Garland

"An auric heart for a pedestal marred in blood."

—Somnium Fluxus

Garland Dragan (ガルランヅヅラガン, Duragan Garurandu) Is a young Nefas sorcerer formally retained by Diluculum Aeternus. Famed as the only child of the nefarious Randa Primarosa, Garland is sought after by her mother's enemies for her dormant power along with widespread fear that she may one day prove a catastrophic threat for both physical and spiritual realms.

The circumstances of Garland's birth are unclear, and thus her father, if any, remains unnamed. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, Garland was adopted into Diluculum Aeternus after much debate as to whether she should be killed or allowed to live. Although Garland spent much of her life in the relative safety of the covenant, its leaders, Ichchha-un-Idika Edha Guha Thakurta and Eriphyla, grew wary of Soul Society's impending threats along with the danger Garland's presence posed upon the covenant's membership and Garland herself. Once Garland had grown sufficiently powerful, the covenant organized an alliance with the Gotei 13, agreeing to provide them with a single member who would represent the covenant's good faith and aid the Gotei 13 as a regular officer. This was in fact a pretense that would likely succeed in protecting Garland and her allies from the more radical Nefas cults along with the wrath of her own mother. At present, very few Nefas outside of Diluculum Aeternus are aware of Garland's existence.

As a representative of Diluculum Aeternus, Garland spent her time within the First Division until Jaromira Dragan was released from the Muken and subsequently selected as the Twelfth Division Captain. Following this, Garland was transferred to that division to serve as its Lieutenant, much to her initial chagrin. As Garland slowly began to come to terms with her new responsibilities, she idolized her Captain and soon took her family name as her own, fully severing her ties with Randa as Diluculum Aeternus had planned.

While Garland is poorly versed on Nefas lore and is thus unfamiliar with the Goddess they worship, her existence has attracted the interest of Velia Agostinha Vivax, who remarks that despite Diluculum Aeternus' best efforts, Garland will one day confront her mother in a battle to the death, for such is her fate.

Powers and Abilities


Garland is noted to be an exceptionally gifted Nefas for her age, drawing comparisons between her and Randa on more than one occasion. Although not largely powerful compared to Diluculum Aeternus' senior members, Garland's brilliant mind and capacity to grow has made her into one of the most promising Nefas alive. Given Eriphyla's observations and Agostinha's interest in Garland, she is likely to possess some form of dormant power.

Natural Abilities
Unfounded Growth Rate:

Immortality:

Moderate Spiritual Power:

Genus-Level Intellect:
 * Master Strategist and Tactician:
 * Skillful Inventor:

Pactum Anima
Mens Albus:

Moderate Reserves of Pactum Anima: Although Garland is young and seldom engages meditation of any form, her Pactum Anima reserves have been compared to that of an intermediate Nefas; this is despite restricting herself to around 20% of her maximum Anima capacity. Garland claims that if she were to unleash all of her Pactum Anima at once, it would be enough encompass a small town. Garland's Anima capacity seems to increase passively without the aid of meditation unlike that of other Nefas, nearly doubling with each passing year. Corpus Ubique Praesens Practitioner: Turris Anima Master:
 * Expert Pactum Anima Control:
 * Corpus Tremor:

Volatus Expert: Spell Weaving:
 * Volatus — Auger:

Vicēs Augur: A trait common to every Nefas Verax is that they possess possess some elemental affinity. A trait common to every Nefas Caela is that they possess the power of every element imaginable. But what makes Garland stand out from every other Nefas, whether they be Verax or Caela in nature, is her dominance over an “element” completely unheard of. Unlike other Nefas Caela, Garland does not possess any traditional element nor is she immune to any of them. In exchange, she possesses Augur, a mysterious power believed to represent a sort of unity between all of the elements. Befitting of that hypotheses, Augur can indeed be shaped as every known element, be it of a gaseous, liquid, solid, or plasmic form. Even its temperature may be freely altered according to Garland's will and experience with the element. But however it is molded, its greyish coloration serves to distinguish it as a force of its own. It is believed to exist as a representation of Agostinha's balance between light and dark.

Augur does not carry the weaknesses of any element; if it is molded to resemble fire, it is inextinguishable by water, and if molded to resemble water, it cannot be evaporated or frozen. Regardless of its form, Augur will forever persist over the environment until Garland either dismisses it or depletes her Pactum Anima. Although Augur is capable of burning, freezing, drowning, or even striking opponents if molded into a solid object, the true damage it may inflict is of a more supernatural nature, for any enemy to come into contact with it will rapidly lose their own spiritual powers, regardless of their properties, until finally they die outright. Even should the enemy manage to escape Augur before they reach the point of their own annihilation, its effects are long-lived, severely weakening the enemy's abilities often for quite some time after the battle has already concluded. The spiritual damage inflicted by Augur cannot be forcibly undone by any known method; it will automatically disappear given enough time. Objects and living beings sufficiently coated with Augur can be converted into it. While Augur generated is this manner is not tied to Garland's Pactum Anima reserves and thus can be made in excess, she can only control it whilst she is using Anima Obscuritas; otherwise it will persist in its initial form, dissipating after a certain period of time has passed. Augur is the only known power capable of completely ignoring the passive resistances and effects granted by Mens Albus, making it a relyable weapon against Nefas of any calibur.

Nevertheless, Augur's power is dependent upon the amount of the Pactum Anima used to generate it; although Garland can drastically increase its power by utilizing more Pactum Anima, this lowers the overall volume of Augur that can be generated. As a result, Garland cannot often destroy powerful barriers or offensive Kidō spells with Augur alone unless she empowers it with massive amounts of Pactum Anima. Even at Garland's current volume of Pactum Anima, utilizing the bare minimum of Augur and dedicating entirely to its offensive power can produce devastating results and almost instantly disable any opponent. Given enough time, Garland can freely change the form of her Augur whilst she has already released it, making it an incredibly versatile and deceptive weapon regardless of her own limitations with it.

Trivia

 * Garland's name is a running gag among the members of her Division, who often initially believe Garland is male due to its masculinity. In worse cases, her full name is mispronounced as Garlic Dragon.

Behind the Scenes

 * Images drawn by the author
 * Garland is inspired by the initial concept the author had for Randa regarding the latters abilities. Although Randa was intended to be a fairly weak combatant who relied purely on versatility and strategy, rather than overwhelming power, to win against her opponents, Randa eventually became much too powerful to fulfill this purpose. And thus, Garland is meant to take Randa's place as a primarily strategic fighter and possibly the author's main character.