Jagna ‘the Spiritseer’

> "All the doctors and engineers this world has bred, yet all of them still have so much to learn."
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>

> — Jagna talking about her profession
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>

Jagna is a Slavic witch doctor who was born and still lives in the Gray Zone. The girl lived in the Nimbu Estate before being banished. She, along with few other exiles believes they were victims of a hoax. Their goal is to come back to the estate and prove their innocence. For the time being, Jagna tries to fit in the Zone’s populace and establish connections that would help her with her task.

## Appearance

Jagna is a regular-sized girl of a rather slender build masked under baggy trousers and a Pancho. Shaman’s skin is almost completely hidden, even her face being covered by a mask with a flowery pattern, with arm wraps over her hands and tall socks on her legs. The most striking visual are deer antlers coming out of the girl’s green hair, which she refuses to elaborate on. A belt going over her hip has everything a witch doctor needs on their daily duties -- ranging from voodoo dolls to bags with indistinguishable plants inside.

## Background

#### The New Moon

Jagna was born to a family in the Nimbu Estate. The girl’s childhood was nothing out of ordinary, her family was just like any other townsfolk — terrified by the haunted manor which as a result led them to be overly superstitious. The manor in question was called "White Stag Residence", which was responsible for produceding countless pages of folklore, tales, and stories. Despite her parents attitude, an outsider would describe her home situation as more than ideal, as the kid was very much well perceived in the eyes of her parents — rarely forgetting to make her bed, doing the dishes, and such. Discipline wasn’t the only thing she was taught at home. The girl learned how to grow and take care of plants at an early age, all thanks to the cultivation of nature, as little as there was of it in the Zone. Things continued on this way until her 9th birthday when she started having weird headaches. The cause wasn’t very clear back then, neither to her family nor the Elderly.

As time went by it became way more clear — what seemed to be the reason were deer antlers growing out of her temple. For the family, it was terrifying, in opposition to the Elderly, who were more than happy to hear the news — abnormalities like those, despite how frightening they may seem were not something unusual. The Council considered those people worthy of becoming a witch or a warlock, and would often refer to them as “the gifted”. Of course, explaining the situation to a 10 years old kid wasn’t an easy task. And a one her parents decided not to put up with. After all, if she has been chosen, what choice had they other than to comply?

#### Third Quarter

Now being separated from her parents, the girl faced some tough times. Jagna didn’t exactly know what was happening with her. She was scared, far away from her family and now, along with few other kids who seemed to be just as terrified, she found herself in a center of the Elderly’s attention. It is no surprise then she developed quite a quiet mind, but as her parents taught her, she had to roll with it. Although it wasn’t easy, the girl’s disciplined approach helped her master the designated profession at a rather rapid rate, and soon enough she was able to summon and communicate with spirits.

She slowly started opening up to her colleagues, but still kept most of her thoughts on the inside. What helped her achieve this was a boy named Hugo who asked Jagna for help regarding his studies. She was surprised someone turned to her specifically, but the girl was more than happy to accept. Soon enough more and more students would ask her for help, which made her approach all the shaman-y stuff with a lot more seriousness. Shortly her status as a “class nerd” took a positive spin, and now she was regarded as the person who will lend you a hand, even 10 minutes before a test. Her good heart played a certain role in it, but most of her reasoning came from the satisfaction she would get from being ahead with her studies. The same approach made her undisturbed calmness fall short whenever someone questioned her methods.

After a couple of years, the students would leave school behind, but their education would still continue, as the spiritualists pursued to further master something they would now have to do for life. A perfect place for that were the Sabbaths during which one who’s already experienced could easily expand their knowledge. Jagna would often attend those events to share her knowledge with novice shamans, and to make sure she’s up to date with recent discoveries.

#### The Full Moon

October was the time an event known as Forefather’s Eve. It took place annually and was very widely considered important amongst the estate folk. This year was special, not because the stars were to align themselves, but because Nevile and Elvin, two scorn rivals, were preparing the celebrations together. It is no surprise then that during one of the Sabbaths a quarrel broke out between the two. The issue was the location -- Elvin wanted to hold the event in the haunted manor, which would have to be first secured for such endeavor, while Nevile opted for a more moderate solution. The Elderly were much more in favor of the latter, as they viewed meddling with the residence as too much of a risk. The former however kept to his ambition.

For such a project, he of course needed a team of equally ambitious people. Elvin asked a couple of shamans, including Jagna to stay for a bit longer after the Sabbath, and at the end of the gathering, he revealed all the details to them. Jagna had certain concerns. On one hand, she was supposed to obey the Elderly, as they would out rule whatever Elvin had to say. On another one, her ambitious side wanted to finally show off her abilities. After some hesitation, she decided to accept.. The plan assumed the party will gather for a ritual inside the manor, then for the following 4 nights they will split up to work on different parts of the plan. Naturally, given the girl’s ability to communicate with spirits she was tasked with appeasing the spirits along with her new, or rather old, partner Hugo. The first meeting was planned at 3:13 AM, 20 minutes before the Ghost Hour.

And as it turned out, it was a huge success. Every member of the party brought gifts for the spirits, Hugo and Jagna prepared a special incense, while Elvin server as the medium. In the course of the next hour the amount of supernatural activity was reduced massively. The next two days were just as fruitful despite the girl’s trouble with her partner. At first, Jagna looked forward to their cooperation, as she remembered Hugo as the boy she used to tutor. Unfortunately, cracks began to show, and no matter how much she told herself she’s just overreacting, they would not disappear. If the girl could only tell how much time she wasted having to correct mistakes made by his carefree attitude. Yet the boy had the audacity to tell her she’s blowing her top over nothing.

By the end of the third Ghost Hour, Jagna felt something was off. Of course something went wrong, and she could bet it was Hugo’s doing. The girl looked into the issue way more carefully the next night. Her partner dismissed her concerns, which by now she would only see as him trying to get on her nerve. Jagna’s fears started becoming more tangible as the two heard a clock’s chime. The problem being, they didn’t recall any clocks being inside the house. The issue grew serious. Hugo started legging, but Jagna wasn’t so sure about leaving just yet. Running was not an option anymore, as a sound of shut doors, a scream, and the clock’s chime sounded. It was time to hide.

#### The Eclipse

Jagna woke up in a closet to the sound of birds tweeting. She peeked out, and a quick investigation revealed the decorations prepared by the rest of the party which just yesterday were hanging around the place, now laid on the floor. There was no doubt that something happened there last night. Hugo didn’t seem to be around either, but Jagna couldn’t care lessabout that. He probably got what he deserved for ignoring signs coming from a mile away.

Elvin was obviously not happy to hear what happened, neither were the Elders as they didn’t have high hopes for the project to begin with. The annual Eve would have to be canceled if it wasn’t for Nevile who in the meantime decided to split off from his co-worker and work on his own. Elvin however didn’t want to give up on his cause just yet. Something was… unnatural about the whole thing, but not in a way one would think. There was indeed some very human being meddling with their affairs. The main suspicion fell on Nevile, he would however deny everything. Jagna herself had trouble talking to some spirits, as they didn’t have a memory of the manor, which was at least surprising given the age of the house. Did someone perhaps lure them over there? Other than that, she remembered Hugo as being quite competent during her school years. It almost looked as if he was sapping their efforts on purpose. Perhaps he was still alive? Maybe he fled to somewhere? There was some evidence to support that claim but the girl never got to see it for herself.

In the end, the crew didn’t get anywhere. If the absolute catastrophe that was their project wasn’t bad enough, they were banished from the estate on the grounds of disobeying the Elderly, taking responsibility for a member being missing, blasphemy, and running a planned event. The Five Exiles now live among the regular Gray Zone folks, still continuing their research and work while deep inside they dream of coming back to the Estate to prove their right.

## Relations

#### Orion Valentine

Orion was the first person Jagna came to contact after being banished, so it’s not surprising she has a special sentiment for him, and to put it mildly, their first meeting didn’t go quite well. From all the things available Orion chose the worst thing to be a subject of his pick-up line — Jagna’s profession:

— Damn since you like smoke so much how about you choke me with it?” — the boy said.

The shaman turned around and looked at Orion from top to bottom. She would tolerate jokes about herself, but not about her hard work. Looking at the guy’s smiling face fueled her with nothing but rage, which showed when she subconsciously broke her incense burner in half.

Seeing how things are escalating Orion attempted to ease up the situation by offering the girl a drive back to her place. All that while stuttering only 5 times! Jagna accepted as she thought having to spend a couple more minutes with someone who just ruined her mood was a minor setback to getting back home quicker.

The pair didn’t say a single word to each other while walking to the car, nor on a way to her hideout. When they finally arrived the now cooled down girl looked at the driver for the last time, and said:

— I’ve heard that people die in car crashes regardless of whenever they wear seatbelts or not, curious isn’t it? — she then unfastened her belt and left the car.

Orion couldn’t quite get himself to talk with the girl ever since.

#### Nyozari

People would sometimes come to Jagna’s camp to ask for services she has to offer. After all, you don’t hear about healing voodoo magic or some strange brews very often. Or at least, about ones that actually seem to work. Someone just knocked on Jagna’s door, and when she was expecting another client, she saw a rather tall girl who had a little bit too much excitement in her eyes. The magician was about to greet her visitor when she suddenly burst out:

— Hi hi, hello. Are you perhaps Jagna? The crazy shaman who I’ve heard so many cool things about? — It wasn’t the first time the girl would hear something like this, people wouldn’t always believe in Jagna’s tricks, but Nyozari’s enthusiasm was a bit concerning.

— Uhm, well of course that’s me — the girl concluded.

An awkward silence unfolded for a moment. After a while the shaman decided to break the ice, she didn’t have a whole day after all.

— So what did you come here for? — she asked.

— Ah you see… — the girl started — I’m quite a fan of your work and, you know, I’m a bit of a shaman myself, I can pull some tricks here and there.

A fellow spiritualist, how curious. The visitor didn’t seem very convincing however. Jagna thought for a moment and gathered some questions to test Nyozari’s knowledge on the subject. She started with something easy:

— Is that so? Can you name all the Tarot cards? *In order*?

Nyozari named 3 cards before stuttering and failing the task horribly. The shaman was about to close the door after hearing her visitor did only come to see her, but she got interrupted. One last attempt at winning her attention. The horror geek decided to pull an ace out of your sleeve: the vanishing thumb!

Jagna started to be annoyed by the whole situation. That was until Nyozari showed her that it wasn’t just a cheap trick, and she did actually pull her thumb out as she was wiggling it around. Her frustration left and got replaced with curiosity, to the point where she let the girl in, thinking she might not be just a larper after all.

Ever since Jagna teaches Nyozari on spiritual matters, while Nyozari helps her expand her existing knowledge with powers of dismembering the girl possesses. Other than that, Nyozari also provides Jagna with supplies necessary for haruspicy.

## Trivia

* Her name derives from the word “Jagnię”, which means “a young female deer”.
* Jagna is left-handed.
* As a witch doctor should, she has a doll for every single gangsona that exists within the Gray Zone.
* Except for Orion.
* For Orion, she has two dolls. once she’s done torturing the first one, she picks up the spare one.
* Despite her massive knowledge of spiritual matters, she has little to no information on how the world actually works. This leads some people to believe she’s on the very top of the Dunning-Kruger curve.
* And to be fair, they are not totally wrong.
* The mask isn’t just for looks, as Jagna hates breathing through the Zone’s polluted air.