Name: Darla Drake
Age: 18
Grade:3rd Year at St Laurel's
Biography: It's safe to say that Drake was born in one of the wealthiest families of Rhea, if not the world. Her father, Arthur Drake, a geomancer, is a notorious tycoon with an appetite for new, raw resources and overthrowing goverments that he doesn't like. Drake Heavy Manufacturers is both seen with awe at the amount of worldwide money and clout it can muster, and the unrepentant bloodthirsty past it has. For Arthur Drake, originally hailing from Albion (not-Britain), everything was fair game.
Even buying royal blood. That's how
Carla Maressan de Vauquelin came into his life. Originally a disgraced wreck of a disowned princess found in a third-rate country watering hole struggling to get her next fix and booze to support her waning hedonistic drug-addled life, the ruined beauty was in turn turned into trophy wife for the enterprising businessman.
From the union of a heartless businessman and a vapid, stupid princess who sought comfort in bottles and drugs rather than facing her own problems came forth Darla. Born in the lap of luxury, bereft of love. It was in this scenario when she caught the attention of a Crippled Blacksmith God, when in one of Carla's lapses of judgment, she dropped the infant on his head while being inebriated.
Following said revelation, Darla grew up wanting nothing but love. Everything that could be bought, was at her finger tips. The best food. The best tutors. But her father was all about business, and her mother...even though he couldn't shake off the feeling of affection and yearning she had for her, did not quite attend little Darla as she should have. The most motherly thing was probably sometimes singing for her lullabies when she was sober enough for her to realize she had a little kid, and to nurse a wound or two.
A harsh and unforgiving environment to grow up made Darla harsh and unforgiving. Not knowing the meaning of "No" for an answer, young Darla soon followed his father's footsteps, her gift having a tremendous synergy with the industrial and wealthy background of the family, and it all but set in stone that she would follow in his father's footsteps at the time. She was even gifted an
entire city for him to manage at his 14th birthday, the city of BlackLake.
Things, however, took a turn for the worse when the fall of Vauquelin struck. While for her father this had been a very profitable business, despite the fact they technically their in-laws, it turned poorly for her mother, as she was seen as one of the loose ends that needed to be executed. Darla then moved. It is uncertain wether this was true affection or a sense of defending one's possessions but the assassins sent to execute her own mother were brought to heel by Darla's creations. One by one, then were extinguished in gruesome experiments, as the appetites of the youth for more philosophical questions like the nature of the soul were sought with steel and cut flesh, with energy and charred organs.
And so, It dawned upon her father a most disturbing realization he had nurtured a monster. Darla was everything he had wanted in a son and much more... It was an horrific and disgusting resounding success. Fearing for his future at the hands of the very child he raised, he sent her to Rhea, far from him, in a last ditch effort to at least teach her to fake, if not feel, empathy for fellow men and get a good PR image.
Powers:
Core Power - Ultimate Blacksmith: Darla was bestowed grace and power beyond mortal means to craft creations of metal and wondrous items, by none other than the god of the forge. As a side product she has an innate understanding for crafts and technology, but it has a huge caveat. For all the wondrous effects of her Blessing to take part, the creations she must assemble must be done by manual handcraft, while keeping automated processes to a minimum.
First Power- Legendary Metals: Darla can bring forth to life metallic alloys of legend. Three are of special mention.
Adamantine, similar to a blackened steel but nearly indestructible by normal means (it can withstand lava and anything but the most extremely offensive powers),
Mithril who is both as durable as the most durable mundane alloy while weighing as little as the most lightweight metal; And
Orichalcum, a copper-like substance of a silver-gold colour which has superconductive properties at room temperature and most, importantly, it can react to powers channeled due to gifts, creating gear that enhances existing powers. Only Darla's gift can bring these alloys into existence, other people who somehow steal her recipe will find themselves with mundane alloys.
Second Power- Divine Armaments: Darla is able to hand-craft legendary weapons with the same ease people do wood carvings on small wood logs. Due to the heavy manual involvement, each item is a one-of-a-kind, and thus they have unique properties worthy of an unique name. A side effect of this power is that Darla can destroy Legendary weapons with her handcraft with the same ease one breaks down a failed pottery, being able to get raw materials out of the deed. Darla requires a certain amount of time to craft one, from weeks to months. She can hot-rig something in a few days or hours but it'll fall apart after a couple of uses.
Third Power- Spark of Talos: Darla's divine arts allow her to create life itself out a forge. Sentient automations who look up at her with reverence and near unshakable loyalty. They are capable of feeling and reason, and they can eventually rebel if Darla goes out of her way to abuse them for a prolonged period of time. After being made aware of this fact, Darla has built her automatons ever since with a Kill Switch.
Currently she has two of such constructs. Heavy duty
Jet, with Adamantine chassis and suited for combat, and
Pearl, with a lightweight mithril chassis for mundane tasks.
Relationships:
Vera Goh: A gorilla with money? Or is it a sow? Ugh. I cringe at her presence, but I must be polite. Until I can buy her family's company.
Wolf: Who? Ah, the Pink head's attachment. Forgettable. Might be worth to parade as toy. Maybe.
Andras: I don't know half of the names of these beggars. Stop.
Cel: Ugh. Disgusting little mishap of nature. They have potential, but I'd rather keep them outside my presence.
Parker: Eternal Gopher. I can make a dozen like him with my gift, so why bother? That being said, he's perky.
Ken: He's royalty? Good lord, Izumo really needed that revolution. Better not tell his uncle is one of our VIP clients... Possibly henpecked husband in the making?
Erisse: Idealistic. Cute. Her powers are useful. Maybe I should break her into servitude to be a carrier.
Suzakura: Probably the closest thing to respect? I still want to strangle him for his lecherous disrespect but gotta admire his spunk. Frenemy? Is that a thing, even?
Mina: Overflowing with abundance. I don't know where she buys her bras. Can heal wounds. Mind bogglingly stupid, and her parents insist she's on the same level as me. Well, maybe I can make use of her.
Michael: Come to think, my creations need fancy paintings. Maybe I should commission him... A nude maybe?
Duke: Fellow 3rd year. Rags to Riches and riches to rag. Bit of a street rat. Maybe If I entice him with the right cheese he would be useful. Oh yes, he could be at my feet squirming.
Chinami: She would be a great sidekick if she wasn't such a mongrel. Oh and that stupid Suzakura is after her. Misery draws misery.
Alyona: Fellow Royal blood. Completely cursed. I might feel like helping her. Might.
Rev: Cousin... don't overdo it. You're probably the only one besides mother I care about.