Difference between revisions of "Altaira Casmosis"

Latest revision as of 23:02, 14 March 2008

Background

Altaira Casmosis was born to Idran and Annie Casmosis in Kohlingen in 1318, a little over a year following the events on the world of Krynus. She had a fairly happy childhood, though for Idran it was slightly tinged with sadness, as he was well aware of his impending fate by that point. Still, the two of them cared for her as best they could with the help of Selene, who treated Tara (as she more often goes by) much as her own sister.

Trying to lessen the blow, Idran focused on doting on Tara as best he could, hoping to give her a happy enough life while he could that his passing would be less painful. And it helped some - one of her earliest memories is flying around with him above Kohlingen. The experiences left their mark on her too, with a week-long sailing trip on her fifth birthday giving her a long-held desire to become a sailor herself.

He even tried to help with the coming loneliness, purchasing a young Barian Shepherd by the name of Zaria for the family when Tara was 4. The family grew even further some seven years later, when Zaria gave birth to a litter of puppies; most were given away, one to Paula and Orion, but two were kept; Anachronus and Nozdormu. And though Zaria herself died in autumn of 1334, Nozzy and Chronny still live with Annie today.

However, Idran's attempts had something of an unforeseen effect after his death, about four months after Tara's fifth birthday. With her loss, she went into a fairly deep depression, barely responding to any attempts by the family to pull her out of it. This continued for some months, until one day when (according to her) a Celestial only she could see appeared to help keep her company. Imaginary or not, Nita, as she called her, was a close friend of Tara's for some years after, though she finally left once more not long after Tara turned 8. She left Tara, telling her she didn't need to stay any longer, as she had nearly gotten over Idran's death on her own.

As reluctant to let Tara go off as she was, Annie began homeschooling Tara at the age of 6, aided by Orion and Paula. A fairly bright child, taking after her parents, she took to the instruction well. The instruction, combined with Annie's own influence, encouraged a strong love of reading in Tara; one that soon branched into a love of writing, though as of yet her enjoyment of the art fairly well surpasses her skill in it.

Tara's more traditional homeschooling was met with training in the magical arts, after accidentally discovering her abilities at the age of 13, filling a basin to bathe without realizing the water had not yet been pumped into the pipes. Extraordinarily proud of her for this, this was still an area where Annie could provide little instruction of her own. But luckily, with the help of Paula and a colleague of hers, a fellow water mage also serving with the Merchant Marines, she was able to get accustomed to the basics. And though there was a short-lived flirtation with possibly sending her to Gunnir, that was soon decided against by both - Annie for not wishing her daughter to be gone for the minimum of six years required, and Tara for the lingering bad memories associated with Idran against the academy.

Annie's overprotectiveness finally came to a head during an argument between the two at the age of 14. Feeling increasingly frustrated by her mother's clinginess, she ran off to the city shortly after a heated shouting match, intending to prove to her mother that she was certainly old enough for some independence. Her time in the city actually went better than one would expect for her age, even including one of her first dates with a fellow there. However, her meager funds soon ran out, and four days later, she returned home...only to find her mother a horrible wreck, almost entirely unable to handle Tara's unexpected absence. Seeing her in this condition (and following a fairly harsh chewing out from Selene), the worry over Annie's condition without her grew much stronger.

This worry grew even worse, after an unfortunate incident at a tech display only a month later. Annie, still distracted by Tara's recent departure, turned to her work to get her mind off of things. Picking up some earlier abandoned notes into a prototype combustion engine after Tara's return, she finished the demonstration model, planning to exhibit it in Doma. That is, she thought she had finished it; however, it wasn't quite as complete as she had assumed. Exploding during the demonstration, it devastated the exhibition hall. Though luckily few were injured, a heavy fine and repair fees were levied against her, putting the family into debt. The financial difficulties were compounded by the sudden loss of reputation; suddenly, fewer and fewer people were asking Annie for work.

The family in somewhat of a horrible position financially, and Tara seeing it as more than a little her fault, she turned her efforts towards Annie. She cut out most of the already-small social life she had in the city, even ignoring her long-held hopes of getting a job on a ship someday. For now, she spent her time mostly at home, helping her mother where she could.

However, Tara's attitude may once more change, thanks to two factors. First, Tara's own nanobots, all but dormant in her system, reached the point of activation in the late winter of 1336. After a week of discomfort, stiffness, and fever, her system was altered much the same as Annie's had been long before. Though she was always a bit more rubbery in nature, she began to have conscious control over it for the first time, just coming into her stretching abilities. Coupled with the gymnastics training Annie insisted on for when this day came, her training with these new powers has proceeded quite well.

The second factor occured early in 1337. Selene, while decoding old files, learned of one of DuGalle's larger labs, located under Rivaran. Pushing Tara to investigate this after a short bit of combat training in the spear, the two of them left for the city. The first time she's actually had such a degree of independence since her earlier misadventure, her nervousness (both for herself and her mother at home) was quite strong. But with Selene's support this time, things may end up better for all involved.

Philsys Data

Spells and Techs

• [Innate] Nanobot enhancement - Due to inheriting the nanobot treatment from Annie, Altaira is slightly more rubbery in form than a normal human. She can elongate herself by up to Level * 5 feet, and has minor shapeshifting abilities, though in form only, not coloration. She also possesses (5 * Level)% damage reduction from blunt objects.
  • Currently unusable for reasons unknown
• [Innate] Bouncing - Another side effect of the nanobots, if Altaira falls from any appreciable height without landing on her feet or back, she will end up bouncing to a height 1.5x that from which she fell. The height will drop from there normally on successive bounces.
  • Currently unusable for reasons unknown
• [Innate] Aura Anomaly - ???
• [Engineering=2] Fatal Flaw (5 TP)- Using this skill, Altaira can find a flaw in the design of a machine and use such knowledge how she sees fit - though she lacks the mechanical expertise to actually rework a finished product and thus exploit this flaw.
• [Balance=4] Melee Evasion (4 TP) - Adds balance skill rank to all PA rolls made this round. Even if no parry roll is allowed, half of the user's balance skill rank is added to her PA for the remainder of the round.
• [Water=1] Clean (4 MP) - Cleans an object the caster is in contact with. Objects affected by this spell appear as if dunked in a vat of water for a minute or so, and dried until the water was gone. Thus, some materials may not be very well cleaned by this, and others may be damaged. Objects on fire are not affected.
• [Water=1] Water Ball (4 MP) - Flings a hard ball of water at a single target, dealing 8 + rank*2 + 1d6 water damage.
• [Water=1] Create Water (8 MP) - Summons up to (rank*7.5) gallons of water within a foot of Altaira.
• [Water=4] Guide Water (10 MP) - Allows Altaira to guide the flow or motion of a single amount of water, no greater than a full barrel's-worth. She can cause an amount of water to surge over the limits of its container, manipulate the surface to create miniature waves, set up small currents within, or the like, but she can do nothing to manipulate the water that it couldn't conceivably do without her influence.
• [Water=4] Water Ball 2 (15 MP) - Flings up to 3 water balls at up to 3 targets, dealing 5 + rank*1.5 + 1d4 water damage per projectile.
  • These water balls are slightly smaller than those summoned by the earlier version.
• [Water=4] Water Breathing (10 MP) - Allows the caster to breathe water for (rank*3) minutes.
• [Water=8] Shape Water (20 MP) - Similar to Guide Water, this allows Altaira to influence a body of water. Beyond that spell, however, this allows her to cause water to take on shapes it otherwise would be unable to form; creating pillars or barriers of water upwards from a surface, pulling water away from the side of a container, or similar feats. This spell can only affect amounts of water up to (rank) gallons; shapes that don't require the entirety of a body of water to form, such as creating a wall from the surface of the ocean, function at the GM's discretion. Note that "objects" formed by this spell are still water, and have no special solidity by virtue of this spell, though currents may be set up within them to allow such things as deflecting light projectiles.
• [Water=8] Water Walk (15 MP) - When this spell is cast, Altaira can stand, sit, or lay upon a surface of water as if it was solid, with about the rigidity of a soft mattress. This spell lasts for as long as Altaira can continue concentrating on it; though she can perform minor tasks such as walking, talking, and other such actions, but any major distractions or surprises break the spell instantly, as does any sort of combat either by or against her.
• [Void=1] Dark Water (25 MP) - Summons a geyser of water from the Void at the target, dealing 15 + rank*2 + 1d6 Void damage.
  • Altaira has no conscious control over the casting of this spell.