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Don't be a hater, dear. |
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— Herself |
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Myrtle Snow is a well-to-do and elegant witch. Honest and dependable, she operates on behalf of the Witches' Council, a group dedicated to protecting the supernatural -- especially witches and other magic-users -- from compromising their existence to dangers in the world. She is highly knowledgeable and experienced in witchcraft and the occult.
Personality
Myrtle Snow, so often even of speech and temperament, so charming and sophisticated, socializing comes easy for her. She is usually delightful to be around and knows her way in terms of etiquette and politesse. She is a lady, but not a shrinking violet, not a flower that has no thorns; she is not afraid at all to dirty her hands if necessary, and it is this resolve that so often inspires others around her.
Background
Myrtle Snow was born into a well-to-do family and, once she reached school age, attended an eminent academy for the training of young witches specifically. An exceptional student, she rose to the absolute top of her contemporaries and, upon graduation, quickly joined the Witches' Council and ascended to the supreme leadership role there. She has occupied her position for several decades and continues to work for the betterment of the supernatural world, most specifically and especially the witch community.
SIGNATURE ABILITY
The Last Word
Myrtle has never been one to allow others to get the better of her for very long. No matter what she has to face or defy, even death itself or the universe at large, Myrtle will always return to have the last laugh. It's inevitable that, whatever happens to her or however someone thinks they have one over on her, Myrtle will never be entirely out of the running. Somehow, the cosmos accommodates whatever is needed for Myrtle to come back and be as relevant to the situation as she was before any unfortunate disruption.
SKILLS
Bureaucracy - Competent Level
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Myrtle is highly competent in dealing with bureaucracy and procedure, especially as she is part of a council that deals in it from time to time. Although she is not always able to produce the desired result from said dealings, she does apply her skill as well as possible.
Myrtle is an excellent cook and able to prepare dishes of gourmet quality flawlessly, even able to alter recipes to include and conceal other ingredients for whatever purposes. She also has a refined palate that is developed enough to distinguish individual ingredients and preparation methods to the point where she can comment intelligently on the dish and even duplicate it herself.
Counsel - Competent Level
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Myrtle is an able counselor and confidant, giving advice where needed and assuaging the fears and anxieties of others, if she so chooses. Her advice is generally as good as possible with what she knows of a situation, although she is of course limited by her awareness of what is going on and the larger picture.
Myrtle embodies couture in every aspect of her life. She is fashionable and understands the elements of style to an exceptional degree. She is also able to distinguish authentic items from fakes and has a comprehensive knowledge of various designers throughout history, from wearable fashion, to jewelry, objets d'art, and other accoutrements. This knowledge extends to cuisine as well, and she has a refined palate for the best of food and drink, able to appreciate fine things in a way matched by few in the world. In all parts of her life touched with this sophistication, she is able to provide accurate and genuine critique if needed, and to a high degree of analysis.
Language - Competent Level
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Myrtle is experienced with a number of languages and can speak them comfortably enough to understand terminology and integrate terms seamlessly into conversation that are not of her native language. She is fluent in French, conversational in Spanish and Italian, and is able to manage with some effort in other, additional languages.
Leadership - Competent Level
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A strong leader, Myrtle is often able to inspire and direct others, and she can command authority in her own inimitable way. She is not always able to assert herself, due to her honesty and the fact that sometimes, her passionate pursuit of a goal may prove to be an obstacle. She can be undermined and flounder at times, but she does not easily give up and even if opposed, even if her position is usurped, she will still be very likely able to regroup her own to retake what is hers.
A lifelong student of lore and all kinds of information, Myrtle is an authority on occult knowledge. Able to recall even obscure footnotes, distinguish between similar concepts, and even recognize spells and effects from mere resonances, Myrtle's skill is virtually peerless due to literally decades spent in study and discipline.
The craft of the witch, including herbalism, spellcraft, research, occult knowledge, awareness of the supernatural world, and more, is known to Myrtle at an exceptionally high level. She understands the magical properties of plants and their role in magic, is practically a walking spellbook, knows where to look for information if she doesn't know it directly, and is fully abreast of most things happening in the world beyond the mundane. Always a star student from her academy days, she is able to recognize, analyze, and counter spells, and even come up with original spells or alter existing ones.
Myrtle is an expert player of the theremin. She is able to play it at performance level, perfectly understanding the physical demands of creating graceful sound with an uncommon instrument.
ABILITIES
Power: Divination - Supreme Level
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One of Myrtle's three special gifts as a witch, and her strongest of all, is the ability of divination, the ability to magically receive knowledge. She may use any method comfortable to her, such as stones, runes, tarot cards, or simple concentration. Myrtle's strongest specific focus to her power of divination is that of being able to detect whether someone is telling the truth or not and thus she is regarded as a Guardian, which she further has specified as a Guardian of veracity in the vernacular. While being able to locate things remotely, forecasting possible future events, and remote observation take specific focus and often implements, Myrtle can ascertain the truthfulness of a statement simply by hearing it.
Power: Elementalism - Enhanced Level
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Myrtle has the ability to manifest and manipulate any of the classical elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. It is a significant, often taxing ability if an element must be created out of nothing, but it requires much less effort if the element already exists in a place where she has access to it. It is also more challenging and demanding in a place that is elementally opposed to the effect needed, such as a greater challenge to create ice in a desert, or fire in an arctic tundra.
Power: Healing - Enhanced Level
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Vitalum Vitalis is the ability to take a portion of one's own life force and transfer it to another, thereby restoring the health of the target. It can also be used in reverse, though the user may face resistance, especially from another witch or warlock. Performing Vitalum Vitalis can exhaust, cause dizziness and fainting, and in general enervate. Life force naturally replenishes over time, and through rest, the strength of the witch or warlock can be recovered. The greater the extent of the injuries being healed, the more energy it takes and the more it will likely exhaust the healer.
Power: Mind-Control - Enhanced Level
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Myrtle possesses the ability to control the minds of others for a time. From basic manipulation of feelings and emotions to puppeting them, Myrtle may choose to exercise her ability on one or a number of people. The more people she tries to influence, the less detail work she will be able to do, so to speak; she could be reasonably certain of controlling every action of an individual person, but she would be more likely to settle on more of a general influence of emotion of larger groups of people. She could make a group of people feel tired, but she could make one person dance a specific choreography. (This power will only ever be used on PCs with express permission.)
Power: Telekinesis - Enhanced Level
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One of Myrtle's three special gifts as a witch is telekinesis. Through application of will and mind power, she can move objects without touching them physically. These can range from things as small as a pen or a cigarette to things as large as a bus or a piano. The larger the item and the more pinpoint-accurate the movement necessary, the greater focus and effort is needed to manipulate it. If the focus is interrupted, the object may be dropped or otherwise move in a manner unintended. Focus must be maintained during the process of telekinetic manipulation. Myrtle is of a level and proficiency now, however, that she can move small items with no significant effort.
Power: Teleportation - Enhanced Level
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One of Myrtle's three special gifts as a witch is transmutation, which is to say that she may instantaneously move herself from one location to another without occupying the space in between; she can teleport at will. This is not a power without risk, however, and it is typically not used except for short distances, most often line of sight. Transmuting oneself can actually cause one to materialize within another object, which is almost always fatal, so it is not an ability to be employed without certainty, focus, and care.
Magic: Witchcraft - Enhanced Level
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Naturally suited to magic, Myrtle is one of the world's foremost witches and can command magic to a truly grand level. Though magic outside of her specific gifts is typically limited by ritual and reagent, there is potentially no magic that she cannot do, given preparation and will. She is able to sense magic in others, even if their gifts have not yet been awakened, and she can detect magical beings and supernatural presences, as well as remaining evidence of these presences, though of course it is more difficult with the passage of time. Her magical inclinations generally grant her exceptional health and presence of mind, as well as the ability to deal with and comprehend things that would be outside of a typical human experience. In practical terms, this power reflects her ability to utilize the various Magical Effects as active powers, rather than ritual castings.
ADVANTAGES
As a former student of an academy for witches, Myrtle is able to call upon the resources of that academy and all that entails, including a library, a greenhouse, and magical items that the academy holds, if necessary. Naturally these impositions are limited depending on the significance of what is needed, but lower-demand needs such as common reagents, research time and opportunity, and even food and shelter are freely available to her at any time.
As the head of the Witches' Council, Myrtle is highly influential in their affairs. She can call upon the council if necessary, although it does not guarantee that she will receive their help.
Amongst witches, Myrtle Snow is very prominent, a well-known figure and well-respected. It would not be difficult for her to translate that fame to equivalent trust or influence others to pay favors to her due to her prominence.
Witches are well known for the "Power of Three." That is, they are especially adept at combining their individual strengths in order to cast much more powerful, impactful magics. Some of the most powerful spells a witch can cast require a circle of others to cast, and a circle is usually formed out of triads of witches, each wielding the Power of Three. Power of Three spells can be done by any three witches, but they have to have the same focus on their goal and ideally be on the same page. Witches who are at odds with each other may even have the spell fail or go wrong. For even greater effect, various groups of three can assemble into larger circles of nine or twelve, and a circle of thirteen is particularly potent.
Myrtle is tremendously resolute and will endure unpleasant tasks and circumstances, unsavory means, and put herself at serious disadvantage or even endanger her very life if the ultimate goal is one she judges worthy. There is very little she would not do to achieve the end result she has set her mind upon, especially if it is for someone she cares for.
Myrtle is a woman of no small means. She is wealthy, able to maintain a wardrobe of the highest fashion, tailored specifically to her. Both her position and her circumstances place considerable resources at her disposal, and she is highly mobile, traveling frequently. She also possesses a treasure trove of unique items crafted by artisans and designers that have inestimable value, some of which she has kept solely for emergencies, primarily those of others, to be used as liquid assets if necessary.
WEAKNESSES
One does not reach the heights Myrtle has without making enemies. They are of varying levels of power and influence, but she does have them, and they're just waiting for the right moment to strike against her.
Myrtle holds grudges, and if the offense is great enough, she can hold them permanently, until something is done to resolve the problem. She does not forget. Forgiveness can come, but the circumstances must be right. A great enough offense can be unforgivable.
Myrtle maintains a high profile. It's not easy for her to be low-key, nor does it suit her personality. She is not exactly stealthy, and those who know a few things about her or the company she keeps may be able to add them up and make further conclusions.
While it is an admirable trait, Myrtle's integrity can at times also work against her. She is very honest; the closest she comes to lying is simply not telling the full truth. She can become passionate about what she sees as injustice, dishonesty, or lack of integrity, and at times this can oppose her to others or vice-versa. Hypocrisy is monstrous to her, and she will go to great lengths to avoid being hypocritical or even perceived as being hypocritical. She is highly excitable when wrongs she views as major are allowed to stand or, at the very least, go unpunished, and this can interfere at times with her goals in that purpose.
