Syr Selene Vera
| Age 23 |
| Gender Female (She/Her) |
| Origin Western Altalusian |
| Occupation Field Sworn of Dusk (Knights of Anathaeum) |
History
In her earliest years, Selene seemed destined for a life of pastoral obscurity. Born in a small, unnamed village in the western foothills of the Kingdom of Altalusia, the daughter to shepherds and the youngest of five siblings, everything about Selene was remarkably unremarkable. Or, at least, mostly unremarkable. Her family would come to notice the occasional odd…thing about the young girl, like how little objects would fall over on their own or how the sheep seemed extra skittish around her, but assumed it was just the work of imagination and the fidgeting of a toddler learning to walk and babble about. After all, Selene proved a curious and healthy child, and the addition of another beloved daughter was just all the better for the family’s simple, but happy, life.
Then, Cornelius von Wechsler arrived.
To the family, he seemed little more than a tired and old, if eccentric, traveler when he reached their farm and was graciously invited to stay the night. Out in the frontier reaches of Altalusia, far from any centers of civilization, news of things like rogue mages, forbidden experiments, and mysterious disappearances were slow to arrive. Far, far too slow. A three year old Selene was likely just asleep when it all happened, incapable of really understanding even if she was not, and it was three days before the family’s closest neighbors had noticed their absence. The farmstead they found was one silent and riddled with death, and one from which Cornelius had long since left. One body, though, was found to be oddly absent. Selene’s.
As he had dined with the blissfully unaware family, Cornelius had noticed that which Selene’s parents had failed to do so: their daughter was showing signs of being a potential shroudweaver. A strong one, at that, if these signs were manifesting at such a young age. The family’s fate had already been sealed by then in the rogue mage’s mind - after all, isolated shepherds were quite useful to him - but this had only motivated Corneliu’s actions further. An apprentice - or perhaps a servant - was certainly a most useful thought.
So it was that Selene came to be “adopted” by Cornelius von Wechsler and taken far from her homeland. At first, the young girl was as confused and distressed at the change as one might expect, but as the days became weeks and then months and then finally years, memories of her true parents faded and were replaced by those of her adoptive father. Memories which, at times, were even good. Though Cornelius proved to be a stern, demanding, and at times quick-tempered father figure, unabashed at doling out a verbal dressing down or even physical punishments, he also had the potential for more genuine affection. Even to that day a small part of Selene’s heart still yearned for those cold, far off nights spent eating around a warm fire and listening to the fables and anecdotes the old mage would spin for her. During the day, the man was quick to teach Selene the skills she would need to survive on the road - making a campfire, cooking, tending to worn clothing, and the like - and eventually came to rely on her as much as she did on him. This life on the road would become the only one Selene truly knew for much of her life, and she would be content with it.
When Selene did eventually grow old enough to begin questioning him about her parents, Cornelius would simply claim that he had found her as an orphan of some great unspecified tragedy - by chance, of course - and had decided to take the poor, but gifted, girl under his wing. And Selene had certainly believed him. After all, Cornelius had been right in his initial assumptions and Selene did prove to be rather gifted at manipulating the Shroud, and this was something which the old mage was eager to further cultivate in her. And he was quite the mentor. Had Selene had more experience with the world beyond Cornelius, however, the exact magic he would teach her would have likely been more of a concern. What would begin as little more than minor feats of legerdemain would soon grow darker in nature, as the rogue mage, well-versed in more obscure and forbidden magics, passed on what he knew to his young apprentice. In particular, Cornelius would come to train her in hemokinesis - blood magic - as a form of magic most useful to his many experiments and blacker musings. Selene for her part, knowing only the teachings and example of Cornelius, was all but happy to go along with it all too.
For over a decade this would go on, with Selene training, serving, and living under Cornelius as they traveled the wilder roads of Ilica, the pair leaving a wake of missing travelers and unusual frontier murders as they did so. Until, eventually, Cornelius made a mistake. Two mistakes, really. The first was becoming far more brazen with his actions. This new recklessness - or rather arrogance, perhaps - had been building for some years by that point, and where once the rogue mage had taken the utmost care to keep his illegal dealings just infrequent and isolated enough to evade scrutiny, he began to operate closer to major towns and aggressively take all the new opportunities that afforded him. The second mistake was to do all this in the western lands of the Kingdom of Altalusia. In Selene’s birthplace.
It was Selene in fact, now seventeen and collecting supplies from Cloud’s Keep, who had first caught the rumor of the Knights of Anathaeum investigating the area. Cornelius had always taught the girl that the Knights were a danger, simple and fanatical idealists who would kill the two of them without a second thought, and so she was quick to bring this to Cornelius’s attention. Indeed, at the news, the old mage would immediately lead them deeper into the western foothills. But their scent had already been caught. Likely by magical means, the Knights had doggedly pursued Cornelius and Selene for weeks as they crisscrossed deeper into the countryside, always little more than a far off campfire or a subtle tug in the local Shroud, but ones which seemed to always get just a little closer each day. It was perhaps this growing sense of frantic escape, or even just poor memory from something that had occurred fourteen years ago, that led Cornelius to forget exactly where they were and exactly where he was leading Selene. But at that moment, all the rogue mage knew for certain was that a particular abandoned homestead - a likely safe, or at least safer, shelter - lay not far off their trail.
That strange feeling in the pit of Selene’s stomach had begun the moment the pair had arrived at the homestead. It had all seemed so…familiar, though initially the confused girl could not say why as she assisted her mentor in concealing their wagon and placing enshrouding wards around the area. Then, all they could do was wait. As each day passed a small hope had blossomed, that perhaps their isolation and wards were enough to mislead the Knights, and that hope had been enough to allow curiosity to blossom in Selene as well. What she ended up finding in that homestead were so many little, little things. A road-worn walking stick. A dusty decorative plate hanging over the fireplace. A toy sheep stuffed with rancid straw. Even a moth-eaten blanket carefully embroidered with the name “Selene”. Each one seemed to elicit its own far off memory - a forgotten scent here, the sound of familiar laughter there - but it had been that last one…it could easily have been just a coincidence, and yet? That strange feeling in the pit of Selene’s stomach had steadily grown into a raging unease.
Then, the Knights of Anathaeum arrived.
It was just a pair of them, a Knight of Dawn and a Knight of Dusk as she would later come to understand, but both were strong enough in the Shroud that her and Cornelius’s efforts at concealment were inevitably in vain. Cornelius, though, had been undaunted. Brief attempts at negotiation by one of the Knights - give up, avoid any bloodshed, and serve penance for their many crimes - was met with open scorn from the rogue mage, and all it had done was give Cornelius time to mock and belittle the two Knights. To him, they were worthless. Simple minded fools squirming beneath his heel. Failed knights of a failed order who had failed to stop him for decades, from murdering so many insignificant families, like the ones who had lived at that very homestead fourteen years ago.
…fourteen years ago?
The fight was quick to start after that, but Selene had hesitated to join in. Something in her mind was now giving way. It could have just been one of the Knights - a man wielding some strange, mind-calming magic that had seemed to give her better clarity - or perhaps she had always truly suspected the truth, but just had never once wanted to admit it. That Cornelius - her father by all accounts - could have done that. Or, perhaps she had been so genuinely, painfully gullible all those years, somehow ignoring how unbelievable his story about her had been, or just how vile her mentor, and the life the two of them had lived, was. That was, until some random strangers, the Knights of Anathaeum, had finally allowed her to see it. To that day, it was still something Selene wondered. But at that moment, it had clicked in her mind, and she knew. She knew that Cornelius had killed her parents.
The Knights had been just as shocked as Cornelius when Selene, confused, enraged, and feeling her whole world collapse around her, drove a dagger into her mentor’s, and father’s, throat during a lull in the fighting. Then, it was all over.
Alone and stricken with grief, the girl had then consigned herself to whatever judgement the Knights deigned to give her. Death, perhaps, had been the preferred choice at the time. But it was not to be. For whatever reason - even Selene herself could still not truly fathom why - the Knights had decided to spare her. Not only that, but they had eventually allowed Selene to travel with them back to Cloud’s Keep and, leaving her in the care of a trusted contact, the girl was eventually brought all the way to Crown’s Hold and placed under the care, and watch, of the local Wizard College. Perhaps it had been mercy that stayed their hand, seeing what Cornelius had made her and recognizing some genuine remorse deep within Selene, or perhaps it was just pity for a girl still yet to reach adulthood. Or maybe, like Cornelius had said, the Knights really were just stupid. But in any case, it was the potential for a fresh start for the girl. One that would be difficult to earn, but one that existed far, far more within the confines of royal law, and one that came without any of the…peculiarities that life under Cornelius had carried.
Instead, Selene would escape the capital within the year.
Truly, the teachers and other faculty of the Wizard College had done their best to reshape the troubled girl, but life in the college had never felt right to Selene. More than that, it felt outright stifling and wrong. As much as she now resented Cornelius, and what he had done to both her family and herself, the rogue mage had still been her entire world for nearly two decades. Without him? She was just…lost, and Selene needed to find herself again. And she knew deep within her that that would not happen in a place like the Wizard College.
So it was that Selene would spend the next three years once again roaming northern Ilica, only this time, it would be alone, which meant that it was all a bit…rougher. Without Cornelius’s whims to guide their path, Selene spent most of those three years just aimlessly wandering from town to village to roadside ditch, scraping by however she could. Given that she now largely avoided the fact that she was a shroudweaver - her relationship to her particular brand of magic, and its connection to Cornelius, had grown considerably more complicated - this was mostly through the little domestic skills she had acquired throughout her childhood. This was just enough to stave off starvation, even enough to give her time to think and reflect on the last two decades of her life, but it was never enough to make her happy. Hell, it was never enough to even make her content. None of it had felt right. She had no goals, no point of reference to even make goals without Cornelius, and she needed one to fill that gaping void in her new life. She needed something to try and make up for everything she did under Cornelius.
Which was how she ended up in Astenvale.
The decision was pure madness by every account. Not only had she lived a life in complete opposition to everything the Knights of Anathaeum stood for, but it was the Knights themselves who had tracked her down and nearly arrested her, or even killed her, alongside Cornelius. Who was to say they would not cut her down the moment they saw her? Cornelius would have certainly believed as much. But maybe, to her mind, that was the point. By all accounts the Knights had saved her from a darker path, and repaying that debt alongside them felt…right. Or, at the very least, it was a significantly better option than becoming a wandering hermit and dying alone. So, on the eve of her twenty-first year, she asked to join. Begged and pleaded to join. Even put everything out in the open - her past with Cornelius, her darker magic, and the fact she once even fought some of their own - and, once again, completely threw herself at their mercy. And, once again, the Knights surprised her.
She was left alive and, even more, was actually sworn into the knightly order. Really, it could have just been desperation for more members - in hindsight, Selene suspected as much - but she still wanted to believe that, like the Knights that confronted her three years earlier, they saw something more in Selene. Something beyond the life Cornelius had wanted her to live. Whatever the case, Selene became a Field Sworn for the Knights of Anathaeum and, with her particular set of skills, found a place within the Sanctum of Dusk. However, it was still hard. Not just the complete change in lifestyle, what with the vows, and the duties, and the morality of it all, but also the fact that not everyone accepted her right away. Really, few did. Rumor of her previous life had spread like a disease and infected a lot of the opinions others had about her, not usually to the point of outright hostility, but certainly to the point of suspicion and caution.
Not everyone felt that way, though, and Selene would find enough reasons to remain within the order. Enough people to help fill that void in her heart, just a little bit at least, and this was especially the case for Syr Galen Calloway the Oaken Knight. The young woman would spend a year mostly confined to Astenvale, training to bring aspects of her skillset up to speed with other Knight and Field Sworn and studying a crash course on the order’s more important teachings, and it was during this time that she met the much older Knight Pursuant of Dawn. Well, re-met. It was with considerable surprise that Selene would come to realize that Syr Galen had been one of the Knights that had originally confronted her and Cornelius but, despite this, he had also been one of the first to extend genuine kindness her way within the order. Why? She had no idea, but they had struck up a genuine, if at times unorthodox, friendship during the course of that year. So much so that, once she was cleared to begin taking on missions, the two would frequently elect to be paired together.
So it was that Selene had become a Knight of Anathaeum. Ten years ago she would have called the decision foolish and dangerous. Five years ago she would have simply called it foolish. But now? Now…she was still unsure, but it had certainly seemed like the only path towards redemption. The only path towards a life that actually meant something. Only time would tell if that was to be true, but even if not? At least she found solace in the fact that this new life would have bitterly disappointed Cornelius.
And that had to count for something.
In her earliest years, Selene seemed destined for a life of pastoral obscurity. Born in a small, unnamed village in the western foothills of the Kingdom of Altalusia, the daughter to shepherds and the youngest of five siblings, everything about Selene was remarkably unremarkable. Or, at least, mostly unremarkable. Her family would come to notice the occasional odd…thing about the young girl, like how little objects would fall over on their own or how the sheep seemed extra skittish around her, but assumed it was just the work of imagination and the fidgeting of a toddler learning to walk and babble about. After all, Selene proved a curious and healthy child, and the addition of another beloved daughter was just all the better for the family’s simple, but happy, life.
Then, Cornelius von Wechsler arrived.
To the family, he seemed little more than a tired and old, if eccentric, traveler when he reached their farm and was graciously invited to stay the night. Out in the frontier reaches of Altalusia, far from any centers of civilization, news of things like rogue mages, forbidden experiments, and mysterious disappearances were slow to arrive. Far, far too slow. A three year old Selene was likely just asleep when it all happened, incapable of really understanding even if she was not, and it was three days before the family’s closest neighbors had noticed their absence. The farmstead they found was one silent and riddled with death, and one from which Cornelius had long since left. One body, though, was found to be oddly absent. Selene’s.
As he had dined with the blissfully unaware family, Cornelius had noticed that which Selene’s parents had failed to do so: their daughter was showing signs of being a potential shroudweaver. A strong one, at that, if these signs were manifesting at such a young age. The family’s fate had already been sealed by then in the rogue mage’s mind - after all, isolated shepherds were quite useful to him - but this had only motivated Corneliu’s actions further. An apprentice - or perhaps a servant - was certainly a most useful thought.
So it was that Selene came to be “adopted” by Cornelius von Wechsler and taken far from her homeland. At first, the young girl was as confused and distressed at the change as one might expect, but as the days became weeks and then months and then finally years, memories of her true parents faded and were replaced by those of her adoptive father. Memories which, at times, were even good. Though Cornelius proved to be a stern, demanding, and at times quick-tempered father figure, unabashed at doling out a verbal dressing down or even physical punishments, he also had the potential for more genuine affection. Even to that day a small part of Selene’s heart still yearned for those cold, far off nights spent eating around a warm fire and listening to the fables and anecdotes the old mage would spin for her. During the day, the man was quick to teach Selene the skills she would need to survive on the road - making a campfire, cooking, tending to worn clothing, and the like - and eventually came to rely on her as much as she did on him. This life on the road would become the only one Selene truly knew for much of her life, and she would be content with it.
When Selene did eventually grow old enough to begin questioning him about her parents, Cornelius would simply claim that he had found her as an orphan of some great unspecified tragedy - by chance, of course - and had decided to take the poor, but gifted, girl under his wing. And Selene had certainly believed him. After all, Cornelius had been right in his initial assumptions and Selene did prove to be rather gifted at manipulating the Shroud, and this was something which the old mage was eager to further cultivate in her. And he was quite the mentor. Had Selene had more experience with the world beyond Cornelius, however, the exact magic he would teach her would have likely been more of a concern. What would begin as little more than minor feats of legerdemain would soon grow darker in nature, as the rogue mage, well-versed in more obscure and forbidden magics, passed on what he knew to his young apprentice. In particular, Cornelius would come to train her in hemokinesis - blood magic - as a form of magic most useful to his many experiments and blacker musings. Selene for her part, knowing only the teachings and example of Cornelius, was all but happy to go along with it all too.
For over a decade this would go on, with Selene training, serving, and living under Cornelius as they traveled the wilder roads of Ilica, the pair leaving a wake of missing travelers and unusual frontier murders as they did so. Until, eventually, Cornelius made a mistake. Two mistakes, really. The first was becoming far more brazen with his actions. This new recklessness - or rather arrogance, perhaps - had been building for some years by that point, and where once the rogue mage had taken the utmost care to keep his illegal dealings just infrequent and isolated enough to evade scrutiny, he began to operate closer to major towns and aggressively take all the new opportunities that afforded him. The second mistake was to do all this in the western lands of the Kingdom of Altalusia. In Selene’s birthplace.
It was Selene in fact, now seventeen and collecting supplies from Cloud’s Keep, who had first caught the rumor of the Knights of Anathaeum investigating the area. Cornelius had always taught the girl that the Knights were a danger, simple and fanatical idealists who would kill the two of them without a second thought, and so she was quick to bring this to Cornelius’s attention. Indeed, at the news, the old mage would immediately lead them deeper into the western foothills. But their scent had already been caught. Likely by magical means, the Knights had doggedly pursued Cornelius and Selene for weeks as they crisscrossed deeper into the countryside, always little more than a far off campfire or a subtle tug in the local Shroud, but ones which seemed to always get just a little closer each day. It was perhaps this growing sense of frantic escape, or even just poor memory from something that had occurred fourteen years ago, that led Cornelius to forget exactly where they were and exactly where he was leading Selene. But at that moment, all the rogue mage knew for certain was that a particular abandoned homestead - a likely safe, or at least safer, shelter - lay not far off their trail.
That strange feeling in the pit of Selene’s stomach had begun the moment the pair had arrived at the homestead. It had all seemed so…familiar, though initially the confused girl could not say why as she assisted her mentor in concealing their wagon and placing enshrouding wards around the area. Then, all they could do was wait. As each day passed a small hope had blossomed, that perhaps their isolation and wards were enough to mislead the Knights, and that hope had been enough to allow curiosity to blossom in Selene as well. What she ended up finding in that homestead were so many little, little things. A road-worn walking stick. A dusty decorative plate hanging over the fireplace. A toy sheep stuffed with rancid straw. Even a moth-eaten blanket carefully embroidered with the name “Selene”. Each one seemed to elicit its own far off memory - a forgotten scent here, the sound of familiar laughter there - but it had been that last one…it could easily have been just a coincidence, and yet? That strange feeling in the pit of Selene’s stomach had steadily grown into a raging unease.
Then, the Knights of Anathaeum arrived.
It was just a pair of them, a Knight of Dawn and a Knight of Dusk as she would later come to understand, but both were strong enough in the Shroud that her and Cornelius’s efforts at concealment were inevitably in vain. Cornelius, though, had been undaunted. Brief attempts at negotiation by one of the Knights - give up, avoid any bloodshed, and serve penance for their many crimes - was met with open scorn from the rogue mage, and all it had done was give Cornelius time to mock and belittle the two Knights. To him, they were worthless. Simple minded fools squirming beneath his heel. Failed knights of a failed order who had failed to stop him for decades, from murdering so many insignificant families, like the ones who had lived at that very homestead fourteen years ago.
…fourteen years ago?
The fight was quick to start after that, but Selene had hesitated to join in. Something in her mind was now giving way. It could have just been one of the Knights - a man wielding some strange, mind-calming magic that had seemed to give her better clarity - or perhaps she had always truly suspected the truth, but just had never once wanted to admit it. That Cornelius - her father by all accounts - could have done that. Or, perhaps she had been so genuinely, painfully gullible all those years, somehow ignoring how unbelievable his story about her had been, or just how vile her mentor, and the life the two of them had lived, was. That was, until some random strangers, the Knights of Anathaeum, had finally allowed her to see it. To that day, it was still something Selene wondered. But at that moment, it had clicked in her mind, and she knew. She knew that Cornelius had killed her parents.
The Knights had been just as shocked as Cornelius when Selene, confused, enraged, and feeling her whole world collapse around her, drove a dagger into her mentor’s, and father’s, throat during a lull in the fighting. Then, it was all over.
Alone and stricken with grief, the girl had then consigned herself to whatever judgement the Knights deigned to give her. Death, perhaps, had been the preferred choice at the time. But it was not to be. For whatever reason - even Selene herself could still not truly fathom why - the Knights had decided to spare her. Not only that, but they had eventually allowed Selene to travel with them back to Cloud’s Keep and, leaving her in the care of a trusted contact, the girl was eventually brought all the way to Crown’s Hold and placed under the care, and watch, of the local Wizard College. Perhaps it had been mercy that stayed their hand, seeing what Cornelius had made her and recognizing some genuine remorse deep within Selene, or perhaps it was just pity for a girl still yet to reach adulthood. Or maybe, like Cornelius had said, the Knights really were just stupid. But in any case, it was the potential for a fresh start for the girl. One that would be difficult to earn, but one that existed far, far more within the confines of royal law, and one that came without any of the…peculiarities that life under Cornelius had carried.
Instead, Selene would escape the capital within the year.
Truly, the teachers and other faculty of the Wizard College had done their best to reshape the troubled girl, but life in the college had never felt right to Selene. More than that, it felt outright stifling and wrong. As much as she now resented Cornelius, and what he had done to both her family and herself, the rogue mage had still been her entire world for nearly two decades. Without him? She was just…lost, and Selene needed to find herself again. And she knew deep within her that that would not happen in a place like the Wizard College.
So it was that Selene would spend the next three years once again roaming northern Ilica, only this time, it would be alone, which meant that it was all a bit…rougher. Without Cornelius’s whims to guide their path, Selene spent most of those three years just aimlessly wandering from town to village to roadside ditch, scraping by however she could. Given that she now largely avoided the fact that she was a shroudweaver - her relationship to her particular brand of magic, and its connection to Cornelius, had grown considerably more complicated - this was mostly through the little domestic skills she had acquired throughout her childhood. This was just enough to stave off starvation, even enough to give her time to think and reflect on the last two decades of her life, but it was never enough to make her happy. Hell, it was never enough to even make her content. None of it had felt right. She had no goals, no point of reference to even make goals without Cornelius, and she needed one to fill that gaping void in her new life. She needed something to try and make up for everything she did under Cornelius.
Which was how she ended up in Astenvale.
The decision was pure madness by every account. Not only had she lived a life in complete opposition to everything the Knights of Anathaeum stood for, but it was the Knights themselves who had tracked her down and nearly arrested her, or even killed her, alongside Cornelius. Who was to say they would not cut her down the moment they saw her? Cornelius would have certainly believed as much. But maybe, to her mind, that was the point. By all accounts the Knights had saved her from a darker path, and repaying that debt alongside them felt…right. Or, at the very least, it was a significantly better option than becoming a wandering hermit and dying alone. So, on the eve of her twenty-first year, she asked to join. Begged and pleaded to join. Even put everything out in the open - her past with Cornelius, her darker magic, and the fact she once even fought some of their own - and, once again, completely threw herself at their mercy. And, once again, the Knights surprised her.
She was left alive and, even more, was actually sworn into the knightly order. Really, it could have just been desperation for more members - in hindsight, Selene suspected as much - but she still wanted to believe that, like the Knights that confronted her three years earlier, they saw something more in Selene. Something beyond the life Cornelius had wanted her to live. Whatever the case, Selene became a Field Sworn for the Knights of Anathaeum and, with her particular set of skills, found a place within the Sanctum of Dusk. However, it was still hard. Not just the complete change in lifestyle, what with the vows, and the duties, and the morality of it all, but also the fact that not everyone accepted her right away. Really, few did. Rumor of her previous life had spread like a disease and infected a lot of the opinions others had about her, not usually to the point of outright hostility, but certainly to the point of suspicion and caution.
Not everyone felt that way, though, and Selene would find enough reasons to remain within the order. Enough people to help fill that void in her heart, just a little bit at least, and this was especially the case for Syr Galen Calloway the Oaken Knight. The young woman would spend a year mostly confined to Astenvale, training to bring aspects of her skillset up to speed with other Knight and Field Sworn and studying a crash course on the order’s more important teachings, and it was during this time that she met the much older Knight Pursuant of Dawn. Well, re-met. It was with considerable surprise that Selene would come to realize that Syr Galen had been one of the Knights that had originally confronted her and Cornelius but, despite this, he had also been one of the first to extend genuine kindness her way within the order. Why? She had no idea, but they had struck up a genuine, if at times unorthodox, friendship during the course of that year. So much so that, once she was cleared to begin taking on missions, the two would frequently elect to be paired together.
So it was that Selene had become a Knight of Anathaeum. Ten years ago she would have called the decision foolish and dangerous. Five years ago she would have simply called it foolish. But now? Now…she was still unsure, but it had certainly seemed like the only path towards redemption. The only path towards a life that actually meant something. Only time would tell if that was to be true, but even if not? At least she found solace in the fact that this new life would have bitterly disappointed Cornelius.
And that had to count for something.
Appearance
| Height 5’9” |
| Build Relatively tall and thin; in-shape but not especially athletic |
| Hair Long, straight, and blueish-black |
| Eyes Dark blue |
Selene is a relatively tall and thin human woman, standing at 5’9” and weighing roughly 140 pounds. While certainly in-shape - traveling on the road your whole life and becoming a sworn knight will do that - she is not especially athletic, lacking much of the muscle mass and strength of her more martial-focused brothers- and sisters-in-arms. Her skin is naturally white and blemish free but often sunkissed from prolonged periods outdoors and, while not fastidiously obsessed with avoiding dirt, does make a concerted effort to remain well-groomed even while out on a mission. She keeps her straight blueish-black hair quite long, down to her waist, and changes its style to fit her surroundings: free-flowing in more relaxed environments, or tied up in a ponytail or even braided while traveling or preparing for a fight. Her eyes are dark blue.
In terms of clothing and equipment, Selene does not exactly look like the conventional concept of a “knight”. She avoids heavier forms of armor, preferring little more than padded cloth and reinforcing leather, and her limited wardrobe consists mostly of fancier slit dresses for off-duty and a long jerkin or sleeveless gambeson with bracers over cloth shirts and pants when out on a mission, with an accompanying cloak if the weather demands it. She otherwise relies on her shroudweaving to protect herself. Alongside this, Selene does allow herself some more frivolous adornment - a pair of jeweled earrings and a silver armlet - as well as a slightly less frivolous adornment: a small bronze locket, one that, she believes at least, had once belonged to her mother. Finally, Selene is equally light on armament. She ostensibly carries a sword with her, an estoc specifically, to train with and use as a backup to her shroudweaving, but it remains tied to Rosebud more often than not. However, at the very least, she does often keep a thin dagger on her belt.
Personality
To most, Selene is a quiet and rather introverted woman. She near always prefers a moment of quiet and a good book over any company, knightly or otherwise, and this blunt disinterest in most conversation can unfortunately come off as somewhat standoffish. Unintentionally, really. In truth, Selene is not inherently mean or considers herself to be above others - quite the contrary - and, once she grows more comfortable with someone, there is a snarkier and more playful side to her. Kind too, provided you are an animal (and excluding birds) or a favorite traveling companion, though, especially for the latter, this particular kindness comes in the form of acts of service - cooking you food, mending your clothes, or even just sharing a cup of tea - and not sweet words.
In fact, Selene is not really what others would consider a great conversationalist in general. Contrary to many of the idealists in the Knights - she honestly finds them to be utter fools - Selene is quite the pessimist. In her mind at least, she has seen the world for what it is - harsh, unforgiving, and enshrouded by death - and, as much as she now genuinely strives to make it a little less so, she still harbors doubts that she and the Knights at large can enact any truly meaningful change. Or that she can find real redemption for her past life. This pessimism, combined with her unorthodox childhood, have also made Selene somewhat…apathetic towards things like the suffering of others, blood, or even death. Something which really does nothing to help the perceived coldness about her. To Selene, though, these things are just a fact of life. A sometimes beneficial outlook as well, as this indifference feeds into a (mostly) healthy level of studious curiosity, with no topic obscure, dark, or immoral enough for her to at least take a peek at. For the good of the Knights, naturally.
Finally, despite this outward level of calm indifference, in truth Selene is quite…anxious? Lost? Facing an unfillable void in the pit of her heart that has only grown since she murdered her own adoptive father? Well, something like that. For most of her life the woman had blindly followed Cornelius - it was the only thing she honestly knew how to do - and, in many ways, she now blindly follows the Knights instead to try and fill that same void. Fill it and then some, really, given how her time with Cornelius went. This lack of genuine direction, this shame towards her past, this completely empty sense of personhood - not only does this terrify Selene’s inner thoughts, but it also makes the woman susceptible to feelings of doubt, low self-worth, and a tendency to follow the easier way out when presented with it. Or someone with a stronger personality like Cornelius. Not to say that joining the Knights was easy, but even Selene could acknowledge that it was easier than taking the risk of finding her own way in the world in the wake of her adoptive father’s lingering influence.
Likes: Books, More Books, Cats, Flowers (especially Roses), Rain, Tea
Dislikes: Cities, Idealists, Loud Noises, Most Birds, Not Tea, Travel Rations
In fact, Selene is not really what others would consider a great conversationalist in general. Contrary to many of the idealists in the Knights - she honestly finds them to be utter fools - Selene is quite the pessimist. In her mind at least, she has seen the world for what it is - harsh, unforgiving, and enshrouded by death - and, as much as she now genuinely strives to make it a little less so, she still harbors doubts that she and the Knights at large can enact any truly meaningful change. Or that she can find real redemption for her past life. This pessimism, combined with her unorthodox childhood, have also made Selene somewhat…apathetic towards things like the suffering of others, blood, or even death. Something which really does nothing to help the perceived coldness about her. To Selene, though, these things are just a fact of life. A sometimes beneficial outlook as well, as this indifference feeds into a (mostly) healthy level of studious curiosity, with no topic obscure, dark, or immoral enough for her to at least take a peek at. For the good of the Knights, naturally.
Finally, despite this outward level of calm indifference, in truth Selene is quite…anxious? Lost? Facing an unfillable void in the pit of her heart that has only grown since she murdered her own adoptive father? Well, something like that. For most of her life the woman had blindly followed Cornelius - it was the only thing she honestly knew how to do - and, in many ways, she now blindly follows the Knights instead to try and fill that same void. Fill it and then some, really, given how her time with Cornelius went. This lack of genuine direction, this shame towards her past, this completely empty sense of personhood - not only does this terrify Selene’s inner thoughts, but it also makes the woman susceptible to feelings of doubt, low self-worth, and a tendency to follow the easier way out when presented with it. Or someone with a stronger personality like Cornelius. Not to say that joining the Knights was easy, but even Selene could acknowledge that it was easier than taking the risk of finding her own way in the world in the wake of her adoptive father’s lingering influence.
Likes: Books, More Books, Cats, Flowers (especially Roses), Rain, Tea
Dislikes: Cities, Idealists, Loud Noises, Most Birds, Not Tea, Travel Rations
Skills
Shroudweaving: For two decades now, Selene has been training in some capacity as a shroudweaver, even being what some might consider a minor prodigy at it from a very young age. A prolonged tutelage under a rogue mage with little consideration for things like “restraint” and “illegal techniques” have furthered this. However, while Selene has quite a bit of experience and even natural ability manipulating the Shroud, the core of her knowledge is…mixed, to say the least. Cornelius had been light on teachings which prioritized a more sustainable use of magic, making Selene a potentially powerful, but also reckless and short-lived, force. While her time so far with the Knights has begun to slowly rectify this shortcoming, the woman still tends to restrain more dramatic uses of her magic unless absolutely necessary. A desire which is then furthered by a self-conscious awareness of the nature of her particular shroudweaving.
Hemokinesis: Hemokinesis, or what some might simply call “blood magic”, is by far Selene’s strongest and most experienced form of shroudweaving. Taught to her by Cornelius, the magic is largely akin to hydrokinesis in that she can freely control exposed blood. She can, for example, extract and coalesce blood to form whip-like extensions, create thin shields, or even compress it into a blade-like edge. Most often, Selene will do this with her own blood. Passively augmented by her magic, her blood itself even possessing minor healing properties because of it, she can extract and make use of more blood from her body than a typical humanoid could. However, this can still only go so far. As the blood used is still very much real and her own, such self hemokinesis remains a dangerous technique, and protracted use will, at best, sap her energy faster than a typical shroudweaver, with more extreme consequences likely if she were to ever push her magic beyond the point of exhaustion.
Selene’s hemokinesis, though, is ultimately not limited to just her own blood. The knight is capable of controlling the blood of others as if it were her own, whether environmentally pooled or, in more extreme cases, through open wounds. While exponentially more difficult, especially the farther she is from a potential target, the effects she can do from this latter technique are often far more…dramatic, ranging from inducing internal pain, to causing limb weakness, to bringing about immediate and catastrophic blood loss for an opponent.
While potentially a powerful and deadly form of shroudweaving - after all, it had to have captured Cornelius’s interest somehow - hemokinesis is frequently unpredictable, often socially reviled, and, as already noted, taxing and potentially dangerous to the shroudweaver themselves. For these reasons, it has often been considered an illegal, or at least highly shunned, form of shroudweaving. This, and more personal reasons, have led Selene to largely avoid the use of her hemokinesis since leaving Cornelius and joining the Knights of Amathaeum. That being said, the knight has still attempted to recontextualize the magic under the Pursuits of the Knights, finding an awkward middle ground between the Pursuit of Life and the Pursuit of Death, and bringing its use (slightly) closer to the moral tenets of the order. However, this has been a very mixed bag, and so Selene’s strongest form of shroudweaving has remained a distinctly awkward aspect of her new life.
(Disclaimer: I fully recognize that this is potentially a pretty powerful form of magic and feel inclined to say that I genuinely do not intend to use it as part of some edgy powertrip. I’m just really interested in exploring a character struggling to recontextualize an objectively questionable form of magic for the good of others, and dealing with the social and personal ramifications of that.)
Illusory Magic: Selene’s newest form of shroudweaving, and a budding secondary to her hemokinesis, is illusory magic. Utilizing it she can manipulate the senses of others around her, particularly sight, to observe that which in reality is not there, ranging from things like “changing” her appearance to “conjuring” monsters to “eliciting” the sound of an approaching army. At least, in theory. While certainly learning more and more each day, the knight’s mastery of illusory magic remains relatively low and confined to only minor nudges in perception across a limited radius. Still, for her, it feels good to pursue a form of shroudweaving which, for once, is entirely motivated by her own desire to learn. And also which does not cause others to run or immediately try to kill her.
Miscellaneous Magic: Across her tutelage under Cornelius, and especially prior to her focusing on hemokinesis, Selene was taught a number of little magical “tricks” for domestic use. This includes things like minor telekinesis, heating and cooling small amounts of liquid, and setting up limited wards of cleanliness and concealment, among others. Such forms of shroudweaving legerdemain are completely useless in the context of a life or death fight, but do make aspects of everyday life just a little bit easier for the woman. They also make good party tricks.
Swordplay: Selene has never been one for the use of weapons – with Cornelius, such a thing had been unneeded, if not outright scorned – but since joining the Knights she has attempted to change this. Slowly. Very. Very. Slowly. While shroudweaving remains her principle means of self-defense, the woman has also started training in the use of sword and dagger, her estoc especially, as a backup option. Still, her bladework does remain quite…abysmal, unfortunately, and continues to be more a threat to the local masonry and nearby squires than any enemy force.
Camp Skills: Selene was raised to be, put bluntly, the perfect servant. Cornelius had expected her to do near everything when it came to camp maintenance, from tending their campfire and cooking, to mending torn clothing and broken equipment, to dressing minor wounds, and everything in between. While now an independent and (theoretically) respected knight, this childhood conditioning has proven hard to let go. Useful life skills to know, to be sure, but executed with an ingrained dedication that can be more annoying than helpful to any traveling companion.
Bird Care: Selene has…strong feelings about birds. She hates them! Truly. They are loud, annoying, and she has cleaned more than enough bird shit off wagon roofs and tents to last multiple lifetimes. Despite this, she is also quite good at taking care of them. This has all to do with Fable, an old albatross who had once belonged to Cornelius and who Selene adopted, begrudgingly, after his former owner had been killed. By…her. So, it had only seemed fair at the time. Not to mention Selene had more or less been the bird’s primary caretaker by then anyway, so not much had really changed between them. The knight knows the proper feed for a bird, how to wash and tend to them, and how to deal with the molting season. Broadly useful? Questionable, but she has at least managed to somewhat train Fable to do minor tasks, like alerting her at the sight of strangers and even being able to deliver a message.
Horses: Selene has managed to obtain the most unenviable skill of having every horse in northern Ilica - perhaps even the whole world - despise her. Somehow? To be fair, animals in general have tended to be particularly skittish around the woman, likely an unusual side-effect of her brand of shroudweaving, but this effect seems especially pronounced for horses. Most avoid her completely. Some blatantly want to kick her shins in. A few have actually tried! The only horse that seems to remotely tolerate Selene is her own, a chestnut mare named Rosebud, but even this took years of coaxing, bribing, and near begging to accomplish.
Hemokinesis: Hemokinesis, or what some might simply call “blood magic”, is by far Selene’s strongest and most experienced form of shroudweaving. Taught to her by Cornelius, the magic is largely akin to hydrokinesis in that she can freely control exposed blood. She can, for example, extract and coalesce blood to form whip-like extensions, create thin shields, or even compress it into a blade-like edge. Most often, Selene will do this with her own blood. Passively augmented by her magic, her blood itself even possessing minor healing properties because of it, she can extract and make use of more blood from her body than a typical humanoid could. However, this can still only go so far. As the blood used is still very much real and her own, such self hemokinesis remains a dangerous technique, and protracted use will, at best, sap her energy faster than a typical shroudweaver, with more extreme consequences likely if she were to ever push her magic beyond the point of exhaustion.
Selene’s hemokinesis, though, is ultimately not limited to just her own blood. The knight is capable of controlling the blood of others as if it were her own, whether environmentally pooled or, in more extreme cases, through open wounds. While exponentially more difficult, especially the farther she is from a potential target, the effects she can do from this latter technique are often far more…dramatic, ranging from inducing internal pain, to causing limb weakness, to bringing about immediate and catastrophic blood loss for an opponent.
While potentially a powerful and deadly form of shroudweaving - after all, it had to have captured Cornelius’s interest somehow - hemokinesis is frequently unpredictable, often socially reviled, and, as already noted, taxing and potentially dangerous to the shroudweaver themselves. For these reasons, it has often been considered an illegal, or at least highly shunned, form of shroudweaving. This, and more personal reasons, have led Selene to largely avoid the use of her hemokinesis since leaving Cornelius and joining the Knights of Amathaeum. That being said, the knight has still attempted to recontextualize the magic under the Pursuits of the Knights, finding an awkward middle ground between the Pursuit of Life and the Pursuit of Death, and bringing its use (slightly) closer to the moral tenets of the order. However, this has been a very mixed bag, and so Selene’s strongest form of shroudweaving has remained a distinctly awkward aspect of her new life.
(Disclaimer: I fully recognize that this is potentially a pretty powerful form of magic and feel inclined to say that I genuinely do not intend to use it as part of some edgy powertrip. I’m just really interested in exploring a character struggling to recontextualize an objectively questionable form of magic for the good of others, and dealing with the social and personal ramifications of that.)
Illusory Magic: Selene’s newest form of shroudweaving, and a budding secondary to her hemokinesis, is illusory magic. Utilizing it she can manipulate the senses of others around her, particularly sight, to observe that which in reality is not there, ranging from things like “changing” her appearance to “conjuring” monsters to “eliciting” the sound of an approaching army. At least, in theory. While certainly learning more and more each day, the knight’s mastery of illusory magic remains relatively low and confined to only minor nudges in perception across a limited radius. Still, for her, it feels good to pursue a form of shroudweaving which, for once, is entirely motivated by her own desire to learn. And also which does not cause others to run or immediately try to kill her.
Miscellaneous Magic: Across her tutelage under Cornelius, and especially prior to her focusing on hemokinesis, Selene was taught a number of little magical “tricks” for domestic use. This includes things like minor telekinesis, heating and cooling small amounts of liquid, and setting up limited wards of cleanliness and concealment, among others. Such forms of shroudweaving legerdemain are completely useless in the context of a life or death fight, but do make aspects of everyday life just a little bit easier for the woman. They also make good party tricks.
Swordplay: Selene has never been one for the use of weapons – with Cornelius, such a thing had been unneeded, if not outright scorned – but since joining the Knights she has attempted to change this. Slowly. Very. Very. Slowly. While shroudweaving remains her principle means of self-defense, the woman has also started training in the use of sword and dagger, her estoc especially, as a backup option. Still, her bladework does remain quite…abysmal, unfortunately, and continues to be more a threat to the local masonry and nearby squires than any enemy force.
Camp Skills: Selene was raised to be, put bluntly, the perfect servant. Cornelius had expected her to do near everything when it came to camp maintenance, from tending their campfire and cooking, to mending torn clothing and broken equipment, to dressing minor wounds, and everything in between. While now an independent and (theoretically) respected knight, this childhood conditioning has proven hard to let go. Useful life skills to know, to be sure, but executed with an ingrained dedication that can be more annoying than helpful to any traveling companion.
Bird Care: Selene has…strong feelings about birds. She hates them! Truly. They are loud, annoying, and she has cleaned more than enough bird shit off wagon roofs and tents to last multiple lifetimes. Despite this, she is also quite good at taking care of them. This has all to do with Fable, an old albatross who had once belonged to Cornelius and who Selene adopted, begrudgingly, after his former owner had been killed. By…her. So, it had only seemed fair at the time. Not to mention Selene had more or less been the bird’s primary caretaker by then anyway, so not much had really changed between them. The knight knows the proper feed for a bird, how to wash and tend to them, and how to deal with the molting season. Broadly useful? Questionable, but she has at least managed to somewhat train Fable to do minor tasks, like alerting her at the sight of strangers and even being able to deliver a message.
Horses: Selene has managed to obtain the most unenviable skill of having every horse in northern Ilica - perhaps even the whole world - despise her. Somehow? To be fair, animals in general have tended to be particularly skittish around the woman, likely an unusual side-effect of her brand of shroudweaving, but this effect seems especially pronounced for horses. Most avoid her completely. Some blatantly want to kick her shins in. A few have actually tried! The only horse that seems to remotely tolerate Selene is her own, a chestnut mare named Rosebud, but even this took years of coaxing, bribing, and near begging to accomplish.
Art Credit: Naoki Koshimizu, illustrated for Unnamed Memory