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Name: Vivian 'Albino' Selfraix [viv-ee-ahn sel-frah-ay]
Age: Roughly twenty-eight
Gender: Female
Class: Mind Walker
Hometown: Born in Nosit, grew up in Torin
Guild: Dark Guild 1 (name pending)
Back-story:
Vivian was born in the center of Nosit, right in the capital city. Her parents were of a higher status and did not expect their first child to not only be female, but to be so sickly looking and 'albino'. To be truthful, she was not of actual albinism, but the idea that she could even belong to them was an odd thought for her parents who were proud and healthy looking. What child of theirs could be so frail looking? She was kept in the household, never let out to enjoy the freedom that she had no idea existed. The first five years of her life, she never questioned the odd lack of people, the walls that surrounded and caged her in. Soon, she began to hear their voices, outside her room, drifting in, and she began to see the tips of her long, almost white hair. The sixth year of her hidden life was spent feeling several emotions so foreign to her, she wondered if they could even belong to her, for all she had ever known was a dull, sweet boredom. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders and she wondered why everything was so white when her whole life felt so empty and dark. Was life supposed to be this empty, with voices echoing outside her sight?
One day, another voice joined the two she had gotten so familiarly comfortable with. Strong, booming and proud. The empty life was filled with what sounded like stomping and thunder to her silent-filled ears. Screams rang through as man slaughter occurred, caused by the hands of the unknown. Light filled the room for the first time in her seven year long life, and she was amazed by the sight of another person. His skin was dark, rough, and blood matted his black hair. Still, he had smiled, a hand out for her to grab and hold. Naive and unaware of the life she was meant to live, Vivian took the hand and was led out of the room for the first time. The first thing she noticed was the smell of blood and the dead bodies on the floor, and for the life of her, she could not register the fear and the surprise she was meant to feel. Only pride and strength ran through her veins, foreign to her blank persona, yet it had radiated so strongly from the man to her side. Her voice, unused, was unheard of to Vivian, and it left an odd burst of joy that had the child on her toes, suddenly realizing everything that she had never felt or seen around her. It was an odd day for such a small girl.
She was small, frail, and could obviously do with some food. The man took her and the loot of the household, and the two of them plus his men were on their merry way to Torin via carriage. Only a single man recognized the tattoo that was drawn straight on to her cheek, and he had demanded she be thrown out of their land or killed. Not another word had been spoken of the issue, though, when her savior stood up, sword in hand. She spent seven years with the man, who treated her like a daughter and took her with him on his hunts for money, killing and stealing on their way. Neither shared their names or spoke of their individual odd quirks. It was a simple life to enjoy for a child who had had nothing from the very beginning, albeit slightly odd and filled with blood. He taught her to feel, to love, and to experience life like she had never done so before, while she taught him what it was like to have something to protect and care for. It was a relationship of learning and growing that held on to Vivian with a vise-like grip.
One day, he died. Not in his sleep, not of old age - but he died in a fire. The man who protected her like a princess, treated her like a daughter, and loved her like a woman, died. In that single moment, she learned to grieve, to cry, and what it was like to lose something so close to her. Once again, she was fourteen, and just as alone as she had been seven years before that. Without her loyal guardian, attempts to kill her popped up, and she was forced to use what little skill she had as a rogue to fight off mysterious men with dangerous intentions. However, she was a girl without training, and she could not go on so long without facing the consequences. Her sixteenth birthday was met by the gift of the left side of her face being burned and slashed at, blinding her in the left eye. What little rage she had left in her built into a fighting spirit that caused a man's death, but it had been nothing to the searing pain she had felt when her face burned and burned. She learned to fight for herself, to live off of what little she had and to be strong.
Even without her eye, she could still see, albeit she had problems along the way. Her troubles did not go away when they burned her - she had gone down the path of gambling and stealing, just like her previous father figure. It was means of money, and she had the slightest of luck that got her places. She was satisfied with things, and had no idea of what her darker life would bring her. Just because she had luck, did not mean she had strength that could protect her from vicious attempts at her life and money. She met a man, interested in her empathetic abilities and curious of the tattoos on her body. He spoke of the mysterious ways of mind walkers - their ability to mess with a persons head and cause them to destruct themselves beginning from the inside. The two discussed, and she discovered that he knew of a group of mages that had some knowledge of the mind walker abilities. In a desperate attempt to learn how to protect herself and what she had left, she promised to give him something in exchange for teaching her and bringing her to those so called 'mages'.
So he took her hands. She held them out for him as he sawed them off, stating that her final test with the mages would be to learn how to use her prowess to control new hands.
There was no denying that she was incredulous, certain that the man was most likely off of his rocker, but he was her last hope of protecting herself. It wasn't like she had hands anymore, so she followed him, a carriage taking them along hills as he taught her the basics of magic, of living a life of money, and the ways of society. They spent a month travelling together, him teaching her, and her learning and being stuck doing nothing with her disabilities. When they met the mages, she was amazed - they were grand and held an air of authority that suffocated a thief like her who lived by tricking others. One man stood out the most, though. He wore a scarf over his eyes, and had what looked like a Glasgow Smile. He went by the name Crane. It was a mutual feeling of interest that caused him to stand forward and claim her as his apprentice.
Crane and Vivian traveled together, a relationship different from the one between the first man in her life. They were strictly apprentice and student, and nothing more. He taught her the ways of a mage and how to hone her abilities, constantly testing her skills on him to see what she could do. It was tough on her and he pushed her past her limits, making her run distances and cast spells until she dropped, and then run again. Training went on like that for the following six years, until he thought she had a decent enough skill level for a trained mage of her age and generation. A few weeks after she turned twenty-two, he gave her a gift - two heavy metal gauntlets. It was her replacement for the hands she had sawed off of her. It took her two weeks to even get the gauntlets to stay to her arms, much less being able to control the gauntlets. Finally, after two months of training with the gauntlets, she saw him smile for the first time as he called her by her real name, 'Vivian' rather than 'Albino'. Then, he literally kicked her off the carriage and disappeared.
She simply spent the rest of her time, wandering about as a mercenary for hire. It was through this that she found herself stumbling into a little inn, a bag of gold in her hands.
"I've got a request for you. Let me join you and I'll provide you with my service and abilities. Do you accept?"
Class Ability:
Illusionary Skills: the ability to trick a victim's senses by casting a spell over them.
Mind walkers are able to play tricks on their opponents minds by casting spells over the individual senses of touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste. The spell must be cast while the individual is still aware, and they will then either subtly be emerged into the illusion or they will fall immediately into a sleep-like trance that freezes their body. Minor illusions are often only cast over a single sense, usually the sense of sight, and the mind walker must work with the rest of the real senses to make them fall into place. The more senses that are tricked, the more energy that the caster must exert. The biggest illusion spell covers all the senses and, to a slight point, almost allows the caster to control the victim without physical contact. Illusions can be broken whenever the caster wishes or if they run out of energy to maintain the spell. Prime targets for mind walkers are people with weak wills or insecurities - the stronger a person's will, the more likely the illusion will not work or that the illusion will break. When under the illusion, it's hard to notice, but if a person does realize they are under the spell, they must mentally exert the will to force the illusion out of their senses, and it often leaves the victim mentally exhausted, giving time for the caster (if their energy isn't completely drained as well) to run away.
Dream Casting creating a link between two or more individuals through their dreamscapes.
A sub branch of the illusionary spells involve sealing a pact with somebody by marking their body with a dream cast spell. This essentially allows the mind walker to connect the minds and dreamscape of that person in their sleep; however, this requires that both the caster and the target are unconscious/asleep for the bond to activate. The marking must be drawn on all parties involved before they fall asleep. A marked individual will only stay bonded to the caster for a week before the powers wear off, and then they must be marked again to continue the meeting of dreams. Ritual must be followed for the bond to work properly, though. Using a spirit-bonded weapon of the caster, all parties must collect at least a drop of their own blood. Afterwards, the caster must carve their spell mark (often on the hand or back) on to the chosen individual. Most mind walkers have a permanent spell mark that has been carved in to their body since birth (Vivian's is on the left side of her face) and can range from simple to extremely intricate.
Empathy/Mind Walking: understanding others emotions and forcing the casters soul into another mindscape.
Mind walkers have a natural sense of empathy, whether they want to or not. They always have a general grasp of what the people around them are feeling. Because of their natural empathy, they also have a good ability at noticing a person's true personality, sorting liars out from honest people. The more that the mind walker focuses on a certain individual, the clearer a person's emotion is to them. An mind walker can also use their powers to enhance this ability, which helps them find out the darker, inner most feelings and experiences of a person. This is called mind walking, where the mind walker puts their soul into the other's consciousness to find out the information necessary. It knocks the caster out and is very dangerous because the mind walker will have no idea what's going on in reality until they are physically injured or leave the mindscape. When the spell is done successfully, the mind walker can explore the realms of their victims mind to their heart's content, and then either manipulate or erase (if they have enough energy left) memories. The more impact the memory had on the victim, the more energy it takes to manipulate and erase. Most illusionists use this to discover their target's biggest fears and weaknesses, then use it to cast the best illusion to break them. The difference between mind walking and dream casting is that in mind walking, you enter without the permission of the other, and they have no idea what you are doing in their 'mindscape' and memories, while in dream casting, the two (or more) consciousnesses are connected and can communicate.
Weapons:
Vivian's main weaponry consists of her gauntlets, which have surgically replaced her actual hands. Because of that, she cannot take them off, and the magical connection that lets her control the gauntlets like her own hands require magic charges (through the several gems implanted into them), which suck energy out of nearby people. She cannot stop the gems from sucking energy out of people, however, she can direct it to specific people to sap their stamina and knock them out quickly. Since she cannot remove them, she usually wears long, wide sleeves (imagine a kimono sleeve) to cover her hands, and when in battle, she will simply lash out. The metal of the gauntlets also make for a good defense, and she often (out of reflex) uses them to shield herself from sharp weaponry.
Her soul bound weapon is a dagger that is hidden in a pouch on the inside of her arm. If she needs to shoot from a long range, she throws her arm out in the direction of her opponent and the pouch mechanism releases the dagger quickly. The dagger is connected to her, so she channels her magic through it to call it back to her, meaning she can throw it as far as she want and call it back with her magic. She only uses it when marking for her dream casting and when she has an assassination job and her gauntlets are too big to leave a clean cut, or when she needs to poison somebody (which require that she's soaked the dagger in poison beforehand).
Personality:
Vivian is an odd child, to say the least. She thrives on the excitement that comes from pick-pocketing and killing, but exerts the authority and calmness of a trained soldier. It borders being bipolar, in certain cases. Her blank, pure appearance is complimented by a soft-spoken voice and her graceful, polite attitude. One thing is for certain - unless she's being benefited by an action, there's no way she will be involved. She can and certainly will stoop to the lowest means possible to get what she wants. Despite being a silent person by nature, she's not very easy to get along with once she finds that you are not valuable enough for her, and she will retort to sarcasm and rude remarks. It is simply the easiest way for her to rid herself of useless people. She determines who to trust based on what feedback she receives from her empathy. If she thinks you're a liar, she will lock you out of her life and find the most effective way to get away from you. If she believes a person to be honest or useful for her, she will follow them to the ends of earth until she gets what she wants.
There's not much for Vivian to want, other than decent companionship and protection. She refrains from getting too close to her companions unless she thinks they are strong enough to protect themselves, as she knows that love can hurt a person, but also strengthen them. It is for that reason alone that she found herself at the dark guild, where the stronger and more dangerous of people handle the darker side of life. Due to her stand-offish attitude, she can also come off as both cold and mysterious. It is this mystery that keeps her rein as The Albino Shadow alive and thriving. It is only when she finds herself attached to one of the very lucky few in her heart that she will let her facade of calm cruelty melt and she will show her truest, unwavering loyalty. Very few will see the side of her that smiles, much less cries.
Appearance:
As a child, she was considered to be almost fitting of the name 'albino'. Her hair is a platinum blonde that reaches down to her waist, soft to touch and mostly straight. Most days find Vivian with her hair down, but on dangerous missions, it's tied into a messy bun and hidden under a red hood. To go with her light hair, her skin is very pale, and does not seem to tan or burn no matter how long she stays under the sun. Her lithe body is full of tattoos, scars, and the marking of her clansmen that she hides. The most noticeable marking of her body is a scar that runs down the length of the left side of her face, starting as a black tattoo from her chin, then getting deeper into a red scar over her eye, before it spreads into webs of tiny burn-like scars that run into her hairline. She keeps her eyes bandaged at all times because the scar is her marking that brands her as a dream walker, and when she uses her powers, the scar opens and bleeds a lot, only the tattoo part of her marking can be seen, and her nickname 'Albino' is written for the world to see. The only part of her body that stands out from her usual albino like status are the gauntlet hands that are embedded with several red energy gems for power.
She wears nothing but white, red, and metal when it comes to her clothing. She dresses in a long white robe top, with sleeves several inches longer than her arms to cover her metal hands - a red vest is worn on top with a hood on top that covers her hair on missions. The vest is connected by two large chains to a collar around her neck that helps restrain her power. When she needs to use all of her power, she undoes the chains, which remove the restraints on her. Other than the collar, her ears are also pierced with metal studs. The robe top is tucked into red and white patterned fisherman pants, a white pouch tied around her waist to sit on her side. Depending on where she is and if she's on a mission, she either wears the pants loose and goes barefooted/in sandals or she tucks the end of the pants into white leather army boots. Her clothes are very baggy and allow for the vague neutrality of her gender, keeping her identity mysterious beyond the name of 'Albino'.
Size and Structure:
Vivian has a normal bone structure, with a lean body to go with it. Unlike many ladies, she's fairly flat, lacking the curves of an effeminate body. Her torso is longer than her legs and she stands at a proud height of 5'7". Because of her intense stamina training, both her upper body strength and lower body strength are fairly equal. Because she lacks the fat that so many others have, she's very flexible and graceful in her movements. Her lithe body allows her to pull off sprints in times of desperation as well as pulling off contortionist moves and squeezing into tight spaces. She weighs in at a very light 122lbs, but some of the armor that she wears can bring her weight to a rough 130lbs+
