Natasha Pendragon

Exarch of Celestia and Inquisitor of the Third Inquisition

Inquisitor Natasha Colette Pendragon (a.k.a. Tasha)

Natasha Pendragon is the Exarch of Celestia, the chosen mortal who will serve the Gods of Celestia and do battle against Zolena to prevent her return to the universe, and the Inquisitor of the Third Inquisition. She is one of the most powerful mages in the universe – whose name is known from the Heartlands to the far-off realms of Kathraase and Ashia – as well as the Mortal Herald of Selena. Despite her youth, she has proven herself time and time again as a savior of people of Jalirûn from certain death and earned herself a legendary repuation among its people.

Personal History

Early Life

Natasha Pendragon was born Nathan Maynet (a male) on July 4, 1996 on Earth in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA, and was raised in East Haddam, Connecticut, USA by his parents alongside his younger twin sister, Natalya (“Nat”), his younger adoptive sister, Carolyn, and his two younger brothers: Isaac and Thomas (“Tom”). When Nathan and Nat were born, both of their parents were serving in the United States Navy. Nathan spent a lot his childhood unsure of his identity. Nathan and Nat began channeling at age six, quickly excelling in the use of the Power. In 2010, at age 14, he came out as transgender, and, with the help of Helga Riekert, then a doctoral candidate in genetics, transitioned from male to female using Helga’s prototype genetic modification machine, nicknamed “the Cradle”. From then on, she went by Natasha Colette “Tasha” Maynet

Early Adeventuring Days

Natasha first started adventuring on the continent of Faerûn on the realm of Toril at age fourteen. Though not much is known about the events that transpired there, what is known is that she met Gizella Vilana, one of her future wives, during that time and was a member of the adventuring party that would eventually become the Lightfinger Mercenary Company, alongside Ilena Vilana, Lyle Lightfingers, Korthak Black Lion, and William “Will” MacTaggart. There she honed her skills as a Templar whilst in the service of Selûne, the Faerûnian aspect of Selena.

She first came to Elysiar at age sixteen, appearing near Molenburg alongside her sisters, Carolyn and Natalya, and her friends William MacTaggart, Elizabeth “Lisa” Hartley, Ajei Hataalii, and Helga Reikert. Upon arriving, she renewed her paladin oaths, pledging herself to Selene in true. The gang, already being seasoned adventurers, split up to explore the new realm. Helga, Carolyn, and Ajei journeyed to Avismore to hone their arcane abilities with the Aes Sedai, while Tasha, Nat, Will, and Lisa began taking adventuring jobs around the Empire, making a name for themselves saving areas from local monsters, for their service, they were made Knights of the Empire by Kaiser Theophilus IV. Tasha and Nat both joined the Order of the Griffon, and bonded themselves to imperial griffons as mounts. Lisa slipped away shortly after being knighted and would not resurface for a bit over a year and Will went to join Carolyn in Avismore to become her Warder, as she was elevated to full Aes Sedai shortly prior to his knighthood.

In the Order of the Griffon, Tasha and Nat worked closely with their fellow knight, Dame Selene Galanodel, a high elven dragon rider and paladin of Alene. Selene, recognizing their lineage, brought them to Siln Allanar, the elven homeland, and presented them to her great-great-grandmother, High Queen Sehanira Galanodel. Sehanira welcomed them to her court and told them of their lineage, dating back to her bastard child, Nigellus Pendragon. It was here that Tasha and Nat took the surname “Pendragon”, to reinvigorate the legendary line of heroes. The sisters returned to Earth in high spirits, invigorated by their newly discovered lineage.

Revelations

After finishing school on Earth, Natasha and gang returned to Elysiar, with a few new friends: Andrea-Maria Ricardo, the von Magnus siblings, Helmut and Rosalind, and Eric Avington, Carolyn’s biological brother. The gang settled back into their old roles, with Helmut and Rosalind joining the Church of Elys as a cleric and paladin, respectively, and Eric becoming a champion of Roemis, all three of them settling in Fellburg. Andrea-Maria, instead, went with Tasha to Molenburg and became an agent of the Church of Selena. Afterwards, Tasha and Andrea-Maria travelled the Empire hunting agents of Zolena that had started popping up again in recent years; it was during this mission that Tasha began having visions of Selena. The goddess bid her go to Algafa and meet with one of her oldest servants. In Algafa, the pair met Eirina Woerfel, the High Priestess of the Lady of the Void, who aided them in their search for Selena’s servant. Eventually, they found her, Adelina tis Athinas, a bruxa shadow mage from Earth and a leader of the Order of Assassins, an organization of clandestine servants of Elys and Selena that can trace its roots back to the Atlantean Empire.

Adelina informed them that she was hunting a Dreadlord, a shadow mage in Zolena’s service, that had risen to prominence in Algafa, though she does not know who they are, only that they are definitely manipulating Algafan politics. She then introduced Tasha and Andrea-Maria to her comrades and family, Sorina Drăculești, her adopted daughter, and Ila Cahri, her wife. Upon taking one look at them, Ila knew exactly what they were: half-atlanteans, and Tasha, specifically, a member of her own bloodline. She opened the pair’s mind to their natural psionic ability granted by their Atlantean blood, and helped them process the immense levels of new input from both their telepathic abilities and their ancestor memories. Most vividly, Natasha recalled powerful memories of her most powerful kin, Arthur Pendragon, who prevented Zolena’s early return and united the Romano-Britons against the Void Cult; Lycaon Kyros, who helped the peoples of Jalirûn throw off the yokes for Eladrin oppression and went on to form the Rivvikkan Empire; and, lastly, Kolros Marus, who gave his life to reseal Zolena back in her realm, but, in doing so, spelled the end of the Atlantean Empire by causing saidin to be tainted.

Ila informed Natasha that, in recalling these specific people so vivid, then there is a very good chance that they are not only her past kin, but her past lives, as these men all had one thing in common: they were reincarnations of the Exarch of Celestia, the chosen one of the gods of good to fight Zolena and keep her contained. Ila told Tasha that if she helps them take out this dreadlord, she would help her understand her lineage, and determine if she was truly the Exarch of Celestia.

Over the next few weeks, the five Seleneans hunted their quarry, all the while, Ila taught Tasha and Andrea-Maria to better control their sorcerous powers and to safely tap into shadow magics. Throughout this time, as well, Tasha began hearing the voices of Arthur, Lycaon, and Kolros, seemingly trying to lend her aid in her search. Eventually, upon seeing the Prince-Elector of Algafa, Leopold Niedenthal, Lycaon, in a rage, completely took over Natasha’s body. Upon becoming possessed by Lycaon, the angelic features of Natasha’s bloodline magnified tenfold, giving her an unearthly appearance as she shouted in a booming voice before the court “Nythis, no matter your face, I would recognize your filth anywhere!” The court looked on fearful as Ila’s face turned pale, recognizing the name as one of the Forsworn, the chosen shadow mages of Zolena. Leopold sneered as he realized what was going on, he dropped his guise, revealing his true form as a lich and retorted “Ah Lycaon, my old friend. Taken a new body, have you?” Lycaon continued the banter as Adelina, Andrea-Maria, Ila, and Sorina evacuated the onlookers from the hall.

Upon the last of the people getting clear, Lycaon attacked Nythis with an amount of the Power only thought possible to be used with the aid of a sa’angreal. The two began a dual of sword and spell. Eventually, Nythis, seeing he was losing invoked a power not seen in time immemorial, he transformed into the avatar of Zolena, nearly obliterating Tasha, and removing Lycaon’s possession. The power obliterated the roof on the hall, and Zolena’s avatar rose into the sky. Tasha fought the avatar for dear life and limb, until she heard an ethereal voice of a woman telling her to open herself to her power. Recognizing the voice from her dreams as Selena’s, she opened herself to Selena’s power, and she transformed into Selena’s avatar. Zolena and Selena fought in the sky over Algafa, a battle able to be seen for miles around. Eventually, Zolena was defeated, and her form reverted to that of Nythis. Then Selena crushed Nythis with her mace, and the Forsworn crumbled to dust. Once certain Nythis was defeated, Selena receded from Natasha’s body; badly wounded from the battle and strained from having a god possess her body, she fell into a coma.

Natasha awoke in a bedchamber in the Algafan palace, her wounds well-tended. Eirina entered to tend her wounds further and, realizing Natasha was awake, filled her in on what happened in the month she was in a coma. Algafa descended into chaos at the sight of two gods fighting over the city; eventually, the Everwatch, Void, and Black knights were able to restore order under Eirina’s leadership. In the weeks following, the Kaiser and the Electors of the other cities arrived in the Algafa with to assist in restoring order and provide much needed food and medical supplies; for her efforts, Eirina was named Princess-Elector of Algafa. The Amyrlin Seat and a number of Aes Sedai arrived a few days after the Kaiser in order to determine what happened. Eirina also informed her that she is considered to be under house arrest within the palace, but is allowed to receive visitors.

Over the next few days, Natasha was questioned by the Kaiser and Amyrlin about the events of the battle, but she was unable to give an answer beyond what they had already heard from witness accounts. One night, the Archbishop of Molenburg was brought to Natasha’s room. The archbishop spoke to her of the power she harnessed, and told her that these are the powers of a Mortal Herald, the highest ranking of a deity’s mortal servants. They also spoke of the possibility that she was the Exarch of Celestia; the archbishop told her that the only way to know for certain was to go to the fortress of Drachenhalt on the western coast of the Empire and attempt to claim the sword of the Exarch, Excalibur; should she successfully claim the sword, only then would she know for certain. The archbishop then told Tasha to be ready to flee the city at a moment’s notice, and left before she could object.

Ascension

A short while later, Ila appeared in her room from, seemingly, out of nowhere. Ila told her that followers of Selena once held the same dominion over shadow as Zolena, though the secrets were lost during the Fall of Atlantis, except among the handful of surviving Atlanteans, of which, Ila was one. She taught Natasha how to bend shadows to allow her to hide in plain view; with this new ability, the two of them simply walked out of the palace. Adelina, Sorina, and Andrea-Maria joined them outside and the five left the city together, heading west.

The group travelled west, all the while Ila taught Tasha and Andrea-Maria more about shadow magic, though Tasha struggled with the most advanced parts, summoning her shadow as its own entity. They rode for many days until, finally, high on a cliff, overlooking the sea and the city of Dragonsport, they saw it, Drachenhalt. That night, they camped and Ila told them that of group of allies were in route and would be there by the next day and they could attack the castle then, but, after everyone was asleep, Tasha snuck off. Using her shadow magic, she bypassed the walls and made her way to the keep. The keep itself was much better defended than the walls, as it was crawling with members of the knightly order that call the castle home, the Order of the Dragon, and a group of them were posted at every entrance of the hall where Excalibur lay.

While waiting for an opportune moment, a commotion arose at the far end of the keep, causing the knights not posted on the all to converge on that and mostly clear the path for Tasha. She came out of the shadows and quickly overpowered the knights and then entered the hall, only to find that she had been outplayed. Anticipating a move on the sword, the Knight-Commander of the Order of the Dragon brought two dozen knights into the hall to protect the sword, still buried in the great stone of the hall. Tasha fought a hard battle against the knights, defeating seven of them, but was nearing her limit and was surrounded.

As the knights advanced one attempted to strike a finishing blow on her back, but it was mysteriously blocked; when she turned around, she saw her shadow parrying the knight’s blade. With renewed conviction, she and her shadow fought the remaining knights until only the knight-commander remained. No longer worried about his cover, the knight-commander summoned his own shadow and altered his own tactics, fighting in a manner that Tasha had only seen Ila fight with, that of a shadow mage and Atlantean blademaster. With sword and spell and shadow, the two dueled, but the knight-commander gained the upper hand when he broke Tasha’s sword. Tasha’s shadow came between them and, in Arthur’s voice, told her to get the sword.

Tasha scrambled to her feet and over to the sword as her shadow struggled to keep the Atlantean and his shadow at bay; her shadow fell as she reached the sword and the knight-commander began advancing on her. As she gripped the sword, the hall began to fill with reinforcements, both the knights as well as Ila leading an unknown force. From among Ila’s forces, a radiant, obsidian-haired woman, wielding a sword and staff, and her own shadow moved to attack the knight-commander as the rest of the force engaged the reinforcing knights. Tasha pulled on the sword, it inched out at first until it eventually slid out as if she was pulling it from water. As soon as the blade was clear of the stone, she held it aloft and it ignited and glowed with the intensity of the sun; the fighting stopped as all turned to look upon her. Realizing that Tasha was not a false Exarch, the knights cast down their weapons and bowed to her; all except the knight-commander, who snarled with contempt. He lunged at her, but the obsidian-haired woman pointed her staff at him, and from its tip came a beam of white light. The beam struck him in the back, and every bit of coloration on him inverted in an instant, white cracks formed upon his form, and then he shattered into nothingness, leaving no trace of his being there at all.

Tasha gazed upon the room as Ila’s forces stowed their weapons and bowed their heads to her. All except the obsidian-haired woman, who Tasha could now see, had the unearthly beauty of a half-celestial. Upon seeing the woman, she heard a voice in her head say in a tearful, yet happy voice “Rhass, my love.” The woman introduced herself as Rhass Cahri, Ila’s mother and the last Empress of Atlantea. Ila’s forces had brought their gaze back to Natasha, and she noticed that they all had faintly-glowing indigo eyes, they were all Atlanteans.

Tasha then looked to the knights and asked if there was a leader left among them. A knight-captain came to his feet and approached her and told her that, on behalf of his men, he swears the knights to her, as she is the true Exarch of Celestia, like their founder, Lycaon Kyros.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Natasha has a tall, athletic build, with broad shoulders, and well-toned and defined muscles. Despite this, she is able to move with an almost inhuman level grace.

Mental characteristics

Gender Identity

Born male, transformed female through genetic modification

Sexuality

Polyamorous Omnisexual

Mental Trauma

Natasha was recently afflicted by a deep depression caused by a wound she received from the Spear of Destiny. She has since recovered, though some mental scars remain.

Additionally, Natasha just generally feels the weight of her destiny upon her almost constantly, which does no favors to her mental stability, though she is usually able to keep this hidden from others.

Morality & Philosophy

Natasha believes that genuine kindness and compassion will always win out, whether it is helping fix a broken wagon wheel, saving someone's life, or even offering a path of redemption for a foe. Everyone has value; because of this, everyone should be given a chance to become better than they were yesterday or the day before, and sometimes the only thing stopping a person from becoming a better person is that no one believes that they are capable of doing so. That being said, she knows that some will try to take advantage of her kindness, and she is prepared to retaliate against such actions, should the need arise.

To Natasha violence is always a last resort, and all diplomatic options should be exhausted before a situation is escalated. That being said, one should not shy away from a fight if it is inevitable, because often a show of strength, even without bloodshed, can force an opponent to rethink their course of action.

A mix of personal freedoms and the rule of law is essential to a healthy society; too much order leads to oppression, while too little leads to anarchy. Ultimately, a government or organization should only exert power over someone to prevent them from harming others. Additionally, Natasha welcomes others to voice opposing viewpoints, so long as they are willing to listen to those who oppose them, as that is the keystone to learning in an enlightened society.

Social

Religious Views

Natasha is a Templar and the Mortal Herald of Selena, the Moonmother. She believes that compassion and understanding, above all else, will unite the world. While she holds these very utopian, and borderline pacifist, views, she is, in no way, unwilling to raise arms to defend herself or others. Because of her views, Natasha will always try to defuse a tense situation before resorting to violence.

Social Aptitude

Natasha is a natural leader and masterful orator, often able to sway people with a few choice words. Her people follow her almost unquestioningly and her soldiers are all fiercely loyal. While this may be attributed to to the strength of her words, she has also proven time and time again that she would risk her life for them, something she plays on to encourage cooperation or self-improvement. Despite her charismatic ability, she enjoys spending a lot of time by herself or with close friends.

Natasha is a very confident woman, and will always go into a situation assured that everything will work out. Whether this is due to having a well thought out plan, confidence in her ability to improvise, knowledge of some twist of fate, or if it is just reliance on pure luck is never really clear. Whatever the answer, Natasha can often emerge from situations of certain death nearly unscathed.

Natasha is also incredibly humble. She will never call herself "great" or "perfect". She believes that perfection is something that only the gods can achieve and greatness can only be attributed to the deeds which one does.

Mannerisms

In formal situations, Natasha is very deliberate and proper in her speech, enunciating everything perfectly. However, in an informal setting, her speech is very relaxed and will use contractions and colloquialisms often, even some not well known on Elysiar.