Chernozem

Chernozem is my OC. Please don't plagiarize or copy.
Raised to believe the kami were immortal tyrants, Chernozem was sent by her mother to bring down the camp where they trained their army. However, once she grew to know the camp, the IceWing is beginning to consider the possibility that she is stuck on the wrong side.
This character is in the Kamiverse.
==Description==
She carries herself with an air of arrogance, hubris riding on every scale and ambition evident in her stark glare. She misses no chance to look a dragon squarely in the eye, her violet gaze either discarding them as useless or filing away their capabilities and weaknesses for later consideration. Yet her steps are soft and noiseless, planned many minutes before they are taken so to make the least amount of noise possible, her ego tempered by a healthy dose of caution and foresight. This caution is a new trait, brought on by concerns about her future as a stranger in a strange land.
Being born and raised in Hellia has warped her appearance to the extent that she looks nothing like her birth tribe. Chernozem is strange yet beautiful, her alien features giving her an almost inhuman beauty. Her scales are a mottling of black, white, and orange, not unlike the cats she has a particular fondness for. The scales themselves are shaped like diamonds, cool and sharp to the touch. The tortoiseshell pattern on her body is marked with accents of brighter colors. A pink and purple mane runs from a crest at the top of her head to a plume at the very tip of her tail. Magenta freckles dot her cheeks and the tops of her paws. Lilac markings circle her eyes like war paint. 
Her beauty does become eerie the closer you look. There are no curves on her body whatsoever, every inch of her frame rigid and angular. Her cheekbones are too high, the diamond shape of her head too sharp, her onyx antlers too piercing to be normal horns. Danger lurks in the razor-keen edges of her snout and chin, jeopardy curls around her ridged jet claws, and her eyes betray a coldness unknown to even the most ruthless of dragons. Yet as of late, the frigidity usually present in her stare is melting, and if you were to look close enough, you might catch a glimpse of fear swimming in her violet orbs.
Perhaps the most unsettling thing about her is a complete lack of wings. Though her frame is sleek and sinuous, her claws are appropriately serrated, and her face is clearly draconic, she does not possess the thing most common to many dragons. Whether it is a genetic quirk, the result of a horrible accident, or something else entirely, no one knows. No one has had the courage to ask.
Chernozem favors elegant attire, such as kimonos with split skirts for freedom of movement as general wear, white robes for training, and furisodes for formal wear. Though she is a warrior, she is also extremely invested in her appearance, spending large amounts of time embroidering her outfits, sewing her own clothing, and pulling gemstones from deep in the earth to make her own jewelry. She prefers topaz, amethyst, and lapis lazuli, but will gladly wear any precious stone. 
When called to battle, she will don a battered yet functional set of armor, altered somewhat to fit over her kimono. She would much rather wear her armor from Hellia, but she knows she can't do that yet. Not until the time is right.
== Personality ==
Hailed as a prodigy, Chernozem oozes narcissism and confidence. She relentlessly drills herself toward perfection and settles for nothing less from herself or those who serve her. She believes that power and domination are the defining traits of strength, and as such will only help others if she thinks there is some personal gain at stake. She harbors neither pity nor mercy for those she marks as treasonous or inferior. As one who wants nothing less than absolute control, she likewise has remarkable control of herself, seemingly able to react to any situation at a moment's notice without losing her composure.
She is never happy with what she has, always striving for more. She is always trying to get more to try and fill what she lacks, but it is never enough. Since she knows that Izanami is never pleased, she aims for continual perfection, so any flaws her mother finds could not possibly be her own fault. In a sense, she is a dragon without a finish line.
She is marked by a distinct lack of empathy, reacting with hostility when outdone and caring for few dragons besides Izanami. This characterizes her many relationships, as she only shows camraderie or friendship if she believes that there is something in it for her if she does. While she can show sympathy towards her few friends, she does not seem to care for their feelings and will manipulate them as she sees fit.
Ironically, for all her refinement and self-confidence, she does retain some insecurity. As a result of her sequestered life in Hellia, she has developed a considerable amount of social ineptitude, particularly in her uncertainty of how to act around other dragons, especially those she possesses feelings for, and she frequently intimidates them during conversations. Her domineering and megalomaniacal personality makes friendly competition difficult, as she views all competition as battles to the death. She has often come perilously close to killing her opponent during sparring matches.
Due to Izanami's teachings and her own personal feelings, Chernozem has a deep and virulent hatred for the kami. She views them as immortal tyrants who manipulate the world as they please without concern for their children or any mortal dragon, citing the deaths of many demikamis' mortal parents and the barrier not allowing mortal dragons in. She believes that only the death of the entire pantheon will allow the world to be reformed without their corrupting influence. 
She is excessively paranoid, viewing any positive interaction as an attempt to get her to let her guard down, refusing to share things, and hunting for her own food in the woods so as to avoid being drugged by the camp cooks.
Though ruthless and brutal in combat, she is not above acknowledging the strengths of those who oppose her, however, such acknowledgements do not result in a change of heart or any kind of mercy.
Lately, after being sent to Gin Chi Sanctuary, a complex facet of Chernozem's personality has become apparent. Although she is fully capable of acting cruelly without showing any outright regret, deep down she is beginning to question whether her actions are right, yet her emotional control and indomitable will, not to mention her growing fear of Izanami, prevent her from disclosing any of this to others. 
==History==
Chernozem's mother, Fractal, was the daughter of Queen Glacier. She turned many heads in the IceWing court for her disregard of rules she found stifling and her frequent criticism of the Circle system. Yet above all, she was honorable, keeping her word regardless of whom her promises were made to. It was this that drew the kami Haldor to her, and they engaged in a brief yet passionate affair that resulted in Fractal being with egg.
When Chernozem's egg hatched, however, everything went wrong. The dragonet looked nothing like an IceWing, with no wings and and black, orange, and white scales. Worst of all, she did not possess a natural resistance to cold, a death sentence in the arctic environment of the Ice Kingdom.
Glacier and her court of nobles agreed that the best thing to do would be to give the dragonet a quick death, sending her out to die of exposure. Fractal protested, saying that if her daughter was to die, then the queen would have to kill her too. The queen accepted, sending the princess and her daughter into the frozen wastes.
After several days, the inevitable happened. Fractal, having devoted all her attention to shielding her child from the cold, died of starvation, leaving Chernozem at the mercy of the elements. The dragonet, knowing that something was terribly wrong, began to cry, and as she did so the earth cracked beneath her.
Such a powerful display drew the attention of Izanami, queen of hell and mother of the yokai. She reached out and pulled the dragonet down into Hellia, a plan already forming in her mind.
When Chernozem woke up, Izanami told her she was her mother now. Her father had abandoned her, and she couldn't bear to see such a young dragonet freeze to death. Being young and impressionable, Chernozem had no reason to question this, and latched onto the kami as her new parental figure.
As she grew up, Izanami took note of her sharp wit and her status as an earth manipulation prodigy, raising her as a weapon against the kami. She drilled her relentlessly, to the point of blacking out or puking. Success was richly rewarded, but failure was harshly punished both physically and emotionally.
This continued until Chernozem turned seventeen. By that point, she had risen to the position of lieutenant in Izanami's yokai army, gained purple markings, a pink and purple mane, and a severely altered digestive system due to Hellia's environment being heavily saturated with dark magic, become a feared strategist and combatant, and earned the moniker Gravedigger for her signature move of burying her opponents alive. 
Her mother summoned her to her throne room, praising her before dropping a bombshell. Chernozem would be sent to Gin Chi Sanctuary to bring it down from the inside. 
The IceWing was stunned. Izanami, who she thought had loved her, was sending her away to a place she had always said was cruel and manipulative. Izanami dismissed her concerns, stating that she would not have given her this mission if she did not trust her to carry it out. Regardless, she would go, or face the consequences.
Reluctantly, Chernozem went to the camp, posing as a new demikami threatened by yokai. Her plan appeared to work perfectly, but was in fact wracked with multiple setbacks. She was growing to tolerate the camp, proving what her mother had told her about it was untrue, which combined with being sent there in the first place led her to ponder that her mother might be wrong. Several campers and counselors were highly suspicious of her. A certain IceWing daughter of Kasai was becoming more of a distraction than anticipated. She was now stuck. If she abandoned the mission, she'd lose all the power and prestige she had gained, and possibly her life. But if she carried out the plan, she'd lose the feeling of belonging somewhere for the first time in her life.
==Powers==
Earth Manipulation: As a daughter of Haldor, Chernozem can create, shape, and manipulate the earth, ranging from small pebbles to huge boulders. At a young age, she performed a display of earth manipulation so talented that it was enough to convince Izanami to spare her life. Due to the intense and life-threatening training Izanami has put her through, she is incredibly proficient with this skill, her years of working towards mastery blending with her status as a prodigy.
Earth and stone levitation: Chernozem's most common attack involves levitating nearby pieces of earth and stone of numerous sizes and propelling them at her foes with punching or kicking motions. Her training means that she can move larger masses than some of her siblings, though she can't move as much as Chugi can move. 
Earth block: Chernozem can bring up blocks of earth and launch them at her enemies. While she is otherwise incompetent with most ranged weapons, her near-perfect accuracy with earthen missiles more than makes up for that.
Earth column: A more powerful version of rock projectiles, this technique involves forcing columns of rock out of the ground. Using a similar principle, Chernozem can shoot a stream of small ruts and protrusions from underground at her opponent. Since this technique is mostly limited to the ground, she rarely uses it against opponents who can fly, though if an aerial opponent gets cocky she has used it to punch them out of the air.
Earth compression: It is possible for Chernozem to compress large chunks of rock into smaller, denser chunks, or to compress several smaller chunks into one big piece of rock. She has used this on occasion to make diamonds to bribe others or to buy otherwise expensive things. However, she rarely uses it in Gin Chi Sanctuary, as she doesn't wish to attract unwanted attention.
Earth gauntlet: A much less advanced version of earth armor that can be used to throw back opponents with hard solid force. Chernozem prefers this technique because it provides part of the protection of earth armor but takes much less time to form.
Earth launch: While Chernozem likes being rooted to the ground, since her abilities are near-useless in the air, she can quickly move rock beneath her and launch herself several tens of feet into the air, whether to catch airborne opponents or to travel faster. She usually does this for the latter purpose, as it allows her to travel roughly as fast as a dragon that can fly.
Earth material manipulation: Chernozem's earth powers are not limited to rock or soil alone. She can also manipulate coal, gems, crystals, and other earth-based materials. A favorite technique of hers is to use the precious materials a target is wearing to strangle them, leaving a death difficult to rule as foul play.
Earth shelter: This can be used by Chernozem to create a shelter or dome which can provide instant shelter in the wilderness. It can also be used to trap enemies, but this application would not work against another Haldor kid, who would be able to cancel out the technique if they had enough skill. She also creates these domes as a defense against aerial attacks, granting her enough time to formulate a counterattack.
Earth sinking: Chernozem can forcibly sink her opponents into the ground, imprisoning or even suffocating them in the earth. She is particularly versed in this technique, being able to commit mass burials. This earned her the moniker of "Gravedigger" among Izanami and her forces.
Earthquakes/fissures: Striking the ground creates localized earthquakes or fissures to throw opponents off balance. This same process can be used to sculpt a landmass or to slice large chunks of rock clean off a surface to create avalanches or rockfalls. Chernozem, as a more skilled earth manipulator, can make narrow fissures for precise attacks, striking her enemies while leaving her allies untouched.
Rock shield: A levitated slab of rock can also double as a shield when Chernozem positions it in front of her. This can also be performed with a slab or sheet of bedrock thrust out of the earth's surface. The shield can be hurled at the opponent for quick retaliation.
Rock slide: If Chernozem is near a cliff or mountain, she can cause many rocks of a multitude of sizes to rain down on her opponent.
Slab shackles: With proper timing, Chernozem can bind an opponent's arms with triangle-shaped slabs. This technique is generally used by her if the opponent is in a vulnerable position, for example on their knees. 
Earth armor: Chernozem can bring rocks, dust, pebbles, or crystals around her and mold them to fit her body and create something similar to armor. She can also hide inside the earth by bending the rock around her as a shell. This move is great for defense, especially against fire. It is not as effective for offensive moves since it limits Chernozem's range of motion.
Earth bomb: By sending a rock toward the ground, Chernozem can cause massive damage as well as throw her opponents off their feet.
Earth tunneling: Chernozem can move through the earth to out-maneuver her foes either by opening tunnels or by pulling the earth past her, literally swimming through the ground. She has also used this technique to create tunnels for others to go through, and has brought down many walled citadels for Izanami this way by letting hordes of yokai in.
Earth wave: Chernozem can create a wave of earth to ride on and use it as a form of transportation, which she usually does along with an earth launch in lieu of flying. The downsides of the wave are that it takes a lot of energy to produce, as well as intense concentration; the slightest distraction could cause Chernozem to lose control of the wave. She can also force a wave of earth outward and use it as an extremely powerful offensive attack.
=== Weaknesses ===
Metal: Though she has tried many times, Chernozem is able to control earth but unable to do the same with metal. Thus, a metal prison could hold her, if one was made specifically to contain a child of Haldor.
Dependence on Earth: While Chernozem is extremely powerful when on the ground, she becomes near-powerless if combat is moved to the air, water, or on ice, since there is little earth for her to manipulate in any of those environments.
==Abilities==
Ridged Claws: The only IceWing ability Chernozem inherited is ridged claws to grip the ice, which also make getting clawed by her incredibly painful. However, she rarely engages in claw-to-claw combat without her powers, so this attribute is not one she uses often.
Expert Strategist: Chernozem is a naturally gifted strategist, possessing extreme tactical awareness and skills at battle strategy. She can come up with complex plans on the fly, and is able to alter them to fit the changing need of a situation with little effort. She has been trained to discern the strengths and weaknesses of each dragon she meets, and now does so almost without thinking.
Expert Liar: Chernozem is able to concoct convincing and believable lies at the drop of a hat, and is equally skilled at making statements that are deliberately misleading or confusing, yet still technically true. Thus, she is able to fool even demikami of Dualis at times, yet is unable to fool Gin due to his skill in detecting lies slightly surpassing her ability to tell them.
Expert Manipulator: Chernozem is able to manipulate most dragons with relative ease, able to deduce their flaws and strengths and find ways to turn them to her advantage. She uses her skill at lying to make promises that are enticing enough to lure a dragon in, then uses them until they have no further purpose, often pitting them against another dragon to prevent them from realizing that they have been deceived.
=== Weaknesses ===
Non-Powered Combat: While Chernozem is a force to be reckoned with when using her powers, she loses this advantage when forced into non-powered combat. She is miserably incompetent at claw-to-claw, barely passable at close-quarters combat, utterly hopeless with melee weaponry, and slightly below average with ranged weapons. Give her a well-aimed rock over a longbow any day.
Lack of Wings: Due to a birth defect, Chernozem possesses no wings and is unable to fly. Even when she uses her powers to become airborne, she is far less skilled in the air than a dragon who has been flying their entire life, and unlike them, she has to come back down at some point. This makes her vulnerable to aerial attacks, as a skilled enough flyer can bombard her with attacks and vacate the premises before she can retaliate.
==Relationships==
"Trust no one. Not even yourself."-Chernozem
=== Family ===
Izanami: To Chernozem, Izanami represents absolute power and perfection, qualities that she was told were needed if she was to be a good daughter. Thus, she desires to acquire those attributes, and was distraught when Izanami sent her off to Gin Chi Sanctuary. Her mother's decision to send her to a place she had always said was cruel and manipulative made her realize that her desire for power threatened her mother, and since her mother had those same qualities, perhaps she was frightened of Chernozem. Izanami responded by calling her daughter the best weapon she had ever had, and that she would not give her this mission if she did not trust her to carry it out, temporarily satisfying Chernozem. However, she was unable to cope with the fact that her mother was not only afraid of her but still possessed power over her. Izanami was the first and last dragon she'd ever trusted, and sending her daughter on a mission she herself would not undertake caused Chernozem great pain, sowing the first seeds of distrust in her mind.
==Trivia==
"What makes you think I would answer your petty inquiries? Away with you!"
*based off a mix of Zuko and Azula from ATLA
Category:IceWings
Category:Females
Category:LGBT+
Category:Occupation (Soldier)
Category:Characters
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Mature Content
Category:Status (Prodigy)
Category:Status (Royalty)
Category:Content (DragonSage1331)