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Akua Sahelian

ACTION · COMMUNION

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INFO POST

Akua Sahelian

A Practical Guide to Evil CANON Mid-20s AGE Meridian FACTION Tier 2 HARMONIZATION LEVEL

End of Book 7, pre epilogue CANON POINT Female | She/Her GENDER Iconoclast ASPECT 0 DISCORD LEVEL

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

At first glance, Akua is what one would call a "classical beauty". High cheekbones, a beautiful and fetching smile, hourglass figure, Akua is the product of generations of Sahelian focus on creating the loveliest, most talented, smartest, and cleverest individuals in all of Praes. Sahelians were traditionally contenders or even Dread Emperors/Empresses, and Akua looks the picture of someone who could be crowned empress. With striking, golden eyes, a tall frame, and a focus on perfection, it's no wonder. She comes off as posh, polished, and clever, albeit thoughtful and conflicted at times. She often wears clothing that is red or gold, and if able, will sew a heart into something in the clothing.

SHARD

Akua's shard is heart-shaped, on her left breast over her heart. It is garnet in color, and deep in the rich hue.

ASPECT TATTOO

Akua's mark of the Iconoclast is tucked away on her back, near her right shoulder blade.

COMMUNION

Communion with Akua is like being blasted by heat, laying on desert sands. She invokes being in the desert, but not without resources. It is a comfortable desert, with the sounds of wailing just at the edge of earshot. The smell of brimstone and it can be either a warm twilight, or the deepest of Night. There is the impression, in this Dark Communion, of being watched by two stars, ever present in the night. For some reason, there is the sense that you are on the precipice of vastness, as if one step, will take you teetering off and into something far larger.

PERSONALITY

Akua is prideful, devious, and incredibly intelligent. She's a woman who was raised with the best of education, and this means she knows an incredible amount about a great many subjects. She enjoys doing so, and enjoys both sharing and lording her knowledge over others, depending on the situation. As with many Praesi, she is witty and her words are as cutting as a knife in some situations. While not honest, Akua is prone to her moments of malaise, although she often keeps them to herself. Given the subject of Calernia ending, she's been increasingly thoughtful about her position in the world, and the battle between Meridian and Zenith (and their predecessors). She can be poetic at times, and has a discerning taste -- except for when it comes to Catherine Foundling, but that's an exception -- She is well versed in magic and name lore, and is considered one of the foremost Trismegistan sorceresses in the land. She has a steel will, and both ability and motivation to make her dreams a reality. Akua can be stubborn, and sneaky, deceptive and coy all in one. Being from Praes, she played the game of politics since she was old enough to leave the cradle, and raised in incredible cruelty, yet she was dearly loved and adored by her father, and a legacy for her mother, all in one.

BACKGROUND

"Glory in this day, sons and daughters of Praes,” she said. “The Age of Wonders is upon you, and though it is great and terrible to behold, let Creation remember this – so are we."

Akua's life can be divided into three distinct arcs. Pre-Catherine, Pre Doom of Liesse, and Post Doom ofLiesse. When Akua was just a girl, she was raised in the Sahelian-owned lands of Praes, known as Wolof. A Sonnike highborn, she was raised with all the power, prestige, and education fitting of a noble of Praes. She learned a great many subjects, but was taught magic from her father himself, one of the previous claimants to the Name of Warlock, and a powerful Trismegistan sorcerer in his own right. When she was young, she befriended a young girl, and after they were close, her mother made her kill the girl, to harden her to loss and closeness with others, as was the Sahelian way. When she was thirteen, she stored her own soul in a phylactery. She found herself in the name of the Heiress, a name with a great deal of subtle power, and one that led her to try to make moves against her obvious rival, the Squire -- Catherine Foundling. The person who would have the most impact on her life, bar none. Oh, she made many bets with Catherine, tried to get her to lose a bet and lose her soon-to-be fifteenth legion in the Imperial Legion of Praes, released a Hell Egg (which held the soul of a Demon) upon an entire area of Callow, and then proceeded to try to manipulate the Lone Swordsman and Catherine, which nearly led to an Angel being released onto Liesse -- which would devastate the city entirely. (This is still Pre Doom of Liesse). After this happened, Akua returned to Praes, and built her forces stronger. She became a governess of Liesse, which gave her a great deal of power and ability to manipulate the city. She used the secret project titled "Still Water" to feed the water to the people of Liesse, which would turn them into Wights upon her command. She became the Diabolist, known for the ability to call and bind creatures from the hellish planes. She brilliantly put together a plan to murder the entire city of Liesse, turn it into a flying fortress, open a permanent hellgate into creation for devils to pour out of, and circumvented a magical siphon called Keter's Due by using the power of the now-wighted souls to power the city's fortress. At the center, Akua waited for Cat, having kidnapped her adopted father mentor who planned his own counter to her powerful ploy -- attempting to become the Dread Empress by using this weapon itself. Although she had Captured Catherine's "mentor" it was a decoy, who murdered Akua's father. Catherine killed Akua after a long battle, but trapped her soul in what she called the Mantle of Woe -- filled with banners of her defeated enemies. Akua was forever then known at the Doom of Liesse.

And now we are to the point of Post-Liesse. Which, by the way, was book three of seven. To make it short enough that you don't read four more books, Akua spends a great deal of time as a shade, trapped in the Mantle of Woe. Catherine used her during her political dealings with the East, but Akua wasn't satisfied to simply be a trapped shade. As Cat grew into her mantle of Winter as the Queen of Winter, she was knocked out during the beginning of the Tenth Crusade. In this opportunity, Akua took control of her body, but instead of running, she unleashed great power over the armies of the tenth crusade. Once the first battles were over, and the Procerans retreated, Catherine took her gang of the Woe to Keter -- to speak to the Dead King, and get his support. This included Akua -- and after those negotiations went sour and they confirmed the Dead King would attack all of Calernia, they went to the Empire Ever Dark, to find help from the Drow. Akua reached greater and greater ability to move independently, and lent Catherine her knowledge. While Catherine had her own plan, to try to use Akua to trap the Dead King, she also wanted to put Akua on a redemption path. Difficult, given the fact that to even want to redeem oneself meant that she was doing good for the sake of redemption, instead of others. Caught in this catch-22, Akua slowly eroded Catherine's will, but reminded her time and time again why she was both incredibly useful, and also why she couldn't be trusted, for Akua was, ultimately, still pretending to be one of the Woe, and to get along with them. Throughout their battles, both in the Empire Ever Dark and Beyond, Akua slowly became somebody new, affectionate toward her new friends -- and most of all Catherine. While she worked alongside Masego the Hierophant with his natural intuition with magic, flirted with both Catherine and Archer, and even slowly eroded the rest of Catherine's crew, called the Woe, eventually the act became Truth. But the Bard reminded her, of course, that she couldn't actually redeem herself in Catherine's eyes. When they all returned to Praes, Akua -- after very nearly kissing Catherine and confessing her Very Real Feelings for her -- betrayed Cat after she was denied her affections. (Catherine also was very much falling in love with Akua, but because she'd killed Hundreds of Thousands of Catherine's people she was very much set on making her both pay and want redemption all in one.)

After betraying Cat, Akua got her very real body back! She became Dread Empress Malicia's Warlock temporarily (names with capitalization are important and have extra powers!) before she also... well, betrayed Malicia, Burned down the Tower in Praes, and helped turn Praes from a Dread Empire into... a Dread Democracy. Astounding. They all went to Keter together, and stormed the Dead King's fortresses and there were hard battles, and Akua was to be the bearer of the Autumn Crown they had stolen, a poison pill to complete the Dead King's apotheosis and also a poison pill to trap him. It was cut in twain by one of his remnants, and Akua personally fashioned them into bracelets in the middle of battle, and called them the Fetters, as all great items must have a name. It was never used on the Dead King, who they instead were able to kill in a Band of Five, but instead, Akua snapped them both on herself and the Wandering Bard, who was aiming the Ealamael toward Calernia, the weapon fashioned out of an Angel. Angels, by the way, will literally obliterate anyone who isn't considered purely "good" by their standards, thus ensuring that very nearly most people would be killed on the Continent. The Bard wanted this to finally be at peace and stop being reborn for eternity, but Akua trapped her with the Fetters, instead. She and Cat finally fucking kiss after seven books and Cat kills her with the same knife she used to kill her father, to usher in the Age of Order, and Akua becomes Calamity to Providence, the nail in the Coffin of the Age of Wonders, and the permanent finger on the scales of Evil, or you could say: the practical guide to evil, in the end.

FACTION RETAINER

Akua's discerning eye is what led her retainer, named Astou, into Akua's employ. She is not one to trust, and even less to keep someone around, but she has been known to employ servants, being of House Sahelian. Having someone to deal with the tedious parts of life are necessary, but Akua could ask for any servant for that. A retainer, though, as confidant, and perhaps someone to assist with a shard-bearer's other needs is a little closer to a visier in Akua's mind, so she looked for someone with skills in the places that she lacked. Being that she is someone who is well versed in a great number of skills, from blacksmithing to magic, it is difficult to find what she lacks, of course. Compassion, perhaps, but Akua has never had need for that. What she does need, is someone who knows Springstar and Highstorm, someone who is adept at knowing who to speak to, when they are best spoken to, and how they will take the right pushes and pulls. Astou is a diplomat's daughter, intrigued by the work, but seen as too inexperienced to finally take her mother's place. It makes it difficult, for her to find her place and settle her future. Now that she has finished her schooling -- and even interned with her mother -- she was looking for the right place to make her name known, and find her way into Cyrus's inner circle. That she is ambitious is even more imperative to a shard-bearer like Akua, who prizes a thirst for victory above all else.

She took the girl under her wing as retainer, and promised that if her skills are used for Akua's advantage with her goals, then she will, of course, assist Astou with hers. A perfectly... symbiotic relationship, one could say. If she noticed a flash of deception in the girl's gaze, well. Akua most certainly will encourage her to follow her dreams, when it comes to darker goals.

SPECIALTIES

HISTORY - Astou studied history extensively in her schooling and graduated top of her class from whatever Meridian equivalent of college is. Astou is known for her research skills and her ability to find rare and hard-to-find sources of information. This may be because her mother is a diplomat, so she has extra connections, but one cannot discount the fact that she had certainly learned to research and hunt information down since she was young.

POLITICS - Since her mother is a diplomat, Akua's retainer is well-versed in the whos who of both Springstar and Highstorm. Akua intends to tap her pool of knowledge in order to get a better, and full sense, of how she can ensure their victory.

ABILITIES & SKILLS

Trismegistan Sorcery

Trismegistan Sorcery is Akua's preferred form of sorcery. It is exacting, and capable of great workings, with enough time and magical energies fueled into it. Akua herself has even gone so far as to circumvent the "loss" of magical energy into workings (called Keter's Due) by siphoning the lost energy into a second working, and is the only magician to have found a way to do so in her world. It's impressive even to her experts and peers -- albeit horrific due to the nature of what it was used for and how the energy was created.

APPRAISE

Please see Akua's permissions post for details!

FORM OF: A SWAN

Akua can turn into the form of a black swan! This is just a normal pretty black swan lmao

HARMONIZATION SPELLS

• TIER ONE: Find Familiar, Unseen Servant, and Purify food and Drink
• TIER TWO: Fly, Detect Thoughts, Mirror Image, Daylight

PERMISSIONS

PLAYER INFO

Played By: Jill
Contact Info:hundreds • Jillidan#4930!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Writing Style: Brackets but will match
Backtagging: Forever
Threadhopping: Go for it!
Offensive Subjects: Anything is good with me!

IN CHARACTER

Physical Violence: I'm down
Death/Dissipation: Plotted first, but I'm down
Physical Affection: Yes
Shipping/Sex: Yes
Mental/Communion: Yes
Offensive Subjects: Some subjects that may be more uncomfortable when it comes to Akua are: Genocide, murder, and torture. Let me know if there's anything you want me to not bring up in our threads!

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