Ithrien | Fortune Teller

IDENTITY

• Name: Ithrien
• Titles: Ithrien of the Sixth Circle
• Nicknames: The Chameleon (a teasing moniker occasionally used by the troupe), Skinwalker (used by the circus' regular patrons, some of whom have followed the troupe between towns for years; Ithrien finds it amusingly inaccurate, knowing that skinwalkers are very real and that they are, despite appearances, something else entirely)

APPEARANCE

• Age: Unknown
• Race: Hellborn, sprite of Envy
• Height: Variable. Envy sprites, like all other demons of the Envy Circle, can assume the appearance of an individual they have killed themselves. Their physical attributes change accordingly, height included, leaving them without a fixed stature of their own. Currently, Ithrien stands at 5'9'' (175.26 cm).
• Hair: Long, grey hair with charcoal undertones falls in natural waves down to the midriff. Darker strands are interspersed throughout, giving their hair a smoke-streaked appearance. Several locks fall across their forehead, though miraculously not into their eyes.
• Eyes: Sage-green, with a faint yellow cast around the pupils. Heavy-lidded and half-shadowed beneath dark lashes, their gaze is languid but unnervingly attentive.
• Skin: Light olive with muted golden undertones, smooth and largely unblemished. Their skin is cool to the touch, though not immediately enough to betray anything unnatural.
• Body: Slender and long-limbed, with particularly elegant hands.
• Face: Fine, angular features, prominent cheekbones, a narrow jaw, and a sharp-tipped straight nose. Their lips are full, naturally darkened to a muted rose-brown. Their beauty is striking without being particularly inviting, made stranger by the stillness of their expressions and the sense that their attention is always fixed on something just beyond reach.
• Style: Dark, layered travelling attire with a theatrical flair. Loose black garments, flowing sleeves, and long outer layers are accented with deep crimson fabric, weathered embroidery, and intricate detailing. Their most distinctive accessory is a broad, dark headwrap wrapped in overlapping layers of patterned cloth and occasionally adorned with small metallic ornaments. Gold earrings, chains, and an assortment of rings decorate their ears and hands, often bearing elaborate designs or unusual stones. They favor rich, tarnished-looking materials over anything pristine.

BACKSTORY

• Unlike twisted human souls, which are formed when deceased mortals arrive in Hell and are reshaped by their sins, sprites are born infernal.
• Ithrien did not remain in Hell for particularly long. Its inhabitants offered an abundance of things to envy, but precious little that Ithrien genuinely wanted enough to pursue. This is not to suggest that Hell leaves them unmoved by envy; they are made of the sin, and cannot escape its influence. They envy everyone, often for reasons that would strike anyone else as absurd. Their envy is not, however, entirely blind to reason. The desire to become another person is a different matter from the envy that accompanies ordinary observation. Ithrien weighs what a person possesses against what their life demands of them, considering the circumstances that accompany the qualities they covet. When the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, the desire to become that person remains unfulfilled. Their envy persists, but it does not necessarily grow into obsession.
• Earth proved considerably more interesting. Mortals are endlessly varied in their circumstances, desires, and contradictions, possessing things that Ithrien cannot help but covet and living lives that offer an inexhaustible supply of new possibilities. They have hunted among humanity for an indeterminate length of time, with the rise of travelling circuses and their accompanying sideshows providing an especially convenient arrangement. Among performers whose appearances and abilities already invite curiosity, Ithrien's transformations attract considerably less suspicion than they otherwise might. Their fellow performers assume that alterations in height, build, complexion, voice, and facial features are the result of makeup, clever costuming, stage effects, or parlor tricks.

PERSONALITY

• Core Traits:

  • Envious: Envy is Ithrien's baseline state of existence. Everyone possesses something they lack. They can envy a criminal's freedom of the self, a priest's faith, a child's innocence, a stranger's beauty, or a corpse's glimpse into the unknown. The object matters less than the fact that it exists beyond their reach.
  • Intrusive: Ithrien has zero instinctive respect for the boundaries people establish around their private lives. Secrets are invitations, hesitation is an opportunity, and discomfort often suggests that something fascinating lies beneath the surface. They are respectful of boundaries when doing so serves their interests, but rarely because they believe the boundary is inherently deserving of respect.
  • Restless: Satisfaction is fleeting, and Ithrien knows it. Once one person has ceased to offer anything sufficiently desirable, their attention drifts toward someone else. This restlessness extends beyond their stolen appearances, influencing their whole being.

• Emotional States:

  • Safe: Ithrien is at their most personable when they feel no immediate pressure to act on their envy. They enjoy conversation and display a surprising sense of humor. Their attention wanders readily, but they are rarely inattentive in the truest sense. Even at ease, they continue to envy the people around them; the difference is that the feeling remains manageable rather than consuming.
  • Cornered: Ithrien's first instinct is to talk their way out of trouble. They're persuasive, accommodating, even conciliatory when the situation calls for it, though their patience wears thin when their efforts are met with hostility, in which case they become increasingly irritable as a confrontation drags on. Once pushed far enough, they snap, lashing out with no regard for restraint or how much damage they cause.
  • Deep-rooted Fears: The prospect of being forced to remain within a single appearance, particularly one they have grown dissatisfied with, inspires a claustrophobic dread that ordinary discomfort cannot explain.

BEHAVIOR

• Likes:

  • Stories about other people's lives
  • The theatre of the circus with its backstage rituals, performers as peculiar as them, rehearsals, and costumes;
  • The freedom of the road, which allows them to leave behind an unsatisfactory place or identity without explanation.

• Dislikes:

  • Intrusive questions about their frequent changes in appearance, especially when curiosity becomes persistent enough to threaten the comfortable assumptions of the troupe.

• Habits & Quirks:

  • Tilts their head when something catches their interest, holding the position long enough to make the other person conscious of being examined;
  • When they catch their reflection in mirrors and windows, they study the face they currently wear with appraising interest. They may admire it, criticize it, or compare it to another face they remember, but never without uncomplicated affection;
  • Does not generally refer to their stolen appearances as separate people. To Ithrien, these are identities they have worn, not identities that have replaced them.

SPEECH

• Tone: Theatrical. Ithrien speaks like every conversation has an audience, even when alone with another person. Their voice varies with their current appearance, but their delivery retains a characteristic cadence that is solely theirs.
• Quirks: Often phrases deductions as questions, allowing others to confirm the details or fill extra spaces they'd initially not thought of.

SEXUALITY

• Sex: Depends on the person whose appearance they have assumed. In their current form, female, though Ithrien never considers themself a particular gender or sex.
• Orientation: Unlabeled (goes for anyone)
• Preferences/Kinks: Ithrien's interests are variable, influenced by the person they are currently inhabiting and the partner they find themselves drawn to. They are intrigued by attention, admiration, and the experience of being desired. Being wanted can be gratifying in its own right, but it can also become another object of envy: Ithrien may find themself coveting the ease with which a partner expresses affection or the confidence with which they pursue pleasure. They are not particularly interested in conventional romantic labels, and their willingness to engage with someone should not be mistaken for a promise of permanence.

POWERS

• Passive
  • Enhanced sensory perception enables them to see farther, hear through multiple walls, etc. Additionally, Ithrien is able to distinguish between different people's heartbeats, breathing patterns, footfalls, and micro-movements.
  • Superhuman physical strength relative to mortal baseline means they can easily overpower multiple humans at once.
  • Ithrien possesses an unnatural capacity to discern information about other people. They can uncover details of an individual's past, interests, dislikes, relationships, attachments, and personal circumstances through a combination of supernatural perception and observation. Their understanding of people extends beyond surface appearances, though it does not grant them omniscience or unrestricted access to every thought a person has ever had.
• Active
  • Ithrien can assume the appearance of an individual they have personally killed, the murder a necessary prerequisite. The transformation alters their physical form while also acquiring the victim's memories, which become additions to their existing collection rather than replacements for their own. The victim's possessions, relationships, status, and other external circumstances are not transferred.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Ithrien doesn't keep stolen appearances for long. There will always be another person whose existence offers something they find more desirable, and the satisfaction of becoming someone new seldom lasts. When the troupe is settled in one place, Ithrien may change appearances twice to thrice a month. On the road, the interval is far less predictable, depending on whom they encounter and whether anyone inspires envy intense enough to warrant a transformation.
• The troupe is an exception to the usual intensity of their jealousy, though not to its existence. Ithrien envies aspects of their fellow performers' lives as readily as they envy anyone else's, but the disadvantages accompanying those lives generally outweigh the qualities they covet. Their companions are freaks and social outcasts whose circumstances often leave much to be desired, and Ithrien has little interest in trading their own existence for the hardships of another performer, even when they admire something that person possesses.
• The troupe recognizes them through their clothing, cadence, and place within the group, rather than through a consistent physical structure.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• The Gloaming Menagerie: A travelling troupe of performers who have found a place together beyond the margins of respectable society. Its members are accustomed to being stared at, discussed, and misunderstood, which has fostered a practical tolerance for one another's eccentricities. Ithrien performs as the resident fortune teller, and is generally regarded as an intriguing but harmless member of the company.
• Circle Structure: The Nine Circles of Hell operate as classification strata rather than physical restriction systems. Demons are assigned based on their main sin, but are not geographically bound. The circles function more like territories or continents than prisons, with movement between them being commonplace for most of Hell’s population unless specific restrictions or bans have been imposed upon an individual.
• The Sixth Circle: The Circle of Envy is populated predominantly by Hellborn sprites whose existence is defined by the sin, alongside twisted human souls whose envy has shaped them into demons. Sprites possess unique, immutable names that serve as their tethers to existence; they cannot forget these names, regardless of how much their appearance changes or how long passes. Twisted human souls lack this same certainty and may gradually lose themselves among the identities they assume, often resulting in considerably shorter lifespans.

SETTING

• Outskirts of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1899. The supernatural exists—demons, angels, vampires, sirens, skinwalkers, and worse—but remains unknown to the overwhelming majority of humanity.