(catch-kuh)
āMagic makes for a great and terrible plaything.ā
āUse what youāve got."
-Nickname
----
-Age
20
-Gender
Female
-Eye Color
Light Amber
-Hair Color
Black
-Height
5ā11ā
-Weight
165 lbs
NOT human, NOT fat. Girlās got a tail, scales and horns, and none of that comes light.
-Skin Tone
Human skin is light olive, scales are gray
-Build
Medium build, long limbed, wider hips than chest to accommodate tail. Soft muscle, indicative of daily exercise, but not physical training.
-Body Markings
As far as Carions go, she has an unusually high number of keeled scales on her head while the rest are plated flat. Five horns on crown. Frilled and bladed tail. No scars or tattoos.
ā Nothing is so frightening as belief in prophecy. "
-Fears
Prophecies. Vengeance. Kidnappers. Mage houses. Prisons. Lethal violence and unnatural death.
-Likes
Magic. Heat. Weather of any sort. Swimming.
-Dislikes
Prophecies. Excuses. Small or crowded spaces. Locks. Child abuse. Being controlled. Spilled blood. Porridge. All of it, in that order.
-Quirks
Ketchka pretends to be human, unless she's around Carion of the opposite gender, at which point she can forget a lot of important things. Has something to do with 20 years of Carion girls, and mating hormones.
Ketchka doesnāt play chess. There is something emotionally disturbing about moving pawns around a board, sacrificing one piece for another.
Ketchka doesnāt believe in following prophecies and especially not the Flameseeker Prophecies. She doesnāt understand NorāLok and Ergothās sacrifice. Sheās too familiar with magic and mages to believe no one tampered with the Prophecy since for their own gain, or that the future was so precisely read that nothing which happened in the interim changed the future, or that there were no misinterpretations. Prophecies are dangerous. They change peopleās behavior; people have faith they will be saved by someone else instead of putting forth their own effort, while others force the situation, as if the prophecy will not come to pass without their making it happen. Then, when people get hurt or die, it isnāt their fault, āit was fateā, or āthe end justifies the meansā, and āthis is so much bigger than any one personā.
-Personality
Curious. Intelligent. Studious. Pacifist. Mediator. Compassionate. Creative. Spirited.
A runner, not a fighter. Competitive. Possessive. Critical. Confrontational. Distrustful.
āYou canāt force fate."
-Relationships
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-History
Ketchka has been shaped by a history that began long ago.
Before the Beast King, mage houses functioned like craft guilds, apprenticing youths, recognizing masters, and guaranteeing the public quality goods and services for their money. After civilization was forced underground, and populations collapsed, the mage houses fell.
The revival of the mage houses was orchestrated to fulfill the Flameseeker Prophecies, by human mages who were far removed from the traditions, wisdom, and history of mage houses. The new mage houses were exclusive and served to aggrandize their coalitions of talented mages with exhibitions of power and opalescence. The mages themselves were generally prone to power games and hedonistic follies; perhaps because they were placeholders waiting for a child spoken of in prophecy, they were bitter and yearning for lasting fame. They are a source of modern suspicion and hatred toward human mages. Regardless, their devout reverence for the Flamekeeper Prophecies bordered on religious fervor.
Ever since the advent of Carions, the first of the signs they waited for, the mage houses have been racing to collect girl orphans. Sometimes, in their impatience, the more ruthless houses watched births, and ensured all conditions for the prophecy were fulfilled. And how to gage the power and prestige of the mage house itself? Theyāve been at war, stealing orphans and cursing their brethren into subservience or destruction.
Ketchka herself has been under the roof of many mage houses, kept locked away like a trophy in a treasure room, both guarded preciously and denied affection. She was just one of many, a very awkward child, and not favored as a likely vehicle of destiny. She bonded with the other orphan girls, but learned the hard way there is a steep difference between taking care of fellow prisoners and friendship. As she aged and showed an aptitude for magic, her value grew. With each mage house, Ketchka was exposed to new master mages with vastly different magical styles, and older orphans who didnāt care for competition.
In her fear of each successive mage raid, Ketchka tried to disguise herself as a human, hoping to use the chaos to escape. After the first few attempts, she lost the edge of surprise, and never again came close to leaving.
Now, at the precious age of twenty, time has run out. The likelihood of her being the child in the prophecy is deemed insignificant, and sheāll be released from the care and protection of her last mage house, Yideas. Not all mage houses release their orphans, and sheās been warned of what happens in other houses to old orphan girls.
Should she wish to learn the identity of her parents and how she came to be orphaned, she has the opportunity to stay in Yideas, work for them to take other children and perpetuate the horrors she fears and loathes. If she refuses to serve Yideas, no amount of scrying will grant her answers or closure. Nor a target for vengeance.
Ketchka left yesterday.
Ketchka is traveling disguised as a human, a trick she hasnāt played in so long that rival mage houses shouldnāt be wary of it. Sheās been receiving some of the best possible mage training in the last ten years, and her specialty is integrating vastly different forms of magic, so it is almost impossible to find a chink in her personal spells. Sheād rather endure the danger of discrimination against human mages than be picked up by a rival mage house. If she feels she is being tracked, sheāll do something dangerous, painful, and stupid: remove the well of magic from her core and hide it. This makes her invisible to anything tracking magic, but pretty damn defenseless if found by ordinary means.