Ravka

### Aliases

"Witch of the Wilds"; "The Briar Witch"; "Voodoo Queen"; "Swamp Harpy"; Sheep (by Epione)

## Affiliations

### Relatives

Hekate (Mother)Janus (Father)

Persephone, Epione, Hestia, and Helh (Sisters)

Thanatos, Orpheus, and Phaeton (Brothers)

Hellion, Damien, and Virgil (Maternal Half-Brothers)

Alastor, Renae, and Honiahaka (Paternal Half-Siblings)

## OOC Information

### Theme Song

"Baltar's Dream" - Bear McCreary"Egypt" - Lorne Balfe

## Application Sheet

Ravka is a sooty-furred female with pale lavender eyes and light brown fur on her shoulders and neck, one of the many daughters of Mistress Hekate and Janus. Her littermates were Thanatos, Epione, and Persephone; she has several other siblings from other litters, however, and a slew of half-siblings. She served Vektren as a Magister, intrigued by the 'science' of necromancy and voodoo, and after her live test subject, Eztli, was brought into the pack as a Necrolyte, Ravka vanished from the Domain. She was created and RP'd by Tazihound.

Her other full siblings were Orpheus, Helh, Hestia, and Phaeton. Her half-siblings were Hellion, Damien, Vergil, Alastor, Renae, and Honiahaka.

## Personality

* ***Eccentric,*** ***Faithful,*** ***and Superstitious.*** Ravka is proud of her heritage, her royal blood giving her a bit of a superiority complex, though rank is not as important to her as it is for others in her family. Her lack of ambition and carefree attitude are most certainly scorned by her Mother and Father, that is until they recognize her knack for herbalism. She begins to cultivate an image of being larger than life through her dedication to the Shunned Ones. Ravka garners much contempt for those who fail to bow to the will of Vektren's deities, considering them to be a plague upon the pack. Developing into a studious juvenile, she takes a shine to Magistery, and becomes a sort of child prodigy among the pack, quickly growing to become one of the most enlightened in her craft. As she ages, however, she becomes a bit more estranged from the community, preferring to take up residence alone on the bayou, where she can wholly focus on her task. By the time she is an adult, Ravka is a full-fledged occultist. Ravka is all-consumed with voodoo and necromancy, and attempts to use her abilities to bridge the spiritual divide between the Earth and Vektren’s deities. She fully believes she has the power to conjure the dead and communicate with Senisteros' emotions through self-induced visions. As her craft is her chief focus, she will occupy little if anytime outside of the swampland of the Forlorn Garden, where she tends to her herbal collection den. This has resulted in an eccentric and unhinged wolf, who is a stranger to normal social graces. A major part of Ravka's religious and scientific study involves performing rituals using "potions", or doctored substances. She has specific spells for love, death, and wealth that should bring good fortune to a Vektreni through the worship of the deities.
* ***Influential and Charming.*** Though she falls outside the norm, Ravka is still a gregarious beast, and takes great interest in the affairs of her pack. She manages to gain influence over others by her work as a healer, which gives her intimate knowledge of the buzz within the pack. She finds joy in gossip and small-talk, and is a shameless flirt, though she is rarely sought out for casual company. She garners much entertainment from her clients’ woes, and offers her assistance as a problem-solver and secret keeper. She internalizes all she observes and stores it away as fodder for extortion at a later date. If there’s anything Ravka loves, it’s a good challenge, big or small. She firmly believes that with enough time and resources, she can conquer any objective, and uses her dark arts to help other clansmen do the same.
* ***Shameless, Barbaric, and Theatrical.*** Ravka's patients come to her for practical healing, but also to trade for spices, herbs, oils, potions and the like. Most popular among her patrons is the “cure-all”, a mixture that is said to solve all one’s problems, composed of jimson weed, sulfur, and honey. In exchange for precious items, customers offer Ravka rare herbs, fresh kills, or personal favors, which Ravka utilizes to get others to do her bidding. Though, one is cautioned; bartering with Ravka is said to be as treacherous as cutting a deal with Xibalten herself. She is known to rule her interests with an iron fist. One does not want to cross this sorceress. She can be just as cruel as she is obliging, cursing the name of her enemies and concocting poisons in which to feed them. She is capable of taking lives without the blink of an eye, believing it her birthright to wield the Gods' will. She will then communicate with her deceased victims as she maintains they haunt her from the underworld. Despite her curious behavior and unsettling practices, Ravka has a certain draw, a charm inherited from her prepossessing parents. She has a way of making her patrons feel welcomed and desired as they step into her world. In this way, Ravka exercises great authority within the pack as a practitioner and a necromancer, treating her patrons with glimpses of her glittering underworld.
* ***Unemotional, Unsettling,*** ***Self-Serving and Complacent.*** Though it may be easy to fall prey to her ploys, Ravka’s indisputable charm is not to be mistaken for the safety of her company. She is just as talented at casting curses and devising elaborate schemes as her parents before her. Her clear gray gaze seems as though its peering straight into your soul, in a way that feels she is simultaneously judging and laughing at you. But the truth behind the estranged witch is a character who is very much alone, held prisoner by her own lunacy. Emotional expression isn’t a strong suit, and she will distance herself from any sentiment that isn’t theatrical, especially in front of her clientele. She does not disclose much if any personal information about herself, and as far as her customers are concerned, Ravka will crush the sensitivities of those who she views as inefficient or incompetent, but takes a particular interest in all who seek out her voodoo. Despite her broad musings, Ravka is content with the world she's built. Her home is with Vektren, and her loyalty runs deep, however her first and primary concern will always be her own well-being.

## Pre-Group History

Born from a need to maintain Vektren’s powerful bloodlines (and a bit of lust as well) Janus, Baron Viper of Vektren, sired pups with Hekate, the Mistress of Vektren. After several losses from her first litter, Hekate saw a great need to populate Vektren with a loyal, vigorous following. As the head of the cult, it fell to her to ensure the strength of future generations. Seeing great devotion and authority in the Baron, Janus was selected for the task. Though there lacked true depth of love between them, they did feel greatly toward one another.

Ravka was a happy-go-lucky pup, living off the spoils of her parents and reveling in the fact that she was doted on. She had a false sense of invulnerability and was entirely unfazed by anything beyond her parents' teachings. She remains affectionate with her siblings, and equally loving and respectful toward her parents, cultivating positive relationships with all her family. This does not, however, did not put a halt to making mischief. Ravka’s taste for devilry and tricks began develop when she was young and continues to carry on into adulthood. Much to her parents' chagrin, she never takes an interest in political ascension, nor does she show any signs of a competitive or driven nature. She remains, however, devoted to her Mother's rule and is strongly influenced by her leadership, and Vektren's way of life.

## Group History

Ravka and her siblings - Thanatos, Persephone, and Epione - grew up quickly in the purpose-driven pack of Vektren. Ravka's interests would not be for politics and manipulation, but for herbs (and, more specifically, poisons). She developed an interest in the 'sciences' of voodoo and necromancy, convinced that with enough experimentation, she would be able to accomplish both.

She spent much of her time learning how to be a Magister, experimenting with her herbs and poisons in isolation in the Forlorn Gardens. One day, while she was out there, she discovered a lone wolf had fallen into one of Vektren's pit traps. It was the Witch of the Wild, Ravka, who stumbled upon him, pulling him out of his grave and bringing him to her private den. There she began treating his wounds. His name was Eztli.

Halfway through treatment, Eztli would lay eyes on Ravka for the first time, and be convinced that she is a Vektreni deity in his weary mind. Eztli would become her living test subject. He did whatever Ravka asked of him - he ingested the herbs she presented him for one of her experiments.

These toxic herbs would send poisons through his bloodstream, which would remain for many days and nights. They brought great illness, but they did not kill Eztli. As the days stretched on, he appeared to be healing... but there was one side-effect that would not leave him. The herbs left Eztli permanently blind. Ravka was fascinated by this development. And while Eztli had a hard time adjusting, as the moons passed, he decided that his blindness must have had a purpose - and it brought him a sense of 'clarity'.

Epione would stumble upon Eztli, and upon realizing that he was Ravka's guinea pig, she brought him to Hekate, revealing Ravka's secret.

When Eztli was revealed to Hekate, he was welcomed into the ranks of Vektren as a Necrolyte - and Ravka would vanish without trace. Nobody knows what has become of the Witch of the Wilds, or her reason for leaving.

## Trivia

* Music plays an important part in Ravka’s practice as a Magister. Singing and chanting is among the important rituals as a part of her personal religious worship. Songs have been passed down orally from other wolves, and are often accompanied by paw stomping and howling. Ravka’s hymns are sung to address individual deities, recounting their likes, dislikes, origins and strengths within the lyrics.
* Ravka believes in bodily and blood sacrifice to appease the Gods.
* Her sooty hide is almost always covered in vegetation, specifically Spanish moss, which hangs in mass quantities around the swamp where she dens.
* Her storage den, where she practices voodoo and necromancy, is located deep within the Forlorn Gardens. It is composed of a massive, hollowed-out tree on the banks of the swamp.
* Ravka has an ENTJ personality type, "The Commander," and a chaotic-evil alignment.

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* Tazihound's deviantART Gallery