Post by Nemo Castrillón on Nov 9, 2018 21:34:54 GMT -5
N E M O . C A S T R I L L Ó N
Member's Discord Name (include nicknames): Daishi
Password 1: Sun Clap
Password 2: Moon Pray
Type: Weapon Master
Rank: 1
B A S I C I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Nemo Castrillón (Ailith of Clan MacDonald)
Faceclaim: Riven (League of Legends)
Age of Death: 16
Real Age/Age of Appearance: 345/late teens
Birthday (Month/Day): November 11
Blood Type: AB
RP Sample (Optional): Any thread involving Akira Kanamaru or Mariposa Serrato
A P P E A R A N C E
Height/Weight: [185cm/75kg]
Physical Description:
H O L L O W
In her Hollow form Nemo resembles the monoceros - or unicorn of medieval lore. What would seemingly be a benign apparition in the dreary wasteland of Hueco Mundo reveals itself to be just as horrifying as many of her peers at a closer look however. A massive, muscled body of wiry, marble-colored strings resembling exposed sinews, plated with segments of shimmering white armor - as if her very being was turned inside-out and the skeleton would adorn the outside like a warhorse’s barding. Her most imposant feature is the long, blade-like horn sprouting from the extruded skull on her forehead, a vicious weapon able to skewer a human with ease.
Her “barding” covers a great portion of her body, exposing only the tail, the legs from below the knees and the underside of her head. Despite these seemingly heavy adornments she moves about with the wild grace of a mustang, while her amazing height of four meters ensures that a head-on charge against any enemy will rend flesh and shatter bones. The menacing glow emitted by her eyes only serves to deepen the fear of the poor souls who would face this plated monstrosity. All in all, she gives the term “nightmare” a whole new meaning.
G I L L I A N
While Nemo still retains her horse like features from her previous form, the tattered black cloak which is so characteristic for this class of Menos takes the appearance of a ragged caparison covering her body up to the length of her knees. The white marble of her exposed parts provides a stark contrast to this, as does the grisly mask resembling a horses’ skull with bottomless, hollow pits instead of her eyes. The hole is still located at the same place as before. While her height is smaller than that of a standard Gillian, her skeletal frame still possesses a vastly increased bulk coming from her elongated body.
A D J U C H A S
At this stage of her evolution Nemo sheds most of her humongous form and gains the comparatively compact size of a tall warhorse, similar to those of the Mortal World. The color black is almost completely expunged from her appearance bar two horizontal lines adorning her eyes - similarly, the horn on her forehead becomes spiraled and shorter in comparison of that to her Hollow form, thusly better suited for combat. The white armor almost completely covers her body and is practically non-distinguishable from her stony flesh.
V A S T O L O R D E
This last leap of Hollow evolution brings the greatest change of all - she loses another vast part of of her massive frame and becomes a lithe, tall humanoid almost competely clad in segmented white armor which seems very much organic with all of its segments and rounded forms. A long, tapered blade extends from the glove of her right arm similar to a broadsword - her head is adorned with pearl colored hair which is cut at chin’s length aside from a ponytail which reaches all the way down to the middle of her back. Her stature is well-built and slender like that of an athlete - if it weren’t for the nightmarish, skeletal horse’s mask covering her face she could even be considered an alluring apparition.
A R R A N C A R
The sealed Arrancar state represents a complete shift from the monstrous appearance of her Hollow evolution stages. Finally having achieved the long and arduous task of ascending from her bestial form, she took back her old self, the youthful body she had lost to her murderers, and idealized it through her immense power. Eyes of perfect, lustrous turquoise, a chiseled nose, slightly upturned and delicate, curved lips. Perfect skin with a soft, milky hue and chalk-white hair in a similar cut as with her Vasto Lorde form, with wild and jagged edges - the only feature on her serene face that might betray a seasoned warrior.
Her mask fragment adorns her left shoulder, complete with the long, serrated horn carried over from her Hollow state, taking the shape of a heavy shoulderguard and completely unrecognizable as a skull. Her body is steadily covered in ornate, slate-white armor instead of the white-black Shihakusho so characteristic for agents of Las Noches. Her weapon, a man-sized, yet graceful claymore completes the picture of the medieval she-knight, completing her childhood dream in an unexpected way.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Dislikes:
- Betrayal: Knowing her history it should not come as a surprise that this would be the first on the list. Her resentment towards those who would betray her borders insanity - she will vow to follow them to the ends of the Earth to bring them down.
- Hollows: While she pities some of them, most Hollows are deranged, vile creatures who need to be put down for the good of everyone.
- Cowardice: Especially when it comes to herself, since she essentially led a life on the run after her vengeance on Clan Campbell was complete. She isn’t insipid enough to throw herself on a blade however and loaths every moment of this tiptoing, frail existence.
- Underhanded tactics: For someone who was killed by a concealed knife it should be natural to hate the methods often employed by assassins and other filthy lowlifes, even though she realizes the neccessity of such acts.
- Hunger: The insatiable, undying hunger - the thirst for the blood of innocents. She does not understand why she was cursed to suffer this existence, and will do everything neccessary to make it stop.
Likes:
- The Chessmaster: She trusts him deeply and has vowed to act as his right hand. There is nobody else she would follow.
- Mercy: She does not expect it, she does not offer it lightly. Most beings do not deserve it. But the luxury of doing so intrigues her greatly.
- Trustworthiness: People who keep their oaths are scarce and should be cherished.
- The color white: The last thing she saw in her life was the whiteout caused by the great blizzard in Glencoe - it is a very sensitive and intricate relationship.
- Honor: She wants to pride herself as a honorable warrior and looks up to anyone, especially Hollows who can uphold such lofty ideals.
Flaws:
- Scarred: Even in her Hollow form, the scars from the stab wounds made by the knife that killed her are easily visible on her stringy body. This carries over to all forms beside the one after her mask break - while still present, her armor covers it readily.
- Oathsworn: She has sworn an oath to protect the Chessmaster in exchange for her ascension. She will not stray from this path, even if it means that she has to do terrible things.
- Idealistic: It is quite likely that her knightly ideals will get her into trouble, despite knowing that she doesn’t have the luxury of behaving in a chivalrous way until she gets stronger.
Habits:
- Talking with a scottish accent (she’s working on it, don’t worry).
- Horse-like behavior like prancing or kicking out with hind legs when afraid.
- Eating in private - being watched during that grisly spectacle makes her feel sick and ashamed.
Fears:
- Dying: There is no telling what awaits beyond the dark curtain, but seeing how the last time turned out...well...rather not.
- The Chessmaster: While being his prized ally, she knows of the power and intellect he wields and due to her deeply disturbed nature she is scared that he might abuse her trust and hurt her.
- Betrayal: She is vary of making friends because of the miserable fate she has suffered due to her Clan’s ill-fated history.
Goals:
- Become human: Not only does she find her current form abysmal and impractical, she is extremely resentful because of the life that was taken from her.
- Gain power: The Chessmaster promised her that with power comes not only the ability to shape the world, but also certain benefits close to her heart (such as a human form).
- Slay evil: While the losing of her heart has caused her personality to plummet into a messy, doom n’ gloom state, she still has a profound feeling about what’s right and wrong.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Overall Personality:
If one were to look behind the veil of nightmarish, gory and terrifying vision her appearance conjures, one would find a surprisingly calm and stable personality for a Hollow - something she is often forced to discard to be able to survive in the dog-eat-dog world that is Hueco Mundo. While the memory of her past life has faded into obscurity over time, the timid and sweet personality she had before her untimely demise has hardened into a pragmatic, balanced and somewhat judgemental demeanor. She has cultivated a set of rules that she doesn’t overstep and is quite proud of the fact that she can at least partially control the tormenting hunger she feels all the time.
After familiarizing herself with the ideals and goals of the Chessmaster, she used her tremendous willpower to subjugate her sensible nature and desire for good and just things. While it pains her greatly and causes her great suffering, she is finally prepared to build a bridge of corpses to be able to reach that beautiful white tower that awaits at the end - her ascension to a better life without hunger, pain and existential terror. She acts faithfully on the commands of her lord, and considers any threat to him to be a threat to her own dream aswell.
Due to the state of her being and the grisly laws of the Mortal World and Hueco Mundo, she cannot afford to live up to her lofty ideals and actually enact her much desired notions of chivalry and honorable combat. If she feels that she has her back to the wall, she will use any way to escape from the potentially mortal situation as her survival instincts kick in. Forcing her into such a predicament will quite definitely cause her to respond violently, despite her overall impressive self control for a Hollow.
P O W E R S
Fighting Style:
H O L L O W
Decades of experience made her proficient in adjusting to her equine Hollow form. While her frame is still quite lithe, the marble-like “flesh” which is one of her defining characteristics gives her an impressive weight and thus a vastly increased impact force should she manage to charge her enemy - just imagine a four meters tall warhorse charging something, complete with massive barding and a steel-hard horn to impale the unfortunate sod to face this avalanche of petrified muscle. Close quarters are her bane however, and while she tries to avoid them at all costs, should she be cornered she will rise to her hind legs and beat her enemy down with her hooves or drop down and skewer him with the long, blade-like horn on her armored forehead. Her Hollow-hole is located at the middle of her neck.
G I L L I A N
In this form her fighting style takes on a new, violent characteristic. Since most of her peers are ponderous, slow giants with a terribly imbalanced body, she takes every chance she gets to abuse her vastly superior mobility and impact force to tackle and subdue the uniform, dim-witted Gillians, often taking on half a dozen alone to be able to gorge herself on their bared innards, aborting just another abomination that would terrorize the world she now calls her home.
A D J U C H A S
Much smaller and more compact than before, her Adjuchas form emphasizes the path she has chosen for herself and the way she fights - equine speed, grace and strength. Her movements are chiseled to perfection; she is capable of neck-breaking maneuvers and bursts of speed, and her plated appendages can crush the armor of Gillian or Adjuchas class Menos without the slightest effort.
Should the tide turn suddenly, should her enemies try to corner her, she does not hesitate to use her immense mobility, jumping and running capabilities to make them eat her dust. She is graceful and elusive, a sensible and smart combatant who picks her fights very carefully, especially knowing that even the loss of a single limb could mean that her evolution would be forever stunted, dooming her to stay in the bestial state she is in forever.
V A S T O L O R D E
The humanoid form provided by the Vasto Lorde stage is fundamentally different from fighting as a four legged equine creature, requiring not only extensive training but also a complete rehaul of battle tactics aside from banking on her main advantages, strength and speed as usual. The much smaller frame provides a vast increase in the resilience of her body, a quality that she will abuse readily by flaunting her deceptive frailty and delicacy.
She often charges enemies head on, seeking to topple them with a single blow of her sword-like appendage. While being virtually uncatchable in this form, she also relies on the usage of Cero to clear or create advantageous environmental conditions for herself to fight in such as blasts, or obliterate clouds of smaller enemies who would swarm over her seeking to win through overwhelming numbers.
A R R A N C A R
With her weapon separate from her armor now she extensively hones her natural talent to be able to outperform her peers with superior swordsmanship and advanced techniques which resonate well with her multifunctional weapon. The claymore is capable of administering slashing, piercing and smashing attacks, it can be wielded in one or two hands and with enough force it can also disarm an enemy by locking their sword in the space between the tapering crossguard and her own blade.
While her Reiatsu based techniques will quite probably suffer due to her physical focus, she seeks to be an absolute master of Sonído, which would enable her to overwhelm enemies through grace, power and immense bursts of speed. She would also often hold back to be able to gauge an enemy’s power, surprising them with a sudden, explosive burst or a supersonic charge that would certainly confuse and startle a lot of advesaries.
Overall Theme:
Echoing the most profound and pure dreams of her childhood, her overall Hollow theme progresses from the bestial manifestation of the knight, the most recognizable feature, a horse-shaped moving statue or “golem” - to a knightly form itself in the Vasto Lorde and Arrancar states. Her Resurrección in contrast transcends the ideal by adopting the idea of the Chessmaster and becoming a corresponding piece in his game, while harkening back to the most unique of her abilities, the modified, stony flesh of her Hollow form.
H O L L O W T E C H N I Q U E S
Technique Name: Estatua (Statue)
Class: 7-1
Cost: 200 + 100 for each subsequent post
Technique Description and Effects:
Unusual for her monstrous race of hunters, her unique power is defensive in nature. With her Hollowification, her flesh was transmuted into a curious material which mimics the characteristics of stone. This change affects the entirety of her flesh while her cell- and organic structure remains curiously unaltered.
- Her weight increases threefold.
- The durability of her body is based on Strength as long as the ability is active. The effect is similar as Hierro in that its effectivity diminishes the severity of attacks - a massive swing may only put a small dent in her statuesque body or not even leave a visible mark at all.
- She can ignore the effects of fire and heat unless the OS would exceed hers by 25%. She cannot be ignited without a catalyst such as a burning liquid that sticks to her body - even that would only act as an enabler unless the fire is hot enough. Heat damage manifests as chipping instead of burns.
- Her defensive OS counts as being 25% higher against cutting and piercing attacks.
- Cutback is calculated from her SPR instead of her RS as long as the ability is active.
Technique Drawbacks:
- Deep organic damage is not resisted.
- The increased weight may lead to easier sinking if unsupported.
- While not entirely intuitive, the ability does nothing to mitigate pain suffered from wounds.
- Her defensive OS counts as only 75% effective against attacks with smashing weapons. These must be dedicated smashing weapons with a metal head such as hammers, maces, tetsubo etc. A wooden staff would not qualify, neither would the pommel of a sword. Hand-to-hand techniques can only qualify if the OS is at least 75% of Nemo’s and if they involve the hardening of the area used to hit her with, such as imbuing hands or feet with Reiatsu.
- On taking a successful attack with at least 75% of her defensive OS, the defense this ability offers is reduced by 5%. To avoid math confusion, cutting and piercing attacks need to match her defensive OS instead, hand-to-hand techniques with limb hardening require 75%, while smashing attacks with dedicated smashing weapons only need to hit 55% to reduce the effectivity by one step. As the effectivity of the ability starts to deteriorate, the chips and cracks caused by the attacks grow visibly deeper. If a single technique would hit continuously or multiple times in a single post, it will only reduce the ability's effectivity by 5% per post of constant or repeated exposure. (The deterioration of this protection does nothing to prevent her from normally flexing against attacks should her Strength reach 600, it just weakens her passive defense granted through this ability.)
- Although the ability can be deactivated at any time, reactivating it requires a three post cooldown (she is able to use it again at the start of the third post following deactivation). While damage suffered to her body carries over, the hardness and increased resistance is restored subsequently.
- If her body heat rises significantly for the duration of a post (such as standing in fire) and she gets hit with an attack during the next three posts that would cause her to cool down rapidly, she will suffer immense pain as the surface of her marble flesh will be covered with hairline cracks that chip away like brittle stone upon the immediate contraction of her crystalline structure. An ice or water-based attack which follows a post of exposure to intense heat (800 degrees Celsius minimum) ignores 50% of her defensive OS.
Technique Name: Cáscara (Shell)
Class: 7-1
Cost: 50+25*Class beyond 7
Technique Description and Effects:
By exuding and arranging Reishi particles into a crystalline structure, Nemo can create a shell of ablative armor on her body. The armor is made of multiple, marble-colored segments covering the entirety of her body, only leaving a few cracks for the joints to not inhibit movement.
The plating made by the technique has a variable durability of 400+100*Class beyond 7.
7: 400
6: 500
5: 600
4: 700
3: 800
2: 900
1: 1000
This technique soaks up the damage from attacks that would penetrate her defense (see Clash of Abilities). Such attacks slowly deplete the ablative armor - each penetrating attack subtracts its OS from the durability of the plating. If the durability would hit 0, the armor shatters and the last attack does damage according to the difference between the rest of the durability and the attacking OS.
Technique Drawbacks:
- The resistance bonuses and drawbacks of the previous techniques apply to this one aswell (eg. cutting and piercing, smashing, heat and cold successively etc.).
- This technique can only be used every 4 posts. This limit decreases by one for each Rank beyond the first.
O T H E R T E C H N I Q U E S
Technique Name: Ulcera (Ulcer)
Class: 7
Technique Type: Stepping
Usable By: Hollows (Not Arrancar)
Technique Description and Effects: This technique is a basic stale for a Hollow's ability to slide in and out of the valley of screams at will when it is hunting or stalking prey. By gliding in and out of the space used by techniques like garganta or descorrer, a hollow can get around quickly. This technique operates similarly to a stepping technique, but only moves at 5x the user's speed. However, the user weaves through rips in the fabric of whatever world they are in, and as such the hollows exits, and then re-enters at the destination, Hollows do not lose awareness of the world as they move through an Ulcera, and can return to the material world mid-step in response to a threat or opportunity. This technique does not take up a Technique slot.
How to use technique (How is it activated?): See Above
Technique Drawbacks (Limitations, repercussions for use, etc) Costs 75 reiatsu per step.
Made By: Ajora
Reserved?: No
H I S T O R Y
Birthplace: Glen Coe, Scotland
Current Residence: Hueco Mundo
Memorable Figures: Clan MacDonald, Lord Tiempo, The Chessmaster
History:
Nemo - or Ailith MacDonald by her name of birth, grew up in early 17th century Scotland. Her home, a small hamlet in the area of Glen Coe in the scottish Highlands is long lost to time, just as the names of her father, her mother, her brothers and sisters...history remembers only the names of the strong, the great ones of the Clan such as Maclain (Alasdair MacDonald) and his son, John...and the atrocity they have suffered by hands of the crown. Her family were stablemasters of the third generation in servitude of Maclain and his men.
Clan Donald was a huge force within the Highland clan system, of which, the MacDonalds of Glen Coe (or MacIains as they were more specifically known) were only a small part. Glen Coe had been home to the MacDonalds since at least the early 14th century when they supported King Robert the Bruce. The chief of the MacDonalds of Glen Coe was Alasdair MacDonald, known as MacIain. He was a huge man with flowing white hair, beard and moustache. He was well respected by own clan and feared by others - very much an old-school highland chief.
Ailith was always a strong, rowdy child, often scolded for misbehaving and fighting, taking on young lads towering over her by a head or two’s worth. Her pretty face was always dirty and bruised - she learned how to ride at a most tender age, loved fencing with sticks and pretending to be a knight of valor. While she never learned to read, the stories told by her peers about the great, iron-clad heroes of medieval times always made her heart soar. Bertrand du Guesclin, Richard I “Lionheart” of England, and William Wallace, of course. It was only during these tales she calmed down as she let her imagination soar - and while she was often caught up in scuffles, she deeply loved her family.
She grew up amidst the scenic hills and dales of Glen Coe, among steep, jagged walls of rock and grass of the lushest emerald green. The Highlanders are a hardy people who do not bend easily - and even though Alasdair tried his best to get with the times and meet the demands of the crown, one day during the time of the Jacobite uprising, the Glencoe MacDonalds, a clan already small with few friends and powerful enemies, was to be eradicated from the pages of history.
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald
To understand the reason and motive behind this well-known and terrifying event in english and scottish history, one must take a quick look at the overall political situation during that time and the role of the Glencoe MacDonalds in it. There were many Highland clans at the time who were a possible threat to the new regime in London under King William of Orange, and many who openly swore their allegiance to the deposed Stuart King - James VII. King William himself was more concerned with his war against the French King, Louis XIV. Problems in the Highlands were little more than a nuisance to him.
The order came through that the chiefs were to sign an oath of allegiance to King William by January 1, 1692. Although this oath was originally packaged with the promise of money and land for the clans, by the time it was circulated publicly the terms were much more threatening - the clans would sign the agreement or be punished with the "utmost extremity of the law". The man who used this deadline to his own political ends was the Secretary of State, John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, who was a Lowlander and a Protestant. He disliked the Highlanders and viewed their whole way of life as a hindrance to Scotland, which would be better served in union with England. He had a particular dislike for the MacDonalds of Glen Coe.
Another problem for the clans at the time was the fact that many of them were bound by an oath to James Stuart, the deposed King in France. It was December 12 before James had released the clans from their oath and December 28 before a messenger arrived in the Highlands with the news - leaving only three days until the deadline.
As the worst of winter swept through Glen Coe on December 31, MacIain, fearful for the safety of his clan, left for Fort William to sign the oath. From here he was turned back by Colonel John Hill, who explained that the oath had to be taken before a sheriff. This involved a 60 mile trek to Inveraray: the principle town of his enemies, the Campbells. Still MacIain could have met the deadline had he not been captured by Campbell soldiers serving in Argyll’s regiment. They detained him for a day, whilst he was detained for several more days in Inveraray due to the absence of the Sheriff, Sir Colin Campbell. Even then, MacIain had to plead with the Sheriff to accept the late oath.
In Edinburgh, the Master of Stair with his legal team declined the late-delivered oath. Everything was ready for the fall which Stair had engineered for the clan. The orders were explicit: the MacDonalds were to be slaughtered - "cut off root and branch". Three commanders were to be involved - two from the Campbell-dominated Argyll regiment and one from Fort William. In the end, two of those never arrived in time, claiming delay through bad weather. It was Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, a desperate man who lost his all through gambling, who carried out Stair’s final order: "to put all to the sword under seventy".
They came through the blizzard, we offered them heat
A roof ower their heads, dry shoes for their feet
We wined them and dined them, they ate o' our meat
And slept in the house O' MacDonald
The soldiers arrived at Glen Coe twelve days before the massacre, as friends, seeking shelter due to the fact that the fort was full. The MacDonalds, honouring the Highland hospitality code, duly gave the soldiers quarter in their own houses. For twelve days they lived together with neither the clan nor the common Argyll soldiers knowing what lay ahead.
They came from Fort William with murder mind
The Campbell had orders, King William had signed
Pit all tae the sword, these words underlined
And leave none alive called MacDonald
On the night of the thirteenth of February, a blizzard howled through Glen Coe, giving whiteout conditions. As the clan slept the house guests gathered, received their orders, and set about systematically killing everyone they could lay their hands on. The death toll has risen to thirty-eight in the next morning, including the chief, MacIain. Many more escaped into the hills, some finding shelter before the elements could kill them, some, including MacIain’s elderly wife, dying on the mountainside.
They came in the night when the men were asleep
That band of Argyles, through snow soft and deep
Like murdering foxes, among helpless sheep
They slaughtered the house o' MacDonald
Some died in their beds at the hands of the foe
Some fled in the night, were lost in the snow
Some lived to accuse him, what struck the first blow
But gone was the house of MacDonald
Ailith’s family were one of those who were completely uprooted and exstirpated by this heinous crime under the aegis of hospitality. Her father, Fergus MacDonald was, naturally, the first one being targeted - the stout, tall man was slain in his sleep, and yet he fought so fiercely and his thrashing was so loud that it had woken up the entire household, forcing the hand of their assailants. His eldest son would soon be next, shot by a muzzle-loading pistol - and as the biting smell of gunpowder smoke filled the house, the screams of the poor family were drowned out by the howling winds outside, only giving away the murderous event as the children ran out into the freezing cold in their desperation.
She died with her baby sister, Kenna in her arms, keeping a pair of Campbell’s cronies at bay with an axe until one of them shot her in the thigh. In mortal pain and bleeding profusely, she shielded the young one with her body, not even letting go after she has suffered grievous wounds from the long bayonet knife piercing her back multiple times. She may have been the first female to die, but as fate wills it, she never got to experience the peace and silence of death, nor the grace of God.
Instead, she had to watch. Her spirit hovering over their blood-soaked corpses, she huddled close to Kenna and tried to assault their murderers, but all her efforts were in vain as her limbs simply passed through their coats and the body underneath. It was here when she realized what had happened; suddenly it seemed that the old tales about spirits and the wee folk, the brownies and the mighty sídhe were true after all. Even though she knew not what the chain that bound her to the steaming husk that was once her meant, it was clear that there would be no bright light at the end of this storm - a grim realization for an upright Catholic such as her.
As the screams subsided, the ravens began to descend to feast on the good people murdered so unjustly. These ravens were nothing Ailith has ever seen before however - one bore the body of a man with the head of a wyrm in porcelain, the other a misshapen avian creature with skeletal wings, as tall as a house. One by one they were snatched away, their chains torn and their transparent bodies ripped to shreds. And as the vile apparitions began to draw closer, Ailith started to tug at the chain embedded in her chest.
The chain did not give way easily, and the pain grew almost unbearable as she put her whole weight against it, but the power of kinship has driven her to the utmost extremes a human soul is capable of - little did she know what would happen when the gaping hole in her chest would be revealed as the flesh connected to her soul-chain was ripped out. Not only did she not run from the spot as she has planned to, saving the freckled, petite darling she protected so fiercely...she would become one of them, one of these hideous devils who would not let her families’ restless souls pass over to Heaven or whatever may lie beyond.
Her transformation was swift and unbelievably furious. The insane amount of Reiatsu released soon formed a maelstrom of snow, and as the malicious bone-matter began to pour out from her mouth and eyes, her changing took on an even more terrible manner. Her spine broke along with her legs, her fingers and toes disappeared, giving way to hooves - she descended on all fours, and as her transformation was complete, she immediately lunged out to devastate her assailants with the unbridled fury of a tempestous wraith.
She cut them, kicked them and trashed about until their massive bodies were ground into steaming gore upon the frozen ground - her rage never passed, and the vow she took to protect her sister was no more. A night-mare she had become, haunting and slaying every Campbell soldier she could find, responsible for the six men presumed lost to the blizzard when the extraction of the contingent took place. And even though her vengeance had been fulfilled, she did not stop the killing rage until her hooves rose above the frail, covering body of Kenna.
The faint cries of the trampled girl rekindled the spark of sanity within her mind. As the realization of what she had done dawned upon her, consciousness struck her suddenly with the full force of a sledgehammer as her conscience began to wrap a tight rope around her neck. Her mask began to splinter, revealing a grotesque creature bearing the features of her old self in an equine form, with skin as white as bone, lined with the same wounds she received during her deathly struggle.
Kenna’s spirit survived, but barely. Afraid that her sister has turned into a wraith, she sought to flee from her, but Ailith did not let her go. Not then, nor at the dawn of a grey morning afterwards. She stayed with her for three days and three nights, fighting the hunger that relentlessly pounded against the walls of her missing heart. But no human soul is strong enough to fight the forces of oblivion alone - and while Kenna gave into it willingly after all, she would never forgive herself for what she had done next.
As she began to roam the dreary wasteland of Hueco Mundo, she wished that the red cloud of rage and insanity would return to numb her grief and wash away the memories. This relief would never come, however - unlike many of her peers, she had to grow to accept that she was here to suffer a fate of suffering at the height of her consciousness. She tried to maim herself, to tear at the mask and the hole which seemed to cause her terrible hunger for innocence, but no amount of force would be enough to severely damage the stone-hard body she was confined to.
She did not know whether this was Purgatory or Hell itself - it did not seem like either. She roamed the deep sands and dreary forests in search of places to hide, and with every encounter her instinct of flight and self-preservation were deepened. Despite her efforts to stay away from her new kin, these frightful creatures of the night, everywhere she went she was waylaid, assaulted, battered - but ultimately, never defeated. She began to devour the creatures she slew in self defense, learning that only such a festival of gore and blood could cloud the unholy desire and calm the beast within...for a little while at least.
The memory of the first soul she ate has never faded, and it was only through sheer force of will that the latter had won out in the battle of desire and conscience. While every kill empowered her already considerable power, she forced herself to abstain from these indulgences to never repeat the repulsive act, at least against humans, even though she quickly figured out that she could fade in and out of the Mortal World at will through the use of a rift of inky blackness.
And that same rift proved to be her only shelter whenever she felt that the world comes crashing down on her. She espied the in-between world when she traveled to and fro, and even though she never found the way back to the place she grew up in, she slowly managed to extend the time she could spend in the dark dimension. However, since Hueco Mundo is a place of perpetual chaos, she did not know about the price of these excursions, for time has passed at a different pace in the Garganta, and before she could realize what had transpired, the world has passed into ages beyond imagination.
When she returned to the mortal world once again, everything had changed - people rode strange, steam-powered horses and bug-shaped chariots of roaring fire, living in houses so high their roofs disappeared between the clouds. And the people in the foreign city she entered...so impossibly many...maybe more than had ever lived in Scotland. She watched and learnt, but the ever-burning hunger would not let her stay for long, lest she’d break the oath she took to restrain her unholy appetite.
Alienated by these frightening sights she returned to Hueco Mundo, the only place she knew. And yet, even here things seem to have changed somewhat during the time she was lost in time and space. Figures robed in pristine white were culling her monstrous kin at their leasure - even she had a run in with one of these masked hunters, and while she barely managed to escape the situation, she was quite intrigued by the notion that these graceful beings had the same murderous aura as herself. Yet they seemed to be almost human, apart from their Hollow-hole - this would mean that there is a way to regain one’s form at least, and maybe it also meant that the all consuming hunger would stop aswell.
Her curiosity often got the better of her, and even after trying repeatedly, she did not manage to get the pounce on one of these apparitions, and her failed attempts often resulted in injury and insult. She was strong for a Hollow, but not strong enough to take on an Arrancar - and if she were not as nimble and elusive as she was, she would most likely have died in the attempt to find out more about these people and the motives that caused them to cull their kin so indifferently. Then again, they would still be Hollows to an extent, and kinship was sadly never a strong characteristic of theirs.
These exploits have weakened her, often preventing the continuation of her hunting. Beaten, battered and ashamed she hid away, seeking shelter in dim caves and in the shade of grim, skeletal trees, weathering the assault of those who would seek to devour her. As the days and nights passed and she felt her strength fading, she thought that the time has come to accept defeat and consign herself to the depths of sorrow and hunger that would devour her sanity piece by piece. She even considered offering herself up to some grisly advesary, such as a towering Gillian - little did she know, that her unlife was about to change radically.
Amidst this time of resignation, she was sought out by a strange breed of Hollows she had never seen before. Seemingly harmless and small of frame, they stayed around her despite the hostility that she has shown to them. They remained completely docile even when attacked, and while it didn’t occur to her at the fringes of sanity, it could be said that they were actively looking to get devoured - as if they were not a single entity, but the offspring of another, more powerful being. An effort to keep her alive, perhaps - acts of compassion are as rare as a white raven in Hueco Mundo however, and it would soon show what kind of predicament was about to unfold.
Within a few days she regained her strength and was able to fend for herself again. Amidst the throng of raging monstrosities she faced, a curious apparition made its way to her, and it soon became clear that it would seek her out deliberately. A humanoid creature bearing the odd colors and mask of a Hollow, just as her - its aura was much more calm and stable however, as was his approach, devoid of hostility and dark intentions.
Her reaction to being approached was less than friendly as she had known nothing but betrayal and the fear of death, and with her bolstered strength she managed to lunge forward at frightening speed and trample him to the ground, breaking bones and rending flesh. As soon as she would try to gore him for good however, she noticed how his aura was identical to those of the small, docile Hollows which sustained her through this most difficult period - her fury soon calmed and she backed off, ashamed of what she did to her savior. Then he began to speak, the being who itnroduced himself as the Chessmaster.
Despite all of his injuries his voice was clean and calm, his mask only providing a small distortion. She has never seen such a small and frail Hollow bearing the form of a humanoid, and it intrigued her greatly from the start. She lay down next to him, listening intently to the story he had to tell. He told her about the state of Hueco Mundo, the fortress called Las Noches where Sonken Kouhai built up his army to fight against the enemies of this land, and the Arrancar that comprised this legion of the damned. He told her about the court of Lord Tiempo aswell, of which he was part of since the past few years, and that he sought to recruit her for this makeshift gathering of Hollows.
She would have a family soon, even a Clan, perhaps. And while it could never be a substitute to the people she lost, centuries of loneliness weighed heavily on her soul, and anything seemed to be better than continue this existence, especially since the entity has enlightened her about the nuances of Hollow evolution. As she traveled with him to the court he called home however, it would soon dawn upon her that she had expected too much from the savage, barbaric wraiths that she would share her unlife with.
Lord Tiempo and his court were Hollows as she had known them, beasts she would have slain without a moment’s hesitation if it wasn’t for the word of her newfound colleague. Even so she had to tear two of these lackeys apart due to them assaulting her according to the command of their master. A test of strength and worthiness as the lord saw it, an act of pointless violence and antagonism from her own viewpoint - but then again, this was just what was to be expected, and she was not fond of it, at all.
Even so, she would soon rise to the rank of personal champion (and favorite beatstick) to the hideous and cunning canine-like Hollow who had managed to subjugate a fair number of beasts like her, including her mentor and savior. A sadistic, murderous wraith focused on his goal of domination, seeking to be a king amongst the damned - she endured his abuse however, and watched her mentor do the same, despite being a lot more frail and unsuited for combat. He assured her that a time would come where the scales would shift in their favor, a time of reaping where the weak and foolish would be cut down by the ones truly meant to rule.
And as fate wills it, the time is drawing near.