Vol.3 Ch.12.1 – Glossary Update
Elaine Caldwell
Tall and muscular and yet still rather feminine, with a pretty face and fluffy light brown hair, Elaine was a soldier for years before the Invasion happened. She had originally joined the army to save money for college but had almost decided to make the army her career before the Invasion forced her hand. She inherited magic from her father, an earth mage who taught her everything he knew about guns, magic and everything outdoors.
A tomboy back in school and then pigeonholed into being the 'squad dyke', Elaine actually considers herself bisexual. However, she was only intimate with a man once before.
Right after the Invasion Elaine was found compatible with Stollos Cypher's project parameters and then underwent treatments to become an Awakener. These treatments made her stronger than a normal human and gave her the ability to strengthen the Soul Shards of those around her. It also had the rather awkward side effect of changing her genitalia from female to male, which she is only now coming to terms with after finding out that none of the people she decided to reveal her secret to seem the least bit bothered by it.
In actuality Elaine had fantasized about growing a penis for years and after finally overcoming the shame of this sudden change she regained the domineering confidence she'd always been known for back before her side effects.
In battle Elaine chiefly wields the crystal magic granted to her by Typhon as well as the slew of M-skills and magics her Shard Bearers give her access to but she also carries an assault rifle and a handgun for emergencies. Though as her power waxes these emergencies happen less and less often.
Alexis Bigsby
An introverted engineering major at MIT, Alexis prefers the comfort of science fiction over socializing with other people. Alexis had her enthusiasm and confidence stamped out at an early age by relentless bullying and now suffers from crippling social anxiety.
The fact that she found herself attracted to women and the resulting heartache from falling for a straight girl didn't help matters.
However, after growing into her power and with the gentle coaxing of Elaine and, increasingly, Ophelia, Alexis is growing more and more confident and comfortable, both with being part of a group of people who rely on her and with the relationship she has found herself in.
In battle she acts as the group's front line, able to zip to wherever she's needed, soak up massive amounts of damage and recover from it and to dish it back out again, using both her light magic and her magical spear Areadbhar.
Ophelia Devereux
Turned into a vampire at the young age of 19, Ophelia has a much different outlook on life than most of her peers. Looked down upon by arrogant pure-bred vampires and unable to relate to most normal humans around her, Ophelia affects a veneer of callousness and sarcasm that just about anyone who spends any time in her presence can see through with ease, revealing the sweet and kind girl behind the facade.
At the same time, what is patently obvious about Ophelia is her incredibly raunchy sense of humor, both crass and juvenile but charming with it. It pairs amusingly with her love of YA novels.
In battle Ophelia acts as the group's mage at first, able to sling spells to both attack and defend and able to heal even grievous wounds in moments.
Later Ophelia acquires skills that turn her into more of an assassin/mage hybrid, able to deal massive damage in close quarters and still capable of slinging spells at range.
Even then she can't withstand damage very well as, once her suit's integrity is compromised and sunlight hits her body, she loses most of the supernatural speed that makes her such a force of nature.
Evelyn Dupree
The spoiled only child of an upper middle class family, Evelyn drifted through life somewhat aimlessly before the Invasion. Studying at university with no clear choice of major in mind and with little interest in what she wanted to do later in life she was still hoping for inspiration to strike when the Invasion happened. And not only was she suddenly faced with horrors from beyond spacetime, she also had to come to terms with the fact that, for the first time in her life, she found a woman attractive. The combined pressure caused her to mess up bad and it took her quite a while to make amends with Elaine, though now that she has she found out that the two of them are extremely compatible both in the bedroom and when it comes to their hobbies.
In battle Evelyn acts as a berserker, able to do catastrophic damage with a reckless fighting style using the blunt impact of her Vajra and the lightning magic she can call up.
Abigail Peterson
Beautiful and tall, Abigail was a moderately successful singer performing at any bar that would have her before the Invasion. She is blessed with a golden voice but cursed with a terrible case of social anxiety, creating an awkward combination of someone who wants to entertain people but doesn't want to be in the spotlight.
When pressed Abigail told Elaine that the reason for her anxiety were the lecherous offers people made her in exchange for helping promote her but that isn't the whole truth. The whole truth is somewhat darker and has something to do with the fact that Abigail never wears clothes that show off her thighs...
After initially alienating Elaine the two of them have finally made up and while they aren't friends quite yet they do trust each other, at least as far as Abigail trusts anyone these days.
In battle Abigail acts as the team's bard, supporting her allies with songs and flinging powerful light and fire magic in between.
Cassie Maxwell
Also known as Cassie Royale, Cassie is a crossdressing streamer focused on video games. From a very young age he enjoyed being mistaken for a girl and deliberately wore the most effeminate clothing he could get away with. His father, continuously disappointed with Cassie's lack of manliness, kept pushing masculine activities on Cassie, like shooting and camping, even going so far as to enlist him in the army when he was done with high school. Despite Cassie's effeminate looks he excelled at all of these, ending up with the best aim in his gun-obsessed family as well as the best outdoors skill of his family.
Even so, none of it ever made Cassie more interested in becoming manly and eventually he moved away from his parents and started crossdressing, first only in private. Soon he graduated to showing off on the internet and the continued positive reactions bolstered his confidence until he started crossdressing full-time, both in private and in public.
When the Invasion happened Cassie was on his way back home from a convention and found shelter in the tiny little town of Albion, New York, where he worked as a waitress until the cult controlling the town revealed itself and imprisoned all the remaining inhabitants. He was saved by Elaine and her team just as he had been about to be sacrificed to a Shoggoth and eventually joined both Project Divinity and Elaine's team.
In combat Cassie acts as the group's paladin, defending his allies from enemy attacks and healing them when necessary.
Jeanne d'Arc
Jeanne is a legend who should need no introduction, or rather the tale of her life is. After her demise she became an angel and, keeping with her reputation as the Virgin of Orleans, joined the service of the Angel Lord of Temperance and Chastity, Venus. It was only then that Jeanne discovered that Venus' work is slightly different than what her title would imply.
Rather than joining the ranks of the Charismatics and granting succor to those who hold to their vows Jeanne instead trained as a warrior. It was only decades after she joined the heavenly host that she lost her virginity after giving in to the crushing loneliness no one had demanded of her except herself.
Ever since then she has trained even harder, rising in Heaven's hierarchy to escape her reputation as a paragon because she feels that when surrounded by those she considers true legends she can fade into the background and not be judged by the impossible standards her reputation has set for her.
Jeanne is particularly competent with time magic though she feels comfortable with just about every element except fire, owing to the horrific death she suffered in the name of her faith.
Rachel Cypher
The first child of man, Rachel is the daughter of Adam and his first wife Lilith, who refused to bow before him and was therefore forced to leave the Garden of Eden while already pregnant with his daughter.
Rachel and her mother walked the earth for centuries, unable to die as neither of them had eaten the fruits of knowledge that made Adam and his other kin mortal. Eventually they both arrived in Hell, where Lilith began a relationship with Lucifer. Over the course of centuries Lilith and Rachel both turned into demons, or at least something almost indistinguishable from demons, given that they technically still have physical bodies.
As the princess of the succubi Rachel's mere presence is hazardous for normal people's self-control and even sanity. Her prolonged presence on earth has tempered this effect slightly but Rachel is still drop-dead gorgeous and exudes pheromones that drive humans and celestials wild.
Rachel is not a fighter by inclination, preferring to negotiate and seduce rather than fight and kill but that does not make her in any way helpless. While her strengths lie in healing magic that same magic can also be wielded to devastating effect in combat, which is to say nothing of her talent for space magic and precognition.
Stollos Cypher
Lucifer is obsessed with finding a worthy successor, one he can hand his life's work over to in the event of his death. Part of this journey led him to conclude that a being that is part human, part angel and part demon could potentially grow stronger than any one of these three. It therefore makes sense that he desires to create a successor who combines all three. And Stollos was the first attempt at this.
Lucifer had a daughter with a human woman. As Lucifer, though fallen, is still an angel their daughter was a Nephilim, a half-angel. He watched over the girl and when she was of age he arranged for her to fall in love with a Cambion, a half-demon. Their child ended up half human, quarter demon and quarter angel, with the angel part coming from Lucifer, who is orders of magnitude more powerful than any mere angel.
This child therefore was staggeringly powerful, the sky his only limit for growth. This child was Stollos. Lucifer was proud to bursting of his grandson. The previous Demon Lord of Despair had seceded a short while ago and so when Stollos had come into his power Lucifer took the opportunity to give Stollos the power he felt his grandson deserved. Except, when he presented the child to Hell's upper society the demons didn't take kindly to this half-human upstart taking the spot so many had been fighting over.
This created a deep-seated resentment within Stollos. His Soul Shard of Typhon, one that had laid mostly dormant thus far, reared its head, finally feeling the embers of rebellion within the young princeling. Stollos, who had been fascinated by all the sciences long before he was told of his circumstances, decided to show the demons that humans were better than them. He worked for years to create ways to awaken the potential his grandfather clearly saw within humanity. Eventually he came up with a ritual that could turn a human into a being more powerful than most demons. Ecstatic about his success he showed his research off to his grandfather.
Except Lucifer wasn't pleased. There were precious few things Heaven and Hell agreed on but one of them was that neither wanted humanity to become any stronger than they were. Humanity's potential truly was something Lucifer believed in but this ritual was so simple that anyone could use it with very little instruction. If this ritual was freely distributed humanity would become a threat for Heaven and Hell's dominion. And so Lucifer told his grandson to destroy this research. Stollos refused. With a heavy heart Lucifer gave him a choice: Renounce his research or renounce his birthright, to be exiled from Hell for all time.
And Stollos chose exile.