Sigma AU Origins: The Dragoness, Pt. 2

    Zola's mind swirled with fragmented thoughts as she lay unconscious on the cold, hard pavement of the city alleyway. The cacophony of sounds and the alien scents from the surface world had overwhelmed her senses. She awoke slowly, the noise of the bustling city filtering into her awareness like a distant, persistent hum. The ground beneath her was unforgiving, and she pushed herself up on shaky arms, her unfamiliar humanlike body protesting with every movement.

    Her head throbbed where it had met the ground, and she instinctively reached up to touch it, feeling the smooth scales beneath her fingers. Slowly, she regained her bearings, the disorientation from her sudden transition between worlds still lingering. The alleyway around her was littered with debris and refuse, the stench of decay mixing with the scents of food and humanity. It was a stark contrast to the fiery, sulfurous atmosphere of her former domain.

    Zola stood up on unsteady legs, her body awkward and foreign to her. She still retained her wings and scales, the duality of her new form both fascinating and disconcerting. As she stumbled forward, her mind raced with questions. What kind of world was this? The buildings towered above her, their surfaces gleaming with a mix of grime and technology. She could hear the distant roar of machines, unlike any she'd ever encountered. The air was thick with pollution and the acrid smell of industry, making her nostrils flare in distaste.
    Her steps were hesitant as she navigated the narrow alleyway, her wings brushing against the walls. She paused at the edge, peering out at the busy street beyond. Humans bustled past, their faces a blur of expressions, each one absorbed in their own world. Zola felt a pang of loneliness and alienation. These beings, so different from her, yet somehow connected by the world they inhabited.

    Drawing a deep breath, she concentrated on her latent magic. She knew her true form couldn't be seen by anyone; the reactions would be unpredictable and possibly dangerous. She focused, weaving an illusion around herself, altering her appearance to blend in with the humans. It was a strain, her magic flickering as it settled over her like a veil. She felt her scales smooth out into human skin, her wings retracting and her horns disappearing. Her body shifted, conforming to the image of an ordinary woman. She was still tall and imposing, but no longer immediately recognizable as a dragoness.

    Stepping out of the alleyway, Zola's senses were assaulted by the noise and activity of the city. Vehicles roared past, their forms sleek and advanced. The streets were lined with neon signs and digital advertisements, the bright colors and flashing lights overwhelming. She stumbled slightly, her head spinning from the sensory overload. Her disguise held, but she could feel the fatigue creeping in, the strain on her magic growing with every passing moment.

    She tried to move with purpose, blending into the flow of pedestrians. Her eyes darted around, taking in the sights and sounds. She felt the press of bodies around her, the strange energy of the city making her uneasy. Her mind struggled to process the information, comparing it to her old life. The villages she had terrorized were simple, primitive. This place was a hive of activity, technology and progress intertwined in ways she couldn't fully grasp.

    As she walked, she felt the drain on her magic intensify. Her steps faltered, and she stumbled again, bumping into a passerby. The man turned, his eyes widening as he took in her appearance. She could see the shock in his expression, the disbelief. Her disguise was slipping, the strain too much to maintain. She felt a surge of panic, her heart pounding in her chest.

    "Are you alright?" the man asked, his voice filled with concern. Zola struggled to respond, her mind racing. She tried to hold onto her illusion, but it flickered, her scales briefly visible beneath the surface. The man's eyes widened further, his mouth opening in a gasp. Zola's heart sank; she had failed to maintain her disguise.

    The man's reaction was swift. He stumbled back, pointing and shouting, drawing the attention of others. Panic surged through Zola, her thoughts a chaotic whirl. She had to get away, to find a place to hide. She pushed past the man, ignoring his shouts, her wings flaring briefly as she ran. The crowd around her parted, people staring in shock and confusion.

    Zola's mind was a storm of thoughts and emotions. She had to find a way to survive in this strange new world, to understand it and adapt. The loss of her former power and the unfamiliarity of her new form weighed heavily on her. But she was determined to find her place, to navigate this new existence with the same strength and resilience she had always possessed.

Sigma AU Origins: The Panda, Pt 1

    In the aftermath of the nuclear devastation, the once vibrant landscapes of China were reduced to ghostly ruins. Among the remnants, a small figure stumbled through the desolate wasteland. Ilia, a tiny, white, black, and blue panda cub, wandered aimlessly. Her eyes, wide with a mix of curiosity and fear, reflected the chaos around her. Though she couldn't comprehend the scale of the destruction, she felt an innate sense of loss. Ilia's first days were a blur of cold nights and scavenging for food. Her body, engineered to be resilient, helped her survive, but her soul craved companionship. One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky with a somber orange hue, Ilia encountered a group of survivors. They were huddled around a makeshift campfire, their faces etched with the same weariness that had settled in Ilia's heart.

    When the survivors first saw Ilia, they thought she was a regular panda cub, lost and helpless. Her distinctive blue markings, however, quickly shattered that illusion. Startled whispers echoed among the group as they realized they were looking at something far more extraordinary. Pandas, symbols of peace and harmony, were revered in Chinese culture. To see one in such a form was both awe-inspiring and unsettling. Ilia felt their eyes on her, a mix of wonder and fear. She didn't understand their words, but the tones conveyed enough. Tentatively, she approached the group, her movements slow and deliberate. The leader, an elderly man with a kind but weary face, extended a hand, offering a piece of bread. Ilia sniffed it cautiously before taking a bite. The taste of human kindness was unfamiliar but comforting.

    As days turned into weeks, the survivors took Ilia in. They fed her, sheltered her, and gradually came to understand her sentience. Ilia's emotions were a complex tapestry. Gratitude for the care she received was interwoven with the lingering sadness of her lost origins. She couldn't speak to express her feelings, but her actions spoke volumes. She helped gather supplies, protected the group from wild animals, and even played with the children, who marveled at her gentle strength. Ilia's growth was rapid. Within months, she transformed from a small cub into a towering humanoid. Her muscles developed, her stature became imposing, and her eyes, always so expressive, now held a depth that mirrored her experiences. The survivors watched in awe as Ilia's transformation unfolded. The sight of her hunting with the men, lifting things, and sparring, was both inspiring and intimidating.

    Her presence became a symbol of hope for the group. In a world ravaged by war, Ilia was a reminder of resilience and the enduring spirit of life. The elderly leader, who had first extended his hand to her, often spoke to the children about the cultural significance of pandas. He told stories of how they were seen as symbols of peace and friendship, and how Ilia embodied those qualities despite the harshness of their reality. Ilia listened to these stories, her heart swelling with a sense of purpose. She couldn't articulate her thoughts, but she felt a deep connection to the tales. The knowledge that she was more than just a creation, that she held a significant place in the hearts of these people, filled her with determination. She would protect them, not just because they had saved her, but because they saw her as a beacon of hope.

    One night, as she stood guard, Ilia gazed at the stars. The weight of her journey pressed heavily on her shoulders, but it was a burden she bore willingly. Her thoughts drifted to the faces of those who had come to mean so much to her. The elderly leader with his stories, the children with their innocent laughter, and the men and women who had accepted her without hesitation. Ilia's heart ached with unspoken emotions. She couldn't express her gratitude, her love, her sadness for the world they had lost. But she vowed to herself that she would continue to fight, to protect, and to embody the spirit of the panda. In a land where destruction had stripped away so much, she would be a guardian of the fragile hope that remained.

Sigma AU Origins: The Dragoness, Pt. 1

     As a dragoness, Zola didn't have to worry much about anything. She had a huge hoard of gold, could burn down any village she wanted to threaten the nearby kingdom, and she could best any males in combat if she so wished given her size.

    All of that changed, one day. One moment she was sleeping on her pile of gold having dreams about tormenting a small settlement, and the next moment she was tumbling through the stars, unable to find the right side up.

    She felt cold. The floor was cold. The air was cold. She was cold. No good for a dragon, naturally. Zola opened her eyes and was greeted with unfamiliar surroundings. No longer was she sleeping in her cave, but she was on a flat, hard stone floor surrounded by snaking tubes. The smell of fire and ozone from electricity, like a lightning strike, permeated her nostrils. She also smelt burning flesh and hair, the scent rousing her quickly.

    Zola stood up. Two legs? Not four? Hmmm, why so close to the ground? As she came to, she realized that she was no longer a large, powerful quadrupedal dragoness. She looked her own form over, she was small, walked on two legs, and had hands. Hands! She could hold things! Just like the humans she terrorized!

    She still had wings, and her body was still covered in various types of scales, both red and black. But now, she had a more humanoid shape, along with the bumps on her chest that female humans had on theirs. She could still see her muzzle in her peripheral vision, and feel the weight of her horns on her head. But she was so small. It made her uncomfortable.

    Once Zola got her self-bearings and felt more grounded, she turned her attention to her surroundings. The mess of scraps she woke up in was just metal and wires. Sparks came from places all over. This looked like one of the laboratories the humans spoke of, but somehow, much more advanced. Did she move forward in time? There were always human wizards messing with temporal magic, but she knew deep down that none of them were powerful enough to overcome her own safeguards to send her forth.

    Perhaps, something else had happened. She decided to investigate her surroundings more closely, despite the smoke and the sounds of electric arcs. Zola was no fool, she was very aware that she was no longer in her home universe, be it sent forward in time or transported to a new one. She seemed to be in a lab of some sort, but far beyond the technology she was used to. As much as she tried to stay calm, the thoughts of losing everything she had lived for battered her mind incessantly.

    Maybe she deserved to lose, or maybe she was gifted a chance to start over. As she padded around the lab barefoot, crunching metal beneath her, her mind wanted to wander in all sorts of directions. Why was she thinking this way? Was her mind altered the same way as her body? What were these symmetrical lumps on her chest? Why did her nether region feel so strange? Why did she want to partner with a male rather than fight one? She loved showing her strength and dominance over the male dragons, but now she wanted to submit to them.

    Many thoughts like this distracted her as she wandered. Then, she stumbled upon a human body, charred and misshapen, as if hit by a fireball. Something caused all of this destruction: quite possibly Zola's own arrival. In the hand of the body was a leather bound journal. In the other was a writing implement. She picked it up and dusted it off, noting the blood splatters and the scent of blood on the journal. All of the runes were foreign to her, but she held the journal anyways.

    Zola kept wandering the laboratory,  searching for an exit. She began to feel a feeling in her stomach and chest. Her heart began to beat faster. Her breathing sped up. She felt as though she might not be getting enough air. It was almost like she had butterflies in her chest, a sort of pressure feeling like it wanted to escape.

    She frantically started jogging, going through doorways. On one of the walls she saw a sign, a human running up stairs and an arrow pointing up. There were also runes, but she couldn't read them. Heading that direction, the anxious feeling only grew. She reached the stair well and started running up them two at a time, flapping her wings to give her more speed. Flight after flight of stairs passed, until she began to detect scents from the surface. The unmistakable stench of humans and human filth, food she had never eaten before, lots of small animals, ozone, smoke tinged with acridity and punge.

    Sounds she never heard before also began to enter her ear holes; rubber on some kind of stone, mechanical machines, an artificial roaring, people talking and yelling. Finally, with one last wing stroke, she burst out of a heavy metal door and spilled out into the world above. The brightness of the sky temporarily blinded her, and she tripped on something. There was a metallic clang as her head hit the ground, and everything turned dark.

Character Profile - Zoey Lavender

Character Description

Zoey Kriegsherrin Lavender is a female anthro red fox mercenary, with cybernetic arms and a pair of female genitals. She has black hair, often styled in a ponytail, a white belly, and amber colored eyes. She stands 8' 4" tall (254cm) and weighs 480lb (217kg).

Species origin

She was originally part of a government project to create the ultimate infiltration unit. In 1954, German scientists were experimenting with genetic engineering after Hitler's defeat. Only two of her kind remain. The species is biologically immortal and as of 2100, Zoey is 55 years old, being born in 2045.

Biology

As of around 2100, Zoey is 8 feet and 4 inches tall (245cm), has curled ivory horns which start behind her ears, a serpentine tongue, and a thick, prehensile, lizard-like tail.

The ivory horns are a result of her excessive drug use and were determined by her personal care team to be biologically programmed to show at some point during her development, however the drug use exacerbated their growth.

Her tongue and tail were lost in a situation in which she was captured and tortured by one of her countless enemies in Sigma City. She underwent an experimental treatment that merged a small amount of lizard DNA with her own, however they regrew with features from another species. Her tail ends in a cartilaginous spade, and her tongue is forked.

She has two vaginas, two uteruses, and four ovaries. This is a biologically programmed part of her.

She has a pair of prosthetic arms made from tungsten carbide and carbon fiber. They lack any tactile feedback.

Zoey, like Etrius, is biologically immortal. When cell division occurs, the telomeres aren't shortened. Assuming Zoey isn't killed, she could live for hundreds of years.

History

During her time in the Nazi testing facility, she was created, taught basic skills such as reading, speaking, and other human mannerisms.

She was abused, beaten, raped, and tortured, including waterboarding, exposure to extreme temperatures, and forced drug ingestion. WWIII started in 2055, and in 2065 a small Allied specops team raided Nazi government facilities and offices for any potential beneficial items and key people.

Zoey was rescued and brought to the United States, where she went under additional testing and augmentation. Here, she was given an extensive amount of drugs, hormones, and steroids, some of which allowed her to grow to 100 inches (254cm) tall and 550lbs (250kg). Some of the testing left physical scars and left her voice significantly higher pitch than normal. When the US was nuked by Russia, she escaped and started fighting on her own.

Sometime during her adventure she lost both of her arms. She was left for dead, but with some help, she managed to jury-rig a pair of cybernetic arms that were intended for high heat industrial work. When she arrived in Sigma City, she had them properly installed, despite surgeons and tech dealers insisting that she install a newer, more modern set.

At some point in her adventures, Zoey stumbled upon a secret underground facility in Manhattan that contained a prototype power armor/mechasuit called the Vulpes Titan. It is powered by what is believed to be an alien crystal and is extremely technologically advanced. Due to the crystal's high power density and seemingly never-ending power source, a lot of tech is crammed into the suit.

As of 2100, she lives on a small, dusty plot of land on the desert outskirts of Sigma City. She lives alone, and prefers it that way. She weighs about 480lb (217kg).

Personality

Due to her powerful nature, she is incredibly reckless and has a very apathetic and selfish attitude. She constantly shows a lack of remorse for her actions and uses her intimidating presence to get whatever she wants, often resorting to stealing, hurting people, or outright murder.

She does, however, have a soft side. People she becomes close with often share her moral compass (or rather, a lack of one). She vigorously defends those she cares about and will stop at nothing to protect them.  She's incredibly outgoing and speaks her mind, often to a fault of angering or hurting others.

Her speech mannerisms are casually vulgar, and she swears in normal conversation. Despite being a professional mercenary, her tone is always condescending, and she often looks down on others (metaphorically as well as physically). She will constantly berate others for their weaknesses despite having plenty of her own, and when confronted with her hypocrisy she will become defensive and attempt justifications such as "I'm fine with it," or "It doesn't affect me". Her favorite swear word is "fuck" and she loves combining it with other words, even if the combination doesn't make sense.

Zoey is prone to psychological and physical addiction, and is usually under the influence of one substance or another, be it her anti-anxiety medication, alcohol, legal stimulants such as caffeine, or street drugs. She loves stimulants, and has been seen drinking an entire 24-count case of energy drinks on more than one occasion, and goes on stimulant fueled rampages during mercenary contracts that don't require stealth or discretion.

Zoey is quite fond of spicy chicken, most often when presented in a sandwich with pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, spicy creamy sauce, and spicy glaze. Her favorite place to get them is usually fast food chains, although if they are unobtainable through normal means, she knows how to cook them herself.

Strengths and abilities

Outside of her enormous stature and weight, she can lift over ten metric tonnes (11 US tons) because of her cybernetic arms. Her spare time is spent riding her motorcycle, lesbian sex, binge eating, partying, getting high, and/or practicing with her weapons, mainly a heavily modified PTRS-41 anti-material rifle.

Equipment and weapons

Zoey uses a variety of equipment for missions and contracts, due to her dangerous occupation of a mercenary.

Armor

She often wears a sizable red and black exo/mecha suit that covers her entire body and augments her already impressive strength and endurance. Codenamed the Titan Vulpes suit due to its foxlike appearance, it was a military prototype that never saw commercialization, and was archived and forgotten about during WWIII. 

It can withstand scorching temperatures in excess of five thousand degrees celsuis, and is made of a tungsten carbide alloy that is almost completely impact-proof. 

It has protected her against multiple 125mm APFSDS shells. It emits a barely-visible red electromagnetic shield, has low light vision, thermal vision, and EM-spec vision. It also has a temporary cloaking generator which bends light around her, although the EM shield is disabled while this is active, leaving her more vulnerable to large caliber shells.

During a particularly difficult contract for a high profile client, she had to destroy a beached nuclear submarine by detonating an SLBM without launching it. She survived the blast, although her armor was severely damaged and required a complete rebuild. Amazingly, the power system was still intact, however, the tungsten shell was fused solid and she had to radio for help.

She has modified her mecha suit to dispense anti-anxiety drugs though an integrated inhaler, which also have the beneficial side effect of dampening her libido, although benzodiazepines are prone to leaving her with withdrawal effects and additional addiction.

It also has jet propulsion integrated into the boots, and while they are unsuited for flight, they help to augment her jumping abilities. It has multiple types of radio, with a transmit and a receive antennae on the back of the suit.

It is powered by what is believed by the original engineers to be an alien crystal that can output up to 10MW/h at a time and has no duration limit. It has shut down during battles, leaving her immobile and vulnerable. In order to move, she must manually exit the suit.

While the projectiles that hit her mech suit are deflected or destroyed most of the time, the armor does not negate the kinetic energy the projectiles carry. After large battles she is sometimes left with bruises, lesions, fractures or broken bones, and often has to spend a long time resting and healing.

When not in her mecha suit, she wears a relatively thin under armor. It is handmade and offers significantly less protection than her mecha suit, being made only of UHMWPE, ballistic ceramic, ballistic steel, and kevlar.

Weapons

Due to her enormous stature, wielding normal firearms can be uncomfortable and ineffective, with difficulties ranging from being unable to properly aim down sights due to arm length, to her fingers not being able to physically fit into the trigger guard of some rifles and pistols. Because of this, she independently uses modified heavy weapons that are usually carried and operated by multiple personnel, with the only exception being a GHI MG-7X double barrel light machine gun.

Her primary and most used weapon is an antique PTRS-41 that she modernized on her own. The wood stock has been replaced with composite materials (PU and steel alloy), the box magazine has been replaced with a drum (although she carries spare box magazines), the muzzle brake has been taken from a KORD machine gun and refit, and on occasion she has been seen with an advanced gun shield that has integrated cameras and screens to mitigate visibility loss. The receiver of the rifle has also been upgraded with a new fire control group to allow for selective fire, the advantages of which allow rapid engagement of large targets such as tanks and APCs, and single engagements for ranged elimination of targets such as armored personnel.

She normally carries two drum magazines with 20 round capacity, and additional 10-round box magazines with various munition types such as APFSDS, HEAT, HE, and standard ball-type rounds.

Backup armaments are rare for her due to the limited resistance she faces when on missions, but when stealth or discretion is required, she uses a handmade .308 revolver called Crimson Tide. It has a massive footlong blade affixed under its impressive ten inch barrel.

On occasion she has been able to shoulder fire extremely powerful weapons without her mech suit, such as the KPV HMG and the M134 Minigun.

Personal Vehicle

Due to her nomadic nature and her occupation, Zoey never stays in one place for very long. Her personal vehicle is a GHI Mantis 8x8 wheeled APC that has been gutted and refit to be her home on wheels. It has been up-armored and refit to suit her lifestyle. Personal modifications to the exterior includes fold-out workbenches, a station for repairing her power armor, a portable shower and toilet, tools such as shovels and pickaxes, ammo canisters, spotlights, and a top mounted anti-aircraft gun. 

The interior of the vehicle features a bed, cargo containers for personal storage, a small cooking station, and reconfigured cockpit for her large stature. It also has a laptop desk and illegally modified intranet/internet/extranet antennae which grants her free (normally paid) Internet service. The turret area has been completely removed. It has a simple autopilot that uses external cameras and sensors, so Zoey can operate the gun if necessary while the vehicle is in motion. 

It can be coded to follow waypoints on a GPS, or simply follow the currently traveled path. The APC is painted black with red accents and features accent lighting similar to her power armor which is a major stylistic theme among her other belongings.

Zoey's daily driver is a Famdorchini Dominator APX pickup truck, which has been heavily customized with improved suspension, better offroad tires, improved brakes, a higher displacement engine, carbon fiber hood and trim, front bull bar, rear bumper guard, extra fuel tanks, and four spare wheels in the bed. It's just as capable off-road as it is on the streets, and can navigate cliffs just as well as it can jump the curb.

She also has a motorcycle/sportbike called the Blonda Renegade, which she uses for more covert and speedy transport. It's based off the Lazareth LM847/Dodge Tomahawk.

Weaknesses and faults

As a female mammal with human based genitalia, she is vulnerable to things like menstrual cramps, cravings, and emotional instability, largely due to the human menstrual cycle. Even worse, these negative side effects are doubled because of her unique anatomy.

As previously mentioned, she has a very uncaring and apathetic personality, which can push away potential allies. Along with general instability, she suffers from a few other disorders due to her traumatic history, but refuses to let others help her due to a need to be self sufficient. She is very untrusting, and prefers to work alone, even if doing so carries a much larger risk of death.

Zoey suffers from severe anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, is likely autistic, depression, body dysmorphia, substance abuse (alcohol and drugs), hypersexuality, hormone imbalance, and many other social disorders.

Zoey carries around a dark green liquid in a vial at all times. It is known as 'Elysium Green,' and is an experimental substance that serves multiple purposes. It contains powerful anxiolytics to manage her extreme anxiety and PTSD, includes neuro-stimulants to maintain heightened combat readiness and keep her alert, contains strong pain management components to cope with discomfort from cybernetic enhancements and injuries has a controlled dose of substances similar to her other addictions to prevent withdrawal, and includes regenerative compounds to help her heal faster and maintain cybernetic functionality. 

Name and likeness (c)2019-2025 Zoey Lavender

Character Profile - Taylor Wolfe

Species: Taylor Wolfe is a hybrid, predominantly Timber Wolf with distinct eagle features.

Sex/Gender: Feminine-presenting hermaphrodite.

Physical Features: Taylor stands tall at six feet three inches, boasting a humanoid canine body with a unique mix of features. Her fur is primarily grey with a blue tint to her flesh. She has white belly fur and inner thigh fur. Her tail is covered in a mix of blue and grey down feathers that mimic fur, blending into her feathery thighs, elbows, and calves. Her neck and sternum are adorned with fluffy fur. Taylor's body is voluptuous, with some excess fat around her hips and waist, and she has wide, feminine hips.

Facial Features: Taylor's face is canine. She has steel blue eyes, set above a short canine muzzle and a black nose. Subtle blue fur coloration around her eyes gives the appearance of natural makeup. Her humanoid eyebrows have a blue and white gradient at the inner root. The upper half of her face is grey, while the lower half below the sellion is white, which fades into the rest of the white fur on her chest and belly. Her long, naturally blue hair is styled in a messy ponytail.

Sexual Features: Taylor possesses both male and female genitalia. She has internal testicles, a sheathed blue canine penis, and blue labia and vagina. Her sheath is a combination of a sheath and cloaca, which can be consciously retracted. Her breasts are 34E with blue nipples.

Personality: Taylor is known for her kindness and consideration towards others. She is inconfident in her abilities but often downplays this inconfidence out of insecurity. Her extremely flirty nature is a facade she uses to mask her insecurities, enjoying the reactions she provokes from others. She derives joy from making others feel good, finding pleasure in their happiness.

Occupation(s): Before the war, Taylor served as a member of the British SAS, showcasing her skills and bravery. After retiring, she moved to lingerie modeling. In the post-war era, she became a getaway driver and continued her modeling career.

Lifestyle: Taylor lives in a high-end studio apartment, complete with a house-provided butler who cooks, cleans, and attends to her needs. When she's not working, she indulges in excessive partying, frequently getting smashed, and engaging in casual sex. She enjoys recreational drugs, and lives an excessively hedonistic life.

Sigma AU Spotlight: Human Secondary Characters

Julia
Julia, a young woman in her mid-twenties, embodies the features of a Russian beauty, yet her appearance is shaped by her life spent in the rugged wilderness. She stands at a modest height of 5'6", with a lithe and athletic build, the result of years spent foraging, hunting, and tending to her woodland cottage. Her skin is fair, with a healthy, sun-kissed glow from her time spent outdoors.

Her hair, a rich chestnut brown, cascades down her back in loose, natural waves, often tied back with a simple leather thong when she's working. Despite the rough conditions of her life, Julia takes pride in keeping it clean and well-maintained. Her eyes are a striking shade of icy blue, sharp and observant, reflecting both the resilience and the gentleness she carries within her. High cheekbones and a delicate, straight nose add to her refined features, while her lips are naturally rosy and full, often set in a determined line.

Julia's attire is practical yet subtly feminine. She wears a mix of durable, well-worn clothing suited for woodland life: thick woolen sweaters, sturdy pants, and leather boots. Her clothes are patched in places, showing signs of wear and tear, but they are always clean and mended with care. Over her outfit, she often wears a simple, hand-stitched cloak made of thick fabric, which she uses to keep warm and carry supplies.

Her hands are calloused and strong, bearing the marks of countless tasks – from chopping wood to tending a small garden. A simple silver pendant, a keepsake from her past, hangs around her neck, its significance known only to her.

Julia's demeanor is a mix of cautious wariness and nurturing kindness, born from the need to survive in the harsh environment while maintaining her humanity. Her movements are quick and precise, whether she's foraging for food or stealthily navigating the forest to avoid danger. Despite the challenges of her life, she carries herself with a quiet grace, her spirit unbroken and her heart filled with hope for a better future.

Vladimir Petrovich
Dr. Vladimir Petrovich, an exiled Soviet scientist, is a man of contrasts. His appearance is marked by the passage of time and the burdens of his turbulent past. Achieving a healthy 109 years old by experimenting infrequently on himself, he stands at a stooped height of 5'9", his once robust frame now gaunt and frail from years of isolation and relentless work. His face is deeply lined with age, each wrinkle a testament to his relentless pursuit of scientific perfection and the sacrifices he has made along the way.

Petrovich's hair, once a rich black, is now a silvery white, thinning and perpetually unkempt. His eyes, however, remain strikingly sharp and intelligent, a piercing blue that seems to see through everything and everyone. Despite the cloudiness that comes with age, his gaze is intense and focused, especially when he is immersed in his work.

His attire is practical and utilitarian, reflecting the harsh conditions of his laboratory. He typically wears a worn lab coat, stained with various chemicals and oils from his work. Underneath, he favors simple, functional clothing: a faded sweater, sturdy trousers, and heavy boots designed for the unforgiving Siberian climate. Around his neck, he often wears a pair of old-fashioned, wire-rimmed glasses, which he uses for close-up work despite their tendency to slip down his nose.

Petrovich's hands are perhaps the most telling aspect of his character. They are large and calloused, bearing the marks of countless hours of meticulous labor. His fingers, though slightly shaky with age, move with the precision and dexterity of a master craftsman, each movement deliberate and exact.

Despite his austere and somewhat forbidding exterior, there is an air of melancholy and unfulfilled longing about Petrovich. His life's work, culminating in the creation of Etrius and Ravenna, has left him isolated and haunted by the ethical and moral implications of his experiments. He carries the weight of his actions heavily, a burden visible in his rare moments of quiet reflection.

In his interactions, Petrovich oscillates between a stern, almost paternal demeanor and moments of genuine warmth and pride in his creations. His voice, thick with a Russian accent, can be both commanding and soothing, imbued with the gravitas of a man who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, for better or worse.

Overall, Dr. Vladimir Petrovich is a complex figure, a blend of brilliant scientist, tormented creator, and lonely exile, driven by a relentless quest for perfection and haunted by the ghosts of his past endeavors.

Character profile - Etrius vanRandr

Description

Etrius vanRandr is a cybernetic white tiger chimera approximately 7'7" (2.3 meters) tall, with cybernetic arms, green eyes, and long, flowing black hair. He is artificially built from many different animals.

History

Etrius used to be a human serving in the US Army. He had green eyes, short graying hair, and a short full beard, and was about 47 years of age. During a deployment to a Middle Eastern state, he was assigned to guard and hold control of a nuclear reactor. However, the nuclear reactor developed a malfunction which caused Etrius to develop brain cancer. He was discharged from service and promptly sent home.

However, a secret Soviet Union remnant faction led by an exiled scientist named Vladimir Petrovich was looking for test subjects to perform inhumane genetic experiments on, and Etrius happened to be the perfect target, as he was already terminally ill.

Etrius was supposed to be sent home to live his remaining days with his family, however, the convoy transporting him to the nearest airport was ambushed by assassins. He was shot twice in the back with tranquilizer bullets, paralyzing him and putting him into a coma. He was then taken to a secret laboratory in Tver, Russia.

As the years go by he is slowly built into a new person, and tensions worldwide rise. When a nuclear bomb goes off nearby, it destroys the Tver nuclear reactor, causing mass evacuations, although Petrovich was unbothered in his underground lab. When Etrius was finished, he was put into cryosleep. Petrovich then left Tver for the safety of Novgorod after another experiment named Ravenna goes wrong and escapes.

Etrius was released from cryosleep after about 10 years with selective amnesia, and begins his journey of self discovery on the way to St. Petersburg.

There, he finds Ravenna Wildfire, now a tyrant, ruling over the citizens of St. Petersburg with an iron fist. Ravenna is Etrius's sister, so to speak - made from parts of his DNA but not born from the same mother. Ravenna is a grey wolf transhuman, just like Etrius is a white tiger.

Etrius vows to end Ravenna's tyranny, but is defeated. She rips his prosthetic arms off and throws him in the river below the Winter Palace, a massive fortress she built at the fork in the river that flows through St. Petersburg. She assumed he would die, but he doesn't, and is rescued by a woman named Julia.

Julia helps him back to full health, and helps him find Petrovich who is rumored to be residing in the inner districts of St. Petersburg, where Ravenna forces him to experiment on wild animals. Petrovich gives Etrius a new set of arms, more powerful, stronger, and able to withstand more damage.

Etrius faces Ravenna once more but is weaker than the first confrontation and is defeated again. Ravenna rapes him and poisons him with a neurotoxin that only affects males, and then tosses him in the river once more, knowing he will survive but die a slow and painful death.

Julia, who had gone back home during his time with Petrovich and the second confrontation, finds him in the river once more, and does her duty again, helping him through the pain of the neurotoxin and taking him back to Petrovich.

Etrius is out of action for six months while Petrovich re-sequences his genes, turning him into a woman. He, now she, changes her name to Itreus, spoken the same but now spelled in a feminine way. Julia finally discovers why she had no interest in men, and opens up to Itreus about this. They become lovers as Itreus becomes accustomed to womanhood and prepares to face Ravenna once more.

Itreus finally manages to defeat Ravenna, knocking her glaive out of her grip and trapping her in a corner. He then impales Ravenna with her own glaive. Her death was not instant, as she had enough cognitive function left to understand she had been bested and she was dead. Her last words were, "I'm sorry. I should have loved you." 

A dead man's switch embedded in her body triggered remote explosives that destroyed the Winter Palace and the surrounding area, killing Julia and knocking Itreus unconscious.

Petrovich finds Itreus and takes her back in, and returns Etrius back to his original sex as Etrius recovers from being exploded. He gives Julia a viking burial on the river where Julia first found him. He mourns Julia but ultimately moves on, eventually finding his way to Sigma City after Petrovich passes away. 

When Petrovich passes, he leaves his personal affects to Etrius including his personal journal, which contains details on every experiment he ever conducted, including notes on Etrius's past before the war. 

Etrius brings Petrovich's body to the remains of Ravenna's castle and buries him where the throne used to be. His house and lab are demolished, hopefully ending any possibility of future experimentation using the equipment there.

Among the things Etrius kept was the journal, Petrovich's glasses, his wristwatch which Etrius now wears, and a portable data drive with all of Petrovich's accumulated knowledge, which Etrius now keeps safely hidden in a compartment under the plating of his prosthetics.

Petrovich's lab under Tver still stands, with a dangerous secret buried even further below it.

Biology

After he was transported back to Russia, Petrovich began to disassemble his body while he was still alive, preserving his brain function while removing the cancerous cells. A new body was built using unknown methodology from many different animals; the heart of a horse, the lungs of a giraffe, the digestive tract of a Great White shark, and the eyes of an owl. Many other features of his body were replaced with synthetic organs, such as his skin.

His bones were fabricated from tungsten carbide, and his arms were replaced with carbon fiber and titanium prosthetics, plated with titanium nitride. His skin is synthetic and is extremely dense, and his fur is also very thick. There are piezoelectric generators attached directly to his heart valves which produce electricity, and supercapacitors placed in hollow sections of his bones which store electricity, for the purpose of powering his cybernetics. His final form weighs about 585lb (265kg), with his skeleton weighing a whopping 325lb (147kg).

His new body now resembles a white tiger in a humanoid shape, with digitigrade feet. The striped pattern of his fur changes slowly over time. He has humanoid hair growing from his head, which he allows to grow quite long. A single patch on the left front side grows white due to poliosis.

His memory was completely erased, although some fragments were left due to selective amnesia. His combat training and skills from military service remain, as does his knowledge of foreign languages.

His body also requires much more food due to having to power cybernetic arms as well. Despite this, his body is 100% efficient at processing ingested sustenence, and there is no biological waste.

Etrius's bodily fluids are entirely black, which means he's easy to track if he's injured. His blood is a strange mix of very dark organic oil and blood cells.

Sexual reproduction

As Etrius is an artificial chimera, his genitals are an odd mix of canine, feline, and serpentine parts, with a feline sheath and spined shaft, a canine knot, and a serpentine glans, with an overall length of about 13 inches (35cm). The knot can expand up to 8 inches (20cm) in diameter. The glans features an equine flare and feline spines.

Because he was originally intended to be an assassin through any means possible, his semen is normally toxic to most other living beings. As ascribed to his rather unconventional biological makeup, some humans and transhumans are immune to the toxic effects, and humanoid eggs fertilized by Etrius grow significantly larger (about 6 inches, or 15cm in diameter), become an inert biomass, and are a soft, silicone-like substance all the way through. They appear black with a red hexagonal pattern similar to a turtle shell. How or why this occurs to toxic-immune individuals is unknown. They can be safely expelled, or in the event that an orifice is not large enough for expulsion, they eventually liquefy into a harmless clear-black discharge after about 30 days.

On account of his unusual sexual organs, Etrius has been deemed by field professionals as sterile and unfit for reproduction, although that has not stopped him engaging in recreational sexual activity.

Personality

As a human, Etrius was a very outgoing and strong-willed person, willing to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. He was a strong advocate for intellectualism. After his capture and reconfiguration, he is rather introverted and reserved, mostly from knowing how humans react to seeing him. He is quiet and keeps to himself, but is always ready to spring into action and take charge when necessary. His personality resembles the strong and silent type, only showing his true strength when pushed to his limit.

He typically hides his emotions to the point of stressing himself out over a lack of expression. He will withhold information if it serves little to no benefit being public and is very selective in how he interacts with others.

He holds his anger well, often resorting to a physical expression such as working out or sparring when it becomes too much to hold in.

Strengths and abilities

Etrius' strongest ability is his resilience and persistence. He is incredibly difficult to kill due to his feline agility and his augmented body. His dense skin is resistant to small arms, and his strong digitigrade legs allow him to run in excess of 65KPH (40MPH) and jump as high as 10 feet.

His arms are actually part of his skeleton rather than being true prosthetics, so they are incredibly difficult to remove without causing serious injury. He has a large heart and extremely efficient lungs, as well as having excellent eyesight, especially in the dark.

Etrius' combat training as a US Marine makes him exceptionally skilled not only during the battle but he is a master of mixed unit tactics as well, able to outmaneuver an opponent with relative ease.

His reflexes are second to none, having been able to dodge slower-moving subsonic projectiles on more than one occasion.

Equipment and weapons

Etrius requires very little to function efficiently, often wearing little to no armor in favor of mobility. He also carries little in the way of weapons, once again in favor of mobility.

Armor

When necessary, Etrius will wear a handmade plate carrier with three plates in the front and in the rear, comprised of a layered epoxied titanium carbide plate, a ballistic ceramic plate, and an aramid-UHMWPE hybrid plate.

During his story arc (2080-2085) he primarily wore a large, improvised black hood and cloak made from fire blankets, a plate carrier with multiple stacked AR500 steel plates, and a black hand-sewn field jacket with hand-sewn cargo pants, also made from black fire blankets.

Weapons

Etrius' primary weapon is a prototype plasma sword, shaped like a German Zweihander, wherein the blade itself is replaced with a shaped plasma energy beam. Where a fuller would normally be, is where the electronics and emitter are housed. An unknown power source is housed in the handle. The origin of this weapon is also unknown, as Etrius found it while exploring Russia.

His second weapon is a custom modern-forged red, black, and silver fully automatic .50-calibre Browning M1911 with a 20-round double-stack magazine. It is about 150% larger than the standard M1911 due to the calibre and Etrius's large hands being unable to effectively use human-sized firearms. It has an extended 10-inch (254mm) barrel and an underbarrel picatinny rail for accessories such as an IRLP, IRI, flashlight, or UGL. It was created specifically for him by Kalashnikov Concern, but it was never delivered to him on time before the war started. He found it among other things made for him in a deep underground bunker in Russia. 

His cybernetic arms have retractable claws for hand-to-hand combat and can easily piece concrete and bullet-resistant glass, and are more than capable of ripping through steel.

Personal vehicle

Etrius' personal vehicle is a 2090 Famdorchini Airesuqqe RRR, with many aftermarket modifications, such as parts from newer models.

Weaknesses and faults

Because he wears little to no armor, he is vulnerable to shrapnel and bullets despite his thick and dense skin.

Due to an improper memory wipe at the hands of his creator, he suffers from minor short-term memory loss, and he tends to hyperfocus on tasks. Sometimes he will suddenly blackout and continue to carry on a task, and later have no memory of doing so. These blackouts occur more frequently when he is sexually aroused.

Character profile - Ravenna Wildfire

Ravenna Wildfire

Ravenna Wildfire is the main antagonist of Etrius vanRandr's story arc and one of the ten primary villains in the Sigma AU. She is a large, anthropomorphic grey wolf.

Physical description

Ravenna stands at a modest 7 feet and 10 inches tall, which is somewhere between the gargantuan Zoey Lavender (8 feet and 4 inches) and Etrius himself (7 feet 7 inches). Her torso is light grey, while her limbs are dark grey, with a thin line of bioluminescent red fur where the two meet. She has glowing red eyes, a full head of shoulder-length dark red hair, and has black claws which she paints red using blood. She is highly muscular and wears a permanent scowl on her face. Her exposed intimate parts also glow red (such as nipples, vagina, anus, inside of her mouth, and so on).

Personality

Ravenna is an extremely hate-ridden, spiteful, petty, and evil person. She sets people on fire for entertainment, frequently murders her subjects for the slightest infractions, and enjoys literally bathing in blood. People whom she kills usually end up getting turned into blood candles, their hair being used as a wick, and their body fats being used as the fuel, while their blood is used as a dye.

In addition to murder, she also enjoys torturing people, utilizing several torture devices such as a stretching rack and iron maiden. She also employs more personal methods, such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and acute bodily harm.

Not only does she derive pure, unadulterated pleasure from harming others, she also enjoys sexually abusing others, including rape, BDSM, mutilation, and using their body parts for her own pleasure (such as bones, blood, and orifices).

If one were to apply the DSM to her, she may have sociopathy, psychopathy, bipolar, severe narcissism, and sexual sadism disorder.

While these disorders severely affect her personality and decision making processes, she is quite intelligent and a brilliant tactician, waging wars against neighboring settlements and cities, taking them over and absorbing them into her kingdom with ruthless efficiency.

Character history

Beginnings

Ravenna was created in the same laboratory as Etrius. When WW3 ensued and the facility was abandoned, the Tver nuke caused an EMP which allowed her to escape. She suffered heavy brain damage as a result of the radiation, which is responsible for her mental disorders.

She distantly remembered working alongside Etrius during their creation, but she does not remember her past from before her transformation and all records of it were destroyed.

Ravenna boldly assumed that Etrius would die, rather than be released, when the facility's backup generators failed. This however, would lead to her own demise at the hands of Etrius.

After leaving the ruins of Tver, she traveled to St. Petersburg, a city reborn in darkness, reassuming life from what would be the middle ages. Along the way there she raided and pillaged many smaller settlements, slowly realizing that she could get away with whatever she wanted. People were afraid of her, and rightfully so.

Rise to power

Upon reaching St. Petersburg, she swiftly took over the city's existing ruling body, located in the Winter Palace, and proceeded to become a tyrant. She cared little about the day to day lives of her subjects, often letting lower sects of the government handle their affairs. The only thing she cared about was satiating her unending desire for blood and death.

Over the course of Etrius's story arc, she becomes increasingly paranoid as more and more reports of his existence surfaced. He eventually showed up to her castle, where they battled one another, but Etrius was unprepared and was defeated. She ripped off his prosthetic arms and then tossed him into the St. Petersburg river.

Death

This didn't kill Etrius, however. Over the following months, Etrius recovered, has his arms fixed, and comes back to face Ravenna.

Etrius, in his weakened state, was defeated once again. Ravenna rapes him, and then always choosing the more cruel option, poisoned him with a neurotoxin that only affects males, but takes about a year to finally kill. Etrius returns to his creator who fixed his arms, and spends the next six months getting his genes re-sequenced and becomes a female, switching the letters of her name to Itreus. Approaching the Winter Palace once again, Itreus finally manages to defeat Ravenna, knocking her glaive out of her grip and trapping her in a corner. She then impales Ravenna with her own glaive. Her death was not instant, as she had enough cognitive function left to understand she had been bested and she was dead. Her last words were, "I'm sorry. I should have loved you."

A dead man's switch embedded in her body triggered remote explosives that destroyed the Winter Palace and the surrounding area, knocking Itreus unconscious and killing Julia, who was searching the castle for any information on a potential weakness Ravenna might have.

When Etrius returns to the castle to cremate Julia, Ravenna's body is nowhere to be found. Etrius assumes it to have been incinerated in the explosion, but the glaive is missing, too.

Abilities and skills

Ravenna has some unique abilities that only a few others in the Sigma AU possess. Magic is a supernatural force that indeed exists in the Sigma AU, and Ravenna has full control over all aspects of fire. She can create, control, and destroy fire at will, and is even capable of compressing the plasma state into precise bolts of red pseudo-lightning.

In addition to this magic, she has extremely good reflexes on par with Etrius's, and has incredibly acute hearing, sight, and smell.

She can leap great heights, survive great falls, and is fast enough to cognitively predict the path of a bullet or projectile from the angle of the device launching or firing it, thus being able to move in time to avoid it.

Equipment and weapons

Ravenna wears a medieval styled modern armor composed of titanium plating, UHMWPE cloths, and tungsten chain mail. Real leather dyed red with blood made from various sources adds flare and connect some parts of her outfit.

When not wearing her armor, she simply opts to be naked, unnerving those around her to great effect, showing off her powerful muscles.

While a great martial artist, Ravenna prefers hand to hand combat, however, she has a large glaive imbued with her own fire magic in the event she needs to keep her distance from an opponent.

Character Profile - Bestalsh

Bestalsh

Bestalsh is a female semi-feral lizard-like anthropomorphic creature living in the Sigma AU.

Description

Bestalsh is the product of inhumane experimentation on lizards using multiple different pathogens and DNA editing. The result is a large, fat, muscular humanoid lizard with a short muzzle, large nose, large eyes, and curved horns, somewhat comparable to a reptilian pug, and similar in an evolutionary position as gorillas are to humans.

She weighs approximately 600lb and is about eight feet tall in a normal posture, and about twelve feet from head to tail tip. She has a long, thick lizardlike tail and has spines starting from her neck down to the tip of her tail. Her hair is dark red and her scales are a blackish-green. She has dark red reptilian eyes. Despite this, she also has mammalian features such as breasts and humanoid sex organs, but lays eggs.

History

Nobody knows where Bestalsh came from. Rumors and folklore say she existed before Sigma City was founded, others say she was the product of an experiment and set free. The most commonly accepted theory was that she was laid as an egg near radioactive waste and as a result she mutated into a humanoid. The true story is much more horrific.

Bestalsh was created from splicing human DNA with that of a Brazilian bush anole in order to produce live young, however the results were anomalous and quite the opposite of the intended effect. A gas leak causes a huge explosion in the laboratory she was created in, and she escaped. She now isolates herself to a cave far from Sigma City, however some travelers and sightseers visit her from time to time.

Due to this, she knows some English, but doesn't appear to be too intelligent.

Personality and behaviour

She is quite passive and curious, mainly due to her limited humanoid mental development, and some compare her to a child despite being over a century old. While it is possible to hold a conversation with her, she will often interrupt with many questions, and she can also be impatient and frustrates easily when she doesn't understand a concept. She is peaceful and doesn't seem to care for violence or scaring others. Gunfire makes her laugh.

When she is alone, which is most of the time, she is either sleeping or hunting.

Diet

Bestalsh's diet consists mainly of large rodents, but she also hunts deer or other small herbivores. She occasionally snacks on berries if she can find them, and delights in whatever the sparse traveler brings her.

Character Profile - Ilia Bluepaw

Ilia's life began in a laboratory deep within the heart of the Chinese government’s most clandestine research facility. Born from a fusion of genetic manipulation and experimental biology, Ilia was crafted with a singular purpose: to expand China’s military potential. Unlike the experiences of Etrius and Zoey, Ilia's early life was devoid of suffering and anguish, an anomaly in the world of engineered beings.

Early Life and Creation
Ilia's first memories were of sterile white rooms and the hum of advanced machinery. As a cub, she was surrounded by scientists in white coats who monitored her every move. The cold, clinical environment was the only home she knew. However, the stability of this life was shattered during the Third World War. The world outside the facility erupted in nuclear fire, and chaos reigned supreme. Amid the destruction, the facility was abandoned, and Ilia was left to fend for herself.
Wandering through the desolate landscape of post-nuclear China, Ilia was found by a group of survivors who initially mistook her for a normal panda cub. Her true nature became apparent only when they saw the sentience in her eyes and the complexity of her behavior. Despite their initial shock, the survivors couldn't bring themselves to abandon her. They took her in, nurturing her as she grew stronger.

Enlistment in the PLA Remnants
As Ilia matured, her inherent physical prowess became undeniable. Her immense strength and agility made her a formidable presence, even among the hardened survivors. It wasn't long before she caught the attention of the remnants of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The IFF tag embedded in her spine, an unremovable identifier that granted her automated clearance to military bases, made her an asset to the fragmented military force.
Ilia's lack of formal education didn't hinder her. She quickly adapted to the militant lifestyle, learning the necessary commands and procedures to function effectively within the PLA. Her linguistic abilities were limited, with her understanding of both Mandarin and Cantonese being rudimentary at best. Instead, she communicated through a mix of military jargon and physical cues, a dialect that was understood by her comrades in the field.

Life in the Military
Ilia's time with the PLA was marked by countless skirmishes and missions. Her role often involved frontline combat, where her immense strength and resilience were invaluable. She became known for her unwavering dedication to her comrades and her fierce protective instincts. Despite the constant conflict, Ilia remained a good-natured and kind individual. Her primary motivation was to help those around her, and she found fulfillment in knowing she was making a difference.
However, as the years passed, the endless cycle of violence began to wear on her. The thrill of battle dulled, replaced by a growing sense of restlessness. Ilia longed for something more than the perpetual warfare that had defined her existence thus far.

Journey to the United States
Seizing an opportunity to escape the monotony, Ilia volunteered for a reconnaissance mission to the United States. The mission was intended to gather intelligence on the post-apocalyptic landscape of what was once a superpower. However, upon arriving in the dystopian capitalist hellscape, Ilia made a pivotal decision: she went AWOL.
The United States she found herself in was a far cry from the land of opportunity it once was. The country was now a cyberpunk-esque wasteland, a sprawling maze of decaying cities and ruthless corporations. Ilia roamed this chaotic environment, searching for a new purpose. Her journey was not without peril, but her strength and combat skills served her well. She encountered various factions and individuals, some of whom sought to exploit her abilities, while others became allies in her quest for meaning.

Personality and Philosophy
Despite the harshness of her surroundings, Ilia's core personality remained unchanged. She was a beacon of kindness and helpfulness in a world that seemed to have forgotten such virtues. Her militant dialect and demeanor sometimes made her seem intimidating, but those who took the time to know her saw the compassionate soul beneath the tough exterior. Ilia’s sadness when she couldn't help others was palpable, driving her to go to great lengths to make a positive impact.
Ilia wasn't above using violence to achieve her goals. She had no hesitation in eliminating threats or those who caused harm to others. Her moral compass was guided by a simple principle: protect the innocent and punish the wicked. This black-and-white view of the world often put her at odds with the more morally ambiguous denizens of the dystopian USA.

Present and Future
Ilia's journey in the United States was far from over. She continued to roam the landscape, a wandering warrior seeking a place to call home. Each encounter, each challenge, was a step towards understanding her place in the world. She hoped to find a community where she could finally belong, a place where her strength could be used to build rather than destroy.
Ilia's story was one of resilience and hope. In a world scarred by war and corruption, she was a testament to the enduring spirit of kindness and the relentless pursuit of a better future. Her path was uncertain, but her resolve was unshakable. Wherever her journey led her, Ilia would continue to stand as a guardian of the downtrodden, a symbol of strength and compassion in a world that desperately needed both.

Character Profile - Zola Pohzar

Physical Attributes and Form

Zola Pozhar, known in Russian as зола пожар, meaning "Ash Fire," is a red and black female dragon. In her anthropomorphic form, Zola stands at a petite height of 5 feet 0.5 inches (154 cm), not including her horns or dorsal ridge. As a feral dragoness in her original form, she was much larger, boasting a length of 18 feet (550 cm) and a height of 14 feet (420 cm). Weighing 125 pounds in her current form, Zola possesses an ageless quality, though her biological maturity aligns with that of a 27-year-old human female. Despite her agelessness, her emotional maturity is slightly less developed equivalent to someone who is 24 years old, reflecting the tumultuous changes she has experienced.

Accidental Universal Transport

Zola's journey to her current universe was neither planned nor expected. An insane engineer in the Sigma AU conducting experiments on teleportation inadvertently opened a portal from the Sigma AU into Zola's. This portal not only transported her into an unfamiliar world but also transformed her from a feral dragoness into an anthropomorphic one. The chaotic nature of her arrival led to a catastrophic explosion, killing the engineer and destroying the portal and the lab. This left Zola stranded in the Sigma Alternate Universe with no way to return to her original universe.

Early Life

Upon arriving in the Sigma AU, Zola found herself homeless and alone on the streets of Sigma City. She adapted to her new environment quickly, using her magic to remain invisible and crafting increasingly complex illusory disguises. Zola’s mastery of her magic allowed her to alter her physical presence, enabling her to fit into her disguises seamlessly.

In the shadows of Sigma City, Zola resorted to stealing cars and selling them on the black market. Her magic played a crucial role in these endeavors, allowing her to disguise herself and influence government workers to grant her immigration rights and fabricate a backstory, securing a valid government ID and driver's license.

Love for Cars

Zola’s adventurous spirit led her to explore the wastelands outside the city, where she stumbled upon a decrepit underground building housing a collection of rare cars. Among these was the Kimetto Rocket 2006 prototype, which she claimed and now uses in illegal street races. Zola has been restoring other vehicles from this collection, which did not withstand the test of time as well as the Rocket.

Relationships

During a street race, Zola met Etrius, who has since become her love interest and husband. Zola often clashes with Zoey Lavender, another significant figure in Sigma City. Despite their mutual dislike and frequent conflicts, there is a deep-seated respect between them, partially fueled by Zoey’s jealousy of Zola's magical abilities. Zola and Zoey tolerate each other primarily because they are both in love with Etrius. Additionally, they share a sexual interest in each other. Zola is bisexual but homoromantic, and she finds herself in a complex dynamic where her relationship with Zoey involves casual sex rather than romantic love.

Personality and Interests

Zola’s personality is a blend of cautious optimism, sultry flirtation, and an openly challenging demeanor. She possesses a slight superiority complex but manages to downplay it, making her interactions nuanced and engaging. Her favorite color is jade, reflecting a refined and elegant taste, while her favorite food is ramen, a nod to her adaptable nature. Zola enjoys alt-rock music, often immersing herself in its rebellious and alternative tones. She is an avid learner, frequently visiting online libraries to expand her knowledge of the new world she inhabits, often falling asleep mid-research.

Zola shares a love for tinkering with mechanical objects, paralleling Zoey's interests. Her cautious optimism keeps her grounded, while her sultry and flirty nature adds a layer of complexity to her interactions. Her challenging demeanor ensures she never backs down from a confrontation, always ready to prove her worth.

Magical Abilities and Combat Skills

Zola is highly adept at using fire magic, similar to Ravenna. Her abilities include juggling flames, compressing fire plasma into lightning, and the classic dragon feat of breathing fire. She can instantly set or extinguish fires, making her a formidable opponent in combat. Zola prefers to rely on her magic and natural abilities rather than using weapons, as she views firearms as tools for the weak. In combat, she uses her wings for mobility and throws fireballs to keep her enemies at bay.

Identity

Zola has no recollection of her original name or the land she came from in her former universe. This loss of memory adds to her sense of displacement and fuels her desire to find a way back to her original world, despite the challenges she faces in her new reality. She is slowly recognizing that there is no way back - no way to go home, and likely there never will be.