Image Credits: frame and additional art below, Arkane;
figures City of Heroes maker

Name: Philomena Demetrius

Gender/Preference: Female, she/her, bisexual, aromantic

Age/DOB: 22 in 1837*; 23rd day, Month of Timber

Faction: Witches, formerly of Brigmore; Currently independent

Family: Merchants in Baleton, Gristol; possibly alive in 1855 but would be much older; no known partners or children

Height/Build: 5'7" / slender bordering on skinny, lanky and wiry limbs, looks much taller than she is due to this proportion

Hair: medium brown, straight, fine and flyaway, kept in a bun or styled, though is not very long

Eyes: pale brown, somewhat watery and weak color; usually a bit sleepless and with darkness framing them

Appearance: lightly tanned skin with some scratches and short scars from time among the brambles with the Witches and practicing with the magic they had; likes snug pants and stylish boots, a holdover from her reasonably wealthy background. Vests and sleeveless shirts are common among her wardrobe, and she rarely goes out without thin wine-red leather gloves; has a higher, airy voice, but rarely speaks unless she's in comfortable company

"She has pledged several disparate allegiances to one group or another, but only those that aid the people around her have remained her allies."

Skills and Occupation: Though she had been in the family shop and knows a lot about merchantry in general, she was never formally brought into the business thanks to her father wanting to have a bargaining chip among the elite. She did however have a good education and is decent at maths, logistics, and navigation around shipping and delivery maps. However her true skill has been shown in how well she uses plants, not just with magic powers but as an herbalist. How to grow plants quickly and in odd situations such as indoors or out of their typical climate. She has a firm grasp on reading and even writing ancient runic scripts, from which she can create wards, spells, and longer term rituals. Physically she is adept at climbing, running, stealth, and some amount of combat, though she prefers to trap and be patient in the background rather than fighting.

Residence: Currently back in Dunwall *however she has spent a good amount of time both within the Void, and in the far off dimension of Primal Earth, in Paragon City; in Dunwall she has returned to the ruins of Brigmore Manor, and made a small room her own, reinforcing it with the plants that have been growing wild ever since the disaster of losing Delilah in 1837. **When she comes home with a dragon by her side, she will eventually, obviously, be taking over the entire marshy area and its surrounding forest!

Notable Possessions: her plants and an Outsider Shrine, and what amounts to a portal back to Paragon City **The Manor will become a center for fruit plants, and they hope to have a winery soon!

Magical Preferences or Abilities: very easily able to create shapes and useful items with living and dead wood, but also with the Void itself, drawing darkness into tendrils and attacks. Her preferred use of plants can both heal and harm, and she has learned a lot about how best to help people in an area with larger quick runes. Her Paragon powers shown below are what have come with her to Dunwall in the 1850s.

Personality: over time, Philomena has realized that her teenage impulsiveness might have led her down a dangerous path. But she's made the most of it, and as she is definitely belonged to not only a coven but a wealthy merchant family, she is capable and quick to seek profit and sustainability. She strongly wants to make up for her past errors, and learned much in Paragon in that regard, so eventually she might be able to show the people of Dunwall that not all witches are bad.

Likes and Dislikes: the smell of fresh rain on thick grass, dripping water under a canopy of trees, and actually the chill and wind of the Void are some of her favorite sensations. She still has a hate on for the Abbey of the Everyman, they will definitely still attack her on sight should they realize who she is. She isn't sure whether she wants to check her old family home in Baleton, dreading what might meet her there.

Fears or Interruptions: She knows that a lot of witches, particularly those who may have been in Brigmore, are likely to have forgotten about her in the intervening 15 years she's been away from the World, but if they do recognize her she may be in for a fight. Though... they may also lose quite easily, she doesn't know whether their own magical skills have continued to blossom like hers definitely have. (they have not, in fact! she'd probably have an easy time defeating any given ex-Brigmore witch or even those found among Delilah's newer cult in the 1850s.)

History: Daughter of a merchant, once pledged to wed ... some old dude, she never even met him. Instead the moment that betrothal was announced, she vanished from her parents summer cottege in Baleton. Stealing aboard a whaling vessel headed to Dunwall, and loaded up on her family's stock of deadly hemlock just in case, she met up with a group of witches... their leader, Delilah, marked by the Outsider and granting them amazing powers.
Philomena practiced with these witches for three summers before realizing that they were a bit... blood thirsty. But she couldn't break free from them without being killed by the Abbey. So... after waiting, she ran again, when Delilah vanished and Emily Kaldwin was put on the throne. Somehow she's found her way through the Void, to this odd place, more modern and amazing than she could have dreamed. Even in the Void. Her magic flows even in Paragon City, and she will use it wisely. When she returns to The World, though she does not have the Mark of the Outsider, her abilities with darkness and plants, as well as fire and protective warding are all remarkably strong.

She'd returned somehow outside of the years she'd expected to be gone. Though in truth it might not even be to the same World, through the same Void. For there was a young adult Emily on the throne now, far more time had gone by while she was in that City of Heroes. It was a familiar enough realm, with all the same places and most of the same people. Older. All but the Outsider, who did greet her in a dream once she'd tucked herself back into the Brigmore manor. It was safe there, though the place was, if anything even more run down than it had been when she was there before.

Oddly in this dream, it wasn't in the Void itself, like she'd seen him before. It was more a dark landscape with the brightest full moon overhead barely able to penetrate that darkness. "I have a place that you ought to see," he said, somewhat more straightforward than the hints and riddles or gentle nudges he'd spoken before now. "You know of other Worlds, you have been busy there in one of them."

His voice was just as spooky, echoing over that canopy of shadows. She nodded. She'd been to even more places, earths and not-earths, through technological portals as well as magical ones in Paragon.

"Will I need to be heroic again?" She asked, almost sighing. She thought maybe it was time to retire and put herself to work making things for locals in Dunwall, after all.

"Only if you choose to," he replied, faintly smiling. The moon turned into an irised pupil, trading bright pale light for infinite darkness. And she then found herself in an entirely different place, early morning light barely visible on the horizon.

Only scattered few things moved, but some were elegant, large, with leathery wings. Dragons. She'd heard tales in her travels, but not seen any directly! So the Outsider had gifted her a trip to a world with them!

Not just that. Though she didn't sense him watching - he doubtless was - a small number of very young hatchlings had begun exploring their immediate area, and ... one, a brilliant sap and moss colored green one, walked carefully toward Philomena.

It didn't take long for the young one, called Leaf by her mother, to decide that she would like to return to this 'World'. "Pretty vines," she said, "momma says they can make wines from fruit on vines."

Philomena gave a quick laugh, "I think you might be a bit young for wine, just now! But we can - oh we can definitely grow things there." She got a dreamy look, "there could be... an orchard, just like on the Brigmore crest, again!"