Welcome to the kingdom of Kindeance, one of the three major kingdoms in the land of Tal'rel. Their strategic location, boosted by efficient bureaucracy and good governance had made Kindeance the richest among the three. Such prosperity didn't happen overnight. After a crushing defeat in the war against Meche in 15xxx, the previous king revolutionized his kingdom from war mongering nation into a flourishing trading hub, encouraging fair trade and agricultural export as the backbone of the country's economy.
The current king, as just and as fair as his predecessor, managed to secure the economy of Kindeance in the region by using soft power and clever diplomacy including working with its declining neighbour Meche to supply the country with their agricultural produce, and allowing workers from Anggolindsto work in the country for fair-paying jobs. Peaceful treaties were signed and everyone benefitted from the rising economy of Kindeance.
However, things were not as smooth as it looks. The conflict has escalated at the border and it had been going on for months. Starting with small skirmishes between the border patrol and militias with unknown allegiance, and soon developing into both Kindeance and Meche stationing their soldiers along the borders. The heat from the border seeped into the general populace as well, causing tension amongst the locals and immigrants and general distrust of nonhumans.
It turned out for the worst when a group of people tried to assassinate the king. The attempt for the majesty's life however could be averted thanks to his loyal retainers, but his son was not so fortunate. This mysterious group managed to abduct the current crown prince when he was on a hunting trip with a royal venerer and his entourages.
The king tried his best to keep this accident under wraps. For his subjects would cry for war, after knowing how far Meche had backstabbed them after taking the advantage of their king's generosity. No, neither Kindeance nor Meche would win in an all-out war, he knew this. The group that kidnapped and tried to murder the king is unknown, investigating their involvement would require a surgical move, which leads to YOU and your character investigating the culprit and finding the prince's whereabouts.
Kindeance-
Anggolindsto -
Meche-
Name:
Species: (What is your character’s race)
Age:
Gender:
Appearance: (What do they look like, and what do they wear)
Bio: (What is their backstory, and how were they contacted by the king)
Skillset: (What kind of skills do they have)
Spells: (What kind of spells do they know, maximum of 4 spells)
Equipment: (What kind of tools and weapons do they have on them)
Other: (What other things should we know about your character)
Would you like to review the character? I'm wondering because there is a large list of characters in the character tab, and I want to confirm whether it's necessary.
@Randomness It is necessary to have your character cataloged. If you wish to join and already have a character written down, you may post it here or in the interest check thread so we can review it.
Also, this is the link to the discord server if you are interested discord.gg/8ucx2Cw5
Appearance: Tall, yet lanky in appearance, few have ever seen his face. He wears a long cloak, shoal, and a hood of varying shades of black and gray. The hood casts a shadow that covers his face and he also wears a mask up over his nose, so even if the light hits him just right, all one would be able to see was grayed skin and sunken eyes of indiscernible color. He has a true height of 6’6”, but he is hunched over and will likely appear shorter. The only part of his person not covered in cloth are his hands and forearms when his sleeves fall back. They appear to be gray and aged held tight to the bone of his arm. His fingers are long. He has a gold band of pristine shine on his left hand ring finger.
Bio: Solomon once lived life as a traveling doctor, specializing in pharmaceuticals and relying on magic when medicine could not work or work in time. He wanted to help those who didn’t have access or afford magical medical aid such as from healing potions or clerics. He also worked to help aid those where magic wouldn’t help, such as the elderly.
During his travels, he eventually settled when he met a woman working to help those afflicted with an unknown, yet painful and slow acting disease. After he had managed to halt the disease’s progression, he stayed, and married the woman. Shortly after this, he lost them when an ex-military came and slaughtered the village. The village used to be a militia of their own waging battle against the ex-military at a time before the trade treaties were made.
Solomon then turned his attention from curing the sick, to curing the dead. Though he knew that when he gains that knowledge, he could never save his beloved or the people of that village, it still brought him a goal. The goal also tied to his own revenge against the ex military, binding them into his service even after death. He knew time would work against him. In order to keep death, the very thing he was looking to end, away from him, he abandoned his humanity. Imprudent, Solomon turned his life to that of the undead. Death would not be his end, it would become his ally until the time came where it became abolition. Few if any knew what had become of Solomon and fewer if any knew of his new form in undeath.
Solomon still worked as a doctor. Despite his cold appearance, he does render aid to those in need, though his focus in life has changed. He would command death. He had become well known for communing with the dead and unlocking the secrets they took with them. It held true especially for those he held a contract. Healer of the living, and commander of the dead, Solomon’s skills might not be for the faint of heart, but his methods do shed light on what was once lost. The dead see everything, so there are few rocks to hide behind.
Backstory: A traveling doctor of sorts, he spent most of his young adult life studying at the best colleges around the kingdom. He was fascinated with physiology and wanted to help those where tradition magic could not. Not everyone had access to magic, potions, or the like. And there were some conditions magic would not treat. So as he studied, Solomon decided that he would travel to those villages where he could treat the sick, broken, and elderly. He specialized in medicines, using herbs and ingredients he could find in nature. And for those who needed more immediate treatment, he knew just enough about magic to heal so the medicine could do its job.
He didn’t decriminalize between the three kingdoms, and though his trips left him away from home for months, he carried on. Over time, he noticed the routine of what he provided, and saw how often those without support were left without. Potions were expensive, so even in places with a healthy apothecary, his services were never without demand. It was clear that like a horse with a maimed leg, it would be better to leave them behind, or let them pass. If a healing potion could not fix it, the person was not worth saving.
It might have been his sympathy then that when he found a woman trying her best to care for not only her own parents, but several of the other elders within the town afflicted with a cursed disease, he grew quickly attached. He did everything he could to understand the disease and develop a cure. The disease was slow, painful, but had obvious signs of its progression. Using all he learned of pathology and herbology, Solomon was able develop a salve that didn’t cure the disease, but did put it into remission. He stayed there a year continuing to work on a way to perhaps finally dispel the disease.
During that year, his fondness of the woman grew and that autumn they had wed. However, it was not to last. He had left for a neighboring village when they requested his help to treat the bite of a snake to one of the mayor’s children. The trip took him three days, and when he returned, he noticed the village had been burned. He could hear crying and pleading for mercy. When Solomon had entered the center of town, he could see several unknown entities, wearing militia armor, though the fire behind them did not help illuminate the crest in the darkness of the night. They dragged people to the center where a bonfire of bodies burned. The people were slaughtered and tossed in. Solomon could hear them shout. The people of the village were cursed for a reason. The attackers wanted some kind of recompense and since death had not taken them yet, they were to do it themselves.
Solomon did not escape unscathed. He was quickly spotted and cut down. Solomon was trampled, looted, and left bleeding on the ground. As the dawn broke the horizon, so did Solomon’s eyes. He clasped the wound across his torso. The damage was grievous, but thankfully not fatal. He patched himself, and staggered to his home which lay empty. However, he did find the hand of his beloved, cut jaggedly below the wrist lying on the floor by the edge of the door frame.
Solomon was devastated, and now wanted to have revenge of his own. Having traveled the lands for years, he knew where he could go to gather information. He went to traveling merchants, bards, and historians. He discovered the group that had attacked the village were descendants of former military turned into a mercenary group for money. Though they were referred more to as bandits. They were a petty bunch who would take any reason they could to cause suffering and make coin. When Solomon learned of the reason they attacked the village, he grew that much more angry. Back before the trade treaties were made, the inhabitants of the village were a military of their own, and battles over various territories would commence between them, and ancestors of their now attackers. This militia held grudge in the name of someone else against Solomon’s recent home. It might have been better if they had no reason at all. Solomon knew that even with such weak morals, the group was still numerous, skilled and ruthless. While reasonably fit, Solomon was not equipped to deal with the group as a combatant. Instead, he turned to the skill set he knew best.
One night he found one of the bandits drinking alone in a tavern, attempting to flirt with several of the women who were sitting along the bar. He was already pretty drunk, and Solomon used that to his advantage. He managed to coral the bandit into a room at an inn using false promises of booze and women. Once they were alone, and the door closed, it couldn’t be said what occurred in that room. When Solomon left, the room was spotless save for a man sleeping peacefully on the still made bed, never to wake again. The reason for it would be unknown even to seasoned morticians.
Solomon found the camp the former militia had built. In order to make them suffer like he had those in the village, he resorted to poisons and diseases. Those afflictions he was once committed to ending, he had used against the former militia. Their lax nature and hearty attitude of supposed invincibility made it easy to taint their barrels of wine, or burn toxic gases down wind towards their camp. Once they were incapacitated to the point they couldn’t fight, Solomon made his presence known. He made those who had not perished yet swear loyalty to him. He opened a large tome, wrote a contract in blood, and bound them with a seal. Those still conscious swore a pact to Solomon, a bond that would never break even beyond death.
As Solomon traveled seeking answers, he continued his studies more towards the mystical than practical. As a doctor, he wondered if he could fix death. If there was a chance to bring back the only good thing he found throughout the decades he spent moving from town to town. If he could command the dead at least, there may eventually be the chance. For now, though, he had learned enough to bind these doomed outlaws into his service. Once the contract was signed, Solomon walked away. The bandit leader cried out for him to fix what Solomon caused. Solomon continued to walk. He knew that even when the leader passed, he would still be bonded with Solomon. Until death could be cured, they would not escape it.
Solomon continued traveling, spending more time at each stop than before. Time would no longer be an issue for him. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would work for now. His goal was placed, and even if it took more time than he was granted, Solomon was going to find a way to achieve it. Abandoning his humanity, he kept his soul true, or so he believed. He would end death, but for now it had become a tool. It could wait to claim Solomon a little while longer.
Skillset: Professional medical provider using tools and supplies from a healers kit. Very meticulous with a needle. He can also preform simple surgeries. As a result of his travels, he knows how to mend his own clothes, prepare simple foods, and forage He can make a variety of medicines and salves from herbs and wild plant life As an undead being, he does not need to eat, drink, or sleep, but will still consume food for the joy of it. He cannot be diseased or poisoned, but is still susceptible to bodily harm. He knows by memory most common trade routes, so as long as there is a road, he could figure out where he is.
He can speak with the dead.
Spells: Using his spell book, he can bind other undead into his service. The spirits of those undead are then stored within the book itself until called upon. Undead with physical bodies collapse into ash, and a new body forms where ever Solomon calls them. He can also bind living beings. However living beings cannot be called upon, but once the being perishes, whatever form of undead their soul manifests shall be bound to Solomon. And as long as Solomon holds the contract, an undead will form. If Solomon culls the contract, whether the being passes on will be the choice of the undead. - Animate Dead: If a creature is recently deceased, Solomon can animate them. They will maintain primal instincts and creatures of higher intelligence can recall memories of their past lives. They will listen to Solomon’s command. Creatures animated with way cannot be bound to his spell book. They can only do what is physically capable of them. - Summon Dead: Calls upon any of the undead bound to the book. Spirits can be either incorporeal or made of flesh that is formed out of the earth. Their form will resemble what they looked like in life as well as maintain some of their personality. However, they cannot disobey Solomon’s commands. They can only do what is physically capable of them. - Incorporeal Form: Solomon can temporarily make himself untouchable, and likewise unable to interact with the world. He turns to that of a shadow and can change his stature, and shape, able to hide away in small crevices. In this form he can achieve some variation of flight. The spell has a maximum duration of thirty minutes or until he ends it himself. Once the spell ends, he returns to his normal form and shape. - Dagger Hold: Solomon can latch onto the essence of a living being and prevent them from moving. Fighting the hold is painful and can cause physical trauma. However, the strength of the hold is no stronger than Solomon’s own physical prowess. Though Solomon is stronger than he looks, most able bodied can break the hold, though painful to do so. Solomon has to be within about 30 feet to cast the hold, and he cannot do anything else while maintaining it.
Equipment: Death Tome: Large spell book bound to his person, it holds the contracts of the living and dead who are bound to his will. It also acts as his anchor to the living realm, allowing him to continue existing in the world though he should have passed years ago. The book strapped to his back, partially covered by his robes, and clasped shut between two thin metal plates with several leather belts. As long as he has it, he has access to the spells and contracts inside. Should it ever be destroyed, Solomon would cease to be.
Healers Kit: glorified first aide. Knife roll: Rolled cloth holding knives of varying sizes Sewing Kit: needle and thread Potion’s kit: Vials, pestle and mortar, distiller, water skins and a pouch of commonly found ingredients Vials of unknown diseases Poison
Hello there. Our GM is still offline so I will reply in his stead. Technically we are still open with only one slot remaining. If you wish to join, please make your character sheet so Boss GM can review it ASAP
PS: the recruitment will be closed when the team finished the audience with the king, you should hurry.
Appearance: (What do they look like, and what do they wear) They have blonde hair, brown eyes, and wear leather armor with a bit of chain in it and a cloak. He has two daggers on his belt. A shaggy beard has started to grow on his face and he seems kind of thin from how many calories he burns when his body tries to keep up with the stress of his inhuman abilities.
Bio: (What is their backstory, and how were they contacted by the king) They got hit by lightning, which I know is cliche, but it got absorbed into his bloodstream while he was unconscious and he became one of the fastest men in the village, able to end any fight simply by moving in and punching them over and over since nobody could tell from just where he would attack. He became a mercenary, and hunted everyone he was asked to, except for one man. Blindeyes Brix didn't need his sight. His other senses enabled him to fight an enemy hard to predict. This man is to this day his only kill he was never able to complete. By that time, however, he was well renowned and feared by many villages near his own.
He was summoned when the king sent messengers asking villages to send their finest warriors. Zek sacked a warrior that was lagging behind, took his armor and made his way back to the castle before finding his way into the employment room. He changed clothes, and impressed the king with his abilities even though they strongly reminded him of a up-and-coming criminal. He was correct, but for now, Zek was known as Rodan, and part of the team preparing to take on the royal's request.
Skillset: (What kind of skills do they have) Superhuman Speed: He moves at a nearly blinding speed, discombobulating those who watch him run past. Hand to Hand: Knife Combat: Capture:
Spells: (What kind of spells do they know, maximum of 4 spells) Overdrive: A series of magical words he can speak that push his body to the limit. The speed he goes makes his slices do catastrophic damage to armor and even shock and paralyze those in Metal armor. Electric Blade: His electricity courses through his weapons and adds an extra nasty bite. Electric Hand: He can at will make his hand flow with electricity capable of incapacitating an grown man
Curses: Full Body Paralysis: When the electrical charge running through him gets too large, it gives him paralysis such that he cannot move for a good ten minutes as his body cannot handle it. Conductivity: He also cannot touch water or he will be fried by his own power.
Equipment: (What kind of tools and weapons do they have on them) A couple of daggers and a large bow for when midrange to long-range combat is necessary
Other: (What other things should we know about your character) Nothing really important
Name: Kaito Species: Kitsune Age: 256 years old Gender: Male
Appearance: Kaito is of rather average adult height and build. Not particularly tall and has a rather slander build. He has messy brown orange hair and a rather boyish face with a disarming smile. Nothing that is particularly remarkable about him except well those fox ears on his head and that fluffy tail. He wears a dark red tunic, a gray pair of trousers, some sturdy boots and a black hooded cloak to finish things off. The quality of the fabric and dye of his clothing indicate that Kaito has significant financial standing.
Bio: There are a lot of folklore tales about the origins of Kitsune. Some say they are foxes that have gained magical properties after turning hundred years old, others tell that they are native to a strange magical realm known as the fey wild and have used their magical abilities to travel to the current plane of existence. None of those stories are true and in good kitsune tradition Kaito tells them all.
Kaito was born 256 years ago in the mystical forest of Kaojiro. A place far away from the three kingdoms. When he reached adulthood at the age of hundred and fifty, the young kitsune decided to travel the world. After visiting various places Kaito found himself in the kingdom of Escudo. Intrigued by its wealth, Kitsune decided that such a lavendish lifestyle would suit him well. However, Kaito is not the kind of man that would work fair and hard to gain a fortune.
No, the kitsune decided that it would be much more efficient and fun to utilize his very particular skill set to extract as much wealth from all the merchants and nobles as he could in very underhand means. For many years he conned and cheated merchants and nobles alike out of their hard earned gold coins. This became such a problem that the government decided to intervene.
When the king’s men finally caught Kaito 5 years ago a spectacle of a process was orchestrated. Merchants screamed “off with his head”, nobles demanded blood. However Kaito valued his head and thus executed a different plan. The night before his decapitation he used his illusion magic to impersonate a fellow prisoner who had served out his sentence and was promptly released by the clueless guards.
For the next five years the kitsune managed to evade every bounty hunter, mercenary and soldier that tried to track him down. But that all changed when an elf working for the king started to ask questions in the more shadier parts of Rascade.
Skills: Shapeshifting: Kaito can shapeshift between his fox and humanoid form. Sleight of hand: Kaito’s hands are extremely fast, accurate and he’s a master of deception. He’s an expert pickpocket and trickster. Very sneaky: Kaito’s ability to move around silently is unparalleled. He has a habit of suddenly appearing into people’s personal space. Lockpicking Acting/deception Multi linguistic: Speaks and reads the various languages of the lands of Escudo, Anggolinsto and Meche.
Spells:
Impersonation: Kaito can use his illusion magic to take on the physical appearance of people he has seen. His magic also changes the sound of his voice to match that of the person he’s impersonating. However he still needs to act out the way they move and behave. Illusion magic: Kaito can create Illusionary objects, creatures and terrain. These illusions include visuals, sound, sense of touch, smell and sense of temperature but cannot cause any harm. Charm: Kaito can use his magic to charm people. Any person that gets charmed by him regards Kaito as a friend and is very likely to help the kitsune in any way that is reasonable.
Equipment: Wakizashi short sword Tanto dagger Set of lockpicks Shell game set Set of Dice Set of playing cards Spare clothes Camping equipment
Name: Veronica Blackwater Species: Human Vampire Lord Age: 25 (appears 18) Gender: Female Height: 5' 8" Appearance: Veronica appears as a pale young woman, not to a porcelain degree, but more like she could use a bit more sun. Her long black hair falls in mostly straight waves down to her mid-back. Her irises are a bloody crimson hue, with her pupils narrowed to reptilian slits. Her frame rides a balance between curvaceous and athletic, lined beneath supple skin with wiry, compact muscles that tend not to be apparent without a physical inspection. Though she often wears a smile, it is rarely an open-mouthed one, largely to avoid broadcasting her fanged incisors. She tends to smell mostly scentless, as the combination of scentless soaps and an undead body that doesn't decompose leaves her presence mostly muted to mundane means. Her garb is fairly eccentric, all blacks and velvety sanguine reds with a subtle butterfly motif. Actual metal armor is applied sparingly and primarily to her joints, almost as an afterthought, to the point of giving the false impression it's only for decoration. By the metrics of society, her garb is rather immodest, the design and accents often drawing the eye to exposed skin or tight enough to be somehow more provocative than outright absence.
Born far from the Capital in a place within Kindeance that could best be described as "that idyllic village with some farmer", Veronica was an average human daughter to a peasant hunter... aside from a slight hiccup. Born under a good omen, she was blessed with an innate magical gift for "reading fate", a Seer who might one day have been found and trained to be the mystical advisor of this or that hero, guiding them on the path to a glorious destiny. However, as fate would have it, a True Vampire, one Lord Blackwater, who had long-since set down roots after hailing from a land outside Kindeance, unfortunately heard tell of her and sought to turn her as a subordinate to use her gift for himself. The girl, otherwise defenseless aside from her capacity to see her near future, was captured and a year thereafter turned into a similar creature of darkness, lesser and mystically bound by her hated "master's" bond as her Sire.
Over the two years since her abduction, she was trained in the arts of ninjutsu and magic. she had no choice but to be honed into a weapon and tool for her "master", made an unwilling killer and her magic refined further for the sake of making her a more useful tool for foreseeing misfortune and spying upon the Vampire Lord's enemies... when she wasn't used to murder them outright. Unfortunately for him, training her resulted in the resentful little vampire awakening a second aspect of her gift, one that allowed her to avoid the destiny that she could prior only despair at. Through this, she was able to slip the master bond of her Sire and catch him unawares. Caught off guard, the Vampire Lord was torn limb from limb, and in drinking his blood, Veronica fully became a Vampire Lord like her Sire and shattered whatever might have remained of their bond.
Come the morning, her tormenter's remains were reduced to ashes by the sun, and Veronica once more breathed the sweet air of freedom... Though it was tainted by the bitterness of her new "condition" as a Vampire Lord -if a young one, and she was unsure what to do with herself. Despite bloodied hands and a darkened spirit, she hadn't been under her Sire's yoke long enough to taint her morality irrevocably. She was still herself, and she had no intention of being the monster the next hero would slay.
With that determination made, for the safety of innocent lives, she reluctantly made a home in her Sire's former lair and left primarily only to get sustenance, once more taking up a hunter job of her human family in order to have an at least legitimate supply of blood to drink. In such a way, delivering "pre-drained" cadavers to local butchers of nearby towns and villages, she made a simple living on simple coin... along with whatever her Sire's coffers contained. Her "condition" was one she mostly tried to conceal, but in the end, the King had his ways. Long story short, a year after regaining her freedom, at age 20, she was found out, but the fact that she had stayed a "productive member of society" and wasn't going around murdering people unprovoked and generally being a megalomaniac stayed the hands of potential hunting parties. The fact that it was eventually discovered that she had slain the Vampire Lord before her added another element of potential trustworthiness to her, and so, she was approached as a potential agent of the King to be given a chance to truly prove her loyalty and good will to the kingdom.
As such, for the next half decade, Veronica would find herself occasionally acting on behalf of "favors" from the Crown, working as an espionage agent, Seer, and sometimes soldier and scout for the Guard. Collaborations with Matilda, the Head of the Guard, weren't common, but they weren't uncommon either. Over the course of 5 years, the two developed a basic working relationship. They may not necessarily trust each other, but they don't specifically mistrust each-other either. And Veronica would be inclined to trust her back to the orc warrior.
Over the years, Veronica came to be less resentful of her "condition", and with the tentative faith afforded to her by the kingdom, she has come to redevelop a sense of confidence and acceptance. Nowadays, her "condition" is just another part of life... one she expects will be very long, so she has chosen not to wallow in self-pity and depression. Her once concealing garb has been exchanged for borderline proud eccentricity. While she does not explicitly advertise her "condition", she is no longer shamed by or afraid of it. She is a Vampire in the King's Court, who has earned her place through good will, and she'll not let any tell her otherwise.
Come the present day, due to the seriousness of the kingdom's crisis and the desperation involved, Veronica would find herself requisitioned as an investigator, using her divinations to aid in tracking the Prince's kidnappers with the Guard while the main black ops team was off performing their own tasks. It is because her typical place of residence is a quite a fair distance from the Capitol that she was unable to be reached in time to join up with the main team initially.
Talants: Ninjutsu: She has been harshly trained in this collection of fundamental survivalist and espionage techniques, among which are: methods of gathering information and techniques of non-detection, avoidance and misdirection, along with disguise, escape and concealment. She's no stranger to picking locks or disabling traps either. This is the root of her shinobi teachings, one in which she has attained mastery status or near enough to it. Heavy focus. While medicine and archery are also parts of these techniques, she favors them lesser. Medicine: Her capacity for medical techniques tends towards "field surgery" and making sure injuries aren't immediately lethal. Setting bones. Popping dislocated joints back in. Applying splints, stitches, bandages and salves. She knows where to stab to kill fastest, so she has a pretty good idea how to be more careful when treating certain afflictions. She's not a biology guru or proper doctor; that's for certain. She's just got a good head for improvisation. Archery: She's a decent shot, but she prefers unaware or otherwise stationary targets. She compensates with her magic to predict her targets' movements for more difficult shots. Taijutsu: For those times she is trapped in prolonged CQC, she's adequate in the art of unarmed -or lightly armed- combat. Unarmed combat isn't her favorite, but she's not going to get steamrolled. Prefers to disengage and arm herself. Shurikenjutsu: She is excellent in the art of handling small, bladed weapons, both in CQC and as throwing weapons. This is her preferred fighting style. Fighting fair is for chumps. Sojutsu/Bojutsu: The art of wielding polearms. Particularly, Veronica favors the spear and scythe. Novice but unconventional. Her most inexperienced but also intuitive martial art and her "passion project". Technically, she's got the basics down pat, but her focus was never open combat under her Sire. That is something she became more familiar with working with the Royal Guard. In other words, she's mostly self-taught, so she tends to fight unconventionally in this art. Lip Reading: In the course of spying and assassination, she has developed the capacity to roughly read speech from afar. Parkour: Her vampiric strength makes her an able and acrobatic navigator of unconventional terrain, very useful for infiltration. Hunter: Her family trade, she is a respectable hand at tracking, trapping and skinning prey, along with camping in the wilds. Peasant Roots: Knowledgeable in the basics of various "womanly" tasks like cleaning, cooking and sewing.
True Vampire/Vampire Lord: Darkvision: Even in pitch black, she can perceive the world in shades of grey. Though even this eyesight cuts off into murk past a certain point. Her long-range vision is otherwise very keen under proper lighting. Inhuman Physicality: Undeath has removed the normal limits on human musculature, giving her the capacity for peak human levels of physical feats. However, her muscles will still tear from exerting themselves to their fullest capacity, requiring she only do so in bursts and wait a brief while for them to heal. As long as she doesn't push too hard, she can still operate at normal human levels during the wait. While her body isn't exactly any more durable than a human's, she doesn't feel pain as more than an irritant, and most wounds are not lethal, only disabling. Healing Factor: Her wounds regenerate quickly. Not enough to be all that useful in battle, but outside battle, an hour's rest will mend most wounds, and a night's rest can restore her body entirely, even the loss of her head. Due to the constant nature of the regeneration, she is unable to reattach fully severed body parts. Her regeneration either starts with her mostly intact head or her body if the former is unavailable. Large-scale regeneration rapidly accelerates her bloodthirst's progression. Undeath: She is unaffected by poison, disease, exhaustion or age. Thirst: She doesn't need to eat, sleep or breathe, though she still requires some blood to sate her thirst. While as an undead, she technically doesn't need sustenance, much of her vampiric strengths will become less prominent with prolonged abstinence. In addition, much as any hungry creature, she is prone to increasingly large spurts of irritation and bloodlust until sated. She can subsist off animal blood, but sentient blood is far more fulfilling. She can also consume mundane foods, but they give her no nutrition. Unreflected: She has no reflection, whether it be a mirror, body of water or any other surface. Sunlight Vulnerability: Though more resistant than a lesser vampire, sunlight is still her bane, burning badly but not lethally unless she remains in prolonged contact. Chop her to pieces and leave her exposed to daylight, and the sun will do the rest in about an hour. Holy Vulnerability: Certain "holy" or otherwise "sanctified" magics have the capacity to be a special bother to her as an undead. Averted Weaknesses: As a Vampire Lord, she no longer suffers from some of the weaknesses a typical lesser vampire exhibits. Running water no longer hinders her, and she doesn't need to be invited to cross a threshold of a residence. Wooden stakes are as any other weapon, even if getting stabbed in the heart would still be pretty annoying, for the splinters if nothing else. Siring: Vampire "reproduction" is fairly simple. While their undead bodies preclude them from being fertile, they can convert other living beings to more of their kind with a transfusion of their blood to a creature that has been drained dry of their own. The recipient will rise a day later as a lesser vampire fledgling, mystically subordinate to their Sire and unable to disobey direct commands. A fledgling that is granted the opportunity to consume a notable quantity of their Sire's blood again will be freed of the bond and become a True Vampire, otherwise known as a Vampire Lord, but only if their Sire was a Vampire Lord themselves. Lesser Vampires can create fledglings, but if the Sire does not become a True Vampire, their fledgling will be left precluded from being able to become a Vampire Lord as well for as long as that state persists.
Born a Seer when she was human, Veronica's magic revolves around divination, the capacity to view the past, present and future in order to gather information.
Sight of the Fated: Shows her the near future up to five seconds. Allows her to "simulate" her immediate future possibilities without committing to them until she finds one she likes. (eg. she can plan to leap through a window, and she will witness what would occur if she did/who or what is on the other side) She particularly favors using this with her archery. However, the present is always moving at least a little, and she can only make scry attempts so fast. She only has so much time in a given moment to make "guesses" and act on one before the "baseline" of her visions changes. And then she has to put up with the result. If she's facing an aware and skilled opponent, this can be particularly troublesome, especially if she has to waste time using her predictions to avoid attacks on herself rather than returning the favor.
Avert the Destined: Allows her to slip out of "phase" with the interference of the natural course of "destiny". When she enters this state, she becomes imperceptible and intangible to forces of direct mystical origin, shedding any hostile afflictions that currently linger upon her, like curses or bindings. A magical explosion and its immediate integral collateral (shockwave, small debris and such) would wash over her harmlessly, but a thrown steel beam would still ruin her day if not dodged. Divination can't see or target her. She treats magical shields and wards like they don't exist, and the barriers won't even register the intrusion. On the inverse, this separation with the mystical means she cannot affect the world with her other magic in turn until she reverts this state. This spell covers more obscure mystical phenomenon, including the "purifying" effect of the sun's rays on vampires, allowing her to be a "daywalker". (eg. this is what slipped her from her Sire's leash)
The Gift Known as the Present: Allows her to scry distant places and events that are occurring immediately in the now. The further she wants to reach and the more senses she wants to use at the targeted location at once, the more intensive the effort required, so she usually only uses sight and sound. Can be used either for short range strategic glimpses in combat, or ritualistically for spying on distant events. She can target specific individuals, but only if she knows what they look like or otherwise has some manner of catalyst related to them. She can scry any location she has seen personally, as visualization is important to the spell. Though, notably, she can expand the number of "starting points" available to her by panning her vision around a targeted location, her scrying gaze sufficient for the purposes of "marking" new places and people as "seen".
What Has Come Before: Through focused, meditative delving, allows her to wind back the clock of her vision and perceive past events that occurred in a radius of roughly 30 feet from her position. She can wind the clock forward as well, accelerating the "replay" to skip less interesting/relevant material. She can maintain this spell on the move and track events of the past up to the present as fast as she can manage to physically keep up with them. That said, she can only peer back as far as three days, so haste in reaching the "scene of the crime" is still a priority to ensure trails do not go cold.
General: Medium-Sized Brown Backpack: Compact and simple to don and doff. Change of clothes: Includes favored garb, a brown cloak, and practical full-body coverage wear for sun protection/stealth. Mundane Rations: Dry foods like jerky, dried fruit and nuts. (Sometimes used to help conceal her "condition".) Blood Rations: Several thick waterskins with blood of varying types in them (usually animal). A sip every meal period is typically enough to keep her topped off at peak performance. Scentless Soap: A standard cleanliness measure ground into her to aid non-detection. Applied whenever bathing. Coin Pouch: A padded, sectioned pouch, made to silence the jingle of coin.
Armament: Light Armor: Primarily leather over vitals, but some metal on forearms, elbows, knees, lower shins, upper sternum & shoulders. Sharpened Sai Daggers: Typically a defensive weapon, when weaponized, they make an excellent tool for liberating a victim of their eye sockets' contents, along with scrambling the brain behind them. Veronica uses them like deadly nails, punching precise holes in her foes' vitals. Throwing Knives: Not particularly deadly unless aimed well, they still make decent distractions if aimed for the face or neck. Passable for melee combat in a pinch. Far more threatening if coated with poison. Seijaku/Silence - Composite Recurve Shortbow: A bow type useful for firing while mobile. (stored in a leather waterproof case) Quiver: 30 arrow capacity. (30/30) Strapped to small of her back. Barbed & non-barbed arrows. Chigetsu/Blood Moon - War Scythe: Bathed in the blood of many lives over the decades, a strange, crimson polearm once belonging to her Sire. One end is mounted with a spearhead and the other with a scythe-head that is bladed on both edges, oriented oddly like a farming tool, rather than a typical war scythe. Normally, this weapon would be rather impractical, but it comes into its own wielded by a vampire's physicality. The scythe has the magical property to shrink down to the size of a sickle for discreet transport or return to normal (takes 5 seconds in either direction). The enchanted weapon's longevity is the result of the property of blood absorption, slowly but surely repairing itself with any sanguine essence that lingers upon its surface.
Miscellaneous/Tools: Tinderbox: Contains flint, fire steel, and dry cloth soaked in oil. Infiltration Kit: Includes a small file, lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors and pliers. Kaginawa/Grappling Hook & Rope: A sturdy, steel hook and a compact bundle of thin but very sturdy and long rope. Weapon Maintenance Kit: Includes a whetstone, rags, specialized oils, and spare bowstrings. Medic Kit: Contains bandages, gauze pads, splints, basic salves, alcohol, needles, thread, syrettes, scalpels, whiskey & biting stick. Pocket Watch: A well-maintained silver-cased device that once belonged to her Sire, it has been quite useful for tracking the sun. Compass: In good condition. Points north. Leatherbound Logbook: A coded log of information gathered during investigations. Pencils included. Maps: A small, leather-bound book. The contents are of a variety of maps of the kingdoms, particularly Kindeance. Also a variety of far more quality, larger maps kept rolled up separately. All maps are kept within a rubber-lined, waterproof case, for preservation.
Other: Blackwater is not her birth name. As a peasant, she had no family name. Rather, Blackwater is a "title" bestowed upon her by her vampiric Sire, a demonstration that she was to be molded like clay into his tool and "family". With his demise, she remains the sole "inheritor" of Blackwater's assets.
She is part of Anderson's team that managed to track the Prince's kidnappers the hard way (with a touch of her divination magic) and will likely be running into Matilda's team at the estate. It is because her typical place of long-term residence is a quite a fair distance from the Capitol that she was unable to be reached in time to join up with the main team initially.
