Marcelia Armatos

An aimaphage 378 years young, Marcelia is the present State Mage of Sellia, and has also held the position (under other guises) various times in the past. She is, arguably, the most magically powerful and knowledgeable individual on the continent; she has a familiarity of many magical schools, but her area of expertise is sanguimancy. Igramancy and manipulation magic are other favourites of hers, and perhaps most prevalent is that she is one of the few people who has some understanding of magic on a meta level, able to perform some direct manipulations and conversions of matter and energy.

Appearance
Marcelia is a tall, pale woman with dark red eyes. She has very long, straight jet black hair which flows past her hips, and a usually a fringe loosely covering one eye. Though many regard her as beautiful, her facial features are noted as being cold and hard, and always seem to give a vague impression of contempt regardless of her actual emotion.

Personality
Marcelia's extended lifespan has hardened her. She is known by others for being cold, aloof, and pretentious. While she often has very well-informed input, and is usually generally polite in conversation, particularly when relevant to her profession, people often find her hard to befriend or get along with.

However this is not necessarily her true nature- Marcelia's distance and reluctance to form bonds is simply a symptom of her age and experience, a defense mechanism that has arisen naturally to ward against the blight of all long-lived beings, which is to grow attached to someone simply to watch them grow old and pass away as you outlive them.

In saying this, Marcelia also simply exhibits a legitimate penchant for apathy- she often just simply doesn't care about what you have to say, psychological coping mechanisms all aside. She is prone to pretentiousness, and tends to somewhat look down on people less intelligent than herself- which is practically everyone. Despite all this, there are various people whom she does sincerely respect, and with those people the front of condescension and coldness is dropped and she speaks freely and earnestly- occasionally even with a bit of humour (usually of the facetious variety).

Abilities
Having had much time to study it, Marcelia has a very thorough meta-level knowledge of magic and is one of the few living individuals on Halus capable of performing direction conversions of matter and other subatomic manipulations. She is also a high-end specialist in sangramancy, as well as having particular skill in igramancy, which tends to be her go-to skill for combat situations. As for solving more subtle problems, Marcelia is also quite skilled in mental manipulation magic. And though she specialises in these areas, as expected of a mage of her standing she has a reasonable degree of proficiency and knowledge in many other schools of magic.

Early Life
The woman who currently calls herself Marcelia was born 16 years prior to the Great War, i.e. in 16 P.H., in the north Sellian city of Rossovria, to the name Myrella. She was the daughter of the current consul, Silvon Armatos, but was not interested in continuing her father's political dynasty. Instead, her interest lay in magic. As a child she would pilfer through the family collection of tomes and lexicons, toying around with this spell and that, fueled by a seemingly endless well of curiosity. When she had exhausted all that was within her comprehension in her home, she started to look through the state library instead, absorbing whatever her young but bright mind could. As she approached her teens, she begged her parents to send her off the Grand Academy in the capital Lucarius, so she could further her magical pursuits at the highest possible calibre. They were reluctant at first, not just as it meant parting with their beloved daughter for quite some time, but especially because tensions were rising between the big powers on the continent and they would prefer to keep her safe at home incase anything broke out. In the end, however, they decided to let her go, lest her potential be wasted, and figuring that she would be safer regardless in the heart of the federation rather than in her hometown near the border to the potential enemies. Thus she began her Academy education at the age of 13.

Wartime
3 years into her Academy training in Lucarius, her parent's concerns came true as tensions in the continent finally exploded into the Great War. True to Thaste nature, the Academy remained best it could in normal operation while the war raged on; until Lucarius itself was directly assaulted, education would continue. Myrella wanted to return home so she could ensure her family was remaining safe, especially with Rossovria so close to the borders with the Stoneheart Brotherhood. However, they insisted she stayed in the capital where she was safer. So she continued her studies as the war raged on around her, though with an increasing focus on keeping herself and those she loved safe- becoming further acquainted with healing magic and igramancy. Then the time came when the unthinkable happened- Lucarius was besieged.