Quin
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An unwilling immortal who's heart was taken, her warmth replaced with an eternal cold in her chest.
Table of Contents
Backstory
(...) And through the blizzard, lightning illuminates and shines upon crystalline mountains. -- Ashen Snow: Crossroads, Prologue
Quin's world is enveloped in an eternal blizzard, its snow blackened from ash and shrapnel, its constant thunder and lightning illuminating the sunless planet. Those who wish to live have no choice but to seek eternal life, ridding themselves of any heat, and finding shelter within hollowed out and crystalized mountains.
Those that are blessed with eternal cold must obey and head their rulers words, else they receive harsh punishment. Reward is a myth. Free will is a crime. All those who listen shall be broken down until they're hollow. All those who defect shall have their head cut off, their body a shell of their former self. This was a false god's wish, now carried out by their four wicked reflections of their past self, whom are now at odds with each other.
Quin is among those who are blessed with an eternal cold. She was sent to fight among many others, serving unadulterated violence in a silver platter. She's aware that her place is one of shame; If you do not obey, you're sent to the lowest rank among your society, and you must fight in the name of your god's reflection.
Although expected to die in battle, she had survived for countless years, gaining the highest status someone of her rank can attain: Being a windraiser, a relentless powerhouse of a soldier who has shown loyalty to their own immortality. A soldier who has completely and successfully erased their individuality, memories, and emotion. A soldier who knows their place.
Yet, after many, many years, all it took was a glimpse of a small, white animal for Quin to start thinking, feeling, and acting for herself, proving her title is her own. She now seeks to find herself and others to listen to, others who aren't a reflection of hate.
Quin's past life before her mandatory service is barely known. She wants to know. PersonalityQuin's a quiet woman who rarely speaks unless prompted. If she does speak, she's very terse and hesitant to raise her voice, sounding flat and tired. Despite her adverseness to speaking, she wants to be social, and would gladly accept a friendly conversation, even if it means just lending an ear. However, her social experience from her scrambled past is... not the kindest. She's aware of this, but might catch herself making rash assumptions and judgements of people.
Quin hasn't grasped what a lie is yet, and is quick to believe those whom she already trusts.
So far, Quin has proven herself to be quite attentive to her surroundings. She still has trouble logically judging emotions from people, but she'll get there.
Although she'll rarely blame anyone for it, Quin is more prone to become embrassed than others. Furthermore, Quin is a very sensitive empathizer, sometimes more than she'd like to be.
Quin has a gargantuan fixation on animals and will gladly break her usual silence to talk about them. Her stoicism shatters when she's next to one, her smile growing immensely wide. Although her touch is too cold to pet them, she desperately wants to. |
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Weaponry
Hailmaker
A massive, wieldable thermoelectric power hammer with a hail-thrower integrated into the back of its head. Although its Quin's only weapon, it's deceptively multifaceted.
It's difficult to manage, but its potential for unrelenting devastation makes up for it.
Functionality
Quin’s hailmaker can be used in both melee and mid range. It relies on its wielder as both a coolant and a power source. At the pull of a trigger, the hailmaker directs its power from the reciprocating ram to the hail-thrower.
Reciprocating Ram
The front of the hailmaker’s head is a protruding reciprocating ram. Upon impact, it will extend outward, “reciprocating” the absorbed energy straight back to the point of impact. This causes the resulting impact to be much more devastating. After impact, Quin herself acts as a coolant for the ram via the grips on the hailmaker’s shaft. Without her, it would overheat and becomes momentarily unusable.
Caution should be taken when in Quin’s melee range, as the harder the swing, the more energy the ram reciprocates. An extremely heavy swing can make dents in even reinforced steel, not even counting consecutive strikes.
If Quin has to overrely on heavy swings, she’ll either become exhausted from the heat of her hailmaker or render the hailmaker useless momentarily due to overheat.
Hail-Thrower
Per its title, Quin’s hailmaker is able to expel waves of hail toward wherever she swings. Upon pulling a trigger, the grips on the shaft transfer the cold from Quin’s hands straight into the hailmaker. Through unknown means, the hailmaker charges the cold into condensed shrapnel. The longer the trigger’s held down, the stronger the charge is. The charge strength also correlates to how far the hail will reach before melting or dispersing.
When Quin’s hailmaker is swung, all the hail is shot out as a projectile that melts after a certain distance.
Although not as devastating as the reciprocating-ram, it’s still a wonderful option for ranged combat. Either as a small wave of cutting snow, or a torrent of concentrated hail as tall as Quin is, a hailmaker’s hail an excellent display of violence through everlasting cold.
Items
Windraiser Armor
Quin dons an incredibly durable, yet cumbersome set of blackened armor.
Consequently, being in a heavy suit of metal armor won't do Quin any favors if she's stuck under the sun, which she's quickly learned during her time in the Crossroads. As such, you'll rarely see her wear it in a non-combat situation.
Quin's Cross Lock
Quin's source of cold comes from an artifact welded onto her chest, a large and curved metal cross. It's the coldest part of her body, and a common item found within those sharing Quin's origin. This is typically hidden by her armor if she's wearing it.
The artifact plays a crucial role in keeping Quin both cooled off and alive. Although it's as durable as Quin, it can still be destroyed, which would be very bad for her.
Those who bear a cross lock have permanently tied it to their soul, losing it's function without it.
Crossroads Tag
Quin is wearing a standard crossroads tag around her neck, a bell attached to a red necklace.
Strengths
Super Strength
Quin's modifications to her body allow her to don immensely heavy armor and wield her hailmaker. She has her limits, as with anyone, it's just that those limits are much more forgiving compared to the average human.
Without her weapon, she can't kill normal people in a single blow. However, if she gets a running start, it's the equivalent of getting hit by a speeding small truck. Be careful.
Strength in Immortality
Quin's cold gives her, and her weaponry, stamina, strength, and power to her augmentations. Usual human necessities, such as air or water, are merely a suggestion to her.
Unless heat begins to wear Quin down, she cannot die. She also can't feel pain (or frankly anything) from the neck down.
Rhetorically speaking, if someone wishes to kill her, they should aim for the chest and destroy the artifact encased in steel within it. She will then melt.
Exceptionally Attentive
Quin, although susceptible to being distracted, has proven to be naturally attentive to her surroundings. This is usually due to her biases and personal interests.
Still, Quin's attentiveness proves to be very useful when it comes to putting two and two together, especially in critical situations such as combat.
Combat Knowledge
When Quin still had her memory occasionally "scrambled", her combat knowledge and training was intentionally left untouched. This means she's experienced decades upon decades of nonstop, in-and-out combat for most of her known life.
That being said, unless the wizards and warlocks Quin will inevitably encounter start resorting to Guerilla tactics, her experience will really only help even out the odds when facing the supernatural.
Weaknesses
Extremely Weak to Heat
Quin is incredibly weak to heat and will become extremely tired either of the following occurs:
- Quin overexerts herself and builds up heat within her.
- Quin is exposed to extreme heat from outside sources.
The effects will vary depending on how intense the heat is. Quin can usually handle something as common as sunlight on a summer day (she'll just be very uncomfortable). Conversely, Quin usually cannot handle something as explosive as a fireball to the face.
When exposed to heat, her movements will become even slower and more hampered, and she'll collapse and be unable to move at around half of boiling point (50° C).
Rhetorically speaking, if Quin's body reaches boiling point (100° C), she'll "die" very quickly. Further heat will cause her to melt.
Critical Weak Spot
Quin's source of cold comes from an artifact lodged on her chest. This won't be easily revealed if she's wearing her armor. However, like aiming for anyone else's heart, it's something to consider targeting, especially if you have the means to chew through her armor.
If you manage to bypass the protection for Quin's artifact, she'll immediately prioritize keeping it safe by whatever means possible. This will very likely cause Quin to lose focus on everything else.
Destroying the artifact, although a challenge, will seal her fate, as her source of cold has been removed. It cannot be substituted. Keep in mind that the artifact is not fragile; If something happens to actually destroy it, it was probably on purpose.
Slow Moving
Quin's attacks and choice of weaponry, although immensely powerful, are very hefty and slow. The quickest attack she can dish is a mediocre jab, but you wouldn't want to be in arms length of her anyway.
Fighting unarmed and without armor doesn't really help that much, either.
Physical Tunnel Vision
Quin's eyes are permanently shut. The camera etched into her forehead allows her to see, but it's very narrow.
Lets say Quin goes to the shifting meadows, because it's not her first time dealing with the dimensional equivalent of a minotaur maze. This is what she'll see:
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Example of Typical Sight |
Example of Quin's Sight. |
Distinguishing Marks
"Their glass eye doesn't move, nor does it blink, not even once."
-- Ashen Snow: Crossroads, Insertion
The following are Quin’s distinguishing marks without armor on.
Head
| Eyes & Forehead | Quin’s eyes are permanently shut. A large, artificial camera-like eye is on Quin’s forehead. It glows a dim blue light. (Quin still has eyelashes.) |
| Hair & Upper Head |
Quin is bald. The flesh on the upper half of her head is replaced with metal. |
Torso
| Chest |
Quin’s chest cavity is hollowed out and exposed, only covered by a steel ribcage. Steel layering coated in frost hides any organic tissue. |
| Sides |
The sides of her upper torso are visibly covered in various steel plating, all of which are melded to her skin. |
Gallery
Main References
Coming Soon™.
Book Illustrations
Coming Soon™, An updated version of the audition entry will have the illustrations for future readers (older versions will remain available). Other entries will probably have them to begin with though.
Miscellaneous
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Sketch for the afterword in Ashen Snow: Crossroads. Quin's wearing pajamas :) |
Quick, non-final concept art. Doesn't represent the current iteration of the character. The pose on the right is still used in one of the book's illustration. |
Even older concept art. Designs were later reused for the other soldiers among her ranks. |
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Audition "cover" illustration used for the #entries Discord post |
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