Holy Diver

> *“<...Then you should’ve handled this feud by yourself.>”* - Holy Diver, to Sapphirian
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**Holy Diver** is a mute dragoon who serves as captain of the Northern Raiders. She assisted Sapphirian in defeating Jasper, and ultimately killed him.

## Biography

### Early Life

Holy Diver was born to an unknown fae and human couple, she was given to the legendary warrior Scathach of the shadowlands on Annfwn as an offering. There she was raised by Scathach among her pupils and trained in the art of combat and rune magic. The rambunctious half-fae struggled with runecraft and to keep up with the competitive group of pupils and earn the affection and favor of her teacher, she became desperate to resolve her struggles. Whilst every other pupil was asleep, she snuck into Scathach’s library in search for an answer in the many books. Unaware of the dangers Scathach’s amassed written wisdom, she unwittingly performed a ritual she had thought would help her comprehend runecraft, effectively locking away her voice by carving a magic rune onto her tongue. Scathach, who had been watching from the shadows, appeared before the silenced Holy Diver, warning her of the sacrifice she had just made: By opening up one door to power, she had locked away the potential for other venues. If she was to erase the rune on her tongue, what power in runecraft she might have would be significantly weakened, but in maintaining the lock on her voice, she would not be able to perform any verbal magic which is often quicker and sometimes more powerful.

Accepting the consequences, Holy Diver resorted in only communicating non-verbally and even runes until she learned sign language. With heavy reliance on non-verbal communication, Holy Diver mastered runecraft and even learned Scathach’s personalized runes. At the time, the Holy Diver proved to be the top of her peers and favored a polearm, eventually becoming an adept wielder of the spear. After being declared a masterful spearsman by her teacher, Scathach gifted a weapon crafted by Ashur.

### The Rival

Eventually, Hadrianus Aquilius managed to enter the border of Annfwn through Skye Island. Holy Diver was the first to encounter him and noted that he appeared to be in a trance. Wary of outsiders, especially on Skye Island, Holy Diver stood defiant to Hadrianus’ advance. The two entered combat, but in Hadrianus’ entranced state, he held his own against the master spearwoman. Just as Holy Diver was to weave a rune, Scathach stopped the fight, stating she recognized Hadrianus, or at least “he within him”. Much to Holy Diver’s disapproval, Hadrianus was given lodging and later on accepted as pupil. Both under Scathach’s tutelage, the competitive nature often got the best between them and with it, their rivalry bloomed and all too often they would resort fighting to the near-death. Despite their mutual animosity for each other, their feuds only proved to strengthen their individual abilities. As time passed on the island, training and combating the lingering undead and wraiths of Skye Island, a rival-mance flourished between Hadrianus and Holy Diver. After one last fight and an amicable goodbye, Hadrianus departed Skye Island to return to his home leaving Holy Diver peerless save for her master.

After a falling out with her master, the Holy Diver exiles herself from Skye Island. Knowing she would be ostracized by Annfwn for leaving dishonorably, she was a rendered a lost child without a home. Hearkening back to the stories Hadrianus spoke of the outside world, she took a skiff to the land of Sapphiria.  After months at sea, the skiff she had taken landed on the shores of Saratov. Having been taught to keep Annfwn a secret from the rest of the world, Holy Diver hid away both her spear and the skiff with powerful runes and wandered into Saratov. Mistaken for a mute orphan, she fell into the Sapphirian system, playing the part of an unruly child until the only option for the agency was to put her through military training. Having been taught Scathach’s way of combat, Holy Diver proved to be a formidable, up-coming warrior in the North but lacked notable skill with firearms. It was said that to compensate for that weakness, she worked tirelessly with the spear and physical speed. Though she would never deny this, it worked well for her cover. Eventually, she was normalized to Sapphirian military life. Up for an officer promotion, she enrolled into the academy and met a native by the name of Drake Alstad. Fascinated with Drake’s tactical genius and perception, she would force them into situations to be paired up. Holy Diver conceded that Drake’s genius far surpassed her own, but he exhibited an antisocial behavior not befitting for a leader. Both graduated, but Holy Diver got awarded a chance at captaincy.  Succeeding, she took Drake as her first mate.

### The Northern Raiders

During Holy Diver’s initial captaincy, the major issues of the North were the daring pirates and slave traders that used the icy seas above the coast of Northaria as cover to transport illegally captured humans to other nations where slavery was legal. In order to do something notable for the Sapphirian nation, Holy Diver and Drake proposed the idea of an independent naval company that would patrol the icy seas for long durations at a time and deter foreign slave traders from sneaking into Sapphirian borders and enslaving the unfortunate through the treacherous seas up North.  Drake drafted her a schematic for a prototype warship with the capability of submerging beneath water meant for raids as opposed for espionage and firing nuclear weaponry. Approved by the admiral board of Sapphiria, the magitech watercraft, ‘The Barracuda’ was constructed in the following month. The idea of heading out into the frigid northern seas for months at a time was less than appealing to most of the naval officer, but Holy Diver and Alstad were able to convince a group of over one hundred to serve on the Barracuda. On it’s first charted voyage, patrolling the Northaria’s coast, the ship encountered a pack of slaver transports and successfully engaged in battle. Sign language was not a common form of communication taught barring the typical nonverbal signals thus the majority of the crew relied on Alstad for guidance, much to his own dismay. After a rigorous battle, It was here that the men and woman aboard the Barracuda witnessed the tragic outcome of slavery and how they were maltreated. Once returning to the Saratov port, more than a half of the origin crew requested transfers off the Barracuda. Despite the harshness and gritty reality of stopping what was seen as the scum of the earth in sub-zero temperatures, it was revealed that a purpose and an idea of liberating others and granting freedom to the enslaved is present in serving on The Barracuda. drew a more devoted staff onboard. After a few more voyages, staff turnover rates dropped dramatically and through the harrowing trials of cold and conflict, a tight-knit family was formed with Holy Diver as its matriarch.

### The Baron of the Northern Sea

During the Barracuda’s third year of operation, the captain had received intel off a pirate ship suggesting an organization or society operating somewhere within the frozen sea. Further information received provided evidence that this haven hidden in the ice is a way station that pirates and slavers use to fuel up and rest before departing to and fro. After a month of searching, the Barracuda and her crew located a mass of glacier pulled together by magnets and chains. In order to get more information, Alstad and Holy Diver went undercover as a master and slave. Using a skiff, they were welcomed aboard the frozen fortress and gathered in-depth intel of the the inner workings of the station and the history of the Baron. Armed with newfound knowledge, the duo escaped the citadel; the pirates and slavers none the wiser. The Barracuda launch an assault on the way station. To penetrate the thick walls of ice the combined glaciers formed, Holy Diver and Alstad came up with the idea of adding a surplus of magical energy to the magitech engines, resulting in the Barracuda’s charging speed bolstered. Utilizing the icebreaker and newfound speed, the Barracuda pierced the ice and struck the magnetic links and critical connectors sending the pirates in disarray. As the fortress fell apart, Holy Diver and Alstad struck down the Baron, leaving him to bleed out on the sinking, frigid platform.

### The Sapphirian-Rubidia War

At the beginning phase of the Rubidia’s Northern Sapphirian campaign and the secondary campaign, the Barracuda was still out on patrol, unaware of the war at home. They had received reports of the war but given no instructions to join the fray. On return from their patrol, they had noticed the thick miasma hanging over the continent. Only when they docked back on friendly ports, Holy Diver and the rest of her crew witnessed Paracelsus activate his cure. After the eastern Sapphirian forces snatched a stalemate from the jaws of defeat, Holy Diver and her crew were tasked by Linakura to escort the goddess-empress Sapphirian and her husband to the Rubidian continent. Discontent ensued among her and her crew due to the nature of this task conflicting with the Northern Raider’s skill set, but loyal to the empire, they carried it out. On board, Holy Diver met Magnus and his Boyband. Additionally, the god of Northaria, Alek’voyna joined them on the trek. Whilst crossing the amethyst sea, another member of Magnus’ troupe, Artyom Blithe crashed from the sky, landing on the Barracuda on what appeared to be a flying motorcycle.

Hours after Artyom’s arrival, the sea’s weather took a turn for the worst and a wild hurricane approached the Barracuda. Alek’voyna took to the skies and braved the storm, but to avoid the destructive force, the Barracuda submerged, but their proximity to the coast of Rubidia prohibited them from going deep enough to avoid the harsh, choppy waves of the sea. To escape the hurricane entirely, Holy Diver ordered the magitech engineers to overclock the engines, turning the Barracuda into a giant torpedo, cutting through the water until it beached on the shores of Alestios. The Barracuda had taken severe damage during its landing. The goddess, her husband, Holy Diver, and the Boyband grouped up on the beach to determine their plan to join the fray. During the planning, Sapphirian persisted in insisting that she would take point, much to Holy Diver’s protest and defiance, and assumed command of both the Boyband and Holy Diver, much to Magnus’ defiance. Holy Diver instead stopped the goddess and reminded her of her own mission’s details in how she was tasked in protecting the Goddess until she would reach the battlefield and there was a hike left. During their hike, whispers of doubt began to amplify within Holy Diver and internally she began to question the competence of both Linakura and the goddess with this mission. To the dragoon, the goddess seemed out of balance, affected by the electricity in the air wrought from the war afar.

Arriving in the shadow of Eisenclast, the group was greeted by the death of Alek’voyna who imploded and took a third of the Justicar with him in a consuming ball of light. This began to demoralize the hardy Northern captain, floating on the momentum of the aforementioned doubt. As the battle of gods raged on, Holy Diver conjured a thick field of mist and began to hunt the foolhardy soldiers that wandered into it. Once Sapphirian’s holy rain washed into the field, Holy Diver’s jumping ability became enhanced and from afar onlookers could see the dragoon leaping out of the mist and diving back into it. As the battle raged on, she found it particularly difficult to face a certain Crimsonhead soldier who proved more resilient than the rest of the quarry that trembled in. He acted more like a mad beast than a soldier, but after impaling the man twice, he remained down. The conflict felt prolonged and Holy Diver, exhausted from the continuous jump and diving, hovered above her field only to see Jasper escaping Sapphirian. Considering that Sapphirian was having difficulty in subduing the mad god, Holy Diver left her field and provided chase, intercepting Jasper above the clouds. When searching for Jasper within the clouds of Eisenclast, his booming voice that seemed to encompass the area taunted her asking a singular question as if probing into the doubts of her mind. Falling for the taunt, the Holy Diver struggled finding the truth of this match between the gods with a view shift from good vs evil to pawns of the gods that were interlocked in a game of madness. Stunned by this and her faith faltering, the manipulator unleashed a sudden windblast.

Almost ambushed by a surprise attack, Sapphirian had joined up in time to nullify the surprise air blast.  After which, she dismissed Holy Diver and ordered her to regroup with Gregory for further orders and then began to tap into the depths of her anger. Holy Diver was beginning to perceive a taint within Sapphirian, similar to Jasper’s own madness. She was all too happy to leave the god’s duel and plummeted down from the skies in an attempt to oblige Sapphirian’s orders, but Jasper took the opportunity to manipulate the winds and send Holy Diver into Sapphirian and shot them into the side of Eisenclast. The duo garbed in blue found themselves in old laboratories lying in the heart of the floating city. Jasper had appeared before them once more, hellbent in fighting both of them at once. Jasper proceeded to detonate old leylines of the laboratory which deactivated Eisenclast’s levitating capacities, causing the city to plummet from the skies. On a timetable to stop Jasper and keep the city from crashing into the armies below, Holy Diver and the goddess doubled their efforts to defeat Jasper. Sapphirian enveloped the laboratory in a cage of light which doubled as a suspension field, effectively working for the duo’s advantage.  Without Jasper’s ability to teleport, he proved an easier target to spear.

During that time of Holy Diver fighting alongside Sapphirian, a great irritation rose within the dragoon as Sapphirian deployed tactics masterful for a one-on-one duel, but proved detrimental to a partner; repeatedly, Sapphirian blinded Holy Diver as a byproduct of her attempt to blind Jasper. The goddess also insisted in trying to talk down Jasper with philosophical rhetoric, a tactic she had been keen on this whole encounter. This only served to further disillusion Holy Diver for Sapphirian’s actions and the whole reason why they were on foreign lands fighting a foreign threat contradicted a lot of the rhetoric spouted. During the climax of the battle, Sapphirian had adopted or uncovered a new revelation of fighting alongside her people, though too late for Holy Diver to change her own perception on the matter. Still, Sapphirian insisted on trying to take the mad god down through an insane peaceful approach which only reinforced why Jasper was called the mad god. Eisenclast fell into the lake, sending forth waves in its wake that consumed the forces that did not evacuate in time.

Jasper eventually was bested, laid beaten and bare to Sapphirian’s ritual. With his power robbed from him, Sapphirian looked upon her foe with sympathy and mercy, but Holy Diver, high above the sky, dove down once more with spear in hand. Her spear struck true, impaling the now mortal Jasper right before Sapphirian’s eyes. Sapphirian chastised and berated Holy Diver, only eliciting confusion and a mutual rage. Knowing full well how easily a corpse can be reanimated and how the threat of Jasper could be revived, the dragoon disintegrated the cadaver of the fallen god much to Sapphirian’s dismay. Sapphirian babbled on how she wanted to do this the right way, a way Holy Diver saw failed time and time again, Holy Diver stated if Sapphirian wanted to handle this her way, she should’ve done it herself, implying having a single duel instead of a conflict between nations.

### Aftermath

On the trip back home, aboard the same ship, Holy Diver and Sapphirian did not resolve or discuss what occurred on the ruins of Eisenclast. Back at the capital, Holy Diver inputted a formal request for the commission of a new Barracuda as the damage had decommissioned the craft. On the docks of the central kingdom, Linakura approached Holy Diver and requested a recounting of the events that transpired. Holy Diver suggested that she could get Alstad to draft a formal report, but Linakura insisted she heard Holy Diver’s perspective in person. The dragoon found the General’s approach off-putting but gave an abridged report due to the language barrier between them. After giving the report, the General gently nudged the nation’s official declaration of what Justice was; their meaning conflicted with Holy Diver’s, but that did not stop her for feeling or reaffirming the justifications of her actions. Just as Linakura was to leave, Holy Diver made mention that Sapphirian used portals during the end of their battle with Jasper. Linakura revealed that Sapphirian can only conjure portals at full power and the goddess was not at full capacity when transported over to Rubidia. These key details completed the puzzle Holy Diver had been preoccupied with.  Before Holy Diver could confront her, Linakura threw a verbal smoke screen and despite the inquisitive dragoon prodding for the truth, General Linakura deflected and redirected Holy Diver to Sapphirian and even gave an accelerated approval to the new Barracuda commission. Still embittered by their last encounter, Holy Diver ended the conversation amicably but left things between her and Sapphirian unresolved.

## Appearance

Holy Diver is a half-fae woman of a svelte, muscular build. She possesses a pair of aquatic blue eyes. Originally, her wild hair was black but when arriving in Sapphiria, she magically changed it into blue, matching the motif of her new home. The left side of her hair is pulled back into braids reminiscent to her teacher, Scathach while the rest is parted from the braid to the contralateral side of her head stylized with long bangs, and even longer flat hair. Her skin is a pale white marred with various scars from training with Scathach and during her time in the Sapphirian Northarian Army. As part of her occupation, she is almost never seen without her armor adorned and due to the significance of her spear, she is never seen without it in hand or nearby.

## Personality

She is a very expressive and emotive individual in order to compensate for her inability to speak. As such, she uses obvious facial and eye expressions to convey her mood nonverbally. Being an Annfwn native and raised by the legendary Scathach, she is an insightful woman who tends to probe into the meaning of things and tries to comprehend the causation of events or people’s reasonings. Her second “childhood” in Northeria instilled in her the rustic, historic values of the North in her, which resonated well with the queer values of Annfwn. All in all, her time Sapphiria had taught her the value of unity, hope, and mercy, but her prolonged exposure in the Northern seas had hardened her into a more stoic, realistic individual and the aspect of mercy was discarded after dealing with countless pirates and slavers in the North. Originally very extroverted, her tenure in the north dampened her outgoing personality. To her crewmates, Holy Diver is seen as a welcoming light in the darkness of the icy seas, a reliable friend, respected captain and even matron of the Barracuda. In private, she can be seen as brooding, lost in deep thought as if something is gnawing at her.