Name: Anathria "Ana" Sae'rel (but it's complicated)
Species: Elf (but it's complicated)
Age: 19 (but it's complicated)
Height: 4'11"/150cm
Build: Slender and delicate
One day, a powerful warrior of the Unseelie met the Knight of Swords in battle. That warrior stole the Knight of Swords' true name from him—and with it, the domains the Knight had held dominion over. He left the Knight as nothing more than a shell of empty armor and took control of the Order of Shining Blades, the fae knights the Knight of Swords had commanded.
A lifelong companion of the leanan sidhe—a sly, shapeshifting fox spirit—told her of a way she could avenge her injured lover. The Moonlit Spring contained part of her father's essence: his dominion over the domains of secrets and forbidden knowledge. The divine spark that connected her to the Moon would allow her to safely take its power into herself, and the secret knowledge it contained would give her the power necessary to defeat the Unseelie warrior. There would be only one obstacle for her to overcome: her sister, the Prophetess of the Moon, guarded the spring and would be bound to stop even one of the Moon's other children from plundering its power.
With the help of the fox spirit, she killed the Prophetess of the Moon and absorbed the power of the Moonlit Spring into herself. However—whether because of the act of violence, or the nature of the knowledge contained within the Spring—her nature as a fairy of love became corrupted. When she returned to kill the Unseelie warrior, she did not restore the Knight of Swords' true name to her lover; rather, she claimed it for herself. She used its power to purify the Unseelie corruption from the Order of Shining Blades—along with their hearts, turning all but the strongest of them into mindless marionettes. Even her husband, as the first of the Order, shared their fate, becoming unable to defy or contradict his bride.
Though the perpetrator of her husband's injury had been destroyed, her appetite for retribution was not satisfied. The fox spirit again advised her: if she wished to conquer the Unseelie courts, she would need power even greater than what she now possessed. She allied herself with the Page of Swords, a representative of the beautiful Spring Court's maligned and forgotten ugly things, in a conspiracy against the High Lords of the court; in time, she would go on to seize the Queen of Swords' title for herself, as well as strip the power of the King of Swords' true name and weld his domains to her own.
One of the High Lords of the Seelie Court of Summer—the Queen of Wands—grew distrustful of the now-Queen of Swords seemingly endless appetite for power. Her suspicions grew and grew until she decided that she would lure her into a trap. Though she loathed to do so, she made a deal with the the Unseelie Court of Winter; the forces of the Queen of Wands and the forces of the Queen of Swords marched into battle against the Winter Court alongside one another, only for the Queen of Wands to turn on her in the midst of battle, trapping the Queen of Swords between two hostile armies.
The Queen of Swords and the Queen of Wands battled one another. The Queen of Swords gained the upper hand, albeit not before suffering grave wounds herself; however, before she could deal the final blow, the fox spirit—her friend—appeared and ripped the power of the Queen of Wands' true name from her. The injured Queen of Swords was too weak to resist as he next stripped the powers she had gained from her: the strength she had stolen from the King of Swords, the title she had claimed from the Queen of Swords, the true name she had taken from the Knight, and even the divine power of the Moonlit Spring.
She survived, but the act reduced her to nothing more than a hollow wraith. She could do nothing but watch as the Court she had built crumbled around her, those she had trampled in her ascent to power at last turning against her loyalists with the loss of her power. Even her abilities as a leanan sidhe had degraded, so corrupt her nature as a spirit of love had become. She swore vengeance against the fox spirit who had betrayed her—but, in truth, she knew nothing of his plans for the power he had stolen, nor had she any way to follow him; for reasons unknown to her, he had fled from the realm of the Ethereal to the mortal World, and in her weakened state, she was unable to open a doorway to follow him.
Thus, the now-nameless leanan sidhe became Anathria Sae'rel, the daughter of a healer living in a remote elven village. She had been reborn in a world of dwindling magic; though elves were once capable of manipulating the World's inherent magical currents (known as leylines), over the course of the last one-thousand years, fewer and fewer elven children have been born in possession of this innate ability. Today, it is all but extinct. Elven priests and scholars have proposed a number of potential explanations for this phenomenon; however, as it coincided with the rise of humankind as the continent's most prominant mortal species, the prevailing elven sentiment blames humans for disturbing the World's natural balance.
In an attempt to halt the supposed degeneration of their species, elvenkind isolated itself, living within closed settlements far from the homes of other races. The rare children born with magical talent were celebrated. Ana's mother was one such elf; though she herself had been born sickly and frail, the magical energy provided by the leylines she was connected to seemed to bolster her weak constitution. That changed following Ana's birth, however. As though something had been passed from mother to daughter, Ana's mother never truly recovered from the difficult birth; her health would gradually deteriorate, until she ultimately passed away from what would have otherwise been a routine illness.
As for Ana herself, she had been born... odd. Even in infancy, she retained her memories of her previous life; though she could not speak, or walk, or survive on her own, she was uncannily silent with disturbingly intelligent eyes. It did little to endear her to the community around her; even when she displayed that coveted talent for magic at a young age, in the face of her mother's failing health, many began to resent her for taking the kindly, esteemed healer from their village.
Ana had no interest in earning the villagers' love. To her, the town of her rebirth was a mere stepping stone.
Species: Elf (but it's complicated)
Age: 19 (but it's complicated)
Height: 4'11"/150cm
Build: Slender and delicate
BEFORE
Originally born within the realm of the Ethereal as a leanan sidhe—a fairy of love. Though her father was the Moon, one of the realm's Great Divinities, she held little power in the fae court to which she was born; nevertheless, she lived an idyllic life, insulated from the endless war waged between the Seelie and Unseelie. She would fall in love with and later become the bride of the Knight of Swords, one of the Lower Lords of the Seelie Court of Spring.One day, a powerful warrior of the Unseelie met the Knight of Swords in battle. That warrior stole the Knight of Swords' true name from him—and with it, the domains the Knight had held dominion over. He left the Knight as nothing more than a shell of empty armor and took control of the Order of Shining Blades, the fae knights the Knight of Swords had commanded.
A lifelong companion of the leanan sidhe—a sly, shapeshifting fox spirit—told her of a way she could avenge her injured lover. The Moonlit Spring contained part of her father's essence: his dominion over the domains of secrets and forbidden knowledge. The divine spark that connected her to the Moon would allow her to safely take its power into herself, and the secret knowledge it contained would give her the power necessary to defeat the Unseelie warrior. There would be only one obstacle for her to overcome: her sister, the Prophetess of the Moon, guarded the spring and would be bound to stop even one of the Moon's other children from plundering its power.
With the help of the fox spirit, she killed the Prophetess of the Moon and absorbed the power of the Moonlit Spring into herself. However—whether because of the act of violence, or the nature of the knowledge contained within the Spring—her nature as a fairy of love became corrupted. When she returned to kill the Unseelie warrior, she did not restore the Knight of Swords' true name to her lover; rather, she claimed it for herself. She used its power to purify the Unseelie corruption from the Order of Shining Blades—along with their hearts, turning all but the strongest of them into mindless marionettes. Even her husband, as the first of the Order, shared their fate, becoming unable to defy or contradict his bride.
Though the perpetrator of her husband's injury had been destroyed, her appetite for retribution was not satisfied. The fox spirit again advised her: if she wished to conquer the Unseelie courts, she would need power even greater than what she now possessed. She allied herself with the Page of Swords, a representative of the beautiful Spring Court's maligned and forgotten ugly things, in a conspiracy against the High Lords of the court; in time, she would go on to seize the Queen of Swords' title for herself, as well as strip the power of the King of Swords' true name and weld his domains to her own.
One of the High Lords of the Seelie Court of Summer—the Queen of Wands—grew distrustful of the now-Queen of Swords seemingly endless appetite for power. Her suspicions grew and grew until she decided that she would lure her into a trap. Though she loathed to do so, she made a deal with the the Unseelie Court of Winter; the forces of the Queen of Wands and the forces of the Queen of Swords marched into battle against the Winter Court alongside one another, only for the Queen of Wands to turn on her in the midst of battle, trapping the Queen of Swords between two hostile armies.
The Queen of Swords and the Queen of Wands battled one another. The Queen of Swords gained the upper hand, albeit not before suffering grave wounds herself; however, before she could deal the final blow, the fox spirit—her friend—appeared and ripped the power of the Queen of Wands' true name from her. The injured Queen of Swords was too weak to resist as he next stripped the powers she had gained from her: the strength she had stolen from the King of Swords, the title she had claimed from the Queen of Swords, the true name she had taken from the Knight, and even the divine power of the Moonlit Spring.
She survived, but the act reduced her to nothing more than a hollow wraith. She could do nothing but watch as the Court she had built crumbled around her, those she had trampled in her ascent to power at last turning against her loyalists with the loss of her power. Even her abilities as a leanan sidhe had degraded, so corrupt her nature as a spirit of love had become. She swore vengeance against the fox spirit who had betrayed her—but, in truth, she knew nothing of his plans for the power he had stolen, nor had she any way to follow him; for reasons unknown to her, he had fled from the realm of the Ethereal to the mortal World, and in her weakened state, she was unable to open a doorway to follow him.
NOW
While she could not open a doorway herself, a gifted mortal on the other side could call out to her. The one to do so was an elven witch; in the midst of a difficult birth, she called out to the fairies to save her stillborn daughter. Perhaps due to the remnants of her nature as a spirit of love, she was able to form a pact in that moment; she merged her own tattered soul with the body of the newborn, reincarnating into the elven child.Thus, the now-nameless leanan sidhe became Anathria Sae'rel, the daughter of a healer living in a remote elven village. She had been reborn in a world of dwindling magic; though elves were once capable of manipulating the World's inherent magical currents (known as leylines), over the course of the last one-thousand years, fewer and fewer elven children have been born in possession of this innate ability. Today, it is all but extinct. Elven priests and scholars have proposed a number of potential explanations for this phenomenon; however, as it coincided with the rise of humankind as the continent's most prominant mortal species, the prevailing elven sentiment blames humans for disturbing the World's natural balance.
In an attempt to halt the supposed degeneration of their species, elvenkind isolated itself, living within closed settlements far from the homes of other races. The rare children born with magical talent were celebrated. Ana's mother was one such elf; though she herself had been born sickly and frail, the magical energy provided by the leylines she was connected to seemed to bolster her weak constitution. That changed following Ana's birth, however. As though something had been passed from mother to daughter, Ana's mother never truly recovered from the difficult birth; her health would gradually deteriorate, until she ultimately passed away from what would have otherwise been a routine illness.
As for Ana herself, she had been born... odd. Even in infancy, she retained her memories of her previous life; though she could not speak, or walk, or survive on her own, she was uncannily silent with disturbingly intelligent eyes. It did little to endear her to the community around her; even when she displayed that coveted talent for magic at a young age, in the face of her mother's failing health, many began to resent her for taking the kindly, esteemed healer from their village.
Ana had no interest in earning the villagers' love. To her, the town of her rebirth was a mere stepping stone.
NATURE
TBAMAGIC
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