Lilikai Nesef
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Lilikai in her natural form and her most favored human disguise | |
| Lilikai Nesef | |
| Player: Quicksilver Crane | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Lilikai Nesef |
| Known Aliases: | Lili |
| Species: | Demon |
| Age: | 57 years |
| Height: | 5'3 (natural) |
| Weight: | 106 (natural) |
| Eye Color: | Solid black orbs (natural), Blue (favored disguise) |
| Hair Color: | Pale white (natural), Brown (favored disguise) |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | N/A |
| Occupation: | Bookseller/Librarian |
| Place of Birth: | Hell, or one of them anyway |
| Base of Operations: | Praetoria |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Power over illusion, corruption of the mind and body, flame, flight, limited teleportation, coordination spells, very limited time manipulation spells | |
| Known Abilities | |
| High level magical ability, immortality, demonic resistances, being absolutely adorable | |
| Equipment | |
| ' | |
| ' | |
Backstory:
Lilikai was spawned in a defiled pit along with dozens of others of her kind in a great blasphemous experiment conducted by a fickle infernal scientist in favor with the rulers of one of the multitude of lower planes. Her species was made for corruption, related to succubi but different, capable of acts of defilement of the mind and body. Where her voluptuous cousins presided over moral decay, Lilikai and others of her ilk degraded the health and perceptions of her targets, twisting their visions of reality while destroying their bodies with sickness. They were not subtle instruments, but they were effective, well designed, and powerful. Lilikai was meant to be ruthless, cunning, utterly merciless, delighting in causing havoc and murder, able to laugh over a child dying of a disease she spawned. In theory anyway. While most of her pitmates were skillful at their depredations, finding places for themselves in that hellish landscape, Lilikai was different. Where her siblings were cunning and cruel, Lilikai was timid and nervous. Where her siblings were powerful and imperious, wearing the trappings of the nobility of the damned, Lilikai slunk into the shadows. When her entire species and creator was exterminated by a succubus noble wary of this new race of potential rivals, Lilikai avoided notice.
She spent months trying to escape from the purge of her kind, moving from place to place in the lower planes, trying to survive. A meek demon like her though, good enough looking, is easy prey. Lilikai found herself captured and sold into servitude, acting as a pleasure slave in a brothel, where her powers over illusion made her exceedingly valuable, a minor foot-soldier in some Infernal lord’s armies, and even undergoing a stint as a laborer. It was in the first job that Lilikai’s animosity towards succubi truly hardened, present in some shape thanks to the extermination of her race, and her unease around overt displays of sexuality formed. Still, in every job she learned the kiss of the whip and the bark of the overseer, her already natural timidity enhanced by a desire to not experience the pain of the lash. The young demon was even summoned several times over the course of her life, mostly for one night stands with oversexed and horny summoners. It was the last of these though that changed her life forever.
Bryan Nesef was a member of the Resistance and, more importantly, an apprentice mage with more power than sense. Eager to prove himself to his comrades, Bryan recklessly cast a summoning spell far beyond what his meager experience would allow him to cast safely. He got lucky. Instead of some monstrosity intent on devouring his soul or a temptress eager to add another to her growing brood, he got Lilikai. It wasn’t love at first sight, but when he bound the demonling to a contract to last until he died, she knew that she had found a rather special master. Instead of ordering her to serve him and do his bidding, he ordered the almost wholly compliant demoness to do all she could to protect the innocent. This was a task she took to with some relish. Though her combat skills were weak, she could turn her corruption to healing ends, energies for causing sickness nearly as apt in bringing about health. Of course, as happens in Praetoria, tragedy struck. Bryan was arrested for suspicions of Resistance sympathies and sent to the Behavioral Adjustment Facility, given a near indefinite sentence for possession of illegal occult tomes and unlicensed summoning. Lilikai resolved to join the Powers Division and gain enough favor to free him, but the terms of her binding were too strong. When the true scope of Cole’s villainy was revealed to her, she was compelled to journey to Paragon City to help protect the people of Primal Earth.
Paragon was a whole new world to her. She found herself eagerly embracing the heroic lifestyle, her command to protect the innocent still ingrained in her but also enjoying the warm and fuzzy feelings she got from being complimented. Not even realizing it, working as she did helped grow her power leaps and bounds beyond anything she was used to; going from a mere demonling to a powerful fiend in months rather than centuries. She learned spells and obtained magic trinkets, powers and items which gave her abilities far beyond those she possessed when summoned; teleportation, coordination spells, even limited time manipulation. What she was most proud of was her understanding of fire, of spells to create and manipulate it, allowing herself to wreath herself in flame. Beyond this, she joined up with a group of heroes, began making friends, and slowly building confidence. She even took a job at Pandora’s Box, the first job she’s truly loved, enjoying quiet days of shelving and occasionally fetching without whips and torment. In a word, she was happy. Work would lead to the occasional crime fighting, but more often, time spent at Pocket D where she even managed to get over her dislike of succubi. She had hoped that these days would last forever, eager to stay in Paragon and enjoy the life she had created for herself.
Nothing lasts forever though, especially in a city like Paragon. The Praetorian Invasion led to counterstrikes, one of which was on the Behavioral Adjustment Facility. Lilikai volunteered to join it, hoping against hope that she’d be able to rescue her summoner. The operation went perfectly except for one flaw. Her summoner wasn’t there. If he had been released, that would be one thing, she could track him down, bring him to Paragon. Instead, thanks to a friend’s hacking of the BAF mainframes, she learned that he, along with a number of other magically aligned prisoners, had been sent to a pocket dimension controlled by Infernal, where their magic would drained over time, and, when expended, sacrificed. If he died, Lilikai would return to the hells, a fate worse than death by any standard. This moment could have been a crystalizing event for the young demon. The hero’s choice, to take the noble path and risk everything to save someone she cared for. It could have led to something more, something greater for her, grander, more noble. A rescue mission, everything on the line, the chance for Lilikai to, despite her heritage, say to the world and the universe “I may be one spawned of infernal ruin, but I can and will rise above that!” Instead, she turned away. It might have been her nature, it might have been something else, but in the end, of her own free will, Lilikai Nesef chose to leave her summoner to his fate.
Of course, Lilikai needed to stay on the mortal plane. There were ways, of course. Ways all demons knew. Ways that she would not do, no matter what. Research and experience told her of other ways...of being resummoned by another, negating the first contract and putting into place a second. There were people she could ask, but knew most of them had a similar weakness to her original one...they were mortal. In the end, she went with a queen of succubi she knew, a powerful demon who, for reasons that Lilikai could not comprehend, took a liking to her. She tells herself it’s the easiest way, that it’s the natural order of things to serve one greater than her in the descending hierarchy, that Mistress Rue will be good to her, nice to her, a kind owner instead of a harsh one. Really, it was all she expected, all she desired...except it didn't go with planned.
Liliaki had planned to go to Ruenica fully intending to swear herself to the demon, to become her vassal and thrall. She wasn't happy about it, didn't want to, but knew that's what she should have done, should be. It was only proper after all. Still, she had to talk with a few of her friends before she did it, to get advice, to vainly figure out a different way forward. It was Acanous who told her to put in an escape clause. Lilikai, a demon whose existence was mandated by contracts and hierarchy, instinctively knew what one was, but never thought to put one into her own summoning and binding contract with Rue, such things were never done between nobility and commoners like Lilikai. Begging forgiveness when suggesting it, Lilikai somehow managed to, in short order, find herself bound not to Rue, but rather to the Circle's plane, a free demon, a state she has never found herself in before. What she does with her status remains to be seen, but for now, she's just happy not to have that sword hanging above her head.
Powers:
Lilikai’s powers have far exceeded even her original creator’s greatest expectations. Her power over corruption of the mind allows her to bring the worst fears of beings to the fore, blind them to reality, and even deceive their senses so they attack their allies. Her most powerful abilities involve calling forth the darkness of the mind, summoning manifestations of pure psionic and mental angst to batter her foes. Such powers over the mind also grant her the ability to sense infernal corruption and magical residue in others, her senses for detecting things of an arcane nature exceedingly acute. The demoness’s powers over corruption of the body have increased as well, able to halt or foster healing, grant or remove power, and even emit a choking miasma which shuts down the bodies of her foes. She can also use this same corruption to speed up her own actions to nearly inhuman speeds. Even beyond what her species is capable of, Lilikai has learned several spells for enhancing coordination between allies, teleportation, and even a powerful spell which speeds up time. She has also managed to procure several powerful artifacts that are useful in battle. Most critically, the demoness has grasped a spark of the divine, gaining of the power of an incarnate and growing in ways she’s never imagined as a result.
Personality:
Though she’s grown by leaps and bounds since her initial summoning several months ago, Lilikai’s personality has not undergone much of a change. Upon meeting the girl, one first notices how nervous she is, stuttering over words, no matter how nice the person is, as if she expects them to hurt her for a word said in error. Easily flustered and startled, even minor surprises in conversation can send her off into a fit of stuttering and confusion. What makes her nerves even worse is the presence of outright sexual innuendo or actions, unable to really regain her composure while paying attention to that. Still, she’s eager to please and impress others to show she’s useful and should be kept around. That said, despite two months of living in Paragon her mindset is decidedly Infernal, viewing freedom of the province of the strong which, despite obvious evidence to the contrary, she refuses to admit herself being. With someone who she’s sure won’t hurt her, her nervousness drops somewhat quickly, a bit of a stutter sometimes present but mostly just an eager to please girl eager to make friends and prove herself. There are only a few exceptions to this. The first is demon summoners. With them, her demeanor is deferential but confident, eager but restrained, in a word, professional, as if she’s applying for a job with them as their next summon. Even if she’s never met said summoner before or there’s a good chance that they are quite cruel her demeanor will remain that near professional tone, with her hoping to leave as good an impression as she can. The next is succubi. Though her initial hatred of them has died down, she still views the grouping of demons with disdain. Though individuals have managed to redeem themselves in her eyes, she views them negatively from the start, viewing them as hussies and barely worthy of being demons. The final group are demons more powerful than her in the infernal hierarchy. Even if a demon prince has been weakened by his summoning and she is vastly more powerful than he is, she’ll still be exceedingly nervous, downright deferential even. Royalty and nobility is to be honored and feared lest pain and death follow. That fact has been beaten into her, and despite her strength, it is still a precept she follows.
