Appearance

Mentality

Personal history

Lucrezia was born many a year ago to a merchant family in the city of Palmyra, she got to live much of her young life in the lap of luxury learning much about accounting, a personal pastime for her family easily approaching the age of 450 and the means in which the family made their money so far away from the entrances to the Sidhe realms dealing with the rich and powerful which in turn made them wondrously wealthy, she was also taught about the sciences (as far as her parents saw it) of Arcana, Occultism, Religion, Nature and Alchemy, she was told bedtime stories of the wars between the Dragons and the Jotunn and how there will be a young Aes Sidhe who would play a pivotal role in preventing the destruction of this realm and will construct their own magical school that will allow all Sidhe and use the innovations of the mortals to further their own understanding of the world and to fuel new innovations of the future. Lucrezia would spend much of her free time in the small mansion grounds that were her family with a house made of polished marble, columns that reached all the way to the roof allowing for a sheltered area at the entrance, quartz glass windows that allowed a superior view out of them and a flat roof that on warm summers nights would host her mother Elisabetta who would sing her heart out to the stars so far above. Her father, Ottavio on the other hand, when he got some free time, he would be out in the garden pruning and planting in an effort to make it more like the pocket dimension he and Elisabetta remember. Lucrezia was not alone in her shenanigans, she also had a older sister Isabella, the two would spend many a long afternoon in the garden with the scorching sun beating down above them playing Sidhe word games (each trying to mislead without lying) with the loser having to get refreshments while the winner enjoys the great outdoors.
 
 
This ultimately could not last as at first Isabella left home to join the mortal’s magic school and then eventually so did Lucrezia, she was sent to the prestigious Palmyrene school for magical talent a year after her sister, the school itself is a massive building with many a marble statue which contrasted against the building itself that made use of rare black marble to stand out and give off a vision of grandeur, a black tower that rose far into the sky cutting through clouds with flags fluttering in the sky from banners erected on the peaks of the towers. The entrance to the school was crammed with people going to and fro in a confusing jumble, it took a while but eventually she was ushered into a quieter room, it was here she found Isabella, she looked well with here with her Pastel Red skin looking as luminous as usual, her flowing blonde hair looked much longer than Lucrezia remembered but it was not all good, she looked tired, especially around her violet eyes, worn down by her work, she gave a tiered smile and the two closed in for an embrace, Lucrezia missed Isabella so much, she was a reinforcing feature of the home for all of her life that was so suddenly ripped from her. Isabella informed Lucrezia “I have come to see that you are well, follow me, I’ll show you to your bedroom.” The two proceeded to the Junior wing of the school chatting all the way as to the going on of each other's lives all while playing their childhood game, something that is commonplace in the Sidhe of all stripes. After a considerable walk going through hallways and corridors up stairs and past statues of heroes of old until eventually they arrived at a plain door, here Isabella opened it and said “Here it is, it's not much but everything in here is yours, your things are going to be brought up eventually, now shall we have a drink?” The room in question is quite a sizable room with a king size bed with big pillows and a large quilt, stone floor with a large rug with intricate designs, a large window with a view out into the country and a roaring fire in a marble fireplace that has a small oak table in front of it with two chairs under it, atop the table was found a bottle of wine and two glasses. The two drank for most of the night as Lucrezia’s small amount of belongings were brought into the room, eventually sleep came for Lucrezia and it was here she felt a presence an ancient unknowable one but also comforting and reassuring, from this she got a feeling of a command “Open the windows and smother the fire” With that she awoke, she could not have been asleep for but ten minutes, she did what this strange dream asked and fell back asleep. She awoke to a man barging in, he saw her awake and said “I’m here to unblock the chimney, there’s a pigeon nest up there and it has been quite a struggle to get it out.” This news obviously freaked Lucrezia out, her dream had saved her preventing her from dying from smoke inhalation.
 

 
Over the next few days she would learn about the school and her lessons meeting her fellow students and teachers but the dream did not come back and eventually she fell into a rhythm going from lesson to lesson with so much work being piled onto the young Sidhe, she needed something to let off steam and then she saw it, duelling, up until this point she had never held a sword but quite frankly she just wanted to hit something. The duelling lessons were taught by the captain of the guard and she found this quite easy, the lessons being taught to the low skill of the wizards and sorcerers of the school and quite frankly what seemed like her own natural skill far outstripped that of her peers and one night after everyone had left, she went up to the Captain saying “I do appreciate what you are doing here but all of the other students are quite crap, I want to get better and I don’t think I can when you are training people not to stab themselves.” there was a slightly confused look and then a guffawing laughter rang out around the room, he wheezed “You are not the best yourself but you are right, there are certainly some talent and I would be remiss if I did not offer you the opportunity to better yourself” With that the two parted in good terms with the agreement that he would start training her next week. When the day came, it was just herself and him, he threw her a weighted sword and explained “That is the blade you will be training with, it’s called the Falcata also known as the Kopis, it is a devastating blade if you can get a luck blow with it, easily able to lop off an arm with one blow, now ready yourself, I wish to see what you can do with it.” Needless to say Lucrezia got her arse handed to her but she learned from it, she learned that the blade is sort of a mix of a sword and an axe, a more hefty machete and she took this lesson into future lessons.
 

 
Over the school year, she learned much in her magical studies but she fell behind her colleagues and when the final test for the year came about they were all given a assignment, a duel against one of their peers, one that only the victor could remain and she was paired with the overperforming student of the class Stadius Agaptus a bald man with piercing green eyes and a permanent scowl painted on his face. Lucrezia, slightly panicking took up the only thing she could think of, the Falcata and she readied herself for a pummeling much to the amusement of much of the others in the class and with the starting whistle, she started to close in on the startlement of her peer while he was startled, he did manage to get a spell off, magic missile, this really hurt but it fueled herself and her wild swing which ended up lopping off his arm and launching him back from the waves of her kinetic ram, needless to say she had won the trial much to the silent astonishment of her peers and with that she silently limped down and took a seat with the people who were attending next year. Suddenly everyone realised what was happening and the teachers rushed to Stadius’ side and staunch the bleeding but ultimately while his life was saved, the arm was lost. The rest of the day passed in a blur as duel after duel went on in front of her and at the end of the day she went to bed exhausted but victorious.
 

 
It was at this point the presence returned, She mentally willed “Who are you? What are you?” The presence merely ignored her questions and willed “Awaken and greet your visitor, become her friend” With a Hypnic Jerk she awoke and then there was a knocking at the door, it was morning and she had slept soundly, after the second in which she was processing her surroundings, the knock sounded again. She answered the door and behind it was a tall (by human standards) woman she recognised as one of her class peers, this woman barged into the room bowling past Lucrezia and took a seat in front of the fireplace and with a flick of her fingers lit a fire, Lucrezia quietly said to herself as she closed the door “Hello whoever you are, come in, make yourself at home, why don’t you light a fire…” she turned back to her guest and sat opposite and stared. The young woman in front of her was human with pale skin, long brown hair that fell down to her lower back, brilliant blue eyes and a smile that demonstrates her own self assurance, after a couple of seconds she said “So, where did you learn that?” and so began an hour-long conversation that was broken by the entrance of Lucrezia’s sister Isabella who had come to congratulate her. Lucrezia learned that this lady who was being ever so friendly out of the blue was called Zenobia Ammirati and she was quite frankly impressed with Lucrezia’s skill in combing blade and spell to augment one's personal skill, this for whatever reason left Lucrezia ratherer flustered and when she finally got everyone out of her room, she sank onto the bed in some sort of embarrassment she had never felt before, usually its pride when someone spoke well of her but this was different.
 

 
Over the next few months off from studying, she would find herself being pulled to and fro between Isabella and Zenobia, each demanding her time and sometimes both at the same time. They both wanting to better her skills in the arcane arts after seeing how close she got to being expelled as well as wanting demonstrations as to her skills with the unwieldy blade and recreations of the fight often hypothesising what they would do in Stadius’ position, Lucrezia often found herself thinking about Stadius, what happened to him as well as a feeling of regret as to how badly and permanently she wounded him. By the start of her second term at the school, she was already tired and just wanting to go home and by contrast her sister seems to have found a second wind, the lessons themselves became so much harder with a level of competency that challenged her, they also became much more dangerous with live dangerous creatures being used in experiments and practical lessons but day after day she survived the gauntlet that school had become sometimes by a hair such as when a emperor shark penguin attacked her only to slip on a discarded wand and break its neck, Lucrezia would often remark that escapes like this only prove that narrative was not done with her yet and that she still had great purpose to fulfil much to the annoyance of her peers, the only one that did not seem to mind it was Zenobia who would pay more and more interest the more Lucrezia had her narrow escapes from death and all of this came to a head by the end of the year where the final test was to face an advanced creature with another student. As if by clockwork Zenobia was at Lucrezia’s shoulder before she knew it going as far as to make her jump, the teacher instructed the two women into a large empty hall and told them “You will not have any outside help and you must kill it, it's do or die for this test. We cannot have sub par students even possibly going on to the higher arts. As for the task itself, you will be facing a Garataur. Good luck.” This brought a gasp from Zenobia and in a whimper she said “They are really bad news, if I remember correctly they don't have the best willpower so use spells that exploit that.” With that the teacher nodded her head, cast a spell directed at the other end of the hall, closed the door and locked it.
 

 
The two girls slowly moved their heads to the other end of the hall where the spell was directed and there stood the Garataur, a large four legged beast with the upper body of a gnoll and the lower of a hyena wielding a wicked falchion and idly cackling to itself. Just the image forced a shiver out of the young Sidhe who said “I don’t have any willpower based attacks but I do have an idea.” with that the Garataur started to charge when Lucrezia cast a spell to spread much of the area in front of her in grease causing the beast to slip and fall slowly coming to a rest at the feet of Lucrezia allowing her to bring her blade down on the beast and striking with a spell, that being burning hands, with that the entire room in front of them erupted in flame with the sounds of burning and shocked hyena squeals, Lucrezia turned around “It’s as simple as that i’m afraid.” She gloated only for the smoke to clear behind her to reveal the standing furless form of the Garataur, as if by reflex Zenobia cast Thundering Dominance leading both Lucrezia and the beast to hold their heads in pain. While this was undeniably effective, the beast recovered quickly slashing down at Lucrezia knocking her to the floor off to the right and it advanced on Zenobia hitting her in the shoulder, a red streak plain to see through her white dress and raised the blade once more with murderous intent. Lucrezia for her own part was still shaking off the effect of the Terrible Cackle of the beast thinking to herself not today, not today she would fall, she was not destined to die here, the narrative would not allow for it. For whatever reason, this seemed to work and she arose with newfound strength, she started chanting about how she would strike down this beast with a cleaving blow, how this would advance not just herself but also Zenobia’s path along the narrative and how this is nowhere near what she will face in the future and with a swing of her blade she bit deep into the beast and drove it back into a statue where it lodged firm, the beast was caught completely by surprise as to this turn of events and struggled with the blade and the statue until it eventually shuddered and let go of it’s last terrible breath.
 

 
Zenobia was completely in shock, she was on looking death straight in the face and then suddenly it was swept off its feet only for itself to die a slow and agonising death, quite frankly it was stupefying with her only coming to her senses when Lucrezia proffered a hand down to help her up, she arose and held her saviour in an embrace, out of nowhere she pulled Lucrezia in for a kiss, both women were shocked by this turn of events, the door opened immediately after and the teacher came in and with an obvious note of annoyance (Lucrezia realised latter that it was because she was still alive) and let them out, the two would go to the healers and speak to the other survivors and realise the creature they faced was far more difficult than the ones other students had to fight, this obviously sent alarm bells in the women’s minds and after they got treated for their wounds, they retreated back to Lucrezia’s room to talk about this new revelation, they spoke on this matter all night and came to the conclusion they could not do anything about it and that they will have to wait and see what will happen next year. Over the next few months of rest the two would become closer and closer and her sister Isabella came to visit, she now a full blown wizard having graduated when they faced the Garataur, she listened to the two women’s testimonies growing more and more annoyed and vowed to bring this up with the administration with binding oaths that she will get revenge for the insult that this is as well as protect the women or she will die trying.
 

 
It was comforting to know that her sister was looking out for her even though she had passed all of the exams and was free to leave. It was the deciding factor that convinced them two to stay and complete their last year, this in turn convinced Lucrezia that this was part of her narrative. She took the time out of class to learn more of the teacher about their name: Gallio Mamilius Caletus, a scion from a very wealthy family who according to past student complaints hated people who did not do as he thought magic should be applied, a magical fundamentalist if you will, Lucrezia went on to pass these records on to her sister’s room who she had not seen for quite a while. On the other hand the classes were more difficult than ever with Caletus’ hatred becoming more and more pronounced to the point that whenever he was not looking anyone else in the class would help Lucrezia in a way to get back at the vindictive Wizard and it was obvious day by day that he was getting more and more frustrated that Lucrezia lived and he was going out of his way to make everyone suffer because of this going so far as to start up lessons to teach about resisting mental torture which when boiled down was just an excuse for him to let off steam and torture his class and Lucrezia especially, what infuriated him even more than anything is the fact that she was more resilient to these attacks, something she oft sited being a result of her place in the narrative. Eventually the dreaded day came, she awoke from a dream, the same as the others that foresaw important decisions, she had given up on asking who or what it was and just listened as it ordered “Kill Gallio Mamilius Caletus” groggily she got up and dressed, she was about to leave her and Zenobia’s room when she almost tripped over a box, it was from the Captain of the guard and there was a letter “I heard you are going to graduate today, I often think fondly about your training lessons and I had heard that you have lost your Falcata slaying a terrible beast a year ago to this day, I want you to have this, it was mine but I am thinking about retiring and I want it to have a good home with someone who will treat it right and use it properly, continue being as promising as I saw that day you confronted me for personal lessons. Yours Faithfully, Servius Arsinius Eliphas” That was the first time she had heard his name, it brought a tear to her eye knowing that he thought of her and wished her the best even now that they had lost contact. Inside the box was a Falcata of intricate design with the pommel being a fashioned silver lions head, ivory grip designed to fit within one hand, a bronze handguard that connected the blade and the pommel, a silver blade that had many a rune inscribed upon it and spoke of a proud lineage and a matching scabbard, she buckled it onto her belt and went down to see him only to learn that he had already retired stating that he wanted to see a bit of the world before he could not.
 

 
With all of the book keeping done she proceeded down to the exam room, it was there she found all of the class ready to begin and Caletus with murder in his eyes and with a bellow he yelled “Look all and witness how you who do not do as you are told shall be put in your place, how you who do not respect the magical arts and decide to walk your own path shall be treated!” Before she could even respond she was grasped by invisible hands as Caletus cast Paralyze and froze her in place and went on to cast a lightning bolt, Zenobia cried out as she arrived watching the bolt hit and nearly kill Lucrezia, she in turn was as quickly dealt with, falling to her knees as the pain took over any impetus to stand up to this master of spellcraft and when everything seemed at a loss, someone else stepped in saying “I have been watching you Caletus, you have something against my sister then you have something against me!” With that Caletus wheeled around to find Isabella standing there casting a spell, his form exploded in flames as a fireball erupted on his form, this left him well bloodied but not defeated and the next spell Isabella cast was counterspelled with him going on to entrap her in a Paralysis of her own, by this point Lucrezia was free and in a hail mary attempt to get his attention, she threw her new Falcata and this struck him squarely in the back, he was dying but he still had one venomous action in him and he turned back to her with his magic welling up in him one last time only for a second fireball to hit him, this time from Zenobia. The three women were shaken by the turn of events that took place and they sought protection with each other, Isabella being like a mother figure comforting the two younger ladies and telling them that it was over. Within ten minutes the faculty arrived and seeing the events that took place and the testimonies of everyone in the class was forced to allow Lucrezia and Zenobia to be considered the equal of any Wizard the school had produced and allowed them to graduate with full honours.
 

 
After Lucrezia and Zenobia got patched up, they sought the nearest tavern and it was here they drank to fate, the narrative and their future, they drank long and hard into the night. It was the next day they decided to see the sisters parents and it was here they found a grizzly discovery, their parents were dead and the manor and its grounds were burned down via magical means, Isabella was at a loss as to who could do such a thing, it was not just monstrous but down right barbaric, Lucrezia comforted her, telling her that it was part of the narratives plan, that they can’t take this personally, it was destined to happen, in the pit of Lucrezia's stomach she knew who did this and a glance to Zenobia told her that she knew too, out of all of the people she met it could only be Stadius Agaptus, the man would have taken a personal hatred of the woman who took what he deemed as his spot in the school, the woman who should have been oh so simple to destroy but would not die when he demanded it. The distress of this caused Isabella who was now considered the head of the family to make a decision, she was going to split off from Lucrezia and make connection in their ancestral homeland of Greyvan in the city of Eberrode, she gave Lucrezia a Locus Stone and instructed “As I’m sure you know, this is a Locus Stone, message me if you need me or if you need to know something from Eberrode, I will get back to you if I can.” Lucrezia nodded and accepted the stone, gave Isabella a hug and wished her good luck and safe travels, Isabella went on to accept Zenobia’s farewells, told her “You keep my sister safe, I’m sure you know by now that the Sidhe cannot tell a lie and disobey an oath they have set and I will hold you to the same standards.” And with that she turned waving over her shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.
 

 
The two women were quite perturbed by their current state of affairs, Lucrezia's family was gone, their actions in killing Caletus estranged them from the school, they dared not turn to Zenobia's family in fear of them becoming targets themselves and they had someone hunting specifically for Lucrezia looking for revenge. The two decided that their options in Palmyra were next to zero and they would need to find somewhere far away, somewhere Caletus would never find them, they poured over a map looking at possible destinations, places such as Cantha, Herzaal and Logres came up but as it turned out Zenobia was interested in Grobinsk, she thought there would be good opportunities offered to a couple Cordiac trained wizards, while Lucrezia was not thrilled about living in such a cold location, she was not outright opposed to the idea, they decided to bear these locations in mind as they headed to Coriantum via land catching a ferry at the south of the continent.
 

 
Over the next few months they journeyed South but the going was tough, they needed to spend much of their days earning the coin to eat, drink and sleep the next day all while going from town to town, using their magical talents to hunt down petty criminals, almost acting like bailiffs or bounty hunters. Eventually they made their way to a small town at some crossroads called Valeriana, it was here they found a town abandoned, no one roamed the streets and there were obvious signs of fighting with broken in doors and windows as well as pools of blood in the streets but no obvious signs of bodies, needless to say the two women were on high alert, Zenobia bringing out a staff that her parents had gifted her for graduating and Lucrezia bringing out her own weapon, the ornate Falcata that had helped save her life the last time she got into a scuffle, it was just then that three figures crawled out of the shadows and barred their way, they seemed in the gloom of the setting sun to be normal people but something was wrong about them, they were moving as if their limbs were protesting the very movement that drove them foreword and were converging on Lucrezia and Zenobia, the two women did not take this lying down, seeing as they were wielding weapons of their own Zenobia let loose a barrage of magic missiles hitting the first of them square in the chest driving him to the ground, the second met his end at the end of Lucrezia’s Falcata as it delivered a gouging claw strike cutting the second of them down. The third on the other hand leapt on Lucrezia and was scratching and clawing at the young Sidhe drawing blood while she attempted to get her sword in between herself and her attacker, by the time Zenobia finished off the first of the attackers, Lucrezia was on the verge of losing consciousness, with a flick of her hands and an utterance of arcane language, the attacker fell asleep, Zenobia went on to take up Lucrezia’s blade and behead the beast, she dragged the limp body of Lucrezia into one of the less damaged buildings and started to patch her up worrying all the while whether she may still live.
 

 
Days passed in a daze for Lucrezia and their stocks began to dwindle, some nights they would hear the monsters these people had become shuffle their way around the building and the town at large until one day when they were packing up to move into the next town an individual poked his head in, the kind stranger offered them a health potion and a spare ration he had, he explained “The Branded have become restless, some going so far as Palmyra, I would stay as far away from the West, they seem to somehow made landfall and are spreading rapidly.” The two women thanked the kind stranger and Zenobia made Lucrezia eat the food with the potion to recover her strength, stating “I will be fine, I ate not long ago, you had taken quite a beating and I don’t know what I would do if you keeled over.” They started moving out of the town but not an hour later Lucrezia’s stomach started playing up and she needed to rest next to a tree, a worried Zenobia sidled up and enquired “What is it? Was that food Poisoned? I will go and get some items to make an antidote or at least something to bolster your immunity, wait here for me.” She ran off looking for very certain plants while Lucrezia once again lost consciousness.
 

 
She awoke once again but this time she was not in a forest but instead in a metal lined room with a mirror facing her, a light hanging above her and tools in a tray next to the base of the light, it was then she noticed she was lying on a padded reclined chair with restraints that kept her down. Ultimately the consciousness was fleeting as she once again went unconscious with her final thought being that of wishing Zenobia was there, she would regain consciousness once more when a white hot pain was felt at the base of her skull as it felt like some piece of glass was being inserted into the back of her head and the sounds of talking in a foreign language that she did not recognise but this in and of itself was a short period awake as she once again lost consciousness. Days later she would find herself in the same room, the feeling of the glass still there at the back of her head and warm, she stumbled to her feet only dully recognising she was not still restrained, it was then a voice was heard “Test one: Subject is a very young Sidhe Female, has magical aptitude and has had the brand Crystal inserted. Test to proceed with basic commands, Sit down.” As if in response the Crystal in her neck heat up warmer than before but other then that nothing happened, she was not compelled to sit and she quite frankly did not want to indulge the person who kidnaped her, in response she roared “No, let me go free or invite me as a guest but do not keep me in this box and command me to dance to your tune!” As if the voice had not heard her proclamation, he repeated his command three more times and then eventually in an exasperated voice exclaimed “Test one finished, subject not seemingly affected by the crystals, tests will continue tomorrow to identify if a different frequency will garner different results.” with that the room went quiet and she was left to her own devices for the rest of the day with the only break in the silence being the opening of a shutter as food and water was slid in and the shutter closed quickly after it, she did not realise how hungry she was until she smelled the porridge that had been slid in, she devoured the food and drink regretting not savouring it and waiting for sleep to take her. This routine continued for two days as the person speaking to her slowly got more and more exasperated as the conclusion he expected never came to pass until the fourth day three people walked in, two guards wielding maces that crackled with energy and a weedy old man in a lab coat clutching a contract of some kind, he laid it down on the seat and simply said “Sign it” she went over and read it, it seemed it was a contract of confidentiality, it stated that in compensation that they would allow the patient free or alternately free passage to Rata Primus, Lucrezia went on to ask “I was travelling with another woman, she comes with me.” an annoyed look rolled over the old man, he replied “You are in no position to make demands but as you have given us such valuable information, I will let you take her with you, we found her trying to break in to rescue you and we have her in our detention cells.” With that agreement Lucrezia signed and was frog marched to the detention cells where she saw Zenobia who looked worse for wear but still whole, they embraced and were frog marched once more outside the base with Lucrezia getting a glimpse of what she recognised as a Brandstone surrounded by what she could only describe as technology seemingly feeding an energy into the stone itself. As they got to the entrance she confusedly turned back and said “Your contract stated that we could get transport to Rata Primus instead of back out into the wilds, I’m invoking that clause.” The guards did not look amused at this sudden turn of events and instead of pushing them out of the main gates they instead steered them to an airship sat them down and began speaking to the captain of the ship, it was clear that the captain was not pleased, it was then she noticed a third guard come up the gangplank and threw their gear into their laps with a simple “Take this back or it becomes Inquest assets.” Within an hour the ship was airborne.
 

 
The women were not given great lodgings in the ship and were told to sleep in the hammocks with the crew, Zenobia would use her time during the journey to get friendly with the Captain and would learn that they would first be docking at Rangawa, she also convinced the Captain to give them private quarters towards the end of the first leg of their journey, he even came to have tea with the two women at one point where he allowed them three hours off the ship in the city. Eventually the city in question would come into vue and the gangway would be placed connecting the flying ship to the city. Zenobia excitedly said “Let’s split up, I want to look at the palace, I’ll meet you back here in two hours and then we can exchange what we saw.” Before Lucrezia could get a word in edgeways she was gone, Lucrezia had not heard much about Rangawa other than their greatest attraction being their tea houses and so she headed for the quietest one she could find, inside there was but a few patrons as well as women who seemed human but there was something wrong with their eyes and that's not even mentioning their tail, she sat down at one of the tables and one of these tailed women came over with a tea tray “I am Kagawa Kina and I will be your Geisha.” She poured tea for the both of them and continued “You are not the most talkative, you must be wondering what I am, I have been blessed by Amaterasu, now a question of my own, where do you hail from?” Lucrezia calmly took a sip of the tea which was unlike anything she had ever tasted and replied “I personally am from lands far away from here but I originate from a land beyond the ones you will find on any maps, this drink is delightful what is it?.” This brought a slight smile to Kina’s mouth Lucrezia knew not if it was from her answer or her praise for the drink but she suspected both and after a sip of her own the woman went on to say “We call it Koicha, one must be careful to not drink too quickly or it will foul ones wabi-sabi, What brings you here?” Both the answer and the question caught Lucrezia off guard and she finished her bowl while thinking what to say “I came here to experience the premium tea house experience, I thought that would be obvious” Lucrezia replied, this was an answer the Geisha was expecting and none the less it pleased her greatly to hear it, that much was obvious to see and she went on to say “Keep close those you love and the friends you meet, you may never get another chance after it comes up.” Lucrezia’s eyes narrowed at this statement, what does she know of her future, has she read the narrative? She simply shot back “The narrative will let me know when that time comes up, I thank you for your time and services.” with that she reached into her pocket to retrieve her money, Kina held up her hand and said “That won't be necessary, the wordplay has been payment enough and to be completely straight with you I am a Kitsune.” With that proclamation she gave off quite a grin somehow giving off the impression of a fox smiling.
 

 
Lucrezia arrived just when Zenobia did and she ferried her girlfriend into their quarters, she told her about the meeting she had with the Kitsune, how it seemed to tell the truth while keeping something back like her sister would in their childhood games, Zenobia herself seemed unconcerned stating “She won’t be following us so what use is it being worried about it.” she went on to tell Lucrezia about the building and the guards giving her a fine ceramic mask as a gift, the rest of the journey to Rata Primus was uneventful with them being let to their own devices allowing Lucrezia to practise her Alchemical arts and before long they arrived at a massive floating city simply known as Rata Primus, when there they disembarked, they wished the captain farewell and goodluck on his journey and continued into the Rata in time renting a flat in a cheap part of town, here Zenobia worked in a bar serving customers drinks with the aid of her arcane talents for a unique drinking experience whereas Lucrezia worked in small shop producing healing potions and elixirs, while the pay was not brilliant, it did get them by and paid their bills each year, neither of them really ventured out and made their presences known out of fear that the man that murdered her parents had by chance followed her here but eventually wanderlust started into their hearts once again, they were not meant to be caged up in one place especially with the the worrying behaviour they had seen in the east a fact that never left Lucrezia’s mind, in fact it was at the back of her mind both mentally and physically as some days she would feel the crystal resting there warm and attempting to exert a pressure on her, one that she was seemingly immune weather that be because of the Sidhe’s connection with the Aurene or the overarching connection with Lazzissath,
 

 
In a way to try and feed this feeling of wanderlust, they decided to go and have food at a restaurant and examine the news while they were downtown, it was here they saw reports of airships being raided and clashes to the west of Rata Primus, as a counterpoint they did see advertisements of ships looking for crew that able to hold their own in a fight and it was at this point that she had a vision of the beast that had not spoken to her since her last exam at school who ordered her “Apply for the airship job.” this caused Lucrezia to stumble slightly, Zenobia moving to catch her and glances from passers by she explained “Some presence, possibly an avatar of the narrative, wishes for us to join the crew, it's not the first time it has spoken to me, it has saved my life at least twice and without it I would have probably overslept and never properly met you.” This was not what Zenobia was expecting but she trusted Lucrezia and simply said “We will trust it then.” Within the next few days they applied for the job, secured proper armour for Lucrezia to wear a well fitting set of ceramic plates and secured positions aboard a ship called the Cryptonym and within the next few days they met the Commodore Erwin Hawdon a salty dog of the who was very much of seafaring lineage, a no nonsense elder gentleman with salt and pepper hair in a military style wearing his military regalia and medals that gleamed in the sunlight with pride. He assigned them places as anti boarding personnel due to their ability in the arcane arts and skills with combat, they were assigned a joint bedroom, a small room where the double bed occupied the majority of the room, two chests for all of their belongings and a small window looking out and down, they were then given their position at the prow of the ship should they be called to battle stations and left to prepare for a coming fight.
 

 
Their preparations were not in vain as a fight did come to find them, a ship of similar design came out of the clouds and offloaded several automatons and then proceeded to the less defended merchant ship, Lucrezia and Zenobia did everything in their power to fight off the boarders but they did not tire like mortal opponents, they did not panic at a sign of trouble and they were whirling dervishes of blades with many of them being taken down only after being outnumbered at least four to one but the two women did not have such a luxury as Lucrezia engaged and kept its attention in melee with deep gashes being carved into the ceramic plates but none getting through to bite into her flesh all while Zenobia bombarded the machine from a distance, eventually it did go down but not through a final disabling of a core part of it but from all of its oil pouring out of it and it running out of power. While things were being mopped up on their ship, it did not look so good on the merchant ship, the Cryptonym started to accelerate being obvious that its borders had been dealt with, with this revelation the enemy ship disengaged and abandoned what crew was still on the merchant ship allowing the Cryptonym to sidle up and board with its own crew in and effort to relieve the embattled defenders, they were made short work of with much of them being human and as such not such a roadblock when it comes to disabling them, a couple even surrendered though Lucrezia would later learn that they were low level grunts who just took orders and did not know anything of the working of the Aetherblade’s technology, they would be made to walk the plank as a form of capital punishment. Other than this hiccup the first journey they made aboard the ship was easy and uneventful with them moving from settlement to settlement but they were gathering information to the developing Destroyer situation and it was not looking bad and as if that was not bad enough, the news about Rata Nora was unwelcome as if a bucket of water had been used to douse the crews smouldering morale, while this news did impact the crew, it did not dissuade them from completing their duty.
 

 
When the ship arrived at Mistelnitz Zenobia took Lucrezia to one side and said “I have decided on going to Camelot, no you should not come with me, it’s not that I don’t want you to, i really do want that but we can do much more if we work on separate issues, I hear that the Vinewrath are making inroads to Logres and they seem to be the only thing keeping them back, I will focus on them, try and get an audience with Merlin, I am starting to believe that we will never be safe until the Archdragons are dealt with and I think you can do much good up here. Your narrative is not over and I honestly think if you follow me, I will make it ready for you when your narrative deems it so.” As much as Lucrezia wanted to disagree with Zenobia, her points were sound and recent actions only proved that fact. As if that were not enough a vision once again fell upon her “Let her go, she will prove important in the future.” was the order. Lucrezia for her part was at the edge of her will and she mentally screamed “Who are you to decide my future? Tell me or I'll walk!” After a couple of seconds that seemingly stretched for a small eternity, the entity replied “I am Aurene and you are my chosen weapon in the coming conflict.” With that the entity now identified as Dragon fell silent and Lucrezia went pale stammering out to Zenobia “It’s her, Zenobia, it’s her.” a concerned Zenobia rushed to keep her on her feet “Who is?” she enquired and Lucrezia could only reply “My visions, its… it's Aurene herself.” This in turn sent Zenobia pale and they both crumpled to the floor, they spoke for hours, the implications of her messaging her and more importantly the implications of what she said to Lucrezia. In her mind Lucrezia, unsure Aurene could hear her apologised, “I am sorry for my childish outburst, I should never have spoken to anyone like that least of all my creator god.” While Lucrezia never got any overt answer she did have a feeling of forgiveness fall upon her.
 

 
At the docks of Mistelnitz she saw Zenobia off, she gave Zenobia her own portion of her earnings for this trip to aid Zenobia in her quest to get to Camelot, there were tears and heartfelt hugs and each of them swore oaths that they would see each other and when they did they would once again be together, Zenobia jokingly saying “The destroyers won’t know what hit them, a Sidhe Magus that is on a holy mission from her Dragon god, I almost feel sorry for them, almost.” and with that she disembarked and waved Lucrezia off as the ship took off once more headed for Rata Tertium Lucrezia herself waved to Zenobia clutching the mask she gave Lucrezia, the mask she wears in combat as a sort of ritualised getting into the mindset of a killer. During the journey to Rata Tertium, she tried to distract herself, playing cards with other guards and getting involved with them telling stories but she felt more alone than she ever did. One night in her cabin she remembered her Locus Stone, she sent a message to her sister asking for an update as to how she’s doing and for information on what Eberrode knew of the Destroyers, the Jade Dragon, The Risen and of Sidhe being chosen for holy missions and if this had happened before. With a sigh she released the Locus Stone and thought to herself that now all she needed to do was wait for a reply. It took a while but eventually she did get a reply and it was just in time, they were scheduled to arrive in Rata Tertium tomorrow, she activated the Locus stone and listened as the voice of her sister Isabella rang out and said “I am doing well thank you sister, I hope this finds you well. When it comes to what you asked, I scoured the records I could get my hands on and they speak of both the ranks of the Destroyer and the Risen are pawns for more powerful dragons known as Elder Dragons, the specific dragon you spoke of turns out to be one, it has been said that Aurene and the Jade Dragon favoured each other and saw each other as allies of a sort, there were notes that if we were to find the Prismatic scion, that being Aurene we would need to seek out the Jade Dragon as it would be our best bet though no one has been able to secure a meeting with the being. As for your other question about chosen Sidhe and I am presuming chosen of Aurene, I have found nothing, for instance the other gods of the world do not really communicate with the faithful which would only leave Aurene herself and she has not been seen for a long, long time, before even… our parents were born. I have no idea what would prompt you to ask such a question but I hope that you stay out of trouble and let the narrative guide you to your goals, send my love to Zenobia and I look forward to seeing you two, goodbye.” With that the Locus stone went silent and Lucrezia sat there in silence, thinking on the words she heard, she would go on to listen to the message another three times during the course of the night savouring the sound of her sister who sounded well but eventually sleep claimed her and she drifted off.
 

 
She was awoken the next day to the ringing of bells and shouts of “Get to battle stations!”, she donned her armour in record time and scrambled onto the deck, the first thing that hit her was the choking smell of burning, then the warmth, heat was rising from underneath them and it felt like it was slowly cooking her, she could only wonder how dreadful it must have felt for people wearing metal armour and then she saw it, she glanced out and saw they had just swung through a pillar of smoke, there was fighting below them and they were descending at an almost reckless pace, rushing to get down and into the fight, she also saw airships of a sleek new design circling the settlement, many doing much the same as they were, some though were firing into clearings where the enemies whatever they were gathered. Wordlessly she got into position and readied herself for what could prove the fight of her life especially without the safety net that was the woman she loved, eventually with a loud clunk, they made landfall and filtered off the ship onto the streets of the Rata, fire was everywhere and the sounds of fighting rang out from the surrounding streets, she ducked into an alleyway and saw it, her first opponent in this city turned hellscape, a magma harpy was finishing off an unlucky individual that had last tried to face this threat. She squared up ready to receive the charge of this flying adversary, and charge it did, rushing like a speeding bullet with the intention of bowling over Lucrezia who in response pivoted out of the way and took a swipe at the creature that missed by a hair's breadth narrowly avoiding the fiery shield that circled the creature singeing her arm in the process, the harpy seemed rather unfazed by her pivot circling in a tight turn and brought her claws down upon Lucrezia’s breastplate but ultimately not penetrating, heating up the ceramic to the point of it dully glowing, Lucrezia used this opportunity to grab one of the clawed feet and bring her Falcata squarely down upon it almost severing it and definitely breaking the bone, the harpy let out a loud scream of pain and shock that left her open for Lucrezia’s second strike that was a spellstrike channelling her gouging claw to deal tremendous damage to the abominations body and putting it down for good. As her bloodlust from the fight cleared, she was hearing calls to return to the ship, that the crew was being redeployed to be more useful, heeding this call she exited the alley and made her way back to the Cryptonym where Commodore Erwin Hawdon was barking out orders left right and centre, when he was satisfied with the crew aboard, the ship took off once more and partially flew partially fell off the edge of the rata and descended to the slums below, if the fumes of the fires were bad above, it was downright choking below with many crewmembers hacking and coughing as they plunged into the dark stack that announced the burning buildings below, before too long the had made landfall proper with a much harder thump, with being under the smoke stacks itself, breathing had become much easier and Lucrezia wiped tears from her eyes and examined the thin line of troops they had come to presumably reinforce, as if on cue there was a crash and a explosion of sparks as one of the buildings that were made of wood collapsed with the movement of a terrible figure, a beast the size of a cart wreathed in fire and dripping magma especially from its two tails, large stone looking plates that radiated heat and at points glowed with inner light and two pincers the size of large dogs. The whole battle line and the crew aboard the ship fell silent for a moment with it being finally broken when Commodore Erwin Hawdon yelled “Move the cannons from the port side to the Starboard and ready them all to fire on that target!” As if this was a command to the Devourer, it surged forward at a speed surprising for its size, jumping at the last second as it impacted into the front lines of the soldiers, sending some careening into the side of the ship. Lucrezia for her own part helped a group of soldiers pull a cannon across the deck, she glanced up at the creature and saw that it had been making light work of the Soldiers. In a split second decision she started to jump over the railing only for the Commodore to stop her and place a potion in her hand, she drank it down and the sweltering heat radiating from the Devourer dulled to an uncomfortable feeling, with that she jumped and pulled out her Falcata, examining the creature she noticed it darted for large groups first and foremost relishing when they formed a small pike formation allowing it to crush many a soldier in one fell sweep, calculating when her chance was she pounced in behind it pushing her blade and her magic to the limit as she chanted about how this one action would save lives and buy enough time for the crew to ready the cannons, in a flash of light the Falcata bit deep into one of its tails and lodged itself firm, not wanting to be the target of it’s aggression she held onto the weapon for dear life as it swung to look at where she had just been standing, it was thoroughly confused as it swung to and fro looking for where this pain in its tail was coming from until the Falcata finally dislodged itself and she was flung into a charred wall which collapsed around her, she had the dull feeling that her hands had blistered from being so close to the Devourer for so long and she peered up at the beast as looked at her, she recognised an emotion in those beady pits of magma relishment. As she made her peace with the fact she was going to die a sound rang out “FIRE ALL CANNONS!” and with that a deafening blast of sound rang out from the ship and both the Devourer and her surroundings disappeared from sight, during this there was a sharp burning pain that lasted only a second until she lost consciousness.
 

 
She awoke in the ships infirmary shocked that she still lived, a massive bandage wrapped around her torso and the breastplate she was wearing lying shattered on a chair not far from her and blood pooled all around her in quantities she did not think could come from one body, she felt like shit, her body was a fiery numbness that was like a scab that one just wanted to peel off, her head swam she supposed from all of the blood loss and her hair was matted from the blood that had laid on the operating table she was on. It was at this point where she was taking stock of herself that she noticed the figure sitting to her right shaking himself awake, it was Commodore Hawdon, he looked at the young Sidhe and said “I didn’t think you were going to make it for quite a while there, the surgeon was about to announce you dead at least twice, you took fragments of that Devourer and some from the Cannonballs. Before you ask, don't worry the fragments of the Devourer were successfully removed, though I can’t say the same for the cannonballs, the surgeon said it would be better to leave the ones still there as removing them would break the bones, they should grow around it and have no lasting effects. What you did was down right heroic, you not just ensured the beasts death, you saved my ship and her crew and for that you will have my eternal gratitude, if after this job you want to continue serving, it would be my honour to host you and if you wish to part ways, just know that there is always a place for you to stay with my crew.” Lucrezia was overwhelmed by this turn of events and coupled with her blood loss, she could not speak her gratitude and simply weakly smiled and nodded, she fell back asleep a mere minute later working to recover her strength.
 

 
Within a week she was in a wheelchair being wheeled by the first mate, who took her to a wizard capable of sending long range messages and she sent a message to Camelot ready for Zenobia when she gets there “I hope you are doing well, it seems I am really bad at picking fights, it feels like I have been kicked by a horse but don’t worry I will recover, Rata Tertium has been attacked and I and the crew were part of the defence and while I remember, Isabella sends her love. Be sure to let me know how your journey has been, just send it back here at Rata Primus, I will be sure to check whenever I am in the City, much love, Lucrezia.” The message had in part decided her actions, she would remain in the crew along with the Commodore for a while longer and await for when either the narrative or Aurene commanded her to leave, this would help her prepare for her role in the narrative and to uphold what she believed was her destiny that her parents had told her of so long ago.

Personality

Social

Birthplace

Palmyra