Cadence

Enchanter of the Silver Ladder

Born: 07/04/1992

Age: 23

Rank: Adept of Fate

Titles/Memberships: Deacon of the Adelaide Silver Ladder caucus, Australian head of the Silver Ladder

Physical description: Cadence is somewhat small, at 161cm and 65kg, but not especially so. They are androgynous in appearance, with bright green eyes and short hair bleached white-blond, and a slight tendency to avoid people's gaze. Cadence looks their real age, 22, although some take their playful nature and short stature as indications of a slightly younger age.

When they can be bothered, Cadence has taken to dressing in a "trickster magical girl" style, hiding their face with a masquerade mask and wearing youthful, feminine clothing. They rarely travels without their wand, constructed of plastic, silver, glass and crystal, and inscribed with identifying runes.

Personality: Cadence's personality can be summed up as sarcasm overlying anger, and Awakening did little to change that. Rarely admitting to even blatantly obvious mistakes and having little patience for disagreement, Cadence is a very poor leader but a suitable temporary general... so long as the ongoing goodwill of the people they're working with isn't too important.

Nimbus: Cadence's Nimbus is a fractal pattern that blurs the edges of whatever is being enchanted. The seed formula changes moment by moment, moving the fractal through kaleidoscopic patterns.

History: Cadence grew up in Naracoorte, an only child of suitably attentive parents. When they were seventeen, their girlfriend decided to move to Adelaide for university, and Cadence, against parental will, followed them. The two engaged in a whirlwind six months of honeymoon love and unaccustomed independence before the relationship burned out and Cadence found themself alone. Without savings or a job and too proud to go home, Cadence couch-hopped for a while before ending up on the street.

It was while sleeping under a bridge in winter that Cadence noted the whispering in the rhythm of the rain on the concrete above and, slowly, the layers of the Lie began to peel away. Cadence was, in personality and behaviour, a very poor fit for the Acanthus path, and nearly died several times on their journey before finally scrawling their name on a lottery ticket bought with their last two dollars and walking out with enough money for a meal. To this day, Cadence can never quite trust their instincts in matters of fate and time quite as much as their Path would suggest, and tends to be slow to use their magic as a result. Still, Cadence stubbornly works towards advancing these magical skills, perhaps subconsciously supposing that if they become good enough, they can force the magic to work how they wish it to.

Shortly after awakening, Cadence was found by Dancer, a travelling member of the Silver Ladder, who helped them find training and a job as a barista and taught them the basics of magical practice as well as the history of Adelaide and the culture of the Pentacle. Cadence was inducted into the Silver Ladder and shortly thereafter met the Consilium of Adelaide. Finding the local magical community to be even more shattered than the magic of the city itself, Cadence has taken it upon themself to heal both, intending to leave a strong city and a strong Consilium in their wake... whether the rest of the Consilium wants to help or not.

Timeline

Awakened: August 2014

Initial Master: Dancer (NPC)

Recent events

2015

- Was part of a group that investigated a spontaneously appearing Atlantean temple, which disappeared after exploration.

- Was a founding member of The Orchard

- Has begun work on a Grimoire in Thread

- Left The Orchard, was a founding member of The Foundation

Quotes

Quotes by

"So what you're saying is... this... represents the sane population of mages in this city?"

"Is it just me, or are there rather too many explosions involved in all of this?"

Quotes about

"Lovely, helpful, and an excellent contact for maintaining relations between Canberra and Adelaide. Thanks for being available and I hope that should you reach out to me, I can be as useful to you as you have been to me"

- Vyra when asked about meeting Cadence at Conclave.

Inspirations and Soundtrack

Puck from Gargoyles

Thomas Raith of the Dresden Files

Pretty much any Fool that Shakespeare (or his copycats) have written

"Twelve songs of Christmas" soundtrack
Cadence's general attitude to their family life as a child (and ongoing): [Imagine Dragons: All Eyes]
Cadence falling in love: [Nightwish: Cadence Of Her Last Breath]
Running away from home; Cadence's philosophy toward the future at the time: [Anberlin: Haight St]
Cadence's relationship in the “honeymoon phase”: [The Offspring: We Are One]
The breakup and being kicked out onto the street: [The Offspring: Vultures]
Looking back on life pre-Awakening: [ABBA: The Day Before You Came]
Cadence's view of The Lie, as a homeless young mage: [Nightwish: Planet Hell]
Early idealism and fervour, new to the magical community: [Anberlin: Change The World]
Cadence's opinion of Awakening as they get to know other mages better: [Dessa: Matches To Paper Dolls]
Cadence's view of their role in the magical community as they find themself having to build governments: [Dessa: The Seamstress]
Cadence's intense guilt at their doubt over the things that Silver Ladders are “supposed” to think and believe, and their desire for knowledge from heretical sources: [Nightwish: She Is My Sin]
Cadence's resolve to rebuild Adelaide and leave a more stable magical community than what they walked into, working towards a new Atlantis: [Nightwish: Wanderlust]