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Name: Hisaka Hargrave

Nickname: N/A..?

Gender/Pronoun: Female | She/Her, They/Them

Age: 1150, give or take ; Apparent is mid-twenties in her human guise

Birthday: (arrival date; < Late Autumn > according to their home standards)

Fav. Food: Salads, especially ones with steak and lots of colorful veggies.

Hated Food: None really

Occupation: Unemployed?

Hobbies:

Floral Language: Flowers and other flora have various meanings associated with them on her world, and gifting any sort of floral arrangements or living specimen was taken very seriously as public displays of such messages. Hisaka still holds onto those sentiments, and delights in learning the meanings and associations of flora on other worlds and between different cultures therein. Seeing as plants are a lot more... plentiful on Earth especially, taking up the hobby of maintaining certain plants and gifting arrangements utilizing a system of association or meaning applicable was a very easy choice for her to make. If gifting living plants is less ideal, she enjoys crafting paper versions, or cloth versions. Plastic plants, however, are a strict no for her.

Musical Creation: Singing has always been part of Hisaka's life. It was a requirement. That being said, she always loved it. Music in general is a wonder and a delight, so to be able to join in songs or put her thoughts and emotions into melodies and lyrics... it's the best way to be open about many things, in her opinion. While she is especially proficient at singing, she enjoys instruments like drums, piano, flute, and violin (or versions she grew up with in some cases, but they seem to translate well!).

Funerary Practices: Ah yes, a shocker. A person raised in a death-honoring culture enjoys learning about other cultures practices and beliefs around death. And she really does mean all practices and beliefs. Mourning, grief, how the body is handled, how the living view the departed or their own eventual. Are only certain individuals able to make contact with the body? How are burials handled--or do they even exist? What is the method this other cultures uses instead to store or dispose of the body? Do people fear or live alongside death, do they celebrate life or focus on the loss? There's countless parts and pieces that are so unique to each culture, setting, and individual choices.

For Hisaka, learning about all of these... while it broadens her perspective, yes, it helps her step back and reassess her own beliefs, and allows her to feel a better empathy and connection with others when she has a sense of their beliefs or the origins of their actions--culturally speaking. Learning about death, in her eyes, allows her to better comprehend how peoples all over view life. Plus... it's never a bad thing to have a cultural reference if you wish to offer comfort or simple presence for those who have suffered a loss.

Photography: An extremely new hobby for her since arriving on Earth. Though she was fully aware of cameras previously--the concept of mortuary photos, spirits showing up on film, and cameras holding a piece of the subject's soul were ones that came up in numerous practices and beliefs--she never got the chance to try any of it herself. Never mind with the convenience that Earth technology has with phones, and the many different types of cameras...



Virtues:

Composed -- The only way to help sooth the pain of the living, and encourage the dead in their departure, is to remain collected and serene. At least, that's what Hisaka was always taught, and this concept became a chief part of her overall persona since becoming a senshi. It's aided her, allowing her to keep calm in the face of distress or dire circumstances. Be they faced by herself, or relayed by others, she keeps a calmness about her at nearly all times if she can help it. At this point, it is largely a reflex to fall back into this serene facade even if she is stressed out, if only to try and assist others to remain focused and not add to their panic or grief.

Attentive -- A trait that while natural to Hisaka, was heavily expanded upon in her education in becoming the new Guardian of Lich. Aiding the living and dead, helping their grief and burdens be channeled, achieving the expectations placed upon her position... all of it required keen awareness of those around her, and her surroundings at large. Minute details in room decor or facets of ritual or rites would be spotted and adjusted if out of place. Cool and warm drink and food were always on hand to help calm or revitalize attendees of funerals or the aids assisting her. She keeps a close eye on everyone and everything as best she can in an attempt to try and discern if her aid can be of use. All stemming from her interpretation of body language, tone of voice, habits she believes she picks up from people, logical placements of objects or scenery... all guesses on her part, but she certainly tries to remain as on top of situations as possible.

Flaws:

Detached -- Though Hisaka is a compassionate person, it can often be lost under her calm facade. Too calm can come off as frosty or uninterested, and unfortunately she is extremely liable to fall into this category. Though she tries to maintain herself as a pillar for others to lean on in times of need, she was never especially good at preventing herself from appearing cold as stone in the process.

This has unfortunately worsened in her long time alone and without living companionship.

Overthinking -- Behind the calm facade, the practiced smiles and rituals, the care and aid she tries to give to any around her, Hisaka is forever questioning herself and her choices. She sees someone sighing a few times in short succession, and her mind is immediately on debating if they're upset or annoyed, and if she could possibly help them or perhaps is in fact the source of the problem. Attempts to appease all parties in arguments always lead to her stressing out over if she made the right calls in the settlements, or if perhaps she just made the matters worse between individuals. Never mind the question of if she had only made herself a bother by inserting herself into a situation she was unwanted, despite thinking otherwise originally or meaning the best. She'll analyze the conversation, situation, any fallout or events afterwards, all trying to judge if she made the right move or said the right thing. She'll justify and rationalize it as her attempting to learn from any experience she feels could have been handled better, but the reality is simply the level she doubts her judgement and capabilities.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION


Eyes: Pale blue

Hair: Black, straight

Face: Clean, pale -- some makeup on occasion, mainly a dark lip. She can get rather ornate with makeup though on special occasions.

Skin Tone: Pale af, even in her human guise....

Body Type: Petite, slender.

Clothes: Japanese Horror Female Protagonist, among other things. Dusky rose, rusty red, cream, black, low saturation colors in general all are some of her typical colors she'll gravitate towards.

DSS info / racial features / world info / background fun stuff

Deep Space Senshi:

People of Lich
Adjectivals: Leeshen
Demonym: Leesh
Off-worlders might incorrectly use Licheans, Lichese, or Liches. Kinder members of Leeshen society will politely accept the mistake without correcting unless they feel more familiar with the off-worlder, in which case they would be more likely to delicately correct them. More exasperated members will not be nearly so patient and be quick to corrections.

Physical Features:

• Little to no pigment in their skin--white, off-whites with blue, purple, grey-green, or peach tones in places can happen. At large, though, they are an extremely pale species. "Sickly" or "corpse-like" can certainly be a comparison to some other species.
  
  
• Slit-pupil eyes, often highly reflective due to their extreme sensitivity to light in the dark. They also possess a glow to them, further aiding in their night vision, though it is only strong enough to be seen in dark places. (OOC: Hisaka will only have access to increased night vision and glowing eyes on her homeworld)
  
  
• Bioluminescence along parts of their body, that glow in response to radioactivity in the surrounding area. (Again, only applicable on her world)
  
  
• Slightly elongated pointed ears. It does not affect their hearing.
  
  
• Due to their pale skin and slit-pupil eyes, all product of evolution primarily below ground and without a sun, Leeshen skin and eyes are extremely sensitive to light and UV radiation. Hisaka must wear sun glasses during the day, though can be more comfortable in heavily overcast days, and must dress or carry protection from too much sun exposure.
  
  
• Leesh are used to more temperate or warmer, even humid and hot, weather due to the pulsar jets, electrical storms, and thermal energy within the planet itself. They are far more susceptible to colder temperatures, and often find their extremities do not maintain proper circulation in the cold.
  
  
• Leesh age very slowly in comparison to humans. From newborn to late teens, early twenties, they age roughly the same rate as a human. At that point, their aging effectively turns into a crawl. Roughly 150 years will still have a Leesh looking typically like a human in their mid to late twenties. 350 years is considered the approximate to a middle-aged human. 500 years is ancient and really the max lifespan far as anyone had seen records of.... Hisaka sort of beat that, but she is the obvious exception.
  
  

Backstory/History:

The planet of Lich is quite the sight to behold indeed. It does not orbit a particular star, does not receive energy and light from one. Instead, the only light that shines down upon the world is its own--or rather, the light of the pulsar jets that rotate rapidly around the planet. Massive electrical fields surround the world, streams of energy and light that form auroras and electrical storms across the surface. The energy condenses and collects at the poles where wellsprings overflow with energy radiating from the world's core, mixing with the magnetic fields to create the pulsar jets that rotate from pole to pole. Energy transmits between the two sources, pulsar and core, though the source of the phenomenon is unknown.

It's just always been so.

Away from the searing, blinding, radiation dense streams of energy that lance from the pulsar's rapid orbit and the surface below, life did manage to form and flourish. Some even formed grand cities and large fields of worship on the surface far from the pulsar's trail. The bulk of life, however, developed and thrived beneath the largely hostile surface. Deep into the rocks, caverns and caves, rivers and massive lakes formed routes that enabled travel between settlements, additional zones carved out for roads for beasts of burden and pilgrims to trek. Grand temples and modest homes were built into the rock itself, or formed of the thick wood and bamboos that grew in that underworld. Many flora and fauna existed down there, fueled by thermal energy from the core of the planet, and radiation that leaked from the pulsar's trail far above them into additional, smaller wellsprings.

This existence of extremes, so close to a deadly force and yet still sanctuary grew alongside it, lead to the development of Leeshen society. The people of Lich, a people who honor the dead and cherish the gift of life in equal reverence and devotion. Most of the accessible surface of Lich is covered in immense graveyards of varying architecture and styles. Some possess the buried dead, others are monuments in name only, others house ashes or other remains. The grand temples throughout Lich serve one chapter of existence or the other, rarely both together. Some celebrate the miracle and wonder of life, focusing on healing practices, celebrations of achievements and milestones in Leeshen societies, worship and honor to the spirits of all things that surround them. Temples of life. Others, they focus on the dead and dying. Means to ease and comfort in final moments, ensure care is provided for the dying and their living loved ones--grief is never handled alone on Lich, unless one specifically requests it. To mourn is a widespread ritual, celebrating the life lived and departed, and supporting the living that remain.

And rituals. Oh so many rituals. Of so many different faiths and cultures, bleeding into Leeshen practices due to a commonality for them to absorb such information on travels or from visitors, honoring ancestors and the fallen of any and all who seek the spiritual and emotional support. Festivals and rituals rule many aspects of Leesh lives, both to the countless spirits of great and small power that inhabit all around them, and to the departed. Many, many practices grew around the concept of ensuring the newly dead were aided in their travels to the next world, and more still existed to appease the long dead to not allow malice, anger, or sorrow to bleed into the world of the living. For if it did, if the long dead broke through to the living, they would consume all life they could touch. The Calamity, the Repentance, the Resonance, the Unleashing... their beliefs held many, many potential outcomes if specific rituals and traditions were not properly observed, and the dead were not kept at peace.

For Hisaka, these rituals had been her daily life, her only reason for leaving the temple that became her home, from the moment she first awoke as the Guardian of Lich. Her education, her mannerisms, her wardrobe, her very name and identity, were solely focused on these many faiths and beliefs. Traditions ruled all, the importance of empathizing and bearing the weight of the grief of the living and the sorrow of the dead.

Few people even addressed her as Hisaka once she awoke. Even unpowered, her identity was forever only tied to Lich. She understood the importance, though, respected the reverence given and the role she now occupied solely in the eyes of her people. So she studied tirelessly, practiced countless songs and dances, rituals and prayers, meditations and mantras. Numerous trips were made yearly to different temples and burial grounds, allowing her to proceed over rituals for both the living and the departed. She was required to perform at festivals, each being memorials and sendings for the long since passed and recently departed respectfully. Regardless of how far away from her home they were, she made the yearly trip to perform as her role demanded.

Her people knew, at least in this role as the Guardian of Lich, that she did as she was required. They gave her the reverence due to a priestess.

When the Calamity crashed down around them, when the Repentance demanded vengeance, when the Resonance sounded and the Unleashing set upon them... the people of Lich did not blame her. It was a collective shame and sorrow. She was but one piece of the intricate rituals and traditions. For their failsafes to have collapsed as they did, sealing the world from the galaxy, the dead rising and specters descending upon them...

It was a belief that far more had failed their roles to have set loose the vengeance of the dead.

The dead, consumed by the rage and malice that existed alongside the realm of the dead in their beliefs, ravaged settlements. Dragged the living down to join their agony, new spirits of the newly deceased soon glimpsed by horrified loved ones or visitors. Stories spread of how the dead were forced to relive their horrid ends over and over, stuck where they were cut down and adding their suffering to the fuel and power of the malice and darkness that claimed them.

Lich, in her duty as Guardian and Priestess, saw to as many burials and rites as possible. It was her responsibility. She could not hold back the flood of the dead, it was beyond her, but she aided in trying to slow it. Sealed off access to one of the largest graveyards and temples on the surface. Saw to rituals and comfort the living who remained. Buried and gave rites to those who continued to pass.

She buried the last of them, lit the last pyres, collected the last ashes, sang the last songs. She did each of her required tasks, carrying the weight of her role till none lived on Lich but her. Nothing moved but her, and the dead. The final mourner, the final shepherd of the departed. Her time since was spent in meditations, in prayers, in rituals and rites. Origami tokens and tiny constructs made as offerings continued to join altars and memorial sites. She renewed the prayer talismans and sacred ropes that helped to keep the arisen dead back from the last sanctuaries on Lich where the departed still could rest in peace.

She conducted herself as Lich singularly, the final priestess and the last barrier between the darkness and malice, and the peaceful remains of the afterlife her people so believed and cherished.

But... what actually happened with the Chaos? The reality, away from Leeshen beliefs and faiths? It was a far less complex situation than they perceived it as, and in part that aided in their destruction.

The Chaos Seed fell into one of the largest graveyards on the surface, that much was true. A dense fog covered the land around it and spread out the stronger the Chaos became. What few plants grew on the surface there died swiftly, drained of all energy. With nothing else to drain, it leeched into the ground where the physical bodies were buried, and drained what little energy still existed in them. This gave Chaos an unfortunate effective bait to attract more energy--with the energy from the bodies, Chaos was able to project vague almost images of the deceased. They could not speak, could not interact with the world around them, but they could move somewhat within the space consumed by the fog. They were fancy, humanoid-shaped lures that would glow or peer from the shadows of the foggy graveyard, and the sightings of which ignited immediate fear and action from the Leesh who traveled to the surface temples and graveyards. Believing their rituals had failed, and the dead wandered unappeased, priests and devotees went into the fog and conducted their rituals, made their prayers and offerings.

They had no way of knowing pieces of the Chaos drifted in the fog, and upon their entering, immediately were drawn to these new sources of vibrant life energy.

They had no way of knowing that when they left the fog and returned to their homes and loved ones, they carried Chaos within them that began to infest and infect them. Hallucinations were the primary symptom, along with a general growing weakness and paranoia, with it a tendency to lash out at those around them in turn. The Chaos subjected them to auditory and visual hallucinations of their loved ones and other departed figures all around them in growing frequency, driving them to conduct more rituals, lighting incense or merely breathing out air that filled once loving homes with new fog tinged with Chaos fragments. When at last their energy was fully drained by the parasites within them, their bodies would be buried or even cremated according to customs. Only for Chaos to then use their image as a new projection to lure new victims or loved ones of the departed into the dense fog. The cycle went on, and on, and on. The fog grew, consumed entire villages, towns, places of sanctuary and worship. Chaos consumed all of the energy of the living it could, and produced more of the luring projections in an ever hungry quest for more.

Those that were spared the Chaos, who finally were able to seal themselves away from what they perceived as the vengeful dead, were untouched only because they managed to isolate themselves from the Chaos before it could infect them. At least in that, their faith aided them. Made them afraid enough to hide away and live out the last of their lives in relative peace.

Lich's continued prayers and practices did nothing but keep the Chaos out of that small pocket of the world, continued the strict isolation.

At least... until that routine was broken. When the call came, the pull, the unknown power that signaled a change and to go.... Lich hesitated. Departing her world meant abandoning her role, didn't it?

Maybe it was more of Hisaka's choice than Lich's. The woman left alone on her silent world reaching for whatever new was calling her. Not the stoic guardian who performed her duties as had always been required of her. It was Hisaka who wanted that chance for more celebrations of life and change, at least for while she still possessed her own.






Extra factoids I didn't work into this writing:
• Pulsars formed out of massive electrical fields around the world condensing down into immensely powerful jets along the equator of the planet, rotating rapidly around it. The jets do not touch the world directly usually, but do fluctuate and cause planetary issues when they do briefly.
• It's not possible to cross from one "side" to the other on the surface or space due to the pulsar jets, so going through the planet/underground systems is required. A lot of large trade routes exist because of this, and one half of the planet is more accustomed to off-worlders than the other as a further side-effect.
• People of Lich long believe the main two wellsprings at either pole, and the transfer of energy from pulars to core and back, is keeping the massive energy of the storms and pulsar relatively contained and not spread across the whole world.
• Sky on surface is pretty much constantly glowing light in different intensities above clouds of plasma and vaporized material, which are higher in the atmosphere over water vapor clouds. Some colored auras now and then. Mainly just neon blue-white. Storms/energy flow can weaken enough at "seasons" and allow stars to be visible. Those "seasons" then have no lights period beyond what light still reaches from other parts of the planet/pulsar jets.