Cal

Cal, the Muse of Memory, Immortal Servant of the Offsprings and main character in the Panic Stories & Post-Panic Universe | she/her

It's hard to believe, but there was a time when Calpurnia "Cal" Vinki was an ordinary girl. Her family may have been followers of an obscure folk religion, but besides that, she had an utterly typical life growing up in the 1950's. Then she met Panic. I'm sure he meant well, trying to protect a child separated from her parents in a train hijacked by evil forces, but his intentions matter little when she ends up scarred for life in the process. At that moment, Cal became part of Panic's story. But whereas he saw himself as a savior, defending her from assassins and, later, freeing her from an evil influence, she saw him firmly as the villain. And his final gift to her – making Cal his literal goddaughter, elevated to serve his divine children – is, in her mind, a terrible curse.

Cal is the immortal servant of the Offsprings, a group of gods created by Panic to oversee the new universe that sprung up at the end of the Panic Stories. Known as the Muse of Memory, she has the ability to read the memories of any person, place or object. If she brushes up against someone's mind, she can erase their memories or implant fake ones. Her powers work on gods, so the Offsprings send her off to parlay with other pantheons, knowing that she can always read the room. Cal also has perfect recall – including pf the previous universe, which no other being even recognizes as existing. Memories that happened decades ago are just as fresh in her mind as those that happened the other week. This means Cal has a hard time letting go of her feelings, and her emotional wounds fester by the day. One of those deepest wounds was caused by her once-closest friend, Helene. The circumstances of their friendship breakup are not known, but Cal refuses to speak to Helene, and the Queen of Ghosts has avoided her ever since.  

In the Post-Panic Universe, Cal has gone on many adventures with and on behalf of the Offsprings. She's the one who brought Isaac and Johannah into the Offsprings' fold, and the one who smoothed over many of the bumps of the Goddity System. During this period (called The Secret Days), Cal was a teenager and had wild, ragged appearance. A period of relative stability followed, where Cal grew up and rejoined the mortal world. She met a nice man named Sam, married him and had children. Cal looks on her family with pure love. But the Offsprings instead see an opportunity...

Cal's personality is the result of decades of being pushed around by powerful forces. She's sensitive and high-strung, and while she does her best to repress her feelings, they can flare out of her in bursts of anger or sadness. She's serious at times and flippant at others; motherly to her family, disrespectful to herself and resentful of the Offsprings. Though she has accepted her fate as an immortal servant to callous gods, she pales at the thought of anyone else having to suffer it.

Before her immortal transformation, Cal's left eye was possessed by a sliver of the Avatar of Pain. Pain was eventually removed, but it left lasting damage, including leaving its signature stake-like symbol around the eye. The eye became lazy, and Cal eventually lost sight in it. Cal is often seen hanging out with Veld; despite being the ghost of an assassin who tried to kill her, Veld and Cal developed a real friendship. Veld used to reside in Cal's Medium Charm, but now she is anchored to Cal herself.