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Campaign: Fly By Night
The eldest Daughter of Flowers, and the first of the Nine, Maragan’s power and status should elevate her above most everyone. However, Maragan surprisingly always appears the most human of her sisters, rejoicing and complaining in the ways of the common man, rather than in the off-putting demeanor of her personality stripped sisters. As the original bearer of the Sifstring, Maragan excercises complete mind control over her siblings, and can extend its touch to anyone she makes contact with, but despite her terrifying powers, Maragan seems insistent on living a carefree life of drink and excess.
Maragan is flirtateous, relaxed, and deceptive. Her motives are always simple, and always benefit herself above all others. She commands her sisters into rebellion far more often than she subjects herself to the will of others, and pursues drastic lifestyle changes whenever she stays in a groove for too long. Despite her rebellious nature, however, Maragan tends to always find her way back to being the responsible eldest, and carries a great deal of burden around in the form of her father’s will and her monastatic traditions.
Sifstring: Maragan’s mind is fused to the others on the hiveminded Sifstring. She boasts the ability to command large armies under the influence of her mind control, as well as the ability to puppet the bodies of others. Works best when the target is willing.
Queen’s Touch: When Maragan makes contact with an enemy (including on-hit, or being hit), her Sifstring ability becomes more effective against them. Maragan can influence all afflicted enemies rolls by +1/-1 for the next minute.
Maragan is a tall, asian woman with long black hair, typically tied up in a bun and fastened with a collection of hairpins. Maragan resembles her sisters greatly, but is surprisingly even taller than the already tall Tai. Maragan wears the most ornate cloaks and skirts of the bunch, but only wears a few well-placed pieces of jewelry (typically emblazed with a symbol of a two horses encircling each other). Maragan wears heavy makeup and paints her nails regularily.
Shapeshifting comes easily to Maragan, though she almost always transforms into a piebald horse. Like most shapeshifters from the North, however, her forms can change at will, and she has somewhat modified her original body thanks to these abilities as well.
If Maragan has taken to combat, it is only to strike down a weak enemy. Maragan’s strength comes from command. With full control of the Sifstring, Maragan can command any willing or weak-willed unwilling creatures to fight under her direction. Nearly all her training has been in the manipulation of armies, controlling large swathes of her father’s lantern carriers, or breaking the minds of enemy creatures. Striking Maragan, or recieving a touch from her can strengthen her grip over the assaulting creature, allowing her to either subtely influence its mind or destroy it altogether.
Maragan was the first daughter born to the Red Monk through Freyja’s magics. Maragan’s mother is only rumored, but most believe that Shi Yun’s blood was used for the ritual. Once Maragan was born, she immediately took control of the Sifstring and lived a short time as the lone daughter of flowers.
After Tai’s birth however, Maragan’s focus shifted entirely to manipulation. Maragan and Tai trained together for the most part, but each took up a specialization: Tai learned how to fight and act as Maragan’s bodyguard, while Maragan was asked to learn how to control her sister and others entirely. During this time, Maragan and Tai were considered seperate people, though Tai had never known a life outside of the hivemind, and was entirely dependent on Maragan.
After Shan was added to the mix, however, the Daughters of Flowers were seen only as a unit, with Maragan at the lead. Maragan could easily part ways with her siblings and allow them to enact the pieces of her personality she wished to display through them, while still preserving her own personality and mind in her own original body. Maragan treated her sisters more as appendages than people in public, but privately was aware of their own minds and thoughts.
Despite this, Tai and Shan were often swept up in Maragan’s own emotions, especially her rebellion towards her father. Maragan’s mental training was far worse more straining than that of her sisters because she’d lived her own life at the beginning, and the physical rigors of becoming a true monk left her body strong but scarred. Soon, Maragan began to stray from the traditions of her monsastery, and slipped away to become known for her heavy drinking, prostitution, and dancing. Tai and Shan came with her, revelling in the freedom it granted them to have a say in their own lives (even if it was still at Maragan’s command), and the three became known for their beautiful, carefree lifestyle.
This did not excuse Maragan from her duties when it came to the Sifstring though, and Maragan was trained relentlessly to command the Red Monk’s armies of mindless minions in secret. Even with three bodies to manage her duties, Maragan became overworked and overwhelmed, especially when it came to the politics of the North. Many denizens of the Red Monk’s Monastery suspected that Maragan was on track to overthrow and kill her father, as well as the other leaders of the North, but it never came to fruition.
At the peak of her rebellion, Maragan was the first to accept the invitation to the Nine of the North, having arranged its creation with Preston in secret. Maragan plotted the assassination of the other members of the Nine, but eventually found the group to be a good getaway from her homeland, and ended up cherishing the adventuring. During her time with the Nine, her power waned greatly, as did her anger and her resolve to destroy her father’s work.
Maragan’s influence over her sisters appears to have been broken after the fight with Spielascor, leaving Tai and Shan on their own for the first time in their lives. Maragan adjusts to the seperation well, knowing she still has some amount of connection sustained with them both, but gives up the fight to escape Spielascor’s grasp.
The death of both of her sisters does little to affect Maragan, but she does react to help save Lady Parhelion at the Jade Fortress and Tai when fighting Baumen. When Maragan is finally freed from Spielascor’s grasp several years later, she appears bloodied and broken, but in surprisngly high spirits.
Maragan appears to the Drifters after Preston blows up Spielascor’s realm, and eagerly introduces everyone together at one of their safehouses. Maragan then serves as a contact point for the Drifters to other notable figures of the North, issuing them quests (some benign, such as fetching her a good drink) in exchange for accruing powerful items and allies. During this time, Maragan recovers from her physical wounds and attempts to reconnect with Tai, who is unsure of how to react to her sister’s return.
Maragan and Tai end up lending their abilities to the Drifters on multiple occasions, worming their way into the minds of the Drifters to try to save them in combat and puppet them away from enemy attacks. Despite their cooperation, however, Maragan and Tai stay on distant terms with one another, and mainly only team up to assist the Drifters.
After Shan’s death, Maragan and Tai both agree not to revive her, but not to forget her either in case they wish to reverse their decision. Maragan stays behind at the Red Monk Monastery while Tai leaves, and Maragan returns to serving her father. While Maragan grants Tai independence from her hivemind, Maragan and Tai now appear to have equal power over the Sifstring, though in different capacities. Both share a dark desire for revenge, and appear to have some sort of agreement on that front.
The Red Monk: Maragan has no respect for her father, but still longs for his affection. While she does not want to take his responsibilities after his death, she does secretly want the power and status that he holds. Despite her rebellion and lazy nature, she still serves him dutifully when it matters.
Tai: Maragan originally used Tai as a physical puppet, portraying her as the stout and strong sister of the bunch. Tai’s own keen mind cut through in Maragan’s weakness, however, and the two have had a rocky relationship throughout the years. However much Tai wants to break away from Maragan, she still longs for the protection and love Maragan earnesly offers, but is digusted by the dismissive way Maragan usually addresses her.
Shan: Maragan originally used Shan as an outlet for her girlish nature, allowing a body to act the part of her stolen childhood. Shan’s own mind is entirely unknown, having been puppeted in the hivemind nearly every moment of her waking life until their connection was finally severed. Maragan defends Shan as she defends herself, but can’t see Shan as her own person like she sees Tai.
Preston: Maragan sees Preston as naiive, though Preston often confides in the Daughters of Flowers. Several events that befell the Nine of the North can be traced back to a manipulative conversation between the sisters and Preston.
Lady Parhelion: Maragan dotes on Lady Parhelion, seeing her as the only equal to her own power, but also the model of what her chaotic father wanted her to be. Maragan wavers back and forth between showing a protective nature over the young girl, and trying to put her out of her misery by force.