Phirra était en retard. Elle n'était pas heureuse qu'elle soit en retard, mais elle a accepté qu'il n'y ait rien qu'elle puisse faire à ce sujet. C'était un long voyage à l'ouest de sa patrie, et le conducteur de voiture (généralement fourni par Lancelot, puisque pour la plupart des gens aucune somme d'argent ne pouvait mettre tem à moins de cinquante miles de Camelot) les avait perdus dans le pays étranger. Heureusement, une fois qu'ils sont rentrés dans un territoire familier, ils ont pris assez de vitesse pour être un peu en retard. Incommode, mais pas désastreux.
Après avoir eu une paire de gardes du château l'amènent moissonneuse Ether dans sa chambre, Phirra se dirigea vers l'entrée principale du château. Alors qu'elle s'approchait, elle entendit une voix distinctive, commandeuse, étouffée mais encore audible à travers les portes en bois. Maudite, elle a couru les dix derniers pieds environ, entrant dans le château à temps pour la deuxième moitié du discours de Lancelot.
"Dans deux jours, vous..."
Tant mieux. Elle n'avait manqué que les plaisanteries. Elle n'avait pas été très intéressée à les entendre de toute façon.
Une fois Lancelot terminé, Phirra a attendu avant de parler. Elle voulait regarder le grand rassemblement de psychopathes pendant un moment, voir ce qui était en réserve.
Une fois que la femme - non, vampire - nommé Ester a fini de parler, Phirra a finalement décidé de parler elle-même.
"Vous, je vous aime bien." Elle a commencé par pointer vers Ester. "Bon plan. Un manque évident de moi se faire assassiner serait absolument d'or. Compris, tout le monde?" Phirra a continué, maintenant habiller toute la pièce. "Écoute à Ester, elle a une tête. Attends, tu ne sais même pas qui je suis, n'est-ce pas? C'est malpoli de ma part. Phirra Darnos, Artificier Extraordinaire, à votre service." Phirra s'est prosternée comme elle l'a dit. "Pas vraiment. C'est-à-dire, pas vraiment à votre service, je suis un excellent artifice, mais bien que je sois de votre côté, je ne vous servirai pas. Je me sers. Réfléchissez, c'est aussi un bon plan. Me servir, c'est bien, ne pas me tuer, c'est aussi bien.
Et avec ça, Phirra a levé une chaise et s'est assis.
Phirra Darnos
Astounding Assassin and Artificer Extraordinaire, At Your Service!
General description

Race
Augmented human
Age
27
Size
5'8", 138 lbs
Gender
Female
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Religion
None
Job
Mercenary - Phirra's variety of skills and equipment makes her suitable as an elite but unspecialised fighter.

Personality
Though a definite "baddie", Phirra is not the worst of the worst. She's in it for revenge, which she figures is a little better than world domination, though it's not exactly a noble goal. She maintains a sense of humour in even the darkest of times, and particularly enjoys making jokes of things which could quite easily kill her. She's confident in her abilities, to the point of minor arrogance, and the best way to convince her to do something is to tell her she's not capable enough.
Biography
Phirra grew up in Ajeshna, a land far enough from Camelot that it was quite safe and even prosperous at the time. Her father, Daxus, was one of the greatest magical researchers alive, and it was only a year after Phirra was born that he made the greatest discovery of his life: he found ways to reliably harvest, store and use the substance Ether, which had always been in abundance in the atmosphere, but completely useless until now.
His discovery didn't change the world at first, but it spread quietly, moving from a niche market that the eccentric rich would enjoy to something produced on an almost industrial scale that even the barely well-off wouldn't be caught without.
Phirra's childhood was spent in relative wealth. Her family was hardly nobility, but her father's discovery had made them quite rich. She had a tutor, but it was Daxus who taught her about magic and Ether, as there'd hardly be someone better suited to do it anyway. Phirra took after her father in that respect, and by her teen years,
she was also his apprentice and an amateur artificer.
When she was 15, however, a violent revolution took place in Ajeshna. The council that ruled it were on the back foot, but employed Daxus and a number of other artificers to produce a new device to fight the revolutionaries. It was they who invented the automaton. Soon, the council's army was replenished and continued to grow faster than any human army ever could.
The revolutionaries, in response, were forced to sabotage the factories that had begun appearing throughout Ajeshna. To stop them from being repaired, however, they also need to kill the council's artificers, or they would get nowhere. On the top of that list was Daxus. The house they lived in was burnt to the ground, and only Phirra made it out.
The plan succeeded, and the revolutionaries won. Ajeshna became a highly militaristic, imperialist nation ruled by the leader of the revolution, a man named Armas Quent. Phirra wasn't content to let this be, though. Armas had ordered her father's death, and she planned to pay him back in kind. She went through dangerous self-operations, creating experimental Ether devices that were a part of her from stolen parts. Now let them try to confiscate it all, she said.
When she was finally done, she made an attempt to break into Armas' palace and kill him. She didn't know enough about what she was doing, thinking her gear would make that up. She was wrong, and was captured as a result, though she escaped before the end of the month. Learning from her mistake, she fled the land, taking on easier contracts as a professional assassin, learning the skills she needed for it. Someday, she'll return to Ajeshna and take revenge for her family, but for now, serving Lancelot serves her interests best.


Phirra is of fairly average height and weight, with dark skin and dark hair (which is usually braided in a very complicated and time-consuming manner). She has a slightly large nose and thin eyebrows, and her brown eyes always look as though she's plotting murder. Often, she actually is.
Phirra dresses as she needs to to fit in. In her own society, this means elegantly, but not flauntily. That is, she'll make a point of looking nice, but not that nice. She couldn't do her job if she stuck out from the crowd. In addition, whatever she wears is always in multiple layers, with the outermost layer being very loose-fitting. She does this to hide her equipment, which will typically be hidden in pockets or strapped to the next layer of clothing.

Traits and Equipment

Phirra is human, but parts of her have been replaced with Ether-based "augmentations". She hides these from people in the same way she does her equipment. Even if it weren't dangerous, she'd be treated as a freak. Details on what there actually is in the equipment section.


Nothing out of the ordinary here.



 Activate Ether Device
Phirra is not an especially talented mage, but she has learnt the magic necessary to use Ether devices. Physical contact with the device is required. More energy is used based on the device, but a general rule is the device uses four times less energy than what would be required to do the same thing with a spell. Also, if the device is out of Ether, it will not function.




Accuracy
Phirra is proficient in the use of crossbows, and her Ether crossbow in particular. She's no sniper, but she can handle herself.
Stealth
Phirra is skilled at blending in, sneaking, and other forms of stealth. She's also a good liar.
Evasion
Phirra can dodge effectively, and is a skilled parkourist. She can usually get herself out of a sticky situation.
Brawling
If an enemy gets too close for a crossbow to be effective, Phirra can rely on unarmed combat skills to disable them. She's able to reliably defeat a trained (armed) human in single combat, but she won't win when outnumbered or facing a uniquely skilled enemy.
Development
Phirra can build or repair every item she currently has in her equipment list, given time and resources.



Ether Reliance
Due to her augmentations, if at any point Phirra runs out of Ether, she immediately falls unconscious. Basic body functions will still take place, but she'll remain asleep until someone "refuels" her themselves. In addition, if her Ether store is ever damaged enough, it will start leaking, draining Ether quite rapidly.
Normal activity will drain about 1% per hour. Intensive activity, such as working out, will drain about 1% per half hour. Highly intensive activity, such as physical combat, will drain about 1% per ten minutes. Sleeping does not use Ether unless a leak is present, in which case it is considered light activity.
If a small leak occurs, multiply all values by five. If a medium leak occurs, multiply all values by 50. If a major leak occurs, 5% is drained each second, regardless of activity level.




Ether Storage
Phirra's bones have been hollowed out and lined on the inside with metal (so they retain their original durability). All are connected by a network of tubes and used as storage for Ether. Phirra is constantly aware of how much Ether she has left thanks to a device inside.
Ether Crossbow
A crossbow that makes up part of Phirra's left forearm. One shot uses 3% of Phirra's Ether store. It is more accurate and powerful than a standard crossbow, which is what uses most of the Ether.
Ether Grenades
After a 2 second delay, these grenades release an explosion of blue light that will vaporise anything biological within five feet, and temporarily blind anyone looking directly at it within ten feet. Activating one uses 8% of Phirra's Ether store. Phirra only currently has three, but she can make more in her spare time.
Ether Breacher
A tool stored in Phirra's left forefinger. When activated, it glows incredibly hot, and is typically used to make entrances and exits in walls my melting through. A hole large enough to crawl through uses 2% of Phirra's Ether store, a hole large enough to walk through uses 6%.
Ether Re-Polariser
This tool combines practicality with comedy, and is Phirra's personal favourite. She can use it on herself or anyone she can touch to indefinitely reverse the effects of gravity for them. There are a number of ways she can use this, typically to make herself less visible by crawling a long a ceiling, but the reason she likes it so much is that, in an open air environment, it's a quick and hilarious way to deal with an enemy. Unfortunately, it uses a huge amount of Ether - 20% of Phirra's store.
Ether Harvester
This is a bulky contraption that automatically draws Ether from the air (it's actually powered by Ether itself, it just harvests more than it uses). It needs to be somewhere it will get a lot of fresh air - either outside, next to a window, or somewhere similar. In one day it can produce the same amount of Ether as Phirra can hold in her Ether storage, and its own storage can only hold that much itself.



Ether Gauntlet

The Ether Gauntlet is a unique device and the only piece of equipment Phirra uses that she didn't make herself. As a result, she cannot replace it or repair it easily. Using 25% of her body's Ether supply, she can use the gauntlet to improve her physical strength for up to 30 minutes, or release a concussive blast of energy.

Relationships
None so far.
Other

For clarification, Ether is a blue liquid substance that effectively amplifies magic. It is put into other devices to make creating certain magical effects simpler in two ways. First of all, a new spell does not need to be learned each time a new effect is desired, and secondly, about four times less effort is needed to produce a magical effect using Ether as doing it through normal magic. However, Ether is destroyed when it is used (though it can be reproduced sustainably), and a device is required for each magical effect. What this means is that a wizard will typically "burn out" faster than an artificer (a user of Ether devices), they will be much more versatile than an artificer, since an artificer can only carry so much equipment.
Phirra is left-handed.