Newcomer
EXP: 2,397, Level: 2
Level completed: 14%,
EXP required for next Level: 2,603
Crystal Platinumsound
Age
5000+
Appearance
There once was a time when Crystal had a pair of purple eyes with slitted pupils and her long hair was a pure white. Now, her hair has been muddied brown and, while the slitted pupils remain, five eyes adorn her face. Her original pair has become blue with an orange center, the pair above being green with a center of red, and the remaining one, at the center of her forehead, retaining the original purple, now with a center of yellow.
Crystal's skin has also changed, from a cold pale to a warm tan. But the white scales across her body have always been present since that fateful day of her metamorphosis, leaving two pairs of spiraling trails starting at the nape of her neck, one pair ending at the tops of her three pairs of hands, and the other pair converging a few times, including where her navel would be, before ending at the tops of her feet.
Her metamorphosis also left her with exceedingly sharp canines, resembling fangs. However, her claw-like nails, much like her new hair and eyes, were a part of a much different transformation.
Finally, Crystal's metamorphosis granted her translucent cyan and black wings resembling a moth's. Except in size, these wings were identical to a real moth's in every way, but Crystal's second transformation left her wings with highly vascularized membranes as well as black and white down around the edges.
Personality
Crystal is unsure of who exactly she is anymore. Her likes and interests are just as confused and conflicting as her appearance.
There is one thing Crystal is certain of, however: no part of her is evil; it's against her nature. However, "not evil" doesn't always mean "harmless".
While normally quiet and reserved, spending most of her time asleep in the Durklan Ruins within Raiaera's Red Forest, Crystal also has a ruthless streak. Whenever the Sway comes for her, few escape from her alive, and those few return as broken shells of their former selves, often unable to recount what they’ve endured at Crystal's hands.
Nobody but Crystal herself knows what she does to these hunters, as their bodies have never been found. As for the survivors, she deliberately leaves them at the entrance of Knife's Edge, the capital city of Salvar, as a warning to those who wish to pursue her.
Make no mistake; there was a time when Crystal attempted to reason with the Sway, but as the futility of the attempts set in, she came to enjoy defending herself from them. Later still, she found herself looking forward to their next attempt to cull her, so that she may continue to punish them in new and different ways.
In spite of this cruelty, Crystal, like most Fae, lives by her own (if alien) moral code. She would never take the life of a child, but will not hesitate to scare them if she deems it necessary.
She is also a believer of equivalent exchange, hence her cruelty towards members of the Sway who make an attempt at her life. If someone does something to or for Crystal, she will feel the need to reciprocate proportionate to how she perceives the severity of the action.
Lastly, Crystal is very loyal to those she cares for, and on her better days, she shows her more playful side by pulling genuinely harmless pranks on those who endear her. Unfortunately, she hasn’t made any true friends for many millennia and currently remains loyal only to herself.
Equipment
Crystal doesn't wield any weapons or armor, at least, none that she hasn't crafted herself at a moment's notice using her ice magic. However, she does carry around a courier bag for any other objects she might need to carry.
Skills
Fending for herself in the wilderness since her metamorphosis, Crystal is a self-trained survivalist.
Abilities
Nature Magic - As a Faerie, Crystal has the innate ability to affect her immediate surroundings, either consciously through her will or subconsciously through her emotions. These usually manifest as ice and snow, but will occasionally manifest in one of the other five elements. Crystal’s joy emits a cold mist around her, her sadness coats her surroundings in frost, her fear expels a sudden barrage of hail from her, her disgust forms puddles of sleet underfoot, her anger instantly freezes the ground with solid ice, and her surprise spawns a flurry of snow around her. If any of the other five elements are present, they only seem to react if Crystal is excited: fire growing, water lapping, earth cracking, air swirling, or flowers blooming. All of these occurrences manifest within a minimum distance of about 5 feet to a maximum distance of about 20 feet.
In terms of combat, Crystal can instantly craft weapons made of nigh-unmeltable ice, usually a bow or daggers. In a pinch, she can just summon icicles as small and thin as a dart for pricking or as large and wide as a stalagmite for impaling or encase her claws with ice for slashing, though the former tends to be less accurate and the latter can get her nails ripped off. On the defense, Crystal has ice breath with a distance of about 10-15 feet that can serve as a deterrent with its sheer cold and she can dissipate herself into a snowy wind for brief periods of time, a maximum of 60 seconds.
Glamour - Being a Faerie also allows her to cast a Glamour on herself. While able to take on the form of any humanoid race she wishes, she usually uses her Glamours to hide any evidence of her second transformation. Crystal’s Glamours can be retained for many hours but they tend to fall victim to the common tell of a reflection revealing her true form. She does her best to stay away from reflective surfaces while Glamoured.
Entropic Song - Crystal was also a student of Enarlin, the sixth school of magic that existed in Raiaera over five thousand years ago. Apart from making Crystal a great singer, it also taught her how to use entropic magic. With it, she can crush the souls of her victims, either leaving them as despairing empty shells or inflicting a feeling of great heaviness upon them, hindering their movement. Using this ability tends to bring back painful memories for Crystal however, and so she only ever uses it as a last resort. Those with the mental/spiritual fortitude strong enough to withstand both of the effects of her Entropic Song earn Crystal's everlasting respect; just don't expect her to stick around if you're trying to kill her.
History
Five thousand years ago, a child was born to the Icepeak Court, a community of Winter Fae residing just north of the Skavian Mountains of Salvar. She was given the name Crystal Platinumsound, and for the first fifty years of her life, she was happy.
Then her metamorphosis came. Minus the Evergreens, all Winter Fae go through a metamorphosis after the first half century of their life.
Some remain mostly humanoid, while others become nightmarish beasts. For Crystal, apart from gaining wings, she also gained fangs, scales, and slitted pupils; the traits of a snake.
None of the Icepeak Court had ever seen a snake before; the environment was far too cold for such creatures. But they were aware of them and the stigma behind them.
One's form is an indication of one's nature, according to Winter Fae superstition. And unfortunately for Crystal, this was a time where even resembling a creature with its own undesirable superstitions was deemed a "defect".
Believing her serpentine traits were a sign of a deceptive and self-serving nature, Queen Mab labeled Crystal a Changeling and cast her out of the Icepeak Court. For the next two hundred years, Crystal lived as a wild Faerie in the Salvar mountains and taught herself how to survive in the wilderness.
One day, the Sway started their Changeling hunts and their search led to Crystal. Despite her protests, the hunters were determined to cull her and were subsequently murdered, leaving only one retreating survivor.
Knowing they would come for her again, Crystal gathered as many of her belongings as she could and flew herself to the city of Eluriand in Raiaera, where she used a Glamour to appear as a High Elf. With this disguise, she enrolled in Enarlin, the entropic magic school, keeping her distance from others to ensure her true identity wouldn’t be discovered.
Ten years later, while Crystal was exploring outside the city, she found a gaggle of five Fae. A Fire Faerie named Solga Goldleaf, a Water Faerie named Luna Silvermist, an Earth Faerie named Geo Nickelstone, an Air Faerie named Anemo Coppersand, and a Wood Faerie named Forrest Ironcloud.
Solga and Luna were twins and so were Geo and Anemo, but Forrest was an only child. The former four were Dheathain Fae from the East, and the latter a Summer Faerie from the Southwest.
These Fae were just minding their own business, but having never seen another Faerie in over two centuries, Crystal couldn’t resist her innate mischievousness and have some fun with them. She shot tiny ice darts at and around them, wondering when they'll catch on to the fact that they weren’t alone.
Eventually, Forrest grew weary and used vines to ensnare Crystal. She could’ve easily froze the vines and broke free, but she figured this was a intriguing way to introduce herself to her Eastern and Southern cousins.
Sure enough, this moment set the tone for the rest of their friendship. Continuing to attend Enarlin, Crystal would regularly meet with her friends outside of the city during her free time.
One day, Crystal convinced her new friends to disguise themselves as High Elves and attend Raiaera's schools as well so they can all be traveling bards. Taking note of how Anemo found the phrase "we are one" to be particularly funny for whatever reason, they all decided to name their planned bard group "The One".
Solga attended the offensive magic school Dagorlin, Luna the defensive Ostlin, Geo the healing Lissilin, Anemo the blessing Aglarlin, and Forrest the holy Turlin. But their dream wasn't meant to be.
When the Enarlin Rebellion came, Crystal was among Ereber's closest supporters. During the five schools' attack on the Enarlin compound, as Atanamir and Ereber had their final battle, Crystal's paths crossed with her Fae friends once again.
Crystal knew this moment was to come eventually, but she still wasn’t prepared. Unable to bring herself to fight her only friends to the death, she attempted to convince them to retreat from the compound with her and start their group as they've always wanted.
Unfortunately, all five of them had made many more friends in their respective schools and they were all in agreement that Crystal's support of Ereber made her untrustworthy. As far as they were concerned, their new friends outweighed their old friend.
Hurt and betrayed, Crystal instinctively shot an ice shard through Forrest's throat, severing his vocal cords. Without Forrest's holy magic, the remaining Fae were at the mercy of Crystal's entropic magic.
Knowing her relationship with them was permanently destroyed yet still unwilling to be separated from her friends, using her entropic magic, Crystal further crushed the souls of the five Fae and assimilated their souls into herself. Without a second thought, she fled from the compound.
Upon taking refuge back in the wilderness of Salvar, Crystal could read all of her friends' emotions and thoughts, everything that made them the people they once were. Including what they feel and think about her now that she has forcibly bonded their souls to her for all time.
As a Faerie's appearance is tied to their soul, Crystal's appearance changed as well. She was transformed into an amalgamation of herself and those she called her friends.
They are the One now. They are one.
Filled with many conflicted thoughts and opinions but consumed by her own self-loathing, Crystal used Luna's knowledge of defensive magic to shield herself from any hunters and predators, and laid her head to sleep. For the next few millennia, she would see many dreams from wishful thoughts to horrifying nightmares.
She had hoped to sleep the rest of her years away, but found herself waking up in that same wilderness. Her new form had granted her an extended lifespan.
Stretching her tired muscles, she flew back to Raiaera to see that the world had changed quite a lot from when she was last awake. She made her new home in the Durklan Ruins of the Red Forest, unsure of her place in the world.
Now, she fends herself against the Sway, who have come to recognize her as a major threat during her slumber. Even in Raiaera, where the views of the Sway have no reach, they feel it necessary to cull her no matter where she goes, as they can’t let a monster of a Faerie such as Crystal Platinumsound to roam free in the world.
(Referred by Rehtul Orlouge)
Last edited by Sugarp1e1; 08-24-2021 at 12:49 PM.
Reason: Adding some details, trimming some fat and changing some words.
"We are One."
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