Name: Sekhmet "Powerful One"

What are you God or Goddess of?: War, the desert, pestilence and destruction.

Where are you from: Ancient Egyptian Pantheon

Gender: Female

Age: Appears around 21

Powers: Sekh can manipulate sand, allowing her twist it into shapes or call up sandstorms. She is able to communicate with lions and other big cats, and is able to take the form of a horrifying lion-like beast, its bites causing serious infections.

Past : Sekhmet was created from flames by the sun god Ra, many thousands of years before, when he sought to punish humanity. She was an embodiment of rage and destruction, and was unleashed upon the world to kill and destroy. The newly-created goddess laid waste to humanity, killing huge numbers, before Ra began to regret his rash decision. He called for Sekhmet to stop the bloodshed, but Sekh was consumed with bloodlust and ignored his pleas.

Facing the extinction of the human race at the hands (or paws) of the lion goddess, the other gods came up with a plan to stop her rampage. Ra poured down seven thousand jugs of beer, mixed with pomegranate juice, to make a pool in her path. Mistaking it for blood, Sekhmet drank it all, and became extremely drunk, passing out for nearly three days. When she awoke, she was not only very hung over, but also had slept off her bloodlust.

After that rather dramatic first action, Sekhmet calmed down to a great degree, becoming a guardian to Ra and the Pharaohs, rather than the destroyer she'd once been. She became closer to the deity of healing, Ptah, and her sister, Bast, the other feline goddess, who represented the other side of the coin, so to speak. Bast and Sekhmet were often seen together. She began to focus her destructive power into favouring and aiding mortal battles. The Egyptians feared that one day she would take on her destructive guise and return to destroy humanity, so honored her statues, held festivals, and left offerings to appear her....as her worship died out, Sekhmet became progressively less protective of humanity, and began to reconsider the merits of her old. destructive nature.

Her change into a mortal guise bemused her, but has made her wonder whether it might be Ra's doing, and whether he intends to send her on a second cull in the near future. Sekhmet herself remains unsure of her purpose, but is quite prepared to fight.

Weapons: 'Claws of the Lioness'
The weapon taken the form of elbow length bracers, made of a coppery sort of material, though strengthened from copper's naturally soft and pliable nature to serve as strong arm guards. The hand portion of the weapon resembled a dark red leather glove, with the top two joints of the fingers encased in metal that is formed into thick, razor sharp claws that extend several inches from the finger tip. The claws are capable of doing considerable damage, as well as allowing Sekh to cling onto climbing surfaces and ledges more easily. For obvious reasons however, she has to be careful about slicing herself or others.

Description/ Picture:

http://th03.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2 ... 46gyda.jpg (Kind of a vague impression of Sekh.)

Sekhmet resembles a tall and athletic young woman in her early twenties, of Egyptian descent. She has dark skin, and a mane of long, very dark brown hair. Her hair is thick and wiry, tending to misbehave and fall into her face. Her eyes appear a coppery-gold sort of hue that is most distinctive. She has an oval face and defined features. She tends to wear think black kohl around her eyes, once used to reduce the glare of the sun.

She has several tattoos scattered around her skin, representing her symbols as a goddess. She has a sceptre on the underside of her left forearm, a cobra coiled around her upper right arm, and the solar disk on her back.

She tends to dress quite practically, and for warm weather. Sekh doesn't really have winter clothes. She liked things that allow plenty of air to flow through them, and tends to wear light fabrics. She's not keen on synthetic materials. She wears a gold ankh pendant around her neck.




Personality: Sekhmet is not the easiest deity to get on with. She is a rather arrogant and over-confident sort, often rude, only too eager to boast her fighting prowess to others. She is rather highly strung, being quite easily angered or offended by others, and tending to be very quick to turn to violence to solve her problems. She loves to fight, and treats causing serious harm with casual disregard.

She is quite independent, happy enough in her own company, and by no means needy. She likes to get some 'alone time' from time to time, as spending too long around others tends to exhaust her. She can be a little on the lazy side regarding tasks she doesn't want to do, tending to procrastinate a little.

Beyond all this however, Sekhmet does have some quite admirable traits. While one side of the goddess is portrayed as all about fire and rage and destruction, the other is shown as a benevolent guardian. For those Sekhmet does warm to, she is a loyal and stoic companion whom one can rely on in a crisis. To those whom she gains a genuine respect for, she will quite happily step in to defend or protect them, regardless of the consequences. She is actually quite skilled in first aid and medical knowledge, an aspect she rarely brings up, not wanting to tarnish her destroyer reputation.

Fears:
- Water. Being both a personification of the desert, and of cats, Sekhmet is scared of deep water. She can't swim and avoids any large body of water as much as she possibly can.

- Losing her pride/ being seen as weak. Sekhmet was feared and respected by the Egpytians, ad she has come to like that. She hates the idea of being regarded as weak.

Likes:

-The Sun / Heat / Hot Weather. As a daughter of Ra, and representation of the desert, Sekhmet loves hot weather, the hotter and drier, the better. When other people are diving for the shade she's still quite comfortable, and often calling everyone else lightweights.

-Cats, especially lions. She admires every aspect of lions and their society. The fact that they rule over their savannah homeland, the fact that the females are strong hunters rather than being cowed and submissive, and the fact that they enjoy lying out in the sun almost as much as she does. Cats tend to take a liking to her naturally.

-Pomegranates. Sekh still retains her weakness for the stuff that Ra stopped her rampage with. Beer with pomegranate juice was what she originally fell for, but she likes anything pomegranate flavour, at least partially due to its similarity to blood.

-Alcohol. Sekhmet likes to drink, and isn't the best at knowing her limits...or she doesn't really care. Thankfully she's actually considerably less aggressive under the influence, being significantly less likely to get into fights than when sober. She is especially fond of pomegranate-flavoured drinks, so things with grenadine in are popular with her.


Dislikes:

-The Cold. Sekhmet hates cold weather. It lessens her power, and also makes her feel rather homesick for her native land. It does not help that she owns no cold weather clothes, and tends to be too proud to admit that her garments might not be warm enough for the weather, so she tends to stick it out and try to hide her shivering.

-Dogs. She is a feline goddess, and dislikes dogs. She thinks they're cowardly, stupid, needy creatures with unhygenic habits. Dogs tend to go crazy around her, either barking and snapping, or cowering

- Felines being demeaned. Sekh sees felines as noble and beautiful animals that should be afforded respect. Seeing a lion trained to jump through hoops, a lynx kept like a housepet, or a cat dressed in a tiny tuxedo angers her. She disapproves of any wild animals being kept as pets, but especially wild cats.