Character Name/Username: Arcadia/Mazian
Character Level/Character Age: 95 / 28
Character Race: Seraphim

Background Information:

Lachesis - Dispenser of lots. One of three sisters, Lachesis was said to control the thread spun by her sister, Clotho. It was said that this thread controls Destiny itself.

The Seraphim are the (metaphorical) children of Eden, gifted by Zahhak, and made somewhat in the image of the Angels.

It is only natural that one strives to reach as Eden did upon the eve of the Viridgaol's sundering, and change destiny itself.

Arcadia, through action and intention, has striven to change fate time and time again. Not always successful, not always strong enough - but determined, regardless, to try anyway. Destiny, the plan laid out for all from their creation, is sometimes not good enough. Not acceptable. Even Eden, They Who See All Fates, knows this sad and terrible truth. Even They raged against Destiny in order to carve a better, truer path. On that night, it was mere mortals who reached, who gave it all.

And in the end, they found a destiny. A new destiny - one without the suffering of the Convergence, without the sad inevitability of another cycle.

A world defined by the rage and spirit of mortals.

This is what changes Destiny. Not gods, not some accident, not a twisted game played by a gamemaster.

Mortal spirit changes Destiny.

Arcadia's starflame rages against fate. It rages against a destiny that isn't acceptable. It rages against that which many would simply give up and accept.

Lachesis is the will to change destiny made manifest.

Forged from Arcadia's long-standing companion weapon, Imperfect Absolution.

More than a weapon, more than a tool; it is the tip of a mortal's willingness to push boundaries and defy fate. To live in spite of terrible injury, to find a new path in spite of so much loss, to carve out a new world when the old one rejected them. Lachesis, forged from Orichalcum, enhanced with the fragments of a mythril nail which carved itself against the sternum of herself and a great enemy, and empowered by the burning spirit of the Seraphim herself, who continues to strive for Eden's touch yet further, is the culmination of Arcadia's life work.

Of her love.

Of her spirit.

Of her faith.

In herself. In others. For others.

Development:

Arcadia has had considerable clashes with various foes in the name of changing the fate of others.

- The path of this defiance in the face of a fate otherwise set in stone began with Zorin Hildegard, who challenged her to 'be the best she can be'. At multiple points she has fought against him, defying his image of her true self in favor of what she really is; the denial of Nevanerro's followers will do nothing to push her from the path of Destiny.

- This path continued with multiple battles at the Earth Apheiron, versus Nephilim and the demon Kasso'gatha. In more than one instance, Arcadia has stood over the sacred prison of Paludrex to prevent it from being defiled and used for nefarious purposes. The names of Nephilim she has fought here are numerous, ranging from Alithea to a terrible, goat-headed individual who charged at her in anger. All were sundered in the face of Paludrex's gift upon Sarea.

- Arcadia's true path became clearer when the foul creations of Vul'Karik set foot upon the hallowed earth near the Earth Apheiron, with Kasso'gatha being driven back by herself and her brother, Zabukiel, with holy flame and sanctified bullets casting the demom back to be slaughtered another day by a member of the Paludrexian Legion.

- Temptation, the original sin, reared it's head when the High Faerlan, Mania, reappeared on Sarea's shores; for a time, the creature almost lured Arcadia into it's grasp, the Seraphim momentarily dazzled by her otherworldly nature - but her duty snapped her from the dazzle, and resulted in Arcadia striking at Mania and driving her away from the forest where Paludrex's prison lies, once more refusing to fall to a destiny that is not of her own creation.

- Arcadia's burning drive to protect the fate of those she loves was made obvious when Arcadia engaged Alithea Antenora in the snowy mountains of Providence, the subject of conflict being a woman she had come to love, through strange circumstances - Fractured Arrogance, torn between her pledge to assist the Nephilim, and Arcadia's love, stepped away from the two of them where the matter came to be resolved by violence. This was not a fight Arcadia - blind and barely able to speak - should have been able to fight, let alone win. And in truth, the battle was a complete rout - until, somehow, Destiny changed. The thread of fate altered by sheer force of mortal will, to deny this victory and the corruption of her love. Alithea was sundered from the field in a beam of light summoned from Sol itself, and an enemy made for life that day.

- A failured made manifest. Seraphiel's defection to the Nephilim is perhaps the most stinging, miserable failure Arcadia has upon her life - but yet, still, she tried to stop her sister from loosing Eden's grace and giving herself over to Nevanerro's embrace. A desperate struggle, sister on sister, ensued - seeing Seraphiel ultimately victorious against Arcadia, but not without significant conflict. It remains the greatest scar upon Arcadia's record, her biggest regret - and drives her further onwards to prevent another terrible, terrible outcome that stemmed from being too weak.

- The most recent battle, and showing of Arcadia's will, was a climatic battle at the Wind Apheiron, on Alicante. In the days prior, Arcadia had engaged Alithea at Earth, stating that she would forgive Alithea's sins - not stating the subtext that she would take those burdens on herself in exchange. Alithea is a person Arcadia truly hates - in all regards - from ideologically to personally, for reasons that range from her self-destructive path to her attempted temptation of her lover. The stage of their next confrontation was set with this battle, which Arcadia ultimately lost - but with that defeat, their paths were sealed together to intertwine once more.

- The Battle at Wind was not one of hate, not one of malice, not one of revenge. It was one of love. True love. Arcadia had come to do as she promised; forgive Alithea's sins. And so, on the eve of Alithea's ascension to the heights of a Nephilim's power, Arcadia fought her. Time and time again the Seraphim unleashed starflame and explosions on Alicante, the power of love burning to triumph over the power of Sheol. In order to unlock her full potential, Arcadia drove a spike of holy mythril into her chest, the very same spike who's fragments are to be used in Lachesis. In the end, despite all her efforts, Arcadia was bested twice ... but the second battle had changed fate once more. It was not, as some would suspect, a loss from a lack of strength. Arcadia saw the path of forgiveness, and slowed herself intentionally in order to lure Alithea close enough.

- Upon doing so, Arcadia, empowered by the love of Limbo, and Eden's light, pulled the Holy Nail from her chest after breaking the Chains of Sheol which had bound her in the aftermath of the second battle ... and drove it into the chest of Alithea, summoning forth all the holy power she could in order to show the Nephilim two things; love, and forgiveness. With this, it is rumored that something Alithea had lost long ago - her humanity - has been restored to her, and Arcadia suffered grevious wounds which have left her little more than a 'normal', unable to wield more than the tiniest spark of magic. In the aftermath, Arcadia lay vulnerable to Alithea - to be killed.

- ... but Alithea did not take that opportunity.

I can provide logs to back these up. At the moment, I do not have a dev item.

Applying For: T1 Spear, upgrading from T0.

Character Goals and Future Plans: At the moment, I have a clear and well-defined rivalry with multiple Nephilim. I believe I made a pretty big showing recently at Wind when Alithea activated it and demonstrated that I'm still interested in pushing the storyline along and creating a story for everyone to be involved with. At that point in time I was not ready to end my character, nor did I consider it appropriate or interesting to fade into non-existence. I'm not particularly wired into the state of the game at this point in time, so I don't know who is/isn't active.

Arcadia's themes primariy revolve around changing destiny - through force of will or otherwise - and trying to steer people onto a better path. Nephilim or not. I've demonstrated this two or three times - my interruption with Seraphiel's activation of Wind, my first rivalry-establishing fight over the fate of Fractured Arrogance which led to her surrendering to Urosil, and my most recent showing at Wind with Alithea's activation where-in there was a very tense and semi-choreographed battle (story wise - all of the verbs were pure button mashing) that a number of people witnessed.

As a seraphim outside of the established faction, I'm not too interested in getting into factional politics again, so I'm probably just going to stick to trying to steer Nephilim onto a better bath and battling those who are opposed to Arcadia enough to do so (on a personal or idealogical level.)

Additional Information: I remain /extremely/ low contact with the game and community since I blew off some steam for a while. My activity level may improve in the new year, and since cutting OOC contact out I've become a lot less jaded about the game and it's state.