'tis now the very witching time of night

Varvara might looks sweet, but she's... actually an ageless demon, with powers that are the definition of godmodey. She can basically pluck facts out of the air about people and events, intuit things about them and know things that are going on that she has no reason or rational way of knowing. She can also appear to one single person in a room with no one else present seeing her. None of this is mind reading or manipulation - in the classical sense, she cannot read minds and has no psychic influence; she will never know what your character is thinking at any given moment, though the knowledge she gets herself will certainly let her guess.

There are exceptions to this! Supernatural beings will have more resistance to her, and priests/exorcists (the denomination does not matter) will be downright immune to much of her bullshit. They will be able to see her even she doesn't want them to and they will be much, much more difficult to generally get a handle on for her.

I will never do any of these things without a player's express permission and full knowledge of what Varvara will know and what she'll do with that knowledge. So, one catch all permissions post, let's go!

*Note: Anything she knows about your character can and will be used against them - likely nothing horrendous, but she is a troll. E.g. she may simply bring it up completely casually to freak them out.

<B>Character:</B> <B>Canon:</B> (with link if you like!) <B>1. Is your character religiously affiliated - a nun, priest, exorcist, shaman, etc. or supernatural in nature?</B> (If so, how far do you want their immunity to her to go) <B>1b. Does your character have knowledge and experience in occult matters?</B> (If yes, we should definitely work out how much knowledge of her kind of crap they might have and what we can do with it!) <B>2. Are you willing for Varvara to know certain facts about your character that she has no reason to know?</B> <B>2b. If yes, what?</B> (Alternatively, what is absolutely off limits) <B>3. Are you willing for Varvara to know things about what your character is/has been doing without being present for them?</B> (e.g. from log tags; this'll be case by case - it'll always be discussed with all parties involved) <B>4. Would you be willing for Varvara to appear to your character while all others in the area remain oblivious to her?</B> (There's a good chance she'll never do this to non-close CR, but it's worth asking)

Yeah, I know, it's long. I apologise. ;;

player.
NAME/HANDLE: Dara
PERSONAL JOURNAL: specialmandate
ARE YOU 16 OR OVER?: Sure am.
CONTACT: sashwizzled[at]gmail, specialmandate on aim, specialmandate
OTHER CHARACTERS: Tali'Zorah @ keelahselai ; Varric Tethras @ brosbeforeprose


character.
CHARACTER NAME: Varvara
SERIES: BPRD
Varvara herself.
CANON POINT: post-1947; specifically, leaving Trevor Bruttenholm's office after being caught out being there by an exorcist.
AGE: Ageless, but has been on Earth for about 245 years
APPEARANCE: Here she is
Her natural form

PERSONALITY:

"The third demon walked amongst glistening meat of battlefield, and witnessed great poetry in world."

Varvara's story begins with war - originally one of a trinity of demons known in Asia since time immemorial, knowledge of them was found in Mongolian texts, and she was summoned by Russian advisers to ensure Peter the Great would win the Great Northern War. The three did ensure that victory, and while there on the battlefield, one demon in particular was captivated by what she saw there - 'poetry'. Abandoning her price and passage home - the Tsar's soul - she chose instead to stay in the mortal world, taking ever-changing faces and eventually ending up where she is now: Head of Arcane Studies and Esoteric Teachings for the USSR, commanding her own research and military units.

She is one of the most 'human' demon seen in the BPRD canon; she claims to dream as humans dream and likes humans (or, some humans), to the point of opting to live forever amongst them (presumably her passage home died with Peter). She is fascinated by the way they act, their gruesome and ever-changing nature, their artistic creations (she has read Shakespeare, or at the very least, Hamlet - she may simply like things with high betrayal and assorted drama, violence and the occult: her own interests). She has comparatively little interest in destiny and the unchanging, boring easily. To that end, Varvara is also relatively involved in present matters, directly taking part in human affairs, developing interests of her own and pursuing them.

That said.

She is still a demon. She now takes the form of a small, innocent-looking Russian child complete with a doll she carries everywhere, and while various deep reasons for this form could be argued (fascination with the innocence of a child juxtaposed with the general horror of humanity, for one), chances are good she simply finds the idea of having such a form considering what she does in the world amusing. While she looks human, perfectly so, she looks so out of place in her present environment as to be initially laughable - or unnerving. In addition, she doesn't care enough to keep up the pretence of being a Russian child enough to be realistic - it comes with a distinctly demonic and wrong twist.

It's true that she likes humans, but she is selfish and self-centred, and doesn't attach the same value to morals and life that (most) humans do. She will let whole groups of people die - her own soldiers included - over nothing more than a personal slight, a childishly selfish act - but childlike as a demon would understand it. While she talks/acts through her doll as a child might, it's for things like, 'Little Dolly Katiya will interrogate [the prisoner]' and 'Little Dolly Katiya thinks your ethical sensitivities are silly'. She has full tea parties with her dolly where Varvara drinks vodka in shots. Those interests? There's the paranormal to start with - but she also rather enjoys torturing prisoners.

But then, she's also the Head of Arcane Studies and Esoteric Teachings - this is basically Russia's BPRD. She has absolute authority over her men, giving orders to them that are immediately followed, and she commands a great deal of respect - and fear. She has superb knowledge of all matters of the occult - why wouldn't she? She is the occult - and is more than capable of researching what she doesn't know... or of finding out in her own little ways.

The most interesting relationship she has is with Trevor Bruttenholm of the BPRD - he appears to show her respect while not being fearful and she takes a very quick liking to him, to the novelty of his whole approach; it's true, though, that she already knew all about him before they met, and why he was personally in Germany looking through Nazi remains instead of staying in America - while she clearly had no interest in cooperating with the BPRD, it's her liking of Bruttenholm that makes her agree to help him, to pass on information he wants.

The professor is new - to him, she is not just a demon or general authority or even a small child; she is an equal, and that doesn't change even when she tells him who/what she really is (and she likely already knew it wouldn't). He is also unafraid of firmly, calmly giving her orders for the 'greater good' or out of 'moral sensitivities' - this is likely a huge novelty to her, and it makes him possibly the only person whose orders she has ever followed (if unwillingly). As someone used to working entirely on her own with only subordinates surrounding her, the fact that she is willing to treat Bruttenholm... mostly like something of an equal says a great deal.

Bear in mind, though, that she is not at all above manipulating or using him, even if he is her 'favourite human'; it doesn't occur to her that this is the wrong thing to do, as she simply doesn't consider wrong and right things she needs to concern herself with. When Bruttenholm becomes frustrated with her, for the most part, she brushes it off.

And to close on some extra facts:
She may be a small Russian girl in form, but she refers to her original form as 'he' (in actual fact, she probably lacks gender at all, and certainly doesn't care about it);
She has no love for religion - not out of some fear of it, out of considering it not fit for purpose: 'cosmos whirls on without them'
She is, in her own way, attached to Little Dolly Katiya to the point where she retrieved the doll from a blown up building and carried around its remains.
Hobbies include string figures, prisoner interrogation and singing.


ABILITIES:
Demons in the Hellboy verse have a range of abilities - they can appear anywhere to anybody (and not to anyone else if they so choose), they have incredible strength and resilience and are essentially immortal.

Varvara has all of these abilities - despite being in Germany, she appears in America to one person, she can kill a man one-handed, survive being incinerated and spend a few decades in a glass bubble without physical effect (therefore presumably needs no food, water or air to survive). She's able to shapeshift at will, and has abilities that verge on preternatural knowledge of events happening nowhere near her (though she cannot read minds or tell the future).

She can also drink vodka like it's water. Just to add.

She does have weaknesses, however - she can be bound with the right runes and ritual by someone who knows exactly what they're doing.

POSSESSIONS:
Little Dolly Katiya: A doll almost identical to Varvara in appearance, dressed the same, only with black hair.


samples.
JOURNAL ENTRY SAMPLE:
((Setting is Week 11, directly post kraken))

[The sound of hands clapping together, and then the compass is lifted to show a small girl all blonde ringlets and white teeth, smiling wide. The black hair of the doll hugged in her arms has been spattered in luminescent white fluid.]

Wonderful! Have not had so much fun since ’42 in Stalingrad. Such delightful carnage – though must to admit, even I have never seen creature such as that now dead on ship’s deck. Maybe is somewhat like kraken, no? Ah, well. As they say, all things equal in death.

[Varvara tilts her head at the screen.] Now here we are, on ship stinking of old fear and hate and new kraken gut, and I wonder if captors have bigger plan. Research data is useless sitting in drawer somewhere, da? Maybe is more simple than that.... Everyone must to have fun somehow. Little Dolly Katiya likes to play with pets, too.

Now, I think I would like drink of water, and Little Dolly Katiya needs hair washing.

[It takes a few seconds for her to figure out how to cut off the transmission after starting it, so you’re treated to her nonchalantly singing a Russian nursery rhyme until it cuts out.]


THIRD-PERSON SAMPLE:

You absolutely do not have to read this, but it's there.