A lilting laugh rose from among the trees of the park. Standing out against the moon, a dark, hooded figure stood, on a branch of a tree. A single eye gleamed from under the hoodie she wore. Looking down, Alexandria stood, grinning with delight. "Your opponent will be none other than I, Andras, the Demon Lady of Despair!"
Amidst the murmuring of the crowd you could hear individual voices. Isn't her name actually Alex?I heard she once got kicked out of the library for trying to draw a magic circle on the ground.Did she climb up that tree just to say that?
Alex dropped from the tree limb to the ground. "What do you say, mortal?" She grinned once again, her eye sparkling with anticipation.
Name: Alexandria Sova AKA Andras, Lady of Despair AKA Alex
Age: 17
Grade: High 2nd, Vigilante
Biography: Alexandria holds a portal to the source of all magical knowledge, past, present, and future. She calls it Perfect Alexandria, and it is sealed within her left eye. To prevent the raw magical energy from tainting the world around her, she wears an eyepatch that holds impossibly powerful magical seals to prevent Perfect Alexandria from seeping into the third dimension.
That's what she'd say, at least. To an outside observer, her power seems to blend the lines between her somewhat delusional worldview and reality, as she clearly has SOME connection to a deep well of magical power, but it is uncertain if what she says about Perfect Alexandria has any actual proof to back it up.
Alex is actually a fairly outgoing person, perhaps as a result of the unique quirks of her power. However, at the same time, her childish delusions also have tended to keep some people away from her. If she's given a task, she takes it fairly seriously. If given a painfully mundane task, she'll most likely try to fit it within her delusions: Delivering a book to the library becomes stealthily sneaking a forbidden tome back into its rightful place in the eldritch archives.
She likes learning about people. Despite her obsession with heaven-and-hell struggles, she is fairly carefree, and doesn't really take her studies seriously. If anything, she sees mundane life as a game. A game that can be boring at times, but has some fun characters if nothing else. For that reason she decided that taking the definite sides of good and evil was foolish. Instead, she chose to work as a Vigilante, so she could see the most of the people on both sides.
She also insists that people call her by her demon name, Andras. Very few people oblige her.
Powers:
The Root of All Magic: Perfect Alexandria Andras was touched with the powers of two gods - One of light, and the other dark. The dark gave her visions of the unimaginable well of magic - the Root. The light focused her vision, giving it a lens to look through and manifest in the world.
Akashic Tarot Andras's connection to Perfect Alexandria allows her to pull from the library any spell ever created by man. These spells manifest as quasi-real cards, essentially thoughts given a more physical form. Andras is unable to index the spells, however, making them essentially completely randomly procured.
The cards themselves are only projections of her ability, and they can not be interacted with physically or magically, as they are essentially just thoughts given a visible form.
Mana Contract The Akashic Tarots, although being spells manifest from Perfect Alexandria, require anchors to reality to be actually "cast." Perhaps due to some trickery of the gods, Andras has found casting spells of higher power require several points of anchoring. As the power increases, the violation of the rules of reality becomes more flagrant; in order to break the rules, the spell must be anchored to reality. Essentially, the path of least resistance must become "breaking the rules of reality." To a spell, which is normally part of Perfect Alexandria, returning to the Root through Andras's eye is usually the path of least resistance. However, the closer the spell is anchored to reality, the harder it becomes to return through her eye; eventually the easiest method of return is by breaking the laws of reality. (Andras could explain the mechanics of this for days if prompted.)
To put it in simple terms, Andras requires friends to cast magic beyond the most simple types. If a willing friend agrees, Andras can initiate physical contact with the willing party to form a mana contract (she prefers to hug to do this). This will allow Andras to cast spells of higher power than normal by using her friends as anchors to reality. Mana contracts do not impose anything upon the friend, so casting spells will not sap energy from the contractee or drain their power or anything like that.
Cards from the Sky With her own abilities, Andras can only reach into Perfect Alexandria once per day. Spells may allow her to draw from the library or even search for a specific spell, but by default Andras only gets to draw one spell a day. Additionally, if she has more than seven spells available, she has to throw away spells until she is back to seven.
[OOC description of abilities: She plays Magic in real life. She has a hand size of 7, draws one card a day. Spell effects that last a turn last a day (though the GM probably can override that if it's particularly heinous). Drawing a card gives her a random card from the magiccards.info or gatherer (if magiccards.info is down) database. I'll run it by the GM if I think it's an iffy card; if it's decided it's not permissible, then I'll just random again. Her friends supply her mana, and by default she provides a single mana of any color for her own uses.
Some particular card effects that may pop up and need to be fluffed: -Drawing a card: Gives her another random card. -Looking at the top of library: Checks the random card but doesn't draw it. From then on, that card is set in stone unless something shuffles the library. -Searching for a card: It lets her declare any spell to search for. I'll try to keep her tutoring within reason; it's unlikely she knows the entirety of Perfect Alexandria so she couldn't realistically know every card ever to look for. -Discarding cards: For her, it's a standard discard. Making enemies discard probably is akin to halting a current action; making them stutter for a moment. If by some twist of fate the enemy has magic cards as well, she can discard those. -Destroying Creatures: Player Characters aren't creatures. Destroying target creature probably means killing an NPC enemy, like the imps or perhaps creatures summoned by magic. It doesn't kill a Player Character. If the NPC is particularly powerful it may be ruled to survive kill spells. -Creature Cards: It summons them, obviously. Completely translating power and toughness to reality will be hard; I feel like this will have to be played by ear. -Enchantments and Artifacts: These magical constructs or lingering spells stick around after being cast. However, magical constructs, powers, and attacks can destroy enchantments, and both magical and physical attacks can kill artifacts. -Planeswalkers: What's that? I don't believe in this card type. It's dumb. She can't draw them. -Damage spells: I plan on fluffing them based on their flavor. Lightning bolt is a lightning bolt! It hurts! Doesn't really have any killing power, though, it only deals less than 1/7th of a player's life! -Pump/Weaken spells: Normally these only target creatures, but being able to target players makes sense in this situation. Buffs to power and toughness increase, well, the strength of someone's attacks and their ability to withstand damage and exertion, respectively. Decreasing stats accordingly weakens the target. Other players drawing cards: In this case, they draw the spell and have a vague understanding of how it works, but it's also unlikely that they'll be able to cast it without asking friends for help in anchoring spells. Land Cards: Drawing a land card lets her spend that card to get a mana of that type. It's not permanent. Basically just provides a little boost to her mana, but can't possibly replace the permanent mana that friends offer. Paying Life: I don't think I'd be able to abstract a life total for Andras. However, I'd say that paying life for cards directly affects her stamina and strength. If she is already hurt, it's unlikely she'll be able to pay life without passing out. Gaining Life: Basically the opposite of paying life. A heal spell can cure wounds and rejuvenate friendlies who are hurt. If they're winded or tired out, healing can also help with that. -Countering spells: Can cancel invoked magical abilities. Magical effects that are already lingering can not be countered. Countering abilities (not spells, there's a difference!) allows her to briefly stop a magical or physical ability. -Bouncing/Returning things to hand: If targetting her own cards, it returns them to spell form. If targetting something else, it can be considered some kind of telekinesis for the purpose of moving something away. If she cast a spell that returns an enemy's weapon to hand, it would (ironically) disarm them by making their weapon fly out of their hands.
There's probably more that need to be fluffed. I'll figure them out as I see them.]
Relationships: Brutus - Due to the varied nature of Vigilante work, Andras has usually paired up with Brutus for work purposes. She's also interested in getting past his stoic side. However, they know each other well enough to have a Mana Contract. William Ascot - Andras is interested in his catalogue of the human story, and often run into each other in the library. Ascot has an interest in her ability, and often gives her insight into how to use it herself. They have a Mana Contract. King: A fearless leader! Andras admires his cool aura of mystery. She wants to get a little closer to him so she can form a mana bond, which she hasn't done yet. Clara: Andras is captivated by her forbidden grimoire. She'd love to talk to Clara about it if she had the chance... and maybe even form a bond! Alto: Andras hasn't paid much attention to Alto. She finds his power fairly straightforward, and kind of boring. Still wouldn't want to fight him, though. She'd give him a chance if she met him.
I'm working on a potential new character. I'm gonna post it here because linking a text file in the discord seems a little mean for people's eyes.
Still tweaking bits and pieces.
Name: Alexandria Sova AKA Andras, Lady of Despair AKA Alex
Age: 17
Grade: High 2nd, Vigilante
Biography: Alexandria holds a portal to the source of all magical knowledge, past, present, and future. She calls it Perfect Alexandria, and it is sealed within her left eye. To prevent the raw magical energy from tainting the world around her, she wears an eyepatch that holds impossibly powerful magical seals to prevent Perfect Alexandria from seeping into the third dimension.
That's what she'd say, at least. To an outside observer, her power seems to blend the lines between her somewhat delusional worldview and reality, as she clearly has SOME connection to a deep well of magical power, but it is uncertain if what she says about Perfect Alexandria has any actual proof to back it up.
Alex is actually a fairly outgoing person, perhaps as a result of the unique quirks of her power. However, at the same time, her childish delusions also have tended to keep some people away from her. If she's given a task, she takes it fairly seriously. If given a painfully mundane task, she'll most likely try to fit it within her delusions: Delivering a book to the library becomes stealthily sneaking a forbidden tome back into its rightful place in the eldritch archives.
She likes learning about people. Despite her obsession with heaven-and-hell struggles, she is fairly carefree, and doesn't really take her studies seriously. If anything, she sees mundane life as a game. A game that can be boring at times, but has some fun characters if nothing else. For that reason she decided that taking the definite sides of good and evil was foolish. Instead, she chose to work as a Vigilante, so she could see the most of the people on both sides.
She also insists that people call her by her demon name, Andras. Very few people oblige her.
Powers:
The Root of All Magic: Perfect Alexandria Andras was touched with the powers of two gods - One of light, and the other dark. The dark gave her visions of the unimaginable well of magic - the Root. The light focused her vision, giving it a lens to look through and manifest in the world.
Akashic Tarot Andras's connection to Perfect Alexandria allows her to pull from the library any spell ever created by man. These spells manifest as quasi-real cards, essentially thoughts given a more physical form. Andras is unable to index the spells, however, making them essentially completely randomly procured.
The cards themselves are only projections of her ability, and they can not be interacted with physically or magically, as they are essentially just thoughts given a visible form.
Mana Contract The Akashic Tarots, although being spells manifest from Perfect Alexandria, require anchors to reality to be actually "cast." Perhaps due to some trickery of the gods, Andras has found casting spells of higher power require several points of anchoring. As the power increases, the violation of the rules of reality becomes more flagrant; in order to break the rules, the spell must be anchored to reality. Essentially, the path of least resistance must become "breaking the rules of reality." To a spell, which is normally part of Perfect Alexandria, returning to the Root through Andras's eye is usually the path of least resistance. However, the closer the spell is anchored to reality, the harder it becomes to return through her eye; eventually the easiest method of return is by breaking the laws of reality. (Andras could explain the mechanics of this for days if prompted.)
To put it in simple terms, Andras requires friends to cast magic beyond the most simple types. If a willing friend agrees, Andras can initiate physical contact with the willing party to form a mana contract (she prefers to hug to do this). This will allow Andras to cast spells of higher power than normal by using her friends as anchors to reality. Mana contracts do not impose anything upon the friend, so casting spells will not sap energy from the contractee or drain their power or anything like that.
Cards from the Sky With her own abilities, Andras can only reach into Perfect Alexandria once per day. Spells may allow her to draw from the library or even search for a specific spell, but by default Andras only gets to draw one spell a day. Additionally, if she has more than seven spells available, she has to throw away spells until she is back to seven.
[OOC description of abilities: She plays Magic in real life. She has a hand size of 7, draws one card a day. Spell effects that last a turn last a day (though the GM probably can override that if it's particularly heinous). Drawing a card gives her a random card from the magiccards.info or gatherer (if magiccards.info is down) database. I'll run it by the GM if I think it's an iffy card; if it's decided it's not permissible, then I'll just random again. Her friends supply her mana, and by default she provides a single mana of any color for her own uses.
Some particular card effects that may pop up and need to be fluffed: -Drawing a card: Gives her another random card. -Looking at the top of library: Checks the random card but doesn't draw it. From then on, that card is set in stone unless something shuffles the library. -Searching for a card: It lets her declare any spell to search for. I'll try to keep her tutoring within reason; it's unlikely she knows the entirety of Perfect Alexandria so she couldn't realistically know every card ever to look for. -Discarding cards: For her, it's a standard discard. Making enemies discard probably is akin to halting a current action; making them stutter for a moment. If by some twist of fate the enemy has magic cards as well, she can discard those. -Destroying Creatures: Player Characters aren't creatures. Destroying target creature probably means killing an NPC enemy, like the imps or perhaps creatures summoned by magic. It doesn't kill a Player Character. If the NPC is particularly powerful it may be ruled to survive kill spells. -Creature Cards: It summons them, obviously. Completely translating power and toughness to reality will be hard; I feel like this will have to be played by ear. -Enchantments and Artifacts: These magical constructs or lingering spells stick around after being cast. However, magical constructs, powers, and attacks can destroy enchantments, and both magical and physical attacks can kill artifacts. -Planeswalkers: What's that? I don't believe in this card type. It's dumb. She can't draw them. -Damage spells: I plan on fluffing them based on their flavor. Lightning bolt is a lightning bolt! It hurts! Doesn't really have any killing power, though, it only deals less than 1/7th of a player's life! -Pump/Weaken spells: Normally these only target creatures, but being able to target players makes sense in this situation. Buffs to power and toughness increase, well, the strength of someone's attacks and their ability to withstand damage and exertion, respectively. Decreasing stats accordingly weakens the target. Other players drawing cards: In this case, they draw the spell and have a vague understanding of how it works, but it's also unlikely that they'll be able to cast it without asking friends for help in anchoring spells. Land Cards: Drawing a land card lets her spend that card to get a mana of that type. It's not permanent. Basically just provides a little boost to her mana, but can't possibly replace the permanent mana that friends offer. Paying Life: I don't think I'd be able to abstract a life total for Andras. However, I'd say that paying life for cards directly affects her stamina and strength. If she is already hurt, it's unlikely she'll be able to pay life without passing out. Gaining Life: Basically the opposite of paying life. A heal spell can cure wounds and rejuvenate friendlies who are hurt. If they're winded or tired out, healing can also help with that. -Countering spells: Can cancel invoked magical abilities. Magical effects that are already lingering can not be countered. Countering abilities (not spells, there's a difference!) allows her to briefly stop a magical or physical ability. -Bouncing/Returning things to hand: If targetting her own cards, it returns them to spell form. If targetting something else, it can be considered some kind of telekinesis for the purpose of moving something away. If she cast a spell that returns an enemy's weapon to hand, it would (ironically) disarm them by making their weapon fly out of their hands.
There's probably more that need to be fluffed. I'll figure them out as I see them.]
Relationships: Brutus - Due to the varied nature of Vigilante work, Andras has usually paired up with Brutus for work purposes. She's also interested in getting past his stoic side. However, they know each other well enough to have a Mana Contract. William Ascot - Andras is interested in his catalogue of the human story, and often run into each other in the library. Ascot has an interest in her ability, and often gives her insight into how to use it herself. They have a Mana Contract. Masami: Cute! But no Mana Contract.
Lise scratched her head as she watched the showdown unfold before her. She had barely managed to learn the names of her classmates, so she was fairly lost at all the new faces currently squaring up before her. However, Andreim gave her the impression that they were dangerous enough to warrant keeping a guard up. Lise summoned two maids to her side, just in case, and studied the situation.
"What should we do about this...?" Lise muttered to no one in particular. It seemed fairly simple at first, Kath being angry at the man. But then someone else appeared from thin air and appeared to have created a three-way crossfire. Or something like that. 'If a fight actually broke out right now, I don't think I'd know what to actually do. Staying close to Kath would burn, and I'm not sure what the other two are doing, or what their abilities are, at all. I should just follow Andreim's lead.' Lise was glad that she finally found someone able to recognize her status as royalty - Andreim proved to be a trustworthy guard so far. Trusting him for this fight seemed like a safe move.
Lise peeked out from behind Andreim, quickly scanning the room. Nothing spooky anymore. She let out a sigh of relief.
Lise's face burned red. 'How embarrassing, freezing up like that! How can I call myself the team's undeniable queen if I lose my composure like this in front of them?!' She sneaked a look at her team members that were left in the room. None of them seemed to have noticed her freeze, instead focusing on the... person? Lise wasn't paying the best attention, but she remembered someone saying the name Vittorio.
"Don't worry, Lady Valois-Saint-Remy. I will take care of any hinderances ahead." Andreim said to her. It was at that moment, when Lise's embarrassed gaze met with Andreim's, that Lise became acutely aware that she was still gripping his arm. In addition, she was pretty close to him overall. Had she ever been this close to anyone? Especially a boy?! How did she not notice until now?
"T-That's very good A-Andreim." Lise stammered, letting go and quickly taking a step back. Taking a few quick breaths and clearing her throat, she continued. "It's natural to clear the way for the royalty, after all! Let's move after Katherine."
Lise heard everyone agreeing to move up distantly. She was in her thoughts as she ascended the staircase. 'Should I recruit some people to train group fighting? Who would be good for that... If I tell them to join my royal guard, I'm sure they'll go for it-'
Lise was snapped out of her thoughts as she softly bumped into Andreim, who was walking ahead of her and had apparently stopped. Scanning the area, she realized that the entire party had stopped. She looked over the stances of everyone, trying to get a feel for what had happened. Lise internally berated herself for losing track of another situation. Her eyes settled on Katherine, who seemed to have stormed ahead, looking ready to fight, and in front of Kath...
Lise gripped Andreim's arm. She figured some place as shabby as this would have all sorts of strange things, but some part of her refused to accept the possibilities of ghosts. That part of her now had to deal with none other than a spectre appearing before her. Lise wasn't afraid of ghosts. She wasn't. Only children get scared at stuff like that. Children who lived seemingly alone in a giant, empty manor, waited on mainly by faceless shadows taking the form of domestic servants. Children who explored the empty halls at night, walking through the oppressive stares of countless dead family members' portraits, each one with canvas-white skin and lifeless eyes that seemed to follow you as you tiptoed down the dark hallways, trying to find your room using only the sliver of moonlight coming from a faraway window.
But she wasn't afraid. She summoned a shadow servant, in a totally-not-afraid manner, as she clutched Andreim's arm. The servant stood at the ready for any potential attack.
Lise crossed her arms. "I'm ready. Though... I wasn't sure what I expected to run into out here. Giant cats? What kind of apartment is this?"
The threat was dealt with fairly quickly. Lise knew that as a group they would be able to handle single targets well, but she didn't consider the interactions of the different powers, which made the fight more complex than she would have imagined at first. She had to admit that she didn't consider having to maneuver her shadows amongst friendlies until recently.
This most recent fight wasn't her first, but she had to admit she was fairly inexperienced. She wasn't the type to normally spend time worrying about her place, considering she was always at the top, but perhaps she will have to practice more with a group to fully understand fighting. Lost in her own thoughts, she absentmindedly pondered the power dynamics of her team. She didn't even notice Andreim's subtle offer of his arm to her.
Lise was cursing her poor luck at encountering enemies when, ironically, nothing other than a giant cat pounced down from the top of the stairs. The previous wave of banter forgotten, she saw her other teammates spring into action. Lise admittedly did not have the most honed of combat reflexes, nor did she commonly deal with wild beasts - let alone ones that seemingly have crawled out of Hell itself, so she definitely couldn't spring into action as quickly as all the others.
Ignoring her normal theatrics of speaking in her royal tongue, she called two shadow servants between her and the demon cat. They stood in position, ready to take advantage of an opening on the enemy, or protect her if it decided to come towards her.
Lise let out a light laugh. "Indeed. I plan on raising the bar around this place, after all." She knew full and well that Laurels could do for some improvement, considering the defeat that the leader had suffered not too long ago.
"How short is too short anyhow? Having servants dressing you usually huh?" Andreim spoke out again. "Ahh? Erhm. Oh nevermind!" He bowed respectfully.
Lise cocked her head, thinking. "I personally believe that anything higher than the knees is too short. Like my tutor once said, 'Ladies require all the protection they can get.' And as for servants dressing me... Well, it was more necessary when I was wearing more intricate clothing. With typical afternoon manor wear, there are many pieces that have to be put on, in a specific order... If there is any benefit to these modern clothes-" she adjusted the sleeves of her blouse, "They are much more easy to wear."
Lise strode confidently to the next door, the form of a shadow butler appearing to her side. "You've proven yourself capable, Andreim, so I will allow you to witness my powers firsthand. Serviteur, en avant!" With a flourish, Lise waves the shadow through. The servant nodded, and burst through the door.
Lise was expecting the sound of fighting, maybe crashing against furniture, some splintering of wood. After several seconds of silence, her expression soured slightly and she turned to look into the room. Though the room was gross, there were no enemies in it at all. "I-I see that my reputation precedes me. Those cowardly imps must have fled upon the sound of my voice." She stammered, slightly embarrassed at the anticlimax.
Striding into the next room and summoning a shadow maid, and nodding to her, Lise prepared once again by clearing her throat. "Now, we shall slay any unsightly beasts in this next room!" she shouted, as the maid kicked the door open.
The door opened at the end of a hallway, next to the stairs, where Lise now could see her other Laurels teammates - Samoth, Cyan, Cassius, and Katherine. As Lise surveyed the situation, the shadow maid deemed the situation clear, and returned to Lise's shadow. "...Ahem. It seems that this room, too, is clear. Hello, teammates." Lise meekly said, trying to keep her composure for dynamically entering rooms without enemies in it twice in a row.
The door, smashed thoroughly by the shadow maid, creaked off of its hinges and fell to the ground in two pieces.
TokyoPewPew
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