Missekai'd: A Cortex Genre Mashup:Sylia

Sylia, the Coin-Scaled Serpent, Chosen of Luna

Background: Once upon a time, young Sylia lived in a village in a forest, a peaceful place, especially by Creation's standards. Then the corrupt god of the forest struck a deal with an ambitious Guild factor that opened up the heart of the forest, largely untouched since the Great Contagion, to logging and other extraction. Almost overnight her village became a node of commerce and industry, but what once seemed an incredible opportunity soon turned to exploitation. Enterprises owned by Guildsmen choked what had passed for the local economy and the locals found themselves 'lucky' to find employment in the mills or boarding-houses or taverns. But worst of all were the slaves, dragged in for the most arduous and dangerous jobs and treated like livestock at best. Young Sylia could see that climbing within the new system would be the only way to survive, so she tried to get herself apprenticed to a merchant - but in the terms of her indenture, became little more than a slave herself.

While struggling under her indenture, Sylia wormed her way into friendship among most of her boss's caravan guards, and she learned to recognize bandit spies and informants at waystations. Rather than 'dutifully' use that to try and struggle her way up 'properly', she came up with a plan to betray the caravan's defenses, and executed it on one miserable journey with a heavy cargo of slaves. She tipped off the local bandits and poisoned the guards' dinners with bad grain, leaving the caravan underdefended at the critical moment. But she realized she had also made a mistake, as the bandits were intent on claiming the slaves for themselves as well. While she struggled to talk them down, she found herself infused with new strength, and the bandits scattered before the suddenly glowing serpentine woman. Her boss was predictably unhappy with the situation, but Sylia slew her too and, acting on new instinct, ate her heart and took her form. And so she began her double life as a 'heroic survivor' of the caravan who managed to protect most of its (non-living) trade goods, and a raider Anathema with a core group of ex-slaves.

This worked for her until she met Ranni. An energetic wrecking ball of a Dawn caste, the only thing Ranni enjoyed more than defending the weak and toppling unjust power structures was partying afterwards and charismatically bulldozing her way through cultural taboos. Initially irritated by the Solar but unable to stop thinking about her, she found herself in the odd position of being the conservative one by comparison, moderating Ranni's excesses and directing her pugnacious anarchism at the most deserving and least destabilizing targets. For a time it became... fun. But in Ranni's wake trailed a longer list of resentful enemies than Oramus' tail and eventually in managing her Sylia got sloppy at keeping her own activities hidden. She doesn't know conclusively whether the Guild had a hand in hiring the Infernal assassin that finally managed to lay Ranni low, but she burned her bridges anyway - and there was indeed much fire - before she stormed off into windswept badlands to reach and cross the Endless Desert and find revenge in Malfeas.

Instead, to her surprise, she found herself here...

Distinctions

Lunar Exalted d8: In a distant, more malleable reality, the greatest among the gods imbued exceptional mortals with fragments of their power and sent them forth to cast down the indolent and destructive titans, Creators of the world, from their rule. Some of these fragments pass from hero to hero through the ages, choosing a new host to Exalt when their previous dies. Sylia has inherited the power of Luna, Incarnate of the Moon, warden of the Wyld and lover of Gaia, granting her supreme breadth of ability, the power to take the forms of other animals and people, and mastery of physical form and expression. In this different world, the Essence that fuels her is harder to come by. She used to be able to imitate superior mortal levels of skill in anything, but now is limited to her more specific and well-practiced abilities. She's not used to this.

• SFX - Hinder: Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4 on a roll with significant stakes.

The Coin-Scaled Serpent d8: Sylia believes that the harsh truth of the world - any world - is that she needs wealth and power to effect lasting change, or merely to secure safety and stability for herself. Even when her circumstances are less than ideal, she strives to maintain the image of strength and success. Like any good con artist, she's cultivated an air of naked self-interest and intimate charisma, making sure that those she's dealing with are sure they're not the mark this time and that her enemies think any misstep is just some part of a grand plan. Her larger-than-life portrayal of herself is often - and intentionally - a useful distraction for her allies to get things done.

• SFX - Hinder: Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4 on a roll with significant stakes.
• SFX - Charismatic Lunar Trick: Step up or double Charming, but if the roll fails add her Charming die to the doom pool
• SFX - Malfean Butterfly Distraction: When she flamboyantly draws attention to herself, spend 1 PP to create a d8 Shiny Distraction asset that can be used by all the party but her

Balancer of Scales d8: What differentiates Sylia from any other ambitious would-be Guild Factor is that she aims the power she gathers at overturning the very system she's working within. Back in Creation, she took great pains to seperate her public persona as Sylia the merchant-prince from the Balancer of Scales, a Lunar warlord openly wearing the form of a slain merchant-prince (Sylia's former boss) who strikes mainly at slave caravans and 'development initiatives' in new markets. The breakdown of that separation is largely what led to the tragedies she left behind in Creation.

• SFX - Hinder: Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4 on a roll with significant stakes.

Abilities

Shapeshifting d8 She mostly uses animal forms, as she finds it difficult to turn into other people in this strange world. She can still nudge her own appearance around and imitate people, but not with the guaranteed perfection she could before. Her principal weapons in human form are her shapeshifting silver gloves.

• SFX - Prince-to-Frog Feint: Spend 1 PP to shift into a small, easily overlooked form quickly enough to foil pursuit in plain sight
• Limit - Anima Flare: Gain 1 PP to start glowing brightly enough to see from a mile away (even farther in the dead of night). All attempts at stealth or disguise automatically fail until activating an opportunity to recover.

Poison d8 In addition to the native poison of her black mamba spirit shape, Sylia has learned to endure and cultivate any toxin she's been exposed to once. She's gone out of her way to build an arsenal to subdue rivals and eliminate foes. Also she can provide party drugs (her late wife's favorite use of the power) but she will roll her eyes at you.

• SFX - Arrow Frog's Caress: Spend 1 PP to deliver a poison (or drug, or antidote) to a person or object with just a simple touch.
• Limit - Imperfect Alchemical Adaptation: Gain 1 PP to shut down Poison until activating an opportunity to recover.

Approaches

Careful d6

Charming d10

Clever d4

Forceful d8

Quick d6

Sneaky d6

Objectives

Adapt d6

Aid d8

Escape d4

Explore d6

Profit d6

Reform d10