Sorceress Serene

Sorceress Serene

Character Profile
Secret Identity: Clarissa Moore
Origin: Magic
Affiliations: The Ravenwing Cabal
Archetype: Dominator
Power Sets: Autumnal Control/Autumnal Assault
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Short cut, black with red highlights
Distinguishing Marks: Blood smeared on her lips and chin

Massacre

Clarissa stared in bewildered horror at the remains of everyone she cared about. Their bodies were strewn about the candlelit cavern, final screams froze on their pale blue faces, eyes sunken, mouths agape. Their souls had been ripped from them, along with their lives. Cole's witch hunters did not do this, nor escaped daemons. No, only one person could have done this to her coven. The last shred of goodness in Clarissa boiled away in anguish and rage. She cried out, begging whatever spirits would listen to grant her vengeance.

Her plea was answered.

Flashback

When the Ravenwing Cabal accepted Tammy Arcanus into its fold, everyone was overjoyed to have such a powerful magician in its ranks--everyone but Clarissa. She recognized the darkness that was Tammy's disembodied soul and her lust for power, because the same desire was in Clarissa. Tammy was a grave threat, both figuratively and literally, to Clarissa's careful efforts to gain control of the Cabal. But the Cabal was blinded by a desperate need for allies in its fight for survival against Cole's witch hunters. The risk, the Cabal members decided, was worth the reward. Despite Clarissa's vehement protests, Tammy was welcomed in.

Time passed. What Clarissa feared would happen, didn't. Tammy, who had now adopted the name Diabolique in an effort to embrace her transformation from her father's little girl to undying spirit with a mastery over the undead, was on the Cabal's side. Her efforts had twice already saved the Cabal from certain doom at the hands of witch hunters. Her rise through the ranks of the Cabal soon lifted her to a position that rivaled Clarissa's.

While Diabolique was a fierce, bold woman of action, Clarissa Moore was the opposite. Her impassive demeanor and think-before-you-act principles helped keep the Cabal off Cole's radar. She carried the nickname "Sorceress Serene." It was a name that Diabolique rarely missed an opportunity to insult, claiming that the time for such passivity was over and that more aggressive measures were needed. Gradually, Sorceress Serene's position eroded, and the Cabal decided to meet en masse to discuss how to engage Cole offensively.

Sorceress Serene chose to protest this decision by not attending the meeting and with a handful of her fellow witches they went into hiding, fearing, that Diabolique would lead the Ravenwing Cabal and their sisters to their doom. They had no idea how right they were.

Vicious Betrayal

Diabolique, as it turned out, was working for Emperor Cole, though not of her own free will. Cole had seized the magical talisman crafted by Diabolique's father, Tommy Arcanus, which anchored her spirit to the living world. With this talisman in his possession, Cole could destroy Diabolique at a whim--and he that can destroy a thing controls it.

Diabolique agreed to serve Cole's plans to eradicate the magic practitioners who threatened to upset the utopia he was building. He sent Diabolique to infiltrate the Ravenwing Cabal. His orders for her were simple: Destroy Ravenwing. Diabolique did. Rather than simply annihilate her new sisters, however, she used the same sorceries that she had used to rip the soul of her father from his body, killing him and enslaving his soul, on the entire Cabal. This turn of events simultaneously strengthened Diabolique and gave the Emperor an even more potent weapon against the arcane.

The Furies Intercede

The aftermath of this rite was what Sorceress Serene had stumbled upon in the caverns deep beneath First Ward's Forbidden Crags. It was this betrayal that caused Serene's mind to snap. Her pleas for vengeance caught the attention of the Furies, who for decades had sought a sorcerer to become a hand for their judgment upon Marcus Cole and the oaths he had broken decades before.

The Furies work subtly. At first, Serene felt only a compulsion to search the caverns beneath Forbidden Crags. Her intuition told her she would find Diabolique down there. As her search dragged on with no sign of her quarry, she tired and soon fell into a fitful sleep. The Furies visited her in her dreams, telling their mortal agent what she needed in order to exact vengeance upon Diabolique, and what the Furies demanded in return: her help in exacting their vengeance against Cole.

Though powerful, the Furies would not control Serene's actions. Instead, they left her to find a way to summon the Talons of Vengeance, agents of the Furies, in order to strike at the Emperor. Serene did not do as the Furies wished immediately. Instead, she bided her time.

The Long Game

From behind the scenes, she masterminded events in First Ward in order to draw Cole's attention, and, in turn, Diabolique's. She baited Diabolique with the lure of easy power, something that she knew Diabolique could not resist. When the timing was right, she would spring her trap. With the blessing of the Furies, not only would vengeance against Diabolique be in her grasp, but through her, the Furies would have their revenge upon Cole.

And as always, Sorceress Serene was playing the long game. Beneath her dispassionate exterior hid the same thirst for power that drove Diabolique to greater and greater evil. The Furies did not realize what they had done by sanctioning Serene as their agent, or how far her ambitions climbed. Serene's plans were fueled by more than just a desire for the Furies to help her gain vengeance. They were designed to take the power of the Furies for herself.