Pyriel Moore

"Evil deserves punishment. Simple as that." ― Pyriel summarizing her modus operandi

=Character= Pyriel Moore is a long-standing member of the Templars. She serves primarily as a front-line combatant against malicious supernatural entities, and is sometimes called upon for interrogation or "redemption" of their human followers. She is best categorized as a battlemage due to her balanced mix of melee and magical attacks.

Appearance
A fairly tall woman, Pyriel appears to be in her young to mid thirties. She has somewhat angular features and a chalky complexion that sharply contrasts her omnipresent black eyeliner. Years of swordplay and foot travel have furnished her with a rugged and sturdy physique. Her hair is straight, shoulder length and deep red. Due to physiological side effects from blood magic study, her eyes are a near-perfect match for her tresses.

When on duty for the Templars, Pyriel wears an archaic-looking and weather-beaten suit of heavy leather armor. A sash bearing the Templar cross is worn at her left hip, over which is sheathed a battered but sturdy longsword. The sword hilt is engraved with a small image of the Rebis, a figure commonly seen in old alchemical and magical texts. As she is unwilling to show vulnerability during her down time, Pyriel's preferred off-duty attire consists of aramid fiber t-shirt and jeans, spiked wristguards, buckled leather boots, and a pair of iron handcuffs hooked to her belt loops.

Whether in combat or casual wear, Pyriel carries a small rucksack occupied primarily by an ancient-looking tome of blood magic. The remaining space is taken up by a leather bullwhip, a coil of braided rope, ritual candles and various portable essentials for survival in the field.

Personality and Demeanor
Pyriel doesn't seem particularly concerned with presenting herself as warm or approachable, and friendly banter is clearly not her forte. At social gatherings she tends to lurk in the background with a dour expression and crossed arms. Though she'll interact with most people who approach her, she has been known to shut down conversations or refuse handshakes if she suspects insincerity or ulterior motives are at play. If she believes she might identify well with someone, however, she may be the first to break the ice.

While strongly motivated to carry on the Templars' crusade against evil, Pyriel often struggles with a conflict between her drive to protect the innocent and her cynical attitude toward human beings in general. She often muses that humanity has grown unacceptably selfish and shallow, worthy of protection and penance in equal measure. She praises the denizens of Darkside as "genuine", a persecuted minority in an increasingly image-obsessed world.

Strengths and Weaknesses
As a soldier of the Templars, Pyriel's talents are primarily martial. Trained in the Crucible, she has over ten years of experience in classical European swordsmanship, as well as creative utilization of the bullwhip. She has studied blood magic for about the same length of time, but her spellcasting lagged behind her melee aptitude until early in the year 2012, when she received the blessing of the bees. She has since has employed an array of life-draining techniques that weaken and immobilize her enemies while bolstering her own strength and stamina.

On the other side of the coin, Pyriel's personality makes her a dreadful diplomat. She is poorly adaptable to plans involving subtlety or deception rather than brute force, and she often has difficulty setting aside personal conflict when working with individuals outside her society, particularly if a non-Templar attempts to assume a leadership role. Like many of her brethren, she has no compunction about causing collateral damage in pursuit of her primary goals, behavior that others might see as cold and insensitive.

Likes and Dislikes
As evidenced by her bearing and battle accessories, the purveyance of punishment ranks highly on Pyriel's list of preferred activities. While off-putting to polite company, her proclivities do seem fitting for her preferred haunts; she'd much rather hang out in decrepit back alleys and basements than well-maintained parks and penthouses. While responsibilities require occasional visits to the upscale and unsullied Templar headquarters, the dirty shadows of Darkside are much more her style.

In her interactions with others, Pyriel values forthrightness, loyalty, open-mindedness and capacity for self-sacrifice. Conversely, she dislikes anyone who comes across as selfishly motivated, deceptive, overly image-conscious or fixated on climbing the social ladder. Fervently opposed to the Illuminati and their methods, she is unapologetic in her hatred for anyone who claims membership to their society. Lacking information about the Dragon, she has yet to form a strong opinion about them.

Where simple comforts are concerned, Pyriel is fond of unsweetened hot tea, Haitian vegetable cuisine (with extra peppers), leather throw blankets and rainy weather. She dislikes alcoholic beverages, sweet foods, most current popular music and brightly lit locations.

Reputation
Among her fellow Templars, Pyriel is simultaneously praised for her accomplishments and criticized for the manner in which she presents herself. She is particularly lauded for surviving a number of dangerous assignments prior to the year 2012, when those blessed by the bees became significantly harder to kill. Unfortunately, her tenure and talent do not discourage the bandying about of unflattering adjectives in water cooler talk. Depending on who you ask, she is variously labeled as creepy, callous, standoffish, intimidating, shabby-looking and perverted.

Among assorted dark entities and cults, the "Sanguine Swordmistress" moniker is not one to be taken lightly. While she doesn't always win her chosen battles, Pyriel is well known for her persistence in striving to eliminate evil; she is unlikely to abandon a target after a failed attempt.

=History= Pyriel's history is divided into two curious halves. From a point beginning a few months prior to her recruitment by the Templars, her record is a completely open book. Even the most novice stalker could dredge up the tiniest of details, from her various assignments around the globe to her preferred partners at a Darkside brothel. For years prior to 2002, however, not a single shred of information can be found.

Before Year 2002
Nothing is known about Pyriel's early life beyond vague statements from the swordmistress herself, and it's not a subject she is particularly fond of discussing. When pressed on her reasons for joining the Templars, she sometimes alludes to a past tragedy that affected her life in two significant ways. Firstly, it opened her eyes to the reality of supernatural phenomena. Secondly, it instilled within her a desire for self-betterment, as had she been stronger at the time, the crisis may have been averted. She refuses to share further detail on the specifics of the event, and quickly becomes angry if the topic is harped upon.

There are no financial, medical or government records pointing to the existence of a "Pyriel Moore" prior to the year 2002. It seems obvious that she changed her identity and sought assistance in eliminating all documentation of her past, possibly from the Templars themselves. There is no glaring reason why she'd go to such lengths to erase her history, though some have speculated that she wished to see the aforementioned tragedy -- whatever it might have been -- completely lost to time.

Year 2002 to Present
<p style="text-indent: 15px">Pyriel's documented history begins on May 21st, 2002 in the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts, USA. In the early hours of an otherwise uneventful evening, a bolt of dark magic ripped through a quiet neighborhood and, with a sound that set off a chain of car alarms and yapping dogs, severed a branch from a rather large maple tree. The locals said it was lightning, not realizing that a certain redheaded resident was actually to blame, one who had recently withdrawn a number of occult books from the local library. Through research, obsessive perseverance and a bit of blind luck, Pyriel had managed to cast a spell.

<p style="text-indent: 15px">While a tiny blip on the supernatural radar, the burst of magical energy was just enough to catch the attention of the secret societies, and it wasn't long before the offending spell was traced to its source. Due to the proximity of Massachusetts to New York, the Illuminati were the first to send a recruiter to the would-be occultist's residence. At the time, Pyriel looked to be around the age of the average college girl, so the silver-tongued spokesman delivered the standard sales pitch for her demographic. Promises of wild parties, celebrity status and access to every forbidden recreational substance she could imagine ... after all, what typical twenty-something wouldn't want to live the life of a rock star? Surprisingly, the proposal went over like a lead balloon, as Pyriel retaliated with a tirade against the Illuminati and everything they stood for. The discussion grew heated, but the raised voices led to a concerned check-in by Pyriel's landlady, and the recruiter left in peace.

<p style="text-indent: 15px">The Templars made contact several days later, and their proposition was much better received. Pyriel quickly identified with their mission to stem the tide of unearthly evil, as well as their "old school" sense of order and mutual loyalty. Before the day was done, she purchased a plane ticket to London, where she quickly settled into a new life and has since resided. Over the years, she has trained diligently in the Crucible and accepted increasingly difficult assignments to suit her growing strength, though for nearly a decade, her magical skill did not progress much further the rudimentary spell she fired off in Hyannis.

<p style="text-indent: 15px">Whether the encounter with the buzzing bee was fortune or fate, only Gaia knows for sure, but the heightened magical capacity has only increased Pyriel's desire to fight for the Templars' cause. Of course, the price of evil's penance has been inflated in kind ...

=Trivia=


 * While not religious, Pyriel seems to have some interest in angels and similarly depicted figures, as evidenced by her choice of forename and the winged androgyne engraved on the hilt of her sword. She often researches the subject on her visits to the Temple Club library.
 * For reasons unknown, Pyriel has placed a protective ward on a small pharmaceutical shop in Darkside. She visits the shop at least once a month to make purchases and verify that the ward is still in place.
 * Every now and again, Pyriel wanders into the rainwater drainage tunnels feeding into the Bazalgette. Nobody is entirely certain what she does down there, nor are most people particularly interested in finding out.