Name: Pax Celestine
Age:unknown though appears to be modeled after a 13yr old
Gender: None, though appears and identifies as female
Species: Living Doll
Height: 28 inches
Bust: B cup
Weight: approx. 5lbs
As her name indicates, Pax was originally created to be angel of peace among her kind; a race of sentient dolls created to rid their world of an evil tyrant and her vast armies. Ironically, betrayal and rage has turned her once pure white feathers into black wings of terror. Betrayed, bullied, tortured, and nearly slain at the hands of her own kind, Pax has changed deeply as a result. Her silvery hair, its glow now faded, is all that remains of her once kind, gentle, loving former self. Despite her desperate need to feel loved, Pax has become a creature of cold hearted cruelty and rage. Her obession with revenge and thoughts of her creator are nearly all but consuming to the doll. Pax has no regard for the lives of others; least of all, the lives of those who get in her way. She delights in both the physical and psychological pain and suffering of others, especially those of her own kind.
Pax Celestine belongs to a race referred to as "Living Dolls;" however, this is a misnomer. They are intricate mechanical dolls made with clockworks, ball joints, glass, and hard plastic coated with a flesh-like rubber resin. For aesthetic purposes the Doll Maker, or "Father" as they have come to call him, modeled the dolls after girls aging in range from six to fifteen years of age; regarding them as his own daughters, lacking a family of his own. What makes these dolls "Living" is the creation and imparting of an artificial soul to these dolls. The Doll Maker made these dolls with such care and devotion that some would become sentient, a few would even learn how to move and speak of their accord. This existance was fleeting, the dolls' spirits were not able to sustain themselves and would slowly fade over time. The Doll Maker was moved by the love his creations felt for him and created a vessal which was to contain and preserve these fragile consciousnesses. Thus, the artificial soul was created. The artificial souls were power artifacts which even the Doll Maker did not fully understand. Once bonded to a doll, they would then grant that doll powers and abilities which reflected that doll's soul. The stronger more intense a soul, the greater the strength of the powers given. Though the Doll Maker did not understand how this was possible, he did see how his daughters could aid the greater good and free his people from oppression and tyranny. Through the love and adoration of his daughters, the Doll Maker became a sort of demi-god; his spirit continuing his work long after his death, creating more dolls and granting them artificial souls.
Other then when they are sleeping, the dolls are conscious and aware of what's happening around at all times. However, their movement is governed by their clockworks, which must be wound with a key every half-hour to allow the dolls to move. With the aid of medium, the situation changes; by feeding off of a medium's spiritual energy, the dolls can somehow keep from winding down. However, this requires a doll to remain in close contact with her medium, straying no further than forty feet from the individual or risk winding down and becoming immobile, trapped within her own body. A medium is a being with sufficent spiritual energy and who willingly enters into contract with a living doll. This is done by kissing the ring on a doll's finger, creating an identical ring on the medium's finger. The rings act as the spiritual bridge between the two, allowing the doll to gently feed off medium's energy as needed; in return the doll will protect her medium, and in many though not all cases, act as the medium's servant. Under most circumstances, the medium feels no effects as the doll feeds from them; though this changes during intense combat where a doll may chooses to use their medium's energy to increase the strength of their powers. During these moment the medium will notice that the ring become incredibly hot; after prolonged duress, the medium will experience weakness and fatigue as their strength is sapped from their aura. In extreme cases, this can result in the medium's spiritual energy being depleted and their soul starts to be consumed; the medium can survive only a few minutes of this before their soul is consumed, resulting in the death of the medium. Their soul permantly becomes a part of the doll's soul, their body burns to dust in blue flames and the ring disappears from their finger. The medium is unable to remove the ring to prevent this without removing their finger as well, only the doll with whom the contract is made can remove the ring. Considering all this, mediums are chosen carefully, though exactly how is uncertain. What is known is that some quality of the medium's own soul in some way resonates with that of the doll's artifical one, and that medium will always first find the case containing the doll under mysterious circumstances.
When a doll is without a medium for whatever reason or simply when they wish to rest, she will sleep. Normally, this is done in the doll's case. The cases all appear to be made of mahogany wood, with gold hinges and the gold crest of a gryphon under a crescent moon in a ring of stars inlaid in the center of the lid. Inside the cases are all lined in pillowy, quilted silk. Crimson in color, the silk is a stark contrast to the pale white skin of the doll and the platinum key to wind their clockworks. There are no latches or locks to these cases. These cases are bonded to an indiviual doll's soul; and though every case is identical to all the others, each doll knows which belongs them and will use no other. The cases serve not only to contain the dolls, but their memories as well. Sleeping within their cases is a sacred ritual to a doll; and while they dream, their memories are replayed for them, allowing them to connect the past and present. A doll may sleep outside their case, but doing so eventually wears away their sanity and identity as they slowly lose all sense of who they are.
To the dolls, everything they have is a gift from the Doll Maker, the one the call Father; as such, every gift is jealously guarded and held with reverence. Not all living dolls, however, have such gifts. Among the dolls, there are three distinct groups: the Maidens, the Broken, and the Unfinished. Most notable are the Maidens, these are the fully constructed dolls with their outfits and artificial souls. They consider themselves superior to the other dolls and look upon the non-Maidens; some with pity, and some with contempt. The Broken are fallen dolls, that is to say, any doll whose case, artificial soul or part of their body is lost or detroyed. Those whose artificial soul was taken form them have the kindest of fates, they slowly wind down and become mere ordinary dolls. Those whose case is lost or destroyed lose their sense of self and slip into madness, some are harmless while others become a danger to all. It is not immediate, their mental anguish going on for days, sometimes weeks before succumbing to insanity. Perhaps the most pitiful among the Broken are those Doll who have lost a part of their bodies or suffered irrepairable damage. Dolls of this sort who manage to survive become inconsolable. They consider themselves imperfect and nolonger worthy of their Father's love; in their eyes having been made into junk or trash, suitable only to be discarded and thrown away. They live out their days in misery and sadness; some even going to the point of destroying themselves or their case, preffering death and madness over the insufferable feeling of worthlessness. Last but not least, we come to the Unfinished and as their name suggestest, they are incomplete dolls. The Doll Maker would occasionally lose sight of his inspiration for a doll, or as artists sometimes are, was compelled by another source of inspiration to move on to a new creation, never to return to an old one. Normally, this would be of little concern as most of the Living Dolls did not achieve consciousness until after they were completed. On rare occurances, an Unfinished Doll would be crafted with such care and detail that they would awaken despite their state. Such dolls would wander searching for their father, desperately seeking help and their creator's love. Without an artificial soul, these poor creatures' would eventually disappear, leaving them again lifeless. Sometimes an Unfinished doll would manage to linger on for weeks or months before ceasing to be. The Maidens tend to look more upon the Unfinished with a sense of pity. Many will take such a doll and try to make their existance, however short it may be, as comfortable and pleasant as possible. Some Maidens however, will be merciless to these poor unfortunates; considering their incomplete state as proof of their unworthyness for their Father's love, why else would He have left them that way.
Among all of the Living Dolls, Pax Celestine is unique; and it is this uniqueness which is the source of her betrayal and maltreatment at the hands of her sisters. Physically, at a height of 28 inches, Pax is taller than any other Living Doll by at least 4 inches; and at only 5lbs, she is also among the lightest. But what makes Pax Celestine truely unique among Living Dolls is that she is an Unfinished Doll whom also posesses an artificial soul. Originally, she lacked this all important gift, as artificial souls only went to completed dolls. When Pax first awakened, she was on a shelf; her upper torso, lower body and costume had all been designed. For whatever reason, the Doll Maker adandonded Pax's designs and never constucted her clockworks or mid-section; so consequently, she has no matching key either. Eventually, a Maiden found Pax and took the Unfinished Doll under her wing. With no mid-section, Pax could not keep her upper torso in place and walk without falling over. The Maiden helped her to eventually learn how to walk without falling apart. It came to pass one day that the tyrant's army came to the village where the Maiden and Pax were staying. During the fight, Pax's costume was sliced clean through the mid-section, causing Pax to collapse in pieces. Pax called to the Maiden whom she trusted for help, but was met only with a glare of shame and left abandonded in her misery by that very Maiden. As Pax lay on the ground, literally beside herself, her consciousness beginning to fade away; she cried out. Pax called out called out the very name of her Father, praying for His help and love. Long since dead, the spirit of the Doll Maker was moved by Pax's devotion to him even as she lay on death's door. Out of respect for that devotion, He granted Pax an artificial soul and repaired her costume. This act of mercy served not only to deepen Pax's devotion to the Doll Make, but also to fuel and justify her rage at the Maidens for abandoning her.
Now, after recieving the artificial soul, Pax's incomplete state had both certain advantages and disadvantages. Lacking clockworks, Pax is able to continue moving without the aid of a medium with no fear of winding down. She has no winding key to gaurd and protect, and not requiring a medium means that she need not worry about protecting or serving one either. She must however, carefully guard her vulnerable mid-sections, lest she be severed and made powerless; this is something she fears greatly and as such avoids close quarters combat except as a last resort or is she's convinced her opponent is helpless or easily deafeted. The drawback of all this is that Pax must still obtain spiritual energy to use the majority of her powers. While she does have the option of forming a contract with a medium, she generally prefers not to, and so is forced to obtain energy by some other means. Over time, she has learned two methods of doing this: having her wings consume the entire body of another living being; or, as in the case of mediums, magically capable beings or other living dolls, she may directly extract and crystallize the soul of her victem after they have been physically weakened. Once crystallized, a soul looks like a piece of rock candy, just slightly bigger than her own hands. After she has consumed a crystallized soul or entire being, she can store the energy and expend it as needed to use her powers.
In terms of powers, in Pax's case; other than flight, the rest of her powers manifest and express themselves using her wings. In fact, Pax's wings exist solely as a result of her gaining her powers from her artificial soul.
