Abigail Hawthorne
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-- Excerpt from Abigail Hawthorne's book Aodanr's Compassion
Abigail Hawthorne is the High Priestess of Aodanr: the divine of burning passion. She is well trained in the arts of war, and powerful magic, but more importantly, she is expert with wit and words.
Table of ContentsBackstoryAbigail Hawthorne has lived a long and interesting life. The elder sister to Cordelia Hawthorne, she resented having to effectively raise her when her parents passed away. Desperate for a way out of their lot in life, they both turned to dark magic, forming a small coven. However after a brush with death, and being saved by a kindly paladin of Aodanr, Abigail found a new calling as Aodanr's most zealous enforcer, taking the first excuse to cut ties with her sister for quite some time.
She went to war in Aodanr's name as a powerful war mage, famous for being as good with a blade as she was with wielding holy magics. However, she suffered a crisis of faith on crusade, when she found other holy knights of Aodanr perform unforgivable acts in the divine's name. As bold and fiery as ever she stood against her fellow priests and the atrocities they tried to commit, fighting against her once allies. But even as she fought Aodanr's chosen, her holy fire didn't go out.
As the church of Aodanr pursued ritualistic punishment for Abigail and her actions against her fellow holy knights, her disillusionment only grew. They cited dogma and doctrine as to why their unspeakable acts were Aodanr's will, and avoiding addressing the fact their god didn't abandon Abigail as she turned the divine's holy fire on those 'performing his will.'
She was sentenced to never raise a weapon again, but it didn't bother Abigail anymore. She was no longer a zealous cultist. Her burning temper was put to work, as she challenged the church at every turn. She made friends in low places, she made friends in high places. With a blazing passion to prevent further atrocities, she dedicated herself to learning the arts of diplomacy and social manipulation.
It took many years, but it finally bore fruit as she managed to arrange a particularly stubborn peace. Of course, officially she did nothing. She just had a few conversations, and placed a few suggestions.
Leadership in the church absolutely knew who was behind it. And now that she had the skill set to inflict damage far beyond what she could ever hope to do with a gun or a sword, she proceeded to be a thorn in the side of the megalomaniac leadership of the church.
She also reconciled with her sister after she got a better head on her shoulders. Abby visits as frequently as she can, and most wouldn't know how toxic their relationship once was unless you pay attention to the subtext of the conversation. These days Abigail focuses mostly on charity work, and maintaining the peaceful nature of the church, whether or not it wants to be peaceful.
Eventually her pervasive pressure in the church paid off, and when the previous leadership died out, the next generation was influenced by her philosophy of compassion. All marks against her were officially abolished as of the previous year, and she was finally granted the long overdue title of 'High Priestess.' |
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Personality
Mother Hawthorne is firm and bold, but tempered with ample amounts of genuine care, and a capacity to be gentle. She'll tell you off when she thinks your wrong, and she'll fight when she feels she must. At the same time, she will slow down, cheer up crying folk, crack jokes when the tension gets too high to bear. When you combine all of it with her experience, it often produces a a tenancy towards a metaphorical acupuncture: she asks blunt questions at peoples pressure points, but it usually leads to the person she's talking to feeling better in the end.
Likes
- Human Contact (Physical or Social)
- Trying New Things
- Singing, Dancing, and General Revelry
- Quiet Moments With a Beautiful View
Dislikes
- Hypocrisy, Cruelty, and Malevolence
- Closed-Minded People
- Shouting
- Being Cooped Up Inside
Abilities
✦ Tenets and Prayers
Abigail's magic comes from the Bond she has with her God, the Divine of Passion, Aodanr. Her spells take the form of chants and prayers consisting of opening by reciting Aodanr's name, then carefully stitching a request to the god together in reverse. This is not the only way to make a successful prayer. Why are they backwards requests? Because 'effort is the fuel of passion.' The spent effort denotes a devotion. The cognitive demand is considered a sacrifice that feeds the god. Other sacrificial components can be made, but combining the request and the sacrifice one action is a rare and elegant way to cast. It also allows her to make new chants and prayers on the fly, however she cannot pray for anything. What she prays for must fall within the holy tenets that reinforce the bond she has with Aodanr. Aodanr can also be a very fickle god, and They may not grant prayers they feel are too extreme, or if the price paid isn't high enough.
✦ Tenet 1: Shelter the Fire of Passion.
Most Prayers relating to this Tenet focus primarily on sheltering one's self. Protective wards, Barriers, and Seals are found here, but it can also be sheltering against the heat or the cold, or the sensation of starvation.
✦ Tenet 2: Let the Flames of Passion Flare.
Frequently, quite literally. fire magic. When she casts offensively it is almost always under the second tenet. It can have other effects, like lessening inhibitions in some one, however she doesn't like using it that way.
✦ Tenet 3: Rekindle Passion So It's Embers May Never Die.
When she heals some one, this is the Tenet she is healing them under. Some people attribute her relatively good looks for her age to this Tenet as well.
Skills & Stats
Physically, her age has dulled her combat capabilities. Where she shines though is in her mental acuity. Years of varied experience, and a dedicated effort to hone her mental and social abilities have paid dividends over her life.
Weapons
She carries a dagger but is proficient in many weapons, from firearms to melee. She had a phase when she first became a paladin.
✦ General Stats
| ✦ Strengths |
✧ Weaknesses |
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✦ Imperative Strengths
Abigail's connection to her God is tremendously powerful and lets her bring powerful magics to bear, as well as her mental agility making her adept at making new prayers on the fly. None of that ended a war though. It was her social skills that stopped a war and changed the church she's part of for the foreseeable future for the better. She is a social powerhouse!
✧ Imperative Weaknesses
Her age is a massive glaring weakness. Her body not as strong as it used to be, and she gets tired more easily. A more subtle weakness is that her tremendous empathy is a potential weakness to a crafty manipulative opponent. She is keen to spare those who she thinks can be redeemed, paying forward the kindness she had at the hands of the paladin she first met all those years ago.
✦ Psychological Stats ✦
| Charisma | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ | Kindness | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ |
| Patience | ✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Intelligence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ |
| Confidence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ | Perception | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧ |
| Discipline | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧ | Psych stamina | ✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Courage | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ | Caution | ✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Honesty | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧ | Loyalty | ✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Maturity | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ | Creativity | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ |
| Cleanliness | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ | Work ethic | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧ |
✧ Physical Stats ✧
| Physical Strength |
✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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Speed |
✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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| Magical Strength |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧
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Constitution |
✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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| Physical Defense |
✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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Dexterity |
✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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Magical Defense |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
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Stamina |
✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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Usage Notes
✦Aodanr
Aodanr is not a good god, nor are they an evil god. They are a god of passions and will just as quickly help a dictator enforce their will, as heal the wounded they create. As long as you are passionate about your aims, and willing to sacrifice some effort, Aodanr is a divine dragon that's will work with you. However, even though most worshipers are artists and healers, the previous church leadership has left a widely bad taste in peoples mouths as their Phoenix (Not literal, name for the top of the hierarchy.) had ambitions towards spreading awe and fear of Aodanr, making the church something to be feared and respected. Also, throughout history, plenty of Aodanr worshipers have been terrible people. The end result is public perception of Aodanr trends quite negatively, even in light of their new leadership preaching compassion above all else.
Aodanr themselves are a divine dragon that takes the form of a phoenix, but is often depicted as a man or a woman wings and fiery hair. Both god and goddess are acceptable ways to refer to this divine dragon, though the more militaristic minded usually refer to the god as a 'he.' Hawthorne herself usually does so as well out of old habits, but occasionally uses they, or she depending on the mood that takes her. Aodanr is a whimsical and fickle god, but not a trickster by nature. In most myths they are something of a powerhouse that has to be overcome due to one of their strange moods.
Gallery
Abigail wearing Kade's Coat
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| Abigail sans coat | Abigail in 'formal' wear. | [etc] |
Author's Notes
✦ Art done by Sebastians Sire (Warning NSFW Content)
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