Mia Corvere (Dropped)

Mia is a Blade of the Red Church. In the words of the introduction to Nevernight, she is "A girl who is to murder what a maestro is to music." She is extremely athletically capable, nimble and strong for her size and build due to being in peak physical condition. She is skilled with a number of weapons, but in particular knives and short swords. This is not a supernatural skill, but simply the result of years of training, conditioning, and experience.

Mia was born a Darkin, a mysterious group of people who have abilities linked to Darkness. Known as the Blessed of Nya, Darkin can control shadows. The most basic and oft-used form of this is that Mia can 'stick' someone to their own shadow, gluing their feet to the ground and making them unable to move. She can cloak herself in shadows, becoming nearly invisible, but the cloak is opaque, meaning she becomes nearly blind while concealed. She can also alter the shape of her own shadow, and use her shadow to manipulate objects. She is also capable of 'shadowstepping', or teleporting through shadows. Shadowstepping is relatively short-range. Although line of sight is not required, several hundred yards is her practical limit and the longer the distance, the more the transition weakens/disorients her. These latter two abilities are very taxing, however, and require her to be in deep shadow or darkness- all these abilities become weaker in the direct light of the suns.

All Darkin have a Passenger. A Passenger is an intelligent shadow-demon which always takes the form of an animal made from shadows, and dwells within the shadow of the Darkin. The Passenger literally eats the fear of the Darkin, meaning that Mia is incapable of feeling fear when her Passenger is with her. Mia's Passenger is named Mister Kindly, and takes the form of a cat made of shadows. He is fully intelligent and can speak and offer advice, and can also be sent off to observe people and things, though he cannot interact with the world physically, and while he is absent Mia is subject to fear as any other person would be. Mia has also acquired a second Passenger, a shadow-wolf named Eclipse, whose original Darkin master was killed. Although this means a second pair of ears and eyes she can send out, it does not otherwise increase her abilities or effects. Her Passengers can be kept at bay by magical wards that would work against demons, are generally averse to direct sunlight, and also react badly to holy sun-god symbols as Mia herself does.

Immensely rare and valuable on her homeworld, Gravebone is literally pieces of the bones of a dead god, carved into weapons and armor. It is incredibly strong and sharp and does not need to be maintained. It will easily cut through most mundane metals and materials, and most traditional armor (meaning chainmail, leather, etc) can't stand up to it.

Mia has killed many people, both those who deserved it and those who did not, many because she was being paid to do so. She is generally unconcerned with the fallout from an operation with which she is involved, especially if it gains her significant advantage. She is not completely heartless, but is much colder than most when it comes to weighing the lives of innocents and bystanders versus what she has to gain from any particular action. This will undoubtedly put her at odds with people who view the loss of innocent life as unacceptable, as well as earning her enemies she might have avoided with more care.

Mia's vengeance drives her every action. She has already betrayed friends, holy vows, and honor of every degree in her pursuit of her ultimate targets, the murderers of her family. While she will be true to friends and vows while it suits her, she has no compunction against breaking or betraying either if a situation arises where it seems necessary to her. She might feel bad about it, but she'll do it. You can only do this sort of thing so many times before people stop trusting you.

Mia's Darkin powers are noticably lessened in direct sunlight, often to the point of barely existing in the noon-day sun. In addition, being presented with blessed symbols of a sun-god (Canonically, the Holy Trinity of Aa) makes her physically ill, and can render her helpless and even unconscious if brought into close proximity although this is only in extreme cases and would not happen in most situations. Note- this only applies to actual holy symbols, blessed by or wielded by a true believer. Knock-offs or imitations have no effect. Being blessed by the Goddess of the Dark may also prove a hinderance in certain situations where, despite being far from a zealot, it may make her come off as 'evil'.

Mia has a lot of secrets. About her nature, her past, and what exactly she is trying to accomplish (and what she's already done in the attempt.) She doesn't trust easily, and has been burned in the past, which means that she is often unwilling to share information, especially about herself. This can lead to issues of both a personal and practical nature, as she may instinctively withold information that could end up being vital to a conflict and causing problems for allies. She may also sabotage personal relationships by refusing to divulge secrets which then come out later in a more damaging fashion.