Nyota_Clemens

Backstory:
Nyota Clemens was born on the edge of the AWF space. Her planet was seeded with life by two Fomoire (the highest social class of the Federation and almost godlike beings). The goal in mind of the two in creating two sapient species, the Painted Dogs, and their rivals the Phoenixes.

Nyota grew up in a tiny Painted Dog village. Its placement in one of the richest and fertile lands of the planet did not better its fortunes as the land was plagued by constant conflicts over the land, faith and cultural divides.

Eventually the conflicts and drought that lead to a famine caused the village and Nyota’s family to murder her albino brother. The brother’s body parts used in rituals for better fortunes and trade.

Nyota and two of sisters protests and shaming of the villagers for this atrocity made them pariahs in the village. The passive aggressive treatment of them eventually exploding into outright hostility when one day one of the villagers discovered that one of the sisters was practising witchcraft for a long time. A practice that turned from wishing to aid her people to wanting vergence upon them, despite Nyota’s attempts to guide her away from it.

Forced through many humiliating trials and rituals, Nyota and her sisters’ fates were decided. The witch would be beaten and burned alive in a ditch. Nyota and her other sister would be branded and exiled to the wild. Nyota and her sister barely survived in the desert before Phoenix slavers found and took them.

They were taken to one of the phoenix cities to be sold off. It was there that Nyota would be separated from her sister that she would never see again except for a gravestone later in life. Nyota’s life for most of her life was to be passed over from slave owner to slave owner like a prized rose. A prized rose that they found had painful stinging thorns whenever they tried tightening their grip on it.

After many years Nyota’s life as a slave ended when she arrived in a town that would soon afterwards abolish slavery. Nyota struggled with her newfound freedom as a witch doctor and comforter by day and night respectively. The freedom did little to heal the painful scars of the past from the physical such as one scar found on her belly to the emotional and mental as she struggled alone to make ends meet.

Her fortunes though turned when she met a strange male phoenix by the name of Ruan that travelled through the town. The phoenix offered her a dual partnership and ownership of a farming project he had planned.

At first, Nyota distrusted him, but his kindness, charm and respect eventually won her over. The two journeyed together to her homeland as an ideal location for the project with its fertile lands. They grew close together on the journey; to the point they had secret affections for each other but did not express them to anyone or each other.

When they arrived at their destination, the two worked hard on their farmlands. The project as planned expended into one of the most peaceful and prosperous towns in the region, and free from any government.

However, being back in her homeland again gradually ate away at Nyota’s mind. Her anger and hatred for the village and city that destroyed caused her and her lost loved ones’ lives still as fresh and raw as ever. When it became too much to ignore, Nyota decided to take up witchcraft. She, like her sister before her, used it in hopes of causing the demise of the village and city. Hopefully that it would settle the matter.

One of the Fomire was drawn to her rituals and prayers and it approached her as loa and promised her powers to get her vengeance. Initially she hesitated at the offer with consideration of what Ruan would have felt at her spilling blood personally, but she pushed it aside and accepted the offer.

With the powers granted to her, she destroyed her home village and the slaver city. The thirst of vengeance, however, was not satisfied with their destruction. Her rampage expended beyond them. It was only after the ruination of the great trade and supply chain that acted as the heart of the many empires and city-states that she tired of the violence and fearfully pondered on the implications of her actions.

When Nyoya returned home, she was horrified to find it was invaded and harvested by the AWF’s forces. The ruin and chaos she caused meant little resistance for the AWF’s forces Almost all resistance that could be rounded up on the planet crumbled before the ruthless invasion. Nyota made valiant attempts to fend off the AWF forces such as the Lazarus candidates, but ultimately it was in vain.

Much of the town was massacred and the survivors processed for either the Regen/Lazarus Project, labour or food. One of the ancient Fomoire, renowned for its exploration into other universes and timelines, took on Nyota after her transformation into a Lazarus candidate and gave her the name Clemens.

A fitting name as Nyota showed great contempt and nihilism after the enslavement, except Ruan who stayed by her side in the AWF. Centuries would pass, and in that time, Nyota became darker as a person.

Until the day she met a group of humans. These humans and their culture and spiritual beliefs somewhat reminded her of some of the better homes she had. Their stories of how they struggled to become better people with many deeds they were not proud of spoke to her. Over time, she found a home with these humans and the loa spirits they communed with. Nyota’s wrath, self-loathing and pain lessened as their nurturing bond helped her with coming to terms with her past and to become something better for her own sake.

With a newly found sense of purpose, Nyota aided Ruan in his founding of a secret network for dissenting elements from all levels of AWF society who tired of the Federation’s deplorable, decaying state. They became some of the key figureheads of the Zan, one of the major covert resistance groups that smuggled stolen and illegal stockpiles as well as sabotaged AWF security facilities.

The resistance groups sprang into action at the start of the AWF Civil Wars. They fought various factions over what remined of the AWF. Though Nyota struggled to keep their allies from turning on one another.

The greatest failure of which was when the Zan and Bulwarkers clashed over the fate of Dios. A lover of Ruan who was found to the commander who had overseen the massacre of Nyota and Ruan’s town. This battle levelled much of what was left of the capital of the Project Headquarters and the capital of the AWF. All sides of which were forced to flee the Federation space as the conflict rendered it unsuitable for any long-term habitation.

The Zan then travelled to other galaxies and other realities as they tried to recuperate and find a way of rejuvenating the AWF galaxies.

Over time, however, Nyota noticed a change in Ruan as time passed and they were no closer to completing their original goals. While he could be warm, kind and understanding to his friends and allies, those who betrayed them or stood in the way he showed a frightening coldness, ruthless and cruelty.

Nyota struggled to be the firm moral compass of the Zan. A struggle that became too much for Nyota when she broke down to Ruan and pleaded with him and the Zan leaders to change course. She reluctantly walked out on Ruan and the Zan when he could not answer her plead. A decision that left the Zan crippled and in a slow decline as Ruan spiralled into a deep depression while the other Zan leaders struggled with the void Nyota left. One of which was Charles, the third-in-command, who briefly took the role Nyota left before he left himself.

Nyota herself currently wanders the different realities, often setting up shop on or in the many places she travels through. She often aids others in spiritual or medical matters at half-hearted prices. Often always with a seeming reluctance in using her powers to save those in need.

Still within her is a few embers of kindness, idealism and hope. Hope that perhaps one day she could return life to her home planet and persuade Ruan to return to the farm with her and those she helped along the way.