| LAMINA (AND FISHBONES) | ||
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| STORY | ||
| As a later child in an affluent family of the
Jewel Cities, Lamina’s options in life would have been limited,
but comfortable. The benign neglect of her parents in favor
of more promising elder children, however, stoked the girl’s
jealousy and covetousness for the power promised to her
siblings. Unfortunately the simple economics of family
influence meant that she would likely marry young, to a lesser
scion like herself, and that would be that. The outbreak of the First Mercantile War and the downturn in the fortunes of the Jewel Cities shrank even the comforts she might one day enjoy. The Sea of Riches became a cauldron of treachery and intrigue, bled by battles and starved by blockades. Against this backdrop, the young woman found herself alone, on a darkened street, beneath the fists of a stronger man. If only she had more, more strength, more power, she thought, anything more than her impotent, burning will. Lamina’s struggles, however, were not unseen. Stirred by the seething war, and emboldened by the chaos, something ancient, powerful and alien watched. A green eye, lobed and awful, peered down at her weakness, and offered her a choice: serve it, be its eyes where it could not see, or continue to suffer and want. It was no choice at all. With her newfound power, Lamina fomented many cults down through her unnaturally extended years. Her patron’s tentacles stretched from the fathomless depths of the ocean to coil around the underbelly of the Jewel Cities, especially the worship-mad city of Jade. It was here that she was confronted by the Marchioness, who cut down her followers, ripped away her power and decadent comforts, and humiliated her before her patron. With only her burning will left and the aid of her granted familiar, Fishbones, she embarked on her campaign of revenge, bent on recovering what she had lost and reaching even greater depths of power. |
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| PERSONALITY | ||
| Selfishness defines Lamina, a grasping desire to
possess everything: wealth, comfort, attention, but most of
all power. She is by turns alluring, conniving, and
domineering, each being a method to get what she wants. She
is justifiably proud, having been successful in the service of her
patron and the fulfillment of her desires far beyond the span of
mortal years. She is callous to the point of cruelty, happy to ignore another’s suffering or even further it for her goals. While true altruism can sometimes seem beyond her, she’s displayed a soft spot for people who remind her of her younger and more innocent self. (A twisted mockery of pelagic life created by her patron, Fishbones is nasty, petty, and most of all funny. Not an ounce of good resides in his aberrant, cartilaginous form, and he’s happy to show it. He has stayed with Lamina through thick and thin, and remained her assistant, spy, and confidant throughout. How much of that is loyalty, and how much is his existence depending on Lamina’s pact with her patron is open to speculation.) |
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| APPEARANCE | ||
| Personal beauty serves Lamina in her
machinations. Her striking green eyes are mesmeric in
intensity and her pale skin contrasts with her waves of black hair
and inked markings. This dark allure is completed by her
voluptuousness, which promises lush and decadent delights to those
who give themselves to the worship of her patron. Lamina dresses to enhance these attributes, favoring dark, scant clothing. Eye motifs are found throughout her attire, and leave admirers with the unsettling feeling that they might have seen one or two blink. |
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| OTHER / TRIVIA | ||
| >Lamina’s patron has been known by many titles, but has no need of names, for it is something from beyond this realm. Most recently, it goes by “the Big Guy,” an impudent moniker invented by Fishbones. |
