Post by Cassandra Frost on Oct 25, 2023 20:20:14 GMT -5
-Opening-
"Back when when the worlds were whole, I had family, friends, loves, not that you would remember any of this."
Discord/Chatango Username (include nicknames): NovemberFrost
Passwords:Miraculous Kouhai, Kazu's Kidnapper
Type: Spirited
Affiliation: Vandenriech
Rank: Captain-Supervisor, Class 1-Rank-2
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-Basic Information-
"Over the realms and past the void lay the Emperor's castle, where a man piered right into the soul, but whatever came of it?"
Name: Cassandra "Bismark" Frost
Age/Age of Appearance: 2093/ Mid-30s
Birthday (Month/Day): November 16th
Blood Type: O-
RP Sample (Optional): See stuff by Miranda Frost, Mirim Frost, or Serraph Quarrere
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-Appearance-
"They are feeble vessels, with feeble souls. They would cast the side the prop of life only to face greater hardship. Are you another such fool, or something more?"
Height/Weight: 6'2" / 200 Lbs
Physical Description:
Cassandra Frost, Post-Battle of Death Mountain upon her healing and repair back in Silbern.
Though utilizing the Emperor's gifted powers, she was of a likeminded tribe of people to the Quincies. She views herself as different but similar enough to fit in and contribute to the ultimate goal of the Vandenriech, thus she typically dons dark uniforms. Within the inside lining of her coat are embedded scales stripped by her hand from the demon Vulkan, the main rival of her family for centuries upon centuries, and the main reason for her aliance and integration into the Emperor's service. These scales are rough and crimson, some caked with blood, others dusted from the ash of her fallen comrades. Each one holding a specific memory of an engagement with Vulkan and his horde around Death Moutain, the station entrusted to her command, protection, and containment for centuries. They are normally hidden from outside peers, but can be seen in glimpses as she engages in combat and even more when she doffs the coat entirely.
Aside from uniforms, Cassandra is not one to wear normal bits of clothing. This could be because of a number of factors. The easiest explanation would be due to her long, dedicated, and constant service during her many years underneath the Emperor. In her earlier years shed be focused on climbing the ranks, constantly improving and rising ever higher. Upon accepting the Emperor's gift with the schrift of "D", any room for recreation would be thrown out the window. Now back in Silbern as a Captain Supervisor, she now has a little more room for herself. That being said, what types of clothing would she wear? Cassandra has no visible preference other than sentimental effects that remind her of past events, such as the dragon scales. She cares little what she wears nor does she care if the appearance is conservative or revealing, especially after extensive augmentation to most of her body to include her flesh.
Her flesh during the Battle of Death Mountain would be damaged beyond healing and managed to hold on to her life long enough to be rescued by reinforcements. Back in Silbern, much of her body would be replaced by experimental tech born in the basements of the Silbern, this includes the most noticible aspect, her flesh. Nearly every inch of her body had to be reconstructed, the skin itself replaced by a metallic, synthetic hybrid to encase her body and vitals. Cool to the touch, her skin's mettallic texture almost appears to be of a skin-fitted bodysuit. Though able to turn heads should she walk around unclothed, most would assume she wasn't naked on this account when in actuality, she truly was. With all this in account, there are only two factors when determining her preference in clothing: sentimental value and matching themes or colors.
On the topic of physical features aside from her synthetic, ebon skin, there are other features of note. Every being in which the original Frost's soul inhabits shares certain physical traits between each incarnation, the most obvious being their hair. Cassandra, along with every other Frost, sports long, flowing white hair, which has only grown longer as the centuries pass. Before the Battle of Death Mountain, she'd typically keep it shorter, keeping it no longer than her upper back. This is due to the fire nature of the demons she faced to avoid catching flame on account of her long hair. Now back in Silbern, the hair grew back out as she healed and recovered, its maximum length touching her calves. During this quiet time of reconnecting with herself, her home, and her comrades, she's likely to keep her hair at this length, but can expected to shorten it depending on an expected challenge or adversary.
Other aspects of her physical appearance would be her eyes. Unlike the hair, most Frost incarnations have different eyes to reflect how their independent experiences has nurtured the inherited soul. Aurum had gold eyes, Miranda had Silver, and Mirim had whatever reflected her emotions at the time. Cassandras eyes, however, are crimson, reflecting her passion for her role in this life. In uniform, aside from the ruby scales along her coat's lining, her eyes would be the only thing on her body producing color aside from the small glowing nodes throughout her body serving as artifical nerve centers or vents to maintain proper body temperature. Just as eyes are windows into the soul, Quincies are the remainder of the desire to return to the perfect world that existed before, a decaying memory of the past kept alive through artificial efforts, just as Cassandra's body was.
It was theorized that before the soul king was split and, with it, all of creation, that humans were much taller and stronger as a whole, fueled by their unsundered souls. As the first Frost sundered herself under here own terms, this height and physique is passed down, with each incarnation a degradation, however slight, from the last. Where Cassandra's mother, Aurum, was a bit over seven feet, Cassandra, even as an ideal inheritor, was only a little over six feet. Her body may not appear as toned and muscular as it was before the battle that would radically change her appearance, the doctors and scientists of Silbern's work reflecting a preference for sleekness and modularity, but one can still see her muscles test the artificial shell at times. Her bust size has remained survived, being about a 38C(I'll take reccomendations here based on the reference photo, think i may have guessed wrong x'D), but lacking the biological functions they once had. This isn't the only biological function lost due to her injuries and reconstruction. She can't sleep normally due to the constantly running cybernetics, her body only going into a shutdown state when damaged enough or overloaded, but even this is more akin to death as it shuts down the body to its bare minimum upkeep, rebooting the body once the body is returned to normal specification.
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-Personality-
"I will bring back my ancestors, my bretheren, my children. The world belongs to us and us alone."
Dislikes:
-Refusal of Gifts- It is rude and insulting to refuse the kindness of others. Most beings only have a small amount of time alive to spend, making each moment precious and valuable.
-Demons- For nearly two thousand years she was charged with watching and standing vigil on an active hellgate. Over that time she had come to harbor a hatred for demonkind as a whole. In the future she imagines, they have no place there.
-Shinigami- Their predecessors are responsible for the state of the realms. The sins of the father is passed onto the sons. Though she doesn't hold them in the same disdain as those the original Frost witness tearing the soul king apart, their chains to the soul cycle makes them potential antagonists to the rejoining and dismissal of the soul cycle.
-The Soul Cycle: When the world was whole, death had no place. There was love, beauty, perfection. There was no need for this stopgap measure to be implemented. Now that time has passed, the cycle has become an integral part of the worlds' function and survival. It is a parasite that should be cast away.
-Ash: Being stationed near a hellgate for as long as she was brought on many discomforts. The ash left behind from a demonic assault was one of them. Cassandra witness first hand what hellfire can do to human flesh, and the pile of ash that's left behind. It's horrifying and humbling. It is a fate she couldn't bear allow to those closest to her.
-Mountains: Death Mountain, home of the hellgate in which the great demon Vulkan emerged. The mountains dont give back what they take nor will they relent. They are scars upon the earth and creation itself, hiding secrets best left alone.
-Cold: Cassandra can't function well in the cold. As one who enjoys the cozy warmth of a soft burning hearth or a body to share her bed with, the cold reminds her how lonely a long life can be. A life devoid of warmth and companionship isn't much of a life to live.
-Fire: Though fire can bring the warmth she craves, it can also melt away everything that divides and distinguish. She had witnessed to whole towns devoured by hellfire, fathers and mothers melted away slowly until they were nothing but ash beneath her feet.
-Treachery: Trust must be strong and unrelenting between comrades. When one provides another trust, they are making themselves vulnerable. To take advantage is dishonorable and should be punished tenfold.
-Rudeness: Even Cassandra is guilty of being rude, but best efforts should be made to suppress it. Uneeded quarrals can result from petty rudeness. Also it just really pisses Cassandra off.
-Not cleaning your plate: Cassandra loves cooking and baking for others, but if you're served, you better make use of every last bite. She could have eaten that food herself. She could have saved it, made better use of it, yet she gave it to you, so you better eat it all.
-inability to reflect: Cassandra can become irritated from seeing events and problems unfold from repeating failed actions. A person only needs to stop and reflect, think back on themselves. If they cannot recognize the issues of their past, they are doomed to repeat them, which is hilariously stupid to her.
-Maintenance: The downside to having been force to replace her damaged body bits with machine and artificial matter is regular maintenance checks. While the girls are out getting their nails done, she's heading to Silbern's basement to get her joints oiled and nerves recalibrated. Its sometimes quite painful and not at all relaxing.
-Abandonment/Loneliness: Cassandra is struggling to recover from abandonment issues. Her mother died in the arena, Cassandra was force to live centuries next to a hellgate with only a handful of troops. When she could settle down and have a family, they'd be slaughtered and taken from her. Near the time of the Battle of Death Mountain, she had even believed the Emperor to have abandoned her. She'd realize this isn't the case as they eventually took her from the place. Still.. the possibility of it happening again is horrifying to her.
-Silence: Quietness is loniliness. Loniliness is boring, stagnant, devoid of love, life, and warmth. Cassandra has tasted loniliness before and will not do so again.
-Arrogance: She has met many a man or woman who think highly on their abilities. There is nothing that can stop inevitibility. There is always something that can knock one low. Not even the Emperor could stop the worlds from being split. Sheer arrogance is another quick way to piss Cassandra off.
-Her "Insomnia": every frost is dictated to carry the memories of their ancestors onto the future. Though normally they can't access them, through dreams they can. Cassandra misses proper sleep when she could see what her ancestors saw all those years ago, what her mother saw during her gladatorial days. Now all she gets is a cold void to greet her when she rests.
-Close Combat: She rather stays at a safe range rather than engage in fisticuffs. Only those who are friendly with her or more can be permitted to be close. It is insulting for someone hostile to ever approach her in such away.
-Burnt Cookies: Cassandra love baking, but she hates failing at it. She often keeps a batch of cookies made for visitors or when she comes into work to pass out to her underlings. They love "grandma's" cookies, as they say, and burning them is simply a waste
-Visiting the Barbershop: Cassandra tailors her hair to the occasion, but she has a hard time stomaching someone committing such an intimate act as cutting her hair. She deals with it, but it gives her discomfort unless the barber is one she's fond of.
-Graveyards: When one is afraid of dying and has lived for so long without meeting their goals, a person like Cassandra might be a lil spooked or uncomfortable in the presence of dead men. That could be her at any moment, so she must do everything in her power to keep that from happening.
Likes: [Create a list below.]
-Water: There is something soothing about the flow of water, the sound of water washing against the side of a ship or rubbing along the soft beach.
-Sweets: Cassandra has developed quite the sweetooth, taking up baking as a hobby upon her return to Silbern. It feels her with joy whenever she bites into a soft, gooey chocolate chip cookie as well as watching others partake in them.
-Family: Though she views Miranda and Mirim as failures when it comes to their purpose in life, they are still family, inheritors of the Frost soul. If she had her way, she'd whisk them away somewhere safe and live out the rest of time with them, but life isn't that kind, is it?
-Comradery: She views her allies much like she does her family. Many of them want and deserve the things she ultimately strives for. Her underlings are her responsibility, lives in her hands much of the time. They were sparks of flame that could potentially grow to be great, so it is her responsibility to get them there.
-Noise: The quiet reminds her of how lonely her life has been. It's a fear that eats a pit in her stomach. She'd rather have some background noise to eliminate that such as running water or a fan.
-Room-temperature water. Cassandra is adverse to the cold, so she often enjoys her refreshment, not just water, room-temperature. Emperor forbid anyone tarnishes her drink with ice.
-Honesty: Cassandra is almost honest to a fault, putting all her cards on the table and expects the same treatment. To not agree is rude and will likely result in pissing her off.
-Quincies/The Emperor: They are a like minded tribe to her own endangered one. They want the same things, operate with efficiency and devotion and are skilled in what they do. Cassandra Respects this.
-Dreams/Sleep: Dreams allow her to better reflect on the day or her memories. Its also how she can access the memories passed on to her by her ancestors.
-Ranged Combat: Like normal quincies, she enjoys the pleasure of placing an enemy in her sites, aligning her shot, and letting it free. There grace there, proving that distance can mean nothing when it comes to connecting with another.
-Nudity: Cassandra is confident in her body, even before the augmentations. Now its even better as her skin augmentation looks like a cybernetic bodysuit, allowing her to feel free more often among her peers if she chooses. Even if she cannot, one can expect her in a Silbern steam bath relaxing.
-Fur coats/blankets/etc: This frost treasures warmth. There's something soothing and intimate about it. When there's nothing else she wants to do, one can find her lounging about, clad in a fur coat or blanket just for that bit of coziness.
-Seafood: What is there to say? She likes fish. You can steam it, boil it, fry it, etc. It really didn't matter. She could even eat them raw, but won't often do that in front of others for obvious reasons.
-Hollowkind: Though barbaric, their struggle is an admirable one, a struggle that reminds her of herself and her goals. She'd never outright let one into her home, but they do get her respect if not pity.
-Softness: Though her body and artificial flesh is dense and not quite as soft as skin, she can still feel through her nerve implants. Soft textures make her skin and muscles beneath tingle, something that's quite satisfying when she's turned herself into a frosty burrito.
-Augmentation: Over the years Cassandra has been forced to mend herself with various augmentation. From organs to limbs, from eyes to bones. She's encountered quite a likeing to it almost like one who enjoys painting their body with tattoos. It's almost an addiction, but she surely can stop whenever she wants.
-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: The plot reminds her much of her own life through its generational story telling. That and the voice acting is cool as hell. It has inspired her to try and come up with certain poses herself.
-Casual walks about the realms: Its easy for Cassandra to get bored. When she doesn't feel like lounging and wants to move about, she'll often go visit the realms and partake in the everyday life there.
-Roses: She often relates to this flower, as obvious and cliche as it may be. Its beauty is something to behold, but one should be careful on how they hold a rose, as this flower has thorns.
-The Color Red: Red is vibrant, passionate, it represents her fervent desire and efforts she puts in to achieve it. Its also pretty and a warm color, something she appreciates greatly.
Flaws:
-Out of touch: Cassandra was stationed in Russia for over a thousand years. Absorbed into her task in a rather secluded area, Cassandra has become unaware of the current events or even the developments in the organization she served.
-Overworking: The grand majority of her life was spend in the service of her Emperor. To any other organization, her time alone would have outweighed their investment into her hundreds of times over. It took her body breaking down to realize how much of a problem her devotion was, leading to her taking up a hobby like baking, for example. Despite this, she still has a problem.
-Figiting: Cassandra is incapable of standing still. She might sway or figit with her various cybernetics to make clicking noises from her servos and joints. To others this may be annoying, but for her it was a method to break silence and stillness.
-Tunnelvision: Cassandra has a problem with hyperfocusing on a single thing. If she were to bake a sheet of cookies. She will more than likely, if not directly disturbed, ignore even her home burning up around her to monitor the progress of her cookies.
-Nosy: being secluded from the world as a whole has awakened a strange curiosity in the woman. There was so much that occurred in this world. The chain of command was almost changed completely from her last appearance in Silbern. There's this desire to reconnect and learn is powerful but can leave a bad taste in the mouths of her new comrades.
-Warped world-view: The single purpose baked into her inherited soul is to survive and pass on the memories of what she believed to be a perfect world in hopes that one day the realms would be rejoined. Every incarnation down to her has this mentality. Miranda escapes this through the soul cycle and a new perspective and through her, Mirim, but Cassandra never had that chance. Because of what she knows or think she knows, she views most people to be inperfect beings undeserving of this rejoined world. Now she isn't unreasonable and her opinion on certain people are likely to change, but on most encounters with beings not aligned with the Emperor already have her opinion of them as negative, indifferent at best. (Bounts might be different cause of their nature.)
-Abandonment Issues: Cassandra was left by her mother at an early age and returned as a corpse. She was left in Russia for over a thousand years without being recalled and having minimal reinforcements. Her family was slain and her daughter has become a captain in an organization she views as creation's enemy. Needless to say, she's going to ensure no one is taken from her again. Never again will she be alone.
-Destructive when Angry: Mirim, her grandaughter, might be the most volitile incarnation, but such aspects are a result of the base soul being damage, meaning the precident for such extremes exist in every Frost, to include the experienced grandmother with abandonment issues. Though quick to become frustrated or irritated, she is slow to anger, but is quite destructive once she reaches that boiling point. If her anger is directed at an individual, what often follows in cannonfire and pink mist.
-Stalwart to a fault: Similare to her tunnelvision, she also holds true to her word, though not so much that it'd kill her, but she'd gladly sacrifice as much of herself as possible to hold herself to a vow or promise. Miranda, her daughter, also had this problem at one point of time, and it nearly had gotten her killed in her early shinigami days. After the events in Russia, Cassandra would look upon her rebuilt form and decide to be a bit more choosy with her promises. She was already lucky to be recalled back to Silbern despite losing the power of the Emperor's gift to her. It is unlikely she will ever get a third chance.
-Dependence on Technology: Though nearly completely changed from before her assignment to Russia by Quincy tech, she has obtained many augmentations over the years. At first, she detested the replacement of her limbs and eyes, but as the years dragged on, she welcomed them to the point where she recognized these moments as her life's guilty pleasure, or perhaps not guilty at all~
-Difficulty in Forgiveness: Cassandra's memory may not be the greatest, but she is sure to remember slights against her, especially ones that drive her to anger. If one is to make an enemy of her, it may not be personal to them, but it is for her and she will remember that transgression until she finally is torn from this world. There are lot of acts she feels as if they arn't worth apologizing or being forgiven, but if one drives her to anger or worse, a state she loathes being in, they will find an uphill battle in gaining her forgiveness, if they even desire it.
Habits:
-Baking: Taking a more supervisory role and losing her position as sternritter has freed up a lot of time she wasn't anticipating, leading her to take up hobbies. She loves baking sweet treats and delivering them to new recruits to welcome them to this wonderful army.
-Nudist Shenanigans: Her comfortable nature in her mechanical body and the appearance being covered enough by her cybernetic skin replacements often allows her to walk around almost anywhere without her coat or uniform if not contested. If those around her are uncomfortable, she is willing to put on some clothes. After all, just because she's uncomfortable doesn't mean people around her are. Additionally, formal events or operations will require proper attire, and she will glady accomodate.
-Familial Relations with underlings: To comrades who she becomes familiar with, she'll often consider them family, and treat them as such. She definitely hopes they enjoy freshly baked treats!
-Bathing, swimming, etc.: Cassandra loves the water and its cooling, intimate touch and flow along her body. When her cybernetics are running hot, she loves nothing more than to immerse herself in the sea. Spas are incredibly comfy and she could lose herself in a hot shower. Such sessions often require a timer to ensure she doesn't spend too much time enjoying herself.
-Occasionally Shutting Down. Though her cybernetics almost eliminate her ability to sleep, the effects of fatigue still remains. When this occurs, she'll often commence shutdown on herself and knock out, no matter where she is as long as its safe for her to do so. This can be while she's standing up in formation, in a chow hall, or even in the spa she frequents. Such events can be quite strange to those not familiar with this and might be worried the old coot finally kicked the bucket. This is not the case.
-Socializing: Cassandra loves to talk and converse. She loves to tell stories of the past and hear the experiences of others. Forming bonds and relationships in this manner is something she treasures. It really is that simple.
-Praising the EMPRAH: Cassandra reveres the emperor as a god-like entity. God-like, because she believes he's just an incredibly powerful man, but her reverence is not unlike one would express to actual divinity. She often prays to him before important events or trials and bless her newly created sweet treats in his name. She's not one to evangilize and holds this reverence as a personal one, but she will not suffer another to discredit or badmouth him in her presence. She understands many others might not see him in the same
light she does, but tongues should be held or controlled when around her.
-Unecisarily operating her body's mechanics: Even when she isn't figiting, she enjoys operating the small functions of her mechanical body. Shifting skin plates or whirring her servos, it didn't matter. It tickled and buzzed and was incredibly pleasurable to her. She'd often do this when becoming frustrated in an attempt to de-esculate herself, but such actions are not wholly tied to how pissed she might be getting.
Fears:
-Dying: Dying doesn't just mean joining the cycle she hates or losing the light of her beloved emperor and the family and friends she may have cultivated, but it symbolizes the failure in her ancestor's purpose, her purpose. How can she live with herself knowing that all this effort was for nothing?
-Degredation of the worlds: She craves the rejoining of the worlds not just to see the perfect world her ancestor saw, but out of fear of the imbalances in the realmstate tearing it all apart before the rejoining can be commenced. She'd rather have an imperfect world than no world at all.
-Being Alone: Having been abandoned many a time, she can't suffer it again, to be alone. Its through this fear that she often makes as many friends, lovers, or family as possible. It is inevitible that those bridges will fall into disrepair and burn, so having multiple lessons the impact on her psyche.
-Demons: for over a thousand years she waged a war to contain them in the emperor's name. No matter how many battles she won, she lost just as many men and women under her command, watched homes and families ripped apart. They are in hell for a reason and deserve no forgiveness nor pity, only endless shelling from her cannons.
-Death of her Friends/Family/etc: Though she makes much of an effort to make as many connections as possible, this desire and greed, the loss of them is still hard for her to deal with, even if she can get over it depending on the amount she has to rely upon. For example, say a private often visits her to exchange baking ideas regularly outside of duty. For him this is a simple friendship, to her he might as well be a grandson. If she gets word that he is in danger, she will go out of her way to get him out of that danger, depending on the stakes of course and if it doesn't contribute against the Emperor's plan.
Goals:
The ultimate goal in which her efforts are wholly bought into is simply survival. Her line was devised to carry the locked memories of the world before the realms' sundering until the worlds are once again rejoined and mended. A death in Frost's chain of inheritance is a loss of vital memories of that perfect world. While there are currently three of them existing concurrently, this is not the norm. Given that Miranda is a dog of the Soul Society and her daughter's soul is highly unstable, that leaves Cassandra, in her mind, alone to carry these memories into the future. There is a sense of self preservation that directs her efforts. Don't confuse this with cowardice as her position in the Vandenriech contributes to their efforts of rejoining. Additionally, as her soul repairs and regenerates, she intends to start again, given the failed attempt to pass down her memories to the next generation with Miranda.
Alignment: Neutral Good?
Overall Personality:
If there was an element Cassandra could choose to relate to, it would be water. This wonderful fluid will fill any space it is allowed to. When put under pressure from cold or physical force, water can solidify and become more rigid, more unmoving. When under heat it can expand and take to the sky. There is flexibility when it comes to this element, but is ultimately predictable, just like Cassandra. There is a purpose to her existance and her rules and ideals haven't changed in over two thousand years of her existance. Those who come to know her can easily maneuver around her quirks and tendencies, and Cassandra is aware of this. She cares very little so long as the emperor is not insulted and that people are polite to her and others in her company. Additionally, she loves water. She loves to swim in the vast sea, she loves its beauty. She loves how the sea can be as like glass upon the surface and how it can turn on a dime and become a roaring wave of destruction. She enjoys the flow carressing her skin and the beauty and life it gives to the world. Through immersing herself, she can lose herself. It is a wonderful experience and is a great way for her to escape the horrors of the world in its current state.
As young as she appears compared to her actual age, she does have that grandmotherly aura about her. She enjoys the exchange of stories of the past and takes great pleasure in training and teaching new vandenriech and other beings she's become quite fond of. These are family to her and she treats them not unlike a grandmother would. Politeness and etiquette is key at the dinner table and one should never reject a gift, to do so is rude. The rule applies to herself and she is humble enough to accept criticism as long as its done in a meaningful, respectful way. If she respects and treats a person well, she expects to be treated in a similar way. To do otherwise is incredibly rude. Though this might not anger her outright, her opinion of this individual will likely waver. True anger is brought out by severe acts against herself, her family, friends, lovers, and especially the emperor. To anger her is to make a near lifetime enemy out of her with little hope of forgiveness. To anger her once is to draw anger out of her for all time until amends are made. The efforts required for one to gain her forgiveness is steep, but not impossible.
Her intense anger comes from the willpower all Frosts maintain in their heart. Whereas Miranda uses it to maintain control of her emotions, able to put herself in a near emotionless state as cold as steel or Mirim using it to bring her emotions to bear, Cassandra uses it to hold herself true to her word and vows. If she says she will protect someone, she will until her promise is fulfilled, so long as it doesn't conflict with other promises, no matter the cost or how long it may take. It is this reason why she chose to hold onto her charge in Russia for over a thousand years, only accepting her retrieval when she was incapable of stopping them from taking her back to Silbern. Ultimately, her mission was nullfied by the Battle of Death Mountain, so she's more than happy to not return and enjoy her her moment's reprieve. Making a friend or relationship with her is more than likely going to be honored indefinitely if she can help it.
With her interactions with people, Cassandra is quite honest and blunt. The truth is truth and to her, it should be spoken of words to be spoken at all. It is better to hurt now and learn from it than to let it fester and feel betrayed in the end. To her, the truth will never sour a relationship on her end, especially if its given respectfully from a good place. On the other hand, not confessing their crimes against her only adds to her supposed retribution against them. Like debt, it gains interest and in her mind she will be payed whether they like it or not.
Recreationally, Cassandra is quite open. For a time she enjoyed the thunder of her cannons and the impact that would sound upon hitting her target, making target practice one of her more favorite passtimes. These days however, though she still does enjoy destroying stuff under her shots, she's taken up more hobbies. She loves to swim and enjoys visiting famous bodies of water to take in their beauty. She has a specific guilty pleasure in standing beneath waterfalls, feeling its weight against her skin and the sight of the sun's light refracting through the falling fluid. It's enough to lose herself in its beauty. Additionally, she quite enjoy's baking and takes it quite seriously, drawing parallels between the processes in developing vandenreich soldiers to the creation of sweet treats. Seeing all these ingrediants come together mix and be baked to create something greater is reminicent of a soldier gaining experience through combat to grow their powers and tactics. She takes this very seriously, just as she would if she were tutoring or training.
As far as intelligence, the majority of her smarts come from her centuries of experience and is lacking in any form of formal education outside of the training provided by Silbern. The basics of combat were taught to her through gladatorial bouts and refined in the Vandenreich training grounds. Through this solid foundation she was able to enhance and innovate her abilities, taking inspiration from the developement of military, sea-faring vessels. Like with most things, she often will watch from the sidelines. She'd focus on how they operate, how they move, then ask herself "Why?" Upon finding the answer, she'd often find those answers applicable to how she engages foes on foot. This obsession with ships would come to form the foundation of her powers, developing over time just as human technology has. The same is applied to day-to-day challenges in the Vandenreich, applying her lessons learnt from her experience fighting and observing the sea and the ships upon them to navigate the young private to greater heights, with mixed results depending on the potential of the soldier in question. She recognizes that perhaps she isn't the best choice to train, but it is an aspect of her job she enjoys committing to.
"Dear Emperor, have mercy. Is your abandonment of us punishment enough?"
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-Powers-
"Cassandra will fall, my fire will fade, and my soul of eld will re-emerge. Strength unshackled, a curse will be upon me, and I will take my true shape"
Fighting Style:
Before moving into how she would utilize her abilities developed in Silbern and honed against the demonic presence of Vulkan at Death Mountain, there was the basics. Upon conception and creation by her mother, Aurum Frost, she would gain the basics of combat simply by watching her mother fight in gladitorial bouts. Through her strength she was able to overpower many foes, but when faced with supernatural opponents, she'd be able to glimpse at her skills as a bonafide pit fighter. In these types of engagements, no party had the option to rely on ranged combat, as the skill of the other would be enough to bridge the gap. One may untilize ranged tactics in a more harassing manner, but ulitimately those fights would come down to brutal face to face combats. For this, one may choose to bulk up their body, brandish whatever armor they could and rely on heavy strength an weaponry to bulldoze the compition like her mother had done or one may utilize speed and dexterity to quickly attack weak points. In lower skilled fights, the dexterity fighter had the edge as the lack of proper experience from the brute kept the stronger foe from properly protecting their more important bits. However, if the stronger brute honed its skill in its ability to choose which attacks to take and which ones to defend against, then they'd be able to press the advantage and secure a victory. In these matchups, the brute needed only one solid strike to end the fight.
How does this insight apply to Cassandra's method to fighting? For one, it seeded a distaste for close ranged engagements where tactical minds struggled and raw instinct and muscle memory prevailed. Though inheriting a tough body from her mother, she did not inherit her innate talent for close quarters no-holds-barred fighting. Hers was a more cool, analytical mind, especially after the Vandenreich got their hands on her. In close quarters she was at her weakest. She was not particularly skilled in martial combat and developed a piece of her powers in order to protect herself should this type of fight occur. However, if it ever came to blows at such a short range and she was unable to regain her preferred range, the battle would be lost in her mind and she would seek to escape, regroup, and reevaluate the approach to fighting this type of foe.
She is a tactician at heart, especially now in her older age. Her abilities align much with a heavy ship-of-the-line, meaning though her arrows hit hard, she relies heavily on her troops for proper screening and harassing of the enemy. Against airborn targets, she is not proficient in fighting, and the irony of the type of combat spiritual beings enact is not lost on her. Many hollows can fly. Shinigami can untilize airground and many others can utilize techniques that allow them to take to the air. For this she relies on her comrades to best deal with them, or she may flee until her forces are better suited to this task. Ground and sea targets are more akin to her liking. With both she can use her abilities to bombard them from far away, utilizing her forces or assisting allies to keep them at bay, but in range of her guns.
As a commander, she prefers to lead a balanced force that covers most areas and makes up for her weaknesses. She enjoys having close range protection as well as screening units to scout out potential targets for her guns. She isn't quite swift, so if she is utilized on the frontline, she would prefer it be planned and briefed before the operation begins. Preparation is a must and if such preparations fail, then a tactical retreat and reevaluation is in order before making the attempt again. Despite her strength, she cannot fight a war alone. Teamwork is required and Cassandra is very much a teamplayer to those who also play along. There is no time to plan with bone-headed brutes. With other captains, captain-supervisors, or even sternritter, coordination is key. Though taking an artilliarist role, she can also take the coordinator's role, feeding information from and to troops on the battlefield. Coordination makes plans go smoothly, and smooth is fast and effective. Chaos among the ranks will often destroy them alone which is devastating when fighting a disciplined force such as the Soul Society whose tendency to engage in close combat might drive doubt into her troops' ranks.
Assuming everything goes wrong and her allies have died or left her and their is no escape, the moment she realizes this, she will do everything in her power to make the fight more difficult for her opponent. Collateral damage, innocent killings of the enemy's populace, destruction of infrustructure, everything she can do to damage the enemy's ability to pursue will be committed. If that wont work, then she will bring everything to bear to keep the enemy in minimum optimal range. She'd use her high explosive rounds to make the terrain awkward to travel. She'd use her waters to hamper the movements of her adversaries all the while shooting down at them from her artificial highground. In her mind this type of combat is not sustainable without assistance, as her role is more of a support gunner and coordinator. Her powers simply exist to amplify this effect.
Once Vollstandig is acquired, its use will be used quite carefully. Though specifically an upgrade on her normal properties, she needn't abuse its power until she becomes more accustomed to the feel of the form. She's not proficient in that kind of technique and will likely utilize it in one of two ways. The first way would be to use it to help her get away and flee or get back into a more optimal range for her guns. This is similar to her normal tactics, except now she doesn't have the ability to coordinate with friendly forces in her range, but rather only able to focus on her own abilities, which isn't ideal for any ship isolated and surrounded by enemies. As a super last resort she may use tactics that might harm herself if it meant a possibility or escape or slowing down the advancing enemy, but only just as a last resort. She sees herself as a valuable resource to the Emperor, and such resource is not one to be wasted needlessly.
The secondary way would be as a finisher to push the advantage on an enemy group. If an opening arises for victory, she may activate Vollstandig and use it to cause cause in her enemy's ranks. Dissilusioned and scattered, they may be more susceptible for routing and slaughter before her and her allies. Such a determination is planned and well thought out. If it goes against the grand plan, she will not commit to this tactic. Only when she and her allies are on the same page will she release. To do otherwise might hamper her allies' efforts as her shells are indiscriminate between friend or foe. Catching an ally with her arrows or shells is unexceptable and not worth committing to unless this is indeed the plan. Once she is committed to this plan of action, she will be relentless, advancing her troops under the cover of her artilliary as her troops finishes off the survivors.
Bow Release Overall Theme: Battleship: Cassandra's powers are themed around naval warfare, particularly the battleship. It utilizes high fire power and long range capability to attack targets as well as a center to coordinate efforts of those nearby. Appearance-wise it is heavily inspired by old naval battleship componant design with some slight draconic flavor that's barely noticible before releasing, but even more-so when in Vollstandig.
-Big Guns to Serve the 'Reich -C6- Form: Activating the property transforms her bow into a pair of shoulder mounted cannons with an appearance akin to classic naval guns. Though not changing the arrows on its own, it can allow her to fire up to double the amount of arrows at a 50% increase to it's price. Having this property active will enhance other properties as described in their respective descriptions.
-Defies the Wind -C5-Firing: Long ranged combat often require a zeroing shot to to improve following volleys. When activated, the property augments her arrows in order to increase accuracy of the next five following attacks by her bow. While this property is active, it will send a field of harmless reishi out 25 meters. Hostile targets hit by this wave will have their body profile, the place in which an attack upon hit would register a successful strike, melee or otherwise, double. While this doesn't actually expand their physical form, it ensures that a narrow miss will actually do damage corresponding to where it missed, while direct hits are ultimately unneffected by the correction provided by the zeeroing Shot. Additionally, the pulsing effect from the wave that hits the target will transfer to them to visually show them and all to see their expanded body profile. If fired while her form property is active, it increases the range of the shot's field to 50 meters and affects the next ten attacks made instead of five. OS of her arrows is halfed during clashes with this property.
-Lead the Navy Into War -C4- Power: A battleship is not only a powerful weapons platform, but a mighty flagship in which navies are guided and cordinated from. Upon activation, a small comms tower shaped reishi structure will form at her back stretching upwards ten feet. All allied or friendly spiritual entities within half a mile will recieve a hailing from her within their thoughts regardless of obstacle. If accepted, a link will be created in to a shared Channel. Here, she can communicated her thoughts via voice only and those linked will be able to in kind. Those linked to her cannot communicate with others linked to her, but can relay messages to them through her to repeat. Any who are linked can disconnect at anytime, requiring an additional hailing to reconnect the link. Additionally, all links only work when in range of her ability and will automatically disconnect upon exiting the area of influence. Additionally, she can choose to hail a hostile or potential hostile entity whose location is known. Rules above still apply.
-Unrivaled Firepower -C3- Power: A pair of naval guns deserves proper ammunition. This property transforms her arrows into shells. When active, only one may be fired at a time, two if Big Guns property is active. Upon activation, Cassandra gains access to Armor Piercing Rounds! Piercing allows her punch through defensive techniques by increasing her OS by 50% when clashing with those techniques, 100% when her Form Property is active.
-Hull of Steel -C2-: If the skin of a battleship is its armor, the mechanical flesh of Cassandra's body is her Hull. This is a Psuedo-permanant property that will activate at the beginning of a thread, taking up on of her property slots and limiting her to a 75% regen rate. The armor grants her the ability to mitigate up to 25% against directly damaging attacks' OS. Additionally, she will gain the choice of being able to immerse herself in water or removing the ability to be immersed altogether. If she has another property active, she will be locked into not being able to immerse herself into water at all. When Immersed, her speed is cut by 50% and when on the surface of water, her speed is buffed by 50%. If no other property is active, she may choose to switch between Immersed or Surfaced. If immersed she will maintain the immersed speed until she reaches the surface.
-Ride the Waves to War -C1- Soul: A ship is best utilized on water rather than land. Upon activation, Cassandra draws in water from nearby sources, whether that be by pipes or the air, which ever it is easier, to her and fills a 50 meter zone up to the height of 5 feet tall centered on her. This zone follows her with her at the center as she moves, whether that be on ground or in the air, and remains in a perfect circle around her. If, for example, a wall or building or an obstruction prevents the circle, the water will attempt to fill what areas it can as long as its within this zone.
Vollstandig Divine Power (Vandenreich Only)Contest of Titans Commence: A bombardment from a battleship's mighty armaments are certainly enough to cause fear and panic, and for good reason. With this ability, she's able to choose from three shell types, High Explosive, Armor Penetration, or Cluster. High explosive loads in powerful shots that explode on impact, damaging targets withen 150 meters of the impact while Armor Penetration increases the OS against clashes by 150% when using this shell. Cluster munitions allow her fired shells to burst half way to its target, providing a wide shotgun like effect that bursts into a cloud of normal arrows covering the target location's area by 200 meters with the target at the center.
Vollstandig Divine Soul (Vandenreich Only)The Sea Has Drawn Them Near: A more powerful version of her normal soul property, the zone of water is expanded to a diameter of 100 meters with a height of 10 feet all. The waters beneath her begin to spin at a speed of 150 speed in a clockwise motion around her not unlike storming waters. Additionally, she will gain the choice of being able to immerse herself in water or removing the ability to be immersed altogether. If she has another property active, she will be locked into not being able to immerse herself into water at all. When Immersed, her speed is cut by 100% and when on the surface of water, her speed is buffed by 100%. If no other property is active, she may choose to switch between Immersed or Surfaced. If immersed she will maintain the immersed speed until she reaches the surface.
Additional Tools or Techniques:
{Movement - Mastered}Technique Name: Movement
Class: 4
Technique Type: Other
Technique Element: None
Description: This is a movement technique. It's to keep up with things like Shunpo or Sonido. While all races using this have their own variant of a step technique already, this one is pretty much an in-general type of move. It attunes the physical body to the reiatsu in the air, rather than spiritual to spiritual. It is now physical to spiritual. This allows the user to step at 3x speed for the cost of only 25 Reiatsu. This technique does not take up a technique slot.
How to Use: Focus the body’s energy and release during a step. This technique can be broken off in the middle of its use. Unlike other step techniques, this one can be repeated while in the middle of the previous one, allowing someone to change their movement course in mid movement.
-Class: 4
Technique Type: Other
Technique Element: None
Description: This is a movement technique. It's to keep up with things like Shunpo or Sonido. While all races using this have their own variant of a step technique already, this one is pretty much an in-general type of move. It attunes the physical body to the reiatsu in the air, rather than spiritual to spiritual. It is now physical to spiritual. This allows the user to step at 3x speed for the cost of only 25 Reiatsu. This technique does not take up a technique slot.
How to Use: Focus the body’s energy and release during a step. This technique can be broken off in the middle of its use. Unlike other step techniques, this one can be repeated while in the middle of the previous one, allowing someone to change their movement course in mid movement.
{Verfeinern-Mastered}Technique Name: Verfeinern (Refine)
Class: 7
Technique Type: Quincy Technique
Usable By: All Quincy
Technique Element: Spirit
Description: A simple technique freeing Quincy of reishi poisoning while using their cross in Hueco Mundo. By halving their reishi intake, they can avoid being poisoned.
How to Use: See drawback.
Drawbacks: Use of this technique cuts reishi intake by half to avoid being poisoned by ambient reishi.
-Class: 7
Technique Type: Quincy Technique
Usable By: All Quincy
Technique Element: Spirit
Description: A simple technique freeing Quincy of reishi poisoning while using their cross in Hueco Mundo. By halving their reishi intake, they can avoid being poisoned.
How to Use: See drawback.
Drawbacks: Use of this technique cuts reishi intake by half to avoid being poisoned by ambient reishi.
{Blut - Mastered}Technique Name: Blut (Blood)
Technique Class: 3 - 80 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Spirit.
Technique Cost: 300 Reiatsu/post for Vene, 500 Reiatsu/post for Arterie.
Description: Blut, translated as “blood,” is a powerful technique that is passed down through all pure-blooded Quincies of the Vandenreich Empire. This technique is a gift from the Vandenreich Emperor, and only exists as long as he, or someone of similar power who has assumed his role, is alive. Channeling that leader's power through their very veins, Vandenreich Quincy are able to draw upon it and make use of it either defensively or offensively in combat. This technique is not active by default, however, and a cost must be paid to trigger it.
The first half of this technique is Blut Vein, the defensive half of the ability. Acting similar to an Arrancar's Hierro, Blut Vein allows the user to protect themselves on the skin level, preventing any physical damage to the body as long as the user possesses a superior offensive stat. Unlike Hierro, though, this armor will not degrade over time. However, attacks with impact behind them can still send the user flying, though the bodily damage will be negated. Blut Vein costs 300 Reiatsu per post to keep active.
The other half of the technique is Blut Arterie, which focuses on offensive ability. While this ability is active, the Emperor's power flows through the user's body and soul, doubling either physical or spiritual stats. This takes up one of the user's long-term stat boost slots, and costs 500 Reiatsu per post to keep active. Note that only one of these two techniques can be active at a time; if one is activated, the other is deactivated.
How to Use: Spend Reiatsu to draw out the latent power in the user's blood.
Drawbacks: The first major drawback to Blut Vein is that it can be bypassed in one of three ways. First, if the opponent's offensive stat is higher by even a single point, then Blut Vein is ignored. Second, if the opponent is of a superior Class, then Blut Vein is bypassed. Finally, “final forms” of Release, such as Bankai, can ignore Blut Vein.
-Technique Class: 3 - 80 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Spirit.
Technique Cost: 300 Reiatsu/post for Vene, 500 Reiatsu/post for Arterie.
Description: Blut, translated as “blood,” is a powerful technique that is passed down through all pure-blooded Quincies of the Vandenreich Empire. This technique is a gift from the Vandenreich Emperor, and only exists as long as he, or someone of similar power who has assumed his role, is alive. Channeling that leader's power through their very veins, Vandenreich Quincy are able to draw upon it and make use of it either defensively or offensively in combat. This technique is not active by default, however, and a cost must be paid to trigger it.
The first half of this technique is Blut Vein, the defensive half of the ability. Acting similar to an Arrancar's Hierro, Blut Vein allows the user to protect themselves on the skin level, preventing any physical damage to the body as long as the user possesses a superior offensive stat. Unlike Hierro, though, this armor will not degrade over time. However, attacks with impact behind them can still send the user flying, though the bodily damage will be negated. Blut Vein costs 300 Reiatsu per post to keep active.
The other half of the technique is Blut Arterie, which focuses on offensive ability. While this ability is active, the Emperor's power flows through the user's body and soul, doubling either physical or spiritual stats. This takes up one of the user's long-term stat boost slots, and costs 500 Reiatsu per post to keep active. Note that only one of these two techniques can be active at a time; if one is activated, the other is deactivated.
How to Use: Spend Reiatsu to draw out the latent power in the user's blood.
Drawbacks: The first major drawback to Blut Vein is that it can be bypassed in one of three ways. First, if the opponent's offensive stat is higher by even a single point, then Blut Vein is ignored. Second, if the opponent is of a superior Class, then Blut Vein is bypassed. Finally, “final forms” of Release, such as Bankai, can ignore Blut Vein.
{Schatten - Mastered(Cinematic)}Technique Name: Schatten (Shadow)
Technique Class: 4 - 20 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich - Cinematic.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Shadow.
Technique Cost: 0 Reiatsu.
Description: Schatten, or Shadow (whichever you prefer) is a Vandenreich technique that allows the user to walk in the shadows of the three worlds for transportation. Similarly to Garganta and the Senkaimon, Schatten serves as a mobility option to allow the Quincy or Quincies in question to move between any world except for Hell, or sections of those worlds with ease, so long as the user has been to said world. At Learned, this allows the user to walk into shadows in order to move about, reappearing through another shadow somewhere else. At Mastered however, this technique allows the user to create portals of shadow for transportation instead, shaped as the Vandenreich emblem, allowing them to make their own shadows instead of relying on those in the world around them.
How to Use: Walk in the shade of the Three Worlds.
Drawbacks: While Schatten costs no reiatsu in order to create, it cannot be used with zero reiatsu. Stepping through shadows, or creating portals of shadow, take far too much time in order to be able to do in Combat.
-Technique Class: 4 - 20 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich - Cinematic.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Shadow.
Technique Cost: 0 Reiatsu.
Description: Schatten, or Shadow (whichever you prefer) is a Vandenreich technique that allows the user to walk in the shadows of the three worlds for transportation. Similarly to Garganta and the Senkaimon, Schatten serves as a mobility option to allow the Quincy or Quincies in question to move between any world except for Hell, or sections of those worlds with ease, so long as the user has been to said world. At Learned, this allows the user to walk into shadows in order to move about, reappearing through another shadow somewhere else. At Mastered however, this technique allows the user to create portals of shadow for transportation instead, shaped as the Vandenreich emblem, allowing them to make their own shadows instead of relying on those in the world around them.
How to Use: Walk in the shade of the Three Worlds.
Drawbacks: While Schatten costs no reiatsu in order to create, it cannot be used with zero reiatsu. Stepping through shadows, or creating portals of shadow, take far too much time in order to be able to do in Combat.
{Blutwächter - Mastered}Technique Name: Blutwächter (Blood Guard)
Technique Class: 5 - 20 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Blood.
Technique Cost: 150 Reiatsu/post.
Description: An extension of Blut Vene, Blutwächter serves as a spiritually defensive option for Quincies that find themselves up against Hollows or Arrancar. By expending 150 reiatsu per post, the user can activate this technique, shielding them from specifically Hollow and Arrancar reiatsu in order to protect themselves from the poisoning and acidic burns that they are capable of inducing. When used alongside the Quincy technique Verfeinern, this technique costs no reiatsu.
How to Use: Pulse reiatsu through the user's veins.
Drawbacks: Blutwächter cannot be used alongside But Vene. If Verfeinern is active alongside Blutwächter, Blut Vene can be used, but only at half-effectiveness. Requires Blut at Learned.
-Technique Class: 5 - 20 TTP
Technique Type: Vandenreich.
Usable By: Vandenreich Quincy.
Technique Element: Blood.
Technique Cost: 150 Reiatsu/post.
Description: An extension of Blut Vene, Blutwächter serves as a spiritually defensive option for Quincies that find themselves up against Hollows or Arrancar. By expending 150 reiatsu per post, the user can activate this technique, shielding them from specifically Hollow and Arrancar reiatsu in order to protect themselves from the poisoning and acidic burns that they are capable of inducing. When used alongside the Quincy technique Verfeinern, this technique costs no reiatsu.
How to Use: Pulse reiatsu through the user's veins.
Drawbacks: Blutwächter cannot be used alongside But Vene. If Verfeinern is active alongside Blutwächter, Blut Vene can be used, but only at half-effectiveness. Requires Blut at Learned.
{Hirenkyaku - Mastered}Technique Name: Hirenkyaku
Class: 4
Technique Type: Quincy Technique
Technique Element: None
Technique Description and Effects:
Analogous to the Shinigami Shunpo or the Arrancar Sonído, the Quincy Hirenkyaku allows the user to move quickly over short distances; according to many Quincy, it is faster than flash steps, though a Captain's superior speed in comparison to a Master Quincy's speed suggests that this is just a generalization. Using it in its base form increases speed 10x for a single step, and costs 50 Reiatsu. However, unlike Shunpo and Sonido, this can be used for a constant movement as well. Giving up 400 Reiatsu allows for a constant movement over the duration of one post at 6x speed. Giving up 1000 Reiatsu allows constant movement over the duration of 3 posts of 4x speed.
How to use technique: To perform the technique, the user gathers spiritual particles under their feet and rides them to the desired location. Like the air-walking skill displayed by most Arrancar and Shinigami, it can also be used to hover or fly for long distances.
Drawback: None.
"For those who have tasted perfection, the living world and its shattered reflections are but mockeries of the true world. The false lives of their inhabitants are inherently devoid of meaning. You are unfit to act as guardians of any world!"Class: 4
Technique Type: Quincy Technique
Technique Element: None
Technique Description and Effects:
Analogous to the Shinigami Shunpo or the Arrancar Sonído, the Quincy Hirenkyaku allows the user to move quickly over short distances; according to many Quincy, it is faster than flash steps, though a Captain's superior speed in comparison to a Master Quincy's speed suggests that this is just a generalization. Using it in its base form increases speed 10x for a single step, and costs 50 Reiatsu. However, unlike Shunpo and Sonido, this can be used for a constant movement as well. Giving up 400 Reiatsu allows for a constant movement over the duration of one post at 6x speed. Giving up 1000 Reiatsu allows constant movement over the duration of 3 posts of 4x speed.
How to use technique: To perform the technique, the user gathers spiritual particles under their feet and rides them to the desired location. Like the air-walking skill displayed by most Arrancar and Shinigami, it can also be used to hover or fly for long distances.
Drawback: None.
Birthplace: Celtic Britain
Current Residence: Silbern
Memorable Figures:
Aurum Frost: Mother
Miranda Frost Daughter
Mirim Frost: Granddaughter
November Frost: Son
Vulkan: Generational Enemy
Seris: Serraph's "Other", used to draw Miranda to Death Mountain.
Serraph Quarrere: Seris's other, used by Cassandra to lure her Daughter to her.
History:
Gladiator, Aurum Frost:
"Honor, Glory, lies to make idiot boys want Gladiatorship, and idiot girls spread their legs for it. Let me tell you what makes a Gladiator: Killing; either enough men or the right man."
Cassandra’s story starts with her deepest memories past on to her from individual to individual, with the ancient gladiator, Aurum Frost. Aurum hailed from a small nomadic tribe that hailed from the Germanic lands north of Rome. In these days, the hold of the major spiritual powers of today on the human realm was still disputed. Besides the Quincies, other small groups of spiritually aware beings rose and contested, among these were the Frost Clan.
These people wielded a power not unlike that of modern fullbring. Through focus of intent and their energies, they were able to master the physical body. Strength was their domain and they utilized this to hold the piece in the lands they traveled. Through their training and meditation, they gleamed the slightest truth of the separation of the realms and became startled from the truth of the soul cycle and the repercussions of tipping the balance of one world over another. As such they strove to remove themselves from the soul cycle of death, cleansing, and reincarnation.
The technique they learned allowed themselves to separate fragments of their souls into another being, imbuing them with the memories and experiences of those who came before. Once complete they would nurture the new being’s soul back to full strength, and such this cycle began anew. Such a process required the participation of several members. Deliberate intent and control was required to incarnate themselves, but the result was similar to what we may think of a perfect clone.
Aurum Frost was one of these incarnations and would be the last proper descendent of her tribe before the Romans came and conquered the lands they roamed. Most of her people refused to fight back, holding true to their code of never flexing their strength upon those who could not see the world they could, but Aurum was prideful.
To the Romans she was a giant. A fortress of a woman at 8 ft and 250 pounds of muscle, she’d fight the legions that were capturing her people. Though none alone among them could contest her might, she was still just alone in this fight. Wounded and exhausted, she’d be captured, enslaved, and sold to a rather peculiar buyer in Rome itself.
In the spiritual community, her tribe wasn’t an unknown topic. When the tale of her defiance reached her buyer, she would be swiftly acquired and brought to rome to meet with the man. The buyer was mysterious, a vessel of Vulcan, Demon of the Forge, though she wouldn’t know this in her time. Vulcan held interest in spiritually strong humans, seeing them as his way to interact with the world and Aurum would be a perfect vessel, should she be conditioned.
Once arriving at Vulcan’s estate, her shackles would be removed and a proposal given. She could take a sword in hand in his service and gain her freedom upon winning a hundred victories, or she would be sent to a labor camp to build great roman works for the rest of her life. For Aurum, the glory of combat was tantalizing, and thus she took the blade and succeeded in her trial to become one of his gladiators.
In Rome’s underground, many gladiator groups fought spiritual beings. Hollows, hellions, captured shinigami, it made no difference. While the common, ignorant humans above enjoyed the boring fights of man, the ones who could see could stand in awe as gods fought. Aurum would fight in both realms, becoming quite the popular figure in Rome for her strength and prowess. The emperor himself would bestow a giant ceremonial blade to her for her valor in battle.
In the underrealm, this blade would be enchanted through drenching it in a pool of pure reishi, making it lighter and able to send a spiritual being back to which it came, circumventing the purification process. Such a thing could send hollows to the rukongai to cause chaos, but excelled in repelling and banishing demons back to hell. At this point Aurum knew the true intent behind her owner and confronted him openly, declaring she would banish him and drink of his blood. Aurum was, however, a woman of her word and would only do so once she had completed her 100 victories.
This gave Vulcan time to think, to plan, to scheme. When the quincies came to witness their games, to scout out particular fighters for their own ranks, a devilish opportunity presented itself. He approached them and struck a deal, if they could defeat Aurum upon her 99th bout, they would be able to take her into their ranks. The quincies had seen their fight and saw the value in her strength and accepted the challenge.
Vulcan didn’t intend to let her go and put her through hell for her last few matches before the final match, intending for her to enter the fight exhausted and wounded. She wouldn’t stand a chance. He also held the information that they would be sending one of their elite to fight her, a Sternritter.
Before the bout, she would turn to her tribe’s treasured technique and split her soul using the power of ancient fullbring. This new being, this woman, would be named Cassandra. Though Aurum would have preferred to raise her properly and experience that one particular joy in life, she knew it wouldn’t come to pass. Instead she’d transfer her thoughts and memories to her as a gift, for that was all she could do.
While Cassandra slept, she’d enter the arena one last time with Demon’s Bane in hand. The quincy, though not quite enthused to be here, seeing this fight as beneath himself, introduced himself as Stasius Scipio, the Steel. In their intense fight, she’d see for herself how advance a quincies powers could be in comparison to her innate strength. The ability to make oneself as hard or sharp as steel was strong, but even steel could be bent and broken.
Aurum played on the quincie’s sense of superiority and waited for his guard to fall. When that moment arose she’d burn through her life force for a boost in her physical ability. Now she could cut through his defenses. Dealing a serious wound to the sternritter, the quincy panicked and went on the defensive. Once again she couldn’t breach his defenses, but that didnt matter. The heat of her blows would cook him alive in his own flesh as his skin glew bright. When the pressure was too much, he’d implode. Aurum won.
In the ceremony to come, Aurum would be gifted her freedom as agreed upon and given citizenship in Rome for herself and her kin. Taking this she’d return home to Cassandra one last time. Laying herself in bed she’d look out her window at the sun as it began to rise over the city. She’d bestow Demon’s Bane upon Cassandra and bid her to go to the Arena below and swing that familiar blade with the elite men, and show them that Aurum was not dead, but alive in her successor
Sternritter D, The Dreadnought, Cassandra Frost
"I remember Death Mountain, 1819.
The sounds of that battle still haunts me to this day.
The Hellfire roaring from enemy hordes.
The sickening sound of a demon's talon tearing through human flesh.
The Private next to me firing his bow in desperation.
All these sounds still echo in my mind, and as conducted by death himself it all comes together as music.
A rhythm of death
A symphony of war"
Cassandra would do as she bid and participate in a series of exhibition matches in her name and honor. At the end of these matches, Aurum would be buried in the sands of the arena, bestowing all who fight there with her spirit and strength. Among the attendees were the Quincies who came to honor their fallen comrade and Aurum for a good fight. Though offered to have the Sternritter buried alongside Aurum, the Quincies refused, stating that this place belonged to Aurum alone and that Stasius would be buried within Silbern. The vessel of Vulcan would not be seen and would never be seen again.
The quincies offered and invitation for Cassandra, now that she was free to choose her own destiny. They offered the chance to serve a greeter master and serve a more important purpose. Cassandra agreed and went along. There she would be trained in the ways of the Quincy. Cassandra retained much of the strength of Aurum as well as her physical battle prowess, but such things were not in line with Quincy Doctrine, especially for the lower troops.
Those of the Vandenreich kept to a distance, preferring spiritual bows to wear down the enemy. Those who have yet mastered the ability to form bows formed into formations of pikes and spears. The skill with a blade or the fist had no place in the lower ranks of the Vandenreich. Put through the wringer, critiqued, and chastised, Cassandra faired poorly here, unable to rise through the ranks for a time.
After a hundred years she’d finally rewire her way of thinking, manifesting a rather odd bow, the bow within. By combining her philosophy with theirs, she was able to utilize her own body as the bow and fire her arrows from her fist. This allowed her to pelt her enemies from afar, while retaining a stance that focused on close combat.
With her fighting style developed, there weren’t many lower ranking Quincy who could contest her rise among their rank. She proved herself time and time again through loyalty and valor that she was meant for more. Upon breaking into the higher echelon of Quincy at the time, circa 1000 A.D., Cassandra would be bestowed the Schrift “D”, the Dreadnought.
Unfortunately, this act was merely to prevent her betrayal. She had quite a few counts of disregarding her betters in favor of her own way, but her overwhelming strength became the one thing keeping her from an untimely execution. Now she had no choice. Further more she would be utilized primarily in solidifying holds in the human realm, just as Stasius Scipio once did before his demise by the hands of Aurum. Cassandra would repay the Emperor for taking away something belonging to himself.
As she was moved place to place, the halls of the Silbern would become more and more foreign to her. The place she had come to love as home was stripped from her, replaced by various locations in the human world. She became bitter and cold, exhausted by the boredom at times and sick of the bloodshed she’d drown in at other times. It was then she would be assigned to her final duty, a mountain within the Russian wastes aptly named Death Mountain.
To the locals, on the last day of the month, a percentage of the small city on the base of the mountain would go missing. The locals believed it was God himself punishing them. In reality these were hellion attacks from a hellgate located inside the mountain. Cassandra’s presence there would curb this demonic threat, but she had no way of knowing that she would remain there for the next Millenia.
The city would be seemingly be under attack constantly by this threat. The amount of demons she purged would stop being counted, and she’d fall in a melancholic state, that is until she became inraptured by a man by the name of Joseph in the late 1700s. It would hardly be the first time she fell in love, but it would be the first time it went anywhere. They would marry, and she’d settle down in the outskirts of town in a small village. There she’d have two children, November Frost, and Miranda Frost, the latter of which would inherit a sizable fragment of her soul.
Demonic attacks had been decreasing in frequency over the previous centuries, so she grew complacent, weak. Hollow attacks would sense this drop in power and move to capitalize, attacking the family’s residence in the dead of night, killing Joseph and severely wounding Cassandra before Miranda’s eyes. This would traumatize Miranda greatly, the trauma etching itself onto her soul, corrupting it. One could argue this is Mirim’s conception.
The aftermath was a disaster. Cassandra bore witness to the slaughter of the village she inhabited, her troops acting too late to stop the carnage. Wounded and mangled, her troops did what they could to save her, but she'd end up loosing her limbs and her eyes in the process. Still, she perservered and survived the surgery required to accomodate to her new cybernetic replacements, though these were of lower quality to those obtained back in Silbern. A new resolve was born in her heart and she'd begin devising a plan to end her committment here.
The mental hurdles she was forced to overcome just by fighting her vows to the Emperor were tremendous. His words had power over her, but through those words she was able to succeed. The only way out was to become so injured she would be useless in this task and if Vulkan would be deterred for a time. Additionally, she'd uncover the truth of her husband, Joseph and that of her son.
Vulkan had envied Cassandra's lineage for their ability to split their soul into seperate beings. They were essentially the same person, but the environment and experience would make them different. If he could somehow utilize this technique, he'd be able to have a piece of himself escape Hell. His own version of the technique was incredibly flawed, only able to embed a living human with a mere sliver of his soul. They would largely be the same human and the sliver would merely guide them in the path he desired, but their choices were ultimately their own.
Cassandra realized that both Joseph and their son, November both held a sliver of that demon's being in their hearts. Joseph was reselient and mostly uneffected by its influence. November, stricken and traumitized with survivor's guilt, was not. Vulkan would gain more control of the boy and as Cassandra stood vigil over the Hellgate atop the mountain, he would steal Demon's Bane and form a group of his own meant to keep Cassandra here.
Unable to travel anywhere anymore on the threat of depleting her powers further fighting the small group, she'd turn to a more curious fellow, Serraph Quarrere, the Curious Sexta Espada. Someone as curious as himself couldn't help but visit her time to time, his speed vastly shadowing her son's and his band. Through their interaction, she'd realize that he held another being in his soul, that of the Crimson Queen Seris. This individual also held a grudge against her lineage, but Serraph saw her technique as a means to seperate the two, so they struck a bargain.
Serraph would instigate Miranda's growth and lead her here once she was strong enought to assist her with Vulkan. Once she'd arrive, she would release Vulkan, and they'd be able to defeat him properly. If she spent enough energy on this fight, she would surely be recalled back to Silbern. Serraph would agree to the plan and utilized Miranda's home district, creating a cult, and ensured her psyche would be warped. Once Miranda was strong, serraph would instigate the cult's activity as well as draw in rogue squad 12 to create a superweapon upon Miranda's Devastation of her home district.
What he didn't expect was her soul to become unstable, forcing the shinigami to self-mutilate her soul to survive. This currupted piece would form into a human, Mirim Frost, the next of the Frost line. Her existance made things easier. Serraph would use November's group to capture Mirim, and use the girl to lure Miranda back to Death mountain. Upon Mirim's meeting with Cassandra, the old quincy was horrified at the state of her soul, and snatched her from the clutches of the espada, reabsorbing her back into her being.
As Miranda battled at the base of the mountain, wiping out her brother and scaled the jagged peaks, Cassandra pieced together Mirim's soul as best as she could. Though it would be functional, it still will succumb to its instability for time if she released it again, so she held onto it, letting it generate power within her to fuel her efforts to break the seal she had placed on Vulkan's chains.
Miranda would reach to top of the mountain and the building that Cassandra resided. Cassandra congratulated her daughter on her newfound strength and released Vulkan, to Miranda's terror. The great fire snake demon burst through the hellgate, the length of its mighty body wrapping around the mountain in a death grip as it loomed over head, fangs bared at the trio.
Battle ensued, and Serraph drew back, fleeing to observe. With him gone, Cassandra readjusted her plans and called on the emperor's gift one last time. Her holy form clashed with the demon, and Miranda brought forth her bankai to trap the snake in her crystal growth. Subdued temperarily, Cassandra put everything into her bombardment, but it did nothing but wound the archdemon. Vulkan broke free and struck out at her with his massive tail, crushing her limbs and burning her alive.
Miranda would hold off the snake on her own, her resourcefulness keeping her in the fight. The sternritter would be sternritter no more as she burned through the power of her schrift. On death's door, she'd release Mirim from her soul's embrace, the girl's form rematerialized and stable. Sensing the girl's potential and realizing that the cracked soul could output and tremendous amount of power, she'd discard the remnant of her schrift, embuing it into her eye. Removing it, she'd forcibly embed her final gift to her grandaughter into her skull.
The dying whimper's of the dreadnought's schrift would serve to light the girl's soul aflame in a raging power. Using this, Mirim stormed back to the fight, saving her mother from being devoured and pounding the wounded snake demon. She'd use up every drop of the gift to do as much damage to him and ripped the giant snake in half, forcing the demon back below.
Serraph, who did nothing but observe would leave without the answers he thought he'd learn from the fight, snatching Mirim's now unconcious body to take her with him. He still had questions after all. Miranda, frustrated by the whole ordeal, would be powerless to stop him and gave her farewells to her mother, swiftly returning to the soul society before shinigami reinforcements would arrive.
Now alone, the mountain was quiet for the first time in hundreds of years. She was dying slowly, incredibly slowly, and she'd call for aid through her beacon one last time. This time, Silbern answered, and swiftly did they answer. It was as if the emperor himself was watching her failure. However, rather than be discarded like most failures in the Vandenriech, she was stabilized and returned to the Silbern.
They'd patch her up, but were unable to save the flesh burnt away by the hellfire. Cassandra would be given more augmentation, her body now seemingly more and more machine as they operated on her concious form. It was painful, but this pain helped her fight through the trauma of the last thousand years of torment by her duties. It was like therapy. With every successful install she'd feel the pain's weight lift along with a piece of her mind's pain. Eventually the process would bring her pleasure and excitement, but only just as they were finishing.
Officially, her return would be announced to the Vandenreich troops, as well as her demotion from Sternritter back to Captain-Supervisor, which would bring shock to many. True demotions in rank were rare, as death served as a more suitable punishment to failure, but as her faith in her emperor and the frost soul-line forced her to utilize every ounce of his gift, the emperor was amused rather than disapointed, and allowed her to live.
For months after the operation, Cassandra would serve more administrative duties as her body still adapted to her augmentations. For a time she was not able to walk, being wheelchair bound as she reintegrated herself back into Quincy Society.
"My daughter deserved better, a full life with me. I chose duty over my family's safety..."
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