Morrigan "Malus" Malum

"The Pact embraced, the role unsought, The Maiden of Death won't be unwrought."
- Misvari Vivetta, Blood Red Roses: The Ballad of the Night Angel

Captain Morrigan "Malus" Malum (a.k.a. Night Angel)

Morrigan would introduce herself simply, reserving her titles for more formal occasions, unless such titles are relevant. In that case, she would say her name was Captain Morrigan Malus Malum, Blaze of the Flaming Fists, Baldurian Army, Bladeadept, Scoutmaster, Cannoneer First Class, Knight-Praetorian of the Order of Crossed Roses, recipient of the Silver Crescent (two stars) with Lions Rampant, and one award of the Purple Heart.
Then, she would buy you an ale by way of apology for all of that frippery.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Quite tall for a "human" female, and slender. Her musculature is adapted for endurance and speed, not necessarily brute strength. Think: dancer or gymnast.

Body Features

Aside from her wings, horns, and prominent prehensile tail, Morrigan is tall and slim, but curvy. Neither voluptuous nor possessing of copious amounts of rear-mounted luggage, her form is muscled and lithe.

Facial Features

Morrigan possesses a charming face, almost delicate-seeming for her size and skill-set. Her mouth's natural resting state is a light smile, which can fool some into thinking that she is more friendly, and less intelligent, than in reality.

Identifying Characteristics

Big, black wings. Like, huge. Twenty feet, at least, from tip to tip. They fold up like a small backpack and cape when she wants. Usually, she likes to leave them loose, but won't let them drag on the ground. When she does this, they usually extend well past her shoulders and above her head. When she is angry (or similar feelings of annoyance), they will waft and drift like tree branches in a breeze.
She also has prominent horns that start above and behind her temples, then extend back and down in a graceful curl, ending with forward-pointing tips. She has been known to gouge opponents with them. When not in field gear, she will wear a single silver ring on her right horn, in addition to other adornments.

Physical quirks

Her smile tends to favor her right side. She will hold eye contact to an unnerving degree, especially if she is "interested" in someone.

Special abilities

Morrigan's wings are very functional, both for flight and fighting. Though incapable of hovering, unlike most other winged sentients, she is a specialized speed and distance flyer. See Morrigan's Flight Rules. Morrigan's Wings: Combat Actions and Morrigan's Wings: Non-Combat Rules

Apparel & Accessories

Her swords will never be voluntarily farther away than her reach, and she wears her combat leathers the way others wear sweatpants. When the situation calls for it, she prefers either dresses with a low back, or the shirt/pants equivalent. She likes high heels, but rarely has the chance to indulge.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

See The Backstory.

Gender Identity

Decidedly female. But, she has no problems with others' identies. "You do you, and I'll do me," she says.

Sexuality

Morrigan was raised in a polyamorous family with almost no taboos, except with regards to willing consent and respect of others. This attitude is evident in her own sex life, and in her loving relationships with committed partners. Monogamy is a four-letter-word, but only because it represents a slavery of sorts to her.
That said, it takes all kinds to her, and she won't malign anyone else's wiling choices. Sex workers are just doing a job to her, but sex slavers get the sword.
Lately, Morrigan's appetites have been getting stronger, more ravenous. She is mildly concerned, but hasn't yet heard of anyone dying of an orgasm. So, she hands those out like candy. She's pretty sure Misvari has knowledge of her condition, but won't push it (others' freedoms are just as important to her as her own).
In Morrigan's experience, her sheer existence is an act of seduction for a lot of folks, so she isn't great at "persuading" another into some mattress dancing. If someone needs persuading, she generally will leave well enough alone and find someone who responds favorably to an open invitation, even if such forwardness is intimidating from someone like her.

Education

Because of her parents, Morrigan has the equivalent of a General Studies college degree of a shape that would match the Forgotten Realms setting.
She trained with the Flaming Fists for an Officer's Commission since the age of twelve. She received her commission at fifteen and entered active service immediately.

Employment

Morrigan served in various roles as a Fist officer, from militia training to special operations, for three and a half years. She was almost killed in a friendly-fire incident north of Gullykin in the Amnian-Baldurian War. After, she was assigned to the Lower City Ward as an Investigator with the Heapside Ward. She currently holds the rank of Captain in the Flaming Fists of Baldur's Gate, and is considered to be on independent duty.
She is majority owner of the Tipsy Angel Brewing Company, and partner with her sister, Kiya, in the Whispering Eye tavern in the Heapside Ward of Baldur's Gate (Lower City).
Due to prizes taken during her active service and profits from her businesses, Morrigan is financially independent, bordering on personally wealthy.

Accomplishments & Achievements

See the Backstory.

Failures & Embarrassments

See the Backstory. She has several she'll regale you with over ale, in a training dojo, or in bed. She has several more she'd just as soon leave in the past.

Mental Trauma

Her birth parents tried to use her as payment in an infernal Pact with The Archduchess Zariel, though the exact motives of Zariel were not evil. She was adopted at five years of age by the Malum family.
She killed for the first time at the age of twelve, when a man attacking her brother stabbed her and activated her Hellish Rebuke. She began active military training at that time.
She entered active service at fifteen, and has seen many fights. She has killed unsuspecting enemies in their sleep, but never civilians. She has nightmares, and her hands sometimes shake in her sleep.
She is currently in a torrid and deep relationship with Zariel, which can't be all sunshine and lollipops!

Intellectual Characteristics

Morrigan is intelligent, but not very wise. She has a smattering of knowledge on many subjects, what would be called a Renaissance Mind in another time and place. That said, her in-depth knowledge is limited to the practical military arts, magical arcana, survival, brewing of alcoholic beverages, and investigation.
She will happily listen to an expert's teachings, loves to read, and takes copious notes to aid her memory and understanding.
She is a thrill-junkie, plain and simple. She dives off of tall things just to feel the rush, and has since she was young. Now that she has discovered fighting and sex, those have added to create a triumvirate of thrilling hobbies.

Morality & Philosophy

Morrigan is big on free choice and willing agency. She has executed slavers in the past, and not lost a second's sleep over these incidents. She will never agree to oppression of any kind, but is realistic enough to know that the world won't change simply because she wants it to.
Morrigan is a hugger. She would gladly make friends before making an enemy, but she approaches either kind of relationship with equal fervor: friends/family get lots of hugs and protection, while enemies (rare for her to have ones explicitly) get the sword. Most folk are in-between for her, but she defaults people into the "protect, not kill" category.
Under no circumstances is it advised to harm a child around Morrigan. Depending on the situation, she may respond with a mild rebuke and a protective stance towards the child. Or, she'll simply separate the perpetrator's head from their shoulders without blinking. But, probably not in front of the kid; that part likely comes later, when the child can't see. Maybe. (She once brought home a new little sister after such an incident.)

Taboos

In bed? Only acts that are injurious. She will not "harm" for fun, not even if the other person wants it. She will quietly excuse herself from the proceedings and let them have their own fun.
In society? Only acts that restrict others' willing choices.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Morrigan has led a charmed life, all things considered. Despite a rocky start and some supernatural meddling, she grew up in a great family with lots of support. What's more, she knows this.
So, she tries to spread the love, you know? Defend the weak, protect the innocent, all of that. She and her sister sank quite a bit of their money into running charity kitchens/shelters in the Heapside Ward of Baldur's Gate's Lower City.
When she needed to capture a pirate ship to keep her City safe, she said "Tally ho!" When she was tapped to lead a spec-ops unit in a war nobody wanted, she cried, "Let's go camping!" When her lover, the Archduchess of Avernus, said, "I need you to get to Level 20 so you can lead the armies of Heaven and Hell in a desperate battle against incredible odds," she drew her katana, waved it high in the air, and shouted, "Yea-, um, what? Well, if that's what you really want for your birthday, I guess I can work on that."
Oh, and she's pretty sure her demonic-cultist birth parents have plans for her, and they're not for a picnic in the park, you know?

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Savvies Night hunting. Group sex. Drinking. Shit jobs a junior officer gets in a military unit. Not wading into mass arrow-storms if she doesn't absolutely have to. Scaring the shit out of people when they didn't see her coming. Running a brewery. Brewing. Determining exfiltration strategies (i.e. not fighting things that are big and nasty if she doesn't have to). Dropping from roofs or trees behind unsuspecting ne'er-do-wells and slicing them in half vertically.
Ineptitudes Flirting, when she has to be subtle; her shyness can get embarrassing when she really likes someone. She can also make some questionable personal decisions, but she tries really hard not to make decisions for others.
Um, riding horses? She'd much rather fly, and she doesn't care for a lot of running.
Let's see, er, oh! Checking to see if someone is only mostly dead. She's good at all dead and mostly alive, but there's a big gray area to her between those states. Consequently, she's a firm believer in "overkill."
Running. "Running sucks. Look, buddy, see these wings? If I wanted to jump and do track and field, I wouldn't have worked so hard on these wings! Look at these babies! *flaps* All day I can go with 'em!"

Likes & Dislikes

Likes Lilacs and roses. Flying! Group sex. Just one other person sex. Just herself sex. Fighting, especially when its horrifically one-sided in her favor (She goes out of her way to try to make all of her fights like this). Being nice to others. Cinnamon-and-sugar cookies. The way sunlight filters through trees on a frosty morning. Her family (she has killed for them without hesitation or remorse). Children.
Dislikes Slavery. Racism. People who are rude to children. People who say they have cinnamon-and-sugar cookies but really don't. People who look down on her for her own pleasures (share the love!). People who try to control others.

Virtues & Personality perks

Freedom of choice is a fundamental right, to her. She also understands that a "right" is something one has to fight for.
She will generally side with the underdog, unless that party has earned their status fair and square. This also means that if she witnesses a fight where all sides have freely entered she will ignore it or watch with an ale in hand.
To repeat, because this may be important, under no circumstances is it advisable to harm a child around Morrigan. She also takes exception to such behavior that she knows about but didn't see herself.

Vices & Personality flaws

Intelligent, but not wise - Morrigan has never been famous for making risk-averse decisions at the high levels, but she is very good at planning her foolish stunts and executing that plan soundly.
Hungry - At first, it was just food. All of that growing combined with her metabolic flight adaptations means she can put away a lot of food, and she can burn through it just as fast. Lately, that hunger has spread to other things: Morrigan's thrill-seeking has turned into a bit of a compulsion. She will seek out a thrilling escapade frequently, and as Zariel says, "Fighting and fucking stimulate the same part of the brain."
Black/White thinking - She understands shades of gray are what color the world, and she has no quarrel with gray. But, some things are either black or white to her. Once she decides on something, she is difficult to convince that one of these subjects may actually be gray.
One such black/white quirk is her tendency to flip from not fighting to fighting instantly. Part of this is training: iaijutsu can take her from a sitting position to a completed killing strike with her katana in less than half of a second. She also doesn't believe in giving an opponent any quarter: if it comes to a fight, who fights to lose? That said, she understands the gravity of deciding to fight, and will resist doing so until the last moment if she has a choice. If someone else starts the fight, she always aims to live through the experience; this usually means the other guy has to die, right?

Personality Quirks

Morrigan does everything full-tilt. She loves with all of her heart, she fights with all of her skill. She approaches tactical problems with an unnerving amount of focus, which sometimes causes trouble if she decides that a mundane situation, or a person, is a "tactical problem."
She can't have just one ale. Why does it come in barrels if one is only supposed to have a little?
She sometimes does things that seem reckless or silly, and sometimes that's true. Other times, she's covering a subtlety with a farce; she only reveals the lantern under the hood when the time is right, and will never do so if not needed.
She is quite free with sex, and will be quite open about it. That said, many potential partners are put off by either her size or her Tiefling heritage. Both are kinks for others, she's well aware, but sometimes they can be rude about it. So, she still has her way, but she'll take their pants or something after she's left them a quivering mass of spent muscles.

Hygiene

Prestidigitation is the greatest thing since sliced bread! She still carries soap, though. And she's always been a neat-freak: a place for everything and everything in its place. Oh, and the spell is just dandy for cleaning up after sex. No babies right now for her, no thank you!
During her active service, she would use her Prestidigitation to help her unit clean clothes, and sometimes themselves, "because a clean unit is a happy unit!"
Morrigan sheds the occasional feather, and she is meticulous about not leaving them anywhere (they are fairly valuable, both due to material and also rarity.). When at her family home, however, she is oddly less fastidious about this.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Mother: Komora, Artist Savant for the Baldurian Council Mother: Isodora, Professor and Department Head for Natural Magical Studies at the Baldurian University Father: Uhlin, retired Fist Sergeant-Major and successful brewery owner Father: Padro, Havilar with the City Watch Sister: Kiya, Wizard of the Academy, Baldurian University. (Morrigan's forever-and-ever best friend, secret-keeper, and sharer-of-clothes) Lover: Zariel. Yes, that Zariel. And it's quite serious.

Family Ties

See Relationships.

Religious Views

Morrigan has never trusted churches. Devotion to an absent-minded God has always struck her as slavery with extra steps. But, she sees how others derive a benefit from their relationships with their chosen faiths. As long as their surrendering of their freedoms for the benefits of devotion is willing, Morrigan is ambivalent.
A Cleric once healed a stab wound she suffered, so she knows that the power of Deities is real. Truthfully, that just makes her more nervous around them.
She much prefers her relationship with Zariel: straightforward, dangerous, and full of lust.

Social Aptitude

Morrigan knows her way around a cocktail party, but her stature, appearance, and reputation make it difficult for others to engage her in small talk. Have you ever tried to discuss sports scores with a six-and-a-half foot tall infernal warrior angel in eight-inch heels with a sword on the hip of her cocktail dress, the body of a succubus, the mind of a college professor, and the drinking tolerance of an angry Dwarf?
Try it sometime. We'll wait for your report.

Mannerisms

When she is amused, she has a little infuriating enigmatic smile.
When she is angry, her wings will waft behind her as if they were in a lazy breeze, while the rest of her body language will be very tightly controlled.
When she parties, she will stand on tabletops with an ale in one hand and sing ballads.
When she is caught off-guard romantically, she can be endearingly shy.

Hobbies & Pets

Morrigan has had Tengu, her raven, ever since Uhlin brought her home to adopt her. (Tengu is an imp familiar, and that's not exactly a secret.)
Hobbies are in short supply for the busy Morrigan. Misvari taught her how to play a child's wooden flute, and she can shave her legs with her katana. Neat party trick, yes?

Speech

Her speech is careful, unless the discussion is military. Then, she can use curse words for all eight parts of speech.
She tries to have decorum in her personal relationships, but her mouth gets rather filthy once the conversation moves to the bedroom.

Wealth & Financial state

Morrigan's first combat tour resulted in the capture of a pirate brigantine as a prize. With this addition, the Baldurian Navy increased from six to seven. The prize money from that event made her financially independent, and her further investments have made her personally wealthy. That said, she isn't great with money and lets her accountant handle the details nowadays. She enjoys going shopping when she has time, and loves giving gifts.
Though not an accomplished traveler, Morrigan knows enough to hit the bank in a new city and establish lines of credit back to her accounts in Baldur's Gate. She won't go on spending sprees, but will have no problem using that money to equip, provision, and otherwise fund her further travels.
Her current active business ventures are: 1.) the Tipsy Angel Brewing Company, which supplies places all up and down the Sword Coast, and 2.)The Whispering Eye Tavern in Heapside, Lower City. Both do well, but the brewery is her cash cow.

Winged Tiefling Hexblade Warlock, who is in a pact with Shoganai, Archduchess of Avernus Zariel's shadow sword (twin of her celestial sword).

Character Location

Amphail

Current Location

Amphail

View Character Profile

Alignment

Neutral Good

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Captain Morrigan Malus Malum, Blaze of the Flaming Fists, Baldurian Army, Bladeadept, Scoutmaster, Cannoneer First Class, Knight-Praetorian of the Order of Crossed Roses, recipient of the Silver Crescent (two stars) with Lions Rampant, and one award of the Purple Heart.
(Which all means that she managed to duck every time she needed to, except that one time.)

Age

20

Date of Birth

Unknown

Birthplace

Baldur's Gate, presumably the Outer City, raised in the Upper City by adpoting parents.

Current Residence

The Whispering Eye tavern, Heapside, Lower City, Baldur's Gate. She owns it.

Gender

Female

Eyes

Green (Red with black sclera when polarizing membrane is in place.)

Hair

Red, with some black streaks

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Lightly tanned (burns easily)

Height

6 ft. 6 in. when barefoot.

Weight

135 lbs (flight adaptations make her very light)

Quotes & Catchphrases

"Next!" and "No blood, no foul!"

Known Languages

Celestial, Common, Infernal, Profanity

Ruled Locations

• The Whispering Eye Tavern