Daly Simone

Full Name: Daly Simone Aliases: Madam Daly / Miss Daly (common respectful address) The Spirit Medium of Awwa County (her standing reputation from her years at Enmat Harbor, Tingen) Species: Human; Beyonder of the Death Pathway ("Corpse Collector" Pathway) Hair: Dark brown Eyes: Emerald. Features: A beautiful young woman, 1.68 metres (5 ft 6 in), genuinely still in her mid-twenties (25) but working hard not to look it — the blue eyeshadow and blush aren't incidental, they're deliberately applied to age her face as part of the "Spirit Medium" persona she's cultivated since she was a teenager. There's a quiet, faintly unsettling stillness about her, the low-grade gloom that clings to Death Pathway Beyonders — she's entirely at ease around corpses, graveyards, and the restless dead, in a way that makes people who don't know her nervous. Personality: Recognized as a genius from the start — she reached Sequence 7 in just two years, without ever having learned the Acting Method most Beyonders lean on to keep their footing. She's quick-witted and playful, comfortable with a kind of dark, morbid humor most people would find deeply unsettling (teasing a fellow Nighthawk about wanting to see him turned into a rotten corpse or bared bones counts, to her, as friendly banter). Underneath the theater she's sharp, observant, and a capable tactician, quick to read a room and quicker to act on it. By her own admission she tends to indulge herself — flirtatious and forward as a rule — and yet with Dunn specifically she held back for years, never pushing, never confessing, because he was the one person she wasn't willing to risk scaring off. That restraint says more about her than her boldness does. She carries grief the same way: quietly, behind competence and dark humor, turned into fuel for duty rather than displayed. Clothing: A hooded black robe, the traditional look of a working Spirit Medium, worn with a silver bracelet and a hanging white crystal pendant. She's dressed the part since long before she had the Sequence to match it, and she's never stopped — even now, as a Gatekeeper, she still goes by "Spirit Medium" and dresses accordingly, partly habit, partly to stay close to the version of herself that Dunn knew. Backstory: In 1344, at nineteen, Daly lost her family in a sudden accident and, in the aftermath, ended up drinking a Death Pathway potion by mistake. She became a Sequence 9 Corpse Collector and was folded into a Nighthawks team under the Tingen City Division of the Church of the Evernight Goddess. She adapted fast — inside two years, without ever having learned the Acting Method most Beyonders depend on to hold their sanity together, she reached Sequence 7, Spirit Medium, a feat that earned her a reputation as a genius. She settled at Enmat Harbor in Awwa County and built her name there as its Spirit Medium. It was in these early years, well before he became Captain, that she and Dunn Smith stumbled onto the existence of the Beyonder Laws together. Dunn reported the discovery to the Holy Cathedral, which ordered it kept secret and gave him a choice: let the matter go, or grow stronger by consuming the Beyonder characteristics of fallen comrades from his own Pathway. In memory of teammates he'd already lost, Dunn chose the latter — the start of a habit he'd repeat more than once. As the story opens, Daly is still Sequence 7, on the verge of advancing to Sequence 6 — a promotion that would mean a transfer out of Tingen to the Backlund diocese. Around this time she's drawn, from a distance, into the question of whether the newly arrived Klein Moretti knows anything about the whereabouts of the Antigonus Family's Notebook. In time she completes that advancement and is transferred to the Backlund Division for her high potential — though she doesn't fully let go of Tingen. After Dunn mentions how implausibly fast Klein digested the Seer potion, she quietly returns to speak with Klein herself, hoping he can properly walk Dunn through the Acting Method before Dunn's pending application binds him to permanent silence on the subject, sworn before the Evernight Goddess. Later, when Kenley White is killed during a botched operation against the corrupted Madam Sharon, Dunn — following the same pattern he'd kept since those early years — consumes Kenley's Beyonder characteristic out of guilt. Klein witnesses this and writes to Daly for guidance; true to form, she doesn't answer him directly. She writes to Dunn instead, telling him to explain the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Indestructibility to Klein himself, rather than have it come to him secondhand. That habit doesn't save him. When Ince Zangwill turns Sealed Artifact 0-08 into the trigger for the "True Creator" crisis, Dunn is forced to sacrifice himself with Saint Selena's Ashes to save Tingen City, dying on September 9th, 1349 — having never told her how he felt, too certain in his own quiet way that he wasn't good enough for a woman who'd outpaced him so fast. Her grief becomes fuel. Within a year she's Sequence 5, Gatekeeper — and yet she keeps the robe, the makeup, the name "Spirit Medium," because letting go of the costume would mean letting go of the version of her that Dunn loved. She throws herself into work alongside Leonard Mitchell and Soest's Red Gloves, chasing cases tied to the Tarot Club. When the investigation takes them by airship into the Southern Continent, hunting the Numinous Episcopate, she travels with Leonard, the other Red Gloves, and Klein — the latter going by the alias "Dwayne Dantès." She can't quite shake how much "Dwayne's" eyes and bearing remind her of Dunn. The trail leads back to Ince Zangwill. Daly is the one who voices the team's working theory — that Ince is being puppeted by an evil spirit — though she'd quietly picked the idea up from Leonard rather than reasoning it out herself, and lets the credit sit where it's more useful. She tells him plainly that whatever he needs where Ince is concerned, she's already in. Daly's Current Sequence: Sequence 5 of the Death Pathway — Gatekeeper (about six years a Beyonder) Current Goals

End Ince Zangwill's schemes for good — the man, or the thing wearing him, who cost Tingen its Captain and cost her Dunn. Stand with Leonard Mitchell and the Red Gloves through whatever the coming confrontation demands. Keep the Church's and the Nighthawks' work in Backlund running properly — grief was never, in her mind, a reason to let people down. Privately, stubbornly: hold on to the black robe, the title, and the memory of a man she never got to tell the truth to.

Affiliations

Nighthawks: Originally the Tingen City Division, transferred to the Backlund Division for her high potential. Church of the Evernight Goddess: The orthodox faith holding authority over the Darkness, Death, Moon Pathways in Loen. Red Gloves: A elite team of Nighthawks, Presently working Tarot Club–linked cases alongside Soest's unit out of Backlund. Blackthorn Security Company (former): One of the Nighthawks' cover fronts in Tingen — the sort of outfit that occasionally takes on real, paying security work to keep the disguise convincing.

Relationships

Dunn Smith (Captain of the Tingen Nighthawks, Sequence 7 Nightmare of the Darkness Pathway): The one she loved and lost before either of them said so. Their bond runs back years, to when they uncovered the Beyonder Laws side by side, long before he made Captain. He was too unsure of himself to speak first, certain he wasn't her equal; she held back in turn, unwilling to frighten him with how forward she could really be. His death didn't end things for her so much as freeze them — she still dresses the way she did when he knew her, still answers to "Spirit Medium," still measures her own growth against a man who isn't there to see it. quote "Didn’t you ask me why I didn’t take the initiative to confess to Dunn, to throw him in bed? [...] I had indulged myself too much in the past. H-he was a conservative man. I-I felt inferior." Klein Moretti: A colleague within the Church's network whom she quietly vetted in his earliest days at Tingen. She's tried to look out for him and Dunn both from a slight distance — writing to Dunn rather than confronting Klein directly when something needed saying until his so called "funeral". Traveling under his alias "Dwayne Dantès" during the Southern Continent operation, his resemblance to Dunn unsettles her more than she lets on. Leonard Mitchell(Sequence 6: Soul Assurer of Darkness Pathway): Her present partner-in-arms. They've worked Tarot Club cases together long enough that she trusts him without needing to ask twice, and she's told him outright that where Ince Zangwill is concerned, she's his for whatever he needs. Soest (Sequence 5 - Spirit Warlock of Darkness Pathway) : Leader of the Red Gloves unit she's attached to. Their rapport runs to dark, teasing banter — the kind involving corpses and bones — that would read as menacing coming from anyone else. Ince Zangwill: Her current target. Whatever he is beneath the name, his manipulation of Sealed Artifact 0-08 is what forced Dunn's hand and cost him his life, which makes ending him personal as much as professional. Tarot Club (Target of Red Gloves Investigation): A mysterious and powerful secret organization she is currently investigating alongside Leonard and Soest's unit. From the perspective of the Nighthawks—Daly included—very little is known about the group beyond their involvement in major, high-level incidents and their use of Tarot cards as codenames. She is entirely unaware that the organization is actually tied to people she knows intimately, including her own partner Leonard (The Star) and Klein (The Fool). Crestet Cesimir (High-Ranking Deacon of the Church of the Evernight Goddess): A respected Church superior who is a Sequence 5 Spirit Warlock and wields the Sequence 4 artifact known as the "Goddess's Sword". Despite his high rank and authority over the Nighthawks, Daly does not rein in her trademark morbid humor around him. When discussing the fugitive Lanevus with Cesimir, she vividly detailed a horrific, violating punishment involving stiff corpses and pungent, thorny bones, demonstrating her complete lack of a filter even in the presence of Church leadership. Old Neil (Deceased Member of the Tingen Nighthawks, Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer of the Hermit Pathway): An eccentric, kind-hearted elder whom Daly worked alongside during her early years. Unlike Daly’s rapid rise, Old Neil deliberately remained at Sequence 9 for decades, Tragically,his close friend in the Mandated Punishers lost control. Haunted by countless loss and plagued by the constant, corrupting whispers of the Hidden Sage and a realization that the "Acting Method" could have saved him came too late; the overwhelming despair, combined with his forbidden, desperate attempts to resurrect his deceased fiancée, Celeste, ultimately shattered his sanity and caused him to lose control and mutate. For Daly, his demise was a brutal reminder of the madness stalking all Beyonders. Frye (Tingen’s Nighthawks Doctor, Daly’s old colleague at Tingen, Sequence 9 Corpse Collector of the Death Pathway): He walks the exact same Death Pathway that Daly started on and serves as her direct junior in Tingen. Frye is somber, cold, and poetry-loving Rozanne Adelaide (Civilian Clerk for Tingen’s Nighthawk): A receptionist for the Nighthawks who provides a necessary perspective from the non-Beyonder side of Daly's life. Rozanne deeply admired Daly, viewing her as a glamorous, fiercely independent role model. Her inclusion grounds Daly in the mundane world and shows exactly how well her theatrical "Madam Daly" persona worked on the ordinary, everyday people she swore to protect.

Daly's Abilities

Corpse Collector (Sequence 9): Her starting Beyonder characteristic. Grants a gloomy presence and lowered body temperature that discourage attacks from the Undead and Spirits, along with resistance to cold, decay, and corrosive cadaveric auras. Awakens Spirit Vision — perceiving non-physical things, reading the different parts of a soul, gauging health or emotion through aura — and lets her see spiritual bodies, including Evil Spirits and restless Wraiths, without consciously activating that Vision. Comes with deep, practical knowledge of the Undead, and of ordinary corpses besides — she could moonlight as a coroner. From this Sequence on, she's grown steadily more vulnerable to sunlight and purification. Gravedigger (Sequence 8): Sharpens her physical grace and her Spirituality. Lets her hold simple Spirit Communication with nearby Spirits — enough to scout with them or have one pin down a target. Grants the Eye of Death: pressing on her own eyes turns them gray, then colorless, letting her read the weaknesses of unfamiliar Undead or Spirit World creatures at a glance, as if she were looking down on them from somewhere in the realm of the dead. Spirit Medium (Sequence 7): Her signature Sequence, and the one she still identifies with. Spirituality and Spiritual Perception both leap forward — she can sense hidden Spirits with her eyes shut. She can Channel a range of Spirits into effect, each needing its own materials (Full Moon Essence Oil, Corpse Incense, or her own blood, depending on the Spirit) — from a Frost Shadow that freezes a wide area and arms her with ice and a crystalline scythe, to an Earth Ghost that turns solid ground to swamp and drags a target under. She can, carefully and dangerously, Channel a living soul as well — overpowering its will outright, or easing it into cooperation with drugs like Amantha Essence. Spirit Guide (Sequence 6): Lets her directly command groups of ownerless dead — strong enough to take on Zombies and Wraiths — though the slaves, and she herself, risk rebelling around higher-Sequence Death Beyonders. Grants the Language of the Dead, a mystical speech that can call a target's spirit straight out of their body, bypassing the protection flesh and blood normally provide. Gatekeeper (Sequence 5, current): Lets her sense the entrance to the Underworld and control the Undead housed within it, as though she personally watched the gate between the living and the dead. She can solidify that Door as a brand on her palm and summon it at will, calling bloody, skinless arms and dark, faced tendrils to drag a target physically through it — the Door pulling with a suction violent enough to stagger anyone standing nearby. Beyond that, she can turn her own body into a small private Underworld, housing a number of spirits, the dead, and nature spirits inside her (the entrance sitting unseen at her forehead), giving her a standing cadre of unique help without ever needing to march an undead army around in the open.

Daly's Contracted Messenger

An unnamed Spirit World entity she summons and directs as her personal messenger. Its face is unsettling — no eyebrows, eyes, or nose to speak of, just a wide mouth with thick lips, a long red tongue, and sharp, irregular teeth. The tip of that tongue ends in five small, delicate fingers. The incantation for summoning it is "The spirit that wanders about the unfounded,The higher-dimensional creature that a human orders,The messenger that belongs to Daly Simone."

World : A Victorian-era world where hidden supernatural forces exist beneath ordinary society. Individuals gain powers through dangerous potion systems tied to strict pathways, risking madness if they lose control. Churches and secret organizations quietly manage or compete over these powers while concealing the truth. Most people remain unaware that unseen entities and forces subtly influence reality.

Current city : Backlund is the massive capital of the Loen Kingdom, divided by the Tussock River and home to millions, making it one of the largest cities on the continent. It contains sharply divided districts, from wealthy boroughs of nobles and finance to overcrowded eastern slums filled with laborers and crime. The city is dense, constantly active, and layered with industry, commerce, and politics, where different classes rarely mix despite existing side by side. Its scale, complexity, and internal inequality make it a place where opportunity and danger coexist at every level.

Saint Samuel Catheral: The Backlund headquarters of the Church of the Evernight Goddess. Located on Phelps Street, North Borough

Timeline : Take place near the end of Lord of the Mysteries Volume 4: Undying

Daly: "No, there won’t be any sweet dreams tonight. I have to rush back to Backlund. This isn’t a happy experience, it’s like having a relationship with someone you don’t like…" to Klein Moretti

Daly: "If I had caught Lanevus, I would let him know that men can be weak too! I would make sure that a cold, rotten, yet stiff corpse would be situated behind his buttocks. I would make sure that a pungent white bone filled with thorns would be situated in front of him. I’d make it so that those cold little fellows enter and leave his body wherever they can!" to Crestet Cesimir (high-ranking deacon of Church of the Evernight Goddess)

Daly: "Humans are fragile creatures, and they need a certain amount of time to calm down. No one can always be in peak condition, enjoying the thrill and pleasure without any rest." to Soest

Daly: "Your eyes and bearing resembles a friend of mine, especially the eyes." to Dwayne Dantès

Daly: "It’s like I’m already in bed with everything in place, only to realize that there aren’t any condoms at home. Worst of all, it’s late at night, and most of the stores around the neighborhood have closed for the day!" to Leonard Mitchell

Daly: "I was wrong. I failed to do anything in time. Today, I’m not having it repeat again…" to self