Mystique

Mystique

Left With Cape Right

Identity

Pronouns

she/her

Gender

Female (AFaB)

Orientation

•  
  Aromantic
•  
  Asexual

Age

10 (16^HY)

Species

• Roc
  • 50% Greater Cockatrice
  • 50% Lesser Cockatrice

Characteristics

Height

4'0"

Coat

Feathers

Dominant Talon

Ambidextrous

Diet

Omnivorous

Activity

Diurnal

Alignment

Lawful Neutral

Background

Status

Alive

Universe

Silverdawn

Residence

• Myna Kingdom
  • Tristis

Affiliations

Myna Kingdom

Occupations

• Mercenary
• Mage

Relatives

• Bladewing (mother)
• Graham (father)
• Scorch (sister)
• Twister (brother)
• Silent Wonder (uncle)
• Snowstorm (uncle)

Meta

Obtained

First Owner

Design Origin

Personal

Total Value

$17.50

Creation Date

6 Mar 2015

Universe Owner

StormyStarlight

Playlist

The Predecessor

by StormyStarlight, rmbear

Cheeseburger Family

by Jack Stauber's Micropop

The Family Jewels

by MARINA

Rabbit Run

by Mother Falcon

Mulberry Street

by twenty øne piløts

Run Boy Run

by Woodkid

How Not to Drown

by CHVURCHES, Robert Smith

I'm Not a Machine

by Rob Feather

Mystique is a young female greater cockatrice-lesser cockatrice hybrid. She resides in the palace in Tristis, the capital of the Myna Kingdom, under the supervision of her mother, Bladewing, and High Queen Lily. She is a trained mercenary and mage with particular skill in stealth and efficiency, designed to aid in swiftly taking down the Pale Rebellion's more difficult persons, though she has yet to carry out any assignments.

Mystique is a greater-lesser cockatrice hybrid who most heavily resembles her lesser side. Her feathers are a dark brown which is generally darker on her backside and lighter on her underside. She has somewhat elliptical wings optimized for maneuvering through tight spaces that have dark dorsal primaries and secondaries and light ventral primaries and secondaries. She also has two clawed digits on each of her wings and zygodactyl talons with long, curved, dark claws which make her a great climber. Mystique also has a long, somewhat prehensile tail which is mostly covered in dark feathers but tipped with a lighter tuft. She has a pair of feathered frills on her head as well as a pair of webbed frills beneath them. Rather than ears, she has a pair of antennae that function for the same purpose. Mystique has a short, curved beak that contains a full set of teeth, and has bright hazel eyes—the left of which is blind due to an issue caused by the white Soul gemstone embedded in her left temple. On her right, she has three scars: two under her right wing and one on the right side of her lower neck. The two scars under her wing were received as the result of an unfortunate training accident and the scar on her neck was received during a fight with a particular Pale Rebellion soldier. She often wears a white cape with gold trim and a black ring, representative of the Myna Kingdom sigil, on its back as a sign of her status, especially while attending formal meetings. It is held together in the front by a second white Soul gemstone in the shape of a ring and its underside is black.

Design Notes

• Mystique has a full set of teeth in her beak.
• Three aspects of her design are asymmetrical.
  • She is blind in her left eye (this is reflected in her left pupil being the same color as her sclerae).
  • The white gemstone on her face is only on her left side.
  • She has three scars on her right side. Two of these are under her right wing while the other is on the right side of her lower neck. Her neck scar may also be seen from her front and sometimes slightly from her left side.
• She has two 'fingers' on the undersides of her wings used for climbing and grabbing things (similar to a young hoatzin's). They may be visible from above or tucked away out of sight, especially while her wings are folded.
• Her talons are zygodactyl (having four toes: two in the front and two in the back).
• She has both feathered and webbed frills as well as antennae. The order in which these are placed, from top/front to bottom/back, is as follows: feathered frills, webbed frills, antennae.

Mystique was raised to be a very serious and resolute warrior, a personality she consistently displays around those she fears, hates, and respects—typically the only people she ever interacts with. Despite being quite an emotional person, she represses most of the emotions she feels in order to maintain what she feels is a necessary professional appearance. She thinks that because she is the 'hero of the story' she has been made to believe she is, she doesn't have time for her many complex and 'messy' feelings and emotions. She feels a strong need to serve her kingdom to the best of her ability and do what is ultimately right for it. In the lack of firsthand knowledge of the conflict between the Myna Kingdom and the Pale Rebellion, Mystique relies on what little information her mother has told her and in the trust and loyalty she has for her high queen, as she naïvely believes someone of such a status can have no wrong judgment. Although she does not like her role, she is willing to go to any extreme to avoid disappointing her superiors.

Without the pressure and influence of the Myna Kingdom and her 'heroic role,' Mystique's true personality is very silly and jovial. She strives to please everyone around her, often in the form of sly jokes and humorous remarks. In her pursuit of the acceptance of others, she often finds herself failing to consider how her actions affect those around her. Due to her upbringing, she finds it very hard to express her own feelings and thoughts for fear of rejection or punishment. She does not trust easily at all and opts to keep her 'true self' hidden from most.

Prelife

Mystique, as she currently is, is the repurposed product of Lily's first attempt at executing the Black Magic project. Lily's plan began with constructing a perfect individual for the role—rather than searching for an ideal and willing volunteer, a near-impossible feat—by choosing two parents with ideal attributes to hatch one. The selected parents were Bladewing, a genetically remarkable combatant and intermediate magic user, and Graham, an already-enlightened magic user. From a clutch of several eggs, Mystique was observed to have the most potential in strength and enlightenment and was thus chosen for the role. Her siblings were orphaned and grew up in Xavaria.

Childhood

Lily was largely not a part of Mystique's childhood after her hatching and left her training and raising to Bladewing, a selection of skilled teachers, and several caregivers. Mystique was not granted much of the attention or entertainment she required as a child but was instead often either overworked or neglected. Graham was also almost entirely absent from Mystique's childhood as he did not necessarily care about her raising until Mystique was three (eight^HY) years old when he became interested in her potential for his own personal gain. While she was under the watch of one of her caretakers, Graham attempted to kidnap Mystique and escape Tristis with her. Before he was able to leave the palace, he was found and killed by Bladewing, leaving Mystique solely under the authority of Bladewing and the Myna Kingdom.

Shortly after this incident, Mystique had her signature Soul gemstone embedded in her left temple. This was done to allow her to permanently and irreversibly have access to extra Soul wherever she went but soon caused her to lose her vision in her left eye. This immediately severely inhibited her skills and slowed her training. Although she has since learned to adapt her combat skills around this complication to the best of her ability, this flaw was not overlooked by her superiors. Combined with the growing urgency Lily felt for the project to be completed, this pushed Lily to choose Fallon as a replacement for Mystique as the subject, stripping her of her intended purpose and leaving her as an afterthought in her mothers' minds. Due to being at such a young age at the time and it having few immediately obvious effects on her life, Mystique is largely unaware that this change in purpose ever occurred. She is not currently aware that she was meant to take Fallon's place as the Black Dragon but has put together that something about Lily's plan for her has changed since her hatching.

Serving the Myna Kingdom

Currently, Mystique fulfills a new purpose as a mercenary under the service of the Myna Kingdom. Very recently, after achieving enlightenment at age nine (15^HY) and thoroughly completing her training, she has been tasked with fighting in battles against the Pale Rebellion for the purpose of targeting and wiping out its most skilled and highly-valued individuals. Although she is highly trained, this is her first real task, meaning she is not yet fully equipped to handle certain unexpected or especially high-tension situations or emotionally process the gravity of this responsibility.

Author's Note: This section, along with everything else in Mystique's profile, is only up-to-date as far as the beginning of The Black Dragon (the story she's a part of). I'm not trying to keep this a secret, so: Mystique eventually gets a redemption arc, found family, and a happy ending!! There's more to her story; don't worry. ;)

Skillset

• Enlightenment: Through extensive training and practice, Mystique has formed a pure and absolute connection with Soul, enabling her to take it in from her surroundings and cast most magic with incredible ease. She is unable to be killed by the presence of what would normally be enough Soul to do so. Because she is enlightened, all magic she uses is white in color.
• Sword Proficiency: Mystique has been trained in the art of sword fighting and carries with her a sword of her own. She is ambidextrous and can use both talons in combat.

Natural Abilities

• Fire Breath: Mystique can spit fire from her mouth using venomous gas stored in the roof of her mouth that is released and set ablaze on command by a special 'tooth' set in her jaw. The inside of her mouth is heat resistant to protect herself from any possible negative effects. She lacks proper mastery over this ability and as a result isn't usually able to produce much fire at once without losing control. Despite her greater cockatrice heritage, she does not possess hallucinogenic venom, and her fire is thus the orange typical of all other fire-breathing species.

Learned Abilities

• Telekinesis: Mystique is able to control and manipulate objects and other matter with her mind. Objects that are larger or further away from her require more effort to control. Controlled objects glow softly white with surrounding magic. This is a gimmick Mystique heavily relies on, as her most practiced and perfected form of magic. While she is incredibly good at using it to her advantage, it often lends her combat strategy to being quite predictable.
• Enhanced Senses: Using magic, Mystique can temporarily heighten her senses, giving her an advantage in combat by causing her to be much more aware of her surroundings than her foes. This allows her to pick up on details others might miss in the heat of the moment, but is quite overwhelming and very prone to causing her sensory overload if used for extended periods of time or in particularly chaotic environments.

Weaknesses

• Partial Blindness: As a result of the Soul gemstone embedded in her left temple, Mystique went almost completely blind in her left eye at an early age. This has inhibited her ability to fight greatly as she lacks proper depth perception and a standard range of vision; however, because this happened at an early age, she has learned to overcome this setback to the best of her ability.
• Farsightedness: Mystique is farsighted and requires a pair of reading glasses to view things up close. She does not own one at the present time.

Bladewing

Mystique's relationship with her mother is strained and unhealthy. Bladewing tends not to see Mystique as a person but rather a tool to be used for what Lily thinks is the greater good of the Myna Kingdom and, in reality, has little regard for her feelings. Bladewing has been very manipulative towards Mystique and, despite not caring about her well-being, attempts to convince her otherwise. She often reminds her daughter that she is the 'hero' in the narrative of the Myna Kingdom and that she must persevere through the suffering she endures for the good of the kingdom. She has greatly succeeded in pinning all blame on the Pale Rebellion, shifting the focus away from the suffering caused by her own family and the kingdom's goals and towards the need for retaliation against the supposedly wretched traitors that make up the rebellion. Mystique believes that once she has succeeded in fulfilling her purpose in eliminating the Pale Rebellion, her suffering will end and she will be able to live a 'normal' life. Despite what Mystique has been made to believe, she acts cautiously around her mother and walks on eggshells to avoid upsetting her in fear of punishment.

Lily

Mystique and Lily interact very infrequently. Their relationship is rather formal—Mystique sees Lily as nothing other than her high queen and does not know her personally by any means. Mystique receives some of her more important orders from Lily and takes special care to carry them out in a satisfactory matter in an attempt to maintain a good and loyal impression with her. She is overly aware of the importance of this and fears what might happen if she were to disappoint her. Although Lily is the only ruler Mystique has served, she views her as no different than any other. Mystique's impression of Lily's role is largely based on her impression of Lily—she believes all rulers are as strict and unforgiving as she is. For this reason, Mystique doesn't necessarily dislike Lily, as she only thinks she is doing what is required of someone of her status.

Graham

Mystique has few remaining memories of her relationship with her father. Most prominently, she remembers being brought out of the palace by him for an unknown reason, and following that, his death by the talons of her mother. Although she has neither fond nor foul memories of him, she accepts the awfully vague explanation given to her by her mother that he had ill intent towards Mystique and that his death was necessary for her protection.

Emperor

Mystique and Emperor are, as of quite recently, sworn enemies in the conflict between the Myna Kingdom and the Pale Rebellion. They butt heads frequently considering Emperor commands the division of the Pale Rebellion in Tristis, which Mystique is firstly focused on. Emperor detests Mystique for the disruptions she has caused in their division and the rebellion as a whole, while Mystique considers Emperor a significant threat and an obstacle she needs to remove.

• She was initially a very bright pastel pink! In the first draft of the story, she was bright in color due to being a special breed of lesser cockatrice (at the time called 'cloudracers') called a 'prism cloudracer' but was cursed by her mother to appear disfigured and with pitch-black feathers to conceal this fact. Once 'prism cloudracers' were removed from the canon of the world, this aspect of her story was removed and her design was revised to match those of her parents more closely.

Soul Gemstone

---

A small piece of Soul crystal, cut and polished into an octahedron. It is embedded in her left temple in a position in which four of its facets can be seen. Its four visible facets are commonly stylized into two impossible facets for simplicity.

Myna Cape

---

A white cape with reflective gold trim and a black underside. It bears a black ring on its back and is held together in the front by a white Soul gemstone in the shape of a ring, both representative of the Myna Kingdom sigil. Mystique commonly wears it to formal events or otherwise as a symbol of her status.

Mystique's Sword

---

Mystique's sword, forged specifically for her and regularly used by her in combat. It has a reflective white blade, a brown and black guard and handle, and a reflective gold pommel in the shape of a ring, indicative of its origins in the Myna Kingdom. She doesn't always keep it on her.