Daniela Obrove is the fanciest mage you'll ever meet. Flashy, dazzling and dripping with confidence. She's never one to let a simple spell be just that. Some call her arrogant, but she always knows how to have a good time.
Well, Not exactly...
Pedigree. Ask any illustrious family of mages the secret of their power and they’ll freely tell you that it’s the nature of their birth. It’s simple really, magic is in the blood, so take two powerful magi and their child is likely to has even more innate talent than either of their progenitors. The great families of the magical world take this process to its logical conclusion, carefully planning marriages stretching back generations to make their bloodlines as strong and pure as they can, even using magical rituals and eldritch contracts to infuse more and more magical power into their blood.
This means in the magical world the further back one can trace their lineage the further they’re likely to go in mystical society. A magus with no background in magic can certainly become accomplished, but those with centuries of history to their family are the ones afforded the most opportunity and the most likely to become truly great. Common born mages insist that this is nonsense: that the most important things to mastering magic are training and knowledge and that pedigree has ultimately little impact, but they’re commoners, so of course they’d say that.
To this end was the marriage between the heirs of the Archibald family and Clan Obrove orchestrated. Both families can trace their magical lineage back into antiquity, with records so old it’s easier to simply lose track of their past than discover their origin, and have had each produced dozens of prominent wizards across the centuries. Such a merging was bound to propel their united house to the peak of the wizarding world. Daniela Archibald Obrove was the result of this union. The hope of two great houses and the culmination of nearly a thousand years of meticulous grooming. Her parents could not have been more disappointed.
It’s not that she wasn’t talented. Indeed, at birth it seemed like the Obrove family had finally crafted the perfect heir they had hoped for. She was brimming with mystical potential and lacking in any strange mutations or deformities that one might expect from such a heavily tampered with bloodline, not that that ever happens in the first place of course. The troubles were made apparent as Daniela grew older.
For starters, Daniela’s magic was wrong. Mages are born with a natural affinity for a certain type of magic. That doesn’t mean it’s the only type of magic they can do, but it’s the field they have the easiest time developing and this affinity will often dictate a magus’ specialization and career path in life. The Archibald family were famous for their elementalists, with nearly every member of their direct line sporting an impressive affinity for one of the four primary elemental forces. An elemental affinity is a noble and pure one, emphasizing power and raw mastery of magic and one of the truest forms of magic there is, according to the Archibalds. Clan Obrove was known for their tendency toward the magic of life and spirit, animancy and necromancy. Such power was a sign of refinement and elegance, for only the most deft of mages could muster the focus and mental dexterity to manipulate such ephemeral forces, as any Obrove was quick to point out whenever such a subject came up. Daniela’s affinity was for Artifice. The art of creating and imbuing objects with magical power.
The elders could all agree that Artifice was, of course, a fine profession. There were many successful alchemists and mystical tinkerers of much esteem. They also agreed that there was no way that a house like theirs could possibly have a common craftsman as their future head.
Simply sending her off to school and forcing her to learn a new field proved more difficult than anticipated too. Her entire childhood was spent drilling into her that she was destined to be the greatest mage of the century. That her bloodline was superior to all others. That people who were not of the Illustrious House of Obrove at best wanted to leech off her glory and at worse wanted to kill her out of jealousy for what she’d be. With such an upbringing, how could she possibly entertain the idea of going to any normal school? How could she learn from a tutor who was so far beneath her and quite clearly untrustworthy? She wouldn’t even go outside on her own, much less attend classes. The elders could only throw up their hands in frustration and wonder if they had perhaps instilled her with too much family pride… or if that was all just an excuse so she could spend more time surfing the internet.
In the end a decision was made to cut their losses. She was still the heir-apparent of House Obrove, but she was effectively abandoned and left to her own devices in one of the family homes in the city.
Introvert or not, sitting at home alone all day with nothing but the internet eventually got boring for the budding magus. She still refused to go outside, it was dangerous out there after all, but she was curious nonetheless. So, she started sending out familiars. Small magical constructs whose eyes she could see through like a television station whose camera she could control. That wasn’t good enough though, and eventually an idea came to Dani.
Using her affinity for artifice and several helpful guides on the internet, Daniela carefully constructed a homonuclus: an artificial human designed in whatever image she imagined. She meticulously built the perfect girl in her mind’s eye, but stopped short of giving false life to her creation. Instead she projected her own mind and spirit into the vessel. She blinked, and when her eyes opened again she was looking at herself and wearing the form she had so carefully created. This was her solution. An artificial body, her consciousness transported into it. She could see the world, explore and interact and whatever else she fancied. all while her real self is carefully tucked away in her home. Protected by locked doors and all manner of magical alarms and traps and seals. Even if something bad did happen to her while she was out there, repairing or replacing a lost vessel would merely be a matter of expense instead of life or death.
Since then she’s crafted more homunculi for herself. Each with their own unique look and identity for her to adopt and wear at her leisure. After all, why settle for just being herself – the failure of House Obrove – when her magic lets her be anyone or anything she desires?