Illyria

*God-King of the Primordium*

* Overview
* Sheet
* Background
* 'Ships
* Logs

Illyria is an Old One, one of a number of ancient demons and former rulers of the world. For a time, she slept in the earth. Then she was resurrected and took over a host. Then the world went to disaster. Then she moved herself back in time, and now -- power drained by the effort -- she affiliates with Angel Investigations. For many complicated reasons.

## Personality

Illyria is known for being direct and forceful, more than anything else. She is tremendously perceptive as a matter of course, something which escapes many who do not know her. Unless she is pretending to be human, she generally gives the impression of being utterly inhuman. She seems to express things in a plain manner, regardless of how uncomfortable they may be for anyone else. While she can sense the feelings of others, that is the start and end of her empathy; she often finds human reactions and sensibilities frustratingly unreasonable and prefers logic and reason without undue emotional attachment.

## SKILLS

Illyria is a warlord from the time of the Old Ones. Her ability in combat is matched by few, especially in the modern age. Both armed and unarmed combat is a joy for her, and she is truly fearsome when she is loosed upon her enemies. She enjoys combat and conflict; they give her focus and meaning.

Illyria, though having been essentially absent for quite some time from the world, still possesses a tremendous knowledge of things, though not all of those may be relevant or even exist anymore. She does have a great capacity for learning, however, and does it quickly; this somewhat balances out the outdated information and figurative distance from the modern world.

As an Old One, Illyria is highly knowledgeable in the various fields of the occult simply due to the nature of her existence. However, because of her history and essence, she's even more aware of cosmic connections and the networking of the magic world and able to employ magic at a fundamental level. Occult studies are simplicity to her, and her experiences have revealed truths most humans could not even comprehend. On a similar note, because of her nature and experience, things that would be incomprehensible or shatter the sanity of most humans don't even affect Illyria slightly.

Illyria is an indomitable strategic commander. She is able to plan to an extensive enough degree that the average person would never notice any plans beyond the surface. Perceptive to a profound level and foresightful as well, she typically maintains planning to a level that would at least allow for her survival in a worst-case scenario.

Illyria is incredible with her ability to manipulate others, especially in undermining the authority of others. Whether using fabrication or fact, she can present her stance with such potency that it is often profoundly able to move those who behold the presentation. Other authority figures will often find it exceptionally difficult to command a greater degree of power than Illyria, if she desires it.

## CASTING

Illyria has a fundamental grasp of sorcery and can employ basic magic and even counteract magic in a basic manner. Her understanding allows her to put the building blocks together for a more complex accomplishment or even counterattack, although it may take her a period of time to analyze and extrapolate what she needs from what she understands.

## POWERS

Illyria possesses the ability to sense the emotions of others, to read and interpret them by empathic impression. She can extrapolate from this information as extensively as she wishes, and not insignificant experience has enabled her to cultivate a decent ability to do so.

Illyria can, by force of will, project her essence into crystalline form which, when triggered, will essentially infect any suitable host and allow her to possess that host. This process is extremely uncomfortable for the host, whose body will be altered to accommodate Illyria's greatness as much as possible. It can potentially be stopped by a sufficiently knowledgeable and powerful application of magic, but it is far beyond any conventional technology. The essence is highly virulent and conscious; it may even choose to attempt to possess a host when its initial choice is endangered. It can potentially interface with any possible host, but any host with a supernatural or magical quality may complicate matters and make it harder for Illyria's essence to take hold.

Illyria is unable to be killed by conventional methods, and she tends not to find any of them particularly painful or even interesting. Supernatural attacks are a different story, but she generally tries to avoid those wherever possible. She is not especially attuned to physical sensation unless she chooses to focus on it, but due to her healing ability, she generally doesn't have to worry that much about those things.

Illyria is effectively immortal as an Old One, which also makes her resistant to things that would drive away or might even kill a lower-level demon: she cannot be banished by a ritual of exorcism, nor driven away by a cross, holy items, and so forth. Similarly, she can be in a church or have holy water or fire applied to her form, and it cannot defeat her, even if it might make her uncomfortable. As an Old One, Illyria is not the average demon and as such, even demonifuges that would work against them cannot be guaranteed against her. Incidentally, her presence may cause the upset of animals and even elements; for example, her screams may cause thunder and her approach can cause seismic tremors of a serious level. This is not an effect manifested by force of will, but simply a side-effect from her very existence. As a demon, she is able to recognize others of her kind and can perceive the true form of not only demons, but also other supernatural beings in possession of hosts, including angels. She is able to perceive and to comprehend these forms fully and without any damage to her psyche. Outside of the wide array of angels and demons, most especially ones requiring possession to interact well with the physical world, she is generally able to sense other non-human beings, though she may not always know exactly what makes them non-human or their nature, especially if there is effort in concealing it.

Additionally, Illyria is also able to perceive things that others might not, such as the flow of time and disruptions in it. Her perspective on the world and the universe is grander than most other beings, and so she is able to put together details that may seem otherwise unrelated to others, or incomprehensible to them. If shifted in time, she is likely to be able to remember the experience and the timeline she existed in before alteration; she can also comprehend temporal manipulation and, given the opportunity, potentially trace it back to its source. This also applies to alterations of reality itself, though far-reaching and powerful enough changes may escape her notice.

Illyria possesses tremendously enhanced strength, stamina, and endurance due to the makeup of her body. She does not require food, water, or sleep, and can easily endure ordeals that would kill any human. She is also immune to extreme temperatures and cannot be harmed by fire or ice, though her lack of sensitivity also means she is not always as aware of physical sensation as a human might be.

Illyria has some small influence over plants, though it is generally little more than the vague ability to encourage or discourage natural growth, over a period of time. She can, however, communicate with plants easily and with little effort. She can only communicate with plants in her immediate area, which would at most be a sizable greenhouse in distance. It is difficult to translate plant communications directly, since they are so different from human life, but she can usually approximate the meaning if necessary. Most plants have a completely different sense of time than humans, which also factors into the difficulty of communication between them.

Illyria can adjust her appearance enough to seem to be -- superficially at least -- her host, Winifred Burkle. For a time, as long as she maintains it, she can appear much as Fred would, at least physically; however, if she is forced to maintain it for long, eventually her inhuman qualities can tend to show and those who know Fred would be able to distinguish her from their friend. Her shapeshifting cannot account for things that would fool enhanced senses, though; most people with enhanced senses would be able to tell immediately that there was something very different and very not-human about Illyria.

By touching a possessed humanoid, Illyria may exorcise them from the possession of a lesser demon. To perform this without risk, she must be able to touch the possessed humanoid at the throat, a traditional seat of the soul. However, this is not essential, and the more inferior the demon, the less risk it requires; menial demons are barely a consideration, though more major demons will present a greater challenge and risk to the host.

By force of will, Illyria may traverse some distance. Teleporting with objects on her person does not require a significant amount of focus, but attempting to teleport herself with passengers will require far more and can be disrupted more easily. Line of sight teleportation is easiest of all and typically guaranteed to work.

## ADVANTAGES

Though she is more a for-now ally than a true friend, Illyria wears a familiar face and Angel is aware that perhaps the wisest place for her is where he can keep track of her. As such, Illyria can usually depend on Angel and his allies to help where needed, and Angel can usually depend on Illyria's caprice to at least occasionally motivate her to lend a hand with his troubles.

If she needed them for some purpose, Illyria maintained favorable relations with the Knights of Hell, including Abaddon, Demogorgon, and a very few others over the years. Though they have scattered to the winds, and some are currently indisposed, any Knights of Hell currently living in the world are highly likely to respond to Illyria's need, though naturally, she would only do this in a time of great necessity; assembling such a powerful group of dangerous demons is not something to be done lightly.

## WEAKNESSES

Illyria is as alien to the human world as a human would be in the World of Only Shrimp. She looks human, speaks in a human way, and even engages with the world in identifiably human ways, but she is nothing of the sort. There are things she may not understand that most humans would, and there are risks and dangers that she may not recognize, either to herself or humans around her, that most humans would. While she can at times draw on the residual memories and feelings of her host, she is also prone to making mistakes that an average human would avoid. This can compromise her plans and show her to be, at the very least, not just a regular person.

Angelic power is a threat for Illyria, and although not every angel would be able to match her ability or even threaten her significantly, virtually any angel could potentially incapacitate her for a period of time.

Ancient and powerful, Illyria's presence alone can potentially change the entire course of events. Because of this, she is generally very choosy about her affiliations. There are groups that exist who would like to see all her kind sealed away and forgotten. Others may seek power with their bits of knowledge and ignorance of risk. Both, and most degrees between them, are ultimately of little use to her. She generally prefers to employ discretion and only act strategically, which usually gives her the advantage of surprise and foresight. This can mean that she will refuse to engage in a situation that she believes may be strategically unsound for her or compromise her existence.

Rituals able to "cure" a demon by turning them human can affect Illyria, although they affect her differently since she is not of human origin. It's unknown exactly what the outcome would be if such a ritual were inflicted upon her, but it's likely that her powers would be reduced significantly, if not eliminated entirely; she might also risk being ejected from her host or rendered very vulnerable indeed and in need of a host again.

Illyria is unable to escape a devil's trap unaided and has her powers drastically diminished when caught within one, though she is not entirely powerless in its bounds.

Holy fire and water are extremely painful and incapacitating, although they are neither fatal nor able to cause grave injuries. However, they are significantly painful enough for Illyria to flee them rather than endure them.

To say Illyria has a reputation is putting it mildly, although only those who know of the Old Times would really understand the full power of that reputation. Those who dig deep and have the resources to do so may find out what she was up to in the Old Times, which can tempt all kinds of unfortunate things, from aspiring cult leaders to misguided crusaders for good wanting to try and stamp out demonic influence. Still others, who may remember her from those Old Times, probably fought Illyria and her forces at some point or another. If they're beings who are as long-lived as Illyria, they may hold a grudge that they have held for eons and attempt to pick up old wars in the modern age. After all, even if the window-dressing has changed, it's still their world.

Illyria may be incapacitated temporarily by certain potent spiritual weapons. These are typically weapons that have been dedicated to the specific purpose of fighting demons or in some way opposing supernatural entities. She cannot be killed or destroyed by these weapons, as lesser beings may be, but they can stop her long enough at least for someone to escape from her immediate area. Certain types of energy and spiritual connection in these weapons may cause grievous agony enough to incapacitate. These must be of a suitably opposed alignment to Illyria's origin and unquestionably pure to have such an effect.

In the Old Times, the world was ruled by the Old Ones, demons of formidable potency. Their world was one of regular, almost constant conflict, and one of the greatest and most feared and revered warlords was Illyria. In these times, the forces of Illyria commanded great power, a worshipful nation encompassing vast legions. But all was not to last, and eventually, Illyria was betrayed and, albeit temporarily, killed and sealed in a sarcophagus stored in a magical graveyard of sorts called the Deeper Well.

Millennia passed, and Illyria's worship endured. Eventually, a cultist dedicated to Illyria liberated the sarcophagus and arranged for Illyria to take a host and thus be reborn into the world; however, Angel and his team were able to stop the cultists remaining, and Illyria was devastated to learn that her realm had not been sealed against the intrusion of time. Her army had become a memory, only dust now, and she was an ancient thing out of time and alone.

When a demonic virus was released and proliferated, an apocalypse-level event, Illyria was finally invigorated by a bracing challenge. She took to fighting the packs of what were essentially demonic rage zombies. In time, however, she grew bored with only the same challenges. Using a tremendous amount of power, she shifted herself back in time. Sapped by the effort, she nonetheless knew she had to find Angel and his team. If nothing else, they would relieve the tedium of a meaningless everyday existence.

Logs featuring Illyria:

*Coming soon!*