Post by Lepa on Oct 30, 2023 3:14:10 GMT -8
Name: Virginia "Nia" Strong
Alias: Mercy
Nicknames: Nia
Gender: Female
Age: ~100+ (Physically mid 20s)
Race: Vampire
Home: Unknown
Alliance: The Unseen
Alignment: Neutral Good
Family: N/A
Friends: Haddek
Rivals: N/A
Enemies: Those who would harm Haddek
Likes: Socializing, bread pudding, knitting
Dislikes: Summer/hot weather, lazing around
Job: Mercenary & Bodyguard for Haddek
Relationship:
Nia has a close relationship with her boss, Haddek, and will defend him with her life.
Personality:
Nia is a hardy young woman with a good work ethic. She is dutiful to her job and needs to stay productive, or else she feels like she's wasting time sitting around. She's endured her fair share of hardship in her early life, but having lived through the worst of it, she presses onward with a lively, upbeat demeanor. She can be a little frugal with her things and feels guilty about acquiring little luxuries for herself, but she's more than happy to purchase gifts for others.
She likes to believe she is morally good and dislikes compromising her values. However, with both the passage of time and her dubious line of work, she's come to accept that she's had to make a few concessions. She often tries to take these choices in stride and has become a bit more sassy and brazen as a result.
Powers:
Vampirism
Combined with her upbringing as a farmer, Nia is rather athletic and combines her natural strength with a deceptive amount of power and agility she gained as a vampire. Her wounds can heal twice as fast, so long as they're not life threatening - otherwise, she'd need intensive care like a normal human. She can still eat normal food but must primarily feed off of blood, which she dislikes doing. It can help her heal faster, however.
Bat Transformation
Nia can change into a tiny bat, giving her better hearing, echolocation, and the ability to fly. She retains her human sight and senses, but she becomes much more sensitive to light. She can bite others and drain a little blood this way, but otherwise she can't fight properly in this form. She mostly uses this form for scouting ahead or sneaking around, as well as hitching rides on her boss' shoulder. She can also use this form to conserve energy.
Magically Modified Dual Revolvers
Nia carries around a pair of revolvers at her waist. (They're specifically Colt Single Action Army Revolvers; the same gun iconic to cowboys and the Old West.) Each gun has 6 shots, giving her 12 shots total. The weapons have been magically modified to launch bullets that do magical fire damage instead of piercing damage. The element of the gun can be changed, but she cannot do this herself and would have to see a magical specialist to change this for her.
Weaknesses:
Nia might be ageless, but she can still be killed by most means; she's just a little tougher to put down. Sunlight doesn't immediately burn her, but it does make her more sluggish and prone to fatigue. Direct exposure to strong, constant sunlight (or man made UV lights) will also eventually start to hurt her. Depriving her of blood for a long period of time also weakens her with hunger.
History:
Virginia was born in the early 1900s to a family of farmers in the American midwest. Nicknamed Nia, she was one of many siblings. Her family's struggles would begin when they lost their eldest boys in the first world war, and the following years were no better, with a drought plaguing the farmlands and the economy collapsing. Life was rough, but Virginia pressed on, determined to help support her family. She resolved to move to one of the closest cities, hoping she could secure supplies, a trade, or something, anything to help them. Her stay was supposed to be temporary - as soon as she found a means of support, she would return home.
When Virginia finally thought she found the help she needed, it all turned out to be a ruse set up by a malicious vampire who lured in naive women like herself. Nia resisted him, killing the creature in their struggle, but he left her with a bite for her troubles. She found herself turned soon after and lamented the unholy curse he'd put upon her. Her new bloodlust revolted her, burdening her with guilt and shame. She could not return home now - not like this. She never could. She was a monster now! How could she face her family...?
Devastated, Virginia went into hiding. Even within the city, she isolated herself from people, living a lonely existence from the shadows at night. She refused to feed at first, but when the hunger grew the best of her... she wasn't proud of what she had to do. Even if she targeted lowlives and drunkards, desperately trying to convince herself that she was doing some good for society if they died, she knew that was never the case. Her cause was always selfish, and she hated it.
It was only a matter of time until someone noticed.
Virginia had one day learned that a vampire hunter was on her trail. What she hadn't expected was to be told this straight to her face - and told by the vampire hunter's own agent, no less. This agent had been hired by the hunter himself to seek her out, but when he saw Nia, he took pity on her. Rather than reveal her location to someone who wanted her dead, he offered Nia a chance to work for him. Virginia, of course, hesitated. She'd been duped before; that's how she'd gotten into this mess to begin with, and this offer sounded no better than blackmail.
Neither of them expected the vampire hunter himself to show up. He had trailed his own agent, eager to find and destroy the creature of the night himself. Again, Virginia fought back, once again coming out the victor. Still, she was horrified - she'd killed another man. Not fed on, killed. It was different from killing the vampire that turned her, and Nia believed she would've done the same if she were in the hunter's position. The agent himself once again made his offer for her to join him, this time promising he could help her disappear. Virginia was still uncertain, but with the messes she'd been leaving behind... It felt like the best decision.
Virginia would soon learn the new name of her boss: Haddek. A shapeshifter who took on contracts, he was magically bound to a vow of pacifism, unable to ever bring physical harm to another. Virginia would go on to become one of his most trusted subordinates, eventually acting as one of his personal bodyguards. To this day, she is thankful to have found a place with his organization and faithfully defends Haddek with her own life.
Anything else:
- She's a bit old fashioned and complains about "kids these days" a lot.
- As part of The Unseen, she uses the alias Mercy partially for "mercy kill," though it also reflects her more virtuous nature. It also serves as a signal for her to defend Haddek. (i.e. If he was threatened, he'd plead "Mercy" to his attacker while simultaneously signaling Nia to attack.)
- Many other members of The Unseen usually wear a mask of some sort; for Nia, she wears a bandana over her nose and mouth.
- After joining Haddek, she arranged to have a percentage of her earnings sent to her family. She continues to do this and currently sends money to the descendants of her immediate family.
