====== Eryl Hydref Maelgwyn ======

|The triclopsi witch turned to see the club rising. She jabbed her staff into the ground and apparated a wand in her left hand. The weapon, swung out of rage by the Cewri, came in a swift arc and then suddenly stopped a meter above her. The force of the blow spread out and blew the students near her back. Her joints buckled and spittle flew from her grit teeth as her intent focus maintained a powerful shield. With a gentle turn of her quivering hands, the shield tilted, causing the club to slide and plow into the cultists assailing the left flank. \\ //- Eryl Maelgwyn repulsing the club of a mighty Welsh giant.//|

**Eryl** is a lodge witch that works for the Hexers, an organization of slavic monster-slayers. She occasionally assists the staff of Safeholme in protecting their students from danger. Originally a villain, she has undergone a long period of redemption and reformation for her actions. Now, she just does her best.

^ **Pronounciation** ||
| AIR-ril HID-drif MAHL-gwin ||
^ **Player** | [[users:kokuten|Kokuten]] |
^ **Gender** | Female |
^ **Age** | 26 |
^ **Ethnicity** | Caucasian - [[species:triclops|Sitas Triclops]] |
^ **Hometown** | Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales |
^ **Affiliation** | Good |
^ **Magic School** | Abjuration |
^ **Magic Type** | Learned |
^ **Active status** | Active |

===== Perceptible =====

==== Visual ====

Like most triclopes, Eryl is thin and slender, topping off at 5'7". She has dark, wavy hair that flows over her shoulders freely, and is occasionally worn in different styles when she's trying to [[om:character:jane_smith|impress someone]]. Her pale skin is decorated with inked protection enchantments from neck to shoulder to thigh, but these are rarely ever seen from below her modest dress code. Her limbs and fingers are spindly, and she carries herself with a flowing grace that brings to mind ribbons blowing in the wind.

Being a reconstructed being at the hands of a dark, forest biomancer, she tends to give off a shadowy impression by those who stare too deeply into her magic.

==== Sound ====

Eryl has a posh, British accent, despite her Welsh upbringing and her long exposure to northern Asia and eastern Europe. Her voice occasionally breaks into a sing-song pattern that she thinks is endearing, but some tend to take as her driving insults.

==== Scent ====

Because the lodge she works at permits smoking indoors, her clothes tend to vaguely smell of cigarettes, even though she doesn't smoke herself. To cover this up, she usually wears a mild scent, and washes her clothing before visiting anyone.

===== Persona =====

==== Personality ====

Eryl suffers from an intense social anxiety.

While she's capable of operating in the field and carrying out mission without much trouble, Eryl finds people incredibly difficult. Years of doubting her own intentions and motivations has made her unable to easily trust herself and others. On the surface, she makes every effort to hide her struggles, but below she is constantly analyzing and course correcting. Among the Hexers she works with, she has cultivated a cold exterior that works well for her issues, earning her the moniker 'The Witch of G'dansk'.

Eryl enjoys her academic pursuits, and enjoys sharing in that knowledge with others. When she's not working or visiting, she enjoys a good book and a quiet afternoon with her thoughts.

==== History ====

Eryl was born in 1846 at Llandrindod Wells, Wales to Theobald and Eirianedd Maelgwyn. Her father was a captain of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Dragoon_Guards|3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards]] and regularly saw service while she was growing up. Her mother was a Librarian of Cardiff, and, while emotionally distant, was well prepared to groom a new vessel for another chapter in her life. As a result, Eryl was very close to her father, and spent a large part of her early life familiarizing herself with horses, war and politics.

When Eryl turned thirteen, her mother took charge of her upbringing, and began to distance her from her father. Her life became about magic, and the spells of Cardiff, as well as the ins and outs of the Library. Eryl became enamored with this new life, and like many initiates her age, was thoroughly brainwashed to accept the unethical things that the Library would force on her. To help enhance her abilities, and fully remove her father's influence, her mother pressed her to a tenure in the [[om:magic:em|Elementalia Magicus]] in 1860.

In 1861, the Elementalia failed, and everyone within, including Eryl, were never heard from again. The truth that never got out was that the shade, Loathing, a mutation of one of the realm's gods, had gone rogue, and brought about the end to the realm. In the process he slew Eryl, and took her soul for his purposes. When the realm was reawakened by [[om:character:percival_caxton|Percival Caxton]] in 2011, Loathing breathed her soul into a body fit for his purposes and sent her to unwittingly do his bidding.

At [[https://bhotr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=175|Loathing's urging]], she nearly killed Percival to take some of his power, and escape the Elementalia. Instead, she was stopped by Percival's friends, and was spared by a last act of kindness. She was allowed Percival's arm to use to make a body and then go out into the world.

It was there that Eryl began her [[https://bhotr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32670|road to redemption]], escaping Japan, begging in the streets in China, working as a servant for the Biomancer of Irkutsk in Russia, and eventually meeting the Hexers and joining their order. She took up abjuration and arcanozoology, apprenticed under the legendary Kir Chirkov, and found new purpose in a new job and a new life. Having always struggled with her morals and what she had done to be free, she cultivated a cold disposition to those around her, despite desiring the opposite. She became known as the 'Witch of G'dansk', or 'Danzig' for short, and earned the respect, and sometimes fear, of the hexers that worked with her.

But Eryl could not run from Loathing's influence.

From deep within the Elementalia Magicus, Loathing [[https://bhotr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=797|drew Eryl back to Japan]], preying upon her guilt and leaving her breadcrumbs to follow. Thinking that she was saving the people she had wronged, she unwittingly [[https://bhotr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=798|led them right into the hands of Loathing]] and the corrupted gods of the Elementalia Magicus. After a lot of hard fighting, she and the Menagerie managed to slay Loathing once and for all.

Having not expected to survive the encounter with Loathing, Eryl returned quietly to her work as a hexer, but continues to visit the Menagerie, and help them when she can.

===== Magical Archetypes =====

In magic, Eryl's focus is defense and support, which she uses to amplify the performance of hunter-killer teams of hexers. She is a master abjurer, with practiced technique and skill in using magical fields to stop the flow of magic and carnage. In a pinch, she can summon a bit of blood magic from what spells she remembers when studying under her mother.

==== Bunker Witch ====

Eryl's specific style of Abjuration focuses on controlling fields of magic in order to reduce or eliminate the amount of force in hostile attacks. This can mean cutting off sources of power, redirecting the flow of energy or deflecting projectiles with shaped barriers. She passively powers a set of abjuration enchantments inked directly on her skin so that most of her focus goes into covering for others.

**Skill level:** 80 \\
**Power level:** 60 \\
**Control:** +20 \\
**Magical Outfit:** 
|As she had many times before, Eryl came to Jane's door wreathed in finery. She looked in every way the traditional mage, with her flowing blue coat and its sleeves, the brown vest over a baby-blue shirt and a set of trousers tucked into a nice set of boots|\\

==== Closet Blood Mage ====

A leftover from her time as a candidate as a inheritor for the Library Cardiff, Eryl understands a smattering of blood magic. She can use blood to cast a few hostile spells and defend herself, but she rarely uses the art, unless pressed.

**Skill level:** 40 \\
**Power level:** 30 \\
**Control:** +10 \\

==== True-Sighted Triclops ====

Eryl's inborne triclops sight manifests in the form of true-sight, which enables her to see things how they are when she focuses. It also enables her to glean surface thoughts and recent, visual memories from others. Mechanically, this ability lets Eryl look at something and learn at least one true thing about it.

**Skill level:** 80 \\
**Power level:** 0 \\
**Control:** +80 \\