| Knightshadow
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| Player: @Sinister_Blayde
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| Biographical Data
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| Real Name:
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Jessica Knightly
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| Known Aliases:
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Jess, Jessy, Jay
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| Gender:
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Female
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| Species:
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Human
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| Ethnicity:
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English/Scottish
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| Place of Birth:
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Salem, MA
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| Base of Operations:
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Vibora Bay, FL
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| Relatives:
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Tessa Knightly (grandmother; deceased), Evangeline Knightly (mother; deceased), Julian Vondran (father), Alister Vondran (brother)
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| Characteristics
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| Age:
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27
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| Height:
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5'10”
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| Weight:
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120 lbs.
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| Eyes:
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Brown
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| Hair:
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Brown
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| Complexion:
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Fair skin
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| Physical Build:
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Slight but athletic.
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| Physical Features:
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Jessica has a birthmark on her left shoulder blade
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| Status
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| Fame:
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| ██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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Local
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| Alignment:
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| LG
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LN
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LE
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| NG
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TN
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NE
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| CG
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CN
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CE
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| Identity:
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Secret
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| Years Active:
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5
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| Citizenship:
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United States citizen.
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| Occupation:
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Librarian
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| Education:
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Millennium City University
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| Marital Status:
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Single
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| Known Powers and Abilities
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- Witchcraft
- Shadow Magic
- Psychokinesis
- Awareness
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| Equipment and Paraphernalia
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| Physical Attributes
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Strength
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Weapon
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Durability
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Armor
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Speed
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Reflexes
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Resistance
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Stamina
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Dexterity
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Agility
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Combat
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Regen
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| Non-Physical Attributes
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Energy
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Psionics
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Telepathy
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Willpower
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Sorcery
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Tech.
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Intel.
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Knowledge
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Charisma
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Bravery
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| MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada
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Background and Origin
Family History
Jessica Knightly is descended from a long line of witches. Noteable ancestors include Jessica Roth, who was born on October 31st, 1668, and was a very powerful witch. She was the first witch of the Roth/Knightly line in the America's. Jessica later married Matthew Sewell and gave birth to a daughter named Ruth. In the year 1692, during the infamous Salem witch trials, she was accused of witchcraft and condemned to be burned at the stake. She didn't use her powers to escape, as it would have confirmed her as a witch and put her daughter's life in jeopardy. More recent products of this line of witches include Tessa Knightly, Knightshadow’s maternal grandmother. Tessa was herself a powerful witch and a one time member of the Trismegistus Council. At the behest of the council Tessa began a group of witches known as the “Coven of Shadows.” The coven served for years to protect the innocent, mostly from supernatural and otherworldly evils. Like the council, they were enemies of DEMON and the circle of the scarlet moon.
After a time Tessa gave birth to a daughter whom she named Evangeline. As time passed and Tessa grew older she scaled back her involvement in the coven and as Evangeline’s powers grew she joined the coven and over time took over as the group’s leader. Eventually Tessa retired from the active membership in the group, knowing that Evangeline would carry on the fight in her stead. Taking her cue from many of the super powered heroes of her time Evangeline fashions a costume to help hide her identity and adopts the name Knighshadow.
The coven continued to serve as protectors of the innocent under Evangeline’s able leadership. After a time Evangeline met a man named Julian Vondran, Julian was an accomplished scholar and practitioner of magic himself. The two fell in love and eventually were married. Eventually the two were married and Evangeline became pregnant and gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The girl was named Jessica and the boy was named Alister.
Julian Vondran alerts the coven of a plot to free the demonic deity named Nihepael, an entity from a realm between dimensions called the realm of shadows or often just Limbo. However, while it was true that DEMON was plotting to free the entity, it was also the case that Julian was in fact working with DEMON to achieve this goal. Further more Julian and DEMON wanted to invoke a spell to control this entity. This required them to invoke a powerful spell that required the sacrifice of good witches. The truth of the matter was even worse than both the coven and DEMON could have imagined. Julian was in fact the ancient half mortal offspring of Nihepael and was merely using both groups to achieve his goal of releasing his father’s power and then stealing that power for himself. Julian had no intention for the members of either group to survive the episode.
The sorcerers for DEMON managed to break the initial seals containing Nihepael, but the Coven managed to thwart their efforts to trap them and use them as a sacrifice to break the final seal. After that Julian’s real identity and plans became apparent. The coven and some members of DEMON joined forces against Julian and managed to restore the seals on Nihepael’s prison before he was released into this world. Unfortunately the nature of the spell required to restore the seal called for the caster’s to commit the supreme sacrifice, so the members of the coven who were there all died. In order to try and prevent any future release of the demon, Evangeline added a special seal to the prison that must be removed before any other attempt to open the gate. This seal can only be removed by her or any female descendent of hers.
Notes:
Coven of Shadows - while the name sounds sinister, it merely refers to the fact that the witches operated in strict secrecy. This was due to the fact that many evil groups and entities might seek retribution on them or their loved ones if their identities were publicly known.
Witches – I should be noted that much of the witches abilities to utilize magic are innate and passed from generation to generation, but typically only to female members of the family. On rare occasions a male child is born with such abilities (a warlock.)
Julian Vondran – His true name is Anasha. He is the half mortal offspring of Nihepael. He posed as Julian Vondran for years, and eventually gained the trust and love of Evangeline Knightly. It is a matter of some speculation as to just how he managed to do this since, as a witch, Evangeline had the innate ability to detect evil intentions. It is speculated that he either employed powerful magic to disguise himself or perhaps he had renounced his evil ways at the time and only later was corrupted by his demonic nature and thus decided to betray the coven. Either way it seems clear that Evangeline’s strong emotions toward Julian led to a lapse in judgment on her part as well. It should be noted that Julian's fate is uncertain thus he may still be alive plotting further evil.
Personal History
After the death of her daughter Tessa Knightly took her two grandchildren and moved them to her estate in Vibora Bay. At the time the children were quite young and thus would have little or no memory of their father anyway, but Tessa felt it best that they not learn the truth about his true nature and the things he had done. She changed their last names from Vondran to Knightly and decided should either child ask about him, she would simply say he was dead and provide as little detail as possible, even though she couldn’t say with any certainty that he was in fact dead.
Tessa made the decision that she would begin Jessica’s magical training early. Not so much with the thought of rebuilding the coven so much as out of the fear that the enemies destroyed the coven might come looking for the children and since she was getting up in years she would not always be there to protect them. So after beginning Jessica’s magical training Tessa made the discovery, both to her delight and also slightly concerning, that her brother Victor also possessed magical gifts. So Tessa began training both children. The children were very bright and there skills grew rapidly. The training regime was difficult and they often resented the fact that they would be working while other children would be playing. However, Tessa loved the children and expressed this love freely and managed to impress on them the importance of the training as well as make it as enjoyable as possible.
When Jessica was nineteen years old Tessa died of a heart attack. On their own for the first time both Jessica and Victor had to decide on their future direction. Both kids were anxious to experience the outside world, so both of them left home. Jessica left home to attend college, where she studied archeology. Initially the two siblings kept in contact with one another, but over time Victor’s communication with his sister became more and more infrequent and eventually she lost contact with him altogether. Despite her attempt to locate him, Victor had disappeared. Jessica continues to search for him to this day with no success.
It was while in school, at Millennium City University, that Jessica encountered her first supernatural criminal. A grad student by the name of Gregory Danziger had acquired a cursed magical object. The object was an ancient Assyrian coin with a rams head on it. It had the power to kill or raise the dead. There were a series of unexplainable deaths on campus that local police dismissed as either accidents or suicides. But, Jessica’s finely honed magical intuition told her it was all supernatural in origin so she began her own investigation. As it turned out mister Danziger was the leader of a cult, worshipping ancient Assyrian god Zaltu. Their plan was to use the coin of fate to raise their ancient high priest from the dead. Jessica managed to track the cult to their sanctum, where they were preparing to take another innocent life in order to collect enough life force to raise their high preist. Jessica used her magical abilities to steal the coin and free the cult’s victim. For having failed in his task to provide another innocent life the coin turned on Danziger, as cursed objects often do, and killed mister Danziger after that his followers scattered.
After finishing school Jessica returned home and while going through items stored in the attic she learned about her mother’s life as a costumed hero. In an old journal she read how it was her mother’s wish that Jessica would follow in her footsteps by assuming the mantle of Knightshadow and using her powers to help protect the innocent. Jessica moved to Millenium City and took a job at the museum there as assistant curator. She also began her work as the second Knightshadow.
Initially Knightshadow operated in relative anonymity. Her exploits, for the most part, took place under the radar of most police and government agencies. This all changed during the Qularr invasion of Millennium City. Knightshadow helped defend the city from the Qularr attack, like many other heroes at the time, and also developed several strong contacts in both the Millennium City Police Department and Primus. This is also where Knightshadow met Witchcraft of the Champions super group. This of course led to Knightshadow becoming known to the UNTIL agency.
Notes: Recently Jessica has located her brother. She has discovered that he has changed his last name from Knightly to Vondran and is working with DEMON. In fact Alister is a member of that group's inner circle. She has yet to determine how or why this happened.
Powers, Skills, and Attributes
Powers
Witchcraft - Knightshadow has the innate ability to detect magical energy and to manipulate it. It is this ability that runs in her family (but only on the female side.) Jessica has received extensive training in the art of witchcraft and potion making. Knightshadow has a great deal of knowledge regarding healing magic.
Shadow Magic - Knightshadow has a natural ability to summon forth and manipulate energy from the shadow realm*. It has been established that most mortal beings exposed to the darkness from this realm, without some form of magical protection, will often experience numbing cold, crippling fear, and sometimes see disturbing visions. Long time exposure to the darkness can drive people insane. However, for some unknown reason Jessica seems unaffected by this energy. She can teleport through the realm, without any special preparation, with no apparent ill effects. It is quite possible that the same mystical connection that give her an affinity to the energy, protects her from it. It remains to be seen is there is any long term effects from exposure to the energy. She is able to summon this shadow magic and manipulate it for an number of effects:
- Shadow Blast: A blast of pure shadow, that can harm targets physically as well as psychically, causing fear.
- Void Shift: Knightshadow can enter the shadow realm momentarily to teleport up to 60 meters. This short trip through the shadow realm does not seem to have any negative effects on her.
- Grasping Shadows: She can summon shadow beings to ensnare her foes, these shadows can assail their victims psychically as well as physically, causing intense fear.
- Terrors Of The Dark: Knightshadow can use the shadows to assail her target psychically, causing fear.
- Ebon Void: Knighshadow can create a shield of pure shadow, which absorbs damage from attacks.
- Shadow Flight: A pair of wings form from pure shadow, allowing her to fly.
Psychokinesis - Knightshadow has limited telekinetic ability. She is not particularly powerful but, she has a great deal of control.
Awareness - Knighshadow is keenly aware of the world around her. She can sense magical energy, the intentions of those around her (good or evil), as well as sense the aura of those around her. This ability is limited to her immediate vicinity, except during her meditation when her range increases to an as yet unknown range through astral projection.
Perfect Health - Despite being born a rather frail and pale looking child Knightshadow has never been ill a day in her life, which is in itself quite remarkable. It is unknown if this fact is in anyway related to her supernatural abilities.
Other - Knightshadow's blood has supernatural qualities, which have mostly been unexplored to date. All that is known is that these mystical properties give her a natural affinity for magical energies from the “shadow” realm.
* Shadow Realm - Is an alternate plane existence made up of toxic darkness and power, it is the hidden place that hates the light. Sometimes referred to as “limbo”, but this is not an accurate description. It should be noted that most beings that attempt to cross into this realm without protection are likely to suffer psychological harm. The most powerful protection from the effects of the Shadow Realm come from celestial magic, especially magic based on celestial (holy) light.
Skills
Expert Occultist/Expert Magical Knowledge - During her ongoing studies, Jessica has gained an extensive knowledge on the occult and magic.
Ancient Languages and Antiquities - Jessica has extensive knowledge regarding antiquities. She is knowledgeable in several ancient languages.
Martial Art - Jessica is a proficient hand to hand combatant.
Attributes
Gear and Equipment
Gear
Weapon - Knightshadow typically carries a knife in a sheath, that is strapped to her hip.
Costume - Knightshadows costume is made from a light weight ballistic fabric, that provides her a limited amount of protection without sacrificing her speed and agility.
Relationships
Friends/Allies
Melpomene - Melpomene is a familiar spirit. Her main task is to assist Knightshadow in her practice of magic and provide magical protection for her. Melpomene typically assumes the form of a black cat, although on rare occasions has assumed a human form.
Maxwell Tibbs - Maxwell is a family friend and manages Jessica Knightly's Vibora Bay Estate.
Enemies
General Perception
Jessica Knightly is an attractive twenty-something. Her appearance is almost always professional, or at least clean and well groomed. She is mostly quiet and soft spoken, but by no means shy. When she has something to say she says it unapologetically. This doesn't mean she is unfriendly or undiplomatic. She is ever polite and tactful.
Aura: For persons with such abilities, her aura is a strong and magical. While the aura denotes a person of great inner strength and moral goodness, it is tinged with a hint of great great evil. It is hard to tell if this evil is encroaching from within or without.
