Name: Able

Sobriquets: The Muse. The Fairest. Collector of Songs.

Appearance:

A fair young man of slight build and flawless features. Able carries a spear whose shining head hums like a struck glass. The haft is quite long, and made of stunningly pale and straight driftwood.

Aspect: SONG
A form of art, true, but Song has also been used throughout human history(in most worlds) to pass along knowledge and wisdom. It may express oral history, and contains an aspect of magical knowledge as well.
Song can be used to evoke emotions, and move the hearts and minds of those who hear it. It makes for a bearer who inspires joy, and whom others follow happily.

World: Heimark.
A world defined by bitter, cold salt water and a multitude of rocky islands. Resources are fairly scarce, and one of the most precious is wood, which is absolutely necessary for the building of ships to cross the oceans. Many people double as raiders in addition to whatever trade they take on their home islands.

The people of Heimark are resilient and independent by nature. They are excellent shipwrights, and hold a vessel in high esteem, considered to be a credit to its home island.

Ship building is assisted by shamans who work with wood spirits, called wudwyrds. Traditionally, only one tree is cut down for a ship, though salvaged wood can be used(with great deference). Such driftwood, however, is considered quite valuable, because of how rarely the sea returns what it takes.
This tradition ensures that no tree that plays host to a wudwyrd is cut needlessly, and also preserves the spirit as a singular entity in the completed vessel. A ship with a wudwyrd can always find the way back to any island it has visited, and can steer itself if needs must(though they typically prefer not to).

Race: Human

Legacy: Able was born to a small village on his home island of Briige. His parents were quite poor, and when a shaman who was traveling through took notice of him, they were happy to believe he would live a better life as an apprentice. What they did not understand was that the old man(name of Hroki) desired Able for his beauty and youth. He learned from his new master, but was loved by him as well, and as Able grew older, the wise man could not bear to see it. Besotted by the youth, the shaman turned to deep magic that even he did not properly understand, and entreated Time and Change themselves to refrain from touching Able. He was made to prove his worth and love, through trials that Able knew nothing of, but by the time he succeeded, and Able was finally spared the ravages of Time, and the fickle gifts of Change, he was a young man, and the shaman grieved the loss of his childhood.

Able outlived Hroki, and all those around him. He sought employ, with his new gifts, as a soldier and raider aboard a ship out of his homeland. He worked well enough for a time, but found that he could not train his body to become any stronger through natural means, and was weaker than hid fellows.

In a far flung land, he found knowledge from a monastery of monks who knew the secrets of transcending their physical limitations. Through meditation and force of will, Able learned to overcome the baser parts of his mind and body that, in a normal man, prevented one from harming themselves. Unable to suffer harm himself, Able could use these techniques to achieve superhuman strength and speed. Still, his body had its limits, and he sought power through his spirit.

Able lived on. He continued his study of magic, but lived primarily as a strange, hermitic nomad, and generally lost interest in the conflicts between islands. He returned frequently to the monastery where he first learned his greatest physical gifts, to further meditate and consider the mysteries of the world. It may have been inevitable that he discovered a key to divinity on his own, but fate had another plan.

Heimark was broken into from the outside by a strange army, claiming to follow a god. The people of Heimark, being tough and contrary, fought back, and Able joined the conflict for the first time in decades. He joined with Elga, the Jarl of Briige, and fought under her as she first united the people of their world, and then fought to push back the invaders. Their resistance finally attracted the attention of the god himself, who stepped down from his throne in heaven to take to the field personally. He heard of a particular fighter who none of his disciples were able to slay, and sought him out on a rocky battlefield. The god’s blades sang as he fought, and in moments he had slain many of Able’s shield siblings, until finally he found the soldier whose body refused to be split by his swords. One of the Old Gods, or even a New God bearing a different Word may have been capable of stripping Able of his gifts, but this god and his power was only able to see them, reading his power like notes on a staff. He got too close, and Able plunged his indestructible fingers into the god’s forehead, plucking the star from his very brow. Holding a key to creation in his hand, Able looked back at the rest of the field as the god withered at his feet. The invaders and natives alike stared at him, expecting a new decree. Able turned the key, and stepped away from his world, into heaven.



Might: Able does not age, and(under normal circumstances) no change can be made to his body. He has mastered a technique to bypass the body’s resistance to using its full potential, and has a fair understanding of magic(enhanced by the Aspect of his Key). With his Aspect, he can read and understand magic that is affecting any object or person, much like reading music. Given effort and time, he can edit such magic as well by, to keep the metaphor, moving notes around.

Able can uncover, and even restore lost things by finding them preserved in Song.

The invaders of Heimark were stranded when their god lost his Key, but most of them would be willing to obey its current bearer, should he return to collect them. Able entered heaven alone, however, and at present has no followers to his name.

The empire of the God-King Seig is controlled by an efficient army of bureaucrat-soldiers who kept the Rhythm and Rhyme of the worlds moving. They were collectively called The Orchestra. Though far from well liked, they are generally considered benevolent, if meddlesome.

Seig's predilection for overseeing the details personally has left the Orchestra with a simplistic hierarchy, and nothing much in the way of a chain of command. Seig is known to have disappeared, but as the key that controlled his army's interplanar travel is now in another's hands, the news of his actual death has not left Heimark. The Orchestra is still able to travel between established worlds, but cannot create such permanent openings.

Path: Able seeks lasting companionship with anyone who might be an equal. He has long since withdrawn from society, having tired of the sorrow of outliving those close to him. He is new to Heaven and the multiverse at large, and wishes to see it, and what others have made of it.

Name: Monica

Sobriquets: Black-Heart, The Orphan of Zael, Daughter of the Shattered Sky and the White Moon, The Dark Angel of Rebellion, Voice of the Void, The Lady of Blood and Vengeance, Queen of the Maelites and Zheremeshi, and the Ghesceran Empress, High Priestess of the Yemetheri and the Tower of God, The Seventh Sage of Szolte, Archon of the Seven Heavenly Dragons and Inheritor of Yemethra, Imperial Bride of the Divine King Ghescera, Shrine Maiden of the Yedaji Alter and Founder of the Circle.

*Appearance: Despite her short stature, standing slightly above five feet, she seems taller than she is, easily exuding a presence of power and authority even among those that tower above her. Her golden eyes are bright, but devoid of mercy or compassion, as she watches others with a morbid hunger, or a cold and detached lifelessness in her gaze. Her long linear hair is as dark as the night, and falls down around her waist.

Emerging from her back are ebony feathery wings akin to a raven's, that shed shadowy tears from their pinions. However she is capable of concealing these wings as they merge into flesh and transform into a tattoo upon her back where they emerge. She wears a white silk gown adorned with intricate gold jewelry, without anything worn on her bare feet. Her angelic and youthful appearance conceals the empty and insidious void within her.

*I do not know how to add a picture, but I can PM it.

Aspect: Monica's aspect is PASSION, allowing her to glimpse at the potency of emotions within others, and even channel them; weakening or empowering such emotions. However, she suffers a similar effect when she affects others, enduring their suffering, or sharing in their joy. She shares sensations and thoughts with others, removing the fields that separate individuals, which is often a very undesirable thing for her. Usually the only cure is killing the other person, which results in immense pain as well... She is seeking an alternative.

World: The World of Zhar, remnants of what came before, known also as the Second World/Weaving. A sea of shadows consumes most of the land, from which creatures of darkness arise and prey upon the living. The Sun was slain as the First World was unraveled, and the people of Zhar live by the rivers and lakes of light that are scattered across the world. It is thought that the world was created by the Queen of the Sky, Yemethra.

War ravaged history, clashes between men of power, and the Children of Yemethra, and the arrival of Zael. It was Zael that beget Monica, and He that taught humanity sorcery, the art of compelling the world to conform to language as opposed to language conforming to world, which He described as philosophy. Yemethra and Zael were at war with each other, until Zael was slain by Yemethra, only to be slain by His daughter, Monica.

Now Zhar exists with only one ruler, whom struggles to unite men and monsters, and attempts to usher in an era of peace and prosperity for the world. However, very few people in Zhar are aware of where their new ruler resides now, as the Tower of God is empty, and the Seven Heavenly Dragons are dormant once more. Fortunately for Her, companions and friends of Monica have taken it upon themselves to watch over the world and manage affairs in Her absence.

Race: She is human, however the people of Maelite lack shadows or reflections. Her mother was the Moon, and her father was an Outsider, but both were mortal when they conceived the child, and as a result, Monica is a mixture of celestial, outsider, and mortal. (Similar to Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy)

Legacy: Monica was born a mundane human, and died at the age of fourteen. However, she was reborn thousands of years later when the Sea of Shadows regurgitated her body, and her shattered soul was gathered and restored by Norna, daughter of Metea, sister and lover of Yemethra (Akin to Greek Deities). Monica lived once more among humanity for perhaps a month before she was sacrificed upon the Yedaji Alter and became a Shrine Maiden.

For a hundred or so years, she fought the shadows that emerged from the abyss and accumulated a reputation for being efficient and powerful even among her fellow Shrine Maidens (Equivalent to Magical Girls), and eventually she founded the Circle, an alliance of Shrine Maidens that operated in the shadows of civilization to protect humanity from the monstrosities that dwelt in the darkness. When the celestial city of Yorna was besieged by the Zheremeshi bringing fire and death to the people there, Monica awakened a power within her, and sprouted black wings from her back for the first time, though her power came at a cost; she could only use it twice more and then she would die. After the battle, she vanished for a time...

She sought out the Zheremeshi, and slaughtered thousands in her rage, but lost her lover in the Sea of Shadows as well. Grief and hatred became a stigma upon her, and she remained in solitude for many years. The abyss slowly corrupted her, until she became Queen of the Zheremeshi, and afterward she began a conquest of Zhar, beginning with the Ghesceran Empire. She fought Ghescera, the Divine King, and beheaded him, but He was not so easily slain. He chained her and brought her back to the Tower of God, where he would sleep for hundreds of years, leaving Monica imprisoned...

She shattered the chains that bound her, while He slumbered, and returned to the Sea of Shadows and the Zheremeshi. She was weakened though, and only through their assistance had she freed herself. Upon her return, they sacrificed her to the abyss, but she did not die. Her father fought in the void, and would not let the shadows harm her then. The Zheremeshi having learned of the war between Zael and Yemethra sought to use this knowledge to their advantage, and manipulated Monica into freeing her father and unleashing destruction upon the world once more.

A great journey began, where Monica quested for power and knowledge eventually accumulating powerful companions and defeating Ghescera and Norna. She brought the wrath of Yemethra upon her, and discovered a secret. The Queen of the Sky was wounded by her father, and could not manifest upon the mortal plane without dying. Yemethra wished the wound removed, but only Zael, or His child could cure such a wound. Monica forged a pact with Yemethra, her father would be released after she healed Her. The Queen of the Sky did as She promised, freeing Zael from His prison in the abyss, then immediately killed Him while he was vulnerable.

Monica became enraged with Yemethra, and called upon the power of the void within her, then they fought. The world would be torn asunder, for the light and darkness were balanced, however Monica was also a daughter of the Bright Moon, Yuna, and she could control both the light and dark. In the end, after a battle that raged for twelve days, Monica had slain the Queen of the Sky and claimed Her crown. Monica discovered a secret in Her apotheosis, Her ascension, She had discovered a secret name of God. Now, She has traveled to Heaven and walks upon the Path of Divinity...

Might: Monica was once a mundane mortal who lived in the early age after the apocalypse, but after her rebirth, she was sacrificed upon the Yedaji Alter and became a Shrine Maiden. She is the daughter of Yuna and Zael, a celestial and an outsider, but both were once humans. Unlike the people of Zhar, Monica was not born on the branches of the sacred trees of life, she was born in the lunar womb of her mother.

Monica is roughly two thousand years old, having retained her youth because of her sacrifice upon the Yedaji Alter, however she requires the hearts of Zheremeshi to sustain herself. She does not need to breath, eat, drink, or sleep, and her wounds quickly regenerate. A shrine maiden can easily sustain themselves even with wounds considered fatal to humans. She can survive a week without consuming a heart, though her shrine maiden powers diminishes each day she does not. All shrine maidens are capable of conjuring powerful yet primitive weapons, manifestations of their spirits that often take the shape of swords, spears, or scepters. Monica conjures a bow with arrows that appear when she draws back the bowstring.

Like all people of Maelite, she can turn invisible at will, however creatures that rely on other senses such as echolocation and tremorsense can still perceive her. With her wings, she can fly with her summoned wings at high speeds, as well as possesses immense strength and reflexes.

She has studied the arts of sorcery, and is familiar with many chants and spells, and knows both allegorical and abstract magic. After reaching Heaven, her understanding of sorcery evolved. While knowledgeable and proficient with white and red art, she has never been able to use either in combat as the world does not take kindly to her lies, but she has learned the black art and seeks to further understand sorcery. She can call upon the Seven Heavenly Dragons, after the death of Ghescera. However, they will only remain in Zhar.

Her greatest power is unknown even to herself, the Outsider's power. She innately knew that she would only be able to access such power three times, and she only has once use left. The first time, she used it upon the thousands of Zheremeshi machina that were lesser imitations of the Seven Heavenly Dragons. The second time, when she fought and slayed Yemethra, Queen of the Sky. After her third time, she will die.

Monica has accumulated many mundane skills such as, accounting, weaving, painting, various instruments and singing, cartography, campaigning/tactics, and knowledge of a multitude of subjects such as history, geography, science, and philosophy.
Despite her nigh immortality, she lacks the ability to keep friends and socialize, often remaining in solitude for long periods of time. She has yet to overcome her vulnerability to psychic attacks, and becomes much weaker in the presence of blood, and decaying corpses.

Path: She seeks to find her father's origin, and bring an end to warring between worlds and the people within those worlds. She has learned about Heaven, the Arts, other Gods and Goddesses, but there is still more to uncover. Realizing how small she is, she has remained in the shadows and attempted for discretion as opposed to directly confronting others... for now.