Nyah Toussaint-DeVille
"Gods always behave like the people who make them."
- Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica, Zora Neale Hurston
**OOC Disclaimers: This biography is intended only for mature audiences. It features significant parental abuse and emotional instability. It may be triggering to some. Additionally, this character is a non-religious practitioner of Maita and obscure, dark aspects of Voodoo/Vaudun conjure. While adhering to and respecting the folklore and origins of both, I have intentionally interpreted or exempted religious aspects of the practice and leaned away from the positive, family-oriented Loa service. At onset, this character is morally dark as a reflection of only her as an individual, not of her spiritual, cultural, national or ethnic identity. As a multi-national character, she makes strategic choices to observe or exclude cultural elements which best serve her goals. Dealings with these elements of her character are entirely fictional, and are done with utmost respect at all times.
Appearance
Nyah is quite beautiful. She's proud of it, and uses it tactically. As a child she was already tall and graceful, but the woman she is now bears no resemblance. She's the product of magical alterations and years of Voudun transfigurations. Suspiciously so, she's too symmetrical, her proportions too fine. Her near-black hair falls at mid back, somehow always glossy and well styled. She's rarely without a perfect winged liner; it's never smudged or unbalanced. Her pillowy lips are never chapped, her rich toffee skin forever refreshed and dewy. Nyah is the 'I woke up this way' meme made flesh. It's obnoxious, and possibly off-putting on a subconscious level. People are supposed to have flaws.When off the clock, she favors luxe fabrics that flatter the body but don't flaunt too much, in rich earthy, gem or autumn tones that compliment her skin. She'll never be caught in anything pastel. She has a fondness for heavy African golds (slightly burnished or reddened with brass) and lapis, malachite, abalone and ivory. At minimum, she's rarely without several bangles and ornaments. Most have some significance to her. Others are charms and functional talismans. One of her trinkets (exactly which is a fiercely guarded secret) is a ward to protect her from possession. Around her neck she wears a long poisonbox locket wherein she keeps a piece of white limestone chalk for conjure sigils needed in a bind. One or two small knifes or discreet weapons are hidden on her in most circumstances, for transferal defense. Her wardrobe favors form over function, but rarely to discomfort. She wears no perfume, only a dusky mixture of essential amber, jasmine absolut and a touch of neroli.
Personality
For most of her life, it'd have been wise to approach Nyah as a snake charmer does a new cobra. No matter one's skill, the loveliness or seeming docility of the snake, be wary of (or even expect) bites. For the last four years, Nyah has been Erzulie's premiere blackworks conjurewoman. If the coven had enemies in need of elimination, voices to be silenced, leverage to be applied en force or souls to be harvested, Nyah did the work. Calling her morally grey is generous, at best. Her soul is an unscrupulous, dappled, chalk-dusted black, but man does she know how to have fun. On the surface, she presents as an empowered, intensely focused, ruthless and ambitious young woman—the sort to wink at danger, stride forward, and come out the other side without a hair out of place. Just don't ask her how she did it. You probably don't want to know. These days she's trying to clean up her act. Honestly, she is. It's been hard work so far. Some days she's not sure it's worth it, and she has surrounded herself with a cadre of influence nudging her to give up altogether, but for the time being she's trying.Nyah has not been a nice person, but that's not immediately apparent to most. The especially sensitive or intuitive may experience an unspecific feeling of wrongness around her. She's well-traveled, daring and charismatic. Perhaps to excess. A talented actress, liar and conversationalist, she can talk to almost anyone about anything, should she have interest or reason to. She plays her coquettish French accent up or down, dresses to the nines, knows how to present herself to get what she wants, flirts and uses body language strategically and without apology. This doesn't mean she'll enjoy it if her company bores her, but she's highly goal-oriented. She's a survivalist with a long history of watching her back; almost all novel interactions are treated as a game to be won or lost, and she hates to lose. Even with the wealth she accumulated overseas per her business dealings as a Maita, her security is a ticking clock for familial reasons, and she behaves accordingly. She's territorial, vengeful and fiercely protective of what she considers hers.
She had no loving parents or home environment to speak of, which was the earliest driver to shape her personality; her caregiver was her mother's bound demon. This left Nyah with mild reactive attachment disorder, which rarely presents due to the fact that she keeps no close relationships exempting her 'sisters' from Saint Marie. She distrusts in the extreme and generally defaults to seeing people as a plus or minus equation, rather than in terms of healthy, beneficial social contracts. Those who get under her skin will at first make her uncomfortable and insecure, not at ease. She may become possessive of them or oppositely, outrightly distressed, but actually does need this if she has any hope of growing out of her moral quagmire. And she does want to. Overtly sexual but uncommonly romantic, she's playful, but not innocently so. Bullshit or silliness will send her packing. Dip into nonsense, pedestrian comedy or excessive pop culture references and she'll scoff in the most Parisienne of ways, and scoot.
Powers & Abilities
Maita
The ancient practice of eating souls, taboo along African tribes. The Hausa people considered Maitas a type of cannibalistic witch, which is partly true. A witch is either born a Maita, or becomes one by swallowing a Maita stone, which stays in their belly for the remainder of their life. Maita stones are created when a practicing Maita devours the soul of a human being. Each time they do so, the stone in their stomach splits in two. One half can either be absorbed for a temporary but dramatic boost in power and vitality, or vomited up, and sold at outrageous prices to magical practitioners hungry for power. If a stone is vomited, the witch receives no benefits from having eaten that particular soul.
Consumption is done mouth to mouth, and takes approximately fifteen seconds. The violence of this is specific to the Maita, or circumstantial. Some are soft as a kiss, others brutal. Ritual preparation is needed beforehand, including an extensive amount of Loa conjure sigil scratching and blackwork. Typically, Maitas take two souls a year. They don't require more to power their additional magics and longevity, but some are greedy. For those with familiars or bound demons, failure to maintain the augmented state that comes with consumption can mean a weakened or vulnerable demonic binding (never a good thing) or a breakage with their familiar.
Aged witches and wizards with considerable funds have been known to use the services of a Maita to transfer to a younger, more vital body before the end of their natural lives, although they're by no means a Maita's only clients. This service is performed by sucking the soul out of the client, and breathing it back into a previously vacated, prepared body. Extremely complicated and strenuous work, this typically requires the Maita to take another soul either before or after the transferal for their own energetic and magical sustenance. Failure to perform this conjure wisely could be dangerously depleting, or potentially lethal for an unprepared or inexperienced Maita.
Voudun // Masochistic Transferal
Nyah is particularly gifted in Blackwork Conjure. Her candle conjurations and hex bags are fairly advanced (malevolent cursework), but her mojo and gris-gris work (warding, blessings, and protections) needs polishing. Most importantly, Nyah is a living Voudun avatar, or an empathic masochist. If she maintains an eyeline on, or uses a personal item, material or token from her intended target, any harm she sustains is transferred. IE- if she stands in hot coals, their feet burn; if she stabs herself in the carotid, they bleed out; if she holds their stolen wristwatch, she can carve a message into their forearm from across the city. She experiences neither pain nor damage herself.
She's restricted in the impromptu usage of small magics to counter her strengths in these obscure arenas. To use 'spontaneous' magics she must be standing in a loa conjure circle, otherwise her magic is trifling. Her strongest abilities mimic minor telekinesis, manifested in 'blessings' from the loa in bright bursts of red energy.
Umbral Magics
UmbrakineticsNyah can create, shape and manipulate darkness and shadows. By itself, darkness is mostly used to cloud everything into total black, but by accessing dark energy/dark matter it can be channeled to multiple effects, both as an absence of light and a solid substance put to a variety of creative uses. She can also create and dispel strategic pockets of darkness, create constructs and weapons, and interact with the shadows of surrounding physical elements, thereby affecting the physical object itself/themselves - mostly via the use of her shadow, Mal.Photo-AbsorptionA secondary consideration of the above. Nyah can absorb visible light, and broader spectrum wavelengths. In direct sunlight this will cause her to appear as a blackened, lightless outline of herself, like woman-shaped dark matter or shade. This is actually a lack of refraction, and therefore, color. In confined environments (like an indoor room with artificial lighting) this causes instant blackout conditions. The absorption gives her a boost of energy, strength, speed and resilience. These effects end as soon as she stops active absorption. Overuse of this 'boost' can lead to extreme exhaustion once ceased, or more severe consequences associated with sever fatique.Autonomous Shadow - "Mal"Both an ace up the sleeve and her Achilles heel - this is less of an ability and more of a constant state of being, and has to be actively suppressed if she wants to pass as 'normal.' Nyah's shadow is autonomous and self-aware. Though it typically follows her around, Mal will also detach and wander of her own accord. She's restricted to within 200M of Nyah. Think of Mal as Peter Pan's shadow, capable of a lot more violence, play and mischief. Anything that happens to Nyah, happens to her shadow. The reverse is true, to a lesser extent. If Mal comes into contact with an ability that can damage non-physical constructs (often psychic injury, or light or energy related offensive abilities), Nyah's physical body is effected by half. Despite drawbacks, Mal is extremely useful. She acts as a double, or decoy, when Baird presents as a shade. In that form, the two are indistinguishable, exempting those with keen extra perceptive abilities. This adds an extra layer of confusion, and potential damage, to a fight. Mal can damage targets by attacking their shadows. The damage is then transferred to the associated physical body in the same way Nyah is hurt by injury dealt to Mal. Mal cannot directly interact with physical tools and elements, but can affect their shadows. For example, if Nyah is in a knife fight and the shadow of the knife is visible in some form, Mal may be able to take it from his/their attacker, which would result in what appears to be a floating knife. Often, the intense confusion caused by this is a winning advantage. However, she largely relies on the utilization of created shadow constructs.
Because Mal is autonomous, she's sometimes present for events or experiences which Nyah is not. Any experience or knowledge she gains is not shared by Nyah until the two reconnect. While she's entirely non-verbal, she does appear to understand speech and gesture, however. Classified as an elemental construct, she can be banished or captured by psychics or those with relevant abilities (case by case basis).Familiar — Ozymandias
Ozymandias, (King of Kings) as he fancies himself, is most often seen in the form of an ageless adult King Cheetah. Ozie has been with her since her 16th birthday, and will be until her death. While he is almost always with Nyah as long as the environment permits, he can be sent abroad to carry out errands, commands, or to spy. He is vain, particular, entirely unsubtle and often impractical, but deeply loyal to her.
History
From a nomadic Berber tribe outside Abuja, Nigeria, Nyah's mother was outcast for her magic. Enchanted with a comparably hedonistic world, she made a living selling Maita stones to fund an exceedingly vain and wildly unethical, but luxurious lifestyle. Kanaa had Nyah in her late 50s. Her father is unknown, though Nyah assumes he was probably 'chosen' for desirable traits; intelligence, attractiveness, latent or considerable magical talent. She assumes that, whoever he was, he probably didn't survive the ordeal. Kanaa didn't actually want a child, either. At least not in the natural sense. In her advancing age and due to her overuse (and sale) of her power, the benefit of longevity that is supposed to come with Maita work escaped her. She wanted a new vessel into which to 'relocate' herself. Rather than simply find one, she cultivated an ideal one within her bloodline. Enter, Nyah.She was six when she began tending her mother's shop. Kanaa's bound demon -then locked in the body of a frail old man who often posed as Nyah's Grandfather- lived with her in relative squalor in the storage room of the curios shop, while Kanaa occupied the decadent apartment above. Dantalian taught her the math necessary to keep books, and tutored her in general academia, reading, and writing in the slow hours. Nyah was too young to understand that this wasn't benevolence, so she attached herself to him in a way she did with no one else despite his lack of human warmth and kindness. It was beneficial to him. Hers was a mind easily molded to his interests, as she later understood. At seven or eight he began her magical tutelage, unbeknownst to her mother. Bred for this purpose, she had vast potential, even as a child. He taught her conjure sigils; he instructed her in the mixing of poultices and salves to lessen the pain of her bruises and speed healing; he woke her from her night terrors. She believed him her only friend.
Dantalian waited until she was ten to 'accidentally' leave out notes detailing what Kanaa planned to do with her daughter when she came of age, to ensure that Nyah was both old enough to understand, and adequately attached to him to make a permanent shift in loyalty. With their purposes aligned, she studied progressively more aggressive magics, risking much in order to be able to save herself and to free her perceived guardian from her mother when the opportunity presented itself. It'd be years of waiting, but the ordeal taught her patience, cunning and to think long term.
Beginning when she was twelve, her mother started to make adjustments to Nyah. She wasn't growing quickly enough, so Kanaa stretched her bones. Her nose wasn't fine enough, so Kanaa found her a new one and just... replaced it, like her daughter was a grotesque Mr. Potato Head. Enchantments were woven to keep the flawless pre-teen glow of her skin. She was little more than a hobbyist project, being prepped for eviction from her own body. She'd never considered Dantalian evil; without question, her mother was.
The pair made their escape when Nyah as fifteen, likely not a moment too soon. No adjustments had been made in months. Her mother was starting to look at her strangely. Greedy as ever, Kanaa had scheduled to perform two client bodily transferals in a week. Depleted after the first, she'd gone to rest and left the second empty vessel unattended. It was an excruciating, incredible struggle, but with Dantalian's guidance Nyah managed to transfer him to the empty body: a body not bound to her mother. Dizzy, disoriented and near passing out from strain, he got her upstairs to Kanaa's rooms. Instructed to replenish her energy by consuming her sleeping mother's soul, Nyah only managed half the extraction before she broke down crying. She couldn't do it. Still partly bound while Kanaa remained living, Dantalian was unable to strike the final blow himself. Upset with herself for disappointing him but unwilling to finish the job, they had to make a run for it before Kanaa stirred in what she assumed would be an abominable, cursed half-life. She has never known the fate of her mother. They ran and didn't look back.
Using the passport associated with Dantalian's new body, they set residence in Paris and acquired false papers and citizenship for Nyah. The pair also identified an exceedingly wealthy Frenchman they deemed expendable, and 'co-opted' his body for Dantalian. This netted them instant security, a gorgeous apartment in the 7th arrondissement and a thriving business. The new 'Yves Toussaint-DeVille' formally adopted Nyah, and had her name legally changed. He also called her a minor infernal to act as her familiar—a vain thing who called himself 'Ozymandias,' after Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem. She attended Le Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye for two years to finish her education. As a result of the holes in her learning she earned poor marks, but it did give her some basic exposure to how young adults her age were meant to behave. Four times yearly, she ate a soul—twice for her own magical enhancement, twice to continue building their wealth.
When business in Paris began to wane seven years ago, the pair packed up and moved to New Orleans. There, she, her unusual abilities and her curious ally quickly drew the attention of Erzulie Breaux. A clever woman more than capable of planning and putting long strategy into motion, Zee must have identified a valuable asset with a vulnerable psyche in young Nyah. Though welcomed to the coven, Zee let her stew for the first year, almost entirely un-utilized, before she approached Nyah and asked if she'd be willing to dip her toes in black conjure. Of course, Nyah leapt at the chance to use the skills for which she most valued herself, and to prove herself to the coven's dignified matron. In short order, she found herself tasked with a list of the darkest, morally tarred-and-feathered work the coven needed doing. Though quiet about it, Nyah had a few reservations. Dantalian was thrilled.
In Spring 2019 she got Dantalian a new body, in the form of a decorated Marine Recon Sniper returning home from Syria. Dantalian had read an article about him and, vain as ever, decided he would accept no other skinsuit. As part of her arrangement to provide for his needs, she couldn't refuse him. She contacted a local Maita for permission to hunt in his territory. He agreed, contingent on being able to perform the extraction of the soul for his own benefit and use. Nyah caught Sgt. Farraday in a bar, happily buzzed and throwing darts with friends. She actually felt a twinge of guilt and reluctance. After flirting, helping him stumble from the bar and dosing him with horse tranquilizer in a cab, she got him back to the hotel room where the local Maita had spent hours preparing the ritual and drawing sigils. It was a sloppy effort -she never would have been so amateurish- but Dantalian lived as Farraday for the following year. The sergeant was listed as a missing person in Tennessee, survived by a bereft family.
She'd taken dozens of souls by then, but none had made her feel so wretched. The feeling was significantly worsened when it became clear that the maita from Tennessee had not only done a poor job with his extraction—but the process had been incomplete. Fragments of Kelley Farraday's soul remained, surfacing several times a week while Dantalian slept. He'd wake, always believing that he'd just passed out in the cab a short while before. He'd treat her kindly, thank her for her hospitality, apologize profusely for being a terrible date and try to make a dignified exit. This quickly turned into a sort of living trauma loop for Nyah. She'd never had to so fully face the consequences of her magic before—but neither had she been treated so well, by a person with a good heart.
The ongoing ordeal forced Nyah to reevaluate her path. New Orleans was beginning to feel like a possible home. If she wanted to keep it that way -with any semblance of her own soul remaining- she'd have to adjust her behavior, starting with Sgt. Farraday.
In a rare (but hopefully increasingly common) show of heart and morality, Nyah killed him in the winter of 2021. Having come to care for him, and recognizing that he was far too good a person to be shackled to Dantalian while what splinters of him remained slowly wasted away, Nyah did her best to find a means of separation which would preserve Kelley's life and reconstitute him. None were available. She believes she acted mercifully. Dantalian was livid with her. She's defied their contract, so he did so in turn. He departed and has not been heard from since. She hopes -but is not convinced- that the change of circumstance is permanent.
Without Dantalian whispering the benefits of her continued investment in blackwork, the attractiveness of her association with Saint Marie took a sharp downturn. Erzulie would ask her to perform her usual functions, and with each task Nyah grew increasingly uncomfortable with her position. Out of residual loyalty or a strange variant of honor, Nyah refuses to speak of what eventually drove her from Saint Marie, though it's worth mention that she showed up at Lafitte's French Quarter Chateau in visibly abysmal condition in May, her proud but disheveled familiar limping in tow.
Miscellaneous
Likes
Dislikes
Skills
Brilliant actress and liar. Speaks Hausa, French and English fluently, and bad Tamasheq (Berber) from her early life. A fair hand at cooking (primarily Algerian and Moroccan). Wiz at mental math, small management skills and inventory. Skills she has 'stolen' via the consumption of souls include but are not limited to; amateur contortionism, extensive knowledge of gemology, knitting, motorcycle riding, a reliable green thumb, deep understanding of string theory, PhD level knowledge of German and Saxon folklore, oil painting, the history, career and stylistic thumbprint of Coco Chanel, shooting an insane game of pool, poker, tap and jazz, long distance running, and basic gymnastics.
Resources / Financial
Extremely comfortable. She’s not rich in the showy modern sense, but she has cultivated a large savings account, both from liquidating the assets (and bank accounts) of the bodies she has 'liberated' of their original legal identities, and from selling those bodies, her reassignment services, and Maita stones to wealthy clientele. She could fall off the grid for several years without sacrificing any of her luxuries.
Goals
Determine how (and if she truly wants) to separate herself from Dantalian. Dip her toes in what it means to be on the lighter side of the magical fence, or at least attempt it. Study the positive, or beneficial uses of Vodou. Expand her magical connections. Make a real live friend or two. Maybe.
Story Hooks
From an ooc standpoint, anyone wishing to change their character's PB and also make it a narrative element should see Nyah. She can get them a body of their choice for a price (generally a steep favor) as a highly tailored service, which is potentially fun for the morally murky. She also claimed allegiance to Erzulie's Voodoo coven until being sent to the Cirque as an emissary, or olive branch, of sorts. She may know some staff already from previous dealings, or may be useful in plot elements concerning local covens in the future. Dantalian is also a fun plot element - from helping with the education of new witches in the darker arts, to orchestrating tragic lives for his own means, or simply entertainment, he's a wildcard. Past that, he can simply double a PC or NPC character for drama of a different flavor. Although this isn't likely to come into play - Nyah can also 'gift' the abilities of a Miata to other practitioners via a stone, should they wish, and should she have the desire to share.
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