Belle

'Sometimes I don't know where the Void ends and I begin'

### Distinguishing Features

~Mark of the Outsider on her Hand~Arcane Symbols on her body from the Brigmore Witches~Unnatural Eyes

## Familial Connections

### Other/s

The Outsider - Who has taken an interest in her due to her strange link to the Void.

## Background

Born in the Month of Darkness in 1829 Hellebore was taken from her birth family by a women obssessed with the occult, a woman who tried to use the vitality of the infant to communicate with the void, it was this same woman who later joined them both to the occult sect known as the Brigmore witches in 1835 soon after its founding, taken at only a year old she was too young to remember her birth parents, raised from infancy among their ranks with no knowledge of who or where her blood family might be.

There has not been a time in her life that Belle doesn't remember being around the occult, from mentions of the Void and the Outsider to talk of the whales and the powers that can be bestowed. However with the battle between Daud and Delilah in 1837, leaving the young Belle scattered and leaderless with the rest of the coven, in hiding practicing what little they could of the occult without the connection that Delilah brought them to the void. Belle learnt of the herbs and tonics that could be used in place of their magic, she learnt of magics of the void and even before she could speak was used in unspeakable practices to try and call forth powers of the void, against her will she was powerless at such a young age to fight back against this cruel fate.

Belles life carried on like this, on the road, in hiding with the coven, growing and learning only the arcane until she was herself almost feral save for the woman she lived and travelled with. It wasn't until 1849 that her life came back to some semblance of meaning. Belle spent many nights soaked in sweat, the young woman tossing and turning in whatever form of a bed she had been given for the night. Delilah called to them, and those more touched by the Void than others heard her the strongest. Belle had been one of those, to hear Delilah's call, knowing no other life she worked tirelessly with Breanna Ashworth and others to prepare the ritual that would bring her back from the void.

With their leader returned she and the coven travelled to Karnaca, Delilah walked among them again and the coven was stronger than ever, blessed with the dark powers of the void which under Delilah's influence took on a strange twist of nature. Belle had listened those long nights, listened to tales the coven told, of Delilah's true place, of her bringing them out of ruin, out of hiding in the darkness and into the world. Her promise to provide them a home was greatly tempting to Belle who up till this point had led and almost nomadic life with the coven, on the run and feared by some, hunted by others. Belle dove deeper the world of the occult, learning to create tinctures and potions, to work with the old runes and bones of the whales, to craft and create all that which fit within the occult.

It was a difficult time for the young witch, on the one hand her people were the coven, it was all she knew, it was her world. But the endless suffering at their hands, the arcane rituals served to try and strengthen their bond with the void, using Belle as a conduit from infancy had left her scarred. She longed for a world without the supernatural, for a world she had only glimpsed through others windows, of a normal family, of peace and tranquillity without the whispers in her mind.

In 1852 the coup finally came, the witches who had been sending spies back and forth between Dunwall and Karnaca finally succeeded in their task for their Coven leader. The city was theirs, but the cost was high, too high for Belle. Blood stained her hands in a way she felt she would never be clean from. These were not the monsters she had been led to believe but men and women, servants and staff, not just soldiers and tyrants. But nothing could prepare her for the rivers of blood soon to run as Corvo tore through their ranks, decimating all who had played a part in taking the throne and leaving nothing standing in his wake.

Belle watched as her family were slaughtered one by one, in Karnaca and Dunwall they fell, the horrors mingled with the death of the innocents driving her to the brink of her own sanity. A cliffs edge which she stayed at for a long time as Corvo not Emily ascended to take back the throne. Belle like many others was captured, thrown into Jail and tortured mercilessly by the Overseers. Her magic gone, severed with the death of the Witch Delilah. But unlike the others, Belle could still feel the void, as days turned into weeks, rotting away in jail, starving slowly between torturous sessions with her captors, Belle could hear it. The Void still called to her, what little she could get from her fellow sisters suggested not one of them felt it any longer, their only tie had been through Delilah herself.

Yet Belle did, and could still feel the void, feel it just beyond her reach, hear its whispers, a voice calling out to her just a little too soft to hear. One by one she watched as the others were taken away, each night less and less of them would return. She listened in the darkest hours to her sisters begging to the Outsider to free them, to Delilah, to anything that would listen. But Belle did not, she called out to no one, but welcomed her end with peace, feeling that the pain she felt now was penance for the wickedness she had done with her powers.

perhaps it was this that brought the Outsider to her, that she among them all did not beg for his help but waited for an end that would not come, greeting death as an old friend. He came to her in her sleep, it had been a gruelling day of interrogations by the Overseers, her body was broken and beaten. She had lain on the cold stone floor of the cell waiting for death to come, her fingers playing softly with the dappled moonlight that came in through the tiny window. Belle had not been sure when she had fallen asleep but at some point she must have, because her cell door opened, letting her out not into the familiar corridor but into a place of broken floating stone and the distant cries of whales singing through the air. Without knowing she was somehow certain this was the Void.

She travelled in it a while witnessing scenes from her life carved out in stone until reached him, his eyes were endless voids of darkness, the same darkness that seem to shroud his body, as he moved around impossibly from place to place striking up a conversation. It was hard to tell if what he was saying was just at her to her. But he spoke of the Void, told her that it was not so much a place but was beyond time and comprehension, watching us from within, told her of Delilahs wandering through the Void to places she should not have gone, places where she became a part of him and he was not happy with this taking of things. But he also remarked how Belle had been connected to the Void before Delilahs touch sullied her, how he enjoyed watching her neither beg for death nor fight in futility but wait. He asked what she had been waiting for but Belle could not give him an answer, so he made her an offer, to escape this place, the witches and those that sought to pervert his power but at a small cost.

It wasn't desperation that made her accept but Belle could not say what, or why she had. When she woke again alone on that cold stone floor his mark was burned into her hand. But with his mark her power was back, unrestrained by the leash of Delilah, she was able to use it to escape the Overseers, breaking free from their torture and fleeing into hiding in the city of Dunwall.

There she stayed, living alone in the shadows, watching the flux of politics and terror come with the tyrannical grip of the peoples new leader Corvo, but he was not her leader, no one was, not anymore. Belle avoided the scatted remnants of the witches, avoided the city watch and the gangs. Observing it all from the rooftops and alleyways whilst never becoming part of it. For years she struggled, wanting to resist using the powers that had been bestowed upon her but at time seduced by the abilities, by the ease they brought on her life. Belle tried to teach herself how to fight, how to wield a blade, how to make coin from this work, but now and then she could not help but use the Outsiders gifts to give her the edge in a fight where her mediocre battle skills left her lacking. Temptation was always present, and the void, the void was always calling...........

## Personality and Behaviour

Belle is a woman of few words, closed off an untrusting she is often physically still, trying to conceal herself from anyone that might take interest. When she does choose to be active her movements are slow and careful, using her speed only when there is a threat to herself.

## Occupational Details

Mercenary -

Since the Death of Delilah and the end of the Brigmore Witches Belle has lived on the edges of society, to clearly effected by the Void to fit in or assimilate she has taken on work as a Mercenary, doing just about anything for pay to keep herself safe and alive. Trying desperately to stay one step ahead of the Overseers and those who seek to use her Gifts.

## Likes/Hobbies/Interests

Natural Medicine: Belle has a particular love of flowers and nature, she likes to find the places where nature has taken back over parts of the city, these places give her great joy, to see it reclaim what was taken from it by man.

Occult Practices: Belle has an obsession with the Occult and the Void, both in breaking free from it but also a desperation to find out more about it. The Void being the one place she is bound to, the last vestige of connection she has to the life that was stolen from her.

## Dislikes/Fears/Phobias

Belle fears the Void as much as she is bound to it, fearing what that connection means.

Belle fears death most of all, feeling like she has not truly lived.

Thanks to several run ins with them Belle has a deep fear of the Overseers and their music boxes which disorient and disrupt her magic.

She dislikes just about everyone, preferring her own company, unable to trust people or fit in with them.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

### **Strengths**

Naturally Gifted with her use of Void powers, beyond the norm.

Street smart, able to hide from those that might come looking for her.

### **Weaknesses**

Overseer music boxes

Any disconnection from the Void

Overuse of Void Abilities

## Ambitions

* Discover the truth about the Outsider, the Occult and the Void.
* Survive at any cost
* TBD

## Character Bonds

* The Outsider
* TBD

## Appearance

There is nothing about Belle that doesn't immediately indicate to Others she is a witch. From the unnatural way she holds herself to the Arcane marks tattooed and carved into her skin. Belle has long wavy brown hair that falls down past her waist, often tangled with flowers braided into it as well as bones and other charms.

Her eyes are an unnatural Violet, tinted by her heavy use of the occult powers within and her strong connection to the Void, her top lip and fingers are stained with black, the same smoky black that lines around her eyes making the violet more piercing.

Not that many get close enough to witness her eyes or the occult markings on her skin, Belle wears a strong thick leather made from the whales skin, decorated with black raven feathers and lined inside, it fits tight to her figure, showing off her lithe silhouette. The twin bone blades strapped to her hip at either side in such a way that the scabbards move with her and do not rattle. The wide brimmed hood drawn up and over her fact to cast long shadows on her unnatural yet beautiful features.

## Physical Abilities

Though for the most part Belle's strength lies in her powers, she is quite adept with the weapons the Brigmore Witches once wielded, she does not rely on great strength but uses speed and agility to embolden her attacks and give her a needed edge in battle, trying to keep one move ahead of her opponent where possible and out of range unless she has to.

## Intellectual Abilities

Though she has no book smarts and can only read so far as the Witches taught her to look at occult texts she does have street smarts, knowing how to stay out of sight, how to survive different environments.

The bulk of her knowledge comes from fighting, the Occult and nature, the Brigmore witches being so closely tied to plants and occult that she can still recall which plant to use for which purpose. She has a strong background in creating potions and tinctures as the witches once did, manipulating bones and charms and using the dark gifts to their fullest

## Supernatural Abilities

Though originally she possessed all the abilities of the Witches of Brigmore, her current abilities come not through the Arcane Bond to Delilah that all witches had but directly from the Outsider himself. Belle has always had fantastic vitality, ever since the first witch tried to use her vitality to communicate with the Void and the Outsider.

Thorns - An ability that allows a user to shoot several dark, dart-like projectiles from their hands in quick succession, which makes the ability dangerous in close combat as well as from a distance.

Windblast - An ability that allows the user to create powerful gusts of wind, with the force to slam targets into walls or other surfaces, and break down wooden doors. However, a user must be careful in its use, as not only can it damage nearby targets including innocents, but it can cause explosions in items such as barrels of whale oil, and propel the user back if forceful enough.

Blink - An ability that allows the user to rapidly traverse mid-sized distances in an instant. Blink can be cast through glass surfaces, letting the user pass through windows, breaking them in the process.

## Clothing Style/Armour

Witches Armour

Hellebore wears an Armour made from special materials the witches once gathered, the leather is whale skin hardened over time with careful preparations, the feathers came from many birds and it has a lining that keeps her movement quiet, stopping the leather from rubbing itself or her body. One arm has a black bracer bound to her with treated gut where she stores small vials, A large black hood completes the outfit which she often wears up and over her head.

## Equipment

2 WhaleBone Blades

The Whalebone Blades were weapons wielded by the Brigmore Witches, They appear to be made up of metal blades lodged into long pieces of whalebones and reinforced by tree roots, Belles are bound in arcane carvings of the old dead language of the occult.

Elixirs Like most of the Witches she learnt to brew Elixirs, to use black magic to curse and cast. The majority of her Elixers now are natural remedies, thinks to make people fall to sleep, poison them or to help glue wounds back together, she tries to steer clear of anything that touches on black magic.