#evelyn perenus-strega

[helvenandgrey]

🫀 & 🧭

[ 🫀 ] does your muse make decisions with their head or their heart? perhaps a bit of both?

Shade: Primarily with her head, she's much more strategical in her thinking and likes to do things she knows have a chance to work. On rare occasions she might operate based on emotions, but she tries to stay away from it.

Careil: As smart as she is, I don't think Careil has heard of forward planning. Most of her "strategies" in life have gone "Learn from x person -> Do some questing -> Get rich from questing -> become most powerful fire mage ever -> gains." The vast majority of her decisions are made from a mix of emotions/heart and pure hubris.

Mili: Her decision making is a bit of both. She was raised by a demon war general and a professional "fighter for hire" aka neutral aligned mercenary/guard. She knows how to survive nd how to plan out attacks, but she also tends to live life and think about one goal at a time, so her heart and emotions can very quickly make her shift gears into a completely different and separate plan and goal.

Rowan: Pure heart baby, with an occasional use of her head, but that's often to make her decisions alight with her personal idea of right and wrong. While she is very smart, she is also very prone to doing things based on her feelings at the moment with only a few moments of foreplaning or debating if it will help her in the future.

Cerda: She likes to claim she makes decisions with her mind, but very often she is acting from her heart. If she is actively working then she is in pure logic mode, but otherwise she is indeed a creature of the heart.

Evelyn: Both and she is very aware of it. Unlike Shade she does not hide from her emotions since it fuels her magic, but she also doesn't try to hide decision reasoning as something they are not. It's taken her a long time to work on, and it's not perfect, but a lot of it also comes from a deep sense of low self-worth based on occupation and social rank (being a strega and scout, both of which are viewed as either low or near non existent in Remulan society) and aren't horribly healthy. It's still a work in progress.

[ 🧭 ] does your muse consider themselves a good person? why or why not?

Shade: Yes, she does her best to do good by her home, friends, country, etc. She believes that actions make the person.

Careil: Yes, and she believes in her own inherent virtue rather than her actions. As long as she is comfortable with herself, she cannot see herself as being anything less than good and right (often she is not right, not evil either, but not right).

Mili: Mili would categorize herself as good, as she does try to protect the majority of people when she can, and will often help the weak. She also understand that her decisions are often made selfishly, her help to big towns often comes with a price tag, which isn't the nicest thing. She doesn't believe that niceness makes goodness though, and honestly only cares what her loved ones think of her. nice =/= good, but selfish or self-serving =/= evil and she uses that as her personal moral compass and to explain herself. As long as she doesn't actively wish to hurt innocent people, she sees herself as generally good.

Rowan: She is a firm believer that nice = good, and frames her goodness largely on public perception of her. She relies more on other's ideas of her than she lets on, and a lot of her confidence comes from the idea that she is a good person at her core, and she believes that is evident by her being a nice and likable person.

Cerda: She believes she is good, and would be shocked and distressed if someone counteracted that idea. Despite operating based on emotion, she is a very analytical person and is very likely to examine a new idea should it be presented, but until anything is presented or a challenge comes to her views she is unlikely to examine them on her own.

Evelyn: She believes so and has been told so, but she is also continually examining herself and her role in the empire she lives in and is constantly trying to prove her own goodness. She will not deny having helped do wrong in the name of the empire though, and does worry on the regular if she is effecting things in a bad way, or a good way as a small cog in the clock of time and life.

[helvenandgrey]

Magic sensing

This headcanon mostly pertains to Evelyn as her specialty is energy sensing. Mili and Cerda have very different responses to it.

Mili can sense demonic energy and tell if someone has more power than herself or thos eshe knows. This is due to being raised by a demon as well as a simple intuitional sense that she has due to being demonkin. It doesnt gi much further than being able to tell power and general type (imps vs hellhound have very different level and feels for example) but if a power is uncommon or she simply hasnt felt it before she will have no idea what kind of demon shes looking at or how to fight them unless she happened to study it. Even then, its theoretical knowledge not practical. She gets a chill when around demons, and it's the feeling of this chill (is it more cloying than cold, clammy, feverish, etc.) That gives her this read of demons. It does not extend to other types of magic or mystical beings.

Cerda was trained in the mages guild in her homeland, and where she and Evelyn are from mages are taught to ABSORB energy and the magic therein into themselves to boost their own abilities. Due to this she was purposely trained to block out any ability to sense other magics or energies, making her a powerful source herself but with no ability to recognize any other energies or magic sources.

Evelyn was trained in the old ways of the Remulans style of witchcraft known as Stregheria. This type of magic lives and dies on the practitioners ability to sense energies of all types, as magic and energy is in everything. From rocks to the wind and living beings. Strega are schooled to not absorb these magics, bit to balance their own energies within their environment and work alongside it, leaving them to constantly feel energies about them and be affected by it. Especially when in places where emotions are high as they can amplify a beings energy. Each Strega senses energy and magic in different ways, such as how Madame Evelina, Evelyn's teacher, can sense it as a prickle upon her skin with each energy and emotion having a different intensity, type of prickle, and even on different places of her being. Evelyn can sense then as whispers, usually inaudible. Most energies simply feel like whispers upon her skin, leaving it very sensitive and her herself feeling alert at most times due to it, anger is louder, as are dangerous energies such as those of demons, but still incomprehensible.

[helvenandgrey]

Threat Levels in a fight

Shade: Looks like she can kill you and can.

Careil: Doesn’t look like she can kill you, but 80% chance she’ll burn you alive.

Mili: Looks like she could kill you in a fight or by roasting you (verbally or literally). Can and will do either.

Rowan: Doesn’t look like she could kill you, but will hurt your feelings and make you cry before stabbing you in the knees.

Evelyn: Doesn’t look like she can kill you but can.

Cerda: Doesn’t look like she could kill you and probably can’t. She can destroy your reputation though.

[helvenandgrey]

Drunk Headcanons

Because I keep rewatching the beach episode of Helluva Boss and drunk Moxxie brings me life, it also gave me ideas as to how everyone here acts while drunk.

LONG post below because I had too much fun writing these.

Shade: She has the highest tolerance, and very rarely is she ever seen drunk. The few times she has been people rarely tell the difference, but the real difference is she is SLIGHTLY more talkative (going from barely talking to maybe saying something once an hour when not in conversation). Because of her stoic reputation, and the fact that she rarely talks and doesn’t slur when drunk (she appears to be perfectly sober even if she manages to reach shitfaced levels), people take her drunk observations as nuggets of wisdom for some reason. There have been a few moments when someone told her she bestowed her half-high-elven wisdom upon them or must be a fae guardian (because cheekbones) and she has no idea what the fuck they’re talking about. One time, because she’d said something like “it’s is bland and flavorless” about her ale, someone thought she was talking about their life choices because they mentioned mine work to be boring right before, then they popped in the next day and announced to Shade that they decided to pursue being a polka-playing bard instead to “bring flavor into” their lives due to her wise words.

Careil: You thought this girl was full of herself before? You ain’t seen nothing. While she has a high tolerance that rivals Shades due to Sindarians being renowned for their wine, she is more likely to et drunk due to overestimating her own tolerance. Her already high confidence grows to join the heavens, and drunk Cari finds it fun to flirt with any and everyone and “promise to take marriage proposals seriously and give you an answer upon the ‘marrow” since this ace baby winds up making herself a little harem of men who wish to be her life mate and get under her skirts (which won’t happen until marriage due to tradition and her not caring about sex in general). By morning she usually forgets and gets surrounded and asked about her choice, to wich she takes great pleasure in telling them that none are good enough for the position of her life mate and proceeds to leave town with her chin high and confidence boosted more than usual for that day.

Mili: Is surprisingly lazy. The normally active Tiefling gets sleepy, cuddly, clingy, or all three at once. This usually results in her usual distaste for being touched by anyone outside of her close-knit circle to break down and she will initiate contact be trying to climb sorta-friends backs for piggy back rides or trying to sleep in sorta-friends laps, shoulders, anything. She’s like a clingy cat. If there is no one she views as even a sorta-friend nearby she will be grouchy and hide in a corner to sleep until a friend comes to fetch her. Without telling any friends where she is in the first place. Which makes her even grouchier come a hang-over and no friends in sight the next morning.

Rowan: Is there even a difference? Rowan is usually the life of any party and constantly mistaken for a child due to her short stature and round face, but when drunk she may act like it a bit more. She is a very impulsive being, but when drunk the very few inhibitions she has are completely down, leading her to be much more petty at times if upset, more odd, and more likely to accept challenges. Challenges such as one time a friend had flipped a coin next into a barrel of ale near her and Rowan, who was anger drinking at the time and progressively becoming more pouty and “I am so an adult” petty due to mockery, accepted his challenge to fetch the coin without her hands. She dove into the barrel head first, got the coin, and popped back up very proud of herself. When further mocked and called less than civilized, she got out, fetched her stuff and drunkenly played an angry song on her lute as she, still drenched and dripping, waddled out of the tavern and back to the campsite to pout.

Evelyn: Since alcohol lowers her ability to sense things around her, Evie doesn’t drink very often. This makes her a bit of a lightweight and she can get buzzed by one good drink, and drunk by three. At the buzzed stage she simply is more relax and less guarded, making her a lot easier to be around and a lot more fun. By the drunk stage she has given everyone new nicknames that only make sense in her head, and is willing to join inane competitions like singing, bottle flipping, etc. If she goes past this she is simply passed out and sleeping wherever she was drinking at.

Cerda: Can handle her booze more than her designated Strega, but she is definitely a social drinker and doesn’t drink often either. Cerda is more fun when buzzed and drunk, likely to join crowds in cheering for whatever is being cheered for, because cheering is fun, or demonstrating her magical abilities regarding aquamancy. She is also a “woo-hoo” girl and will cheer at any and every little thing because she likes to encourage people.

[helvenandgrey]

Random realization:

Evelyn, from the age of eight onwards, has not gone a day without her connection to the magic and energies in life. Due to them manifesting as whispers and murmurs, some she can physically feel, that means she has never gone a day without auditory stimulation, and likely has not gone long without some form of low-grade physical stimulation.

If her connection to magic and magical energy was cut off, if she were suddenly stripped of her Strega capabilities, it wouldn't be long before she would have a complete emotional and mental break down. If she were to go deaf she would be able to handle that because her connection would simply change. It would be a transition, but not an impossible one. If she were forced to no longer have her magic she wouldn't be able to handle it for long. The silence would egg at her and she'd probably take to a lot of new habits to make up for it but none of them would work well if at all.

And I have made myself sad with this information now....

It's also going into a rp want list for future angst plotting w Evie's partners.

[helvenandgrey]

When being assigned charges a scout will be given a brief overview of the charge, usually written by a previous scout or by a mages trainer if they've just graduated.

Due to being an Elf, despite appearing to be 28 Cerda is really 280 and has had at least two scouts watching her before Evelyn. Both aged out of their professions. Her file read "Is a very sweet healer. Needs to be watched carefully as she has a big heart and tendency to attract difficulties." Which is a very polite way (as Scouts arent expressly forbidden but are HEAVILY RECCOMENDED AWAY FROM writing anything rude about their charges) of explaining the full detail of what Cerda needs. It basically says she is kind but has a tendency to run headlong into danger and needs to be held back by the scruff as if she were a kitten convinced she can take the gods in a fist fight.

Scouts also have files written about them by mages they have worked for. This is how mages choose from experienced scouts and who they wish to entrust their lives. Evelyn's file listed her as very skilled, but the notes about her personally mostly read "she's a bitch." This intrigued Cerda, who quickly found out what the other mages meant was that Evelyn does her job but doesnt hesitate to point out when her charges are being dumb. Which they found bitchy and they arent expected to treat scouts with the same respect they are afforded.

[helvenandgrey]

Been watching videos of dance styles from the regency era and early Victorian era since they influance Evelyn and Cerdas stories quite a bit.

Evelyn loves dancing Quadrilles because they make her feel like a prancing pony who gets to show off how high she can jump along with her pointed toe footwork. She giggles the whole while because she finds it fun.

Cerda is more partial to waltzes because they feel more intimate and allow her to talk to her partner. It also allows a bit more socially approved touching and is a much more relaxed a style.

Both of them agree that reels are fun though and they like the feeling of hopping/prancing about a ballroom in a figure 8 with a group of friends.

[helvenandgrey]

Evelyn is near-sighted but pretends she isn't purely because she got tired of constantly cleaning her glasses or trying to figure out how to keep them on her head while she did scouting missions. Her ability to feel out magical energies became her strongest one to make up for this and help in the ruse. From time to time she will put her glasses on, but they're usually a prescription behind and have been sitting in her leg pouch for at least a week since their last use.

Cerda is far sighted and most usually cant tell until they give her something to read, only to hear "gimme a sec" and see her pull out some half moon readers. She isnt secretive about her sight, and is far more likely to mention it than Evie is, she just doesnt need her readers until she has to read. She also decorated them, and most people see the bejeweled neck holder connected to them but think it's a rosarie or necklace. But no, they just hold her glasses to her neck so she doesnt lose them and they look pretty.

[helvenandgrey]

I have recently added Evelyn to this blog and am going to be adding this headcanon ability for her now. So far it has been included in a written scene hence why it's being added:

Due to their ability to sense magic and their training in communing with magic in other creatures and beings, Strega also have the ability to take in another's magic/a magical signature along with a physical response chosen by the owner of the magic. The response can be anything from a mild headache, a loud sound in the ears, to even an electrical shock in an appendage. This response is used whenever the original owner of the magical signature needs the attention of the Strega, where they send out a bit of magic to turn the response on.

This is usually used as a distress signal, a way for another magic user to signal to the Strega that they need help (though it can be used for other things). No matter the frequency though it has been known to take a toll on the Strega's body. Usually after aiding a distressed mage a Strega will need to sleep off the after effects of their body. If a Strega needs to be switched to a different mage they can return the magical signature to the original holder.

This is the reason Strega-Scouts are deemed slightly more important that your average scout (though they are still considered disposable) and are often appointed to mages as personal body guards.

Evelyn has been appointed to 3 seperate mages since she became a scout at age 20. She was recently moved to Cerda Risa due to Cerda's previous scout needing to retire to care for their family. Since she would be going on an expedition and Evelyn's previous mage had been called back to in-guild study they appointed Evelyn as her protector. They have been working together for about two years. Cerda's signal is a small electrical shock at the base of Evelyn's spine.

[helvenandgrey]

While the dash discusses the Cereals (oh the joys of having a d&d mostly historical-based blog where my muses don’t know what cereal is. Though Modern!Mili votes that it is sugar soup) I am busy adding more muses because I am WEAK WILLED AND WEAK AGAINST PRETTY LADIES WHO COULD KICK MY ASS.

These ladies aren’t from a D&D campaign but a book I am in the process of worldbuilding. If anyone wants to check out their world anvil thus far let me know. The basics though:

The world is steeped in magic but there are at least 2 different methods of utilizing it: The Old Ways where one is in co-habitence and a relationship with magic and the Mages way where one can absorb magic and re-direct it. As far as technology goes, the world has been marching forward where Magic is used primarily for fighting and healing, the Old Ways are being forgotten except by a select few, guns have been on the battlefield for a while, and trains are steadily replacing horse-drawn shipments as well as horse-drawn travel. During this era of technology the Empire of Terennan has been studying old tombs and architecture found deep beneath the surface and left over from the Ancient days of the Remulessan Empire. In their exploration they have accidently activated ancient precursor gates which open to worlds beyond their own. The catch: They cannot go through most of the gates but a few, but anything in those worlds can now enter theirs.

Those who follow the Old Ways are considered “unfashionable” in the eyes of most, especially the country of Remulus, once seat of the Remulessan Empire. In this country they are called the “Stregheria” or those who practice Witchcraft and thus need to add Stregheria to the ends of their names, marking them and also disinheriting them from any family inheritance. In recent times though, their practices have had a hidden value come to light.

Since Strega do not absorb magic as their counterparts, Mages, do and instead commune with it, they can sense where magic is and if there are powerful magical artifacts or people nearby. This makes them invaluable to the scout troops in finding the Remulessan Precursors, but also makes Strega Scouts important to protect Mages as they can form bonds and sense when their mage-charges are in trouble. Due to scouts being so widespread, this is only a tiny bump in importance and recognition. Scouts are still viewed as disposable and the Strega as unimportant unless they are willing to lay down their lives to become scouts or warriors in service to the Terennan Empire.

These two characters are:

Cerda Risa (FC Ashley Moore), a powerful Elvan healing mage from the country of Moura who is being sent with expedition teams as a medic and to help with study and organization when her duties are not all-consuming. She is a bright, happy figure brimming with curiosity and who is eager to help all she can, though it sometimes leads her into trouble. She was born to the Capital City of Moura before her talents were magic were discovered and graduated top of her class, she has since been back and forth between the battlefields medic tents and helping with diseases back home. It was only recently she has been sent out to join the expeditions in search of Precursors and ways to close them.

Evelyn Perenus-Stregheria, a human scout from the country of Remulus, once seat of the Remulessan Empire though that is no more, and a Strega who practices The Old Ways of magic. Evelyn is Cerda’s scout and protector in particular, expected to lay down her life should anything happen and to do anything necessary and in her power to ensure Cerda remains safe. Despite the two arguing time to time about their beliefs and magick practices they do get along, though Evie has a tendency to be snarky and sarcastic in the face of danger, often coming across as flippant in a disguise of her true fears. She doesn’t put nearly as much value on her own life as she does her charges, but that’s part of what makes her a good scout. Past this she is strong willed and sassy by default, though how much of it is a coping mechanism to protect what little pride and ego she possesses due to her social standing or genuine pride is unknown.