Perfect Ariel
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Perfect Ariel, casting from a grimoire | |
| Ariel | |
| Player: @FreelanceWizard | |
| Origin: | Magic/Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Sarah Anderson-3 |
| Known Aliases: | Perfect Ariel, Senator Ariel |
| Species: | Technomagically cloned Human |
| Age: | 1, appears 19 |
| Height: | 5' 0" |
| Weight: | 90 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Iridescent blue |
| Hair Color: | Purple |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Rogue Isles (American expatriate, citizenship revoked) |
| Occupation: | Archmage |
| Place of Birth: | Nemesis Manor, Port Oakes, Rogue Isles |
| Base of Operations: | Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Devoutly single |
| Known Relatives: | Dr. Nemesis ("father," presumed deceased), Ariel (genetic "sister") |
| Known Powers | |
| Archmage, specialized in technomagic, summoning, and chaos magic; technological intuition; enhanced senses | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Master engineer, specialized in robotics, computer engineering, and AI; tactician; artist | |
| Equipment | |
| Full complement of Myrmidon robots, a variety of other servitor robots, supercomputer, technomagically modified pulse rifle | |
| No additional information available. | |
Perfect Ariel is the alias of an archmage operating in the Rogue Isles. She is a clone of the hero Ariel, mixed with the blasphemous dark magics of Dr. Nemesis to bring forth her latent magical talent and to fix her personality in a form better suited to the Nemesis Council, which had become more militant after moving to the Rogue Isles to join Project Destiny. In a short time, she grew in power to exceed that of her mentor, and is now among the more powerful magi of the Isles. Her focus is in technomagic, for which she has a particular gift, and chaos magic, in which she shows a considerable interest.
Contents |
Personality
Perfect Ariel is, at once, more and less mature than her "sister." She has a much more "grown-up" perspective on the world and is far more confident and self-assured, making her a reasonably capable leader when she chooses to be. She's also not nearly as trusting nor naive. However, she usually prefers to let more fiery personalities lead, opting instead to focus on her own interests and research. Ariel often finds the politics and games of other sentients tiresome, and often "makes friends" using her expertise in AI and technomagic.
While she and her sister share a surprisingly strong will, Perfect Ariel's morality is far more flexible. She'll use or kill anyone or anything to advance her knowledge of magic, and often manipulates others in an attempt to create magic for study through the turning of social wheels. She has no compunctions about killing, though she usually prefers to spare metahumans in the hopes that they can be turned to her cause -- which is nothing less than the complete domination of the world by metahumans.
Perhaps her greatest weakness as a mage is that she refuses to use magics that are not fully under her control. After observing the toll taken upon Dr. Nemesis by his wielding of mystical forces from Beyond that were clearly not under his control, she made a pact with herself to never become the servant of either her own magic or some extradimensional entity. As far as she's concerned, magic is just another tool, and the mage controls the magic -- not the other way around.
One of her stranger quirks is her speech. Her voice is a high soprano with notable "valley girl" phrasings, much like her sister's, but as opposed to stuttering and pausing, she speaks confidently -- but often uses words from "leet-speak," such as "Double-You Tee Eff," "dood," and "Ell Oh Ell." She also tends towards an almost street cant in her words, cutting off syllables and mispronouncing or slurring some words together. However, she's quite capable of speaking clearly when she needs to, and is fluent in multiple languages, the better to wield her wide variety of spells.
Powers
Ariel's eclectic training at Nemesis Manor has given her a wide variety of mystical techniques.
Technomagic
Ariel's most honed style of magic is technomagic, the channeling of mystical force through eldritch machinery. Most mundanely, she is capable of converting mundane devices to magical power. This conversion shrinks the required power supply considerably and lets magi recharge them with a shrug of their will. She can also build otherwise "impossible" devices and infuse them with magical force, causing them to operate despite their apparent non-working nature. Many of the defenses of Nemesis Manor were built upon this magic; Ariel's Flutterbys operate on the same principle. Finally, she can use her magic to miniaturize devices, or to repair them instantly. The Myrmidons are based on workings of these types of spells.
Summoning, Binding, and Warding
Ariel is a skilled summoner of demons, thanks to her training by Dr. Nemesis. She knows a wide variety of rituals to call forth and command the legions of the Netherworld, and has in fact bound many of them into her own body to grant her their powers. Through complex rituals and wards, these entities are permanently trapped and fully under her control. When necessary, she can even call forth demonic warriors in combat, though they're usually much more short-lived. Despite her lack of compunctions about putting others in danger in the advancement of her Art, she refuses to use any magic where the result is not fully under her control. During combat, one rarely has time to construct appropriate binding sigils, so she chooses instead to include a banishment command in such summons in order to keep them under control.
Chaos Magic
Ariel dabbles in chaos magic, the technique of altering perceptions to alter reality. Her desire to control her own magics usually leaves her only studying the magic she claims is inherently created in social interactions. However, she often attempts to create such magic in order to study it, often by attempting to manipulate others to set off chain reactions through social networks.
Journal
Ariel's leather-bound journal and black fountain pen are actually a talisman. Despite her claims to the contrary, the journal itself only has three powers: it has an infinite number of pages, it can instantly open to the page containing the information the holder is seeking, and it can create pages that display information in a remote database. Ariel can often be seen sketching pictures or taking notes into the journal's pages. As of yet, she hasn't used any of her sketches of others to forge the arcane connections necessary to visit magic upon them from afar.
Robots
Ariel commands a variety of artificially intelligent robots that owe their power to her magical abilities. Because constructing these blends of dark magic and advanced technology requires considerable effort, she spends a great deal of her time on their upkeep, and uses a variety of tricks to make it seem as if she has more of them than she actually does.
Flutterby Series
The Flutterbys are a set of butterfly-sized robots that Ariel uses for surveillance and communication. Each Flutterby appears to be a relatively large butterfly at first glance. Upon closer inspection, however, the scintillating metallic wings become apparent, as well as the delicate steel legs and onyx eyes. Every Flutterby is equipped with a broad-spectrum surveillance package, a concealed antenna for communicating with Ariel's personal communications network, and a rudimentary (by her standards) artificial intelligence that can understand and carry out simple commands. A Flutterby's internal battery can power it for up to eight hours before requiring a recharge.
Ariel has managed to build Flutterby Nests, portable recharging and relay stations with magical cloaking devices, and ship them to convenient locations within both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Each Nest carries a complement of four Flutterbys and a magical battery to power them and the Nest's own communications hardware. In addition to making it appear as if she has a nearly unlimited supply of these robots, this also gives her an impressive spy network within Paragon City. Most of the time, however, she devotes this network to studying her "sister," the hero Ariel, and her friends in the Templars of the Abbey. She has a particular fascination with the android Adamilia.
Myrmidon Series
The Myrmidons are combat robots, equipped with pulse laser cannons, plasma emitters, rocket launchers, and force field generators. The original design, the Myrmidon Zero series, were nearly mindless prototypes equipped with simple pulse lasers and ran on mundane batteries. The Zero series was designed for easy mass production and was used for a time as the first line of defense of Nemesis Manor. After the Longbow invasion of the Isles (at the end of City of Villains beta), she retired this series to focus on more advanced and powerful robots.
The current Myrmidons are fully magically powered and divided into three series. The Myrmidon Alpha series is a set of combat drones that are deployed in triads in the field. The Alphas are equipped with rapid-fire pulse lasers with a high powered pulse mode, as well as advanced targeting computers that can track and predict several targets. The Myrmidon Beta series carries heavier armor, heavier pulse lasers, defensive drones, force field projectors, and perhaps most importantly, electronically actuated sigils that cast repair spells on other robots. Finally, the Myrmidon X series carries the heaviest armor and weapons -- multi-ammo rocket launchers, a flamethrower, and dual plasma emitters.
Each Myrmidon is capable of lifting at least a car, with the Myrmidon X capable of easily lifting trucks or, alternatively, delivering impressive blows upon the heads of unsuspecting foes. Mystical wards protect them against many forms of damage and allow Ariel to summon them to her almost instantly anywhere on Earth or through open portals. The Myrmidons exhibit a nearly human level of intelligence, as well as a "hive mind" through which they coordinate attacks. All Myrmidons defer to any nearby X series, and will only speak as a group through it. Ariel can command any Myrmidon with her voice, or through an arcane connection she shares with all of them, and all of them refer to her as "Mistress."
Affiliations
Perfect Ariel was a Senator in the old Nemesis Council. In its current incarnation, she is something of a leader of the remnants of the old Council, along with Dark Thorn and Onyx Pyre.
Friends and Allies
Ariel currently has no one she'd consider a friend except, perhaps, Onyx Pyre. She gets along with most in the Nemesis Council, though is wary of Leonardo di Meo. She's extremely devoted to Dr. Nemesis, even after his apparent demise, and would stop at nothing to retrieve or revive him.
Enemies
Perfect Ariel is vexed by her "sister," the hero Ariel. She considers herself the "first" and "true" Ariel, and would like nothing more than to kill her "worthless whiny copy." Beyond that, she doesn't have any particular foes, save any and all mundane governments, which she seeks to overthrow. Any hero who stands in her way will find themselves her opponent, though she will usually spare metahumans in the hopes of turning them to her side.
