JUNELEZEN - Day 1 :: Portrait
The Aetherochemist Medusa of Xande's Court. Historic records identify her as Ariel Mersegrit, formerly of Meracydia.
Ariel is the Allagan Empire-era shard of my ancient, Ariadne (who briefly held the title of Halmarut before the Final Days) - an Allag-educated Meracydian bio-chemist, sought by the newly re-established Allagan Empire in their push against the southern continent due to her research into aetheric dampening.
She is immediately given up by the Meracydians who want nothing to do with her and taken to a prisoner camp, where Emet-Selch offers her a place in Allag (and among the Ascians) in exchange for her cooperation against Meracydia. She agrees, and together they poison several villages down river from the prisoner camp, killing man and dragon alike.
While Emet-Selch gives her the Halmarut crystal, given Halmarut's distance from the rest of the Convocation, it doesn't contain enough memories to fully reawaken Ariadne. Ariel knows that her survival in Allag is fully dependent on her allegiance with Emet-Selch and so begins weaving an increasingly complex set of lies that she has been reawakened and cooperating with the Ascian plot.
Meanwhile, she ingratiates herself w/ Xande's inner court (including Amon, who is aware of her Ascian aspirations, and Scylla, who is not). She takes the name Medusa as part of Xande's court. Eventually, she backs Amon's plan to summon the Cloud of Darkness.
