THE SCIENTIST

Twelve souls, waiting for eternity. A thirteenth, toiling, for eternity, in the Labyrinth.

The Scientist. A lich with a command over souls greater than almost anyone in the world. She works tirelessly, deep inside of her family’s tomb, twisted into a dark labyrinth riddled with strange, vicious creatures and replete with dead-ends and perilous traps.

Centuries ago, these thirteen souls were the heads of the Maymair coven. Tempted by strange whispers and unusual sights as their Astralist training brought them closer and closer to the edge of known reality, a ritual opened their eyes to a sight unfathomable. Before all but one of the circle could react, their eyes were stricken from their heads, and their souls scorched to near-destruction.

The only survivor, Isabelle Maymair, reacted with intense grief. Securing the barely-living souls of her family, she used an experimental technique to lock them into stasis, separating them from Time itself and giving her all of the space she would need to save them.

But the time wore on. No matter what she tried, nothing could fix the fissures in their soul, jagged and colorful and alien as they were. She found promising results, followed a thousand ledes and collapsed at a thousand dead ends.

She could not bear to let them go. And so she did not.

To this day, she works. She tests the limits of the soul, seeking to know it inside and out, and to be able to sculpt it as the Architect does. Animal, people, or horrific chimeras thereof, Isabelle grows closer and closer to a perfect understanding of the soul.

In her quest, she has defiled a thousand mortal souls. Though she maintains that her methods are ‘as ethical as can be’, taking souls only from those she deems to ‘deserve it’ and going to great lengths to ease the suffering of her patients and avoid undue pain, her actions still have committed many souls to oblivion or worse.

In her constant experimentation, many have learned of her and sought to destroy her so that she could claim no more souls. Over time, the catacombs she built to honor her family have corrupted, becoming more and more dangerous and elaborate as she grows more and more paranoid. Foolhardy adventurers seeking glory in her blood also serve as a source of particularly strong souls…

So, her grim work continues. Bit by bit, she unravels the anatomy of the soul, and bit by bit, she grows closer to her ultimate goal. In fleeting moments of lucidity, though, when a council of her family looks silently and motionlessly upon another failure, she wonders if the world that she has built for herself is worth returning to.