March 2017 OC Creation Competition/Sapphire Harss

This character is a part of the Darkening Stars universe.

## Description

### Appearance

Sapphire is a short, thin, grey and black furred siamese cat anthro with red (originally blue) eyes and long braided black hair. She wears black formal Swordsmen wear with sapphire blue marks. She carries her swords sheathed on her back and has a book of tactics strapped onto her belt. She has a black feline anthro Swordsmen mask.

### Personality

#### Cautious

Sapphire was a cautious individual, making sure to avoid any dangers set in her way. This carried over into her tactical skill greatly, as she would make sure to devise a plan that would make sure to avoid casualties on her side at all costs. Though her cautious nature didn't always help, as some things required a bit more risk, though she would always attempt to take the least risky of the paths.

#### Caring

Another part of her that bled into her tacticalness, Sapphire was known to be a caring individual. This further led her to attempt to devise her plans to avoid loss of life on her side as well as the enemy. This caring showed greatly in the events leading up to the siege of Yarrin, as she was the one who had pitched the idea of helping the lower class citizens of Yarrin. It also showed in her strategy to take over the Yarrin Guard, choosing to siege the town's town hall instead of threatening the Mayor's life like the Generals suggested.

#### Intellegiant

Sapphire has always shown a high level of intelligence. She was always ahead of her brothers and sisters in academics, in a sense, skipping a grade over them. She even started learning about the Elements before her brothers and sisters, being taught about them when she was twelve whereas they learned about them at fourteen when they all joined the Swordsmen. Her learning of the Elements helped her climb the ranks above her litter siblings.

#### Impractical

Because of her cautious and caring nature, she is a bit impractical when it comes to devising plans and the like. She'll usually go with the safest plan, no matter how impractical it may be, to get a job done. This has led to a few failed missions under her belt, but also led her squad to have the lowest injury rate during her time.

#### Unpredictable

Due to her impracticalness, people facing against her will have a hard time predicting her strategies, usually not suspecting her next move on account of how impractical it is. This helped hugely in battle, turning something that would usually be hindering in a tactic, that of it being impractical, into something a bit less so by surprising the enemy.

## Abilities and Skills

### Abilities

#### Death

In her early twenties, Sapphire became the Death Elemental after a far off cousin died. She managed to learn how to use the Element quickly due to her knowledge of the Elements and became skilled in its use equally as fast. She, however, didn't use it as much as others, starting to use it less frequently after she enchanted her swords.

##### Kill Pain

Kill pain is a power that allows one to temporary kill the pain of either oneself or of another, essentially numbing them so that they are unable to feel pain. Sapphire was especially adept in the usage of kill pain, being able to use on both herself and two others at the same time.

##### Weakening

Weakening is a power that allows one to drain a living person's strength. This power uses the energy generated from Kill Pain to weaken others. Sapphire used this power frequently in her early years but eventually used it less and less once she enchanted her sword, only using it when necessary.

### Skills

#### Tactical Cunning

Sapphire was known as Sapphire the Tactician during her years of leadership. This is because of her tactical cunning. She is able to come up with plans that will help sway a battle on a whim during battle, which helped her climb the ranks quickly and getting her her own squad in only her first few years of being a Swordsmen, fast even for a Harss. At the age of thirty-six, her tacticalness was proven throughout the Swordsmen when she devised a plan to siege the Yarrin Town Hall that managed to work perfectly and with no loss of life on either side.

#### Swordsplay

Like all Harsses, Sapphire was taught how to use a sword early in her life, around the age of nine. Sapphire was taught by her father, uncles, and aunts, so she learned a wide range of different sword styles and how to use various different swords. The one, or, ones, that stood out to her the most was the twin broadswords, which one of her uncles used. She is exceptionally skilled in the usage of twin broadswords, able to use it as both a single blade and dual blade effectively. She, however, was outshined in swordplay by her brother and sister.

### Weaponry

#### Dual Broadswords

Sapphire uses dual broadswords as her main weapon. The dual broadswords are made so that they are both capable of fitting in the same sheath, the hilt of them looking like it is cut in half. The broadswords, as well as the sheath, are enchanted. One of the broadswords is enchanted so that as they slice into an opponent, they take their strength, much like weakening, and the other is enchanted so that it kills the pain of the person being hit by it, much like kill pain. Both swords have opposite purpose enchantments that compliment each other. The sheath is enchanted so that it takes the energy from one of the swords and puts it into the other to keep its energy reserves up so that the enchantment continues working.

## Backstory

### Family

Sapphire belongs to the Noble Family Line of Harsses. The Noble Family line is considered to be a family of nobility in Harknest due to Rebecca Harss's founding of the Swordsmen.

### History

#### Early Life

Sapphire Harss was one of three children in her litter, her sister Tiana and her brother Quartz being the other two. Her early life isn't very well known, it being mostly uninteresting and typical of a Harss child. The only notable thing was that from an early age it was clear that she was smarter than her brother and sister, learning things a lot quicker. When she was five, her brother Apollo and sister Rose were born.

#### Studies

As stated earlier, Sapphire had shown the capability to learn faster than her brother and sister. Because of this, she quickly got ahead of them in academics, learning things that a Harss of her age wouldn't usually learn. What she gained in academics, she lost in fighting skill, her brother and sister being much better than her.

At around the age of twelve, Sapphire started being taught about the Elements, two years earlier than most Feline Harss children. This prepared her greatly for what her future held, that being the Swordsmen.

#### Joining the Swordsmen

At fourteen, she and her litter siblings joined the Swordsmen. Sapphire was able to skip ahead of her siblings in Swordsmen studies due to having already learned about the Elements and started off by shadowing a Swordsmen Commander. After the required amount of shadowing was completed, Sapphire officially became a Swordsmen, choosing to become a Hunter. It was here that her aptitude for battle tactics began to show.

By the time her brother and sister became Majors in the Swordsmen, Sapphire had become an Officer, being promoted rather quickly due to her tactical ability.

#### Becoming Death

At the age of twenty-five, Sapphire inherited the Element of Death from a far off cousin. She was able to quickly get a handle of her abilities due to the knowledge of her Element provided by the Swordsmen. Her eye color changed from blue to red due to her inheritance.

#### Leading a Siege

At the age of thirty-six, Sapphire and her siblings were invited to attend a Swordsmen meeting consisting of the four Generals at the time and the Swordsmen Leader, being her uncle. The meeting was about the town of Yarrin, which was known for its poor treatment of their lower class and about what their next action should be since they had declined the Swordsmen's offer to take care of their lower class citizens.

Sapphire, who was a commander at the time and not happy with the decision they had come to, which had been to do nothing, spoke out during the meeting, giving an impromptu about how they need to help the lower class of Yarrin and force the mayor to reconsider. This speech managed to sway one General to change their vote, which changed the final decision of the vote to be in favor of doing something about Yarrin. After a few more votes, the Generals had come to the decision of forcibly taking over the guard, taking them over during the night. Sapphire was put in charge of the operation, which had been suggested by her uncle due to her tactical ability.

And Sapphire did so, partially. Again not pleased with the decision, this time being that she thought the whole operation to be too violent. Because of this, she changed the goal of the operation entirely, instead choosing to siege rather then take out. Despite many troops under her opposing this decision, saying that it was impractical, Sapphire went through with it, and in the end, it worked.

#### Later Life

The rest of Sapphire's life is basically unknown, lost throughout the years. She was only really known as the one who led the siege on Yarrin and nothing more. The only other thing known about her is that at some point after the Yarrin Siege, she became leader of the Swordsmen after her uncles death.