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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8296805" data-attributes="member: 30538">Madame Zozostrz<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-vW3PcWZ/1/16f2b11c/S/Madame%20Zozostrz-S.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Much like the one now called Scathach, who was once one of her fiercest rivals, the ancient woman who answers to the title Madame Zozostrz has long since forgotten the name she was given at birth, twelve hundred years ago on Chirab. She was one of the first generation of the rising stars to be granted power by the cosmic accident that created them, and used the power to create and manipulate a form of energy imperceptible to the naked eye to rule over a small region of their home world, using various tricks to make it seem that she had many other powers besides that -- the power to curse, to know the minds of her subjects, to see the future. They thought of her as a witch -- the witch -- and she encouraged that belief and that fear.Eventually, though, that fear turned to hatred, and the witch was driven from power despite inflicting horrific damage on her enemies, and forced into alliance with the rest of the rising stars. Eventually, she joined them in leaving the planet behind, and accompanied the faction of their kind who travelled through the regions of space that would later become the Imperium, eventually coming to the world later known as Yusei. For a brief while, she tried to practice her old tricks there, but her so-called fellows had had enough of all that, and united to drive her off so that they could pose as more benevolent gods to the populace there.By that point, she was realizing that she was not truly immortal, as were some of her brethren. She aged very slowly, perhaps one year* for every fifteen that passed, but she could still feel herself growing older. Having just had the limitations of her powers demonstrated to her, the witch naturally sought to increase them so that no one would be able to insult her in that way again, and to gain the eternity she viewed as her due. She chased down many rumors about paths to greater power, but these always turned out to be dead ends, until she learned of Daath.So the witch made her way to Daath and presented herself as a supplicant to Ananke, having seen that the ruler of Daath could grant great powers to her servants, and either not caring about the price that she would have to pay, or imagining that she could find a way to overcome whatever it would do to her. Ananke accepted her service, as she has always accepted any who would offer it to her ... and then did absolutely nothing. Ananke granted the witch neither additional powers -- or so it seemed -- nor any authority, inflicted no price, and more or less ignored her from that point onward.The witch, who came to be known as Madame Zozostrz, was naturally not best pleased by this, and so sought to gain additional power from her service to those who had been granted power and authority by Daath's ruler, which usually left them unable to leave the planet, as she could. She journeyed to many worlds through the portals opened by the Metropolitan (and those who had similar powers before it) and became known as a mysterious witch on many of them. She may even have visited Earth, and become the inspiration for witch-like figures of that world's mythology.But none of these journeys granted her the power or the immortality she sought, and she came to hate those who seemed able to achieve power through their own efforts, through the sort of magical traditions she'd exploited in the past. In the past few centuries, she finally began to achieve a measure of authority on Daath, though never the supremacy that she wanted. Her efforts to gain more were often thwarted by her rival, Yakobus the Arch-Imaginist.Zozostrz directed many schemes against him, but that war was briefly interrupted by the arrival on Daath of Abraxas, whom she knew of old. Much to her fury, however, he did not recognize her, and seemed uninterested in renewing their acquaintance. Nevertheless, the witch ended up as one of the lower-ranking commanders of the Dark Side due to her experience and knowledge of the universe. She used these new hierarchies to renew her struggles with Yacobus, and may have played a major role in the conspiracy that brought about his end -- or she may be taking credit for things that had nothing to do with her, as she often does.Her ambitions are without limit. She intends to ascend to the position that Abraxas now holds, and then wreak a vengeance most terrible on Ananke for the neglect she feels that she has suffered. (She imagines that Abraxas has not done this because he enjoys Ananke's favors as well as her favor.) And never once has it occurred to her that she might indeed have been given a power that she did not possess before coming to Daath -- a petty power, to suit a petty soul as hers. Translator circuits rarely afford their owners the mastery of language that she possesses ... Madame Zozostrz -- PL 12Abilities:STR 7 | STA 4 | AGL 0 | DEX 3 | FGT 6 | INT 3 | AWE 6 | PRE 3Powers:Eldritch Energy Manipulation: Array (29 points)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eldritch Bolts: Ranged Damage 14, Subtle - 29 points</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eldritch Chains: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 9 (Resisted by Dodge; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Subtle - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eldritch Manipulation: Perception Range Move Object 9, Precise, Subtle - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eldritch Shifting: Extended Teleport 9 - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eldritch Visions: Remote Sensing 7 (auditory, mental, visual), Subtle - 1 point</li> </ul>Eldritch Force Field: Linked Sustained Impervious Protection 12; Linked Sustained Immunity 10 - 34 pointsIt's Not Paranoia When They're Really Out To Get You: Senses 1 (danger sense) - 1 pointLong-lived, But Not Youthful: Immunity 1 (aging) - 1 pointTranslator Circuit (Or Maybe Not): Comprehend Languages 4 - 12 pointsAdvantages:All-out Attack, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Fascinate (Deception), Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Inventor*, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Set-up.Skills:Deception 8 (+11), Expertise: Galactic 8 (+11), Expertise: Science 8 (+11), Insight 4 (+10), Intimidation 10 (+13), Perception 6 (+12), Ranged Combat: Eldritch Energy 7 (+10), Sleight of Hand 6 (+9), Stealth 9 (+9).Offense:Initiative +0Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 7)Eldritch Bolts +10 (Ranged Damage 14)Eldritch Chains +10 (Ranged Affliction 9, Resisted by Dodge)Defense:Dodge 8, Parry 6, Fortitude 9, Toughness 16/4, Will 12TotalsAbilities 64 + Powers 80 + Advantages 10 + Skills 33 + Defenses 19 = 206 pointsComplications:Power--Motivation. ... Except When It IS Paranoia. Hatred (actual magic-users.) Secret (magical pretensions.) Subject to Orders.* Madame Zozostrz's inventions are always chemical concoctions, and are created through the use of Expertise: Science rather than Technology.</blockquote>

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