CHARACTER NAME(S): Need, the Need of Women, Woman's Need, Sister Lashan, spirit-sword, that piece of tin. CANON: Heralds of Valdemar. There's a wiki but it's not comprehensive and most entries are a little thin. CANON POINT: Post-Storm Breaking.
How did your character die? A very long time ago, the enclave where Sister Lashan lived was raided by a warlord who killed most of the people and carried off some young mages. Feeling that she only had the one option to save them and keep him from getting away with it, Lashan painfully sacrificed herself to bind her spirit to a sword and became Need.
More recently, magic nukes threatened to end civilization (for a second time). Need was part of the effort to stop that and it succeeded, but in the process she was superheated and rendered into a mist of molten iron, blinding one of the living participants and badly scarring another. Her spirit hung around for a few days to say goodbye to a few of the living. Does your character's canon have its own afterlife? It does! Detail on most cases is limited - there seems to be some expectation of judgement, afterlives are specific to the worshippers of particular gods, demons may be involved, reincarnation, a soul can be damaged or even torn to little pieces by a living mage. Those who worship the Star-Eyed and are a "strong, stable mix of heroic, loving, resourceful, and wise" may transform after death, altered in ways beyond the livings' ability to entirely grasp, to become spirits who can sometimes manifest to try to help the living. Need kinda did that.
Certain people favored by the Star-Eyed Goddess, Need included, get a choice. They can rest in a sort of Heaven (that the author has compared to retiring on a beach) until they choose something else, or they can get right to the 'something else' - reincarnating with their memories as an angelic horse that will guide Chosen humans, reincarnating without memories as one of the humans who is Chosen and works tirelessly to safeguard a particular country, or reincarnate without memories as someone else. There may be other options.
One face of Death is the Shadow-Lover, a gentle, understanding figure who comforts the weary and heartbroken and leads them into the darkness to light and "home". Their appearance and apparent gender are different for different people. The Shadow-Lover presented a self-sacrificing character with a choice of getting to die and put down his burdens or remaining alive to suffer tremendously for others, and embraced and wept with him when he chose to return. Need has likely met them several times.
What are some of their favorite things? Violence, making things, doing things well, spying on people, having insight, teaching, whenever one of hers has made progress, puns about swords/her name, people being intelligently defiant at her(as in, they're thinking for themselves), exerting power, others being competent, when someone sets a boundary, being correct, light bickering, giving comfort, pragmatism, whenever someone's cynical and downtrodden but still trying to do what's right, horses, hounds, hawks, gryphons.
Who are some of their favorite people? She's had a huge number of these and the vast majority are dead. Let's see- Her family when alive, however many friends, the other Sisters at her enclave. Vena, her final apprentice and first bearer. An unknown number of bearers and their loved ones who go unnamed (we only know of Ilsa, Melysatra, and Pol). Others who did the same thing Need did, most of whom have faded out or otherwise passed on by now. Other angels.
Kethry, her bearer a century or so before her final death, Kethry's partner Tarma who became an angel, Kethry's husband, their children. Now we're reaching the "alive" characters - Kethry's granddaughter Kerowyn, Princess Elspeth of Valdemar, Skif, Darkwind, the Star-Eyed's Avatars, Nyara, Firesong, An'desha, Karal... likely more, she's often going behind peoples' backs and spies on everyone constantly. Need likes a lot of people.
What are they proud of from their life? In life she was proud of getting old enough to retire, of her mage-smith work and the swords she made, and of her apprentice. Probably more than that, but she doesn't recall.
After that... she's 'survived' a frankly wretched existence as a haunted sword and done a lot of good work. I think most prominently, healing in this setting is tricky business and Need is the best at it. She's made slow progress in developing all her talents to a ludicrous degree. And she's proud of most of her bearers, who she sometimes regards as her "daughters".
What do they dislike? Vanity, impulsivity, inattentiveness, having to micromanage, when people think she's always right without thinking for themselves too, laziness, people who don't appreciate their animals, too much arrogance, prolonged self-pity, being treated like an object, puns about swords/her name... Honestly she's pretty easy to annoy but it rarely goes very deep. Oh, she also doesn't like the patriarchy and dislikes injustice and various forms of misogyny rather more sharply. Do they have any enemies, or anyone they particularly hate? very yes. Need hates those who abuse and misuse others (women especially) emotionally and physically, people who get away with hideous things that are technically legal, those who can twist someone into believing in their own worthlessness, betrayers, those who love only themselves and use people who love them... It's mostly not personal and they don't even know her. She's been involved in a lot of death.
The recent major example was Ma'ar, Mage of Black Flames, who found a way to tuck his spirit into a pocket of the void and possess his descendants, going by a different name for each life and returning to that pocket upon dying, his spirit gradually decaying over the course of two thousand years of this until he was a cannibal sadist who mutilated his daughters to test body mods and... worse on them. Need chose the daughter who survived as her bearer and spent years reckoning with the damage he wrought and bringing her to see herself as worth something. They were both instrumental in killing him for good and setting his host free.
What are they afraid of? The ocean, she never learned to swim! Wells. Helplessness. Becoming passive. Becoming careless of the wills of others. Going to "sleep" at the wrong time. Parasitically living off of others (not that that's really an option with powerloss).
Do they have any regrets from their life? She doesn't remember much of her life. I have extensive headcanon about it in which she joined her people in mistreating an outcast who then summoned monsters who killed her extended family, that she had a twin who died to save her, that she spent years grim and bitter in self-imposed exile, that she was the bearer for an old and weary sword-angel called Duty, etc. Again she remembers very little of it but she had a lot of regrets there.
Something she does remember is that in life she never "had a man" - she has a line to the effect that she was horse-faced and really muscular and the few men who were attracted, she wanted nothing to do with them. It's not a big thing, more comical to her. She regrets some element of her death in that it traumatized Vena even worse.
When it comes to sword time, she has some regret for all the time she's spent "asleep", because she's a very different entity like that, and not careful of her bearers. I'm sure she's made mistakes. And she would have liked to continue for longer.
...Also it would be very hard to get her to admit it, even to herself, but she does regret binding herself to the sword. It's been a very long and grueling existence, very isolating, it's disheartening how little seems to change, and she hasn't been able to have something for herself. Need can't admit it because it's not like she can take it back, she did a lot of work no one else could or was willing to do, and she thinks she made the best choice available and would make it again.
Need
CANON: Heralds of Valdemar. There's a wiki but it's not comprehensive and most entries are a little thin.
CANON POINT: Post-Storm Breaking.
How did your character die? A very long time ago, the enclave where Sister Lashan lived was raided by a warlord who killed most of the people and carried off some young mages. Feeling that she only had the one option to save them and keep him from getting away with it, Lashan painfully sacrificed herself to bind her spirit to a sword and became Need.
More recently, magic nukes threatened to end civilization (for a second time). Need was part of the effort to stop that and it succeeded, but in the process she was superheated and rendered into a mist of molten iron, blinding one of the living participants and badly scarring another. Her spirit hung around for a few days to say goodbye to a few of the living.
Does your character's canon have its own afterlife? It does! Detail on most cases is limited - there seems to be some expectation of judgement, afterlives are specific to the worshippers of particular gods, demons may be involved, reincarnation, a soul can be damaged or even torn to little pieces by a living mage. Those who worship the Star-Eyed and are a "strong, stable mix of heroic, loving, resourceful, and wise" may transform after death, altered in ways beyond the livings' ability to entirely grasp, to become spirits who can sometimes manifest to try to help the living. Need kinda did that.
Certain people favored by the Star-Eyed Goddess, Need included, get a choice. They can rest in a sort of Heaven (that the author has compared to retiring on a beach) until they choose something else, or they can get right to the 'something else' - reincarnating with their memories as an angelic horse that will guide Chosen humans, reincarnating without memories as one of the humans who is Chosen and works tirelessly to safeguard a particular country, or reincarnate without memories as someone else. There may be other options.
One face of Death is the Shadow-Lover, a gentle, understanding figure who comforts the weary and heartbroken and leads them into the darkness to light and "home". Their appearance and apparent gender are different for different people. The Shadow-Lover presented a self-sacrificing character with a choice of getting to die and put down his burdens or remaining alive to suffer tremendously for others, and embraced and wept with him when he chose to return. Need has likely met them several times.
What are some of their favorite things? Violence, making things, doing things well, spying on people, having insight, teaching, whenever one of hers has made progress, puns about swords/her name, people being intelligently defiant at her(as in, they're thinking for themselves), exerting power, others being competent, when someone sets a boundary, being correct, light bickering, giving comfort, pragmatism, whenever someone's cynical and downtrodden but still trying to do what's right, horses, hounds, hawks, gryphons.
Who are some of their favorite people? She's had a huge number of these and the vast majority are dead. Let's see-
Her family when alive, however many friends, the other Sisters at her enclave. Vena, her final apprentice and first bearer. An unknown number of bearers and their loved ones who go unnamed (we only know of Ilsa, Melysatra, and Pol). Others who did the same thing Need did, most of whom have faded out or otherwise passed on by now. Other angels.
Kethry, her bearer a century or so before her final death, Kethry's partner Tarma who became an angel, Kethry's husband, their children. Now we're reaching the "alive" characters - Kethry's granddaughter Kerowyn, Princess Elspeth of Valdemar, Skif, Darkwind, the Star-Eyed's Avatars, Nyara, Firesong, An'desha, Karal... likely more, she's often going behind peoples' backs and spies on everyone constantly. Need likes a lot of people.
What are they proud of from their life? In life she was proud of getting old enough to retire, of her mage-smith work and the swords she made, and of her apprentice. Probably more than that, but she doesn't recall.
After that... she's 'survived' a frankly wretched existence as a haunted sword and done a lot of good work. I think most prominently, healing in this setting is tricky business and Need is the best at it. She's made slow progress in developing all her talents to a ludicrous degree. And she's proud of most of her bearers, who she sometimes regards as her "daughters".
What do they dislike? Vanity, impulsivity, inattentiveness, having to micromanage, when people think she's always right without thinking for themselves too, laziness, people who don't appreciate their animals, too much arrogance, prolonged self-pity, being treated like an object, puns about swords/her name... Honestly she's pretty easy to annoy but it rarely goes very deep. Oh, she also doesn't like the patriarchy and dislikes injustice and various forms of misogyny rather more sharply.
Do they have any enemies, or anyone they particularly hate? very yes. Need hates those who abuse and misuse others (women especially) emotionally and physically, people who get away with hideous things that are technically legal, those who can twist someone into believing in their own worthlessness, betrayers, those who love only themselves and use people who love them... It's mostly not personal and they don't even know her. She's been involved in a lot of death.
The recent major example was Ma'ar, Mage of Black Flames, who found a way to tuck his spirit into a pocket of the void and possess his descendants, going by a different name for each life and returning to that pocket upon dying, his spirit gradually decaying over the course of two thousand years of this until he was a cannibal sadist who mutilated his daughters to test body mods and... worse on them. Need chose the daughter who survived as her bearer and spent years reckoning with the damage he wrought and bringing her to see herself as worth something. They were both instrumental in killing him for good and setting his host free.
What are they afraid of? The ocean, she never learned to swim! Wells. Helplessness. Becoming passive. Becoming careless of the wills of others. Going to "sleep" at the wrong time. Parasitically living off of others (not that that's really an option with powerloss).
Do they have any regrets from their life? She doesn't remember much of her life. I have extensive headcanon about it in which she joined her people in mistreating an outcast who then summoned monsters who killed her extended family, that she had a twin who died to save her, that she spent years grim and bitter in self-imposed exile, that she was the bearer for an old and weary sword-angel called Duty, etc. Again she remembers very little of it but she had a lot of regrets there.
Something she does remember is that in life she never "had a man" - she has a line to the effect that she was horse-faced and really muscular and the few men who were attracted, she wanted nothing to do with them. It's not a big thing, more comical to her. She regrets some element of her death in that it traumatized Vena even worse.
When it comes to sword time, she has some regret for all the time she's spent "asleep", because she's a very different entity like that, and not careful of her bearers. I'm sure she's made mistakes. And she would have liked to continue for longer.
...Also it would be very hard to get her to admit it, even to herself, but she does regret binding herself to the sword. It's been a very long and grueling existence, very isolating, it's disheartening how little seems to change, and she hasn't been able to have something for herself. Need can't admit it because it's not like she can take it back, she did a lot of work no one else could or was willing to do, and she thinks she made the best choice available and would make it again.