Sphinx OC Contest: Elise Norel

Name: Elise Norel

Age: 24

Sex: Female

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Race: Astomi

Race History: 

The Astomi were a nomadic scholarly people who traveled the world at their own comfortable pace in order to learn and discover new things and the mechanics of other peoples' cultures. Within their tribe the people were free to believe and practice whatever they liked as long as it caused no harm to their own or outsiders. They adorned themselves in animal pelts believing that no part of something they used should go to waste. From birth they covered their young in different pelts leaving only the leg area below the knees along with both hands all the way to the shoulders exposed. This was the attire for the entire tribe. Masks were worn by all who had finished puberty and deemed adults, these masks only showed the eyes and nose. This led people to think that the Astomi had no mouths and were extremely hairy or some type of furry two legged human-animal hybrids. Tribal and less educated pockets of people were avoided since they would mistake the Astomi for demons or other races and try to kill them. Certain mythical species hunted the Astomi for several reasons including sport, rituals, or fame. The most notorious groups to do this were adolescent Vampires and Yeti who sought Astomi to be the victims of their first kill rituals, only because they were considered rare. Astomi who had unlocked their True Scent (see Racial Abilities) always carried the object with them and given had been the duty to protect the tribe should any conflict arise. Astomi also smelled anything that was completely new to them in order to register its fragrance. By the distortion of interpretation strengthened by time it had become "known" that Astomi sniffed everything pleasant as a form of sustenance. Around 30 B.C Astomi began to wear the clothes of whatever region in the world they liked best unknowingly stopping their mythology from growing and expanding further. Tribe members also began to leave the group due to arguments concerning each others personal beliefs and how different situations should be handled, leaving only 27 middle aged Astomi, 16 women and 11 men, who decided to stay together and travel. Fourteen years later the 27 disbanded due to complications arising from old age. From that point on they slowly began to grow in number and spread worldwide and ironically decrease to almost nothing in mythical memory.

Racial Abilities:

Enhanced Smell-  Astomi have a sense of smell which is 300 times greater than that of a human being's with the base level being human. Through thought they are able to heighten and lower it to whatever level that is in their olfactory spectrum. Once they have smelled an object or living thing they will never forget its aroma. If directly face to face with something malodorous their super smell shuts off instinctively, resulting in a small headache. Nose shape plays an important role in determining an Astomi's scent range. Wider nostrils and longer noses result in a large scent area that is about 6 to 10 miles . Short and small noses have a range of around .5 to 5 miles.

Scent Sight-  By  taking in a deep breath through the nose Astomi can close their eyes and use this power to “see” everything that is around them. Detecting humans, wildlife, insects, and plants within ones immediate surroundings  can be easily accomplished by Astomi children. Thorough practice an Astomi can see for miles around since everything has a scent that is emitted by its entire surface. Colors and textures are are automatically  filled in by the brain. For variables in their sense sight, such as anything (humans, animals, buildings, cars, etc.)that they have not seen  or are not familiar with  will “see” the exact shape of the variable but it will have no textures and appear completely white.

Mythical Creature Detection- Due  to their magical noses the Astomi are able to smell when they have directly come across a person of any "mythological" race. This is odd because the majority of mythical beings give off a scent like any other person. To this day Astomi have been unable to explain this skill. It seems to simply be a bulletproof form of a developed genetic instinct. A  handful of Astomi are so naturally gifted in using this skill that they  can instantly tell what race the person belongs to.

True Scent- An  ability that is unique to every Astomi. In order to use this ability one must first find their activator. The activator is whatever object's scent triggers the power that normally lies dormant in an Astomi.  There  is no secret formula or method to know what it is and it can be absolutely anything they feels strongly towards. Hence the name True Scent was chosen since whatever category the activator falls into ( weapon, food, technology, etc.) is one an Astomi is truly passionate about or despises deeply. Obsessed Astomi will smell thousands of different things, while others simply stumble upon it by accident. Some never find their true scent. Every true scent power has a limit. The most common being time limits or being able to use your ability a certain number of times. Along with this setback there is also a down time where they are unable to use their abilities again. All usage time frames and refresh rates vary from person to person.

Astomi Link- Whenever an Astomi activates their true scent it is felt by every other Astomi who is alive. Each person's power gives the scent of whatever their activator is to the rest of their kind,. The link does not reveal anything else about the Astomi who has activated their true scent nor does it provide any sense of proximity to any of them. The link does notresonate when anything else happens to an Astomi.

Appearance: 

Elise stands at a solid 5'6 and weighs in at 140 pounds. Her thin, milk chocolate colored hair is cut short and stops at her neck. Medium length bangs run down her forehead meeting her thick arched eyebrows .Round, sharp hazel eyes rest in her diamond shaped face. Her nose has a long straight bridge ending at a soft point. Golden brown freckles lie all over her caramel skin with a large patch extending from her left shoulder to her collarbone stopping right before reaching her mid sized B cup breasts.With a build on the thinner side her body does not appear toned. Her arms, while possessing cuts and enough strength for her to easily lift 90 pounds, are thin and girly. She has broad shoulders and her body gets thinner until reaching her hips. Elise has a small but firm backside and powerful thick legs that are toned from hamstring to calf.

When it comes to clothing Elise will throw just about anything in her large clothes arsenal on, as long as the colors match. Her normal attire is always just a T- shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. On hot days she will normally wear flip flops and normal length shorts or dresses. She dislikes any clothes that are too tight or just don't feel comfortable to be in. There are times when she will go to the dark end of her closet and dig up her fancy belts, dresses, and high heels but only when there is a special or important occasion that she has to go to.

Personality:

Elise has a generally happy personality. Most people that meet her will believe she is shy because she is normally quiet and distant. While actually very talkative and outgoing she has a habit of only observing anyone she meets for the first time and sizing them up to see if the person is someone she will get along with. If they are worthy and pass her first test she then sees just how much of her constant talking, topic hopping, and rambling a person can handle. Being an only child of a single mother Elise gets attached to anyone she likes rather easily and will go out of her way to help her friends. Religion is something Elise stays away from seeing it as just a system that uses guilt and mob mentality to force people into adhering to a set of non logical rules set up by some divine deity. Politics is another subject she has no interest in, having concluded that no matter whether an elephant or donkey leads the nation her life will only be slightly effected if effected at all. Elise's personal beliefs come from one main source, elements of Objectivism that deal with focusing on oneself as an individual. While she does not agree with every aspect of Objectivism she does apply most of them to herself.  Humans and mythical beings are the same in her book in terms of equality although she is more alert around those who have magical abilities. Elise loves reading books on and about philosophy finding other people's thoughts on everything to be interesting, the only thing she reads more than philosophy books are any mangas of any genre that have a solid plot and fun characters. Solitude is a state that Elise is rather bad at dealing with when she has nothing else to focus on. When alone her mind always begins to wander to situations that she would rather not think of or things that make her worry. Sometimes it gets so bad that wondering what grade she got on one of her college exams begins to make her eyes swell with  heavy tears. To combat this Elise always keeps her iPod Touch close by using music to calm her mind.

Equipment: Small Canteen- A plain sliver metal canteen with a two ounce capacity. The lid has a chain attached to its sides. It is filled with homemade strawberry guava essence. Elise always wears the square container around her neck.

Abilities: 

Swimming- Swimming is Elise's passion. She has been on swim teams since the sixth grade. She is a speed demon in the water thanks to her powerful legs. This love has also given her an incredible stamina and incredible balance.

Botany- Elise is a master botanist and can identify a a large number of plant species anywhere in the world. Her main focus are edible herbs and plants that bear fruit and vegetables. She is also good at making natural remedies thanks to her mother teaching her and majoring in plant science.

Gymnastics- While not a fan of the sport Elise decided to take up gymnastics to be more aerodynamic and land correctly when using her True Scent. She has attended gymnastic classes for the last two years.

Unique Racial Abilities:

Enhanced Smell- Elise's smell range is approximately 5.2 miles. When Elise smells cooked foods she is able to sniff out the different ingredients that went into it.

True Scent: Heartstrings- Elise's True Scent activator is the fragrance of any type of guava. Heartstrings allows her to attach a thin string of energy emitted from her fingertips to any object. When she pulls on the string she can launch the object at a speed of exactly 104 miles per hour regardless of its size and shape. Objects that are buried in the ground or bolted down can not be manipulated. When she attaches a heartstring to something that is fixed it launches her instead, at the angle the string was attached. In the air Elise can make strings that do not need to be attached to anything and are 2 feet wide, allowing her to land wherever she likes. The maximum length of her ground and air heartstrings 30 feet. Her ability can only be used for 27 minutes and 16 seconds. Elise has to wait 4 minutes and 3 seconds before she can use this power again.

Biography: Elise was born in Oakland, Ca to an unknown father and her mother Cecilia Norel. They lived in "midtown"  which was a low class area filled with small apartments and a high crime rate. When she was 7 Elise's mother revealed their heritage to her, it had no major life changing effects on Elise. She would spend Monday through Friday afternoons alone until her mother got home from her job at the bakery at around 6:30. When she was ten she and her mother moved to Santa Cruz after saving up enough money for a small house. Her mother always let her be independent and choose everything from her own clothes to her  lifestyle believeing its best for one to find their own way. Elise found her activator at the age of 17 when she decided to drink a can of Kern's guava nectar for the first time. Elise is currently attending UC Santa Cruz for a bachelor's in plant science and living on campus enjoying college life.