Cherry Simmons- Friend of the Dead

History:

Cherry is the second youngest member of the high-profile Simmons family, famous/infamous for their work in necromancy. Cherry was born with innate skill in this field, raising the dead with a mere touch since she was a toddler. Her powers have only grown since then, with her making a Death Knight at 8, summoning fearsome spirits at 12, and at 13, she had already made plans for becoming a lich and has displayed the power necessary to do so.

At 15, she dated Malcolm Barber for several months before driving him away by asking him to buy her a ring, something he interpreted as being far too binding. After this, she went on with her usual life, doing tasks for the Friends of the Dead organization, where she got a job at only 14. She has remained at that job since, ready to rise through the ranks once she becomes 18 and therefore eligible for higher positions.

Appearance:



Cherry is a Her hair consists of long, dirty blonde spikes that hang down the sides and back of her head and neck, and her eyes are the color of dried blood . When using her powers, her eyes glow green and her hair stands up, the effect becoming more noticeable the more power she's using. She always carries her custom cellphone, a pink android with two tiny skulls on an attached keychain and smells of deodorant and air fresheners over a very light scent of rot. Her taste in fashion is usually indicative of her self-image as a princess, often with a lot of pink and frills. A frequent accessory is a long pink scarf.

When expecting trouble or doing intense magical work, Cherry dons her necromancy gear. This consists of a tight but tough black layer that covers her from her chest to her thighs, about as long as shorts but leaving her arms bare except for the pink bracers strapped to her forearms. Her legs are defended by a skirt made of armored "petals" of metal, alternatively black and pink. Her head is topped with a hat that bends crookedly forward. Lastly, she ties a huge pink bow to her back.

Relationships:

Cherry lacks real relationships. She fills the void mostly with her undead minions. Foremost among these is Sherry, her little sister, killed in an accident. She loves her big sister regardless. Formerly loving her is Malcolm Barber, her ex boyfriend who dumped her after her clingy nature drove him away. Her only current friend is Victor Gratti, who she views as a worthy knight.

Personality:

Cherry is an odd, potentially unbalanced girl. She is highly pushy and authoritative, probably because undead (her only friends) are unquestioningly obedient. Besides that, she’s also oddly childish in some ways, having an almost fairy tale attitude to the world, where she’s the princess looking for her prince. This is part of her bizarrely Disneyfied view of the world, where good always wins and nature is good and friendly by default (the reason she's a vegetarian). She sees herself as a friend to nature, but most animals instinctively fear her, meaning she makes do with reanimated roadkill. Some of her worldview has faded with age and the responsibility of her job, 

Powers:

All of Cherry’s powers come from her magical talent. She’s strong in necromancy, but weak in basic spells.

Flight- Cherry can hover through the air at superhuman speeds with levitation spells. She does this to stay out of the range of attacking foes. However, she can’t lift others or carry heavy objects while doing so.

Necromancy:


Cherry is innately gifted in necromancy, and further training has enabled her with an insane level of mastery in this class of magic, with a variety of skills in the field.

Half-life- A defensive power. Cherry can briefly grant herself undead status, meaning she cannot die by normal means. While this makes her resistant to stabbings, decapitation, etc, she will need to be healed swiftly upon being returned to normal or she will die. She can also still be killed by means that other undead are, like fire and holy magic.

Harmful Hands- If a foe gets close, Cherry can make her hands deaden spots she touches. This is Cherry’s last ditch defense, and is highly slow acting. Deadened areas return to normal within a few minutes.

Blight- Cherry’s direct attack of choice. A bolt of smoky darkness that causes deadening of flesh in a small area. Mostly just painful and used to limit movement of limbs, but a lucky hit, such as directly to the heart or the base of the spine, can be instantly lethal. Dead flesh returns to normal over only a few minutes, but it can’t be magically healed.

Speak to dead- Cherry can use her cellphone to communicate with spirits of all sorts. She has a natural affinity for the undead, befriending even the most dangerous ones with perseverance.

Create undead- Cherry’s necromantic power is great enough that she can raise basic undead with no effort, simply waving her hand at a corpse (any species will do, but the power needed to raise increases exponentially with size) and watching it rise. Greater undead take a bit more effort to make, either requiring extra materials, an existing undead to upgrade, or special rites beyond the usual.

Basic Undead:

Zombie- Simple raised corpses with basically no changes, zombies are incredibly easy to raise but have severe drawbacks. They have no intelligence of their own, being driven entirely by Cherry’s will, and are extremely slow. They have impressive strength, but it doesn’t last, as their muscles going full blast all the time wears them down quickly, making them very temporary allies. They have enough mind to use simple melee weapons, but with no skill.


Ghoul- On the same level as zombies, ghouls are changed more than their slower brethren, stripped down for agility and given a feral appearance with claws and fangs. While much faster and a bit smarter with an animalistic cunning, ghouls are also far flimsier due to their lessened muscle. Ghouls are usually formed from those who were petite or thin in life.


Skeleton- Where zombies have strength and ghouls have agility, skeletons have durability. It is nearly impossible to destroy a skeleton, as their bodies can reconstitute themselves indefinitely so long as their skulls and ribcage aren't both destroyed. Smarter than zombies or ghouls, skeletons can properly use simple bladed weapons and even firearms. This greater intellect comes from having more magic focused on their mind than their streamlined bodies.


Greater Undead:

Ghast- To create a Ghast, Cherry needs an existing ghoul. She feeds it cursed flesh and it mutates into this matured form. A Ghast has the benefit of increased speed, strength, and agility, as well as a new power. The Ghast has a corrosive aura that stings eyes and flesh, growing stronger the closer somebody is. Over time, it can eat through armor and kill even superhuman fighters.


Wight- To create a Wight, Cherry splits open the chest of a thin corpse and directly curses their heart. This creates a spectral being that feeds off of the energy of others and can pass through walls. While powerful, a Wight loses its intangibility when in light and is extremely frail without its defenses. They die only if their hearts are pierced.


Barrow Wight- A special wight created to guard an area. Cherry must open the corpse's chest, just like with a regular wight, but then fill it with consecrated earth. The resulting specter has the same energy draining powers as a normal Wight but instead of passing through objects, it becomes a part of the earth, controlling an area and dominating it. It is not especially helpful as a general-purpose fighter, refusing to leave its location. They are only used as permanent security.

Bloodhulk- The largest undead Cherry is capable of summoning, the Bloodhulk is not something she even usually wants to, because it requires a massacre. Gallons of blood must have been spilled, with dozens of corpses scattered. Cherry must spread her power into it all, combining it into one titanic mass. The finished Bloodhulk is unmatched in strength and nearly invulnerable. While its only physical vulnerabilities are spells specifically against undead(healing included), this beast’s real weakness is in the difficulty summoning it. Not only are the required materials great, the process takes a long time and if interrupted, it all falls apart.


Death Knight- Potentially stronger than a Bloodhulk, but even harder to make, Cherry has a Death Knight on hand at all times. The Death Knight had to have been loyal to the necromancer in life, and Sherry, Cherry’s Knight, indeed was. Sherry is in fact Cherry’s little sister, fatally wounded in an accident when she was five. Cherry saved her the only way she could, creating a tiny powerhouse. While normally behaving like a regular five year old, Sherry has superhuman stats, along with sword skills she’s learned since her death. She also has an aura that empowers other undead and her eyes can fire beams that carry the chill of the grave, not physical but chilling the very soul of those caught in them.


Gear:

Bloody petals- Cherry's usual battle outfit. Nothing magical, but slightly armored to make Cherry take a hit just a touch better.

Custom phone- Cherry's pink android, decked out with a keychain carrying two skulls. While it has all the standard features of a normal cellphone, it also has the added functions of detecting ghosts and speaking to them.

Various surgical instruments- Some undead require certain parts to be accessed. There's also the sheer joy of exploration. Her surgical tools help with both, allowing her to cut through whatever bone she likes and get her magic where it's most needed.

Bleeding knife- A knife made specifically to draw as much blood as possible. Useful in creating Bloodhulks and when Cherry runs out of spray paint.

Spray paint- Used to make impromptu necromantic symbols.

Hand of Glory- A severed hand with a candle set inside. When lit by Cherry's magic, it produces light only she can see. Useful for crawling around in the dark if you don't want to be spotted.


Weakness:

Squishy wizard- Despite all her powers, Cherry is of little use in direct combat. She can’t take a hit and has no superhuman stats in general. She is limited to the role of support for her undead friends and any allies she has.

Theme:



Battle theme: