Omnia: Witches Brew
Whenever I got stuck or thought of her, I'd listen to that. It doesnt fit her, but.... These are the kind of witches we're dealing with here.Hero alias: Borealis
Real name: Amanda Nightshade
Powers/abilities: Spellcasting. She's having issues with most of her spells because of the internal magical conflict, but she's re-figured out how to cast a few basic Wilder spells. Since she was using a bit of Dark aligned magic to help power it, though, even her Wilder spells have problems. As she goes along, she will regain spell ability.
Any obviously dark magical ability would be impossible for her to attain and use without overstraining herself. If she does regains spells, they will be very... neutral ones.
These are her spells at Rookie (I dont feel like planning to other stages just yet. Let her make her spell list in character, I say)
Here is what she can do CURRENTLY:
Light magic:
Borealis Bolt: The thing that the amulet wants her to do. It's a bolt of searing light that travels in a straight direction like an arrow. It is blazingly bright and sizzlingly hot. It would be a great offensive ability were it not for it's downside:
At Rookie stage, she can only cast it once per day without feeling like she just dragged herself out of a washing machine full of sewage, snot, and possibly acid on the spin cycle. It upsets what magical equilibrium she has, so she mostly only tries casting it when she absolutely has to... mainly because when it's cast she just wants the world to stop for a while.
Witchy magic (again at Rookie stage/level of ability)
~ Potionlore and Herbcraft:
Fortunately, her potionmaking-and-herbcraft abilities were unaffected. What she is limited with here are resources and general knowledge of alchemy, understandable because she's 13 and not fully initiated. She has a large cauldron in her room for making potions.
As long as she knows how to make it, has a reason to make it, and has the time and materials for it, she can make the potion. Potions typically have beneficial effects, but are complicated, have at least one magical component (either as an ingredient or powered by her own magic), and always ALWAYS taste terrible.
Hoe to make a potion: She has to have the right ingredients, the right tools, and have a ritual of some sort set up with the right kind of incantations used. She has to add the ingredients in the proper order with the proper words and such, and has to put in a certain amount of magic to get it all to work how she wants it to work. She's got a good sense for potioncraft, and researches what she can about it, but it's more complicated than it seems. It's always helpful to have a group doing the ritual- more magic can be concentrated and theres more room for error. The more the merrier.
Of course, as a rookie she is not optimized in her potioncraft abilities. This is, however, going to be her main Rookie skill, likely being used as a stand-in for enchanting or other things (for example making an oil that, when rubbed on a broomstick with the right words, turns it into a flying broomstick)
To be able to use things that she wouldn't otherwise have learned when growing up in the Ronth undercity, she has to research it in character, and make it at least one time in character.
~Minor Medicinal magic: This magic was greatly interfered with by her magical disequilibrium. The most she can do at rookie level is to remove small patches of acne, and boost the patient's body to heal small cuts (as Bolstering). Once she's a little more in tune with herself, she might be able to do more
~Minor Illusions:
Illusions never were her strong point. Even before her magic was supressed, she couldnt really do much.
What she can do now is change appearance (as if using small amounts of makeup. Really small.) and summon small wispy 'witchlights'- little glowing lights that can come in many colors and provide decent illumination.
She is not likely to improve this skill much further than the witchlights.
~Transmutation/Bolstering: Turning something into something related or making something 'more' of what it is is a keystone of Wilder magic. At Rookie stage, her transmutation abilities are rather poor. The best she can do is make food taste better. Her Bolstering abilities are much better. She uses them to improve her first aid equipment/healing poultices. Aside from potioncraft, bolstering has the greatest ability to improve over time, possibly extending to improving the skills of teammates. For now, though, she has to stick to being supportive and encouraging and providing the band-aids.
Progression will likely be along her potioncraft, medicine, and Transmutation/Bolstering skills. Her Borealis Bolt ability will improve as she comes to terms with herself, eventually being able to be cast more often/with less misery attached. Other light abilities might become available, but as of this point in character development, I'm not sure about that.
If she wants to do something bigger, she has to have at least two other people involved in a ritual and make appropriate preparations. She also has to know what preparations she has to do.
(Going for a Medic-y build here)
Which area is the character based/from:Ronth, from the undercity. Not a good place.
Age upon entering academy: 13
How did your character get their powers: When Amanda was a child and was exploring part of the many catacomb-like areas of the undercity, she found, shimmering in the water, a pretty crystal of unknown origin. She got her mother to make it into an amulet. The crystal was actually a magical repository or channel or... something of that nature for light energy
(WHAT IS IT??? I think I'll use this for personal character quests/storys/solos/whatever. It just makes for a fun story of character development. SPOILERS: Its a crystal holding a powerful light spirit of some sort. The actual origin and history of the crystal has not yet been determined...)
It became acclimated to the girl, and gradually began to effect her natural genetic predisposition to magic. Being a witch, she was more genetically attuned to dark-type and the wilder magics. So, it began to supress her spellcasting power, bit by bit, until it could connect to her magical energy. Until, finally, it blossomed and shed a bright light. The light also became connected to her emotions.
She knows that the amulet is somehow responsible for her inability to use most of her magic, and to her turbulent magic powers, but... she really doesn't want to take it off. Its too special to her. And its pretty.
In addition to the morale value of losing it, the amulet is so tied into her magical life force that removing it makes her very sick, which progresses within a day or two into a comatose state. Her Aunt, a seer, warned them against removing it for this reason, so its unknown whether putting it back on her will revive her from this. The amulet itself is neigh indestructable.
Motivation for entering academy: Because she was suddenly unable to cast many of the spells she knew (Because of the reaction of the crystal's light magic to her own darker magic, she can only cast witch spells that are either very low power - including potion crafting and very minor magical things - or that are preceded by long preparations and ritual), her coven was very concerned for her.
A witch that couldn't cast spells might be a problem, and though they loved her dearly, the coven could not handle a burden such as that without serious restructuring.
So one of her Aunts read her fortune and saw that, if she took her light ribbon power and went to the academy, she could achieve a great fate and learn to use this power to her... and their... advantage.
So her coven, motivated by this hope, scraped together what they could to send her to the academy.
Her motivation for staying, despite the troubles she faces as part of her school life? She wants to make her family proud! And, now that she's here, she wants to increase public awareness of witches. They're good people! Really! (Spoiler: They aren't as wonderful as she thinks they are, but can you blame her?)
(Her coven also secretly hopes she'll find a handsome, young, magically powerful man to bring back, but they don't want to spoil her enthusiasm.)
Strengths: Our Lady of Teamwork:
A clan witch's greatest strength lies in a group of them working together. Amanda has always been taught that together a group can do more than the sum of their abilities. To her, in a group, there is no self, and she applies herself completely to the team. She would do anything for her team if it will help, with no regard for her personal safety or, in some cases, moral inclination and mood. She will always have a teammate's back, whether they 'deserve' it or not. She expects others to do the same for her. As a supportive character, she feels that she needs to know as much as she can about her group's abilities and limitations so that she can better bolster them and/or prevent them from going over their limits and seriously hurting themselves.
A substrength of this is her ability to act as a Medic, patching up allies and improving what they can do (IE, preventing a wound from becoming infected, improving the potency of something IE: Warslik's blood...)
Magic is a Science:
Amanda is an avid reader. She is very grateful to her mother for teaching her how to read. Now that she has access to a library full of books, she spends much of her time studying magic: primarily rituals and other forms of magic other than her witchcraft. In addition, she has her traditional knowledge to bolster her. This means that she knows a pretty good deal about magical theory and certain traditions around the world.
In addition, because of her magical block and her specialty in bolstering- making something more of what it is- she has also been trying to study the science of how things are and work. Her reasoning is that if she knows the science behind it, maybe she'll better understand the magic she needs for it. She has been studying medical science and biology (and a bit of physics because of light magic). This is newer for her and she has trouble with some of the jargon, but she has at least a working knowledge of anatomy.
As she progresses in multiple nights of falling asleep on a book, she will learn more and more.
Weaknesses: Magically Unbalanced:
Her amulet has screwed up her internal magical equilibrium, and this effects her mental and physical health greatly. She has appetite and stomach problems, brutal headaches, respiratory illnesses, mood swings, panic attacks, vertigo... just some of the many nasty things that happen when your life force is being forcibly converted. When they are minor, she is aware of them and can hide them beneath her usual cheer, but when they are bad, they are bad. It is worse when she has been using magic, particularly her light bolt- which completely destabilizes her. Her herb and potioncraft, as well as her witchlights, use a relatively small amount of magic and isn't as destabilizing, but she never knows when she will find the straw that breaks her magical balance again. She re stabilizes after a time. (This isn't a measure of screwing up her actual magical ability, but the effects this has on her health) This instability makes things like a magical sense painful to use.
That Damn Amulet:
The amulet may be causing a whole host of problems, but it's worse if removed. She will be increasingly sick for 12 hours or so after removal (less if she engages in strenuous, especially magical, activity), after which she will collapse into a comatose state. This was discovered via scrying, so it is unknown whether it can be reversed by putting the amulet back on her person. Either way, she never takes it off.
Personality:Traits:
Good:Passionate:
When Amanda gets excited about something, she gets EXCITED. She can be extremely enthusiatic, and kind of nutty. Still, sometimes that kind of energy is just what is needed to kick a team into gear.
Amiable:
Amanda, when you get to talking to her, is a very friendly person. Unless she is in a mood, she'll be happy to talk your ear off and befriend you. She has very little in the way of friend prejudice (as of yet), so
Best Friend:
Amanda makes friends easily, but not lightly. She is very dedicated to her friends, and would do anything for them. No matter the degree of friendship, her friends (should) know that they can count on her to always be by their side.
Neutral:Witchcraft and Sorcery:
Amanda knows a lot of traditional witchcraft (herblore, medicinal lore, her clan's rituals), but has also been brushing up on general magical theory and medicine. This background in magic might give her a unique perspective and potentially useful knowledge.
Bookworm:
Amanda is an avid reader. In part, it is because she is desperate to find a way to regain her magical abilities, and in part because she loves to read. You are likely to find her in the library, but really, she can be found reading a book anywhere. She especially loves fantasy, but for practical purposes (attempts) to read academic literature on Magical Theory and certain aspects of science.
Planner:
To Amanda the team is everything. If/When she ends up in a team, she will research her teammate's strengths, weaknesses, history, and make plans to boost their strengths and deal with their weaknesses and also deal with things from their pasts. She wants to be prepared for everything, and wants her team to be as well.
Some teammates might find her snooping unhelpful, annoying, downright rude, or terrifying, and not everybody will listen to her plans- after all, shes a support character.
Bad:Socially Passive:
Amanda is a nice, friendly, girl, who easily makes friends. She's just... not usually the one to initiate coversation. You will most often find her reading in the library, cafeteria, or her room. She usually won't talk to anybody unless they come to her.
Different Morality:
She doesn't have the same morality... axes... that others might have. To her, the end can easily justify the means, so long as her friends are okay.
If someone gets killed, thats fine. People die. If a friend of hers brutally murders someone in the street, sure she isn't personally okay with it but the question is not what they did but why.
So what if you sell your soul? So what if you talk to demons? So what if you kidnap people to use in experiments? So what if you were kidnapped and had a piece of technology jammed into you, and still have nightmares?
If the end result is okay, then she is okay.
While this means that she is very accepting of different people and origins and such, it also means that, after a while, the “they are bad we are good” spiel that she's picked up from her books and from SA might not hold out in the real world.
All for All:
Perhaps the problem is that she will do anything for her friends. She has a sense of self, but in a team, she does not really have a sense of self preservation where it concerns her teammates. She would stick herself in harms way. She would trade anything for a teammate's safety. Even when it would be detrimental to her, or even deadly. A good friend would have look after her as much as she looks after them... but who would be a good enough friend to do that?
Family:Amanda is a witch. A Hedgewitch or Clan-Witch if you want to get specific. They are women born with magical abilities, no dread contracts here.
They aren't as powerful as the classic witch, but get a bunch together and suddenly the little apothecarist is not a dangerous threat. Hence, why they live in clans. The cans are split into smaller family groups called covens.
Male witches are rare. Something about the genes governing their ability to do magic makes pregnancy difficult and males not likely to even miscarry- most die and are absorbed by their mothers. Daughters are raised by the family, and tend to be highly protected until their initiations. Sons, though rare, are treated similarly. Males are more magically potent but shorter lived (average human).
Fortunately, witches are long lived, and take many lovers in order to increase the chance that they will have a child.
Hedgewitches tend to use 'wilder' magic, a form of herblore, and dark magic, the magic of the night and predators and suchlike.
Some rituals they perfom aren't... entirely good.
Amanda's Clan is the “Circle of Silver” one of the Lunar clans that Live in the Ronth Undercity, the complicated, network of sewers and utility tunnels under the city that are a place for the poor and shady to linger. Her clan holds the New Moon as particularly sacred. They do not delve into other areas, but they have perfected herblore and potioncraft almost to an art as well as a science. They don't do so much dark magic as their 'wilder magic', which is a darker manifestation of nature magic and an extension of their herbcraft magics.
They rarely vanture to the streets above except when they have to for rituals.
~The Queen of “Circle of Silver” is Ridatha the Cold. Technically she is Amanda's third cousin, but in a society where all are in some way family, this doesn't affect her judgement. Although Amanda's coven is not in a strategically important place (its at the edge of the Circle's lands, but not at the very edge), she would be aware of Amanda's situation, and would likely have been the one to give the go ahead to the leader of her Coven. Shes a cold lady, making decisions that effect her greater family, sacrificing lives with barely a bat of an eye. Amanda, however, has never met her.
~Amandas Father: Is an unknown to her. His fate after he impregnated her mother is also unknown to Amanda, and she has never thought to ask (He may have been returned to whence he came... or sacrificed in a ritual... I think I'd rather 'find this out' in the course of RP)
~Lillian Nightshade: Amanda's mother is a unremarkable witch, just beginning to get the bowed back and gnarled fingers that witches get after they spend long hours hunched over their cauldron handling various variations on dangerous chemicals and substances. Amanda was her first child and, though she had the help of her own mother (for a while) and her sisters and aunts and cousins in her coven, she still coddled Amanda more than was probably good for the girl. She likes to send Amanda little things in the mail, as well as (of course) letters. How she gets them to the surface and to the post office is a mystery, but shes still pretty enough to have a lover so that is the likeliest story. She is very fond of her daughter, and relieved that there was a way to help her... though she worries about her being around superheros. The Clan has run across superheros in the past. Hasn't been good. But! She believes in her daughter, and believes in her sister's prediction.
~Sarah the far sighted: Amanda's Aunt Sarah is a Fortune teller. It is very rare for the Silver Circle to have fortune tellers, this being a specialty of other clans. She was able to read Amanda's future enough to know that her unfortunate curse/prediciament could be put to use if they sent her to the academy. She is the only one of her coven that is unsure of her prediction. She often wonders if she read the signs wrong. But Amanda is at the academy now, nothing to be done for it. Shes a fairly mischevious woman, and her bat familiar gets into everybody's way. Every time someone complains, she cackles madly. In fact, she probably tells the somewhat dimwitted bat to annoy everybody. She wont confirm that rumor, though. She is the one that fashioned the crystal into the amulet Amanda now wears, so is in part responsible for its effects.
~Ophelia Adder: Ophelia is another Aunt of Amanda's. She is her mother's eldest sister and is quite crabby and grumpy. Her medicines always taste particularly bad. She has a soft spot for youngsters, though, witch or not and has been known to lead lost children from the nearby undertown squatting areas away from her coven whenever possible, as there are some members that would love to use components taken from the children. She has been, however, known to chase rambunctious children with her gnarled wooden spoon if they bother her, so many of the children don't realize just how nice she is.
There are also various cousins and other aunts and grand aunts and such. Generally, Amanda was previously a fairly average, likable witchling. She was not particularly strong, nor particularly weak and so, while she was generally liked around her family group, she was not really the center of attention. It was when her magical issues manifested that the coven began to REALLY pay attention to her, mainly out of concern.
Coven is curious as to how this whole Academy experience will turn out. Many of her family, and some of the nearby covens that chipped in to pay her tuition, are hoping that she will be a magic warrior and use her abilities to further the Circle's aims. Her mother and Aunts (the two mentioned), however, simply hope that she finds a path in life where she can be happy.
The Queen, for her part, is sure that the girl will be killed in her training. However, in the meantime, the girl can be useful in researching new rituals and gathering information about the world outside of the Ronth Undercity. If she becomes an advocate for witches, so be it. If she becomes a warrior of the Circle of Silver, so be it. If she turns against her own heritage, so be it. Ridatha has no need to order Amanda to do what she wants, as her reports tell her that the girl appears to be soaking up information about magic anyway.
So be it.
General backstory: Amanda Nightshade was born to a coven in the rind of the Circle of Silver territory. She was educated with stolen schoolbooks and kidnapped teachers) as well as by her aunts and cousins.
She was a curious, innocent child, always exploring. She was exploring the Undercity's catacombs when she found a pretty white crystal that shimmered brighter than the iridescent fungus and crappy electric lights.
She was really taken by the gem, and with the persistence (annoyance) of a child she managed to coax an aunt into making it into an amulet for her.
She was growing up to be a very ordinary witch, and was just barely at the age where she would be expected to start contributing to some of the less nice rituals and rites, and possibly undergo her trials to be initiated into witch adulthood- a series of ritual tests that would not only act as an initiation ritual but would help her magical powers mature.
Then the amulet, which had been biding its time and synchronizing with its host, activated and canceled out a majority of her abilities and spellcasting power.
Suddenly, she was without spells, even things she used to be able to do in her sleep became suddenly difficult. The confused young witchling suddenly became the center of discussion, and the queen was even consulted.
The only answer anybody could think of was to ask her Aunt, a fortune teller, to read her fate and to see where the best path lay.
Her aunt began divining, trying as many methods as possible to try and find an unambiguous fortune. Tea leaves, Rat entrails, blood, bones and smoke... She tried each one. And eventually, she tried the trickiest one of all: she scryed Amanda's fate through a mirror washed with pure water thrice.
Piecing it all together, she announced that, if they sent her to a place in (to them) far-off Crantel where she would be trained and be able to take on a great fate that would bring prosperity to her and to the clan.
Seeing hope for this girl's future, the coven raised what they could, arranged things through what contacts the clan had on the surface, and managed to get her an application and a mode of transportation to Crantel and, eventually, to the Sidekick Academy.
So, one day, Amanda suddenly had to pack up a two bags and a crate of her worldly possessions, hurry to the surface, find the docks, find the right ship, and leave home. By evening, as she stood thoroughly frazzled on the ship as it left Ronth, she had had a long, adventurous day. Her family had long since said goodbye to her, and had left her in the hands of bribed and lied-to contacts. It had turned out well, she was on her way, her papers were in order, her bags- with a series of changes of clothes, a spare robe or three, treats, components, and a few other bits and pieces were stowed in her cramped quarters, and her crate- with a few heavier things like her cauldron- sat in the hold.
She was tired and maybe a tiny bit seasick when, looking up at the (absolutely wonderful) sky, she was struck by the beauty. It was a new moon that night, and the smog of the city parted here in the harbor to reveal the blackness where silver should be.
And, for the first time, she thought about the next step in her adventure... and was no longer confused.
She was excited.
The trip was uneventful. She stopped being sick after a while, but was more than happy to arrive in Crantel.
There, someone (?) looked at her papers, and escorted her to the Academy...
Looks department: Amanda is of average unremarkable height. She has high cheekbones but otherwise fairly average and smooth features. She is likely to have a sheepish smile or a forced serious [removed](but you know she is really trying to smile). Anatomically, she is JUST beginning to get curves, and is fairly scrawny, mainly from a lack of proper nutrition but also from only average muscle mass (she isnt that weak, as she carries around large tomes and potions and things, but she isn't particularly atheletic either). Her eyes are a dark, clear blue and usually wide and innocent. Her hair is Auburn with gold and red natural highlights and falls in heavy, widely spaced cascading curls, that give it some serious weight and body. It is long (down to at least mid back) and either down in a mane along her shoulders and back, pulled up in a rough ponytail, braided, or in a bun depending on how she feels/how she needs it to be. It may also be held back with a headband.
Her civilian clothing is actually her witches outfit: traditional black robes with a traditional somewhat absurd witches hat. Her civilian civilian clothing is a fuzzy knitted sweater and sweatpants... in all weather. The colors don't matter and can wildly clash... she just doesn't feel entirely comfortable if her body is not covered, and dresses are just too loose and frilly and a pain.
There is also her amulet, the one that forced her to have superpowers.
It is a clear crystal attached to a leather strap that she wears around her neck and hides in her shirt/robe when she has to. The leather is runed with small grey charcoal marks that grant it very mild (that is, ineffective IRP) protective powers (there is only so much you can do with charcoal and leather). The crystal istelf has a white glow to it.
She has a Wand (grey, wooden, with lots of gnarls and whorls. A rod tapering to a dull point), which she occasionally uses, but since the amulet has supressed most of the spells that would require a focus such as a wand, its mostly just a reminder of home, or something she uses to keep track of her place in a dense reading.
She also has a mixing spoon that looks like a large, ordinary mixing spoon (by large, I mean at least the size of her arm with a scooping part about the size of her hand.). Its end is stained grey-black, but fades to a warm, soft red-brown at the top, with a pewter ring through it allowing it to be hung up.
(she may be drawn with either of these, as they are handy foci, or she may be drawn bare-handed)
If she gets a familiar (read: minipet) it would be nice to add them to further art stages as art...
Her hat is traditional, familiar, and reminds her of home, so she really would like to be wearing it whenever she possibly can. She doesnt wear it in superhero costume, but will wear it with her sweatshirt and sweatpants if she can...
Amanda Concept... These are her civilian clothes. What do you mean, they aren't?Amanda Concept... you wanted her OTHER civvies. Ohhhh!FEEL FREE TO CRIT.