NIGHTSHADE

Physical Appearance: In fully human form, Nightshade is
a tall, handsome woman in her mid to late-twenties (apparently).
She has raven black hair, charcoal eyes, and dusky skin, which with
her features would allow her to pass as either Welsh or
Mediterranean in descent. She has a very well-toned body which she
keeps fit with plenty of exercise, and looks as though she could
easily compete in something like the Olympics. Oddly, she looks
very little like either Merlin or Madoc; one would need to be told
of the relationship to find a resemblance, and even then it would
only be a faint one.

In her `fae' form, Nightshade's features are far more
delicate and `elfin', with pointed ears, slanted eyes, and a slight
impishness to her. Her skin lightens considerably, and her hair
becomes white as snow. In this guise, she looks far more like one
of the classical notions of `the Fair Folk' that individuals such as
Oberon or Titania.

This `fae' form is revealed only when Nightshade is letting her
magic and her `fae side' run truly free and unfettered; otherwise
her appearance is some combination of human and fae. If Nightshade
is actually physically touching cold iron, then her fae side is
entirely suppressed and she appears perfectly human (one reason why
she stole the cold iron torc Servarius had planned to use to control
her).

Nightshade tends to wear modern clothing fitted to a more `active'
lifestyle; formal dress doesn't suit her, though she's willing to
wear it if the need arises. She also has something of an
affectation for silver jewelry, especially earrings and crystal
pendants.

Personality: Nightshade could be summed up as being
the `yang' to her `half-brother' Merlin's `yin'. Where Merlin is
scholarly, introverted, and somewhat irascible, Nightshade is more
athletic, extroverted, and outwardly friendly. Nightshade exercises
or engages in physical sport (running, swimming, biking, rock-
climbing, etc.) both to hone her body and because she truly enjoys
testing herself physically. Though not a `party animal' Nightshade
also has no problem interacting with large numbers of people, and is
very much into having fun or making `friends'. She seems to be a
perfectly sociable person with enough charisma to make her `noticed'
and well-liked.

Unfortunately, this masks a complete lack of ethics and
morality on her part. Nightshade is utterly incapable of such
feelings and so is completely untrustworthy, and can even seem
sadistic at times. However, this lack of morality isn't in the same
sadistic or malevolent manner as Hyena or Isfet; Nightshade is no
serial killer clone. Rather, she is more like the old depiction of
the fay, as though she were a child on these matters with absolutely
no concept that something harmful she does might be very wrong
(though on a purely rational and technical level she does know
perfectly well what she's doing and what the consequences will
likely be; she's amoral, not ignorant). She very calmly, rationally
assesses a new situation or person and then acts on the information
in a precise manner however she feels necessary.

As Nightshade was designed to be a lieutenant of the
Unseelie halflings, she has been `trained' in the skills of small-
scale leadership and tactics, and she is very good at both. When
she wants to, her charisma and extroverted nature allow her to be
quite commanding, and she prefers to lead by example, charging into
the fray with her soldiers (though more out of the rush and because
it gives her a better idea of what's going on, rather than any
comradeship with her fellow fighters). She is also a very adaptable
person in this regard, able to change her plans at a moment's
notice; this make her especially vexing to the good guys, as
whenever they throw a monkeywrench into one of her plans, she's
always there to immediately pull it out or shift gears around it.

One final part of her psyche is her lack of ambition.
Though she has little in the way of actual morality (and thus
loyalty), Nightshade still retains enough subliminal programming
that she has no real ambitions of conquering the world (or anything
of a similar nature). She'd be perfectly happy being a `middleman'
or hireling to someone else, rather than a ruler of some sort in her
own right.

Abilities: Nightshade is a competent warrior, and in
excellent physical condition – her only major weakness in this is
her extreme inexperience in actual combat, though this can and will
be quickly remedied. Her greatest strength is her tactical ability
and he adaptiveness; she is more than capable of adjusting her plans
on the spur of the moment when conditions change.

As far as magic, Nightshade has an intuitive `feel' for the art,
much like her fey progenitors. While she has a great deal of rote
knowledge programmed into her, she again doesn't have much in the
way of actual experience in using it. Even so, by her blood alone
Nightshade is the equal to her `brother' Merlin in raw power.
(Oddly, she is loathe to use this power very often. She goes by the
maxim of `never let an enemy know all of your secrets', and she also
sees her magic as something that could easily become a crutch if she
relies on it too much.)

On top of this, she has one other advantage in relation to the
Unseelie halflings: Nightshade is almost immune to cold iron. All
it does to her is negate her inherent magical powers and bring her
human side completely to the fore; a great advantage when the enemy
expects her to instead be writhing in agony.

History: Nightshade actually doesn't have much of a
history. Early on in the Second Unseelie War, Meave could see that
Madoc's nephew Umbriel wasn't going to make it as part of the
Unseelies. As such, she enlisted the help of Dr. Sevarius to create
a replacement for Umbriel. Secretly gaining a small sample of
Madoc's DNA, the Unseelie Queen presented it to the geneticist, who
promptly combined it with material from some unknown human woman
(Sevarius is the only one who knows, and he isn't telling). Using
his knowledge from both the creation of the gargoyle clones and the
Unseelie halflings, Sevarius attempted to create the perfect
blending of man and fay and then bring the result to adulthood in
time to be of use in the War.

The ultimate result was a young halfling woman of vast
(for a halfling) power containing the benefits of both human and fay
with only minimal physical flaws. Unfortunately, when Meave and
Sevarius put their new creation through its paces, they found that
Nightsahde (as they called her) had a serious mental flaw: she had a
complete lack of ethics or morality. In this she was very much like
the common conception of the fay in literature, but this made her
useless – in fact, dangerous – to use as a lieutenant of any kind;
they could not be sure of her loyalty in any way. Even so, they
decided to simply put her in suspended animation, rather than kill
her, as she might prove useful later on as a weapon of some sort.
The matter was never explained to any of the other Unseelie (let
alone Madoc) and was quietly forgotten.

Some time after the SUW ended, Nightshade's stasis pod
was discovered and moved to NYC where, after a several way conflict
between the Illuminati, Xanatos, and the Manhattan gargoyles, it was
destroyed and Nightshade was freed. She quickly escaped before
anyone could notice her (and so was presumed destroyed along with
the pod) and after stealing a `control device' from Servarius,
decided to see a bit more of the world and figure out what she
wanted from life…

Goals: Nightshade doesn't have much in the way of
personal goals right now; she's more trying to find her footing in
the world. Ultimately, she wants to do whatever she feels like, and
would like to serve a master who could give her such unbridled
leeway. If left completely to herself, Nightshade might very well
gather a team of people and become something of a freelance
mercenary of some sort.