Surova Grimwish
Contents
Appearance
Surova is a muscular humanoid female, standing 6'5" with short white hair and green eyes. Her skin is a light grey color and she has a long, smooth tail, clawed fingers and toes and black horns. She wears a variety of outfits while adventuring, most formed out of woven shadows or taken from her collection of armor.
Background
Surova was born lucky. Amongst the many lower tier Darklings she was born with, she happened to become a Tier 2 Garinkov. This, along with the fact that she doesn't know her parents names, suggests her parents were probably low ranking amongst the hosts living in Volinstadt. Instead of being doomed to a life of menial labor like most of her brothers and sisters she was taken to the Academy of Martial Training to learn about combat, as most Garinkovs are. Despite recieving low scores due to alternating bouts of overzealousness and loafing in the Academy, she graduated and was released into the service of one Lady Annilinka Delskot as a guardswoman. Though not particularly useful, her unusual Heartsflame, immense strength and excellent resilience showed great promise. This is when things got a little rough for Surova.
Surova proved to be an awful guardswoman. Incredibly strong and with a powerful Heartsflame, she became quite reckless. She often proved more dangerous to what she was guarding than any thief or vandal could be, causing untold amounts of property damage. While in pursuit of thieves or threats to Lady Annilinka's property, she often tore wide paths of destruction. She was quickly becoming a headache for her boss. Though Annilinka was quite fond of Surova, she simply could not keep up with the constant fines she had to pay for her rampages or deal with the shame it caused her. She had to get rid of her, but she didn't want to hurt the overzealous woman's feelings and she couldn't terminate her services until the Academy found a new employer for her, a process that could take decades. This led her to a desperate solution.
Annalinka took advantage of a dimensional anomaly. She told Surova that a thief had made off with her favorite piece of jewelry through the rift and sent her after him. When she went through she ended up on Earth and to her horror found she was stranded. With nothing to do and on tasting independence for the first time, she decided to become a supervillain while she looked for the "missing" jewelry. This allowed her to feed her appetite for destruction and gave her access to wealth she had never dreamt of having. For at time, she enjoyed this lifestyle, but eventually she realized it wasn't for her. She didn't like hurting innocent people intentionally. Though originally suffering misplaced anger towards humans, she was growing to like them and felt she would enjoy herself more as a hero.
After paying her debt to society and donating most of her ill gotten goods that remained to charity, she did a complete 180 turn to become a superhero to pass the time until her boss finds a way to bring her back to the Forever Night. This turn has been met mostly with skepticism, but she has won grudging respect with her deeds. Her power cannot be questioned and it's always better to have such a force on one's side than as an enemy.
Personality
Surova is friendly and can be surprisingly gentle. Many that have met her have trouble believing she was a supervillain for any length of time. Some people think she isn't too bright, but that's not the case. Surova often doesn't think things through and her ignorance of complex human culture and trouble with human language doesn't do her any favors. In battle, Surova is reckless, slashing down foes and spitting flames everywhere in hopes of a quick victory. She is capable of tactics, but doesn't often use them.
She is relatively resistant to the Gloom, a deep depression that many Darklings feel every few months, but she has suffered it in bouts. Her mood during the Gloom completely changes, making her irritable and melancholy. Compounding the Gloom is the fact that she is constantly bothered by people mistaking her for a demon. With the recent trouble with various kinds of demons seeping into Millennium City, this issue has gotten even worse.
Even though Surova wants to go home, she refuses to let someone else try to send her. She insists on waiting for Annilinka or one of her subjects personally so she can explain that she lost the "thief" that stole her precious jewelry.
Powers and Abilities
-Super Strength and Durability: Surova is much stronger than an average human. Her strength allows her to lift close to ten tons and propel herself through the air with mighty leaps. Her skin is stronger than a normal humans as well, like hardened leather.
-Regeneration: Surova is unnaturally resilient to harm, able to recover from most mundane injuries almost instantly and is nearly completely immune to most natural toxins, diseases and irritants. This makes her incredibly hard to kill.
-Shadow Magic: Darklings all have some inborn ability to use shadow magic. Surova is able to step between points in reality, allowing her to transport herself and any item or person she is touching short distances as well as allowing her to summon her various weapons. She also has the ability to summon wards that sap strength, detect threats or consume magic.
-Heartsflame: Surova has the ability to project flames from her body thanks to her strong Heartsflame. The Heartsflame is a sliver of everburning fire that rests in the heart of all darklings to give them life. Normally it does little more than this, but some Darklings are able to harness it to project fire. For Surova this ability manifests as the ability to spit bolts of flame, breath a cone of fire or create sudden intense heat in an area or cause it to radiate from her body.
-Weaponry: Her time at the Academy for Martial Training has made Surova a deadly opponent with most melee weapons. She prefers big swords, axes or pole-arms to take advantage of her strength.
-Lesser Magical Aptitude: Surova also has an innate understanding of magic, especially dark magic, due to being a Darkling. She has no skill for magic however, beyond creating simple wards and has no desire to try.
Weaknesses
-Mortal Body: Despite having incredibly high levels of regeneration, Surova's body doesn't exactly shrug off attacks. If she's damaged enough she can lose control of her body and become unable to move or fight until everything grows back.
-Extradimensional: Mages experienced in shadow and summoning magic may be able to bend Surova to their will as Darklings below tier 3 have relatively little defense against such magic. She is also susceptible to being banished back to her native realm.
-Darkling Prejudice: Darklings are considered very poorly by many other extradimensionals, even the higher ranked ones. Demons tend to think of them as idiot cousins, celestials as animals and others as either tools or pets. On Earth, Surova is thought of as a demon because of her appearance.
-Gloom: A kind of racial depression. The Gloom affects all Darklings a little differently and though Surova is resistant, she is definitely not immune. She takes a specific herbal medicine for it that she has to have imported from the Forever Night and is very expensive.
Equipment
Surova has amassed a collection of various magical trinkets and pieces of armor and weaponry while adventuring that she keeps in cluttered piles in her small apartment. She uses these various items in combat, but she is often forced to sell them to make a living. Her role as a superhero luckily allows her to explore many places normal people can't get into so she is in little danger of going hungry, but she doesn't truly have much wealth due to her reluctance to part with too much of her treasure at a time.
Specific Weaponry
-Wingcutter: A massive two handed, double edged blade with an overly long handle, almost making the weapon into a pole-arm. Wingcutter was bathed in the blood of angels when it was forged and carries a slight demonic aura.
-Reaver's Right Hand: A two handed, single edged sword with a slightly curved blade. It supposedly belonged to a giant at one time, part of a set of blades he was never without.
-Thunderbird: A two handed mace shaped to look like an eagle's head. Thunderbird was one of the first weapons that Surova purchased herself. It was supposedly made by avian dimensional travelers.
-Melancholy Lance: A combat lance with a shortened shaft, long handle and a sharpened point. It is shaped to look like a sorrowful demon's head at the hand guard (vamplate). It is one of Surova's few Darkling weapons.
-Watchman: Surova's halberd. She's had this weapon for a long time. It's a relatively simple, but incredibly sturdy weapon given to her when she graduated from the academy.
Important NPCs
-Lily Barnes: Surova's 'good friend' and current lover. Lily is a precognitive florist that she saved from Viper early in her hero career. She is very friendly and much more outspoken about their relationship. She tends to be bossy. She and Surova currently live together and she doesn't allow Surova to have her weapons or armor in the apartment.
Friends, Allies and Aquantainces
-Ice-Heart: A woman she's encountered several times. They share a background as ex-villains and were both involved with helping Tomonari deal with some trouble he was having with his magic.
-Thundrax: As a visitor to Malga's Meat-N-Greet, a restaurant that serves alien food, Surova has met Thundrax a few times. They were both present at Malga's Thanksgiving Feast as well.
-Malga and Warpblade: The proprietors of the best alien food place in the city! Surova is often at their place and has visited their home several times. She also helped Warpblade fight off Malga's crazed sister and save their children. Surova thinks their kids are adorable.
-Ilynia Audruetta: An extradimensional traveler that wound up in MC without much memory of her home. Though afraid of Surova at first, the two have grown to be close friends. Surova is very protective of her and often acts like a big sister, or worse, a mother to the young woman.
-Suicide King: Met a few times at the gym and dojo. They were part of a group that was trying to help out an inexperienced hero named Gustor get used to his powers. He calls her 'Cuddles.'
-Aelith: The angel and the Darkling don't often get along. Their first meeting almost came to blows as Surova noticed Aelith giving her dirty looks and reacted aggressively. Since then they have had a relationship bordering on friendship but old habits die hard and Surova often finds a way to offend her. She is also teaching Aelith how to fight without using her sentient sword and armor (a fantastic idea).
-Lightwave: Surova was part of the group that retrieved Lightwave's soul and helped restore her to life. They have talked a few times but are not exactly close.
-Astraea Ling: When Ilynia was injured Suorva worked with Astraea to try and find the culprits. She is also the one that suggested Surova train with Aelith. She often has to make sure the two don't start an all out brawl when they're together.
-Tomonari: Surova was on hand when Tomonari's powers were going out of control and worked with him to try and understand what was going on. She was also around to help him face his nemesis, a man obsessed with puzzles who's goal was to make heroes think for once, something Surova could learn to do more often.
-Mr. Indomitable: Her former boss. Mr. Indomitable was the head of the Aegis of Justice, which employed Surova as a superhero for a year or so. She enjoys his company and still has a good relationship with him after the team disbanded.
-C.O.P. and M.E.D.I.C.: Also met in the aftermath of Ilynia's mysterious assault. She is very grateful to them, MEDIC for helping Ilynia and COP for aiding them in searching for the culprits.
-Livepool: Another ally from the Aegis of Justice. Surova helped him deal with a media hopping villain and has paid for his lunch at Malga's when he was short on cash.
-Eldritch: Though at first distrustful of the man, Surova has accepted Eldritch as an ally. He was helping Ilynia with her magic and in return she gave the mage some lessons in close combat.
Nemeses
-Lady Superia- An alien from a distant galaxy, Superia's life has been almost the exact opposite of Surova's. Superia was a success in her career before coming to Earth and started as a hero before becoming bored and switching sides after growing weary of human weakness. Also unlike Surova, she has no real desire to return to her home. The two seem to cross paths almost by accident and they have come to share an unusual villain/hero relationship where neither is really that eager to fight the other any more. Both women will grudgingly admit that they have become something like friends during the time they have known each other.
-Dark Brawler- Dark Brawler is certainly not Surova's friend. The bratty, selfish young woman has become obsessed with defeating Surova and humiliating her ever since their first encounter. Brawler has come away the loser in most of their encounters so far, which infuriates her to no end. She greatly dislikes Lady Superia as well due to her somewhat friendly status with Surova and would not hesitate to attack her as well.
-Sir Radral- Another being from the Forever Night, a rank 3 Sulkovine. Sir Radral is part of the Knights of the Nightmare, a cabal of darklings and humans working together that want to bring back the old gods of primal shadow and plunge the Earth and the rest Prime Real dimension into permanent darkness. The ritual to bring him into the world and bind him to an influential Knight on Earth ended wrong, unleashing the darkling into the world. His time on Earth has affected him differently than it has Surova, making him wildly unpredictable and partially mad rather than stealing his strength. He is highly dangerous due to his wild nature and diminished mental state.
-Nightbreaker- Apparently, Nightbreaker is a woman that was injured during a fight between Sir Radral and Surova. The incident was quite scarring and she ended up dedicating herself to striking back against Surova. She doesn't seem to care about Surova's apologies or offers to help her, just with revenge. She mostly uses mundane weapons, but she has somehow gained increased durability, agillity and speed. Once imprisoned, she revealed that she doesn't know the man who gave her her powers, only that he was certainly not human.
-Righteous Avenger- A good churchgoing woman for most of her 60 years, Evette Good has always been offended by magic and demonic heroes. She thinks they need to leave and stop trying to corrupt the city with their wicked ways, often ranting and raving to anyone that would listen. Surova was unlucky enough to really draw her ire by living in her neighborhood and being very obvious about her non-human heritage. Surova's protests that she is not, in fact, a demon and that she is an active superhero seemed to fall on deaf ears. Despite her constant meddling and complaints to the local government to do something about the subject, it seemed that Evette was not going to be able to do anything about this menace to the city... until she met a kind stranger that gave her powers. This stranger not only allowed her to channel celestial power to smite the unclean, but also gave her her youth back. Now, she's a menace instead of a harmless nuisance; and Surova isn't her only target. She's after all the unclean in the city.
Trivia
-Surova loves sitcoms. Especially old ones in black and white. She has a loud cackly laugh.
-Religion has made Surova nervous ever since a nutty priest ambushed her on the street and shoved a cross in her face while screaming about Hell. She tries to avoid talking about issues of religion and has become nervous about people wearing crosses.
-Surova is a terrible packrat. Amongst all her piles of real treasure is a lot of useless junk like bits of colored glass and pieces of metal and beads. Lily is often horrified at the state of her apartment.
RP Hooks
-Surova had a short supervillain career that she paid for with a prison sentence and loss of all her ill gotten goods. It's possible other former (or active) villains would recognize her if they'd met or seen her over twenty years ago. She hasn't changed a bit physically.
-Are you someone that reclaims dangerous magic artifacts? Surova does this for a living! It's possible you've hired her or met her.
-There was a mostly ineffective campaign to kick Surova out of her apartment because she was a 'demon' a few years ago. You might have heard the ruckus if you lived in or around the city center apartments near the Westside ramp.
Thoughts on Surova
-Just what do people think about Surova anyway?-
"She is quite simple well grounded and down to earth despite being something quite exotic. Stalwart and fierce when the need calls for it. I can think of few better if any for someone to cover one's back." -- Ice-Heart
"She is a warrior like I and not from around here. I do not think I'd like much where she came from. But, I know what it is like to be far from home." -- Voreen
"Surova is good dear friend. I hope she is safe when dealing with bad things. Maybe one day I can repay her for everything she has done for me." -- Ilynia Audruetta
"At first I thought she was kind of scary. But she's really a nice person once you get to know her." -- M.E.D.I.C.
"She's weally nice! I love her! She seems like someone who would be a good fwiend to know! She also likes cookies!" -- Chocolate Chip Chelsea
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| Heroes: American Witch • Doll • General Freedom • Nightfang • Surova Grimwish Dobergirl • Violet Mask • Mercy • Lorekeeper • Impsblood • Midas • Greymist Wanderer Zee the Zombie • Ada Clover • Whitecloak • Ember • Tartolmec • Ultima King • Crash Fist • Bom-Pom • Aqualung | ||
| Villains: MetaCorp • Death Watch Beetle • Mindleech • Magpie Family • Other Villains • Cerulean Steel | ||
| Places & Things: PsyKiss • The Bracen Institute • The Forever Night | ||
| Groups: New Vigil (Leader) • Protectors of the World (Member) • Frontiersmen (Member) • Gen Prime (Leader) | ||
