Orion Delacroix

Orion Delacroix, known to most as Interfector Black or Avery Black is the leader of the Guardians of the Veil in Ottawa, Canada. Despite her position as leader of the guardians, Orion remains quite adventurous, travelling around the world at a whim; perhaps to serve as Interfector in other consilia or merely to aid in uncovering some sort of Mystery that surfaces and draws her attention.

As Interfector, she is noted to be rather imaginative with her executions, often refusing to outright kill those who are put to the executioner's blade. Often, she will instead give them new purpose- Erase the morally bankrupt being that once was and, in its place, establish a new consciousness with much more capacity and righteousness. These beings serve beneath her within the House of the Crownless.

An epopt aswell as an interfector, Avery Black leads the House of the Crownless under the masque of Sir William Roche directing a shadowy cult from the darkness. This cult is based in Ottawa and runs a small drug dealing ring. Though the cult offers actual psychoactives, it's primary purpose is not the distribution of illicit narcotics, instead it focuses on feeding the Sleepers potent, magical narcotics in order to discern Sleepwalker from Sleeper.

## History

Orion Delacroix was officially born on August 25th, 1947. Her parents were known as Gerard and Ami Delacroix, french immigrants who were escaping persecution, due in part to their participating in the Vichy regime within France during the second world war. Marginally successful, the Delacroix family was somewhat ostracized from society in Ottawa, yet managed to atleast remain on the fringes.

Unfortunately, both Gerard and Ami were entirely mundane in nature, neither had a single drop of magical potential or otherwise. Supposedly. Orion Delacroix was different nearly from her birth, however. A Labyrinth founded on searching for Sleepwalkers among newborn children had taken a vested interest in the young woman, putting an infant Orion through several low-impact tests that would go on to prove an innate gnosis unlocked during the child's gestation period; an unbelievably rare occurrence, the child had been born with an innate immunity to the Curse and the Guardians saw this as a sign.

Unfortunately, the Guardian's attempts at manipulating Gerard failed, although Ami seemed to gravitate towards the Guardians. This rupture in the Delacroix family would grow, further and further until finally Gerard began to turn violent, paranoia eating away at his sanity. With madness gripping at him the man would take a young Orion and flee from North America- Though the Guardians were hot on his tail.

Gerard would flee from country to country throughout the next ten years, giving Orion false hopes of safety, stability... But every time Gerard managed to settle in, someone or something would reveal themselves- Creatures in the night would rise from mirrors and windows and Gerard once again would take the young girl by the hand and lead her off to a far-off place.

All things came to an end, though. Orion and Gerard saw their string of great escapes come to an end off the coast of Chile, when Gerard's true nature came to the surface. The Guardians had believed the family to be purely mundane, though when forced to put Gerard to an end, the susceptor whose purpose it was to hunt down the wayward father and his daughter was astonished to witness the man crumble to dust before him.

This traumatizing experience is, fortunately, just what Orion needed to find her true self within the hellish realm of Pandemonium. The susceptor, whose name was Sir Halford Roche, cared for the young woman as best he could during the time of her awakening... It was painfully long. For three days and two nights the girl sat trembling in a constant state of panic, whatever she saw, she'd keep to herself for the remainder of eternity. However, Orion Delacroix was no more. This began the story of Avery Black, interfector of the Guardians of the Veil.

The supernal world came naturally to her, the Iron Gauntlet guiding her every step through the process. Awakening as a Mastigos often meant that many would inherently distrust her, yet her life as a traveler had given her a knack for manipulation. Around her, trust came to others as readily as lying came to her; her talent with the mind arcanum would grow throughout the next decade until it was actually quite astonishing... What's more, she found herself delving deep within the secrets of Sir Roche's Legacy known as the Judaci... Soon, she would add onto her spheres of knowledge the magics of life and matter... All of this supplemented by a considerable knowledge in the space arcanum. Sir Halford Roche had successfully honed a suitable interfector...

Though the work of an executioner had suited her just fine, Avery would eventually find her thirst for knowledge easily became a thirst for power... Unfortunately for her then-Epopt. She travelled extensively, both on her own and with her master Roche- Throughout the world, she visited consilia and nameless orders, gathering allies, favors, knowledge... Often, she would call upon iron laws and serve as interfector for a consilia who had just happened to find their own interfector 'indisposed'. Avery had been preparing a small army to dethrone the Epopt and, in his place, establish Roche as a sort of puppet. She knew her own interests aligned with his, so placing an epopt who agreed with you on most subjects was as good as leading yourself, yet involved none of the risks.

However, Roche had other plans- The interfector's plan had little in the form of flaws, barring the fact that it relied on the action of Roche himself. As master should do, he sought to teach his student a lesson. He began feeding information back to the epopt, who began sending both sleepwalker and awakened agents to hunt and destroy Avery's carefully crafted connections and, more importantly, Avery herself. This is how Avery learned the secrets of occultation, how she enhanced her shadow name to a point where it is an entirely separate identity from Orion Delacroix. How she denied all forms of sympathy. How she truly hid herself away from even supernal senses.

This mastery of magical stealth would win the day; though her network had taken some hits, the fact that she had masked herself so well, hidden herself so expertly... This gave her the element of surprise she truly needed and, with Roche at her side, eliminated the epopt... Though, when time came to replace him, she looked to Roche and denounced his betrayal- Something she'd uncovered in her attempts to uncover the mysteries of occultation. Sir Halford Roche was banished from the Labyrinth and now solely Avery reigns as both interfector and epopt, having taken on the Masque of Sir William Roche- Her master's son.