Karou Morgan

**Karou Irena Morgan** is a famous mythical political figure. The story of her rise to power has made her something of a heroic figure within modern mythical history. Over the course of her life, she had held a number of different titles, although she is most well-known for her time as the former queen of Enoch. Currently, she serves as a leader of the New Vampiric Republic alongside her sire and fiancee, Warren Howard.

Because of her career, Karou splits her time living between Lockwood, Maine and the Morningstar Palace in Enoch.

*She is an active character within the current storyline. Her faceclaim is Kaya Scodelario.*

## Appearance

Ethereal the word that best describes Karou's appearance. Sired at a young age, she is forever youthful: she will never look a day older than 20, though she is, in actuality, a century older than what she appears. Make no mistake though, while she may seem entirely sweet and innocent on the surface, Karou is anything but that.

In terms of complexion, she is fair skinned and rarely tans (even in Enoch), though her cheeks and nose are covered with a smattering of light freckles. This is offset by her dark brown, nearly black, hair.

All attention is typically drawn to her eyes - hey are large, expressive and a brilliantly bright blue. Their color has often been described as "gunmetal", as they are so light they do in fact appear silver or pale grey depending on the light she may be standing in.

Karou is classically beautiful and while she does possess some Morningstar features (mainly her coloring and eye shape), she is more traditionally feminine with a shy smile and a small figure. At only five feet two inches tall, she is sometimes self-conscious of her shorter stature.

Valuing comfort and beauty about the same, her style is usually casual, but put together. She is never one to be in public looking like she just rolled out of bed or wearing sweatpants, yet she isn't especially picky with her clothes. Karou also seldom wears makeup, but will sometimes wear a little lipstick and mascara if she feels the occasion calls for it. Simply put, she prefers easy, low maintenance looks and is has a rather impressive collection of comfortable sundresses.

### Scars

Karou's neck and shoulders are covered in hundreds of faint bite scars. These are typically most noticeable when she is standing in direct sunlight or when one is looking for them. They are from feeding sessions with her sire and various other vampiric beings. Her most prominent scars however, are not those which resulted from feeding. A single long scar runs down the length of her spine, beginning just a few centimeters below her neck and ending three inches above her tail bone. This was the result of an experimental operation she underwent as a child, in which her parents wanted to have her developing wings removed for little understood reasons. Her wings did develop, however, and they did reveal themselves shortly after she was sired into vampiricy. The two newest scars she bares are, unfortunately, also because of her wings - or now lack-thereof. After moving to Lockwood, she was violently assaulted by Gideon Booth, which caused the necessary amputation of both wings. There is some speculation that biokinetic manipulation could aid in their regrowth, but as of right now, the wounds are still healing.

## Character

Karou has come a long way from her timid, childish beginnings. Once an insecure, seemingly mundane girl from an abusive household, she is now quite the opposite. She is determined and fiercely protective of her family. Her children, sire, and those few she keeps closest to her will always come before anything else. This was not always the case, as Karou learned the hard way during her time as queen just how much one can miss out on when focusing on things other than family.

She is a witty, crafty woman, capable of using quick judgement to get herself out of sticky situations. This was particularly useful when she was Queen, as she was constantly forced to work under pressure. While Karou is not the biggest fan of stress, she does maintain a rather level headed when she needs to. However, there are moments where her emotions get the best of her. In fact, she is overall a very emotional and expressive person. This sometimes does get in the way of her decision making, as she may sometimes make choices based upon intuition and emotional connection, rather than logic and facts presented to her.

Very much young at heart, Karou often comes across as youthful and full of life to those closest to her. Her energy is seemingly limitless, and she is sometimes mischievous and even silly. A lot of her youthfulness can be attributed to her traumatic childhood and the young age at which she was sired; in many ways, Karou never really grew up, and remains naive to many facets of adulthood. While she has her moments of maturity, she does more often than not play the role of the innocent -- something which is as much a blessing as it can be a curse (especially when her children are involved).

### Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Karou has suffered from trauma related anxiety ever since she was a teenager. Her upbringing and involvement in the Mortal Mythical War are mostly to blame for this, although she is somewhat genetically predisposed to acquiring some form of mental instability given her ancestry. For a very long time, her symptoms went undiagnosed, as she denied any of them were actually of any serious concern. However, shortly after the death of her first husband, she experienced a dramatic decline in mental health which caused her to seek professional treatment. Her symptoms are kept at bay through a number of coping mechanisms now, though she is easily triggered by stressful events and extreme sensory overload. When she is triggered, she may experience panic attacks, heart palpitations, headaches, nightmares, and temporary dissociation.

## Species & Abilities

### Species

Born as a descendant of the Morningstar bloodline, Karou is a 4th generation nephilim. As the title of her bloodline implies, she is the offspring of Lucifer Morningstar's only daughter, Cambria. She was raised to believe she was entirely mortal, as she grew up just before the beginning of the mortal mythical war. At the age of 17, she fled her home and shortly thereafter came to realization of her status as a mythical. Starving and homeless, she came across the notorious vampiric blood trader Warren Howard in the wooded area just outside her home at 18. Feeling a call to vampiricy upon growing closer to him, Karou was sired just days before her 19th birthday.

### Abilities

* Precognition; The ability to see the future. Also known as foresight, this is a psychic capabilities. Karou is capable of seeing future events through visions, which may occur during sleep or while she is conscious. When asleep, these precognitions are purely visual and are often mistaken for very detailed dreams. Just like regular dreams, Karou may often forget about visions that may have occurred during her sleep upon awakening. Conscious precognitions may occur in the form of visions or simply as intuitive or emotional experiences. Conscious precognitions typically come without any warning, though may be dangerous, as Karou may often disassociate (or lose touch with reality) for the brief period in which visions occur. When a vision or foresight perception does occur, it is not certain that the event will happen, as circumstances may alter the outcome of events.
* Pyrokinesis; Manipulation of fire. All nephilim possess this ability. Karou also wields a set of Chinese Crescent Blades infused with seraph pyrokinetic capabilities. This is difference from the traditional sword-style use of seraph pyrokinetics.

## Family & Relationships

Karou is the current matriarch of the House Morningstar Under Morgan. She has been married twice in her life, both ending with the death of her husbands. She is currently engaged to her sire, Warren Howard.

* Parents: Melissa & Bryant Morgan - Deceased.
* Sister: Madrigal Morgan - Hell Hound - Physician
* Children: Alessandra, Cassandra, and Matthias Morgan.
* Sire & Fiance: Warren Howard - Vampire - Lawyer, Businessman
* Late/Ex-Husbands: Eamon Tourmaine & Remus Hoftstadt Hemlock

### Relationship with Children

Although she is maternal, Karou has always struggled with motherhood. This is primarily due to the circumstances in which her children were born and raised. In Alessandra's case, she was born just around the end of the Mortal Mythical War into one of the unhealthiest relationships of Karou's life. Although Karou did her very best in bringing up her youngest daughter, it was never easy for her, given she had so much else going on in her life around the time the princess was most dependent on her mother. Circumstances were different with Cassandra, as Karou was settled into her role as queen and had happily married her second husband, but that happiness did not last as a result of Remus' disappearance.

While Karou does love her children very much, she does find it difficult to parent them - especially now that they are fully grown. She has always been more of a friend than a parent, in many cases. A lot of her mistakes in parenting can be attributed to the fact that she herself did not have a healthy relationship with her own mother. Lately, her relationship with her children has taken on some distance, as Karou has stepped out of Enochian society to fulfill some of her other life's wishes - wishes her children do understand now that they are adults, though this doesn't mean they do not seek her out in dire circumstances.

### Relationship With Warren Howard

Karou and Warren's relationship has always been interesting, to say the least. Cliched as it may sound, there was an instantaneous connection between the two of them from the moment they met. Their meeting was Karou's first encounter with the mythical world, and the beginning of a complicated, yet strong relationship that would last the rest of her life.

As fledgling and sire, they are bound to each other beyond the means of simple friendship or typical romantic love. They are in constant contact with each other telepathically, even if they do not intend to be so. Even when separated, they are somewhat aware of the other's location. As some vampiric fledgling-sire pairings do, Karou and Warren are also prone of feeding from each other, however, as Karou's blood is also nephilim, it has addictive qualities which can at times make life more challenging for Warren (especially if he's been feeding from her more frequently than usual)

In Karou's eyes, Warren can do no wrong. She admires him greatly and has always tried to make him proud. Because he is one of the few people that know her entire history, he is sometimes the only person she feels comfortable around. Even when Warren's mood has taken a turn for the distant and cold, she is patient with him.

Over the years, Karou and Warren have been separated from each other both physically and in terms of their emotional bond, however, they always seem to run into each other no matter where their travels take them. Right now, their relationship has become much healthier and much happier than it was previously. After Warren moved to Enoch (after not having seen each other for almost 40 years), they grew close again. Because Karou was Queen at the time, the power dynamic between them was balanced out and they were able to resume a romantic relationship after some catching up.

They are currently engaged to be married - something Karou secretly hoped would happen for a very long time. With Warren currently away in Lockwood on business, she finds herself lonely and missing him a great deal. His absence has left her somewhat depressed, though she tries to keep herself busy to distract herself from these blue feelings.

## Other Facts & Trivia

* Karou's character gets her name from Laini Taylor's novel *Daughter of Smoke and Bone.* In the book, the name means "Hope" in that fictional universe's angelic language. In this universe, it also means "hope" in the seraphimic and Enochian languages.
* Before she was sired, and before she came out of nephilim dormancy, Karou had many food allergies, including tree nuts, soy, dairy, and shellfish. Luckily, these were resolved thanks to her vampiricy. Now she eats whatever she wants, though her favorite food will probably always be pasta.
* She loves bad horror moves and movies from the 1980s - some of her favorite films include *The Lost Boys, The Princess Bride,* and *The Breakfast Club*.
* Had her parents not moved her family out to Montana at the outbreak of the Mortal Mythical War, she would have studied cultural anthropology at Boston University.
* Karou has never really had a specific "best friend". The closest thing to a purely platonic best friend she's ever had was with Warren, her sire, before they became romantically involved.
* Although Karou does not smoke cigarettes all the time, she has been known to steal one or two from Warren when she is either stressed or drunk.
* Karou is partially ambidextrous - although she writes with her left hand, she does mostly everything else with her right hand (eating, driving, etc.)
* Karou cannot cook to save her life. Even when following a recipe, something almost always goes wrong. There is some genuine concern she might actually burn her house down one day when cooking.