Name: Cassandra Knight
Alias(es): Sanguine; Badge #1221; Dark Nightingale; The Prodigy
Weight: 145 lbs
Hair: Auburn
Eyes: Amber
Height: 5'8"
Origin: Mutation/Esoteric
Occupation: Police officer (Gothic City Police Department) [Former]; domestic terrorist
Affiliations: Gothic City Police Department; Raees Mason; The Sicarii Serpents; Mercy Sheridan; Catriona Knightfall
Officer of the Law Officer Knight - GCPD Whether she arrived before or after the forced-secession of Gothic City has not been determined; but given the state of the city and no cause for concern, few were willing to turn down an officer of her caliber. Not much known of her except that she apparently had a quiet childhood in suburbia and her background seems to check out. Every test she passed with flying colors and physically she’s been called “leagues beyond her peers – and just about everyone else who's gone through the academy.” Training complete, she was put to task in Gothic City, where she attempts at least to do some good in the virtually lawless city. Served as a new officer on a probationary period; however, prior to finishing this probationary period, a series of events unfolded which Cassandra herself can't remember, but which saw her branded a domestic terrorist.
She has since sought and received shelter with Vincent Harrow and the League of Shadows
[Citation ]
The Secret History
Religious scholars have portrayed Mary Magdalene as many things over the years. Diseased. Prostitute. Wife of Christ. Not one of them got it right. In the same strokes that they falsely painted Judas as Betrayer, they painted Mary as the Sinner, the Whore. Anything to tear her down with any strength that she may have once borne. Heaven forbid the world see a female with the innate strength and power she possesses. Mary was so much more than what they made her, they both were.
Judas Iscariot was a member of the league of assassins known as the Sicarii. He was not the one who betrayed Jesus, but for reasons that have been lost in the sands of time, those who authored the Bible believed for the world to wish that he was. Not only those men, but the men in charge of the Church, who were more than happy to spread the word that Judas was the one at fault.
He was not the only one who was more than he appeared to be, though. Mary Magdalene was no mere woman. Yes, she was the companion of Christ, but the history books were unaware of the rest. She was trained by the Sicarii in the deadly arts of assassination and placed as Jesus's protector. She failed in her duties, but not before she became impregnated with his child. The heir of not only the holy bloodline, but the heir of a Sicarii legacy.
Unknown to Mary, the daughter that she carried within her would be heir to a deadly gift spurred by the combining of bloodlines and the holiness that ran throughout her. After the death of Christ, Mary was spirited off to France. It was there where she lived out the rest of her life, but not quietly by any means.
She established her own sect of Sicarii and quickly got down to business, even as her womb was burgeoning with an impending life. The French sect differed from their brethren in the fact that instead of being labeled as terrorists and zealots, they acted quite covertly. Trained by Mary with her own personal knowledge of the Sicarii, they quickly grew to a unit of forty men and women.
The Birth of the Bloodline
By the time her daughter arrived, born in the walls of a monastery in the south of France, Mary had gathered considerable power and wealth through her Sicarii and their tactics as they remained covert and unknown. The only child of Christ, Sarah, grew to age in the lap of luxury, learning skills from her mother in the center of a pit of assassins.
Sarah was no normal child. She knew no shortage of love, but also no shortage of training. But what was unknown to The Magdalene, to the Sicarii and most importantly, to the Vatican, whom they were working against - was the fact that Sarah was bestowed not just with the bloodline of Jesus, she had a gift. She had the ability to see into others minds and see what they were thinking; telepathy.
As she grew older and so did her mother, Sarah progressed in momentous fashion. Dubbed simply the Sanguine, she fashioned a name for herself as somebody not to be trifled with. An elite assassin by the time she was seventeen, she took ownership of the sect of Sicarii that her mother had led.
Heavily involved in political assassination, their goal was to keep the Vatican and their slanderous and false statements in check. They succeeded much of the time, but not always where they wanted to. Overall, they took small victories fashioned in behind the scenes meeting rooms mixed with a heavy dose of political intrigue and assassination, opposed to the outright guerilla tactics and terrorism of their brethren in the Holy Land.
The Sanguine
Each generation of the Holy Bloodline bears one daughter. This girl is known as the Sanguine, literally the Blood. She's the blood of Christ and the blood of Magdalene and she is heir to an inglorious burden. Saddled with purpose, ambition and means, not a single daughter of Magdalena's line ever lived a quiet uneventful life. Any who tried went nearly mad in the process.
Each was born with a gift, just as Sarah had been, but that was not the only special feature that the Sanguine possessed. In addition to that gift, at the age of 17 or the death of their mother, whichever event occurred first, each girl would inherit the combat knowledge of all those who came before them
The muscle memories transferred over, as well as every technique and piece of information that all who had come before had acquired during their lifetimes. This alone makes each Sanguine one of the world's premiere combatants. That is without adding in the knowledge that they gain during their own tenure and the gift that has been bestowed upon each of them.
Unbeknownst to her peers Cassandra is born of the same esoteric lineage and bears the same power as every Sanguine before her, following in the lineal steps of her mother Catriona and grandmother Mercy , and bolstered by several other inborn qualities.
Eidetic proprioception : Born to a line of X-gene–bearing mutants, Cassandra likewise possesses one, which manifests phenotypically in the form of eidetic proprioception, more commonly known as photographic reflexes.
Kinesthesia is a key component in muscle memory and hand-eye coordination. The ability to perform intricate tasks and moves such as martial arts maneuvers requires a finely tuned sense of the position of the joints. This sense needs to become automatic through training to enable a person to concentrate on other aspects of performance, such as maintaining motivation or seeing where other people are. Normally, this training takes much repetition and practice to become and remain sharp.
Cassandra's brain forms these connections instantly and maintains them innately. Upon seeing an action performed once, her brain stores a perfect “copy” of the action in her procedural memory; in essence, the mind fools the body into believing it has already perfected the move in the past and, at the mind's behest, beckons the body to perform it "again."
Dual-soul: Essence & Embodiment Cassandra is further set off from her lineage, as much apart from those of the bloodline as they are from the mundane. At birth, her soul was comprised of the essence of two, each imbued with an abstract aspect of existence. Cassandra, in her soul, carries within herself the embodiment of the concepts of Severance and Binding . She is able to channel these powers through her body and objects with which she makes contact, individually or in unison, on the physical and non-physical alike.
Severance – the act of severing; to end; to remove or split, especially by cutting
In simplest terms, by channeling the power of severance Cassandra can actualize a cut upon any object by any other object, given the slightest momentum and irrespective of composition. Once activated, no substance, force or effect may halt the advance of her blade. In her hands a silver butter knife could cleave an adamantium sword just as the latter cleaves the air. This ability can be channeled through thrown/projected items (throwing knives, bullets, etc.), though it has not been ascertained whether or not the effect remains for a set period of time or by a mental connection Cassandra keeps until the projectile reaches its target.
Also, when Cassandra gains enough momentum for a severing attack, by the use of a related severing ability, anything caught in direct contact when the attack hits will split completely along the line of the attack, regardless of whether or not the actual swing is as wide or deep, or completed with a follow-through. For example she could cleave a man completely down-center even if her blade only touches his head. She appears also to manipulate minute angles of cuts, severing with either clean or jagged, sloppy cuts through mental force rather than pure physical action.
Binding – to unite or cause coherence as a single whole; to tie or fasten tightly
The antithesis of severance, this effect allows Cassandra to forcibly bind any two or more things together through contact. The strength of these bonds may vary, from fragile ties that break with little effort to those unbreakable save for the abstract power of severance itself. However, due to the antithetical nature of these powers and because one could not conventionally overpower themselves (these forces acting as extensions of her own body), it’s suspected to be impossible to create a bond so strong that she herself could not break it.
As with severance, it’s possible for Cassandra to channel binding through nonphysical objects, and even bind the physical with the nonphysical. Because of this she could be considered a talented (though not necessarily knowledgeable) enchanter in her own right. A “makeshift magus,” in a manner of speaking. By tying a spirit to a person, place, or object, a person may become “possessed,” a place “haunted,” an object “cursed,” practically speaking. This is the same for enchantments and effects, in all creating a transfinite number of possibilities limited primarily by the mind of the Sanguine.
Application: Destructive Binding
As well as reparation and simple ties, binding may be channeled for destructive purposes as well. At times Cassandra may use her power to bind objects and bodies in a directly harmful way, often in tandem with severance. This is achieved by a number of means, in functioning systems. Notably (in biological forms) binding the walls of blood vessels tightly enough to form a malignant clot, preventing blood from reaching certain areas of the body and causing necrosis.
This works by, in essence, fooling the body into a false sense of complacency. Typically the nervous system takes in information through the senses, processes the information and triggers reactions. Nerves send signals that tell when something is wrong and needs correcting (at which point the body commences regulatory processes), or that everything is fine and the body should continue functioning as is. When Cassandra attacks a target through destructive binding, it is as if the signal has been intercepted, the body’s communication cut off from itself. The nervous system tells itself everything is fine, but restricted from the flow of blood, vitamins and other nutrients, the sequestered portion or appendage loses functionality and decays on-site.
This form of attack could be considered “woundless” and works independently of healing and regenerative abilities because it is not dependent on the presence of a wound. There is no cut or damage site—and clotting as a natural part of the healing process, after all—and the area is treated as if it’s been “healed” by the body.
Similar effects can be achieved in mechanical/electrical systems by binding various portions together and disrupting the intricate networks that allow them to function, as well as magic and chi users.
Divergence However it was said that these contrary forces dwelling in the same vessel were at one time likely to destroy her body. So, as a child Cassandra’s soul was split in two halves along with each abstract essence. Half her spirit remains within her body, the other bound to a foreign body appearing as an inanimate object. To most, it is known as a family heirloom. Among those of notably closer rapport, it is claimed to be a one-of-a-kind Magitek artefact called Rapture . However even this is only part of a layered façade.
The true nature of the Rapture, even Cassandra and her closest don’t entirely know. Its composition is neither technological nor biological; although at times it seems to exhibit properties of both. The Rapture bears one-half of Cassandra’s soul and, most believe, the sole power of severance. The relationship between the two is not unlike that of two distinct symbiotic organisms. Whether obligate or facultative symbiosis is likewise unknown. However this relationship entails both benefits and a few drawbacks.
Each has an intuitive sense of one another’s location and state, no matter the distance between them. Usually this manifests as an intuitive sense, but may be extended to a direct sharing of information and knowing. This connection could also be used as a means of quasi-telepathy, transmitting memories, sounds, or other sensory and cognitive input/output between them. However, the Rapture seems to have a mind all its own; and though Cassandra may exert influence over it, using it as an extension of her own body when in sync, her control is not as absolute as one wielding a simple tool or suit of armor.
Not what it seems... Transmogrification: While often appearing as a small piece of jewelry the Rapture changes both size and shape at will, taking various shapes from weapons to armor (or both), and more. No one is sure where the apparent mass shift comes from; there have been a few theories, from an energy-to-mass converter to some kind of extradimensional storage. But it works. For Cassandra this is all that matters. The Rapture can also be used to “upgrade” or otherwise manipulate the things it comes into contact with. This is achieved in a number of ways, such as artificially providing additional bullets in a gun (by sacrificing of its own mass), strengthening the material of a blade or other weapon, serving as extra parts, or working over the mechanical functioning in some systems.
Telepathic resistance: As a result of the dual-soul and connection between them, Cassandra is somewhat resistant to telepathic assault and better able to fend off intrusion than a normal person. Because their minds are distinct, but linked, an intruding telepath would have two foes to contend with instead of one, making assaults more difficult.
Spiritual vulnerability: The same quality that gives her a stronger resistance to telepaths conversely makes her more vulnerable to spiritual attacks such as possession. Each body possessed by an incomplete soul, resistance to such assailants is lower than average.
However each is also tethered by a weaker connection to the physical plane, granting Cassandra and the Rapture a measure of extrasensory perception . This usually manifests as a vague feeling while in the vicinity of spirits, persons, or objects bearing an abnormal metaphysical/supernatural connection or other transcendental qualities, and becoming stronger as she gets closer. With enough concentration she could even begin to see faded figures, or otherwise sense them just as one does objects with their mundane senses (touch, smell, etc).
Equipment Much of Cassandra’s equipment is provided by the Gothic City Police Department. Standard equipment is provided in large part by the department and may include such things as body armor or additional arms, but there is a degree of variability based on an officer’s personal preferences. Aside from her bond with the Rapture, Cassandra may be known to use the following:
Beretta 92FS semi-automatic pistol Smith & Wesson Model 29 Classic revolver (personal/off-duty pistol) Extra ammunition Pocket knife Taser gun Baton Spray can of mace Handcuffs (x3) Radio LED Flashlight Larger or more substantial arms would be provided on an as-needed basis, but less likely so to a trainee fresh from the academy.
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