Aliases: "No other names. No need."Itâs a funny thing, this concept of taking another name. Sheâs never shown any independent inclination to do so, but there are those who refer to her in casual conversation as the Wordsmith. This, she has incorrectly taken to be a mispronunciation of her actual last name. The definite article is a mystery.
Sex: "No, thank you, unless..." She shakes her head abruptly and returns to what she was doing. Female
Age/Date of Birth (if known): February 14, 1935, a singularly unfortunate date, and one that puts her at approximately 23 years of age now.
Species: "Homo sapiens arcanus, next?" More colloquially, a wizard.
Voice: "Warum brauchen Sie das wissen?" Vague, misty (if indeed a voice can sound misty), and prone to speaking in quick bursts. Also has an upper-class British accent, for the simple reason of her upbringing.
Appearance
Physical Description: "160.02 centimeters. 110 pounds. All major organs and body parts intact. Quoi d'autre avez-vous besoin?" Viridianaâs a skinny thing, the kind of skinny that simply forgets to eat on occasion rather than the meticulously-maintained kind. She doesnât fill out the preferred evening wear of her time, so itâs perhaps fortunate that she had no cause to own such items. Sheâs a little on the bony side, with knobby knees and elbows that might cause pain if they were inadvertently brought into contact with your stomach. Her face, heart-shaped and dominated by a large pair of bluish-green eyes, is rather obscured by an even larger pair of glasses, which sheâs constantly pushing up her nose with something approaching frustration.
Her hair, dirty blonde in color, is always clean if never properly styled, and indeed often hosts an unconventional assortment of feathers (which may or may not be quills, of all things), oriental hair ornaments, pencils, and really anything else that she needs to have about herself. Somehow, all of these objects keep the relatively-long mass above the nape of her neck, though sometimes the hold appears considerably precarious.
Her complexion is clear, if a little too pale for a strictly healthy appearance. Her veins and so forth are easily-visible purple and green lines at her wrists and ankles, less so elsewhere, though this is often obscured by either her sleeves or the myriad marks she places upon herself.
Her hands are long-fingered and elegant, though the nails are kept short, and itâs uncommon that they arenât stained with ink or smudged with graphite, perhaps resin.
Distinguishing Marks: "Ah, of course. Markings. Spells, left to set. Deepbluesafety. Enchantments, woven into skin. Temporary, will vanish with use, leave room for new spells. My... art." She smiles, as if only to herself. Most often, Viridianaâs forearms are covered in words, most of them in non-English languages. A few of them are even hieroglyphs or runes, and so resemble pictures more than actual words. What little is decipherable to the average person doesnât seem to cohere in any recognizable way, but one can be assured that the script is not a simple grocery list or agenda. The letters are all tiny, and written neatly and symmetrically, giving the impression of thin stripes from a distance. On the rare occasion that she runs out of space on her arms, sheâll continue on any skin she can both see and reach successfully. The only reason she shows a slight preference for dresses is because they allow her to reach her legs more easily should this need arise.
Mannerisms: Sheâs, well, an âodd duckâ might be a nice way of putting it. Since her family has money, she gets to be called âeccentricâ rather than âcrazy,â but nevertheless the idea is the same. She has a number of repetitive habits, such as the compulsive need to crack the joints of every finger before she begins writing anything, a tendency to turn all doorknobs three times, and several other small, but usually noticeable tics. Very inclined towards her habits and rituals, she tends to become flustered when she canât properly execute them for some reason.
Wardrobe: Her eccentricity does not end with her hair, much to her motherâs eternal displeasure. Her manner of dress is brightly-colored, often mismatched, and not nearly proper enough for anything resembling society company. She may, for example, be found wearing a womanâs dress with a re-stitched suit jacket, once intended for a teenaged boy, and an obnoxiously-bright scarf. Occasionally, she can be spotted in trousers, which, while not exactly unheard of, is not particularly appreciated by the kind of people her family knows.
Other: Though Viridianaâs face is most often set into a contemplative frown, she shows emotion in both minute and unsubtle ways. She does not quite understand the proper way to utilize body language, so her face is about the only indication of her mood. She tends to furrow her eyebrows when deep in thought, tap rhythms against her leg with her hand when impatient, and though it is not often seen, satisfaction brings about a peculiar smile. It is perhaps most easily likened to the one seen upon the Mona Lisaâs face, for it has the same mysterious, not-quite-clear quality to it. She seems otherwise disposed to solemnity.
Personality
Moral Alignment: "Morality... beyond my expertise." Itâs hard to say; as she is rarely ever placed in circumstances where she has to make moral choices. It would likely be situational, though itâs safe to say that she has no particular desire to harm anything.
Intelligence: "A man called me 'idiot-savant.' I am not an idiot.' This is incredibly situation-specific. Viridiana is best classed as a savant, with special talent in the areas of language and music. Given that her particular brand of magic is based on language, this also makes her something of a âmagical savantâ though of course such a classification does not actually exist. Other than that, her functional knowledge of many things is lacking. She reads quite a lot, which helps cover some basic areas, but she is especially lacking in mundane knowledge and social skills.
Demeanor: Like many people with her condition, Viridiana has communication problems, ironic since she speaks so many languages. Her detail-oriented focus means that more âintuitiveâ things like body language or nuances of speech elude her with regularity. Indeed, she is selectively mute, and will speak only to some people, and others not at all. Generally, this works on a simple like/dislike criterion, and it is possible that she will eventually speak to people she currently does not, depending on how her impressions change. The reverse is also true, as for example in the case of her mother, to whom she no longer even attempts to talk.
Assuming she does speak with you, itâs still a bit unusual. Her speech is naturally very rapid, and, though clear, soft in tone. She often leaves off transitionary material in sentences, though even with this consideration, she can still be highly verbose, often skittering off on tangents that do not seem immediately relevant or important to anyone but her. She is, however, conscious of this tendency, and to a degree ashamed of it, and so if prodded, she can force herself to speak more slowly and avoid such digressions. It requires conscious effort, however, and her default mode of speech is still abrupt.
She seems a bit twitchy or nervous at first glance, but upon further inspection, itâs more like being constantly distracted with something, and it seems difficult for her to maintain focus on anything she does not consider vital or interesting in some way. Should it be one of these things, however, she is singularly devoted to it, and her focus can last for hours without interruption. Indeed, it may seem as though she has the ability to shut down her bodily needs to commit to a task. Not quite true, but close enough.
Attitudes: Viridianaâs own streams of thought are peculiar things, and if she communicated in exactly the way she thought, it would be unintelligible. Words in several languages form patterns with images and strains of music. She remembers things perfectly if she is seized enough by them to take particular notice. Her mental associations are odd; she may for example, refer to something as a yellow sound, and abstract concepts are often given unrelated concrete physical forms.
Likes: Routine, magic, language, music, tea.
Dislikes: Society people, loud noises, interruptions, her mother.
Quirks: See the above. Additionally, she often switches languages in the middle of sentences or paragraphs. This is not because she's snooty and wants you to know how many she speaks. In fact, most of the time, she doesn't realize she's done it. The person she talks to most often is herself, and she understands everything she says, so it hasn't quite registered that others might not.
Flaws: Socially inept, deeply insecure, and well⊠some of the above probably counts as well.
Philosophy: âNietzsche noticed many things that should be seen. Makes me greybitternocturne. Not sure what this means.â Sheâs⊠conflicted.
Hangups: Drastic interruptions of her established rituals and routines. Direct (verbal) confrontation is something she canât process very well, either.
Social
Occupation: Librarian, The Arcane Archives (Philadelphia Branch)
Relationships: N/A at present, though I love me some character background.
Economic Status: Her family is quite wealthy, and her father is one of those people who can still call himself âLordâ in the British gentry sense. He sends her a monthly allowance on the condition that she maintains steady employment.
Opinions: She tries to keep herself well away from political entanglements, thank you very much. They donât interest her, and they do interest her mother, which is reason enough to avoid them entirely.
Combat and Abilities
Combat Prowess: Well, theoretically, her advanced grasp of magic should make her a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, all she has to go on in this respect is theory, for she has never felt the need to fight anything before. She is not in bad shape, per se, but she certainly hasnât been training for cage matches with demons or anything of the sort, and physically, sheâs laughable in her capacity to do any damage, though she has decent levels of flexibility and speed of the ârunning awayâ variety.
Equipment On Hand: Several kinds of writing utensil, most of them stuck somewhere in her hair. She doesnât carry a purse, but then her magic needs as little as a hand-sign or a spoken cantrip.
Special Abilities: Magic: Viridianaâs casting is all based in language, but it need not necessarily be spoken. Written script can serve as a channel for magic, and so can hand signs. Using each has its pros and cons. Hand-signals (Signcasting) are quick to activate, but suffer from two weaknesses: theyâre nonspecific, and their celerity means they lack sheer firepower. Only the most general words have corresponding hand signs, so for example the sign for âwaterâ will usually just draw water from the nearest location unless combined with other signs for more specific directions. Each combination has an unchanging result, and young wizards have to memorize these.
Spoken cantrips (Speechcasting) can be long or short, and the longer ones usually have more powerful effects, and more precise ones. They do, of course, require more words and hence more times. Additionally, pronunciation is important. A given cantrip can only be used once a day, so in order to cast the same spell twice, you must know two ways of saying the same thing, which is why it helps to be multilingual. They tend to work better if they rhyme, for some reason. The exceptions to the duration-strength correlation are Words of Power, but using one of these (if, indeed, you are lucky enough to know one and disciplined enough to handle the drain it puts on your powers) is incredibly dangerous, and sure to affect something else in the world just as profoundly, usually in a âbacklashâ sort of way. Using a Word to summon a rainstorm to a drought-ridden area, for instance, might deprive some other region of the world of rain for a season. They are certainly not the kinds of things you use every day, and very few wizards beneath Master-level proficiency could do so without killing themselves.
Written spells tend to be both specific and powerful, but generally the magic in them needs time to âsetâ properly, so they can take from thirty seconds to weeks to activate once the magic is used. Usually called âRunecasting,â this kind of magic is most often used in permanent enchantments or wards rather than for everyday spells, but Viridiana keeps a few written on herself at any given time and ready to go, usually for emergencies only.
Special Training/Aptitude: Viridianaâs training basically encompassed those three methods of spellcasting (with an emphasis on elemental control and some healing), and the languages necessary to understand what she was doing. She is quite gifted, but even magic has its limits, and too much at once will make her physically ill, knock her out, and could even possibly kill her in extreme situations. Aside from this, she has a flair for music, but nearly any other skills are beyond her ken. Recently, she has been experimenting with methods involving weaving spells into pieces of music, but the project is still in its infancy at present.
General History
She was born to landed gentry in the United Kingdom, England to be specific. Her father serves as a member of the House of Lords, and of course this entails all the entrapments of wealthy society and so forth. Naturally, a daughter with no social graces whatsoever was not exactly the ideal child, and throughout her childhood, her parents werenât exactly certain what her âproblemâ was, though she has since been diagnosed with a schizoid personality disorder. Another psychiatrist disagrees and believes she has an autism-spectrum condition, but she has never particularly cared what itâs called.
Her father, though never a particularly affectionate man, seemed to understand that she just wasnât going to be like other children. The fact that she at least had inherited his aptitude for magic was something of a comfort, and he in some sense believed this to explain her peculiar mannerisms, but her mother was not a wizard, nor indeed at all understanding. Fortunately, Viridiana spent most of her life in boarding school. Granted, fortunate is a relative term, given that the sorts of things girls learn at boarding schools were at once beyond her and entirely too tedious to bother with, but it wasnât all bad if it kept her away from home.
She delayed her entrance into society by applying to a ladiesâ college, which accepted her and allowed her another several years to develop her interests. As it turns out, she was not of the correct gender to be a scholar in the conventional sense, but a woman can be a librarian without much fuss, and so that was what she chose to learn, on the rationale that it would keep her close to books and language and far from social gatherings and people.
After she graduated, she was returned home with the expectation that sheâd finally find herself a suitor and settle down. The first party she attended was disastrous enough that her mother is still upset about it. A few days later, her father presented her with a plane ticket to America and a job offer from one of his wealthy associates across the Atlantic. Whether he was trying to save her or be rid of her is unclear to Viridiana, but either way, it was the greatest gift sheâd ever been given.
For the last few years, sheâs been working as the keeper of a large magical archive in Philadelphia, unknown to all but a very particular magical clientele.
Professional History
Most of what Viridiana knows is self-taught. She never apprenticed to a master in the traditional way, and though her father did teach her some things, they were not around each other often enough for it to account for much more than the basics. The rest came from books, and the occasional nudge in the right direction from a well-meaning magical acquaintance or stranger. Language mastery was part of her more conventional education, though the ancient languages she has learned were all undertaken with help from the Archives.
Of course, once she shows a particular interest in something, very little impedes her mastery of it but time, and so she can speak more dialects than anyone really has business speaking or writing, and she has an intuitive grasp of magical theory that allows her to apply this knowledge as she wishes. Make no mistake, some of her more dodgy experiments have gone rather poorly, but she learns more from every one of them, successful or not.
She has become, therefore, something of an expert in linguistics, and given the fact that she currently has a demon bound to herself by contract, sheâs learned a fair bit about them, too.
Other History
Eventually, demon-related things will probably go here, but TaeTae and I shall need to discuss them first.[/quote]