The Truth

1. The Early Years

2. The Ascian's Lesson

3. The Eternal Empire

Speak Plainly, Ascian

4. The Void

5. The Faithless Guardian

6. The Shards At War

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SPA: About Her

Basics

Name:
Adrasteia of the Darkmist Wood
Day of birth:
19th Sun of the 5th Astral Moon
Year of birth:
Unknown. Sometime during the late 2nd Astral Era

Personality, Primary Traits

Primary Motivators:Secondary Motivators:
DiscoveryLiberation
Balance/PeaceUnderstanding
LoveService
Emotional Disposition:
Melancholic
Moodiness:
Labile Even-Tempered Phlegmatic
Outlook:OptimisticPessimistic
Integrity:ConscientiousUnscrupulous
Impulsiveness:ControlledUncontrolled
Boldness:IntrepidCautious
Agreeableness:AgreeableDisagreeable
Interactivity:EngagingReserved
Conformity:ConventionalHeterodox

Personality, Secondary Traits

Sense of Humor:
Occasional Pranks, Dry Humor
Favorite Topics of Conversation:
Philosophy, The Arts
Quirks, Habits, and Oddities:
Ovo-lacto Vegetarian, Humming, Eavesdropping, Exhibitionism
Hobbies:
Research, Collecting and Reading Books, People watching, Playing the Piano, Painting
Enjoyments:
Learning, Philosophy, Theatre, Music and Art appreciation, Cooking, Swimming

The above information was put together with the aid of the following document: Ash's Guide to RPG Personality and Background

SPA: Screenshots

SPA: Themes

The Early Years

A Long Time Ago . . .

How many calamities has the world been through? Seven, right? By modern reckoning, certainly. Living through any calamity is suffering few deserve, and were one to debate who deserved such a fate more or less, they would be mired in endless conflict.

Conflict not unlike those experienced by mortals during the Third Umbral Era. In this time, mankind's fervent beliefs led them to accuse one another of bringing the Calamity of Fire upon them as punishment. Punishment for the high crimes of worshipping wrong. People were slaughtered in the name of the most holy, and those who managed to avoid the conflict starved as the world was choked by drought.

All are not Saints, Who go to Church

Almost two scores before this time, Adrasteia was born. The youngest child of a wealthy family, she was generally considered too wild for a proper woman. What was meant by this was that the quiet, thoughtful child took exceptions to the way she was treated compared to the boys her age, and frequently complained about it. When this attitude didn't change as she developed, it was suggested she suffered from "a mixture of melancholy and female hysteria". The family couldn't care for such an abnormal child, and so sent her to a convent.

The abuses she endured were borne of both the well meaning and the malicious. "Treatments" ranged from simple meditation to abuses of both her mind and body. This did little to change the young woman's mind. If anything, seeing the unvaried naked bodies of people in both high and low positions only served to solidify her belief: people were all the same, deep down. And yet, they'd think themselves successful as she learned to keep her thoughts to herself.

Instead, she planned. They'd left their holy books with her. A token gesture, as it was largely assumed she couldn't read. Though women were rarely taught such, she'd shared in such lessons with her brothers. Most books in that age were dull, "safe" affairs approved by the church. Still, they were one of the few escapes she had. In time, she came to know many of the religious texts better than the clergy. In doing so, she'd learn of their hypocrisy and heresies - hardly a shock to her - and how she might manipulate them.

She feigned a change of heart. It was not uncommon for people to "see the light", after all. She expressed a newfound desire to serve the faith, and was soon accepted. They didn't trust her immediately, of course, but she did gain some measure of freedom from her abusers. Not that she planned a daring escape from the convent. Far from this, she planned to walk away with no resistance, and with a stable life to await her.

The Early Years

Spread the Good Word

In the years that followed, the clever young woman minded the personalities and vices of those who would decide her future. To ensure opinion was swayed in favor of her plans, she secretly used any method at her disposal: keen rationale, sweet words, or depraved intimacy. All the things they used to try to change her, she now used on them, and to great effect. Having grown into a "lovely example of devout womanhood", she had little trouble with her plot. Before long, they were granting her expressed desire...to leave the nation and "spread the good word".

Of course, others came with her. A handful of fellow missionaries and guards. Guards who were as much there to ensure the church's will be followed by the missionaries as they were to protect them from potentially hostile locals. Though ultimately not hostile, they found the locals were not as receptive as they'd hoped. Fortunately, she'd anticipated this, and her suggestion came swiftly: They would learn the local lore, and use comparisons to better sway the people.

Much of her time came to be spent in the libraries, making suggestions while secretly learning of how well she might do on her own. She'd also visit members of the community they wished to convert, paying close attention to loners and "lost souls" with the stated goal of bringing them "into the fold". Some she did. Other's she'd study, taking note of how they got by. It was one such person who would change her life in ways she never could have predicted.

As usual, she assured her guard she'd be fine on her own. After all, when soothing the lost, a show of force wasn't always for the best. She would, of course, call out if she needed aid. With that, she entered a young woman's hovel...and caught her experimenting with "witchcraft". Rather than turn the woman in for heresy, she asked to be taught what the young woman knew. In return, she taught the young woman how to better hide from those who would brand and imprison her.

The Early Years

Rebel Without A Cause

In these times, magic was a subtle thing, borne of ritual and prayer. This made it no less potent. Years later, the missionaries had visited several lands. She had been far from idle in her studies, and was finally ready to leave. When the leader of the missionaries refused to let her leave peacefully, he and the guards who would restrain her soon found themselves falling ill. She left them behind, at the mercy of their would-be converts, reasoning they would now reap what they sowed. Taking a name from old myths - "Adrasteia" - she journeyed out.

Soon after starting on her new path, she was subject to a dire vision. The skies darkened as though a vicious maelstrom had been conjured from nothing, and stars fell from the burning eye of the storm. She first thought this to be the angered divinies reacting to her perceived betrayal. Though she fell to her knees and begged forgiveness, rather than further wrath, she heard gentle words: "Hear... Feel... Think..."

The words did not fall on deaf ears, though she found them puzzling. Hear what? Feel what? Think what? She meditated on this often, and while she was uncertain of the source of the words, she discovered a severe flaw in her plans: She hadn't considered what to actually do with her freedom. It was then she came across the "holy man".

She knew nothing of his faith. All she knew was the vision she received when she met him. It was a vision that showed a kidnapper and slave trafficker masquerading as one who might bring salvation. It was not unheard of. Unwilling to leave his latest victims to their fate, she followed him to his compound where they were held.

She performed another ritual, this time trying to induce a gentle repose in the people present. It wasn't completely successful, leaving the people in the area in a drunken stupor rather than putting then to sleep. Thankfully - as she was inexperience in combat - this was enough for her to slip past the guards, unlock the cages, and aid in the escape.

The Early Years

Refusal of the Call

Though she'd originally planned to continue on her own, a few of the people she rescued mentioned that such injustices were happening all over. Despite initial hesitation, the small group joined together to hear the pleas of the people which were falling on deaf ears. Adrasteia supported the group through her knowledge and "unusual luck". This luck was her casting ritual magic in secret to empower them or weaken opponents. In time, she learned to brew helpful medicines and mend wounds.

The group wasn't entirely cohesive. One other person had shared Adrasteia's vision of falling stars. As they discovered the gifts borne of this "blessing", they began to disagree on how best to use them. Both agreed they could travel the world and aid people wherever they roamed. After all, the blessing allowed them to understand people and be understood regardless of language.

Yet Adrasteia wanted to merely support the people through direct aid, favoring uses of her gift to create rather than destroy. She wanted little more than to build people up and support them, rather than tear them down. The other "blessed" disagreed: It didn't matter how much you supported the people if external agents or corrupt governors continued to oppress them.

This disagreement eventually caused Adrasteia to leave the group. She moved on, becoming a travelling mender and problem-solver. She soon found life to be far harsher as less people took her seriously. A mark of shame on her life, she was forced to resort to theft to get by.

And yet, it was also one of the more enlightening times, as she came to better understand the plight of the poor, and how those with means often ignored or took advantage of those without. Not that the poor were entirely virtuous. She was swiftly finding depravity and corruption in all aspects of society, and it was enough for her to desire to leave it.

The Early Years

Finally Home, Far From Home

In all the corruption she saw, she rarely saw it borne of evil hearts, as the various faiths might suggest. Instead, she saw a largely well-meaning public trying to get by, and driven to poor choices by their circumstances. Perhaps her former companions' leader was right: the few corrupt needed to be disposed to set the world right again.

Yet she felt it was not her place to dispose tyrants. In truth, she still knew little of her place in the world, and had yet to find an answer to the question of "hear, feel, think". Endless tomes on faiths and philosophies didn't help her find an answer, either. Finally, she came to conclude she should seek answers from the planet. Thus she came to settle in a large forest known as "The Darkmist Wood" to those who lived nearby.

Though deaf to the spirits of the Wood, she nonetheless endeavored to commune with them, and minimize her impact on them as she settled there. While establishing herself, she came to know the town at the nearest edge of the woods well, and would, as usual, trade her knowledge and mending skills for supplies.

Over the years, rumors begin to circulate that her work was far from a mundane nature. Though the general populace was appreciative of her, a few - either through malice or fear - came to refer to "Adrasteia of the Darkmist Wood" as "The Darkmist Witch".

The Ascian's Lesson

Isn't it lovely, all alone?

Adrasteia found the best years of her life were spent living in the Darkmist Wood. She built a cottage for herself, grew her own food, communed with nature, studied and experimented with magic and potions. For over a decade, she lived with no company but that, her feline familiar, "Starless", and the animals and spirits of the wood.

The nearby town paid for her mystical services through the occasional supplies, though she most often desired news of the world beyond and new tomes to add to her collection. On occasion, she'd be asked for darker magic, something she explicitly refused to do. Instead, she'd offer to counsel those at odds with each other, or otherwise seek a peaceful solution to their problems.

Maybe it was how long she'd been away from people, or maybe she was simply naive after all this time, but she still believed people to be generally good. Poor communication, she reasoned, was the cause for most ills....far more than any possibly "evil" people. Her meditations on the state of mankind were interrupted, however, when she became aware of a sudden change in the spirits.

They grew more and more distressed, and then she, too, noticed the sudden change in the weather, as less rain fell, and the days grew hotter and hotter. Now she directed her magic to trying to care for the wood. She didn't know it yet, but the Calamity of Fire was upon them.

It was a battle she ultimately lost. The village she had spent so much time aiding became aware that her area of the forest was the only one that didn't seem to suffer, and some blamed her for cursing the land elsewhere. Though most found the idea of her being so hostile after all she'd done to be ridiculous, they didn't know what else to blame, and so didn't object to witch hunters being summoned.

The Ascian's Lesson

A Flawed People

She ran, but they'd still catch up with her. Despite her knowing the woods well, she had stopped to help a strange, red-masked man in dark robes. Her attempt to protect him from the witch hunters almost costed her life, and yet she was somehow saved. She thought the masked man saved her, but he said it was something she had done herself.

She returned to find her home burned to the ground. When she sought succor from the village, she found it not forthcoming. The people refused to aid someone officially rebuked by the church for fear of retribution. Once more, she found herself travelling, though this time she wasn't alone. Starless accompanied her, and from time to time, so did the masked man.

In the beginning, she'd catch him watching her, seemingly unnoticed by anyone else. From time to time, he remain long enough to for her to ask him questions. He identified himself as Emet-Selch, and when she asked if he was a demon, he said she could think of him as such if it was easier for her. She was cautious, but felt he was outside her preconceived notions of the world.

It was years before he finally asked his own question. Time and time again, she had tried to help others, only to be have them turn on her, either out of fear, desperation, or greed. He asked why she kept trying to help despite how she was treated. She told him she didn't fault them.

Life was intensely difficult for everyone right now, and they were just trying to survive. She lamented that it seemed so hard for people to work together, but assumed there simply weren't any leaders who could step up. He told her that even when they were comfortable, they'd turn on each other. They were too broken not to. She told him that was easy for him to claim when she wouldn't live to see such an era.

It was then he taught her how to use her gift to survive the death of her mortal body.

The Ascian's Lesson

Transcendence in Part

She never realized how much time she wasted tending to mortal needs until mortal death was no longer a concern. Though she still needed to tend to such to maintain her current body, it ceased to be a priority. It reminded her of tending to her garden back in the Darkmist Wood: She wanted her plants to thrive, but if one died, she could always plant it anew.

Then she started to see the problems with mortality. She saw how much of what mortals did was done with the fear of death in the backs of her mind. She saw that even when a mortal let go of their fear of death, they could still accomplish nothing of note. After all, death still took them in time. She spoke of this to Emet-Selch, and he applauded her for the observations.

Her next observation was on matters of comfort. Even without the fear of death, she still experienced pain, hunger, and exhaustion. She noted that before, these would have been at the forefront of her mind; all signs of the looming spectre of death. Yet even without that, she still found them unpleasant.

She asked Emet-Selch how he dealt with this, and he revealed to her that he could conjure aught that he wanted to stave off such discomforts. She - and even the other "mortals" - could as well, were it not for their incompleteness. She asked what he meant by this, and he told her he'd reveal it to her later, and to continue her observations.

Continue she did, though for a time, she came up with nothing. When the revelation came to her, she wondered if it had eluded her because she had always felt disconnected from mankind. She considered her familiar, Starless. For a century now, she had used her magic to stave off the cat's natural death, but she knew an unnatural one could deprive her of her companion.

It had struck her before, most often when she was casting the spells to prolong Starless's life, but now she thought about it from the potential perspective of Emet-Selch. She'd never seen him with others, and had assumed he had companions elsewhere. Yet what if he was alone? She realized how lonely eternity would be with no one to spend it with, and how much keener such a loss would be felt.

The Ascian's Lesson

Calamitous Intent

When she confronted him with these thoughts, he asked her to recall the vision she'd had when her gift woke within her. Despite how long before it had been, the image was still clear in her mind. He then told her of the story of his time, and how it had all come to an end, his description of events eerily similar to her past vision.

Then he told her of Zodiark and Hydaelyn, of their battle and the subsequent sundering, and the great loss he and the other survivors had felt. Though he didn't need to, he told her of how the resultant, sundered beings were lesser than they had been in every way, and thus why people suffered.

She asked if people could be made whole again. He hesitated, then told her of the rejoinings, and the efforts the Ascians expended to see the worlds made one. When the details were made clear to her, she was horrified. She felt surely mankind was redeemable as is, reasoning that with time and growth, they'd become better.

He admitted he wished he shared her optimism, but the time between his era and her own had told him otherwise, and he saw no sign of mankind improving. Yet she didn't have to take his word for it; she'd have a chance to see for herself. Already were plans in motion to unite mankind under a single banner, and elevate them beyond anything they had known before.

All she had to do was wait and watch.

The Eternal Empire

Growth

At first, Adrasteia wanted nothing to do with the Ascians' machinations. She knew people to be flawed, yet she felt they could he taught to be better. Thus did she work in various roles where she might do that. Any role she might find where she could guide people to live better lives, she would study and eventually take. They varied from professor to priestess, sentry to senator, mender to matriarch.

As she worked on, she observed the fruits of Emet-Selch's labors, starless at her side. Emet-Selch aided a man named "Xande" to unite the people into the "Allagan Empire". Xande's ambition knew no bounds, and she saw the growing Empire wash across the land, forcefully uniting all under its banner. She found, much to her dismay, people too easily ignored her lessons of the "hard right" in favor of the "easy wrong". Even the various families she tried to raise would ultimately turn against her.

She would discuss her observations with Emet-Selch. They argued, but it was never heated. It was, at times, passionate, yet it was never angry.
He was, of course, a master of such discourse, easily countering her assertions. Yet he never made her feel belittled or ashamed. Though she still felt incomplete compared to him, it came only from the burden of her knowledge, rather than him pressing that on her. It was when he appeared to her one day after a fight with one of her children that she noticed her feelings for him.

She contemplated what she must be like to him, and wondered if it was akin to her own relationship with Starless. Though any and all would say mankind was superior to animals, she yet saw Starless as a dear companion. As she began to wonder if Emet-Selch saw her in a similar manner, she found herself hoping that at least this was true.

Knowing they could never be together as broken as she was, she refused to allow herself to be distracted by such thoughts any further. She watched on as magitechnology was developed to improve the lives of even those without magic. She marveled at the advancing technology, and wondered if mankind would ever show her how virtuous she knew it could be.

The Eternal Empire

Senseless Murder

Syrcus Tower was the pinnacle of wonders at that time. A tower of crystal, not only did it serve as a monument to Allag's greatness in form, but in function as well. Drawing and storing the light of the star, that power was then distributed to the Empire, ensuring that citizens everywhere could live comfortably. She may have enjoyed it herself, had it not been for what came next.

While touring the newly built Syrcus tower, she looked about at the city around them. Starless was at her side, as usual, until a guard picked up the cat, declaring it a filthy pest. Despite Adrasteia's protest, the guard threw the familiar off the side of the tower. Crying out in shock, Adrasteia rushed after her cat, only for onlookers to hold her back.

Shock turned to rage, she conjured a whirlwind throwing back those holding her and sending the guard flying off the balcony as well. She then followed, though she knew it was far too late to save her beloved familiar. Indeed, all she could do was bury what she found, and wish the soul of Starless well.

Emet-Selch offered her what must have been words of comfort to him, but they did little to console her. She later asked him how he would react to her death. Evading a personal response, he explained that they - the Ascians - always brought back one of their own. When she commented that she wasn't an Ascian, he simply told her she was on the path.

The next years came swiftly, as she moved from guiding mankind, to observing, and ultimately testing it. She devised wonders which could be used for good or ill, and observed which one was chosen. With each step towards ill ends chosen, she grew further from her mortal roots, and began planning for how she might grow far enough to deserve a place at Emet-Selch's side.

The Eternal Empire

Meeting Mystia

By the time Azys Lla was freed from its earthly tethers, Adrasteia had already joined the Ascians under Emet-Selch. Her opinions of them varied, and their devotion to Zodiark was not something she personally agreed with. Still, she was devoted to the cause of rejoining, desiring to repair a world so full of wretched, incomplete souls. More than this, though, was her secret, unrequited love for Emet-Selch.

It was perhaps this unfulfilled desire that saw her seeking surrogate companionship in mortals. One such example of this was her friendship with Mystia. A mithra from Meracydia, Adrasteia found herself reminded of Starless. No doubt this was partly due to the feline features Mystia possessed, but the mithra's cat-like quirks could not be discounted.

Though the two officially met at a symposium on Voidsent - a topic Adrasteia had personal interest in - Adrasteia had, in truth, known of Mystia for far longer. Under various guises, she had nudged Mystia this way and that, encouraging her on various paths, and ensuring that she went far in the Empire. The Mithra wasn't critical to the Ascian plan for Allag. Rather, Adrasteia's manipulations of her were a sort of training and test.

She found Mystia to be intelligent and entertaining. Mystia was also egotistical, but not so much that Adrasteia found herself repelled. There was an independence there as well. The pair's friendship eventually became genuine from Adrasteia's end, though a number of onlookers would question how the pair had gotten together in the first place. After Mystia departed for Dalamud, Adrasteia watched over one of Mystia's projects: Specialized clones known as the Pleiades.

In the meantime, Adrasteia experimented with voidal chimera.
Though she told Mystia is was a matter of ensuring the Empire's superiority, Adrasteia's true interest in Voidsent was to resolve a particular problem: Her aetheric potential left her unable to properly wield creation magic. Through studying powerful voidsent, she hoped to augment herself to break these limits, and bring herself closer to being Emet-Selch's equal.

The Eternal Empire

The Eye of The Beholder

One thing which would aid her on her quest was the loss of her eye. A lab accident involving an exploding flask saw her right eye damaged beyond repair. Rather than wear an eyepatch for the rest of her days, Adrasteia opted for a prosthetic. The device - seeming an eye with a simple black iris - would allow her to see the aether of the world.

The new device evolved Adrasteia's methods for studying voidsent, and her knowledge on them grew by leaps and bounds. She became far more selective of which of the creatures she personally studied, and which she sent elsewhere in the Empire. Her colleagues found her selection process to be esoteric, as they were blind to her true motives. Ultimately, she settled on one: Zhuanth Zhaunil.

Zhuanth Zhaunil was an elder voidsent, claiming to have existed since well before the world fell to Darkness. Thus, she was a source of nearly endless knowledge regarding the void. Yet this wasn't why she was chosen by Adrasteia. Zhaunth Zhaunil was chosen because deep beneath the corruption of her anima, Adrasteia saw a "compatible" soul, or rather, a shard of the same original soul as Adrasteia.

Excitedly telling Emet-Selch of this revelation, she chanced to look upon his own aether, and was stunned by how brightly he shown compared to her own - and all of those she met. She claimed he was akin to a stellar body, and she referred to him as her "guiding star". Now the goal of the Ascians was no longer theory to her, but an undeniable truth.

Adrasteia's study of the voidsent grew more and more intense, drawing jokes from her colleagues of an illicit affair. This drew concern from Paion, a mortal man who publicly thought Adrasteia to be just another researcher, and privately thought Adrasteia to be his lover. The jokes and concerns didn't bother Adrasteia beyond having to assure Paion that all was well.

And so it would seem, Paion none the wiser as Adrasteia's knowledge saw his own career elevated to new heights. He was blinded by his own success, failing to see the pattern of her experiments.

The Eternal Empire

Control of One's Fate

Meanwhile, Adrasteia's true colleagues had been busy, and the seeds of rebellion blossomed. Far below Azys Lla, chaos erupted in the Empire, culminating in rebels storming the Crystal Tower. The resurrected Emperor Xande attempted to open a gate to the void large enough for the so-called "Cloud of Darkness" to enter the world. The mechanism failed, and the power was instead redirected into the very foundations of the earth.

Elsewhere in the cosmos, another world - a reflection of the "Source" where Adrasteia lived - had been primed by the Ascian's machinations. Its aetheric balance tilted dangerously earth, when Xande's efforts dealt similarly aspected blow to the Source, a chain reaction saw the reflection consumed. On the Source, this took the form of a great quake, so powerful as to erase the wonders of the Allagan Empire overnight.

She wasn't ready for it. No matter how convinced she was that the rejoinings were the right course of action, when one finally came to pass - one she had a hand in bringing about - her heart cried out in agony. The suffering she witnessed alone was more than she could take, and Zhuanth Zhaunil laughing at her sent her over the edge.

Adrasteia would have the last laugh. With little more than a cryptic utterance that she was taking control of her own fate, Adrasteia astralized herself, then forcibly rejoined the voidsent's corrupted soul to her own. Zhuanth Zhaunil was no more. Her madness now energized by the elder voidsent's ancient power, Adrasteia tore through the facility, releasing voidsent from their prisons, and consuming her former colleagues.

When the voidal Adrasteia attempted to consume a horrified Paion, he dubbed the new creature "Adrasteia tis Diafthoras", called her a betrayer of the star, and banished her to the void.

The Void

The Outsider

Adrasteia didn't have time to contemplate her fate. Not the only voidsent banished that day, a number of them ended up in the same area. Even if they hadn't turned on each other, the gates that brought them to the void attracted other ravenous voidsent. Desperation and rage replaced the elation she had felt before, and as she defended herself, she called out for Emet-Selch. She'd get no reply.

She escaped the fray and fled, only to swiftly find places to hide were scarce, and typically already occupied. She kept on the move, thankful that she no longer felt exhaustion gripping her. Instead, the addiction to aether became a new problem, threatening to rob her of her tenuous grip on reality. Fortunately, there was no shortage of weaker voidsent that might attack her, and give her a free meal.

As time passed, and she adapted to the new environment, she found time to rest weren't going to come easily. She'd need both to strategize long term. For now, she had to learn to think on the move. Fortunately, there were things she knew and powers she had that the lesser voidsent did not. The first trick she developed was to mask her aether completely. An adaptation of an Ascian technique, it gave her a measure of peace.

Then she figured out how to control how much of her aether she showed, making her seem weaker than she was. This allowed her to lure voidsent to herself. Many of these she fed on. In time, she'd come to use some of them in experiments. Those that fell to her traps realized too late that they weren't dealing with the typical voidal denizen.

The Void

The Inescapable

There were many things she learned during her time with the Allagan Empire, but the most important thing had to have been research and experiment methodology. With Zhuanth Zhaunil's power backing her, she utilized the creation magicks taught to her by the Ascians to create a haven for herself within the void, hidden from the realm's denizens.

She began experimenting on the voidsent she captured and did not consume, much as she had back in Allag. Now that she was a creature like them, she found them on average to be more verbose and less cryptic. In time, she began to learn that not only has they come to know her as "The Outsider", but the realm was not as chaotic as she thought. A power structure existed, and the weaker voidsent had a tendency to flock to the more powerful ones.

She needed to take advantage of it, but first there was the matter of her heart. Her past sins weighed on her, and distracted her from the tasks at hand. Even the pleas of the voidsent she studied tortured her, making it difficult to learn what she needed from them, and when it came to feeding, if she couldn't kill her prey quickly, pity sat in, and she would let them go.

Thus she resolved to seek a way to tear out her heart...metaphorically speaking. She had studied how a soul might be rejoined, and now sought to split hers apart. Her first experiments created simple clones of herself from her aether and will. Not wishing to waste the effort, she would send them off to explore the void. Connected to them, she'd sense what they sensed, and eventually would feel them destroyed by ravenous creatures.

She was beginning to earn a reputation for refusing to stay dead, being destroyed only to returned. This amused her, though made little difference as she continued her experiments, eventually having some success in splitting her very anima. Yet rather than carve out her emotions as she hoped, the "mirror" seemed to have a copy of her intellect. This she named "Esoterica".

Though not what was intended, Esoterica was a huge boon, being able to strategize and conduct research without the limitations of ethics. Soon, they would create another mirror, "Melodia", this time possessing the traits Adrasteia desired. And yet, the experiment was still a failure, as her "heart" was copied instead of transferred, and Adrasteia yet had her heart to weigh her down.

The Void

The Wingless Handmaiden

Settling for Melodia serving as her face, and Esoterica serving as a tactician of sorts, Adrasteia found her situation growing more and more stable within the void. Now she turned her mind to escaping the void, and Melodia was sent out to gather information. Among the various factions they found without the void, the Shadow Queen's Court, ruled over by Scathach, seemed the most viable.

Melodia was sent to treat with the Court and it turned out she was already known. Afraid the game was up before it started, Melodia was commanded to flee. The mirror, however, refused. This independence caused Adrasteia and Esoterica a bit of concern. However, they'd deal with it later as Melodia's course of action turned out to be a boon: the rest of the void yet thought them to be a single entity.

Melodia was accepted as a handmaiden to serve the court. Rather than attempt to climb the social ladder, Melodia did as Adrasteia had always done: made herself indispensable, but non-threatening...at least as non-threatening as voidsent could be. With that, she became Adrasteia's eyes and ears within the Court.

Melodia would come to revere Scathach, seeing her as relatively merciful in the chaotic realm. Meanwhile, Adrasteia and Esoterica used the information gathered by Melodia, and soon found themselves investigating naturally occuring tears. Unlike the gates created by the Allagans, these tears were too ephemeral for them to pass through.

Instead, they'd enter into arcane pacts with lesser voidsent, ensuring them protection as they attempted to pass through in return for information from the other other side. Though a number cheated her, a few kept to their agreements, leaving Adrasteia to wonder if they were afraid, or yet had some form of honor.

With that, she waited, collecting knowledge and researching with Esoterica at her side.

The Void

Glimpsing The Way Back

Years passed, then centuries. Then she lost count. Though centuries had passed between her birth and the fall of Allag, she had never lost track of time. Now she did. Esoterica and Melodia became voices in her head just as she became a voice in their's. A telepathic connection saw them as all but the same person, save that Melodia was not wholly privy to their thoughts. This had been their solution to Melodia's subtle rebellions.

Then a call came. It rang through their minds like a church bell pealing in their skulls. As swift as it came, it ended. Time passed, and it came again. And again. She moved to the source, and then found a tear. She freed herself of her body, leaving it in the care of her mirrors, and passed through the "veil" between worlds.

She found herself surrounded by strange, unfamiliar creatures. Their aether was intoxicating, and she couldn't restrain herself from trying to sup on them. They were so slow, so soft, so delicious. It seemed, however, whatever called her here had a tenuous hold at best, and was connected to one of the creatures she killed. Before she could even consume them, she was returned to the void

It was a mistake, of course. She eventually figured that out when the haze of their aether cleared from her. Mortals had learned her name and others from voidsent that had passed through the tears. Seeking power, the novice void-summoners had called to the void. Those that called her had paid for their failure to erect the proper wards with their lives.

The next group, however, didn't make that mistake, and she found herself trapped. Yet she couldn't hear their words over her hunger, and they soon returned her to the void. The third time was the charm, and this time her summoner had erected proper wards...and provided a proper sacrifice. The poor pauper may not have been rich in material wealth, but they were rich in aether. Once sated, she found herself thinking more clearly, and able to hear the summoners demands.

And they were demands. The arrogant, egotistical summoner thought himself her superior, protected from her with magic. Yet she was as clever as ever, and soon he was manipulated into misstepping, and he joined the ranks of the consumed. Others would attempt to summon her, to various degrees of success. They'd learn of her quirks, but ultimately have to return her to the void due to her being too difficult to control. Eventually, the summonings stopped.

Yet the other voidsent were still being summoned. The reasons that society called to them varied, but many voidsent were returned when their pacts were finished, their masters died, or they acted out. From one of these she learned that her name had been recorded in a tome, "Esoterics of the Esoteric" as a warning. She was, apparently, too mad to deal with.

The Faithless Guardian

The Halanuu Clan

Some time later, Scathach and her court were summoned. Not wishing to lose her mirror, Adrasteia recalled Melodia rather than have her go with the Shadow Queen. This would turn out to be a boon, as she was called once more. Rather than a proper summoning, the mages that called her warded the gate in effort to keep her from coming through. She found this curious, and answered their questions.

The mages turned out to be miqo'te of the Halanuu Clan. The family's matriarch, Gauri, had foreseen the coming calamity, and sought an eternal guardian for the clan in the event the calamity didn't come until well after her death. In return, so long as Adrasteia protected her bloodline, they would summon her. Ultimately, Adrasteia accepted, but took the liberty of "writing her name into their blood" so that they couldn't go back on their deal, either by accident or design.

She found the clan, as a whole, more relaxed around voidsent than her previous summoners had been. The void mages of the clan were still properly cautious, of course, but the others were already accustomed to voidal servants - mostly imps - and just thought of her as a larger version of that. This combined with Adrasteia's existing love of mithra saw her growing rather fond of the clan.

Still, she had prior obligations. She bided her time until she could find a moment to summon Melodia. Once done, Melodia took her place watching over the clan. Adrasteia then went far from Mhach and summoned Esoterica, who was then charged with learning all she could of the world since the days of Allag, as well as checking in on Mystia's Pleiades clones. Her mirrors set on their tasks, Adrasteia sought out Emet-Selch and the Ascians.

The Faithless Guardian

The Long Wait

Emet-Selch welcomed her back, and restored her position as his Pentacle. She spoke to him of her time in the void, working hard to present the same calm, well-reasoned woman he'd always known, akin to a drunk trying to seem sober. She was never certain if it was her failure to do so or simply a lull in the Ascian's operations that saw her being sent away to await further instructions.

Esoterica, meanwhile, learned state of the Pleiades. Five remained in stasis: One had deconstituted, and the another's containment had been broken, the clone missing. Esoterica further noted that the Azys Lla systems had been rigged to reject Adrasteia, making it impossible for her to intervene should any of the other Pleiades begin to show problems. WIth that regrettable discovery, Esoterica began seeking out centers of learning across the star.

This news caused Adrasteia to consider her own state of being. As it stood, her aether was horrifically unbalanced, astralized likely beyond repair. It had thus far proven to be stable, and she was coherent for the time being, but she knew she danced on the edge of a precipice. Failing to maintain a regular source of living aether would see her descend to madness once more.

As a possible future, this was intolerable. Thus she resumed the experiments she'd begun in the void...with some modification. She'd now astralize mortals, and experiment on then. To this end, she turned her attention back to the clan. In her good fortune, she'd been provided with plenty of test subjects.

Though the main clan remained protected from harm, those members of the family who were considered out cast by the matriarch were not covered. With them, she performed her experiments, preferring forced rejoining with their voidal counterparts where such shards could be found. When they couldn't, she worked on voidal hybrids otherwise.

Melodia was displeased with these experiments, and her dissenting voice irritated Esoterica and Adrasteia to the point of planning to rid themselves of her.

The Faithless Guardian

The Sixth Calamity

They couldn't simply kill Melodia. Hypothetically, her being would rejoin with Adrasteia instantly, saddling her with Melodia's concentrated emotions. Thus they decided to see her banished to the void. Though they could have done it themselves, the attempt would likely banish them as well. With this in mind, they engineered a gambit.

Melodia was made aware of the Erda clan. This clan Keepers lived in a far off forest, and had a long family tradition of crafts. Melodia revealed to them the coming calamity, and encouraged and aided their building of an ark. In return for her aid, she asked that they grant those under her protection safe passage when the floods came.

Meanwhile, Adrasteia, once more working towards the rejoinings, manipulated the mages of Amdapor, whispering in the ears of the mages, and granting them visions. In particular was a third clan of keepers: The Shakmi clan. The clan matriarch was specifically given visions of the Erda clan's finished ark, with the gentle urging that it would be important in the coming days.

As expected, an envoy was sent from Shakmi to speak with Erda. Before she could become aware of what was happening, Melodia was recalled to keep an eye on the Halanuu clan as the Calamity drew near, and prepare to transport them en masse. As far as Melodia was aware, Esoterica was appointed to watch over and protect the ark quietly. Though there was an element of truth to this, Esoterica's true mission was to shield Shakmi from Melodia's gaze.

The floodwaters of the Sixth Calamity came, fueled by the power of the rejoining. The Erda and Shakmi clans had just settled in on the ark when Melodia transported the Halanuu clan onto the deck. As Melodia cried out for Adrasteia and Esoterica - the pair nowhere to be sensed - the Mhach- and Amdapor-aligned clans were instantly at odds, particularly over the presence of an apparent voidsent.

Weakened from the mass teleportation, and unwilling to risk the clans fighting and potentially destroying the ark, Melodia offered to be banished, and have her name - and the names of all voidsent - struck from the Halanuu grimoires so that they'd be spared. The deal made, Melodia was soon banished to the void.

The Faithless Guardian

reforging the clan

Halanuu found themselves under close watch by Shakmi, but ultimately spared. Unknown to the three clans, Adrasteia watched over them, and used subtle magic to calm anxious hearts whenever tempers flared. With those tempers managed, she then turned her attentions to the Erda clan, and subtly inspired them to treat Halanuu and Shakmi as materials that might be crafted into something stronger.

As the floodwaters receded, the three clans were reforged into one. This would be a major boon, as with their previous homes destroyed, and mortals banished from the Twelveswood, they'd need to work together to resettle. Playing to each family's strength, Shakmi became the caretakers of the clan, Erda the craftsmen, and Halanuu the guardians of the clan. The Matriarchs formed a council of sorts, with Shakmi's matriarch eventually at the head of it.

Adrasteia could not have been more pleased. The clan was destined to thrive, supplying her with many test subjects - especially ones she was not bound to protect. Melodia was trapped in the void, and the remaining clan members assumed their voidservants gone. With Halanuu being forced to give up black magic, it was unlikely they'd accidentally summon her back.

And thus, Esoterica was positioned to quietly watch over the clan and protect them, while Adrasteia attended to her own business unfettered.

The Shards at War

A Busy Era

Having learned plenty about the nature of souls, Adrasteia took note that her own soul had not been bolstered following the sixth rejoining. It occured to her