Arcana Echoes Day 3: Magic
For day 3 of @arcana-echoes The Arcana fan event! I'm a little late posting this but we love to do things out of order around here. This post details my OC Celene's magical abilities pre-game, before she died and was brought back to life by The Moon major arcana.
Healing Magic
Celene was still very young when she and the priests learned about her affinity for healing magic. The priests believed that they had been blessed by their Goddess, that she had either sent Celene to them or blessed Celene with these powers for a reason. They worked training her magic into her daily lessons and education.
Celene can easily cure small cuts and wounds, barely using any of her magic reserves to do so. At her very best, she has been able to bring people back from the brink of death. Some say that she has been able to perform true resurrections, although the truth of the matter is that these subjects were not dead by the time they were brought to her. Still, Celene saw the rumors as a potential boon to her reputation, and did nothing to quell them from spreading.
Celene developed an uneasy internal relationship with her healing magic. She knew the good it could do, knew the value these abilities lent her, and yet the pressure from the clergy to perform did weigh on her, and she developed a resentment for her magic, despite knowing it was what made her stand out from the other pupils and later other priestesses. Celene's healing magic, her reputation because of it, and the clergy's belief that she was blessed by their goddess were all heavily influential in Celene's ability to rise through the ranks of the temple clergy. There was some well-placed schemeing on her end, as well, but her magic played an undeniable role in earning her the title of High Priestess.
Force Magic
Celene's healing magic was nothing short of divine, but she also wanted a way to defend herself. She didn't bother asking any of her mentors about learning how to use offensive magic, because she knew they would all tell her to continue focusing on her healing magic as it was a gift from the goddess. So Celene taught herself in secret. The only other person who knew she was doing this was Agatha, Celene's friend and later lover.
Celene taught herself how to manipulate the air around her, using it as a forcefield. She can push, shove, knock down, and create barriers. It takes more concentration for her to manipulate this kind of magic than it does her healing abilities, but she became quite adept at this hidden talent of hers over the years she studied it.
Celene's Gateway
Celene's Arcana Gateway is a cave hidden behind a glittering waterfall. Vines with glowing flowers grow along the rockface walls and softly illuminate the spaceous cavern. After Celene first discovered it, she would often escape to the magical gateway to meditate, practice her magic, or just get away from the temple and the others. It was her safe haven, although she never really understood what it was for the longest time. She would sometimes venture past the waterfall or deeper into the cave and find herself in different realms of the Arcana. The one she was most often able to visit was The Moon's Realm, although she mistook the realm as belonging to her goddess. In part that was because The Moon never visited her until Celene found herself on death's door. The Moon appeared before her to answer her prayers, and the two made their deal for her life.
The Moon's Realm is an endless pool of shallow water reflecting the night sky above it. There are no stars hanging in the sky, only the moon, large and overbearning, hanging low on the horizon. The water and the air are both cold, leaving Celene with a chill that lasts for hours after she's been there.
