Lumina Sonyra

"A legend among the Heskra, a bony blade finding its mark in whatever prey it smells. She is a sophisticated predator, above her peers."
Lumina Sonyra, born Sejri Sonyra, is a Heskra Witchlord and the former Sovereignt General of the 9th Fleet of the Dark Star Empire. During the Great War, Lumina secured numerous victories for the Empire aboard her flagship, the Dread, but was captured for the remainder of the war during the Battle of the Arkenon Nebula by Arandar Sùrion, then serving as an ensign aboard the Thuril Ethlan. A master of illusory and deceptive Magicks, Lumina was sentenced to life imprisonment within a maximum security, anti-Magick prison station orbiting the icy world of Jatharon - Detention Station 017. Ever since, Lumina has earned extensive privileges and comforts in exchange for tactical information and psychological profiles on her fellow Heskra during the war. She has remained a prisoner on the station ever since, kept confined in a specially-made cell built away from her fellow inmates to protect them and isolate her.
== Appearance ==
Lumina has straight, dark sangria-colored hair and eyes that are described as a "piercing, snowy white" - white irises that seem to glow separate from her white sclera. Her skin is a chalky greyish-white, with black markings trailing down her lower eyelid to her lower jaw, resembling tears. A black, sideways crescent moon has been tattooed onto her forehead. Her nose is small, as is her mouth, with her ears ending in points like all Heskra. During the Great War, she wore her hair in a neck-length knot though it appears to have grown slightly and become considerably messier over the years during her imprisonment. Visible bags rest under her eyes denoting some form of sleeping disorder.
During her tenure as a Sovereignt General, Lumina wore the stark black uniform of her rank with the dark iron brooch of office depicting a spiked wheel on her right breast, close to her heart. Her shraed - the Heskra Mask of the Familiar - depicted a grinning Visecat or "panthir", made of metal and painted a dark, granite grey. During her captivity, she is forced to wear the mossy green prison uniform of the Alliance.
Lumina's voice is described as soft and chilling but sophisticated. She speaks low and her words always seem to hang in others' minds, even long after they are spoken. She is described as being short but with a strong body, large and powerful hands, and a lean figure.
== Personality ==
"These people are nothing, Major. I've known true monsters." -Arandar Sùrion referencing Lumina.
According to her psychographic profile, Lumina shares many of the personality traits recognizable in Heskra tyrants - narcissism, sadism, and greed. She displays a dispassionate view of life and death, seeing both through a nihilistic lens and quickly sacrificing allies and enemies both to achieve her aims. Due to her heightened intellect, she finds few to be her match in the galaxy and those that manage to win her respect she gives careful consideration for and treats with an almost reverence.
Lumina is largely credited with the success of the Coalition's invasion into the Core, with her guerilla strategies leaving much of the 6th and 7th Fleets in shambles early on and securing vital spaceports and repair stations. Her tactical ingenuity was best exemplified by her use of bait-and-smash tactics in the First and Second Battles of Depora. She loathed using larger vessels in war, preferring to command from a more versatile Widow-class Destroyer she christened the Dread. With the Widow, Lumina would make frequent use of its cloaking technology to bushwhack Alliance vessels when they were distracted by other Heskra ships and then retreating back into cloak before their allies could react.
Lumina held little real loyalty to Harkan Felreave or the Dark Star Empire, and only fought the Core Alliance as a symbolic gesture of opposition to their "putrid hypocrisy". When captured, she traded vital strategic information and developed psychological profiles on her former Heskra allies in exchange for comforts such as a heated cell and books for her to read.
Despite her lack of real loyalty to Harkan, she worked hard early in the war to secure the Dark Star Empire's success. She accurately predicted that without her and a handful of other competent leaders, the Empire would quickly collapse. After her imprisonment, she justified many of her atrocities as having no sadistic feelings behind them, usually killing her enemies quickly and never leaving them to linger in suffering like many of her "colleagues" had. She held a distaste for cowardice and, ironically, treachery - this is seen during the Raid on Kalachorr where, when her forces were nearing victory, a support vessel opted to retreat and she promptly ordered its destruction. She sees her betrayal of the Empire as not a true betrayal, claiming that she and Harkan had an "understanding" and nothing more but feels that those who swear allegiances should honor them.
Lumina displays an almost monomaniacal obsession with Arandar Sùrion, viewing him as her "synra" or "soulmate". She clarifies that the synra relationship is not always romantic or sexual, and that the two of them are closely linked by the cosmos. She gives examples of how she believes the two are linked in how she slew Arandar's father, leading the son to defeat her in an almost mythological fashion, her failure to predict his strategies and his adopting an ethically colder yet effective method to defeat her, and how she is able to sense when he is in danger no matter their distance. She grows a strong attachment to him and attempts to sway him toward her way of thinking to little avail, eventually instead finding his own morals starting to affect her judgement instead.
== History ==
=== Birth and Childhood ===
Lumina was born on the Heskra colony of Dedris, her birth name being Sejri Sonyra. She was born under mysterious circumstances, being found as a baby crying under a large, dead Tuprosa tree. This was seen as an omen by the one who found her, the leader of the Sonyra Coven - Mother Reina. Reina, at the time of finding Sejri, saw the baby's name carved into the tree but debated leaving her there for the beasts of the forest to consume rather than potentially bring a "blight child" to her Coven. After using Osteomancy to divine the child's destiny, Reina concluded that the babe was harmless and brought her back to the colony.
Life growing up is remembered by Lumina as being full of grueling trials, a fresh one each day. She remembers having to compete with the other colony children and having no parents of her own to help motivate her. Mother Reina was a cold, detached parent to Sejri who rewarded little for success and was quick to punish failure. Much of what Sejri earned and was able to enjoy, she had to win or steal for herself - forging her early mentality of survival by any means. She remembered being stronger than the rest of the children, but not nearly as cruel, which gave the others an edge over her.
In her captivity, she recalled a time when she had been caught with food from the colony's stores hidden away and had her arm broken by an older boy. When she went to Mother Reina to have it healed, the latter did so but told Sejri to watch carefully and learn how to do it herself for she would never again heal Sejri's wounds earned by stealing from the colony. Despite her harshness, Lumina feels that Reina loved her in her own way.
=== Studying under Mother Reina ===
When she began developing her Magickal potential, Sejri had nearly destroyed the colony in a fit of rage against a bully of hers. From that day forward, Mother Reina took over Sejri's training personally to develop her powers for the interests of the Heskra people. Lumina remembers this training as being the most extensive time she had ever spent with her mother and the only time they ever truly connected.
=== Destruction of the Dedris Colony ===
=== Skirmish on Balkhanar ===
=== Studying the Phobis Arts ===
=== Alliance with Jufhir Anatari ===
=== Meeting the Jackal ===
=== Escape from the Pit ===
=== Meeting Harkan Felreave ===
== Weapons and Equipment ==
*Twinblade Phaser Sword Prototype - Lumina wields an advanced Phaser Sword prototype designed by Shadalian scientists to be able to produce plasma beam "blades" from both ends of the handle, thereby creating a two-sided energy sword. Lumina wields this signature weapon with practiced elegance. With her heart crystal in sync with her own chakra, Lumina's blades glow a brilliant blue-green. The handle is made from carved black Qryl native to Faska.
== Ships ==
*The Dread - A Widow-class Destroyer, the Dread earned its name through its extensive kill count during the Great War, inspiring an almost infectious decrease to Alliance morale whenever it was spotted on a battlefield. It was fitted with an advanced stealth field composite and cloaking shields in excess of standard issue Widow craft. Its Splicer beam cannon was modified to have an advanced coolant system, allowing for shorter periods of delay between firing.
== Skills and Abilities ==
*Photographic Memory - Possessing an eidetic memory, Lumina can recollect past experiences with pinpoint accuracy. She claims to "live in the past much of the time" to Arandar, revealing that much of her time is spent in quiet reflection.
*Mental Fortitude - Mental probes in Lumina's mind through Magick has often lead to her discovering such probes, even when done in secret, and even trapping the Mage in question in a mental trap of her own making. When Irindal attempts a discrete, light probe into her mind, she immediately turns her focus to him and offers a threatening smile.
*Heightened Strength -
*Exceptional Reflexes -
*Heightened Endurance -
*Extraordinary Senses -
=== Magick ===
*Hexcraft - A class-S witch according to the Alliance's arcane threat scale, Lumina is trained in and understands almost all manner of Heskra Hexcraft, including the Shi'ai arts, Effigamancy, blood magic, and more. 
**Shadow Weaving -
**Effigamancy -
**Heskra Shi'ai Tokens -
*Third Sight - Like most mages, Lumina possesses access to Third Sight and is able to sense the presence of other Mages as well as potential danger. She displayed her proficiency with Third Sight when she noticed Irindal Sùrion lightly probing her mind and stared directly at him, picking him out from the crowd. 
*Gorgel's Iron Talons - Lumina has mastered the spell Gorgel's Iron Talons allowing her to enlarge her fingers into twelve-inch long blade-like claws. She uses this as one of her signature abilities, often turning a single finger into an elongating blade to use for torture or all fingers for combat.
== Quotes by Lumina Sonyra ==
*"An ensign? Standing against me? Perhaps the loss of your crew left you mad."
*"Delusion fights reality every step of the way and the Alliance's hypocrisy is the greatest delusion there is." -Lumina to Arandar during their first duel.
*"A dog barking through a door. The day I fear that lumbering lout is the day I enlist in your Alliance." -Lumina regarding Drav'orok Kanharr.
*"All the gods and devils on high send men and beasts down to die."
== Quotes about Lumina Sonyra ==
*"She won't answer any questions. She'll size up your life and your faults right before your eyes, pick you apart like a bug, and watch while you squirm. You'll feel so naked and vulnerable you'll piss your pants." -Drav'orok Kanharr to Arra Sans.
*Her eyes were the worst part, cold and clear and empty like pools of frozen glass. Behind them, Arandar saw nothing.
*Arra found the Demon of the Reach to be a pale woman of average size and build, with strong looking hands and a good posture as she sat painting. While she did not look at Arra, the latter knew she was aware of her, and when she spoke her voice sounded like cold.
== Trivia ==
Category:Characters
Category:Heskra