Sidra Anguis's page

Many decades ago, Sidra had a family. She was born in the ruins behind the Great Falls of Nyasa, in the wilderness beyond the edge of Gelandin. Her mother, Samirah, was a Medusa, and her father, an attractive, virile human beguiled and bespelled by her mother. Samirah only referred to him as “Man” and Sidra never knew her father’s true name for he never spoke a word to his only child. He seemed more captive than mate. And he feared them both whenever he was lucid enough to recognise their monstrous nature. Sidra could not understand why her mother continued to keep him.

In the ruins of an ancient castle once known as The Star of Del, within the vast system of catacombs which moved for miles beneath the surface, Sidra and her parents lived and survived. Her mother would travel to the town on the far side of Lake Nyasa, disguised with veil and low hanging hood, to pass as a simple human woman. There Samirah would trade and acquire goods whenever necessity dictated (that is, when she could not attain such things through other means). Samirah was not always accommodating to other creatures, it was not in her nature, but instead of turning everyone who crossed her path into stone, Samirah tempered the instinct in order for her daughter to flourish and survive and not be hunted and killed for her appearance and nature by the citizens of Gelandin.

Sidra resembled her Medusa mother, as was the way of progeny. Instead of golden locks of hair upon her head, Sidra had copper snakes and her eyes were a piercing light green, reminiscent of peridots. Her skin, though pale, was more resilient than the average human’s and bore a light sheen. Sidra’s face and form held an ethereal beauty, which drew in prey, just like her mother’s; a brilliant disguise for the evil which lay within.

One night, when she was still young, only 50 summers old, Sidra’s aging and withered father had come out of his imposed stupor. He found a sword in the chest full of trinkets and treasures her mother kept in the room they all slept in. Sidra had woken unexpectedly, and, watched as her father swung with ferocity and severed her mother’s head clean off her shoulders as she slept on her silken pallet. The serpentine hair hissed for a full second or two before all the snakes grew silent and died along with her mother – Samirah’s milky gaze had stared back at her from the ground.

It was then that her father turned; his expression fixed/wild, determined to do the same to his cursed progeny as he had done to the mother. Sidra had yelled “Father, Stop! Do not do this!” but the man would not listen to her impassioned pleas. When he drew closer, madness shining in his light blue eyes, Sidra realised she could not allow the same Fate to befall her as it had her mother and focused the might and weight of her vivid gaze upon the man’s eyes. He did not take another step forward for his frail body was swiftly transformed into stone, petrified for all time. Sidra had not meant to kill her father, but he had given her no choice. In despair and anger at the murder of her mother, she overturned the statue of her father and broke it into an thousand pieces. She did not feel a shred of remorse in the gesture. He had deserved his Fate.

The young Sidra, with tears coursing down her face, collected her mother’s head and body and carried/dragged them to Lake Nyasa. Weighing the pieces down with stones, she buried her mother in the water, speaking only a few childish words as prayer and then returned to the ruins and catacombs of her home. She was orphaned and deadly.

There she had lived and killed for many long years, without the guidance of another of her kind, with only the memory of her father’s betrayal and mother’s death to keep her company. Sidra grew into a merciless, vengeful creature loyal to the memory of her mother and their shared Medusa lineage. Around her neck, Sidra wore her mother’s prized necklace, an intricate design resembling the spikes of a star. Her lair had quickly filled with the statues of intruders who wandered onto her land or found their way to the ruins. Sidra showed them no mercy. She added to the treasure accumulated by her mother.

Samirah had collected a great many tomes and texts over the course of her long lifetime. The young Sidra had spent hours upon hours over the years combing through the pages; learning, filling the gnawing emptiness with lore and wisdom. The void was endless and her solitary life had made her hard and unforgiving, even for all the knowledge she had attained. Sidra’s personality changed many times over the long course of her life. Her unchecked fiery nature evolved into ferocity, cruelty and her strong will would bend to no one. She was loyal only to herself.

It was during her 115th year that Sidra was pursued through her catacombs by some artful creature who managed to enter and evade detection. It had toyed with her, and she gave chase until she felt a sharp, cold touch at the side of her neck and fell to the ground, black oblivion taking her. Sidra’s clever captor had cast a spell or illusion over her, bound her eyes, covered her golden serpentine hair and transported her to a room someplace other than the ruins. The captor magically pacified her, keeping her only lucid enough to feel every cut and mutilation. His breath and chortle against her face made Sidra fight the magical and physical bonds, attempting to break free and escape.

Unfortunately, she never managed to escape. The man was cruel and the years became one stretch of neverending road. At first the pain had been excruciating, her captor relishing in the torture of her fevered body and mind. Her screams weren't the only sound echoing off the walls inside the room, and she had realised she was not alone in captivity or pain.

Sidra’s anger and need for retribution clouded her mind and filled her with blood thirst in the beginning of her imprisonment, during the initial experiments performed on her by her gaoler. As time passed endlessly, mindlessly, Sidra began transporting her mind out of her body, so she could distance herself from the brutality and pain. Her fierce passions soon cooled to simple, numb acceptance as she endured the days with no beginning or end. She was familiar with time passing differently for her, but this was abnormal – wrong. Once she had prayed to any god listening to give her strength to end the captor’s life. Sidra’s prayers had gone unanswered and she waited for the day her captor would finally end the torture and her life once and for all.

Then Sidra awoke, unshackled on a stone slab. She had lifted her sore, prone body upward, but there was something covering her face for she could not see. And what felt like a collar about her neck.

*Likes to be in control and does not take orders from others (or submits to the authority of another) readily or well.
*Strong willed, with an intense gaze/stare.
*Distrustful.
*Resourceful, clever/cunning yet does not feel the need to brag about her skills and accomplishments.
*Forceful, independent, loner.
*Very charming when the situation requires it. Ability to transform her personality to suit the environment and disguise her true intent.
*She is a very still person -- the very nature of the stillness is unnerving to most folk.
*Enjoys beautiful things, a collector of art, jewellery and antiquities.
*Does not enjoy those who prattle on endlessly. She is the silent (observant) type more often than not.
*Vengeful when wronged.
*Adaptable.
*Keenly Intuitive.

Sidra speaks softly with an elongated, prominent 's' pattern. Her accent is reminiscent of the Old (Eastern) Slavic tongue.

Upon waking and discovering she has been mysteriously released from captivity, Sidra notices an unusual tattoo, in vivid blue ink, has been marked along the length of her right arm and up her neck. The site where the tattoo sits along the arm feels a little numb and occasionally a strange ache travels from Sidra's fingertips to the place just behind her eyes. Along the whole marking line, there is a chill and a slight itch like there is something just beneath the surface of the skin.

Sidra's tattoo.
Artistic credit to shroderingscat.