(Rarely sharing my D&D OC's here. time to change this! (Also I shared one pic of Veloria and Indigo on Tumblr in the past sooo...) (Actually - I just wanna share my storytelling here, bear with me)
Massive backstory time: Veloria is known to be one of my sweetest, naïve and friendly characters. With a massive memory loss, not knowing who she is, but an undying will to help the needed and spread love around.
But one thing she does know - the sick powers of shadows had always protected her. Ever since she woke up in a deserted temple without any knowledge of her past.
In the few years in which she tried to regain her memory - she learnt to direct and control those helping powers to a certain extent. She believes an ally is an ally, no matter what their origin is.
During her journeys - she met Indigo: A vengeful hired assassin who was sent to kill her. Which he rejected, bearing his own traumas against people hurting Tabaxis. He became her ally as well (Indigo ended up soon having a massive crush on Veloria for her sweetness and willing to see the good in people. She gave him hope in a good he forgot that existed. He swore to protect her as the embodiment of this kindness and hope).
[ARCat’s note: ^ up to this point, that was the bg story I’ve given to 3 different DM’s. All of which made up their own version to Veloria’s amnesia and powers. Sadly, they never clicked for me, so I decided to combine elements of all 3 in MY OWN version. Finally getting Velo a decent background story: ]
There were times, when innocents got hurt, or during battles - where Veloria’s powers seem to have almost a ‘bad affect’ on her - resulting in sadistic damage or brutal murder of people who clearly HURT the weaker ones. Nothing she couldn’t control tho. Nothing anyone really worried about since D&D battles are like this; “kill or get killed”, as Indigo countlessly reminded her. But one thing kept coming back in Veloria’s dreams: Words. Words that told her that her powers do not belong to her. She had no idea what this means. She never found any evidence about her past or such powers anywhere. She decided to ignore the dreams for that reason.
[Many details are still in works so I might add here or in future deviations]
At some later campaign point, during a massive magical surge against an evil that drains energy - Veloria’s memories come back at once!
Her demeanor changes immediately. Becoming calmer, sharper, ruthless, with an evil smile on her face. What’s more - a third bright blue eye opens up on her forehead, along with many many more blue eyes all over her body!
-- Veloria [Real name is “Aspen”, but I will call her “Veloria” for this description to be clear], being about 10 years old, received a horrid trauma, resulting her to lose herself as a sweet happy child, lose hope in humanity, hate everyone and swear to never be weak again (Much like Indigo who saw his mother killed in front of him in the age of 3 just for being a Tabaxi, thus getting stronger and bearing a grudge for anyone who isn’t a catfolk).
Unlike Indigo tho, getting traumatized in an order age - Veloria started studying magic, inventing ruthless ways to punish ANYONE who wronged her.
As time passed, she came across and allied with a powerful deity, becoming a warlock; gaining access to his magic and knowledge and working with him to develop it further for them both. Increasing her little strength by countless percentage.
At some point tho, whether she lost trust, or whether she was afraid that her patron will overthrown her someday- Verloria decided to use her powers to get rid of him!
There was a massive battle when Veloria backstabbed her master, and in a last attempt to save his soul - he created a magical explosion spreading across time and alternative universes and possibilities: erasing Veloria’s memory up to the point before her trauma, before the evil was born in her (aka erasing HER as a personality).
Thus Veloria woke up alone in a temple. No evil thought (no memory at all actually..side effect). But with no grudge on the world. With no knowledge of magic. Basically a 10 year old healthy mind trapped inside a body of a ~25yr old woman. - a fragile weak person, easy to destroy.
And yet, back at the magical explosion, Veloria knew she won’t be able to stop his doing, so in the last resort she did one of her own spells: breaking her consciousness and sending a shard of it separately to protect herself in the future!
Those were the dark sickening powers that protected the naïve clueless cat. It was an “adult” version of herself, being alongside her, in her subconsciousness all along, waiting for another magical explosion to awake her memories and return to be her full real self again. [Kinda like Light from Death-Note did with his ‘memory loss’].
The phrase Velo kept dreaming of her powers not being hers - was true. They belonged to a “future version of her” and to that deity (not to her 10yr old consciousness).
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Recalling all this, Veloria then turned up against her D&D group; sadistically hurting them. She spared only Indigo as a thanks for helping her when she was weak, but clearly stating that if he interferes with her plans - He will be killed too.
-Thus leaving Indigo heartbroken, as the only Tabaxi that he could rely on as a beacon of happiness and hope just turned onto the most dangerous and vile creature the universe had known (moreover - that Veloria, as he had known her - never really existed, she was a weak part that her adult strong self -aimed to forget)
Veloria\Aspen can open and close her bright blue eyes at every body part of hers, she literally has eyes in the back of her head; always alert, always looking.
She possesses the psychotic powers of the evil shadows and a very sadistic nature with almost 0 mercy [her original inspiration is s0 Yami Yugi - only unlike Yami: She has willingly embraced the evil and increased it, after gaining back her memories]
[The story is far from finalized, and I do hope for a good end for her and Indigo, but I bet there will be a long way there].
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ARCat’s notes:
Lately, studying some healing psychology, specifically PTSD and traumas: there was a lot of mentioning of the “inner figures”, specifically the “inner parent \ inner critic” that can get stuck in a child’s mind and poison their entire life. They also countlessly mentioned the importance of creating a “loving inner parent” to eventually replace that toxic figure inside - Hence I got this inspiration of an “inner protector - that is YOU: more adult, smarter, more powerfull” (Veloria, in a way, became her own warlockish patron).
Also heavily inspired by the concept of alternate realities and alternate version of oneself if life had turn differently (major inspirations are ‘Arcane’(S2 ep 7) and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’)
Veloria is mainly inspired by Yami Yugi, yet she shares a LOT with Kaiba too (Can I say Velo is the love child of their “WORST traits”?!)
Also redesigning her slightly, as I based her design on Castle Cats’ Nicole (due to fast decision making in the moment, and never really adjusted it):
Added white fur in her face for both old and new versions.
For new version: Chest fur is cut off, as not much needed for fight, overall not much floofy as looks aren’t that important to her. Hair is standing up, as well as fur, always irritated, always alert. Tail splits into 2 (I think split tailed cats were considered as not-so-kind creatures in Japan, if not wrong). Bright blue eyes opening and closing everywhere, at most random spots (at her will). Eyes on her face remain there, to scare off enemies.
She is now known as the "Mistress of the 1000 Blue Eyes", one of the most evil and dangerous creatures to walk the earth. Also kinda being a mirror to Indigo now. (Which really shocks him..)