Lilian Nightshade

Professional alchemist turned Rada biologist, Lilian Nightshade holds a rare position as one of the most knowledgeable people about Rada physiology outside of the Collective. Going from a forgettable face to being at the forefront of the galactic war almost over night, Lilian has become one of the most sought after individuals by the five big empires.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Lilian is of average fitness, preferring chemical and surgical methods to stay in shape rather than rigorous physical exercise.  She has snow white pale skin that to someone uninitiated with her people would presume to be unhealthy. She is by no means skinny, having a very curvaceous figure which is once against achieved through medicine and surgery.

Specialized Equipment

Some of Lilian's business takes her into potentially hostile zones, and being a loner by nature she seldom has security to back her up. As a result, she has a number of specialised pieces of equipment so she can defend herself.
Her deep purple robes, corset and heavy set pauldrons give a sophisticated but somewhat occultish look to her. However beneath the surface her robes are interwoven with technology both offensive and defensive. The ornate metal belt she wears around her waist and hips acts as a generator to a personal energy shield as well as to her lightning gauntlets she keeps hidden under innocent looking white gloves. This allows her to charge her body with electricity, and using specialised boots and non return inhibitors in her gauntlets she can hurl bolts of electricity at her enemies. 
Lilian's staff is something she caries with her as a status symbol, the staff being an item of power in her peoples culture, and hers is one of high craftsmanship. she carries they staff a symbol of her rebellion against her people who tried to keep her confined to her home planet, Lilian herself having never even attempted the trials to earn such an item. The staff is not just a decoration however. Lilian uses it as a means to fight with her lightning, charging the staff with electricity and striking her enemies with its sharpened knife like tips. 
And when these advanced tools fail, her back up are the duel pistols she keeps holstered on her belt.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Lilian was born on the dark world of Ikarum II, the marshy landscape of the planet being locked in perpetual night. The Vherark people, of which Lilian is one, are a subspecies of humans who have evolved to the planets conditions. They are quite long lived and are fairly low tech by galactic standards, seemingly by choice. They live in tribes spread across the world that generally leave one another alone, though populations of them can be found on other nearby worlds.  
Lilian was born into a small tribe and grew up in the hunter gatherer lifestyle the same as many of her peers. When she came of age, she travelled to the town of Barvosk, the largest settlement in the territory of the Nightcreed, the sect she was born into. From here, she began practising alchemy and medicine, learning how to use the abundance of herbs and other materials to create elixirs with various properties. At first she started with medicinal elixirs, but eventually found herself delving into narcotic substances, finding quite a market in selling her home made aphrodisiacs to tourists visiting the world via the small space port in the town. 
Eventually Lilian had enough of her home world. Her people had a strict ban on anyone leaving the creed without severe punishment, so Lilian fled the world on a public transport. She made her way to a city world deep within Alliance space and picked up where she left off. Having stolen a significant amount of herbs and materials from her home planet, she soon made enough money to but her own ship so she could return to her home world to gather supplies. Eventually she would hire others to do this and built a successful company that dealt in elixirs of various kinds, medicinal and recreational. 
Due to the somewhat sketchy nature of her business, she was shut down several times by the Alliance authorities, moving to Imperial territories and having a similar time there. however all the moving about meant she had clients all over the galaxy, so she spent most of the next several years on the move. 
Lilian developed the taste for quite a lavish lifestyle, her ship decked out with some of the most luxurious features. She even had a purpose built stable for her steed; an Ikarian Deathcharger, that she used as transport instead of a speeder. 
Over time Lilian's interest diversified into the realm of bio science. She became fascinated with splicing DNA in her onboard laboratory as well as cloning small animals and plants. What started as a hobby eventually became an obsession, Lilian spending most of her spare time to develop and study these skills. Needless to say when the Rada arrived in the galaxy she took a keen interest in them. 
Lilian kept a close eye on the galactic war as it unfurled, and this new empire, the Rada Collective, were showing a frightening rate of progress. They seized all the territory held by the Yaku at an alarming pace and continued their assimilating advance into Alliance and Necrophyte space after that.  
Lilian was concerned that this new threat could spell doom for most of if not all of the galaxy, with the Rada assimilating anyone they came across by turning them into more Rada. Being afraid of such a fate, Lilian approached the collective and offered to put her skills to use at the promise that she would be spared from being turned into a Rada. Other organizations and scientists did this as well, though Lilian was one of the first to make the move and be so bold to approach the Rada leader directly.  
Lilian was granted unheard of access to Rada flesh samples and even live specimens. This continued to feed her interest of genetic science as she learned more about this new race's physiology. However little did she or the Rada know that the Rada, simply by being Rada, being linked to their hivemind and similar such reasons, had limitations on understanding their own physiology. Lilian was by no means an expert, but she could see things in ways the Rada could not. As a result, she proved incredibly useful in helping the Rada understand themselves as much as she was understanding them. 
Lilian's research contributed to many evolutions in the capabilities of the Rada, including genetically engineered versions of the Rada Parasite known as a Council Worm that could infect a host and lay dormant before turning them. Or parasites that took longer to de-form the host into the recognizable Rada form yet still being linked to the hive mind and following the will of the collective. Lilian was directly involved in much of this research, and as a result was paid handsomely. Her crowning achievement at the expense of the galaxy was being able to create a device that could grow Rada from a Council Worm without the need for a host. Though these Rada were often more bestial and not capable of cognitive thought, they could be produced extremely quickly, which was exactly what Bashi needed when he usurped Khizraas the ruler of the collective. 
Lilian had an understanding with Khizra where for her hard work and achievements she could rest assured knowing she would not be assimilated. Bashi made no such promises, threatening Lilian with such things if she dared to cease her work. Throughout Bashi's path of destruction across the galaxy, Lilian continued to work on advances in Rada genetics, never daring to try and undermine Bashi. Despite knowing what Bashi, and Khizra, were going to do with her research, she never showed any care or remorse for what was done with what she had effectively created. She had oportunities to escape, but chose to stay partly out of fear and partly out of not knowing what else to do, this Rada genetic research having become her life. However, when the time came for the Empires to strike at Bashi on the eve of his great plan to summon Igsim, the Great Worm into the galaxy she attempted to help them stop him. 
Following Bashi's defeat, Lilian was tried for war crimes due to her research and experiments that were used by Bashi to carve his path of destruction. However, the leader of Lilian's former people, Valetha, came to claim her, promising she would be punished accordingly by her own people. 
Lilian was taken back to Ikarum, where she was locked away for several decades as punishment for her aiding of the Rada Collective under Bashi. However, eventually she was sprung from her prison after a rogue band of Rada swept through and laid waste to the town. Bashi was still out there and he'd sent his drones to retrieve her so she could continue working for him to improve his growing army of drone soldiers he intended to use to sew chaos and discord in the galactic core sectors. 
Lilian remained with Bashi for a little while, continuing her research, making several advancements in this time. However the conditions of the magama planet she was forced to work on made progress difficult. 
Eventually Lilian was retreated by the Sirasion Empire who were part of a combined strike on Bashi's stronghold in order to finally eliminate him once and for all. Instead of being punished by the Sirasions, Lilian was taken to a secure location and put to work on a number of top secret bio engineering projects concerning weapons against the Rada.

Education

Much of Lilian's knowledge was learned through trial and error as well as being self taught. When she wasn't engaging in hedonistic acts of debauchery in her spare time from selling her elixirs she was studying a wide variety of holo-books on various scientific fields, using the money from her business to fund her research.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Lilian is known as one of the most knowledgeable individuals on Rada biology and physiology in the galaxy, more so even than some Rada. She approached the collective believing that they were strong candidates to win the ever escalating war dubbed 'The Extinction War', where the need to conquer territory was being thrown out the window in favour of the utter destruction of the enemy. As a result she offered herself to the collective in the hope they would choose to spare her the fate of assimilation. 
The Rada as a species are at their core a small worm like creature that inherits traits and characteristics from the creature who's brain it attaches itself to. While the Rada share knowledge through their hivemind as well as gain some knowledge of the individual they take over, much of the previous individual's will such as personal experiences are lost to make room for the will of the hive mind. All this and that the Rada were still fairly new to taking over sentient life forms such as the Yaku and Humans. They knew very little about themselves in this form at the time, which is where individuals like Lilian who by this time had a mild knowledge in genetic science came to prove incredibly useful. 
Lilian soon became a critical part of defining and developing Rada science as well as enhancing their capabilities. She was a key part in achieving new abilities for the Rada by genetically engineering Council Worm parasite specimens, as well as helping the Rada to realise new bioforms, such as the Regenerator and Infester.  She also was instrumental in Rada mass production, where Rada could be grown without a host body. 
Lilian also got the unique opportunity to study the flesh of Ydralam, the spawn of the extra-galactic creature known as Igsim who the Rada worship as a god. Thus far she is the only individual besides Rada themselves who have been allowed to get close and conduct studies on these beings. As a result of this, Lilian also knows a number of key weaknesses within Rada physiology that the Rada would rather people not know about. This has made her a valuable asset to the other factions who seek the destruction of the Rada Collective.

Failures & Embarrassments

While it could be considered a failure that Lilian's hard work contributed to the deaths of millions at the hands of Bashi on his galactic spanning path of death and destruction he wrought through the galaxy after usurping Khizra, Lilian herself does not see it as such. Lilian was tried for war crimes by the other galactic factions following Bashi's defeat for research that was used for such destructive purposes. In these trials Lilian made no secret that she joined the Collective believing they were the most powerful faction, and if not for the brazen attack on Bashi, which cost the galactic factions dearly, their forces would have washed over the other factions and destroyed them. 
Lilian holds little empathy for the lives of those she indirectly ruined.

Morality & Philosophy

Lilian is a very self centred person, caring very little about others unless they can benefit her in one way or another. She has never had any long term relationships and has never formed any strong bonds with anyone. She has countless acquaintances, but no real friends. She believes others are there so she can get what she wants, and has become very good at manipulation as a result. 
Later on when Lilian became a scientist under the Rada Collective, she became even more detached from others. Any questions on whether her science would be used for war by the Rada were at the least of her concerns. If anything, she was well aware of what they were going to do with her research.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Lilian's goals are that of self interest. Everything she has done in her life is out of priority number one; herself. From leaving her home planet, starting her alchemical company to joining the Rada collective. She left her world for her own freedom, she started her company for money and joined the Rada so she could guarantee her survival. Lilian is the definition of a cold, self centred individual.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Lilian is very good at manipulation. Despite talking to and treating many people she meets like dirt, she often manages to gain their affection through breaking their will and building it back up to suit her interests. Lilian has a very dominant personality, and knows how to use it.  
Having started a business of her own, Lilian is fairly business savvy as well, using the same skills to get what she wants in negotiations. It doesn't always work, but when it does, she often has total power in the deal.

Vices & Personality flaws

Lilian is a pleasure seeker. Outside of her work she lives the sex, drugs and rock n' roll lifestyle, funded by the money she earns from her alchemical company. Sometimes however her pursuit of pleasure clouds her judgement and has gotten her into less than desirable situations and involved with bad crowds. She has almost always came out the other side again, but deep down she knows one of these slip ups could be her last. Though such debaucherous adventures have become less common for her since being under the employ of the Rada Collective and now, Sirasion Empire.

Social

Religious Views

Lilian's people have a rich religious belief system which can be interoperated in a virtually unlimited number of ways. She is not a devout follower of her people's faith, but practises it when it suits her. Much of this belief system is based around occult ceremonies and practises such as bloodletting, physical pleasure or even living sacrifice. What Lilian does in this sphere of belief is mostly for fun and not for any divine reason. On more than on occasional she has used these rituals as a party trick for guests.

Current Status

Working with the Sirasion Empire on understanding Rada Physiology

Species

Vherark

Birthplace

Ikarum II

Gender

Female

Eyes

Violet

Hair

Khaki Green

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale White

Height

1.9 m

Weight

63 kg

Aligned Organization

Nightcreed Vherark

Other Affiliations

• The Rada Collective
• The Sirasion Empire