WORK IN PROGRESS, POSTING MOSTLY FOR POWER REVIEW.
Name: Shyama Gadhavi
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Asexual
Alliance: Fallen Numina
School/Occupation: Renegade / Vigilante
Powers/Weapons: Shyama is capable of controlling nearly any spirit that she encounters, with an additional capacity to bind two of them to her service completely, regardless of location. Frighteningly, she can also take control of humans around her if they are particularly depressed, melancholic, or just lacking the will to live on further, not to mention that she can force spirits into cooperation with her regardless of their intentions. She is also skilled in the use of illusions and she can induce strong emotions in people around her.
Her most dreadful tool is a small, nameless stone that hangs from her neck as a pendant. Recovered from an otherworldly meteorite, this beautiful, black gem seems to contain the sea of stars within it, but in reality, it is a cage for souls. After Shyama caused so much terror to an enemy that they have lost their sense of self, she can use a rather lengthy ritual to permanently bind them to the stone and have them serve her as an obedient puppet. How much of said individual remains tends to vary from person to person, but they lose most of the magical abilities they possessed in life.
Weaknesses: As a person who relies on spirits to get the deed done, she must choose the location and the time of her battles with meticulous care. An ambush or a surprise attack could leave her in a place where she either can not access any spirits, or there are just simply too many for her to take control of. She is not much of a combatant either, and would rather evade attacks aimed at her than risk getting hurt; without the assistance of her spirits, she is rather helpless. Further complicating this matter is the fact that good or neutral spirits will often evade her because of her reputation, and she tends to get attacked by vengeful spirits from time to time. Last but not least, she is a horrible team player who does not trust her allies and prefers to work on her own.
Appearance:
Personality: A cheerful, if somewhat quiet girl at heart, Shyama always had a deep appreciation as well as connection to people and nature, valuing both of them equally. She saw both the beautiful and the sorrowful when it came to the world, but her sense of optimism had always kept her spirits high. She wore her heart on her sleeve as she was not afraid of showing emotion, strength, weakness or worry even to strangers, but she also supported others in times of need without fail. Her friendships were few, yet they were incredibly strong bonds that would last for a long time.
Before her fall, she had always been polite and when she was approached, she would always try to make people talk to her. She was also a little bit naive, not to mention that at times, she could get a little overbearing both in her support and in her complaints. Her experiences may have tempered her trust a bit, however, they did nothing for her desire to extend a hand in need regardless of someone's circumstances, nor the fact that she tried to be there for everything and everyone. Usually, this ended up with her falling sick and not being able to make it to a very important event.
After she fell, her personality slowly transformed. Though she remained cheerful and supportive of her friends, she started to close off to other people, not to mention that she started to see terror and violence as a necessary tool to reach her goals. Her appreciation for every person slowly turned into a hatred of criminals who warped society, hurting other people instead of trying to reach out to them like she did. In her eyes, she is now doing what has to be done for the world to become a better place and she does not even realise how cruel she is.
Why They Fell: The spirit of a mountain refused to help Shyama when her best friend was in danger, thus causing said best friend to be tied to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. While alone, this would have not been enough to break Shyama's spirit, it was the straw which broke the camel's back. Already depressed and suffering from a long streak of unfortunate losses, the magical girl made a vow to never let spirits disobey her again.
Bio: Born into the family of a priest, Shyama was considered to be inheritently lucky because of the circumstances of her birth. The family had been praying for her birth for a long time, not to mention that her delivery was a long, painful process for both her mother and her father that left an exhausted, but happy family behind. From her birth, her parents knew that she had to be special in some sense and they considered her to be a gift, something to be greatly cherished. She would be their only child who would be raised with all the love that they could muster.
As a result, Shyama had a normal, if perhaps a little pampered childhood that left her with a bright outlook on life in general. Though she was a quiet girl even when she was young, she did not lack in the area of friends, not to mention that her curiousity seemed insatiable. She was especially focused on the strange spirits that her father told her of, who were mostly ancient guardians, or sleeping things that should not be disturbed in his tales. Through them, she also developed a great interest, as well as a profound respect for nature.
She entered school a hopeful young girl and through her studies, she saw many examples of nature protecting itself from human influence, something that she always attributed to the strange spirits. Seeing small animals react with gratitude to food and with violence to violence also reminded her of her father's tale, strengthening her belief in the otherworldly even more so. She tried to share this with a few people, but she was laughed at for being too childish for her age. Embarrassed, Shyama decided to keep her views a secret from then on.
But when she turned fourteen, something changed. She would often see movement in the corner of her eyes, hear voices whispering to her or notice things that others did not even though to her, they were in front of her eyes. At first, Shyama thought that it was only her eyes playing tricks on her or her imagination acting up, but they kept happening, which was very unsettling to the young girl. Not even after weeks would these strange things go away, so she sought relief as well as answers the only way she could: by praying at her family's altar so she could reconcile with the forces of this world.
Imagine her surprise when she was actually answered in the form of a local fish spirit seeking her help to rid the water of the strange beings swimming there. Of course, after she recovered from her astonishment, she told the spirit that she could not help because she did not know how, which was when it offered her to teach on how to call on its powers as well as the powers of its brothers. After short contemplation, Shyama accepted, considering it to be a great honour to serve as a protector of nature and a mediator for spirits.
For four long years, she did her duty without a flaw, meeting many other Numen in the process and even forming a strong bond with them, until the fateful day of her fall came. Though at first, she only started forcing spirits into cooperation, this eventually turned into a habit of her not even asking them in the first place and resulted in her falling completely. With her fall also came a desire to run away from her parents, to live independently and to make justice where there was none, even if such a thing was not her call.
So within a few short weeks, she ran away from home, secured herself an abandoned house and became a renegade, a vigilante that lives on the money of those whom she considers to be criminals.
Attacks:
Insane Choir (Passive ability): Whenever Shyama opens her mouth, she speaks with an unnerving voice that has a frightening drone under it, her pitch and tone often shifting in a most unnatural way. Her voice creates an inexplicable fear in everyone who listens to her, but even though she has been known to scare people into fleeing with this alone, her voice only sets the atmosphere of her attacks and makes her victims more suspectible to terror.
Isolation (1 to 4 posts): Creates a black mist that is impenetrable to any and all senses, thus isolating Shyama's enemies from each other completely. In addition, the longer someone is trapped within this cloud, the greater their feelings of abandonment become, until they are left a sobbing wreck of a person. Only Shyama can navigate this phenomenon and only she is immune to its effects. The length of her incantation depends on the area she wants to cover. The mist is affected by weather or gusts of wind, not to mention that it disappears within a relatively short time if it is not reinforced with another spell.
Banshee's Shriek (2 posts): After she completed channeling the spell, Shyama takes a deep breath, then releases her voice as loud and as long as she can, which cuts into the hearts of people as if it was a scream of the damned. The gluttural, terrifying nature of this scream leaves even the most apathatic of people with a sense of impending doom, leaving them unable to act for several seconds as they contemplate their inevitable death. This ability is not hampered by earplugs or the inability to hear the scream.
Cracked Mirror (2 posts): Creates a realistic illusion of anything that Shyama dreams up, including herself. A maximum four of these may be present at any time, and though their lifetimes are short, not to mention that their movement along with their intelligence is highly limited, they can be quite frightening experiences to behold. Note that the more complex an illusion is, the less of them she can control, and the more limited they are in their actions.
Cruel Fate (4 posts): Shyama retrieves one of the souls stored in her gem, using them to terrorise or finish her opponent. Though it is quite a risk to use in the middle of a battle, this ability gives her tremendous versatility, even if she loses control over her other spirits and she can only control one soul at a time. Note that while said soul can operate in a large range, it has no intelligence, so Shyama must control it directly.
Warped Contract (1 to 10 posts): Shyama either calls on the help of local spirits or forces them to assist her regardless of their intentions. The length of this call depends on the number of spirits in said area, their willingness to help, and their strength and it is only at its end that she is able to actually control them. If her concentration is interrupted while calling on the spirits, Shyama will feel great pain and lose her awareness for some time. Note that spirits which have been forced to obey her whims will actively fight against her control.
Summon Reach (4 posts): Calls upon Reach, a loyal spirit that is permanently in Shyama's service. Reach is composed of a myriad of haunted objects ranging from toys through books to creepy antiques. While in themselves, they have little power, them cooperating creates clever traps or fearsome locales to navigate, provided that Reach does not overstay its welcome. Other spirits abhor Reach and if it causes too much trouble, they will unite to drive it out of of their territory.
Summon Machine (6 posts): Calls upon Machine, an insane, destructive spirit that is only held in check by Shyama's willpower. Evil to the core, this being cares for nothing but proving its own strength and the relative weakness of others, so it is especially hard to keep this abomination in check. Appearing as an assortment of mechanical parts that assemble into whatever shape they wish, this spirit is beyond infamous in its own world. Whenever it surfaces, the other spirits instinctively flee that location to gather more of their own, then attack it with full force. At this point, Machine either loses itself to the thrill of battle or gets recalled, neither of which has pleasant consequences for Shyama.