Æther Pool

explorer girl who ends up kind of looking like a fetish model for world war I because she wears latex and rubber for sealing her environment from outside harm and wears a respirator/gas mask to protect herself

Stashes:

Quick basics on my backup characters

Paladin- daughter of a relatively low-rank noble family. Became a knight, because she wanted to help people. Ended up becoming part of a witch-hunting brigade, but finds herself slowly becoming that which she hunted. Terrified for her life and not knowing what to do or who to trust, she fled. When her horse dropped from exhaustion, her steed arrived from nowhere, allowing her to keep up the pace.
Based a lot on farnesse from Berserk, but less on the crazy (at least, in the beginning; she is falling that direction)

Inquisitor- grew up more or less normal, if a bit of an outcast. Was saved from some traumatic event by an old inquisitor, and decided to dedicate her life to aiding him in his work. Ended up becoming very dangerous and calculating, but does sincerely want to uphold the law and help people. Professionally trained as a torturer, she takes no pleasure in hurting people, and only does so in order to get the information she needs; if another tactic will work (talking, cajoling, bribing), she’ll take it, but when push comes to shove she is very good at what she does

Warlock- born the daughter of a murderer, this girl’s life was harsh and abusive. Her father kept her around because they were ‘blood’, but had little use for her other than making money. Her father killed people for  pleasure, and the only reason he wasn’t caught sooner was because of the nomadic nature of the band they lived with. When her father finally knocked off the wrong person, his brother came after and had him tried and executed. Thing was, that noble wanted his entire family to die for what happened to his brother, trying the girl for ‘murder by proxy’ and claiming that she could have done literally anything if she wasn’t on-board with her father’s actions.
Such being the state of things, she fled, and keeps moving even today. She doesn’t go out of her way to hurt people, but she does what she has to in order to survive. Prizes her personal freedom highly after her isolated childhood. Works primarily as a teamster/carriage driver, taking people and small packages between towns and cities, never staying in one place for too long. Even though she is a main caster, she knows well that revealing her nature as such would be paramount to hanging herself (not to mention it is her own little secret) so she keeps her magic subtle when among people, seeking the mundane results, and enjoying her magic in private.


EDIT: on the paladin, i think it would be less she outright abandoned her group and is just trying to buy some time to get her bearings on what's happening to her.
     she wants to help people, she wants to be the hero from the story books, and that is why she became a knight... only that it is less being a hero and more being a glorified police officer on the best of days. that said, she still does her best to help people, and still believes that upholding the law is paramount. in order for her to uphold the law, however, she has to be alive, and with her magical powers beginning to develop, that will be very difficult. so, she made a claim of following a lead in the south and ditched her escorts under the excuse of wanting to tend to the matter as quickly as possible.
     if i go this direction, i should probably have her leaving messages in the towns she visits, leaving continued excuses and new directions for those following her, and probably trying to avoid carrier pigeons if possible

EDIT: 2 this time around
first: until further notice, the halfling warlock will be known as 'Smolborne'
second: an update on the paladin: while she should be focused on pally abilities from her introduction, she should have all the unique abilities picked up by then, so unless the increases are worthwhile in comparison to other classes she can pick up new classes as early as the next level-up

Really brief OC

been reading up on the manga Gangsta, and it's really good so far, so naturally i created a character for it. this is actually kind of a throwaway, since this character originally spawned from reading Gunslinger Girl, but conceptually she works better here

(keep in mind i don't know the entire story of Gangsta yet, so there may be inconsistencies with the OC and with the series proper)

I call this character Death Doll (~so original, isn't it~)
one of the Tagged, she was born mute and is technically a lot weaker in physical combat than most of her brothers and sisters, and so was placed at a low rank (D rank, low C at best). however, this was only in melee, which seems to be the specialty for most Tagged. 'Doll specifically possesses far better hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness, making her much better suited to guns, and with them she easily could move up to a high B rank or even a mid-A rank.

uses a variety of guns, but I primarily see her using a hand-built, double-barreled machine gun to great effect. she often whips out a pair of shades to protect her eyes from the glare of the muzzle flash

'Doll especially likes guns, but she likes to make a bombastic impression in most things, because she is unable to do so with her voice. Most of the time you wouldn't notice that being mute bothers her, but if you pay attention to her actions- her preference for guns, sports cars, and incredibly energetic techno/dance-y style music- you will notice that she seems to be compensating for her lack of ability to speak.

Death Doll tends to walk around with her weapon either bare or in a large, canvas bag, if she is walking at all. Most of the time she is driving, and she is really fucking good at it. she enjoys long drives to music, especially in the middle of the night for no reason than to do it

theeere we go, another one down

'Grawlix'
(not an actual name, but it will serve as one)

Character Details:

This character could have also gone in the Marble City, but since I only played him in one session and literally only got one post in (Grave's tavern game), i figured he probably didn't so much die as didn't get started


Grawlix is a character i designed after reading the Vampire: Masquerade books, and instantly set about creating a character of my own. He ended up being set up as more of an NPC, or at the very least as a character who had survived several chronicles, so while i tried to stick to the basics and build him right, things start getting out there pretty fast

Basic story behind Grawlix is that he really doesn't hang out in the cities much- he's a drifter who walks into town now and again, usually keeps to himself, but always on the lookout for something
     He's actually hunting down a group of people for X reason, but I never solidified what it was.
He doesn't usually deal with the politics or the Jyhad, but he is well-respected in several domains because he is a fucking monster in combat. If he were to accept the offers of some princes, he would never want for money, power, or prestige, but he prefers to let favors stack up and keep to his own business, all the better to let the other Kindred do their thing

One of the big things I actually had set up for him is that he attacked the sanctuary of a rogue Tremere who was practicing diablerie and some other unsavory things (funnily enough for his own reasons- the local prince had no idea the warlock was pulling this shit), and ended up saving a very fresh-faced childe Tremere who ended up tagging along on his various adventures, partially because she was intrigued by him, partially because she feels indebted, and partially because she was traumatized by her own clan (what little she saw of it) and has no desire to return to them, so she pleaded with the local prince and was 'given' to Grawlix, for him to keep an eye on

for this reason, and for the theft of secrets of thaumaturgy, Grawlix is more or less despised by the clan tremere, but he spends a lot of his time out in the wilds, where the lupine are. No one except his young tagalong knows how he survives among them, and none are willing to risk their unlives to find out

physically, Grawlix is a bit in the tall side (6 foot or a little over) and heavily built, with broad shoulders, a barrel chest, and thick limbs. He wears primarily layered worker's clothes and a thick jacket, and carries a medium-sized backpack, making him look like a fairly typical drifter, until you notice the giant revolver on his waist or he pulls out the large fighting knife from his back sheath.
He tends to be a very quiet individual, but an intense one, and people are kind of nervous to talk around him, because he notices everything

female assassin character
either NE or CE, because she only feels truly alive and connected to the world when she is killing things
that said, very calm, patient, and stoic. not given to bursts of emotion. dry sense of humor
6 feet tall at least, and lean. dresses in something a lot like yharnam hunter garb
ranger/rogue?/scout?/assassin

make a character that is basically danua

fey'ri

I think that one of my longest-running desires in character creation for D&D is to make a necromancer that doesn't follow the necro-stereotypes, one that isn't some dark, brooding, chuuni that wants to destroy all life on earth, but one who is affable, pleasant, even cosmopolitan, and just happens to have a job that most people find repulsive and unnatural

I recall running across a post a year or two ago about how the most evil power in the world could be the ability to heal others, because it means that you can cause incredible suffering and hide all evidence of it, or simply withhold it to ensure that others suffer or die

and it occurs to me that I don't think I have, at least recently, heard of an evil character that specializes in the healing arts, or even has it as a secondary/tertiary aspect

I think I need to have a character who is most definitely evil, but who utilizes the ability to heal/cure others for their own ends, instead of utilizing the abilities of causing wounds that seems to be considered the sole grounds of evil casters

(note: this design is likely going to be specific to my D&D characters, but we'll see)

Two character concepts i came up with while on a bike ride today

Blade dancer- Keturah
initially, it just started as a concept for a necklace i wanted, which developed into a character's necklace, a coin-like pendant that had the sword dance symbol (http://quicksilvermint.com/medallions/pages/sword-lock.htm) on one side and a rune on the other. thing is, it is not really a 'personal' rune per se, but rather just the rune of the character's birth (i've been reading a story where literally everyone has their own personal rune)
So now I want to make a duelist/champion type character who loves the dance between talented swordswingers
Eila- diver/swims with sharks
was thinking back on a story i read about a whale that got tangled in fishing lines and ended up trapped, and since there was no other way around it divers swam around the whale and cut the lines away one by one with knives.
and i decided I would make a character that did something similar, but the first one she was recognized for was aiding a large Great White Shark while she was out swimming with friends. at first it was frantically trying to pull this way and that, but she bopped it on the nose and shook her finger at it, and slowly pulled the ropes and cut them away, occasionally going up for air. the funny thing is that the reason she gets known for this is because the shark now follows her around whenever she happens to be swimming in the area, and sometimes takes her to other animals that need help
even funnier: this girl isn't even a marine biologist, professional diver, or anything of the sort; she just lives swimming in the ocean, always carries a knife just in case, and loves helping things.
and i am just picturing the moment when she is on a friend's boat, and some kid is trying to talk to her while she's getting ready to swim, and all of a sudden the kid backs off in a panic because there is a shark in the water. and then she goes to the edge of the ship and reaches out with her hand and people are like 'what. are. you. doing?!' and she just pets the shark and dives straight in. cue several people fainting and a lot of wtf stares

and one from yesterday
Ebony von Marx- monk who grew up hating her father
this one is actually a monk concept i wanted to work on in later campaigns
born of a famous soldier, Ebony was expected to be a boy. when she was born a girl, and not only that but born with the pure black skin of prophecy, her father instantly despised her.
the entirety of her childhood was a hell created by her abusive father, but she picked herself up and taught herself how to move, at first so that she wouldn't be hurt so badly, then to start fighting back.
in order to fight the prophecy, her father never allowed her to pick up a weapon, so she made her body into a weapon instead.
and on her birthday, turning into an adult, she challenged her father to a duel in front of the whole town, and slowly took him apart. oh, she didn't kill him, but she utterly destroyed his body and made him suffer as much as she possibly could. when that was done, she packed a bag and left for good

i wanted to make a monk that fit within the strictures of the class, but was first and foremost Evil (dedicated only to herself and her own interests) and also driven by hatred. how well i play her remains to be seen...

I'll get back to this one


Re:Arachne

Girl who played a game and made a character based around the most evil tropes and powers, in order to be ironic when she helped other players
Not starting at the bottom like Kumo-chan, but not max level. May be close to it, but unlike Momonga, while she is powerful she is not built with a particular skill set in mind, and instead went the route of picking whatever sounded fun or funny in-context. This gives her an eclectic and varied array of abilities
Her main class is likely a mage of some sort, maybe mixed with assassin skills. That, or based on her monster character’s race class first, and then went arcane. Wasn’t meant to be an incredibly powerful character, and she didn’t intend to play as long as she did, but ended up enjoying helping other players, and got most of her truly high levels and abilities by accident
Unlike momonga, she doesn’t have encyclopedic knowledge of the game, and in fact often forgets that she has some of her skills and abilities
Lots of body horror, misunderstanding, fear, etc
Ends up actually living out her internal narrative for her character- evil powers, ostracized because people think she is evil, and having to find a way to be good when using her powers feels really good

Find it likely that she wasn’t necessarily ugly, but she wasn’t all that pretty in real life either, so she was never the center of attention. When her make-over into sexy spiderlady turns her not only into nightmare fuel but also into object of attraction, it makes her very awkward and more than a little uncomfortable.

Possible powers
Questionable
?blood magic
?cannibalism superpower
?poison person
?pest controller
?the ability to 'steal' anything, from objects to stats and skills
Personally Desire
~combat tentacles?
Suggested by friends
*necromancy
*mind control/domination/mind rape
*power nullifier
*duplication/birthing
Undecided/unsorted
lovecraftian superpowers
storms
hellfire

anything to do with the seven deadly sins
Gluttony- kind of like Kumo-chan’s consumption abilities added w/ Pig God/s abilities from OPM so she can consume allies and transport them within the safety of her stomach
Unlike her normal eating (which is very messy for obvious reasons, her consumption with gluttony produces very clean cuts (so nothing is wasted or lost) as the thing in question is either reduced to energy or else is deconstructed and then reconstructed in the extradimensional space that is her stomach
Greed- maybe a suite of abilities that include those of a thief, mixed with those above for stealing an enemy’s abilities and such. Tack on the ability to utilize more than the normal allotment of magic items (more than two rings, for example)


Fertile Feet?
Absolutely No Shapeshifting, so that she has to learn to act within her limits and let people learn about her for themselves
Remember to be flexible with Necromancy- it is the magical school of the destruction, creation, and MANIPULATION of life. Could include soul manipulation
Combat tentacles might have to do with abyssal/demonic magic, following a particular eldritch god, for example
Birthing- she should be able to give birth to young. Kind of envision her giving young to people she saves to keep eyes on them when she can’t. also envision them kind of just…being there for her, trying to take care of their ‘mother’ as she stumbles through life.
Ex. She is trying to set up a home with a suspended something, and she is screaming, because it won’t stay up. One of her children comes over with a cup of tea and she just gives kind of a wistful smile and calms down. One of her friends (she has some by this point) comes in and points out a possible solution. She freezes, gives the cup back to the little one, and tries it out. It works. She starts banging her head against a pillar while several more of the little ones get everything straightened up

Walking through the forest; everything runs away from her, even when she tries to be non-threatening. Finally, she collapses on a rock and starts crying. Her tears are potent poison. Cries harder
Uses tears to kill rampaging monster
Split’s the beast’s carcass with its would-be victim and makes her first tentative animal friend

Storms are sometimes considered to be evil, signs of the gods’ anger, and it could be that at this point people still assume the weather to be the domain of a particularly capricious god. So, if I decide to give her power over weather, and she uses it correctly, she could come off as more benevolent, perhaps even messianic. Cross with fertile feet


Physically, I see her humanoid body to be a little bit larger than normal, and her spider body is larger to match. I figure, at a minimum, her spider legs are about 7 ½ feet long, so she has a diameter of 15+ feet. How tall is she? Eh, depends on how high she decides to stand, but figure probably 6 ½ to 8 feet, under normal circumstances.

notes for possible witch character:

witch hexes
cauldron- brew potion as a bonus feat and a +4 to craft alchemy
charm- improves the attitude of an animal or humanoid by 1 step, +2 at 8th level
child scent- gain the scent ability, with regards to humanoid children and immature animals
-disguise- disguse self for an hour/lvl per day
-feral speech- communicate with animals, allowing diplomacy checks. includes vermin at 12th lvl
*nails- gain natural weapons, dealing 1d3 damage. if trimmed, nails grow back in 1d4 days
*prehensile hair- just what it says
-swamp hag- travel through swamps, mires, etc while leaving no trail, and treat mud/quicksand like normal ground

major hexes
*animal skin- turn into any animal, tiny to large, whose skin she wears
hidden home- conceal/disguse home and surrounding area as mirage arcana
vision- just as is said
*weather control- as the spell. takes 1 hour of chanting, dancing, and communing with familiar. useable 1/day
*witch's bounty- blesses a bush to produce goodberries every day at dawn. never more than twice the witch's level

grand hexes
curse of nonviolence- target cannot take violent/destructive action against any creature with fewer HD than itself, unless attacked first. permanent
eternal slumber- cause a creature to fall asleep and never wake up without a wish or miracle spell
forced reincarnation- kills a creature and reincarnates it into a new body
life giver- resurrection, 1/day
natural disaster- storm of vengeance + earthquake, 1/day
*witch's hut- the only grand hex for me



Edit:
vow to never cut her hair when she was 10. She did trim it to keep it healthy, and it grew long and thick, and it gained about half an inch in length every month. for 9 years. including her hair at the time she made the vow (not sure if she cut it off to grow anew or not yet) her hair at the start of the game would be 5+ feet long
if human- aged 19. if half-elf, aged 27
so, i was mistaken. if i made her a half-elf, her hair would be 8 1/2 feet long. Jesus

considering she lived near the edge of a swamp as a healer, she could have made friendly contact with lizardfolk there and learned Draconic from them

i like the idea of her being human, but at the same time, the culture, the stigma, the ideology, the languages, the specific skill sets she has- almost everything about her screams half-elf more than anything else

possible patrons
*enchantment
moon
occult
*peace
summer
water?

EDIT: crossing this particular back-up off my list for the campaign in favor of the shapeshifter druid, but i still really like this concept, so i'll probably keep adding to it as time goes on

animus weapon- 8
agility- 4
endurance- 3
pain-induced power- 2

this is kind of an important thing that i found:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Swjz8BZZNE4bq6lTkHanTK4sJ-K_xVlFudxA16mYjH4/edit?pli=1#heading=h.aijiexnylut8

Mixes an old idea with some Alphas and some Worm
Girl who can manipulate metal to create warriors to fight for her. Golems, if you will. Depends how many she makes and how much time she puts into making them as to what she can do, but typically they are hollow enough to allow moving mechanisms (she can make them solid and mobile with time, but this is easier), shaped like armored soldiers. The armor is typically ornate, and they are armed with a variety of weapons. They possess rudimentary intelligence (again, dependent on how much time she has), but follow her instructions to the best of their abilities
Codename: Princess
She doesn’t do a lot of fighting herself, and one of the quirks of the ‘golems’ is that regardless of her orders they Will try to defend her to the best of their abilities if she is in any kind of danger, even if she orders them away. This often leads to her making at least one guardian to stay with her so the rest can move out, and even among these moments it is common for her to have this guardian be massive enough that she can sit on its shoulder and have a better view of the battlefield to direct them. Hell, if she tried to put herself in danger (even to prove a point) the golems would literally try to drag her away from harm, and some of her more intelligent ones actually got pretty good at predicting her moods, and could obstruct her preemptively


Also, want to jot this one down really quickly:
Person whose powers wax and wane with a perceived passage of time. As they feel time passing, they get stronger, up to the maximized points at noon and at midnight. Of course, this means that as soon as those hours roll by, they get a very steep power drop-off until they can wait for it to be closer to that time again. This also, however, means that while they can’t just set their timepieces so they are constantly at full-power, they can be tricked, especially into believing they are at low-power, making this weakness especially exploitable by enemies

After a night's talk with TS, more or less focusing on paladin as my back-up character, and may or may not be switching to her directly soon, just alternating Prichard out.

Also, decided that I want her to go Armor Bonded, and I think that at the level we are at, that would be a fantastic way for her to get shoved out the door and in the direction of the group.
Hunting magic users? uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but if she keeps her head down she'll make it out okay. Actually having low-level magics? Anxiety-inducing to the point of panic, but it's small stuff, she can keep it under wraps, even if she feels like she is losing her mind.
     But going to sleep in your armor because you are stressed to the point you can't bring yourself to take it off at the end of the night, just wanting to be safe, and waking up to find a vast chunk of your gold missing and the armor now fused to your flesh?
     Yeah, that'll get you out the door in a fucking hurry

EDIT: nothing really changing, just putting down notes on what grafts i'm looking at taking:
Really wanting the wings, the additional armor, and the damage reduction, but just going to jot down everything and we'll go from there

Crashdown
Damage Reduction- can be taken twice
Energy Resistance- can be taken twice (can also be supplemented with the enchantments i can add for free at 4th level, but taking into consideration other concerns...)
Metal Veins?
Old Face?
Shield Graft
Wings, Lesser--> Wings

Pics to help me think about my pally:



Commission Lineage Female Armor
by carlosdouglas




Armored Girl - Deathverse
by Zeronis




Anima: Arbiter Belphegor
by Wen-M
Reeeally like this one




Paladin
by Director-16

Moar Paladin inspiration!



Wings of Horus
by johnsonting




Weaponry 196
by Random223
**the second sword from the right is the one I'm currently using as her weapon model

well, fuck me

i came up with another way to insert spider-girls into campaign settings, although this one might work better for a video game

the spider body was originally built as loader-like machine, adapted to working and making repairs in a vast, 3-d environment, particularly in a dilapidated and crumbling metropolis. the spider legs allowed mobility in all kinds of environment, while also allowing it to carry a variety of tools
it is also likely an older or outdated model, which is where the next part comes into play:

the human body is or was the lover of some great researcher who was injured in some tragic accident. through an as-yet unknown circumstance, he was forced to take her off normal life support and give her the ability to move on her own. the spider-chassis was found in one of the researcher's old warehouses, and retrofitted with all of the medical equipment necessary to keep her alive and functional

unfortunately, the researcher is dead, and the girl is now on the run, forced to learn how to both use and maintain her new form while at the same time fighting to get some answers as to just what went so horribly wrong

Considered making Princess (parahumans character listed above) a metallokinetic whose focus was simply creating her armored servants, but still having the ability to manipulate metal. this made me start thinking of what all she could do with her power, and came up with a decent list. not exhaustive, may still expand, but here's what i've got:

primary power- intelligent, loyal, armored suits
levitation
flight
super strength
enhanced jumping
super strength
enhanced reflexes/agility
super speed
passwall
metalloaudience
farspeak/sound projection via metal vibrations
'telekinesis'
puppeteering- control enemhy movements via the metallic items they wear
'fate manipulation'- not outright control but bending the aspects of the battlefield to suit her- guns go off-target, bullets miss or pass through her, blades somehow just avoid cutting her; all hint at her having some sort of invincibility, when really she is just 'taking fate into her own hands'
'invulnerability'- limited ability to simply hold metal in place and deny the effects of phsyical attacks
create traps from her metal surroundings
instant detection field- aside from the metal people wear normally, she can put a cloud of iron shavings in the air and immediately detect anything that enters her range
'walking coffins'- not really, but imprisoning enemies (often other capes) in her armor suits
limited ability to manipulate and utilize tinker technology, as long as it is at least partialy metallic
limited abiilty to control computers and other electronics
if her soldiers have been up for a while, she can grant them minor levels of superpowers, in addition to strength, toughness, and intelligence. actually takes a long time for to figure this one, as they need to be up for several days before she can do this

Just a couple of character sketches i want to get down while i am thinking about them:

First is one more or less based in Alphas: person with mid-to-high levels of diamond skin and nova, basically turning them into a walking fusion reactor. funnily enough, not actually a lot in terms of combat capability, but makes a very good power source for others to draw from. Does have the added benefit of being able to turn into a walking radioactive wasteland

Second is a bit more of a general idea: kind of like some of the old versions of superman, starts off with just super strength, but starts to develop other powers as a way of compensating for the novel, immense strength. the body grows more durable in order to survive the strain the power exerts on it, and perceptions speed up to comprehend the actions of those muscles and translate them into usable information.
as time goes on, these compensations deviate logically: the durability grows into super toughness (not necessarily invulnerability, but close to it) and the increased perceptions grow into super speed (not only comprehending the speed that can be attained through use of just the incredible muscular movement, but further speed added on top)

So, I've been trying to figure out a novel way to use diamond skin, and i think i got it as i was driving today

You see, Vidar here has fairly high-level diamond skin that is technically always on. it doesn't stay in his skin though- he can switch it to any body system he wants- bones, digestive tract, lungs, eyes- and they become basically indestructible.
problem being, whatever system he selects gives him no sensation and serves no function. If he uses it on his bones, they no longer produce red blood cells, so they slowly deplete until his body literally can't move oxygen and he dies. if he uses it on his digestive tract, maybe he needs energy, but can't digest anything, or maybe he doesn't but he still gets hunger pangs that go unattended because his stomach can't send him any signals of satisfaction.
he uses it on his lungs, and maybe he doesn't need to breathe, but Vidar here is a chain smoker, and now nicotine does nothing to him- he can smoke every waking minute and not get any kind of buzz.
but the power is always active, and he has to choose a system...

trying to think up backgrounds for some worm OCs, and mainly focusing on high-stress jobs, hopefully some that aren't really touched upon

original inspiration was actually inspired by Ben Loman, from Death of a Salesman. a man who went into the jungle seeking a dream of diamond mines, but triggered when he found his dream either already plundered or never having existed in the first place. abandoned mine or jungle-based
soldier- probably meant to be utilized by, say, Thomas Calvert, but there are a lot of people who go into military life and leave broken rather than finding purpose
forest fire fighter
geothermal technician- in the day and age of behemoth? yeah, i can see that
subway operator
correctional officer supervisor
nurse anestheist
continuous mining machine operator

Sooo, you’re going to hate me, but I came up with another alt!power taylor, and it’s completely OP
On the other hand, it isn’t really Taylor, it’s a resurgence of an original idea, and it’s being transplanted through multiple worlds, so you can’t get too mad at me

For many years, I’ve had this idea for a character in the back of my mind: a necromancer. Yeah, I know- big surprise. Thing is, this particular character was inspired by Within Temptation- something of a perky Goth, she loved to sing to her creations, big operatic numbers, and the spirits of the dead joined in with her to produce incredible harmonies. Also, she wasn’t so much a desecrator or commander of the dead as the beloved of the dead- some people are born loved by people, others are just automatically trusted by animals- she was a natural necromancer, and pursued it to incredible ends simply for its own sake, thereby growing exponentially more powerful.

How powerful are we talking? Well, she was dropped in an empty well, and created an army out of it. She can create undead on command…on holy and consecrated ground. She could create legions of undead monsters purely and simply by desire.

So how does this fit in here?
Well, this is another ‘Taylor died’ story- Taylor died in the locker, but OC was seeking an entrance point to a new world to explore, and Taylor’s newly-made corpse was perfect for it, so she took it over, and promptly began singing. An army was created, one of such size that forces were called together for an Endbringer attack…only to find a rather cheerful OC thanking them for showing up to the commemoration service. Sophia, Emma, and Armsmaster awkwardly rub shoulders with Lung, Kaiser, and Skidmark, and it gets especially bad when Emma and Danny realize that it’s not Taylor in there anymore, regardless of what it looks like (oh the body will change to look like OC eventually, but for now it mostly looks like Taylor, minor cosmetics aside). Also, people being wildly confused about OC’s general lack of concern about the firepower stacked against her (she literally gives Lung a hug when he tries to start a fight with her) and worried about her ability to create an army from thin air.

Although, might be a really good story for Lisa, considering she might finally be able to gets some closure for her brother’s death. Also, since she doesn’t have an actual superpower but instead has magic, not a lot of people can read her, and she has the ability to no sell most of the others on a whim, which is worrisome, to say the least.

Now imagine their reactions when she says this is her on vacation…

Sooo, notes for Witch!Taylor and Mentor-sensei
going primarily for patrons for this post

now, technically if taylor were taught by a specific witch, it would make sense for her to be taught about her teacher's patron. however, her teacher also understands that it is the patrons who reach out to the student as often as the other way 'round, and the power comes from the relationship, not the teaching, so it is important for taylor to find her own patron. Oh she'll learn about and respect her teacher's patron- that's not even in question- but she is more likely to pick up a different patron, given the circumstances

Taylor- ancestors, death, devotion, spirits
surprising no one, really, taylor gets the ability to connect with the dead, specifically her mother, in a timeline where she frequents her mother's grave. this may actually help both her AND her father mourn and move on, having both the proper time to say goodbye and the ability to ask for her advice. that's mostly ancestors and spirits. death gives her more ability over death in general, which is significant because it was her mother's death that started this entire chain of events, so death is an important aspect in her life. devotion makes sense to me because it was her witch education that saved the parts of her life that really mattered (her relationship with her father, her own dignity her education, etc), so she threw herself into it

Mentor-sensei
ancestors, for similar reasons that taylor has, but this is actually one of the lesser ones
enchantment, to really push the area of magic that is really, truly classic for a typical witch. plays a lot with emotions, which i think would be interesting
entropy- really for the darker aspects i wanted to play with. more of a destruction-based witch than i originally intended to go with, but hell, Diebuster's heroes carved planets in half, who says someone who causes plagues and insanity on multiple planets can't have a soft spot
Occult- one of two i am reeeally leaning on. not only does the background make a shit-ton of fucking sense, but just generally gives her a cool, esoteric, but nasty and sensible set of abilities. i mean: create/command undead, black tentacles, snake staff, trap the soul, gate. like, what the actual fuck?
peace- this one is an odd choice, all things considered, but that's kind of why i picked it. not only would it allow her to actually calm taylor and help both her and her father heal, but with this as a background it would be perfectly sensible for her to push taylor to go the nonviolent route. although if taylor is going to be fighting i don't really see this one as an option
storms- the other one i'm heavily leaning towards- taylor is lost in the woods at night, as a storm rages, when she is found and taken in by a woman who seem to be one with the rain and the thunder. feeling more naturalistic and primal than some of the others, this is a witch patron that could allow its parishioner to majorly fuck over everybody

also wanting to throw in moon, nightmares, shadow, and thorns for one or both of them

really wanting Mentor-sensei to have a long-limbed, slender, shadow-esque visage, but no one single patron really seems to fit the image.

also, i originally intended to have mentor-sensei be only a level 15 (i say as that is still stupid powerful), but if i want her to have a grand hex (at least one) then she needs to be a level 18 at the very least. now i'm wondering if i should just go ahead and make her a level 25 or something and her her be actually overpowered as all holy hell, and taking taylor under her wing was just something to do now that she's seen basically all there is to see. hell, dealing with taylor's problem probably seems like a vacation compared to the shit she's seen. still, assuming level 18 for now...

^^^

further info:
familiar
taylor- cat,rat, raven
teacher- cat, greensting scorpion, scarlet spider, fox

hexes?
taylor
ancestral hex- requires ancestor patron, but allows the use of the hex of any other witch patron
aura of purity?
discord?
*disguise?
*feral speech
*flight
*prehensile hair
ward
teacher
bat sneeze
*cauldron
*child scent?
disguise?
*evil eye
flight
-fortune
-misfortune
*soothsayer- evil eye, fortune, misfortune, or retribution hexes can be delayed in effect, creating self-fulfilling prophecies
*water lung
*major
animal skin?
*hidden home
hoarfrost?
major healing?
*nightmares
*visions
weather control
*witch's bounty
*grand
*death curse
dire prophecy
*natural disaster