Qallasque

[Qallasque]

Name: Qallasque


Title: Archoness


Gender: Female


Age: 16 Pal Tahrenor years. Though much, much older in her native plane of existence, these millennia mean very little in the way of experience, as very little happened.


Race: Human


History/Occupation:

To Qallasque, the study of death in all its forms is her greatest task. To elaborate, a few things must be said.

Qallasque is not of this world. She is from a plane of Creators, shapers of life and energy. The denizens of this plane are few, and closely knit. They are a Council, a collective of thinking beings, disembodied consciousnesses, intent on shaping a world over which they might govern. As yet, very little is physically defined in this dimension. It is built up of a myriad of white hues, blending without shadow or line. Though one has no body, one can “move” within it, but never out of communicating distance of another inhabitant of this plane. If one tries, one has the sensation of moving, and white hues will alter as though the landscape is changing, but one will still be no farther from the others. Speaking is performed not physically, but telepathically.

But this world grows in diversity, very slowly. Time exists within it, and therefore change occurs. As the dozen consciousnesses of the Council, the Archons and Archonesses, explore other planes, each in their own manner, they take existing information about life and energy, and apply it as well as they can to their own world. The process is tedious and full of caution. Every attempt at something new, every step taken in forming energy and life, is done with deliberation and gentleness: The Council does not want to create without first being in absolute control of the situation, and all of its possible outcomes.

So, they spend most of their time inserting themselves discreetly into different planes of existence, and learning the ways of other Creators, attempting to understand the vast and infinitely varied paths of reality in all its forms.

Qallasque has been given the task of human mortality. She is to discover every possible reason for people dying, including motive and actual cause, plus any other variable she comes across in her proceedings. Not only that, but she is to experience it firsthand.

So she has taken a body, a human female. This body has been procured and cultivated within the universe of Pal Tahrenor through the aid of a medium and metaphysician by the name of Salis Ludo, a wise and crafty old elf with whom the Council has been communicating since he finished his studies at a prestigious school of philosophy in Tian Xia, nearly two centuries previous.

The curious thing about the body is that it is magnetically inclined towards a certain special chair in the venerable old elf’s tower, in the mountains north of Marn. Though too weak to notice, the pull is unrelenting, and constant. The only thing allowing the body to move away from the chair is that it is possessed by a desire to walk. Whenever the body is destroyed, or bereft of life, it will dissemble into atoms, succumb to the magnetic pull of the chair, and reassemble there, aged 27, alive and utterly confused, with no memory of its previous lives.

The chair is seemingly indestructible, made of a midnight blue, glasslike substance that twinkles with its own inner light. It is said to contain a fabricated galaxy within its depths, a galaxy which Salis Ludo has dubbed the Gloaming Universe. It sits in the centre of a secure, high-ceilinged, circular room, the walls of which are lined with a vast collection of books and scrolls. One door leads out of the room. This door will only unlock once a vast web of mechanical clockwork, cleverly impressed into the walls, has been tripped by the removal of certain key books. This design is to ensure that Qallasque can arm herself with the necessary, basic knowledge that any young female should possess before venturing out into the world beyond the tower.

Through the door is another room, with stacks of clothing and imperishable food, several pairs of the same boots, timepieces, compasses, lightweight hatchets, and outdoors survival gear. It is usually in this room that Salis Ludo will meet Qallasque, having been informed via a rather loud bell of her presence at the tripping of the first book’s wall mechanism. He is rarely known to leave his tower, content to spend his time sidestepping through the multitude of realities that lay beyond his little world, and writing of his experiences.

Linus, the rat, is a manifestation of Qallasque’s true consciousness, her soul. It is ageless, and well aware of what it is, and where it comes from. The little brown rat is usually able to make it over to the tower before Qallasque’s body is ready to leave. The two enjoy a limited telepathy, consisting mainly of feelings and simple concepts. It is often difficult for Qallasque the consciousness to express to Qallasque the body what it is she wishes to do, as her soul’s only connection with its body is a rodent. There seems to be little that can be done to remedy this state of affairs. Her soul naturally manifested as a rat the first time she took her body and awoke in the chair, and it has been there ever since, never aging or growing sick, never getting stepped on or in fact touched. Sometimes, Qallasque the body suspects that Qallasque the soul only exists in her head. The next person to taste rat shit in their coffee is usually quick to tell her otherwise.

Physical Appearance:

Qallasque is a rather ordinary girl. She stands five foot five, has a drab brown mop of mid-length hair, and wears soft shades of simple clothing. Her face is square, without any overly large, oddly small, or misplaced features. Her bangs hang slightly over simple brown eyes with dull pupils, and her mouth is a thin, serious line. Her skin is lightly tanned, but not noticeably so, nor is it remarkably pale. Her figure and face are modest and completely unexhilarating, but they are not always the same either. (See Magic)


Personality:

Qallasque’s body is hardwired with a few character traits. The rest of her rather complex and ill-defined personality resides in her soul, her consciousness. This dwells in Linus, the brown rat.

Her body/brain is naturally nervous of other people, and it is easy to make her twitch, jump, or get embarrassed. She does, however, possess a certain demure charm, which attracts friends.

She remembers nothing of her previous lives, but the experiences she had in them are hardwired into her subconscious, and into her body’s training. If she became an expert swimmer, and then died, she would still be an expert swimmer when she came back, she just might not ever find out.


Magics:

Qallasque’s major power is her ability to die, and then live again. The details of this process have been mostly covered, but perhaps require some clarification. The body’s natural state is 27 years old, with no diseases or irregularities. It is perfectly healthy, has a photographic memory, and its mind is well suited to numbers and logic. It is perceptive, good-natured, and a quick learner.

It also retains the physical training and skills of its previous lives, and its subconscious will keep such things as the ability to read, walk, speak, write, and any other skill that it has practiced routinely in the past.

The one difference it has is a slight altering of the facial features and height, here and there, every time. This is so that Qallasque might return to the same places, and meet the same people, without being condemned as a ghost or a walking corpse.


Strengths/Good Qualities:

In her previous lives, Qallasque has developed formidable prowess with the hatchet. She can throw them powerfully, gracefully, and accurately up to fifty feet, as well as battling very effectively at close quarters. She carries three hatchets with her at all times, two in holsters upside-down for easy reach on her back, and one in a holster over her left hip.

Assuming she has lived for several months without dissembling and starting over, she trusts Linus as a rather effective guide, and a wise creature that points her in the right direction in times of question. She is not aware that Linus is her soul and her higher consciousness, nor is she aware of her own immortality, as this knowledge might affect her task.

Linus has a remarkable ability: He can simply flash out of existence, returning to his native reality and rejoining the Council as Qallasque’s higher self. He doesn’t like to do this for very long, though, as it means leaving Qallasque alone.


Weaknesses/Bad Qualities:

Qallasque the body is repeatedly, inevitably, doomed. Linus will, after gaining her trust, try to lead her into mortal situations, so that the Council, through the eyes of the little brown rat, might observe. These rather masochistic, split-personal suicide missions often border on the comical or the cruel.

Qallasque the soul, Linus, is colour-blind, and has chronic diarrhoea.

Qallasque the body is rather down-to-earth, what with her higher self being grounded in the body of a rat. She has no understanding of sidestepping, no inclination for magic, and no grasp, beyond the academic, of anything spiritual or supernatural.

Until Qallasque the body gets out there and lives a little, all of her knowledge comes from books. Starting out in the mountains serves to harden her somewhat, but very little can be done to prepare her for meeting people. Especially when people expect a woman of her apparent age to behave a certain way amongst people. Certainly, her shyness and charm help, but the books and the attitude can’t possibly smooth over every little detail, so sometimes she commits rather embarrassing no-nos, like using a waste bin behind the tavern counter as a lavatory on a busy Friday evening.