Sersi

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Sersi (Scenesys ID: 7939)
https://tinyurl.com/sersi1
Quote
"What is life? We are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive."
Profile
Full Name: Sersi / Circe
Gender: Female
Species: Eternal
Theme: Marvel (TPC)
Occupation: Fashion Designer
Citizenship: None
Residence: Upper East Side, New York City
Education: Private Tutors
Status: Approved
Groups: Mystic Arts
Other Information
Apparent Age: {{{PAge}}} Actual Age: {{{AAge}}}
Date of Birth Prehistory Actor: Eva Green
Height: 182 cm Weight: 69 kg
Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Violet
Theme Song: "The Other Side" by Ruelle

Profile

Created aeons ago by the Celestials, the race of Eternals were intended to protect the Earth. Sersi has walked the Earth in a number of guises, protected by her immortality and superhuman abilities. Favouring the pursuit of the arts and technology, she moved among humanity -- as a patroness, a muse, rarely a seductress -- far more than her kindred. The exponential advancements of the past century have drawn her interest, an accelerating cycle of troubles proving far too interesting to overlook.

Current Player Approved: Not Applicable

Sheet

Description

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Description
All laughter and joy reside in the vast summer-blue eyes of a young woman on the later side of her twenties. None of the heavy cares in the world seem to have touched her face, leaving a brilliant, warm light that persists even through rare bouts of concern or sorrow that touch her. Sersi has features well-suited to carry off the delight she holds with the world. Her oval face can all but glow when her full mouth curves into a smile, the sheen of coral lipgloss applied with precision all she needs to highlight her incandescent moods as they arise. Fair-skinned to the point blue veins show at her wrists, her smooth complexion bears not so much as a freckle anywhere to be found, nor a scar. Dark hair, so deep a black that ultramarine blue highlights emerge, she wears in a a blunt cut midway down her back with a fringe of bangs that tend to fall in her eyes when not contained by some kind of pin or styling. No matter her efforts, the shining fall always wants to curl by night's end. A pair of stylish catseye glasses with aquamarine frames tinted to midnight usually perch on her nose, a look that carries enough vintage aplomb to satisfy the most discerning of hipsters.

She has the height of a model with the build of a yoga practitioner, balanced somewhere between lithe and sleek. Defined muscle in her legs and arms prevents her from ever being considered waifish, but the couture garments that invariably form her ensemble fit with a tailored precision all the same. Her preference today is suited for an iconic mariniere look, all gorgeous sharp-edged construction spun out of eclectic textures and hues. Iridescent blue ribbons pinstripe her flowy gossamer blouse, a take on the Breton stripe. The flowing mantle drifts languidly to a high-waisted black pencil skirt taken to extremes, midnight dropping to midcalf and pierced vertically by notched slits a ghostly inch higher than might be strictly comfortable. Ultramarine silk trim outlining the slits only serve to attract the eye, the silvery brocade of her leggings visible. She is curiously elevated on a pair of heels that look like nothing so much as lotuses stitched incongruously out of living petals of the night-flowering flowers, their blue-white blooms wrapped around her feet and elevated on leafy stems. A bit of couture brilliance, no doubt.

History

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A million years in prehistory, the First Host of the Celestials created the Eternals, a nigh-immortal race devised to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. Eternals built and dwelled in fabled civilizations that rose and fell, but always remembered the duty they passed on to their children. The task of mingling with mankind to understand them, their ambitions and their dreams, fell upon Sersi at a time when her parents Helios and Perse already withdrew to a contemplative life. She marveled at humanity's creativity and petty quarrels, their ingenuity and their failures. More than any other Eternal before or since, she dared to dwell in mortal cities now turned to dust and walked among their lands and people. The Middle Kingdom, Harappa culture, the Old and Intermediate Kingdoms, she loved them all. She lived many lifetimes as priestess, weaver, wife, shepherdess, merchant.

But she entered history as a famous sorceress in a Dark Ages tale preserved from Mycenean Greece; the claims she entrapped Odysseus for a decade on her Aegean domain overshadowed her independence and quiet influence behind the scenes. When the Eternals withdrew from contact, she remained in the thick of it. Throughout history -- Rome, Greece, the Carolingian dynasty, Briton -- Sersi paid witness to human advancements and challenged outside forces trying to derail their development. True to her mission, she rarely prevented human-driven war or disruptions except when they threatened her own existence, carving out pockets of calm and protection. But she hasn't been unscathed by war or loss, scarred by losses of friends and her own life on occasion.

When the insular Eternals called her back, she rebuffed them. Not for her the dull, cloistered world of their high technology unless trouble called, but ties to her cousins remain strong and affectionate in most cases. Who else can understand the struggle of watching generations wither away in near eternal youth?

In the modern era, she has taken on myriad identities to allow her to pass relatively unnoticed, save by companion mystics or friends. As superheroes emerge in the public eye, she has similarly taken on a higher degree of prominence, her fingerprints to be felt.

Personality

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Personality
On the surface, Sersi acts much like any other savvy, sophisticated young woman raised fully in the digital age. She speaks her mind, seizing opportunities, and refusing to back down against established social norms that might otherwise put her in her place. Vibrant, passionate, and wholly-heartedly committed to hurling herself into whatever pursuit captivates her, she doesn't so much rise to meet the world as tackles it at the waist an dtakes it to ground like a huntress claiming her quarry. She struggles with the burden on her shoulders, gifted by proximity to heroes and gifted talents, and it's fair to say anxiety prowls at the fringes of her actions, evidence of a desire to find her place and make a difference in the world. At times supremely confident, and still adapting and growing, she is full of boundless contradictions. That's precisely the mask Sersi wants to present to the world.

In truth she is considerably older and terribly driven in her purpose of protecting and preserving the Earth from external threats. Sersi is complicated, wearing many different faces to suit her constructed personas, the identities matching a set of expectations donned like a coat. Very few people even within her own family get to know the real her. She can't run the risk. Getting close to someone not only puts them at risk, it allows a lever they might use to exploit or hurt her. Plenty have, and the guarded defenses are meant to be completely invisible. What you see isn't usually what you get, though when she plays a role, sometimes she compartmentalizes the other doubts, fears, and hopes or dreams to be more genuine and honest. Externally this can read as proud and fickle, shallow, or even outright treacherous.

The blithe, almost playful way she interacts with the world is a lens to counteract despair and frustration brought on by grand dangers. She refuses to be bogged down by negativity to a degree it tarnishes her outlook or her willingness to engage with human society. Longevity requires adaptability in her thinking, but her evident capriciousness tends to leave her underestimated (and appreciated) by many of her peers. Sersi's immense creativity and need to view issues from many different facets stems not only from her power-set, but a fundamental ability to thrive in a changing environment. She has a very long-term viewpoint while simultaneously trying to live in the here and now.

She prizes ingenuity, loyalty, wit, and intelligence, while despising cruelty and wanton destruction. Embracing passions and fears without being ruled by them is a governing principle of her life, and she responds very badly indeed to fetters being placed on her.

Abilities

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Blended Powers
Sersi can blend her illusion-working powers with her other powers to generate a more realistic effect that resists disbelief. Though her illusions are difficult to detect from reality normally, blending telekinesis or telepathy helps reinforce them to the point they might be indistinguishable from the real thing without unusual measures, powerful psychic abilities or other exceptional illusionists. For example, she might conceal a force wall in front of an open window, and layer an illusion of a steel door on the force wall. Blending powers makes them less costly to create than two separate effects, but they have drawbacks. She can't anchor any telepathic-illusory blend, and must stay within line of sight of the illusion. Crafting two powers together requires a high degree of attention to detail, and interruptions (like serious physical attacks) dispel the illusion. Blended powers are power-hungry, so she can only maintain one at a time and they drain her energy unless she anchors the blended illusion. Anchoring often requires rare components or a heavy investment of energy. These never last longer than a scene.

Energy Working
Absorption: Sersi innately absorbs energy, derived primarily from magical, electromagnetic, and cosmic sources that she uses to fuel her supernatural abilities. Low-grade absorption requires no concentration or effort on her part as long as she's in close proximity to a source, like sunshine on her skin or a leyline within a block. Simple absorption recharges her personal reserves like solar cells fill up on a sunny day. When fully depleted, she falls unconscious but still naturally absorbs ambient energy (and takes about a day to recover fully).

Spindling: Active absorption permits her to spindle energy from an external source at a much faster rate. When she spindles, Sersi can't direct her focus anywhere else and is endangered by disruptions, typically by psychic or physical attack (dropping the building, say). Interruptions cause energy to surge or be released in anything from a jolt to a blocks-wide explosion based on the quantity and source. Using an active microwave broadcast is volatile and more dangerous than light, for example. As such, Sersi tries to draw power away from open combat or get someone to shield her, but fighting her next to an active energy source may be a terrible idea - she'll get back into a fight faster.

Energy Manipulation: Sersi can produce blasts of mystic energy, light, and energetic force, generated from her own energy stores. Her range is generally about a city block at her best and she requires a direct line of sight. Overuse or overextension exhausts her reserves, leaving her unable to generate a charge until she rests or taps into another energy source. In a fight, she can make several medium grade attacks strong enough to knock someone back 100 feet or 2 to 3 high energy, sustained bursts capable of melting through reinforced titanium. While she can generate lethal force, she avoids doing so unless absolutely necessary. Her highest energy attacks can destroy reinforced materials, but not mystical/supernatural ones like uru, vibranium, or adamantium. n: Sersi can produce blasts of mystic energy, light, and energetic force, generated from her own energy stores. Herrange is generally about a city block at her best and she requires a direct line of sight. Overuse or overextension exhausts her reserves, leaving her unable to generate a charge until she rests or taps into another energy source. In a fight, she can make several medium grade attacks strong enough to knock someone back 100 feet or 2 to 3 high energy, sustained bursts capable of melting through reinforced titanium. While she can generate lethal force, she avoids doing so unless absolutely necessary. Her highest energy attacks can destroy reinforced materials, but not mystical/supernatural ones like uru, vibranium, or adamantium.

Eternal
Sersi is a full-blooded Eternal, granting her supernatural durability, agility, strength, and stamina far in excess of any human. She can catch missiles she is aware of and move with exceptional grace. Cosmic energy stitched into her very molecular structure renders her ageless and unaffected by toxins, poisons or diseases.

Her natural strength allows her to comfortably lift 25 tons, though she can easily augment this range far higher through her telekinetic gifts. Her endurance functions at levels far beyond the norm. She requires no sustenance or sleep to function and she can perform sustained physical activity for easily over a day without greatly tiring.

Cosmic energy laced throughout her Eternal physiology renders Sersi considerably more resistant to damage than humans. She is generally unaffected by extreme environments, heat or the extremes of space. Falls, bashing damage or mundane weapons do little immediate harm, and she shrugs off gunshots due to a highly-attuned level of molecular control over her own body. She can withstand point-blank energy blasts, and high-velocity impacts that would otherwise kill or maim her.

Her matter manipulation talents are so developed she can completely reshape her appearance or overcome environmental limitations.

Illusions
Sersi is among the finest illusionists, and she can craft incredibly detailed mystical constructs that affect all senses. Her illusions might range from presenting ID with a credible amount of detail to manifesting someone's terror in front of them, unseen to others. She is largely limited to only her own imagination. PC consent is always required.

Weaknesses: Powerful psychics, other illusionists of equal skill, or divine beings are rarely taken fully by her illusions. Psychic shielding defends against illusions of weaker strength. Disbelief can weaken or destroy illusions for that target. It's often generated by glaring inaccuracies or forcing someone to act against a deeply held conviction, like trying to terrify someone who wields fear-based powers.

Simple Illusions: Simple illusions are brief, limited sensory experiences or not intended for lengthy interaction. She can sustain multiple applications in layers with limited concentration. They are easy to pull off if they last a few seconds or involve a volume no larger than a truck. Familiarity also plays a role: it's much easier for her to play bits of a favourite song, imitate the taste of a meal she eats often or appear like someone she knows well than guessing at the unfamiliar. Examples include intangible visual replicas; illusory writing on a presented ID; a credit card used for a purchase; sudden noises; a beguiling scent trailing through a room. A personal illusory augmentation of her appearance falls in here.

A large-scale, lasting, or detailed illusion involving multiple senses counts as complex. They may affect a single target, visible to no one else, or be fully manifested to others. Examples include creating a simulacra of herself, staging a fight, convincing a guard he sees a scary dog, subjecting someone to a private nightmare. She has greater accuracy and control with small adjustments to an existing target or a smaller volume (vehicle-sized). Anything larger than a soccer pitch is hard to affect spontaneously without rare components. The more elaborate the illusion, the more focus needed to create and maintain it. Sersi must stay within line of sight to sustain a complex illusion without an anchor, which requires a considerable amount of power to fuel the effect. The input of energy determines how long it lasts, anywhere from a minute to a scene (8 hours). Special components can help anchor them in reality, but Sersi needs to obtain the exotic materials and prepare them in advance. With rare and costly resources and plenty of power, an anchored working might last a day (and Sersi will need to rest). At her best, she could transform a theatre into a living movie-like projection with sounds, independent illusory actors, changing lighting and sound effects, musical tracks and an audience augmented by period clothing.

Molecular Control
Sersi has a fine degree of molecular control over her own body, like all her people. However, her skills reflect her talent for manipulating matter. Over millennia, she has mastered reknitting her body together to close up wounds or combat deleterious effects of spellcraft or worse. Her healing factor kicks in automatically whenever she is harmed, even if she is rendered unconscious. Actively focusing accelerates the process, and she can manage to erase bruises in seconds or staunch bloodflow with a thought. She needs concentration and time to perform greater feats of control like dramatically shifting her appearance (for example, altering her height, weight or developing scales - minutes on average) or regenerating lost limbs or organs, which takes hours in average circumstances. As long as she hasn't been disintegrated to a molecular level, she will eventually regenerate fully. The process can take up to 3 days and is wholly unpleasant, though.

Telekinesis
Through psychic manipulation of force, Sersi can move objects and herself with a superhuman strength reaching around the thirty tonne range. Her best effects focus on affecting herself or small objects, as she's focused more heavily on self-defensive and movement-based functions. She can snatch bullets from mid-flight or manipulate objects the size of a truck with finesse. Flying at high speed with excellent maneuverability, she levitates with ease. In space, she can achieve magnitudes higher speed. Sustaining the mental energy to carry others slows her down and causes fatigue proportional to the mass she has to lift. Transporting 4 people several miles at jet cruising speeds (aka: as an escape) marks her maximum limit without endangering herself and them. Her telekinetic shields protect a target (maximum radius: a car or a small room) or conversely hedge them in, preventing escape as an excellent means or protecting someone, but she must remain in line of sight as these aren't self sustaining. These force shields hold up against strikes equal to her mental strength, but they diminish from extensive damage or shattering strikes. Shaping and generating telekinetic force otherwise requires her to be in line of sight, and concentration to sustain their presence.

Telepathy
Sersi is able to communicate telepathically with another being. At its simplest she forges a mental connection with a willing target, and the bond lasts as long as she concentrates. An anchor permits two-way communication anywhere on the planet and lasts 12-24 hours, based on her familiarity with her target. She has to spend energy to sustain an anchor and she struggles to maintain links with more than 4 people at a time (not including the Uni-Mind). Reading auras or surface thoughts is easy, but deeper thoughts or lost memories takes a concerted effort allowing for little else.

Homer's story notes how she insinuated thoughts and suggestions into men's minds. Reading and altering thoughts undetected is much simpler for her than trying to influence a resistant target's thoughts, which is far more difficult. An aware, resisting target diminishes a forced mind-reading bond to lasting minutes down to seconds, and cannot exceed 10 miles away. Powerful psychics or strong-willed people, like herself, steeply diminish her effectiveness. Any such uses require player consent. On the other hand, she can protect her own thoughts and memories against such assaults, disrupting efforts to pry into her own thoughts. The full potential of her powers hasn't been fully tapped, and with skilled instruction, she might achieve greater finesse in fine-tuning or tapping into her cognitive abilities.

Teleportation Teleportation is a curse for Sersi. Within terrestrial locations (including the Moon), she can transport herself near instantaneously without significant drawbacks. Personal teleportation (up to five people in contact or touch range) involves simply interposing two points in space and moving herself between them, something she performs with great finesse in the blink of an eye. Transporting groups involves opening short-lived portals, which allows targets to move without being so close to her, but causes her great mental strain to hold for longer than ten seconds. Targets must fully enter the portal to be transported to the other side and she must stay within 25m to the breach to sustain it. If thrust away, the portal collapses in a few seconds. Regardless, using either method opens her to strange sensory impressions, akin to mild sensory overstimulation.

Traversing vast distances exceeding the Earth-Moon orbit has additional requirements. Within the solar system, her energy is steadily depleted, allowing for one long Saturn-orbit jump or 2-3 smaller ones (depending on distance) before she must rest. She experiences increasing discomfort the further she travels, with need to recover her energy or additional sources to tap if she's crossing dimensions not immediately adjacent to the world. Staff/TP approval is required for her to transport herself and others to outer space-based locations.

Transmutation
Sersi has the greatest capacity for matter manipulation among her people, such that human stories recount the tales of Medea, Circe, and a host of similar female figures throughout myth. Her capacity to change reality and matter through transformative powers straddles the line between magic and supernatural power. She uses cosmic energy to fuel her transformations, and that magic bears an indelible signature. Her ability to transform objects or living things is nearly unlimited, restricted only by imagination, time, energy levels and ethical quandaries. The degree of concentration needed to complete transmutation greatly varies depending on the outcome and mass or volume involved. Giving herself gills is almost instantaneous, while using King Midas' golden touch on a tank uses much more energy and time to complete. Large-scale transformations take a magnitude more out of her, with several hours of rest, than multiple smaller adjustments. Precise control requires time and interruptions are disastrous for all involved.

Sersi's changes can be temporary or permanent depending on her desires or physical restrictions. Certain objects, like divinely-forged weapons, cannot be changed or will revert to their natural state. Permanent transformations on characters are TP/staff-approved/character consent only.

The functions she might apply this ability to are broad, but she has certain standard effects. Any effect affecting other characters are subject to consent.

  • Change of state
  • Transmutation
  • Transformation
  • Molecular modification (e.g., changing appearance on small or grand scales)
  • Physical creation (must have matter to work with), modification, and destruction
  • Alteration of state, shape, constituent components

Skills

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Combat Training
Fighting hand-to-hand is something of a last resort for Sersi, after words fail, charm campaigns and implicit threats aren't functioning, and her other gifts have faltered. She would rather not fight. Woe betide anyone who thinks she is a pushover, considering the relentless training regimens imposed by her family, Eternal society, and living through everything from Genghis Khan's hordes to the fall of Rome and interstellar invasions. Employing techniques that use her extreme physical prowess to full advantage give her an advantage on more physically powerful opponents. She is particularly adept at incorporating her telekinetic and illusory talents into fighting. Deflecting bullets or slightly concealing her presence to send attacks astray is commonplace, but she can unleash protective shields of hardened force or tear creatures from the sky. Fighting as a team of other empowered individuals is still somewhat of a novelty.

Couture
Sersi's matter manipulation abilities have a professional function, enabling her to design and create fashion of every stripe. If she can imagine it, she can usually make it with an array of practical talents from sewing to sketching. She prefers haute couture and the challenges of high fashion, an enfant terrible of the fashion world. Provocative ideas and stunning use of textiles, colours, and designs have earned her a cult following.

Diplomat
The woman's social arts required indirect efforts in society for so long that Sersi honed them to a stiletto point. She understands the value of a well-placed word and a composed expression during the height of verbal conflict, defusing a tense situation by a few offers. Applying the correct social cues and language for a given group, she has mastery over etiquette and cultural variations. Diplomacy and negotiation involve finding common cause and bringing different factions to compromise on issues. Her skills in this arena are so developed that she's a classic femme fatale or agent provocateur depending on your perspective. Her expression doesn't carry what lies in her heart, the usual tells suppressed or shifted to present the outward facade needed to fulfill a role. She can, with time, convince hard hearts to soften to her and motivate them to act against their direct interests. No, really, you don't want to investigate her friend, Mr. Police Officer. This requires equal parts empathy, persuasion, and manipulation spiced up by a definite appeal for risk. Appeals made through direct and subtle methods often get her what she wants, which typically involves convincing hostile figures to stand down or their aides to abandon them by switching sides.

Educated
It goes without saying that a woman who was around to witness the spread of agrarian societies and the conquest of the stars, the coming of the Second Celestial Host and tumbling empires birthing their successors knows a great deal about the world. Sersi received her education from the knee of even older, wiser beings who imparted much of what she needed to know. As a baseline, her highly advanced civilisation imparted on her a thorough education worthy of its counterparts on Olympus, Asgard, or countless other realms. She is bright and exceptionally knowledgeable about parts of history, cultural norms, and social functions. Whether it's psychology or the strange behaviours of interdimensional beings that now reside under the sea, she's a lexicon of odditie and intrigues.

Investigation
Sersi is an accomplished investigator and researcher. She best be, considering her experience finding signs of her enemies hiding in society or sifting through immense amounts of data in pursuit of something particularly interesting. Knowing where to find information and make those logical leaps is well within her wheelhouse.

Languages
Though not a true omniglot, Sersi has been alive long enough to attain fluency in a vast array of languages such she might as well be. Obscure dialects and isolates lie outside her lore until she can study. In addition to terrestrial tongues, she is proficient in long-dead and mystical languages and dialects of most common interstellar races thanks to her family's inevitable need for diplomats.

Mixology
One part alchemy to two parts chemistry, Sersi is capable at mixology to a point. This really flows in two directions: she can pour an excellent drink and she can make a very good fragrance. The dividing lines between the two are far thinner than people think. She can produce an elegant scent that rises from the flesh and appeals to the senses with the right molecular shifts or ingredients. Distilling a concoction that fizzes on the tongue and appeals to the senses isn't altogether difficult, either.

Occultist

During her very long life, Sersi has acquired a comprehensive background in supernatural phenomena, mysteries, and wonders. It doesn't hurt she has been the focal point for many of the myths preserved from the Mediterranean and Near East. Deeply studied in the religious and mystical practices of the Old World, wise to the new, she is a heavyweight in the field even if she's not quite a true magical practitioner in a classical sense. Her innate ability to transmute matter on a whim very much resembles sorcery (or at least wonder working). Strange beings and dangerous entities, spirits, gods and monsters all fall within the purview of her ancient role to safeguard Earth from external threats. As such she has a very broad and deep working background on such creatures, ranging from foreign pantheons to strange green lights on the sea suggesting it could be another incursion of twisted djinn from the Fourth Dimension. This is more often useful as a device to inform others.

Resources

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Arcana
Fitting the position for the most mystically inclined terrestrial Eternal, Sersi owns an impressive occult library steeped heavily in the arcane traditions of the Old World. She has a fairly healthy number of tomes and grimoires written by modern mystics after the Enlightenment, largely those dealing with non-black arts and extractions. Her own talents in illusion-crafting and matter manipulation are well-covere. She possesses rare components, a broad array of minor items, and precious artifacts or tokens acquired through life. For the most part, she keeps these as bargaining objects, holding up the identities she takes on (Ashe d'Este currently), or currency in trade. She's also been known to hide items or books that should not be in circulation as a matter of principle.

Avenger
Sersi's hand in the hidden world rarely takes on a direct, obvious approach. She prefers to utilize her influence from the shadows, leaving few traces other long-lived enemies notice. The world, however, changed. Joining up with the Avengers as more than an affiliate is a distinct diversion from her usual course. Membership provides a constant supply of exciting acquaintances and adventures aplenty, and a cover for her plethora of unusual abilities. She rarely haunts the mansion, though it protects her. More importantly, her diplomatic credentials can go a long way when needed.

Family
As the ancient proverb goes, "Blood's thicker than water, and when one's in trouble, best to seek out a relative's open arms."

Bound by their legacy and their near-immortal blessings, the Eternals are at best a highly dysfunctional, individualistic tribe that closes ranks very fast when trouble rears its head. Sersi's people back her without much question, putting their considerable resources behind her if she really needs it. Of course, this means enduring a bit of censure and constant reminders to check in more than once a century. Her relatives lie scattered around the world and they view her still as a young, carefree child yet. Grating as that is, she has a broader degree of latitude and tolerance for her flirtations with human and hidden civilisations. At the end of the day, the Eternals have her back. This isn't free. Crashing with her cousins or elders may cost favours and debts. But with relative immortality, who can understand her as well as those cursed by it?

Names
Sersi is something of an expert in crafting and adopting water-tight guises. Her very survival in the mortal world depends on her ability to pass as human and move among society unscathed. The advanced technology of her people makes even this comparatively data-heavy era seem laughable, and she spins up the requisite data trails with considerable speed as necessary. At any time she has multiple identities, complete with credit cards and bank accounts, tax records, personal records, and heaps of transparent documentation in place for her use. Never mind all those untraceable offshore accounts in banking havens!

Her primary identities at present include: Nahla Allende (an Argentinian-Spanish social media director); Nasrin Al-Noor (an Iranian-Lebanese socialite); Ashe d'Este (an Italian mystic); and Zara Gray (her primary form).

Wealth

Wealth is almost no object for a woman who can make gold from a pop can. Nonetheless, the modern world runs on digital numbers and implicit value. Protected accounts and vaults scattered in highly secure locations from Geneva to Singapore (and notably one in Antarctica) hold a dragon's hoard of rare art, first edition books, occult grimoires, and missing masterpieces -- especially those secreted out during the French Revolution, Russian Revolution, World Wars, and other various dangerous). Thanks to the digital legerdemain of her highly advanced society, paper-trails connect her to various faces and places so she might live in the lap of delicious luxuries to which she is accustomed. Or bribe people to look the other way. In short, money is not exactly an issue an eternal people worries about since they can always go dig up something from Harappa or trot out a Palmyran marble for sale at Sotheby's.

Weaknesses

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Enemies
Being an Eternal brings eternal enemies, especially given the long lifespan Sersi has already lived.

The Deviants, a corrupted and warped offshoot of the Eternal lineage, have a blood hatred for their Eternal cousins that cannot be quenched. The feeling is mutual. They want her dead and she wishes they would vanish off beyond Kree territory, never to return. Sersi tries to avoid direct conflict where she can, trusting in her cousins to rally whenever a Deviant presence makes itself known. But similarly, the family expects her to pull her significant weight when called upon. Similarly, whenever a host of Celestials make their appearance, failing to show up to see her progenitors is considered a non-option, for all she prefers to maintain her independence and her life.

Other races tend to spur their own conflicts with the Eternal, and the spacefaring peoples all know the Eternals of old defend the Earth and the greater solar system as they see fit. Any intergalactic empire with conquering desires (and blue skin) or terrestrial villain is sure to see her as a very real threat. And they're right.

Ennui
"One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Immortality is a curse. The relatively short lifespans of humans provide a catalyst for achievement on a grand scale, living in the moment rather than thinking centuries down the road. New experiences spark and fizz through the allotted eighty-odd years people get. Sersi has been alive for millennia. The thrill of fizzy drinks or disco or electricity remain bright in her memory, but the long, loooong slog of years can sometimes be exhausting for her, too. She doesn't get to freely dimension hop or visit other star systems to always keep things fresh and fancy, at least not often enough to hold her attention. So sometimes, she's crushed by a sense of time -- time that can barely touch her. Others, she longs for something to throw herself into wholly, wholeheartedly, and that can be a reckless impulse at the best of times.

False Reality
Sersi's illusions are disturbingly close to reality, and they can take many people unawares. At her best, she subtly blends fine details into existing features rather than generating material whole cloth. Still, the illusion is only as strong as its magical cloth, and they all fall prey to typical drawbacks known to mystic practitioners everywhere. A very powerful psychic shield hedges out illusions weaker than itself, but only for the shielded target. Divine powers, those originating from greater gods like Zeus, Odin or the Almighty, pierce her veils. She has reduced effectiveness against other comparable illusionists. When disbelief unravels the illusion, it only applies to that target. However, their disbelief might convince other people the bespelled waiter they're dealing with is in fact a dolled-up broom. Once an illusion fails against a target, Sersi can't re-engage them without using another illusion. This is a distinct disadvantage for her. Further, she can't make illusions about things she knows absolutely nothing about, having no basis to imagine them.

Independence
In the stratefied, hidden society of the Eternals, position and rank are something almost ordained by birth. Sersi chafes at the restrictions placed on her and her kin. She struck out into the human world far more than her reclusive relatives, reveling in the opportunity to meet other mortals, heroes, spirits and gods. The idea of being reigned in is anathema to her, and the independence she craves often means the disapproval of her betters. At times she tests authority figures just because she can, ensuring those links don't reach to a chain choking her. Conservative minds certainly won't appreciate her flouting their rules or refusing to comply. Sersi is bright enough not to openly rebel. Instead she exploits all manner of loopholes to assure she has options, which makes her something of a trickster and very frequently sighed over by her loving if frazzled relations.

Notoriety
The stories about Circe of Aeaea (or Medea of Colchis) and the attendant variations have withstood the test of time. Something about ancient tragedies resonated in western civilization, and tales were carried far and wide under different names, different guises. The truth is malleable and Sersi's own experiences recalled through her crystalline memory resemble little of what happened with Odysseus. Homer and Ovid inflicted a wicked reputation on her that doesn't quite match the woman. Still, her name is pretty much synonymous with a few unhappy incidents. She possesses the telepathic influencing powers and, more importantly, the transformative powers to inflict that damage. It's not going to end well for the superstitious or the educated, who may hear her name and make informed, problematic decisions.

Overconfident
Having lived through as much as she has, Sersi tends to view the events and situations as reoccurring cycles rather than truly unique, with few exceptions. This outlook proves something of a double-edged sword, since serious situations she receives more calmly but often without the due gravitas a real threat might deserve. More importantly, she overestimates her abilities to handle significant trouble. Her Eternal bloodline and access to considerable powers give her tremendous advantages, but when she discovers she overplayed her hand or guessed wrong, it's usually disastrous for her and detrimental to the situation at hand. Not only the least because she might respond poorly to failure, but something that can keep her down tends to be big trouble.

Overimaginative
Sersi prizes imagination and curiosity more than most, but the same creative spark that fuels her powers and lust for life has its darker side. At times she experiences "analysis paralysis," trying to determine the right decision out of countless options her intellect supplies. Often this isn't terribly significant, because does it really matter where to go for dinner? The catch is that she can devote far more intellectual energy chasing down a possibility to the exclusion of real action, and find out matters have moved on or her indecision escalates the situation. And she doesn't like being wrong.

Past
Though she makes every effort to clean up loose threads, Sersi has not perfectly erased herself from history. A bit of arrogance prevents her from obliterating her most famous identities, and sometimes her legacy runs away from her thanks to friends, enemies or family. Safeguards make tracing her identity very difficult indeed but with enough time or resources, it's conceivable an especially long-lived or drive individual might start finding her fingerprints in history. It might be especially inconvenient to explain to the authorities that she was old during the height of Cretan civilisation. Some of those people back then might really like to level ancient amends.

True Death
Her race isn't called eternal for nothing. As long as a single molecule survives, Sersi survives and will reconstitute... given time. Complete molecular disintegration down to the atomic scale is necessary to truly kill her. That does not spare her agony, pain or the nightmarish recovery period. She has no 'get out of terrible circumstances adjacent to death free' card. Mentally she will withstand her own destruction, but that doesn't stop her from experiencing nightmares and other related trauma. She doesn't leap headfirst into danger like some beclawed regenerator junkies.

Vengeful

For a tale of a woman scorned, look no further than the tales of Circe of Aeaea. Odysseus spent ten years imprisoned and his men were transformed to pigs, other animals, or stone statues for the displeasure of antagonizing her. The story isn't nearly so straightforward but Sersi -does- have a terrible temper when proper risen to wrath. Those who know the tale may be inclined to look upon her negatively and she really would like to knock Homer's head in for painting that one incident in a very bad, pro-Odysseus light. Propaganda is powerful, okay? It takes a great deal to truly anger her. One of the surest ways is betraying her trust, making her look like a complete idiot or harming anyone she acts as a muse or patron to. Seeking retribution is not a case of karmic justice, it is a consuming diversion with no long-term joy. Corrosive as vengeance can be, she occasionally goes overboard.

Logs

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Title Date Scene Summary
The Nightwatcher Strikes September 9th, 2019 The Nightwatcher is caught in a bad situation, which he only makes worse!
The Silkie and the Shawarma September 3rd, 2019 Walking the Silkie in Central Park, Kory encountered a nice lady calling herself
Demonic Shoe Store Blowout August 23rd, 2019 The Maiden of Light intervenes during the incursion of evil succubi upon Gotham's best shoe and leather store! Outnumbered by the feisty demons, it's up to Fiona and Sersi to help smite them, and prevent anyone from becoming a soul snack!
Olympians in Pseudo-Valhalla August 22nd, 2019 Summary needed
Fireworks are still science! August 22nd, 2019 Learn a little, laugh a little.
History By Those Who Are It August 20th, 2019 Meetings, greetings, currywurst and Kells.
Ice Cracker August 3rd, 2019 Various heroes converge in a alleyway to aid a man at the wrong end of a group of Diamond Smugglers
In the Deep Blue August 2nd, 2019 Another moment, another day - excitement to be had!

Cutscenes

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Title Date Scene Summary
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Gallery

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