Soul of Reason

Name: Erin Watson.

Concept: Scientifically-Minded Defender of Truth and Justice

Appearance: In her mundane state, Erin looks like an unremarkable teenager. She's not particularly unattractive, but doesn't put much effort into her appearance, either. Her black hair is shoulder-length, her eyes brown, and her clothes largely practical.

In her transformed state, Erin becomes a technological angel. Her clothes are replaced with a silver uniform that can't seem to decide if it's a dress or an armor; for that matter, it seems unable to decide if it's solid or liquid, constantly flowing with her movements so as not to get in her way even as it shields her. The Omni-Visor covers her eyes, and she is likely to hold the BoomStaff in her hands.

Calling: Champion

Queen: Diamonds

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 3 (+1)

Stamina: 2

Presence: 2

Composure: 3

Manipulation: 2

Resolve: 2 (+1)

Intelligence: 4

Wits: 3

Academics: 3

Computers: 3; Specialty: Internet

Crafts: 2; Specialty: Electronics (Experiments with mechanics and electronics in her parents' basement.)

Occult: 2

Science: 3

Drive: 2 (Got her driver's licence and all.)

Firearms: 2 (+1) (Specialty: BoomStaff)

Empathy: 2

Expression: 2

Persuasion: 3; Specialty: Motivational Speeches

Willpower: 5

Virtue: Faith

Vice: Wrath

Inner Light: 1

Belief: 8

Merits:

Circle of Lights *

Language * (Spanish classes in school.)

Onceborn **

Resources * (Allowance aside, she does the occasional freelance web-design job to earn extra money. Most of which she then loans to micro-credit charity.)

Regalia *** (BoomStaff: Useful, Durable, Ranged, Blunt)

Orisons: (The Omni-Visor doubles as her Emblem here.)

Veritas ***

Charms:

Aqua *

Aegis ***

Salvation *

The BoomStaff: This Regalia takes the form of a black, gold-tipped high-tech staff (think Nanoha's Raging Heart). It projects concussive blasts, and has an automatic aim-correction function.

Size 2

Durability 4

Range 40/80/160

Roll: Dexterity+Firearms+3 (B)

The Omni-Visor: This phylactery looks like a pair of sunglasses most of the times. After Transformation, however, it takes the form of a futuristic visor that covers the upper half of her face.

XP: 37/37

Willpower: 4/5

Wisps: 6/10

Background: The daughter of a journalist and a housewife, Erin has generally led a quiet, drama-free life. While highly intelligent, she is also very introverted, and as such has spent more time with books than with people.

Then, at one point, she developed an interest in science and technology...

"Erin? Wanna play together?"

The nine-year old girl looked up. The Turner twins, Ed and Lilly. They were occasional playmates during recess. "Sure, coming!"

"...You didn't want to play this morning," Ed couldn't help but note.

"I hadn't finished the book yet."

While the Turners didn't find that answer very satisfying, they didn't push further. Alex was sick all week long, they wanted a third playmate, and Erin was nice most of the time, so why question it?

"All right, I'll be the princess this time," said Lilliy; "you'll be the knights who rescue me again?"

"Yeah!"

"Sure!"

And so the game went as usual.

Later that day, Erin's reading schedule came up in a talk with her father.

"You've finished 'The Hobbit' already? Why am I not surprised?"

"Fun books read fast."

Mr. Watson smiled. "That they do. Anyway, since I expected you to be done with it, I stopped by the library. Here," he handed her a large book with an ornately-illustrated cover, titled 'From the Earth to the Moon'; "I read it when I was a few years older than you, but I think you'll enjoy it."

"Thanks dad!"

"Also...It's not a storybook, but you might want to take a look at this" he showed her another hardcover, titled 'My Very First Science Book'.

She looked at it, puzzled, and took it to her room. On her bed, she looked at the first book. From the cover and title alone, it sounded fun. Hopefully it'd make for a good week-end.

But the other book...She wasn't sure what to make of it. She decided to take a peak...

"So you see, when I put the small block on this end of the ruler, it tips over and pushes up the big block! The big block is heavier of course, but because the fulcrum is so much closer to the big block, it means the small one pushes down a looong way to push the big one up even a little. It's a first-class lever!"

Mrs. Watson smiled with amusement at her daughter's rudimentary science demonstration. She had been rather enthusiastic about such things all week-end.

Come Monday, Alex joined Erin and Ed as the trio of heroic knights set to rescue princess Lilly.

"The evil witch has me imprisoned in the tower!"

"But we'll rescue you - with potential energy!" vowed Erin.

"...With what?"

"Potential energy! See, we'll get big springs, attach them to our shoes, and then jump higher and higher until we reach the top of the tower!"

"Oh. Yeah!"

This was fun enough at first. A week later, however...

"The evil witch is attacking us with spells!"

"I'm OK! I have the sword in the stone, it protects me from magic!"

"And I've figured out a theory of magic and built an anti-magic field generator!"

"You can't do that! It's magic!"

"I can too! My theory works!"

"Nu-huh! It's magic! You can't build machines against it!"

"Sure you can! Science can do anything!"

"Erin, you do this all the time! It's not fun anymore! You're ruining the magic! And you're always taking about energy and electricity and all that boring junk!"

"Science isn't boring!"

"Yes it is!"

"Is not! Is not at all!"

"Erin sweety...How would you like to go to the Turners' this after-noon?"

"Not today, mom. I've got SCIENCE to do!"

"Oh..?"

"Yeah! I've got some copper wire, an electric battery, and a compass. I'm going to redirect the North!"

"Have fun, sweety..."

As Erin went on to her lab/room, Mrs. Watson looked at her husband. "You think we're raising the next Marie Curie?"

He chuckled. "Looks like it. She's so going to the science museum for her birthday."

Erin's attitude wasn't just an interest in science per se, but rather a love of reason in general; a faith that the universe, ultimately, made sense. This belief would become a central part of her mindset for years to come.

Though Erin always did well in school and never got in trouble, her parents were concerned by her lack of social and physical activities. Various attempts to get her involved in a sport or another failed, until they made her join an archery club.

So, how was it today?" asked Mrs Watson as she drove her daughter home. "OK, I guess. Scored a pretty good bullseye." Mrs Watson sighed internally. Erin was, perhaps, not displaying much enthusiasm for the archery club...But "OK, I guess" was still a huge improvement compared to the attempts to make her join the track team.

Early in high school, her parents convinced her to join the debate team. Aside from polishing her social skills a bit, this had the effect of exposing her to other people's thought processes to a greater degree than ever before.

"And that's why the only things that really matter are watching out for your family, your friends, and yourself", Claire concluded. "The rules don't matter; everybody breaks them, and they only exist to benefit those who make them anyway. So called higher principles don't matter; when the shit really hits the fan, we're only going to care about ourselves and those close to us. In the end, the best you can do is watch out for yourself and yours." Erin couldn't stop thinking about Claire's words as she walked home. It was terribly disturbing - what started as a positive message about caring for those you loved ultimately turned into a philosophy of amoral tribalism. What's worse, the rest of the debate team seemed to agree.

How could anybody think like that?

No. Wrong question.

How could she disprove it, in a manner they would understand?

Next week, Erin showed the debate team the video she had made:

"It was all done anonymously. After I gave the Starbucks employee the money, he would simply tell the following customers that someone had paid for upcoming commissions in advance. Sure, it may have cost me a month's allowance, but I believe the results speak for themselves: Those looks of happy surprise on each person's face, and the bright mood that was spread, were certainly worth a few dozen bucks.

Last week, it was said that we should just watch out for those close to us, and to Hell with everyone else. I disagree. If we decide we can mistreat others...then what can we say in our defense when they do the same to us? This world can only be Hell on Earth if we do not treat each other with kindness and respect. You may say that others do not treat you that well themselves, but...well, someone has to start.

And, yes, that usually means respecting the rules. Again, I must take myself as an example. I am a teenage girl, physically weak, never carrying a weapon of any sort. I often walk alone in a city with millions of inhabitants. Why is it that I can do so without any number of predators ganging up to hurt, to rob, to...take advantage of me?

Because we live in a mostly civilized society with rule of law, that's why. We have the police to enforce the law, yes, but they're too few - what really keeps society in one piece is that most people show the bare basic respect for the law. That's why it's possible to live here. That's why this world isn't a living hell."

Erin wasn't sure everyone was convinced by her presentation. But she had, to the very least, sown the seeds that could, potentially, burgeon into the kind of idealism she herself believed in.

She could only hope.

Though she never became a social butterfly, Erin did start showing more interest in the world around her. As a result, she became more aware of the suffering in it - be it in her neighborhood, in her school, or in the world at large.

It made sense, after all. The world had no fail-safe mechanism to watch over people's well-being.

It made no sense, however, to stand by idly and let it happen.

"Don't get me wrong, honey," Mr Watson said; "I'm proud of the fact you can make money from web-design. When I was your age, I got my extra allowance interning for the newspaper. And I'm also proud of the fact you're donating to charity. But...Shouldn't you save more for yourself? I know we put some money aside for college, but still. You need to think of your future."

"I am putting 10% aside, dad," she replied without looking away from the monitor; "and let's be honest: Those folks need it waaaaay more than me. And truth be told? I'm pretty excited about this micro-credit charity. It's such a brilliant idea!"

"Well, I'm not saying it isn't..."

"It's like that old saying about giving a man a fish, or teaching him how to fish. This is more like lending him the money to buy a fishing pole!"

"Rrrrright. Well, it's your money..."

"You know, I'll just forward you the website. Heck, maybe you could write an article about it!"

"...I'll see. Anyway...We were thinking of visiting grandma this week-end."

"Saturday or Sunday? Or do you mean both?"

"Haven't decided yet."

"I'm voting Sunday. I promised Claire and Brad to tutor them in math this Saturday."

My name is Erin Watson, and it amazes me that I am not freaking out right now.

Just a few hours ago, I was a (relatively) normal teenage girl. My biggest concerns were the classmates I was tutoring in math, the micro-credit charity I've been helping, and the website I had to finish coding by next week.

Then I saw the mugging. I had to DO something, and before I knew it, I...transformed.

It's so WEIRD. I can't even begin to guess where this new costume came from (short of the set of a science-fiction movie). That's not to say that it looks BAD...It looks like what I WOULD be wearing if I had zero insecurities. It kinda has a "The Techno-Princess from Planet X" vibe to it. And the staff? Somehow, I just KNEW it was a weapon, and how to use it. I also "knew" it was non-lethal, but...I wasn't confident enough in that newfound knowledge to just blast indiscriminately at escaping thugs.

And now I have these other girls telling me that, like them, I am a "noble" from a "Kingdom" that existed as a utopia of sorts, at least until the world got rebooted by the "Darkness". It all sounds a bit fantastic. So does what's been happening to me, but that does not automatically make their own claims accurate. I'm not saying they're lying, or even wrong, but I'd sure love to check their sources.

But, like I said earlier? What amazes me is that I am not freaking out right now. I SHOULD, given everything that's happening. But from the very moment I've transformed, things have been...easier to take in stride, I guess. I FEEL stronger, mentally - like I can take on any crazy thing this world can throw at me. There are things I've long known intellectually that I suddenly feel EMOTIONALLY: For years, I've understood that we live in an ordered universe that obeys strict logical rules. Whereas some people see that as a trap, I see that as a wonder: It means that everything can be understood. It means that everything can be analyzed. It means that any problem can be SOLVED. I've known that for a long time. I knew it was a very, very good thing. But now, I can FEEL it. Instead of just being information in my head, it feels like a radiant power source in my soul. Despite how disoriented I am right now, I nevertheless feel confident that I WILL make sense of it all - because ultimately, the world cannot stop making sense.

My name is Erin Watson, and I am a Princess. I'm going to figure out what that means.