Personality: Arinne has what many would call a bad personality. She is arrogant, self-assured, and manipulative, fond of seeing others struggle and quite eager to make the lives of the people around her harder for her own amusement. Referred to as 'the Blonde Devil' by some senior magi, her attitude is well-known throughout the Tower. To put it simply, Arinne has a sadistic streak. She also enjoys mocking or teasing others, and has nothing but complete confidence in her own capabilities as a mage. Indeed, she is quite proud of her own bloodline, and of her own capabilities. Arinne also has a vengeful, spiteful side. She deeply resents the branch families that sold off portions of the Ar-Rynesarte's assets, even some of the contracts they held, and would take satisfaction in finding some way to undermine or dismantle them the moment she gained the opportunity. However, it is also clear that she has some level of concern for the magi now in her employ, even if she does take pleasure in making life difficult for them and teasing them whenever she has the opportunity. While she will stop at nothing to find her parents' killer, at the very least she does not seem to have any desire to sacrifice those who are under her contract in order to do it. She is very plain about her intentions if the killer is found, however. Arinne plans to kill them. Even if she was not present for the death of her mother and father, even if she does not have many memories of them, she absolutely cannot accept a world in which the one who murdered them walks free and unpunished.
Abilities: Arinne's arrogance is not unfounded. A prodigy mage carrying the blood of the Ar-Rynesarte family, she has a large mana supply that is of a very high quality. Her Affinity is Water, and she has a specialization in Ice beyond that. Her magic is therefore best suited to spells relating to flows and cycles, but also to Stillness and Stagnation. Of course, more directly, she can utilize water as a projectile via various spells, and use spells to freeze the moisture in the air into icicle bullets. However, she can also utilize spells to slow or freeze something in place. One particularly unusual spell allows her to convert a solid material into a liquid or vice-versa, though it only functions on inanimate objects and only within a magic circle she has put into place with chalk, making it irrelevant in a direct conflict. Additionally, she has use of the German spell Schattenpfiel, a low-power projectile spell that can be swiftly cast and used without relying on moisture in the air.
Skills: Arinne possesses few life skills, but she does seem to know just the right way to tease people.
Assets: While some of the Ar-Rynesarte family's assets have been sold off, Arinne still possesses their mansion and a considerable amount of wealth. This includes a large number of maids in her service. With her mansion comes the unique defensive barrier Crystal Killing Array, a defensive system embedded into the foundation of the Ar-Rynesarte mansion. When activated, it begins to manifest as a sheet of liquid that coats the walls and automatically seeks out body heat, attacking it by crystallizing and striking out at the target. If it is activated, any maids in the mansion are quickly called to one room to avoid their being harmed. The system ignores those possessing Ar-Rynesarte blood, but due to its method of tracking it can easily be fooled and it is best suited to penetrating soft targets as opposed to magical defenses or armor.
Brief Backstory: Arinne was born into the Ar-Rynesarte family and swiftly prepared to be yet another powerful mage bearing the family name. Her parents rarely spent any time with her, outside of what was necessary to facilitate her growth as a mage, but they were not without care for her. When she was six years old, spending time at the home of a family associate, her parents were suddenly killed. There were no witnesses, but it was undeniably not a natural death, the interiors of their bodies heavily lacerated by some sort of magic. Left alone, without siblings or parents, Arinne was unable to take her position as the family head for many years. During this time, various branch families leeched off of the main family's wealth, even selling assets possessed by the Ar-Rynesarte. But during this time, Arinne also grew as a magus, receiving schooling and expanding her capabilities. As she grew older, her reputation as something of a devil grew as well. She quite recently activated the contracts she still possesses, with the goal of locating the one who murdered her parents through any means necessary.
• Personality: Samuel is a very watchful individual. He is content to observe others rather than be the center of a crowd's attention - but this is not to say that he is shy. Socially, he is a very gentle and polite person - and has an air of knowing calm about him. He's one of those listener types who makes you feel like he is the host in your own home. Despite his very mellow demeanor, he is a very fun-loving individual who is not adverse to going on seemingly useless adventures, when he has the time. He is also known to shoot off some well-intentioned sarcasm every once in a while. However, there is another side to Samuel.
Samuel is vexed with a condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder(DID). Luckily for the young man, it is a relatively mild case. This condition has formed an alternate personality in Samuel's mind, who he calls Luc. Being a mild case, there is minimal memory loss - but it is still there during times of stress. Luc is much more abrasive than Samuel, and generally does not care for the feelings of others much. This is due to the fact that Luc stems from the trauma and anger that Samuel held in the past for his 'father'. Fortunately, Luc is content to remain dormant when Samuel is interacting with others, and rarely takes face when in company. However, certain actions, memories, or feelings will stir Luc and may cause him to 'trigger', and he will surface for a time.
• Abilities:
Affinity - Predation [Sub-branches: Consumption, Evolution] Samuel started properly honing his Magi blood later than one would comfortably want to - and as a result, the quality of his magic is average. However, he makes up for this with a massive capacity for mana. This mana-well craves to filled, and as such, his Affinity reflects this.
One of his affinities is that of consuming the magical attacks and effects of other beings. The most common usage of this affinity is to form a manaphage vortex of sorts, to absorb magical attacks. One must be careful, however, as creating one too large could seriously damage the user - so the expanse of the defense is limited to a few feet. Notably, mana consumption upon physical contact is very easy for Samuel.
Samuel uses the mana he absorbs to pour more resources into non-affinity magics he utilizes, compensating for the lack of proficiency. Additionally, he has become reliant on supplementary limb gestures to perform these magics - though this does ease the effort he requires by a small, yet respectable degree. These gestures are also used on his affinities, but they are not necessary - they just expedite the incantations.
As noted by his affinity, Samuel will sometimes alter his biology when he has to resort to it.
• Skills: Household chores - learned from his childhood. Etiquette & Espionage - it's in his nature to be polite and courteous, so he's hardly faking it. He is, ironically enough, capable of being two-faced if need be. Psychology - quite useful for every day interaction and the above-mentioned Espionage, Samuel has always been interested in psychology, for obvious reasons, and has studied it quite a bit. History/Historical Warfare - another subject he quite enjoys studying, he is knowledgeable in the customs, strategies, etc. of quite a few Eastern nations. Firearms - when he was younger he shot them for sport, but he would rather not use them for anything beyond that. He's a decent shot. Fencing - another sport he enjoyed in the past. He's a fine swordsman.
• Assets: Obviously, being part of one of the prominent Magi bloodlines, Samuel is entitled to quite a sum of inheritance/money.
• Brief Backstory: Samuel Lecrix Kissinger is the son of an affair between the former head of the Kissinger family* and his mistress. Sparing you the details, the Mistress - Samuel's mother, Sasha Kissinger - became pregnant. Without Sir Hyde Kissinger's* knowledge, Samuel was born and nurtured solely by his mother for some years. Eventually, the information came to be known, and his father suddenly cared for his presence - more specifically the rumored magical aptitude the child had potential for. He succeeded in separating the boy from his mother at the age of 15. The ensuing legal issues - the back and forth - were all very stressful. Not to mention all the magical energy Sir Hyde's tutors were trying to force the boy to evoke against his will. After a great deal of hassle for over a year, Sasha Kissinger earned custody of Samuel. Eventually, Sir Hyde Kissinger, who had been barring the duos inheritance funds, passed away from unknown causes. From then to the present, Samuel has reclaimed his spot near the pentacle of his family's head - alongside a good deal of inheritance money, which is far more than enough to give his caring mother a luxurious lifestyle. For twelve years now, he's lived a life some could only dream of - and has matured well, despite the previous grievances.
• Other:
Samuel is a man who enjoys his secrets. As such, his mother is the only person who knows about his Dissociative Identity Disorder. Additionally, he does not share the nature of his affinity with anyone - hence the moniker "Myriad-Affinity", as it appears he is proficient in more than a couple types of spells. Those who are sensitive to mana flows will notice the high quantity of mana he puts into his non-affinity techniques.
Luc will sometimes be triggered by the use of 'Evolution' techniques. This can rarely extend to Incendiary and especially violent techniques as well.
Personality: Effie is the sole child of the Dalraan family, and it shows. She is incredibly sheltered, as well as a little spoilt. She is oblivious to a lot of simple things, but is eager to find out more about the world with an almost childlike innocence. When she speaks, she can be condescending, albeit unintentionally. She is a perfectionist, critical of her own mistakes, which often ends up with her upsetting herself. Effie is also known to get annoyed when she doesn't get what she wants or if things don't work out her way.
However, Effie is a generally sweet and optimistic person. She spends more time with a smile on her face than anything else, and is very supportive of other people. She is sensitive and quick to cry, and is very trusting of others. She tends to overlook other people's flaws, instead trying to find some kind of justification for the way they act.
Abilities: Affinity - Light Effie's magic is not particularly combat orientated, but she functions perfectly fine that way. She is able to bend light, which has a multitude of different applications. For example, she can create visual illusions, distract or blind the enemy or make herself and other things seem to disappear. Furthermore, she can alter the colour or intensity of light, and even can create it, though this takes a fair amount of mana to sustain. As a secondary effect of this, she can also manipulate shadows, though only in appearance.
She can also adjust temperatures slightly through the manipulation of infrared light, though she has considerably less practice in this. Effie can slightly alter the temperature of an area, or she can focus heat on a specific point. That's about all she can do, though.
Skills: Cooking & Baking - She's good, for sure. Does she enjoy them? Also yes.
Silent Footsteps - Effie walks almost silently. Even when she doesn't try, it's hard to hear her coming.
Impressions - She can impersonate animals and other people pretty well, even more so with practice. Goes nicely with her illusions.
Cleaning - Therapeutic.
Assets: Dalraan Shadowcloak - Purely for aesthetics. It is blacker than black, absorbing all light that touches it. Warm, too.
Torch - For emergencies.
Knife - For bigger emergencies. Or cooking!
Brief Backstory: Effie was born Euphemia Dalraan, daughter of Camille and Darian Dalraan. She does not remember her early childhood, as most do not. There is one event that plays vividly in her mind, during the darkest hours of the night, and it is two beams of light, headlights, and the sharp squeal of tyres. Those are her final memories of Camille Dalraan. It may be her only memory.
Darian refused to remarry. And he didn't.
Effie spent the rest of her childhood under the watchful eye of her father. He was incredibly overprotective, never letting Effie out of his sight for even a minute, too afraid of what could happen to her while his back was turned. She went through her education, mundane and magical, at home. She was allowed to leave the house, but never without him or someone he trusted greatly by her side. This meant she rarely ever did, and when she could, her options of what she could do were vastly limited. She gained more freedoms with age, but she never really got a proper life. She didn't even know what that was supposed to mean. It was just normal for her.
She never resented her father for anything, even as she grew older. In fact, it was the opposite. She loved him more than anything, and Effie couldn't find it in her to hold anything against him. After all, he gave her anything she wanted, and in return, she was perfect. She had to be perfect. That was how the world worked. And it continued to do so, until Arinne Ar-Rynesarte activated her contracts.
Name: Murakami Jun Age: 21 Gender: Male Appearance:
Personality: Being told about the decline of his family ad nauseam when he was young from has made Jun lose all pretenses of ever caring about his pride as a mage. Lazy, pessimistic and self-centered, he tries to avoid unnecessary trouble, if he can ignore a problem or pass it through someone else he’ll gladly do it. Meaning that recent events have made him wish that the Ar-Rynesarte kid should have just do as he did and move on instead of forcing him to work. Jun hopes that the kid will give up quickly, thought he knows how stubborn noble mages can be.
Affinity: Answers Abilities:
Mental Acceleration: As the name implies, it makes his mind run at a faster rate, allowing him to think multiple trains of thought in a short time and react faster to dangerous situations.
Probing: Gives him the ability to hear the surface thoughts of a person, he prefers to mental cast this spell for obvious reasons, though that renders the spell ineffective against those with mental protections. A variation on this spell can make a person say whatever they’re thinking out loud, though this one can’t be mentally cast.
Golden Truth: A curse that gradually closes the target’s throat. Answering with a lie to any statement made by the mage who cast the curse will end up increasing the speed in which their throat closes.
Familiar: Kagero: A gift from his grandfather before sending him off into London. Made to compensate for Jun’s low amounts of mana and sickly complexion, it’s designed to do the heavy lifting from him. Taking the form of a young woman with extremely long hair and black robes, she’s a very simple familiar, without any other special abilities aside from her incredible strength and the ability to blend into her master’s shadow.
Kagero’s stoic and very focused on her task, silently watching Jun’s movements as his shadow and only coming out if she’s called out or if she senses danger. She seems to have trouble speaking full sentences, which has made Jun wonder if his grandfather was cutting corners to ensure that he wouldn’t have to spend much mana in her and due to his lack of contact with other members of his family has been an unsolved mystery.
Trait: Psychometry: By touching an object with his bare hands Jun can receive memories, emotions or sensations stored in it, he has no control over what he’ll see and it can be specifics moments in its existence or a general overview of it. If a person left enough of an imprint Jun runs the risk of acquiring several of their mannerisms and personality traits for a while. Aside from that this ability is extremely exhausting both mentally and physically, so he prefers not to use it unless it’s necessary.
Skills: Cold Reading: By seeing a person's mannerisms, way of talking and clothing Jun can make accurate guesses of their personality and their current situation.
Assets: Magatama Necklace: A family charm, it’s supposed to serve as a form of mental protection, though he has no idea how effective it really is.
Brief Backstory: Once a renowned family in the Moon Circle, infighting amongst themselves and onmyouji i-using mages, their strange affinity and continued diminishing of their constitution, as well as the degradation of the quality and quantity of mana with each generation, meant that they would fade into irrelevance not with a bang, but with a whimper. Seeking to start anew some members decided to leave Japan and leave into other Circles. Pulling a favor with the Ar-Rynesarte family, Jun's grandfather was able to send one of his grandchildren to study in the Tower Circle, with the promise that he would work for the Circle as an interrogator when he was of age, since their affinity would be useful in pulling the truth out of suspected rogues in the mage community.
Personality: Generally laid back and somewhat snarky, the majority of people meeting Leo for the first time would probably walk away thinking of him as an extremely annoying person. Honestly, they wouldn't really be wrong to think that either, as he is one hundred percent the kind of person who finds the fact that people find him infuriating hilarious, and it often seems like one of the only things he will actually put effort into is finding gaps in peoples armour and teasing them relentlessly with them. And yes, he won't deny that he greatly enjoys his rest and relaxation time, certainly far more than he enjoys hard work.
However, when it comes down to it, Leo always at least tries to be a good person. It isn't rare for him to pick up on whether or not someone is feeling alright, and will sit with them and help them work things out to the best of his abilities, even if that means he has to skip work. Especially when it means he has to skip work. All in all, he's someone who believes in not stressing over the little things, and will help people he sees doing so get over it. Hell, get him in the right mood, and he might even do something constructive!
Abilities:
Affinity: Words Mana Quantity: High Mana Quality: Slightly below average Leonardo has access to two kinds of magic that have been passed down through the Vadris family for generations. The first has been given the nickname "Word of God", and allows the caster to speak a number of words in an forgotten language that may or may not have been created by the Vadris family itself. Each of these words represent a concept, and most of them are simple modifiers placed around the core word of 'unity'. As the words are spoken, the runic version of the word appears in the air around him, flowing towards the unity runes to take the form of a phantasmal object made of the runes. The form the runes take depends partly on the original intent of the caster, and partly on the modifying words being used.
The second is runic enchantment, and is quite similar to Word of God. However, in addition to speaking the words aloud, the caster must also somehow inscribe the runes for the word being used into an object. This causes the object being enchanted to take on that aspect, allowing for a lot of versatility. However, enchanting usually takes a large amount of time and even more intense focus than Word of God, and must therefore be done only in a safe, secure location.
In both cases, there are limitations to wordcasting. The greatest example of this is the mana cost of each word, which fluctuates depending on the word and it's effects, but can often be quite high simply on their own, let alone combined with several other words. This is compounded by the fact that many modifying words have little effect on their own, and often need to be repeated multiple times in a single construct to actually accomplish the intended results. For example, one instance of hunt in a construct will usually cause it to simply arc gently in the targets direction, which in some cases might be enough, but this is rarely the case. A safer bet would be three or four uses of hunt, which makes the seeking aspect far more accurate, but uses significantly more mana than just one use would.
Skills:
Hand to hand combat: Ever since his parents death eight years ago, Leo has trained in various combat skills in order to better defend himself in case he and his sister are also attacked. It isn't his best skill, more just something that he's thrown together, but it works fine against opponents who don't focus on close combat skills.
Firearms training and maintenance: A fair sight better than his hand to hand skills, Leo has spent a large part of the last eight years training himself in the use and maintenance of various types of firearms. He's no master sniper or anything, or even particularly good with a sniper rifle, but with regular rifles and pistols, he can be quite formidable.
Handwriting: The guys got neat handwriting.
Fishing: Leo is good at fishing. Leo likes fishing. Leo has ignored important household tasks in the past to go fishing, because fishing lets him sit around doing nothing while still technically doing something.
Sewing: Leo likes sewing too. It lets him save money, and is one of his few actually productive skills. He uses it to make small charms with weak, almost undetectable enchantments and sell them as a small side business.
Gardening: Again, Leo likes gardening because it let him save money when he and his sister are low on funds. If he manages to grow enough at one time, he can even make some money selling them at the market.
Assets: Most of the little the Vadris family owns is back at their home on the island, but he has managed to bring a few things with him. These are a small Beretta pistol, a sewing kit, his fishing rod and supplies, and a small ink brush to write runes for enchanting.
Brief Backstory: Leonardo was born to the Vadris family, who despite their great age had managed to remain out of the spotlight for much of their history. While expectations were high for Leo to master the art of wordcasting as soon as possible, his situation was not nearly as bad as is so often the case with other mage bloodlines. He and his parents were quite close, and he was allowed time to pursue his own hobbies where others might find themselves completely tied down. The birth of his sister Elise seven years later only served to bring the family closer, and his ambition to improve largely focused around making them proud.
However, disaster struck when Leo was just eleven years old, when his parents were both killed in a terrible 'accident'. Leo and Elise were never given the details of the accident, other than the fact that it probably wasn't actually an accident, instead being quickly shepherded away from their home in Ireland to a small, unassuming island in the middle of the pacific ocean, where they have spent the last eight years living as the lower-class McGillis family with their homunculus caretaker Luna. Times have been tough, with Leo having to dedicate the majority of his time to helping raise Elise, and eventually assisting in bringing in an income for the three to live off of. So far he has managed that, but along with the self defense training, it has taken a heavy toll on his magic education, having made very little progress in expanding his magic vocabulary other than a few words he can use to subtly make money. Without revealing the existence of magic, put away the pitchforks...
Honestly, despite life just above the poverty line being a little bit difficult, Leonardo felt like he probably could have kept going with it. He had gotten used to it, he knew what he was doing! And then he was called back to London by their families ancient contract with the Ar-Rynesarte family, meaning that not only would he have to reveal the fact that he and his sister actually survived their parents... 'accident'... but he would also have to put his limited understanding on how to act as the head of a mage family to the test.
Personality: She rolls through life with a quiet confidence born from experience, a woman in black with more power and influence than you could ever fathom. Or is that merely the impression she wants you to receive? A deceiver, never showing her true colors, as warm or as cold as she ever needs to be. A professional, patient and pragmatic, consummate in her fulfillment of the role assigned. A spy, who knows things she really shouldn't, and who hides things you really wouldn't want to know. Who this woman is as a person is not something you'll ever find out; when she's on the job, she is the job. And once her work with you is done, chances are you'll never see her again. In case you hadn't guessed by now, Selas is not her real name.
Abilities: Her Affinity is Secrets. The size and quality of her mana supply are unknown. The primary function of her magic is hiding information, and this includes hiding the actual extent of her abilities. Most forms of scrying, mind-reading, and supernatural perception simply don't work on her, turning up only a blank. What is known is that her spells mostly work on recorded information. She can erase herself, or other people and objects, from photographs, video recordings, written descriptions, digital files, and even short-term memory. She can wipe key details from long-term memory, so long as she knows how the target first learned said details. From moment to moment she's as visible as anyone else, but after she's gone it's as if she wasn't ever there. She has one familiar, the raven Oscurus. This is a creature of whispers: it has extremely sharp hearing, and will eavesdrop on anything and everything within earshot, remembering words, voices, and sounds. It can repeat anything it overhears with perfect accuracy, surpassing even modern recording devices. It's also intelligent enough to understand human speech, and parse through memorized conversations for specific details. However, once it has heard and 'recorded' a sound, it can only repeat it a single time, after which the recording is erased from its memory. It can remember and repeat incantations for spells, but lacks sufficient mana to cast anything beyond basic cantrips.
Skills: Selas is an excellent actress, a skilled liar, and has a nigh-unbeatable poker face. She's also quite stealthy when she wants to be, has a surprisingly deep knowledge of biology and chemistry, and is fluent in several languages.
Assets: At any given moment, she has concealed on her person several knives, a small handgun, up to three meters of razor wire, and two stun grenades. She carries a locked satchel with her at all times.
Brief Backstory: Selas's family doesn't have a name. Their origins, numbers, goals, and allegiances are unknown. Most mages are aware to some degree of their existence, and that they perform work on behalf of certain families and Circles, but beyond that everything is a closely guarded secret, with only the most notable and influential figures in magical society being privy to the full story. On account of their affinities, members of the nameless family are often employed for covert or forbidden operations, which are required to be hidden for one reason or another. It is unknown how or when the Ar-Rynesartes formed a contract with this family. Only that they did, and that the agreement had yet to expire. And that when called upon to serve, a woman nobody had ever seen or met before appeared out of nowhere...
Age: ??? Saturday has belonged to the Ar-Rynesarte family for countless generations, and no-one really remembers when exactly they came into possession of her.
Personality: A terror on the battlefield, a truly grim reaper who mows down victims like wheat with an expressionless look on her face. Death is like second nature to her, and killing is her only reason to be. The only real meaning to her existence is to kill, to slay, to reap.
...At least, that's how she was before. Due to being given freedom and the chance of a regular life by Arinne, Saturday is... Not exactly sure what to do anymore. How does one act like a normal girl when their entire life has been so abnormal? With little idea what to do with her life now it is her own, Saturday mostly lives to serve Arinne as best she can. Arinne is the reason she is now free, and Arinne was the first to treat her like a human, so she wishes only to ensure no harm comes to her new mistress. Due to her inability to die, she has no sense of self-preservation, and doesn't seem to see anything wrong with sacrificing herself for Arinne's sake; in her mind, she is still simply a weapon to be used as her mistress sees fit. She comes off as expressionless, although on closer inspection she is not emotionless; a life of being nothing but a cold killer has left her with difficulties expressing herself and thus any emotional responses she may have are incredibly subtle. Due to living a life of nothing but death and ugliness beforehand, the discovery of things that are cute has rather notably affected her. As such, Saturday has developed somewhat of an obsession for small, cute things, and spends most of the allowance Arinne gives her on stuffed animals and other cutesy things for her room. Even her outfit was designed with cuteness in mind, as Arinne wasn't pleased with the rags she had been wearing when she emerged from the casket. Of all things, however, the one thing that is most important to her is Arinne herself, although it seems different from the previous sense of duty she had towards the Ar-Rynesarte family. Saturday is not entirely sure what these new feelings are, and has no idea how to properly process them.
Abilities:
Deathless: Saturday possesses the rather peculiar ability of being incapable of dying. No matter how much she is shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, torn, mutilated or otherwise mortally wounded, she will immediately get back up to her feet no worse for wear at the moment she "dies". Because of this, she has been classified with the Sorcery Trait "Deathless", although this is merely for simplicity's sake; it is unknown if it is truly a Sorcery Trait or if it is something different altogether.
Enhanced Physical Capabilities: Saturday possesses physical abilities far surpassing what her build might imply, although whilst her strength is somewhat greater than she would appear to have what is more impressive is her speed and agility. When she is fighting seriously Saturday moves at blinding speeds and is able to react faster than any regular human, and she is so agile that it almost seems like she can run up straight walls.
Mage: Although she possesses the ability to use magic, Saturday is not a very skilled mage due to never having been taught properly and thus is only capable of using the most basic of spells. Although it unknown even to her what her original affinity was, over time her nature as a deathless being has caused it to change to "Stillness"; the most notable usage of this affinity is that her supernatual agility is partially caused by her subconsciously enforcing the concept of "Stillness" on her surroundings.
Skills: Saturday was intended for the singular purpose of swiftly annihilating the enemies of the Ar-Rynesarte family, and thus she has little skills outside of combat. However, due to her newfound freedom she has decided (or at least been encouraged by Arinne) to try and branch out a bit and has taken an interest in cooking, art and music. She's still not very good at any of them, however.
Assets: The scythe Saturday wields is a conceptual weapon known as the King of Mercy, a blade that embodies the concept of "Severing." Whilst this means it is capable of slicing through almost any physical substance, its true purpose is the "severing" of metaphysical connections; spectral existences, things with no material form, even the flow of mana from one thing to another can be "severed" by its blade. Other than the King of Mercy, Saturday owns very little in terms of personal property. Her only notable assets are a growing collection of stuffed animals she keeps in the room Arinne provided her, and a stray cat she has been allowed to keep that she has named "Ennira".
Brief Backstory: The origins of the seemingly unkillable girl known only as "Saturday" are an enigma. She has belonged to the Ar-Rynesarte family for countless generations, to the point that no-one can quite remember when she first became their property, and was used by the more unscrupulous members of the family as a weapon against their enemies. Whenever her unique skills were needed, she was retrieved, pointed at her target and once the job was done was locked in a casket until the next time she was needed. For centuries, this was her entire life; she was nothing more than a tool of murder, and no-one considered her to be anything other than that. No-one, at least, until Arinne Velvet Ar-Rynesarte became head of the family. After finding out about this new "inheritence" of hers, she was shocked and disgusted at what her ancestors had done to the poor girl and immediately let her out of the casket in hope that she could pursue a less horrifying existence. However, as her life as a weapon was all Saturday had known, and due to Arinne being the first person to actually show her kindness, she decided to stay with her and act as her sword.
Name: Paul 'Saint' St James Age: 40 Gender: Male Appearance:
Personality: Paul is eternally calm and reserved, with a will that is as relentless as the advance of a glacier. Those that know him and his employer often remark that he has the patience of a saint, giving rise to his nickname. As stoic as he is now, it wasn't always so. In his youth he was passionate and impulsive but age and experiences have hardened him. Saint battles daily with depression but has found something to focus on that distracts him from losing the woman that he loved. This focus in combination with his current occupation has almost become an obsession; making him paranoid, meticulous, and demanding regarding all those but his young charge.
Abilities: Saint has an affinity for metal, most notably iron and steel. Though he doesn't have the same amount of mana as other mages, he has long practiced his skills and thus his spells are very efficient in most cases.
Acting directly on objects, He can reform metal to match a defined mental image with more simple objects coming easily and change most of their properties such as state and hardness, although the former is very taxing to do. While it is possible for him to propel metal objects using his magecraft, this is also considered a waste of energy and thus he prefers to take things hand to hand in direct confrontations.
The easiest application of his powers, as well as something that he can maintain as long as he is awake, is his metal detector spell, which makes him aware of metals within twenty meters or so of him.
The most difficult of his arts, and that which has taken him the longest to master is to imbue his flesh with the properties of metals, hardening his body like steel and lending his body immense weight. This is only sustainable for a few minutes at a time.
Skills: Paul St. James is professional regarding anything necessary to serve and protect his master. He is a very competent driver, having been trained in tactical driving. He has also been trained as a bodyguard as well as in pursuit, escape and evasion. Unfortunately he is lacking somewhat in more domestic matters.
Assets: As an only child, Paul is the last of his bloodline. His family had a number of holdings and properties that ensure a stable income that he uses in service to his master. He owns a handful of lightly armoured cars and a small armoury of weapons. In almost all situations he carries a pair of matched daggers in holsters under his jacket.
Brief Backstory: Paul St. James was a prideful, arrogant younger man that wanted to further his skills to impress others and improve his own standing. He was also in love with the daughter of a well off mage family, one who was to marry to the heir of the Ar-Rynesarte bloodline.
Losing her was a terrible blow to him but he persevered, vowing to serve her however possible. With hard work, discipline and a major change in attitude he was eventually hired as a driver for the family and caretaker for their young daughter.
Their deaths a short time later impacted him strongly. In his time with the family his love for the Mrs. Ar-Rynesarte had become more like that for a sister and the daughter felt like a niece to him. From the depths of despair came an obsession in serving and protecting this young girl to the limit of his abilities.
Appearance: In some regards, Lillia is quite endowed, certainly to the point that it’s rather hard to ignore… whilst in regards to her height it is quite the opposite: any height difference between her and Arinne can be put down to their shoes.
Personality: As the family heir to one of the Tower’s old noble families, Lillia has been quite spoiled… and thoroughly conditioned to act properly. She’s unfailingly polite and friendly, though she can be quite upset by bullying or being picked on—not that most people would even consider that to be an option, in her life. She’s also quite bad at reading people’s intentions… unless she’s in danger. In dangerous or messy situations, quite unlike most girls of her age, Lillia tends to remain frighteningly calm. She’s hard to shock.
Abilities: The generation’s other magical prodigy, Lillia has a vast pool of high-quality mana, and at her family’s insistence has studiously trained in the basics of various elemental or seemingly generic magic: if you have the magical ability, then one should be quite able to maintain a household in a comfortable state with it (of course, that’s why servants exist, but the point remains). Her true affinity is for Life, something regularly occurring in the Avemaria’s main line—and possibly explaining the rumours that for some generations, all of their servants have been homunculi made at one point or another. Lillia, a prodigy or not, is much too young to have considered entering into the process of trying to… acquire a soul. Instead, she tends to focus on more mundane concerns, like healing, or growing plants, or—in extremis—draining the life from anyone too close… which mostly serves to make people around her increasingly sleepy. With the proper set-up it could be quite more lethal. That her specialisation is Poisons would come as quite a surprise with her attitude, but she likes how it can be used for some medical effects that healing wouldn’t cover. Or self defence. A touch that makes limbs go numb can be quite useful.
Skills: Lillia is pretty good at gardening, cutting things carefully, and sewing. Do not ask her about anything created after the industrial revolution, she’ll be quite confused.
Assets: As the current heir, Lillia has access to vast wealth—provided that she can justify it to her parents, who are fairly permissive about what their daughter might choose to spend money on—obviously, becoming a business magnate is out, but almost any mundane expenses are beneath their notice. Similarly, the family’s large staff of maids and bodyguards who are also maids can be called upon—diverting the butler from their duty would, however, be considered quite improper. One maid, in particular, is assigned specifically for Lillia’s use and protection—Maria, a homunculus made with full intent to be extremely proficient with knives and not to talk back to her master. Accordingly, she’s completely mute.
Brief Backstory: The Avemaria family has a long history, but it does tend to be accused of having quite unsavoury practices in the past—no matter that most of their contributions to mage society have been through their adeptness at healing, somehow quite competently dealing with injuries that can’t simply be healed away—missing limbs or severely damaged organs, if you’re willing to pay up, then anything can be healed right now… One of the things that lends credence to the negative rumours, however, is that the rumours of a vast mansion and its grounds maintained and staffed by homunculi? True, for at least five generations back: from cradle to grave, five generations have been served by the exact same household. To have that many, they must be getting souls… somehow. Lillia is their latest heir, born into the family and given quite a lot of attention by parents with time to spare, and almost anything she could ask for. But there were no other children her age amongst the family or staff, so what were they to do? Simple: have her associate with the child of one of the few other families of appropriate standing. Perhaps it’s not surprising that when Arinne called upon her contracts, the Avemaria sent Lillia instead of one of the adults. No doubt her parents have reasoned it easier to send someone who would be visiting regularly anyway than go themselves and have Lillia intrude awkwardly.
Grain is every bit the image of what an ideal knight should be in the eyes of others and of themselves. She's relatively tall for her age, standing close to 1.7 meters, with a well built body that has neither a lack or excess of weight and muscles.
Despite being a stoic type, who keeps a detached view of the world, and thus, not being one to speak freely unless requested to. Grain's half soprano voice carries a great deal of resolution.
This resolution is seen in her actions as well. Even though her quiet demeanor may make it seem like she's shy or unused to social interactions, the truth is quite the contrary, and it shows in every minutia of her being. From the way she walks and dresses, to what she reads and her silent, vigilante gaze, everything about her is proper and knightly.
While it's easy to think that someone like her would be a consummate tomboy, the truth couldn't be more further away. That said, she doesn't like it when others pay too much attention to her feminine side either.
"Though, just maybe, will she get flustered when called cute? Well, there's only one way to know..."
⇲ BRIEF BACKSTORY:
Grain was born and raised in a spartan environment, with the sole purpose of continuing her family's knighthood tradition and their relationship with the Tower's magi.
It would be easy to assume that this meant an abusive and grueling childhood, but the truth couldn't be more different. In fact, she was raised with attention and care, befitting her social standing. Even if her parents were always the hands-off type, Grain always counted with her servants to do everything she needed so that she could concentrate solely on the obligations required of her as a knight.
As a result of her intense focus she was able to acquire the title she sought at a jaw dropping young age. However, as a consequence of such intense focus on her life goal, Grain is pretty... disconnected from the outside world. Whenever she goes through the streets of a modern days city like London she can't help but feel amazed at the simplest of things; it's actually even said that she has difficulty using even something as simple as a smartphone.
Anyway, it's of no surprise that when the young heiress of the Ar-Rynesarte family declared that she would find the ones responsible for her family's fall from grace, one of their ally families like the Blackmore would answer their call for help.
It was the only honorable thing to do.
⇲ ABILITIES:
Grain isn't a member of the Tower, or eve mage in the proper sense of the word. She's knowledgeable in magecract and magical foundations, but practicing it -- while not beyond her abilities -- is beyond her interest. That said, she does have an enviably high reserve and quality of mana -- befitting her pure, noble blood -- which comes in handy for other applications rather than spellcasting.
All of this is possible because of her very rare Sorcery Trait: "Blood of Heroes" which only appears sporadically in families of those who are direct descendants a legendary hero of the past. In her case, the legendary Celtic king Fionn mac Cumhail, also known as Finn MacCool.
First of all, always having such an amount of mana on reserve, makes Grain highly resistant to magic effects in general since she can simply counter pretty anything using her own raw magic energy.
She also the "body of a hero who can challenge fate itself", an ability that goes way beyond what even a mage dedicated to just physical reinforcement would be capable of doing. Which can reach truly absurd levels of power when combined with her ability to release her magical energy to improve her physical abilities, making strikes harder, jumps longer, etc.
When combined with her family's heirloom arms, it's possible to unleash a blast of pure magical energy that mimics the legends of old, when a lone knight had the power to defeat whole armies of their own as well as other similar feats.
However, the most unique part of her trait is inheriting a part of the legendary wisdom Fionn is said to have gained in the tale of the Salmon of Knowledge. By sucking bringing her thumb to her mouth Grain is able to gain limited clairvoyance allowing her to divine the possible best course of action for almost any situation, as well as get a good idea of the answer to pretty much anything you ask of her. Needless to say, this skill is pretty handy for her studies.
⇲ SKILLS:
It's safe to say that grain could be a specialist of everything if she truly wanted to overuse her gift of wisdom to solve the problems of life. However, not only would this be inappropriate in her view, but also... she can't help but feel embarrassed while doing it in front of others.
Thus, it's no wonder that she avoids it. Even so, Grain's very knowledgeable in the classic matters, knightly traditions, and social etiquette. She's an outstanding athlete, amazon, and naturally acquainted to many different forms of combat. That said, she's mostly helpless in matters that don't pertain to her chosen life goal, sometimes to pretty amazing to see degrees.
⇲ ASSETS:
As far as monetary assets, it's simpler to say that Grain never did, nor ever will, lack anything that she might need or want. Unless some incredible misfortune befalls her family, the fortune they've been amassing for the previous hundreds of years, won't be getting smaller any time soon.
When it comes to other possessions, she has access to a decent selection of both arms and armor -- though most of them aren't magical per se -- as well as a number of magical tools accumulated over centuries of service, even though most of them have either lost their original powers, or are outright useless in a practical sense. To the point that it's almost appropriate to say that the Blackmore's excel at collecting junk.
As expected, she doesn't carry anything of that with herself unless she's on official business, in which case she'll almost always be seen with her family's heirloom sword and a set of very light armor (basically just gauntlets and greaves). She's also usually seen with a whip. Even though the origins of that weapon are unknown, she does seem to be rather fond of it.
Anyway, Grain has an enchanted key -- said to have been gift to her family by fairies -- which allows her summon any item in her family's armory effortlessly. It's also able to unlock any non-magical locks (as well as some magical ones), regardless of them having a keyhole or not.