Vesperia Lumina

Appearance
The most apparent feature of this early-teens-ish girl is the soft, amaranth pink light that limns her and the vicinity. Vesperia has a resplendent, stately beauty to her, like a well-cut jewel. She is short at less than five feet tall, but her poise and upbeat élan make her seem bigger. Friendly red eyes and rosy cheeks highlight a childlike face. Her hip-length hair is a deep purple that turns lavender at the tips, done up in drill-like buns on each side of her head.

Vesperia normally wears a backless, strapless gown of lavish, white silk. Colossal, carnation pink crystals line its skirt and stretch all the way to the ground; they look heavy enough to render walking impossible. A cumbersome crystalline headdress goes over the girl's head, and black evening gloves cover her arms. She accessorizes with golden jewelry, white thighhighs, and teetering pink stiletto pumps.

History
Vesperia remembers her past very well. She was the Brightest Star in the Night Sky, Vesperia Lumina of the constellation of the Crystal Crux. The Akashic Sphere was surrounded by innumerable other crystal stars that she shone together with. None stood out as much as her from dusk till dawn, and none received the same amount of references in charts astrological, astrometrical, and astronavigational.

For whole millennia, this brilliant star-jewel watched mortals and immortals go about their lives under the sky. She lacked the intellect to precisely understand what they were doing, or whether a given activity was one of happiness or sorrow, peace or war, magic or science. Vesperia was nevertheless content to know that life flourished and thrived in the world she and the other crystals loomed over, and that she could help people as a guide star that showed the way.

All this change when she fell. Vesperia recollects a sharp, searing pain and a subsequent fall that left her aching all over. When the crystal came to, she glimpsed the grass and the trees of the ground world all around her. Vesperia could not move at all until the strangest of things happened: a fleshy body akin to a human's gradually formed around her gemstone body.

Then the humans came. They were led by a white-haired lady with a big crown on her head, who introduced herself as Shiro, Queen of Anglionna. She said that she foresaw Vesperia's fall, and that such was a sign of ill omen, an event that confirmed the impending doom of mortals and immortals alike. More star-crystals would soon fall, and then something would go apocalyptically wrong with the Akashic Sphere. Shiro offered Vesperia the opportunity to help stave off this dire kismet by acting as her agent. It took a while for the girl's intellect to patch itself up to human standards and understand these concepts.

The crystal, still new to having sapience at the time, did not catch on to the worried and skeptical looks all of the other humans wore, nor did she glean the unspoken threat of execution should she refuse the queen's offer. Vesperia wholeheartedly accepted and promised to save the people she once guided from high above, and to prevent a malign fate from befalling the Akashic Sphere.

Over the next six or seven months, Vesperia received a basic education on the world and its cultures. The star-gem had proven to be incredibly sharp and a quick learner, and she was very surprised to finally piece together much of what she had witnessed from her bird's eye view. The stakes were much clearer to her now, and she redoubled her resolve to figure out what was going on with the Akashic Sphere. The crystal was fascinated by all the things she read of the world, and expressed a desire to see its many locales and peoples under the new light of a groundling's perspective.

Shiro, being the mentally unwell sort, found Vesperia oddly endearing all the while and doted upon the crystal with riches and luxuries (and many a delicious rock). Every so often, the queen treated her very harshly as a symbol of doom and as a foolish whelp. Vesperia only saw the best in the queen nevertheless, and simply thought that Shiro was stressed out from all of her combined duties as a monarch in addition to her noble cause of trying to save the world from an impending apocalypse. She dearly wished to help make Queen Shiro happy and smile for once.

Vesperia was eventually enrolled for a quaint little school called the Paranautical University for the Revealed Sciences, under a course for Akashics to help with her mission to investigate the falling star-crystals. There, she would also keep in touch with the course's professor Dr. Joan Randall, another member of Her Majesty's Secret Service. The crystal was thrilled by the prospect to study other facets of the world too.

Where will Vesperia Lumina, the Brightest Star in the Night Sky, go from here? Let us find out.

Goals

 * 1. Investigate the circumstances behind the falling star-crystals to prevent an apocalyptic fate from befalling the Akashic Sphere.
 * 2. See the world's many locales and peoples under the new light of a groundling's perspective.
 * 3. Relieve Queen Shiro of her stress, and make her happy and smile for once.

House Rule to Keep Track Of
Better Melee for PCs: All PCs lower the difficulty of melee attacks by one step. In addition, while wielding a melee weapon, they can use it to make ranged attacks out to short range using either Might or Speed without disarming themselves of the weapon, flavored as whatever mundane or magical techniques are appropriate.

Pools and Edges

 * Effort: 1 (Vesperia can spend up to 3 points from any one pool to lower the difficulty of a roll, or 3 points to add +3 damage to an attack if it hits)
 * Might: Pool 10, Weakness 1 (extra cost of 1 whenever Vesperia spends points from her Might pool, including when she uses Effort)
 * Speed: Pool 10
 * Intellect: Pool 16, Edge 2 (discount of 2 whenever Vesperia spends points from her Intellect pool, including when she uses Effort)
 * Reminder: "Trained in" means Vesperia lowers the difficulty by one step, while "specialized in" means she lower the difficulty by two steps.
 * Reminder: "Magic" means "a catch-all for the kinds of wondrous, possibly supernatural things that your character can do that others cannot. It might actually be an expression of technological devices, channeling spirits, mutations, psionics, nanotechnology, or any number of other sources."

Character Type: Adept

 * Cypher Use: Vesperia can bear three cyphers at a time.
 * Exception (from The Strange, 1 Intellect point plus Effort before Intellect Edge): Vesperia picks one creature within long range. The target is jolted by a confluence of fundamental forces for 4 points of damage. If the target she selects is not native to the ground world, its senses are overwhelmed. On a successful attack, in addition to taking 4 points of damage, it cannot act on its next turn. Once exposed to this, a non-native creature normally cannot be affected by the sense-overwhelming portion of this attack again for several hours. Action.
 * Far Step (2 Intellect points, reduced to 0 due to Intellect Edge): Vesperia leaps through the air and lands some distance away. She can jump up, down, or across to anywhere Vesperia chooses within long range if she has a clear and unobstructed path to that location. Vesperia lands safely. Action.
 * Magic Training: Vesperia is trained in the basics of "magic" (stacking to specialized due to her character descriptor) and can attempt to understand and identify its properties (including the operation of magic artifacts and cyphers). Enabler.
 * Scan (2 Intellect points, reduced to 0 due to Intellect Edge): Vesperia scans an area equal in size to a 10-foot (3 m) cube, including all objects or creatures within that area. The area must be within short range. Scanning a creature or object always reveals its level (a measure of how powerful, dangerous, or difficult it is). She also learns whatever facts the GM feels are pertinent about the matter and energy in that area. For example, Vesperia might learn that the wooden box contains a device of metal and synth. She might learn that the glass cylinder is full of poisonous gas, and that its metal stand has an electrical field running through it that connects to a metal mesh in the floor. Vesperia might learn that the creature standing before her is a mammal with a small brain. However, this ability does not tell Vesperia what the information means. Thus, in the first example, she does not know what the metal and synth device does. In the second, Vesperia does not know if stepping on the floor causes the cylinder to release the gas. In the third, she might suspect that the creature is not very intelligent, but scans, like looks, can be deceiving. Many materials and energy fields prevent or resist scanning. Action.
 * Customization: Skill (Narrow): Vesperia is trained in pleasant social interactions (stacking to specialized due to her character descriptor). Enabler.
 * Customization: Inability (Narrow): Vesperia increases the difficulty of lying by one step.
 * Customization: Weakness: Vesperia has Might Weakness 1 in exchange for 1 more Intellect Edge. This has already been included above.

Character Descriptor: Calm (Customized)

 * Bookish: +2 to Vesperia's Intellect pool. This has already been included above.
 * Skill: Vesperia is specialized in using her Onslaught ability. Enabler.
 * Skill: Vesperia is specialized in active perception, passive perception, and reading people. Enabler.
 * Skill (Broad): Vesperia is trained in the basics of "magic" (stacking to specialized due to her character type) and can attempt to understand and identify its properties (including the operation of magic artifacts and cyphers). Enabler.
 * Skill (Narrow): Vesperia is trained in pleasant social interactions (stacking to specialized due to her character type). Enabler.
 * Trivia: Vesperia can come up with a random fact pertinent to the current situation when you wish it. This is always a matter of fact, not conjecture or supposition, and must be something she could have logically read or seen in the past. Vesperia can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time she makes a recovery roll.
 * Inability: Vesperia increases the difficulty of physical attacks by one step.
 * Inability: Vesperia increases the difficulty of climbing, running, jumping, and swimming by one step.
 * Inability (Broad): Vesperia increases the difficulty of initiative rolls by one step.
 * Inability (Narrow): Vesperia increases the difficulty of intimidation by one step.

Character Focus: Would Rather be Reading

 * Knowledge is Power: Vesperia is specialized in any task involving knowledge, lore, or understanding. Enabler.

Free Narrow Non-Adventuring Skill

 * Skill (Narrow): Vesperia is trained in fashion.

Equipment

 * Lavish gown adorned with colossal crystals
 * Large purse (moderately priced)
 * Six-inch-diameter buckler (inexpensive), asset on Speed defense tasks
 * Enough money to purchase three inexpensive items
 * Enough money to purchase one moderately priced item
 * Enough money to purchase one expensive item