Sierra Mikain

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Revision as of 22:49, 7 March 2012

Sierra Mikain, the coven mistress and the one and only woman brave or stupid enough to teach at Desai University.

Sierra comes from the video game series Suikoden and specifically comes from shortly after the end of Suikoden II. Since she has her True Rune back, I assume that she has access to all of the powers and abilities that Neclord used during the Suikoden games. Not that she would use ones that required a hundred human sacrifices, of course.

Sierra is played by Megan.

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Personality

Sierra is bored easily. This really is the central fact of her existence, after having been alive so long-- now that her main task is out of the way and she has nothing to do but sit back and defend her rune from being stolen (not a difficult feat, since she's so far as anyone knows the oldest True Rune bearer of the bunch), she just needs to keep herself entertained. This is doubly important for her since she doesn't have the option of giving up the rune to someone else and ending her own existence (as the section on the Moon Rune will make evident). This ennui is the reason she's in Desai, for one, and the reason why she does a lot of the things she does there.

That aside, she's difficult to impress. But once you do manage it, she'll respect you-- probably not as an equal and definitely not as her better, but respect nonetheless. She tends to keep people at arm's length because she's been burned one too many times by people close to her, and the fact that she hasn't been human for a very, very long time means she has trouble understanding the human mindset at times.

Background

Absolutely nothing is known about Sierra's life before she acquired her True Rune, except that she is the oldest living (ha) character revealed thus far in the series. After acquiring the Moon Rune (judging by her appearance, while she was still in her mid to late teens), she fled civilization to live alone in the woods in her insanity. Over the years she gradually gained control over herself and her power, but still elected to stay isolated from humans. Rumors about a vampiress in the forest tend to grow, however, especially as the surrounding human populace does. People who were dying or who wanted to escape their lives trickled into the forest looking for her "blessing."

This group of benevolent vampires (including one who eventually became Sierra's lover, Rean Penenberg) lived in what the mun likes to think of as "the hippie vampire commune." It even got to the point that Sierra relinquished possession of her rune and made it the communal property of the village. Despite making the rune communal, Sierra remained the leader of the group (her title is generally cited as "coven mistress"). This arrangement worked out quite well until a member of the group gave in to the inevitable case of megalomania (or, perhaps more likely, was influenced by the Moon Rune itself) and stole the rune. The loss of the Moon Rune meant that vampires in the village-- with the sole exception of Sierra, thanks to her previous mastery of the rune-- faced the choice of either turning to their dark, insane sides and living on human blood or dying. A few chose to stay in the village with Sierra and die, but most of them scattered to become the feared vampire menace people in the present Suikoden world live in fear of.

The rune thief, who styled himself the vampire prince Neclord, spent several centuries wreaking havoc by destroying towns, kidnapping lovely young ladies, and just generally being a bad Dracula ripoff. Sierra spent these years as a vampire hunter, destroying her former allies as she found them while she looked for an opportunity to take her rune back from Neclord. Eventually, she met up with Nash Latkje, a young swordsman who was looking for information on True Runes. She agreed to help him, but this turned out to be a total ploy so she could use him as her backup in killing the next vampire on her list-- Rean, her ex-lover. Sierra destroyed Rean with her Song of Evanescence spell (detailed in the Moon Rune section), and she and Nash parted ways for the time being. Why did Sierra leave? Because she'd finally found Neclord.

Neclord, in his ever-increasing need for power, had graduated from destroying villages to destroying major cities-- specifically, the powerful city-state of Tinto. Sierra joined forces with the hero of Suikoden II, a vampire hunter, and the bearer of the Night Rune (albeit in unorthodox form, also detailed under the Moon Rune section) to destroy Neclord. Sierra literally stole the rune right back off of Neclord's hand, which allowed the vampire hunter to use barrier magic against Neclord and the the Night Rune to strike the killing blow.

And this is where Sierra's background for the game ends, since she was brought into the game immediately following Suikoden II.

The Moon Rune

The Rune of Cruelty and Compassion (better known as the Moon Rune) is one of the twenty-seven True Runes. Its 'child' runes (i.e. as True Fire would be to Rage and Fire) are presently unknown, although the mun's personal speculation is that the Resurrection Rune comes from the Moon rune. The rune does govern just what its proper name says it does, albeit in an unorthodox fashion-- it turns its bearer into a vampire (the cruelty aspect of the rune) but, with enough mastery, grants its bearer compassion (a return of the senses and ability to survive without drinking blood) and the ability to give this compassion to the other vampires he or she may have created.

The Moon Rune has a thus far unexplained correlation to the Night Rune (which presently takes the form of a sentient broadsword called the Star Dragon Sword). It is known that the rune in sword form is one of the few sure ways to kill a powerful vampire. It can be inferred from the Night Rune's relationship with the Sun Rune (dealt with in Suikoden V) as well as from their themed naming scheme that the Moon Rune is also connected to the Sun Rune. Its cyclic behavior (requiring the bearer to withstand and master the negative aspect before gaining the positive) is similar to the Sun Rune (ruin and prosperity), the Souleater (death and life), and the Rune of Punishment (atonement and forgiveness).

Now for the part you actually care about: what she can do. We never actually get to see Sierra use the rune in the game, presumably because it would be so godawfully broken (100% evasion rate, what?). The rune slot it occupies-- her left hand-- remains permanently unavailable in Suikoden II. The powers her mun ascribes to her are cobbled together from the Suikogaiden, what Neclord does in Suikoden and Suikoden II, and the aforementioned theory that it's the parent rune of the Resurrection Rune.

• Doppelganger Spell. This was used to great effect by Neclord in the first Suikoden game. This creates a doppelganger of the person, which is perfectly articulate and able, and has access to all of the real person's abilities. It's essentially impossible to tell the real version and the doppelganger apart, and the doppelganger is very nearly as hard to kill as the original. In the case of Neclord-- and thus in this game Sierra-- the Night Rune/Star Dragon Sword is required, since the doppelganger does not actually have the Moon Rune.

• Various Evasion Abilities. Neclord's doppelganger-- much less his real self-- was immune to everything, including the spells of other True Runes, without the Night Rune in the vicinity. Sierra is very, very difficult to hurt, I don't care who you are. She can phase out of harm's way of just about anything. (Note that this may not apply if you are of exceeding levels of badassery, a la Sparda, or specially equipped to deal with powerful undead. Do not be afraid to ask the mun if you can wail on her.)

• Shapeshifting. Sierra turns into a white bat in her shapeshifted form; it's also the form she automatically takes if she's knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled.

• The Power to Create and Destroy Undead. All vampires that have ever existed in the Suikoden world can be traced back to Sierra, and the rune can be used to create lesser forms of undead-- such as zombies-- as well. Vampires seem to be made from willing participants, whereas zombies involve human sacrifices. Or at least, the ones Neclord made did. She can also blow a hole through an undead being's chest with her Song of Evanescence spell (detailed on its own below). Under the assumption that her rune is the parent rune of the Resurrection rune, she would also have lower-level spells to stun or merely injure the undead. How well these spells work on undead characters from other worlds is up to mun discretion, although the more traditional undead are more likely to be harmed than the non-traditional (so vampires and zombies, yes; heartless, maybe; shinigami, probably not at all). Is it overpowered? Yes. It's also, however, one of the few powers I am lifting directly from canon without making inferences even based on what Neclord does with the same rune. Sierra does these things to undead, and it's canon. Will she do it to your character? No.

• The Power to Control Undead. Neclord controlled his zombies, Sierra yanked control of the rune out from under Neclord. Will only ever be used on NPC fodder unless the mun specifically asks for it, plotwise.

• Resurrection Rune Spells: Scolding (70 damage to one enemy (double damage to undead), Yell (raises one ally from KO), Scream (heals 300 HP to all allies), and Charm Arrow (deals 500 damage to all enemies, double damage to undead).

• Song of Evanescence: Sierra destroys the undead. Canon godmode. (I would, however, rule that it would not auto-kill any undead not from the Suikoden world, regardless of type. It would hurt like hell, but it wouldn't be as devastating. See, I can be nice and tone things down for the sake of the game!)

True Runes also make the bearer immortal and impervious to aging and disease. They're also extremely difficult to kill through violence (although it is possible). Sierra's vampirism gives her additional defense against that; please see the section on vampirism in Suikoden.

Vampirism in Suikoden

Vampires are quite different in Suikoden from their depiction in most media. The closest analogue the mun can come up with, for comparison purposes, are the nonevil, daywalking vampires of the Shadow Hearts games. Many of these differences arise from the cosmology differences-- Suikoden is set up on a law-chaos (or as it was mistranslated in the English version, dharma-chaos... thanks a lot, Konami of America!) axis on its most fundamental level; the foretold last battle isn't the battle of good and evil but the battle between chaos and law.

• Vampires in Suikoden do not necessarily need to drink blood. Thanks to Neclord's little stunt, the few of them that are left (besides Sierra) do, at present. Sierra, as stated before, does not.

• Vampires in Suikoden can daywalk. Sunlight makes them tired (they're naturally nocturnal) but otherwise gives no ill effects.

• Traditional anti-vampire or anti-evil measures, such as crosses and holy magic, do not harm Suikoden vampires as they do real ones because the cosmology is different. Religious artifacts from a chaotic faith, however (such as some practicied by primitive nonhumans in the Suikoden world), would have the exact same effect good ones would on a normal vampire.

• It has been stated in the games that vampires are not immortal, just extremely long-lived (in the centuries, not one has been shown to have aged noticeably). Sierra is immortal, because she holds a True Rune. This is because of the rune and not because of her vampirism.

In-Game