bone. The night after her brother got a job at a well known law firm she went to work with this knowledge, more relaxed than she had been for a long time, and looking forward to a drink with him once she was done.

Instead she came home to his unmoving body in their living room, blood staining the ugly cream carpet. He had been stabbed to death, and the only pointer towards who’d done it was a wolf idol she found hidden in his bedroom.

Linqian lived in a daze for a week after that, sorting out everything that needed to be done when someone died, and continuing as if she hadn’t lost one of the most important people in her life. It was as if she wasn’t quite there. She felt emotionally numb, but also incredibly volatile at the same time.

When Auri reached out to her about the string of murders that were happening - murders including her brother - Linqian didn’t hesitate to return. Under any other circumstance she’d decline (especially with the risk of seeing her ex again), but not for this. She needed to find whatever had done this, and make sure it died just like her brother had.

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red & Green Lux. Channeler: her mother’s wedding ring

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Linqian is a relatively experienced red and green lux user, with a specialisation towards temperature manipulation. However she’s not been able to spend much time on her spells the past ten years due to looking after her family. She has a still undiscovered affinity towards fire and more advanced self transformation, which she’s only touched the surface of.


LIMITS ⫻


WEAKNESSES ⫻

Nothing

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Sloane believes it's her responsibility to protect the people of St. Portwell. While she would coordinate with people who hunted rogue Apparitions, Sloane focused less on combating paranormal beings and more on control and prevention. Sloane is working to keep artifacts and Apparitions out of the hands of people she deemed too dangerous to have them, which is essentially anybody who is not her, and hopes to mass a collection of Artifacts and sealed Apparitions she can distribute as needed whenever St. Portwell faces another Stygian Snake level of crisis. Although her intentions are well-meant, there is little denying that she is basically seeking to hoard power.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Sloane was raised on the principle of noblesse oblige, the idea that because she has privilege and power she is required to use it for the greater good. She wholeheartedly believes in annoying little ideas like duty, honor, and morality. She was harshly critical of the Coven members who severed their Lux or sealed away their Apparitions, as she saw it as an act of cowardice. Frustratingly enough, Sloane falls into the same trap plaguing privileged people before, believing that her good intentions justify a hunger for power and a demand for respect.

SECRETS ⫻ Sloane stays fairly hush-hush about essentially being little more than a paranormal cat burglar, even if she is only stealing artifacts from people that she believes have ill will towards St. Portwell. Likewise, she has yet to inform any of the old Coven members that her collection of sealed Apparitions and magical artifacts has been stolen.

She also highly resented Ashley, Daisy, and Auri during her time in the Coven and was jealous of them. Sloane was potentially one of the final members to see Ashley alive, having gone to visit the woman the same week she had been murdered and ending the visit in an argument regarding how Ashley should no longer be the one to keep the Apparition Killer.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Sloane is a straight and currently shifting through the cesspool that is dating apps because, as it turns out, not a lot of eligible bachelors are into antiquing and too many “totally separated” men are into sailing.

FEARS ⫻ Vulnerability. The idea that showing vulnerability is a sign of weakness and that if she is weak then she has no value is rooted deeply inside of Sloane’s brain. The task of showing any emotional intimacy to people, even those that are close to her, is herculean. She is so afraid of being open that even other people being candid about themselves and expressing their feelings makes her uncomfortable.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Opinions about Sloane are mixed, but everyone would agree on one thing: Sloane needed to lighten up. Her seriousness was appreciated during their conflict with the Stygian Snake, but Sloane proved to be a wet blanket when it came to the Coven trying to enjoy the life they’d earned. Some members would remember the good in her: she was clearly devoted to the group, helped when she could, refused to play favoritism by serving as a neutral party when it came to votes, and kept their hideout tidy and stocked with snacks. Others only recall the negative: she demanded respect but rarely returned it, would huff and roll her eyes when the Coven would squabble but almost never do anything to stop it, and held members to unachievable standards. It was clear to everybody that Sloane thought she should lead the Coven, but she was smart enough to realize that she wouldn’t win the popular vote.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Sloane believes that she was useless because her spellbook was limited at the time. However, just because she wasn’t dishing out the damage to the Stygian Snake or its minions did not mean that she didn’t help. Her eventual creation of a cursed lie detecting ring allowed the Coven to fight back against the doubts and mistrust the Stygian Snake had snuck into their minds, allowing the Coven to work together more cohesively. In the final fight she served as a distraction for the Coven by carrying a fake version of the Apparition Killer to draw the Stygian Snake’s focus away from Ashley, a ploy that nearly got Sloane killed if it were not for Jade’s healing.

FLAWS ⫻ Sloane’s aloof and typically detached behavior firmly shifts her from the camp of ‘all business’ to the fortified castle of ‘seriously stuck-up bitch’. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if Sloane was just always distant and stayed firmly in the territory of acting like she was better than everyone because then it could at least be ignored. Unfortunately, Sloane feels compelled to speak up when someone says or does something that either fails to meet or goes against her standards. Often she wields her critiques with the same delicacy and gentleness of a baseball bat covered in bent nails being swung straight at a skull. To put it plainly, Sloane is simply harsh.

Sloane’s parents were exorbitantly wealthy art and antique dealers. They gave her everything: a private education with the best tutors, a trust fund ensuring that she was set for life from the day of her birth, and a daily flurry of reprimands reminding her exactly how a daughter of theirs should act and that everything they do must be for the greater good. Yet more often than not her parents were background characters, showing up only to take her on the occasional sailing trip, with the role of mommy and daddy played by nannies, butlers, and drivers. She was raised to be prim, proper, and puppeted, her sole purpose on this Earth to serve as the legacy of her mother and father. Sloane was the final piece of art they could offer to the world after they passed, and perhaps she could offer up a spare kidney if one of her parents were to fail before that time came. Despite their distance, Sloane could never claim to hate them, because to hate them she’d have to know them.

Sloane was shifted from private tutelage to public education after elementary school. She imagined her parents thought it would be best for her to know how other people lived. Sloane immediately slid into the role of an outsider, because as it turned out spending her entire childhood only surrounded by other adults meant she didn’t know how to connect with other kids. Apparently most twelve year olds didn’t have an interest in abstract expressionist paintings or pottery from the Qing Dynasty. In high school she’d eventually find a social refuge amongst the goth kids, who could at the very least appreciate the intense sadness of 19th century Russian literature and teach her the ways of mocking the jocks like Sully McPherson and the cheerleaders like Ashley Stone that, in retrospect, never were as truly awful to her friends as her friends were to them.

The Stygian Snake showed itself to Sloane on the day she went shopping with her friends for tarot cards at the Coastal Harbor Mall. Violent crimes were on the rise the days leading up to their little shopping trip, and while the squares hid inside her friends had all joked that it’d be pretty cool to witness a stabbing. As it turns out, getting stabbed might’ve been preferable. Instead, Sloane had the horrifying experience that still haunts teens to this day—seeing her mom and dad out in public while with her friends. While she was balking at the idea of her folks suddenly wanting to get more involved in her life, her parents dragged her into a family restroom where her mother reached forward, touched a mirror, and opened up a portal back to their estate.

Sloane underwent a Kindling Event as her parents pushed her through the portal. She saw visions of ancient ancestors, the supposed noble warriors, kings, and queens her parents claimed they had in their blood. She didn’t see any heroes. She saw poisoners, killers, and thieves. She saw them summoning ghouls and demons out of blue portals and unleashing them upon foreign kingdoms in foreign worlds, she saw them wielding weapons of blinding orange light as they ransacked tombs and castles and cut down any who got in their path. She saw her parents using magic to counterfeit art, steal from museums, and curse any who question them. She saw them sealing strange creatures inside of objects and then selling the items to dictators, insurgents, and CEOs.

Sloane saw her parents' hypocrisy and then they showed her their cowardice. Something bad was going to happen to their city and they were going to run. They didn’t care about the greater good, they cared about their own: anything was okay as long as it benefited her family. Sloane came back to the sound of a gunshot, screaming at the sight of their family butler Warren lying on the ground as blood pooled out around him, her father holding the gun. Her father gathered some bags as her mother tried to convince Sloane that it was okay, Warren wasn’t special like them. He would’ve died no matter what. The staff, her teachers, her friends, they would all die, but Sloane would be okay because she had the same magic her parents did.

Her father returned with the bags, her mother opened another mirrorway, and her parents passed through. Sloane hesitated and as her father turned to pull her through she lashed out and touched the frame of the mirror and cast her first hex. Blue and orange flames wreathed around her wrist and boiled her flesh as the mirror glowed and then shattered upon a second touch, her parents separated from her within a blink of an eye with the exception of four bloody fingertips lying on the floor. She fled her house and searched for her friends. Her parents never even attempted to look for her.

She was too late when she arrived, the mall a scene of chaos by the time she returned. A shooting, as she was told by onlookers behind police barricades while she stared in horror at the wriggling mass of shadows obscured behind the buildings. Sloane was pulled from the crowd by Sully McPherson as one of the policemen turned on the onlookers and opened fire. Sully introduced Sloane to the Coven after she kept asking him if he’d seen whatever that shadow thing was, and when Ashley explained everything to her Sloane did not even hesitate to accept. Her parents might’ve been liars, but that didn’t change the fact that they’d surrounded her by common people whom she’d been led to believe that they were doing a great service to by providing them with something they would otherwise not have. If being part of the Coven could actually help people unlike that trickle down bullshit then she was in without question.

Sloane once again felt like she was the outsider while inside the Coven. The leaders were made up almost exclusively of the types of kids her friends used to make fun of, causing Sloane to be uncomfortable and quiet around the others as she realized that most of the people they’d shitted on were a lot like them. She also felt an intense drive to make up for the selfish actions of her family, fully committing herself to the cause with a zealot’s devotion. Sloane helped where she could, slowly learning how to craft cursed counterfeit items with her abilities to help the Coven and volunteering herself for any and all things when given the opportunity.

Her dedication nearly got her killed, saved only by Jade finding her before she bled out after the final confrontation with the Stygian Snake. Sloane tried to make the Coven work after their common enemy had been defeated, but it’s quite possible that her over dedication to the cause might’ve led to the Coven collapsing sooner rather than later. Her open criticism of people who wanted to leave, sever their Lux, or seal away the thing that made them Aberrations drove wedges between friends and drew lines in the sand.

However, nothing was more damaging to the group than the lie detecting ring she’d created, lovingly referred to as the Bullshit Ring by the Coven. What had once been used to counteract the mind games played by the Stygian Snake was now used in misguided attempts to solve disputes and squash beefs. As it turned out, sometimes a little bit of dishonesty was better for team spirit than the reality of harsh truths. It was hard to like anyone when you could immediately demand they give you their honest opinions and assume the worst if they refused. Sloane had offered to find a way to destroy the ring but the idea was met, as with every idea in the Coven those days, with divisiveness. She retracted her offer, but a day later the ring was stolen.

Sloane should’ve left after she became the main suspect for the theft, but instead she stuck around until they eventually voted her out. She swallowed her bitterness and anger, instead using the energy to focus on continually protecting St. Portwell by herself. She knew she couldn’t go toe-to-toe with Apparitions like Drake or Lionel, but she could still do some good by going after the kind of people her parents had been wheeling and dealing with. She used her inheritance to start an antique empire, luring and stealing from those who desired to abuse the power of Apparitions and artifacts, all the while learning new spells and curses she could use to defend her city.

Yet Sloane knew she could not trap that many insects in her web if she only had just one thread. Over the years she kept in touch with the like-minded individuals of her former Coven, reaching out to provide them with information regarding dangerous Apparitions that were a bit too hot for her to handle. Likewise, she would contact members who had quit, especially those that had been Agents, starting under the pretense that she just wanted to reconnect before revealing her hand and asking for them to hand over their artifact, willingly of course. Despite what the Coven thought, she was not her parents. She might’ve been a thief, but she didn’t steal from her friends.

The past year has been particularly busy for Sloane, who after a chance run-in with her mother became aware of an organization called the Elite. Despite her parents' efforts to sabotage her, she had almost found a way to infiltrate the group when a massive heist derailed Sloane’s efforts. The woman had discretely acquired a small collection of magical artifacts and sealed apparitions which she had kept safely vaulted away from the world. The collection was spread out between hidden safes in her high rise condo, highly secured cases at her business, and bank safety deposit boxes kept behind massive vault doors. All of them had been taken without a trace, the thief completely avoiding curses, cameras, and eye witnesses.

Before she had a chance to track down her missing artifacts she received word that a friend of hers had been murdered. And then another, and another, and another until she received the call from Auri. The two had never been close, Sloane’s serious gloom clashing heavily with Auri’s cheerful sunshine and she did not like how plastic the girl felt, but she knew exactly why Auri had called. She answered the phone by saying she was in before Auri even had a chance to give her spiel. A brief conversation about their lost friends followed, and by the time they had said goodbye Sloane was beginning to reconsider her opinion of Auri when the girl sliced open an old wound as, right before she hung up, said: “Bring the ring.”

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Blue and Orange Lux. Sloane’s channeler is a faded Queen of Swords card from an antique tarot deck.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Sloane exclusively blends her Blue and Orange Lux together with affinity for cursing inanimate objects. The complexity of weaving the two divergent Luxes together makes it quite difficult for Sloane to develop or learn new spells, but she has remained dedicated to her craft over the past decade.

Hexmark ⫻ Sloane curses an object to malfunction by touching it and marking it with her Channeler. Sloane weaves the how and when the object breaks in the casting of the spell, allowing her to make the breaking of an object appear to be purely accidental. A blue circle crossed by an orange X mark appears on the hexed object, invisible to the Blind. The size of the mark depends upon the size of the object, ranging from being as tiny as a pea to as large as an area rug. Sloane has variations of this spell depending upon the object. The bigger the mark the longer it takes her to cast the spell as she has to draw it with her Channeler. The curse can be broken by purifying the mark with either salt, fire, or holy water. She has three variants of the curse:

• Fragile: A basic version of her Hexmark, Sloane curses an object to become brittle. The object breaks upon usage, triggered simply by touch and often shattering into several pieces. Casting Fragile on large objects is a bit complicated, as the spell specifically targets the part and not the whole. For example, casting Fragile on a car might make the door handle break or the entire door to crumble to pieces but it wouldn’t completely trash the car.
• Glitched : A more advanced version of her Hexmark, Sloane curses an object to function improperly. The object breaks depending on a trigger set by Sloane, be it immediately, when someone observes it, etc. Sloane also determines how it breaks. For example, a Glitched car might not start, or might constantly honk and flash the lights and scan for stations, or might do something as extreme as ignite the gasoline tank and eventually explode.
• Possessed: The most advanced version of her Hexmark, Sloane curses an object to behave impossibly. The object acts as if it were haunted, such as turning on when it's unplugged, functioning by itself, or even throwing itself through the air assuming it would be light enough to be thrown by a person. Sloane can directly manipulate a Possessed object, allowing for precise control over how it behaves, but she must be able to see the item to control it.

Object of Obsession ⫻ Sloane quickly infuses a mundane object with Blue Lux by touching it with her Channeler, shifting its appearance to make it look more esoteric and turning it into a cursed item. Once released from her hands the curse activates, causing any being to lay eyes on it to become obsessed with the object. Alternatively, she can alter the spell to target only one individual. They are compelled to pursue the object and pick it up, carefully cradling it in their hands. Once one being picks up the object all others immediately lose their obsession with the object. However, the holder refuses to drop the object for as long as the curse lasts.

Creatures without an Emotional Field are immediately enthralled by the object, incapable of doing anything but sitting, breathing, observing its beauty, and mumbling about how great their new toy is if anyone questions them. They will even ignore the need to eat or sleep; all they want to do is to look at the object. Creatures with an Emotional Field can fight off these urges, or temporarily succumb to the object to sate their obsession for a moment and then function almost like normal. Still, even if they become aware of being cursed by the object they will continue to refuse to put it down.

The curse is simply broken by letting go of the object. However, this usually requires another person to come by and struggle to get the object out of the hands of the cursed. Once the object is removed it returns to its mundane self.

Counterfeit ⫻ Sloane crafts a convincing duplicate of a mundane or magical item out of Orange Lux that is either cursed or capable of cursing. During crafting she must be able to touch the original piece with her Channeler. The Counterfeit is so well made that most forms of magical detection will falsely identify the item as the original. A mundane Counterfeit can only be cursed with one of her Hexmarks or a variation of her Object of Obsession curse: it does not compel anyone to grab it, but the person who grabs it is subjected to the same crippling obsession. It takes up to a handful of minutes to Counterfeit a mundane object, but a magical item can take several hours, days, weeks, or even months of channeling Lux to make a proper Counterfeit depending upon the complexity. However, magical Counterfeits acquire unique curses specific to that item.

Sloane has crafted a few of these Unique Counterfeits, but currently is in possession of none.



LIMITS ⫻ All of Sloane’s spells require her to make some kind of physical contact with the object she is targeting. Hexmark requires Sloane to “draw” the magic symbol upon the object. Larger objects require larger symbols, while more powerful or intricate hexes require the symbol to be tweaked by drawing additional runes. This means that the casting time of Hexmark can fluctuate, with quick Fragile spells on something small requiring just a second or two while detailed Glitched spells taking upwards of a minute to cast. Recasting Object of Obsession immediately ends the prior instance of the spell, excluding objects cursed by her Counterfeit spell.

As previously mentioned, Counterfeit takes several minutes for Sloane just to create a cursed copy of a mundane object while Counterfeiting something magical can take up to weeks or months to complete. The time it takes is greatly shortened if she has previously Counterfeited the object but still significant. While creating a Counterfeit magical object Sloane begins to develop an idea of the abilities and curses the item will have, but she is incapable of changing them. She is less of a designer and more of a conduit. Once a Counterfeit is in the stage of being crafted, that is the only form it will ever take—for example, anytime she Counterfeits the Apparition Killer she will only ever produce an Aspiration Killer. Only one Counterfeit of a specific object can exist at a time, with the previous Counterfeit turning into dust. Due to this, Counterfeits cannot produce more Counterfeits.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

Hexmark ⫻ The Curse can be broken by throwing salt, fire, or holy water onto the cursed object. While casting the Spell, Sloane is left vulnerable and is not wise to use this Spell in a fight.

Object of Obsession ⫻ There are no weaknesses or drawbacks of note.

Counterfeit ⫻ There are no weaknesses or drawbacks of note.

Currently I don't have anything planned for the Coven's precious Bullshit Ring, so I'm open for ideas.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Back in the day Sully had big dreams of being a pro football player. He was so committed to chasing those dreams that even a dimension devouring serpent couldn’t stop them. Nowadays Sully dreams much smaller, visions of making rent and not moving back in with his mom dancing in his head. Really he is just focusing on working on himself at this time, doing what he can to get out of the rut he feels like he has been stuck in since he dropped out of college.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Try to make things better, and if you can’t do that, at least remember that the last thing the world needs is another asshole. Sully always tried to treat everyone with kindness and respect even if they did not show him the same, adhering to the old adage that you never know what people are going through or where they came from. While he might not agree with certain people, he often tries to understand the whys behind their beliefs while others might rightfully write them off as simply being wrong. Also, while Sully feels that the world is largely full of assholes, he believes that almost none of them are beyond redemption. He’s known to be too forgiving of people to the point of destructive naivety.

SECRETS ⫻ A large number of “workplace accidents” caused by Sully that ruined expensive construction or logging equipment and would wind up getting him sacked from the job were intentional. In fact, over the years Sully has gotten away with causing a significant amount of property damage in the name of environmentalism and, as of lately, the Greenwood Coven. Sully aligns neatly with many of their beliefs and he’s happy to be part of another team, although he has yet to be fully admitted into the Greenwood Coven.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Sully is gay. Although he had confided this to a few close friends while in high school, he did not fully come out until after he’d quit his college football team.

FEARS ⫻ Being inadequate. Sully fears that he is destined to be one of those guys who peaked in highschool. It’s already the case for him with football, and topping the Stygian Snake is a tall order—especially when he firmly believes that the Coven would’ve beaten the beast without him.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Largely well-liked. Having been lifelong friends and neighbors with Ashley, Sully was in pretty early with the Coven. Ashley might’ve been the one cheerleading when he was playing football, but Sully was essentially the cheerleader when it came to the Coven. He was always friendly and welcoming to the new members, often going above and beyond to make sure that they felt comfortable with their transition to the paranormal world and the nightmare that was battling the Stygian Snake. He was also seen as an apologist for Ashley’s temperamental behavior and a bit too sympathetic when it came to dealing with Britney. Still, Sully was the one that always got the Coven beer, so if he occasionally sidled with the wrong person it never really mattered to the group.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Sully, like Britney, served as a recruiter for the Coven. Unlike Britney his methods were above board, typically working with other members of the Coven to patrol St. Portwell and rescue anyone targeted by the Stygian Snake’s minions. During the final fight against the Stygian Snake, Sully worked alongside Jade to keep the Coven on their feet with his healing magic.

FLAWS ⫻ Sully is reliably unreliable and is horrible at making commitments. He has never been early to anything before in his life and ‘on time’ loosely translates to ‘within the first thirty minutes’. He often agrees to plans solely because he doesn’t like turning people down and then either forgets or cancels moments before it starts. If Sully ever has to make a choice on his own it is often an agonizing experience. He typically latches onto the first idea someone gives to him, fully championing it up until the moment someone presents a counter argument. Then, he can be easily ping-ponged for eternally between the two options until one of the others eventually backs down.

Sully had a fantastic childhood. He grew up in a small two-bedroom home in St. Portwell where he shared a bunk bed with his older brother Sammy. His mom worked part time as a grocer while his dad was often away for weeks at a time working on a crabbing vessel. Sully lived for the time whenever his dad returned, because it typically meant the family was going to spend the weekend camping. His dad would teach him how to fish and hunt and kayak. His dad would also tell him stories of the sea. Later on Sully would realize his dad had just been pulling his leg, but as a kid he was amazed by the sea creatures pops had to do battle with just so he could bring home some dough for his family. Mostly, however, mostly his dad just taught Sully how to slow down and appreciate the world around him, stopping their hikes to breathe in deep and say cheesy dad stuff like, “Wow. This is it, isn’t it kiddo?”

Sully grew up next door to Ashley Stone. The two would go around riding their bikes, skipping stones on the river, and, when they were a little bit older, finding a hidden spot to smoke cigarettes that Ashley had swiped from her mom or drink beers that Sully had gotten from his brother. He doesn’t remember how they became friends. His mom had pictures on the fridge of them as kindergartners holding hands while waiting for the bus, of them as toddlers covered in mud, of them as babies laying on a carpet. They would go to the same high school together and had the same group of friends. Ashley would go on to become a cheerleader. Sullivan would play football.

Football is where Sully would fall in love—not with Ashley, gross man, she was like a sister. He fell in love with being on a team. The comradery, the shared emotions, the shoulder to lean on or the hand to help you up. Plus, the team was pretty good—state champions during Sully’s second and third year. It was always when playing football that Sully began to come to terms with the feelings he had towards the kicker, as well as realizing that while St. Portwell was overall fairly friendly towards gay men, it still wasn’t something that one could share with a highschool boys’ locker room. He came out to Ashley instead, who was a good enough friend to keep the “Oh, I already knew” to herself.

The summer before his senior year was going to be perfect: parties, road trips, and romantic flings. It started with a massive beach bonfire with plenty of booze and drugs to go around. Sully stumbled away from the party to answer nature’s call and walked out to the ocean. After he finished up he stubbed his toe against what he at first thought was a rock, but as he grabbed it to chuck it into the water he realized it was an old cup. No, not just any old cup, his drunken brain told him—it was the king’s cup! He rinsed the sand off of it with beer, filled it up with cheap whiskey, returned to the group, and declared himself king of the beach. “And when the king of the beach drinks from the king’s cup, all drink with him!” was his first royal decree and the last thing he remembered from that night.

During that summer wherever Sully went to party the “king’s cup” came too. It became a running goof amongst his friends to bet how many drinks until Sully would pull the stupid glass out and declare himself king of the party. One party near the end of summer Britney Williams grabbed Sully and dragged him away from the party when he produced the cup, with the two of them getting hooted and hollered at as he proclaimed, “She wants to be with the king!” She did not. She wanted to know how he got his hands on the Chalice. She wanted to know if he was the Cupbearer. She kept saying weird things, about a snake, about how he needed to drink his own blood, creepy shit. She, Sully thought at the time, was clearly high.

Then, life became a nightmare. The Stygian Snake attacked his neighborhood shortly thereafter. His house got destroyed but his family was away. He, however, was inside. Ashley, covered in blood that wasn’t her own, found him under a pile of debris with a metal pipe speared through his stomach. He was going to die, but he remembered what Britney had said and, well, a massive fucking snake destroying his house made him a believer. Ashley thought he was losing it when she told him to grab the cup, one final bit before he bit the dust, but she did so anyway. Together they pulled the pipe out. Then Sully had Ashley pool his blood into the cup and he drank. And, just like Britney had said he would, he lived.

Everything was a whirlwind after that. Ashley formed the Coven and Sully tagged along, dreaming of the one day the world would return to normalcy. Somehow, it did—the Coven defeated the Stygian Snake and saved his hometown. He remained with them through the rest of the school year and following summer, playing peacemaker and throwing raucous parties in their hideout when Ashley would allow him, but being a witch wasn’t really his scene. He still dreamed of being a pro athlete, so when the time came he headed off to a state college. The king’s cup, or the Chalice as Britney insisted on him calling it, stayed in St. Portwell at the request of Sloane Faris. She insisted that if was abandoning the duties, whatever the fuck that meant, then the least he could do was ensure that the Chalice remained with someone who would keep it safe. He obliged and went on to achieve his dreams.

Assuming, that is, if his dreams were to gain a shit ton of weight, develop a drinking problem, drop out of college, and move back to his hometown without a dime to his name or a future ahead of him. Let’s face it, Sully partied too much and worked too little and at the end of the day he just wasn’t good enough to compete on a collegiate level. He was benched and when his grades or his focus on the field didn’t improve he was cut. His dad was able to get him some blue collar work around town, but none of the jobs ever really panned out.

He spiraled into a funk, feeling like a total loser and struggling to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. His depression was only deepened when his dad passed away. Lung cancer. His dad hadn’t smoked a day in his life. The doctors said it was possibly aggravated by some of the chemicals used on the crabbing vessels. At the time Sully was working on a logging crew. He watched as thousands of trees were chopped down, the same trees that he and his dad would hike through, the same trees that made his dad stop and look in awe, and something inside of Sully snapped.

After the workday ended Sully went home, got his tools, and returned. He dismantled the equipment. When he arrived at work the next day he was frustrated to find out that the logging company had easily fixed his sabotage. His coworkers laughed about how the tree huggers always thought a monkey wrench was enough to get between them and a job. Sully reached out to Sloane, asking if he could have the Chalice back. He was able to toe her line of questioning, promising her that it was for a good purpose. She eventually relented, claiming that she was only holding it for him anyway.

Sully snuck back to work after acquiring the Chalice. Loosened bolts and jammed cogs weren’t enough to stop the logging equipment, but corrosive acid would eat enough through enough of the mechanics to call the thing a total loss. Little did he know he was being watched. As he went back to his truck he was approached by a group of cloaked figures with their faces hidden by masks. The tension eased as Sully chatted with the Greenwood Coven, discovering that they shared a common mindset. He accepted an invitation back to their camp, and by the morning it felt like he had found a potential new team.

Sully was fully ready to give himself completely over to the Greenwood Coven, but they were a little skeptical about accepting new members until they proved himself. They said they would call him the next time they needed help. In a way, Sully found himself once again benched. It was nearly a month after meeting them that Sully got the call, and immediately after he got news that one of his friends had been murdered. Sully bailed on the Greenwood Coven, but he was able to get back in their good graces after explaining the situation and promising them he’d help another time.

When Ashley died, Sully became unreachable as he tried to find the bottom of the Chalice. A voicemail was left by Auri Auclair to no response.

TYPE ⫻ Aberration (Agent)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Chalice, an artifact that can produce a never ending amount of any kind of liquid including a healing elixir.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ The Chalice is an artifact that has been around since ancient times, held by kings, messiahs, and so-called god and known by many other names. It somehow became lost, spurring many seekers of its powers to quest for it but never find it. Eventually, the Chalice became little more than a myth, believed to be little more than a flowery metaphor written down by a poet of yore and misinterpreted by the simple masses of days gone by. In reality, the Chalice somehow ended up being discovered by a jock in Oregon.

The Chalice is a large, empty silver goblet that is covered with runic symbols; the inside is stained a brownish red. The Chalice is a normal cup unless it is held by the Cupbearer, who is the only person able to activate its magical properties. A small blood offering is required to become the Cupbearer—about 3 drops in the goblet—and they are able to use the Chalice until another person performs the ritual. The Chalice cannot be damaged by normal means or by the contents summoned by the Cupbearer.

The Cupbearer can fill the Chalice with an endless supply of whatever liquid they want. This can range from mundane uses, like creating water or wine to drink, to dangerous, like calling forth lava or acid and splashing it upon a foe. The most notable liquid the Chalice can produce is an elixir, a magical concoction that can heal recent wounds and restore energy if drank. It’s worth noting that the Chalice is “self-cleaning” in the sense that creating another liquid obliterates whatever of the previous liquid was left in the cup. This also happens when the Cupbearer stops touching the Chalice. Therefore, the Cupbearer cannot accidentally poison others or unintentionally cause chemical reactions.

How much liquid appears is dependent on the wishes of the Cupbearer. Typically, one cupful is what is summoned on each use, but they could continue to call forth more liquid as long as they remain in contact with the Chalice.

LIMITS ⫻The Chalice produces liquid one cup at a time, so while theoretically someone could use it to flood an area it would take an excruciating amount of time. The normal liquid created by the Chalice disappears after a day unless it was consumed by a living creature, so it cannot be used to create stockpiles. Likewise, the healing elixir created by the Chalice becomes benign within a few minutes, so it cannot be used to create potions.

The healing offered by the Chalice is strong but it is not absolute. It is capable of closing any wound and reversing life-threatening injuries, as well as counteracting and eliminating infectious diseases. However, it cannot be used to end curses, it cannot regrow or reattach lost limbs, and it cannot prevent the effects of aging or natural diseases such as cancer or heart disease. As well, the elixir only works if the recipient is capable of drinking it—pouring the elixir on an unconscious person will only result in getting them wet.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Sully has to live with the knowledge that the Chalice is also a Cum Chalice and a Piss Chalice. Sully possesses no special resistances to what he summons so he can easily injure himself by summoning lava and acid.

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Stay clean, so she can raise her son like a decent parent should. She almost lost custody of him when the hospital found out she was a drug addict up, until the point she found out she was pregnant. If it wasn't for her father's support, she wouldn't have him now and he'd be in the system somewhere.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ She's been fucked by life. She can't tell if it's her own doing or if circumstances pushed her towards her addiction. Life is a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. She's had plenty of both that cost her something. Abandonment, death, near death, more near death, and finally a light at the end of the tunnel she doesn't hope will stay that way.

SECRETS ⫻ She's knows who her baby's father is, but she won't say. Better to keep it hidden from everyone. He's a dangerous man and she's not looking to put her son in danger. She's enough of a slut that no one will have an easy answer to the countless speculations.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Whatever she needed to be to get her next fix. She's never had a preference. Still doesn't have one. She hasn't sat with herself long enough to figure it out.

FEARS ⫻ She's afraid that all her hard work will be wasted and that she'll slip back into that oxy life. She hated who she was then, and still hasn't figured out how to love herself but she's trying. The last thing she needs to get out of control of herself and seek the comforts of an old friend. If she did, she'll lose her son, and she doesn't think she's strong enough to get clean a second time.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ She was rambunctious, loud, always looking for a good time, and looking out for her friends. She can't say for sure if she had a hand in breaking it up. By the time the Coven disbanded, she was already knee deep in oxy every week and didn't care to participate in the discourse. All it did was bring up memories she wanted to forget.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ She played a good support role at first. Her pink lux was good with confusing the enemy through various mental manipulation and illusion spells. But when the love her life was killed mid-battle, she blacked out and lost it. She couldn't keep her cool and let her emotions get the best of her, making her lux wile out. She could've cost them the battle if they didn't have such good leadership. Daisy pulled her through to the end, helped her keep focus, up until they were able to kill the Stygian Snake.

FLAWS ⫻ She's wary of getting involved with anything that's not her business or is too complicated. Anything that could potentially stress her out, could make her slip up and she's not willing to take that risk. She's conflict avoidant, and will always put her son first, to the determent of anyone getting in the way of that.

There was nothing special about Tayla's life for the first six years. She was born and raised in Busan, South Korea by her Korean fisherman father and Japanese lawyer mother. Their marriage didn't last long. They got married, because they fucked around without a condom a few times and her mother got pregnant. Birth control be damned. Her parents didn't have anything in common. In fact, her mother was a rich kid and decided to slum it for shits and giggles one summer vacation during her college years. Her father didn't have a good education. He dropped out of middle school to work to help his family when they were struggling financially. What he didn't have in book smarts, he had in common sense and street smarts. Their two different backgrounds, her mother's desire to move back to Japan, and personalities led to divorce. And her father, being ever dramatic, moved to St. Portwell, Oregon to make it hard for her mother to see her. Except, she didn't care about her. Tayla knew this by the bitter end of their relationship. She's sure she has half siblings out there somewhere.

When they moved, her father heard from other Asian immigrants that they would get along better if they had English names. He choose something that was close sounding to her given name, Takara, but he had a hard time pronouncing the R at the end of Taylor, so she ended up being named Tayla instead. Up until she was 18, all her paperwork said Taylor, but she never called herself that. She changed it to Tayla when she was legally able to.

They lived on a small island with three other families off the coast of St. Portwell. There were a lot of little islands spattered around the coast. On that island, was a boy named James. They got on well, becoming best friends rather quickly, despite the language barrier. They were so close that she fell helplessly in love with him by the time they hit puberty. Her love was so strong that it triggered a Kindling-Event when he accepted her feelings in middle school. Her father knew nothing about magic, even though she tried to show him, but he was Blind, she later learned. She assumed this power came from her mother and if intense feelings of love were what triggered it, there's a chance that was part of the reason her mother left them. She didn't love them enough to get magic powers and maybe she was desperate for them. Tayla didn't know for sure. She assumed this was the case.

Her lux was pink and James thought it suited her. He had a different type of Abstraction. Something bound to him by a notebook. He never went into detail about how he acquired it, but she didn't care to know all that much. They joined the Coven their freshman year of high school. They made a lot of new friends and were eager to help stop the Stygian Snake. James a lot more dedicated than her. And it was that dedication that got him killed in the final battle. They needed a distraction and he volunteered, dying mid-battle in the process. Nothing was ever the same for her after that.

Life was bleak and she sank into a deep depression. Hanging out with the Coven was too much. Too many happy memories. Too many sad ones. She wanted to forget, so on James's birthday she went to visit his family for a private vigil. They never knew the real story of how he died. Thought he got hit by a car in a hit-and-run late at night and the driver was never caught. She hated lying to them about what happened, but there no one to explain. They weren't Adepts or any other Abstraction, so she couldn't explain it to them in terms they would understand. At the vigil, she took a moment away from his family to go to the bathroom. She needed a break. That's when she spotted his mother's oxy on the counter. She'd had a major surgery several months, before and were the meds for awhile. She had stopped taking them and there was only a little left. Tayla heard it could ease pain, both physical and emotional, so she popped one. It put her to sleep after a few minutes. She went to rest in James's room and didn't wake up for several hours. It's the most rest she had in a while and she couldn't help wanting more of that, so she stole the pills.

She didn't use them every day, but the more she tried to cope without the more she needed them. Once that supply went out, she went to the The Wolfpack for a refill. That started a long spiral of partying with them, sleeping around for pills, and stealing money from her dad to keep her supply up. When the Coven disbanded, she didn't even care. She threw all those friends away, and made friends with her dealer and his crew. She got into a situation ship with her dealer, Dean Walker, just shy of her 19th birthday. He didn't care to touch an underaged girl, but he didn't mind pimping her out so she could afford her habit when she was strapped for cash. They began an on again, off again relationship. Toxic as all hell, not only for drugs, but of various assaults, both physical and sexual, and intimidation. He's the father of her baby, but will never tell him that. He still pimped her out when they were together.

Her addiction and bad relationship caused a Severance. Not that she used her lux anymore, anyway, but she lost her connection to that power and couldn't even care. She lost the person that triggered it in the first place. Why bother with it without him? When she was 23, she finally overdosed after a horrible break up with Dean. It was bad, like black eyes bad. At this point, she had left her father's home years ago and floated around on whatever Wolfpack member's couch she could fuck her way onto whenever she wasn't with Dean. After such a bad fight, she took three too many oxy and OD'd. One of Dean's friends found her having a seizure, lips and fingers blue. She got rushed to the hospital where they were able to save her life. She woke up realizing she was 6 weeks pregnant. They just barely managed to save her baby. And when she counted back the weeks, the only man she'd been with when she could've conceived was Dean.

The hospital had called her father, she hadn't seen him in over a year at that point. She promised to get clean and asked for his help. She was certain she would lose her baby once the withdrawal set in. It was bad. As the months went on, she was underweight, so was her baby, and he ended up being born 6 months premature. She named him Siwan (pronounced Shiwan), not caring to give him an English name. It's easy enough to pronounce. It was touch and go for him for awhile, but he pulled through and is now a loud, bouncing 18 months old whose favorite word is 'No.' She's been clean two years, cut all ties with The Wolfpack, and works at The Maritime Museum at the ticket booth.

Life was going as good as she could get it, until she got the call from Auri about Ashley and Daisy and needing her back in the Coven. She refused at first. She was done with that life. She didn't even have her Lux anymore, but Auri told her about what happened to other members. That someone or something was hunting them and taking them out. Which meant, at some point, they would be coming for her too. Her son would be in danger. She hated that she got pulled back, but it's the only way to get her life back to how it was before all that magic shit came back to bite her in the ass.