Ataraxis
10-09-07, 09:47 AM
[Link to last profile: 'Lillian Sesthal, Librarian of the Bizarre' ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=3390)]
Additions marked by a ' + '
Edits are in ' Blue '
Name: Lillian Sesthal
Titles and monikers: Lil, Lily, Lollipop
Age: 16
Race: Apparently human
Hair: Soft and glossy strands of sable silk
Eyes: Eerily blue and frighteningly clear, with a sinister glow
Height: 5’ 4”
Weight: 92 lbs.
Class: ‘White Widow’
Occupation: Librarian’s assistant
Personality
Lillian is as quirky as teenage girls can get: her world is a world of books, and even when confronted with reality, she acts as if she were still trekking the Mountains of Zaleiya or enduring the blistering cold of the fictional ‘Steppes of the Ice-Veiled King’. Of course, she is kind and sympathetic, but her shyness tends to overshadow her better qualities; she did live in seclusion for the greater half of her life. She is prone to awkward comments, and could potentially halt the most heated debates with a single sentence. Still, beneath her cheerful countenance lie constant bereavement for her late parents and a longing for a place she could truly feel at home. Ever since leaving Fallien, the girl has been gaining more confidence on an almost day to day basis, and is now capable of speaking her mind to those she has learned to know. The girl, however, still has a tendency to make a mockery of herself in front of strangers.
Appearance
Lillian is of an average stature, standing at an unexceptional height, yet her lissome figure and comely features are more than enough compensation. An inkfall of darkness tumbles down onto her shoulders, framing her delicate visage, stark white save for florid hues upon her cheeks and the rosy lushness of her lips. She habitually dons an immaculate gown, its hems adorned with soft frills, and is shod in common, auburn ankle boots. However, what clash most with her debonair aspect are the twin pools of coruscant ice that compose her unsettling gaze, eyes that seem to peer deep into one’s mind to find its darkest secrets. Recently, she has discovered budding curves in her silhouette, and her face is slowly taking on a more adult appeal. Oddly, even though she feels healthier than ever, the girl has noticed an unexplained loss in body mass, which has left her quite perplexed.
History
When the nights wore on and weighed upon her infant’s heart, Lillian would bumble over her modest bunk, clamber upon the bedrail and peer through the small window above. A squint of the eyes was all it took to pull the little girl from her worldly abode, through the glassy scope and into the infinite skies of Fallien. Oft was it all-black and dull to her venturesome mind, but she cherished the times wherein the blazon of dark wore myriad pinpricks of soft white and sparkling blue. Then, her little heart would grow and beat like a festive tambourine at the sight of the desert’s treasured jewel, glowing bright and white as if nurtured by the quiet moonlight; it was the Mother’s Keep, pure and radiant in the dead of night. Lillian would stargaze until the sun dragged itself from the horizon; the image would fade and push her from the ledge of dreams, only to have her wake in the filth-ridden reality of the Outlander’s Quarters.
The girl had grown in the nest of crime, faced with threats upon her life at every waking hour. Her father, a retired warrior turned iron and glass smith, was adamant on her never crossing the bounds of their walls while he was away to craft and barter his wares. She was left to herself, under the watchful eye of her seamstress mother, and turned to the only pastime within her grasp: reading. ‘The Tacky Tales of Tom Tabletop’ were the first stories to ever grace her eyes. With time, she had devoured every piece of her mother’s collection, and had moved on to worldlier scripts, such as ‘The Past of Fallien: After Vadhya’. Needless to say, the fledgling girl had no real understanding of the region’s history, what with being five years old and all.
When she reached a shortage of things to read, she promptly asked her father if he could provide her with more. The man, intrigued, wondered why she could not simply go through them again, since she couldn’t possibly remember the contents of over forty tomes. To his utter and complete befuddlement, she recited obscure passages from ‘The Fallen Rose and the Laughing Corpse’, amusing quotes by Tom Tabletop and facts pertaining to Fallien’s history he himself was not aware of. She had committed everything to memory.
“Plus, I already cycled through them thrice, and didn’t learn anything new.”
Something was strange. Instead of evincing pride and joy in the light of her prodigious mind, his face had turned livid, and little life remained in such frost-bitten features. Later, her parents had made her swear to never speak of this again, but at least agreed to purchase new books for her when they could from the Outlander’s Quarter’s only library, ‘The Blades of Knowledge’. Though the ordeal had seemingly passed over them, Lillian could sometimes hear her mother weep at night, calling out her name with much despair.
Why was her soul drawn to Jya’s Keep? She had no wishes of becoming a priestess, and was certain they did not need her; even if they did, how could a foreigner even wish to become an aspirant Jya when she could not even cross the borders of Irrakam’s vestibule? For years had her parents asked for an Exit Pass, but the authorities were stubborn and denied them access to the mainland. No, she was drawn not by eminent titles or wealth and a livelihood, but rather the very beauty of the Keep itself, its magnificent exterior and the feeling that ‘it’ was her home. As much as she loved her parents and this shack they called their own, there had never been a sense of belonging. Worse was when she realized, as she grew older, that the Keep was not the object of her desire either, but a mere simulacrum of what haunted her dreams.
The Exit Pass came, but her parents never returned. They had gone to map their route out of the Quarters, but Lillian had never caught sight of them afterward. ‘We’ll be back in an hour or so’ was all that they said. The hour had stretched to two, then ten and a day. The day had grown to two, then ten and… one does not need to further explain how time wore on and how they would never come back. Long did she sob in her dusty old room, thinning and enfeebled by starvation and sorrow.
With time, the grief of abandonment seemed to recede, though it never truly waned nor faded. It was a method of self-preservation, for she would have died had she not suppressed it. Recalling the name of the library that had produced her precious leather-bound friends, she garnered every ounce of courage she had and valiantly rushed out of her house, bolted aimlessly through the winding and torturous paths until she jarred into a wall. Providence had blessed her, for the first thing she saw as her eyes unsealed was the moon, shining over the signboard of the ‘Blades of Knowledge’. A jingle sounded ahead as the entrance creaked open, and an elderly man, staggering over the sill with his short legs and worn cane, stared at the girl in confusion.
“Whaaat? Is it daaay yet? No, it doesn’t seem so. Then whaaat aaare you doing here, child? We aaare closed for the night. Or haaave you come seeking employment?”
+ The Story till Level I: 'Maiden Voyage'
Lillian’s first true adventure was at the age of twelve, when she boarded a ship for Scara Brae to follow in the footsteps of her parents. It was quite unfortunate that she started her first venture into the world by almost dying and becoming the meal of a gigantic spider. The trip was, luckily, not an utter failure, as she did befriend a charming, albeit dense boy named Sam and made the acquaintance of the mercenary demon, Ifrit Obsidian, who became her guardian during her stay on the island. She even became aware of a strange being that had lived inside her in secrecy, self-proclaimed the Welkin Body, and of the new healing powers it bestowed upon her. The entity, however, fell into a deep slumber shortly after their meeting, one from which the child could not shake it, no matter what she did. Halfway through the forest, in the village of Greenclough, she was kidnapped by a crime syndicate. During her time of captivity, she learned of her parents’ ties with the leader of her abductors. What followed was as much of a happy ending as she could hope, for the demon returned to save her and saw her safely to Scara Brae. There she recovered a box that once belonged to her mother; though it was locked and without a key, she took it back to Fallien as a keepsake.
Four years later, Lillian was exiled from Fallien for her failed attempt at entering Irrakam without an exit pass. The deed was done by the same man who had denied her parents the same right before their disappearance. The girl had never learned his name, and reckoned she never would; this made her already heartbreaking departure from her homeland that much more frustrating. She found refuge aboard the Peregrine as a stowaway, but was quickly discovered by the captain, a certain Rajani Aishwara. Instead of throwing her into the ocean to feed the sharks, as she had seen done in so many books, the young man took interest in her prodigious mind, and by some strange turn of fate, made her an integral part of his entrepreneurial group.
He sent her on her first assignment, where she was to persuade a monk of Ai’bron in joining their forces to fight against the Illicit Entrepreneurs. With the help of the sword-mistress Doji Ki, the mission had been a success, though she did not leave the Citadel without a few bruises and broken ribs. Her second task was to research the resources of Salvar in the library of Ankhas, a much less dangerous mission than her previous one… or so Rajani thought. There, she inadvertently unleashed a legion of Night Incarnates, who feasted on fear to spread their obscure taint. After destroying them with the help of an arrogant Drow Summoner, Helviana Erelisstra, she made her way to Salvar, where she helped her leader diffuse the resources of Althanas with her newly-acquired knowledge. The teenager had not expected the business venture to end with a gentle force blessing the Peregrines on their voyage.
+ The Story till Level II: 'Perusing the Nexus'
Upon her request, the ship dropped her off at the dock nearest to Radasanth, where she had hoped to spend quality time browsing its world-renowned library. Unlucky as she was, however, she became the murdering tool of a lecher sorcerer, who took over her body to dispose of Devin, heir of the Argente family. Following a violent battle, Lillian was wounded by the boy’s silver katars, but the pain was enough to summon an old power back to the surface. Once more, the Welkin Body rose from an unknown abyss, expelling the intruder from the temple of her mind without difficulty. Devin, remorseful, nursed the girl back to health after hearing her apologetic explanation, but disappeared once the girl had fully recovered. Hoping that she could resume her perusal of the library, she came across information that told of the Unseen Nexus, a special book which contained the locations of the most occult tomes and arcane scripts on Althanas, and perhaps even beyond. Following a trail of two-hundred-year-old clues, she was led to the 'Bawdy Barry', an erotic bookstore, where the said book had been securely stashed for centuries. Alas, she fought over its possession with a purple-haired boy and shoplifted the Nexus by accident. On the streets, she jarred into a political insurrectionist, who also happened to be a most potent fire wizard. With the help of the same boy, she defeated him and his flaming golem, saving innocent bystanders on the streets from what could have been a burning massacre. As a token of his gratitude, the owner of the Bawdy Barry gave them each a copy of the Nexus, though Lillian realized a few days later that he had given her the original by mistake. Concomitantly, Lillian found a new reason to explore the world; to exhume time-lost knowledge all over the world and make it her own.
As the first step of her new quest, Lillian traveled to the esoteric country that was Dheathain. In the swamps of Fiorair, she met Aiden DarkStorm and his son, Chance, though the circumstances of their meeting were somewhat unsettling. By some strange force were they lulled to an old and massive tree, exuding of mysteries and an unshakeable taint. With their help, she contended against an ancient evil that lurked within the sylvan prison, escaping both gruesome rape and agonizing death by its monstrous hands. After this blood-curdling ordeal, she became good friends with the man and the boy, deciding to tag along with them on light-hearted adventures, scouring the rainforest and grasslands for synthesizing ingredients. With her new allies, she fought Algoras, Wyrms and Wyrvens, becoming stronger and hardier with each day spent at their side. Alas, when they set out to rescue Aiden’s wife and daughter, Alaina and Fate, her friend met his dreadful end, and his son was kidnapped by the same man who murdered him, a despicable sorcerer named Ishadin. For months, Lillian grieved. For months, she searched, desperate. But nothing.
After months of silence from the Peregrines, she received a letter that summoned her to Marach Mor, where Rajani was forming a party to explore the ruins of the ancient capital. The news made her cry in happiness, trawling her from her pit of solitude and remorse. At the Great hall, she met a handful of important figures, including the captain of the Peregrines and Seti Dylan, a foul-mouthed architect and the leader of the House of Sora, which allied with his group shortly after the completion of their mutual task; that is to say, the discovery of time-raught artifacts and the repairs of the ruins themselves. For this venture, Rajani had only requested her aid as a scribe, wishing for her to record everything of import that was to occur during the endeavor. Little did he know that a steadfast quill and a faultless memory were not the only things this girl of sixteen would bring to the table. Little by little, the girl had gained respect from those she frequented. Now, however, it is fame that she is gaining.
Skills
Eidetic Memory – Lillian has, quite simply, the ability of total recall. Everything she has ever seen, read, heard, touched or lived through is permanently engraved in her memory, and these memories can be accessed as easily as if they were recent and fresh in her mind. This has allowed her to memorize countless books, be they about nonexistent adventures or cold hard facts relevant to Althanas. This allows her to assimilate information and learn at insane rates, and has already served her well in learning various languages such as Elven, Salvic, basic Drow, Dwarven and even Daemonic. Alas, with the gift of perfect memory comes the curse of never being able to forget, and so she lives on, unable to break free from the sorrow caused by her parent’s departure.
Speed-Reading – The average person reads a little below a hundred pages per hour or more than a page per minute, whereas Lillian can read with full comprehension by simply glancing at a page, technically taking no more than a minute to read through a hundred pages; regrettably, the speed at which she turns pages is on par with that of any commoner, and she is just as prone to paper cuts as the next girl. Still, she would rather take her time and to fully appreciate a novel, and knows better than to skim over the poetic ‘Anthologies of Gwylliam Winterdell’.
+ Night Vision – Either because of her years spent in dimly-lit libraries or her apocryphal lineage, Lillian possesses a highly-developed vision, come night time and dark places. This allows her to see further and clearer what others would wholly omit. However, her daytime vision is no better than any common human’s, and in very bright times, it may become worse.
Bladed Weapons Proficiency – Her father never let himself rust, and his hand had never weaned from the cold warmth of his blade’s haft. In the Outlander’s Quarters, the weak often fell prey to predators, and with a wife and a daughter, he could not allow himself any rest. One day, worry had overtaken him, and he decided to teach his little girl how to defend herself with a sword. She had learned the basics, but was still at a tender age and was utterly incapable of lifting a sword and putting to practice the theories she had been inculcated. Now, Lillian is by far more apt, capable of standing her own against adversaries of moderate skill, with perhaps the slightest of edges. Also, she has extended her martial understanding to other similar bladed weapons, such as knives, daggers, dirks and the like, which she can also throw with passable accuracy.
+ Flexible Weapons Proficiency - After months of adventuring in the real world, she realized that to survive, words and daggers were not always the most useful tools. Lillian was often in hackles when she found herself unable to reach distant targets with bladed weapons, and she realized that willingly disarming herself with the throw of her dirk was more detrimental than beneficial in the long run. Because of this, she chose to make an innovative use of her web-weaving abilities: by affixing magical threads to her weapons, she could substantially increase the range of her attacks, without risking the potential loss of her scarce arsenal. With time, her skills have become average in this field, being long past the point of self-inflicted wounds, and she can finally make use of this ability to her advantage in a battle. [Acquired in 'What Happens Now?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=72972)]
Abilities
Uncanny Hodgepodge – In the slew of books she has read came the occasional grimoires and scrolls of magic. The ink had been washed away in most, while the contents were utterly false in others, but sometimes she stumbled upon the fragments of the keys to unlock powerful magics… but that was what she had, fragments of different keys. With only pieces of knowledge, she did not possess the full understanding of elemental, portal or ethereal magic, but she had glued a key nonetheless, and opened the most bizarre of doors. Whenever she calls upon preternatural forces with her patchwork magic, anything can happen, from bursts of cold fire to gusts of stunning wind, but more often than she wishes, the spell backfires in the most unpredictable ways.
+ White Widow – The very first set of magical powers produced by the Welkin Body's powers. Through assimilation of Giant Spider blood, Lillian has given birth to a unique form of magic, similar in nature to the Uncanny Hodgepodge. The only difference is her greater level of control over her White Widow abilities, which revolve around the creation of black threads that can be controlled through sheer will as long as they do not stretch over five feet in length, with the strength of steel. Any longer and they become as inert as any other inanimate object. By slightly changing the formula of her spells, however, she can add specific properties to her webs. Right now, she can make her threads highly-adhesive, but nothing more.
+ Web Therapy – Lillian's most prominent use of these threads is the weaving of an impermeable web that accelerates the rate of healing when applied to a wound. By feeding energy into the damaged tissues, the web precipitates cellular division without the risk of long-term degeneration of cells. The web remains affixed until it is fully healed, and is quite useful in stopping hemorrhages, as it stems the flow of blood. Surface wounds like scrapes and cuts take only a few seconds to heal, while fractured bones and burns take a few hours to heal. Lillian is unable to treat serious or lethal wounds, and the exact efficacy of the spell depends on her mindset while sewing the magic into a web. These healing properties can be infused in both active threads (still connected to her body) and inert threads (disconnected from her body). [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
+ Seamstress of the Sinister – No longer is Lillian limited to weaving only strings and webs. During her years of indiscriminate reading, the librarian has come across much knowledge concerning various forms of craftsmanship, notably that of tailoring and its multiple branches. After hands-on application of her knowledge by practicing every morning, Lillian has become more adept at complex weaves, though she has only recently crafted crude pieces of clothing using her abilities. These items born of her magic usually have no ability, save for their similarity in appearance and properties to spidersilk. However, with more time and effort (a few days of assiduous work, perhaps), she would be capable of producing quality textiles as strong as steel, while losing little to none of their flexibility. When left untouched for a day, the fabric becomes as any other non-magical material, which means that Lillian cannot make it disappear; as such, it can be enchanted. (Either she can weave two jackets or four shirts of this material in every quest, or spin the equivalent in silk cloth for future use. Must be requested at the end of a quest. Can be sold.) [Acquired in 'Saved' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=75419)]
Equipment
Lillian caries a knapsack in which various odds and ends can be found: food rations she has learned to bring along ever since she was too afraid to walk back home, a few blankets, a change of clothing, a wool cloak for outerwear and, obviously, her ‘books of the moment’. She also carries a blank diary (she had thought of writing entries, but realized it was too much of a hassle) and a set of pencils. Moreover, her house is riddled with weapons of her father’s making, notably the tulwar made of an unknown metal he wielded decades ago as an adventurer. Otherwise, she has only the clothes on her back, a beautiful white dress, sewn by her mother as a gift for her birthday, incidentally the last one they spent together.
+ Pocket Watch – A fine timepiece she has carried with her since her trip to Scara Brae. It has no properties other than telling time. Made of refined silver. [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
+ Silver-Rimmed Glasses – Because of her blue eyes, Lillian is very sensible to sunlight. To remedy this, her mentor, Merkah Baen, gave her a pair of alchemically crafted glasses that filter light without reducing her vision. Strangely, whenever she is blinded by natural means, putting them on helps her recover her eyesight very quickly. Otherwise, they have no properties. She seldom wears them, as most of her time is spent in dim libraries, where her eyes does not suffer one bit.
+ The Unseen Nexus – Also known as the 'Invisible Bonds of Love', the Nexus was found in the top shelves of the 'Bawdy Barry', an erotic bookstore in Radasanth. Though not a magical artifact, it is of unquestionable value, as its ciphers contain the hidden locations of countless books and grimoires, their lore and underlying powers lost to the times. Lillian is working hard on decoding the texts, but the task reveals itself to be extremely complex, even for the blue-eyed prodigy. Still, Lillian does capitulate, feeling that her efforts would soon return success.
Cillu Dirk – The last work of her father is a Cillu Dirk that he had crafted for a priestess Lillian could never find. Deciding against leaving her country unarmed and without a physical memento of her father, the young girl brought it along for her long trip. With a handle grooved down its length for enhanced grip, a blade bearing the washed pattern on nacre shells and an overall length of nearly fourteen inches (13 6/8”), the weapon’s design is a strange mix of balance and asymmetry in its shape as much as its ornamentation, with embeddings of small Kiramaini beads in the pommel, on the guard and along the flat. Though it was originally meant for use in ceremonial services, the dirk remains a weapon before all, and a remarkable one at that: it has been weighted and balanced to make throwing a viable option, and its sharp edge is still sparkle clear even after the reckless battles it has seen.
+ Dvaita, Prevalida Throwing Dagger(s) – Purchased at the King’s Armory, a small store in a Salvaran fief handled by a warmhearted woman named Erin, this innovative dagger made of Prevalida has helped Lillian out of tough situations quite a few times, thanks to its unusual characteristics. Not only is the blade small enough to fit in her palm, but its edges are sharp and jagged, making it quite hard to remove every time it lodges into something. Three holes are set at the end of the tang in a triangular formation, each large enough for a finger to fit in, making it a good throwing weapon. Its most notable use, however, is the ability to (after enough force is applied to its tang so that the small clamps along it disengage) split vertically into identical pieces, thus becoming two daggers instead of one. Those who know of this particularity find the meaning of its name, Duality, quite fitting. [Acquired in 'Shopping' ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=7021)]
+ The Welkin Body – A sentient artifact buried deep in her complex mind, and the source of Lillian’s bizarre abilities. It is of a nature unknown, its composition a befuddling conundrum on its own while its dimensions are literally out of this world, beyond the comprehension that a dimensional tetrad can provide the likes of mortality. The closest Lillian has ever been to an accurate description of the object is a twenty-faced ideal polyhedron, constituted of a dark, crystalline matter, which contains the glow of a purplish-black light. It has revealed to her that it possesses the capacity of adaptation beyond that of humans, and that their symbiotic relation allows her to tap into this power to create an array of abilities, depending on the nature and urgency of her situation.
Its most notable use, however, is that of assimilation: the Welkin Body can capture the essence of virtually anything that substantially affects Lillian’s mind (as long as it is magic or organic) and absorb a portion of it for processing. The sample is then converted over time into powers related to the substance in question. Only one essence can be transformed at a time, and it can require several months, if not years, before the procedure is completed. Under rare and specific circumstances, however, the absorption capacities of the Welkin Body can manifest, even if it is processing another type of essence. A relevant example would be during a near-death experience, though this has not yet occured. [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
Other Notes: Letho, pleen! <3
Level One updates are mixed in with Level Two updates, which is why there are already edits in sections that I have just added.
I skipped the level one update because I foresaw that it would be useless for both me and the ROG mod who would’ve claimed it. I was pretty much right, considering how I got to level two not long after! In any case, she seems to have gotten a lot of nifty new things, but keep in mind that this is spread over two levels on a character that started out underpowered. All things considered, she’s still quite dismal in a fight, what with only support-oriented powers being added!
Also, some of the events in her level updates happened in quests that are not yet completed, but this is more for chronology purposes than anything else. Liquid time or not, I want things to make as much sense as possible!
I added a pair of glasses, items that I had forgotten to include in her previous profile. They’re really just to add flavor. Also, if you still think she's overpowered (or, perhaps underpowered Oo?) for a level two, please do tell!
Additions marked by a ' + '
Edits are in ' Blue '
Name: Lillian Sesthal
Titles and monikers: Lil, Lily, Lollipop
Age: 16
Race: Apparently human
Hair: Soft and glossy strands of sable silk
Eyes: Eerily blue and frighteningly clear, with a sinister glow
Height: 5’ 4”
Weight: 92 lbs.
Class: ‘White Widow’
Occupation: Librarian’s assistant
Personality
Lillian is as quirky as teenage girls can get: her world is a world of books, and even when confronted with reality, she acts as if she were still trekking the Mountains of Zaleiya or enduring the blistering cold of the fictional ‘Steppes of the Ice-Veiled King’. Of course, she is kind and sympathetic, but her shyness tends to overshadow her better qualities; she did live in seclusion for the greater half of her life. She is prone to awkward comments, and could potentially halt the most heated debates with a single sentence. Still, beneath her cheerful countenance lie constant bereavement for her late parents and a longing for a place she could truly feel at home. Ever since leaving Fallien, the girl has been gaining more confidence on an almost day to day basis, and is now capable of speaking her mind to those she has learned to know. The girl, however, still has a tendency to make a mockery of herself in front of strangers.
Appearance
Lillian is of an average stature, standing at an unexceptional height, yet her lissome figure and comely features are more than enough compensation. An inkfall of darkness tumbles down onto her shoulders, framing her delicate visage, stark white save for florid hues upon her cheeks and the rosy lushness of her lips. She habitually dons an immaculate gown, its hems adorned with soft frills, and is shod in common, auburn ankle boots. However, what clash most with her debonair aspect are the twin pools of coruscant ice that compose her unsettling gaze, eyes that seem to peer deep into one’s mind to find its darkest secrets. Recently, she has discovered budding curves in her silhouette, and her face is slowly taking on a more adult appeal. Oddly, even though she feels healthier than ever, the girl has noticed an unexplained loss in body mass, which has left her quite perplexed.
History
When the nights wore on and weighed upon her infant’s heart, Lillian would bumble over her modest bunk, clamber upon the bedrail and peer through the small window above. A squint of the eyes was all it took to pull the little girl from her worldly abode, through the glassy scope and into the infinite skies of Fallien. Oft was it all-black and dull to her venturesome mind, but she cherished the times wherein the blazon of dark wore myriad pinpricks of soft white and sparkling blue. Then, her little heart would grow and beat like a festive tambourine at the sight of the desert’s treasured jewel, glowing bright and white as if nurtured by the quiet moonlight; it was the Mother’s Keep, pure and radiant in the dead of night. Lillian would stargaze until the sun dragged itself from the horizon; the image would fade and push her from the ledge of dreams, only to have her wake in the filth-ridden reality of the Outlander’s Quarters.
The girl had grown in the nest of crime, faced with threats upon her life at every waking hour. Her father, a retired warrior turned iron and glass smith, was adamant on her never crossing the bounds of their walls while he was away to craft and barter his wares. She was left to herself, under the watchful eye of her seamstress mother, and turned to the only pastime within her grasp: reading. ‘The Tacky Tales of Tom Tabletop’ were the first stories to ever grace her eyes. With time, she had devoured every piece of her mother’s collection, and had moved on to worldlier scripts, such as ‘The Past of Fallien: After Vadhya’. Needless to say, the fledgling girl had no real understanding of the region’s history, what with being five years old and all.
When she reached a shortage of things to read, she promptly asked her father if he could provide her with more. The man, intrigued, wondered why she could not simply go through them again, since she couldn’t possibly remember the contents of over forty tomes. To his utter and complete befuddlement, she recited obscure passages from ‘The Fallen Rose and the Laughing Corpse’, amusing quotes by Tom Tabletop and facts pertaining to Fallien’s history he himself was not aware of. She had committed everything to memory.
“Plus, I already cycled through them thrice, and didn’t learn anything new.”
Something was strange. Instead of evincing pride and joy in the light of her prodigious mind, his face had turned livid, and little life remained in such frost-bitten features. Later, her parents had made her swear to never speak of this again, but at least agreed to purchase new books for her when they could from the Outlander’s Quarter’s only library, ‘The Blades of Knowledge’. Though the ordeal had seemingly passed over them, Lillian could sometimes hear her mother weep at night, calling out her name with much despair.
Why was her soul drawn to Jya’s Keep? She had no wishes of becoming a priestess, and was certain they did not need her; even if they did, how could a foreigner even wish to become an aspirant Jya when she could not even cross the borders of Irrakam’s vestibule? For years had her parents asked for an Exit Pass, but the authorities were stubborn and denied them access to the mainland. No, she was drawn not by eminent titles or wealth and a livelihood, but rather the very beauty of the Keep itself, its magnificent exterior and the feeling that ‘it’ was her home. As much as she loved her parents and this shack they called their own, there had never been a sense of belonging. Worse was when she realized, as she grew older, that the Keep was not the object of her desire either, but a mere simulacrum of what haunted her dreams.
The Exit Pass came, but her parents never returned. They had gone to map their route out of the Quarters, but Lillian had never caught sight of them afterward. ‘We’ll be back in an hour or so’ was all that they said. The hour had stretched to two, then ten and a day. The day had grown to two, then ten and… one does not need to further explain how time wore on and how they would never come back. Long did she sob in her dusty old room, thinning and enfeebled by starvation and sorrow.
With time, the grief of abandonment seemed to recede, though it never truly waned nor faded. It was a method of self-preservation, for she would have died had she not suppressed it. Recalling the name of the library that had produced her precious leather-bound friends, she garnered every ounce of courage she had and valiantly rushed out of her house, bolted aimlessly through the winding and torturous paths until she jarred into a wall. Providence had blessed her, for the first thing she saw as her eyes unsealed was the moon, shining over the signboard of the ‘Blades of Knowledge’. A jingle sounded ahead as the entrance creaked open, and an elderly man, staggering over the sill with his short legs and worn cane, stared at the girl in confusion.
“Whaaat? Is it daaay yet? No, it doesn’t seem so. Then whaaat aaare you doing here, child? We aaare closed for the night. Or haaave you come seeking employment?”
+ The Story till Level I: 'Maiden Voyage'
Lillian’s first true adventure was at the age of twelve, when she boarded a ship for Scara Brae to follow in the footsteps of her parents. It was quite unfortunate that she started her first venture into the world by almost dying and becoming the meal of a gigantic spider. The trip was, luckily, not an utter failure, as she did befriend a charming, albeit dense boy named Sam and made the acquaintance of the mercenary demon, Ifrit Obsidian, who became her guardian during her stay on the island. She even became aware of a strange being that had lived inside her in secrecy, self-proclaimed the Welkin Body, and of the new healing powers it bestowed upon her. The entity, however, fell into a deep slumber shortly after their meeting, one from which the child could not shake it, no matter what she did. Halfway through the forest, in the village of Greenclough, she was kidnapped by a crime syndicate. During her time of captivity, she learned of her parents’ ties with the leader of her abductors. What followed was as much of a happy ending as she could hope, for the demon returned to save her and saw her safely to Scara Brae. There she recovered a box that once belonged to her mother; though it was locked and without a key, she took it back to Fallien as a keepsake.
Four years later, Lillian was exiled from Fallien for her failed attempt at entering Irrakam without an exit pass. The deed was done by the same man who had denied her parents the same right before their disappearance. The girl had never learned his name, and reckoned she never would; this made her already heartbreaking departure from her homeland that much more frustrating. She found refuge aboard the Peregrine as a stowaway, but was quickly discovered by the captain, a certain Rajani Aishwara. Instead of throwing her into the ocean to feed the sharks, as she had seen done in so many books, the young man took interest in her prodigious mind, and by some strange turn of fate, made her an integral part of his entrepreneurial group.
He sent her on her first assignment, where she was to persuade a monk of Ai’bron in joining their forces to fight against the Illicit Entrepreneurs. With the help of the sword-mistress Doji Ki, the mission had been a success, though she did not leave the Citadel without a few bruises and broken ribs. Her second task was to research the resources of Salvar in the library of Ankhas, a much less dangerous mission than her previous one… or so Rajani thought. There, she inadvertently unleashed a legion of Night Incarnates, who feasted on fear to spread their obscure taint. After destroying them with the help of an arrogant Drow Summoner, Helviana Erelisstra, she made her way to Salvar, where she helped her leader diffuse the resources of Althanas with her newly-acquired knowledge. The teenager had not expected the business venture to end with a gentle force blessing the Peregrines on their voyage.
+ The Story till Level II: 'Perusing the Nexus'
Upon her request, the ship dropped her off at the dock nearest to Radasanth, where she had hoped to spend quality time browsing its world-renowned library. Unlucky as she was, however, she became the murdering tool of a lecher sorcerer, who took over her body to dispose of Devin, heir of the Argente family. Following a violent battle, Lillian was wounded by the boy’s silver katars, but the pain was enough to summon an old power back to the surface. Once more, the Welkin Body rose from an unknown abyss, expelling the intruder from the temple of her mind without difficulty. Devin, remorseful, nursed the girl back to health after hearing her apologetic explanation, but disappeared once the girl had fully recovered. Hoping that she could resume her perusal of the library, she came across information that told of the Unseen Nexus, a special book which contained the locations of the most occult tomes and arcane scripts on Althanas, and perhaps even beyond. Following a trail of two-hundred-year-old clues, she was led to the 'Bawdy Barry', an erotic bookstore, where the said book had been securely stashed for centuries. Alas, she fought over its possession with a purple-haired boy and shoplifted the Nexus by accident. On the streets, she jarred into a political insurrectionist, who also happened to be a most potent fire wizard. With the help of the same boy, she defeated him and his flaming golem, saving innocent bystanders on the streets from what could have been a burning massacre. As a token of his gratitude, the owner of the Bawdy Barry gave them each a copy of the Nexus, though Lillian realized a few days later that he had given her the original by mistake. Concomitantly, Lillian found a new reason to explore the world; to exhume time-lost knowledge all over the world and make it her own.
As the first step of her new quest, Lillian traveled to the esoteric country that was Dheathain. In the swamps of Fiorair, she met Aiden DarkStorm and his son, Chance, though the circumstances of their meeting were somewhat unsettling. By some strange force were they lulled to an old and massive tree, exuding of mysteries and an unshakeable taint. With their help, she contended against an ancient evil that lurked within the sylvan prison, escaping both gruesome rape and agonizing death by its monstrous hands. After this blood-curdling ordeal, she became good friends with the man and the boy, deciding to tag along with them on light-hearted adventures, scouring the rainforest and grasslands for synthesizing ingredients. With her new allies, she fought Algoras, Wyrms and Wyrvens, becoming stronger and hardier with each day spent at their side. Alas, when they set out to rescue Aiden’s wife and daughter, Alaina and Fate, her friend met his dreadful end, and his son was kidnapped by the same man who murdered him, a despicable sorcerer named Ishadin. For months, Lillian grieved. For months, she searched, desperate. But nothing.
After months of silence from the Peregrines, she received a letter that summoned her to Marach Mor, where Rajani was forming a party to explore the ruins of the ancient capital. The news made her cry in happiness, trawling her from her pit of solitude and remorse. At the Great hall, she met a handful of important figures, including the captain of the Peregrines and Seti Dylan, a foul-mouthed architect and the leader of the House of Sora, which allied with his group shortly after the completion of their mutual task; that is to say, the discovery of time-raught artifacts and the repairs of the ruins themselves. For this venture, Rajani had only requested her aid as a scribe, wishing for her to record everything of import that was to occur during the endeavor. Little did he know that a steadfast quill and a faultless memory were not the only things this girl of sixteen would bring to the table. Little by little, the girl had gained respect from those she frequented. Now, however, it is fame that she is gaining.
Skills
Eidetic Memory – Lillian has, quite simply, the ability of total recall. Everything she has ever seen, read, heard, touched or lived through is permanently engraved in her memory, and these memories can be accessed as easily as if they were recent and fresh in her mind. This has allowed her to memorize countless books, be they about nonexistent adventures or cold hard facts relevant to Althanas. This allows her to assimilate information and learn at insane rates, and has already served her well in learning various languages such as Elven, Salvic, basic Drow, Dwarven and even Daemonic. Alas, with the gift of perfect memory comes the curse of never being able to forget, and so she lives on, unable to break free from the sorrow caused by her parent’s departure.
Speed-Reading – The average person reads a little below a hundred pages per hour or more than a page per minute, whereas Lillian can read with full comprehension by simply glancing at a page, technically taking no more than a minute to read through a hundred pages; regrettably, the speed at which she turns pages is on par with that of any commoner, and she is just as prone to paper cuts as the next girl. Still, she would rather take her time and to fully appreciate a novel, and knows better than to skim over the poetic ‘Anthologies of Gwylliam Winterdell’.
+ Night Vision – Either because of her years spent in dimly-lit libraries or her apocryphal lineage, Lillian possesses a highly-developed vision, come night time and dark places. This allows her to see further and clearer what others would wholly omit. However, her daytime vision is no better than any common human’s, and in very bright times, it may become worse.
Bladed Weapons Proficiency – Her father never let himself rust, and his hand had never weaned from the cold warmth of his blade’s haft. In the Outlander’s Quarters, the weak often fell prey to predators, and with a wife and a daughter, he could not allow himself any rest. One day, worry had overtaken him, and he decided to teach his little girl how to defend herself with a sword. She had learned the basics, but was still at a tender age and was utterly incapable of lifting a sword and putting to practice the theories she had been inculcated. Now, Lillian is by far more apt, capable of standing her own against adversaries of moderate skill, with perhaps the slightest of edges. Also, she has extended her martial understanding to other similar bladed weapons, such as knives, daggers, dirks and the like, which she can also throw with passable accuracy.
+ Flexible Weapons Proficiency - After months of adventuring in the real world, she realized that to survive, words and daggers were not always the most useful tools. Lillian was often in hackles when she found herself unable to reach distant targets with bladed weapons, and she realized that willingly disarming herself with the throw of her dirk was more detrimental than beneficial in the long run. Because of this, she chose to make an innovative use of her web-weaving abilities: by affixing magical threads to her weapons, she could substantially increase the range of her attacks, without risking the potential loss of her scarce arsenal. With time, her skills have become average in this field, being long past the point of self-inflicted wounds, and she can finally make use of this ability to her advantage in a battle. [Acquired in 'What Happens Now?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=72972)]
Abilities
Uncanny Hodgepodge – In the slew of books she has read came the occasional grimoires and scrolls of magic. The ink had been washed away in most, while the contents were utterly false in others, but sometimes she stumbled upon the fragments of the keys to unlock powerful magics… but that was what she had, fragments of different keys. With only pieces of knowledge, she did not possess the full understanding of elemental, portal or ethereal magic, but she had glued a key nonetheless, and opened the most bizarre of doors. Whenever she calls upon preternatural forces with her patchwork magic, anything can happen, from bursts of cold fire to gusts of stunning wind, but more often than she wishes, the spell backfires in the most unpredictable ways.
+ White Widow – The very first set of magical powers produced by the Welkin Body's powers. Through assimilation of Giant Spider blood, Lillian has given birth to a unique form of magic, similar in nature to the Uncanny Hodgepodge. The only difference is her greater level of control over her White Widow abilities, which revolve around the creation of black threads that can be controlled through sheer will as long as they do not stretch over five feet in length, with the strength of steel. Any longer and they become as inert as any other inanimate object. By slightly changing the formula of her spells, however, she can add specific properties to her webs. Right now, she can make her threads highly-adhesive, but nothing more.
+ Web Therapy – Lillian's most prominent use of these threads is the weaving of an impermeable web that accelerates the rate of healing when applied to a wound. By feeding energy into the damaged tissues, the web precipitates cellular division without the risk of long-term degeneration of cells. The web remains affixed until it is fully healed, and is quite useful in stopping hemorrhages, as it stems the flow of blood. Surface wounds like scrapes and cuts take only a few seconds to heal, while fractured bones and burns take a few hours to heal. Lillian is unable to treat serious or lethal wounds, and the exact efficacy of the spell depends on her mindset while sewing the magic into a web. These healing properties can be infused in both active threads (still connected to her body) and inert threads (disconnected from her body). [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
+ Seamstress of the Sinister – No longer is Lillian limited to weaving only strings and webs. During her years of indiscriminate reading, the librarian has come across much knowledge concerning various forms of craftsmanship, notably that of tailoring and its multiple branches. After hands-on application of her knowledge by practicing every morning, Lillian has become more adept at complex weaves, though she has only recently crafted crude pieces of clothing using her abilities. These items born of her magic usually have no ability, save for their similarity in appearance and properties to spidersilk. However, with more time and effort (a few days of assiduous work, perhaps), she would be capable of producing quality textiles as strong as steel, while losing little to none of their flexibility. When left untouched for a day, the fabric becomes as any other non-magical material, which means that Lillian cannot make it disappear; as such, it can be enchanted. (Either she can weave two jackets or four shirts of this material in every quest, or spin the equivalent in silk cloth for future use. Must be requested at the end of a quest. Can be sold.) [Acquired in 'Saved' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=75419)]
Equipment
Lillian caries a knapsack in which various odds and ends can be found: food rations she has learned to bring along ever since she was too afraid to walk back home, a few blankets, a change of clothing, a wool cloak for outerwear and, obviously, her ‘books of the moment’. She also carries a blank diary (she had thought of writing entries, but realized it was too much of a hassle) and a set of pencils. Moreover, her house is riddled with weapons of her father’s making, notably the tulwar made of an unknown metal he wielded decades ago as an adventurer. Otherwise, she has only the clothes on her back, a beautiful white dress, sewn by her mother as a gift for her birthday, incidentally the last one they spent together.
+ Pocket Watch – A fine timepiece she has carried with her since her trip to Scara Brae. It has no properties other than telling time. Made of refined silver. [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
+ Silver-Rimmed Glasses – Because of her blue eyes, Lillian is very sensible to sunlight. To remedy this, her mentor, Merkah Baen, gave her a pair of alchemically crafted glasses that filter light without reducing her vision. Strangely, whenever she is blinded by natural means, putting them on helps her recover her eyesight very quickly. Otherwise, they have no properties. She seldom wears them, as most of her time is spent in dim libraries, where her eyes does not suffer one bit.
+ The Unseen Nexus – Also known as the 'Invisible Bonds of Love', the Nexus was found in the top shelves of the 'Bawdy Barry', an erotic bookstore in Radasanth. Though not a magical artifact, it is of unquestionable value, as its ciphers contain the hidden locations of countless books and grimoires, their lore and underlying powers lost to the times. Lillian is working hard on decoding the texts, but the task reveals itself to be extremely complex, even for the blue-eyed prodigy. Still, Lillian does capitulate, feeling that her efforts would soon return success.
Cillu Dirk – The last work of her father is a Cillu Dirk that he had crafted for a priestess Lillian could never find. Deciding against leaving her country unarmed and without a physical memento of her father, the young girl brought it along for her long trip. With a handle grooved down its length for enhanced grip, a blade bearing the washed pattern on nacre shells and an overall length of nearly fourteen inches (13 6/8”), the weapon’s design is a strange mix of balance and asymmetry in its shape as much as its ornamentation, with embeddings of small Kiramaini beads in the pommel, on the guard and along the flat. Though it was originally meant for use in ceremonial services, the dirk remains a weapon before all, and a remarkable one at that: it has been weighted and balanced to make throwing a viable option, and its sharp edge is still sparkle clear even after the reckless battles it has seen.
+ Dvaita, Prevalida Throwing Dagger(s) – Purchased at the King’s Armory, a small store in a Salvaran fief handled by a warmhearted woman named Erin, this innovative dagger made of Prevalida has helped Lillian out of tough situations quite a few times, thanks to its unusual characteristics. Not only is the blade small enough to fit in her palm, but its edges are sharp and jagged, making it quite hard to remove every time it lodges into something. Three holes are set at the end of the tang in a triangular formation, each large enough for a finger to fit in, making it a good throwing weapon. Its most notable use, however, is the ability to (after enough force is applied to its tang so that the small clamps along it disengage) split vertically into identical pieces, thus becoming two daggers instead of one. Those who know of this particularity find the meaning of its name, Duality, quite fitting. [Acquired in 'Shopping' ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=7021)]
+ The Welkin Body – A sentient artifact buried deep in her complex mind, and the source of Lillian’s bizarre abilities. It is of a nature unknown, its composition a befuddling conundrum on its own while its dimensions are literally out of this world, beyond the comprehension that a dimensional tetrad can provide the likes of mortality. The closest Lillian has ever been to an accurate description of the object is a twenty-faced ideal polyhedron, constituted of a dark, crystalline matter, which contains the glow of a purplish-black light. It has revealed to her that it possesses the capacity of adaptation beyond that of humans, and that their symbiotic relation allows her to tap into this power to create an array of abilities, depending on the nature and urgency of her situation.
Its most notable use, however, is that of assimilation: the Welkin Body can capture the essence of virtually anything that substantially affects Lillian’s mind (as long as it is magic or organic) and absorb a portion of it for processing. The sample is then converted over time into powers related to the substance in question. Only one essence can be transformed at a time, and it can require several months, if not years, before the procedure is completed. Under rare and specific circumstances, however, the absorption capacities of the Welkin Body can manifest, even if it is processing another type of essence. A relevant example would be during a near-death experience, though this has not yet occured. [Acquired in 'The Demon and the… Librarian!?' (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=66983)]
Other Notes: Letho, pleen! <3
Level One updates are mixed in with Level Two updates, which is why there are already edits in sections that I have just added.
I skipped the level one update because I foresaw that it would be useless for both me and the ROG mod who would’ve claimed it. I was pretty much right, considering how I got to level two not long after! In any case, she seems to have gotten a lot of nifty new things, but keep in mind that this is spread over two levels on a character that started out underpowered. All things considered, she’s still quite dismal in a fight, what with only support-oriented powers being added!
Also, some of the events in her level updates happened in quests that are not yet completed, but this is more for chronology purposes than anything else. Liquid time or not, I want things to make as much sense as possible!
I added a pair of glasses, items that I had forgotten to include in her previous profile. They’re really just to add flavor. Also, if you still think she's overpowered (or, perhaps underpowered Oo?) for a level two, please do tell!