The Chirurgeon of Souls
Divine Physician
a.k.a Divine Physician
MAGIC AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The Physician is the Third Ascended and appears to be a beautiful Ma'ab woman with artful tattoos and embedded jewelry in her skin, yet this cannot be the whole truth as her form should have changed in her transition into lichdom, as did the other Ascended. If one could gaze past this façade, one can see where those drastic changes lie.
Beneath her skin is not normal flesh but a swirling black sludge with a few objects suspended in it. Her constant companion is a golden and bejeweled skeleton, Nasia’kal, primarily made from the Physician's own bones. Though now a separate entity, this skeleton is under her control. Very few have suffered the sight of her gilded skeleton climbing into or out of her unnaturally stretched mouth.
A few pieces of her bones remain floating in her inner core, some acting as anchor points to maintain the integrity of her form, while others help her to command her skeleton from afar and prevent attempts to wrest control of it from her. She also often stores useful items such as weapons or magic devices within herself, ready to draw out when needed.
Some of her tattoos enhance and channel her magical power, while others work to preserve her skin, keeping it supple and seemingly fresh. She can open a hole anywhere in her flesh and it will repair within moments. The inset gems, while decorative, also act as points by which she draws in power to feed her true essence. As a secondary function these gems line up with gems and runes on Nasia'kal, which increases the resonance with her erstwhile skeleton.
When outside her skin, she can maintain a fluidic humanoid shape only through constant effort which is draining for her. If exhausted or relaxed, she simply settles into a jellied, semi-solid mound capable of extending pseudopods and performing basic tasks, though nothing with any true finesse. The humanoid form does not appear to offer any real advantage over the mound beyond perhaps some sense of dignity. She can invade other bodies, pouring into them and dissolving their insides and soul until only a shell remains, one which she can then reshape into her idealized form.
SERVANTS OF THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN: The ETERNAL HELLHOUND, the NEVERBORN, and the ACOLYTE CULT
A master of necromancy, the Chirurgeon of Souls has such ability that she can unravel souls and reweave them together again, a technique in which she used Elven essence to create the Eternal Hellhound, Kreshel Divigna. She also uses her skills to create the Neverborn, her loyal guards. Her reputation built from these accomplishments has drawn further servants wishing to study and worship beneath her, a benefit she has accepted despite the occasional annoyances.
Her choice of wardrobe makes her sadistic nature plain for others to see. She prefers to wear white because it best shows blood stains. Her acolytes wear similarly soiled robes as part of their uniforms alongside the masks that denote their station in the hierarchy of the Physician's faithful. In turn some of her acolytes may one day offer their skin as a replacement for her own should it become too damaged or worn.
While the Eternal Hellhound might best be described as two natural souls interwoven together, the Neverborn are a more disturbing creation. The Chirurgeon of Souls strips the Vis from the Vitas of multiple souls, shreds them into motes of life essence, and recombines them into a flawed mockery of a soul. These artificial souls then give life to patchwork bodies of composite flesh. The Neverborn are identified by their grey skin with numerous surgical and rituals scars. Thin coils of black smoke rise from any orifice or wound.
While they are intelligent and can feel emotions, Neverborn lead a hollow existence as they lack true memories of their former lives and the ability to develop a personality or an individual identity. They clearly can be trained but their behavior seems reflexive and programmed. They may copy habits observed from others in an attempt to form unique personas, but they soon lose these quirks without even realizing it.
They usually wear masks to hide faces which have clarly been mutilated; this could be a byproduct of the Neverborn's warped psyche as it seems to be an instinctive behavior. Perhaps they recognize the face of one of their former selves and seek to remove this obstruction to the whole.
This behavior seems to imply that on some level, a Neverborn does recall something of its past lives, but the Chirurgeon has little interest in studying this phenomenon and only cares for their absolute loyalty to her. Still, Neverborn do not appear to react to names or items of significance from their last lives, so the compulsion to craft a mask remains unexplained.
Despite this strange behavior, the masks themselves do not hold any significance; as time goes on, a Neverborn will discard and remake its mask many times. Perhaps it realizes on some instinctual level what it has lost and seeks to regain a sense of self only to forget and begin again. This inability to retain their individuality and their tendency to mimic the behavior of others in an uncanny fashion prevents them from forming strong bonds with other living beings.
POLITICS
The Physician and The Enslaver are seen by most as rivals, for the two constantly work against each other. The Physician has maintained a strong influence with the The Divine Prime and the Ma'ab's use of death magic in many aspects have left the Third as a cornerstone of the Empire. She views the Enslaver with cold disgust and disdain; to her, the Enslaver is an overly emotional and crude individual.
The Chirurgeon views both the Divine Prime and Divine Warrior as examples of her own genius and skill. On the opposite end, the The Divine Artisan and The Divine Matron are mere students, both with potential but far from maturing enough to be seen as a threat.
The The Divine Assassin, however, is one individual who can still send a shard of fear deep in the Physician’s core simply because, even after all this time, he remains an unknown. His skill and power are something to admire and, perhaps in her own twisted way, she lusts for the one male who poses such an obvious threat to her.
