Mariska, as she claims to be called, appears to be a twenty-to-thirty-something female of ambiguous race and species. She's short and thin, with bright yellow eyes, but beyond that her appearance is unknown, as she usually keeps every inch of her body under heavy wrap.
Towards apparel, Mariska's more iconic items include a heavy green travelling cape, long and thick enough to conceal her entire body by default and complete with a large hood. She also wears a blank full-face mask at all times, which she is very protective of.
Beneath the cape, the sorceress wears a green tunic and leggings, overlain with leather and thin silver armor around her torso. She also possesses matching gauntlets and boots, complete with various points and claws for aesthetics.
Mariska can be best described as an impish, self-serving maverick. She's cheerful and fun-loving, but she does what she wants, takes what she pleases, and generally works to avoid any consequences that may ensue from her selfish actions. While she is a very social creature, and seems so friendly at a glance, Mariska is very manipulative and otherwise slightly condescending to all but the most powerful (or immediately threatening) beings.
In conversation, Mariska tends to verbally play with people and disarm them with what she probably thinks is natural charm, though she often just comes across as being a bit strange. She enjoys a laugh, is curious by nature and can seem almost flirty at times. If she likes a new acquaintance enough and doesn't have anything more interesting to do, she might even try to tag along on their adventures.
Conventional morality rarely seems to apply to her actions - she has placed people's lives in jeopardy in order to satisfy or protect herself, and takes a fairly mercenary approach to choosing sides in a conflict. Her actions tend to run the gamut from simply amoral to quite plainly evil, with no real pattern. However, she's not unwilling to provide favors for people she likes, and can sometimes be persuaded (or forced) into taking up more noble causes. Her mindset for decision making can usually be summed up as 'which one is more fun/profitable'?
-Equipment-
She carries little in the way of equipment. The most she wears is a simple belt ringed with assorted pouches and bags, generally holding odd trinkets – including a small collection of crystal shards that can be tuned with black magic.
-Abilities-
Mariska is a sorceress, and one that prefers to flee rather than fight openly. Her favorite ability is a short-range teleportation spell she calls 'blinking'. The exact parameters of this ability are vague, save that it happens in a spit second and is usually accompanied by a rather unsubtle puff of magical fallout. She can bring people and objects along for the ride through physical contact, but this trait is a double-edged sword – She'll be hard-pressed to get away from a pursuer quick enough to grab her when she teleports; and if she is somehow bound to an immovable object, she will be unable to escape altogether.
On the few occasions when she is forced into a fight, Mariska's preferred method of magical attack is to focus dark energy into a flat disc with serrated edges, and rev it into a eye-watering spin before flinging the ensemble like a discus. This razor projectile is capable of seriously maiming most light targets and even severing limbs, but generally just deflects against any hardened armor or serious magical defenses. She'll also use the magicraft weapon as a hand-held tool for cutting things – focusing the speed further for an even better result on shearing through soft materials like wood.
Beyond her favorite tricks, Mariska holds a lengthy resume in the various arts of 'black' magic - illegal or forbidden aspects of magic that include demon summoning, necromancy, mental manipulation, and all manner of curses, hexes and harmful wards. She also keeps a selection of spells with much more outlandish effects 'for a rainy day'.
The sorceress' past is full of contradictions. Reports about the name Mariska have stretched back centuries, and no two accounts are ever the same. Sometimes it's a strange old hag in the dark forests, others claim she was the suave, youthful member of some long-gone kingdom's royal court. Some records give the name to a villain, others to an unexpected giver of aid to some hero.
Theories created by people who actually worry about things like this tend to fall into two camps: The first is that 'Mariska' is a legacy; a persona worn by countless women over the generations. The other is that Mariska is immortal, or at least a practitioner of artificial immortality – a practice thoroughly condemned by most religious and magical institutions. Whatever the truth, the sorceress herself only gives disparate, teasing hints when she feels playful.
