Violet Wei Liu

**Violet Wei Liu** is a member of the NYPD's Paranormal Foreign Affairs Bureau, and a former assassin trained his childhood, raised to be a living weapon, who's magic is dedicated to synergizing with their martial arts. Violet is considered one of the most effective hand-to-hand combatants in the Bureau, and was specifically trained to combat magi, an excellent asset to the NYPD's Magic Division.

## Background

Violet was born in America into a family of assassins who honed their bodies and devoted their magical capabilities to taking down any target with nothing more than one’s own body. Naturally much of her life was dedicated to following in the footsteps of her ancestors. Training to kill mages and other individuals that the family may be directed towards.

Her body was put through intense training to be able to compete with the likes of mages and she was taught martial arts to direct that strength. She was also taught things such as the big players in the underground and many of the smaller local players too. Her childhood didn’t look anything like that of a normal individual but she was taught to believe that becoming a living weapon was her purpose.

When she was nineteen her parents decided she was ready for her first job. The target wasn’t too difficult, the job was mostly to make sure she could properly apply her skills in an actual assassination. So she tracked down her target and when he was well isolated she struck. He didn’t stand a chance and soon enough he was at her mercy, but now that she actually had the knife to his throat and was looking him in the eyes she found that she could not do it. She let him go and lied about completing the job. She knew her family would eventually figure it out but it wouldn’t matter because the very next night she packed her things, her cut from carrying out the contract, and left her home.

She wasn’t sure where she would go or what she would do but she knew for certain that after that experience she couldn’t continue with this life or living with people who see that as completely normal. She ended up making her way toward the east coast and eventually to New York City. There wasn’t really any further to go unless she wanted to move to Europe so this is where she ended up settling and that largely unplanned decision would end up changing her life for the better.

Violet spent the first year or so of her new life just working a normal job, determined to settle down and live a quiet life away from the world of assassins. It took some adjustments as her parents had never intended to prepare her for a normal life but eventually, she managed. Whenever people ask about her past and relatives she just says that they were obsessed with martial arts, that they’re not on speaking terms, and that that’s all she’s going to say.

In her second year of life in NYC she was going on a run at night one day when she heard a scream that was suddenly cut off. She hesitated for a moment due to not wanting to risk her quiet life but quickly admonished herself for even considering not helping someone who had nothing to do with turning her into an assassin. So she quickly made her way towards the scream and found someone being robbed by a small group. She told them to back off which initially spooked them but their confidence returned when they realized it was just one random woman who looked like she’d still be in college, so they decided to rob her too. They quickly realized that was the wrong choice.

Afterwards she went along for questioning on what happened and answered as best she could. Given her attempt to de-escalate, a witness who had called the police and the victim giving the same story, plus her refraining from excessive force it was deemed a case of acting in defense of another. She was free to return to a normal life but that moment got her thinking. She had been almost afraid of her skills as an assassin but now she realized that they didn’t have to only be used for such purposes, she could help people like she did that night.

So about a week after that, Violet went to join the police department so she could work alongside law enforcement and crime investigators. She of course went through the training and while some of her skills did convert well she also learned many new things that wouldn’t have been of concern to her assassin family. She took to it well though, being a fast learner, and was able to become a member of the police.

She spent a few years on the force, trying to keep her nature as a magus and almost-assassin hidden. She did her job well and her career as well as her goals were looking good. She thought that might change one day when one of her superiors took her aside for a private conversation but she soon realized this wasn’t about her past but rather her future. He revealed to her the existence of the Paranormal Foreign Affairs Bureau that dealt with the mystical and stated that they wanted to recruit her due to her having helped solve some magic related crimes and having realized that she herself has a mana lobe.

She was surprised to learn that there was such a bureau, when she recovered from her surprise she figured she could offer more by joining the division that requires officers who can deal with magic. So she accepted and became a part of the bureau. She has continued to perform well at her job since then, now able to be more open about her abilities.

## Personality

Violet hates her past of training to become a killer and wants to distance herself from it as much as possible. She’s never told anyone about it, just sticking with her technically true story and not elaborating any further, although some coworkers in the Bureau certainly still suspect the truth. Because of this dislike for her past, she generally tries not to use lethal force when it comes to a fight even if she technically has free reign to engage lethally on any Bureau cases. Still, if it comes to it she will take down someone who would otherwise hurt others.

Although it is something that she has gotten much better at ever since she moved to New York, socialization was not one of the things her parents were too focused on teaching her. She isn’t shy or anything like that, in fact she enjoys interacting with others, but she can miss social subtext and tends to be straightforward. Like responding to questions that were meant to start a conversation with a simple short answer because she thought the other person just wanted to know.

Overall she tends to be a fairly soft-spoken individual. In casual and workplace setting she generally doesn’t raise her voice unless necessary, although she can make her tone rather stern if she feels it’s needed. Combined with her lower-than-average social skills this can sometimes result in her just silently working on her own for extended periods of time, on rare occasions an entire shift. When it comes to dangerous situations though she becomes much more assertive in order to ensure she communicates clearly and quickly.

Violet never does this on purpose but occasionally she can forget to “turn off” her assassin training. This is generally benign in result aside from the occasional person intimidated by her glare. Usually, this just results in her needing to speak with someone and unintentionally approaching them from behind completely silently. More than a few coworkers jumped when she suddenly started talking to them. She always apologizes when that happens.

Although she somewhat neglected it in her first year of normal life, Violet can be a bit of a fitness fanatic. Exercising and pushing herself feels good to her, especially since it’s something she’s been used to doing since she was a child. Often she’ll even get in some light exercise while engaging in usually relaxed things like watching her favorite movies. She is proud of her strength and how she has turned it toward a better purpose.

## Abilities

### Magic

The Liu are a family of mages but unlike most, they do not pursue control over the elements, the ability to turn one material into another, or to move objects with their mind. Rather their magic is dedicated entirely to their martial arts, drawing from, enhancing, and complimenting each other.

Violet is capable of using her magic to greatly enhance her agility, strength, flexibility, etc. She makes weapons stronger than they would be otherwise and can infuse her attacks with further energy. When unarmed she can also turn her own body into a weapon by hardening and strengthening her limbs, allowing them to clash with swords and bullets as well as making it like one is being struck by solid wood or metal rather than flesh. When an opponent is out of range she is versed in techniques both mystical and mundane to close the distance far faster than one would expect, sometimes in a near-instant.

### Physical Ability

The Liu train to make their own bodies into living weapons and while Violet doesn’t agree with their philosophy it is still useful and so she has continued her training. Without using her magic she can vary from being like a top-tier athlete to being a bit beyond the limit of a sleeper. With her magic, she can become only a blur in the vision of a normal human and overall perform feats that would seem impossible to the average person

### Martial Arts

Since she was a child, Violet has been trained to kill mages and other mystical or well-protected individuals with her bare hands if need be. Out of the styles she was taught, she is particularly skilled in northern Shaolin kung fu, arnis, and capoeira. Her fighting style involves a lot of movement and evasion, always being somewhere her opponent wasn’t ready for. Any part of her body can potentially be where her next attack will come from which means she can attack from many different angles that her opponent may not have anticipated when combined with her fluid and acrobatic movements. As part of this training, she also learned to be very stealthy to approach her target unnoticed, accomplishing this through blending in, concealing her presence, remaining out of sight, etc.

### Investigation

A skill that began as a way to track down targets as an assassin but was redirected towards work as a police officer. She is a very observant individual who can connect the dots and come up with plausible theories pretty well. She is also versed in interrogation techniques, some illegal but she never uses those anymore, and can spot a lie or omission from just about anyone

### Equipment

**The Stick**

A weapon provided to her by the Paranormal Foreign Affairs Bureau after they realized her skill in martial arts. It is a metal weapon with three different modes. Most commonly she uses it as dual bastons that go well with her arnis training. The second mode is to connect the sticks into one long staff for some extra reach and power. Finally, there’s the nunchuck mode where it can split into up to 4 pieces, connected by a magical tether that she can extend or shrink at will. All of these modes are also capable of two magical attacks on impact. First is that they can stun the target with a direct hit, second is that it can produce a blast of pure force. On top of this giving her a weapon to enhance her close-quarters combat, the nunchuck mode can also give the weapon long-range capabilities either by lengthening the tether or by letting her throw one of the bastons and then bring it back to her without needing to actually go and pick it up.