Liliana

For thousands of years, Liliana had traveled to every corner of the world.

One of the most ancient existences in Athanor, Liliana was born when the world was still in Chaos and all living beings survived purely through instinct. Full of curiosity, Liliana forged her own path of exploration in the chaotic world, continuing to seek for the essence of the universe and the source of power. She wanted to learn about the past and the future, the beginning of life and the meaning of death. In order to succeed in her quest for answers, Liliana morphed into different forms and saw life through the eyes of different species.

A Nine-tailed Fox was the first sentient being Liliana came across. She considered the Fox her master and consultant, and was influenced so much by the creature that she identified herself as a Nine-tailed Fox thereafter. Through the instruction of her master and what she saw during her own travels, Liliana soon became quite knowledgeable. However, she understood that she still had a long way to go in terms of finding the ultimate answer to all things. She chose to live in seclusion, taking her time to slowly digest and ponder over all she had learned. Still, she would emerge from solitude every few hundred years to accumulate more wisdom and insight.

During her previous journey, Liliana came in contact with Humans and was able to observe them up close. Humans seemed dull and average at best in all aspects, including powers, spirituality and constitution, which was why Liliana used to not have any interest in the species. Yet after she learned more about the thirst Humans had for knowledge and the ways they passed down their legacies, she soon became fascinated by their out-of-the-box thinking and began following their innovations and developments closely. Whenever Humans made huge leaps, Liliana transformed into one of them in order to learn from Human scholars.

During the Dark Era, Humans were often attacked by Abyssal Beings. Not wanting to just sit back and watch the suffering, Liliana used subtle methods to reveal hints and tips on wielding magic here and there to aid Humans during the troubling period. From her observations, she predicted that if Humans survived this time of darkness, they would likely be able to create a civilization never seen before, in which new knowledge and new skills would be born, bringing her one more step closer to the ultimate answer she was seeking. She considered the aid she offered Humans a kind of investment—after all, if it helped her get what she wanted, why not? With a smile and high hopes for the future, Liliana went back into hiding.

Some hundred years later, when Liliana returned to Human civilization once again, she was shocked to say the least. The candles and fireplaces she was used to were replaced by crystal lamps carved with magical arrays, capable of bringing light to thousands of families at once. The blades and swords she once knew were no longer used by many—instead, Humans Warriors now favored sleek and incredibly powerful mechanical guns and cannons. These improvements, which Humans called “technology”, completely changed how Liliana saw the world.

It was an ideal turn of events for Liliana, who was eager to gobble up all new developments available. But even one with her level of wisdom would need dozens, even hundreds of years to digest all this not to mention that new inventions were popping up practically every day! Therefore Liliana decided to transform into a Human and join the Empirical Army as a Communications Officer, who had the freedom to roam the Continent and collect intelligence. Her role would make it very convenient for her to achieve all she wanted. Of course, it did bring her new enemies as well, but Liliana didn’t mind doing Humans a favor by taking out these nuisances.

“That’ll just count as part of my tuition!”