Ilaine Starlight's page

Ilaine Soviina (performing name Ilaine Starlight) is a Varisian woman, about 5'3". Her face tends toward a harsh angularity that some find off-putting, but her large dark eyes are calculating and expressive, and her dark hair tumbles in graceful curls over her shoulders. Wide hips and shoulders give her a dramatically curved figure that she makes little attempt to conceal - in fact, her clingy, artfully draped clothing seems designed to accentuate it. Her most striking feature, however, is a series of "birth tattoos", intricate birthmarks on her back and arms - the speckles and curves form a rendition of the zodiac constellation the Newlyweds, two celestial lovers intertwined as one.

She has found a way to put her appearance to good use - she's been part of the Emporium's Gallery of Science from its inception, where her birth tattoos are hailed as the influence of a fortuitous astral conjunction upon blood of the fey Eldest in her line. Whether or not the stories are true, the attraction certainly drew attention from the start, especially as Ilaine began to mature into a woman hailed as desirable on all counts. Now, she spends her days dancing in the Gallery of Science below and her evenings engaged in other activities in the Veiled Corridor above. Besides her birthmarks, her trademark is the lavish scarves she uses as props in her dances, adding just the right amount of concealment to make the performances as titillating as possible.

Years in the spotlight have made Ilaine haughty and proud. When things are not going her way, she is accustomed to rectifying life's apparent oversight one of two ways - by charming her way into what she wants or by berating everyone within hearing range until things are fixed. Tempestuous and flighty, she is quick both to laughter and to anger, and has a tendency to rush into whatever sounds like most fun at the time. She tends to come out for the better for it, though; years of dancing have honed her strength and finesse, and she is more than capable of defending herself. And ready - she has even sewn hidden blades of fine, sharpened wire to the ends of the lavishly embroidered scarves she wears in order to have a weapon ready at a moment's notice, should a customer try to push her around. But through long practice, she's learned to keep the cuts shallow, merely to wound rather than kill - after all, Zalamandra wouldn't want deaths on her star's hands. And humiliation proves far more effective at dissuading further unwanted advances.

Ilaine arrived in Diamond Lake as part of a trade caravan when she was only a child. She had been on the road almost since birth - her aunt Mesandre, the only mother she'd ever known despite the two being related only by long-past marriage, traveled with the caravan as a prostitute, using the trade routes as a way to keep her business amusing. Raised by an elf, Ilaine inherited much of their ways; wanderlust and curiosity were her companions since birth, and she'd been taught since she could remember that there was no shame in enjoying all of life's joys and variety. Unfortunately, Diamond Lake brought a little too much variety - one of Mesandre's clients was, unbeknownst to anyone, carrying a disease that merely left him itchy and uncomfortable, but proved disastrous to her elven physiology. Too ill to travel on, Mesandre stayed in Diamond Lake to recover with Ilaine seeing to her while the caravan moved on. The illness soon proved fatal, and nine-year-old Ilaine was left on her own in the rough mining town, too young to support herself and too proud to beg.

Mesandre had reached out to both brothels in town before she'd taken ill, and Ilaine was more than familiar with her aunt's business. So she went to Purple Prose at the Midnight Salute, asking after a chance to draw in customers and earn her keep - but the proprietress rejected her soundly as a call girl, thinking her too young. Sympathetic to Ilaine's plight, Purple Prose agreed to keep her on as a maid, sweeping and making beds. But the menial, filthy labor didn't suit the young Ilaine; even at so young an age, she saw herself perpetually bathed in a glow of imaginary spotlight.

After a couple of years of drudgery cleaning up after trysts, Ilaine began to hear rumors that Zalamandra's vice den was undergoing some changes - the charismatic owner had grown quite familiar with a traveling professor, and the two were going into business together. What's more, rumors of the curiosities he'd brought along with him were fascinating - and Ilaine saw her chance to escape the Midnight Salute's drudgery. Seizing her chance, she went to the newly-christened Emporium, baring her back for Professor Marat. She'd been conceived in a bacchanal beneath the Newlyweds' glow, she said - fey, azata, and humans alike carousing in the starlight, wine flowing like water and no pleasure off limits. Her parents had never escaped the deceits of the fey, she claimed; she'd simply been left on her father's brother's doorstep, a foundling her uncle and his elven wife had taken in.

Who knows if it was true? Did the truth even matter? Not to Professor Marat. He was more than happy to take in the child and parade her before his patrons. And Ilaine Starlight got what she always wanted - all eyes on her.

0 - all
1st - color spray, chill touch, ill omen, frostbite, magic missile

*Bonus Feat (Dazzling Display)
*Silver Tongued: Human are often adept at subtle manipulation and putting even sworn foes at ease. Humans with this trait gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks. In addition, when they use Diplomacy to shift a creature's attitude, they can shift up to three steps up rather than just two. This racial trait replaces skilled.

A hexcrafter magus adds the following spells to his magus spell list: bestow curse, major curse, and all other spells of 6th level or lower that have the curse descriptor.

A bladed scarf dancer can cast one fewer spell of each level than normal. If this reduces the number to 0, he can cast spells of that level only if his Intelligence allows bonus spells of that level.

At 1st level, the magus gains a reservoir of mystical arcane energy that he can draw upon to fuel his powers and enhance his weapon. This arcane pool has a number of points equal to 1/2 his magus level (minimum 1) + his Intelligence modifier. The pool refreshes once per day when the magus prepares his spells.

At 1st level, a magus can expend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to grant any weapon he is holding a +1 enhancement bonus for 1 minute. For every four levels beyond 1st, the weapon gains another +1 enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves.

At 5th level, these bonuses can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: dancing, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, keen, shock, shocking burst, speed, or vorpal.

Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. These properties are added to any the weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added. These bonuses and properties are decided when the arcane pool point is spent and cannot be changed until the next time the magus uses this ability. These bonuses do not function if the weapon is wielded by anyone other than the magus.

A magus can only enhance one weapon in this way at one time. If he uses this ability again, the first use immediately ends.

At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.

A hexcrafter gains access to the following magus arcana, or may select any witch hex in place of a magus arcana. At 12th level, the hexcrafter may select a hex or major hex in place of a magus arcana. At 18th level, a hexcrafter can select a hex, major hex, or grand hex in place of a magus arcana. He cannot select any hex or arcana more than once.

Accursed Strike (Sp): A hexcrafter magus who can cast bestow curse, major curse, or any spell with the curse descriptor can deliver these prepared spells using the spellstrike ability, even if the spells are not touch attack spells.

A bladed scarf dancer is proficient in simple weapons and bladed scarves. Additionally, a bladed scarf dancer can wield a bladed scarf as a one-handed melee weapon. A bladed scarf dancer is not proficient with armor or shields and suffers the normal arcane spell failure chance when casting magus spells while armored.