About Luna AurialBackground:
"Everything I did, all the doors I opened for them... I was a success story pulling herself up from under the crown's boot heel, and I thought that I was really respected for everything I did to make our lives better. I always believed that I really meant something to them, until they sold me out. That's when I realized I was an idiot. That it didn't matter what good I had done for them; I was just a fall girl. A silly performer. A whore. Everything I did, I did for them, and that was my biggest mistake. I was low enough that they had no problem with giving me up to save their own hides. But this time, I won't make that same mistake. I want power, and I want to make sure that people fear me. And only then, when they hear my name ring out one more time, and it's spoken with the deepest fear they've ever heard another person speak with, will I come back for them, and show them that they should never have underestimated me."
The day that Luna Aurial forgot the name she'd been born with was the happiest day of her life, and she wished that one day that the memories of what she had lived through under that name would pass as well, but she still bore the scars that served as constant reminders of those trying days. She never knew her birth father, simply one of her mother's many "clients", a name lost to time but just as likely to be nobility as to be a drunkard. The mystery never bothered her; he wouldn't have cared about her anyway, perhaps a married man with his own happy family that would have no place for her, and there proved significantly more pressing matters for her to deal with. They grew up poor, and even when her mother's clients paid her like they were supposed to, things were stretched thinly. Luna learned at a distressingly young age how to pick pockets, her unseeming demeanour and nimble fingers proving a troublesome combination. Survival was the most important thing in the world, and so pilfering the coin purse of anybody who wasn't her seemed fair game. There was no room for mercy or compassion when you lived in the dirt, the squalor of the city's slums neatly tucked away where people could pretend they didn't exist, always complaining about the poor, the thieves struggling to make ends meet, but even most righteous man didn't care about solving the problem where their coin purse was concerned. She was just making sure they remained charitable, devout worshipers of Mitra. Things only worsened when her "father" came into the picture. The horrible drunkard wasn't her real father, but he insisted she call him that, even though he had little care for Luna, taking her in solely as an attachment to the woman he didn't love, who he treated as the live-in whore she was when he wasn't beating her and her daughter outright. Luna sought to hone her skills on the streets more and more as she tried to stay as far away from the abusive monster as possible, for fear that as she came of age his eyes would stray and he would soon turn his grubby grasp onto her as well. She learned to sing on street corners for pocket change, a welcome addition to the way she rummaged for more change through the pockets of those not quite so appreciating of her talents. She drew the eyes of criminals who saw her as a helpful tool; she would be the distraction, someone to keep a mark's focus with her sweet voice and her charismatic nature. Soon enough, she was always in a position to own possessions of her own, although she kept them hidden from her step-father. Her worst fears came true just a day short of her seventeenth birthday, when he came drunk into her room and demanded that she start doing what she was born to do. That it ran in the family, and he could probably start making some good coin off of them; he only needed one of them at a time, after all. Her mother's cries and pleas did very little to dissuade the stumbling drunkard, who decided to 'reason' with her too hard, hands around her neck wringing the last breath of life away, and he didn't even care about what he had done, tossing her body off to the side as he advanced upon her daughter. When Luna screamed, it was more than a scream, and the first concrete proof the girl had ever held that she had some manner of innate magical talent in her. The wall of sound sent him reeling, and without hesitation, she grabbed the knife from under her pillow and sank it into his chest. She always took whatever she had to do to survive, and on that night, it meant taking a life for the first time. That was the night she came Luna Aurial, a self-made woman with her own chosen name, free from the surname of a man she hated, slapped onto hers with the unhappy marriage of her mother. She was free now, and took her belongings with her as she left her old life behind, a single kiss to her mother's forehead the last act of a girl who no longer existed. Falling in full time with the criminal friends she'd made on the streets, Luna decided she was done surviving; she was going to thrive. The only people who had anything in the world were the ones willing to take, or the ones born to those who did, and it was about time she made a good life for herself. Performing in taverns wasn't great money, and neither was picking pockets, at least not in the parts of the city she was dressed well enough to get into without drawing attention, but a strong push with those she could find willing to join her quickly changed that. She became more prolific, now an adult woman with a beauty that could further manipulate and deceive. Every copper piece she stole was channeled into a life of luxury and extravagance, even if it involved opening certain doors with her body. Men--and sometimes women--willing to be entertained for a night, occupied while her friends snuck in and robbed them blind during a night of passion. She wore the clothes of somebody with money and worthy of respect, but beneath the ladylike exterior lay a dagger just waiting for the opportunity to sink into somebody's heart. Never again would she wear rags. She wore many masks; the performer, the consort, the damsel. Each of them proved profitable, each one swelling the coin purse of her and the gang she had fallen in with. They were all low, common thugs. Glorified grunts. But she was something better; a beautiful, deathly deceptive woman with a magical talent that grew and proved even greater an asset. A thief who could guarantee her swift escape, turn invisible for a moment, and scream a wall of solid, crushing sound was to be somebody so valuable, so vital to their operation, that she believed that she had truly found her place in the world. She'd pulled these lowlife scum up from the dirt and helped them achieve heights of thievery and pilfering that they could only have dreamt of. In truth, they were using her, each and every one of them seeing her as a very convenient ally who they could ride the coattails of as they became so much more than slum pickpockets. She could pick the expensive, secure locks of the rich, use her spell and her sword in tandem with her inspiring voice to ensure any turf war went their way, and opened metaphorical doors that gave them access to fortunes. They encouraged her to better herself, to study combat in a variety of weapons, expand her many talents, and even develop her innate magical ability, only for the greater returns they hoped it would bring. It was in that belief that she mattered, that Luna found her downfall. The job they'd settled on that fateful night was the most ambitious one yet. The son of a merchant family that had come into tragedy a few months earlier, an heir suddenly in possession of more money than he could have ever fathomed, and word of his extravagant purchases and decadence were spreading quickly throughout the city. At dinner, he was charmed by a sweet girl in a blue dressed that sparkled like her eyes did, even if he hadn't seen her before. She said sweet things to him across the table and then whispered lurid, enticing things into his ear. But upon returning to his home, she found not a house full of expensive art, but a house full of the city watch. She had been set up, and none of her fellow thieves were within miles of the heir's mansion. They hadn't been too smart about where they were spending their money and in what quantities, which led to the watch finding some of them, and rather than lie convincingly--which it seemed only Luna could do--they made a deal. They set Luna up, pinned all of the group's major crimes solely on her, and were allowed to return to their previous positions of only robbing the poor and unimportant. Betrayed and outnumbered, Luna had little choice but to surrender, arrested on multiple counts of extortion, fraud, and in particular eight counts of high theft. She had been sold out thoroughly, mentally going down the list and realizing that they had squealed like pigs and spilled every major job they'd ever done, down to . Even one of those charges would have been enough for a life of work in the salt mines, but the long list and very important people that she had angered left word of perhaps death by hanging for the severity and scope of what she had done. She was stripped out of her sparkling blue dress and shoved into rags once more. For her crime of trying to better her life and escape the oppressive poverty that would have otherwise doomed her to a life of prostituting herself to the city's poorest and likely ending up in the exact same position of her mother, she was sentenced to a life's imprisonment and hard labour, proving that there was no freedom to better one's life. She was born poor, and she would die even poorer. Luna 'Now':
"I'll kill them one day, but... They weren't really the problem, were they? No, it was always Talingarde. The city that let its poor live in squalor and abuse. The city that forced me to turn to a life of crime to even pretend I had the life that I wanted. The city full of people claiming to be righteous and kind worshipers of a good god while they clutch their coin purses even tighter and hope that the divine doesn't take away all of their comfort and their security. That's all they really care about. Praying to keep their fortunes, keep their nice houses and their happy families. They're selfish, and any care they show to the people under them is only as much as they feel they have to to keep their god happy. It's empty, it's fake, and when I get the chance, I'm going to burn it all to the ground. Say what you will about the Prince of Hell, but at least he's honest about what he wants."
The life she led didn't leave much room for faith, and without any other religion to even consider, her hatred toward the Mitrans was directed more at the "goodness" that they lived by than anything religious. But being given a second chance at the life she wanted wasn't something she could turn down, being freed from a fate of mining salt in exchange for her service to Asmodeus. The Cardinal's goals intersected with hers well enough that she gladly gave herself in service to his cause, accepting his work and the teachings she was given in hopes of proving herself this time to be someone invaluable to the cause. She knew on some level that she couldn't fully trust him. He was someone in a position of power, pulling the lower up and forcing them to help him, much the same way her 'crew' had with her. For her companions, trust remained to be seen. But she wouldn't make the same mistakes again. She would be smarter this time, and keep careful until she truly felt she had a reason to think otherwise. She wouldn't be taken down this time, and would better herself for as long as she could, amassing enough power and honing her talents until even if she was sold out, she would be able to come out the other side still a free woman. En route to the home where the Cardinal waited, she happened upon a beast she simply could not shake. A cat with whom she felt something strange, something binding and undeniable. Whatever it was, she insisted the creature come with her, and began to hone with it a relationship. Perhaps the first one she had with a creature that she could truly trust. She named the feline Lethe, a name owing to Luna's desire to forget, to escape what her past had been. But this time, she would not run, she would not change her name and try to push away every memory of what had happened; she would meet it head on, and forge herself a new future within the raging flames of her burning enemies. Description and Personality:
Between her long red hair, her piercing green eyes, her attractive facial structure, and the general air about her, there is a lot that draws attention with Luna walks into a room. Whenever she can help it, she wears the nicest clothes available, even if she has to use some magical means to glamer her clothes into looking nicer than they truly are. Whether through appearance or general charisma, she tries to draw the eye, and as a result makes sure that she looks as exquisite as one must. After a long time spent in squalor, hygiene and grooming have both become very important to the bard, and no matter the circumstances, she will make sure that her hair is brushed and tended to before going anywhere. The thought of being seen in any other way is unthinkable. That said, as a versatile liar and someone who will gladly play any part for the cause at hand, she will gladly adapt her clothes to a situation, and if need be, reluctantly make herself seem a little less well kept, if the money is worth it. The only thing greater than her vanity is, after all, her greed.
The ease with which lying comes to Luna makes her a difficult person to read. Masks and facades and leave doubt about who the real her is. Sharp-witted and often impolite, she has no shortage of words or things to say, perpetually putting herself out there; at least, whatever the situation calls for her to be. Constantly lying leaves her unsure herself, but a genuinely talkative young woman who wants a comfortable life seems like it is certainly close to the reality she's buried away under so many lies and performances. Almost effortlessly, she can slip from the over-the-top performer playing foppish and and florid to the silent, mindful criminal who takes great time to be stealthy and efficient about what she's about to do. This chaos prevents her from ever truly having to show someone who she is, or even face it herself. But what does come out is a woman who hides something grave and serious beneath her frequent smiles and her playful banter. A deadly woman who takes her craft and her desire for what she wants very seriously, and she's just as likely to flash her thigh as to flash steel when a situation calls for it, armed to the teeth at all times. The streets turned her into someone who knows exactly how to defend herself, whether it be with her rapier wit or her rapier itself. An assortment of weapons, several deviously hidden, allow her to be deceptive dangerous for someone of her build, which she plays up; another layer of deception. She's no sadist and usually takes no joy in murder, her kills swift so that she can move on. If murder is what she needs to do then she'll do it without remorse, but she has no bloodthirst for its own sake. Beneath all of that still is a girl who has moved from one place to another, yet to find somewhere in the world where she wouldn't be hurt. She wears her youth sardonically, hardened by the cruelties of the world, but deep in there somewhere is someone more willing to embrace true, non-material happiness than she would like to admit. Motivations:
Her alliance with Thorn is entirely incidental, but there is enough common ground for her to gladly throw herself into the work expected of her. She blames Talingarde for the horrible conditions that led to the harsh life she led, from the town guards assigned to her area who simply didn't care about the poor, and who considered her mother simply a whore who deserved whatever she had coming to her, to the faithful elite who claimed themselves benevolent and kind as they amassed larger and larger fortunes. Going from high theft to high treason, Luna is reborn a revolutionary, now believing she knows who her "real" enemy is, and aiming her gaze much higher than it has ever been before. She'll tear them all down, not necessarily to build a more benevolent society atop it, but to make sure that those who survive the rebellion will be cast from their towers and made to be the ones living in rags. That said, she does possess a distorted sense of justice, especially for the poor and the abused. Perhaps she will spread the fortunes they steal from into bettering the darker corners of the city. The poor are no longer guiltless targets, and as selfish as she is, the defense of abused women and children is much more important to her than it ever was.
She wants power. Not the throne, which she sees as more of a restriction than a freedom, beholden suddenly to an entire land and to its governance on such a scale that she could never truly live. She simply wants riches, perhaps a cozy position high up within the new kingdom where she may use her power to ensure her name has power and meaning. Her new name. The name she made for herself and whose deeds were forged with her own hands. If the current system doesn't allow someone to claw their way up on society through their own power, artificially keeping down any who would even conceive of it, then she would simply have to be an integral part of the new system. And then, there is the matter of her old "friends". She understands now that they were using her, that she was at the time a foolish and naive seventeen year-old taken in by people who were less than her. Even if they were the true cause of this, and with her stepfather dead the people she hated most, she wants them to die last. Wants them to hear that there had been a break-in at Branderscar, to plant that seed of doubt. To let these plans take their natural course in hope that as their cause grows bolder and more rebellious, as they take Talingarde, the word on the street of one of the people behind it comes back to them. She wants them to live in long fear, simmering in their terror that she would come for revenge, because she will truly, sadistically savour those kills, and she wants them to be ripe with horror when she comes around. When she has power well beyond their wildest dreams and they can truly realize just how much they have f&*!ed up by wronging her. As guided as she is by the darker motivations of greed and revenge, she possesses a distorted sense of justice. There are those whom she has little problem with stealing from or hurting, up to even outright killing if need be, but being locked up has given her something resembling a conscience in certain areas. Reborn as a revolutionary, she suddenly sees now who her "real" enemy is, and has a newfound care for the poor, the downtrodden, and the abused. Going from high theft to high treason, she seeks to change her life for more than just herself, and perhaps once she's had her fill of the rich and powerfuls' reclaimed fortunes, she will see about dealing with the slums in a way that involves less fire than the rest of the city. Character sheet:
Luna Aurial - Bard 3//Magus (Eldritch Scion) 2/Unchained Rogue 1 Neutral Evil Medium Humanoid (Human) Init +9; Perception +5 ------------------------------------------ DEFENSE ------------------------------------------ AC 16, touch 13, flatfooted 13 ( +3 Dex +3 Armor) HP 27 (3d8 + 3 Con) Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +3; +4 against bardic performance, sonic, and language-dependent effects ------------------------------------------ OFFENSE ------------------------------------------ Speed 30 ft. Melee Masterwork Rapier +6 (1d6+3) 18-20/x2, P Longsword +5 (1d8+3) 19-20/x2, S Heavy mace +5 (1d8+3) x2 Sap +5 (1d6+3) x2, Nonlethal B Dagger +5 (1d4+3) 19-20/x2, P/S Ranged Composite Longbow +5 (1d8+3) x3, P/B Special Attacks: Sneak Attack +1d6 Spells Known Bard Spells: 1st level, 4/day, DC 15: Ear-Piercing Scream, Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Vanish 0th level, DC 14: Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Message, Read Magic, Prestidigitation, Magus Spells:
Magus:
Rogue:
Lethe:
Lethe - Big Cat
Medium Beast (Cat) Init +7; Perception +6; low-light vision, scent ------------------------------------------ DEFENSE ------------------------------------------ AC 16, touch 13, flatfooted 13 ( +3 Dex +2 Armor +1 Natural) HP 27 (3d8 + 3 Con) Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +1 ------------------------------------------ OFFENSE ------------------------------------------ Speed 40 ft. Melee: Bite + (1d6+1) 2 Claws + (1d4+1) Special attacks: rake + (1d4+1) ------------------------------------------ STATISTICS ------------------------------------------ XP Str 13, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 10 Base Attack +0; CMB 0; CMD 10 Feats: Light Armor Proficiency, Improved Initiative Skills: Perception +6, Perform (Dance) +1, Stealth +7, Equipment: Leather Armor, Training Harness, Saddlebags, 4 days of Carnivore Feed Current encumberance: 48 Carrying capacity: 50, 51-100,101-150 Tricks: Attack, Entertain, Flank, Heel, Sneak, Stay, Watch, |
