mbika Makkura

Odain Alias: Ambika

Player: BetsyT

Homeworld: Earth variant

Description:

Ambika is a woman in her late 20s.  She is very thin, almost painfully so, and stands at about 5'3".  Her skin is very pale, almost white, her hair is jet black, and her eyes are black with white irises.  When she arrived, she was wearing a long, black, Victorian-style dress with elbow-length silk gloves, a gauze veil over her face, and surprisingly rugged-looking boots.

Powers: 

Ambika is a Shadow mage, engineered from birth to manipulate darkness.  She is a master at controlling light and shadow; she can use them to form small, non-harmful illusions, focus them into a beam, or shroud herself or others in them.  None of these abilities are intrinsically harmful; she can temporarily blind or distract people, but cannot cause physical damage with her normal shadow manipulation powers.

Ambika can also teleport using her powers.  She can only do this in pitch-black or dimly lighted areas, or by shrouding herself in darkness first.  She needs direct line of site to the place she wants to teleport to.

Ambika recently gained the ability to summon and control Elemental Shadow, a primal force that is toxic to most living beings.  It manifests as a small, seething mass of darkness when she summons it, although she can shape it as she wishes.  It has mass, and feels cold to the touch.  When Elemental Shadow touches a living being, that being will begin to feel cold and lethargic as the Shadow drains its energy.  It is possible to die from prolonged contact with Elemental Shadow--it would take about fifteen minutes for an average human to succumb, and longer or shorter for larger or smaller creatures.  Ambika herself is immune to the Shadow's effects.

Ambika can only keep the Shadow stable for a few minutes, after which she will be too drained to do more than rest for the next day or so.  It will dissipate if it gets more than a few feet away from her, so she cannot use it to form projectile weapons or for long range attacks.  If exposed to strong light, the Shadow will fade immediately.

Ambika is a living energy sink.  She draws light and heat unconsciously from her her surroundings, making it unnecessary for her to eat.  She cannot drain energy from living beings--even when she is using Elemental Shadow, she cannot collect and use the energy that others have lost.

Weaknesses:

Ambika is extremely sensitive to light.  If she is in even a normally-lighted room without skin protection, she will begin to show the effects of sunburn, and will eventually become weak and nauseated. 

Because she draws energy from light and heat sources, she will begin to weaken and languish if isolated in dark, cold environments.  After 48 hours, she will slip into a coma, and die soon afterward.

Skills:

Ambika is well-educated in the liberal arts of her world,as well as in magickal theory.  She is a talented fiction writer.  She is an excellent fencer, and her weapon of choice is the epee.

Equipment: Besides her clothes, nothing.

Personality:

Ambika's magical abilities came at a price.  Her emotions are almost completely deadened.  She seems bland and apathetic much of the time, and can't quite seem to understand why people around her get so "hysterical."

Recently, however, Ambika has started having what she refers to as "episodes"--manic bursts of energy, crying jags, panic attacks, other outbursts of emotion that often seem to have no trigger at all.  These attacks shame her, and she can't figure out the cause.  She will try to get away from people when she feels one coming on.  So far, though, her ability to predict when one will occur has been poor.

Connections:

Ambika would recognize a few people in Odain from her short time in the Nexus.  She is closest to Meiri Umino, a friend of hers from her homeworld.