DR: Praxis Ward

Name: Praxis Ward

Age: 19 (May 15)

Height: 5’5”

Weight: 170 lbs (Sturdy and solid, with blacksmith shoulders. Illusion of waist created more by the presence of hips than anything else.)

Race: Demigod

Sex: Female

God-parent: Hephaestus

Mortal parent: Emily Ward

Powers:

Thermal Imbalance

Praxis can keep up to 10 very hot object or several moderately hot objects in her immediate vicinity hot for longer than is natural. The larger and hotter the object, the less time she can keep it hot before she is exhausted. As she primarily uses this for forge work, she has determined her limits to be keeping her current project at its optimal working temperature for a minute or so longer than the laws of thermodynamics allow. She can do this for up to 10 items within 20 feet for two hours total (in 5 minute increments with 5-10 minute breaks in between). In addition to this power being useful for maintaining heat, she can also call up to 2000 degrees/object into up to 10 objects at one time of one object 10 times a day. She can either keep things hot or make things hot, but not both, and this power only works on nonliving object and works best on metals. If she uses this power frequently, she gets very thirsty and starts to dry out. When she uses it until she is exhausted, she also becomes feverish.

Thermal Resistance

Praxis' body and things which she is wearing and/or carrying (limited to the mass that she can physically lift, ie. tools, weapons, backpacks) can withstand temperatures of up to 3000 degrees F for up to two hours. When using this power she must consciously include those things that are not her clothing for them to be protected. These protected objects must be physically in contact with her when she activates the power and must remain within 5 feet of her for the duration. This leaves her free to, for example, use her first power to heat up a bar of metal that she is holding in her hand without damaging her hand. There are several seconds of discomfort as a warning buffer at the tail end of this ten minutes so she knows to back away from the heat.

More than Meets the Eye: Praxis develops the ability to enchant the objects that she herself creates, with each level adding a new facet to this power. She cannot enchant existing items without modifying them in some way to bring them under the heading of things she has had a hand in creating.

Unapplied Physics: The internal dimensions are independent of the external within reason (no more than 10x), though it can be stacked (expanded internal storing more expanded internals like Kaylie's boxes) and, when closed, these internal dimensions exist independent of the orientation of their container (like for Penny's volatile seeds, when the box is closed, you can shake it to your hearts' content without disturbing them).

Buffed and Polished: Her creations resist dents, scratches, and, given time, repair minor damage. Magically inclined to exist at their best.

Hide and Seek: Her creations can be imbued with the ability to take on the appearance of what is behind them.

Rechargeable: She can create objects that are receptive to absorbing, storing, and discharging a demigod's power that is willingly and intentionally channeled into the object. This can be applied to an object as a whole or one aspect of it, like a spike. This is primarily meant for the creation of her defense systems and traps with powers such as electric shocks (Zach), heat (Praxis), or cold (Remiel). It is less effective with the more abstract powers like time slowing (Dante), sleep inducing (Jamie), or shield creation (Love), for some examples.

Remembrancy: Her items can now learn in a limited way, adapting over time to their owner's preferences and learning to recognize them from a greater distance. Conversely, they can recognize and identify aggressors (like Illiza) and respond accordingly, learning and adapting their defenses for maximum effectiveness.

Listen up: The items can be imbued with greater intelligence, allowing them to respond to simple voice commands such as “come,” “hide,” “open,” “close,” and “defend.” Storage items can be asked to produce specific objects provided that the object is identified going in. Example: If you put a piece of jewelry into a volume-expanded Praxis bag and tell it “gold ring,” you can later open the bag and say “gold ring please” and, when you reach inside, it will be the first thing you touch. Side note: like Praxis, the items respond better to politeness and will learn more if treated well.
Note: Only items that she makes herself can have these powers, and these are distributed only by Praxis or people who have specifically spoken with her or played out her helping them to make an item.

First Blessing: For Praxis’ first blessing, she has been given a pair of gloves that will allow her to bend the following metals: Tin, gold, lead, zinc, silver, nickel, aluminum, titanium, copper, niobium, brass, steel, iron, stainless steel, tungsten, platinum, Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, and Stygian iron.

Weapon: Synthlipsi syfri (Crushing Hammer)
-Mist form: Leather armbands
-Non-mist form: Cestus (Battle gloves)

Personality:

Generally speaking, Praxis is easygoing and calm. She treats those around her equally, provided they are civil to her. From growing up in a bustling workshop, she is at home in the company of others and finds camaraderie easy and comfortable. She’s better at listening than at talking, but, when she does speak, she has a voice that carries over the clang of metal and the roaring of furnaces. She couldn’t care less about her own appearance despite the fact that she keeps all of her metalwork and equipment brightly polished, finely honed, and rust free. The focus and discipline she has learned from her time in the workshops and on the training mats has given her the ability to sit still for long periods of time, unlike most demigods. When offended or upset, her preferred method of retribution is a punch to whatever portion of the offender is closest, with consideration given to the gravity of the offense to determine how hard the punch will be. Given that she is a daughter of Hephaestus who spends most of her time hammering heavy pieces of very hot metal, the threat of a punch from her is a serious threat. The one time she exhibits devious creativity is when avenging a more serious offense, especially ones delivered with obvious malice.

Flaw:

Iron will-Praxis is entirely stubborn. When she sets her mind to a task, she can focus to the exclusion of all other needs, including meals and sleep, until it is accomplished. She is rather like a runaway train: to change her course, you have to derail her completely, often best accomplished by a heavy blow or knocking her down. Praxis is too single-minded to adjust her own course once she is set, even if her current path will bring her squarely into the center of danger. Though it seems entirely detrimental, she developed this trait to combat her ADHD.

Background:

Praxis is the granddaughter of a farrier who enjoyed crafting tools and weapons in his free time. His only child, Emily, was raised in her father’s forge since her mother died in childbirth. Praxis’ mother enjoyed learning the trade from a master at a time when, usually, a girl would not have been welcomed. Despite the attitudes of others in her trade, she persisted in her career as a smith, though she found her true passion during the studio glass movement of the 1960s. Her passion for fire and the beautiful things it could create attracted the attention of the god of fire and forges.

Praxis was raised in a house full of her grandfather’s iron fixtures and her mother’s glass and metal creations. Before she reached preschool, she could craft a glass cup or make a bucket of nails. Her mother, ever mindful of her daughter’s heritage, taught Praxis all she knew of the work of forge and crucible as well as enrolling her in martial arts classes. When an 12 year old Praxis finally thought to ask who her father was, her mother explained about her divine heritage and warned her to keep it to herself. Praxis, a solemn child accustomed to heeding her mother’s warnings, did as she was told. Secretly, she was relieved to finally have a satisfactory explanation for her affection for very high temperatures. While she sweated as much as the mortals, the burning feeling always felt like a hug to her, even as it scorched. That summer her mother sent her to camp half blood, reasoning that, now that Praxis knew the truth, she would be best suited to learn about what she was from her siblings and cousins.

Praxis learned diligence and stubbornness from her mother’s tremendous chip on her shoulder from being a woman forced to prove her worth time and again. Despite her mother’s defensiveness, the men who worked in the forge and the hot shop treated Praxis well and thought of her rather like their own daughter and taught her their specialties, happy to have such an attentive student. From their patience, she learned to be a patient teacher as well and found that she really enjoyed passing on the knowledge she had amassed. Her love of creating useful and beautiful objects extends to shaping her beginning students into skilled craftspeople or new campers into self-assured veterans. She takes tremendous pride in seeing those she has taken under her wing gain confidence and feel at home in their new environment.

Other information:

She is ambidextrous.

Though her ability to hold grudges is legendary, she forgives easily and is straightforward in her demand for apologies. Unfortunately for her (and for the people who upset her), the lag time between the offense and her demand for a fair apology often leads to her getting laughed at for being upset over something from so long ago. Laughing at her when she asks for an apology is the quickest route to a devious, oftentimes painful revenge.

Despite her patience, she has little tolerance for bad manners, which tends to result in the new campers she ferries about having bruised shoulders.

Since her mother did not conceal her father’s identity from her, she has a greater affection for her divine father than many of the kids for whom the discovery was a shock. Her mother explained that he was more at home with his workshop and uncomfortable around children but that he was always watching over her. As a result, despite his absence from her life, the heat of the furnace against her skin and the familiar rhythm of hammer on hot metal and the liquid fire of molten glass always felt like home to her. She considers that feeling a gift from her father and usually murmurs a soft greeting to him whenever she steps back into her workshop.

As comfortable as she feels in her mother’s workshop, she much prefers the forge at camp. Among her siblings, she no longer feels as though her divine heritage is a cheat when she is working among plain mortals.

She is covered with small burns from a lifetime of working in close proximity to very hot things, and has been known to remark that she prefers third degree burns because you can keep working, since the first and second degree burns leave the damaged area far more sensitive to temperature instead of frying the nerve endings.

Her name means “practical” in Greek, as he mother hoped that any child of a glassworker/metalsmith and the god of fire would have both feet on the ground and settle comfortably into the life of forge and furnace.

Praxis fears falling.

Praxis is mine, intended for