Ariya Celice
Role: The Healer
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Personality: A generally kind person. Ariya was raised with the notion of her ability to help others, and her requirement to do so hammered into her. Through strict training, she became a very disciplined and powerful individual, having quite remarkable control over the powers of Saint Celice. Despite this, however, she also is incredibly selfless and humble, a rather strange trait for someone blessed with incredible abilities and venerated as a messenger of heaven itself, a reborn Saint. She's a person, who, despite almost always remaining in a state of melancholy due to her own sacrifices, doesn't dwell on them and always strives to provide happiness to others. And, to those around her, that seems to be all she is: a harmless, motherly young woman with no ambition of her own, with good will toward the world and its occupants, someone who would never hurt a fly and would try, perhaps not without success, to redeem even the most heartless devil imaginable.
But, deep down, there's a side to Ariya which she keeps hidden from almost everyone. After being shut up for so long in a world where kindness was the only rule and everyone seemed to love everyone else, emerging into the bleak, harsh outside world full of hatred and grief caused her no end of guilt and grief. She, who could have saved so many with her own two hands, had instead dwelt alone in silence and comfort while the world outside suffered. She hadn't been there to help those who needed it, and she hated herself for it. On top of this, she suddenly found herself unable to understand or communicate with anyone, as she hadn't ever felt their pain or sadness and couldn't even understand their feelings of hating each other, their greed and their lust for power, another fact which causes her further pain. Because she can't understand or connect with people, she can't help them overcome their deepest fears and sorrows, and no matter how much she empathizes with them, and can't honestly say she understands those she tries to help. Because of this, she feels powerless, impotent, alone, and afraid, apologizing for things that aren't even her fault and trying in vain to take on the suffering of the whole world so she can understand those around her. Even after healing someone's wounds, she would instead feel honestly guilty and heartbroken, and would apologize for being unable to do more rather than feel glad she managed to accomplish what she did.
She finds it hard to trust anyone anymore due to the fact that even those whose overall temperament she perceives as relatively "good" often do things with a very bad intent, making her wonder if her ability to understand people is somehow defective. Since she can't understand people, she instead distances herself from them, keeping them at arm's length as she travels the countryside, helping whoever she can and accepting only food, drink, and lodgings as a reward before passing on to the next place. Since even "good" people might betray her to her pursuers with the "good" intention of gaining money to feed their families, she finds herself unable to relax her guard for a moment, and so continues her endless flight alone across the world. Ironically enough, she finds herself able to only trust those born on "Dark Sabbaths," who she was taught were merely demons in disguise as Human beings. This is because she has seen how unjust their persecution is, and also knows that the good-intentioned ones are the only ones who will never betray her. But, even still, she finds herself largely unable to relate to them despite their similar circumstances.
Because of this, Ariya generally retreats from society, interacting instead only with the one type of being she can truly understand: plants and animals. Due to her power to converse with these natural entities, she finds herself treating them with the same sort of kindness she shows to Human beings, stopping in the woods to heal a bird's broken wing or halting her journeys to rid a wild hound of a severe disease. Because of this, it's actually not uncommon for her to, when unable to take refuge with Humans, hide in the forests and dwell in the dens of bears or amongst the nests of giant eagles, or to get food along the road by talking an apple tree into dropping its fruit for her to eat. Because of this, she's somewhat of a vegetarian, refusing to harm any animal for the sake of eating it, although due to her experience with wolves and such eating smaller animals to survive, she is willing to consume meat that has already been killed and prepared by someone else, and is actually a very skilled cook, even when preparing dishes made from meat.
Ariya is generally very reluctant to hurt other people or things, as it goes against her ideals of always helping those she can. However, when faced with an adversary she must fight, or an unforgivable foe - I.E. bandits, murderers, or her pursuers - she will not hesitate to do damage to her opponents, although she generally aims to incapacitate or at most cripple to prevent harm from coming to anyone else, and might even end up healing her unconscious adversaries after the first. But, this must not be mistaken for helplessness or naive compassion. If forced to, Ariya is fully capable of killing someone who angers her enough to drive her to such an extent. Do not mistake her for being harmless simply because she is merciful and chooses not to fight.
Highly literate, Ariya is also a bit of a bookworm, accepting reading materials when forced to take a reward for her acts of compassion. She loves to read old legends and stories, loving these tales of happier times when everyone could hear the animals talk and people could understand each other. Deep down, that's the sort of world she wants to live in. She also has a musical inclination, and loves to play a small wooden flute she carries with her everywhere, and to sing - both of which she is incredibly good at. She is capable of weaving a beautiful and transfixing song, which is somewhat surprising considering her quiet, unassuming tendencies and soft, gentle voice.
Appearance: Standing at a slightly tall height of five feet, five inches, Ariya manages not to stand out in a crowd through her generally inconspicuous nature, although her appearance is, despite this, quite distinctive. Gifted - or perhaps one might say cursed, as it is the result of both scarcity of provisions and willful fasting - with a very thin figure, the young saint's body is clearly slanted toward her limbs. With long, slender legs, a thin waist, flat stomach, narrow shoulders, thin but firm arms, soft, pale skin lacking almost any form of blemish or scar - these are probably due to her subconsciously healing these things before they could ever really appear, and preventing her skin from being damaged by sunlight, keeping it at its initial white, silken texture and hue - and a very mature figure, Ariya somehow manages to convey the image of a fragile flower that has just blossomed, but might soon fade, while also bearing the image of a resolute, beautiful mother in whose arms one can always take shelter. Something about her simply strikes a chord within one's heart, making her instinctively appealing. Either way, with or without her charismatic nature and lovable demeanor, she's still quite something to look at, a fact she's rather self-conscious about.
Equally notable to her general appearance is her face, which seems almost childlike at times, and yet bears a maturity that compliments her rather motherly nature quite well. With rounded cheeks, a petite nose, chin, and ears, her three most notable features are her soft pink lips and radiantly white smile, her deep, sapphire blue eyes, which gleam like the sun shining across a cloudless sky when she is happy, and contain the weight and depth of the dark, immeasurable ocean when tears begin to well up beneath their azure surface, and, most unusually, her whitish-blonde hair, which glistens like a curtain of silver and diamonds in the light rather than seeming to have greyed with age, and yet gives her a certain mystique that draws one to venerate her wisdom and experience, as though talking to one's world-wise parent. This last feature, while kept in a fashion similar to a hime cut, is, instead of being allowed to flow in a single cascade to its full waist-length, is partitioned by a simple ribbon of black velvet into a pair of equal-length ponytails, framing her face with twin curtains of beautifully soft and straight hair.
Her usual style of dress is very simple, but seems to suit her quite well. Due to her single-outfit wardrobe - she doesn't have any viable means of either getting or carrying with her any additional clothes - she is always seen wearing a simple, sleeveless black dress of silk, made in a similar fashion to a qipao, and lined and embroidered with a silvery gray thread, forming both a trim around its edges and embroidery in various floral patterns across the soft garment's surface. The dress is rather tightly fitting, but due to its thin nature neither causes her any discomfort or inconvenience whilst moving, making it both a practical garment as well as one that suits her quite nicely. Her only accessories are her staff, usually slung over her back or used as a walking stick, a simple belt made of a thin strip of leather that serves to keep her dress securely fastened, a pair of brown pantyhose meant to keep the dust of the road from clinging directly to her legs, and a pair of simple sandals of brown leather. However, she does carry one final garment with her, as a means of remaining inconspicuous when she enters a town or large city, so as not to be recognized for who she is by her rather distinctive features. Namely, a hooded cloak of black wool lined with a cloud-like white color, which hangs down to just above her ankles and wraps around her body, its ever-so-slightly pointed hood serving to cover her face just as the rest of the garment conceals her entire figure. Save for two short tails of white hair from beneath the hood, and the occasional appearance of her hands from beneath the cloak, very little can be seen of her while she wears this garment.
Magical Abilities: Ariya possesses a very versatile and multifaceted ability, with quite a few different applications. As her powers are based around the countless legends of Saint Celice, whose spirit she is a vessel for, she is capable of many things that perhaps even the original saint could not do, as Celice's strength has been greatly supplemented over the years by the many different tales about miracles worked by both that person and all previous reincarnations bearing the saint's powers.
Most notable is her ability to control living bodies. By using her own soul's energy as a catalyst, Ariya can do many things ranging from stitching a wound back together with her own energy to literally reversing time by manifesting a soul's memories of when it was healthy to completely overwrite reality. Obviously, more mundane methods of healing conserve Ariya's strength, making them more practical for simple cases, whereas she only uses her more absolute healing abilities to prevent mortal injuries from taking effect. In short, the young saint is capable of healing even those who have just died, although she is incapable of resurrecting those whose souls have already passed on. Her healing powers extend even to poisons and diseases and other such maladies as well as simple physical ailments, and she could even technically undo the effects of age, although this would take a tremendous amount of energy and preparation.
This is not the limit of her abilities in relation to the Human body, however. Through either direct physical contact or some preparation, Ariya can either reinforce or weaken the Human body by augmenting or hindering it with her own energy. This serves to increase/decrease strength, speed, endurance, and even hand/eye coordination, reflexes, and the effectiveness of one's five senses. Should she ever feel it necessary, she can also imbue her own energy into an injury inflicted either by herself or by someone under the effects of her physical reinforcement, causing said wound to be incredibly difficult to heal, as her energy continuously forces it open, preventing it from closing.
In addition to this power, Ariya also possesses the power to both sense and ward off evil, and to detect and empower good fortunes and intentions. Essentially, by looking at someone or something, she is capable of determining whether that person/creature/object has good or bad intentions - or, in the case of Humans, morals - and act upon these observations. In the case of evil objects or intentions, she is capable of purifying them - save in the cases of Humans - removing curses, banishing evil spirits, etcetera, or, in the case of Humans, creating boundaries against them and their powers, and otherwise retaliating against them. On the other hand, she is also capable of blessing objects, creatures, and people to ward away evil in a similar manner to herself, and even to bring good fortune - I.E. bountiful harvests, killing diseases in the area, driving away wild and dangerous animals, and so forth.
But even this is not the limit of Ariya's abilities. In addition to these powers, she also possesses such abilities as the power to analyze magic and its composition - derived from a legend where a reincarnation of the saint was able to determine that a child born on a Dark Sabbath was in fact a reincarnation of a terrible beast simply by gazing intently at the boy - the power to speak to and command animals, and to understand the basic "thoughts" of plants, the power to receive premonitions of danger in the form of dreams or brief flashes of visions while awake, the ability to fly on the very light in the heavens which becomes a pair of radiant white wings on her back, and, most importantly, the powers known as "Holy Sword" and "Holy Shield."
Holy Sword is "the power to fight for what one believes in, and the power to empower both objects and other individuals to fight in such a manner." This ability takes the form of a radiant golden light made from Ariya's soul - the soul of Saint Celice - itself, and has many diverse uses. Firstly, it can be used to enhance an object to the point of being nearly unbreakable, increasing its power as a weapon at the same time regardless of its original use. At the same time, Ariya can use whatever experiences the great Saint of old had wielding such a weapon to make herself just as proficient in its use. She can also apply this light to other people - including herself - and their attacks, strengthening the powers of both magic and the user and giving them the Saint's knowledge as well, so long as the effect lasts. Finally, she can simply manipulate the light itself to form energy-based attacks. These attacks are, against normal targets such as beings with generally good intentions, largely ineffective, causing only minor burns and slight wounds in the case of a morally neutral target and doing little more than causing a slight impact in the case of a target whose intentions are morally pure. However, should they be used against a target with the intent to commit evil, they can do damage ranging from deep, red-hot blades piercing the target to literally immolating a purely evil or wholly demonic target with holy fire. Similarly, the enemy's moral alignment also affects how well Ariya's magical weapons, or people enhanced by her Holy Sword ability, fare against their targets.
Holy Shield, on the other hand, is "the power to protect those one wishes to shield, and the power to strengthen both objects and individuals to do so." This ability takes the form of radiant silver light, also made from the soul of Ariya and of Saint Celice. Its applications are simple: to form a shield around whoever or whatever Ariya targets, and to give objects and people the power to passively create shields within a given area of themselves when they or their target area is threatened. These shields are both physical and spiritual, blocking both attacks and offensive magic, and sometimes even rejecting people or animals, making them highly useful. Their strength varies depending on both the area of the shield Ariya intends to create, the shield's shape, and the amount of strength she puts into its creation, as well as the moral alignment and/or intent of the things they contact. A good person trying to kill someone inside the shield would encounter some resistance, but would be able to pass through, as might a somewhat evil person attempting to help someone on the other side for purely selfless motives. On the other hand, a good person with good intentions could pass through easily, and an evil person with evil intent would be completely rejected, perhaps even violently and painfully so. Ariya can, however, create exceptions to this rule, allowing people she trusts through her barriers without exception. Objects or spells, on the other hand, cannot be so easily allowed through.
Weapon: A simple wooden staff, specifically a small shepherd's crook. In battle, she uses her Holy Sword ability on occasion to weaponize it, giving it the power to release forceful concussive blasts upon impact with a target, or even to cut and pierce through like a blade.
History: Born to insignificant and currently unknown parents, Ariya was left by her family to be raised by the church. Growing up in a large convent in the capital city, Ariya was repeatedly taught to help all people, but to refrain from sparing any of her strength to save the unholy ones born on other sabbaths. At first, she simply complied with these ideals as absolute, being raised to be perfectly obedient and perfectly humble. Thus, she simply continued with her duties around her home, maintaining the chapel and healing the sick who came to see the young miracle worker in the hopes of being saved. At first, she felt proud of herself for being able to do these small good deeds, and so when she was used to identify various other children of Dark Sabbaths who were brought to her to be verified, she reasoned that despite letting these helpless ones go to their deaths, she was doing the right thing. After all, weren't they evil?
But, to her great confusion, when she discovered her power to detect a person's intentions, she found several of the Sabbath-Children to be wholly pure of such evil intents as her teachers described. Realizing that they were, deep down, perfectly good and innocent people, she began to protest, vehemently claiming that those who were about to be taken away must have been misunderstood. Despite this, she found that no one would listen to her. Unable to understand the cruelties that her seemingly pure teachers were inflicting, she took it upon herself to do what was right. Slipping out of the convent in the middle of the night with only a staff, her clothes, and a light to guide her, she trailed the convoy taking the young gifted to their deaths, and caught up to the group where it was encamped. Slipping amongst them, she silently freed the gifted in their ranks, and led them safely into the wilderness, where, using her abilities to commune with nature, she managed to feed the small group of children until they could make their way safely to a small orphanage in the country, where Ariya left them in safety.
During her journey, however, the young saint came to realize that the world was neither as simple nor as pure as she had been led to believe. Horrified by the suffering she witnessed, Ariya found her pride in her own abilities shattered. After all, wasn't it her job to save everyone? And yet, such suffering had passed by her unnoticed where she dwelt alone in the darkness of the convent, innocently ignorant to the horrible world outside. She hadn't been there to help anyone, so didn't that mean she had failed? On top of that, she had broken one of the very first rules she had learned. She couldn't go back to how things were before, and so instead of returning silently to the convent in the same night as she had left it, she faked her own abduction, leaving traces of black cloth and a struggle, along with some of her own blood in a small clearing, leaving false tracks to that location so as to make it look like she had been murdered. This way, she could live in secret, taking on a new life and a new identity in the hopes of somehow managing to right her previous wrongs and to save who she could. And yet, she found herself unable to take on the pains of the whole world, and hated herself for it.
On top of this, her faked assassination had consequences she did not foresee. Horrified by the "murder" of their beloved saint, the church quickly claimed that a terrible demon concealed in Human form had done the deed, killing her as a means of revenge for exposing its kin, and had then gone on to slay the entire convoy guarding its followers so it could lead them off into the night. Of course, the convoy hadn't been in the slightest harmed, but the church managed to fake this news well enough that no one questioned it. And, the church, getting news from the convoy and from the cloth they had found in the clearing, soon deduced that the being that had killed their beloved saint was a demonic lady clad in a black cloak.
Ariya, now known by the false name of "Argo the Spiritualist," quickly became hunted by the church, and although she often concealed her identity from those she helped, would infallibly be pursued with torches and pitchforks whenever she was discovered. Assassins and soldiers tracked her path, and she found herself living on the run, never staying in one place lest she be found out to be "Argo." Consequently, although many people who meet her don't associate her with the demonic legend, there are those who claim that she stole the powers of the saint, but corrupted them, and that those who allow her to help them will become cursed, and the like. Consequently, she is met either with universal ignorance or apathy, or with abject hatred and fear. Thus, "Argo" continued her flight through the world, doing what it took to survive and help others, but always remaining alone, unable to understand the world, its people, or why she always felt so terribly sad. That is, until one fateful day, where she discovered the meaning behind her loneliness, and she began her own personal path toward redemption...
