[Magician] Vita Vesta Caesar

FULL NAME: Vita Vesta
OTHER ALIAS: Vita Vesta 'Caesar'
CURRENT AGE: 14
GENDER: Female
OCCUPATION: Empress
SCHOOL: N/A
FACTION: Formerly Agnese Forces, prospectively Necessarius



APPEARANCE: Her height is about average for a girl her age, and she is neither very fat not excessively thin. She has blonde hair with a reddish tinge to it, and amber eyes. While she wore a nun's habit during her time with the Agnese Forces, once she left she quickly replaced it with her current ensemble, which consists of a bowler cap, a short skirt, stockings, and a long sleeved shirt with a vest on top.
HEIGHT: 4"9
WEIGHT: 74 lbs.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: She practically exudes confidence.



PERSONALITY:
For the Glory of Rome!
Though she's a tad more, ah, serious than most, at her core she’s a hardboiled Rome otaku.
The Roman Empire Offers Citizenship to All!
She has no concept of discrimination, and treats everyone equally. After all, Rome was the very image of diversity, so wouldn't she be spitting on its memory if she did such a thing?
I Shall Show You the Dignity of a Roman!
Like the ancient Romans before her, she firmly believes she is cut from a better cloth than the rest of the world. This is displayed outwardly as a sort of nationalistic pride, rather than haughty arrogance.
Behold, the Empress of Rome!
She takes her position as Empress very seriously. It is her duty to ensure the continued welfare of Rome, assist its revival however possible, take care of her citizens, and so forth. If she's speaking in her official capacity as the Empress of Rome, she is not joking around.
I May be the Empress, but I'm Still a Girl!
She has an overwhelming love for Rome, and roughly 99 out of every 100 thoughts that run through her head are in regards to it, but she is still a young girl. She enjoys talking to her friends, festivals, and other mundane things like anyone else.

LIKES:
Rome, Rome, Rome; a thousand times Rome
Festivals; she's never been to one and they sound fun
Citizens; they're the lifeblood of a country
DISLIKES:
Christianity; after her experience with Roman Catholicism, she finds it suffocating
Unmotivated people; she considers them the only people who don't have anything to offer to Rome
Failure; as the Empress she has to set an example
STRENGTHS:
History and mythology; she didn't spend all that time with her head buried in a book for nothing
Judging a person's character; a must for the sake of judging whether someone can or will contribute to the welfare of Rome
Tactical, strategic, and political maneuvers; if she didn't think she was up to the task, then she'd have found someone else to make Empress
WEAKNESSES:
Runaway train; her pro-Rome fervor can get a bit out of hand sometimes
Sounds naive; even when she's talking seriously she can come across as an overly excited little kid
Focus; she hasn't seen much of the world so she can be easily dazzled by new sights and experiences



HISTORY: Abandoned by her parents at a young age, Vita spent some of the earliest years of her life as just another homeless brat wandering the streets of Rome. She slept in alleys, and found her meals in the trash. However, there was one trait that set her apart from the rabble: her fascination with the city's older buildings. Whenever she had the leeway to do so, she wander around those buildings, eat in them, and sleep in them. When she slept at night, she dreamed of the workers who had built them. She eavesdropped on tour guides and even went so far as sneaking into libraries and teaching herself to read, all for the sake of learning the origins of those buildings. As she learned more and more about the ancient Romans who built those structures, her fascination only grew. Thoughts of the Senate, the Forum, the great legions, the emperors, the conquests, and the great empire that withstood all but the inescapable eroding winds of time occupied her mind every waking moment of the day.

But regardless of the joy it brought to her, life wasn't easy. Her access to many buildings and the libraries was heavily restricted, the nights were cold, and she was always hungry. One day, however, everything changed. She was sitting in alley, munching on some bread scavenged from the trash, when a woman in what she later learned was a nun’s habit approached her. She knelt down with a kind smile and asked her many questions. The very last question she asked was whether she wanted to go with the woman. As anything would be better than the streets, she didn't even hesitate before answering in the affirmative.

At the church, she was given clean clothes, a warm bed, and good food. It was like a dream. She had been whisked away from a life on the streets and been given everything she'd ever wanted. As such, when one day she was introduced to a group of girls called the Agnese Forces and told that she'd be working with them from now on to hunt down the church's enemies to repay the church for taking her in, she didn't even blink. It was this event, this introduction to the foreign set of laws the Agnese Forces used to suppress the church's enemies, that ultimately changed the course of her life.

Initially, Vita was as devoted to the church as any of the other girls, but as time passed, her loyalty waned. She tried to practice magic based on the many gods and superstitions that the ancient Romans believed in, but when she spoke of it, she was harshly punished, forcing her to continue in secret. She was so often busy out on missions, or just praying in chapels, that she had little to no chances to visit the buildings she so loved, even though they were so close. Consequently, she became increasingly attached to the books on the history of Rome that she was allowed to take from the libraries. Eventually, as was inevitable, she took note of the fact that the glory of Rome was long gone. True, she had known that fact for a long while, but she had lived in the city that was once the capital of Rome, and saw those great buildings, so it never really felt quite real to her. But those books, filled with brutal historical facts, made it abundantly clear that while modern day Rome was large, and had much history, that was all it had: history. Every time that thought crossed her mind, she very nearly cried.

In time, her love for the empire of Rome far surpassed her devotion to the church that took her in and the god it worshiped. She spent nearly every moment of her day lamenting the fall of Rome, even during prayer and in the middle of missions. But one day, an idea crossed her mind.

"I wish I could revive Rome."

It was just a passing fancy, an impossible. But the idea simply would not leave her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. True, for most it would be an impossible task, a true fool's errand, but she had two things in excess that most people had in short supply: an unmatched love for the glory of wonderful Rome, and access to a set of laws that paid no heed to such mundane things as common sense; that is to say, magic.

With that in mind, she hardened her resolve and made her decision. If she remained within the Agnese Forces and under the command of the church, she would never achieve her goals, so at the soonest possible opportunity, she deserted. It saddened her to leave the once capital city of her great empire, but she had no choice. For the sake of the revival of the Roman Empire she needed to recruit more to her cause than just herself, and if she restricted herself to that city, she'd never accomplish it. So she headed to a place that seemed to have everything she needed: young talents to recruit, and opportunities to practice the magic spells she'd had to keep secret for so long.

She went to join the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church, Necessarius.



RANK: Prospective Member
(MAGIC NAME): Invictus648 "So long as I stand firm, the world itself shall fall before me."
Blessings of the Gods: Do ut des
Humans burned offerings which traveled as smoke into the heavens to reach the gods, and in return the gods granted blessings upon those humans. This principle of reciprocal exchange between man and deity, do ut des (“I give that you might give”), is the basis of Vita’s magic.

In ancient Rome, people would set aside a portion of their meal, and even prepare a place at the dining table for the gods. In the same fashion, she sets aside a portion of her food and offers it to the gods every day, and at every meal. She sets it alight, and the smoke reaches up towards the heavens where the gods graciously receive it. Regardless of what the food is made up of, the gods will receive the offering, and as such all things shall burn equally. This is the offering she gives to them in exchange for their blessing.

From there is where her magic’s practical uses are unveiled. In order to direct and control those blessings and ensure that they take a form convenient to her desires, she uses a defixio, or curse tablet. In ancient Rome, people inscribed curses directed towards their enemies and prayers to the gods to grant reality to those curses upon those tablets. By taking advantage of the defixio’s trait of asking for a god’s assistance in a specific task and the fact that while she has already given an offering to the gods, they have yet to grant something in return, she is able use those tablets to transfigure the blessings of the gods into specific spells of various qualities corresponding to the god called upon.

So long as she continues to grant offerings to the gods without end, they too shall grant blessings to her without end. But the moment she shows even the slightest deviation from her dedication, forgetting to offer a portion of her meal at even a single meal, then she will lose the blessings of the gods. However, while that is sufficient for the purpose of setting the premise required for the spell of the gods owing her assistance in return for her offerings, it does not hold enough symbolic significance to allow the casting of a spell. As a result, when preparing to call upon the gods for their blessings, she must first offer some food as an offering right on the spot. To that end, she carries a cluster of grapes in her bag at all times for the express of purpose of giving as an offering when necessary.

In order to call upon a blessing via a defixio, she calls out do ut des, with the purpose of marking the purpose behind the defixio as calling upon the god to fulfill their duty in return for the offerings that were given to them. After that, she simply calls out the name of the god that the defixio upon which the spell she desires is transcribed is dedicated to. However, as a result, if she uses a god for more than one spell, then should she attempt to call upon one of them by invoking the god’s name as well as their duty like normal, then the spell will fail as there is no indication of which blessing she is asking them to grant. Also, the gods will only grant their blessings in situations that can be considered ‘of their domain’. For example, while the Blessing of Mercurius grants the ability to discern the proper path, it can only be invoked while Vita is lost, or unaware of her location, thus invoking Mercurius’ function as a guide for travelers.

Blessing of Saturnus: Saturn is the god of generation and dissolution, of cycles, and of time. His blessing is to return the body’s state back to what it was when it was granted the blessing. While it's a surefire cure for fatigue, blood loss, and minor injuries, for greater injuries such as broken bones, lost limbs, and copiously bleeding gashes, it is only capable of partially reverting them. Bones will be set, but not mended, and blood will be returned and bleeding stopped, but amputated extremities will not be returned and the bleeding of large wounds will only be stopped, and it will not take much to reopen them. And for fatal wounds, it won't have any effect at all. Once it has been used, it cannot be called upon again until the day is over and the next has arrived. That is to say, a sunset and a sunrise.

Blessing of Mars: Mars is a god of war second in importance to the ancient Romans only to Jupiter. His blessing is a large boost in physical prowess which increases Vita's strength to the point where she can crack bones with her blows. However, it can only be activated in the midst of battle, and only against enemies of impressive strength. For example, while it would fail to invoke against a cannon, because it would not register as an ‘enemy’, or a wrestler, because while their strength may be great, it is within the bounds of human ability and capable of being accomplished with simple training, not even requiring talent. On the other hand, against a magician who has enhanced their physical prowess through magical means, a large animal such as a wolf or bear, the spell would activate perfectly fine.

Blessing of Diana: Diana is the goddess of the moon and the hunt. Her blessing grants Vita reflexes and senses of a beast. Under its influence, Vita will have enhanced night vision, hearing, and smell. If she sees someone aiming a gun, then she is perfectly capable of dodging it by moving out of the way the instant before the trigger is pulled. The condition for the blessing is for Vita’s senses to be restricted by an external factor, such as darkness, or for her to be targeted by something traditionally associated with the hunting of wild game such as a rifle or bow.

Blessing of Mercurius: Mercury is the god of luck, travelers, trickery, and thieves. His blessing is the ability to learn the proper 'path' to take, such as the quickest and safest road to a diner, through a minefield, or out of a building ridden with traps and assassins. The path is shown to Vita via a series of footprints on the ground, visible only to her, and the sound of footsteps in the direction of the path. However, it can only be used when Vita is lost, or otherwise rendered unaware of her current location and/or surroundings.

Blessing of Vulcanus: Vulcan is the god of fire, volcanoes, and the forge. His blessing grants Vita the ability to create a large explosion up to three feet away from her body capable of severely wounding the average adult male, and quite possibly killing those of lesser physical stature. As a fire was traditionally dedicated to Vulcanus during rituals, serving the purpose of driving away malignant spirits from the grounds, Vulcanus’ blessing can only be used in defense against an assault that carries clear ill will, and only against metal weapons such as swords, axes, and maces, such as would be made in a forge.

Blessing of Jupiter: Jupiter is commonly known as the god of the skies, of thunder, and as the king of the gods, but he also had another function. He was a keeper of the sanctity of oaths, and the people swore by his name whenever making an agreement (incidentally, this is the origin of the phrase “By Jove!”). His blessing allows Vita to tell whether an agreement made with another party is reneged upon, regardless of the time or location and with perfect accuracy. This functions by having the name Iuppiter be engraved on both parties’ arms, which then fade. In the event that either of them break the agreement, they will feel a burning sensation on their arm, and the name will reappear only to fade away shortly thereafter. However, there are various restrictions to this. First, upon the creation of any sort of contract, Vita must inform the other party of the blessing’s existence. And second, the blessing works both ways, so if Vita reneges on the contract, the other party will also be informed.

Blessing of Neptunus: Neptune is the god of all bodies of water and of equestrians, such as horses. As Neptune resides over both water and horses, used primarily as modes of transport, his blessing allows Vita to travel across bodies of water. That is, to walk across water as it were solid ground. However, once she begins traveling across a body of water, she most continue ‘traveling’ and stay in constant motion or the blessing will lose all effect.

Genius Loci: The genius loci are the protective spirits of a place. While making use of their influence can have many effects, Vita is currently only capable of using them to implement a people clearing field in a manner similar to the opila rune. To implement it, she simply needs to chant a three minute carmen to the genius loci of a place, asking for their assistance. The feeling that people get when nearing the area is that they 'do not belong here'.

OTHER ABILITIES:
Pocket Knife
A simple pocket knife. Has no special qualities. If she uses a weapon, then this is it.
Political Savvy
Her skill in this area comes from a combination of exposure to the Roman Catholic Church, which has more enemies within than without, knowledge of past exploits by various historical figures, and a personal knack for it.
Tactical and Strategic Expertise
Her skill is derived from her talent, her experience, from the Agnese Forces, and her knowledge, history.
Bag of Materials
She carries a small bag with the defixio and grapes required for her blessings.
Beware the Temptress that Gives Way to Greed
The spell she used during her time as a member of the Agnes Forces. Based on the story of how Delilah betrayed Samson for coin, if she takes the hair of her target, wraps it around a coin, and severs it, it halves the target's physical fortitude. However, she vastly prefers to use her Roman spells, so it is a last resort for use in desperation only.


CHARACTER THEME: I do not have any at this point in time.


PLAYER'S NAME: Libertas719, Kihara000, Invictus648, Puella719, SasakiRin, and KTsubame.
RATING: R for Restricted (Explicit violence and sexual content. Must be kept offsite.)
FACE CLAIM: Ikyuu Tensai from Nanana's Buried Treasure
OTHER CHARACTERS: Jack Nightingale and Kihara Kisue
MISC. INFORMATION: Considers the Roman Empire a stateless nation.

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Test Post:

Hmm ok so after discussing this on chantago I thought I should mention these here.

I feel that her motivation does sound convincing to join Necessarius which accepts magicians from all kinds of backgrounds so I can understand why she would join them. At the same time it does make me wonder why she had to betray the organization who took her in and cherished her from childhood. In her state of mind wouldn't she be torn between her loyalty towards an organization who saved her from poverty and betraying their unconditional trust? I feel like there was little to no hesitation in her decision to ultimately leave the organization.

Also it feels like I'm overlooking something here. Why had she not chosen the Kururugi Suzaku path where she decides to go along with it and eventually reach a rank within the Roman Catholics to change them from within? Become the next Pope and you should have all the power and authority you would need in order to recreate Rome the way you envisioned the lost empire. What is her reasoning for overlooking this more obvious steps in rise of power/funds/citizen/etc etc? There must be a conclusive reason why she must have avoided this idea so I'd like to see what made her decide otherwise.

My meddlesome suggestion here but maybe she discovered how those kids dying in poverty was created in the first place. A way to recruit young children into their organization from poverty? There was a LN of Kanzaki chasing down a case where the Church of England was causing tragedies like these to create young homeless urchins who live off the streets, then they take them in and pretty much raise them up to become the next Necessarius operatives. From reading Vita's history she seems to fit into a similar story without the introduction of such tragedy so maybe you can incorporate this into it to create a valid reasoning why she wanted nothing to do with the Roman Catholics. Just a suggestion.

As for her spells.

I have to be honest, I'm not sure if her roman spells are very useful. Duration of a week seems to be quite long... actually even 24 hours for a duration of a spell seems quite long as well. What reasoning is there for her to have the same kind of spell with varying difference in duration? Seems like it's more obsolete if you ask me.

Her spells are also passive buffs with very long duration and equally long cooldown period, not active abilities which she can use on the fly.

I would like it if you could revise this and come up with a way to turn these abilities into a burst type spells. A single use spell you can use on the fly. Duration should only last a single post because of the diversity you have, and if I had to make another suggestion, instead of making an altar you pour magic into jewels that corresponds to the god of your choosing?

For example, when you overload a piece of a blood jewel Ruby which corresponds to the colors of War aka Mars with your magical energy, it explodes and grants you a sudden burst of physical strength for a limited time of say one post. This way would be much more practical and balanced the way I see it. The strength you gain from it would be slightly more powerful than what you described as a passive buff, but the drawbacks can be that it has a very short duration (one post) and well gems are kind of expensive so you can't have alot of them on you which then becomes a limitation of how much gems you have on you.

Yes I got the initial inspiration from Rin Tohsaka lol... but maybe you can take this as a example and either use it or create something similar in a different way.

In any case that's all for now. It was very close to getting approved on the spot but those things I mentioned pulled you back from instant approval.

As I noted in the history, over time her love for Rome surpassed, and ultimately totally eclipsed he gratitude to the church. The fact that they restricted access to her beloved Rome didn't do them any favors, either. As for how that happened, well, even before she was brought in to the church, she already loved Rome. So from the very beginning, her devotion to God was secondary, making her much more open to doubting the church.

As for why she didn't attempt to change the church from the inside, their are three main reasons. First, they restricted her access to all things Rome, so she simply didn't like then all that much. Like I said, her love for Rome has priority over everything else. Second, she's seen how fanatical some of the clergy are and how chaotic the church's internal politics can be, so she isn't confident she'd survive the ordeal, especially without access to her Roman spells. And third, even if she used the bones of the empire as a base for the new empire, the end result would just be a twisted simulacrum of Rome due to how thoroughly the bones and decayed and simply changed.

Hm... I see your point about the differentiation between the ara and aedes. Since the aedes is meant to be far superior due to the increased difficulty of its creation, the blessings granted by it don't decay, and number you can stock is separate from the ara's. e.g. 4/5 ara blessings and 5/5 aedes blessings.

Rather than passive buffs, it'd be more accurate to call them charges, like on a special attack gauge. By doing [this action] you gain a charge that decays at [this rate]. You can drain the charge to gain the ability to perform [this action]. The action to gain a charge us the sacrifice at an ara or aedes, and the action the charge let's you perform depends on the blessing.

I see your point in regards to how the long cooldown time is problematic. To fix that, I'll say that new blessings can be applied immediately after a charge is used without waiting for it to decay, in exchange for overwriting it. And as for the long duration, making the spell a burst-type like you described would require rewriting the entire spell from scratch, so no. I think it'd be better for me to just adjust each blessing individually.

For Saturn, a single user per charge is fine. As for Mercury, I think three uses per charge would be sufficient. Orcus would be the sole true passive. For Vulcan, five explosions, and ten second bursts of heat resistance, give of such automatically activate along with the explosions to protect the user. For Mars, two one post long bursts per charge, and three one post long bursts per charge for Diana.

And for further ease of use, making it so that you can have five blessings at a time, but only two active. e.g. You have blessings a b c d and e. A and b are in use. You exhaust a. You can immediately activate c.

Explain in a easier way how you would go about charging these spells and how to activate them.

As for the charge numbers you've listed. I'm thinking of keeping the charge to a maximum of 2.

Blessing of Orcus and Divus

Can you list a practical example of how these would be used? Orcus seems like a anti traitor spell but I don't really see where it's application would shine and Divus let's you communicate with Gods? I'm not sure where you're going with this. So far the closest thing to Gods we've seen so far are Archangels.

Done and done, I hope.

For the Blessing of Orcus, I see your point. It's actual practical application is rather nonexistent, so I guess I'll just remove it. While giving up that night of sleep let me finish the profile in record time, I also missed a lot things I'd have usually caught...

As for why she holds herself as Empress, that would be because though she wishes to revive the Roman Empire, if there is nothing to build it around, then the process is made even more impossible then it already is. To Vita, however, that's a non-issue, because she knew from the start exactly what she would build it around. A ruler.

It'd probably be helpful if you knew what Vita's idea of a ruler is. To her, a ruler is the face of a country. A paragon of everything out stands for. And to her, it was obvious that the Roman Empire should be rebuilt around such a figure! And so, she took the position, and all the responsibilities that came with, as she didn't believe for a moment that there was even a single person whose love for Rome was greater than hers, who would take to the task with greater dedication than she.

The topic of Empress also brings us to the divus. A divus is a deified mortal, as I explained in the profile. In the Roman Empire, those who held the office of 'Emperor' (or 'Empress') were regarded as gods by the people. The status was with the position, not the person who held it, though. So, by taking that position, Vita also became a divus.

...However, the points you made in the chatbox are completely valid, and I feel like an utter idiot because I didn't notice them myself. Sleep deprivation allowed quantity, but degraded quality, it seems. She has claimed the position, yes, but the title of divus is a thing granted to the position by others, and as I said before, nothing of the Roman Empire is left, so there's no one to grant that title to her. Anyone can legitimately found a country (in theory), but a god must be recognized as such. I guess I'll remove it for now.

Also, as a side note, as for how it was intended to work at its current level, the logic was simply 'she's recognize as a god, so wouldn't it be easier for her to use spells based on gods'? ...Looking back on it, it sounds stupid to me, too.

Also, I added a bag of materials for ara to her other abilities. That way, while she can't restock blessings mid-battle because of the need to chant the carmen, it's still not nearly as inconvenient as it was.

Yes I think you understand that the title such as Emperor or Caesar is something that must be bestowed upon her by a nation, without that it's not possible to gain the royal bloodline attributes.

What are these Carmens? Maybe you can list them into the profile as well just like how I've listed Categories for Misaki's Mental Out for convenience.

Otherwise it's looking good, I'll approve it once those changes are made.

Added the chants and a test post.