Arcticia

by **elegantmess** July 12th 2016, 7:20 pm

ARCTICIA

BOREAL PRINCESS OF PHANTOMS

Basic Biography

Real Name: Khione Northstar (first name pronounced “KEY-oh-NEIGH”) Alias--Noelle North

Hero Name: Articia

Title: Boreal Princess of Phantoms, Ruhtinatar of Toivonen (akin to a Grand Duchess on Earth)

Alignment: Neutral Good

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Race: Faerie

Hair: Snow White

Eyes: Violet

Height: 5’11"

Weight: 272 lbs.

Blood type: A-

The Looks

Arcticia is hardly the Human ideal of a "Fairy", much less a "Fairy Princess". For one thing, she’s about as dainty as a pit bull. In bare feet, she’s taller than most women, and decidedly stout, muscle running to pudge. Her shoulders are broad, as are her hips and her limbs have an oddly graceful sturdiness about them, as if she used to model for pinups in the 1940’s. She might easily remind someone of an Alaskan native woman, with her broad, flat-featured face, dusky skin and gentle, mellow, almond eyes. Arcticia has a doll-like babyface, best compared to Devon Aoki or Lily Cole, round with a pointed chin. But, her eyes aren't brown, but violet and her hair is brilliant snowy white and flows in waves and soft curls to her knees. While back in Faerie, she had attendants to style it and tend to it, Earth is far less kind and she often just braids it back and coils it around her head as best she can, or sweeps it into a very loose ponytail with a scarf. It also doesn’t seem to like Earth hair products and will dry to a frosty straw or stain at the drop of a hat, unless she uses something she cooked up herself. Her ears have a small, but distinct point to them, but unlike modern ideas of fairies, she has no wings. There’s also a goodly amount of freckles sprayed across her nose and a faint sheen of what appears to be frost on her skin and nails that even cosmetics can’t hide.

Her human disguise is less obviously fey. Her long jet black hair, maybe with a hint of henna red, is nearly as abundant, either tucked up in a crochet snood, or braided around her head. Her eyes turn dark brown, her ears turn rounded and human, and her skin loses the sparkle of frost. But, she still has the pudge and babyface.

Perhaps because of her build and the way time moves in Faerie, Khione favors Vintage-inspired fashion, though she occasionally strays to the more child-like Japanese Street Fashions and the more romantic or cute Goth styles. Circle skirts and petticoats, pencil skirts, high-waisted trousers, fitted tops and men’s t-shirts, altered to be more feminine. On the job in the mundane world, she has a uniform of a stout khaki coverall, boots and some kind of t-shirt under it. The Snowstone is always worn, even if it’s only pinned inside her pocket.

In the field as a superhero, her costume is based off of the casual wear of a Fae lady. The nearest approximation of the base is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], appearing to be a skirt with two long straps, typically wrapped into the top of the dress. Hers is white and knee-length, with a handkerchief skirt fluffed with what appears to be tattered petticoats in violet, silver and aqua sheer fabric, tips poking out. The straps are never wrapped the same way twice in a row. She seems to have a violet strapless leotard underneath, as if for modesty. Opera length silver fingerless gloves cover her arms to match the silver, thick heeled, knee high boots she wears, a practicality over the bare feet favored at home. Her hair is swept back with a silver scarf into a wide ponytail. The scarf bears three opals, one large white one, and two small aqua ones. Glittering tiny snowflake earrings hang beside her face, only long enough to tremble, but so short that they has little chance of being snagged. A matching pendant hangs on a thin silver ribbon choker around her throat. Her outfit is finished with violet and aqua striped stockings and a fur trimmed white cloak that only reaches the hem of her skirt. The lining is patterned with a depiction of the night sky during an aurora, in violet and aqua. It’s clasped with the Snowstone, which not only keeps her cool, but maintains the ice that forms her half-mask, further obscuring her identity.

The Legacy

Personality:

Khione has perhaps too much heart for her own good. She can’t stand the sight of people in need, always the first to give a dollar to a hungry man, and try to pet a stray pit bull. She's gullible, but she's always prepared to fix her mistakes if she discovers she's been duped. People are a bit exhausting for her, so she does often prefer to spend time, nose deep in a book or playing one of these exciting new "video games" she's become acquainted with, but she must be social for at least an hour per day in order to use her powers. Underneath all that tenderness and sweetness, however, she's still a Faerie and has an implacable temper with a rather creative vengeful streak. Moreover, she firmly believes that some people don't deserve mercy.

History:

The denizens of Faerie have long fought over upwellings of human emotion that seem to pierce through the Veil on Earth, and have separated into two factions. The Seileigh are the source of myths of kindly creatures, who grant wishes and blessings upon mortals, who craft magic relics and watch over the innocent. The On'seileigh, however, are the basis of much darker legends, of baby thieves and curses, of dancing to death and nightmarish Wild Hunts. They fuel their magic on the emotions of mortals and many wars have been fought over whether they should swarm the human world or leave it be.

The Seileigh Court of Polaria is ruled by the kindly and wise Holly King, Nikholais the Giftbringer, and his beautiful Star Nymph queen, Lucia Aurora. But, this king had a brother, Boreas, who fell in love with a strange and mysterious faerie maid, named Melanthia, of the breed called the Lampades. Few trusted the dark and secretive nymphs, who were said to be the psychopomps of the Fair Folk, but Boreas was smitten and she loved him in return. In time, their union brought them a child, small and merry, and born as Summer turned to Autumn. They named her Khione and the Holly King himself blessed her with eternal joy and kindness.

Sadly, the infant was soon alone in the world. During a battle over a particularly rich patch of energy, Boreas and Melanthia vanished. Soon enough, there was no choice but to declare them dead. The Holly King adopted little Khione, raising her with his own children, the twin princesses Hollë and Sunnë. But, trouble seemed to follow the innocent infant. Within weeks of her adoption, an On'seileigh spy disguised as a nurse was caught poisoning Khione. She survived, but her magical gifts were stunted and suppressed by the trauma. As she grew older, her difficulty in using magic like other faerie children isolated her and damaged her self-esteem. It was her adopted parents who stepped in and made her their apprentice in a secret mission.

Long before her birth, the Holly King had begun to watch the human race and noted that they had legends of a gift giver who brought joy to their children. Whether he was called St. Nicholas, the Yule Goat, Olentzero or Father Christmas, he was a symbol of merriment and hope. No one can quite recall whether the Holly King adopted the guises of these figures, or they came from him first, but he had gleefully begun delivering gifts in secret to the children who needed it most, even if it was nothing more than a change of heart that made an employer give a parent a much-needed raise or shifting a cardboard angel on a tree a bit closer to a pair of eyes. He placed her in training among his Elves, specifically to be a Finder, someone who watches the Naughty and the Nice of the world and identifies their needs and wishes.

Khione took to the work with eagerness. She delighted in watching human children and culture, finding the ones who would benefit most from the magic of the Holly King and picking out what they needed. She proved creative in her gifting, as well. But, even more, she watched Earth with fascination, studying them with great longing. Magic was only a legend to them and they didn't need it. They had machines and did such magical things with them, compared to Faerie's utterly prosaic approach to magic that she felt she would never truly use.

In time, Khione and her sisters had grown to be beautiful, kind, and charming. While many young faerie lords and ladies courted Hollë and Sunnë, Khione was all but ignored and even whispered about. She was rumored to have been seen on Wild Hunts with On'seileigh goblins and commanding ghosts to do her bidding. She found herself lonely again, for the first time since she was a small child, as her sisters danced and trysted. Khione watched from afar and tried to hide her sorrow. She agreed instead to follow her sister Sunnë to her new home. She'd promised her hand to the Oak King, her father's Southern counterpart and, at her wedding, Khione found that she was approached by a handsome young Phoenix prince. Adranos Dawnfeather seemed besotted with her and she followed him with the single-minded devotion of a loyal hunting hound. Within a month, they had pledged their love, but, Adranos made Khione swear a magic-bound oath to never speak out against him to her father, at the risk of her own life. Should she ever betray him to the Holly King, she would die a slow, agonizing death. Khione was so enchanted by his affection and beauty, she accepted the terms without question.

They were wed in short order, in a ceremony befitting her rank. Her family gave her a parting gift from the treasures her late parents had left her: the brooch known as the Snowstone. Created from the crystallized energy of hope and joy and the first snow to ever fall in Polaria, the stone would keep her cool enough to survive outside of her homeland and be with her beloved. Adranos brought Khione to his home in the faerie underworld, known as the Summerlands. The heat and fire was nearly unbearable to her, even with the Snowstone, but it was nothing compared to what awaited. Her husband soon showed his true colors when he caught her speaking with a faerie ghost. He ordered her to make it submit to him. Khione could do nothing of the kind. Though her mother's blood ran true in her veins, she could only speak to and perhaps befriend ghosts, not command them. Enraged, Adranos believed she was lying and imprisoned her. Every day, he tried to force her to enthrall the ghosts of the Summerlands. When she refused or failed, he would express his rage through physical and emotional abuse, beating her and taunting her weakness. After three months, she tried to run away, only to succumb to heat exhaustion and be captured. Once she had recovered from her illness, the torture began anew.

For six years, Khione was the slave of Adranos and his flight of On'seileigh Phoenix brethren. She knew he'd never cared about her, only her potential as a tool. Adranos had visions of conquest, planning to use an army of the dead to take control of all Faerie and, perhaps, all the Dimension of Magic. At first, she was devastated. Naïvely, she appealed to what she hoped was a spark of goodness in him. Then, she threatened to break her oath, at risk to her own life. Finally, she was broken, for a time, at least. There was no point in fighting. She feared death, despite her bluster, and in spite of herself, she loved him still.

At the end of six years, Adranos had grown weary of what he felt were Khione's mind games. He came to her with a child, one she'd played with back home in her father's court. He would allow the child to live, if she enthralled the spirits of the Summerland for him. If she refused, the child would die. She protested that there was nothing she could do, her powers had always been weak and she'd tried so often before. Adranos broke the child's arm to prove his point. It would be his worst mistake yet.

The rage, pain and sorrow in Khione's heart had reached the boiling point. Whatever locks her near-death as an infant had placed on her were shattered along with her love for him. She broke her bonds and attacked. Adranos, though more skilled in the ways of magic, was no match for the unpredictable fury of the young princess who had spent her youth watching over children who suffered. He fell to her assault and she quickly fled her prison with the child, but was mere yards from the border of the Summerlands when her adrenaline and strength gave out. She stayed conscious long enough to heal the child's arm, before fainting.

Luck was with them. Sunnë and her husband were hunting near that border when they found them. Her sister nursed her back to health, but Khione refused to tell Sunnë why she had fled, nor to go back to Polaria. Her powers had been unlocked, but she would never feel safe again in the Dimension of Magic. Sunnë accepted this, but presented her with a parting gift that might make her leaving easier: she changed the enchantments on the Snowstone to help her deal with the heat of Earth as well as disguising her as a human woman.

With this in hand and her family's blessing, Khione departed for the mortal realm, hoping to find a refuge that which had given her such peace as a child. On Earth, she managed to make herself the new identity of Noelle North and got a job as a janitor and cafeteria attendant at a New Orleans elementary school while she worked on getting a degree in Early Childhood Development. But, her heart ached to see the daily news, with its reports of cruelty, war, famine, and crime. After six months of watching and praying that there would be some end to it all, Khione decided to take action. Taking the "warrior name" of Articia, an ancestress, she set herself to righting any wrong she could whenever and wherever she could.

The Powers and Weaknesses

Powers

War Form

The Snowstone is connected to an ancient spell used by Faerie bodyguards and battlewitches, one which creates an alternate form. While appearing to be nothing more than a fancy party frock or masquerade costume, the actual purpose is a magical form of armor. Every stitch she wears will absorb a certain amount of magic per use. Further, it allows her to hide her Earth identity to protect the children she looks after and anyone else she grows close to.

Power Weakness: Anyone who has been to the Holly King's court on Faerie will see past the disguise, and it's easy to see that she is, in fact, a Faerie of Royal blood, if you know anything about Magical species. This spell also, isn't as powerful as those used by her ancestors. Once the attire has absorbed a certain amount of magic, say 3 lethal spells or 6 harmful spells, the War Form will dissipate, leaving her in her natural form, with whatever clothing she was wearing when she changed. This might further damage her secrecy, as she is clearly wearing the same attire as "Noelle North" was wearing earlier. It's also advised that she change where no one can see her.

Mortal Mask

Khione might be able to survive in the human world with iced drinks and climate control, but it would be hard to hide her Fae Nature without this spell. Using it makes her appear to be an ordinary, though pretty young Human woman of mixed race (part Alaskan native or Native American, part a few other things), with dark hair, dark eyes and freckled but unremarkable skin. A small exertion of willpower will allow her to change three features further, such as hair length, texture and color, eye shape and color, skin tone and slight shifts in height, weight and build, but no more than three of any. She could appear to have a blond curly bob, but not if she wanted to make her eyes gray or darken her skin or be shorter or have a smaller nose.

Power Weakness: Once she shifts into War Form, all changes vanish and will not return automatically. If she makes a change, she must deliberately restore it after War Form or must cast the spell to disguise herself all over again. The spell can only remain up for 18 hours, after this, she must rest and return to her Faerie form. Any longer and the spell will forcefully drop, leaving her in her natural state.

Ice Magic

Merely a fancy word for Cryokinesis, Arcticia (and by extension, Khione) has power over ice and snow. She can create balls of magical snow that can chill a target on impact, bolts of ice that can cut like broken glass, rays of cold that can ice over about 100 gallons of water, and build walls of ice that will at least slow if not stop most missiles. Her usual attack is simply a bolt of ice, but if she's truly desperate, she can create a small blizzard, enough to fill a 10'x10' area.

Power Weakness: In hot weather, all effects are only half as effective. Even the Snowstone is only able to help so far. Ice walls will melt faster, ice bolts and missiles will only go half as far before they literally melt in mid-air, and any small snowstorms she might make are nothing but slush by the time they hit the ground, if they don’t evaporate.

Friend to the Dead

Thanks to her mother's genetic contributions, Articia can see and speak to the spirits of the dead and finds that they tend to like her. They don't flock to her. Unless one happens to be hanging around, she must actively seek one out to speak to. She uses them to find out what's going on in the area and sometimes, if they seem to be recently dead and murdered, how they died and if they know who killed them. Out of a sense of honor, she always leaves them a little something that she destroys, leaving its "ghost" for them to interact with, such as a cup of coffee poured out for them, a piece of candy crushed with a rock, or a cigarette burned to ash, filter and all.

Power Weakness: The spirits of the dead are still independent beings. They like her, but they aren’t all her BFFs. Some still won’t answer her if she calls, and just because she can ask them for help, doesn’t mean they will or can. Even the friendliest ghost might not know the answer she seeks or may not want to fight with her. And, some, while they see her as friendly, won’t see her as anything other than someone to be used or someone who will use them. She tries to not ask them to do much and, as a rule, she’ll try and do something for them in return.

Elfshot

The ancient defense mechanism of the Fae is a magical bullet, almost invisible to the naked eye, the length of a hand. All that can be seen of it is a mote of pale green light, the size of her thumb. There are many ways to project the bullet, but all that's needed really is a thought of where her target is. They must be in line of sight and within 150 yards of Articia, though she can miss if they move after she's fired the Elfshot. In addition, a person can easily avoid it by simply stepping out of range or ducking to where she can't see them. The bullet will attach to her target, vanish and remain dormant until she detonates it remotely, causing crippling pain at the site. The cause is undetectable by human senses or instruments, but the target can certainly feel the itching, burning, cutting pain. The agony fades after an hour.

Power Weakness: This spell can only be used once a day, hence being used as a last resort. It doesn’t just hurt the target. It hurts her, too, the same bitter hot itch. Paradoxically, it hurts her immediately, appearing as a violet edged wound somewhere random on her body and the scar will linger painfully for about a week. It won’t kill her, but it will be painful enough for about a minute to keep her too distracted for much magic. Even if she misses, it hurts like hell for Khione.

Wishing Stars

This spell manifests as little origami stars, conjured three at a time, in random paper patterns and colors. Each star is the size of her pinkie nail. The paper star entitles the bearer to one simple wish. She usually hands these out to children who are in need of cheering up or as thank yous to the magical community. The wish might not manifest as reality, in such cases as "I wish I was a ninja" or "I wish I had one last day with Mom". But these will manifest as dreams, leaving satisfying memories. For things that are a bit more plausible ("I wish my puppy would come home", "I wish I could get this job", "I wish I had enough money for a new car"), fate will twist slightly to grant that wish. The SPCA will call and tell the wisher that they found this dog that looks like theirs. The resume will float to the top of the heap. The person will win big at slots, right before the machine breaks and prompts them to leave with their winnings. After that, the consequences for the wish will still be there, but the person will have that wish.

Power Weakness: Each star can only be used for one wish and only with OOC permission of everyone involved. It can’t raise the dead, or create life. It can’t change the past and the magic may be slow if the conditions aren’t right for the wish to come true. Also, the star must be destroyed before the magic can take effect, by literally taking it apart. Once it’s unfolded, the slip of paper will reveal the wish made and the user must never read the slip aloud, lest it break the spell. But once the wish has come true, the slip of paper will burst into harmlessly cool purple and aqua colored flames, turn to ashes and vanish in a puff of pleasant smelling smoke. On top of that, Khione can never use a wishing star for herself.

Faerie Flight

All faeries can fly, but not all of them have wings. Being Half-Nymph, Articia is one of the wingless variety. Her flight is based on a "lightness of the heart". Yes, JM Barrie was on to something. Through the energy she draws off of joy and her own optimism, she can fly up to 80 MPH and up to 150 feet off the ground, higher if she's just gliding down from a height.

Power Weakness: Faerie flight is dependent on emotional power. Being Seileigh, those emotions are joy, hope, and love. If Arcticia is depressed, afraid, or ill, she can’t fly and she must be able to focus on something joyful until she’s in the air. If she is upset or begins to lose her joy in flight, she will begin to lose altitude. If she’s enraged in flight or hit with a power that causes despair or fear, she’ll drop like a stone.

Weakness(es)

Cold Hands...

Arcticia's skin is naturally 30 degrees cooler than a human's. With her disguise up, it merely feels like she has poor circulation, but it's easily noticeable in her War form, as frost forms on her skin. Even with the protection of the Snowstone, once the temperature reaches 70 degrees, she becomes uncomfortable, requiring cold drinks and air conditioning to keep from collapsing or succumbing to heat stroke. She can tolerate it then, but without the Snowstone, she'd easily die in the heat of New Orleans.

Warm Heart

Articia is too soft-hearted for her own good. Easily turned by a sob story, she has a difficult time remembering people can and do lie. Sometimes, she can catch on, and she's not an utter idiot. Once someone has proven themselves to be "Naughty" or a liar, she won't give them quite the same leeway, but she could still be convinced that they're honestly victims.

The Spirit is Willing, but…

Khione herself is rather weak for a Faerie. Most of her kind would shrug off hot weather and easily hide their face behind a mask of humanity. Khione's powers are stunted by her childhood poisoning and she might never become as strong or as resilient as other Fae. If another one of her kind were to ever attack her, they'd have a significant advantage due to power alone.

Adaptive Enchantment

Without the Snowstone, Arcticia is pretty well disabled by Faerie standards. Her magic is naturally out of control and her body is badly weakened by the damage caused by being poisoned as an infant. If she didn't have the brooch, she would quickly succumb to the effects of Earth's climate on her damaged body, as well as lose control of her magic. She's had to get creative with how she wears it/keeps it close. But, if anyone should take it from her, she'll be in a great deal of trouble.

But, Iron, Cold Iron, Is Master of Them All

Not only is Khione at a disadvantage against Fae, but she still bears the Fae weakness to Cold Iron. The definition seems to be iron ore that hasn't been worked with heat by human hands. A strong enough opponent could, with time and sheer power, shape a blade that could kill her with a single cut. Iron filings will burn her badly and iron worked by heat can cause her some discomfort, as if she's handling strong acid without gloves. Just hitting her with a lump of ore will cause twice the damage and might kill her, if it doesn't simply poison her. Perhaps because of her Lampad heritage, iron rich soil and clay don't bother her much, but rusty water from a poorly filtered well or spring will certainly sicken her and blister her skin.

Think Happy Thoughts!

Articia, like other Seileigh Fae, is reliant on the mana that comes from positive emotions; love, joy, hope, etc. She must spend at least an hour surrounded by people, the vast majority of which are in a good mood, to gain enough power to change her form or fly. Longer will certainly grant her more power, but it's exhausting because she's a bit of an introvert.

RP Mechanics

RP Mechanic(s):

--Arcticia’s hands are always just a little cold.
--When Arcticia sneezes, coughs, or sighs, tiny snowflakes fly on her breath.
--Drives a battered red SUV she calls "Rocket".
--Practices the ancient Fae religion, honoring ancestors and "the Firstborn", Oberon and Titania.
--Never leaves home without an iced thermos of cold drink, usually clear water and a pocketful of candies, typically M&Ms and peppermints.
--Keeps her apartment a cozy 50 degrees, with blankets for guests to bundle up in, claiming the heat makes her ill.

Items/Minions

The Hammer of Hope: This is the same hammer Arcticia was originally issued when she began training in the Workshop of Wonders. It appears to be a small, one-handed sledgehammer, with a sparkling silver stone head and a handle bound with violet and aqua suede in a candy stripe pattern. The bottom of the handle has a hexagonal pommel, made of the same shimmering silver stone as the head, set with a white opal. In her hands, it can make and repair toys, but that isn’t how she uses it. Like most trainee Elves, she’s learned to use it as a weapon. She swings it like a mace or warhammer and each landed blow causes not only blunt damage but a small explosion of magical energy. It only damages those who are considered “Naughty” (evil-aligned). If she strikes the Nice (good-aligned) or the Undecided (neutral-aligned), it will send the impact back up the handle and hit her with it. It’s usually only enough of a shock to daze her if the target was Undecided, but hitting a Nice target will cause the recoil to fling her back hard a few feet.

The Snowstone: This item appears to be a finely-crafted hexagonal brooch of white gemstone set in silver, roughly two and a half inches across at the points. Within the heart of the stone it not only has flashes of opal fire, but cool-colored lights can be seen spinning and dancing within. The stone itself was mined in Faerie, formed from the petrified first snow that fell on its lands and imbued with millennia of the magic and power from joy and hope. This power is channeled into four uses, 1) keep Khione cool enough to survive life on Earth, 2) keep her disguise up until she gives the signal to transform her into her battle form, 3) help keep the pain and weakness from her childhood poisoning under control and 4) keep her newly awakened powers in check. She can only remove to sleep and bathe, any longer than eight hours without it and she will begin to weaken and grow painfully ill. After an hour, her powers will go haywire, creating localized snowstorms, attracting all manner of ghosts, and flinging Ice Darts at random people. If she isn’t stabilized by being placed in a cold area (walk-in freezer might help), she will be dead in 12 hours.

Physical Priority

Agility 1

Endurance 4

Reaction 2

Strength 3

by **Red** July 20th 2016, 7:14 pm

Ok..... Complicated character is complicated, but very cool.

With that said, i need to point out a few things.

Elfshot seems to be a practically unavoidable attack that allows her to attach it to targets just by thinking...... That isn't allowed. It needs to be slightly more detectable in my opinion or somehow avoidable.

Wishing Stars needs to be acknowledged as permission based, needing to be ran by all those in any given thread.

Friend of the Dead needs a description.

Everything else seems fine to me, but if another mod comes upon this, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

by **elegantmess** July 20th 2016, 7:23 pm

Done! Adjustments made!

Elfshot can now be seen to the naked eye and can be avoided a few simple ways (get out of range, out of sight, or move after you see the spell go off).

Permission basis for Wishing Stars is acknowledged and noted in the description.

Friend of the Dead description added.

by **Chellizard** August 9th 2016, 2:51 pm

I feel so bad that you didn't get approved sooner.

Nice app, nice character. Balanced and interested.

Approved and moved.

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