Name: Nia Ellison
Nicknames: Just Nia
Face/Model Claim: Mila Kunis
Age: 27
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Nationality: American
Hometown: Seattle.

Relatives:
Ben Drew (Ex-Fiancé)
Michael Goodwin (Father-Deceased)
Elizabeth Goodwin (Great Aunt - Deceased)
Heather Ellison (Mother)
David Ellison (Stepfather)
Jody Ellison (Half-Sister)
Holly Ellison (Half-Sister)
Andrew Ellison (Half-Brother)

Job: Free Lance Illustrator

Skills: As a child, Nia always had an over active imagination and loved to write and draw. She swayed more towards the Graphic side of her talent and now holds a successful career as a Freelance Illustrator. Her best known work was on a series of Children's Books depicting the Adventures of Bernard the Bionic Badger and Friends. However most of her contracts nowadays are Advertising campaigns and Book Covers. She uses a combination of hand-drawn, painted, collage, typography, original photography, and digital imagery to create her work and has an inquisitive fascination with flawless detail. Nia can draw fantastic Caricatures of people she meets purely from memory.

Weapon(s): Herself, wayward magic and a scathing tongue.

Height: 5'2
Weight: 115 lbs

Eye Color: Nia has a form of Heterochromia.  Upon closer inspection her large eyes reveal a distinct difference in color. One is greeny blue and the other is is darker more hazel mossy green.

Hair Color: Brunette

Scars/Marks: None.

Appearance:
Nia considers herself vertically challenged, has wider hips than are necessary and a wild uncontrollable head of thick brunette hair that refuses to co-operate in humid conditions. In truth she is petite and curvaceous in all the right places. She wears her dark hair long, straightened of it's natural loose curl, with soft caramel highlights.  Her olive complexion and fine bone structure are telling of her Mediterranean roots from her Mother's side. With no specific style, Nia wears whatever is comfortable but unless otherwise practical usually chooses shoes with a heel to boost her height a little.


Power: Witch

Level: Novice

Abilities:
At this rank, a witch is new to the art of magic. They are still learning both through personal practice and perhaps with the assistance of a coven or a witch of higher rank than they are. Spells, incantations, successes of created potions, etc will only work half of the time, and players will be expected to play out their failures.

Speciality: None as of yet, she is still trying to find her niche and is making a royal mess of it in the process.


Weaknesses: Nia's Bloodline cares little about her skepticism or the fact she was a late starter. Although she is learning to accept what she is through very little choice, she has yet to fully come to terms with it in her lack of understanding. The imprinting on her Family spell book unlocked an incredible amount of Magical energy which she is unable to harness. Coupled with her lack of knowledge making her more prone to mistakes. It causes spells to be far more potent than intended, with a greater detrimental outcome to their lack of success. Nia is an intelligent woman who appreciates order and organisation, however knowledge comes with time and she is a wild card who is currently way outside of her comfort zone when it comes to magic.

Personality in Brief: Her personality varies with her mood, but then doesn't everyone's? She can be warm and friendly, quiet and reserved or a firecracker when angered. She can be the life and soul of the party or the somber one who sits in the corner. Most of all, she is pleasant but doesn't suffer fools gladly and has a particular dislike for rude and obnoxious people. She isn't afraid to speak her mind if she feels passionate enough about the argument. She's smart, quick witted and has a sense of humor that often veers to the side of sarcasm. A neat freak to a fault. She keeps a strict diary from years of having work deadlines to meet. She abhors disorganization, tardiness or anything that disrupts her schedule.

Any Other Notes:
When Nia first moved in to the The Cabinet of Curiosities, she was left clues and signals by her Aunt. With Ethan present, together they discovered a secret doorway through an old Walnut Wardrobe, reminiscent of one of Nia's favorite childhood stories. Through the doorway was a room, it had no windows, solid stone walls and a stone floor. Within the room was a number of ancient artifacts, rare herbs, crystals and leather bound volumes of old manuscripts. The Goodwin spell-book which had been passed down and added to through generations, knocked Nia off her feet when she touched it, awakening the magic of her bloodline in the process. More prominently a large pulsating Quartz crystal stood on a Alter lighting the room with a soft ethereal glow.

Further instructions within the room came in the form of a letter, addressed to Nia from her Aunt Elizabeth. Nia was instructed that she can will the doorway to appear and disappear with her bloodline Magic as and when she needs it. Together Ethan and Nia investigated the blueprints of the building, the scale was wrong and the room itself was not part of the structure at all. The doorway which she entered the room should have been an outside wall. The room is still a mystery to both Nia and Ethan, it's actual physical whereabouts is unknown to her other than her ability to access it.

The room is a sacred place, primed and marked by Goodwin Magic and linked to their bloodline. It is charged via the Crystal drawing energy from the strongest point of connecting Magical Ley Lines where it is actually physically situated. It holds the secrets and knowledge of her Ancestors. Those of Goodwin Line were known in Ancient times as the Keepers.  Nia has also been led to believe she is the last of the bloodline, a responsibility which lays a heavy burden on her shoulders. Her magic can't be ignored so she has to find a way to channel it but the spirit of Elizabeth is not very forthcoming with advice and mentoring unless she feels Nia is in need of it. What Ethan and Nia also do not know as of yet is the strong bond which ties them together is because Ethan is Nia's Familiar.

OOC note:GMs have been advised of further information regarding Elizabeth which will be added once role-play evolves in that direction.

History:
Born and raised within Seattle, Nia had no contact with her Father after the first few years of her life. For reasons unknown, Child Support payments stopped along with any communication. She gathered her Mother kept that information to herself. Nia was never negatively affected by her Father's absence. Where she lacked in a Father figure, her Mother more than made up in love and affection which has fortified a close bond to this day. When Nia was ten years old her Mother married a wonderful man called David Ellison who adopted Nia.  Her Parents then went on to have a further three children of together to expand the family.

From there, Nia's life evolved uneventfully into adulthood. She left High school, attended college, achieved a degree and a Musician boyfriend called Ben; who she moved in with after Graduation. As the years passed Nia become more and more involved with her work as a Freelance Illustrator. Where she was moving forward in her career, Ben remained stagnant waiting for that big break which never seemed to come into fruition.  If Nia was honest with herself, she would admit that their relationship had far surpassed it's expiry date, but she is a creature of habit. Ben was loving, loyal and had never given her reason to doubt him, however they seemed to be stuck in a perpetual rut. For the most part he was out of work and no amount of encouragement from Nia could urge him on. With a demanding work schedule herself, no wedding bells or the patter of tiny feet on the horizon, resentment started to chip away at the foundations of their relationship.

When Nia received the letter from Clark and Clark Associates informing her of her inheritance, she was bewildered. She had never heard of Elizabeth Goodwin and neither had her Mother. On further inquiry she discovered the Woman was her Great Aunt from her Father's side. A Spinster without children and no other living relatives. It was upon that discovery that her Mother made the difficult decision to finally tell Nia what had happened to her Father. As much as there was a part of her which had always hoped she would get to meet her real Dad one day, she had a hard time grieving for a man she never knew.

Elizabeth Goodwin's estate consisted of a small shop called 'The Cabinet of Curiosities' complete with Inventory and upper floor fully furnished living accommodation. A modest sum of Money and a few pieces of Antique Jewelry. Elizabeth had been 98 years old when she passed 4 years ago. During that time Clark and Clark Associates had been instructed to find her only living Heir. However there were some strange conditions regarding the Property:



It could not be Sold.


It could not be Renamed.


It could only be passed on to a living blood relative of Elizabeth's.


It could only be opened as it's Current business.






As Nia was responsible for paying all taxes on the property. Including back taxes since her Aunt's death, a sum she was informed would not be covered by the small amount of Money left to her. She could of course attest the terms of the Will. However was advised strongly against it given the additional costs involved. In essence, Nia found herself with few choices that wouldn't eat away at her savings. She was stunned and couldn't help but feel she'd been backed into a corner by Elizabeth Goodwin. A theme which seemed to run in the Family. However as the name of the Shop implied, she was indeed curious and if it was only to give Ben and herself the break away from one another that they both desperately needed. She set her sights on making Lemonade.

Her Lawyer put her in touch with a man called Ethan Hopper who would help with the renovations of the old run down Store and its accommodation. Magically touched, Ethan felt the connection to Nia almost instantly, a strong sense of needing to protect the woman he didn't even know. The Wards within the old building embraced and welcomed him. Nia however didn't immediately feel the same way and had Ethan arrested by the Police for turning up at her apartment late one night, his intentions only to check on her safety after the imprinting of the spell book had left Nia unconcious. Though there was something about Ethan, despite his strange overbearing and exuberant behavior which was endearing and gradually, over time, he began to help her try to understand her situation.

Her first reason to embrace what she was and dabble in the need to cast a spell came in the form of Sebastian Mikulas. Driven by the determination to test the nonsense or to help a man who had claimed he was cursed, Nia had not been in the right frame of mind to cast the spell at all.  Hampered by grave mistakes on her part. She was careful in selecting the correct materials and chanting the correct words but she failed to realize the crystal she used needed to be cleansed of negative energy and recharged accordingly.

What should have summoned the Spirit of her Aunt to aid them in finding out how to break Sebastian's curse, instead opened the shroud to Purgatory and released three Spirits of the recently deceased. The Wraiths, fueled by Nia's own magic, escaped and sought out their dead flesh.  Nia inadvertently raised three Animated Corpses for the duration of one night. A learning curve which made her less eager to perform a spell without careful preparation in the future.  Still, she wasn't willing to give up on Sebastian and together she and Ethan promised to help him.

She then attempted something far less adventurous, a more simple location spell which directed them to a Southport. Though with Nia's lack of knowledge and poorly executed magic, who really knows if she has led them across country for a valid reason or a wild goose chase.