#about sera

[seraxpollard]

[miqo-tales]

I'm debating that instead of meeting Venat in Elpis, S'era meets her Ancient self, Nike.

Feel like that fits better with my idea of the story.

[miqo-tales]

17. What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise? For Sera!

Hm.

OK, soooo her father's death during the Calamity is bad cause he was a pretty laid back person who didn't really strive for anything. And then he never even makes it to Carteneau. He simply dies this meaningless death from a stray meteor taking out his company. So S'era develops this resentment towards him and this drive to achieve something, anything, before she dies. And it eventually mutates into a pretty basic fear of death.

Then the end of 2.x is pretty bad because S'era ends up killing a good friend of hers who had joined the Crystal Braves. The grief and anger from that lead straight into her becoming a Dark Knight.

Shadowbringers is also pretty bad cause to start, her best friend / adopted sister Marie is one of the Scions that falls unconscious. Then she gets warped to the First, learns the WoL is dead and she's now the Hero. And so on top of all the crap that happens in ShB, you've got a person who's struggling with the idea that she's a replacement hero/friend and is she really living up to that and could the actual WoL have done better, and oh hey! fear of death coming into play with that whole "turning into a monster" thing.

BUT, I think the worst might actually be the thing I haven't fully worked out or even really decided on? Which is that during the Werlyt storyline, S'era is captured and forced to pilot the Diamond Weapon, which is still using the Zenos core auracite.

So you picture Overmind activating, with that jackass' personality behind it, and then S'era's Echo ends up interacting badly with it? Again, I haven't gone too far on this one, but I think you briefly end up with the closest thing to Ascian Azem here.

I don't know if that situation happens to Primary storyline S'era (WoD S'era), but I think it definitely does to WoL S'era, and is a good reason why her state of mind in Endwalker is pretty bad. (Oh hey look, context for storylines!)

[miqo-tales]

Fun Fact Friday (8/21/2020)

Since the events of 5.0, S’era has been able to somewhat see a person’s soul. She usually only sees a color and a vague shape, but sometimes she feels something a little more tangible.

[miqo-tales]

One scene in the Shadowbringer’s MSQ has me thinking:

What color is your character’s soul?

I think S’era’s is a bright yellow.

[miqo-tales]

Thinking of changing S’era’s normal hair color from light blonde to white or a silver-white.

For a while after 5.0 I was trying to think of something that might change for her after the whole “nearly turned into a monster after absorbing a catastrophic amount of light-aspected aether” thing. But I really didn’t want to change her eye color and couldn’t think of anything else. But recently I was messing around with the aesthetician and thought this shade of white looked really good.

I’m thinking she can still dye it back to the original color (and black to match her mother), but it fades out much quicker than before. Also her tail is still black, never changing that.

Anyway, for now it’s a tentative change.

[miqo-tales]

S’era’s new IC weapon.

Her old sword was broken by Not-Zenos when she was helping Hien and company fight him. So she had the remains of it melted down and used to forge a new sword, which is why the small portion of the blade glows.

The glowing part looks different on hers though. I’m thinking it’s a star burst design or a flower, but haven’t decided.

[miqo-tales]

Lightwarden S’era - Metus

Can’t draw it but I can describe it! This is assuming S’era was the Warrior of Light/Darkness and succumbed to the Light.

Metus

Appearance:

About 8 feet tall.

Her skin is still dark brown, but multiple cracks and scars across her body show glimpses of bright white.

Her eyes are unchanged.

Her hair is a mix of white and brilliant gold and has grown out, falling down to her waist (both down her back and front).

She has three sets of arms. The bottom pair is larger than the others and the hands are more beast-like with claws.

Five of her six hands holds a weapon: the first set holds a short spear and bow, the second holds a large sword and shield, and right hand of the last set has an axe.

Her tail is larger and longer, and the end is tipped with a pale yellow flame instead of fur. 

Above her head is a fractured halo, colored red, purple, and gold

Behavior:

Metus shakes in fear and shame. She is afraid of herself, her failure, her new strength, the pain she is causing, and what she assumes is her own eventual death.

Metus will kill anyone that approaches her out of fear. She will protect herself at all cost, but also desperately wants to die, and will blame her victims for being unable to stop her and also herself for killing them.

Fight:

(I make no claims that this is balanced in any way. I’m really just trying to come up with cool stuff that isn’t completely ridiculous, but entirely possible I may have overdone it.)

When first seen Metus is kneeling, her eyes closed and no visible weapons. Her first set of hands is covering her eyes, the second set is crossed over her chest, and the last is crossed behind her.

When provoked she rises and brings out her sword and shield and will do some basic circular AoE attacks (move in, move out sort of things) and occasionally a high damage hit on the main tank. After a bit of damage she will draw the party in, surround them and herself with four shields, and begin casting an arena wide high damage AoE. The party must destroy one of the shields, then move out and stand behind one of the remaining shields to block the attack. Metus then uncovers her eyes and brings out her bow and spear.

Metus’ regular attacks on the main tank increase in speed and she has more mechanics. Her bow will make small AoE attacks that must be avoided. Her spear will target a DPS and the damage must be mitigated by the off-tank standing in front of the targeted player. Her circular AoE attacks from earlier now cause Terror if not avoided. And she will sometimes stun a player with her shield and target them with a line AoE attack. The stun must be erased so that the targeted player can move out of the AoE.

At 50% Metus moves to the center of the arena and drops to her knees. She then surrounds herself with four shields and begins casting an attack. Four wraiths (that look like NPCs like the Scions, Alliance leaders, etc) then spawn and begin attacking the shields, and players must destroy the wraiths. For each shield that is destroyed, the party will receive a stacking DoT from Metus’ attack (if they survive it). If all four shields are destroyed, the party is insta-killed by the attack. After the attack, Metus grows larger (now about 10-12 ft tall) and draws her axe. She remains in the center of the arena for the rest of the battle.

Metus drops most of her earlier attacks and gains two different AoE attacks. One is four successive attacks that target half the arena in each of the four cardinal directions. The second is a series of line AoEs that target four players, then another four players. At times she will strike the main tank with her empty hand and pin them down. The tank will receive a high damage DoT, and her hand must be attacked to free the player and remove the DoT. Also, she will target the tank with her sword, and the off tank must provoke her to take the hit. Last, she will set down her shield and prepare an arena wide gaze attack. Players will receive the Terror effect and a stacking debuff called “Thanatophobia” unless they hide behind the shield to avoid it. If a player gains 3 stacks of “Thanatophobia”, they are KO’d.