Name: Maria
Gender: Female
Crossover: Bloodborne
History: You know this already.
Lady Maria, born a noble of the tainted blood of Cainhurst, became one of the first Hunters under Gehrman, and one of the best. Few are the Hunters that have successfully internalized the Art of Quickening, but her internalization is such that the power dwelled in her bones, a shortcut for lesser Hunters to draw on her own power.
Eventually, she participated in an attack on a fishing village, slaying the mutated without mercy, assuming them beasts like any other. However, upon seeing those of Byrgenworth greedily tearing eyes from their skulls, upon seeing the Great One's orphan taken... She learned the truth, her eyes opening. She cast her beloved Rakuyo down a well. She could not bear to participate in slaughter again, not when she would doubt herself at every beast slain.
Instead, she went to the Healing Church. A Hunter that refused to hunt, she found another use. The poor people who found themselves experimented on, those who became both more and less than human. She cared for them, trying to make their lives better, inspiring their adoration. And yet, her ability to help... It was limited sorely. She could give a patient a key, let them smell the flowers and feel the breeze, but it didn't matter if they were no longer human enough to enjoy it. She could hold a poor man's hand, let him know she was there for him, but it would keep away the beasts in his mind when she left.
It was too much. Whatever she did, she couldn't truly help them. Eventually she couldn't take it any more, and she left, going out into the town at night in search of an end less shameful than killing herself. She bore no weapon and had always trained with her sword, but went to fight ravenous beasts that shrugged off bullets. It was a slaughter. Beasts died by the drove, Maria's body growing soaked in her own blood and theirs. Eventually, though, she fell. The First Hunter, her teacher, found the body later that night, wounded almost past the point of recognizability. Indeed, for one unable to see things as they truly are, she truly would have been so. Her body was buried later in the yard of the Hunters' Workshop, the first grave of many.
Her mind, however, did not. Her deeds in the fishing village from so long ago had left her a curse. She found herself in a Nightmare, another realm formed by the Great One that accepted the survivors' cries for revenge. Hunters engaged themselves in the Hunt once more, killing and being killed, eventually becoming little more than the Beasts they hunted.
Maria, however, did not. Instead, she made her way to the Healing Church's patient wards, to the clocktower above. She sought answers, what this place was, rather than simply shrugging and returning to her job. And, of course, she found them. Beyond the city where the Hunters did their job, beyond the Healing Church and its experiments, the fishing village lie. The people were back, if rather hostile at her presence. She did not push forward.
Instead, she made her way back to her clocktower. She had no interest in growing into a slavering beast, she could not help the people here, she would not continue investigating if it meant repeating her past mistakes. So she found a chair and sat, body eventually taking the posture of a corpse. A hunter of the Dream showed up, with wild curiosity unbound, so she gave them an honest death. They didn't stop at that. It took a long while, but what can one do against a Hunter that always comes back to try again? She died again there. And now, she wakes up in this new reality.
Personality:
Her bearing and formal words mark her as the noble she was born as, elegant and one step removed from the person she's talking to, a true noble. Actually listening to
what she says, however, paints a rather different picture. Formal wording or not, she does not dance around the issue in any case, as blunt as a punch to the face. Indeed, she hates when people don't say what they mean, as straightforward as anyone.
Frankly, despite her accepting her role as Hunter, she still dislikes needless fights. She'll do it if she needs to, of course, to protect herself or others, but that is a matter of necessity. It's not even the standard trope, that she doesn't enjoy fighting, as she very much does. That Yharnam blood always carries madness with it, after all. It is simply that she doesn't want to kill people. She's made enough mistakes in her life with that path; she'd rather
A note, she possesses a great sympathy for those who have been manipulated, used, those who do not deserve what has happened to them. She'll go out of her way to protect or just generally help people like that.
Abilities
Well, first of all, body's different from most. Real strong, real fast. Her swords can make mincemeat out of things guns were set aside as useless against. Smacking someone through an oak bookshelf filled with books is entirely possible. It's street level superhuman, but still noticeably superhuman.
Really fucking durable
All Hunters are more durable than a standard human, able to keep going despite gaping wounds and even work at closing them. Maria, however, is more than a cut above. The tainted blood flowing through her veins is that of a noble of the Vilebloods, related near-directly to the Queen, who is quite literally immortal, able to live on as chunks of flesh.
While she may not be as ridiculously enduring as the Queen, she's still resilient enough that multiple stabs to the heart are as nothing to her. Localized wounds, even to major organs, will do little, even a stab to the brain won't kill. Suffocation definitely won't, she eventually just stopped breathing with no ill effects. The only surefire methods of killing her are to cut her head off or to reduce a large portion of her body to hamburger/ash. Or to obliterate her in an energy beam or something. Though this doesn't give her the ability to regenerate limbs. If an arm's cut off or something, that's it. No more arm.
In addition, she'd even harder to put down thanks to the nature of her blood. All those who become Hunters gain this skill: The freshly shed blood of opponents heals their wounds. Indeed, it is one of the primary reasons many fight as beasts, savagely ripping their foes to pieces without care for their own swiftly-healed wounds. Maria's own blood, especially potent, allows her to regenerate from her own shed blood as well, to an extent. It's not like the blood from getting shot would be enough to heal the wound. The only thing it allows is for her to be affected by blood loss, as it's replenished as quickly as it's lost.
Insight
This is, put briefly, the ability to see things as they are though eyes on the inside, remnants of glimpses of the true nature of the cosmos. In essence, illusions and the like don't work, she sees the true form of shapeshifters, pierce though most forms of mental interference, etc. However, man wasn't meant to have this knowledge. Her mind is more fragile, and viewing too much more eldritch shit may break it entirely.
Hunter
She's real good at fighting. Not really much else to say here. Beasts came in all shapes and sizes, and it's not like she hasn't had to fight against human opponents either. It's not like she's supernaturally talented, either. Just real good at it.
Blood Bullets
With normal guns, Beasts would be unharmed, the bullets bouncing off their hides. Understandably, this was a poor state of affairs for those that would hunt them. Hunters discovered a way to use their blood as both propellant and bullet, putting more stopping power in their shots, enough to give even a Beast pause. Maria's blood is greater than a typical Hunter. Her bullets can shoot through steel.
Of course, she is also
stronger than the typical Hunter. Really, she's less dangerous with her gun than a sword, but it provides range and can be a nasty surprise.
Art of Quickening
The final thing she uses normally, this is the ability to basically teleport short distances at the beginning of a movement. For example, rather than hop to the left, she could vanish in a swirl of mist, reappearing five meters or so to the left. A teleport is faster than a single step, even for her, and teleports can be chained together. This means that her distance, unless the enemy is real fast, is effectively whatever she wants it to be.
In reality, it's more like reducing the distance between where she starts and where she ends up to nothing, though. If the mist she poofs into for the step can't pass something, like a wall, she can't quickstep past it.
Blood Control
Lastly, Maria's heritage has given her great control over her own blood. When she's bleeding enough, she can use her swords to model large blades of her own flowing blood, increasing their length and cutting power. In addition, slashes from these blood blades sends ribbons of cutting blood, flickering to slice away at opponents to deepen the wound or slash enemies that dodge back. With focus, she can concentrate a slash for greater power. Building up that which she bleeds for a couple seconds allows her to let out a practical laser of eldritch blood. Of course, actually getting those two seconds... Well, not easy.
Maria, however, chose her blades precisely because they worked best with her skill rather than her blood, as most Cainhurst katanas did. Using this skill is rather distasteful to her. It may, in the end, be another tool at her disposal, but it's one she'd rather not use. She'll stab herself through the heart to get enough blood to use them if she thinks she has to, but she's really rather not.
In a battle where she is heavily injured and under serious risk of death, this gains an additional aspect. Following the flashing blood, the flame of a Hunter follows, purifying tainted blood with fire. It also burns the shit out of people in its way, of course.