((Pictures and details to be added. WIP))
Name: Aurora Parker
Age: 29
Sex: Female
Species: Witch
Clarification: Pseudo-medium type character, able to commune with spirits and at times is capable of being used as a bridge for crossing spirits.
Origin: Aspen, Colorado
Occupation: University student; Marine Biology
Status: Single
Familiar: Dia the Calico Cat
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Aura: Practically non-existent unless you are in close proximity for a long time. For non-sups they will begin to feel a general unease, like something or someone is watching them. For witches they will feel like they are being touched by something that they cannot see and a sense of foreboding often follows. (All of this is optional for players to react to)
Bonus: For witches attuned to their magic upon touching Aurora - After the initial 'oh you're a witch too' feeling they get, some may experience a whisper, a voice or voices calling out to them. The voices can be of the interacting witch's ancestors or lost loved ones trying to reach out. Or they can be completely ominous as if a spirit has found someone to latch on to. Up to the player to decide if this phenom occurs.
Backstory - Birth and Youth
Aurora is named as she is for two reasons. The one she was told at birth and the one believed by most humans she grew up around was rather simple. Aurora Borealis, a beautiful and naturally occurring sight. It was a simple enough reason for her parents to name her in such a way and for a long time she believed it. I mean who questions their parents on their choice of naming? The true reason behind her name is far more fantastical. Everyone knows Sleeping Beauty and until recently not many knew the actual name of sleeping beauty. Princess Aurora, the girl cursed to sleep forever after coming of age. For this Aurora the situation was reversed though.
Aurora comes from a long standing line of witches, well hidden in plain sight. They've never had to run or hide because they have always kept it quiet. When Aurora's mother became pregnant with her she was ecstatic, having not believed she could conceive after the numerous taxing rituals she'd preformed throughout her lifetime as a witch in a rather demanding coven. The pregnancy more or less went well, no real complications throughout until the day of birth. Her mother's labor was awful, painful and terrifying and many times she feared she would lose her daughter. When the child was finally pulled from her mother there were no cries, no screams, just silence. At first it was thought she was stillborn and nurses were quick to hurry the babe off to check vitals. A heartbeat was present, the child was simply unresponsive to any external stimuli. She was kept under observation for weeks. Feeding was forced through machines and still not a cry came from the child. Aurora was kept on this sort of life support system for a few months.
It was believed that she would grow in this manner indefinitely, not ever showing any real signs of life aside from breathing softly. When the doctor's pronounced the child as perfectly healthy and stable her parents were allowed to take her home and care for her under specific instructions for feeding. Her mother, being the hard headed witch that she was, was determined to fix her daughter, not believing that this was her fate. She spoke with her coven, communed with spirits through a medium and rituals and begged for answers. She begged for a solution and was about willing to sign a deal with any demon that may happen on her doorstep if it meant having her daughter. No demons came, the spirits were silent and her coven was at a loss.
On a late night, one without a touch of light in the sky despite it being a full moon, a noise came from outside their door. Scratching, clawing and then what sounded like the rubbing of fur against wood. Opening the door revealed a small cat, a calico to be exact. Calicos were believed to be lucky in many Asian countries and with not much else to believe in her mother took the cat in, feeding it and returning to her previous spot sitting across from Aurora's crib. It was on this night that Aurora made her first noise and movement. When this cat jumped into her crib and curled around her head the little girl cooed softly before rolling into the feline touch. It was at this point that her familiar arrived, knowing of the child's lineage and need for her, she would be Aurora's awakening.
After multiple doctor's visits with a very awake and very lively Aurora she was deemed, again, perfectly fine. She would grow and age as any witch would, her parents keeping her lineage quiet until she was old enough to understand that it needed to be kept a secret for her safety. Always at her side though was Dia, the calico that breathed life into her, her forever faithful familiar.
Backstory - Adolescence and Adulthood
Aurora grew as any child did, becoming a teenager seemingly faster than her parents could blink. School was a favorite of hers, a place where she could meet and make new friends, always the social butterfly. The only downside of going to school was the lack of her faithful cat by her side but Dia was always waiting by the door when she returned home. Her love for her cat seemed to expand for a love of all animals, becoming obsessed with learning all about them in every aspect. She was an animal lover through and through.
It wasn't until she turned 17 that things started happening. Things she couldn't explain. The nightmares that seemed to happen every night and always felt real. The voices that seemed to whisper to her when she was alone. The way animals would just follow her around and she could swear she knew what they were thinking. She was afraid to tell her parents, they already seemed on edge as it was, for what reason she had no idea. It took one night where those nightmares gnawed away at her, waking her in a cold sweat only for her to open her eyes and see the exact creature from her dreams standing before her, for her to finally confide in her parents.
She was taken to her parents' coven and there she learned. She learned what she was and what it meant. She learned what she could study and what she should never touch. Being brought into the coven at such an age it was expected that she would not be very powerful until she was well practiced with years of experience. However she was quick to prove them all wrong, learning quickly and mastering what they were willing to teach her. Despite her parents asking her to confide in the coven about her dreams and visions she refused, insisting that they had passed and she'd only been frightened by her developing magic.
That was of course a lie and she'd act on her own, searching for anything that even slightly resembled what she was experiencing. She found that they weren't just images created by her mind but rather spirits, those in torment and tremendous pain who were somehow drawn to her. It wasn't until she was in her early twenties that she'd find another like herself. The woman explained that it wasn't quite the same as being a medium as mediums could only commune with the spirits. Aurora was different, having lived the first portion of her life in a sort of in-between state she had essentially become a bridge, a way for these spirits to move on into whatever afterlife awaited them. So Aurora would visit this woman often, learning from her and beginning to understand how she could assist these spirits.
She would eventually regret this decision. The more she practiced this more or less lost art the more spirits became drawn to her. If she were to ignore them or not complete their request quickly enough they would lash out. One such episode led to a spirit actually possessing her and forcing her to kill her own parents. Aurora was awake and able to see it all unfold but she was unable to stop the spirit's controlling of her body. It took her mentor, the one like her, exorcising her for her to return to her normal self. It was only then that her mentor explained that it wasn't just spirits but also demons that could use their gifts if they were not careful. She was traumatized after what happened, moving in with her mentor and learning the necessary wards and charms to protect herself from another 'body snatching'.
It was too late though, the demon had done its damage, leaving a sort of taint to her being. She constantly felt unclean and eventually packed up her things and left Colorado taking the Grimoire gifted to her by her mentor, hoping to start fresh. She'd travel west and make a new life, start from scratch and hide what she was, using the wards and charms she'd been taught to keep another episode from happening. Despite her efforts she can still hear voices at times, desperate cries and pleas for her to help them. The really desperate ones actually appear to her still until she caves and eventually sends them. At this point though, any magic she performs relating to spirits is done for personal gain, to ultimately be rid of them.
The Grimoire
The book, gifted by her mentor in hopes that it may hold all the answers to whatever may come for her while not under her protection. It is more or less a non-de script, large, leather bound tome with worn and faded pages, the markings only visible to her kind. Despite the worn appearance of its exterior and the pages inside, the writing remains clear and precise. Easily legible and of course in Latin. The language was yet another thing taught by her mentor so deciphering the words on the pages is second nature to her.
The foremost section of the book includes protective spells and wards, those learned and proven by the witch prior to aid in the lessening of their specific and shared gift. Following just after that are specific stones, herbs and remedies that would prove useful in combating the more sinister of spirits.
The middle section of the book holds the defensive and offensive spells commonly learned by most witches and to be used only when absolutely necessary. Rituals are included in this section for masking that which one does not wish to be seen.
The last section of the book, currently, is primarily blank. The entries here are in Aurora's own hand writing, the words still in Latin. However the context of what is written here is far from what would be seen prior. This section is where Aurora keeps and collects all those spells, enchantments, wards and rituals relating to demons. How to summon them, how to banish them, how to bind them. Mythos regarding the most common types of demons and things to look for when encountering one. The writing while clear would appear angry and almost obsessive.
((More to come still! Will edit and update when I have a moment to write the rest out!))