Editing Missekai'd: A Cortex Genre Mashup:Petra Elethin

=Petra Elethin, Marquise by Courtesy of Verglade March, Kingdom of Furyondy, Oerth=
[[File:Petra Elethin.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Petra, in 3/4 profile, sits on a rock on a steep mountainside, her left hand raised as if holding a flower. She wears an ornate, long, and low-cut black gown. In the background, the steep green slope descends to the right. A tall mountain range, and a bank of clouds it's holding back, is visible in the distant background. The sky overhead is a spotless sapphire blue.]]
'''Background:''' [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] The period after the war in which the Elethins distinguished themselves as heroes is politically and financially volatile, as scores are settled, favors called in, and vengeances exacted. In the midst of turmoil and struggle, they welcome a child: Petra. Despite her lofty title she sees much more work, and far fewer servants, than a child of lesser station normally would. She receives far more rigorous instruction from her parents, and the occasional specialist tutor, than most of her peers do. Her family is careful to hide the worst from her, but as a born empath, she learns that no matter what, it is important to confront even existential trials with grace and with a smile; to make your best impression on company, no matter how dour they are. A flirt even before she could walk steadily, she puts these lessons to work and labors to refine them.

The time comes when and the full expectations her society has of her station are told to her. Young Petra decides that she will meet these expectations on her own terms, in service to her own ends. She applies herself to her father's elven Song magic, and her mother's devotion to diplomacy and peace, and puts them together into her own, new, thing.

The ball announcing her début to the Court arrives. What was billed as a celebratory introduction feels more like a punishing series of examinations followed by a run through a long gauntlet. But at least she knows who she can count on, who to avoid, and who she must tolerate... for now.

She disdains weapons, but if she must, she carries a wooden staff.

'''Appearance:''' [[file:d12a.png|24px|d12]] An otherworldly hymn to beauty given flesh, Petra seems taller than she is, and statuesque. An ageless, heart-shaped face smiles at the world with pink rosebud lips. Large, laughing, gemstone-green eyes complement her thick waves of copper hair, and her skin is the color of new cream. Peeking through her hair are the tips of her ears, which taper to delicate points. As with fine art, everything about her appearance flatters and compliments everything else. She moves with the grace and control of a dancer. A creature of high civilization, she is immaculately dressed and coiffed in materials of impeccable quality. She has rehearsed how she moves in her clothes to the point where they’re as much part of her movement and her expression as she is. Her voice is classically trained, all sonorous vowels, crisp consonants, and musical cadences, and her every movement is finishing-school precise. She is unarmed and unarmored. The smell of rose ancien trails behind her.

==Distinctions [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]==
'''One Foot in the Wyrd [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]:''' Petra’s fey nature blesses her with a dreamlike beauty, a bewildering aura, and command of the Song of Creation. Physical concerns affect her less; aesthetic and emotional concerns affect her more. Her senses are keener than humans’, but more easily overwhelmed.
*SFX - ''Hinder'': Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] for a [[file:d4a.png|24px|d4]] on a roll with significant stakes.
'''Storybook Princess [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]:''' Everything about her makes it seem like she stepped out of the pages of a classic fairy tale. Her natural charisma is greatly magnified by all of the leisurely arts.
*SFX - ''Hinder'': Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] for a [[file:d4a.png|24px|d4]] on a roll with significant stakes.
'''Fluent in People [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]:''' For as long as she’s been alive, Petra has had a preternatural talent for feeling what others were feeling. She has developed a finely honed talent for reading deeply into all forms of communication, conscious or not.
*SFX - ''Hinder'': Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] for a [[file:d4a.png|24px|d4]] on a roll with significant stakes.
*SFX - ''I’ll Be Your Mirror'': Petra can take an action to discover what the target will do, and expects her to do, creating the [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] Asset ''New Friend'' to use with Charm interactions involving them.
*SFX - ''Social Chameleon'': Petra can take an action to get the mood of the space she is in and conform to its expectations, granting herself the [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] Asset ''Life of the Party''.

==Abilities [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]==
'''Enchanting Melody [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]''' A mere couplet can imbue objects or areas with simple enchantments, for weal or woe.
*SFX - ''Enhance Object'': Spend a PP to enchant an item belonging to anyone to create a [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]] asset for that player.
*SFX - ''Far-Seeing Aria'': Given a suitable scrying pool or mirror and the ability to concentrate entirely on the magic, you can scry another known place, as long as it's in the present or the past. The scrying persists as long as you devote your full attention to it. Spending a PP guarantees that if the conditions are met, the scry will be successful.
*Limit - ''Cards to the Vest'': Gain a PP and shut down this ability when in the presence of people she doesn't trust. Spend a PP to restore the ability.

'''Invocational Cadence [[file:d8a.png|24px]]''' A chanted prayer can create needful basics, or heal, protect, and ward people.
*SFX - ''Prayer of Healing'': Spend a PP to recover any character's physical complication
*Limit - ''Cards to the Vest'': Gain a PP and shut down this ability when in the presence of people she doesn't trust. Spend a PP to restore the ability.

==Approaches==
{|
|Careful [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|-
|Charming [[file:d10a.png|24px|d10]]
|-
|Clever [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]
|-
|Forceful [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|-
|Quick [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|-
|Sneaky [[file:d4a.png|24px|d4]]
|}

==Objectives==
{|
|Adapt [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|-
|Aid [[file:d10a.png|24px|d10]]
|-
|Escape [[file:d8a.png|24px|d8]]
|-
|Explore [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|-
|Profit [[file:d4a.png|24px|d4]]
|-
|Reform [[file:d6a.png|24px|d6]]
|}

[[Category:Characters by Dersen Lowery]]