Delphi Oracle
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Delphi Oracle | |
| Player: @Resurection Mary | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Arachnos Widow |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Delphi |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | Unknown |
| Height: | 5'3" |
| Weight: | 135lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Unknown |
| Occupation: | Reaper |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Base of Operations: | Unknown |
| Marital Status: | Widow |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| Telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, psychometry, electrokinesis | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Osmosis of knowledge and skills through passive telepathy and latent thoughts of those around her. | |
| Equipment | |
| Springloaded anesthetic darts in her gauntlets. | |
| ' | |
((WIP))
Contents |
Personality
Delphi Oracle, a.k.a. Del to her friends, is chaotic in her personality. She ranges from completely random with childlike innocence to serious and knowledgeable to the world around her. An amnesiac in addition to being telepathic, Del has managed to adjust rather well to life on Primal Earth. She's a kind, caring indivual and always willing to help out; it's almost unimagineable that this young woman could be a mercenary, yet she is.
The Original
Delphi Oracle was originally known as Bai An, who lived in New York, NY in the early 1980s. Bai graduated college with a degree in photographic journalism, and as a celebration went on a cross country road trip with her closest friends. Bai dreamed of seeing the sights and catching the beauty of the landscape on film. She was kind, fun loving, and adventurous, always looking for interesting stories. One such story about a ghost town in the American Southwest caught her attention on her road trip, and she urged her friends to make a pit stop. This would prove to be their undoing.
The town's name was lost long ago when it unexpectedly burned down; no survivors made themselves known, and no one took any credit for the arson. It simply just happened. The land the town was built upon was what many Native American's called "bad medicine land," a soul well with negative energies flowing throughout it. These energies coalesced and became aware, with an unending need to devour others and grow. It particularly was fond of those with psychic abilities, finding its own power doubled when it consumed them. Unfortunately, Bai An had a moderate psychic potential and stirred the sleeping land when she arrived. It made quick work of her friends by breaking down their psyches until they lost their sense of self and then absorbing them; Bai proved a bit harder to digest. Any time it succeeded in tearing a layer of her sanity off, her psychic potential grew. Eventually, Bai An got too big for it to eat, and disoriented as she was created a safe haven for herself in the only building left standing, a church, and put herself into a psychically induced stasis. There she slept for nearly twenty years until the land called another small group to swallow. The people it called were all psychic as well, and the plan was to absorb them so that the soul well could tip the balance in its favor, to then swallow Bai An. Unfortunately, one of the group had a similar problem as Bai; every time it tore a piece of her down, her psychic powers grew, and this in turn stirred Bai in her slumber. When she finally awoke, Bai had a sudden realization on how to put an end to the vampiric tendencies of the land and sought out its heart to purify it. This was a daunting task, and Bai An was nearly destroyed in the attempt. It's incredibly difficult to kill a psychic, however, and thus Bai An was reborn in the aftermath; the group that woke her also saved her, and brought her back to a paranormal research facility.
This is where Delphi was born. Just as it was difficult to kill Bai An, it was difficult to fully cleanse the world of what she called the soul well, "Burn Out." Her memories of that place were tainted, and often warped the world around her trying to recreate itself. So while Bai An slept as her body was poked, prodded, and experimented on, she went to work. First the group that rescued her had to have their memories altered, and Bai's own mind needed the same. She created a kind of autopilot psionic construct, a program, which would later be called Delphi and take care of the physical body. Then she created a link between it and herself, feeding her essence into it as she was slowly cleansed of everything she is and was. It was a Pinocchio situation: The psionic construct would become real over time, though it would have none of Bai An's memories. Children aren't born with them, you know. It would be a kind of reincarnation.
Leading to Primal Earth
Del awoke in a lab with no clue to her past one day roughly three years ago. She was hooked up to a machine with various needles and tubes protruding out of her skin; anesthesia being fed through one of them. Or it would have been, had it not run out. Del quickly unhooked herself and began making her way out of the dark lab, painfully aware of soft, squishy things on the floor with a warm, sticky liquid covering everything. It was during her journey out that Del discovered her psychometry...she touched a wall and began seeing the lab as it was, full of people and bustling with activity. She was quite disoriented, but Del managed to make her way regardless. It was even easier, as in her visions the area was well lit and she could see where she was going. Upon exiting the building Del read the name "Delphi Paranormal Research" and took her name from it. She wandered a bit and gazed at the destruction around her. There were no living people in this city. They all laid as corpses at her feet; some with obvious signs of death, such as mauling by an animal, and some with no identifying marks whatsoever. Frightened, Del quickly found herself better clothing and tried to find some sort of shelter...and that is when she met Argos. Or more importantly, that's when she felt his thoughts. The two were inextricably drawn to each other. It wasn't long before their telepathic link became apparent. This only added to their bond, as they were a couple almost upon meeting.
Paragon and Etoile
Portal Corps. came across their dimension by accident and offered a chance at relocation for Del and Argos. "There's nothing here for you two anymore," the Portal Corps. Representative stated. Del confirmed they meant no harm and they were whisked away to Paragon. There were innumerable people with extraordinary abilities such as their own; but due to their own lack of control, confrontation with the heroes of Paragon was inevitable. So they relocated once again to the Rogue Isles, where no one cared who got hurt, so that they could master their gifts. Lord Recluse would certainly give them plenty of targets as he has a habit of "recruiting" rather powerful psychics to his Fortunata program...too bad Del didn't want any part of it and Argos was overly protective. It was also during their time in the Rogue Isles that they came to know of Captain Rowan O'Neil and her band of mercenaries, the Reapers Grim. Given their similar histories of survival, Rowan invited Delphi and Argos to join up. Steady pay, shelter, food, a social circle...and additional protection. The offer was accepted.
Pocket D
Shortly after joining up, Rowan sent a majority of the members away on a low-threat level mission to get them accustomed to working as a team. This mission would last at least three months...during which time it became painfully obvious just how much Del and Argos were dependent on one another. While out of range of their telepathic link, Del's powers went unchecked. She saw dozens of time lines simultaneously and even referred to herself and others in the plural. Her sight was primarily affected in that she never saw someone as exactly where they were standing: She saw them as they were a few minutes in the past or will be into the future. During this three month span, Del would wander around the D talking to herself or the "things that are not." It caught the attention of a few people, but they would eventually give up on deciphering her riddles. One Meilin Hsiao didn't give up and gave Del someone to talk to, helping her stay relatively focused.
The Past Caught Up
After living with the Reapers since her arrival on Primal Earth, Delphi suffered a crippling loss. Her anchor and lover, Argos, died while away on a mission with Lieutenant Randolph. The psychic feedback from that link being severed nearly destroyed her sense of self, and memories long since forgotten came surging back with a vengeance. Her original identity, Bai An, still existed within her mind and was working to suppress a very dangerous memory of a psychic entity, which she called Burn Out. Even Bai An felt the death of Argos, and in that moment Burn Out made its move. It quickly sought out any nearby psychics and swallowed their essence to restore its own, then used that power to create a pocket dimension, a nightmare to all that entered it. Bits and pieces of Bai An's own past were worked in, and fragments of what was left of Delphi could be found through the realm Burn Out created. Luckily, a combined effort through the remaining Reapers available and their friends, Bai An was able to regain enough control of herself to stop Burn Out and retreat back into her mind with a promise to restore Delphi in time.
Powers
- Telepathy: Delphi is a powerful telepath, able to not only read minds but link several minds up with her own simultaneously for private lengthy conversations; she is also able to scan multiple minds at once for any sort of psychic or other tampering. While she does have the ability to control minds and even create mental illusions for her enemies, Del doesn't really do this unless she has an immediate threat in her vicinity and feels there's no alternative.
- Precognition: Del is also able to see into the various futures either at random or by concentrative effort. Usually she has to touch something or someone to get a reading, but that is not always the case.
- Postcognition: The opposite of precognition, Del can also see into an object's/person's past via physical contact. This is usually much easier than telepathy as a more potent telepath can falsify memories and she wouldn't be able to detect it. Postcognition is literally like viewing a historical documentation without the artistic changes; and no amount of mental manipulation can cover this.
- Psychometry: Del's previous two powers are usually channeled and triggered via her psychometry; that is extra-sensory perception via touch. However, her psychometry in general has a third use that her previous two powers do not require or even go into. By touching an object or person, Del can also discern current information.
- Telekinesis: Del can also move objects mentally.
- Lightning: A latent power that recently developed after months of blackouts. Del can't really explain this, but odds are it has something to do with the link between her and Bai An.
Delphi's abilities are at once magical and psychic in origin. In her dimension, they were one and the same; thus Delphi is often able to achieve magical effects and cut out the pesky, time consuming rituals often required. While the Delphi persona is unaware of this and often doesn't use it to full effect, Bai An's mind is strong enough to literally alter reality around her in considerable ways. The powers listed above are not her only ones, but are used far more frequently by the Delphi persona.
Random Facts
- Contrary to her name, Del is not Greek. She bears some Caucasian traits, but she does more closely resemble Asian features.
- Del has memory lapses; sometimes she remembers something that's happened to her, sometimes she doesn't. She also sometimes remembers things that happened to someone else.
- Del likes photography. She's taken it upon herself to do all of her Captain's family photos as a hobby.
Friends and IC Comments
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"Del's a sweetheart, she's adorable, and she's always ready to help her friends. And I've even seen her dance, which was something of a personal victory." -- Jason
"Oh, Del's awesome. She's really sweet and fun and definitely good with the mind stuff. I'm really happy to count her as a friend and an ally, and I'd be more than willing to help her should she need it." -- Nikki
"Beautiful, enigmatic, sweet. Miss Delphi reminds me of the younger oracle aspirants from my clan. I cannot say I have interacted much with her, but the few moments I have spent in her company are enough to add resolved and caring to her qualities. I am very honoured to call her friend." -- Allastor Darkflame
