Gaia

## Origins

Since its creation, the planet Earth has been well populated with powerful beings and ancient protectors, but many theorise that the planet has always been more than capable of protecting itself. Weather systems, ecological changes and tectonic shifts can be seen as the planet’s immune system reacting to threats, but fewer people are aware of the tangible representation of that system.

In the early days of the world, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the tallest mountain and cracked it open like an egg. From this shell a naked, female figure emerged and breathed out, creating the wind that would whistle and roar across the horizon. This being would come to be known as **Gaia**, the physical manifestation of the planet Earth’s own protective energies.

In time, she clothed herself with plants and vines, and let down her hair in a shimmering blue waterfall. Where she walked, life would emerge in all its lush and beautiful glory. Where meteors and solar flares threatened her lands from outside the atmosphere, she would move heaven and earth to protect them. She moved with the wind and burned with the fires of the planet’s core when she was angry, and she loved her inhabitants with a passion.

### The Gathering of the Host

A few thousand years after her birth she felt a shadow fall across the world, and was contacted by a strange and intriguing man who called himself **Merlin**. Instantly taken with this man, she listened to him and the menagerie of strange creatures who accompanied him and heard the tale of **The Breaker**, a universal defense mechanism just as she was the Earth's. But this creature moved to destroy her home, and she would not stand for this. Thus, Gaia became the final recruit of **The Host**.

In their subsequent travels, Gaia and Merlin grew closer, and she also found common ground with the other members of the team. **Pantheon** represented the good of humanity and its potential to be powerful and benevolent; **Shenlong** was a force of nature just as Gaia was, and they shared the experience of being one with the storm; and she loved to play with the joyous moon spirit **Eclipse**.

### The Coming of the Breaker

When the beast known as the Breaker finally arrived, Gaia screamed out in pain as his very presence burned the land underneath his feet and boiled the sky above his head. She felt the very soul of the planet dying around her, and was weakened by the pain her Earth was feeling.

But with the love and support of Merlin and her comrades, she drew upon the deep wells of power that lay in her world, and she lashed out at the creature, pummeling the ancient destroyer with the raw fury of the planet. Tidal waves crashed against his body, earthquakes stole his balance out from under him, volcanoes burned his flesh and scorched his armour, and the storms crashed into him.

This onslaught was enough for Merlin to crack the Breaker's armour, giving Eclipse a chance to shine a beam of pure moonlight into his dark heart, destroying the beast who threatened to destroy the Earth. Shenlong took the creature's ashes and scattered them on the winds, and Gaia healed the planet of the damage the titan had caused.

### Love Found and Lost

As the Host scattered across the Earth, Gaia remained with Merlin and the pair worked to protect both the planet and the myriad creatures who called it a home. She laughed and danced with him across the lands, a joyous pairing who spread love and passion to the world’s inhabitants.

When Merlin made his choice to leave the Earth and traverse the other realms, it broke Gaia’s heart as she could never leave the planet to travel with her beloved. She cried a storm that lasted for weeks, flooding the rivers and the seas until there were no more tears left to cry, and she retreated from the world she had helped to build. She travelled to the centre of the planet, and stepped into the molten core where she would sink and sleep until Merlin returned.

When he wakes and she emerges, it will usher in a period of great and momentous change for both the Earth and the universe it inhabits.

## Personality

Just like the planet whose spirit she is the manifestation of, Gaia is stoic, solid and reliable, a constant presence that forgives all but the most grievous of sins. Yet at the same time she is wild, unpredictable and capable of great devastation at a moment's notice. She is loving and maternal towards those who live alongside her spirit, but liable to act without hesitation to destroy anything that threatens to harm her.

Gaia takes great pleasure in the small things that inhabit her world, hence her great affection for the moon spirit Eclipse, and will often be found luxuriating in the foliage of her thick, dense forests or swimming in crystal-clear lakes.

Her mood often matches the conditions on the surface of the planet, although which way the correlation goes is unknown: whether the planet changes and her mood follows, or her emotions guide the state of the planet, nobody is quite sure. But when she grows angry the storm clouds brew, the earth quakes beneath her feet and magma boils underneath the surface; and when she is happy, the sun shines and the cool winds blow gently through the leaves and trees.

While she has a great affection for all living things, her one true love is the human sorcerer Merlin. When they were together the Earth blossomed into a lush, beautiful world of nature and pleasure; yet when Merlin departed the mortal realm and broke Gaia's heart, storms raged for months and volcanoes erupted across the face of the planet.

## Superhuman Abilities

As an earth spirit, Gaia has complete control over the surface, environment and atmosphere of the planet Earth. This means she can control anything and everything that is connected to the planet or occurs naturally within its atmosphere, for example:

* **Earth Manipulation** - Gaia can control the very fabric of the Earth, causing earthquakes and tremors as well as building structures out the earth itself.
* **Weather Manipulation** - As it occurs within her atmosphere Gaia can control the weather, causing it to rain or pushing the clouds aside to allow the Sun to shine through.
* **Plant Manipulation** - Gaia can control existing plants and cause new ones to grow at an accelerated rate.
* **Lava Manipulation** - By digging deep under the planet's surface, Gaia can control the molten rock that makes up the Earth's core and shape it to her will.

This is just a small selection of the abilities Gaia possesses, however she is unable to control the will of living beings other than plants. This means she cannot control the animals and humans that inhabit her earth, only manipulate their surroundings.

Her abilities are tied to her emotions, and often the state of the planet will change depending on her mood. It is unknown at this time whether it is her mood or the state of the planet which is the driving force behind these changes and which follows which, but they are indelibly connected nonetheless.

## Weapons and Equipment

With the full force of the planet Earth at her fingertips, Gaia has no need of traditional weapons. However, she frequently shapes aspects of the planet to resemble weaponry when she is forced into a combat situations, including forging a giant hammer from the rocks and earth around her, or a lashing whip from vines and plants that sprout from the ground beneath her feet.