Daphne - Speaker of the Unseen

> "Better to be laughed at than wrong."
>
>

**Daphne** is an experienced SWORDS agent and Spooky Witch playbook character who is dedicated to speaking and caring for the Unseen.

She has recently been placed with a new squad, one tasked with keeping peace in the multiverse.

## Personality

Quiet, observant and deliberate, Daphne is known to unsettle those around her as she watches with piercing eyes and a wry smile. Self assured, independent and sarcastically playful at her best, she has a knack for getting people to open up to her - often accidentally. Despite her often blunt advice and smart-ass shenanigans, she truly does care about others. However, the burden of knowledge has made her jaded, and her life, lonely.

Though she does not show it, she seeks connection with others, and fears loosing her last threads of humanity, one day.

## Description

Daphne is a humanoid, appearing to be in her early 30s, with light grey skin, dark grey hair and piercing yellow eyes. She dresses in crisp, tailored black and white clothes, accessorizing with a cape, leather gloves, single earring and purple tinted glasses. Her body is covered in deep purple tattoos, each one a different protective sigil or eldritch bind.

She carries a neat sword on her belt, one which radiates bizarre energy; purple lightning may be seen crackling from it when she fights.

More egregore than human, she has an Unseen form, one very few, if any, of her fellow agents have seen. She transforms into a irrealous collage of limbs, symbols and static.

## History

### Before SWORDS

#### Early Years

Daphne was born a human magician on Kasdeya a few hundred years ago to a large, poor family in one of the few small desert villages. Ignored for her early years, she began making friends of strange desert beings - some Unseen - much to the concern of superstitious villages. Thankful for one less mouth to feed and freedom from the burden of an odd child, her parents sent her with a visiting magician to one of the Hidden Academies.

Despite only being eight at the time, Daphne entered the academy at an older age than most students. Having to catch up in studies, and being a bit of a troublemaker, she struggled to fit into the infamously strict and lethally competitive environment. Criticized by teachers and ostracized by other students, she grew closer to her Unseen friends. One day, she accidentally slipped into the Unseen World. As opposed to being distorted or hunted in this realm, she was adopted into it. From that moment on, Daphne would regularly visit the Unseen when the realities of the Academy became too painful, slowly and unwittingly becoming an egregore herself.

#### The Trigger

During Daphne's teenage years in the Academy, she adopted her tendency for watching - a recommendation of her Unseen allies - and grew into her own unique magical talent. Naturally, this only further cemented her "creepy wierdo" status, even when classmates would come to her, in secret, seeking aid. Soon, born of the misery of this cold place, a rather melancholic egregore began to live within the walls of the Academy, manipulating the reality of the space. Teachers and headmasters *knew* something was magically wrong, but not what. Daphne knew, and tried to explain the nature of this egregore and what they wanted; they assumed it was the mad ramblings of an odd duck.

In an attempt to clear the magical anomaly, the staff, with the aid of some older students, attempted dangerous ritual magic. Daphne tried to interfere, pleading the case of the egregore, pleading that they *don't do this or else.* The ritual went through, and just like that, the school and everyone who lived in its walls, was gone. All that remained was Daphne and a mournful egregore. The being, seeing Daphne as an ally with a particular talent, made a suggestion: "Your talent is to grant wishes, or will be. I can help you grant this first wish of yours, to bring them all back, but if you do this, you sacrifice your humanity, and they will *never* accept you." She accepted. The school and everyone within was restored as if chaos magic had never ripped them from reality in the first place.

Now fully an egregore, something Unseen, Daphne ran away from the school and into the deserts to hone her powers. She was not missed: just another mistake of a magician who couldn't survive the Academy.

#### Adulthood

Her severe, lonely childhood and fragile acceptance among "normal" people has made her feel deeply disconnected from anyone who isn't strange or monstrous. This made most of her romantic relationships brief, or prone to sudden breakups. The closest she came to a permanent romantic engagement was broken off when a chance encounter with the Unseen caused her would be wife to see her true, egregore form. Daphne has yet to allow herself to be that close to a Seen person since feeling such rejection. Thankfully, despite the greyed skin and yellow eyes of her adult form, such physical variations aren't *that* weird on Kasdeya!

Even among magicians on her home planet, Daphne's job is unique, she grants wishes. Daphne wanders, and when the time is right, a client will find her seeking aid. As a diviner, she can see what wish they *need* granted, regardless of what they *want*, and use her reality bending powers to make it come true. There is, however, always a price that must be paid . . .

Walking both Seen and Unseen realms, she is a Speaker for egregores. Daphne forms bonds in which they offer her some aid or power, and in exchange, she offers her services as a caretaker. The egregores she shares bonds with are indicated via the tattoos on her body. The service typically takes the form of ensuring the egregore remains fed and speaking on their behalf. Should an egregore become too dangerous, she does have the ability kill them as a Speaker, though it is rare.

### Joining SWORDS

Daphne’s very existence and nature is anomalous. Many decades ago, SWORDS took notice and offered her a position. The offer was, in part, born out of SWORDS' concern for Daphne's ability to vanish from the multiverse radar. She accepted . . . though with some of her own motivations in mind. She does her job well but has a bit of a reputation around the base. Occasionally, she will leave to wander the multiverse, granting wishes and feeding egregores. She will simply disappear one day only to return days, or years, later.

## Trivia

* Her oldest friend is a small porcelain creature named Aisling. She is able to psychically influence those around her to feel safe and at ease. Daphne has spent many hours gossiping over tea with her.
* Many other SWORDS agents are afraid, or at least wary of Daphne. It's never clear how much she knows about each of them and what she does with that information.
* Her SHIELD foil is Vera, a magician who works with magic of order and control, rather than chaos.