BasicsName: Jillian Veldaine
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Race: Human
Class: Witch and Arcanist
Appearance, Equipment and AbilitiesPhysical Description: Jillian is a notably short woman, reaching a height of just under one meter and fifty-five centimeters (roughly five feet and one inch). Her frame is slender and frail, appearing almost sickly thin as a result of infrequent nourishment, which becomes particularly apparent when she is nude or almost, as her ribcage and clavicles can be easily seen underneath the ivory pale skin. Because of this she actually has quite the hourglass figure, but whether or not this is an advantage is up to the beholder to decide; also has appropriately very modest breasts. Her strikingly scarlet hair reaches up to her hips while shorter hairs frame her face, with strains typically falling over her left eye the way she grooms them. The rare hair color in her family is somewhat infamous and easily recognizable, and has become something of the Veldaines’ pride, aside from their prestigious profession.
Jillian’s face is generally pleasant to look at; the first thing one happens to notice is the pair of stinging, green eyes that stare back with intensity, displaying severity and attentiveness. She appraises the world and the people around her with great care, sharply eyeing and judging them from afar. Sometimes one cannot quite shake the feeling that she isn’t just staring at someone’s outward appearance, but is gazing straight into their soul, prying their secrets from their bosom. Of course, Jillian has no scrying capabilities, but it is true that she can learn much about someone from simply observing them. Beneath her eyes are her first signs of wrinkling, which are perhaps a little early but speak of her unhealthy lifestyle. Her cheeks are playfully freckled where the cheekbones are and her somewhat colorless lips are relatively thin.
Notable Possessions: • Witchhunt Blade
A slender straight sword with a simple but elegant design to it. The sixty-four centimeter long blade is forged pure silver, making it less useful in combat against steel equipment, but excellent for engaging magical threats or softer targets. The hilt features a slightly upwards curved cross guard, the extensions of which have a spiral shape to them that makes them appear perhaps like a pair of thin horns.
It was once used by enigmatic manslayers in ominous uniforms that were seen hunting down practicioners of forbidden magic near Zerul. Dark memories cling to the spell-slashing blade like sins to the soul.
It is currently without a scabbard and Jillian has no experienced using this weapon.
• Supply Bag
Currently lying by a rock near Gariel Downs in Anaxim Forest; this bag contains a handful of days’ worth of rations in food and water, as well as approximately three hundred rodlins with blackened surfaces that smell of burnt alcohol and other incinerated materials (such as leather, cloth, flesh, grass and earth). The bag itself looks to have been improvised from a square of reliable fabric and is not fit for long journeys. Jillian hardly has the strength to carry this.
Current Apparel: Jillian is currently clothed in little more than rags and leftovers, wearing one of Aemoten’s weathered shirts for a top and what is essentially a blanket wrapped around her waist and tied together for a skirt. Also has some fabric enveloping her feet as makeshift shoes, although the role is not filled adequately. Her Witchhunt Blade is wrapped in cloth and tied to a rope around her waist. Also appears unwashed and travel-worn, and is very unhappy about her given condition.
Spells:As a sorceress who relies on long-term memory alone, Jillian does not have a spellbook with her and is thus restricted to a handful of her favorite spells which she has memorized for years and mastered since.
Cost of spells is arbitrarily graded by the following terms:
Minimal – Low – Medium – High – Extreme – Lethal
Complexity of spells is arbitrarily graded by the following terms:
Easy – Medium – High
• Arcane Magic
Ignite Cost: Minimal
Complexity: Easy
Effect: Creates a simple flame in the caster’s hand that does not burn him or her. Remains alive for as long as the caster continues to pour magical energy into the flame. Can be used for a variety of simple purposes, from lighting a bonfire to hurting others at close range.
Fireball Cost: Low to High
Complexity: Medium
Effect: Simple but effective spell that creates an orb of churning, magical fire which can be launched at a given target or direction and explode upon impact with an obstacle. The caster has the ability to choose how much magical energy they wish to devote to the spell, thus the amount of devastation caused by this spell varies greatly. Typically used to dispatch tightly packed groups of hostiles or breach fortifications such as walls, gates or barricades.
Orphid’s Lance Cost: Low to Extreme
Complexity: High
Effect: Occult and rare spell invented by Orphid, a mage who lived roughly two centuries ago and about whom little is known. He must have done something terrible to spite the people of his time, for most records about him, including a majority of his spell books, have been destroyed, erased or locked away in safe, forgotten vaults. Still, traces of his legacy remain, and those who scour the forbidden places in Rodoria may yet stumble upon his works.
Orphid’s Lance is a complex spell, consisting of a composite invocation of two lesser spells, one of which creates a very special, acid green flame between the caster’s palms, while the other catalyses this flame and focuses it into a beam of energy along which this emerald fire is transported. The beam can be channeled for as long as the caster desires, although few mages would be capable of upholding the beam for more than a minute or two before passing out or losing concentration. The lance can also be interrupted to return the spell into its spherical state, and resumed by adding the composite spell once more without having to re-invoke the original component.
Orphid’s fire burns hotter than normal fire, and can melt materials in frighteningly little time. Additionally, the flame can burn inside water and in airless conditions, albeit at a lesser intensity comparable to regular flames. A curious side effect of Orphid’s fire is that prolonged staring at the green flame often inexplicably evokes nausea and disorientation. Perhaps it is a hint as to the nefarious origins of the spell.
• Black Magic
‘Zebaoth’ Meaning: Genocide, or the intent to cause a massacre
Cost: Low to Lethal
Complexity: Easy
Effect: Effect can vary as with all one-word incantations in the Devil’s Tongue.
Jillian used this spell once, and found that it creates a missile which homes in on the nearest creature that is not the caster. Upon touching someone, the missile enters the victim whose body becomes subject to violent obliteration as a result of ignited blood and exploding veins and arteries. From the gory crater where the victim once stood, two missiles identical to the original one appear to home in on two new nearby lifeforms which suffer the same fate once touched by the missiles, which relentlessly pursue their quarry. The spell keeps exponentially multiplying in such a fashion until either everything and everyone around the caster has been killed, or the caster has no more magical energy to give. The cost of this spell is not voluntary, and once set in motion, the caster is helpless to watch their magical energies dwindle to critical levels, as well as friends and foes being annihilated in traumatizing fashion.
Hail of Ruin Cost: Medium to Extreme
Complexity: Medium
Effect: A semi-controlled black spell that creates a multitude of fireballs from the caster’s outstretched palm. These missiles arc in on a general area where they will crash down in a barrage of exploding impacts, generally leaving scorched earth and craters behind. The exact number of missiles can vary with the whims of black magic, but spawns between 15 to 20 missiles on average.
It should be added that there is a Lesser and Greater version of this spell, each with their specific purposes. The Lesser incantation fires less missiles on average and each projectile bears less of an impact, but the target area is very narrow and can be precisely determined by the caster. The Greater incantation then releases at least twice as many projectiles if not more, and each bears more explosive power than the weaker incantation, but the target area becomes almost impossible to direct, and missiles fire off in any direction.
Amongst those who know the spell, it is sometimes considered a love letter to Hazzergash, the lord of fire and wanton destruction, as that is precisely what the spell causes, and its flames appear a much darker shade of red than regular flames, which likens them to the demon lord’s black fire. Who invented the spell and with what intentions has been lost to time, however.
‘Brehn’ Meaning: Fire
Cost: Unknown
Complexity: Easy
Effect: Effect can vary as with all one-word incantations in the Devil’s Tongue.
Jillian has not yet cast this spell.
Inner WorkingsPersonality: Jillian is a pyromaniac; her fascination with fire, particularly fire-themed spells, is almost unhealthy. It makes sense therefore that her personality is reminiscent of a flame in itself. She is fickle, goes through sudden and drastic mood changes, is easy to anger and provoke. Indeed, conversing with her is not so different from playing with fire, as one is constantly on the edge, just one step away from burning oneself – or, in this case, being yelled at and insulted. Of course, the degree of her moodiness is influenced by certain factors, which decide how easily things can escalate or not. For one, Jillian is a very judgmental person: she will scrutinize any person in her vicinity, and pretty much decide on the spot, based on their appearance, whether or not she deems them likeable. If she does, chances are she will make an effort to be civil and friendly, for the most part, but if she doesn’t, one had best avoid her. From this, one can correctly surmise that she is an impulsive person, who likes to act before she thinks. It comes as no surprise that her emotional outbursts have put her at odds with quite a few people over the years, but it seems she does not mind. Perhaps she even likes the heat of confrontation?
Moreover, Jillian is egoistical, greedy and vain. Having grown up in fairly wealthy conditions and pampered since birth, she has come to take the ‘high life’ for granted. She isn’t used to sharing what’s hers, and grew accustomed to receiving new things in regular intervals, particularly things to make herself prettier. There’s only a handful of things in life that she enjoys doing more than buying herself a new dress or some piec of jewelry. If her arrogance had not been a liability already, now that she is on the road and away from her family’s finances, her wastefulness and vanity are certain to become liabilities sooner rather than later as well.
Aside from this, Jillian enjoys drinking in the company of friends, particularly if the venue is an expensive banquet or some other festivity where she can meet people of subjectively equal level to hers, but when these are not available, a regular tavern will do. Either way, her atypical behavior for a woman from the higher echelons of society have steeled her gut to some extent, as she has a relatively high tolerance for alcohol. Although probably irrelevant, her favorite drink for enjoying is a type of whiskey that is imported through the port in Zerul, while for getting drunk fast she likes apple cider. The other thing she enjoys is magic. Precious, precious magic.
It is not just a fascination, or a dream for her. Magic is an obsession that dictates her life and has made it a tragedy. She has always dreamed of and desired to be the most powerful sorceress in the land, and her dream lives on to this day. The tragic part is, then, that she simply happens to not be the most naturally talented when it comes to the arcane arts. The things we are good at, and the things we like, are not always the same. Yet, power of will can make up for much of a lack of talent, and Jillian certainly is determined. Still, arcane magic is an art for the patient and the learned, and patience is not one of Jillian’s qualities. Thus, she sought alternatives, and found them too: Black Magic. Banned for a reason, black magic is known to provide vast, unbridled power with little effort involved on the magician’s part, but at potentially terrible, unforseen costs. This is where the tragedy continues, for Jillian has lost everything to black magic: her home and her family, her once careless, pampered life, and her teacher, Vincent, who was one of the few lovers she has had who might have held actual feelings for her. She’s stranded in Rodoria’s wilderness, practically without friends or possesions, all because of the accursed, forbidden art. And still her obsession persists, and whenenever she speaks the devilish words, a wicked glimmer ignites in her poisonous eyes, gleaming with excitement. It is already too late for her, as she has become mesmerized by the sheer potential and beautiful, terrible whims of black magic.
**I’d like to mention that my descriptions of personality are never fully inclusive or final; they are to be understood as guidelines I set for myself, as the idea I had of my character at the time of conception. As such, it is not impossible for the character to reveal new facets not described above, or even contradict one or more of the above descriptions, within reason. Characters, after a while, become living things with a mind of their own, and sometimes they simply do things we have not accounted for.**History: To be done.
