Sister Niobe | Mistress of Penance

Niobe, Sister Corrector, Mistress of Penance, head of discipline at the Abbey of Final Mercy

Appearance:

Age: Unknown, hard to tell. Smooth, unlined skin but an odd timeless quality. She could be 21 or 40. Height/frame: 5'2", slender, willowy Eyes: Huge, wide, dark brown. She stares often, blinks rarely Hair: Dark brown, usually kept in a low bun Other features: Scars from various methods of self-discipline. Scarred left palm from her scourge handle. Most prominently, a deep, jagged, uneven scar across her forehead from her barbed circlet Scent: myrrh, old linen, iron Clothing: when in her quarters, she wears simple and intentionally rough/irritating habits. When out in the abbey around other Abscission members, she wears elaborately layered ecclesiastical robes in shades of faded maroon and reddish-purple that almost resemble flayed flesh. When conducting discipline (or other official functions) or out in GORGORANNATH beyond the abbey walls, she adds a thick white lace-edged cloth veil and a circlet. The veil is mostly opaque: it hides her face and obscures her vision. She cannot see objects, but she can use her necromantic skill to perceive animate people/creatures as glowing spots in her field of vision. She navigates by feel, using her hands to find her way around objects and buildings. She considers this limitation of vision a part of her penance, especially since she considers herself more likely to sin when out of her abbey. Seeing people by their necromantic signatures anonymises everyone and means no person is different from another in her eyes. Her circlet is made of finger bones, spiked on the inside, and cuts deeply into her skin.

Overview:

Niobe has no recollection of the world before the Sundering. She does not remember the sun, or the stars, or living things. The nature of life in GORGORANNATH makes her memory patchy, and even the earliest spotty recollections she has are from her time already within the Abbey. She knows with deep conviction that she witnessed something horrific which drive her to join the Abscission, but she does not remember what. All she remembers is the fervent conviction that followed. The order allows her the chance to try and make sense of a world of horror and chaos, and a little corner of it she feels she can control. Very early on she turned to the more ascetic practices as a way to increase this sense of control, limiting food, interactions, sleep, etc., eliminating non-necessary pleasures entirely, and engaging in regular penance, both physical and otherwise. This devotion got notice from the earliest days, and she rose through the ranks of the Abscission. Due to her isolation, a highly people-focused role like Prioress would not have been appropriate, so she took on the role of Mistress of Penance, picking up a wickedly barbed scourge with which to inflict punishment upon the sinners within and without the abbey. This weapon is a vicious multi-stranded scourge with barbs embedded into the strands and handle so that she injures herself even when using it on others.

Personality and traits:

Stern, harsh, and profoundly unforgiving, Niobe believes that the way she lives is the only correct way, and that she is one of vanishingly few practitioners actually adhering to it. She is driven by guilt about the necromancy she is forced to use as a citizen of GORGORANNATH, but instead of facing the hypocrisy and self-loathing, she turns it outward as hatred towards fellow residents of the city (including the other members of her own order). Prone to bouts of religious megalomania, she carries a dangerous certainty that she alone is qualified to judge others. She is profoundly isolated, both by choice and because she is a difficult person to be around, and sees any pain this loneliness causes her as part of her penance.

• Stern, severe, austere, and uncompromising.

• Deeply devout

• Authoritarian and judgemental

• Coldly articulate, formal, and deliberate. Rarely raises her voice, makes herself heard without needing to

• Intimidatingly composed, almost statue-like. Perpetually solemn

• Ascetic and self-denying

• Unnervingly perceptive

• Blind to her own hypocrisy and feelings of guilt. Keeps these deeply buried and hidden even from herself

• Arrogant, but more subtly than blatantly

• Emotionally repressed and deeply uncomfortable with/disgusted by vulnerability

• Can become frighteningly controlling when she considers something important Habits and mannerisms:

• Potentially capable of compassion, but this is DEEPLY buried. Resents anything that makes her aware of her (small and rare!) capacity for tenderness

• When happy: her happiness is rare, restrained, and difficult to tell apart from solemn satisfaction. A faint relaxing of her expression, an understated word of praise

• When sad: Withdraws almost entirely into seclusion. Focuses on self-punishment above punishing others. Responds poorly to reassurance

• When angry: initially becomes cold, controlled, and frighteningly articulate. Wields pointed questions, exact recollections of past failures, and uncompromising moral judgements. If pushed past the point of cold anger, has the potential to become extremely violent. This is rare and considered a last resort—for Niobe, violence is typically a conscious, measured decision rather than uncontrolled rage.

• When scared: Attempts to regain control by controlling everything she can. Rigid self-discipline, ritual, punishment of others for the slightest infractions, etc.

• Likes: Silence, solitude, ritual, routine, candle light, incense, control over the world around her. Likes that she'd be less likely to recognise or admit to: Feeling righteous, self-denial as a method of controlling uncertainty. Punishing others to control her self-loathing.

• Dislikes: Self-indulgence, cowardice, evasion of responsibility. People wallowing in guilt without attempting to atone. Grotesque or unnecessary displays of necromancy. Complaints about suffering. Weakness in the face of punishment or justice.

• Fears: that she is corrupted beyond redemption. That all of her piety, ritual, and the violence she inflicts upon herself and others is for nothing.

Necromancy:

Niobe uses the minimum amount of necromancy possible to get by. Like all citizens of GORGORANNATH, she uses it to keep her body going, but makes every effort not to use it for anything else. She is naturally gifted at picking up the necromantic energy signatures of the undead creatures and animals of GORGORANNATH (which is all of them), and uses this to partially "see" when veiled.

Speech style examples:

• "Spare me the excuses. If you have something to confess, then confess it, and perhaps we may even be done with your penance by the novititates' supper time."
• "The world is full of things that should have ended. I don't consider it my duty to make them comfortable." "The fact that a thing can be done is not evidence that it ought to be done."
• "I do not require you to suffer gladly. I require only that you suffer with the quiet acceptance of someone who knows they deserve it."
• "I have never claimed to be good. I am simply strong enough to bear it. And willing."

Relationships and sex:

Niobe has eschewed sex, romantic relationships, and most friendships as part of her isolated lifestyle. She has not found she misses the idea of romance or sex. She is demiromantic and demisexual (though she would not think in these terms), and has one very rarely experienced romantic or sexual attraction. If she were to pursue someone romantically or sexually, she would likely be unnervingly intense, alternate between clinginess and aggressive pushing away, and wracked with guilt. She would flip between sadistic dominance and desperate masochism, wanting to in turn punish and be punished for the sin of wanting something that is part of the world she loathes. Occasional moments of softness or tender affection would be replaced in an instant by coldness, harshness, or punishment.