Soren Marsailles's page

Soren has always taken an almost narcissistic pride in her appearance; tall and lean with an hourglass figure, many would think of Soren as beautiful. She wears her black hair long, done up in a ponytail. Her features are sharp and concise, no softness in her visage. Her eyes are large, and her olive skin sports numerous freckles. Unlike many tieflings, her infernal blood is not so obvious. Her tanned skin is a stark contrast to the red of most tieflings, and her hair obscures the two small sets of horns upon her head. While not ashamed of her heritage, she often takes great pains to hide it when needed; she has learned over the years to tease her hair into shapes to hide her small horns, or to only wear clothing that obscures the small line of spines along her back. While her teeth are difficult to conceal, the slight points on them can have many explanations beyond the diabolic, which she takes advantage of frequently. While she does sport a few eccentric features, Soren ultimately finds it fairly easy to disguise herself as a human woman. Instead of the typical signs, her heritage manifests in smaller ways. Regardless of the lighting, her gold eyes reflect the smallest traces of ambient light, much like a cat's. While not incredibly pronounced, her mouth holds pronounced and pointy incisors, and her breath smells faintly of sulfur, with smoke curling from her mouth whenever she exhales sharply. While she shares the complexion of her human parents, a line of small bony ridges runs down her back, extending from her spinal column from her neck to her tailbone. Her fingers are long and thin, and easily bend backwards to touch her wrists. Perhaps the most disconcerting, only through her own force of will does her visage appear in mirrors.

Soren prefers to wear the garb of her faith, whether subtly or overtly depending of the situation. When displaying her following of the Faith may be frowned upon, she prefers elegant dresses of black or red, with silver jewelry accentuating her features. Such jewelry and dresses often feature small, innocuous references to Asmodeus; his sign is often hidden among the beading of her dresses or the carvings in her jewelry. When the opportunity presents itself, Soren typically prefers to be ready for trouble. Her armor consists of chain and black leather set with metal rivets, with Asmodeus' unholy symbol inscribed with white paint on the cuirass. Over top, she wears a long, red cloak similar to the one owned by her before she was imprisoned. At her waist, she carries both her pistol and a long, curved dagger.

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Her years of living on the streets, as well as her later fanatical service to Asmodeus, have left Soren a broken woman. Having thrown herself into the God-Fiend's service, much of her personality stems from her work within the Cult of Asmodeus. Having been trained as an infiltrator, to move within the circles of those who might oppose the cult's goals, Soren quickly developed and maintained a silver tongue, and a disturbing ease when it came to lying. In part, this even extends to both her allies and lovers; all to often, she'll find herself caught in a lie she'd begun to spin without giving it a second thought, something that has gotten her in trouble more than once.

Mostly a vessel for the desires of the cult, Soren is a cold, callous individual beneath her charming facade. A complete and utter psychopath, she sees nothing wrong with using and manipulating others for her own personal gain, even if it causes them pain or misfortune. While not fond of killing, she also isn't above or even bothered by causing pain until she obtains whatever it is she desires. She is loyal to the core when it comes to her faith and service to Asmodeus, almost a borderline fanatic even within the cult itself. Soren is a firm believer in the hierarchy of the cult, even when it does not always work for her. She understands that if needed, the Cult will sacrifice her to save itself, as she has done to other members in the past. While a cold rage still holds her heart over her arrest, she doesn't hold it against her lover for turning against her; ultimately, she would have done the same.

Above all else, though, Soren is a hedonist. While the general public of Talingarde frowned upon her "baser" desires, the Cult itself cares little for the affairs of its members' personal lives. Thus, Soren is left to gamble, bet and whore to her heart's content, even occasionally working in Lady Caldwell's brothel when the mood strikes her. Continuing with her hedonistic nature, Soren is a polygamist, seeing nothing wrong with having multiple lovers, so long as all those involved are aware of the situation. While a lover of fulfilling all desires, she is adamant that her Faith and pleasure do not intertwine. She believes such things could lead to a mingling of loyalties, even if Asmodeus himself might be whispering in her ear.

Soren has become skilled in keeping up a facade of a charming, bubbly woman, just stupid enough to be considered ditzy but not unnoticed. She prefers to keep this up in public, and only retreats into the harsh recesses of her mind when the situation calls for it. Having worked with the Cult of the God-Fiend, Soren has done a number of horrible things to others; however, she still prefers not to kill whenever possible. She finds it to be a rather disgusting and unflattering business, preferring to attempt to convert others to the will of the Lord of Hell before subjecting them to his judgment, if possible. While she will do anything her patron asks, she does refuses to kill children, likely due to her own time on the street. If ordered to, she will both refuse and be adamant that her companions do the same, and is willing to come to blows to defend them.

Born to a noble mother, Soren's heritage was a sore spot among her family. Assumed by most to simply be a bastard child, the truth was stranger; a legitimate heir to her family's name, Soren was treated as the product of an affair to protect the family name from being associated with those who would copulate with devils. Feigning disgust at the child of his "wife's lover", her father abandoned Soren in the streets after she'd reached an age where she could survive.

After years of scraping by working odd jobs and picking pockets, an older, colder, and more cynical Soren found herself working in a brothel. A young and pretty thing, she found herself a favorite of the regulars, even given--or perhaps because of--her exotic features. Unlike most forced into the work due to their circumstances, Soren found herself enjoying the work. She begrudgingly enjoyed the ruckus of the brothel, the fights and the gambling, and even the intimacy with her customers. It was an easier life than the streets, and it afforded her a certain level of comfort, even if it failed to break down the coldness her homeless years had instilled in her. She "befriended" the other working girls early on, and even forged a relationship with the brothel's Matron, an elderly noblewoman by the name of Lady Caldwell. As Soren grew more used to the life she had acquired, she grew closer to Lady Caldwell, who revealed her affiliation with the Faith in an attempt to bring Soren into the fold. The brothel, as well as her other business ventures, were a front to recruit for the Cult of Asmodeus. Selecting only the best and brightest, she plucked those who she felt would serve the Faith well and introduced them to another world.

While tentative at first, Soren slowly fell in with the Cult of Asmodeus. Skilled enough at prowling around from her time on the streets, Lady Caldwell had already trained Soren in the arts of subterfuge and diplomacy in her time at the brothel. Lady Caldwell instructed her in the tents of the Faith, teaching Soren to pray to her patron and receive his blessings in the form of perverted divine magic. Others taught her the art of combat, giving her rudimentary training in a variety of weapons, although she quickly discovered that she favored firearms. From there, Soren was inducted as a full Acolyte of the Faith, and sent out to undermine the workings of the Kingdom of Talingarde.

Soren worked for years as an Acolyte, rising slowly through the church hierarchy as she completed jobs ranging from assassinations to kidnappings, blackmail to arson. The last traces of the charming child that had been Soren vanished; now, she was an Agent of Asmodeus. A hand of the Lord of Hell. That is, of course, until she met Alice.

The daughter of the King's brother, Soren met Alice at a royal function where she was posing as a noblewoman. A beautiful young woman, charming and smart, Soren momentarily abandoned her job and began to speak with her, only ending their conversation when dragged away by her partner to complete their assassination. Still, Soren found herself smitten, and over the course of months took assignments that allowed her contact with the royal beauty. The longer they spoke, the more Soren was determined to make Alice her own. She worked less at the brothel as she found time to speak to the object of her affections, and slowly but surely managed to seduce the young royal. Their trysts were secret, carried out in the brothel so as to avoid prying eyes. For years, the two carried on, drunk on sex and love, with Soren even managing to have Alice take up the Faith.

Unfortunately, they grew too daring. As the pair grew more adventurous, so did the location of their affair. Moving from brothels and taverns to storage sheds and spare bedrooms in her estate, Soren was eventually found between her lover's legs in her own bedchamber, the pendant of Asmodeus hanging about her neck. Ripped from her lover's embrace, Soren fought and clawed at the guards, but was eventually beaten into submission as Alice looked on in horror. Clasped in irons and dragged naked and bloody into the dungeons, she sat in the filth beneath the manor alone, whispering prayers to Asmodeus. Eventually, she heard the squeaking of the doors to her cell opening. Rags were thrown at her, and she heard the guards begin to speak. She heard them tell her of her heresy, her treason, her betrayal of her home. She heard them tell her of Alice, who had denied her involvement in the Faith and forsaken Soren to save her own skin; she heard them say that she had failed. When one of the guards grabbed her arm, she plunged a stone she had sharpened along the walls into his neck. The other beat her half to death, and dragged her from her cell for her trial.

Found guilty of murder, heresy, and high treason, Soren was cast into Branderscar Prison to rot. In the past days, she has spoken little to anyone, a cold, steely gaze fixed on her face. She carves the pentagram of Asmodeus into the walls of her cell with a stone, tracing over the lines again and again, forming the unholy symbol from memory as she chants under her breath. She is an Acolyte of the Faith. A servant of Asmodeus. The Hand of the Lord of Hell.

And she desires her vengeance.