Name: Celeste
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Race: Griffin. I’m just going to shamelessly copy and paste from the Wikipedia article, because it states it the best. “The griffin is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's talons as its front feet.” Griffins age at the same rate as humans, but their lifespans tend to last from 150-200 years. Griffins are very intelligent creatures, but they are unable to speak human languages, making it difficult to show that they are more intelligent than the beasts they appear to be.
Affiliation: While she wishes that she and her kind could go out into the world without having to hide, she does not believe that this is an achievable goal, so she begrudgingly supports secrecy.
Appearance: Griffins rarely stand taller than a human, and Celeste fits that mold. Standing next to an average sized male human, Celeste’s shoulder is even with their waist and the top of her head reaches their mid chest. Her wingspan is about seven feet, her wings strong and muscular to be able to sustain her weight in the air. Her ears sits atop her head, long and pointed, covered in soft feathers. For the most part, she looks to be a standard griffin with her tawny, muscular lion torso, hind quarters, and tail. Her eagle half is a bit more distinctive because of its unusual coloration. Her talons: a glossy dark black; her feathers: stark black; her beak: guess what, black; her eyes: a pale crčme color, with reflective opal-colored flecks. What, you didn’t think those would be black, did you? On her forehead, if you can call it that, is a distinctive white mark that seems to be ingrained in her feathers. It stands out on her otherwise black feathers, a simple silvery-white circle with wavy lines appearing to radiate out from it, looking to be a stylized sun.
Although she does not know of it, and is unable to transform into it at the present time, Celeste has a human form. In human form Celeste is petite and frail, standing at five feet five inches tall. The best way to describe her features would be angelic; she has shoulder length light blond hair and pale skin. Her eyes are the same color as in her griffin form, a pale crčme color with opal flecks inside. She wears a pure white hoodie with a zipper, very dark blue jeans, and white running shoes.
Personality: Celeste’s personality is harsh, abrasive, and fierce, quite fitting given her predatory appearance. Having only recently been released into society, Celeste has difficulties with things of a social nature. She doesn’t trust anyone, always suspecting they wish to do her harm or to take advantage of her. Intensely sarcastic, she doesn’t even need her claws to rake someone raw, and if she’s forced into doing something she dislikes, the offender is most likely going to hear about it for the next century. Although recently she has been discouraged from it, Celeste is on a “quest” to find the thing that can unlock the rest of her powers. She has lost some of her fervor in finding that goal, and has begun to look for someone to befriend, but if she hears any rumor of something that may unlock her magical seal, she will at the very least be tempted to leave whomever she is befriending. Despite her harsh nature, she does not like seeing others in pain, tending to sympathize with them. She doesn’t understand how human society can let people fall through the cracks, so she tends to be compassion for individuals society has left behind, and may even help or stand up for them. Whatever it is she gets into though, whether it was a job to deliver a bunch of cupcakes or to prevent a dragon from reaching her friends until they escape, she wholehearted puts all of her effort into it, no matter what the cost. She has an intense fear of confinement, so much so that she doesn’t even like to be inside buildings for more than a few seconds. If she ever befriends anyone, she is likely to have large personality swings as she tries to determine who she really is, as her personality has always been irrelevant to survival.
History: From the moment she hatched, Celeste was marked as special, different from the other hatchlings, with her black feathers and unique mark. Her elders did not understand what it meant, so they decided to ignore her specialness, and raised her the same as the other the hatchlings. Soon, she befriended another young griffin, named Destrian, and they became inseparable playmates, the troublemakers of the flock. For the most part, their trouble was harmless, and often their elders had difficulties keeping as straight face while punishing the pair for their mischief. But, unfortunately, those who get into harmless trouble find it much easier to get into serious trouble.
One day, Destrian and Celeste wandered away while the other young ones played, wanting to explore the wide world around them, like they often did. As night fell, the pair saw something strange, a flickering light that stayed close to the ground paired with the loud noises of some strange creature. Destrian wanted to turn back, but Celeste refused to listen, and so he begrudgingly followed. Slowly, they snuck up to the light and saw that all around it there were strange, furless, featherless creatures which were making the loud noises. The two young griffins were in awe of the strange beasts, and because of this, they let their guards drop. A loud noise screeched out from behind them, causing the two younglings to jump in fright. “Hey! Look what I fou-” The strange beasts never had a chance, shrieking griffins materializing from the wilderness all around them, protecting their young. Soon, the slaughter was over.
Celeste was expecting a harsh scolding and punishment after the incident, not fully understanding the situation she and her friend had caused. Instead, she received a lecture, and by the end her head with swimming with the new knowledge she had received. She had learned that the world was mostly run by those strange, naked beasts, and that the beasts were called humans. To stay safe, she and her flock lived in a remote corner of the world that was still rather lush, called Alaska by the humans, but there was still danger if their existence was to be discovered. She fell asleep with foul thought on her brain, mostly directed towards the humans. Why shouldn’t she and her kind be able to freely roam the world if they wished, it should be their birthright! When she awoke, she awoke in a completely different world.
Blinking, her vision hazy, she awoke to a bright light. Slowly, she stumbled to her feet, and instead of soft grass beneath her feet, there was something cold and hard, like stone. As her vision cleared, all she could see was grey, like the color of fog, but darker. The floor was grey. The ceiling was high above her short little head and it was grey. There were… walls surrounding her, but the walls were not like the cave walls she had been seen before. They were like saplings made of this dark grey material, with space in between them for the harsh light to shine through. And a few bruises later, she determined they were too strong to break through. After some time, a figure was visible in the light, walking towards her, and she identified it as another one of those human things. She decided that she despised them. It walked up to the enclosure she was in, and knelt down beside it so that they were at eye level with each other. Then suddenly, the human’s body began to twist and reshape itself. Celeste stumbled back as far as she could until she was pressing against the strange saplings on the other side. She stared wide eyed and in shock at what the human had become. It was her friend, Destrian! Before she could even begin to grasp the situation, he spoke to her.
He explained to her where she was, a facility designed to observe and study creatures that had powers beyond those they were supposed to, powers that were beyond normal. He explained that he was one of those creatures, a werecat (whatever that was) who was able to shapeshift beyond his limits into whatever creature form that he wanted, who had eventually become an agent of the facility. Here, she was to be taught about humans and the world under careful supervision, although always under lock and key, because she had already threatened the veil of secrecy carefully crafted by all nonhumans. Her special abilities had already been identified and sealed, and she would most likely never be taught to use them. She would live in the facility for her whole life, unless she was able to prove herself trustworthy enough to become a field agent, like he had become. Then her friend was gone, and she was left reeling from the events that had occurred.
It happened much like Destrian said, if that was really his name. She was taught of the world and its current state under human control. She was taught of the most common mythological creatures in the world and some of the more uncommon ones as well. But she was never allowed to fly, never allowed to be free, always in transit from one cage to another and back again, to do whatever she was told. She always resisted, but she soon learned how to resist without getting herself punished, never going too far. This is how she grew up, resenting her captivity and those who had put her there, and seemingly nothing changed. But behind the scenes, something had changed. Her childhood betrayer eventually became the other to oversee the facility and its operations, and perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps just because the time was right, he gave the order for her release.
The day started like any other, being ordered around from here to there, lessons from her annoying human teacher, examinations after. There had been some strange whisperings among the staff during her examination, and it seemed to take longer than normal, but she didn’t pay any attention to it. She was walked back to her cell, like normal, but instead of stopping, she was directed by her attendant to continue walking. Surprised and suspicious, Celeste was lead to a door, and through it there was nothing but a grassy expanse. Gingerly, she tread upon it, feeling it for the first time in a good fifteen years. She wasn’t given time to enjoy the moment however, as the attendant gave her the terms of her release. A very small amount of her powers had been unlocked, enough for her to survive in urban environments without disturbing the veil. The rest of her powers were locked, but the magical seal on them would fall away if she found a specific something that would unlock them. Other than that, she was free, although she was warned that if she were to take actions to disturb secrecy, agents of the facility were likely to attempt to pursue and contain her. Then, the attendant walked back into the facility, and she was free.
Weapons/Abilities:
Note: Celeste naturally has elemental abilities related to the element of light. However, a large amount of Celeste’s special abilities have been locked by a magical seal that is impossible to forcefully remove. She was told that she needed to find something to unlock it. This is a bit of an untruth. The seal is linked to her emotions, the more she learns to trust others, and the more of her powers will be unlocked. Given her background, it’s unlikely she’ll break the seal quickly. In this list, all things that are marked with an = sign instead of a + or – sign are currently locked until further notice.
Griffin form:
+Natural weapons. Griffins are equipped with sharp talons and beak, and her hind legs are those of a lion, so they can do some damage as well.
+Strength. Although not too much larger than a lion, griffins have immense strength, enough to carry off a horse larger than themselves if they so desired.
+Telepathy. Griffins cannot speak human languages. Celeste has the ability to make up with this with the ability of telepathy to the range of 100 feet, perhaps more if she pushes it.
+Iron will. For some unknown reason, perhaps because of their animalistic nature, a griffin’s mind is intensely difficult to psychically invade. Any psychic probes sent into Celeste’s mind, even if only to read thoughts will be instantly attacked by her own mind and she will know about the incurious immediately.
+Cat illusions. Along with telepathy, this is the only one of her special abilities currently at her disposal. Celeste can bend light to create the image of either a lion or a pure white, short-haired house cat. These are only visual illusions however, the house cat illusion easily broken if someone were to touch her physical form, which is larger than the size of the illusion. The lion illusion is a bit more difficult to break, but if someone were to feel her forequarters, they would feel feathers, and the illusion would break.
=Stronger offensive light based powers. The offensive side of her light based powers is strongest in griffin form. She can use her powers to empower her claws or to summon orbs of forceful light, perhaps a beam if she wished to. She can also empower others attacks to make them stronger with her powers. Perhaps I should include a little note on light magic. It functions quite a lot like force magic, but it is very visible and typically has more destructive raw power.
=Weaker defensive light based powers. Celeste’s light powers can also be used defensively, but in griffin form the defensive branch of her magic doesn’t work nearly as well as her offensive side does. She has the ability to create shields of force around herself and others. She can also create illusions, but these are much less convincing than illusions created in human form.
=Quick, effortless transformation. Because different aspects of her magic are stronger in different forms, Celeste cannot afford to be bogged down by a long transformation in combat. When she transforms, there is a blinding light that emanates from her, and when the light fades in about five seconds, she is in her other form. The clothes come as part of the transformation, how convenient.
Human form: (Currently, this whole form is locked.)
=Telepathy. Even though she can now speak English perfectly well, Celeste still has the ability of telepathy to the range of 100 feet, perhaps more if she pushes it.
=Iron will. For some unknown reason, perhaps because of their animalistic nature, a griffin’s mind is intensely difficult to psychically invade, and this trait carries on to her human form. Any psychic probes sent into Celeste’s mind, even if only to read thoughts will be instantly attacked by her own mind and she will know about the incurious immediately.
=Stronger defensive light based powers. Celeste’s defensive light powers are strongest in human form. She has the ability to create shields of force around herself and others. She can also create illusions, and these illusions are strong enough where if she concentrates, she can fool all of the five senses. It takes a considerable amount of extra effort to trick any sense besides sight and sound however.
=Healing magic. In human form, Celeste has access to a branch of her magic that is completely unavailable to her in griffin form. Healing is not easy, far from instant, and quickly exhausting, but it works, and that’s what counts.
=Weaker offensive light based powers. The offensive side of her light based powers is weaker in human form. She can still do all the same things in her human form as in her griffin form, but it is much more difficult and much less effective.
=Quick, effortless transformation. Because different aspects of her magic are stronger in different forms, Celeste cannot afford to be bogged down by a long transformation in combat. When she transforms, there is a blinding light that emanates from her, and when the light fades in about five seconds, she is in her other form. The clothes come as part of the transformation, how convenient.
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