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FUIL ARSA - ANCIENT BLOOD
Player
Name - Natalie
AIM Name - a nephilim rising
E-Mail - a newmight AT gmail.com
Character
Name - Anima
Fandom - Original character derived from the Irish Ulster Cycle as well as the Book of Enoch
Canon Point - N/A
Age - Thirteen
Gender - Female :(
Appearance
All Nephilim (half-demons) in Anima's world have one common trait: white hair, pale, skin, and are notoriously tall. Anima is one of them; however, where Nephilim commonly have pale blue eyes, because Anima is the daughter of one of the highest fallen angels, Azazel, she like some of her half-sisters has blood red eyes. She is deemed small in her world, but to the standards of a human, she's pretty tall. Only thirteen years old, and Anima is 5'7". And like I said, Anima is only thirteen, she is pretty lanky, twiggy, and baby-faced. She is almost covered head to toe in gauze bandages, that are spotty with blood, and hints of burned-like skin can be seen on her fingertips, along with nails that are almost claw-like. Since Anima is pulled from fifth century Ireland, she can be seen wearing the traditional footwear, in a long, tattered Irish leine.
And when all else fails, there's even concept art.
Personality Anima is a quiet, soft-spoken girl who maintains an unwavering quiet voice. She hardly raises it, speaks very formal, in the context she hardly uses contractions, and bluntly. She is known to be direct to the point, without stigma, and without any sort of remorse. But most importantly, central to Anima's character is that she's a child, a girl on the cusp of being preteen, in her first years of being a teenager. Her upbringing with her mother, who kept her close, hidden, and being overbearing, Anima seems to have a very limited understanding for the world around her. She is socially awkward, finding it hard to socialize with others, saying things that could either weird out or hurt another's feelings without realizing it. Anima is a very idealistic girl and naive, yet keeps a very monotone and stoic nature.
She hardly changes her facial expression, shows emotions, and rarely is seen upset. She'll fall under her your classic "creepy stoic", because that's what she is. She wavers between her childish and even innocent personality to something that can be downright terrifying. The thing is, with her sheltered nature and with the death of her mother? Anima is truly without remorse and can be extremely ruthless in her pursuit of revenge. When she says she will strike down anyone who gets in her way, the girl sadly means it.
She may come off innocent and stoic, but the girl has unbridled rage and sorrow underneath her wide eyes. Being that she had no one else but her mother, Anima's world has been turned upside down. A once quiet and shy girl, Anima isn't anymore... at least not completely. She has vowed revenge on the death of her mother, to kill anyone associated with her mother's death and a noble. This means anyone in the surrounding area and any innocent passerbyers who cross her path. Anima simply doesn't care and shows no remorse to killing an innocent person if they stop her on her quest. While she is a child, her lack of remorse and the concept of throwing herself to her demonic abilities? Anima is quite simply one you do not want to tangle with. Her human side, she believes, is her "weaker" self.
She explains to anyone who wonders how a member of an unstable race can control themselves? Anima will tell you she doesn't reject the dark nature of a demon and believes acting like a demon is the solution to her problems. It leaves her open to be corrupted to the right person or force who uses this girl fueled by a loss for personal gains. She is corrupted and there can never be a stronger emphasis on this. She hates being seen as young, helpless, and a child, partially why Anima kills anyone in her path because she doesn't want to be seen as just that. People are roadblocks and a nuisance, Anima will kill nondiscriminatory. She isn't held at the notion the demons are evil or humans are a waste of space, not like the others. Anima sees no difference between the two. But she is very young; she is a very young child who is filled with an illusion that throwing herself to dark gains is the solution to her problem.
To say Anima is corrupted or even possessed at times isn't far off from the truth. She's never properly mourn the loss of her mother and has shut down emotionally and detached herself at the thought and mention of her. The reality of it is, should Anima accomplish what she does, she won't even know what to do with herself; it fills a very hollow void in her heart where her almost symbiotic relationship with her mother was. Anima's mother raised her loved and cared for, but she stifled this girl, making her dependent, which, in turn, has made Anima dependent on her memory. Kindness throws her off; Anima believes no one will offer it out of the depths of their own genuine heart. To her, there's strings attached and more importantly, growing close to someone makes her feel guilty that she's betraying her mother's memory and that she will forget she existed.
She isn't fond of physical contact, yet will leap and latch on at the idea of a blood relative out there.Unlike her older half-sister, Anima will be happy to come across blood relation, demon and not. She holds no hatred for humanity and human kind, and she seems unusually tolerant of humans, where the rest of her kind are weary and/or completely hate them. Anima is without prejudice, for good or bad. She is likely redeemable, but it will take coaxing out of a girl who has strong survival instincts.
History It's said the demon Azazel has wanted a male offspring and has tried to father one by multiple women, to no avail. He has never taken a woman by consent and has fathered nothing but women. And not much is known about her mother, Beatha, who possibly could have been a noble. During the times when half-demons were making trouble in Connacht, Beatha went into seclusion and gave birth to Anima. While they were close to a small town, Beatha had raised her daughter and loved her, despite the circumstances surrounding her conception. Anima was purposefully raised close to her mother, to be dependent on her, so that Beatha could keep her powers under control, as well as her loneliness from being in seclusion. By the time Anima was thirteen, her demonic abilities slowly emerged by developing sores and welts on her body and dark skin forming. Her mother had her bandaged head to toe.
Anima's precognitive abilities began to manifest: She could see into the future, just like any child of Azazel, said to have this ability. Upon predicting minor things, a neighboring village picked up word of this and many tried to have fortunes and their future read by Anima. When they tried, Beatha refused. Unfortunately, when the uprising came by the hands of other Nephilim and a noble by the name of Ciaran had heard word of a child, much like a woman he knew, not only adorned in bloody bandages but who could see into the future, he sent out others to acquire Anima. When the half-demons came for their own, Beatha refused. In turn, because of what they were ordered to do, the group burned down the neighboring village, slaughtered andate some, and Anima was left to watch her mother bleeding to death after her throat was slit.
The half-demons who killed everyone in the small village had disobeyed the noble's golden rule of "bring no harm to innocents: women and children". In grief, Anima's demonic abilities bubbled over and she turned around and killed some of those who responsible for the death of her mother, save a few. Taking up blades that were her mother's, Anima asked them why they had come to get her. She was told since the noble had lost an Ovate, that he wanted her as a replacement to see into the future and help him take control of Connacht. Another half-demon by the name of Regina, who was said to have come from Cymru and was the closest one to the noble. Little does Anima know, Regina is also an offspring of the demon Azazel, making her an older half-sister. With nothing left, Anima decided to set out on a gruesome spree of killing both human and hybrid in her path, determined to kill those all responsible for the death of her mother.
The ones who escaped, the Ovate, and the noble in revenge. By doing this, Anima rejected any disdain, hatred, and contempt she had for her demonic heritage; she gave herself to demonic power, nearly becoming a vessel to demons and demonic energy alike. Because of this, unlike Most nephilim who exhaust themselves and turn to eat humanity, Anima does not. Anima is young, but she has built up a reputation in a short time in a matter of months. The other nephilim who want equality by means of pure enslavement and destruction of humans, Anima so far, seems to be the only one who has openly challenged the hybrid noble. Because so many have no control and are creatures of chaos, said not to have control of a fallen angel's ability, Anima has left the the antagonizers of the civil war in a bit of a scramble.
Skills/Abilities/Powers
Regarding basic skills, since Anima's lived in seclusion most of her life with her mother, she does have skills retaining to farming, cooking, animal care, and sewing to that certain part of time. Although her demonic powers are different story altogether.
All nephilim, regardless if they are born of cherub, power, or archangel, have the following abilities that make them fearsome in this time. They excel in healing, able to go long periods of time without sustenance (sleep, water, and food), strength, speed, adaptation to extreme temperatures, sixth senses, stamina, and special skills that retain to their demonic fathers.
But there are two downsides to this:
- A nephilim may have all of these abnormal abilities that put them above a human, but they also have fast metabolisms. In the Book of Enoch and the bible, it says there were giants that roamed the earth eating everything, and then turning to humans. Nephilim, of course, do this; if they exhaust their powers, they must eat. If they don't find enough to eat, they succumb to their demonic sides and eventually turn to eat people, even each other.
- Because of their demonic blood, a nephilim is vulnerable to white, holy, and sacred magic. They cannot set foot on what is deemed "holy ground", go near churches, mosques, temples... you get the idea. Crossing these things burn them, literally.
Anima is the daughter of Azazel, the demon who taught mankind weaponry, the art of war, and cosmetics. Unique to his children, his daughters are gifted to precognitive abilities. In layman's terms, they can see into the future and forsee events that are coming; this includes Anima. Like her older sister, Regina, she is gifted in seeing into the future, which makes her sought out by many, just as her older sister. All children of Azazel have what is been nicknamed "the thorn curse"; Anima, like her half-siblings, is able to manifest hardened flesh into barbs, like blades. It is a painful, yet powerful ability that leaves them to be untouched. It's also why the children of Azazel wear bandages that constantly bleed, no matter what they do and giving them what looks like to be burnt black skin underneath these bandages.
Unique to Anima, since she is the child of the demon who taught men how to use weapons, she has the talent to pick up a weapon and master it shortly, making her formable with her short swords, in which she uses two at once. In the same way Kayako of JuOn can appear, Anima can as well. Her hair is long and seems to be apart of her "thorn curse", giving her the ability to become corporeal, disappearing and reappearing. She could be the example of what the children of Azazel can really do if they have control. Coupled with her speed, her ability to teleport in black mist makes Anima. As mentioned above, Anima stands out from her kind because she has almost absolute control over her demonic powers. Where others reject their demonic heritage because they've been scorned by demons, sidhe, and humans like, Anima does not.
This is a huge note with Anima, since she doesn't reject her demonic heritage, she has nearly mastered her demonic powers. The term for this is "transcend" -- Anima has "transcended". Aside from the insane metabolism of a half-demon, along with the scorn, neglect, and self-loathing many of these beings have gone through, they cannot grasp their abilities. Anima so happens to be one of the rare few who doesn't; she challenges the status quo and the idea someone born of human blood shouldn't have demonic powers. However, this doesn't mean Anima is brute in force. Where Anima lacks in strength, she makes up for in speed. She is faster than most and with her ability to teleport as well as holding on her demonic powers? She's exceptionally hard to put down by others who are deemed normal in demonic powers. Anima is not all powerful, simply because she is young and isn't a brute.
While she is exceptionally talented, even downright frightening, coming across an opponent who can predict her movements and who is stronger than her, then Anima will have more a difficult fight. In part with her strength, Anima can hold her demonic powers longer than the others. And it cannot be stressed more than Anima's a 13 year old girl; she may seem stoic but her fighting style expresses a girl who is passionate and violent, yet impulsive, desperate, brutal, and self-destructive. She builds herself up on the fact she holds more control and composure unlike a lot of nephilim, but she is still young, idealistic, and full of herself at times.
The trademark burn to holy and white? Anima is more vulnerable to it. Should she cross holy and white, it leaves her immobile for a while, all because she embraces her demonic heritage and may possibly be possessed of some kind. She has not succumbed to her all-devouring and flesh-eating heritage quiet yet on the other hand, but she will still eat you out of a house and home. Anima has a large appetite for regular food and is still a bottomless pit, one way or the other. Eating is the only thing that makes Anima very happy.
Power Restrictions
Since Anima is not brute in force and she relies heavily on her speed, there's one ability that would give her an edge and that would be her ability to teleport. She can still turn into black mist, but the effort will be a bit more draining for her; she wouldn't be able to teleport, otherwise, yes, this kid will teleport out without even thinking about it. She won't have a corporeal form. She relies heavily on this in battle next to her ability to shortly master weapons. If this does not suffice, I will be glad to give more limitations, but this is a key ability that puts her above others as well as her not relying on eating human or other Nephilims. If she choses to attempt to teleport or go into black mist, she'll be tired and require more sleep and food, rather than go days without it as she normally does.
Job
WELL. Since she's a precognative kid, if it's alright, Anima could have the ability of fortunes and basic readings of other people. If you can get her to cooperate, that is.
Mark Location
Probably the only place she doesn't have bandages, right next to her left ear. Visible, almost, if she were to move her white hair.
Samples
I do not understand, this is not Tir Na Nog. What purpose do I have here? Impossible that the rest of my kind would seemingly vanish into thin air like that. Have I done something wrong? Do you wish to inhibit me, sidhe? I regret to inform you despite my kind devouring all that has been laid before them, I will not be stopped. I am not like them, I have control.
Third Person Sample (Log)
By the looks of the shadow overcastting over the rocks and by the slight raise temperature, it’s now midday. Regretfully, Anima hasn’t stopped since, not for three days. For others, human or not, the fact she is traveling on foot for three days seems absurd, if not stupid. What is the point of walking on foot and to a destination she has no idea where it’s at? Still, she paddles along the terrible makeshift road that has been used by farmers, travelers, and merchants alike, from village to village, town to town. Supposedly, at this point, Anima may be waiting for a group of travelers to pass by, hopefully more people like her.
These people of unnatural union of demons and humans, fallen angels renowned of Noah’s god, the Nephilim. She remembers this name only for the fact of her mother; her mother was of a small minority, a Christian-no, that doesn’t seem right. A Valentinian, if anything, a smaller sect and a most obscure religion that had been kept quiet, guarded with the phrase “those who have ears, let them hear; those who have eyes, let them see”. It was the strict belief of these people that religion was never to be forced onto others, especially to her mother, that those who wanted to believe what they wanted to believe would find it. They were without disdain of Nephilim from what Anima remembered, another rarity when she had just now found herself wandering out in the grand world surrounding her.
These vast fields and forests, up and down hills of the country side and without a confession to her, it was the most intimidating thing she had ever dealt with. Now faced with fending for herself and vowing to keep going, Anima secretly wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Up a hill on weary feet, she ignored the powerful hunger through her stomach, determined to find someone or something to lead her to a town.
Hopefully, they would have information; otherwise traveling on foot to an unknown destination would be even more ridiculous. She had vowed to hunt them all down, her own kind, another absurd idea; the Nephilim hardly lashed out each other. Anima’s goal was something that of unreachable dreams, especially when her kind had face torment, abuse, and even death amongst humans, cornered, pushed and forced to travel and live with each other. By now, word had spread like a wind through Connacht and through varying towns with what she had done.
She had came through each town, as they pillaged, killed eating everything and everyone they could get their hands on, and killed them all. Slitting their throats, dismembering them and walking pass humans without a care. She was proud of the nickname she earned “Anima the Black” or “Anima of the Thorn”, appearing in a black mist or appearing without warning. She could shift through her form and speed without having to worry about being consumed with hunger, something a Nephilim could rarely obtain. Why was that, she was sure they wondered. Anima had been told from a very young age, as an explanation by her mother, that Nephilim were never meant to have control over their dark powers bestowed upon them by their fathers, something that God or even other angels made sure of so that disaster wouldn’t happen.
But mother was gone; she was not there to keep Anima locked away, having never seen the world before or others like her. How ironic was it, after being so thrilled with knowing there were more of her out there, passing through villages, she wondered if they were ever tied with the death of her mother.
Down the hill she came, taking up a jog, even a skip in her steps, hopping on one rock to each other, making a game of it to ease her burdened mind. Which one would she fall off of? How much more could she do it until she reached the ditch down below?
And then, peering up through again, the fields seem longer and everything seemed so vast. It would be the only time Anima felt fear, without someone to hold her hand or tell her where to go. Her mother would always be leading her, making sure that she would never travel on her own and leaving her so dependant, this girl who was now thirteen, soon to be old enough to live on her own and marry if her mother ever let her. Anima was standing on top of a rock, looking around her, around the nothingness of the field.
She turned behind to see how far she had came and through the fear of being alone and left to fend for herself, she gazed up to the blue sky, filled with the same childish wonder that captivated her upon gazing at the ocean a month before. She had seen so many new things and was not sure what to do with them or how to process it all.
Eventually, gazing up through the blue sky, she found herself overwhelmed, dropping her gaze down at her shot sandals and to the sides where her short swords rest. Someday, this would come to an end and all of them would be dead, her mother’s death avenged, but what then?
When the Nephilim are near each other, their hairs on their necks stand up; it’s the prickly feeling when one crosses their legs wrong while sitting down. As Anima turns around, she fails to notice an oncoming cart off in the distance. At that moment, she chastises herself for not becoming in tune with her demonic senses to sense more of them. The girl peers up over the hill, her head peaking up to gaze and finally she jumps back up the rock, gazing down at them.
Through wide red eyes, it seems like this girl is innocent; her gaze is that of a predatory one, sniffing the air to see if they carried the scent of the ones who fled the village after destroying it. They don’t have it.
Up through the hill, being led with two horses, it’s a poor old cart, being drawn by a boy and a girl, very tall and dirty, their white hair and tired pale blue eyes now catching sight of her. The Nephilim are a welcoming bunch to each other, they greet each other like old relatives and friends, waving and calling out; they call out to her, Anima tilts her head.
“Hello!” The boy waves joyfully. He tugs the reins; the girl shifts on her seat beside him-are they lovers, friends, or siblings? It’s admittedly hard to tell with the sea of pale blue and white amongst them all. When the cart is stopped, Anima hops over the rocks up to the cart, only to be greeted with a smile, “Do you need a ride?”
The girl leans up from behind his shoulder, “Goodness, how long have you been walking? You look like you need a ride. Come on, now! We’re going home, you should come with us.”
“Well, don’t push her,” He scolds the girl beside him, “Yes, well-home it is, but you shouldn’t be walking around like this; you never know when you’ll be shot in the back by a Fianna!” It’s a joke, surely, but not at once; the Fianna, warriors of the highlands, will indeed shoot them down with arrows and spears like deer.
Anima glances around the open field, filled with uneasiness; however, this offer means more will be there in this village; the Nephilim are a sad group, they barely live with humans. Anima was exceptionally lucky having to live with her protective mother. She gives a curt nod, “I shall take the ride,” She speaks with a monotone voice, completely devoid of emotion. And up the cart she hops, right into the haystack in the back. The two them smile and with a final tug of the reins, they are moving off and Anima is able to rest her weary body in the cart, watching the land behind her stretch faster and faster away.
Although the kindness of her own kind is given, the words still echo in her head, when she clutched the short blades’ handles, bloody and sweaty. They had questioned her why she would kill her own kind and Anima told them each time.
“For the wrong you have done me, I will repay you back tenfold, I care not if you are my kin.”
How unfortunate these two kind strangers didn’t realize they had carried away the girl who would obliterate their town ruthlessly, this childish girl who was combing her long hair with her hands.
Any Other Details We Should Know - I do not claim that this muse comes from a historically accurate story line and I'll give you the same forewarning I'd use for her sister. A lot of Irish records around this time period are vague and almost nil. In Celtic and Druid culture, things were not recorded by writing, but by rather word of mouth. Anima's story also comes from the pseudo-history Ireland's "Book of Invasions". So, in the end, because of the limited information from Ireland at this time, I cannot stress enough some things Anima says or does will be historically accurate ;o;. And again, if there are limits or jobs that don't work, I'll change them, because I'll be honest, a second opinion is welcomed.