Elanor Nocturne

Nightmaiden

NAME: Elanor Nocturne

AGE: Around 500-600 years (appears 20s-30s)

RACE: Nox

GENDER IDENTITY: Female | She/Her

CANON: Elden Ring | Tarnished OC

Personality

Attributes:

[+]: Ambitious, Bold, Loyal, Curious, Honest (sometimes brutally so)

[-]: Cynical, Cold, Mistrusting, Paranoid, Withdrawn

[=]: Studious, Methodical, Introverted, Blunt

Elanor grew up in Nokron about a century or so after her people's banishment by the Greater Will. She was daughter of a highly disciplined and stoic swordstress and grew up in a society that was similar to her. As a product of that, she tends to sublimate her emotions and allows her actions to speak for her. She can be a little cold and quiet upon first meeting someone, warming up slowly over time.

Being a fairly shy child, she only ever had a handful of friends over her lifetime and typically preferred to keep to herself. However, she isn't so shy that she's unafraid to tell someone where they stand with her, or make her opinions known. She never minces words and most of what she says, she means. She is a ride-or-die friend to those she accepts and loves them unconditionally despite anything they might have done or will do in the future. She becomes extremely attached and protective of anyone she cares about, but will only open up to those she fully trusts. That being said, she can take a joke and enjoys lighthearted company.

After having very little control of her future when she was growing up, she clings to whatever control she can and works very hard for what she wants. She is very neat and tidy and hates being dirty, hence her friends aren't really allowed to be dirty, either. While she wields a sword fairly well, she prefers sorcery and intellectual pursuits over dirtying her hands, though she will do it. And will complain the entire time. Her hope is to finally settle down somewhere and live a quiet life studying magic and history.

After being ordained and watching the years pass with little progress, she has a slightly cynical view of her culture and the idea of creating a lord for their supposed Age of Stars, but deep down, she hopes for it as much as her people do. She would do anything for her people, even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness.

Appearance

Like most of her people, Elanor is a tall and lithe and moves quickly and gracefully if engaged in combat. The white silk of her headdress covers her eyes, leaving only the bottom half of her face visible. Without her headdress, she appears calm, stoic, and maybe a bit unapproachable. If greeted, she is polite enough, but not overly conversant.

Her voice is a lower pitch and she is fairly soft-spoken. She speaks in modern terms with the slightly refined air of someone who is well-read.

Elanor is modest with anything she wears covering most of her body and shielding her sensitive eyes from the light of the sun. She has a mole on her left cheek below her eye, and she typically wears her long, straight silver hair into a bun. What scars she has on her chest, back, and right arm are kept concealed. Her skin is cold to the touch.

History

" Long ago, the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will, and were banished deep underground. Now they live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night. "

Elanor was an only child of a Nox architect and a respected swordstress, born in Nokron around a century after her people's banishment underground by the Greater Will. Her fairly short lineage was comprised of women dedicated to naught but their blades that traced back long before their banishment.

In stark contrast, Elanor had a head for magic, history, and the more intellectual pursuits than that of swordstress. Unfortunately for her, her mother insisted on her future being that of swordsmanship in the name of their family's tradition. Elanor performed very poorly at first, refusing to spend any extra time practicing and overall loathing each and every time her mother would make her train with her. She came to resent her mother and her father for refusing to stay out of their disagreement.

When she came of age to begin training alongside the young Nox monks and Nightmaidens, she became acquainted with Maristela, a young woman in a similar situation, as such was fairly common in their culture. Maristela was studying to become ordained as a Nightmaiden, but had little patience for the amount of bookwork, religious practice, and meditation it took. She preferred to be more active and spent most of her free time with a blade in her hand.

Despite being polar opposites, the two formed bond initially based on the pressures their families placed on them and began spending most of their time together training and studying. They had a secret spot in a forested area where they would go to get away from their responsibilities, or even to spar and cast magic without too much worry of anything in the way. Using spells of mimicry, the two of them were able would often switch places as a prank, but were caught every time by one of the elders and reprimanded. As the years progressed, they settled into their roles in earnest. It was the first time in her life that Elanor felt the need to work harder in order to protect the most important person in her life.

Elanor moved out of her parents home when she was 15, having very little contact with either of them, making a few new friends alongside her deep bond with Maristela. Once the pair reached adulthood, their elders assigned them as partners and continued on in their roles for well over hundred years. Elanor kept up with her studies, deciding that she wanted to become a Nightmaiden herself one day, Maristela still wished to step down to the role of Swordstress. It took them some time to convince their elders to allow them to switch, but seeing their dedication and hard work, they finally allowed it, given that they would switch at the same time and remain partners.

Elanor was finally ordained then two settled into their new roles for a few centuries. Despite training with the customary dagger of the Nightmaidens, she was the only one to hold onto her flowing sword and would continue to spar with Maristela in their little spot in the woods.

As the centuries passed, things were not going quite as she would have liked. The experiments of rebirth on the mimic tears and on their people became more and more extreme, with poor results that left their creations weak or without much quality of life. The sacrifice of any life-force to fill the darkness with their false night also took it's toll on Elanor, though she sublimated it for years. This is what she wanted, right? This was supposed to be her happy ending.

One night, as the Elanor and Maristela went off to their wooded hideout to unwind, they were ambushed by group of giant ants hunting for food, and Elanor was grievously wounded, completely taken off guard. Maristela returned from her quick errand for firewood, only to find her charge surrounded by the creatures. So, she grabbed her sword and fought them off, sustaining her fatal wounds in the process for the sheer number of them she encountered. In and out of consciousness as she was, Elanor blearily recalls Maristela collapsing next to her with a grunt and a humorless laugh. She told her that everything was alright, that she loved her more than anyone in the world, and to go to the surface someday.

Elanor was found the next morning, barely clinging onto life, while Maristela lay dead next to her. She was quickly taken back to the city to be treated and expected to recover and return to her duties. While there was sympathy in the words spoken to her, the only thing she heard was that she would be reassigned to another swordstress as soon as possible.

That felt dismissive and callous. How could she simply return to her duties and accept someone else as her blade so quickly after the death of the most important person in her life? She didn't show for her duties in the temple, didn't open the door to anyone until her father picked the lock. Word traveled fast, and despite their minimal contact, her parents were worried and her mother started off with a firm scolding. Not about what happened, but for simply locking herself away.

Elanor snapped. She said some foul things to her parents, projecting her guilt over Maristela's death onto them. She told them to get out and when they couldn't get a word in edgewise, her father finally pulled her mother out. Before her mother left, she told her to come home when she was ready.

That day never came. Instead, Elanor simply disappeared, disguising herself with a larval tear to live amongst the Ancestral Followers for a time. She was taken in by one of the matriarchs and did odd jobs for the tribe in exchange for peace and protection. She spent years seeking an escape from the underground in an attempt to honor Maristela's last words.

The underground was sealed shut tight back then and it wasn't until the wells were being built, and she heard talk of the sorcery town of Sellia that she saw a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time.

She can't remember if she died trying or if she actually escaped the underground and died shortly thereafter. Ages later, she awoke on the surface, the golden light of the Erdtree blinding her as she stepped into the light for the first time in her life. Garbed in her old Nightmaiden armor, she set out on a journey that would lead her to the Erdtree and the prospect of being Elden Lord.

Abilities

Nox Flowing Sword

"A grim weapon wielded by swordsmen of the Eternal City, this
shotel has a blade as fine as a needle.

Forged from the liquid metal of a Silver Tear, it is thoroughly
tempered until hardened."

Despite her appearance and function Nightmaiden, this is her weapon of choice as she has used one since she was very young.

Night Sorceries

✦ Ambush Shard: "Launches a projectile from a distance removed from the caster, so as to strike the enemy from behind."

✦ Night Shard: "Swiftly fires a semi-invisible projectile. This sorcery can be used without delay after performing another action."

✦ Night Comet: "Fires a semi-invisible magic comet.This sorcery can be cast repeatedly and while in motion. Charging enhances potency."

✦ Nightmainden's Mist: "Releases a life-sapping silver mist before the caster, dealing damage to all caught within, including the caster."

✦ Unseen Blade: "Enchants armament held in right hand, making it completely invisible."

✦ Unseen Form: "Makes the caster semi-invisible. While on horseback, effect extends to cover the mount. This sorcery can be cast while in motion."

✦ Eternal Darkness: "Creates a space of darkness that draws in sorceries and incantations."

*All quoted material from https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com.