About Nyx IllishaCrunch:
Nyx Illisha
Backstory:
Many people considered the constant upheaval and anarchy within Galt made it impossible to do business. Nyx believed the exact opposite. Raised in Pour Encourager les Autres, Nyx never knew her parents, being abandoned when she was younger. Initially, Nyx found this distressing, but the experience hardened her, making her more willing to trust in herself. While some children longed for adoption, Nyx didn’t share this dream, instead preferring the individuality she received in the orphanage. Years later, Nyx preferred to view this time with fondness, grateful that she effectively formed no ties in the community as a young woman, leaving her currently without close acquaintances that could become weaknesses. With Galt in constant revolution, the orphanage grew disrupted under the constant strains of violence or decree changing. As a resourceful child, Nyx took the opportunity to explore the streets, expressing her joy of freedom. Despite being slightly bette4r looked after than the children in different orphanages in Galt, Nyx always wanted more, with bright eyes she had almost magpie like fascination, seeking to steal what she could from people, taking up pickpocketing before eventually branching out into a bit of looting. Nyx had always hated confrontation, and quickly adopted “grab and flee” tactics. To the people of Galt, she was probably no more than a minor inconvenience, and certainly the City Guard never wasted time on some vagabond child wandering around getting into mischief, taking pretty, although trivial items such as perfume or jewellery. Despite getting away with it for a surprising amount of time, Nyx would eventually find that her luck would run out. Her utter lack of experience in the criminal underworld made her an irritation, and she had no real friends that would ensure anyone would draw pause. Furthermore, as she grew older, her beauty and figure meant that she became far more noticeable; one grubby child among several would blend in – an attractive young woman, less so. In all likelihood, Nyx would have met an unfortunate end in some way, had she not made the grave mistake of attempting to pickpocket a Calistrian priestess who had left the House of Joy moments ago.
While many within the Church had the divine spark that allowed them to receive spells direct from their patron, Nyx didn’t. She wasn’t particularly loyal to any sort of deity, but instead respected the portfolio’s that Calistria’s held, seeing them as important factor’s towards building an information network. In trademark Nyx fashion, she instead chose to create her own brand of magic, the elixir’s and potions that would allow her to push her mental limits, looking to give any sort of edge. This razor sharp focus allowed Nyx a technical breakthrough, letting her specialise into potions that perfected the art of disguise, letting her appear to be absolutely anyone she wanted. This breakthough was significant to Nyx, now she felt she had the freedom to be anyone – do anything, and taught her elegance, in comparison to the more sledgehammer approach of pickpocketing a mark and running away. This freedom however, came with the realisation that she needed to work even harder than before, to successfully impersonate someone, you had to know who they were, how they moved, talked, thought, who their friends, enemies were, and so on. Nyx began to make files about everyone she met, storing them deep within the Church. In an attempt to gather some of this information, Nyx began to learn more about the art of seduction, aided in part, by the priestesses of the temple. Nyx quickly learnt that it was by far the easiest way to learn secrets, and her ability to look like anyone quickly allowed her to excel in slipping out secrets. Despite the fame and popularity it might have brought her, Nyx never, ever let any client, and even many other Calistrian’s, learn the talent for disguise she had – the more people that knew, the harder it would be to use. It was only the senior members that Nyx felt comfortable with knowing her secrets – and only then because they had protected her in her youth and had been keeping such a close eye on her anyway. With her talent for disguise, and exceptional skill at forging documents, Nyx was a force to be reckoned with. She could look like anyone, and have the papers to prove it. On one memorable occasion, she successfully tricked a noble towards giving up his fortune, under the fiction that it had been repossessed by the Revolutionary Council. In the criminal underworld Nyx was known for being able to provide identification papers, documents, forged statements, the possibilities endless. The only people in Galt Nyx truly feared were the Grey Gardeners, the veiled individuals that enforced the law in Galt. Nyx had had the opportunity to attempt an infiltration mission on a few times, in an attempt to learn more about the members and how they operated, but always pulled back – not trusting herself and believing that the stakes were too high. While Nyx had her criminal activities religiously hidden, she worked hard to project a public face. She wanted to be political, wanted to be notable, which meant she had to be visible around the city. To aid in this, Nyx found work at many brothels and taverns, filtering around from one to another, initially not showing any real allegiance to each one, before settling at The Plunging Blade. Nyx liked the independence it had from Church, sending a clear signal that she was her own person, but also keeping the relationship open between her and the Court, while still signalling that she prioritised still the values installed in her at the Calistrian church. Eventually, with the supporters she had from The Plunging Blade, as well as the Church, Nyx was recommended towards assisting another Madame managing another brothel, with the goal of eventually being groomed to succeed and join the Court of Bees. Receiving an invite to the Council was by far the true long term goal of Nyx. She had casual aspirations more and more influence across the city and still working her way up – but for now she was satisfied with her immediate goal before getting ahead of herself. Ideally, she wanted Galt returned to its full glory, but in typical Nyx fashion, she wanted to influence the direction that it would go. Personality & Appearance:
Nyx thinks long term, and is a very manipulative individual. Even while living on the street, Nyx was very adept at disguising herself, and every day changes her face to varying degrees, each "disguise" having a various backstory, papers (possibly faked) and position in the city. She has a "default" disguise of an attractive lithe olive skinned half-elf with long dark hair and brown eyes, although whether this is her true look is impossible to say, with Nyx switching things up with a mundane disguise or perhaps with magical assistance. There are some of Nyx's agents however, to believe that she is a blonde, others, a red-head, an elf or a human, or some other race or facial feature. Patient to a fault, Nyx is polite to all, and keeps her true feelings hidden. Its not uncommon for any revenge Nyx dishes out to manifest months or years later and makes dealing with Nyx rather unpredictable, because you are never quite sure where you stand. Nyx has difficulty forming relationships based on loyalty, due to her changing persona, so she generally relies on fear, or gratitude for aid to maintain her network of clients, informers and enforcers. She dislikes physical aggression or combat in any form, believing that its a failure on her part to address the situation, but can nevertheless handle herself in close quarters fairly easily. The Rite:
Nyx rolled out of bed in a well-practised motion. Usually, she would be careful not to wake up her client but on this particular case she had drugged him enough to ensure he wouldn’t be waking up for some time. All the drinking she had insisted they do earlier probably also wasn’t helping. The client’s name was John Tanner, and while he believed he had been lucky enough to pick up Nyx at a tavern, in truth he had been selected as her target for many weeks now. Mr Tanner had been a persistent thorn in the Church’s side, trying to weaken the influence of the Court of Bees, as well as directly hitting a courtesan on one drunken night. Nyx had never forgotten the slap, which had been years ago, but she was perfectly happy getting a minor revenge. John Tanner hadn’t recognised her of course, Nyx’s talent for disguise had seen to that – and so it had been a relatively simple matter for him to ply him with drinks before inviting him back to her place, a private residence Nyx had borrowed for the night. With the target now temporarily out of the way, Nyx could attempt to complete a task that had been bugging her for quite some time now – the Rite of the Triple Sting. Of course, Madame Madeline Roulier had tried to persuade Nyx otherwise towards completing this. She indicated it was possible to gain power and influence – eventually gaining access to the Court of Bees without completing the Rite. Nyx knew this to be true, but she hoped further ascending through the Church leadership would bring advantages. With all of that said, Nyx was practising a more minor version of the Rite tonight though, and had advised the Church this ahead of time. Nyx didn’t really want blood on her hands unless she could help it, and the instability in Galt made the punishments for any sort of crime unpredictable. She was also going to keep her true identity hidden, rather than revealing herself as is usually appropriate for the acolyte completing the Rite – she was a public figure and didn’t really want to be involving her persona into this, nor to bring further attention from the Grey Gardeners. Breathing in the chill night-time air, Nyx headed towards one of the more exclusive clubs in the city, Moulin Bleu. The notoriously exclusive brothel was difficult to get access to, but Nyx was well familiar with how things worked – having worked there before. She had actually managed to book two rooms – a slightly more difficult task than the norm due to having to keep her identity in purchasing the second one secretly, but with the people she knew, it was relatively simple. Giving door security (who she knew very well), Nyx gave them a radiant smile before slipping through, winding her way through the patrons and heading upwards, observing the two rooms she had booked. As expected, both rooms were fairly identical, although Nyx immediately changed this, leaving the window open in one, before disturbing the sheets of the second room, making the bed appear to have been slept in. Her work done, Nyx changed form, drinking one of her extracts and transforming into John Tanner, an exact replica. Nyx headed down the stairs, and immediately spotted the man she had come here to antagonise. The man’s name was Julian Savae, an influential figure with a quick temper and friends with some of the city guards. She was pleasantly happy to see that Julian had been drinking. Ordering a drink, Nyx stepped closer, taking a roundabout route while pretending to observe the show, as she approached Julian from behind. Pretending to stumble slightly, she staggered, dumping her drink all over Julian. The man reacted as Nyx hoped he would, swinging an angry fist in her direction. Leaning backwards, Nyx dodged, before attempting to hit the man again. Physical fighting wasn’t really Nyx’s cup of tea, so she was mildly surprised at a clean hit. Enraged, Julian charged, but overbalanced and stumbled into a group of other patrons. With the club heading towards a full out brawl, security started heading in to restore order. Nyx would have taken the opportunity to be slightly satisfied with her handiwork – the Court would be pleased about disruption within Moulin Bleu – but one of the security guards headed in her direction. Giving a curse, Nyx headed towards the room, trying to put as much distance between her and security as much as she could – wanting to break the man’s line of sight. She succeeded – barely, by making it into her room and shutting the door. Fully aware that the noise would tell the man that she had entered a private room – but not which one, Nyx moved swiftly as she heard the man head up the stairs. Drinking her extract again, Nyx changed form back into herself, before murmuring a command word, letting her clothing shift into something more appropriate, before she adjusted it slightly, letting it appear in a state of undress. There was a sudden bang, and the man burst in, not seeing the man he was chasing, but rather Nyx, in a state of undress. There was an awkward pause, before Nyx reacted as was appropriate in this situation. “OUT” she cries out, leaving the man stammering slightly. Nyx helped him exit the room slightly faster but hurling a shoe at the direction of the man’s head, leaving him to duck out of the room, shutting the door firmly before bursting into the room next door. Nyx listened quietly, and heard the man curse as he viewed the room as she had deliberately left it – an empty room with a wide open window. In the heat of the moment, the man made the obvious conclusion that John had simply jumped the window and briefly headed back down to restore order. Nyx sat in the room for a good few moments, putting herself back in a period of calm, as she reviewed everything to make sure everything had worked out to present the desired outcome. After reflecting, and satisfied, Nyx fixed her clothing, before heading out the door, giving the security man who had “interrupted her” a dirty look as she left. All in all, it certainly hadn’t been a bad night, all things concerned, Nyx thought, as she headed to the House of Joy to report success. Julian would want revenge on the man who had insulted him, and would probably lean on his friends in the guard to pull him in – possibly roughing the man up a little as they did so. John of course, would know nothing about what happened, and would assume that Julian was making up a false statement. He would deny the charges, while Julian would attempt to use his influence to make everything stick. Eventually, John would go looking for his alleged alibi in the lady he was apparently sleeping with, and the Church would step in saying that they had “located” this person – in exchange for a small fee. If things got that far, Nyx could “testify” as a witness but she doubted it would proceed to a courtroom. The Church would secretly inform Julian that he should drop charges in light of an apparent alibi but they (as members of Calistria) would ensure he would be appropriately avenged, while John would be in the Courts debt – ready to call upon for a favour and less likely to have to worry about his influence affecting them. Nyx would then be reimbursed by the Church for cost, and as a bonus, both Julian and John would (at least for the time being) be too concerned with their feud to bother anyone else. As a bonus, the Court could even use the disruption at Moulin Bleu to claim that the Court was a more reliable operator to push for more influence. A task neatly carried out, the ultimate winners being Nyx, the Church, and the Court, exactly as Nyx had planned. All in a nights work, for Nyx. |
