Vela Shaw
Vela Madeline Shaw
Vela Shaw is an important - yet not widely recognized - broker in the quasi-legal information markets of Intercostia. She frequently provides valuable tidbits of secrets to whoever is willing to pay her in currency, illicit goods, or more valuable information - a fact which would make her a target for those she has stolen from (notably the Bards-Recursant) if not for the fact that they've all used her services at one point or another themselves. A colorful figure with wide-reaching contacts in the underworlds of Manifold Sky societies, Vela seeks to change herself even as she seeks to change the world into a place more welcoming of what she will eventually become.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Vela is lean, tomboyish, and never seen without a cigarette at hand. Originally a Human Elovisian from the capital of the Commonwealth of C, Vela has since intentionally acquired the Caudal lichen symbiote and become a Verdial.
Specialized Equipment
As Vela is a transhumanist at heart, she has fully embraced the use of chemistry and machinery to 'improve' on her physical form. She has voluntarily allowed her lower legs to be amputated and replaced with the most advanced auto-stilts on the market. Triplet injection ports can barely be seen just beneath the flesh of both of her shoulders; with a gesture, she can cause performance-enahancing chemicals injected into these ports to be released into her bloodstream, with DCStim and dissociative psychidelic drugs being her personal tastes.
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
Pansexual
Employment
In lieu of violence, Vela fights the forces of order by unearthing the closest-guarded secrets of the powers-that-be and putting them on the black market for anyone to purchase for their own purposes. She also coordinates a brisk trade in various drugs, reagents, and military technologies. Though she does use most of the money from this illicit trade for her own sustenance and self-improvement experiments, she also derives satisfaction from knowing that she is, in her own way, paying The Garbage Man to bring about a new world where she can finally be herself.
Morality & Philosophy
Vela has long been a Forgist, believing further that the Creator hadn't 'finished the job' with merely creating the Manifold Sky and all its inhabitants. In her mind, every individual should cultivate the spirit of the Creator within themselves via a path of physical self-improvement, whether through cosmetics, performance-enhancing drugs, symbiotes, or even prostheses.
The rejection and disgust of 'polite' society pushed her out of the mainstream and into the hands of the 125 Hands. While she rejects the omnicidal aspects of that organization's philosophy, she shares their desire to overturn the socio-moral structures which exist within the Manifold, hoping that she can help replace them with one more amenable to transhumanists and psychonauts like herself. As such, she holds no personal loyalty to any other faction, even being willing to turn on her Intercostian Oligarchs if the payoff was high enough to offset the loss of the black market there.
Relationships
History
Arxid occasionally brings Vela experimental reagents, prosthetics blueprints, or other things which she can use to pursue her transhumanist vision in exchange for useful information. The two share a vaguely flirtatious manner with one another, though both know that a romantic connection isn't on the table. Vela's mercenary attitude and connection to the hidden currents of information which flow through Intercostia suits Arxid's human intelligence needs perfectly. While she believes that Arxid shares her beliefs, Arxid actually regards her lack of conviction as a moral failing - a view which he studiously conceals to maintain their mutually beneficial relationship.
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Current Location
Species
Conditions
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
9981
19 Years old
Birthplace
Vivaldi Peak
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Intercostia
Gender
Female
Eyes
Aqua
Hair
Red-orange petals
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
White (black streaks)
Height
5'2"
Weight
100 lbs (before
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Comments