061 is a creature found in the magic polluted waters of the Dark Sea. Though it appears to be human at first glance, it seems to possess two snake tails rather than legs, which was a subject of interest. Very docile and obedient temperament, which made capture nearly effortless and without a struggle.
Tests reveal that there are high quantities of magic concentrated in 061’s scales, dark in color. When used as a reagent during the brewing process, the potion concocted granted the consumer a more diluted form of the subject’s magic.
Unknown if these scales can be renewed – if so, 061 will be kept here indefinitely, along with others like itself that will be brought to this compound in the future, as a source for potion ingredients.
OVERVIEW:
Name: Diane Darke
Title(s): The Obsidian Paladin/The Scaled Serpent
Build: Magma/Steel Paladin
Age: ???
Height: 6’10 standing, 5’8 slithering
Pronouns: She/any
Species: Anguiped (Top half human, bottom half snake)
Moral Alignment: Neutral Good
Origin: Dark Sea/The Epicenter
Status: Alive
APPEARANCE:
Pre-second awakening: Standing (albeit, wobbly) at a staggering 6’10, Diane sticks out in a crowd like a sore thumb. Her long, salt-encrusted hair covers her forehead and spills onto her shoulders and back like a thunder-filled cloud. She keeps most of her skin covered due to it being so prone to getting dehydrated, and what could be seen is covered in tiny scars with almost surgical -like precision. She wears a black blindfold over her eyes, and she says it’s due to their sensitivity to bright light. What’s curious is that she seems to see perfectly fine when underwater…
Post-second awakening: As Diane learns of her origins, she has learned to use her snake tails properly, and rather than try to mimic walking the way humans do, she has relearned how to slither on them. This reduces her height to 5’8. She’s cut much of her hair off and ties it up into a bun, and leaves a bit hanging out the bottom like a normal ponytail. She’s lost the blindfold too, in which her eyes are revealed to be completely black in colors, her pupils enormous and the whites of them only being seen when she’s looking far to the side. Her teeth are sharp and pointy due to her carnivorous nature, and her tongue is thin and forked. The scars found throughout her body were deduced to be where the Order extracted her scales, and here and there they’ve started to grow back, peppering her skin. She dons the Aereus set.
(placeholder before I draw a proper reference)
PERSONALITY:
Disposition: Despite being a fire-based magic user, Diane’s personality matches her magma magic quite well – mellow and simmering, she is easygoing and slow to anger. Speaking of slow, she… isn’t the brightest at times. She tends to do things at her own pace, which is more often than not much slower than everyone else’s, much to their discontent. When she does come up with a plan, however, she is uncommunicative and doesn’t disclose much of what she’s thinking, especially when other people could get hurt. So when she does carry out these plans, it seems like they were done on a whim and impulsively, even if the idea has been sitting in her mind for a while. Loyal to a fault, she comes off as clingy to those she adores and vindictive to those she holds a grudge to. Though it takes a lot for her to get riled up, she is as explosive as her powers when she’s enraged, but she is able to quickly cool down when presented with reason.
Fighting Style: Diane isn’t a warrior in the slightest, and although she hits hard, it would be a miracle if that hit actually were to land. Tanky and brash, she doesn’t bother to dodge and would rather power through the strikes, using that energy to charge up her heavy magma magic. Lots of AOE attacks rather than precise, articulated attacks. She makes obsidian shields to absorb any damage that comes her way, but they break easily.
Insanity: Diane has… episodes, for lack of a better term. Sometimes, she speaks of hearing melodic voices, calling out to her from far beyond the sea. Some nights, when she’s more restless than usual, she feels this overwhelming urge to be near the water, finding almost a homely comfort in the waves. Once, she had fallen over the rails, and had to be hauled back up by a fishing net. When questioned by Kenton, she swore that all she could remember last was getting into bed.
The worst of these episodes comes in the form of phantom pains. Due to her lack of scales (that she isn’t aware of at this point), she feels like there’s something missing from her body. She describes it as just the urge to claw at and tear at her skin, like trying to find something desperately within it and digging it out. Alternatively, it could feel like her scales were still there, but actually weren’t, and the sensation would cause her to want to pick at her skin. She diverts this urge by wearing armor that covers her skin completely, as well as gloves to cover her hands.
RELATIONSHIPS:
Morden: Instead of them forming a close friendship during their time in the Order’s captivity, due to Diane’s isolation from the rest of the prisoners (non-humans were probably kept in a separate facility so they don’t, yknow, eat them) she only had met Morden the moment they met on Dawn Island. He recognized her tattered clothing, and realized that she must’ve also escaped from where they were being held. Together, the two come up with a new name for her, “Diane.”
Iris: The two seem like kindred spirits, due to their magics being both fire-based. Although, Diane finds it difficult to keep up with Iris’s fiery disposition.
Edward Kenton: As her quartermaster and role model, Kenton has taken a fatherly role to his captain and teaches her the ways of the seafarer. She does a lot of braindead things, however, so he finds himself having to keep her in check.
Neviro: Diane finds Neviro’s lowkey personality very calming, and she enjoys talking to him. She asks him all about Winterveil and what it was like, a bit insensitively, but he always answers, as it helps him remember the good parts of his past rather than the bad. He may be the one who teaches her how to read and write in the future, as she is currently illiterate.
Elius + Carina: Something about them had stopped her from killing them off, going further than her more merciful personality. Maybe it’s the fact that they were more lowly in rank compared to Argos or Calvus, their faces uncovered and willing to confront her head on. Maybe she thought that they weren’t as far gone as they were, and wanted them to go free, to live out a life free of the Order’s reach. She thinks of them and their wellbeings often when sailing.
TRIVIA:
- Diane is illiterate – she cannot read nor write.
- She used to be a Melusine (twin-tailed) siren before 1.14 (The Dark Sea Update).
- This change was brought upon due to the choice of sirens in-game being depicted as more avian than piscine, and it didn’t seem like she would fit within the more Greek mythos influenced world.
- Additionally, I am currently taking a Mythology class, and that very same day I learned of the “Father of all Monsters,” Typhon. He had snake tails for legs, and was said to rule over volcanoes, so it seemed perfect to make Diane in his image. That way, her existence in the Arcane world seemed more plausible.
- Before that, even, she was a normal mermaid whose tail was split in two by the Order. This seemed too edgy and nonsensical.
- Her original name before I made her save file was “Obi.”
- I already had an original character back from 2021 named “The Obsidian Paladin,” completely isolated from AO. Her name was June and wielded glass magic, and served essentially as my herosona.
- Her hair was inspired by the Cookie Run: Kingdom character Caramel Arrow Cookie. I also have copper streaks in my hair irl, like the character.
- She is the third mermaid-like character I’ve created.
- Diane once bit the head off of a fish the moment after she caught it, right in front of Kenton. She stopped doing tha after she saw his face.
- There’s a rumor going around that after she killed Argos and Calvus, that she ate their bodies and essentially killed them for food.
- This is UNTRUE.
- I commonly depict her fighting with Elius, due to their almost completely opposite fighting styles and personalities.
- Though both fire-based magic users, lighting is quick and precise, magma is slow and all-encompassing.
- Diane’s eyesight above water would be about what humans see with a -5.00 vision, which is actually my prescription (help).
GALLERY:
In game avatar
no backstory, specific events, endings…