◆◆ The Gravelord ◆◆
The Black BansheeReal Name: Marzanna Strix
Aliases: The Countess, Black Banshee, Mistress of Death, Lady In Black, 1st Deathweaver, Countess of Decay, Gravelord
Height: 5'10"
Weight: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Hair Color: Raven
Eye Color: Varies
Species: Unknown
Gender: Female
Alignment: Irredeemable Villain
Orientation: Asexual
Birthplace: Black Hallows
Relationship Status: Single
Family: Ezra Strix (Brother), Fraga (Nephew), Ishmael Strix (Nephew), Absalom Strix (Nephew), Nikoleta Strix (Niece)
Occupation: Deathweaver
Affiliation: Ezra Strix
☾ Lady In Black - Origin/Background ☽
From somewhere in Black Hallows, Marzanna was born the sister of Ezra Strix. Little is known about what the two siblings actually are, however, the Black Hallows is often said by legend to be where nightmares and the horrors of the mind are given form. Ezra, the eldest, was the Madweaver, and Marzanna? The Deathweaver. Those who roam the Black Hallows fear them, often spinning tales to unravel the nature and origin of the two siblings. Folklore from the natives of the Black Hallows tells of tales claiming the two siblings as the nightmares of arcane scholars given form. Others however, claim that they are from a mysterious race of nightmare beings called the "Strix" from an unknown and undiscovered region of the Black Hallows.
Many however, hold that Ezra and Marzanna were once arcane experts and seekers of knowledge who ventured into the Dire Halls of Phantasmagoria in search of arcane revelations and untold truths but were twisted and corrupted by what they found, turned into tainted and monstrous beings no longer resembling what they once were. Nothing however, can be confirmed save for one truth; While Ezra had somehow managed to cross into the outside physical world, his sister remained behind in the Black Hallows, growing her power and waiting.
☾ The Countess - Psychological Profile ☽
Like her brother Ezra, Marzanna is incredibly narcissistic and marked by a distinct lack of empathy. Like him, she exhibits some form of antisocial personality disorder. She firmly believes that power and domination are the preeminent traits of a superior mind, and as such only lends her hand if there is some personal gain at stake. A defining aspect of Marzanna's personality is her tendency to think of everything in terms of power, which she equates to increasing her power over death, an inevitability she believes will come for all, even the supposedly immortal like her brother Ezra. As a result, she is somewhat willfully ignorant of people or matters which she considers to have no value. And due to her obsession with power, Marzanna is prone to asserting herself and her authority in grandiose ways, either through humiliation or excessive cruelty.
CrueltyAt her core, the Black Banshee relishes death and agony, as shown by her maniacal glee during her homicidal sprees. She appears to share Ezra's taste for extreme sadism, often torturing and drawing out the death of her enemies to render them as painful as possible, often for her own psychological indulgence. Marzanna also has a sardonic wit and a tendency to use black humor such as saying feigning concern for her victims. Often calm and refined, Marzanna tends to use regal and eloquent language, a chilling contrast to her cruel and cold blooded nature. She conducts herself with a poised and refined demeanor and is highly intelligent and clever. Though despite her sophisticated demeanor, Marzanna can react violently to criticism and she is capable of phenomenally explosive and violent fits of rage, screaming with fury as she seeks to annihilate the cause of her ire.
A unique trait of hers that is not shared by her brother is her vicious racism. The Black Banshee has a longstanding and low opinion of humans, viewing them as weak, both physically and psychologically given hers and Ezra's constant domination of them in every way imaginable. She also makes jokes at the expense of the tragedies that often afflict mankind e.g. natural disasters. She is incredibly disdainful and often treats humans with contempt. In response to the presence of metahumans, Marzanna jokes of changing her view of humans from believing that all of them are weak to now believing that only most of them are weak. She is also highly intolerant to any suggestion that humans are in any way equal to her, believing it to be an insult for anyone to relegate her to the status of a "lesser" species.
When questioned about her cruelties and immoral behavior, Marzanna simply dismisses the notion of morality to be a social construct conceived by humans to shackle those superior to them and that she is not subject to the philosophies of a lesser species.
☾ The Mistress of Death - Powers & Abilities ☽
♦♦ The Deathweaver ♦♦
Like her sibling Ezra, Marzanna is a native of the Black Hallows. While her age itself is not known, she is believed to be extremely old but exhibits no physical signs of aging. This is owed to her very nature. Marzanna is the first and only Deathweaver, a nightmare monster whose dominion is over "Death" and "Aging". And because of her dominion over death and it's aspects, the Countess of Decay possesses a medley of cruel and unforgivable powers related to her specific sphere of influence. She appears to be immune to all earthly diseases and toxins, and exhibits a strong but far from impenetrable defense to psychic attacks. She is also physically superior to any ordinary human, though to what degree (at her lowest level of power) remains unknown. First and foremost however, Marzanna's most commonly used ability is her strange power to conjure an emerald flame-like energy for her to command.
Primarily, these emerald flames engulf her, decaying the immaterial boundaries separating different locations etc. until those boundaries are "dead" and no more, allowing Marzanna to manifest in most locations through what appears similar to teleportation. Furthermore, these emerald flames are extremely hot and pose a danger to her enemies as she can manipulate them in a variety of ways e.g. projecting them violently, creating fire-based constructs etc. Marzanna's flames however, exhibit exotic properties other than their distinct emerald shade. Whether because of their actual composition or sheer heat, her flames can burn things that are generally thought to be nonflammable such as bricks, concrete, asbestos, and even things that have already been burned. Furthermore, the 1st Deathweaver's flames corrode organic matter like the flesh of her enemies while leaving behind a cruel acidic substance behind that seeps into the body to boil and breakdown bones into a superheated soup of organic remnants. In addition to these abilities, Marzanna seems to exude an aura of death and rot around her.
Living creatures and objects with no means of defense, rot and age if they come into physical contact with her. Though foes with any appropriate means of defense can resist her power of death and rot. She appears to be able to increase the reach of this power by casting a black, life-draining and airborne miasma. It has caused trees to wither and fall, and birds to plummet from the air. Like her sibling, Marzanna does neither ages nor possesses a conventional soul, if one at all. As she is the Deathweaver, she cannot die. Instead, "death" simply returns her to the Black Hallows, severely weakened. And in the Black Hallows she is rendered comatose.
♦♦ The Specter of Decay ♦♦
The Specter of Decay is the form Marzanna takes when using her power at it's maximum. When taking this form, Marzanna is consumed by a burst of black and emerald flames which burn away her flesh, reducing her entire body to little more than a skeleton. In her Specter of Decay form, Marzanna is draped in a dark emerald cloak with a black tattered fur collar around her neck and the fringes of her cloak, granting her a macabre appearance, as though she were a lich. In her Specter of Decay form, Marzanna is in possession of limited flight, allowing her to levitate and hover around her immediate environment. Furthermore, her physical attributes experience a considerable increase as she grows fast, durable and strong enough to challenge even the more powerful of today's metahumans. In addition to an increase of her physical attributes, she gains a myriad of new abilities.
The Countess of Decay is able to "decay" the flow of time around her, allowing her to erect a field whereby time is slowed relative to herself, causing most foes who enter within range to be stripped of their speed and forced to move slower than normal, whereas Marzanna retains her ordinary speed. Unfortunately, adversaries with enough speed can still retain some degree of extraordinary speed even when inside Marzanna's field. In this form however, Marzanna's death and aging-related abilities grow far stronger. Not only is she able to accelerate the age of nearly anything she touches e.g. reducing the arm of an opponent to brittle bones, Marzanna can, through extended physical contact with her target, completely decay them to ash, rotting away the flesh and turning bone to dust much faster than usual, accelerating the age of that which comes into physical contact with her. As a result, Marzanna often reduces weapons and opponents alike to nothing by forcibly decomposing and decaying them, breaking down the organic and inorganic substances that comprise them.
And because of her dominion over death, Marzanna can communicate with the dead and even raise them from their graves as her undead thralls. She is also able to control worms and maggots and other organisms responsible for decomposition etc., using them as a means of locating dead bodies for her to reanimate. Finally, in her Specter of Decay form, she can stretch her limbs and spew a noxious emerald liquid from her mouth. This liquid emanates a faint glow and appears to be digestive as it consumes the cells of her foes.
☾ The Countess of Decay - Artifacts ☽
♦♦ Death Reaver Ring ♦♦
Ring of NegationWhile highly knowledgeable and talented in arcane fields, Marzanna recognizes the importance of power aids such as staffs, rings and the like. It is for this reason that the Countess of Decay has crafted her own personal power aid, a ring by the name of "Death Reaver". The Death Reaver ring is a quasi-sentient arcane instrument that responds only to Marzanna's touch. If touched by another, the effects could prove deadly. Death Reaver allows Marzanna to channel her death-related powers through it, centralizing their effects for greater results. The ring is believed to have been crafted from the black wood of the soul-trapping trees of the Grim Pasture in the Black Hallows. When wielding her ring, the Countess of Decay can project emerald bolts or emerald flames different from her usual ones.
These bolts and flames harness the power of decay and degradation, the opposing forces of life and creation. And it is because of this that Death Reaver is occasionally referred to as the Ring of Negation. By manipulating the forces of erosion, decay, and destruction, the Death Reaver Ring projects emerald bolts or flames that erode and decay both organic and inorganic matter. The strength of decay etc. is directly proportional to the intensity and duration of the flames etc. being projected. Furthermore, Death Reaver can shoot powerful explosive bolts of "negation energy", an exotic energy that mediates the forces of erosion, decay, and destruction. These bolts can dissolve organic cells, destroying an opponent at the cellular level as if disintegrating them.
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