Laelea Kanete, a demoness from a now extinct subrace, was the first known individual to master both Void and Od as power sources. The significance of this accomplishment cannot be overstated. In the centuries prior, while there had been some minor crossover in the use of magic in Astrum and the use of psionics in Incaendium, there had been no one truly competent in both areas; the widespread belief in Astrum was this was impossible. Incaendium, however, had not yet advanced sufficiently in their understanding of Od to know that this "could not be done." It was, thus, in ignorance that the impossible proved possible.

—

from The Cage of War: Recounting the Events and Influence of the Caelestise-Sura War Volume III: Laelea Kanete: Her History, Her Impact, Her Legacy by Eiryen Nesaleen



Overview

A close-up of Laelea Kanete.

To all things there is a beginning - the first day of one's life, the first time an event occurred... the first to hold a title. The first to break new ground.

Such is the story of Laelea Kanete. Through her common childhood, to her youth as a dancer, and then her adulthood as a soldier, she maintained focus and honed the will and ambition that would eventually bring her to the top of Incaendium Society. Indeed, one could argue that she forged that society with her own hands.

That is one of the many reasons that now, even millennia after her mysterious disappearance, she is still remembered as the founding Dominus Regas, the first royal, and the Lady of the Realm.

General Information

History

Laelea Kanete was born in the region that would come to be known as Vin, in the South-western region of Incaendium. So early into the development of Incaendium's social systems, hierarchies and class-based status had not yet been codified... but even so, there were always the haves and the have-lesses. The House of Kanete managed valiantly to stride the muddy middle - neither impoverished nor truly comfortable. Neither looked down on nor looked up to - perhaps it's best to say they were mostly overlooked.

In her early days, Laelea herself was no exception to this rule. Of course, as time went on, this would change significantly.

Laelea as a young dancer in Vin.

 
Notes

One thing that comes to mind a lot when I'm reading all these histories is: Wow, these people are all really old.

If you think about it, that explains a lot but at the same time I can't even brain it. Can you imagine fighting the same war for almost 400 years? And not in the "ancestral feud that survives generations" way - in the "I was literally, myself, personally, fighting the same war for 400 years" way.

It's too much. I don't know whether to admire them for making it through all that intact or be horrified at their ability to make it through all that intact.

That applies to all the stuff Samael was up to with his friends for, oh, thousands of years... but it also applies to the Caelestise-Sura War as well. Think about it: this is the first war in Empirican history, and it's between not two countries but two full realms of superpowered beings just going at each other for hundreds of years.

It's something I started thinking about when I was reading one of the history books about Laelea Kanete. She was in a war for like 360 years. A war that stated because someone she was supposed to protect got killed by, let's face it, an asshole of a god. I wonder what that does to you.

I don't wonder so much why she walked away in the end.

Dancing Through Childhood

As a young girl, Laelea took to dance, showing a remarkable talent that grew outward from her natural agility and grace. In these days, there were few formal institutions for learning... anything, and the world was mostly play to the beings then known as the Sura (later dubbed Demons ). She and her friends took advantage of this, spending much of their days choreographing dances that made use of their own particular talents.

By her late teens, however, she had grown restless and looked to new vistas - new skills to learn and new arts to conquer.

It was around this time that she met and befriended a young soldier, Kybella Fauni. It must be understood that in these days, to be a soldier was fairly considered a hobby most of the time - the Sura had not yet known war, and the greatest threats to one Sura was another, less pleasant Sura.

That being the case, soldiers trained in the art of battle but, aside from occasional bodyguarding missions for prominent leaders, "battle" was essentially an occasionally competitive sport.

This suited Laelea well. Having decided that she thrived in competitive environments, she enlisted with one of the informal military units that had sprung up in the area.

For the next five years, she would train in battle, taking it as seriously as she had her dance, though there was no particular expectation that she (or anyone else in the militia) would eventually be called on for serious combat duties.

In that same time, the area would formalize itself into a named domain, Vin, largely guided by Ralora Fauni, an up-and-coming Cubae who happened to be Kybella's sister.

It was this connection to Ralora that would put Laelea in a most difficult and fated situation when she was only 23 years old - nearly a child by the standards of immortal races.

Escort to Astrum

When Laelea was 23 years old, Kybella was forced to cancel plans to accompany her sister on a major mission. In her stead, she would ask Laelea to go with Ralora on the first true diplomatic mission across the Realms.

This was a two-quarter trip through Gaean and Astrum with the aim of establishing economic and cultural exchange between the Realms.

In Gaean, Laelea became interested in some of the different clothing and weapons designed by Mortals... but most of all she was fascinated by their cultural developments - the kinds of music and art they created which seemed, to her, to have a certain desperate urgency to them driven by the need to be remembered past dying.

Though only in Gaean for a bit shy of One Quarter, she took the time to learn and understand the perspective of mortality as well as her ageless nature permitted... and made a number of mortal acquaintences, some of whom would share knowledge that would prove beneficial in the years to come.

Laelea as a soldier in the Vin Militia

IBRAI (laughing):

You see clearly, as I do, that the monstrous bitch is dead...
As she should be. As she must be.

(gesturing to RALORA, collapsed on the ground)

NINDINVA:

What have you done? What madness have you wrought?


(LAELEA enters from the right)

LAELEA:

Ralora! No!

(She kneels at Ralora's side, crying)

NINDINVA (to IBRAI):

You show no contrition for your actions.

IBRAI:

There is no redemption to be sought for acts of justice.

(KYBELLA enters from the left, running. She screams when she sees Ralora's body.)

KYBELLA

No! Ralora!

LAELEA (Standing up):

Then I will show no contrition for what I do, as well.

(She draws her sword.)

(KYBELLA panics. She starts to move to LAELEA and then returns to Ralora. Repeat. Finally, she rises.)

KYBELLA

Lea, please! I have lost one sister tonight, I would not lose a second.

LAELEA (hesitant)

You...

(A moment of tension. She relents.)

Very well. But I will remember this. I will never forget. And I will slay the fiend when next we meet... even if I must ascend, myself, to do it.

From "The Silver Blade" by Oisil

The Disaster of Ralora and Ibrai

The venture into Astrum was not nearly so successful.

It became immediately obvious that there was an unavoidable tension between Ralora's entourage and the Dei who represented the leadership of Astrum.

In later years, Laelea would say it felt like a clash of types - disparate natures that simply could not click together without rubbing one another raw in one place or another. While this was near-universally true, the worst of it came from the Dei of Order, Ibrai.

Over the weeks that followed, Ibrai made himself a menace to Ralora, interfering with her attempts to socialize with even Fey or Aurali. According to accounts from Laelea and the other surviving escorts, Ralora expressed frustration and confusion about the reason for his fixation on making the mission difficult or impossible for her. As time went on, Ralora became increasingly agitated until the conflicts between them became physical.

From there, the confrontations only escalated; in the end, this resulted in Ralora's murder at Ibrai's hands.

Realizing that they were no match for Ibrai, much less the army of Dei at his back, Ralora's escorts brought her body home. En route, Laelea sent messages via envoy to Kybella expressing her grief and rage... and her frustration at the feeling of helplessness the situation had brought up in her.

For the next two years, Incaendium would seek justice. In time, they did achieve satisfaction with the summary execution of Ibrai... but as a result, they would find themselves at war with Astrum with Gaean caught in the middle.

Laelea would once again accompany the Vin Militia, this time with Kybella Fauni at her side. Together they marched into battle with all of Incaendium's most skilled and/or powerful combatants. However, having been present in Astrum when the conflict began, Laelea was more than aware that Incaendium, for all its strength, was at a disadvantage in a battle that included gods on the other side of the line.

Laelea and her mentor, the Dei Barisile.

The Mentor Barisile

Three years into the Caelestise-Sura War, Laelea would encounter Barisile Asreyn, a mid-level Dei, hiding on the edge of Incaendium's claimed territory. She chose not to turn him in... in exchange for his help in understanding the powers and intentions of the Celestials.

For the next decades, Barisile would travel with the Vin militia, first tutoring Laelea herself and then some of her associated soldiers, revealing the secrets of his people. Moreover, he began to teach her how to access Od - an uphill battle, but one that did eventually begin to pay off.

At Laelea's request, he attempted to teach the use of Od to Kybella. Though he had some success, Kybella's anger at the circumstances for the war made it difficult for her to maintain the mental clarity needed to control Od properly. Eventually she overreached and caused herself extensive and permanent mental and physical damage; she was forced to leave the war and return to Vin.

By the time the Golden Cage rose in 714, after nearly 360 years of war, Laelea had long since become a master of Od - the first of the Demons to do so. This skill, however, did not protect Laelea or Barisile from being cut off from their homelands when the Cage went up.

It had been centuries since the escort to Gaean alongside Ralora, but Laelea nonetheless remembered the secrets she'd learned - the lay of the land and the way mortals tended to think. By leveraging these things she was able to make her way through Gaean with little true danger - negotiating with locals for shelter and food when necessary and moving through little known areas when necessary, too.

Despite being from Astrum, Barisile had, by this time, grown immensely fond of his pupil and so chose to remain with her. That being the case, for the next year, they would travel Gaean in each of a way back to Incaendium.

Laelea Kanete and Kybella Fauni in better times.

Homecoming

Eventually they did find one of the gates in the Cage and returned to Vin. However, the Vin - indeed the Incaendium - they found upon their arrival was not the home Laelea had left behind. Chaos and rage had overtaking the people, some half-sick with Void Madness, and the various domains had begun to fight one another - and fight themselves. As the origin of the Cage was unknown, paranoia had risen as residents sought to understand where it had come from, and who had brought it into the world. What's more, in the years between her leaving the war and Laelea's return, Kybella had succumbed to despair and taken her own life.

With some difficulty - and the help of her Odic abilities, Laelea was able to calm the anger from the people of Vin. Her efforts to help them rebuild and move on eventually would solidify into her becoming the leader of Vin. But this was only the beginning of Laelea's true rise to power.

She had been the leader of Vin for around 15 years when a group of Celestials broke into her home to rescue Barisile from her clutches. They were sent home empty-handed, as Barisile had no desire to leave. However, the encounter had alerted them to the fact that Laelea had acquired a form of power similar to their own.

1st Quarter, 5th Day, 747

I attended Elias's reporting session; he seemed distracted but otherwise well.

In the initial stages, the meeting went as expected. Notes on his statements are included with this report for posterity and potential future use. Regardless, once he began to discuss the subject of the surveillance mission, his behavior became erratic. Initially, his temper heightened and he snapped at his commanding officer when urged to continue. Afterwards, on the third iteration of Laelea Kanete's name, some kind of trigger must have been activated as he suddenly began to attack everyone within reach of his sword. He also bifurcated Belounis with his telekinetic bolt. I regret to say we were unable to adjust to the sudden attack quickly enough to stop Elias from slaying five of his colleagues. The names of the slain are attached as well.

Despite the initial delay, we were able to subdue him, but we were unable to control his behavior, and were forced to slay him.

I understand that the final moments of Elias' life are of particular interest, so I will be clear: I do not believe Elias was speaking for himself in that moment. His eyes were beginning to cloud with death, but in that instant just before he passed, his stare was sharp as a knife's edge.

The words spoken were as reported. "I see you."

I must regretfully confess that I do not know precisely what happened here. However, it is clear that at least one of the Sura has access to high level Odic abilities.

The Elias Incident

The discovery of demons who could use Psionics on the level of a powerful Celestial triggered the true beginning of the Silent War, as Astrum began sending spies to Incaendium to investigate how far the demons had come in their ability. For over a decade, these spies were dispersed to the various corners of Incaendium, reporting back to the newly emerged leadership of Astrum, the Seven.

This was offensive to much of Incaendium's - also newly-emerging - ruling class, most of which took on a policy of disposing of them when the spies were discovered. Laelea, on the other hand, was (as usual) a bit different. Typically, she took to removing their memories of their mission and sending them home. The frustrated Seven then sent an Aurali Serat to report on her using another approach.

Elias arrived in Vin with a story to tell: a friend of his had Fallen, and was no longer welcome in Astrum. This friend, Elias said, wished to relocate to Incaenidum, but feared entering the Realm because being mistaken for a spy could be fatal. Therefore, to support his friend, Elias claimed he had come searching for refuge for his friend; he, Elias, would return to Astrum as quickly as possible once a safe place for his friend was located.

The Seven, and Elias, hoped that this story would lure the leaders of Incaendium into a sense of security, believing that Elias could not be a spy because of his openness regarding his personal allegiance.

It is unknown whether Vin was his first stop or if he had gone to other domains previously where he fared better.

This story did not work on Laelea.

Worse,she found it personally offensive that they would attempt to use the Demon's antipathy for Celestials - and their corresponding sympathy for those mistreated by the same - against them.

Irritating her did not work out well for him, and Elias proved wholly unprepared for the weight of her presence or the extent of her abilities.

She buried a series of orders in his mind and sent him home to Astrum. There, he managed to get through a handful of words of his report to the Celestial Host before the suggestion she left with him was triggered and he began attacking any Celestial in range. He killed half of those in attendance before the reality of the situation fully penetrated. At that point, he was killed by the survivors. His last words were Laelea's message, spoken as she looked through his dying eyes at the crowd around him:

"I see you."

The First Imperator

With the Elias incident passed, it became undeniable that Laelea was, in terms of her abilities, on an entirely different level than other demons - even Incaendium's other rulers.

This would prove to be a double-edged sword for Laelea herself. In the years post-War, Incaendium's society had become increasingly obsessed with power - a reaction to the vulnerability they felt in their uphill battle against the gods. Thus, Laelea's abilities began to attract challengers looking to make a name for themselves, or to establish their authority. Undefeated, she became among the most respected beings in Incaendium. And then she became the most respected.

As a natural consequence of this, the power-fixated Demons began to defer to her will. In time, this became the de facto position known as the Imperator.

It was not a position she sought, nor was it one she rejected... though in time her relationship with societal power changed significantly, too.

The Long Reign

Her actions were not nearly so well-regarded in Astrum, however, where Iohane Salwyn, an Aurali Serat whose life partner had been killed in the Elias incident, would go on to form the Circle of the Stare - an espionage and counter-espionage department of the Celestial Host.

The rancor between Laelea and the Celestial Host - particularly Iohane - would last for millennia without cease. Repeated clashes between them via proxy would continue just as long, though it took approximately five centuries for them to actually meet in person. Though victorious, Laelea chose to release her foe for reasons unknown.

By the end of her remarkable reign (still the longest in Incaendium's history), though she remained undefeated still, she had also grown tired of it. Once she had gone, those associated with her reported that she had expressed exhaustion with the pressure of leadership and the constant need to reestablish her dominance.

An Official Portrait of the Leader of Vin, by Reyni Pe'rin.

The Dominus Regas in casual garb.

Despite her wishes, simply stepping down was not an option for her, as challengers would continue to arrive regardless of her official standing. Instead, she often spoke of disappearing into a world larger than the one she had made for herself.

Despite that, it was still surprising to many when she did not return from one of her horseback riding sessions - though the horse did.

Officially it has been reported that she brought nothing with her. Unofficially, Barisile suggested that she had brought one thing and one thing only: a box of letters. However, even he did not know with whom she was corresponding, or why she would have brought them when she left.

 

Legacy

A memorial statue in Vin.

Far from tarnishing her legacy, her mysterious disappearance has only increased her mystique - all the more so because she was, in the end, never defeated or deposed. In the ages since, many volumes have been written accounting the famous and infamous events of her rule - which were far too numerous to even begin to account for here. And, of course, many rulers - both long- and short-reigned - have risen, but few have even begun to fill her white laced boots.

She remains immortalized in history as the undefeated Great Silver Blade and the legendary Ki-to-Tizansi - the first king.

Laelea and The World

Education

Laelea's youth predated formal education in Vin, and so she was primarily taught by her family and community elders before joining the Vin Militia. At that point, her education shifted to combat, at which she excelled. After rising to the head of Vin and then to Imperator, she made a habit of hiring various Quaesitors to come and teach her various skills that she found interesting.

Her most notable educator was, of course, Barisile.

Employment

As a young girl, Laelea was the equivalent of a semi-professional level dancer. After that, of course, she was a fully professional soldier.

Notable Accomplishments & Failures

Laelea would say that her greatest failure lie in her inability to protect Ralora as she was hired to do. Though she was fully aware that there was no chance that Ralora's guardians could have protected from Ibrai, it remained a sore spot to her nevertheless.

This point of guilt was all the more intense after Kybella's death... particularly as it occurred as a result of her asking Barisile to teach her.

Toward the end of her reign, she would also express regret that she had not steered Incaendium's culture away from the obsession with physical power. According to Laelea, this did not bother her when she was young because she, too, shared that drive. As time went on, however, she watched the younger generations become consumed with that same pursuit - even throwing their lives away at challenging impossible odds in the hopes of proving their ability - and came to despair. To have one's life consumed by the pursuit of power, she decided, was a hollow way to live. That said, she also acknowledged that, due to the nature of their relationship with Astrum, there was security in building oneself up as well.

That said, she had a record of accomplishment too long to describe here in detail, but a few highlights follow.

"In the long ages since her disappearance, legends have sprung up around her memory - stories of where she's gone, and why she went. They say she is not dead, only sleeping - that she will return if she is truly needed, ready to take a seat upon that old, crumbled throne.

"That's what they say. But it doesn't make sense, does it? If that were true... where was she during the endless series of wars that's been wrecking the Realm since she disappeared?"
— A Vin local discussing Laelea with a new arrival


"What do I think happened? How should I know, she was gone a good 20,000 years before I was born. But...

"Well.

"If I were going to guess...

"She probably just needed to rest. I get tired enough running this Inn! Can't imagine running everything... and for as long as she did.

"Yeah. That's what I think. She just needed to rest. And you know what I have to say to that?

"I'd take off too! Be ti tibu! (Find your calm!)"

—

Ordi Daele, proprietor of the Wicked Salamander Inn

As the first of her kind to truly master Od, she opened the door for what would become an influx of Psionics into her people.

She was instrumental in the development of formal education, funding schools and research in both academic and martial areas.

Laelea was able to keep Incaendium largely free of Intrarealm wars and her own homeland out of danger mostly by the sheer force of her personal ability.

Her enthusiasm for dance extended to funding the development of visual and performing arts, making her reign a golden age for theater.

And, of course, she somehow managed to get her horse to go home after she, herself, disappeared.

 

The Memories Left Behind

Lealealealaelea

it hurts when i think. you make me feel strong. why arent you

come home

— From the journal of Kybella Fauni, written shortly before her suicide.

I resented her at first, you know. Well, who wouldn't - I was trying to avoid the war, and she dragged me into it. But it was difficult to be angry with Lea. I won't claim she was never difficult or that she was always happy - far from it. She was cutting, and brutal in her grace. She was ruthless. She was... different. She balanced light and dark, kindness and cruelty, compassion and ruthlessness with the same efficiency that she balanced her strength - filling in the gaps of the weak with the strong and using the weak to make the strong stronger still.

It's always said that I taught her... and I did. But I tried to teach many others, and the ground is littered with the bones of those who could not manage it. But she did.

That's why I was always proud of her.

— Barisile Asreyn


Humiliated. Crushed. And after so many centuries of seeking that moment - the moment when I could look into her face and demand justice for Rilia's loss. Time has not healed that wound - it has only raised my anger higher. And yet, when the time came, I faltered.

I know now that I cannot defeat her. She is a force of nature I've not seen outside of audiences with the Dei. I cannot defeat her. And I have been a nuisence to her - she said that herself, in her own words. A nuisence, like a rock in her boot, always causing pain but never too much. Even so, when she had the chance to finish it - to remove me entirely... she did not take it. She let me go.

Such cruelty behind those pretty eyes.

Worse yet, she has sent a missive to me. It sits aside my journal now, even as I write this, taunting me. Her pen strokes are steady and precise as her blade. I wonder, will her words cut as sharply?

— From the journal of Iohane Salwyn

Physical

General Mien

Appearance

Laelea was tall and slender with long wavy ash blonde hair that she typically parted (most often in the middle) and let hang loose. Her eyes were golden and emitted a soft light that was best seen in darkness. Her face had a doll-like appearance with large eyes and a small nose and mouth. This also gave her a youthful look that belied her age and experience.

While Laelea was considered beautiful, her presence was also quite intimidating. The weight of her - her overwhelming strength, her confidence, her fearlessness and majesty - made it difficult to think of her in terms of her beauty, which was typically remarked upon only as a sidenote or in passing.

Unlike many prominent Demons, Laelea did not tend to "wear" her golden horns outside of Kuvarut-Rem, often opting to retain her more humanish appearance.

Laelea was known for her flowy and soft clothing, and wide-legged pants.

Apparel & Accessories

Laelea had very consistent tastes in apparel. Her signature look was a white corset or fitted bodice, generally paired with Palazzo pants, which may or may not be tucked into her white or black lace-up high heeled boots. She preferred clothing with motion and grandeur - her shirts often had billowy or voluminous sleeves, and she often wore long, cape-like coats or actual capes, sometimes including a waist-cape. Her clothes were almost exclusively white (though at times with accents of black or gold), and rather extravagant - on a day-to-day basis she looked almost bridal.

Early in her career as a soldier, Laelea traveled with swords, daggers and other similar bladed weapons. Later, however, she eschewed the use of physical weapons as her mind and body were more than sufficient.

Ability Inventory

Wrath of the Imperator

The Great Silver Blade of Vin

Laelea repurposing the weapons of her enemies.

Physical

To this day, Laelea is considered one of the strongest Imperators in Incaendium's history. Despite her slim frame, she was extremely formidable even in melee combat. While she was shockingly strong for her size, most notably, Laelea was incomparably quick and agile. She was able to move at speeds invisible even to Demon eyes, and was infamous for emerging from difficult battles with few to no marks on her. This was sufficient to counterbalance her slightly glass cannon-esque physique.

She also had low-level shapeshifting abilities that allowed her to extend or retract her horns, claws and fangs. By the end of her time as Imperator, these abilities had expanded sufficiently that she could sprout wings from her back or enhance her strength by altering her body structure - though this did come at the cost of some of her speed and agility.

Overall, one could consider her to have Vallus level physical abilities.

 

Magic

As with many demons, magic was the most reliable and powerful of her abilities. Laelea was a grandmaster in the fields of both physical and mental combat magic. She was also extremely skilled in most other varieties of magic, though she had only an theoretical knowledge of necromancy as she only used it to create white magic sphere effects.

Speaking of the white magic sphere, Laelea was an extraordinary practitioner, able to warp reality at a level no one truly seemed to understand save Laelea herself.

All told, she was a Vis level Void Dancer and thus nearly unmatched even among Imperators.

Psionics

The first Demon to master Psionics, Laelea was able to match most Celestials blow for blow and skill for skill, as she was tutored by a Dei. Her strongest areas included perception (and in particular energy perception and analysis), communication, creation, external Od manipulation and both the self- and other-oriented Metabolis spheres.

At the time of his disappearance she would have been considered a Vallus+ level psion.

Elemental

Laelea had access to both the Air and Water spheres of Element Affinity.

It is unclear whether she was a natural dual-affinitied elementalist or whether she engaged in Exedis at some point. Either way, elemental affinities were her weakest point, lingering around Vaham. That said, she used her elemental abilities to great effect nonetheless, reinforcing her magical abilities and vice versa.

In terms of elemental abilities, she was most famous as a user of the demi-sphere, Ice.

Skills

In Life

Laelea had a wide range of skills, though she rarely studied them long enough to truly master them. Instead, she chose to be something of a generalist without true expertise in any given area. The sole exception to this was dancing, which she continued to pursue in her down time for the entirety of her reign.

She was also an exceptional horseback rider.

In Battle

She was highly skilled in melee combat with swords, daggers and similar bladed weaponry. That said, most of her brutal efficiency in melee combat can be attributed to her unmatched speed and agility.

What's In A Name?

Ki-to-Tizansi: "The First King." Alt. "The First Monarch." An archaic title for a ruler (Tizansi), and the acknowledgment that she was the first of her kind. The concept of a Dominus Regas was not in place when Laelea rose to prominence, but was seemingly made in her image.

The Great Silver Blade: The Blade is Laelea herself, who gave up physical weapons by the end of the war.

Laelea could use a light crossbow, however since she was not generally a fan of ranged weapons, she generally had more of a workman's knowledge of these things - enough for a soldier, but not enough to qualify as an elite swordsman for example.

In the end, her skill with weaponry was impeded by her choice to stop using them at all.

Laelea's Reign

Date of Reign

3rd Quarter, Day 67, 747

Style of Rule

Personalist Authoritarian Monarch

Relationship with Subjects

Initially quite good. She considered herself to have a "close" relationship with the people, and tried to be as strong and reliable a Dominus Regas as possible. However, the weight of being Imperator ended up exhausting her and she began to withdraw. By the time of her disappearance, she was rarely seen in public.

End of Reign

4th Quarter, Day 80, 4605

General Combat style

A quick blade with the impact of a cannonball to the head. In battle, Laelea moved with almost surreal grace - in melee it is said that she seemed to be dancing more than fighting.

Though she did not carry a weapon, she was more than willing to summon an approximation of one via her creation skills in both magic and psionics. Though she could summon wings by the end of her reign, she was generally more inclined to "fly" through the use of telekinesis.

Generally speaking, Laelea preferred to keep her use of power subtle, opting to use as little power as possible to achieve her goal. She would also dampen the visual effects and energy signature of her magic use; this may have been a result of her skill in energy reading as she was very aware of how useful the information gathered that way could be in turning the tables in battle.

Finally, she generally relied on her speed and agility to carry her through physical combat. This made it quite shocking when she was forced to show some measure of her strength.

When necessary she would also use her metabolis skill to alter or enhance her physical abilities as needed.

Threat Assessment:

While the current threat level she would represent if she were (or still happens to be) alive cannot be accurately assessed, at her height she was quite a monster.

Laelea had extraordinary magical skills, almost equally formidable skill in psionics and the ability to use her elemental abilities to enhance those, which she often did. She was also a magnificent melee fighter, capable of facing the strongest foe without taking a hit. She also had access to all the resources of Vin including its militia and its treasury, giving her a high level of backup and almost bottomless resources.

She did limit herself somewhat as she preferred to fight alone and with only her own abilities rather than relying on backup, money or equipment. She refused to wear armor or carry enchanted items or weapons.

But, while this is indeed limiting, that she remained undefeated until the day she disappeared is nearly sufficient evidence in itself that she should absolutely be considered an almost unheard of Vis level threat.