p r o f i l e

[longlineoflosers]

“You actually talk to ghosts?” Ellever wondered. Cyra snorted. “I’m not the fucking Ghost Hunters. It’s more like I… rifle through their pockets for loose change.” “What are they like?” “Assholes,” she decided, sucking down the rest of her Rum and Coke with a relieved gasp. “But I don’t blame them. They don’t have a lot to do.”

stats

Cyra Faucher canon: original (Zier) aliases: The Seeker (by the Binding), the Child of Death, Cyra Rhian Faucher Nox (maternal family name) gender: Female (but not fussed) age: 30 marital: Single birthday: May 15th, 1990 (Brantôme, France; dual American citizen) sign(s): Taurus, (Metal) Horse hair: Brown eyes: Black height: 5'7"

history (abbreviated)

Family History: Somewhere around 40BC, the Nox line was established when Death, an Abyss Lord, decided to strike out against its siblings (now called the Nine) and create a half-human progeny. The other Nine had half-human progeny of their own and were attempting to use them to allow the Nine to enter the physical realm and ravage it. Death, disliking the imbalance, decided to instruct its progeny to secretly kill all other traces of the Nine on Earth, and the Seekers were born. The family has long been considered cursed, for multiple reasons. Members have troubling lives, and the Seeker (who occurs once a generation) rarely lives over the age of 40. But the family is extremely well off, having secreted away wealth over the course of history. Like other Children of the Nine, Noxes all have supernatural abilities. But only the Seeker has abilities with the same potency, since they are given their abilities directly; the inheritance of Death's gifts has dwindled over the generations. They have four names: a first name, at their parents' preference; a cognomen, or a nickname assigned by their grandparents; their paternal family name; and finally, Nox, the maternal family name which overrides the paternal. Personal History: Cyra and her identical twin sister, Patrice, were born to Luc Faucher and Samantha Doran Bella Nox in Brantôme, France. The parents of the girls had fled to France to escape from Samantha's father, Barin Latro Britten Nox, and his insistance of the Family Line. Samantha and Luc had simply wanted to be a normal family with normal children. They gave their girls just two names, instead of the traditional four of the Nox line, and settled down with them in a small house. For nine years, things were peaceful — even idyllic. Luc worked as the manager of a small hotel and Samantha was a talented seamstress. But things came crashing down in 1999, when the family's car was struck by a drunk driver while on a road trip. Luc and Samantha were killed immediately and the two girls were introduced to a grandfather, Barin, that they had never met before. Intimidated by both his frighteningly serious demeanor and the terrible stories their mother had told them, Cyra and Patrice were whisked away to the maternal family home in Manteo, North Carolina. She discovered quickly that the vaguely-question-mark-shaped birth mark on her left inner forearm marked her as a Seeker, the successor to Barin, and was given intense lessons on her family history. Patrice was sent off to a private school not long after these lessons started and the two girls were rarely in the same place at the same time again. Barin actively kept them from each other, wanting Cyra focused on her future and little else. When Cyra turned ten, her training as a Seeker started in earnest. Barin was determined for her to be the most capable Seeker in history, as it seemed to him that the threat from the Nine and their direct progeny was only ramping up. He also wanted her to be better than him, for the good of her own survival. She was shipped off to Harvard to learn from family friends; mercenary camps in South Africa and training courses in America to learn how to fight; the spiritualist community in Cassadaga, Florida, to hone her supernatural abilities; and was sent to a number of other family friends for specific skills Barin thought might be useful. While Cyra was well-socialized and cultured from her education and travels, she also couldn't form that many personal relationships aside from friendships with some of her teachers. She developed a great deal of anger at her grandfather because of the lack of agency in her own life. She had to do as she was told, for the most part, and she wasn't pleased about it. But because of her rather unique life, with no structure aside from direct teachers, she was allowed plenty of times to act out before being drawn back into the fold. She would find other trust fund kids and engage with them, having fun or seeing how much she could take from them before they noticed. Because she knew she was unlikely to live over 40, she indulged in whatever vice she felt like at the time. Around this time, Patrice sent her a burner phone with her name on it and the two started to secretly patch up their relationship. When Barin was killed on a family trip (their phrase for 'mission') in 2007, Cyra's tenure as the Seeker began. He left her a huge pile of notes and research in the Manteo family home, something she now had inherited, as well as an apology letter which she wouldn't be calm enough to read for several years. All his research indicated that the Nine were now accelerating their plans to breach the physical plane. He'd created a map of "temples" (his word) — existing ruins with a secret underground section where previous Children had hidden away artifacts and Remnants (pieces of the Nine, monsters similar to them but not as powerful). One such temple had killed him. It was now Cyra's duty to find these temples, destroy the Remnants, and seal them away forever. And eventually, she would need to locate the other living Children of the Nine — to kill them, if they were going to assist in their breach of the physical world. This she does begrudgingly, tiredly. Sometimes it's neat to see something undiscovered about a piece of existing history. Sometimes that history attempts to eat her. That's much less cool.

personality

Positive: Intelligent, good-humored (some of the time), honest, adventurous, friendly. Negative: Abrasive (too honest), hedonistic, sarcastic, impatient. [ Loading .... ]

voice

Somewhat low. Cyra has a flat, direct way of speaking most of the time. If she puts effort in — usually when she's trying to get something she wants — she can add a melodious or lilting tone to it, but this takes effort and she usually doesn't bother. She grew up with antisocial bookworms, eccentric spiritualists, and rough mercenaries; putting on graceful airs takes effort. Likewise, her way of speaking can wander a bit into lofty and highly educated, but for the most part she speaks casually. Perhaps too casually, given her propensity for shoving the f-bomb into every sentence. She swears in every mood; all that changes when she's mad is the level of her voice. She has no discernable accent other than American, having traveled too much, but has a tendency to switch to French when she gets really heated at someone.

physical

While Cyra has a petite frame, twenty years of getting the snot kicked out of her, climbing sheer cliff faces, fighting monsters and people, and plenty of running and endurance has made everything under that frame tightly packed muscle. She often tells the rich crowd that she's a fitness junkie to explain it. And also to explain the handful of scars she has as well as the developed calluses on her knuckles. Cyra keeps her dark hair long and cascading down to her lower back, only tying it up in a fancy knot when she's on a "family trip" to keep it out of her eyes. She has a large birthmark on her inner left forearm, raised skin which almost looks like a question mark with a circle in the center; this is the Mark of the Seeker. In civilian life, in keeping with her "rich girl nothing to see here" persona, she wears feminine designer clothes with bright colors, though she does skew toward pants instead of dresses all the same. She'll wear a fancy necklace with them but rarely anything more, and her ears are unpierced. Makeup is war paint to hide fresh knicks and cuts; she specializes in dramatic looks. Her clothes as a Seeker are a complete opposite: durable, rugged and dark-colored (though often still sometimes designer). Given the choice she prefers the comfort and protection of the latter, but she doesn't really mind the bright clothes as much as she might claim.

abilities (mundane)

[ Specialties are bolded, other skills average or otherwise varied. ] Combat: brawling and more focused hand-to-hand, swords, knives, fencing, small firearms, rifles, grenade launchers, rocket launchers. Movement: gymnastics, rock climbing, parkour. Languages: French (native), English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Zulu, Russian. Academics: World history, ancient history, occult history. Misc: cooking (french cuisine), drink mixing, pharmacology (the 'fun' stuff).

abilities (supernatural)

As a Child of Death, Cyra's main ability is to sense, see, and communicate with ghosts and other such entities (like poltergeists). This is a typical ability the Seeker has, though not all Seekers have had it. Her secondary ability — arguably stronger than the first, and one that she's made thoroughly her own — is to manipulate those spiritual energies. With the consent of the entity (she doesn't need consent, but wants it), she can extract a part of their soul and imbue her own with it. This gives her some aspect of the person in question, like a particular knowledge or skill. It means her own soul is full to the brim and can sometimes come with side effects, such as false memories or emotions. Taking a piece of soul forcibly always comes with side effects. Previous Seekers used this ability to expand their knowledge of the world or pick up new fighting techniques. But Cyra, with her willingness to fight dirty, decided to expand her horizons with dead Children of the Nine, taking on their supernatural abilities. Some are more powerful than others and give her headaches, nosebleeds, and other such health issues if she tries to use too many at once. As best she can describe it, it's a tiered system that required a lot of tedious experimentation. Go here to see her abilities.