Delilah Cash

"Oh my god, are you all right? Here, let me help you up. Deathknight or not, you don't deserve that."

The Basics
Delilah Anne Cash is a Twilight caste Solar Exalt, the third chosen by the Once-Conquered Sun in the end days. She is the primary Circle's doctor, artist, inventor, scholar and mother hen, though primaraily identified herself as a painter, as that is where her greatest talent lies. A gangly, plain woman who looks perpetually underfed and who just cannot shake her unrefined southern drawl, Delilah does not look or sound the part of an epic hero, and squeaks through most encounters with the deadly and supernatural by blue-collar charisma, brilliant babbling, and optimistic idealism. Her sense of wonder keeps the Circle going when little else will. She is famously compassionate to a fault, and will always try talking out an understanding a problem before fighting-- even in the case of Deathlords and their servants. When stressed and nervous, she bakes compulsively, which is too often for anyone's liking-- Delilah is a smart girl, and her pragmatism is constantly at war with her empathy. Too many have underestimated her dedication to winning the war. While Delilah will always prefer cookies, a long talk and a mutual agreement, she will fight to the death for the lives of others-- and sometimes, worse. As much as her kindness nutures the Circle, the Circle does her best to keep her sane when the drag of her duties wears her thin.

She is (by experience) 37 years old, though she was technically born 25 years ago.

Delilah's exaltation is native to the Third Age; it was recently revealed that it was created at the dawn of the Third Age, and is the living embodiment of the Age itself.

Powers and Skills
Functioning as artist, doctor, craftsperson, academic, scientist, brawler, sorcerer, bleeding heart and visionary, Delilah has a lot of plates to keep spinning.

First and foremost, she excels in art, especially painting, though she enjoys crafting with her hands-- metalsmithing, sculpture, cermaics and so on. Her paintings help fund the war effort and keep spirits up, though she has to be careful or her paintings become so entrancing the can enslave the wills of mortal and exalted alike. This has never been weaponized by the Solars, though Delilah was forced to comlpete an unkown painting for Walker in Darkness at one point. She has also developed a series of charms based on Wyld magic and tattooing, using permenant and temporary body paint to alter the essence of the recipient.

The rest of her formidable skill in crafts she puts towards the design of weapons, new technology and cooking. Her cookies are famous, though her inventions-- Resonance channeling cybernetics, alchemical implants adapted for Solar use, and solid hologram technology among them-- are more useful to the cause.

Secondary to her art is her skill in medicine. Delilah is the most talented healer in the world. She can cure almost any ill, be it physical, mental, or spiritual, and has developed a panapoly of custom charms that allow her to manipulate the body from the genetic code up. Her major claim to fame is finding a universal cure to AIDS and HIV.

Delilah is no slouch in combat, though she is easily hurt. She specializes in brawling and wrestling, being primarily interested in subduing an opponant rather than killing them (though she is more than capable if necessary). She is adied in this endevour by her inhuman strength. With the help of charms and spells, Delilah could lift and heft an aircraft carrier if need be.

Delilah is the second most potant practicionar of Exalted sorcery in the Third age, penultimate only to the elder Lunar and First Age survivor, Raksi. She has a variety of spells useful both in an out of combat, and has even drafted some of her own, the most powerful of which was resonsible for the obliteration of Mexico City.

Finally, due to a series of Wyld mutations and her own experiments with the Wyld, Delilah has begun dabbling in Changeling Arts, to their incredible dismay.

Relationships
It is a rare thing indeed for someone *not* to like Delilah. Even some Deathlords, in their twisted ways, find her charming. The number that count her as a freind is astounding, and she reciprocates. Her circle of close freinds is smaller (though larger still than she has time for, to her chagrin). Michael, Guy, Leon, Zeke. Akshaya, Blue and Katarina are some, and she has cultivated some unusual kinships with the Deathknight Orin, the Argus agent Taye, and the Alchemical Akel. She has had a number of romantic relationships, invloved at first with the mortal curator Doug and then dragonblood Reginald Winston Ledaal III, the latter fo which lasted eight years and ended only with her death. She also had a breif and violently unhealthy fling with the Deathknight Hawkins, which concluded unhappily.

The most important people in Dealilah's life are those she considers family: her Circle, her biological family, and her Lunar mate. Darla was her friend long before the Twilight exalted, and only revealed her nature as a Silent Strider ater resucing Delilah from her first encoutner with the man in the hat. They are best freinds and close confidants, no matter how much time passes between their conversations; busy lives mean they do not get to spend as much time togetehr as either would prefer, but it doesn't affect their bond in the least.

Her biological family lives with her in the Twilight manse: her father, mother (Martha) and younger brother (Johnny). They have become quite invloved with politics and research in the Manse. Martha leads a quilting circle to promote "inter-paradigm harmony" among the diverse occupants.

Delialh adores her Circle to a one, even when they drive her up a wall. She and Dane act like obstinate siblings, bickering and teasing pretty consitantly (or, him teasing, her pouting). Blitz and her make a formidable team in both the kitchen and the infirmary, and out of all the others in the Circle, Delilah thinks he has the potential to lead.

She and Arthur have a complicated relationship. he was the first exalt she even encountered, and they were not particularly close until Delilah returned to New York, where she promptly fell into a dire crush. She dismissed these feeligns for years as she persued other romantic interests, but they intensiefied until an explosion of drama threatened thir by-then close freindship. After Delilah's death and during ther tiem as Deathknights, Arthur and Delilah became closer and, following their re-exaltation as Children of the Sun, they are tenitively dating. They often joke they are like the Mother and Father of the Solars, and have the unique ability to push each other's buttons.

However, there is no one she is closer to than B. Dellilah considers him her brother in all ways, and would do anything to keep him safe and happy. She was the first to know about his violent extracirrcular activities, the first one to believe that he was a good person anyway, and the first one to discover the truth about his possession. She is determined to save him from himself, no matter what, before this is all over.

On a darker note, Delilah is intrisically tied to the Deathlord known as the Man in the Hat. Two halves of the same coin, their actions affect each other in ways neither fully comprehend. The Deathlord is obsessed with Delilah and her exaltation in all ways, and is furious that she slipped trough his hands. He would do literally anything to possess her-- even anger his Neverborn masters.

Pre-Exaltation
Delilah Anne Cash was born on June 30th, 1983, in Vidalia, Georigia. Vidalia was your typical small Georgia town-- Delilah's family was considered quite liberal, her father being a college professor and all. An imaginative and precocious tomboy, her good nature allowed her to make freinds easily, but everyone in the town knew there was something strange about her. She was too smart and too curious for her own good, and talked about odd imaginary friends that stuck around longer than they should.She didn't outwardly notice that others thought her queer, but herself felt like there was somehting important for her, something different about her future. Her parents thought this talk of a special future just the idle chatter of a child, but worried they were raising a self-centered egotist and tamped down on her.

At tweleve, now thouroghly convinced there was nothing special about herself at all, Delilah met Danny, a homeless, drug addicted wanderer who happened into Vidalia with his band of 90's ne'er-do-wells. Delilah took a shine to the emotionally manipulative and exotic 19-year-old, and he loved how much attention she paid to him. He said the words she was dying to hear: "You're special." Delilah fell into that deep, irrational love of a young teenager, and slipped into Danny's world of drinking, smoking pot and petty crime, but it wasn't until her parents threatened to have Danny arrested that things went from bad too worse. Delilah warned Danny, and when he fled town, he took her with.

Delilah, Danny and his crew landed in his hometown of new orleans. Thsi is where Delilah spent her life from ages 13-19, and most of these were not good years. Danny quickly introduced Delilah to the thing that would really bind her to him-- herion-- and she spent most of those years as a homeless addict. Despite this, Delilah worked very hard at keeping her new family fed, clothed and somewhat healthy, holding down several under the table jobs at a time and educating herself at the publci library. She also threw herself into art, and her incredible talent sold well. Danny kept her on a short emotional leash espite losing interest in her only a few years, needing her devotion and work ethic to keep himself in drugs.

Then, when Delilah was 19, Danny died.

Exaltation and The Initial Quest
Junior year of her undergrad degree in art, Delilah attracted the favor of a brilliant Visiting Professor, Gustav Kask. He doted on her talent and offered her a spot in a prestigious gallery. The show was set for January, just after the Christmas holiday, and Delilah worked her tush off to produce a truly incredible opening. The art world, and Gustav's freinds, responded extremely well. Well enough that the party lasted long after the gallery closed and the normal folk cleared out. heady and humbled by her success, Delilah took the congratulations of Gustav's entorage without guile, until she realized that her teacher and his confidants had her surrounded. Gustav then revealed his real offer: join him and his cohorts in eternal life as a Toreador vampire, and her artistic spark would never die. It was not an offer that she was allowed to turn down.

Gustav bit her, and at that moment, the Once-Conquered sun realeased her Exaltation. She was flooded with sunlight and a voice she did not recognize but always knew, that told her : "Find the others, and bring them together. I bless you as my Twilight." When the haze faded, she was standing dumbfounded in a circle of screeching vampires, and Gustav was on the ground before herwith the fangs burnt right out of his head. They fled, swearing vengence, and Delilah was left with the the burning mark and no idea what to do next.

So she went to the library.