RoleplayA Crown of BonesNameIlayna Blackwater / Edessa Thorne
GenderFemale
House NameBlackwater
AgeTwenty-four
Appearance5’6” and hair reminiscent of the midnight skies with sapphires for eyes, Edessa Thorne has the look of a child of Gorgon, but a common look nonetheless. Bearing fur or cloth cloak depending on the weather or environment she is generally well-prepared.
HomelandGorgon
RaceHuman
BioIf not for Thomas Briar, the woman known currently as Edessa Thorne would have likely lived an entirely different life.
Twenty-four years prior to the present, she was born a daughter of the royal dynasty known as House Blackwater through the union of Lord Blackwater and Lady Briar. As the Princess of the Kingdom of Gorgon she was baptized as a part of the royal family with great expectations designed for the young royal. Of course, she was far behind in the line of succession with three elder brothers who were well-read and well-trained in the way of duty. As she was baptized there was one man who would be bound to her protection for his life, a knight and experienced ranger known as Edwic Devain; assigned as her guardian and protector, Ser Edwic would go beyond the expectations of duty to ensure safety and worked with the then spymaster of Gorgon to designate royal safehouses, escape routes, and similar contingencies for the safety of not only Ilayna but any royal at home in court.
When Lord Arthur Blackwater left his kingdom for the war against Malfear he left his spymaster and brother-in-law (Thomas Briar) as leading regent of Gorgon, giving the man the beginning that would excite his taste for power and control. Not long after when Ilayna reached her eighth anniversary of her name-day, the worst of possible events occurred at home in Gorgon—the betrayal of House Blackwater, and the murder of her bloodline by someone that was trusted to their protection: Thomas Briar. The spymaster and regent had often plotted in secret to steal what he believed he deserved, the first murder he would commit would earn him the title of kinslayer as his sister and mother of the Blackwater heirs would lay dead in the streets of the capital. Ser Edwic cursed himself for not seeing the treachery beforehand and organized several other knights sworn to other heirs to retreat and to stay away from the designated safehouses for Briar created them and knew about them. Ser Edwic himself took to the north as he dragged the eight year old daughter of Gorgon through the forests and swamps until he could get as far as possible.
The safety and survival of the Blackwater line was now abruptly in the hands of men sworn to protect its heirs. Ser Edwic’s loyalty unfaltering, he ensured that no harm would come to Ilayna while he still breathed air of this world; the Blackwater line would not end in a flood of darkness and treachery. Traveling to the Valarian countryside, Ser Edwic and Ilayna Blackwater disappeared and Mauldin and Edessa Thorne emerged. Hoping to avoid any eyes and ears that could report back to Thomas Briar, the two Gorgonite individuals began to cut out a life from village to village in the township of which they settled to protect themselves from the fear of assassins and spies.
Her name changed her dynasty taken, and life distressed; the girl known as Ilayna Blackwater was now Edessa Thorne, and now sprung up amongst commonfolk in an assortment of backwater villages and hamlets. Coin became sparse, food rationed, and despite the two Gorgonite’s resilience it never did stop the dwelling and nightmarish dreams that taunted them. The nightmares throughout the years would be a constant torture for the former Princess of Gorgon as she remembered the hushed panic, her mother’s blood drenched on her uncle’s knife, Ser Edwic’s hand preventing her from screaming in horror, the exhausting dread of Thomas Briar’s Blackwater hunters, the sound of the dogs, and the feeling of being stripped from her brothers whilst the feeling of never being able to speak to her parents again—it was insufferable. Her guardian attempted to calm her nerves throughout the coming years, but it would do nothing for the true psychological damage that she was dealt.
Despite the deep sense of psychological turmoil in the young girl’s mind, Ser Edwic instilled a sense of resilience and rigid strength in her. Originally coming from the commonfolk himself before he was knighted when he was much younger, Ser Edwic knew what it took to survive in their newfound environment. Fashioning himself as an adventurer, tracker, bandit hunter, and general problem solver—the people in this rural Valaria found much use in the man they would come to know as Mauldin Thorne. His skills as a ranger of Gorgon came into much use as he put coin and food on the table whilst also training his believed ‘daughter’ in the same skills he had honed decades prior. Dexterity, Gorgonite-style hand-to-hand, swordplay, archery, tracking, survivalism, and collective “common wisdom” would be things that Edessa would learn and surprisingly she had a knack for a few of these skills, perhaps taking after her elder brothers who had idolized the rangers of Gorgon. From eight years after her nameday to seventeen years after it she would become a capable ranger indeed as Mauldin’s training was nothing but extensive. But inspired to not be so weak as she was when her mother died in front of her eyes, and to prove to her guardian that his training was not for naught.
Two years after the “completion” of her training and some field experience in surrounding villages as well as trading posts it came to be her guardian’s end of days as he was stricken ill—an illness that would take the ranger-knight’s life at sixty years past his nameday; a remarkable age for someone who had been living in bad conditions and throughout a traumatic and taxing life. As she buried him in a grave that read only as: “Maurin Thorne – beloved father and protector.” So it was here at nineteen years past her nameday that Ilayna “Edessa Thorne” Blackwater began to live life from one outpost, caravan, and village at a time as she tried to put her past behind her and live for what she was taught by both Ser Edwic and her royal family that now laid in the dirt and was with the gods.
Injustice and chaos thrived in the lands and whilst she saw herself as ‘moral’ she knew that coin would have to come first if she intended to continue eating—though where heroics occurred oftentimes people were thankful for their endeavors. The Valealian frontier was chaotic and upset as rebellion, mage-hunting, and banditry began to run rampant thus creating an unstable world to travel in for the young woman though it was also as easily to be looked upon as for a hireling/problem solver-type of individual that it surely would be profitable for their career. For her, there was a struggle as her moral fibers of virtue and good nature began to shout out in her head; for if she could stop tragedy to consume other lives she would save others from the misery she felt every night when the nightmares called out to her like a frightful spirit. “Nobody deserves to be overthrown by tragedy nor misery.” – she kept telling herself such thoughts to make sure she didn’t devolve into a narcissitic hiresword that cared only for coin and their survival; hireswords that she had heard that ignored bandit attacks because there was no coin in helping a hamlet from getting raided and pilfered or even those hireswords that would join the bandits on such raids. By the Coin and not by the soul was such a terrible way to live life.
For five years she traveled across Valeal; helping who she could while getting by on her personality and actions. For some villages, hamlets, and outposts the name “Edessa Thorne” has some significance despite her small actions, but those who suffer remember their friends. While seen as not entirely selfless, she has helped where others would turn them away with a glance that reeks of the phrase: “That’s a shame.” – She wants to help people and survive doing it, but sometimes she thinks her small actions have gotten rescinded as soon as she leaves these settlements. She hasn’t really found her purpose in life as this Valealian “ranger”. But given the political and socio problems growing in the world… something will absorb her eventually.
Footnotes65 years ago: Edwic Devain is born of a common house of Gorgon.
33 years ago: Edwic Devain is knighted.
24 years ago: Ilayna Blackwater is born of the noble ruling house of Gorgon.
18 years ago: The Kingdom of Gorgon joins the war against Malfear.
16 years ago: Thomas Briar, the then spymaster and regent of the Kingdom of Gorgon begins a coup d’etat against the Blackwater dynasty.
16 years ago: Ser Edwic escapes Gorgon in order to safeguard Ilayna Blackwater.
16 years ago: Lord Blackwater withdraws from the war to return home to combat Thomas Briar’s treachery.
16 years ago: Ser Edwic creates the identities of Mauldin Thorne and Edessa Thorne, goes into hiding.
15 years ago: The coup in Gorgon ends with the death of Arthur Blackwater, defeated in battle at King's/Traitors pass. Thomas Briar claims the Gorgon throne.
5 years ago: Edwic Devain/Mauldin Thorne dies.
“Why do people suffer? Why do we hide and let plague destroy them? That isn’t nobility. That can’t be nobility… can it?”
Name
Pythia “The Yellow Rose” Heartspire
Age
15
Gender
Female
Personality
Pythia is ultimately a child of kindness and earnest naivety, whilst her teachings have led her to understand the world isn’t entirely sunshine and rainbows she still maintains a sense of kind optimism despite understanding what horrors man is capable of—it isn’t “easy” for her, either, as she struggles with many moral and ethical dilemmas when faced with opposition. Her relationship with her adopted parents is on good terms, despite a few years of hoisting up their trueborn heir to their house over her, which is understandable by all means but it still hurts as she despite what the law says is still a very young child who even with her longtime mentor finds herself being pushed into action way too early in life.
So you could say that Pythia is a ‘beta’ personality as she prefers to be led, though if she feels opposition to her beliefs she will confront said leader… probably… maybe over tea… in front of everyone… under a good omen.
Role/Title
Cleric
History
The story of Pythia is one that is vague to the adopted daughter of the noble house of Heartspire, as she has heard all of the tales of how she came to be—in the end, she had no concept of the truth of where she came from which maddened the girl from a young age to have her questions answered with more questions. A big question arose early regarding her obvious affinity with magic, something that didn’t necessarily outcast her from her friends and peers but did make her feel strangely out of place. It was by her parent’s coin that a noble scholar and magical tutor from Lumoise was afforded and it was with that person that she learned what type of magic she was attuned to. Her place at the table of magic was one of healing, warding, and protecting; something that would resonate with her personality as she would hear story after story of plague or famine or fatal injury that she felt were not necessary.
As Pythia’s youth carried on her instructor became the only guiding light in a sea of what she felt was irrelevance, because why was she within these walls if people outside of them suffered? She pondered as she looked to the noble heroes of old and new for inspiration whilst she struggled with her beliefs. Such struggle was not made easy by the lessons given to her by her instructor who explained the varied opinions of magic of the world, historical consequences, ignorant fear-mongering, and brutal dangers of magic as pertinent teachings that she should be aware of and as she was quite young at the time she found herself terrified of them but never to the point she wanted to shy away from her magic. It was about this time that her parents conceived their first blood child, a male named Xanye. It was then that the divide between the “high society public” became apparent—it wasn’t that they were afraid of her but simply disregarded her as she was no heir of House Heartspire and they made that abundantly clear as they nicknamed her brother as “trueborn”. She was twelve years past her nameday.
With her parents paying more mind to her brother, Pythia absorbed herself more into her studies of the arcane and divine. She looked to the gods for guidance in the spiritual nature whilst she looked to her instructor for even more guidance on not only magic but philosophy. Such dedication became her daily routine outside of court etiquette of the nobility. This would come to conflict when she turned fourteen when the conversation of courting came from her parents lips as if they interested in the concept before at all. “Your life is your path.” – apparently that was only true in the case of engagement. The fifteen year old looked to her instructor for guidance and she was told a truth she had not considered. Within a year she would be an adult by law and her choices would be many; amongst that realization her mentor also confessed that they had little more they could teach them from here and it would be best to apply to a foreign academy of magic or alternatively begin her own path by self-teaching—as a mage without experience was just a fancy scholar. The boys her parents began suggesting would turn into a game of sorts as Pythia took all of the collective knowledge before her; she would deny betrothal and instead enlist in some manner for the empire itself. It was no surprise that after being in a safe, walled city that she would want to find an avenue to explore and help people at large with her skills. In a matter of time she was a legal adult and had a decision to make.
So it was in a rare enlistment that her story continues.
Extra
Pythia’s skills as a cleric are that in wards, restoration, and to an extent alteration. You can basically view her as a quantifiable “white mage” who works within a holy dynamic but as a very young and inexperienced caster she doesn’t have proper battle focus nor does she have the years of dedication for really powerful spells so I’ll have to play that into her combat style. The idea is to have her as a young cleric to learn through experience and probability.
Full Name
Blossom Utonium
Brief Bio
Blossom Utonium is one of three daughters of Professor Kenneth Utonium, one of the world leaders of genetic science and a former scientific asset to the United States government under the SHIELD initiative. However such involvement was unknown to Blossom and her sisters for many years as the professor would dodge inquiries about their mother and especially his past as he would come up with hackneyed explanations to the children about their origins such as “sugar, spice, and everything nice” which as Blossom grew older became suspicious of the explanation he had given her and her sisters when they were six-years old. It was during this same year that it was realized the chemical formula Professor Utonium had used had birthed some abstract form of a metagene which dawned the girl’s abilities that began to develop at an exponential rate. This was of course the birth of “The Powerpuff Girls” and due to the influence of superheroes like Wonder Woman and Superman it was here that Blossom’s crime-fighting career began with her sisters Buttercup and Bubbles.
For the equivalent of five more years, it all seemed that the guardianship of Townsville was something the Powerpuff Girls could count on themselves doing for a long time despite minor disputes and challenges by their rogue’s gallery that varied from scientists to mutants. But as the girls got older the times began to change and more devastating dangers seemed to crawl out from the criminal underbelly. What happened between when Blossom turned ten years old and when she awoke in the hospital ward of a neighboring town is unknown and as a result Blossom’s memory found itself checkered and mired in vague ideas.
Following her apparent partial memory loss, Blossom found herself particularly darkened as she began to struggle with the evidence presented in front of her that Townsville was gone. It was an overwhelming fact that she realized at ten years old as her uncle, Eugene Utonium, took her from her recovery to the entrance of Townsville but despite all attempts at answers all she got was questions as the site of the metropolitan city was absent and without evidence of ruin—almost like it didn’t exist in the first place. Months began to pass and Blossom found herself situated with her uncle Eugene despite the absenteeism of the family that were now lacking existence in her life beyond of the blame and fear Blossom shifted upon herself, her sisters and her father were shadows of what once was.
In time, Blossom found herself able to distract herself as she “officially” retired from superhero vigilantism and focused on her studies. Given her great intellect, once applied the young girl found herself alongside child prodigies of the world; one of which she met during her time at Empire State University—Dexter McPherson. Such friendship continued to help Blossom as a coping mechanism as the years began to pile on and no answer about what happened to her or her family seemed to pop up despite her inquiries to experts of scientific and arcane nature. Despite her idolization of such experts it didn’t bring her any closer to having any answers. Garnering academic degrees in various fields including chemistry, biology, physics, and language.
It was then in the previous year when all of her reservations about her former vigilantism changed as a supervillain group launched an attack whilst the organizations devoted to defending the city were unapproachable due to activity on other missions elsewhere—a rare occurrence, for sure. Dexter McPherson would be the one who would gather Blossom and appeal to her sense of pragmatism and thus began the fight back which ultimately gathered “official” attention to both Blossom and Dexter for their efforts during this “crisis”. Attention that would lead to a recommendation for service on a group of similarly aged youths. Encouraged by others to be who she has to be to protect others as well as Dexter’s pursuit for answers for Townsville’s “disappearance” it was here that the sixteen year old girl joined this incarnation of heroes…
Abilities
As the byproduct of Professor Kenneth Utonium’s chemical formula known as “X”, Blossom’s metagene has evolved to a high level that facilitates a variety of powers that grants her superhuman abilities that have likely yet to reach their threshold. Such abilities include buy may not be limited to: superhuman strength and durability, control of her personal gravitational field that allows flight, ice breath, microscopic vision, and perhaps a small healing factor. Blossom also holds a tenth to eleventh level intellect and has since she was six years old. With the admission of psychological damage and personal restraint the full effectiveness of these powers are not at one-hundred percent.
Personality
The aftermath of Townsville’s apparent destruction has left Blossom less decisive, emotionally distraught, and enigmatically confused. This of course puts Blossom at odds with her greatest benefit which is and has been her lawful, logical, and tactical mindset that has allowed her to be quick to a problem and efficient in dealing with it. However, her ability to be as tactical as she used to be is significantly compromised considering the large sense of turmoil with the city she grew up being wiped off the map, her sisters nowhere to be found over the course of entire years, and no memory to account for either of these events. Even amongst new friends and allies, the lingering questions remain in Blossom’s mind as she struggles with finding the answers. Conscripted amongst a new “team”, she finds herself doubting everything around her despite being in the company of heroes and helping the world as those who she idolized as a child would. When Blossom leaves her problems at the table as best as she can she still exhumes a sense of superiority which can lend her to act condescending, “bossy”, and dismissive. But between keeping herself in check and new friends like Dexter McPherson she believes it is all a step in the right direction.
Appearance
Through the turmoil of time, not much has changed with Blossom outside of perhaps attire and the wear and tear of the events Blossom has had to deal with. Her eyes, once a bright and perhaps optimistic pink have now dulled to the cynical consequences of the world around her which says much about the girl’s demeanor in the present day. Clothing choice is still partial to her childhood, which can be related to a nostalgic sense that she holds; she has coats of pink and purple with scarfs of red and pink.
Affiliations
Dexter McPherson – The “boy genius” who has been compared to the likes of Tony Stark and Lex Luthor, Dexter comes from a small city in the Midwest of which he likes to keep quiet about. He doesn’t speak often about his family or his life as one of the brightest minds in the world. Initially he worked with Blossom during a crisis whilst the Titans and other hero groups were unavailable to aid. Such crisis defense made both Blossom and Dexter recruited to the Titans after the event was over. Dexter is quiet, dense, and over-analytical which can make him frustrating to talk with.
XJ-9, Jenny Wakeman – One of Blossom’s friends and occasional allies. Not a member of the Titans. Dexter considers her an asset.
Eugene Utonium – Blossom’s caretaker, uncle, and legal guardian after her father’s death.
