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.
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. It's main purpose is to be as durable as possible, being able to withstand
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.
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.
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.
Strength in Immortality
Quin's cold gives her, and her weaponry, stamina, strength, and power to her augmentations.
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. Note: Severing her head, while "killing her", won't destroy the body, which will still live. Unlike Quin, her now aimless body won't hesitate to swell and destroy everything in its path in a storm of violence.
Weaknesses
Extremely Weak to Heat
Quin is incredibly weak to heat and will become extremely tired if she either:
- Overexerts herself and builds up heat within her
- Has heat used against her as an attack
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.
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.
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):
- Quin’s eyes are permanently shut.
- A large, artificial camera-like eye is on Quin’s forehead. It glows a dim blue light. She can still see.
- Quin is bald. The flesh on the upper half of her head is replaced with metal.
- Quin still has eyelashes.
- Quin’s chest cavity is hollowed out and exposed, only covered by her ribcage. Steel layering coated in frost hides any organic tissue.
- Quin’s heart and lungs are removed and replaced by unrelated and reinforced components. Their purpose is unclear at a glance. This also means Quin’s chest cavity is completely organless.
Gallery
Model Sheet
Coming Soon™.
Book Illustrations
...Coming soon! The audition entry Ashen Snow: Crossroads will contain sparse, but personal illustrations from the author himself.
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. |