Really sorry I took so long getting this up here.<br/><br/><div align="center">(http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e306/wodluvr/Jennifer.jpg)</div><br/>Name   Kia Theureaux<br/>Nature - Caregiver   Demeanor - Visionary   Essence   - Questing<br/>Tradition - Orphan   Concept - Spirit Medium by default<br/><br/>Strength      2   Dexterity   2   Stamina      3<br/>Charisma   4   Manipulation   3   Appearance   3<br/>Perception   3   Intelligence   3   Wits      2<br/><br/>Skills      Alertness 2; Athletics 3; Awareness 3; Dodge 1<br/>Talents      Drive 1; Etiquette 2; Performance (Dance) 2<br/>Knowledges   Academics 2; Computer 2; Cosmology 2; Enigmas 2; Linguistics 3; Occult 3<br/><br/>Specialties/Languages Known – Charisma (Open Hearted Honesty)/English (native), French, German, Spanish, Japanese<br/><br/>Spheres (Foci)   Entropy 1 (Blood); Mind 2 (Sweat or tears); Spirit 3 (Grave Dirt)<br/>Resonance   Entropic (Restful) 1; Static (Peaceful) 1<br/><br/>Backgrounds   Avatar 3; Dream 2; Resources 2; Familiar 2<br/>Arete - 2      Willpower - 7      Quintessence/Paradox - 3<br/>Merits/Flaws    Medium (2pt Merit), Natural Channel (3pt Merit)/Conditional Magic (Unable to use magic on Holy Ground, 5pt Flaw)<br/><br/>Character History:<br/>Kia was your average high school student on a mission.  She’d been studying languages from a very early age, and had apparently a knack for them.  She managed excellent grades on all of her work in school, and had earned herself a couple of amazing opportunities.  First, there were already murmurs of a scholarship to attend the University of Toronto linguistics department, and second.. the exchange student program.  Only a few young women each year were selected from across Canada, and Kia was one fo them.<br/>Naturally, her parents were reluctant, but after a whole lot of cajoling, begging, threatening, and not to mention pleading, they eventually agreed to let her go.  Things were arranged, and Kia was to be sent off to a very exclusive boarding school in France, just outside of Paris itself!  Before she could go, however, her family was to play host to a young girl from France.  A typical exchange approach.  One girl came over a month early to integrate a little, then they switched spots.  At the end of the school year, the french girl would come back and spend a month with Kia at her home, before the Canadian girl came back to her place.  Simple in description, but always so much harder in reality.  Camille was a pleasant, wonderful girl.  She had been selected as much for her grasp of english as Kia had for her grasp of french.  Also, similar ages, and demeanors played a large factor.  The two girls got on famously, and would spend hours in Kia’s room sharing tales and secrets and new best friend stuff.  It was during these exchanges that Camille first started telling Kia about the rich history of the supernatural to be found in Europe, and France in particular.<br/>Kia was, of course, fascinated, and grilled the other teen for hours and hours on the subject.  They looked at websites, and many other sources of information, only firing Kia’s curiosity more.  She’d always been a bit interested in the subject, and so with a new fan to the flames, her interest grew into an obsession.  One happily shared by her new friend, Camille.  The two became even closer over the topic, and soon were sharing more than just little hand holdings and typical friend reactions.  Ahh the joys of teenage discovery.  Too soon, Kia was finding herself prepped for her trip to France.  With thoughts of the time she and Camille spent together, and the fresh lust for the obscure occult, Kia was bundled onto a plane and shipped to France.<br/>Her first weeks there were glorious as she met new friends, and shared more than a few similar experiences with those new friends as she and Camille had stolen together in the depths of the night.  All girls dorms were wonderful for that sort of thing, ad her “accent’ was adored by all.  She was the belle of the Academie, and she spent a lot of time “fitting in” before she finally had the opportunities to check out the other one of her passions.  The supernatural.  Kia explored her small town, and at every opportunity, she headed with her classmates into Paris to explore the sights and obvious sources to be found there.  More than once she wished to head to other locations, maybe even Germany to find more.  Maybe when she was done school and spending time with darling Camille.<br/>It was the night of her 16th birthday.  She had finally turned into an adult according to the locals, and she liked the idea.  Surely European sensibilities like this one should be brought back to Canada too!  She had consumed an awful lot of wine at dinner with her friends, and then afterwards had spent a long few hours in various beds with even more of her friends.. and then finally, when all was quiet, the still slightly drunk Kia made her way outside.  It was a full moon, the night was ripe with possibility, and Kia went to the one place she could get to easily to try and work out some more of her occult hobby.  The school graveyard.  It had seemed strange to her at first, having a graveyard beside a girl’s school.  At least until it had been explained that the school was at one poitn a monastery, and that the graveyard had been the local township’s only.  Now, the dead were carted off to Paris for burial elsewhere, but there was a lot of history in this little square of well manicured land.<br/>The moon broke through the clouds, and Kia rested on an old tomb, her back feeling the chill of the stone while her head swam with the wine and sex.  She was abuzz with energy and as openly receptive to her dreams as she had ever been.  The surge of power that rippled through the land was unmistakable.  She had no understanding at all as to what it was at first, but then things started changing.  No one else for the months to come would claim to know anything at all about the surge of power.  No one saw or heard a dmaned thing except for Kia.  But she felt it alright.  Right there in that graveyard, with her mind half addled and her body as relaxed as it ever had been in her life.  When the first ghost peered into her face, she did the only thing she could think of.  Shriek at the top of her lungs and pass out.<br/>When she came to, there were dozens of them, all staring at her.  She sat up, and almost as one, the crowd of ghosts rushed forwards, all clamouring to talk to her.  All trying to get her attention.  The cacophony was incomprehensible.  Each and every one of them wanted her.  Wanted her to listen, for the most part.  Most of them wanted her to do things for them too.  Kia sat, slowly curling her legs closer, her arms tighter as she tightened up, staring in horror and fascination at what was happening.  How could these people have all been here the whole time?  The tumult increased and bombarded her from all sides, the din growing to a fever pitch as the ghosts all became angry with her for not talking back, for not listening.  And then.. as suddenly as it began, it ceased.<br/>From out of the back of the graveyard walked a kindly looking old man.  A man wearing a priest’s cassock.  An old priests’s cassock.  He quieted the spirits by his mere presence, and he spoke to them all as he approached the terrified and confused teen on the grave.  He sat beside her and they talked.  They talked the whole night away, about the restless dead, and Kia’s abilities now.  How she had changed, and how she would continue to grow and change, so long as she listened, and learned.  They talked about Magic and how it was real, and how she had it, and how she could get more.  And most importantly, they talked about her place in the world, and what she had to do from here on out.  And how things were going to be so much different for her.  And finally, they talked about how they would work together.  So many things that they promised each other, but it came down to one thing.  He would help her.  Father Iglesias would be her guide through this murky water and would help her control it all.  And all she needed to do was accept that he would be with her in spirit always.<br/>It was an easy enough promise to make, and it turned out to be the smartest one she had ever done.  The Father guided her through the last hours of the night, speaking to those restless spirits, taking them into herself, learning from them, and in the end, allowing them to pass on.<br/>By the time the other girls came out to find her after breakfast, Kia had been asleep on the tomb for hours, exhausted after her ordeal, but never again would she be that simple easily amused and vivant schoolgirl.  Now she had a place in life, and a purpose.  Even if it was a bit creepy.<br/><br/>Paradigm:<br/>There are spirits in the world, just as there is magic.  Spirits and magic are tied together inextricably, and they are part and parcel fo the same force.  These spirits contain the knowledge of the power of Magic, and through their very existences, can allow a person to tap into that power.  By chanelling the essences of various spirits, trading time and energy to them for their raw power, their connectedness, Kia is able to alter the fabric of that power, and thereby reality.  So long as she has access to spirits that she can bargain with and/or coerce into being her conduit, she will be able to perform miracles beyond mortal ken.