Lady Chryssa

Lady Chryssa is an original character created by Aldrasos.

Appearance
Lady Chryssa is a young woman with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and long golden hair styled in a small bun, with two long strands falling down the her front. Despite appearing dainty in her rich dress, in reality she is deceptively athletic and physically fit. But while she makes a constant effort to appear attractive at all times, Lady Chryssa's near-constant scowl is the most defining characteristic of her appearance.

In terms of clothing, she is almost always seen in one of her signature dresses, each composed of multiple layers and frills, and favouring the colour black. Each of her outfits is adorned with numerous decorative plates of light gilded steel - primarily on the sides of her skirts and over her shoulders. Gilded steel is also woven into the fabric of her dress as decoration. Atop her head she wears a dark circlet, within the centre of which a yellow gem sits. On her legs she wears long black stockings, and for shoes she favours dark stilettos.

Personality
Lady Chryssa is a very distant person, with a strong dislike for people which she doesn't attempt to conceal. Her privileged upbringing and subsequent obsession with achieving perfection have made her both confident and competent, though while she hides it well, she has a tendency to suffer from extreme anxiety upon meeting a person of similar abilty, and easily feels threatened by such people. Haughty and self-obsessed, Lady Chryssa is a difficult person to like, and those she considers far beneath her in ability and social status will be treated as little more than dirt by her. Holding a conversation with Lady Chryssa is difficult enough, and earning her respect is a feat that few people have managed to achieve.

Lady Chryssa is known for her expensive and extravagant tastes, and is not used to be refused what she wants. Overexposure to such decadence has created a degree of apathy, however, which in turn quickly leads to bouts of extreme boredom. Her numerous forays into the Mistralian underworld have all been to satisfy her needs for entertainment, and to satiate her desire to prove that she is the best at everything she does.

Background
Lady Chryssa was born Chryssa Baskerville - daughter and only child to a pair of Atlesian business owners. In her early years, Chryssa was treated with the best education and training a child could receive in Remnant, and despite her parents' best efforts she slowly became an arrogant braggart. This made her deeply unpopular with her childhood peers, who one day tortured her puppy in childhood retribution for her hubris. This act deeply scarred the young girl, who developed a intense loathing of her fellow classmates, and eventually people in general. In addition to her newfound hatred, Chryssa also discovered the need to be crafty and manipulative from a young age - deciding than retaliating through conventional means, she would instead prove her superiority over them every day.

From that day on, young Chryssa worked extremely hard to become the best at everything she did, soon excelling at sports, the academic subjects and the arts. From her initial school days up until she was eighteen years old, Chryssa was the undisputed golden child of each institution she joined. The costs of these successes were great, however, with the jealousy created by her achievements only amplified with Chryssa's toxically superior attitude. And in addition to growing up alone and friendless, she suffered the numerous negative effects of excessive caffine and chemical stimulant consumption.

A few days after Chryssa's graduation at eighteen years old, her parents revealled to her a shocking truth. While she had been away, the family's success had plummeted - and the Baskervilles had spent practically everything they had in getting Chryssa through her education at Atlas' most prestigious academy. Chryssa was appalled by her the fate of her family, but rather than sympathise with their plight, she was disgusted. Convincing her parents she could reverse their fortunes, Chryssa promptly sold everything her parents still possessed - abandoning the Baskerville name and fleeing to Mistral with what was left of her family's fortune.

Over the course of the next eight years, the newly-named Lady Chryssa grew her own fortune through savvy business investments - quickly growing her stock portfolio and influence base in the unfamiliar city of Wind Path. As the years past, Lady Chryssa began to realise the potential profits of replicating her tactics of insider-trading, but instead in the city's burgeoning underworld. Bribing numerous criminal elements to act as her private informants, she went on to amass a small fortune of her own solely by selling the secrets of criminal factions to their rivals, all the while staying clear of the dirtier aspects of that world.

Soul Tether
Soul Tether is Lady Chryssa's Semblance. When activated, she creates a leash-like cord of Aura that attaches to any living creature of her choice within five metres. When attached, this tether creates a linkage between Lady Chryssa and the target, allowing her to empower the target with her Aura as if it were their own. She can maintain a maximum of three tethers at any one time, although it should be noted that the creation and maintaining of a tether costs an insignificantly small amount of Aura. Once attached, the tether can extent to a maximum length of thirty metres before breaking - severing the link. The tether can also be severed through physical means by attacking it with sufficient force, or when Lady Chryssa's Aura drops below 20%.

Blackjack
While Lady Chryssa prefers not to get involved in fights herself, she is nonetheless a fairly capable fighter in her own right. Her sole weapon is an expandable blackjack hidden in her right sleeve, which she can use to bludgeon anything that gets too close for comfort. It does not transform outside of its holstered state.

The Hounds of Baskerville
The Hounds of Baskerville are Lady Chryssa's pets and protectors. While not related, each hound was selected from a pack of wild wolves at the time of their birth, and have been in the lady's control ever since. Each one has been trained by Lady Chryssa herself in the wilderness beyond Mistral's borders, against the creatures of Grimm. Their experiences and fearsome bloodlines have thus made them extremely dangerous warriors in their own right - though Lady Chryssa typically only travels with one at a time.

Cerberus - All-Consuming Maw
Cerberus is Lady Chryssa's favourite pet hound - though wolves would be a more accurate description of the beasts. Standing nearly a metre off the ground, Cerberus is the largest and most vicious of the lady's protectors, and the undisputed alpha of the trio. His most notable traits are his thick black coat and three large claw-scars running down the side of his snout.

Cerberus' Semblance is ''All-Consuming Maw. ''When activated, Cerberus' bite strength increases dramatically - becoming powerful enough to snap bone and pierce metal with ease. Each bite - whether successful or not - drains 5% of the hound's Aura.

Fenrir - Shadow Pack
Fenrir is Lady Chryssa's sneakiest and most cunning pet hound, standing roughly 70cm off the ground. His most notable traits are his light grey coat and his missing left ear. Fast and nimble, Fenrir makes up for his lesser strength by consciously targeting the enemy's weaknesses.

Fenrir's Semblance is Shadow Pack''. ''When activated, Fenrir creates four shadow-clones of himself that rush a single target - attacking them briefly before disappearing. The clones are pure Aura, and can destroyed with relative ease, so are primarily used to distract, obscure and disorientate a target so that Fenrir can make an attack. Each clone drains 5% of Fenrir's Aura, for a total of 20% per-usage.'''

Culann - Thunderous Howl
Culann is Lady Chryssa's most intelligent and obedient pet hound, standing roughly 80cm off the ground. His most notable trait is his reddish-brown coat. Solid and unyielding, Culann is the happy medium between the ferocious Cerberus and the devious Fenrir.

Culann's Semblance is ''Thunderous Howl. ''When activated, Culann unleashes a ear-splitting howl that deafens everybody in a large radius - particularly those directly ahead or in close proximity. In additon to its deafening effect, the howl has enough physical force to knock over the poorly-footed, and to stumble those that aren't. Culann's howl drains 10% of his Aura.

Trivia

 * The name Chryssa is a varient of the Latin name Chrysanta, meaning 'Golden Flower'
 * The name Cerberus belongs to the guardian of Hades - the underworld of Greek mythology
 * The name Fenrir belongs to the beast-son of Loki, the trickster-god of Norse mythology
 * The name Culann belongs to the owner of the hound killed by the hero Cu Chulainn of Celtic mythology