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Description

A Wise-women from a small village, Elena was skilled in Healing and Witchcraft, but most of all Tarot. Low on work, Elena’s life changed one fateful night when a man wearing strange and oddly-cut dark robes appeared on her doorstep. Self-described as a collector of curiosities and items of rarity, he offered her a trade: A reading of the cards for a rare item of value. Something coiled in her stomach, warning her to refuse and close the door, but her helpful nature (and the lack of recent work) won over, and Elena invited the man to her table. Any recollection Elena has of what exactly the cards foretold is murky at best. All she knows is she found herself sitting at her table, staring at the jagged-edged crown resting in her hands while the soft light of sunrise crept in the windows.

Ugly and made of an otherworldly metal, the ancient crown appeared to have been crafted in a skilled frenzy. Dark and black as obsidian, the metal seemed to have an iridescent smoke curling beneath the surface. What looked like thorns or horns protruded haphazardly, deadly to those who did not handle it with care. Elena contemplated the crown, wondering why on earth she would pick out such an odd thing from the man’s inventory. Or did she pick it? She wasn’t sure.

The crown turned out to be a gift at first. Once placed on her head, her forehead painfully split open to reveal a golden third eye and surrounded by a murky grey. Its piercing gaze bore into something beyond her senses and she began to see things she hadn’t seen before. Her readings became more precise, more prophetic and her popularity grew. So did the shadows in the corners of her vision and the whispering in her ear.

At the height of her popularity Elena was appearing before crowds of common-folk and Royalty alike. Gold flowed into her coffers and she left her old life behind her. Eventually inspiring a cult-like following, the separation between who she was and who she had become widened. Fanatical crowds trailed where she went, begging to be given answers. No longer were they asking for guidance in their everyday lives and small mercies: Questions bred by greed, lust, and revenge became the norm. Shadows clouded her vision, and the whispers never ceased, slowly driving her mad. Overwhelmed, she drew away from the spotlight, appearing less and less before the adoring crowds.

Elena began to spend more and more time secluded, searching the cards for answers. Her frustrations grew as more questions arose, uncertain if her interpretations were her own, or the creeping whispers which had been getting steadily louder in her mind. The maddening knowledge that she was so close to something, yet so far that it felt beyond her reach. It was as if she were a speck of dust drifting in the cosmos, out of control and far beyond her depth.

More than once, Elena has tried to dispose of the crown; destroy it, and bury the pieces where no other unfortunate soul should find them. Each time, however, when the moment came to swing the hammer or light the flame, those curling whispers called to her with promises of more knowledge from the abyss. Each time she returned the crown to her head and each time she grieved over what she had become.

In a cruel twist of fate, her future is unclear to her. Though if her cards of anything to go by, the end is near. What is for certain is Elena is no longer in control.

Magical Talisman: Crown of the Gifted
Made of an otherworldly metal, the ancient crown appears to have been crafted in a skilled frenzy. Dark and black as obsidian, the metal seems to have an iridescent smoke curling beneath the surface. Hastily put together, it is sharp and would easily harm someone who isn’t handling it carefully.

Equipment: Tarot Deck
The Tarot deck is painted with dark imagery. The back of the cards are beautifully printed with her symbol.

Logo/Symbol: Ouroboros circling Tarot and Moon.
The symbol which has both come to define her and plague her, given by her fanatics. It mimics the shape of the crown, with the third eye in the center.

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

- H.P Lovecraft

Description

A Wise-women from a small village, Elena was skilled in Healing and Witchcraft, but most of all Tarot. Low on work, Elena’s life changed one fateful night when a man wearing strange and oddly-cut dark robes appeared on her doorstep. Self-described as a collector of curiosities and items of rarity, he offered her a trade: A reading of the cards for a rare item of value. Something coiled in her stomach, warning her to refuse and close the door, but her helpful nature (and the lack of recent work) won over, and Elena invited the man to her table. Any recollection Elena has of what exactly the cards foretold is murky at best. All she knows is she found herself sitting at her table, staring at the jagged-edged crown resting in her hands while the soft light of sunrise crept in the windows.

Ugly and made of an otherworldly metal, the ancient crown appeared to have been crafted in a skilled frenzy. Dark and black as obsidian, the metal seemed to have an iridescent smoke curling beneath the surface. What looked like thorns or horns protruded haphazardly, deadly to those who did not handle it with care. Elena contemplated the crown, wondering why on earth she would pick out such an odd thing from the man’s inventory. Or did she pick it? She wasn’t sure.

The crown turned out to be a gift at first. Once placed on her head, her forehead painfully split open to reveal a golden third eye and surrounded by a murky grey. Its piercing gaze bore into something beyond her senses and she began to see things she hadn’t seen before. Her readings became more precise, more prophetic and her popularity grew. So did the shadows in the corners of her vision and the whispering in her ear.

At the height of her popularity Elena was appearing before crowds of common-folk and Royalty alike. Gold flowed into her coffers and she left her old life behind her. Eventually inspiring a cult-like following, the separation between who she was and who she had become widened. Fanatical crowds trailed where she went, begging to be given answers. No longer were they asking for guidance in their everyday lives and small mercies: Questions bred by greed, lust, and revenge became the norm. Shadows clouded her vision, and the whispers never ceased, slowly driving her mad. Overwhelmed, she drew away from the spotlight, appearing less and less before the adoring crowds.

Elena began to spend more and more time secluded, searching the cards for answers. Her frustrations grew as more questions arose, uncertain if her interpretations were her own, or the creeping whispers which had been getting steadily louder in her mind. The maddening knowledge that she was so close to something, yet so far that it felt beyond her reach. It was as if she were a speck of dust drifting in the cosmos, out of control and far beyond her depth.

More than once, Elena has tried to dispose of the crown; destroy it, and bury the pieces where no other unfortunate soul should find them. Each time, however, when the moment came to swing the hammer or light the flame, those curling whispers called to her with promises of more knowledge from the abyss. Each time she returned the crown to her head and each time she grieved over what she had become.

In a cruel twist of fate, her future is unclear to her. Though if her cards of anything to go by, the end is near. What is for certain is Elena is no longer in control.

Magical Talisman: Crown of the Gifted
Made of an otherworldly metal, the ancient crown appears to have been crafted in a skilled frenzy. Dark and black as obsidian, the metal seems to have an iridescent smoke curling beneath the surface. Hastily put together, it is sharp and would easily harm someone who isn’t handling it carefully.

Equipment: Tarot Deck
The Tarot deck is painted with dark imagery. The back of the cards are beautifully printed with her symbol.

Logo/Symbol: Ouroboros circling Tarot and Moon.
The symbol which has both come to define her and plague her, given by her fanatics. It mimics the shape of the crown, with the third eye in the center.

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

- H.P Lovecraft