Elara (ShadowOnTheSkyline)

*"Fuck off." - Elara*

Foul-mouthed, an asshole, and disinclined to let issues slide, Elara is a ghoul Bound to the service of an enigmatic Alchemist whom she serves as a thief and a spy in seemingly endless political feuding. Despite her nature and her job, Elara has very firm moral opinions, and will argue viciously with anyone trying to encourage murder or slavery. Her views on Other bigotry vary.

## Appearance

Half-Japanese, entirely British, Skyline looks like a young girl. She's small, thin, and seemingly starved, with rough-cut dark hair. When damaged, genuinely starved, or otherwise forced towards Death, Elara develops long claws, and eventually long spurs of bone forcing their way out of her body.

## Capabilities

Entirely mundanely, Elara's a skilled pickpocket, lockpick, and gymnast; her favoured past-time is parkour, with a great deal of expertise in second-story work.

As a Near-Death-Experience ghoul, formed due to holding onto life long past the time she should have given up the ghost to injury, Elara literally gets stronger and more resilient the more injured she is; hits harder, moves faster, heals quicker, ignoring any non-crippling damage and able to act despite normally crippling injuries. Her claws and teeth are viciously sharp.

As a ghoul, Elara Sees Life and Death, with the rest of the world rendering in greyscale. These are the Fundamental Pillars themselves; Death lets her recognise corpses, ghosts, and the fading influence of necromantic magic alike, as well as giving her sensitivity to the health and liveliness of living creatures from her Sight of Life (among other things).

She lives on flesh, most preferably the flesh of humans either dying or freshly dead by violence.

Her weaknesses are the same as any ghoul's, salt, running water, sunlight, and notable symbols of Life like holly - or notable symbols of Death like decapitation, with these influences skewing her natural balance out of whack. Her ability to manage such weaknesses is dependent on *continual* and consistent maintenance of her spiritual balance by encouraging Life and Death to remain about equal - this is most easily done by ensuring that she feeds on flesh from both the living and the dead, but technically anything that encourages Life or Death could work.

## Max

Max is a perfectly ordinary golden retriever, who came out of an alleyway shortly after Elara made a post about wanting a dog and promptly attached himself solidly to her, remaining completely loyal and obedient to her. His origins are unknown (and also spoilers, jeeze, don't click), as are his full capabilities, but observed factors include:

* Under Skyline's Sight he looks like *Death*, not Life
* Under Neon's Sight exceptionally strong
* Hypoallergenic
* Sensitive to salt
* Can participate in Awakening rituals as an Other

He's as capable of parkour as an extensively trained hound, and can respond to most commands.

## History

### Backstory

First described on public chat on the 29th of May 2021, Elara's history is simple and painful. Her father was a drunkard who beat her whenever she went against his wishes - which included uninvited noise - and her mother was abused to the point of being a shadow. A poor family, Elara was kicked out as a child to steal... where she met her best friend Vance, who eventually talked her into running away from home during her early teens. During that period Elara fully settled into being a thief, perfecting her current skills, while Vance perfected the art of being a conman. This lasted until the pair tried to steal from a gang, and their luck ran out.

Vance was an Aware characterised by unnatural lucky breaks and a particular skill with card tricks; actually doing something major, however, broke his pattern and made their luck shatter. He managed to get lucky by abandoning Elara to the gang's mercy; they nearly killed her. Perhaps they would have, except Vance called Slither, and he took her away, and then she was a ghoul Bound to his service in return for a constant supply of corpses.

### OMO

Elara introduced herself to OMO by asking for advice on acquiring a dog despite her issues with animals, ending up with a number of interesting answers of varying usefulness.

Her time in public chat has varied a lot.

Her first in-person meeting was to participate in Mia's Awakening, receiving a gift from the dabbler afterwards.

She later traded Death for a taste of apple turnover with StarryEyedSeer.

25 June...

#### Friendship of Neon

After the two had become more cordial, they met up for a fight at Sanctuary which went quite well.

The two started a surprisingly friendly series of messages.

Elara eventually arrived at Sanctuary, outside of which she met Mariette. This being their second meeting, the two found out that meeting in person was horribly awkward and dearly pleasant, Elara suffering through the pains of a deepening crush while Mariette primarily concluded that she must be pleasantly ill.
In Calvarn, the two lovesick fools spend time together and have to deal with... other issues.

(There are still various internet conversations, of course)

About a week after reaching Calvarn, Mariette and Elara manage to get an interview to let the ghoul visit, after which they meet Briallen and then go for a rooftop run; Elara also pranks her crush.

During the club grill, there is a certain confession.

## Trivia

Elara's original incarnation was as a Dalish Elf in a Dragon Age fanfiction.

Were she alive, Elara would get seasick. As she is undead, she merely would suffer horrible burns from being touched by salt water.

Relevant music includes Sorry, Who I Am, Breaking the Habit, Up In Flames, Iridescent, I'm Not Alright, Breaking Inside, A Reason To Fight,

Appropriate relevant romantic music (or for a crush)