Equinox

Emily Ratajkowski as Sarah Black

Name: Sarah Black Codename: Equinox Faction: SHIELD (WAND Division), Consortium Arcana Position: Agent of MI-13, seconded to WAND/New York Age: 24 Hometown: London, UK Gender: Female Height: 170cm (5'7") Build: Fit & Curvy Skin: Caucasian Hair: Brown Eyes: Dark Brown

Details

Background

21 March 1995

The night of the equinox always brought with it a bit of chaos. Every hedge wizard, self-taught witch, and other amateur conjurer seemed to think it was their duty (or at least a good excuse) to light candles, draw circles, and make a mess of the thaumaturgical landscape with their petty and half-arsed workings. It often made for an interesting night, but it was seldom truly dangerous.

But this, this was different. The Dover watchtower had picked up a Class III magical disturbance, off in a nearby village, at 2:14 GMT, the actual moment of the equinox.

When they arrived on the scene, the MI-13 response team had found that the excitement was essentially over, but the cleanup was only beginning. In an outbuilding behind a perfectly ordinary house, a ritual — or at the very least, an attempt at one — had evidently taken place. By the look of it, it had not gone according to plan. Before a makeshift altar, a charred human skeleton had collapsed to the ground, the ritual's celebrant apparently having been incinerated where she stood.

And upon the altar, where one might expect a sacrifice to be placed, lay a perfectly healthy baby girl.

Investigation

Three things were soon determined. One, the baby was, as the agents who found her had surmised, a newborn, less than a day old. Two, DNA testing on what tissue could be recovered from the charred remains verified that the dead woman was, in fact, the child's mother. And three, whatever the ritual had been intended to do, its actual result had been to imbue the baby with a substantial quantity of infernal energy.

Apparently. the mother's attempt to sacrifice her newborn daughter for whatever purpose had gone badly sideways.

The dead woman's identity, on the other hand, proved more difficult to ascertain. The property where the ritual had taken place had been rented under a false name, and the trail rapidly went cold from there. According to all reports, the woman had lived there alone, and had had very little contact with her neighbors. Locating the father, grandparents, or other kin of the baby appeared to be at a dead end.

Adoption & Childhood

The agency was now faced with the dilemma of just what to do with a baby not only roiling with demonic energy, but also possessing a high degree of magical potential. The solution came with the orphaned child's adoption by Ian and Amanda Black, former field agents now working in HQ's administrative section. The Blacks named the child Sarah and raised her as the younger sister of their biological son, Simon.

As she grew, young Sarah proved to be exceptionally bright and inquisitive, taking well to her studies both mundane and magical. Her psyche appeared to be unaffected by the dark energies within her — She was a cheerful, loving, good-hearted child, given to kindness and with a delightfully playful sense of humor. Those energies found expression instead, it seemed, through Sarah's physical self — The inevitable minor to moderate injuries of childhood healed quickly, without ever leaving a mark. She was seldom sick, and when she did become ill, it never lasted long — and by the time she had reached her teens, she hardly seemed to become sick at all.

2010

Agent Simon Black seconded by MI-13 to the newly-formed WAND division of SHIELD, which is recruiting from many nations' supernaturally-inclined agencies.

2013

By the time she was 18, Sarah had matured into a stunning young woman, and chose, to no one's surprise, to follow her parents' and her brother's example and enter training as an agent of Her Majesty's Mystical Service.

12 December 2014

During the attack on the UN, Simon Black perishes while holding open a portal that enabled most of the British delegation and dozens of others to escape the destruction.

March 2019

MI-13 Agent Sarah Black seconded to WAND in New York, following in her brother's footsteps.

Powers

The Sight

Allows Sarah to see the magical nature of objects that appear ordinary to mundane eyes, as well as active magical effects, ley lines, the unseen (and otherwise unperceivable) creatures all around us, and so forth. Will NOT automatically see through illusory or invisibility effects. Invoked at will, no gestures or spoken words needed, but maintaining The Sight for more than a few minutes at a time is taxing.

Evocation Magic

Casting typically requires spoken words and/or specific gestures, often both. Evocation draws on Sarah's own willpower and reserves of energy. More strenuous, higher-energy casting (attack spells, defence shields, and 'extra effort' as applied to other effects) will reduce her reserves and eventually deplete them. Each time Sarah casts another 'major' spell without having fully recovered her reserves between castings will 'restart the clock' on her recovery and lengthen the time needed:

• 1 spell: Taking 1 minute of recovery will restore her fully.
• 2 spells: 2 minutes.
• 3 spells: 10 minutes.
• 4 spells: 16 minutes.
• 5 spells: 25 minutes.
• 6 spells: At this point, Sarah has reached her limit for major magic within a relatively short period. 30 minutes of recovery are needed before she can cast another major spell without endangering herself. If she continues without rest, she will be weakened or even rendered unconscious.

• Attack Spells: Range 50m, max damage comparable to a high-powered sniper rifle. Can be forked to multiple targets or spread to an area effect, damage reduced accordingly. Elemental type (fire, cold, lightning/electricity, light, force, etc.) chosen at casting, can have corresponding secondary effects. Most common form is blunt, non-penetrating force.

• Defence Shields: Can be cast in the form of personal shields, a hemispherical dome, or a full sphere. Will withstand mundane or magical effects approximating the power of Sarah's attack spells with nominal effort, so long as she is able to devote part of her concentration to sustaining the shield. Can absorb greater impacts or pressures with further exertions of concentration and will, up to where Sarah is actively maintaining the shield to the exclusion of doing anything else. (At that point, it will withstand fairly high-end attacks — once — or potentially, with supreme effort, manage the almost comics-cliche 'surviving under a collapsing building' move.) Same elemental choices as attack spells (neutral force by default, other elements stronger against like, weaker against opposite).

• Glamours: Illusions covering any combination of the five ordinary senses. Difficulty and duration inversely proportional to size and complexity. Includes invisibility and disguise magics.

• Portals: Sarah can open a portal usable by herself and/or others to any location she is familiar with within 100km, or to any point within typical 'battlefield' line-of-sight range. The length of time a portal can be held open without extra effort is inversely proportional to the distance being traveled.

• Countermagic: Dispel or suspend a long-term spell or enchantment (wards, barriers, other 'standing' effects), difficulty (and time required) based on the power of the caster compared to her own. Against her level or lower, Sarah can choose whether to dispel effects permanently or just temporarily suspend them, as she has a much greater chance of success. Against casters more powerful than her, dispelling an effect permanently becomes increasingly difficult to impossible, while the timespan for which she can suspend an effect diminishes accordingly (and eventually reaches zero).

• Cantrips: A series of minor magical effects such as creating a small light, warming/cooling a beverage, changing the color of an article of clothing, drying herself off. These are small localized personal non-combat ambiance effects.

Demonic Energies

The failed ritual in which Sarah's birth mother attempted to sacrifice her newborn child in exchange for power left her mother dead and baby Sarah infused with a portion of the power her mother sought. There are benefits (see below) and downsides (see Flaws) resulting from this.

• Demonic Regeneration: Given time, nearly any injury, from bruises and abrasions to major trauma to missing limbs will eventually regenerate to full health and without leaving a mark. (Examples: Being shot will possibly take Sarah out of a fight, but in most cases she will be fully healed within an hour or two. Minor injuries heal within minutes.) Sarah herself is not aware of the full extent of this power, and is not in any hurry to explore its limits.

• Damned Healthy: Sarah is immune to most diseases and infections, with the possible exception of those that are partially or fully of a mystical or otherwise supernatural nature. (One exception to the latter is vampirism. Sarah's demonic energies will prevent vampiric transformation.) She is also resistant to drugs and poisons, with larger doses being required to achieve a given effect, and fatal doses being countered by her regeneration.

• Bound For Eternity: Now that she has reached full adulthood, Sarah's aging processes have all but ceased. (She is not yet aware of this, but it will become more apparent over time.) This is, of course, a two-edged sword (see Flaws).

Skills

• Arcane Lore: As part of her education, Sarah studied the history, mysteries, and legends of magic, mysticism, and the occult. She has at least a basic familiarity with a variety of supernatural topics, though her knowledge is more broad than deep with regard to most of them.

• First Aid: Sarah is trained in emergency first aid techniques, including CPR, proper AER use, treatment for shock, control of blood loss, and other life-saving measures. She can also dress wounds, splint broken bones, and provide other, similar levels of help for the wounded until more qualified and better-equipped others can take over.

• Investigation: As part of her training to become an agent of MI-13, Sarah learned the basic skillset of a detective or investigator. (It is as often that agency's job to figure out what happened after the fact of an incident as to prevent it or face it head-on.) Before being seconded to WAND in New York, Sarah didn't really get much chance to apply these skills in the field, and it remains to be seen how much use they will be in her new role.

• Languages: In addition to her native English, Sarah speaks French, Italian, and Latin.

• Music: Sarah is a talented vocalist, with a singing voice reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders. She's also a competent pianist.

• Self Defence: While training with MI-13, Sarah learned basic hand-to-hand combat and defensive techniques. While she would not last long in melee against a powered combatant or someone with true martial arts training, she is quite capable of holding her own against most ordinary, human-level assailants. She is also qualified with firearms, though she does not ordinarily carry a gun.

Advantages

• Agent of WAND: As an agent of the supernaturally-focused branch of SHIELD, Sarah has access to considerable material and informational resources. She also draws a respectable salary.

• High Intelligence: Sarah is of notably above-average intelligence, at the cusp of genius-level.

• Natural Athlete: It's not clear to what extent it is simple genetics versus influence of the demonic energies infusing her body, but fitness and athleticism come easily to Sarah, along with grace and coordination. She does need to work to maintain her figure and muscle tone, but not to the extent that most would, and maintaining her weight is also not much of a problem for her.

Flaws

• Collect Call: It's a possibility that the demon that was the source of the energy infusing Sarah might at some point seek to call in the debt incurred, even though Sarah herself had no part in striking whatever bargain was made. A boon might be demanded, or the being might have some insidious longer-term plan in mind for her. It's entirely possible that the 'failed' ritual was doomed from the start, a setup to lure an inexperienced caster greedy for power into exactly what happened that night.

• Forever is a Long Time: The downside of Sarah's essentially halted aging, which she has yet to experience — Having those people who are important to her grow old and die while she remains youthful and healthy will not be good for her or for her loved ones.

• Mistaken Infernity: Due to the demonic energies she is infused with, spells and other effects intended to affect demons may act on Sarah as well. For example, she may be picked up by detection spells, or wards against demonkind may keep her out also. It's possible that a ritual meant to summon a demon might deliver her, instead, depending on the specificity of the summoning and/or the competence of the caster.

• Subject to Orders: As an agent of WAND, Sarah is subject to orders from her superiors, as well as being bound by the agency's standing policies and procedures. Being seconded to WAND by MI-13, she also remains an agent of the Crown, needing to be mindful of relations, alliances, and treaties between the UK and other nations. Either or both of these may at times constrain her actions in ways that those of a private citizen would not be.

• Temper, Temper: The normally easygoing Sarah does possess (or is sometimes possessed by?) a fiery temper than can occasionally lead her to say or do things she might later regret, or to be reckless with her own safety (see 'Un-Unbreakable', below). While any number of things could potentially set her off, a particular trigger is the endangerment of innocents', and particularly children's, lives through malice, neglect, or poor judgement, understandable considering Sarah's origin.

• They Know: Most beings cannot sense Sarah's demonic taintedness without magical or other supernatural assistance. But dogs, even those that are normally friendly or quiet, may be uneasy around her or even hostile. Babies and children up to around three years old will feel vague fear in Sarah's presence, though may not be aware that she is the cause. Cats, on the other hand, appear to find her intriguing, and will generally react favorably to her.

• Un-Unbreakable: While she does not know the full depths of her demonic healing, Sarah has on several occasions recovered fully from fairly serious injuries. This has led her to sometimes be a bit reckless or cocky about being hurt. While it is true that she will heal fully from pretty much anything, a broken leg, a gunshot wound, or a severe concussion will take her out of a fight just as much as they would anyone else, turning her from an asset to a liability for her allies and possibly exposing her to kidnap or capture.

Contacts

• Contact 1: Something about them.

• Contact 2: Something about them.

Soundtrack

Click any of the titles below to play the music. (YouTube will open in a new tab.)

• Miss You All The Time — O.A.R.
  Sarah always looked up to her brother, Simon, right up until the day he gave his life saving people from the attack on the UN. Now she's walking in his footsteps.

• Don't Get Me Wrong — The Pretenders
  It's been suggested to Sarah more than once that her singing voice resembles that of Chrissie Hynde. So here's a bit of the real thing.

Gallery

Click any of the thumbnails below to view the full image. (Image will open in a new tab.)

Logs

2019-09-01 - Chrysalis
Summary: WAND Agent Black, SHIELD Agent Harman and Contractor Baxter enter the sewers beneath the...
(cib dominant hank-mccoy jimmy-baxter plot sarah-black thea)

2019-08-28 - Special Delivery-Not as fun as Advertised
Summary: Crucible in Bronze - Agents Harman Black get to have some fun with bit of bizarre...
(cib hank-mccoy plot sarah-black thea)

2019-08-25 - Flashes of a Vision
Summary: Aid arrives for the Zone refugees and people are caught up on things Log Info: Storyteller:...
(dominant isis-marik jean-grey jimmy-baxter nick-gleason pepper-potts plot sarah-black)

2019-08-22 - Just Shy of Cult
Summary: Eve, Sarah, and Alex meet Pennylane for some healthy food and deep conversation Log Info:...
(eve pennylane phobos plot sarah-black social)

2019-07-31 - SHIELD Team Six
Summary: A SHIELD team goes underground to rescue the captive animalistic mutants. Log Info:...
(clint-barton jimmy-baxter plot sarah-black steve-rogers thea)

2019-07-19 - Into The Sewers
Summary: Nick brings news of an abduction Log Info: Storyteller: None Date: Fri Jul 19 08:00:21 2019...
(dominant hellboy isis-marik jimmy-baxter nick-gleason pepper-potts plot sarah-black steve-rogers)

2019-07-05 - The Stonewall Serves Pasta?!
Summary: Lunch at Stonewall Inn, a date set for later. Log Info: Storyteller: None Date: Fri Jul 5...
(ren-kimura sarah-black social)

2019-07-02 - Welcome To SHIELD Agent Baxter
Summary: Consultant Baxter gets an orientation tour of SHIELD and gets information on a lead he's...
(jemma-simmons jimmy-baxter plot sarah-black viralweapon)

2019-07-01 - A New Consultant
Summary: Sarah catches up with 'oi you with the wings'. Log Info: Storyteller: None Date: Mon Jul 1...
(jimmy-baxter sarah-black social)

2019-06-27 - It's Coming Down
Summary: A hooded figure explodes out of a derelict building. Three heroes jump in to help in the...
(eve jimmy-baxter plot sarah-black whitestar)

2019-06-09 - Start of a Horribeautiful Friendship?
Summary: Sarah Black arranges for two of her rather unique friends to meet Log Info: Storyteller:...
(eve jennifer-takeda sarah-black social)

2019-06-08 - Ride the Thunderbolt: Raid on Obsidian
Summary: SHIELD conducts a raid on the Obsidian Club when they learn of the presence of Thunderbolt...
(jean-grey noh-varr plot priscilla-kitaen rose-wilson roy-harper sam-guthrie sarah-black)

2019-06-08 - Promises And Confidences
Summary: Silk approaches Sarah Black to see if she can help Hod out of his prediciment of being a...
(cindy-moon sarah-black social)

2019-06-08 - Biochem To The Rescue
Summary: Roy stops by to ask Jemma's lab to ask her to take a look at the Thunderbolt drug and it...
(jemma-simmons kelly-dehaven koa-turner melinda-may plot roy-harper sarah-black storm-shadow)

2019-05-26 - I Just Want To Dance
Summary: Ren 'Cherry Manhattan' Kimura performs her Burlesque show as Eddie (Venom), Scandal, and...
(ren-kimura sarah-black scandal social venom)

2019-05-20 - Twisted Temptation
Summary: Dead Girl and a WAND Team stage a rescue and encounter two of Nightfall's most powerful...
(beau-sartre dead-girl hellboy koa-turner plot rule sarah-black)

2019-05-13 - Eclipse and Darque all together
Summary: SHIELD is deployed to retrieve whatever the Nightfall has stashed at the Uni-Sphere. Log...
(beau-sartre helena-way helena-wayne keiko koa-turner plot rule sarah-black)

2019-05-10 - SHIELD-Geeks and Spider-Geeks
Summary: Spider-Geeks and SHIELD-Geeks are united in a common quest. Log Info: Storyteller: None...
(anya-corazon christopher-powell jemma-simmons jennifer-takeda leo-fitz peter-parker sarah-black social)

2019-05-05 - Plokta Planning
Summary: Planning session to deal with Plokta and the Nightfall! Log Info: Storyteller: None Date:...
(anya anya-corazon batman batwoman bruce-wayne catwoman cindy-moon helena-wayne jane-roe kate-kane keiko kk peter-parker plot pp roe rule sarah sarah-black selina-kyle silk)

2019-04-27 - Tiger a Tigra
Summary: Tigra's tracked Gretchen Jacobs and called in support to rescue her. It probably doesn't go...
(doug-ramsey douglas-ramsey greer-nelson ian keiko koa-turner plot rule sarah-black)

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