i live the life i left behind

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There are times when Mia Corvere wonders what her life might have been had her father not been hanged a traitor for all the world to see, had her mother not been imprisoned until the day she died, and her brother taken to the grave with her. A marrowborn daughter, she thinks she might have been anything. Most of all, she thinks she might have been kinder.

This was not the path Mia’s life took.

The death of Mia’s family only served to immortalize her childhood memories into her mind forever. Her noble father, rebelling against a practical tyrant to put a good king on the throne. Her mother, strong and defiant to the bitter end, only sacrificing her dignity to save the lives of her children. Her brother, small and sweet and a baby too innocent for this world. These three figures make up a holy trinity in Mia’s mind that could rival the one the people worship in the suns. With these deaths weighing heavy on her, they’ve shaped Mia into a woman that only thirsts for vengeance for the regal memories of her family. A woman that would right the injustices of the world laid out by the Consul that refuses to concede his rule when his term ends.

Driven by a singular goal means that Mia can behave very single-mindedly at time. Eight years of her life have been dedicated to this one goal, making it an all-consuming fire within her. As such, Mia realizes that to accomplish her goal she must harden herself to the things she must do. She must meet death with a smile and deliver it to the doorstep of the Dark Mother Niah herself. There’s no room for sympathy and coddling in a life like this.

Mia isn’t looking for either of these things, either. She doesn’t harp on her tragedy like she expects the world to bend to her. Instead, Mia rises up in anger at the recollection of her family. She needs little from the world, other than to back down when she’s making her way to her end. And if it doesn’t, her Shahiid has taught her the ways of dispatching those that might stand in her way.

It’s lucky for Mia, then, that she is absent of fear during all this. For Mia, she has two daemons that eat her fear. While daemons have no true mouths, they do take her fear from her. Though neither seem to understand how or why they must. There are times when Mia’s fear can be too much even for the gluttonous daemons to take, however having them at her side helps her survive these times more than if they were gone.

What trouble it does cause, however, is that it creates in Mia a crutch that relies upon the daemons to give her edge. Fear is not unknown to Mia, but it is deeply uncomfortable to the point that she states she “loathes fear.” While the sentiment is shared by many, for Mia it’s almost worse than it would be in others. Because the girl is not accustomed to the feeling, fear can almost ground her entirely. Over the past year or so, Mia has strived more and more to send her daemons further from her, making her experience fear more frequently. She does not like the feeling and tends to nearly panic if fear starts to overwhelm.

But her singular-minded mind tends to rebel against fear, and its sheer, stubborn will that allows Mia to persevere.

Growing up in this way, the absence of fear also tends to make Mia reckless at times. She throws herself into situations and plots that are dangerous to her own well-being. Her tongue is also loose, and even sharp at times as well. She can be sarcastic and biting, with no fear of how others might perceive her. The absence of fear can be a great way to push her forward, but it also makes Mia hardened and callous at times. And when her fear returns, she tends to double down on these sorts of traits.

The danger of being absent of fear for so long is that Mia’s learned a strong stubbornness that often couples with anger when met with obstacles. When the Revered Father doesn’t allow Mia to challenge him on the status of Consul Scaeva, she becomes angry to the point of nearly fighting the Revered Father himself. Literally. Mia often finds herself having to reign in her anger, control it with a tight a leash. Her control over this emotion has come over the last two years of training with the Red Church, especially at the hands of Aalea, as she learns that other skills may help her where anger and stabbing could hinder her.

Joining the Red Church did not immediately solve all of Mia’s problems within the day, as she sometimes liked to think it might. The reality of this is harsh in her mind, but it helps strengthen her resolve. Mia pays her dues, working in Galante doing kills on people she’s barely heard of, in the hopes for a chance at larger targets in the future.

Mia has learned the skill of patience. After all, she’s been waiting six years to even get this far. She’s searching for an end to her goals, a way to make those who wronged her pay dearly, but she’s come to learn that while she’s completed the largest task of her plan, her plan will need more time to develop. And she will need to be cleverer about it. With patience, Mia learns the ability to scout her options out, strategize effective and clean ways of reaching her goals, and devise carefully orchestrated plans to reach their end. Her kills over the last year for the Church bring all her training to a head, allowing her time to practice all her skills in many combinations and learn the art of strategy over the desire to simply rush into a situation and stab.

Not that she’ll ever turn down a chance to stab when it’s there. She just knows now it’s not always the immediate answer. Sometimes there are steps that come before the stabbing.

Mia has endured a lot over the years for her one singular goal, but as she goes she starts to see more of a world she’s shut herself off to. She meets others, makes friends, and people she once thought of as ends to a mean become actual people to her. Even ones that are technically her enemies, she soon comes to realize they have dreams and hopes and worst of all families of their own. That doesn’t soften Mia to all kills she must do to reach her end, but it does start to reshape the world in her mind. It leaves her open to more things, which reveals another truth about the girl underneath it all.

Born a darkin, Mia has only known two others in her lifetime. One who died before he could share anything, though his daemon told her he really knew nothing in the end after all, and one who didn’t even have a daemon and refused to acknowledge what he was. As such, Mia learns her skills through sheer chance, and sometimes through darkest memories. Her own memories of her mother’s death, a thing she witnessed when her mother feared what Mia had become the night Mia tried to free her from prison burn bright in Mia’s mind. The devastation it caused her, seeing both her mother’s death and her fear, have only served to leave Mia with more questions than answers in her life.

Deep down, Mia has a deeply questioning personality. She craves to understand why the world happens the way it does. Why is she a darkin? Why does that seem to mean she is chosen by the Dark Mother? What does it mean to be chosen? What does it mean to be a darkin?

As time goes on and Mia’s understanding of the people around her expands, these questions start to expand to the world around her. After all, in a Republic where all surrounding countries are vassal states of the whole, where do slaves come from? How does a person end up a slave? Why doesn’t the Everseeing help these people if they are part of the same church that allows them to be enslaved? Mia starts to see the injustices of the Republic beyond what they’ve simply done to her and the hatred that burns in her for the Consul. It’s what ultimately teaches her the value of innocent lives, people who are far removed from these conflicts meant to be casualties of them all the same. It’s why she spares the young boy in her final trial, unable to cause the death of an innocent when she knows what real evil is. As her view of the world expands, Mia’s singular-minded goal starts to take up noble aspects around it.

Spending such a long time in her family’s legacy, Mia had always dreamed her parents better than her. People worth killing nearly a hundred men in the Consul’s employ to exact revenge. When Mia learns the truth, that her mother played politics on her knees and her father was not leading a rebellion for noble purposes but rather because he was in love with his general, it nearly shatters Mia to know. These people she’s placed on pedestals as the heroes of her childhood weren’t fighting the same fight she thinks she is. The revelation rattles her, though it doesn’t mean her parents didn’t love her still. That Scaeva doesn’t deserve what he gets in the end.

Instead, it starts to shift Mia’s thinking of the goals she’s trying to accomplish. She knows part of it is revenge, but part of it begins to feel larger than that. It’s about the injustices she’s witnessed in Itreya over the last few years. The things people endure and suffer through while men they praise get rich off their backs. Mia’s vengeance starts to take a shape as something larger than just being for her parents. It’s for a country that’s in shambles from bad leadership, and the chance at something more. She’s not sure what a different world would look like, but she knows that the first steps toward it start with the deaths of the Consul and Cardinal.

Mia’s daemons don’t simply eat her fear, they talk with her. They’re a sentience of their own, but one that seems wholly loyal to Mia at the end of the day. Even the one she gained after the death of the Lord of Blades.

Each of the daemons, Mister Kindly and Eclipse, seem to have their own personalities. Mister Kindly is sarcastic, even scathing at times. He can be critical and pushy, guiding Mia to steel herself to the horrors around her and focus on the one dream she’s wanted all her life. Eclipse is newer but seems to value Mia’s own sense of self. Eclipse is similar to Mia in her single-mindedness, however that single-mind still seems to be in tune to the dead Lord of Blades. Eclipse is straightforward in her thinking and nearly bloodthirsty in her expectations of Mia. Both counsel Mia on how she should proceed, sometimes fighting with each other, and Mia always opts whether to listen to them or not. Even telling them to shut up if they fight too much.

Yet there’s a dependence on her daemons in more ways than just the eating of her fear. Particularly between Mister Kindly and Mia. Mister Kindly has been with Mia since the death of her family. He regards himself as her truest friend, only working to Mia’s best interests and her will. This shows when Mia is accused of murdering her own friend to win a trial, and Mister Kindly knows the truth that would prove Mia’s innocence. Mia doesn’t want Mister Kindly to share that truth, as it would damn another, and opts instead to let justice be delivered regardless. Mister Kindly, however, explains he knows that Mia didn’t do it and knows why. Mia begs him not to tell, and Mister Kindly seems hurt that Mia doesn’t trust him to uphold her desires. Because in the end, he only meant to put himself forth as her alibi and not Tric who would have suffered if the truth had been found out.

This kind of unerring loyalty is appreciated, but tends to scare both of them often. They’re not quite sure what they are and where they’re going as a darkin. Eclipse doesn’t seem to care, as her master didn’t either, but Mia and Mister Kindly wonder at what it all means. Mister Kindly even questions if what they do for Mia is truly help at all. Yet at the end of the day, they always find their way back to each other and that unfaltering trust.

Beyond the daemons, Mia has found more relationships in others throughout her journey. Her second longest and closest is in Mercurio, the man who raised her. When Mia learns of the Church’s betrayal, she fears Mercurio only knew. He swears he only learned recently, and by then it was too late to help. But he helps still when Mia makes her plans, and Mia realizes she can trust the man after all. The same as he realizes Mia didn’t fail him when she didn’t past her final trial. She simply had a different path than he ever expected.

To better understand herself, Mia had tried to make friends of the darkins Cassius and Furian, the only other two living darkins she had met. She knows Cassius some through Eclipse, learning that Cassius never cared to understand what he was, simply carry out his purpose to kill. And Furian outright rejects himself entirely. Still, she feels a kinship with the men that makes their deaths haunt her simply for the lack of being understood. Especially when being near either of them always created a hunger in both parties that was never truly explained.

Mia’s most influential relationships past her familial ones, however, tend to be complicated ones she kept with Tric and Ashlinn. Both were killers like her, and Tric and Mia shared a singular need for revenge to drive them to the end. However, Ashlinn seemed to understand Mia’s true heart, realizing the girl wasn’t made to be an assassin like the rest of them. These two both guide Mia through difficult times in her life. Mia regrets the death of Tric strongly, especially as he died at the hands of Ashlinn. Yet the more she knows Ashlinn, the more kinship she finds in the woman. Even worse, the more she realizes Ashlinn understands her in a way even Tric couldn’t. Ashlinn helps Mia accomplish her goals, all the while supporting her and helping fuel the flames of what better Mia could be.

In the end, Mia is still finding herself amidst the chaos of a tumultuous childhood dwarfed by shadows of people larger than her. She’s learning, however, that her own shadows are much stronger than the ones she lives in. And that there may be something more to this world than simple revenge after all. She has a goal to complete, and maybe a world to help reshape when it’s all said and done.

DARKIN ⇢ a darkin is a person in Mia's world that is said to have the ability to control shadows. Beyond this fact, there is no other knowledge about darkins officially known beyond what Mia herself has discovered. Which isn't much. Below are a list of things Mia has learned/can do with her darkin abilities:

DAEMONS: From what Mia knows, most darkins have a daemon, familiar, passenger, whatever you want to call it. A creature made of shadows given a somewhat fixed form that speaks with you and eats your fears. Mia's is a shadowcat named Mister Kindly ( described below in further detail ). However, not all darkins have these daemon. Two out of three known darkin have had a familiar ( counting Mia herself ), and she has no understanding of why the other did not. It has been shown that with the death of a darkin, their daemon can go to another at the daemon's choosing. It's unknown if these bonds are permanent in life or if daemons simply choose not to leave again. Mia has collected a second demon from the Lord of Blades, Cassius, named Eclipse ( who will be a regain later and not in her inventory ). It does seem like multiple daemons can amplify the eating of fear.

TRAPPING: One skill Mia has known since essentially the discovery of her abilities is the ability to trap someone with shadows. Mia seems to either need to use the person's shadow or her own shadow for this, and then she simply grabs onto whatever is touching the base of the shadow ( typically someone's shoes ). This can easily be countered by removing the item the shadow is grabbing ( again, typically shoes but if you want to lose a foot you do you ). However, Mia mostly uses this ability to throw people off-balance in a fight, messing up their footing when they go to block her but their feet can't move. This ability can also be countered by another darkin wresting control of shadows from her.

SHADOW CLOAK: Another ability Mia uses frequently is the ability to cloak herself in shadows. Pulling shadows around her, Mia disappears into shadows. She does make a shadow like twice darker, but in really dark areas this can be hard to see if the shadow is already significantly dark. Doing this also costs Mia the ability to see well herself, as the cloak seems just as difficult to see out of as it is into. Mia has to be careful and slow with this sort of stealth.

SHADOW STEP: While Mia used this once in her youth, she only rediscovered the ability two years ago after blocking out the incident at fourteen. Since then, she's a little apprehensive to use it herself. She's gotten more practice with it recently, however. With this ability, Mia can disappear into the shadows and reappear in another shadow within line of sight. Stepping into shadows takes concentration and focus, and often leaves Mia dizzied and even ill. In daylight, this ability can be nearly impossible. Not completely impossible, but it is a greater strain and greater sickness following.

MANIPULATION: Mia is only shown to be able to control shadows and use them to rip things a handful of times in her life. Once was in truedark, where this ability was near effortless and second nature to her. The second and only other time was when Mia was being physically tortured for a trial. Left alone, she summoned shadows deep within her to break through her manacles. This ability took a significant amount of willpower and effort that Mia has never replicated since. This was in a dark underground bunker, as well, though not in truedark. The implication is that there may be something more to truedark that amplifies Mia's abilities, while darkness itself helps generally, and light hinders them.

MELDING: Another one time, and very niche, ability, Mia has the ability to "meld" ( for lack of a better term ) with another darkin. Darkins that meet tend to have their shadows intermingle without trying, and when this happens it seems to bridge their consciousness more. When this happens, two darkin can feel what the other feels wholly as if it's themselves and sometimes even control the movements of another darkin. This ability is only between two darkins.

AMPLIFICATION: Mia's abilities tend to be strongest in truedark. There does seem to be a distinct difference between darkness and truedark. Mia's ability in a darkened world are stronger and a little easier, though her manipulation still is difficult. In truedark, when the goddess Niah reigns, her powers are almost off the charts. As there is a moon in this world, truedark is unattainable.

WEAKNESSES: Sunlight is Mia's main weakness. Artificial lights don't seem to have much impact if any at all, but sunlight can make it difficult for Mia to work with shadows. This also affects her daemons and makes it harder for them to move about and eat fear as quickly as usual. Additionally, anything blessed by a true man of the god Aa, the Everseeing, is anathema to the girl. The item in question becomes like a blinding light that makes Mia physically sick and unable to do much. In great duress, she has managed to shadowstep out of this, but only once and it takes a great amount of willpower and effort.

ASSASSIN ⇢ since Mia was ten years old, the man who took her in has been training her to be an assassin. Mia has taken her training very seriously, as she intends to assassinate the three most powerful men in the republic one day. To do that, she joined the Red Church with helped specialize the basic training that Mercurio taught her. Mia has a strong foundation in stealth, combat, and survival skills, as Mercurio was fond of trials for her ( such as leaving her without water for three days, then putting a decanter of water in the middle of four wild dogs in a room covered with dry leaves and making her get it ).

FITNESS: Mia is described as lithe and muscled, physically fit and capable. She's strong enough to fit against grown men without crumbling against the weight of their blows, though far from being strong enough to overpower a man without finesse involved. She is quicker than she is strong, and relies on her speed most of all.

WEAPONS TRAINING: While encouraged to train with many weapons, Mia has specialized in two-handed fighting with rapiers, short swords, or daggers ( she prefers daggers ). The technique is known as Carvaggio in her world, and relies on swiftness and the ability to get inside an opponent's defenses. Mia is also passable with a bow, and a little more skilled with a sword and shield. She loathes the use of shields, though she can make good use of them and will use it if needed.

MASKS TRAINING: Taught by Shahiid Aalea, Mia has learned the art of manipulating others. She has some skill with slipping into identities that best allow her to manipulate targets. Particularly identities that are flirtatious and doting. In this way, Mia can seem a simple flirt or elegant woman and mask her true intentions easily enough.

VENOM CRAFT: A stronger skill of Mia's, Mia is capable of creating many kinds of poisons and their antidotes. She is able to identify poisons based on the reactions of a person, and even think through being poisoned herself ( if she doesn't die instantly ). Mia has also been given difficult poison formulas with no direction and told to invent the antidote herself, and has succeeded at this task in the past with great effort. With this knowledge, Mia is able to use some things she's learned for medicinal purposes as well. She's no true healer, but she can offer a hand. Especially with helping people sleep through trauma.

PICKPOCKET: Not a skill that Mia excels in, Mia does have some training in picking pockets and locks on doors. She can handle simpler tasks in this vein, but prefers to find other ways the harder her subject is to pick.

MENTAL FORTITUDE: While tested rather than trained, Mia has been shown to withstand extreme tortures without cracking and breaking confidence. This does not mean she suffers without sound, though she always tries to, only that she will not cave and can often retreat within herself to withstand the assault.

BLOOD MAGIC ⇢ While in Fellden, Mia was gifted with blood magic from the Priestess. Blood magic was considered a taboo, but the Priestess felt Mia could be trusted with it to serve her goals better. Mia never got better than just barely past novice, as she didn't devote her time significantly to training. But Mia did learn how to manipulate the blood of others. This ability is weaker the larger the creature (easier on animals but difficult on people), and she can't do it for very long. To push herself to do more would hurt Mia, as well.

1. Daemon - Mister Kindly
2. Daemon - Eclipse
3. Gravebone Stiletto

1. ONE
2. TWO
3. THREE