Anastra

Author: Darklady2831

Name: Anastra, Witch-Queen of the Black Dawn, Black Sheep of Bleakfang Age: 465 Affiliations: The Cult of the Black Dawn

Physical Description: Anastra is a raven-haired woman standing at six feet three inches tall. Her greyish-green skin is rough and marred by scars from a long life among the orcs of the Bleakrock Clan. Her eyes are an almost unnatural shade of red, as if the irises are filled with blood. Her teeth are average for a tribal orc, sharp and stained from years of use, and her canines are even sharper, as well as larger than typical for an orc. Anastra's raven hair is shoulder-length and unkempt, but not as wild and tangled as one would expect from a tribal orc. Anastra prefers dark clothing, usually a tunic and pair of trousers beneath robes or a cloak. Aside from a necklace of bone charms, she wears no jewellery. She bears tribal tattoos across her upper back, down both of her arms, up and around her neck and finally across her lower face.

Personality: An exceptionally long life of constant looking over her shoulder and hiding in the shadows has led to a personality built around paranoia and Machiavellian detachment from the people around her. Anastra is a cold, calculating woman who would just as likely cut your throat as give you a loaf of bread. She hides her true thoughts behind a facade of false emotions, acting in everyday situations as she believes she would have four hundred years ago. When threatened, Anastra's facade fades and the rabid cunning of a feral beast rears its ugly head, willing to do anything to survive another day. Deep down, Anastra despises what she is forced to do, but fear and an irresistible urge to survive drive her ever onward.

History: Anastra's life began over four and a half hundred years ago, in the far northern reaches of Al-Jura, only a few decades after the slave revolts that freed the Orcish people from servitude to the Ancient Elves. Her father had been a veteran of that conflict, an orc who at her birth was nearing seventy years of age. Her mother was the daughter of the chieftain of another tribe, who had joined with her father to strengthen the bonds between the Bleakfang and Hoartusk tribes. Born on the night of a new moon, many of the more superstitious members of the Bleakfang tribe feared her, but her father's strength and reputation prevented them from taking action.

Anastra's childhood was normal for a tribal orc. It was spent with her mother and the village elders, learning the importance of the different rituals that the Orcs had developed since their liberation. Her peers, though ignorant of the circumstances of her birth, picked up cues from their parents, and before long shunned her presence as well. Despite the efforts of her father and the rest of the village elders, she felt alone in the tribe. When she showed signs of magical talent, the isolation only worsened as she was given private lessons by the witches and elders in how to control her gift. At the age of sixteen, her father passed of illness. With many of the elders that had shielded her from prejudice gone as well, and her mother mourning the death of her husband, Anastra was defenceless against her kinsmen. The behaviour of her fellow tribesmen worsened, and before long, she was cast out by the new village elders. Alone, she wandered the plains and forests of the north, surviving by her wit and strength for many years. Twelve years after her exile, in the foothills of the Wrothgard mountains, the horrid fate that her tribe had feared befell her.

Out of the darkness of the frigid night and the blowing snows came the snarls of a creature feared and spoken of by all of the northern tribes. The light of her campfire fell upon its pallid flesh and ragged clothing as it came into view. The smell of rotten meat issued forth on its breath and its bloodshot eyes bespoke of the hunger that drove it. Anastra steeled herself, taking up her axe and witchcraft to drive it back. It fell upon her, its claws digging into her arms as Anastra flung curses and spikes of magic into its chest. Her axe found purchase upon its leg, and as she scrambled away it staggered to its feet. The creatures wound bled profusely as Anastra turned to run. Her mistake would cost her hundreds of years, as the creature leaped forward and sunk its teeth into her shoulder. She screamed in pain and frantically swung her axe in an attempt to dislodge the creature. Luck favoured her, and her axe bit deep into the Strigoi's neck. It fell to the ground, clutching at its bleeding neck. She staggered, the loss of blood making her dizzy. With the last ounce of strength she could muster, she buried her axe into its skull, finishing it off. She turned and walked until she collapsed to the snow and closed her eyes to await death's cold embrace.

She awoke days later, in the camp of the Iceblade tribe, tended to by one of the Elders. They told her of how their hunters had found her lying in the snow with bloody wounds. They said she was lucky to have survived being attacked by wolves in such cold, and bade her rest. Anastra spent the next few months with the Iceblade tribe, recovering from her wounds as the horrible cravings of the Strigoi began to set in. Eventually, she could resist the growing urges no longer, and killed one of the Iceblade Orcs and feasted upon his remains. The Iceblade discovered her, covered in the blood of her victim in the snow near the camp. They attacked, but her new found strength and agility allowed her to escape into the wilds.

Days of wandering in the wilderness turned to weeks, and weeks into months as Anastra attempted to sate her hunger with wild game, only ever managing to vomit up what once made up most of her diet. South she went, learning to attack travellers and hide the bodies to eat later. The frozen mountains gave way to forest, forest gave way to plains, and plains gave way once more to forest as she travelled further and further away from the land of her birth. The Elves that had enslaved the Orcs a hundred years ago had fallen, replaced by the fractious kingdoms of men. Men who lived in villages of stone rather than hide and wood, men who did not wander. Men who saw orcs only rarely, and could not tell the difference between Orcish Strigoi and the unafflicted Orc.

She settled, living among the men, eating the recently dead or the unfortunate who stayed out too late. Suspicious and superstition arose, and men began to blame one another for the mysterious deaths. Old legends of vampires and ghouls were resurrected, and Anastra moved on to another kingdom, another village. This became pattern, time and time again she settled, killed, ate, and then moved on. For three hundred years Anastra wandered the Kingdoms of men and elves, until she chanced upon tales of a bustling city far to the south. A place where a few morsels would not be missed, a place where both the reviled and upstanding were welcomed with open arms. The Free City of Tandem, the perfect home for a Strigoi, the perfect home for any who could make it.

Fifty years ago, Anastra arrived in Tandem, taking up residence in the Barrows district. Her initial activities drew much attention from the Guard, and she came close to being caught. Were it not for the timely intervention of the Cult of the Black Dawn, her life may have ended then and there. The Arch-Lector of Black Dawn summoned Anastra, offering the Cult's resources to draw the Guard's attention away from her, in exchange for her resources to further the Cult's goals. Given no real choice, Anastra has served the Cult faithfully for five decades. In that time she has advanced in rank to Witch-Sister, one of the nine dark sorcerers that serve as the Arch-Lector's lieutenants. She has inadvertently gathered her own following of Strigoi Disciples, each of whom eagerly serve for the chance to become a creature of the night.

Advantages:

Preternatural Agility [Rank 2] (Common-Personal): Strigoi are possessed of incredible speed and reflexes. Anastra could catch an arrow in mid-flight, though she would be hard-pressed to do it twice. She is faster than most, and uses this agility to catch her prey unawares and to escape after feeding.

Preternatural Strength [Rank 2] (Common-Personal): As an orc, Anastra has incredible strength and resilience. As a Strigoi, that strength and resilience are further enhanced. She can break logs and snap bone with equal ease, and throwing her prey across the room is easily done.

Preternatural Senses [Rank 1] (Uncommon-Personal): The curse of the Strigoi sharpens eyesight, enhances hearing, and heightens smell to make the hosts into apex predators. Anastra is capable of seeing by starlight as if it were midday, hearing the heartbeat of a mouse from thirty paces, and discerning which unwashed peasant in a crowd is injured by smell alone.

Robes of Ironcloth [Rank 1] (Common-Item): Anastra's robes are woven with enchanted cloth to be as hard as iron when struck. In combat, these robes will protect Anastra as if she were wearing a full suit of Iron chain mail.

Cultists of the Black Dawn [Rank 1] (Uncommon-Followers): Anastra's status as a Strigoi within the Cult of the Black Dawn affords her an advantage that many would not have, three of the cultists have pledged themselves to her, willing to do anything for her short of committing suicide. Anastra knows that they do not follow her out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather out of a perverse longing for the power she possesses, but the promise of life eternal as a Strigoi motivates them better than any oath.

Divination [Rank 1] (Common-Personal): Anastra is capable of using a goat's knucklebones, sprinkled with human blood, to peer into the many possible futures. By posing a question about a possible event that could happen in the near future (within the next three days) and then sprinkling blood on and tumbling the bones in a bowl, Anastra can grant a +1 bonus on a single die roll made in the future that is related to the question posed. Questions that are too broad cannot be divined, and Anastra cannot clearly see what might happen. She can offer only vague advice and her mystic power.

Curse of Bleeding Souls [Rank 2] (Uncommon-Personal): By using the witchcraft of the Orcish Tribes, Anastra can tear into the very soul and lifeforce of a foe. The foe's vitality begins to bleed away from them, making their breath ragged and their limbs weak. At the same time, Anastra is healed, her cuts sealing, burns fading, and bones mending.