Psyche Afsolis

Official art by @toadscream

 —Psyche to the Lady of Thorns, pre-Twitch

Psyche Afsolis is the Fated Four's light cleric, previously a worshipper of the Lady of Thorns, and currently one of Pashenai. He is played by Asa.

## Description

### Appearance

Psyche is the shortest member of the Fated Four, coming in at "5'5 on a good day." He is wiry, with shoulder-length black hair and a heavy widow's peak that comes down between his horns. His horns are similar to cow horns. His skin is white, but his arms, legs, horns, and tail are black at the tips and fade into the body as if she dipped them in soot.

Psyche has a lot of body modifications. Its piercings consist of: two sets of lobe piercings, one of which is gauged; an industrial in his left ear; both traguses; her right helix; their left forward helix; a septum piercing, which is gauged; a ring in each nostril; a split tongue, a pierced bellybutton, and another set of piercings that aren't polite to mention. Its tattoos consist of: a gadfly on his chest, an io moth on his right shoulder, the symbol of the Lady of Thorns blacked out on his left shoulder, thornbushes across her upper back, and five small sticks on his left hip. Additionally, his scleras are tattooed. This was done when they were 19, and up until Session 38, they did not remember the color their eyes used to be (yellow).

### Personality

Psyche was a follower of the god of knowledge and madness, and has spent most of his life being trained and guided in her ways of manipulation. As such, her personality is described by many as unpleasant or offputting. To strangers, they usually present as a confused or insane stranger, avoiding attention simply by appearing too weird and attention-grabbing to actually be hiding anything. They frequently use their neurodivergency as a means of making themselves appear intentionally less threatening. Despite this frequently comical facade, they can be frighteningly competent when they drop the act; once, while in the capital city of Targrave, they managed to gain entrance to the criminal group known as The Raven's Court by making the head priest admit to desecrating his own temple (which they had done in front of him, while in his robes) and getting him sent to jail. They were immensely devout before Session 38, and regarded the Lady of Thorns as their saviour and only ally.

After splitting from the Lady of Thorns, Psyche is much more guarded and introspective, less inclined toward acts of chaos, and much less certain of his faith and place in the world. She spends much of her time alone, and is slowly starting to open up to the ones closest to her. His singleminded dedication to knowledge and security is still present, and they're trying to get to the bottom of what put them and their brother in their current position.

## Biography

### Background

Psyche's past was shrouded in some amount of mystery, as they had forgotten much of it after trading their memories away. In Session 37, he realized he was the child of Cassandra and Keio Afsolis, making her Nomos' younger sibling.

What is known is that Psyche grew up in the foster care system in Veritas, Quatrum from a very young age, shuttled between tens of homes until the age of 14 due to her erratic behavior and early-developing visible neurodivergencies. At the age of around 10, they started experiencing visual hallucinations, most of which manifested as a silhouette of a woman at the end of a hallway. After researching, they discovered this was a manifestation of the Lady of Thorns, and threw himself into her service. The Lady took it under her wing, telling him he was her favorite and telling him she was the only one who would ever love him, and by the time Psyche was 14, his family life was bad enough and his service had become so important to him that they ran away to a cult to the Lady in Casidya known as the Order of Oracles.

When Psyche was 18, she was sent to Titan, Inferconium on an unknown errand (revealed in-campaign to be an assignment to keep an eye on the Conduit known as Paranoia) and lived there for four years, until the current campaign began.

## Relationships

#### The Fated Four

**Nomos Afsolis**

 --Psyche to Nomos, revealing they are related

Psyche and Nomos have one of the deepest relationships Psyche has ever let themselves have with anyone besides the Lady of Thorns. He was the first person in the campaign to reach out to them and show them trust, and over time, it has been reciprocated. Before realizing they were related, Psyche canonically felt brotherly affection toward Nomos, though they would likely have never labeled it as that in their own words. Her view of what family is- namely, a mechanism by which abuse is perpetuated- made it incredibly difficult to reconcile the fact that they are indeed blood-related at first, though for the most part, they kept it to themselves. After some time, the two have become thick as thieves, and are jointly trying to reconcile their ideas of faith and family together.

**Flower of Ivory**

Ivory and Psyche's relationship, despite their many similarities, has been consistently tense. At the beginning of the campaign, the two were outwardly hostile toward each other, and much of Psyche's development in interpersonal skills was done in private or away from Ivory. However, over time, as Psyche is starting to leave her shell, she and Ivory have started talking more. Though they might be reluctant to admit it, they have come to consider Ivory a trusted ally.

**Armani Auxilium**

Armani and Psyche are two of the most polar opposites in the Fated Four, and their separate neuroses lead them in very different directions. Despite this, Psyche regards Armani as an ally, and is very fond of their angelic guardian, Dark. Because of that, Psyche frequently messes with them, but would jump to protect them in a heartbeat, and has, many times. In more recent sessions, Psyche and Armani have bonded over small shopping trips and getting obscenely drunk together, and Psyche frequently tries to bother them into admitting their feelings for Ivory.

#### Other

**The Lady Of Thorns**

The Lady of Thorns was Psyche's god, mentor, and her everything, before their split in session 38. The Lady practically raised Psyche, saving them from a series of abusive households as a child and granting them power. Psyche's previous name, Io, was a gift from the Lady in exchange for their original, and Psyche was consistently willing to drop or give away anything for her. They communicated frequently through Psyche's journal, often spoke in dreams, and Psyche has three tattoos related to the Lady despite worship of her being illegal in most places. Psyche was coddled, as much as the Lady can coddle anyone, and was frequently called "favorite" as a result of her privileged position. However, after realizing how much of the Lady's love was a lie, as well as how much of their own past and memories the Lady stole, Psyche was forcibly removed from the Lady's service. Even after finding a new god, Psyche is haunted by her, attempting to reconcile the loss of his purpose as well as his mother.

**Pashenai**

Pashenai is much newer to Psyche than the Lady, and Psyche worries quite a bit about maintaining their relationship, approaching her with a lot more fear than she actually merits. Pashenai is amused and somewhat puzzled by the tiefling, and has been a significantly positive force so far, due in no small part to how low-maintenance and relaxed she is.

**Paranoia**

Paranoia and Psyche have a tense relationship, as they frequently fought over who was the more favored child. Despite Paranoia's immense power, Psyche had no issue publicly and directly berating the demigod verbally, mentally, and in writing. This caused a shockingly small amount of problems, all things considered, but Psyche still resents him, as she percieves The Lady's love of him to be something stolen from her.

**Journey**

Psyche and Journey met early on in the campaign and fell for each other instantly, though Psyche didn't realize the feelings were romantic for a long time, due to their lack of experience. The two frequently "misuse the work stone" by using the Sending Stone reserved for calling members of the Raven's Court to call each other for frivolous reasons. After a few transgressions against the Lady, Psyche was given a command to assassinate Journey as well as a dagger with the engraving "betrayal is a cycle" written in his own cipher. Psyche broke from the Lady before doing this, and has decided that nothing will ever convince them to hurt Journey. Upon returning to Targrave, the two of them officially entered a romantic relationship, and they're slowly but surely working things out.

Psyche is part of the polycule involving Journey, Daera, and Helli, though she is currently only dating Journey, and does not appear to have any romantic interest in his metamours. The relationship is open, and Journey both accepts and actively encourages Psyche to pursue people he finds attractive. The two, despite the odds, communicate very well.

**Kyron**

While Kyron and Psyche did not know each other for long, they were Psyche's first encounter with romance and anything... further than that. Kyron was fond of Psyche and openly flirtatious, and Psyche pursued them, almost leaving the Fated Four to roam the seas with her, but ended up remaining loyal to the party. Kyron has made it clear that Psyche would be welcome working with her or with Caecina, the god she worships.

**Gemma**

Gemma gave Psyche their holy symbol shortly after they met, which Psyche returned in kind with a kiss. The two are not romantically involved, but may have had a brief tryst during their time in Diara. Gemma was the first worshipper of Pashenai that Psyche got close to, and taught her a bit about religious practices and expectations.

## Abilities

#### Feats

(None yet.)

**Languages**

Psyche speaks Common, Infernal, and Undercommon. He also can write and read a cipher of his own design, which has been fully designed by her player.

#### Class Features

Light Cleric abilities:

**Warding Flare**: At 1st level, you can interpose divine light between yourself and an attacking enemy. When you are attacked by a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll, causing light to flare before the attacker before it hits or misses. An attacker that can't be blinded is immune to this feature.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

**Channel Divinity- Radiance of the Dawn:** Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to harness sunlight, banishing darkness and dealing radiant damage to your foes.

As an action, you present your holy symbol, and any magical darkness within 30 feet of you is dispelled. Additionally, each hostile creature within 30 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature takes radiant damage equal to 2d10 + your cleric level on a failed saving throw, and half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that has total cover from you is not affected.

**Improved Flare:** Starting at 6th level, you can also use your Warding Flare feature when a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you attacks a creature other than you.

**Potent Spellcasting:** Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.

#### Racial Traits

* Darkvision- 60 feet
* Hellish Resistance- Resistant to fire damage
* Infernal Legacy- Can cast Thaumaturgy at will, Hellish Rebuke at 2nd level once per long rest, and Darkness once per long rest (all cast with Charisma as a spellcasting modifier.)

## Trivia

* One of Psyche's previous foster families was the Fha'Taid family, with one of the parents named "Ir'Just Fha'Taid" thanks to a "Me? My name?" stream redemption.
* Psyche is canonically intersex.
* Psyche judges the character of NPCs by shaking their hands with incredible speed and strength that belies their low STR and DEX. Very few have ever passed this test; Journey, Kyron, and Lord Ambrose Robinhall are among those who have passed the test, some with flying colors and others scraping by.