Profile
As Ervend's High Priestess, Pannova is larger than life, the sole emissary and arbiter of the dragon deity Solaris's will. Though it is Solaris's word that rules the country, Pannova is the one the people can imagine having any chance of interacting with, and, for this, she receives worship in her own right. As the last survivor of a branded lineage, a bloodline sealed with a pact in ancient times, Pannova is kept in relative isolation for her safety, emerging for high-priority diplomatic purposes or direct decrees, if anything at all—which makes it easy, for now, to conceal her disappearance.
If Pannova is lit by Solaris's radiant sun, then Aine is the shadow cast by it; quiet, withdrawn, hyper-aware of every misstep. For the most part, she just wants to be left alone, but she has a good enough head on her shoulders to realize that that's a great way to get herself killed. Her magical ability leaves her peerless, but her defenses leave her wildly vulnerable. While she's whip-smart, her social intelligence leaves basically everything to be desired—that's the impression she gives, at least, with how viciously she deflects any attempt at asking her about herself. She certainly doesn't want to talk about the patch ever-present over her right eye.
Solaris's voice grows harder to shut out by the day, and his commands only become increasingly violent and disturbing, and so Aine is left jumpy and paranoid by the conversations Pannova facilitates. The people will panic if the last interpreter of their god's will says he is unreliable, so Pannova carries out her quest to find Lunara, Solaris's other half, in secret. The alias "Aine" will do, but she hasn't thought her identity out much further than that, and is desperately hoping to get by Clark Kenting it, for the most part. She doesn't know, exactly, who Aine is, but she isn't the image of the High Priestess Pannova her people uplift, either. Despite her fear, though, and the uncertainty of her own identity, she knows she is herself, and she presses on for answers, determined not to let the divine power consume her.
a brief blurb about the setting goes here
link to main reference here
- Divine solar brand; a birthmark in the shape of a dashed semicircle with curved lines extending from it around the top left part of her left eye.
- As High Priestess, she tends to wear her hair in elaborately coiled bantu knots; when she goes on the run as Aine, she removes them and ends up with a big puffy bantu knot out similar to this.
- She struggles to keep a hood up over it, so the hood is only ever half-on at best.
- Most of her outfits and regalia as High Priestess are designed and given to her for the explicit purpose of making her seem bigger, taller, and grander than she is. This actually serves to make it easier for her to stay incognito; High Priestess Pannova is larger than life, perfectly postured, all her movements made with grandiouse purpose. As Aine, she draws into herself, and ends up twitchy and uncertain—it's very much a Superman vs Clark Kent kind of thing.
tbd; here's my old tabletop notes
- the last of a branded lineage—this brand works more like the ylisse royal brand; a bloodline symbol of a pact made with solaris in ancient times
- the legend is probably something like, solaris chose his sole divine prophet when his physical form ascended and the duty has passed through that bloodline for all this time
- she's been High Priestess since she was eeeeleven or so? she's never been super involved in the political side of things; she mostly just conveys the word of solaris and does major public appearances and statements
- she's been under overwhelming protection since her family's death, though, because she's the last member of the branded lineage and there is no plan b if they don't have a high priest/ess
- for that reason, not many people have seen pannova's face and fewer still have seen her up close—she does, like, public appearances/announcements from balconies or whatever while wearing lots of big extravagant regalia to make her look bigger and more important than she is
- also for that reason she is very lonely and generally socially maladjusted
- she's always had a propensity for dark magic; my take on it is that it has to do with her connection to solaris while he's in the middle of degenerating and just how strong that magic is and also how it's kind of trying to consume her
- she doesn't totally realize the scope of things, in part because she doesn't even know solaris is degenerating, but does know it's very often an active struggle to keep herself focused and grounded in this current space and time as herself when she's trying to do magic
- anyway you know the drill; the voice of solaris has been getting louder and more violent for a long time and pannova doesn't know what to do about it
- she feels like it's her sole responsibility to deal with these things because she's been in a position that basically has her worshipped as a god for so long, and because if people find out the actual god behind it all is saying things like this, they'll panic—she doesn't even feel safe bringing it to the council, who don't overly involve her in their political decision making
- so she steals the regalia and flees in the middle of the night to go find lunara, solaris's other half who is, to pannova's knowledge, supposed to exist in some capacity where she can be directly communicated with (maybe still physically exists? needs to be summoned? has a temple where you can just yell and she'll talk back from the heavens? an oracle?) and be like "hey, so, what the FUCK is happening"
- From an advisor who came as close to a friend as Pannova ever had, she's acquired a wealth of knowledge about poisons and their various types and functions. While she has no associated ill intent, her enthusiasm for toxins is alarming at best.
- In case she ever needs to harvest a sample, she carries gloves on her at all times.
- Her favorite poison is deadly nightshade.
