whomthebelltolls | App to aefenglom

Player Information
Name: Reslari
Age: 29
Contact:

Reslari | Reslari#9561 on Discord
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information
Name: Lady Maria (of the Astral Clocktower)
Canon: Bloodborne
Canon Point: At her true death in the Hunter's Nightmare, when the good hunter kills her and frees her from it.
Age: Unknown. She's an adult, certainly, but indeterminate otherwise.
History: The Wiki is useless unless you want fighting strats for her, so I'll lay out what we know:

A long time ago, there were Great Ones, which are basically Lovecraftian Elder God things, and there were Pthumerians, some kind of a precursor race/civilization that attended to them, and built catacombs to house the Great Ones and their Kin. Eventually the Pthumerians became Kin of their own right. Those that didn't die to a strange scourge that turned a lot of them into beasts.
Most of the Great Ones ascended to a higher plane of existence, but some of them stayed, or were left behind on our plane of existence.
Eventually, humans from a college called Byrgenwerth, near a town called Yharnam, discovered the catacombs, and one of the left-behind Great Ones, and thought to use it to ascend themselves and humanity to a higher plane of existence. Maria was one of these scholars.
Maria was born in Cainhurst, which is dominated by a giant, old medieval-style stone castle. The "Lady" title is rather literal - she's a "distant relative" of the Queen Annalise, which makes her some kind of nobility, as does the fact her family could afford to send her to an institute of higher learning.
At some point, someone brought some of the Blood from the catacombs to Cainhurst and gave it to the Queen. This created the Vilebloods, which are basically the Gothic Victorian Vampires to Yharnam's Gothic Victorian Werewolves. Maria is likely a Vileblood herself, and may even have been the one to bring the Blood to Queen Annalise, though it's unclear.
The Scholars continued to explore the catacombs, but also began to experiment with the blood they were given from the Great One they found left behind, and the Old Blood they had found deep within the labyrinth. Eventually, those experiments started to turn the people into beasts.
Hunters were formed to Hunt the beasts. They were pupils of a Scholar by the name of Gehrman, who taught them to fight with light armor and quick movements and "trick" weaponry (weapons that had hinges or clasps that could make them slightly different weapons to make them more versatile). Maria is said to have a great respect for Gehrman "unaware of his curious mania".
So they hunted under cover of night, and tried to dispatch the beasts quickly and quietly, but the Scourge continued to spread.
Eventually, a Great One's corpse washed up on the shore of a Fishing Hamlet near Yharnam. Byrgenwerth dispatched Gehrman, Maria, and perhaps some others to the hamlet once word reached them. The contact with a Great One - and the parasites she carried - had changed the residents. So it was their job, as scholars, to figure out what had happened. For science.
In short, they massacred a great number of the villagers - and not just massacred them, they desecrated their corpses by prying open the skulls and searching the inside for eyes. They also discovered the Great One had been pregnant, and they took her orphan with them, likely killing it in the process.
At some point, Maria realized what was going on, and lost her stomach for it. Whether it was her bloodlust haze lifting, or her conscience clawing its way to the surface, when they were done with the Hamlet and back on their way with the Orphan of Kos, she dropped her beloved sword - Rakuyo - down a well and abandoned it there.
The actions of the scholars sparked an enraged curse from the infant Great One, and from the people in the Fishing Hamlet. They cursed the "Byrgenwerth Scholars... blood-crazed fiends..." so that every Hunter after them would eventually give in to their own bloodlust, thus creating the Hunter's Nightmare, a sort of Hell for Hunters.
Since she had given up her Hunter lifestyle, it would seem that she took to caring for the patients of the experiments from the Byrgenwerth Scholars, and eventually of the Healing Church, which at that point was starting to separate from the rest of their Byrgenwerth fellows under a scholar named Laurence. The Healing Church would eventually become the great ruling body of Yharnam, known for administering blood which, when imbibed, could heal any disease, and cure any injury.
Maria died, eventually, and was buried next to the Hunter's Workshop. This seemed to really spark a sort of madness within Gehrman, who had possessed that "curious mania" toward her, and he stopped hunting, sequestering himself, building a Plain Doll in Maria's image, and eventually losing himself in the Hunter's Dream, becoming its steward.
But Maria had been cursed, so of course while she was dead in the waking world... that didn't mean she was free of the burden of her sin. She was trapped in the Hunter's Nightmare. There, she cared for the malformed patients of the Church's and Byrgenwerth's experiments. They seemed to think very highly of her and called out to her, and apologized for failing.
And she shackled herself to the duty of protecting the Astral Clocktower so no one could see the secret that lay beyond it; the Fishing Hamlet she and her fellow Scholars had sacked and desecrated, and the source of the Hunter's Nightmare.
There she stayed, for untold years, until the Good Hunter - the player-character shows up. She tries to stop the hunter, to no avail, not even a fight to the death, but upon defeating and killing Maria in the dream, the Doll remarks that she senses some kind of heavy shackles have been freed from deep within, and so Lady Maria's duty, and her story, can be considered complete.

Personality: "Oh I know very well how the secrets beckon so sweetly."

Maria's story is one of immense guilt, and that affects a lot of what she does. It wasn't always like that, of course. Once, she had been curious. Very, very curious. So curious she was willing to brave labyrinthine catacombs, and fight the inhuman servitors and occupants within to discover the secrets of the Old Blood. She pursued her curiosities and her desire for knowledge even after she knew the Blood turned men into beasts, until a village of innocents was slaughtered, partly by her hand. But she knows how the secrets beckon so sweetly. She attends to the research hall, and the grotesque patients within, overseeing their progress, soothing them from the pains of having giant, distended tentacle-heads in bags. Still, she had to be curious about the outcome, about if the Blood or other things could be used to ascend humanity, or she would have never gone anywhere near the Church's research hall at all. Even after her curiosity had cursed her, she continued to want to know, so Maria can be said to be very curious, even through the guilt, and to like learning, even if it has brought her pain before.

She could be said to be either a little blinded by it or otherwise not as great with people as her later actions would prove her to be. After all, Gehrman was obsessed enough with her to build a Doll in her image after she died, but she seemed to be unaware that he was so obsessed with her. She could be said to be a bit bad with emotions on that front, or just too trusting.

"What did you think? Of that beastly legend, and those ailing wards of the church?"

Of course, her duty at the Astral Clocktower isn't really to watch over the patients. Watching them is something to do to pass the time, something to do to ease their suffering. For that, Maria can be considered very kind, caring, even a bit matronly; though perhaps she wasn't quite the saint the patients thought she was. She gave one of the patients the key to a balcony, hoping the scent of flowers would ease her suffering. This patient we find bound by leather straps to a chair, unable to move. Not cruel irony, likely, the patient was there of her own volition, but merely that said patient could not "fathom her intentions", and wanted to move forward with the experimentation. And what was more, Maria was guilty over everything she did - perhaps she did all of this as a way of penance for the cold-blooded slaughter of so many other innocents before. Still, the patients look up to her greatly, and many of them call her name, ask her if they'll hold her hand, or save them from drowning, or sometimes apologizing for not being good enough. Clearly, she cared for them enough to foster great affection from them.

In fact, it seems she is quite the magnetic and alluring personality to many people. It may be in part due to her charm. She has clearly noble upbrininging - or she wouldn't be titled "Lady Maria", the patients all fawn over her, and her mentor, the first hunter Gehrman held a certain... "curious mania" toward her, as it is described. This mania turned out to be an obsession that caused him, after her death, to have a life-sized doll made in her image. Though while Maria seems to be more stern and serious, the doll is more passive and fawning. In the end, the Doll was a pale imitation of Maria. The Doll even can smile and speak in a happy or excited tone. Maria's lines are all delivered with a much more serious, and somber tilt to them; she is not a particularly happy person.

"Only an honest death will cure you know. Liberate you, from your wild curiosity."

Her real charge, though, is guarding the Astral Clocktower - a self-imposed shackle. Beyond the face of the clock behind her seat is the Fishing Hamlet, what she and her fellows had ravaged and left in such a state as to curse themselves for it. She holds the Celestial Dial, used to turn the clock face to open the door, and lay bare those other secrets of Byrgenwerth and the Church. And she will fight you to the death for it. She even takes up her old Rakuyo to fight you, back in her possession in the Nightmare. More than that, the description for the item of the Rakuyo itself states that though it came from the same weaponsmiths that forged the other Cainhurst blades - blades which used blood and the essence of the wielder to power their attacks - Maria "frowned" upon those things, and instead prefered a blade which demanded a great deal of dexterity, rather than blood, to utilize its power. She doesn't seem to care much for being a Vileblood, but even that bit of her pride she throws away in her desperation to keep the Hunter from the Fishing Hamlet. She runs herself through on her Rakuyo, empowering the blade with her blood, and then uses that to try to attack and kill you. It's a mark of desperation. She wants to hide that secret, so badly, and then you rip it from her anyway.

She doesn't seem to care much for being a Vileblood, or being related to Cainhurst in some way, and Cainhurst eventually became the sworn enemies of the Church, though she keeps her noble title, her Cainhurst-made garb, and her Cainhurst sword and gun. Perhaps she wasn't much a fan of the Blood in the first place, but... curiosity called her to see where it would take her...

"You will not find your enemies here. Take the relics in this room as your parting prize."

She prefers not to fight if she doesn't have to. She sickened of it, after all, it was the reason she threw her sword down that well. There's dialogue of her trying to talk the Hunter out of going past her. Simple negotiations, telling them there's nothing of interest, admonishing defeating her as murder. None of the accusations are heavy-handed, but they are there, and she is serious about them. She would rather not fight the Hunter if she doesn't have to, and as said above, becomes increasingly aggressive, and even desperate once she realizes the Hunter is serious and capable of killing her.

"What’s wrong, my hunter? Don’t you hear the hunt calling? Or do you wish to tease something more from the depths of this nightmare? Even if it means my murder… Hmm, look at you. That glint in your eyes."

She doesn't necessarily speak completely bluntly. She alludes to things that have happened with the poetic air of one with a higher birth, but she does speak seriously. She calls what the Hunter wants to do in fighting her murder, she tells the Hunter to be satisfied with what they've learned, to leave this place. She is not cruel, but she doesn't yield.

When she grabs the Hunter's hand, she doesn't immediately try to attack, though she could. In fact, she is almost gentle when she lets them go, to back away from her and give them some space, but strong enough to hold them in place, even when they are clearly resisting against her. She chooses not to harm them until she has warned them. Honor demands it, and she tries to be honorable.

On a minor note, she seems to have a fondness for Lumenflowers - sunflower-like plants that grow to be quite large and glow in the dark. The casket behind where she sits has the flowers on it, there is a garden of them outside the door of the Astral Clocktower, she gave the key to Adeline to another garden of Lumenflowers to try to soothe her.

Maria is a sympathetic villain, who strives for penance, and protects the secrets of the Fishing Hamlet from those who would pry too deeply, but ultimately... she is a villain. One who grew a conscience too late, and even in trying for penance, finds herself complicit in horrendous experimentation. Her curiosity knows so few bounds. She's just not holding a blade to any of the patients' throats this time.

Abilities & Skills:

Quickening: A skill peculiar to Old Hunters. It's something of a quickstep/flash step ability which allows her to move in any direction, covering a good ten or more feet in the blink of an eye, and when she does she becomes both invulnerable and mostly invisible, but for a little wisp of what looks like smoke.
Great Dexterity: Maria is a fast, dexterity-based (called the "Skill" stat in-game) fighter - the Rakuyo, her weapon, itself is described as a blade that requires a great amount of dexterity to use. This makes her a very fast and aggressive fighter, and her AI in her boss fight is made to chase down and punish those who stray too far from her. Her combos can be very swift, and with great tracking. She has several attacks that close a lot of distance without even using her Quickening ability, meaning she is a very fast fighter.
Great Strength: Her Dexterity is not all she's capable of, though. She is strong enough to grab and hold the Good Hunter very close to her face one-handed, despite the fact they are clearly struggling to back away, and she can lift the Good Hunter with one hand when performing her visceral attack (burying her hand within their sternum and ripping out some of their innards). Her other hand just... embraces them.
Vileblood: As a Vileblood, Maria can imbue her weapon with her own blood, which forms large, crystalline blades that extend the blades of both the sword and dagger half of her weapons, and, when she swipes them through the air, lash out with blades of blood that do a lot of damage, and more than double her range with her weapon.
Vileblood, Pt. 2: When she's really desperate, she can gather the blood she's splattered around the area, and her own power, and then she imbues her blood with the power of fire. After the blood blades splash and slice through the air, the trail ignites in fire, and does additional damage.
Vileblood, Pt. 3: As mentioned above, she imbues her weapons with her own blood, and she does as such by turning her blades on herself and... stabbing herself. She can survive this attack. Queen Annalise, her distant relative, is an immortal that can be ground to a pulp and still live. It follows that Maria, too, has the ability to be badly injured but come out of it without nearly the consequences of a normal human. She doesn't have the Queen's total immortality - she did die eventually in the waking world, but she can withstand quite a bit of damage, self-inflicted or otherwise.
Limited Aerial Ability: When she gathers the Blood to ignite her own blood on fire, and during one of her attacks, Maria launches herself into the air, far higher than any normal human could, and stays there for a moment, indicating a very limited sort of floating ability, that she tends to follow up with an explosive ground-pound attack that explodes the impact point into a large splatter of blood and/or flames, depending on if she's gathered her full strength or not.

Inventory/Companions:

Rakuyo: The blade she threw away was given back to her in the Hunter's Nightmare, and since she's coming to here from there, it follows she holds onto it. A "trick weapon", it's actually two blades in one - a saber/katana hybrid for the longer blade, and a dagger for the shorter part. They join at the pommel of both weapons and can be used separately to dual-wield, or together for a double-ended blade. The Rakuyo itself does not have any particular magic abilities, and Maria chose it specifically for that reason.
Evelyn: The name of the type of pistol she uses. It looks like a flintlock pistol, but fires a set number of bullets and doesn't need to reload between bullets. Bullets in Bloodborne are a little unique as they're called "Quicksilver Bullets" and are affected by a stat called "Bloodtinge", of which Maria's stat is high in her world. Guns in the game are used more for parrying, and so their damage output, when compared to other weapons, is actually pretty low for a gun, though the Evelyn is the most powerful of the pistol types. What it does more is hit with a strong enough impact to stop even large creatures in their tracks, interrupt attacks, and otherwise create openings more than damage anyone.
Cainhurst Attire: Her hat, coat, pants, boots, etc. are all from Cainhurst Castle, and made in the Cainhurst style. Thick leather provides a decent defense against attack simply by virtue of being leather and several layers of clothing, and Cainhurst peculiarities mean it also has a high Bloodtinge defense. Which would probably be useless outside of her home world even without nerfing, considering how Bloodtinge works (though if it ever regained that property, it might be resistant to blood magic damage).

Choice: Witch
Reason: All who overutilize the Blood tend to turn into beasts regardless, and a Hunter definitely does just that; she's likely seen plenty of old companions turn into such beasts - two of the Old Hunters, in fact, Ludwig and Laurence, are giant beasts themselves. She's a Vileblood back home, which are nontraditional vampire-like beings, so being a vampire wouldn't really make a lot of difference. Being a Witch avoids the penance, and more importantly, gives her good reason to want to interact with the Monsters (particularly Turnskins) and learn to work with them, when all she has known in her life is how to kill werecreatures. Furthermore, she was a scholar before she was a Hunter, and before she was cursed, so challenging her to take up the reins of curiosity and study once more for a noble cause, and to learn magic, would be interesting.

Sample:

One and Two.