Silvia Steele

Silvia Steele is a female opossum born in 277 ADD in the cyber stronghold of Techron in the Northern Empire. Her family was forced to sell her to the tech industry at a young age, where they experimented on her using mind control chips. After escaping years later, she laid waste to the stronghold and defected to the Sur Kingdoms, where she became a prominent independent agent tasked with high risk missions. She would eventually become the dominating figure against the Resistance lead by Hunter Pantone.

Personality

Silvia is a very assertive and forceful opossum who has no problem with using physical threats to get what she wants. She believes sacrifices and collateral damage come with making the world a better place, so she is generally apathetic to statistics, although she will reserve some sympathy for individuals she might meet. She usually keeps a calm and respectful demeanor, but frustration can send her into episodes of overpowering rage. Loyalty is also very important to her, so while failure on the parts of those she commands is met with discipline, she is aware of techniques that might increase the chances of those she trusts to betray her. But against her enemies she is merciless, ensuring when she defeats them they have no chance to retaliate, without necessarily killing them.

Abilities

Silvia is trained in combat as a knight, and is very knowledgeable in offensive mace techniques as well as blocking techniques with her shield.

She is also a Lightning Elemental, and is able to control bolts and charges of electricity as well as current flow in electronics.

She is very knowledgeable in data encryption and other forms of hacking. She can also design and build devices that can withstand digital attacks.

Her experience working for the Smelter makes her a master at armory and weapon forgery.

She has a prehensile tail, which is able to support her full body weight and is also useful for choking her enemies.

Her threatening demeanor is often intimidating enough that others will follow her orders with no resistance.

Design

Silvia has mainly winter-gray fur, with white fur running down her belly. Her face is mostly white, with a gray fur mask covering her snout and seafoam green eyes. She has black ears, with pink interiors. Her hair is violet colored. Black fur along her wrists and feet create the appearance of fingerless gloves. Her fingertips, nose, and long tail are pale pink. A small pouch runs midway down her belly.

Attire

Silvia's standard outfit consists of a dark gray tunic underneath a set of silver plate armor. She wears a bevor around her collarbone, attached to a pair of pauldrons, with a set of faulds around her waist. Sharp gauntlets are strapped to her wrists, along with a pair of greaves around her legs. Covering her torso is a set of chainmail, and a matching chainmail sleeve wraps around the length of her tail.

Story

Early Life

Silvia grew up in the cyber stronghold of Techron, a city in the desolate Barrens Region of the Northern Empire known for providing the Empire with a large portion of the electric grid. When she was four years old, her parents were forced to sell her to the Electron Initiative in order to maintain their Approved Individual Status. The Initiative, a branch of the tech industry specializing in integration of technology with the sense of Self, enrolled Silvia in the Greatest Potential Program. From there, she was subjected to electrostimulation therapy and became a test subject for the Conformity chips they were developing.

Years of therapy and Conformity training warped Silvia's cognition, suppressing her feelings of empathy in favor of productivity. When she was twelve, she was sent to work for the Smelter, a raccoon blacksmith tasked with forging armor that could be infused with electronics designed to limit the control of the warrior in the case they disobeyed their superiors. Silvia quickly picked up how to forge armor and weapons, and began experimenting with her own electronics in the little free time she was allotted. These personal endeavors began the breakdown of the Conformity chip in her brain.

By the time she was 16, Silvia had become an expert at armor and weapon crafting, forging her own set of knight's chainmail armor free of any electronics to prevent herself from cyber attacks. She also crafted her own personal mace and shield, despite the Techron regulation that Biological Assets were forbidden to own weapons. She kept her mace a secret from everyone except the Smelter, further corrupting her Conformity chip. As a result, she became more outspoken and hostile to those around her. The Smelter quickly recognized what was happening to Silvia, and warned her of what would happen to her if the Initiative found out. No longer satisfied with Techron's systemic control, she began sneaking outside the stronghold, exploring the electric storm-charged Grid of the Barrens.

Blackout

For a year, she continued to break protocol by leaving the stronghold, further deteriorating her Conformity chip and allowing her true personality to show through. Eventually, the Initiative realized what she'd been doing, and placed her under Identity Suppression Watch. They performed several brain scans, soon discovering her corrupted chip. Deeming Silvia an experimental failure, the Initiative decided to perform an Identity Override, which would completely erase Silvia's memories and emotional development, as well of any records of her existence prior. To ensure she would never remember who she was, they then had the Smelter discreetly executed.

They removed Silvia's Conformity chip, and prepared her for one final electrostimulation therapy session, which would complete the Identity Override. As her electrocution began, she resisted, determined to preserve her memories. They increased the voltage, the electricity flowing through her forcing her dormant Elemental Lightning powers to awaken, allowing her to channel it away from herself, destroying the laboratory. She then escaped to the heart of Techron, her rage causing her to reach out to the storms surrounding the Grid. A massive electrical surge overloaded the Grid, causing every electronic system in the stronghold to malfunction. The surge set off a chain of lightning throughout the city and the Barrens beyond, laying waste to its infrastructure and causing a region-wide blackout. Her new powers too much for her to handle, Silvia collapsed from exhaustion. By the time she awoke the next day, Authorities from Grand Concentra City had arrived at what remained of the stronghold, collecting survivors to redistribute them throughout the Empire. 

Defection

During her time in Grand Concentra City, Silvia soon realized it was the Empire responsible for Techron's systems of control in the first place. And after three months of foster care, she finally escaped south into the Sur Kingdoms. She wandered as a nomad for several months, until eventually reaching the lush Kingdom of Alegio, which had been managing much of the Sur Kingdoms' negotiations in the Imperial War. Silvia demanded to speak to the kingdom's royalty, but after numerous rejections, she held a public announcement on her own, declaring she was the one responsible for the incident in Techron. She threatened to do the same to Alegio, but the kingdom did not believe her, and sent its guards to arrest her. After defeating all of them with her Lightning powers, she was finally granted council with the jaguar King Rey Dorado.

At the council, Silvia officially announced her defection from the Northern Empire, with her new goal to see the Empire fall completely. Still not trusting her, King Dorado sent her on a series of test missions throughout the kingdoms. Silvia returned successful each time, cementing her loyalty to Alegio. Being an Elemental, she was unlike any other agent in the kingdom, so King Dorado assigned her the title of Silver Knight, and gave her exclusive access to any territory of the Sur Kingdoms, under the role of an independent special assignments agent.

The Prophecy

Two years later, Silvia was sent undercover to the Imperial occupied city of Felonis in the Savanna States, intending to locate any hint to the location of cheetah Empress Goruden, who'd been missing for the past fifteen years. While there, she discovered a lost tapestry underneath the nearby abandoned fort. The tapestry told of a prophecy that a golden warrior of the north would defeat a silver warrior of the south, leading to the fall of civilization soon after. Her mission to locate the Empress was ultimately unsuccessful, forcing Silvia to return to Alegio.

Silvia was wracked with troubling thoughts for several weeks afterwards. Believing herself to be the silver warrior mentioned in the tapestry, she became obsessed with learning the identity of the golden warrior, hoping she could stop them before the prophecy came to pass. She then requested to return to Felonis in an effort to learn more about the prophecy, though King Dorado recommended she be sent on leave to mentally recuperate. He organized a vacation for Silvia to the independent territory of Paradyce on the west coast of the continent, where she stayed in the tourist destination city of Tropicala Beach.

A Break

While in the city, Silvia found herself unable to relax, so she visited a local warrior training club. There, she met a cow named Dusty Sugarcream, whose advanced archery skills intrigued her. In an attempt to understand the upbringing of those with more freedoms than she'd had, Silvia began to spend more time with Dusty. She showed her around the city, and eventually Silvia began to feel a sense of comfort that she'd never experienced before. She was surprised at how easily Dusty had accepted her, and she wondered if there was a chance she'd be able to live the normal life Techron could not give her.

But she was still unable to shake the prophecy from the back of her mind. After spending a week in Tropicala Beach, Silvia revealed to Dusty her Elemental Lightning powers. She then explained the prophecy and her mission to discover the identity of the golden northern warrior, offering to have Dusty join her, though the cow declined, saying she was not ready to leave Tropicala Beach on her own. Silvia wanted to force Dusty to go with her, though not wanting to risk her new friendship, she reluctantly accepted, bidding her only friend farewell before returning to Alegio.

Taking Back Felonis

Upon her return, Silvia was informed of Alegio's plan to liberate Felonis from Imperial control, as King Dorado had recently learned of the Empire's plan to claim the nearby nation of Selvada to supply their forces in Felonis with resources from Selvada's rainforests. With Felonis back in the control of the Savanna States, the Sur Kingdoms would be able to push into Selvada if the Empire became too aggressive. He then granted Silvia permission to accompany Alegio's forces to Felonis to continue her quest involving the prophecy, believing her Lightning Elemental status would be of great assistance to their army.

The battle was intense, but the Imperial army had not prepared for Silvia's electrical attacks, and she was able to take out a large portion of their forces on her own. Despite their advantage, Alegio still sustained heavy losses, and much of the kingdom's neighborhoods suffered extensive damage. Eventually, after a week of intense combat, the remaining Alegio army was finally able to push the Empire out of the kingdom. Silvia then returned to the fort where she had first seen the prophecy, but she soon found it had been completely destroyed in the battle. All that remained of the tapestry was a small patch of cloth, useless to her. She suddenly felt another episode of rage, intending to destroy the patch, but she noticed a signature written on the back--the one who'd sewn the tapestry had been a seamstress from a village in the Zhu Lai Forest, far away on the southeastern side of the continent.

Following the Ancestors

Not long after, Silvia made her way to the Zhu Lai Forest, where she discovered the remnants of a spiritual village. There, she found a panda farmer leaving offerings for the deceased. After asking what had happened, the panda revealed the Northern Empire had destroyed the village five years earlier. Silvia then explained she was looking for the seamstress that had lived in the village, but the farmer told her only one had survived the attack, and that she would take Silvia to him. Soon, she found herself in the Tierra Sanctuary, a peaceful region in the Forest dominated by the Arbor of the Ancestors, a massive oak tree. The farmer explained to Silvia that many would travel to the tree to find their Inner Place, their connection to the world. She then introduced her to a red panda named Crimson Hong, a student learning the ways of Ronin, and the only survivor of the Zhu Lai village attack.

Silvia showed Crimson the tapestry patch, but he refused to help her, saying he did not want to be reminded of his village. But after promising him she was trying to get revenge on the Northern Empire for how it treated them, he eventually agreed to explain the prophecy to her. Later that night, Crimson took her to the Seeing Pond, a mystical spring hidden in the roots of the Arbor that would show them the truth. He placed the patch in the water, allowing them visions of the seamstress who had sewn the tapestry many years before. Crimson revealed the seamstress had been his mother, who had been given a vision of the fall of the warring factions. One warrior from the north, and one warrior from the south, were destined to do battle, and upon the southern warrior's defeat, the world would be remade. Silvia asked how Crimson's mother came to receive the vision, to which he explained it took many years of searching for her Inner Place before she was granted the gift of foresight. Silvia then explained she needed to change the prophecy, but she could only do it by finding out the identity of the northern warrior. Crimson told her the only way she could know was if she found her own Inner Place, which would require years of training her soul in the Sanctuary, before the Seeing Pond would give her what she desired.

For two years, Silvia stayed in the Tierra Sanctuary, training her mind under the monks who lived there, though their lack of raw passion towards helping her realize her goal often frustrated her. During this time, she was occasionally contacted by Alegio for special missions, upon which she would bring Crimson along to test his skills in battle. Impressed with his talents, she considered taking him along as an apprentice. Eventually, Silvia grew impatient of waiting to find her Inner Place, and confronted the monks. They told her she would not ever be ready to commune with the Seeing Pond if she could not put her anger aside. Now in a rage, Silvia accused the monks of being the reason she was being held back from her full potential, and attacked them with her Lightning powers. However, she was quickly subdued by the monks' Nature spells. Though they forgave her, understanding her frustration, Silvia decided she needed to channel her anger somewhere more direct, and returned to Alegio, taking Crimson with her.

Forthcoming

Upon her and Crimson's return, King Dorado informed them of an impending attack by the Northern Empire on the Spectrum Academy in Grand Concentra City, with the Empire's intention of blaming the attack on the Sur Kingdoms. He told them of a cheetah named Hunter Pantone, who had vital knowledge on the attack against the Empire, and decided to send Crimson alone to capture him, as the red panda had no official association with the Sur Kingdoms' armies. With Crimson away, Silvia began conducting research into Hunter's past. She soon traced him as the adopted son of a black lab named Charcoal Pantone, who'd been arrested several years prior for speaking out against the Empire. She was shocked to discover Empress Goruden had been apprehended nearby to Charcoal's bar 17 years earlier, though reports stated the Golden Prince Kiiro had never been found. By piecing the information together, Silvia began to suspect Hunter was the golden warrior the prophecy had spoken of, though she still did not have proof.

A week later, Crimson returned, unsuccessful. Silvia soon confronted him about what he'd learned about Hunter while he was gone, to which he responded saying he was a skilled warrior Crimson was not strong enough to defeat. Silvia's suspicions about Hunter grew, though with the attack on the Spectrum Academy reports had lost track of him. Not wanting to prematurely fulfill the prophecy, Silvia waited in Alegio for Hunter to resurface.

Silvia spent the next year honing her combat skills and controlling her Lightning powers in order to prepare for her confrontation with Hunter. Eventually, reports claimed he was hiding in Grand Concentra City, with the aim of starting a resistance against the Authorities of the city. King Dorado wanted to capture him in case he had any more information to reveal about the Empire, though Silvia plotted in secret to kill Hunter before he could escape again. She then volunteered to lead in Alegio's mission to quell Hunter's resistance before he gained a following and became too strong. King Dorado approved, and Silvia then took Crimson as her second in command. 

Relationships

She is adventuring partners with Crimson Hong.

Dusty Sugarcream is the only one she considers a true friend.

Trivia

-She greatly enjoys visiting Tropicala Beach in Paradyce.

-She secretly wants to attend therapy for her anger management, but she hasn't been able to find the time.

-She sometimes meditates by hanging upside down from trees by her tail.