Euphonia Root

Euphonia Root is the second of the four Darklord-candidates of the Domain of Conquista. Provided she wins the Dread Election, she may exert her full powers as Darklady over the domain for two years; even if she is not elected, she still retains a shadow of that power.

Background

Novice

Born to a simple peasant family in the northern cantón of Conquista, Euphonia was distinguished at an early age by possessing great physical beauty. Under other circumstances, she would have been married off to a man of means, providing her family with financial benefit. To her parents' frustration, their daughter developed a strong belief in the goddess Taiia at a young age, and no amount of physical punishment or shouting would dissuade her from entering the clergy.

Euphonia proved a diligent student at temple, taking well to the regimented life of a novice. The only wrinkle during this period was that she had trouble deciding which path to follow after her graduation. She could have joined a sect that focused on mastering body and soul alike; a sect that used modern technology to spread the message of Taiia to the masses; or a sect that provided sacred prostitution to the faithful in order to grant them a spiritual unity with the goddess. In the end, she elected to become a member of the Iron Suns; the sect that sought to unite old-time religion and cutting-edge science to bring the people to the goddess and the goddess's message to the people.

Priestess

For her remarkable zeal and skill with the use of the Conquistan radío, Euphonia was appointed a prestigious position, managing a crucial transmission station, where she saw to it that radío traffic passed smoothly around the northern cantón and hosted what might be called a radio show to spread the word of her goddess.

Although she was initially well-pleased with and honoured by her appointment, Euphonia gradually grew bored due to the isolation of her position. At the temple where she spent her novitiate, she had been surrounded by like-minded people, with whom she might speak, spar and make love if the mood took her. At the ciduadela del radío, the place where she worked, the most she ever saw were middle-aged deliverymen who came to bring her supplies.

Euphonia could have easily asked for reassignment to another steading, or even just for a leave of absence, but pride prevented her. In spite of its downsides, her position at la ciduadela del radío was just that prestigious, that the idea of admitting she was unsuited for it went completely against her self-image as a strong and devoted priestess. Rather than to admit defeat, Euphonia profaned her position without realizing that she was doing so; she learned to spin spells of Enchantment into her words when she hosted her radío show and sang the praises of Taiia, luring men of a specific age and appearance to her in her place of isolation so that they might 'attend' her there.

For a time, this worked out well for her; the men who came to la ciduadela del radío were confused as to why they had made the journey, but found themselves well-received and eventually left happy. Matters started to devolve after a young boy came, not in confusion but in fear and anger, believing that Euphonia was a witch who had magically coerced him to abandon his fiancée and come to her. The boy threatened Euphonia with a pistol, and she killed him on the spot with her axe. Rather than accept that she had wronged her victim, Euphonia's pride did not allow her to see him as anything other than a madman who had, indeed, been bedeviled by witchcraft -- to see her, a blessed Daughter of Taiia, as anything other than an object of admiration and worship. Surely the fiancée he had spoken of was the witch in question, and even now lurked in a disguise of innocence.

Inquisitor

Having now convinced herself that there was some secret conspiracy against the Temple of Taiia (and herself in particular), Euphonia started using her ability to enchant others over the airwaves for other purposes besides her own entertainment. She started sending out a call for people who specifically did not believe in blessed Taiia to come to her. When they arrived, as confused as the men Euphonia had charmed into entering her home and her bed, the priestess murdered them with less concern than she might have shown for swatting flies.

And for a time, this worked out well for her. Euphonia felt vindicated in her actions and in her faith, seeing her serial murder of people whose sin was often limited to not believing in her goddess as another holy service to Church and State; she was culling Evil itself from the world, all alone, in addition to her work managing the radío station and singing the praises of her goddess. This changed, however, when the one who believed least in Taiia in all of Conquista heard her call and came to visit her.

Euphonia was paralyzed with shock when a monstrous creature, half man and half goat, entered la ciduadela del radío and embraced her. Although this was in fact the then sole Darklord Cliffton Willgoat, Euphonia believed that she had been visited by il Demonio, the god of evil. She survived the night, mostly because she was too overcome to even try fighting back, and Cliffton was content to leave her alive and whole in body -- but not in mind.

Cult Leader

Euphonia had always been prideful, but now her pride brought her to the edge of madness (and arguably beyond). At first, what she had suffered during her night with Cliffton Willgoat almost persuaded her to leave la ciduadela del radío and seek help from her fellow Clerics. She paused upon realizing, however, that the Church had always taught her il Demonio, his mother Brightwell and the Loa did not exist -- and yet she believed she had received definitive proof that they did.

Believing that she alone knew better than all the rest of the Church, convinced now that her beloved goddess had divine enemies, Euphonia decided to force the conspiracy against the Church out into the open. This she did not by presenting evidence to the Church, but by using her power to enchant to draw both the most evil and the most zealous people in Conquista to her through her radío program. The most wicked, she drove to be their worst selves, persuading them that il Demonio himself had chosen them to be his hands and claws in the world, to overthrow Church and State and raise his worship above all others. The zealots, she organized into a secret inquisition meant to purge the Church of Taiia of all weakness and corruption in preparation for a holy war against its enemies -- as defined by Euphonia herself. In doing so, Euphonia has become founder of both the Church of il Demonio in Conquista and the secretive Black Suns-sect of Taiia.

Having herself become a Goatsman as a twisted "reward" from the Dark Powers for her acts of corruption, Euphonia uses her increased power to enchant and instill madness in her victims to turn others into members of this twisted prestige class. When farms burn and the innocent are victimized and cannibalized by Goatsmen, these evils can be laid at Euphonia's own cloven hooves. She is forever inspiring the Church of il Demonio she herself created to become more bold in its acts of wickedness, hoping to drag all of Taiia's enemies into the light. At the same time, she exhorts the Black Suns to be merciless in their inquisition of the Church, so that it may be pure and strong when the holy war she envisions will finally erupt. If this holy war does erupt, Euphonia will consider it her greatest achievement in the service of her radiant goddess; she will have brought all of her enemies into the light, where they may be destroyed.

Current Sketch

The accumulated evils Euphonia has perpetrated and incited made her a prime candidate for the Dread Election. When the Red Haunt and la Infestacíon twisted the planar fabric of Conquista to suit their experiment, Euphonia first felt the thrill of power that came with being Darklady.

She is cursed with frustration, however. It is rare for her to have a moment to herself at home, as visitors come to her lair even when she is not actively calling for them, but they are never the kind of people she is currently in the mood to see. In addition, she must compete for the mantle of power she has come to enjoy with creatures she recognizes as beings of evil and enemies of Taiia, or else find her powers as Darklady much reduced. This competition takes the form of having to cater to -- and maintain -- the desires and addictions of the domain's wicked witches, which is galling to her.

Powers and Abilities

In addition to her powers as a Cleric and a Goatsman, Euphonia has skills as a technician and radío operator. She is a competent melée warrior and a decently strong spellcaster, who can call upon two cults to support her in whatever her goals might be. She still holds a prestigious position as mistress of la ciduadela del radío, which means she can also call on some measure of Church and State aid.

Mother of Night

With her fall to the position of Darklady-candidate, Euphonia gained powers over darkness, being able to conjure a black fog when she is merely a candidate, but empowered to bring genuine magical darkness over a wide area when she holds the mantle of power.

Great Influencer

When she is Darklady, Euphonia's ability to influence people over radío transmissions are enhanced to a frightening degree. She can affect multiple people instead of one at a time, and can tailor the people to be affected more broadly than normal.

Closing the Borders

Euphonia can only close the borders of Conquista when she is the reigning Darklady. During this time, she can weep over running water and cause every woman in the domain to cry along with her. The sound of their crying coalesces as a sphere of sonic energy that surrounds Conquista and repels anyone or anything (save incorporeal entities and creatures immune to sonic damage) back in the direction they came from, while dealing damage to them.

Combat

Although she is still good with her battleaxe and her spells, Euphonia now shamelessly flees combat whenever possible, leaving her underlings to fight and die for her. She believes that she alone has discovered the truth of her world and the opposition to her goddess, and she alone is responsible for drawing that opposition into the light. She must survive to bring about Taiia's final victory. If she is forced to fight, she does battle with the fury and mercilessness of a cornered wolf. She will use whatever means she has at hand to deal as much damage as possible to as many enemies at a time as she can arrange for.

Dread Possibility: Child of Two Darklords

When Cliffton Willgoat forced himself on the unresisting Euphonia, it is possible that they conceived together. Certainly Cliffton took no steps to prevent this, and Euphonia was more than half out of her mind, yet healthy of body. If a child was born, then presumably Euphonia sent the baby away, rather than raising it herself. Depending on who she entrusted with raising what is now the offspring of two Darklord-candidates, and also depending on which qualities of its two malign parents the child may have inherited, the offspring might be a complete innocent -- or it might be a 'perfected evil' that will eclipse its parents. Who knows what might happen if either of the offspring's parents were to ever take an interest in it...

Sinister Reflection

It appears to have escaped Euphonia's attention that she continues to drift further and further away from her beloved Taiia. As a woman endowed with the powers of darkness and Witchcraft, who sometimes assumes a demonic aspect, who has lain down and conceived with who she believes to be il Demonio, and who is strongly associated with the Witch-cults of the domain, Euphonia bears a twisted resemblance to Brightwell -- Taiia's great enemy in the mythology of Conquista.

Statistics

Lawful Evil female human Cleric 6 / Ranger 1 / Goatsman 6