Mireia – elf abjuration wizard
I started this one about three months ago wanting to see what I could come up with for the shadow around Mireia’s eyes. I thought I was quite clever using a shrunk-down pointy hairstyle that sort of did the job, but I wasn’t really happy with it so I set the whole thing aside. Upon revisiting the character, I hit on the even more clever idea of using one of the eye items with the solid color in the middle, which gave me just the shape I wanted. With that hurdle cleared, I went on to discover even more ways that the relatively simple wardrobe concepts I envision can become complicated to actually implement using the available assets. (“Shabby, highwater peasant pants with a slight flare at the bottom of each leg” doesn’t seem like it would be that hard, right?) HeroMachine life lesson for the day: If the outline of your object is too thin after you shrink it down, put a slightly bigger version of the object in solid black right behind it.
If there were such a thing as a fallen high elf, Mireia might consider herself one. In her old life, the child known as Mira was expected to follow in her parents’ artistic footsteps. But an early fascination with light (and the encouraging influence of her art teacher’s black-sheep brother) led her to become interested in pursuing magic. She was allowed to enroll in a mage academy with the understanding that the diversion would last only as long as she maintained the highest standards in her studies. She pushed herself to become her teacher’s prize pupil, but when a talented newcomer threatened her position of superiority, a rivalry flared up between the two students.
The new girl was as fascinated with darkness as Mira was with light, and when Mira began surreptitiously researching the dark arts to try to gain a leg up on her rival, she instead discovered a scope of power that she had never even considered before. When the time came for the students to present their ultimate displays of magical mastery, which would determine their future as mages, Mira stunned everyone by unleashing an unbridled torrent of summoned creatures, both light and dark in nature. But the spectators’ surprise and Mira’s self-satisfaction soon turned to horror as the creatures revealed their true essence – they were in part manifestations of Mira’s jealousy and hostility toward her rival, and they attacked the girl without remorse. Mira was helpless to stop the ensuing carnage, never having gained the discipline to truly master her summoned minions.
By the time the creatures were subdued, three students were dead and both the school’s reputation and Mira’s future were shattered. Now a withdrawn shell of a person, her bright eyes permanently marked with the shadows into which she had too deeply gazed, she was sentenced to be executed in a cleansing ritual that would contain any lingering trace of dark magic within her. But when a mischievous interloper left her as the only survivor of an attack on the caravan transporting her to the ritual site – quite probably recognizing that she had already accepted her own impending death – she was confronted with the opportunity to choose her own fate. At first she didn’t care whether she lived or died, but then it dawned on her that she might be getting a second chance to refashion her life and somehow find a way to move past the horrible things she had done.
No longer a child, but not quite able to call herself an adult, Mireia moves forward now, more aware of her own abilities and limitations, more mindful of the dangers of uncontrolled magic. She keeps to herself, fearing that her dark past may overtake her at any moment, and secretly yearns to find a place where she belongs.
