The Artisan of Blood
Divine Artisan
a.k.a Divine Artisan
HISTORY AND POLITICS
When the Ma'ab people first came to Miurag, they suffered from infertility and miscarriages on a large scale, dooming the race if they could not find a way to sustain their numbers. Two more Ma'ab joined the ranks of the Ascended for their roles in addressing this crisis, the The Mother of Entrails and the Artisan of Blood. While the former is known for the fertility rites that are still a staple for successful births, the Artisan worked tirelessly in ensuring the strength of the bloodlines so that the Ma'ab would not lose their heritage of magic by diluting it through breeding with the 'lesser' beings of Miurag.
The Artisan continues to oversee the bloodlines, though she now wields it as a tool of political control to keep the nobility in check. The Artisan's approval of a breeding match for the strength of the Ma'ab race does much to bolster the loyal adherents of the Ascended, while forcing voices of opposition to wither and fall to the slums. Such control of the genealogy has allowed her to cultivate a slow but steady growth of followers amongst the nobility.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The Artisan's notoriety for political machinations often overshadows her other gifts, causing many to underestimate her abilities as an alchemist and mage. Indeed, she Ascended to immortality through her mastery of arcane mixtures, though the process continues to transform her body in ways not even she can predict.
Despite her slight frame and short stature, the Artisan is much stronger than she appears and is more than a match for some of the larger male Ma'ab. Her skin has become unnaturally smooth and toughened, hairless and pale to the point of translucency. Her fingers sport strange, curved claws, more like an animal's fangs than fingernails. Her forearms and hands are adorned with soul-stealing runes and soul traps which allow her to more easily draw in vitality from those she strikes. Even her toenails have hardened and sharpened into unnatural weapons.
The corners of the Artisan's mouth nearly touch her earlobes when she smiles, revealing a multitude of sharp teeth. Her eyes are a deep red which appears black in contrast with the flesh-stained pink around the sockets. She is mildly sensitive to sunlight, but it does not do her any tangible harm; rather, it is an irritant to her continually heightening senses. She must adapt in constantly filtering sensory information lest she be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sensations she perceives. The sensory deprivation of her alchemical pool offers one of the few respites even as it exacerbates the problem.
MAGIC
The Divine Artisan has embraced her transformation, regularly "resting" within a pool of the alchemical mixture that brought about her Ascension. This strange substance which closely resembles blood is a personal formula developed through years of her own research and knowledge stolen from others. It was designed to keep her young and powerful, but the fluid is inherently unstable due to the chaotic magic that infuses it. Even carefully stored after it has been 'filtered' and cleansed, the mix continues to undergo further reactions that mutate the Artisan more each time she makes use of it.
Furthermore, the mixture possesses an addictive quality, though this doesn't dissuade the Artisan from her regular baths in the slightest. Indeed, she has made use of it to create a thriving drug trade for the run-off of her “baths,” covertly tracking the effects it has upon its users. While the effects on ordinary Ma’ab are much less severe, the addiction ensures repeated exposure. A few users have degenerated into ghoulish monstrosities that have fled and hidden in the slums and sewers, while others have experienced enhancements to their personal qualities without visible side effects. So far no one has discovered the link between this illicit trade and the Artisan's alchemy.
FAMILIAR
The Artisan's constant companion is her strix familiar, Nugri. Unlike the smaller, blood-sucking species on Miurag, Nugri is from a larger species found in the Greylands, the Strigor. Strix as a species seem to have crossed into Miurag and adapted to that world at some unknown point in time. The name even appears to be a bastardization of the Greylands word for the original species. The discovery of native strix on Miurag actually aided the Mother and Artisan in their research to help the Ma'ab to acclimate to life in Miurag.
The Artisan maintains an indoor aerie that hosts a small number of Strigor. Some Ma'ab nobles use them as hunting pets similar to how hawks and falcons are used among human nobility, though their larger size makes them more difficult to handle as they are closer to eagles in terms of wingspan and height. They're also far more cunning and intelligent than the strix of Miurag.
Strigor are referred to as 'Blood drakes' in some tales even though they have no relationship to drakes beyond a few superficial features such as their leathery wings and tails.
