Aileen Loyhrs

## General Information

### ☯**Personality**

Aile goes out of her way to appear friendly and personable no matter the situation. She treats all fights like the easygoing games they are and tends to unironically applaud her opponent, priding herself as an honorable warrior who rarely makes the first move. It's rare to see her lose her cool, but even then, she is very calm and deliberate in expressing her anger.

She also almost never explains herself, preferring to have others figure it out themselves. Whether she has some long-standing plan in effect or just fooling around is a constant question... though it's usually the latter, and she becomes much more straightforward when she's upset. Tries to maintain an air of mystery and cunning, but it's not always surprising when she fails to live up to it, and so she tends to deflect questions directed at her. She likes to think that she's above being a brash hotheaded warrior - deep down, she isn't really all that above it.

### ☯**Appearance**

Stands at 5'3 with shoulder-length hair various shades of black and white, pulled into a low ponytail. Wears her old Hunter's garb: a white dress shirt and a calf-length light blue dress, plus a blue duster coat with yellow trimmings. The coat itself came with lightly armored shoulders and gauntlets. Often wears a wide-brimmed hat, the same color as her coat.

She has dark brown eyes and somewhat pale skin like her son, though Aile actively makes an effort to come off as friendlier and more approachable in her expressions and posture. Old, but dedicated training has kept her in decent shape. Carries a white cane with a detachable handle, but there's no blade attached to the handle or a space inside the cane to store one. She also owns a claymore of her own, commonly worn slung over her back.

### ☯**Theme Songs**

* Castlevania Harmony of Despair - Heart of Fire (Battle)

## Story

### ☯**Divine Storm King**

Aile's return to Gensokyo, marked by a powerful rainstorm that lasted over the course of several weeks.

## Relationships

### ☯**Darius Loyhrs**

Aile's son, though she has some reservations regarding his status as a Harbinger. Even so, the two are on good terms, and he makes frequent stops by the Misty Lake to visit her and vice versa.

### ☯**Goukei Zanshiku**

An abrasive kishin and Harbinger whose link to Aile oscillates between long-standing rival and direct nemesis. They agree on almost nothing with extremely clashing mindsets to the point that they will often fight within minutes of encountering each other. Naturally, Goukei prides himself on being one of the few people still capable of pushing her buttons so well.

### ☯**Yukari Yakumo**

Another member of the Council of Sanctuaries. Aile holds deep respect for her as Gensokyo's representative, but at the same time treats her as a close friend from many years past. While she can't always keep pace with Yukari's plans or decipher the intent behind her actions, Aile tends to trust her to make the right decisions.

## Abilities

### ☯**Ability to Manipulate Water**

While her physical status has heavily deteriorated since her prime, her magical abilities have not. Aile's control over water is arguably the most refined in existence.

She manipulates all three states of water, though the range shortens with each state. Water vapor can be controlled at almost any range, liquid water at long range, and ice only in medium or close range. If it's within range, she can also force water to retain a certain state of matter or return it to that state even when heated or cooled; attempting to vaporize or freeze her water within her effective range is an exercise in futility for most. She can also pull water moisture from the air for use in her attacks, though her options are limited in this manner.

Aile typically forms a sword using her cane's handle and a blade of ice. With no imperfections in the ice, it turns completely clear and nearly invisible, and its variable length makes it difficult to assess the range or even location of her attacks in combat. The ice blade can also be used as a waterjet cutter with a powerful stream of water running along the edge of the blade and abrasives taken from inside the cane, though this renders it visible (and loud).

While usually slow, she can form a layer of water under her feet and control that, allowing her to skate across a battlefield at high speeds... or simply to get around a little faster in her daily life.

When humidity allows it, she can align water in the air in certain paths and break it down into hydrogen and oxygen, using her other magical abilities and a special iron built into the base of her cane to light it as a rudimentary means of performing fire magic.

If the skies are cloudy, she can bring them over the battlefield and forcibly trigger rainfall and storms. Given enough water, she can even build static in the clouds and bring down lightning with high accuracy. If necessary, she can gather vapor in a vast radius around her to manifest these clouds on her own and proceed to use them normally or as another water source.

### ☯**Divine Magic**

While she focuses more on barriers and sealing magic, Aile can imbue water with divine properties to generate large orbs of holy water. Her variant gradually burns over time and moves very slowly, but also has extremely efficient homing and phases through most danmaku unharmed. Upon making physical contact with a living target, it ruptures in a burst of blue flame.

She uses a defensive fighting style highly reliant on counters and reversals with all of her weapons, casting protective spell circles to block attacks and then retaliating. Capable of casting exceptionally durable barriers with high speed and minimal cooldown, giving Aile a powerful tool that can potentially lock down an opponent's offensive options with minimal chance of regaining the upper hand.

## Danmaku

Rather than invoking danmaku herself, she often lets it fall from the sky or forms construct at range to do her fighting for her. In fact, much of her water-based danmaku is rarely produced by her personally and instead maintains a heavy flow of water around herself, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.

Her favorite form of attack is a semi-random "rain" of danmaku as a background complement to directly-aimed fireballs or thunderbolts. The former is notable for its ability to "home in" on enemies, as Aile can direct it through the air as she pleases to chase down enemies. However, the high speed of the fireball and fast dissipation of any tracks she lays out for them makes it hard for even her to control perfectly.

## Spell Cards

 Hellgate Sign "The Devil's Tongue"
 Regal Storm "Thunder Hammer"
 Purge of Sin "Raising Noah's Ark"
 Galeforce "Storm Surge Neptune"
 Avalon Form "Atomic Freeze"
 Avalon Form "Virtuous Divine Temperance"
 Avalon Arcanum "Open Heaven's Gate"
 Last Word "Daughter of Excalibur"

## Weaknesses

### **☯Ability Mechanics**

She has a significant reliance on deception, learning to control ice, fire, and thunder in order to give off the image of manipulation over natural phenomena. If her "elemental abilities" are analyzed and deciphered, they can be easily countered. Her fireball burns hot, but brief, and her lightning takes several seconds to prepare for firing and cannot shift targets during that time, allowing opponents to move out of the way when they notice the building static. Furthermore, her ability is very "low-priority"; save for pure liquid water, anyone else with specialized control over her elements will almost always be able to gain control in a battle of magic will. Any ice she uses against Cirno would be useless, for instance. Her power is also strictly water manipulation - it lacks the ability to freeze danmaku like Cirno's variant.

Despite spending her whole life honing it, she can't/won't use her manipulation of water to perform blood magic on others, so you can stop worrying about that.

### **☯Physical Limitations and Close Combat**

For all of her power, her body remains strictly human - one stricken with age and a debilitating sickness. Her physical potential is very low, meaning she will almost always lose in a battle of raw strength. Once stripped of her weapons and forced into close combat, her ability to fight physically is heavily compromised. Her typical movement speed is low, as she relies heavily on her water manipulation to provide much of her defense and almost all of her mobility. Though she can use her waterjet blade to hack through most materials with ease, Aile makes a point of using it within close range to ensure she has control over it, and most other barriers can resist it effectively.

## Trivia

* Not good with alcohol. She has a particular dislike of strong sake.
* The majority of her stronger spell cards are supporting spells or buffs of some sort.
* A very good baker.