Echoless

Echoless Shalva has been known by many names to many people. Her birth mother named her Aria before unceremoniously shipping her off to the Arcanium, Antecea's premiere school for the next generation of arcane rulers and practitioners.
Amongst her magical peers, she learned the ways of her fellow Tieflings, those of whom at the Arcanium taught her that her heritage was nothing to be ashamed of like her mother had instilled in her, and took on the name Benevolence, aspiring to be a beacon of kindness and patience for her people.
When her worldview was shattered during a brutal war orchestrated by Cataclysm and her closest friend betrayed her, she took on the name Rapture; swearing that she would destroy any and all who were capable of inflicting evil on the world.
But now, after a millennia long nap brought about by an explosive confrontation with her own time friend, Shepherd, she now goes simply by "Echoless." Directionless. Innocuous. Alone.
Despite being only a little over 30 (at least biologically), Echoless has seen enough absolute shit to span a dozen lifetimes.
It all started when she was born.

The Very Beginning

Tieflings have always suffered from poor public perception, and while the people of Antecea were generally more accepting of magically-influenced beings, this tolerance did not expand to Echoless' mother or the rural village she was born into. A tiefling being born to what was otherwise a perfectly "normal" human family was seen as a mark of shame, and Echoless' mother absolutely blamed her for it; something that Echoless would carry through her life for years to come. That was, at least, until the young tiefling showed an aptitude for sorcerous magic. Then, Echoless was a great boon and a blessing to the family that would elevate them far above their station. Echoless' mother put her on a pedestal and saved every copper piece to finally ship her off to the Arcanium where she would learn to be a great arcane councilor or magister or something else suitably lofty and lucrative.
Unfortunately for Echoless' mother, she never got to see the fruits of her "investments," as she was killed during a brigand raid on their home village while Echoless was away at school.
It took her a long, long while to reconcile her complicated feelings about her mother, but fortunately for Echoless, she was not alone. She had made close, steadfast friends during her time at the Arcanium: the elven sage Brynn and the human prodigy Tovenaar. The trio got up to all kinds of hijinks; first as students and later as adventuring compatriots after a particularly chaotic accident with a wand of wonder saw the three of them expelled from the Arcanium.
Barely adults, Echoless and her friends set out on an adventure across the province of Horizon. Along the way, their knowledge was tempered by experience and each of them grew into powerful mages in their own rights. They met fellow adventurers and formed a band; making a name for themselves across the northern reaches of Antecea. In addition to her magical proclivity, Echoless took a shine to their party's paladin, a strong and steadfast woman called Loreia who had taken an oath of mercy and redemption; something that strongly resonated with Echoless at the time.
Their lives were, for the most part, care-free and bombastic. Despite their expulsion from school, the trio was hitting their stride. They had cultivated renown, influence, and strength. They were on top of the world and nobody could touch them.
Foolish, foolish children.

Cataclysm

On one fateful day, Echoless, Tovenaar, and Brynn received word from their old Headmaster that if they were to recover an artifact detected within the Liminean Wilds for the Arcanium, it would do much to win their favor back and get them back in the school, if they so wished. A dangerous journey to be sure, but nothing these stalwart adventurers couldn't handle. As it turned out, this would be far above their paygrade, for the artifact in question turned out to be a prison for an exceedingly dangerous entity: Cataclysm, the Fundamental Avatar of Disorder.
The party did what they could, but they were as insects trying to combat a bird of prey. For her part, the paladin Loreia refused to allow such a dangerous creature to escape while she still drew breath, so Cataclysm fulfilled the latter condition. It would have been the end for all of them right then and there had reinforcements from the Arcanium not arrived to drive away the vengeful spirit.
Unfortunately for Echoless, her life would no very little peace after that day. Cataclysm would not remain gone for long, and his return came with the resurgence of a bloody civil war of conflicting faiths. Echoless and her friends quickly found themselves dragged into the violence, desperately searching for their old foe and a means of putting him down permanently.
Their time as operatives in Antecea's military was a far cry from the idyllic life they had as freelance adventurers. Echoless was witness to, and often an enactor of the atrocities of civil war, and try as she may to hang on to the ideals instilled in her by Loreia, she quickly found her faith in humanity eroding away. Until the end, she held onto the hope that these awful things were the result of Cataclysm's direct influence, but even this idea was shattered when they finally confronted him. True to his nature, Cataclysm merely set the ball rolling; never exerting direct control over anyone. He merely goaded them and stoked old flames. The atrocities Echoless experienced were entirely manmade.

The War for the Eye

From that day forward, Echoless new something had to change, and Tovenaar agreed with her. The two had always been close, but their shared experiences and shared visions of the future elevated the pair's relationship to something far closer.
They used their influence and standing with the Empire accrued from their time as soldiers and gathered materials to craft a new weapon; something that would not only give them the power to combat any other divine beings with designs to destroy the domains of men, but the ability to change things for the better. Their solution was a two-piece amulet that would function like something akin to a mini, portable Foci that would allow them to tap into the very fabric of reality. Unfortunately, Tovenaar had harbored a dark secret: he had conspired to sabotage their weapon against Cataclysm during the war and instead imprisoned him once again within the idol they found him in. It was through his consultations with the ancient being that Tovenaar was able to figure out the enchantments required to build their amulet.
When Echoless realized this, the confrontation was explosive; so much so that Brynn, attempting to intervene, was killed by the collateral damage. That is when Echoless adopted the persona of Rapture. She was now truly alone in the world and she would wipe all evil from the face of it so as to ensure no one would experience what she had ever again.
Rapture cut across the northern reaches of Antecea like a force of nature, waging a bloody war against her old lover in an attempt to claim his half of the amulet. Looking back, Echoless barely remembers this time of her life; only recalling an overwhelming sense of blinding rage and righteous fury. But for better or worse, her crusade was cut short when a clash between Echoless' and Tovenaar's amulets backfired so hard it knocked them a millennia into the future.

Present Day

When Echoless awoke over a thousand years later in the overgrown ruins of her old fortress, her anger had cooled. It all felt like little more than a horrible nightmare; already the details fading from memory.
All things considered, she took her forced transition into a new age in stride. There was solace to be found in the fact that the world had continued on all this time, and she found a simple comfort in the libraries of a Temple of Dualism, where she caught up on everything she missed and felt a combination of pride and awkwardness in learning how her escapades had indirectly shaped the modern religion of Dualism. Indeed, she likely could have spent the rest of her days in quiet contemplation had she not learned of a cult derived from her old followers sought to open the sealed doors of Shepherd's Lair and reforge "the Almighty Eye," that Shepherd and Rapture had fought over an age ago.
For reasons she couldn't quite understand, Echoless felt compelled to seek Tovenaar's old amulet for herself; perhaps for some kind of closure on the whole ordeal or perhaps because the old flame of ambition had been rekindled with this revelation. Regardless, her power being greatly diminished by her millennia-long nap, Echoless sought outside help in using her amulet half to open the long-sealed doors of Shepherd's lair (she had hoped that unlocking the amulets power would simply kill the leader of Rapture's cult whom she had convinced to help her; two-birds-one-stone style). Echoless only realized her mistake when the doors were finally opened, and instead of finding a cold, dusty tomb of long dead soldiers, she found a veritable army of reanimated corpses chomping at the bit to surge out into the world of the living.
Since then, and the revelation that Cataclysm was still out there and still very much bent on destroying the world, Echoless has flung herself fully back into the fight, giving little credence to any form of self-care or attentiveness. She allowed herself some small comforts with a fling here and there with a kind face or soft heart, but she was always distracted by the mission at hand, and had little patience for indecisiveness or passive desire. Her trust in her fellow man never fully recovered, even as she traveled with a new adventuring group committed to stopping Cataclysm's machinations. Only towards the conclusion of The Extinction War did her heart begin to soften and open up to the idea of a happily-ever-after with new friends and loved ones. Even still, it took many, many years before Echoless could finally and fully let down her guard and trust the world to continue on without her guiding hand.
But have those years she did. After the Collision, Echoless finally had the space and support to well and truly heal. She spent the remainder of her days with her partner Leona; the pair of them travelling across the land lending aid to anyone who needed it. Their legacy would far outstrip her mortal lifespan, and even in 1590, devoted wanderers still commit to the ideals established by the Sisters of the Wandering Temple.

Species

Tieflings

Life

90 1279 1369 years old

Belief/Deity

Brynn's Arcane Philosophy/Dualism Philosophy