Isadora

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   <default>Isadora</default>
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</infobox> Isadora is a Sphinx and member of the Toronto Council. The sixth daughter of Phix, she is an ages-old Other that resides in Toronto and teaches at a university as a Professor of Ethics.

Appearance

In her sphinx form, she is described by Blake as average looking woman with the lower body of a winged lion. Her hair is well-tended, falling in dark ringlets over large breasts. Her fur and wings are pitch black, and her skin pale.<ref>She wasn’t beautiful, but she wasn’t hideous either. Her hair was well-tended, falling in dark ringlets over her breasts, where the hair obscured the nipples. Her fur and wings were pitch black. Between pale flesh and dark fur, I’d completely failed to see her where she reclined. Her human arms were folded beneath prodigious breasts, one of her feline front paws were folded over the other, and all of her sparkled with the moisture of snowflakes that had fallen onto her and melted. - Except from Collateral 4.2</ref> She is built on a scale two or three times larger than a human, but her lower half increases her size even further,<ref>She was big.  Maybe, if she’d been human-proportioned, she would have

been two or three times my height, going by the size of her head and 

upper body.  But her body from the waist down was that of a great cat, the rise and fall of the muscles beneath the short fur very distinct.  Great feathered wings were folded against her body, the snow piling on them. [...] She might well have been the biggest living thing I’d seen in person. - Except from Collateral 4.2</ref> easily ten times the size of a human overall.<ref>She paced closer, until she was a claw-swipe away from us. One heavy sweep of a forelimb and she could end all of us.
There wasn’t a lot we could collectively do when faced with something that was easily ten times our size, but I managed to stand my ground. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.3</ref> In certain lights, her high cheekbones and frown-creased brow makes her look more like a lion.<ref> I avoided looking, in part because I was more captivated by the way the ambient light caught her high cheekbones and the frown-creased brow, making her appear more like a lion or a raptor than I’d ever seen her. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.3</ref> Ty considered her beautiful.<ref>“Greetings, Isadora,” I said. It seemed like a safer bet than ‘good evening’, because I wasn’t sure this evening would be.
“Hello,” Evan said.
“No shitting way,” Ty said. Under his breath, he said, “She’s beautiful. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.3</ref>

In her human form, she wore a simple, white, and yet fashionable dress. Her coat has a ruff reminiscent of fur and feathers. Isadora holds the posture of a noblewoman, calm and regal.<ref>Isadora, in the midst of this, stood there, calm and regal. Her chin was raised just a touch too high, as if she couldn’t quite shake the guise of the noblewoman, even when she’d long since abandoned it to become the stern college professor. Her dress was fashionable if simple, white, and there weren’t many places where she would have stuck out while wearing it, her coat had a ruff that might have been fur and might have been feathers. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.10</ref> Sometimes, she'll also wear a fashionable hat and scarf,<ref>Isadora looked much as she had when I’d seen her on the balcony, but she’d taken more measures to make it look more like she was human. More of the winter clothing including scarf and hat, fashionable in a way that suggested she wasn’t paying that much, but still had an uncanny awareness of what would suit her and go well together. - Excerpt from Void 7.9</ref> or dress in black to match her fur and wings.<ref>He watched as the Sphinx became a proper Sphinx.  Wings unfurled, black cloth became black fur. - excerpt from Interlude 9</ref>

Personality

While fair and enjoys the company of clever individuals, Isadora's primary concern involves the balance of karma as that is her role as a Other of Balance.<ref>“We talked about spinning plates. Where a dragon is said to make a bed of gold coin, I find I’m more comfortable on a bed of these metaphorical spinning plates.”

“Everything in balance?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m as sensitive to changes in the balance of things as a common man might be to changes in the light or to noise. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.10</ref> Unfortunately her high sensitivity to disruptions in the Balance interferes with her needing to sleep for eighteen hours a day.<ref>“I know. It was the younger Behaim that was at fault, who earned my ire here. Time distorted, and everyone that you and the younger Behaim had talked with moved backwards. Reality wobbled quite a bit until you each caught up with the rest of the world. The metaphorical plates fell, and my rest was disturbed.”

“In the late hours of the morning?”

“Not that it matters, but I sleep eighteen hours a day. A useful thing for my mother, created as a sentry and sentinel over holy sites, a nuisance of a thing for me.” - Excerpt from Subordination 6.10</ref> She doesn't share the same since of morality as humans, as it is not in her genetic make-up to care about death as long as it is done cleanly, although she is familiar with them.<ref>“Casualties are to be expected. It’s not part of my makeup to mourn the dead, even the deaths of children or the deaths of thousands. So long as it happens at the right place and time, cleanly.” - Excerpt from Void 7.9</ref> As an educator every now and then she takes an interest in clever students and those who impress her are given good karma while those who don't disappear over night, with the latest being Paige Thorburn.<ref>She raised a hand, and in the moment she turned it over, the light in the hallway formed a backlight against her hand, and I saw a flicker of what might have been claws in her long fingernails and the position of her hand. “Imagine that I’m holding firmly to a rock named Paige. When your stone tumbles into the water, dragging all the rest with it, Paige remains firmly in my hand. Maybe the other rocks dangle. Maybe the rope breaks, and they all fall. In both cases, there’s less of a splash, less upheaval, one less stone in the water.”

“You’re laying claim to her,” I said. - Excerpt from Void 7.9</ref>

She has a hostile reaction to Demons and Diabolists because they ruin the balance and she has lived long enough to see history repeats itself,<ref>“The works which wrote of my mother have largely yellowed with age. I have seen events play out time and again, and I have grown tired of the patterns I see you mortals repeat, time and again.” - Excerpt from Subordination 6.3</ref> although she does admit that Blake's intentions weren't malicious. She is also confident in her abilities, because she's one of the few beings actually strong enough to do whatever she likes.

History

Before the Story

Isadora was familiar with Matthew Attwell and discussed his plans with Conquest, as well as telling him it wouldn't be accomplished in his lifetime. She also confronted Jeremy Meath when he sought to make a demesne because she disliked his god, Dionysus, but ceased the battle as she made an Oath to prioritize her survival early in her life. In exchange Jeremy had a meeting with the Duchamp Coven, which ended up with him marrying Sandra Duchamp.

Collateral

Isadora was present in the Toronto Council at Blake's first meeting with Conquest and was cordial with him, until the reveal of his legacy as a diabolist. As this brings out the worst in Conquest, who seeks to abuse the power, Isadora states her intention of opposing him before leaving. Later in the arc she is at the university when Blake appears to ask for her assistance, which she refuses and tells him to leave as he had Pauz's scent on him and such a thing is painful to her kind.

Subordination

She confronts Blake prior to his entering Conquest's tower to declare the contest and tried to convince his friends from joining him, before citing that he has upset the balance with his presence and she was tired of seeing patterns of people fall to the corruption of demons and the only reason she wasn't certain he would was because she was fairly sure he wouldn't live long enough. Blake tries to reassure her by making his friends vow not to read any of the text in the Hillglades House related to diabolism and then cites it wouldn't be neccessary if she had helped him when he asked rather than forcing him to go to such lengths for his own survival. She relents, knowing that if they break the promise then they will be punished and then tells him to extract the same from the disciple who is "warm" for him, before advising him that it would be better for him to take his friends inside and stating he's recently done some things to add positive karma to himself.

Later on she meets with Blake on his balcony, telling him that she plans on attacking him in a few days time and that she was giving him a warning as well as first rights to attack the Behaims because they disturbed her sleep when they rest the time of the people connected to Blake. She then reveals that he will die shortly, explaining that Rose will take his place and they had been fighting because they can instinctively sense it.

Void

Isadora appeared while Blake was pinned down by the Astrologer and The Shepard, cleaving him open below the ribcage and denying him all access to help, explaining that it's needed to balance the scales and death at her hands would be quicker and cleaner. Rose cites she's waiting for Conquest to come and tells her just to ask, but she doesn't want to as it is akin to groveling and giving power to him. She then deflects Blake's sneak attack. Isadora does concede to calling Conquest.

She later appears at Blake's apartment after Conquest had been bound with Paige Thorburn in tow. The young woman approached her after the altercation at the college and sought her to understand the scope of things. She has taken her under her wing since then and planned to establish a relationship between them akin to a mentorship, despite Blake being against it, because she's clever and this way to would cause less collateral damage.

During the meeting she's noted as one of the more powerful beings in the city and stopped Jeremy Meath the last time he aspired to be Lord. When Blake confronts the Abstract Demon she was there, watching it happen, and felt the impact of his disappearances. At best she managed to mitigate the damage done to herself, recalling more details about Blake than the rest of the people there, but could no longer recall his name.

Possession Arc

She later arrives with the other members of the Toronto Council, and Paige, at the beckoning of Rose and Faysal, with Rose condemning Jacob's Bell to Toronto and dragging them into the conflict.

Judgement

Isadora is taken out of the conflict when the group comes under fire by an attack from a demon from the choir of madness, which is the opposite of her kind.

It was claimed by the Barber the she was dead. However the wording of the statement left it somewhat in doubt.

Abilities

Isadora is an ancient, wise, and powerful Sphinx. She displays impressive physical and mental prowess. Her wings allow her to fly and carry others along. She can also transform between a sphinx and an ordinary human at a near instantaneous rate. Over the millenniums, Isadora has taught herself various schools of magic, including Law magic and Luck magic.

Unfortunately she also possesses an extreme weakness to forces that ruin Balance.

References

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