Abryn/Abilities

< Abryn

Contents

Origins

In Abryn's fairly extensive history shes been many things, from an ice princess, to a warlock-like ice mage and fighter hybrid, then sort of towards paladin, though at times more anti-paladin, and finally with a more dedicated lean towards knowledge an occultist and shaman. Shes been through a lot, shes done what most would consider 'it all', but what remains of it?

Her noble blood was always strange to her, never felt her own, but that heritage gifted her with a few things. One was ice magic, as her complexion has always hinted at, ice ran through her veins. She seems to feel its from her father's side, an unknown part of her past, but really it could have come from anything, whatever contributed along with her mother, to her birthing. She gained the powers of the tundra, along with the abilities for survival in those harsh conditions if she ever bothered to test it. The other side of her heritage is that of her mother's secret. A secret not uncommon in the land she was born, though not overly popular, at times viewed as a stigma. Shes always hidden from it, possibly due to her stubborn nature, maybe even possibly in some sort of denial of it entirely.

Shes fit, rather unnaturally fit still, even so she does exercise and take care of the body in a way that stems from a long history of training. She trained as a warrior most of her early life, though with a natural dislike for blood and violence, she ended up avoiding blades for most of that time. Its not to say shes unskilled at them, she would just prefer a staff or spear to them any day. Her favorite weapons would be even fancier than that, a ceremonial halberd, or more elaborate polearm. She fights to disarm, not to kill, as compassion has always been deeply rooted in her nature, and is more often known to pull her blows, taking damage to herself, if she can't manage a disabling blow, thats not a killing or maiming one.

Its not to say she won't kill, shes done that plenty, but plenty enough to have a massive distaste for it, and most anything that reminds her of it. She only bears it be cause of her faith, knowing that she had no choice but to do so to defend those she loves and cares for, among other ideals. One would suppose most of these came from her own rather amusing morals, but they do give her a heroic, or paladin like stance at times. Part of the loyalty and honour she holds herself to comes from that training, and that seeking of faith, be it the ethics of keeping up Freedom or Compassion, or any of her other religious beliefs.

Her beliefs in Freedom stem from two things, one the beliefs in Free Will, taught in her religion, and the other came from her pursuit of knowledge. She came to a point where most of what she needed to know was lost in time, lost in the times of people burning books, locking away knowledge forever, controlling it. She came to believe in knowledge as a living, breathing, communal thing, to which she dedicated the later part of her life in her birthplace towards.

This lead her to some of the darker magics, some of them even things her family had traditionally dabbled in, and she had been brought up on. She looked at them with new perspective, seeing the healing and life magic as it was, but also viewing the magics that manipulated the essence of the soul with distaste, and the taint of what some would do with life-magic, dealing with deeper blood magics and necromancy were looked upon as the revolting things they were. She stepped aside from it there, knowing quite a few of the darker tricks, and places where her own magic grazed the edge of that line, she drew a line never to harm another and made a vow of pacifism which lasted a century. During this time she researched the other skills her family taught, and the Guild of Occultists that her family was a part of. She learned more about Tarot, and dealing with other planar creatures, mostly from the chaos plane, though she had a few run in with others, and learned about pacts, and the good and bad things one could do, and how to deal with the costs in an ethical manner.

There was a fissure in her guild, a minor war between cabals that splintered over necromancy, and an evil religion, breaking away from the true occultist researchers. In the end those became demon worshippers, and were cast out into an unholy group, where the remaining people were truly dedicated only to the arcane arts. Through most of that she was one of the members which held the deepest secrets, and kept track and policed the internal policies of the guild. She finally learned exactly where that line inbetween freedom and consequence is, and how knowledge should be free, yet had to be tethered equally with experience in order to prevent great atrocities, even when not working with the darker magics.

In time, politics got to her, some from the city she lived in, and quite a lot from the Guild was left over from her work policing, and from the splitting of the Guild into two Houses. She left, or was tossed out, or was betrayed somehow. Its not something she talks about, at all, but in the end she split and walked her own path, focusing both on her inner self, and her religious and ritualistic magics. She studied more containment circles and magics first, not having had much work with them in the past, due to her use of active magics, like freeze touches, little fire flares and personal shielding and wards. She learned how to speak with the other planes without being there, how to summon and protect those rituals, and then moved to the highest ritual and containment magics, such dealing with aspects of culture and humanity, as well as the embodiment of past fears, hopes and anxieties of the masses.

This magic, and this school of thought eventually propelled her to more shamanistic rites, and into the House of the Spiritwalkers. There she was accepted and allowed to gain status with her contributions to the belief system and teaching systems within the House. She learned to better ward, to spiritwalk, to focus her energies, and to deal with more natural spirits. For once in her life, a long life of a city-girl, she learned to respect and be at one with nature instead of following her deep metaphysical belief system and fairly metropolitan skillset. She learned to very lightly speak with the spirits of the passed, the concentrated spirits of the forests and animal protection spirits, though never gained a great talent with any, besides the walking as a spirit. She already knew how to Astralwalk, something that was more in tune with the ethereal plane of magic, than the plane of the spirits. The former was done with the body, converting it and taking it with in a complex set of wards and transmutations, the later was done in spirit only, and left the body behind in a sleep state.

In the end, either way, her gifts lay more towards communication and healing, and less towards damage, though most healing arts can be used with dire consequence. She has cast her oath aside, after a century, but hopes not to have to deal with violence in her future. Her true talent is in foresight, prediction and as a sybil, or seer. She was a religious oracle for many years, as well as a politician that learned to watch the machinations of people, both as individuals through body language and psychology, as well as culturally through experience and some of the same things. She correctly predicted quite a few major cultural revolutions, as well as the fallout of them. People still call her wise beyond her years, and well, considering her years, thats pretty unique. Shes the ability to assess a threat or situation in an instant, and a person in a few moments, though due to learning to relax and take herself and life less seriously she often intentionally does the opposite of what she should in most situations, a thing which often lets her learn of others a lot more deeply than they intend.

Past Powers

The fact that these powers rest in the past cannot be repeated enough. The powers listed within this setting were those that were once available to Abryn, but where she has this knowledge and has lived these lives, she is currently very worried about her ability to draw power in this realm. She adapts to her new locations, but it typically takes a few years, even when pressed, and when shes living in the lap of luxury and paradise it is likely to be a lot slower. These are past powers, things that she can teach, help others review, understand and perhaps learn, but they are not things she will do at all on the island; even most are not things that even those closest to her know about from her life.

These powers have been broken down into forms, to lack a better word, and represent various incarnations or ability sets possessed by Abryn in her travels and times. Each of these sets contains many similar skillsets, often flowing very well from one form to another, but some broke fully from her past as she attempted to grow anew. One may note that some of these harsher breaks came after milestones in her life or due to the situation around her changing drastically as with war or love or even religions may affect one that has lived quite a long life. As one can see, after reviewing them, she is fairly adaptive and flexible, being able to pull in and assimilate new concepts. This tends to help her review another person's skills, let her give assessments on how to study or grow, as well as ways that they may better adapt to a given paradigm or set of temporary conditions.

Major Forms

From her beginnings to now she has lived a long life. This current body is, in all practicalities, as many days old as time she has spent on the island. She was reborn here, as she has been reborn time and time again. Shes been to several worlds, planes, or places with distinctly differing settings where she as adapted to the places. Each has changed her, helped her mature and grow into more of what she identifies as 'herself', but also helped her guide more and more people to find themselves. Each time her memories generally start when she has grown and her foggy mind holds images of childhoods that overlap and don't mesh with the world around her. This time she just came into being as she was, built and ready almost as if just teleporting from where she last was.

Ice Maiden

It could be said that her first, remembered, life started in a snow drift upon a glacier on the edge of the world. This world, well, its memories are like a normal persons memories as a toddler. They grow foggy, fuzzy and confused. At times Abryn has spoken of the land being like what a modern day woman would understand the Conan books at times or like what she understands of the North in the Game of Thrones books. It was certainly neither of those worlds, but it was a land of tundra with the ice, rocks, wind and cold of those realms. It was also a mystical place where one could almost imagine humanity being reborn from years of slumber, be it through some lost science that a child walked away from, Divine intent or more mortal magics.

She wasn't a hunter, but she lived off the land. If one was to classify her they would say that she was a cross from a barbarian and a shaman, a bone caster, or even some sort of rune lord. She was linked to the animals about her for survival, taking some solace in their company, but also at times borrowing their powers, vision and senses a little. The most active of her skills were almost all just visual ones or the intangible sort of feelings and visions that hinted at precognition. She was also able to cloak herself in a veil of ice which numbed pain caused a little and gave her an almost serenely iced over look. It wasn't the sickly frost-bitten look, but heh, who is to get particular? She may have had a few skills at sharpening ice into blades, or chilling what she touched, but those would have been primarily used to preserve what was needed for the next season of life.

One could say, looking back, that one of the reasons her memory of these times is so weak and that what she could do was so uncharted is that she lived life alone in relative peace. She seems to form memories mostly in association with others, and their influence on her life, not her own actions. This means that during this time spent mostly alone, living off of the world and growing into what is effectively her adulthood, left a very small footprint on her life. Its her most basic instinctual form, and she is not very likely to regress to it ever again, even if she manages to discard all of her intellectual and emotional baggage that prevents a return to that innocence.

Halo/Rain

This form was the consummate warrior of belief, but a pure belief in the world and in people. Most of Abryn's mentality or one could say optimism comes from this period in her life. She went through life exploring the facets of those around her, and living close to the land. There may be some that could call the optimism a naive worldview, and even she herself may given the time to reflect on how access and view of the world slowly eroded quite a bit of that childlike joy she possessed when looking to the world around her. As much as she may have been hardened, or even tempered by the world around her, it could be said that her own naive perception of the world did the most to either aid or stunt her own development.

She was a warrior for people, her primary weapon was a glaive or halberd, she wasn't too picky and had a selection of a few at home to choose from. Her primary protection was blackened steel chain, wrought into a suit, and her faith. She was very, very skilled with polearms, but had none with powers other than a minor enchantment to hit more truly or cause a little more harm. She had a basic faith shield, one that she could even cast on others along with a set of blessings and inspirational works, but again lacked the real full curing and smiting that the more fanatically bent sorts had. She could work as a field medic fairly well, getting people back on their feet and to safety, maybe slow poisons a bit, close open wounds without a lot of stitching.

She was first a healer, using her powers of faith to heal the like-minded, and smite the unfair! It sounds a bit like a paladin, and it was, but there was a distinction of living in a poly-theistic world at the time. It wasn't faith against faith, but groupings of like beliefs that overlapped. She was utterly neutral, perhaps to error, in some ways. Not one of those neutral sorts that had to balance everything, but one that tried to stay out of the fanatical methods of the truly good and evil. This limited the scope of her powers, or more the gravity to which her belief could change or inspire those around her. These limits were something she struggled with daily, trying to see and balance the cost of straying from her beliefs and weigh them against the costs of wielding more power were to her autonomy.

She wasn't a weaponsmaster, but knew her selected type well. She wasn't a smith, but knew how to maintain, repair and even create the armour she did tend to work with. These skills would follow her evermore, but the trials of her faith were also to follow her and left unresolved for so very long. She lost something when she left, or perhaps she lost something when she arrived at that next stage in her life, in slow parts. She lost a lot of that edge and vigour towards an overarching cause, having instead chosen to focus on small personal causes and close ties. She had a shattered belief, not able to let her experiences be at peace with her optimism, causing her to sink into a rather cynical state.

Tiphareth

The word means 'beauty eternal' to some. It is a fairly simple concept, a rather vain one to apply to oneself, but in this case its more of a way of life. It was the culmination of a new philosophy adapted into ones life, one that focused on trying to live by ones heart without regret. To most people this would lead to thrill seeking or some sort of megalomania, but that wasn't the case here. Deep in her core that optimism remained, as well as that duty, and that wish to honour as many paths of life as she could.

She was robed with a crystaline sword as a weapon, a sword named with that cause, that wish in her life. It was one of her more powerful forms, but also was her least stable form. She had trouble dealing with the simmering power under all of that desire, that passion as well as difficulties navigating those paths of the heart, those twists and turns in the recesses of her own mind. It became a lesson in reflection, on in self understanding just as much as it was an attempt to live by her heart it was also one to know her heart. Locked away inside of her was that darkfire, a font of understanding, of passion and her pure essence. It was the stuff of darkness and of the night as well as the true power of her own core, something that helped her evolve shadowlore and ritual magics for this Darkness.

This form was the last she mastered as well as the last that she used on a regular basis. With it she likely went over the threshold of mastery into something beyond her sanity and that was the main reason that she now fears dabbling in magic on the island. It did have some fairly active and more fluid components, but was primarily a magic of high ritual and faith. This made it very, very time consuming to have done even the smallest thing with unless it was as a benefit from some ongoing ritual creation. An example of this would have been that she was able to bind a mare of night essence to her, a night mare, not the scary sort though! It was much more a connection to be stroked, serviced and maintained than a real active skill set or power to be drawn on.

The ritual portions consisted of beseeching the Divine for changes in the world about her. These changes would typically require only belief, but at time sacrifices or physical symbols of that belief or Work of the belief were needed to create the greater shared Work. At the pinnacle off that, as the high priestess, Abryn encased the embodiment of an aspect of her faith within herself. It'd be quite like pulling one belief in a virtue, be it chastity or courage into a single item, and making it an artifact, then placing it in a pure, sanctified vessel within oneself.

Active components were the ability to manipulate the amount of shadows in an already somewhat darkened room, to move them, as well as to have them stir to her thought. She could also use some of her inner belief, the darkfire within her, to add to a room's darkness, if none existed to pull off a few actions unseen. One of these actions was using it as a small pocket space, but it took quite some time to safely place or remove things from it. Without a basis for belief the shadows did nothing. They could not burn nor grasp, in fact they rarely did anything near physical, as those were very, very harsh on the user as like flame consumes air that sort of thing consumed the spirtual essence. Without a direct link to the Divine to be granted essence one could only use of their personal store of it.

Tarot/Symbology

  Her powers in tarot appear very flashy at first, but realistically they are a series of stylised cantrips.  There are a few execptions to this, but overall the primary use seems to be with varying methods of delay or positional shifting.  This was Abryn's typical information gathering toolkit, she'd use them to probe an opponent, delay then for more substantial aide to come, or escape if things go too hairy.  The premise, where done with tarot, only worked with a combonation of the artist's own flair for detail, the symbology and belief, along with the charges state of the users mana being pressed into the card to make it active before being flung. A few samples of the more used portions of the skillset are below, one supposes that it'd include the entirety of the major arcana.  There have also been hints spoken of that she dabbled in creating her own additions to the standard deck as well.

Well, everyone makes mistakes. The fool just takes the edge off of them, be it a hangover cure, a stubbed toe, a rash the morning-after or certain poisons in the veins. Its designed to heal what afflicts you, but can only be used once a day, and isn't too good about things that it has never encountered before, as wisdom couldn't have saved you!

Works to replenish the mana, or the magical pool of the person that recieves this, like a blessing, the magic will flow from the world around, and pass through the card as a gateway into the ailing person's aura. This works only on depleated auras, it doesn't extend the capacity of any magical powers, just renews it.

It would offer a short burst of life to pass through the one it lands upon, once activated. This has the result much as if one would have drank from a curative water, or potion, causing wounds to close, heal, scar and fade.

This card worked as a beacon, it would chime along a connection and generate a resonance that allowed one to hear the desires of the other, that pull of the chords that lace sound and silk together. It could form a gateway, and tug one assenting person through it, often accompanied by a haughty laugh, but generally only chimed.

Charisma in a bottle, the image of a leader. This one gave people that one chance to inspire, helped those around nod and follow through anything, even to trust one to confront fears or to learn to run when they'd prefer to fight.

This one wove a tale and threads the victim, and victim is very much the case here, into it. Its an illusionary manipulation to get a mouse to walk a path for cheese that simply isn't there. Much less about the motion, but the actions, like programming an automaton, but with flesh and blood intact.

The illusion of heart, or attraction. What ever fit the cause and time. It caused mental pause at a crucial point, and prevented harm to come from the victim to the user of this. An enchanting thing, just as effective on a lover as on the enemy, as all ties of the heart can be bent for a moment.

Once invoked something like a skiff came, be it a cloud, the card itself, or a wheeled cart. The work depended on the image, and how literal the user was, some would cause a vehicle of the Sun Goddess Herself, and others may simply get a magic carpet ride.

This is the bond, was the bond and will always be the bond. One can be drawn through it, or hear from it... but the bond had to be in place first. This card is that, it can be rejected, it can go unnoticed, simply drawing two bodies together, or it can be embraced, ritualised and reveled in. To some it was, and is placcable, something almost reached out and tugged with no aid, and to others utterly unnoticed.

A typical panic button. It would return the user home, alone, to somewhere safe. This place has to be envisioned, the card had to have been there physically at one point in time, as well as be sketched into it.

-Footnote- Does not work if there are people present in the return spot, and no people may go with the user.

This one was a study in the weave, lint from the pattern dusted off. It may bring fortune, fortitude or cause loss of so much, from memory, to skill to life. Its the essence of the gambler, but the game includes all that see it used.

-Footnote- Tossed to the ground in a flash, this will gift or curse someone that witnesses the flash. It may gift speed, visions, wisdom, intelligence, strength of one sort or another, luck or even take any of those and memories (akin to visions) away. Its not for the weak of heart, but the desperate gambler of the cold-hearted manipulator. The effect is typically temporary, but cases have been known to last a lifetime.

Nothing limits the Creator, nothing ever will, nothing ever has. It was a card of illusion, a card of conveying the deeper things in life, and the card of building memories with one another. It can be a card of trickery, a card of lost moments, or of moments to come in the future. Nostalgia or hope... It all depends on where its aimed at, and how true the throw is.

A set of ropes or vines quickly entangled the opponent, typically causing on a minor delay of a few instants to break, unravel or even avoid. That noose can be slipped, but only by the knowing, the sighted and the hearts most needing to be freed. Those tainted with a heavy heart would find an equally heavy foot.

What was would never be again. The link once made, is broken, and would never be connected as the person is lost. The person must have been linked not once, but seven time, for this high magic to sever all ties. Excommunication from the spiraling weave.

- Footnote - As it was, Death could no longer work. Abryn took time to research and develop other adaptations of the belief that is locked into the symbols of the card, including the name. After much work at tapping and shaping the magic, she came up with a modified manner that instead of harming another and banishing them from the Spiral that is, it allowed the user to step outside of the flow of the spiral and into the seeing eye in the centre. She crafted it to allow for a short flow of body into spirit and then spirit across physical reality, thusly letting her do small jumps with her body through the out of body and return.

A short stutter occurred in time, enough to have caused a bumble, trip, shift in movement or momentary skip. Typically measured in the sub-seconds, its was meant to trip up fluid actions.

-Footnote- Causes the victim to loose grasp of the tempo of the world around them. A skip of a heartbeat, enough to fumble a baton, loose the balance of a jump or interrupt the flow and mix of magic in a spell. Simple actions are delayed, complex actions tend towards cascade failures as when compensation starts the time flow of time often returns to its norm to cause another issue.

It was in the details, and was it ever so. With this touch, one was allowed to sculpt the aspect of other cards into the main use. With the devil, once used, the next card used could have two desired affects, though note, this had to have been considered when crafting the card, and the details in the artwork and feel must bind them together to draw them out.

A winding path, as if forever and ever. Think 'Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku' echoing as the quest or task seems everlong. The patience of steady steps may take the heart where it needs, but this card represented a slow in progress, causing those about the area to take extra steps to pass the obstacle before them.

The card would turn into a physical projectile, likely shaped like a shooting star, and shoots towards the opponent. In rare occurances it would also gravitate a meteor or some sort of rock to fall out from the outer atmosphere like an artillery shell.

Would emit a short burst illusion, sound or some other scrambling effect. It typically would cause a short burst of dizziness or disorientation, but had been known to set of deeper underlying phobias and such in the more fragile.

A blinding flash of light would be emitted from the card, at times leaving a glowing orb in its wake.

Bound not are Her eyes, as She will cast Her wizened gaze about. This card would cause that, and an assessment of acts done in the immediate duration following the use of the card would bounce back. Opposing, equal reactions abound, this would break any weave, cause gravity to float away and a fist to hit its owner, the perfect mirror without flaw other than to be entirely literal, intent unthought.

Invoked a small, stylised, map of places of import to the user. It could be touched and the person could then be transported there.

-Footnote- Often this map reflects the trains of the caster's school of magic, or the world they are in at the moment, but if one were to view one of Abryn's making on Yuriba it'd likely contain the VC, Riverview, the Northern Pools, Leona's Bar, the Wading Pools of Maboroshi, the Rock Garden at the Megami Temple, the Meditation Pool near the Isolated Shrine and the Cliffs of the Southern Shore. All places that have resonated with the woman since the early days of her time on the island.

Current

For the most part Abryn's current powers and abilities are a mystery to the masses, but it can be said that the Council wouldn't leave the fate of the fledgling Lily Blades in unproven hands. What it can be said that Abby brings to the table are, sadly, clerical and leadership skills. No, not -that- sort of clerical skills, but organizational skills that involve planning, networking, assessment and a fairly even and easy personality that can swish between relaxed and intense at an instant. Perhaps one would call some of that charisma, but such labels aren't what she'd wish to use, they can be far too dangerous to embrace.

What it is sure about Abryn is that she has little to no ability to heal others without outside help. This was shown in the aftermath of the battle that involved the pretty dual-sword wielding woman and quite a lot of the rest of the island near or more during the eruption of Inishie. She did well with triage, and helped get, pass out and provide supplies that had been organized in advance, but didn't really seem able or willing to do any of the magical healing herself.

It still seems obvious to many that can read auras that she is holding herself back for one reason or another, though it can also be said that few of her auras have settled into the land as it is. Auras, yes, Abryn's shift from day to day, time to time, between a set of auras just as her skills listed in the past have shifted. Some days she feels shadowy, others dark, then there are the sensations of silverlight, darkfire balanced within her, on other days she even feels wild, with boundless energy, but a wizen sort of energy that possess the gravity of deep time. One could say with near certainty that her magic is likely lacking in stability and sanity as much as her mind seems to at times, and that she is still in part a woman between worlds or perhaps just a woman of one world still clinging to aspects she was once familiar with.

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