Bloody Mary

Tease

Normal Senses | Supernatural Senses

Apparent Features

Equipment

Rarely spotted without a pair of armless red lenses, Mary tends to dress comfortably and carry little. Keen observers find that when she is relaxing, she rarely has more than a (sometimes concealed) dragon bone dagger on her. She's quite aware of the world's dangers, however, and typically has underclothes made of garlean carbonweave.

When undertaking a "mission" or otherwise expecting hostility, she dresses in an outfit which consists of red mage's robes over an outfit with numerous pockets. These pockets hold various odds and ends, depending on the task at hand, but always include a notepad, pen, a bag of red dice, sack made of parachute cloth, parachute cord...and a small device with a single control.

A pair of black-and-silver bracers now grace her wrists, and are composed of the same technology as the device.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary. Guilt laden blood be wary.
Do you desire to be free? Then repent before she finds thee."

Tease

Normal Senses | Supernatural Senses

Aetheric Features

Behind the Obfuscation

Mary's aetheric aura is usually obscured, protecting the truth of her. The one thing she can't obscure is her outright abuse of blood magic, likely using it daily. If someone can bypass the obfuscation magic, her aura bears out all for anyone who knows what to look for.

Astral magicks have left heavy mark on her, but she does not seem to be of the void. Those of a scientific mind might recognize the signs of tampering, suggesting some form of experimentation. Ultimately, her aura suggests some form of ashkin or nightkin, while being neither.

Looking deeper, one might recognize the aetheric signature of a Gem of Shatotto buried in her chest, under her ribs and near her heart. Accompanying this are the telltale signs of mhachi black magic.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary. Guilt laden blood be wary.
Do you desire to be free? Then repent before she finds thee."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Physical Abilities

Mary is already supernaturally quick and dexterous, capable of dodging gunfire as though the bullets were nothing more than clumsily thrown rocks. She is also tough, capable of shrugging off damage which would bring normal people to a literal dead stop.

That's not to say she's invulnerable, however, and she knows it. Keeping up with technological advances, she's repurposed salvaged Garlean carbonweave into a set of protective undergarments. She calls it her 'magic underwear' in a joking manner. These undergarments consist of a bodice and leggings.

When indulging her habit of feeding on blood, she uses her fangs to pierce the skin and drink. A secreted venom relaxes the victim, and eases their anxieties while easing the blood flow. Reports indicate it induces euphoria, though this varies from person to person. The venom also muddles the memory, which results in a "blackout" like effect.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Obfuscate

Affectionately referred to as "stealth mode", A third of Mary's blood magic allows her to hide herself from the world. The weakest of these magicks simply hide her from sight and nullify the sound she makes. So accustomed to these abilities is she that she can activate them with barely a thought.

More advanced magicks allow her to hide others and objects, and extend these effects to persist long after she's left. If desired, she can maliciously remove someone from the perceptions of others, or momentarily swap the faces of people. How, precisely, this magic works is unknown, but it's been know to fool both people and machines. The apex of her ability is to hide herself and her aetheric aura from those seeking her.

Sometimes she finds herself slipping into the unseen realm without a thought, hiding from and spying on people casually, or even without intending to. In fact, the nature and power of her ability unsettles her when she thinks about it. In dark moments, she finds herself searching frantically for unseen enemies, convinced of their presence even if none are around.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Auspex

Though sometimes confused for a manifestation of The Echo, a third of Mary's blood magic heightens her senses to supernatural levels. At their weakest, they simply improve her mundane senses. Her senses can even be enhanced to the point of perfectly understanding someone's emotional state, or whether or not they lie.

Beyond her mundane senses are magicks which allow her to unconsciously read the aether of the world around her. With this, she can learn information about a person, object, or even the on goings in an entire city block by simply focusing in the vicinity. At the highest level of this ability, she can even read vibrations from events in the future, allowing her to predict some things with unbelievable accuracy.

It takes a great deal of discipline to keep herself from using these abilities casually. More than once, she's been reprimanded when caught using them, or subjected to intense telepathic feedback when using her power in crowded areas. The idea that others might use them isn't lost on her, either. If not for her Obfuscate power, she would descend into madness, convinced that others were constantly reading her mind.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Sorcery

A third of Mary's blood magic allows her to perform wonders. The most frequent use of this is to transmute her own blood into a weapon or paralytic poison. Other frequent wonders involve changing her mass to be light as a feather, performing rituals to track down people and items of interest, or drawing information from the blood and vitae of others.

More spectacular expressions of Blood Sorcery allow her to control nature around her, from altering plants to influencing the weather itself. The apex of this magic allows her to manipulate the blood of others while still in their veins. From ripping it out and using it to fuel further magic, or boiling it where it is, these powers leave a stain on her own aura that can't easily be hidden.

Each use of such power reminds her of her unnatural existence. While this once bothered her, at this point, she's come to prefer it to whatever life she may have had before. This attitude permeates her existence, and she finds it difficult to behave like the mundane people she's often trying to blend in with.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Mhachi Black Magic

Mary has long possessed a Gem of Shatotto, known in modern times as a "Black Mage Soulstone". Though not the original recipient of the Gem, she received it as a reward for slaying a particularly evil Mhachi void mage during the days of Mhach's prominence. Thanks to her nature, she was able to implant it within her ribcage. Since this was done, she has only ever told two people of it's presence.

When more subtle methods are impractical, and the needs are dire, she'll resort to drawing aether from the land to fuel powerful elemental and arcane magic. Though skilled enough to channel this magic through a sword and focus rather than a staff (making her appear to be a Red Mage), the more advanced techniques are beyond her ability.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Scratch

Physical | Black Magic | Weaknesses
Obfuscate | Auspex | Sorcery

Weaknesses

Mary requires organic substances rich in living, corporeal aether for nourishment. Though she can eat normal food, she'll get little out of it. Blood - particularly "sin laden" blood - drained directly from a living being is not only a good source of this, but also used to fuel her blood magic, hence why she favors it.

She can survive on fare other than blood, but will ultimately starve without aether-rich sources. Fortunately, unlike typical beings, death does not result from starvation. Instead, she enters an inactive state where she resembles a corpse. As expected, she's extremely vulnerable in this state.

Mary finds Sunlight, fire, and high heat in general to be very unpleasant most of the time. This is due to her lower-than-normal body temperature making her sensitive to heat. Although these items do no more harm to her than normal people, the unpleasant effect is enough to be severely distracting if not outright repelling

Mary's nature as an astralized/"dark" being makes her susceptible to umbral/"light" magic. In addition to the magic's normal effects, the opposed nature results in a temporarily destabilization of her own aether, weakening her. While minor destabilization will be quickly corrected, severe destabilization can damage her.

Noteworthy: Minor healing spells generally repair damage more than they destabilize, ultimately being unpleasant but effective.

"The Queen is an executioner's axe. Awesome. Brutal. Terrifying. People toe the line out of fear. Mary is her scalpel. Subtle. Quiet. Focused. She solves problems fear alone can't."

Kiss

Record

5th Era

Early Existance

War of the Magi

6th Era

7th Era

Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood

Shadowbringers

Endwalker

"I'm pretty sure that urban legend was my fault."

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Hierarchy of Sins

Mary is addicted to "the scent of sin" on others. This table helps to codify what she senses. While it was largely unknown how this worked prior to Endwalker, it's now assumed to have something to do with Akasha/Dynamis.

- Lowest number that applies is the rating.
- Being "justified" in the act doesn't matter.
- Time and honest repentance help to lower the rating.
- "Accidental" includes being under the influence of drugs.
- "Violation" refers generally to things which result in severe injury or death.
- Acts against creatures naturally lower on the food chain are not counted unless the consumer takes more than is needed for sustenance or is particularly cruel about feeding.

"Do you recall what sort is most....refreshing to me?"
"That of the guilty, no?"
"Yes. And none are more guilty than you. I fear I couldn't stop if I tasted you."

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Gallery

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Music

Songs You'd Catch Her Listening To

Inspirational Themes

Character Themes

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Tropes

History

Personality

Capabilities

Weaknesses

Miscellaneous

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Compliance and Inspiration

TL;DR

Lore Compliance

I favor "lore plausible" roleplay. This is roleplay that adheres to concrete lore, but fills in the places where the lore has gaps with whatever seems reasonable and artistically appropriate. My justification for this is that Final Fantasy XIV has Unreliable Narrator Syndrome. NPCs are often wrong about the history of things, assuming they don't outright lie to you. Even the Encyclopedia Eorzea is written from the point of view of the NPCs.

I might also accept less plausible private head-canons which are accepted by the group I'm in, again, so long as they fit in an artistic way. In any case, if I'm violating lore as you know it, please bring it up to me OOC. Do expect me to debate the lore with you, but understand my intention is to reach an agreement...not "win", which I don't think is possible.

Inspiration

Originally, Mary was supposed to be a Vampire, styled after Vampire: The Masquerade, and adjusted to fit in somewhat with Final Fantasy XIV. As this turned out to be not well-received by people outside of my usual group, I decided to refactor her. To that end, she is now an early experiment of Mhachi mages, rather than a vampire.

For those the curious who are familiar with VTM, Mary was originally inspired by the Banu Haqim (Assamite) bloodline. Other inspirations come from TES: Skyrim and the Red Mage class questline in FFXIV.

I began RPing this character in late Shadowbringers, and all that proceeds from there is borne of RP.

Notes

Compliance and Inspiration | Warnings, Intent, and Limits
Hierarchy of Sins | Gallery | Music | Tropes

Warnings, Intent, and Limits

TL;DR

Content Warning

Although Mary tries to do what she sees as right, she is still a monster with a taste for the blood of the "guilty", and her ethical views will likely conflict with the average hero (and players). The following items may come up while interacting with Mary, as either something she embodies or hunts:

I'll try to keep the same degree of reference as Final Fantasy XIV (e.g. implications rather than direct references), and I assume the average roleplayer is okay with that. That said, please let me know if you want to avoid these topics, and I will try to make a note of it.

Roleplay Goals

Mary is meant to be a "hero-supporting monster" character. Though she largely views people as "clever cattle", she is not any more malicious towards them than a farmer is to their herd. Though she does not take personal responsibility over caring for people, she does seek to eliminate threats to them. She is still a monster, however, and that cannot be overlooked.

I don't have a complicated story to tell with Mary, yet, and for the time being, she's largely meant to be just another member of the "adventuring party". Through her, I intend to experience and participate in the stories of others, and am open to variety. I will just as happily interact IC with a paladin as a psychopath. I enjoy IC drama (as long as it doesn't get in the way of being "good guys"), and I especially adore ethical dilemmas. At the end of the day, though, I want myself and my fellow role-players to walk away from a scene satisfied and/or wanting more.

Limits

Ultimately, I'm all about an interesting and entertaining story. I enjoy "dynamic" roleplay just as much as (if not more than) private stories. In either case, I don't expect Mary to take center stage in any plot aside from my own. I'm pretty okay with most themes and twists, as long as they're not overdone. Anything from Light-Hearted Fun to Dark and Violent themes are okay by me, so long as it seems realistic. There are two important caveats, however:

First: While I'd normally prefer warnings about things that might make my character unplayable, I realize they can come up with no warning with a character like Mary. I will probably be okay with this from an OOC standpoint, but expect the character to respond appropriately.

Second: I will try to abort a scene or plot if I find out it's making someone seriously uncomfortable Out of Character. It's hard to entertain people when they're upset, after all!

I'm fine with story-driven character romance and/or "sexy fun times", but I'm typically not interested in ERP, preferring to "fade to black". I don't suggest coming after me for ERP for a variety of reasons, many of which are mood-dependant and completely unpredictable.