[Michelle]

Amelia de Lacy (Emily)
46
Female
Lucin
Engineer, Miner

Spoiler

The Orphanage and Birth (0-12)
A year before the war of Veld, a dying Lucin woman in labour stumbled into one of Aerstone’s churches. She called for the priest, who called for the midwife, who helped the woman deliver her child. The new mother, who was a beggar, died. The priest baptised her baby as ‘Emily’. Emily was sent to the orphanage, which was on the ‘poor side’ of Aerstone, a city in the Celestial Realm. Despite being funded by the church, the orphanage was only slightly better than being homeless because you could at least guarantee an education, and a bare minimum of food on most days. This is where Emily grew up. She’d attend daily lessons which educated her on basic literacy, numeracy, common language, religion, and element control, and once a week she’d attend church.

As she grew older, she was given housekeeping chores such as cooking and cleaning to prepare her for whatever job the church was going to assign her when she would turn twelve – that is, when she would be old enough to leave the orphanage. For Emily, it was an upbringing that wasn’t great, but it could’ve been much worse; there were plenty of people to interact with, but she lacked the individual love and affection that the standard child would get from their parents. There were also plenty of hungry nights and begging on the streets after lessons were finished for the day. Emily hated begging; it was a constant reminder that she was worthless to the rich, that her prayers and suffering were too insignificant for acknowledgement. This made her a cynical and bratty child, with a mild resentment for those who had her envy: the rich, the priests, even Rhise herself. She felt ignored by them all, and yet more deserving than them all; after all, she had been through much more than any of them.

At the age of eight, Emily dropped the begging act and began to do something common amongst her older counterparts; she thieved. It started with Oscar. He was eating an apple that afternoon, and a few more bulged out of his coat pockets; this coat was too warm for such a hot day. Instead of asking where he had obtained the apples, she merely followed him the next time she saw him leave the orphanage in the same coat. This act lead her to the people she would call her ‘buddies’. They were the kind of buddies who weren’t really your buddies, the kind who would abandon anyone who got stuck on the farmer’s fence whenever they stole produce. But despite being told this, Emily remained. There was something new and exciting about thievery; she had control over something, something that was significant enough to someone else, and that was enough to make thievery worth more than extra food. She had power. And so Emily fell down the slippery slope. From the age of eight to the age of sixteen, petty theft became petty crime. She was never caught during this time: not by the church, not by the orphanage, and not by the guards.

The Estate and Arrest (12-16)
At the age of twelve, Emily grew too old for the orphanage, and was sent to live under a lord’s estate as a servant. As one could imagine, this did not improve Emily’s bitter resentment for the upper-class, and it did not improve Emily’s behaviour. She was regularly beaten for disobedience, which made the other servants avoid her out of fear of association. For Emily, there was nothing to turn to other than her ‘buddies’, and the life of crime she had built for herself during the night. Whenever night came, she trespassed, and stole, and arsoned, and vandalised, and punched people out until a large stash of gold was found in her sheets. Emily had stolen it from the lady of the estate, who was the current head of the house because her husband was recovering from the Veld war. Emily hated this woman; she was spoilt, ignorant, and hypocritical (and ironically, Emily would become this woman). ‘Those poor, poor souls,’ the lady of the house would say as she ate swan meat, her favourite meal, in front of her starving and unpaid servants. Her slaves. ‘Enslaved by those filthy blood-eyes for thirty years... and now they go to war for us. May Rhise have mercy!’ She was the embodiment of the upper-class, and it followed that Emily wanted to ‘punish’ the woman. Unfortunately however, Emily didn’t think about this unemotionally, and so she rashly hid her stolen gold. You know the rest of the story.

The Convict Mines and Surviving (16-26)
When Emily was caught, she was immediately arrested and sent to the Middle Realm as a convict. She was sixteen years old, and the purges had just ended. Emily was now in a small convict settlement by the mountains. It was a place where convicts from all over the Celestial and Middle Realms were put to work in mines; prisons everywhere were now emptier, and the Celestial Kingdom recovered slightly from the financial loss of the Veld war. Emily spent the next ten years in this convict mining settlement. It was a ruthless and unforgiving place; everyone was looking out for themselves, and the guard was corrupt. If enough people didn’t like you, then they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you in a cavern deep in the mines and say it was a dusk spawn, or a cave in, or a nasty fall. It was the kind of environment you could only thrive in if you were useful to others. Accomplishing this was initially difficult for Emily; as an orphan, people thought she was worthless from the moment she was born, and the situation did not change when she entered servitude and criminal activity. But here at the convict mines, she had to show she was anything but worthless to the guards and other convicts. However, Emily wasn’t particularly good at anything, so there wasn’t much for her to offer. Luckily for her though, the mines were roughly nine parts Mesalian and one part Lucin. This meant what little ability she had in the elements was a rarity, and if she could just be good enough at manipulating one of them, she would ‘make friends’ easily.

Any semblance of innocence was abandoned quickly for survival. She started banding with the other Lucin convicts, who taught her to channel Aether as a means of combat, healing, and light. She was also taught to how and where to punch a dusk creature in case the former didn’t work. She gradually improved in her mining skills, which upped her productivity, which then put her in a good light with the guards of the colony. She learnt to manipulate those around her to guarantee her own safety, her own stability, her own control over the situation. Within the first six months, she had power of the lie, the half lie, and the truth wrapped around her fingers. She became cut-throat and dangerous. She became a struggler, a survivor, a clinger to power, and when she was eighteen, she decided nothing would stand in her way. Not the guards, or even the entire Celestial Realm. You see, she had just been told that her sentence had been extended for another five years. Sentences were always extended for one reason or another; the Celestial Realm needed their resources. Numerous convicts died while serving their sentence. Although the control she now had over the other convicts was alluring and comforting, Emily needed her freedom. In the mines, she was nothing but a slave; she might as well have been Mesalian. Plus, freedom was what she, the misfortuned, the survivor, deserved. Originally, she had it all planned out; she would serve her sentence, then leave the settlement and return to the Celestial Realm, but she wouldn’t return to servitude. She would be a miner, a miner who actually got to keep what she had mined. She would work hard and have an estate of her own. She just needed her freedom. But now, Emily knew she wasn’t going to have her freedom unless she escaped.

From the very start, it seemed logical to her that her only chance of getting out was with the runes. She was only vaguely familiar with them; the minecart system was powered by runes, and she had seen the engineers who built them use little stones to disappear, to move around the mines at a blink of the eye. The other convicts called them ‘home runes’. She spent the next few months ‘befriending’ a Mesalian before letting him in on her plan. He agreed to kill two engineers, take their home runes, and escape with her. Unfortunately for him, Emily let him use his home rune first; he was caught immediately when the home rune teleported him into the guard barracks, and was killed on sight. After hearing about her partner-in-crime, Emily didn’t use her home rune; she now knew that home runes worked in pairs. She instead broke hers, cracking it open and studying its insides intently during her breaks. Two years later, at the age of twenty, she was told again that her sentence was to be extended another five years; this was when Emily began to truly experiment with runes. She would mine the ores, and then stow small amounts away in her clothes. Whenever she was alone, she would attempt to recreate the home rune with absolutely no success, though she was slowly beginning to understand how the strange, red powder worked; how it transferred some kind of energy within the stone shell, but the energy slowly died out, and how it needed something else to keep it going. By the time she was twenty-two, Emily understood slightly more about the mysterious ways of runes after watching engineers work on the minecart tracks, like how different things such as levers and lights could make the energy ‘go’. But she could only watch from a distance, so her knowledge was still limited; the engineers weren’t convicts, and asking them about their work was sure to raise suspicion.

Despite her lack of success, Emily never gave up. She became stubborn and determined, knowing that if she did give up, she would be a Mesalian - powerless over her situation. She didn’t even give up after she nearly burned her arms off. She was twenty-two; it was in the middle of a work day, in a cave that was deep enough to not have a guard patrolling, but not deep enough for Lucins to feel sick. To this day, Emily does not know what caused the small explosion, which caused the fire, which burnt her arms, but it was bound to happen eventually. She was experimenting with runes, without the proper safety equipment and with minimal knowledge of potential risks. She used her arms to protect herself from the small blast. Her screams of pain brought others running. Later, when she was questioned, she said she had come into contact with a zombie set aflame by an Aether blast. She was searched, and when nothing was found, she was treated and left alone. Were it not for the ‘friends’ she had made, Emily might’ve been killed that day, after she discovered she was too badly burnt to return to mining immediately. For the next few months, others agreed to mine for her, and Emily’s job for those months was to push the minecarts back to the surface and heal the injured - jobs that didn’t necessarily require hands. After her hands had healed sufficiently, leaving disfiguring scars, she resumed her dabbling in runes. After all, she had come so far, and now she had gotten a taste of the hidden potential in runes. It was a power like no other, and power was something Emily could not resist.

The Escape (26)
When Emily was twenty-four, the Middle Realm had broken out into Civil War. However, the first attack on the convict camp wouldn’t happen until two years later, when she was twenty-six. By then, Emily’s mind was like her hands; even after her escape, they would never be the same again. Despite her eight year efforts, she was still far from the goal of escape via home rune. However, when a nearby city ambushed the remote camp for resources, it no longer mattered. Emily took the opportunity before her, and escaped during the chaos with whatever she could find. She spent a few weeks laying low in the wilderness near a village, then spent the next few months travelling. Although she used stolen resources to obtain supplies, they were difficult months. She spent them in paranoia of being recognised. Emily spun lies, reinventing herself until she became Amelia, the Lucin apprentice of an old rune engineer who went mad and abused her. She bathed, got new clothes, cut her hair, and wore a pair of gloves. When she felt safely disguised, Amelia returned to the Celestial Realm as planned.

The Fresh Start and Victor De Lacy (26-30)
She did not return to Aerstone; she would have been recognised there. Instead, she found herself a home and a job in Lacy, an industrial city pioneered and ruled by the noble De Lacy family, who were also behind a large industrial production company. Though the pay wasn’t great (at the time Amelia thought it was modest as she had never received pay), and she struggled to regain her footing in civilised society, but it was otherwise a smooth time for Amelia. Her manipulative and ruthless ways didn’t leave her completely, but she learnt quickly that she was to keep such behaviour dormant if she was to survive her new, more civilised environment. She now had to learn to be nicer and more polite if she was to be seen as ‘useful’. Initially, her co-workers only liked her for the tireless hard work she put in everyday, but as time passed they began to like her for who she was, or who she seemed to be. By her second year in the job, Amelia had incorporated the art of subtlety and two-facedness into her manipulation; this was the beginning of the alarmingly versatile woman you see today.

It was also the beginning of Amelia’s higher education and noble status, as it was in the mines that she had met Victor De Lacy. Victor De Lacy was the supervisor of Amelia’s small mining team; he was also the third son to Lord De Lacy, who was head of both the city and the family company. Contrary to what one would expect from a person in this high position of authority, Victor De Lacy was a cheery and relaxed supervisor. He spent most of his time reading while the team worked, and would gladly be of help if asked. During breaks, he would participate in conversations. Everyone liked him, even Amelia. She admired how he was able to convince others of his genuinity and kindness effortlessly, and aspired to achieve the same (that is, Amelia wanted to convince others she was genuine and kind; she didn’t want to actually be it). She would try to talk with him everyday in an attempt to study and copy his manners: his smile, his formalities, the way he used long words, yet didn’t chastise or patronise her for not understanding. In earnest, Amelia had never planned to seek him out for a romantic relationship in the beginning. After all, the idea that she would someday marry Victor belonged in stories and fairy tales at the time. No, Amelia and Victor’s relationship just began with some questions; prior to this point, they hadn’t spoken about non-work related matters.

She was twenty-seven and he was twenty-five. It was late in the night; Amelia had asked to stay and work overtime, and Victor felt obligated to supervise her. He sat in the cavern a little away from her, his nose in a rune manual. Spotting it from a distance, Amelia asked him where he got the book from; although she hadn’t any real need to learn runes anymore, she felt compelled to finish what she had started many years ago. It turned into one of those long, late night conversations. It was quickly discovered that runes were a shared interest for the both of them, though neither of them really had anyone to discuss it with. Amelia asked him to teach her; he could talk about runes with someone, and she could learn more. He agreed. They talked well into the night about everything Amelia knew thus far, and eventually about themselves. Amelia lied of course, going with her usual story about the mentor who burnt her hands, but Victor De Lacy told her the truth. As the third son of the De Lacy bloodline, it was clear to Victor that he if he wanted to inherit the family company or the city of Lacy (or both), he would have to outshine the accomplishments of his brothers. He would have to do more than be studious, well mannered, and married to a woman who would bring merit to the family line; he would have to be ambitious and innovative, which was why he had studied rune engineering and business from a young age. Amelia admired his ambition; it was similar to her own.

It would be this shared ambition that would drive Victor and Amelia close. To Victor, the story of how he fell in love with Amelia is beautiful. A year would pass after that long late night talk, and Amelia would become Victor’s best friend. The two would meet regularly after work to talk, teach, and be taught. Now that she had an instructor, Amelia’s knowledge in runes was rising steadily, and after a while she had been somewhat promoted to the role of assistant engineer. This mostly involved following rune engineers as they worked on tracks around the mines, obtaining more practical experience and mining or ordering supplies specifically for them. All was well in Amelia’s side of things, but Victor slowly felt his ambition slipping away as time passed; all the stress and pressure made him want to simply give up. No matter how hard he worked, he would never surpass his brothers. He told this to Amelia one afternoon. She slapped him.
‘Bullshit! Do you expect me to just believe that?! How could you give up so easily?! You have a chance to inherit a legacy! Do you know how many others are born with that chance?! You fucking have it so easy, Victor! All you have to do is TRY. You don’t even have anything to lose! The worst you have is that you work for your brother, and it’s not like that’s the only option! You can still do amazing things! Start your own business! Buy your own estate! Give it all to your third son! YOU decide what happens!’

It was the closest Amelia ever got to letting someone see the real her, and although she didn’t know it at the time, Victor De Lacy fell in love with Amelia and her passion, her inability to give up on her dreams. The day he told her how he felt was also the day they decided to elope; it was a most spontaneous decision. You see, Victor wasn’t stupid; he knew pursuing a relationship with Amelia would mean nothing short of disownment. There was also the concern that he might lose Amelia’s friendship. And so, he resisted, and the two remained best friends for another two years. Victor worked tirelessly on investments and profits, while Amelia came closer and closer to calling herself an engineer. She had noticed a change in Victor’s behaviour, but she was still twisted enough to interpret it not as love, but as Victor’s shame from such a lower-class friend. Amelia herself had noticed her own feelings long ago, but she dismissed them for reasons similar to Victor’s; such a relationship would not happen, and she needed the benefits that came with being Victor’s friend. She would not ruin her good position. And so when Victor came to her home in a manic passion and told her that he loved her, it was a sudden shock to Amelia; Victor was not ashamed of her, and somehow, without effort, she had ‘seduced’ him into loving her.

She said ‘yes’ of course, after he explained the news about his estate. That day, he had decided that he didn’t want or need the De Lacy legacy; he had found something, someone, who was much more precious. Someone who he could talk with freely, who shared his interests. Someone who kept him motivated through hard times. He had done exactly what Amelia had told him to do: he had started a business that involved funding several mining projects in the Middle Realm, then collecting and trading the resources for profit. It was now doing well enough for him to comfortably buy a large estate, and Victor wanted his to be in the Middle Realm so business could be conducted more smoothly; the civil war often made sealing deals difficult over letters. He wanted to share it all with Amelia. How could she refuse? But it was a more complicated than a simple matter of finances; they both knew eloping would brand Amelia as a leeching whore, and Victor would be disowned. The only option would be to marry, which would be less scandalous than simply running away and living together. Victor was prepared for it, though Amelia wasn’t as sure about the commitment. Reluctantly, she agreed. She didn’t know if she really loved Victor, but she did know she wanted him to be happy… which was unusual and rare enough for her to believe she perhaps could love him. And so over the next few days, they married in secret, bought their estate, and left for the Middle Realm.

Married Life in the Middle Realm (30-39)
The next nine years were the best of Amelia’s life. Amelia and Victor had bought their estate in a mountainous, seaside city named Mistlyn. They chose Mistlyn for its slowly-developing mining industry, which showed plenty of potential due to its geographical location. It was a place that was small enough to be quiet, but large enough to be seen along the coast or on a map, which also made it ideal for trade. It also had a military to protect the city from invasion, and this military could benefit from iron-forged arms. Here, they worked together to start a mine together, which became profitable at a rapid pace thanks to rune-powered mine tracks that sped-up the mining process. Amelia continued her education, whilst applying what she learnt with Victor on the tracks, and soon she became good enough to call herself an engineer. By the time Amelia was thirty-four, Victor was able to buy out every other other mine in Mistlyn until they had a monopoly. They often joked about buying out the mines back in Lacy. Amelia’s in-laws had visited Mistlyn once; though impressed by Victor’s property, they would not stop looking at her from the corners of their eyes. They never spoke to her.

With their mining business in a stable and profitable position, they both moved onto other pursuits, though these still related to maximising profits. Driven by her ever present power fantasies, Amelia began making plans to reinvent the explosives the Xitians used in the Veld War. With these, Amelia explained during a dinner, they could gain resources faster. And if they could have the Celestial Kingdom fund the research, it would be less investment on their part. Victor whole-heartedly agreed to this plan; as a noble man, he was loyal to the Kingdom and could not see the harm. And so with Victor’s letters of recommendation, Amelia was able to gain funding from the Celestial Kingdom to research and develop explosives; a De Lacy could be trusted with such a task, it seemed. Even the illegitimate wife of one, though this view of Amelia usually remained within Lucin culture; Mesalians, even noble ones, would never question her position in nobility, because it was difficult criticise someone for being a former commoner when you were once a former slave. Over these years, Amelia became much more refined in her mannerisms; this was mostly thanks to Victor’s help, who was more than happy to teach Amelia high etiquette. These lessons would become essential, as the many business and trade deals they had made with often meant travel, and attending events. It was around this time that Amelia had begun to wear gloves often; various high-class interactions made her ashamed of her hands.

Amelia was thirty-three when construction on a private laboratory was completed and staff were hired to help her with the project, and she did not struggle to lead them; Once it had commenced, the project was slow and difficult in its development. The first few years mostly involved obtaining and studying pre-Veld texts to understand the very bare methods of Xitian explosive engineering. Eventually they moved onto experiments. These experiments, or at least the ones that were potentially dangerous, were conducted in the safest conditions the budget would allow; Amelia and her staff often spent daylight hours outside and away from Mistlyn, with medical staff standing by. Over the years, they’d have a few casualties, both minor and major, two deaths, and many, many failed experiments. At first, it was difficult to get a prototype to produce more than smoke upon detonation, but eventually they had managed to get full-blown explosions; the kind that were unsafe and unstable for practical use. From here, Amelia would be working with her team to stabilise them every single non-religious day… up until she found Victor’s dead body.

Victor and Amelia’s married life during these nine years was smooth-surfaced; as they did in Lacy, they met daily after work to discuss and catch-up with each other. Thus, they never really grew distant of one another, though at the same time, they did. This was because Victor’s love-confession had shifted the power-dynamic between them; Amelia now knew she had influence over Victor, a power over Victor, and was now actually trying to use it by consciously manipulating Victor. Amelia never told him about her life as Emily, and in fact she ended up keeping even more secrets from him whenever her experiments had caused injuries and death (it wasn’t that she said nothing about it entirely, it’s just that her manipulation made everything seem minor). They also once tried for a child, but Amelia had lost it early in her pregnancy; Victor’s heartbreak then caused him to give up easily on children, but this time, Amelia did not slap and motivate him. She wanted to focus on her project, and having a child would not allow her that.

Around the time that Amelia had begun to move into explosives, Victor became involved in Mistlyn’s politics. By this time, Mistlyn had become a wealthy, industrial city. What sparked Victor’s interest in politics was mostly speculative to Amelia; perhaps he was bored of his trading business, or he wanted his own city, or perhaps he desperately wanted to raise and take care of something. Regardless, it didn’t matter to Amelia up until the point when she realised she should have stopped Victor, as this involvement in politics was what led to Victor De Lacy’s death. Victor’s successful election into the role of Mistlyn’s mayor was not surprising to anyone; the city owed its livelihood to the De Lacys. The De Lacy couple kept most of the city employed, and most of the city’s wealth and development was credited to their business. This business and development also helped keep Mistlyn safe from civil war; Mistlyn now had a well-armed military and various alliances formed through trade agreements. When Victor became mayor, this security only strengthened, though it wasn’t long before Victor learnt about the Xitian influence behind the civil war. Leaders of smaller neighbouring towns had come to Mistlyn for help, informing Victor that Xitians were attempting to bribe and threaten them into attacking Mistlyn; these leaders wanted to refuse of course, as it was very apparent that Mistlyn’s resources were not worth battle against its military and allies.

Victor merely responded to this by forming alliances with these neighbouring towns, thus ensuring no one would be forced to attack Mistlyn. As soon as you were being threatened, you had Mistlyn’s military joining forces with your guards. The added protection was generally enough to make the Xitians leave for good. This was about the time where Amelia realised she should have stopped Victor from pursuing politics; he was a good leader, but he was also putting himself at risk by opposing all these Xitians. But what could she say to stop him now, when he was already dedicated to leading and protecting Mistlyn? No, you can’t help the helpless because you might die? It simply could not be said to the passionate Victor De Lacy, who still had his own military to protect his life, who would only look at Amelia with doubt if she were to ever bring it up; what happened to the selfless woman he knew? It would be like stepping in front of a downhill-moving minecart. And so Amelia kept quiet; she didn’t encourage his bold political movements, but she also didn’t discourage them. She would say she was happy for him, and happy that he had found something to be happy about. Meanwhile, she would have no choice but to put her faith into Mistlyn’s guard and military. This would’ve worked were it not for Amelia’s involvement with explosives, which inspired some of Victor’s Xitian enemies to act.

Amelia remembers sitting in the library that night. She had a fondness of sitting there to work when she could, as few could boast about owning a room full of books. She was reconsidering the design of her prototypes when it happened. There was a sound of a great blast; all the windows broke. There were screams from below, down in the kitchen. With broken glass in her arms and back, she looked outside. The city hall of Mistlyn was a wreckage, sprinkled with fire, rubble, and limbs. Down on the courtyard, she saw guards running: Victor’s guards. Filled with terror and adrenalin, she ran through the manor to find Victor. She knew this meant something bad was going to happen. By the time she found him, his blood was already staining a rug. Papers and trinkets littered the edges of the room; signs of air manipulation. Signs of struggle. She knelt quickly, turning on the glow in her hands, ready to heal, but then there was a sharp pain in her back; it was a sudden jolt, a burn so deep she could feel it to her bones.

She remembers seeing a face before she fell. It had red eyes, gleaming with Nether.

When she woke up, it was days after. Nether poisoning, her personal doctor reported. It was apparently a miracle she survived, but Amelia never thought of it as that; it was merely the product of all her hard work. Hard work had gotten her into this advantageous position, one where she had her own doctor to tend her injuries immediately, one where she had servants who would immediately search for the Lord and Lady of the estate in a state of emergency.

Aftermath (40)
Amelia mourned for a year; it seemed to be an appropriate amount of mourning. She dressed in all black, and halted her research. The death of Victor De Lacy, as well as the explosion of city hall, were of course investigated, but the results were minimal. The Xitian that had poisoned Amelia hadn’t been found; the bomb which was found in the ruins of city hall had come from Amelia’s lab. People began to suspect Amelia instantly, and even though the guards never found any solid evidence to suggest Amelia murdered Victor, people theorised. Perhaps she was conspiring with the Xitians and the guard, or perhaps she somehow poisoned herself…

Victor’s funeral took place a week after her recovery. It was a quick and quiet affair, as the explosion had injured many, and thus those who were able had no time to mourn. She cried, though still isn’t sure if she was crying for him, or crying for herself. His will was read a few days after his funeral; three quarters of his property and fortune were now Amelia’s. The rest went to Mistlyn’s treasury, which the new mayor put towards city repairs. Amelia made sure to donate a little more under her own name. This did not stop the rumours and accusations.

Almost a month after the assassination, she would receive word from the Celestial Kingdom; her research had lost its government funding. This was because the city hall incident had put Amelia, Amelia’s research and the Celestial Kingdom under fire; after the city was bombed, the last thing the citizens wanted were explosives being developed there. Amelia attempted to save her reputation, but it was quickly diminishing before her as news of the incident reached more and more ears. People quit working for her, and people didn’t want to trade with her. Within ten months, the De Lacy monopoly was obsolete. One husband, six years worth of research, an entire trading empire… all taken away by an Xitian. The face she saw would often reappear in her dreams. She would reach out and bitterly stab it.

She continued to live in her estate in Mistlyn; though she was hated there, she had no where else to go. Her fortune was still large, but she wasn’t making any new money. Moving and funding her own research was simply out of the question. But then, on the eleventh month after Victor’s death, she heard from the Celestial Kingdom again. They needed someone to lead an operation in the Forbidden Lands.
She was in no position to refuse the offer.

Appearance
Overall, Amelia appears elegant, middle-aged, and wealthy, but simultaneously industrial and not entirely upper-class or noble. She has: a thin, pinched nose; thin, narrow, and puckered lips; a prominent nasal bone crease; puffy, sharp blue eyes; high and wide cheekbones; and high-arching eyebrows which give her the appearance of constant interest and slight surprise. Her chocolate brown hair is slowly greying and becoming tawnier in colour. This hair is wavy, and is about six centimetres (roughly two inches) past her shoulders. She usually wears it in a milkmaid braid to keep it ornate, but out of the way, with her wispy fringe still out and parted. She smells like flowery perfume failing to mask the distinct, sharp scent of rune powder: metallic, burnt, and chemical - like ionised air after lightning strikes.

She’s quite short at 157 centimetres (roughly five feet and two inches) tall, and has a curvy, slightly plump, hourglass figure that’s emphasised further with a corset underneath her clothing. She has muscle, but it isn’t very visible under her clothes. One can not fairly induce that she hasn’t worked a day in her life; her skin tone is olive as a result of previous labour. She also has various scars on her body, acquired during several years as a prison labourer and a criminal. The most notable of these are the burn scars that are on her hands and up the sides of her arms, gained from a rune experiment gone wrong. The skin is discoloured, greyish and scaly. Her hands almost look reptilian. It’s not the most attractive sight; in fact, it can be off-putting. Amelia is self-conscious about the appearance of her hands, as it’s a high-class expectation for ladies to have small, smooth, clean, and attractive hands. She makes a specific effort to hide these scars with her clothing; it’s not uncommon for her to eat or sleep with gloves on.

Amelia makes an effort to look good, which means her clothing has been specifically chosen to make her look good. She wears clothing that looks ornate and steampunk-inspired; it gives her the appearance of elegant, chaste nobility, whilst simultaneously hiding her scars, exaggerating her figure, and being well-suited for engineering work (depending on one’s tolerance for dirty clothing). She wears the following items of clothing: a khaki, high-collar blouse embroidered with a floral pattern in a darker shade, with buttoned cuffs, and long sleeves that are puffed on the upper-arm, but snug on the forearm; a silk, emerald-green waistcoat with golden buttons that are buttoned up; brown leather gloves, with linen bandage around her hands underneath; a pair of high-waisted, button-cuffed breeches, the waist part a dark maroon with a leather pouch sewn to it, and the trouser part vertically striped with two alternating shades of emerald-green; a pair of black stockings, embroidered florally; a pair of long, dark leather boots, laced up neatly, and a pair of gold-rimmed, purple-lensed goggles on her head, which magnify the size of her eyes when worn properly.

Artwork by Rachel Carlini (SentaiPink).


Artwork by Christine [SURNAME REDACTED] (Campanella):

Personality
Amelia’s idea of a good life is one that has been worked for; that is, a good life is one where success (which is essentially status, power, and money) has been earned through hard work. Amelia’s ideas of ‘earning’ and ‘hard work’ rely on her values. These values form Amelia’s core, and they are most of her motivation. Her personal survival is usually her main value and priority, but she believes this depends on image, power, resources and persistence. Image tends to conflict with her other values because it involves people, and her interests are mainly in herself; this can make her actions very versatile. She tends to prioritise image over the rest because as someone who relies heavily on manipulation to get her way, public image is key. For example, she has a tendency to be over-competitive with others (power), but restricts herself whenever she’s overt about it because it makes her seem impolite (image). In Amelia’s mind, everyone shares, or should share her values - particularly image. She gets annoyed when others are impolite, even more so when they get what they want in spite of impoliteness. This is because she had to be polite to earn what she wanted, and politeness is considered an effort to her. Essentially, impoliteness is considered laziness in Amelia’s eyes.

In relation to her value of resources, Amelia can be economic. She hates being wasteful, and likes to keep things for reuse later. This can apply to people, as she tends to judge them on ‘usefulness’ and ‘disposability’ in relation to her interests. In this sense, she has a tendency to use and objectify people; generally she sees nothing wrong with this, as it seems necessary for her own survival. She views people in the way a mechanic might: “How do they function? What drives them? How can I learn more? How can I practically apply what I’ve learnt? Can I take them apart? Do I need them?” This means she’s observant, and internally focused on gathering as much information on people in the shortest amount of time possible, so she can make use of them in one way or another. Despite this objectifying point-of-view, Amelia generally has nothing against people who are considered useless so long as they aren’t in the way of her goals and interests, especially since ‘useless’ people are still slightly useful in terms of Amelia’s own public image. However, she has a hard time being sentimental with people because she struggles to authentically care about other people. Even when Amelia genuinely likes someone, she feels there’s no such thing as caring for someone for the sake of caring for someone; if she likes them, there is always something she wants from them. In this sense, Amelia’s lifestyle and way of thinking is so ingrained into her actions that she can’t make actual friends.

Generally, Amelia has a good balance between extroversion and introversion; she is often sociable, but would rather not be. On the surface, she’s a rigidly (but accommodatingly) polite and elegant person. This might distance others, as Amelia’s polite composure can have a disingenuity and aloofness to it; it can feel like she’s being nice because she has to be, not because she wants to be. This being said, Amelia isn’t outwardly an arsehole, and in fact tries to indulge people. She believes humouring people (Mesalians especially) is the price for ‘using’ them. In this sense, Amelia feels like she doesn’t have a choice outside of politeness. This is how she can distance people further, as Amelia tends to sound patronising when humouring people, and wields this patronising tone as her weapon against people she openly dislikes; she can be passive-aggressively polite in the most annoying way. To have Amelia’s genuine respect, a person has to share and display a following of her values (note that this means Amelia has high esteem for herself; she is confident, but narcissistic), but Amelia can still feel like she likes someone without this respect (because the person probably has something she wants). Beneath every ‘surface’ of Amelia is someone completely determined towards her goals and interests. If things begin to majorly break down around her, she becomes a survivor with endurance, perseverance and persistence. This is the point where people are not indulged, and she can get to the point of cut-throat aggression and obsession, maybe even insanity. This hidden aggressive and obsessive stubbornness can be her greatest downfall.

Amelia is also a follower of Rhise, but isn’t overt or particularly committed about it as she sometimes makes herself out to be; she would attend a religious event out of good public figure. She likes taking rune mechanisms apart and putting them back together, listening to the harpsichord, the feel of fur, attending public events, learning new words, the glow of rune ores, the smell of salt, the soft tick of her pocket watch, having a chair pulled out for her, and warm food. She dislikes rune powder adhering to her skin and clothes, taking off her gloves to eat, losing small engineering parts and then finding them when she least expects it, her hand twitching mid-handshake, being given a nickname, sour wine, and the sound of slurping. Her favourites are emerald green, red wine with honey, roasted swan (spiced, of course), and using tweezers to position rune components. She is an ISTP at heart, but can be easily be an ESTP.

Vocal Details
Amelia’s voice is clear, feminine, silvery, and articulate; it’s the voice of a businesswoman and a housewife in one. It has the tendency to carry itself; that is, projection of the voice is something Amelia can do naturally and often unintentionally. Even her whispers can be heard from a good distance away, and it is for this reason that she is calculating about what she says. Her ‘true’ or neutral tone of voice is quite formal, official, refined and dignified, but at the same time it can seem restrained, bored, aloof and lacking in approachability. She can come off more as a business associate than a friend; it can feel like she’s showing respect out of politeness rather than fondness. However, if one finds themselves in a conversation with Amelia where she only uses this tone of voice, it ironically means that she trusts them enough to let her guard down slightly, because kindness is usually Amelia’s way of distancing people from her true self.

When Amelia has her guard up, she indulges and humours people. This means she has the same tone of voice as before, but this time it’s much more intimate, chatty, sing-songy, and approachable, and yet she may also come off as slightly patronising due to the fact that she usually lacks genuine interest. Depending on the type of person and her motives, she may also seem motherly, sweet, playfully teasing, and even flirtatious or bashful (and she would do this in the most lady-like fashion possible) in tone. She tends to use the same words her conversation partner uses in order to appear more relatable or in-sync with them. When addressing someone she openly dislikes, she usually puts even more distance between herself and them; this is achieved with even more kindness.

If she doesn’t like you (and it’s publicly considered okay to not like you), Amelia can be overly and annoyingly honeyed, patronising and passive-aggressive with her tone of voice. Usually, this is an attempt to make the other person seem less in-control of themselves (and by extension, the situation) by manipulating and frustrating them to the point of lashing out at her. If in public, it’s also a way to make the other person seem worse in comparison to Amelia, who can claim she was only being nice. However, if Amelia ever snaps, she lets all of her guard down. Her voice goes sharp and cold when angry or particularly threatened. This is when she doesn’t indulge anyone, and when her positive public image is completely gone.

In terms of her own speech patterns, Amelia has the following tendencies: calling people by titles, such as ‘Mr.’ or ‘Miss’; using new vocabulary words in conversation; verbosity with first impressions; misusing obscure words; using passive voice and gobbledygook when avoiding a topic; saying ‘oh?’ and ‘hmm?’ when she’s interested; greeting people by the time of day; and starting answers to questions with ‘well’ and ‘why’, using archaisms such as ‘pray tell’, and making the word ‘mercy’ be the strongest in her vocabulary. Various voice inspirations: Vanessa Williams, Wendie Malik, Meryl Streep, Helen Morgendorffer (of Daria).

Physicality
When you consider Amelia’s lifestyle before she entered the setting, it follows that Amelia’s physicality is overall elegant, distinguished, and poised. She clearly follows the rules of high-class etiquette whenever appropriate or possible, and she follows them seamlessly. Examples include the following: maintaining a rigid, upright posture in everything she does (this can really mean everything, because she wears a corset beneath her clothing, which restricts movement in her spine); curtseying; never gesturing unless delivering a speech; never speaking while sitting and her conversation partner is standing; walking at the same pace as another person; never sitting in a private setting unless invited, etc. Her movements are also generally big, encompassing, but sparse, as though she were trying to be inviting without being outlandish or inelegant about it.

Much like her tone of voice, Amelia’s physicality is dependent on the level of company she feels she’s in, meaning there are exceptions to Amelia’s general rules. For example, in a more private setting, her movements are rather small and dismissive, as though she were using minimal effort (which would make sense, given that there is little need to impress). However, it’s important to note that Amelia’s pleasant ‘states’ of physicality aren’t something she just ‘puts on’ or fakes; manipulating her body language for a very long time have made the movements natural and instinctive, as opposed to forced and aware. This means Amelia has a tendency to change and adapt her physicality to her motives without even noticing she’s doing it. For example, something she does often is to simply ‘mirror’ the body language of others, which can make her seem more relatable and likable; she may even get touchy as a way to establish a connection.

The only conscious manipulation of body language Amelia uses is the manipulation of Aether. It works like this: Amelia is mostly in full control of her Aether, the main exception being when things begin to majorly break down around her. However, Lucins with less control of their Aether are likely to glow a little, usually from strong emotions or around water. Amelia essentially exploits this fact by making herself glow with Aether to create appropriate effects, for example: glowing with a smile can make her joy seem genuine, and glowing in a threatening situation can make her seem more powerful. In fact, the act of simply glowing when she seems happy or angry, etc. can make her seem less threatening, as it appears as though she has less control on her Aether than she truly does. The same kind of thing can be said about not glowing at certain situations; whether she decides to glow when wet can establish her race. The list goes on, and the point here is that Amelia knows she has something many people don’t and is willing to abuse it.

When in combat, Amelia takes a physicality that is extremely different from her usual lady-like style; this is the product of how and where she learnt to fight in the first place. Her style of fighting is similar to that of a boxer; she’s aggressive light on her feet, delivering Aether blasts and punches in quick swipes. Because of this, she avoids situations where she would have to fight, especially in close-combat. Another ‘embarrassing’ part of Amelia’s physicality is in her hands, where she has nerve damage from her third-degree burns. This means Amelia’s hands are pretty much numb to her; she has difficulty feeling with them, and has difficulty detecting differences in temperature and pain, etc. She also struggles to keep her hand muscles clenched for long periods of time, and experiences random twitching. Because Amelia is slightly insecure about all this, it’s not uncommon for her to keep her hands out of view by placing them behind her back or under a table.

‘Amelisms’ include: checking her pocket watch when reminded of her husband or uncomfortable; pursing her lips when displeased; having a smug little smile when genuinely pleased; curtseying with her hands to the side and her palms facing up; raising her eyebrows when interested; rubbing or massaging the palms of her twitching hands, and leaning slightly inwards when heavily engaged in a conversation. Just like all my other characters, Amelia is left-handed.

Theme Song
Sweet Lies - Dr. Dissonance

Capabilities

Advanced Aether Manipulation [skill]: She mostly learnt this because her circumstances demanded it. Amelia can easily kill dusk creatures, heal a major wound and be a source of light. She is in full control of it in most cases, though often manipulates it to seem like she isn’t (see physicality). Her Aether is white, phosphorescent, and usually cold. This is because Amelia mostly uses her Aether for combat, not for healing, and because her hands (the main point of channelling Aether) have difficulty sensing heat.
Advanced Rune Engineering [skill]: Provided she has the materials and time, I suppose she can create or repair any rune and wire up all the things. This skill includes smelting ore into metals for runes, as well as making objects which are relevant to rune engineering (tools, stone shells, tubes and wires, general parts, etc).
Moderate Lucin Language [knowledge]: Though slightly rusty with it due to disuse, Amelia is fluent in her native, Lucin language and has less of a chance of misusing obscure words (though she doesn’t really make an effort to learn obscure words in Lucin; there’s less people to show off to). She is also much more confident in reading and writing it; it’s not uncommon for her to be writing things in Lucin.
Moderate Common [knowledge]: Having lived in the Middle Realm for more than half her life, Amelia is also fluent in common Mesalian language. She can even get verbose with her words, but still has a tendency to misuse them. Amelia can also read and write well, though she has to be a little more careful than she does with her native language.
Moderate Mining [skill]: After approximately twenty years of mining, she’s become proficient at it. The only thing which limits her potential in this field is that being deep underground isn’t healthy for her, the nerve damage in her hands limits her ability to grip items for a long time, and she no longer has the fitness to work as fast as her mind does.
Basic Chemistry [knowledge]: This would mostly include general, non-specific knowledge of the elements and their effects, with more in-depth knowledge of Aether and Nether specifically. There would also be some specific knowledge of theories in relation to explosives (which chemicals are required in a bomb, etc.). See explosive engineering for more information.
Basic Explosive Engineering [knowledge]: With funding, Amelia has made some progress in the past with leading the development of explosives for the Celestial Kingdom through experimentation. She’s familiar with the theories and knows which chemical and runic components are involved, but she’s far from understanding how to combine these components in a way which would get the explosion contained and stable for safe use. She also understands that conducting experiments on her own and without resources to burn would be unsafe and impractical.
Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat [skill]: Ironically for someone who enjoys working from a distance, she knows how to pack a hit, and knows the best places for it. That being said, she’s no kung-fu master as this skill was only developed for fighting off dusk creatures.
Basic Air Manipulation [skill]: She can make a little breeze at most.
Basic Water Manipulation [skill]: She can levitate water a short distance from her hands at a slow speed at most.

Strengths
- Water, Air, Aether
- Determination of steel, persistent
- Articulate, persuasive, rhetorical
- Resourceful, can survive and manage well
- Well-mannered, tolerant of others
- Kind (but not altruistic)
- Intelligent, highly educated, observant
- Versatile, can adapt to new situations
- Motivated, hard-working, ambitious
- Confident, brave

Weaknesses
- Fire, Earth, Nether
- Stubborn, obsessed with achievement
- Manipulative, inauthentic, aloof
- Possessive with people and resources
- Holds in grudges and resentment
- Selfish, self-centered, falsely entitled
- Racist, prejudiced, judgemental
- Dependent on others
- Overly competitive, insecure, obsessive
- Workaholic, lack of genuine hobbies
- Narcissistic, overconfident
- Nerve damage in hands and arms

Relationships

NOTE: These are out of date. From before the guard searched the abbey.

Marty (Margretha)
Possibly the most useful of all. ‘Elder Councillor’ of the lower group, AKA the leader.

Mr. Spece (Lance)
Useful, indispensable.
He better not disappoint. It would be a shame to lose him.

Miss Mystrum (Katya)
Useful, indispensable.
Possibly dangerous, though it would be nicer to have her pretty face on show.

Mr. Lentus (Caius)
Useful, dangerous. A councillor. Difficult to converse with.
Unfortunately, if Margretha were to pass, he would most likely be next.

Zarkaylia
Useful. Councillor, captain of the guard.
Hard to please, but to be in her good graces would be nothing short of beneficial.

Elizabeth
Useful, dispensable. Understands Xitian, mechanical engineer.
Possibly dangerous: potential spy. So utterly stupid and spoilt.

Julius
Useful.
Has information on the councillors, though he’s beginning to seem disengaged...

Mr. Alex
A tailor, though in his words he has ‘manly bravado’.
Useful, if not for his fighting, then for his ties with the Captain.

Mr. Darl (Thomas)
Possibly useful. The son of Zarkaylia.
A good way to him is through Elizabeth.

Miss Dusken
Useful, dispensable. Harmless.
A jeweller may not be much, but she can make gifts.

Miss Mittendri
Useful, though dangerous.
Maker of weapons.

Hel
Possibly useful. Another fighter joins the Ravennan guard.
Not very bright.

Mrs Esrok (Arua)
Possibly useful. Harmless.

Mr. Minwu (Lyrxi)
Useless, but harmless thus far.

Miss Tharmon/Tharmon (Nerissa)
Useful, but regretfully dangerous.
I don’t think your time with us will be long…

Mr. Vaul (William)
More dangerous than he is useful.
Perhaps too close to Tharmon...

Mr. Slither (Zerek)
Useless, and possibly dangerous...
Umbri’tam could be using him as a spy.

Mr. Spy
Useless, but Xitian. Husband to Zarkaylia.
Best watched and best indulged...

Miss Flavell (Scarlet)
An obstruction.
Her anger just makes things so very easy.

Mr. Gideon
Miss Umbri’tam’s Sapphire. An obstruction, like the rest of them.
A violent arena? That’s one way to get rid of yourself.

Xitian Brat (Cassandra)
What lady has such excessive decadence as to have herself carried about? Brat.
No matter. I’m sure she will get rid of herself, too.

Xitian Scum (Duras)
Disgusting, but there’s nothing like an obstruction that gets rid of itself.
Goodbye, Mr. Duras.

Miss Umbri’tam (Sidian)
An obstruction.

Items of Importance
- One pocket watch (1x Clock: “Amelia’s Pocket Watch”): golden, intricate design, only has an hour hand, one line to indicate twelve o’clock on the clockface. Something like this. Inscription on the back, in Common: “Amelia: like time, we are eternal.”
- One emerald wedding ring (1x Emerald: “Amelia’s Wedding Ring”): golden, intricate design, decorated with four small emeralds. Something like this.
- A research journal (1x Book and Quill: “Research Journal”): leather-bound covers, thick paper pages. Not kept on her person. “This lengthy research journal is well-crafted, with thick, paper pages and leather hardcovers. It is written entirely in the Lucin Language. The handwriting is in cursive, but is sloppy. If translated, it contains documentation pertaining to the development of explosives for the Celestial Realm’s use. It mentions a strict budget, and many failed attempts to stabilise explosions. A few deaths are involved. The owner and writer of this book is unclear as the content is written in formal, third person. The language used is highly technical and scientific; characters who aren’t very familiar with this field should not understand much of it, but should be able to understand what it is generally about. There are many loose papers wedged between pages; most of it is paperwork. Some of the paperwork is a series of uncompleted draft-applications for the Celestial Kingdom, requesting and justifying ‘additional funding’. Some of it involves forms explaining the deaths of those who died ‘during the experimental research process’. These deaths, although gruesome, seem to be the result of unpreventable accidents.
Approximately fifteen pages in from the back of the book are some notes, also written in Lucin. It’s the same handwriting, and in the same third person. If translated, the subject matter seems unrelated to the explosives; it is a copy of Margretha’s notes on Lorimar’s scroll, only put into more technical, specialised language. There’s nothing that explicitly states the information came from Margretha’s notes. Specifically, the notes detail how the runic path is laid out for a device. A specific crystal is mentioned as a power source, but how or where is obtained is not included. However, in the margin, the text ‘caverns?’ has been written.”

[Michelle]

Edited to almost full version.
Some stuff's still been kept out for overall plot stuff.

Moving to dead characters tomorrow, because yes, I want you all to appreciate this.

[3llusive]

(I appreciate this...)

[RiverKelly]

Oh my god Michelle you are amazing. XDXD