Chapter 129: In Conclusion

To Start:

So Katarina's story is more or less over, hough there's still a few short short stories I might tack on later- side adventures from before "The Complete Collection". We came into Katarina's career just before it ended, after all.

We know how she started, and we know how she ended, but there's like ten years of campaigns I haven't told. I have a few of them written up that never made it into the final draft simply because there was no way to narratively link them into the nine books I put together.

On Witch Hunters

You probably guessed it already, but all (real) Witch Hunters are psykers. If Katarina knew this, she'd probably kill herself given her past trauma, so I made sure she never learned. Her actual psychic abilities are five powers taken from the psionic power list:

Telepathy: You see this low-key used at various points in times. A great example is when she starts talking to people in Higgenfal in the first book. It takes her a moment to (unconcsiously) read people, and then she 'adjusts' to speak with them in their own language, she starts using their body language. Even when other people originally think she's unsociable, they usually fall in line with what she wants.

The other four are listed in the 3.5 spionics handbook as:

Know Direction and Location: You discover where you are and what direction you face.

Precognition, Defensive: Gain +1 insight bonus to AC and saving throws.

Precognition, Offensive: Gain +1 insight bonus on your attack rolls.

Prescience, Offensive: Gain +2 insight bonus on your damage rolls.

Which I resolved to express narratively as her reacting first most of the time as she has a momentary burst of foresight.

Sasaki:

Sasaki's is-was different: I mentioned before in one of the previous "Behind the Scenes" that I gave her a bunch of stances and maneuvers from the Tome of Battle, a notorious and controversial splatbook also known as "The Book of Weeaboo Fightan Magic". I took a bunch of maneuvers and shit (much too exhaustive to paste here), assigned them a point cost, and then Sasaki would start each day with a number of "power points" that she could spend on whatever maeuvers or stances she'd learned- which where narratively explained as "techniques" that she'd learned.

Armilla would never have made a good Witch Hunter. She wouldn't have survived the wilderness test. Plus she was 100% paladin. All she managed to do was pick up points in Witch Hunter cross-class skills.

In an unpublished draft, Armilla didn't "exactly" defeat the Greater Demon. She was possessed by it, and it was quietly whispering things to her in her sleep to disrupt Katarina's plans. I never could take it beyond the draft state since the PoV switches would have een abominable, and would have given it away instantly. I wanted it to be a mystery. There are little bits and pieces here and there in the narrative where those sorts of things could have happened, but since that part was never written in, it ended up not happening.

Katarina's Ending: It's my belief that just as we're incapable of understanding "God's will", "God" in turn is fully incapable in understanding "our will", and so as Katarina gets closer and closer to her Goddess, her ability to understand, perceive, and respond to human emotions and plans gets subverted, because she's seeing things moreand more from her Goddess' perspective. That bit at the end: "And when Katarina gets tired of hurting you, she will leave." was a foreshadowing of that. Katarina wouldn't willingly hurt Olivia, but her very human capability of connecting with other people, forming bonds, having friends and lovers would gradually erode as her Goddess' view of humanity took over Katarina's will.

Katarina is a Champion of the Goddess: She has all the powers of a Saint, a half-celestial, a full celestial, but she doesn't ever need to return "home". It's almost impossible to kill her, and she's now capable of defeating things she never had a chance against in the past.

Her gear list is unbelievably imba:

Armor of the Celestial Battalion: This +7 chainmail is so fine and light that it can be worn under normal clothing without revealing its presence. It has a maximum Dexterity bonus of +10, no armor check penalty, and an arcane spell failure chance of 10%. It is considered light armor, and it allows the wearer to fly at will (as the fly spell). Furthermore, the wearer is at all times surrounded by a magic circle against evil effect (as the spell) which, if dispelled, can be created again as a free action.

The Three Relics:

1. The Armband: She can heal any wound and can compell (requires a persuasion check) to redeem someone back into the the faith in the Golden Lady.

2. The Mandate of Command: Once a command baton, it was reforged into the sun-sword Galatine. Those who know of the Arturian legend know that Galatine was a twin to Excalibur, but didn't really a lot of screen time. It's powers were most effective at noon- and had a cheat ability to crate a miniature sun, so that whenever she used it, it was always noon. As the Mandate of Command, she could command absolute obedience from anyone, simply be grasping the handle and speaking the command. As long as the person was able to understand her, they would be incapable of disobedience. Galatine is capable of setting anything on fire that crosses the bounded field that's created while the mini-sun is in the air.

3. The Crown of Truth: The User cannot lie, user cannot be lied to. Illusions crumble to dust. It also contains the memories and feelings of the people(previous Saints) who wore it before. That's why all the Saints seem to keep having convsations With Katarina.

Serenity: Serenity is a single-action masterwork six-shot revolver (.44 caliber) It's large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers. The metal is mithral and is covered with intricate engravings of protective spells and holy symbols. Scriptures wrought in golden filigree decorate the barrel. Creatures hit with Serenity within the first two range increments are knocked back five feet on a failed reflex save DC 15. If they fail by five or more, they are also knocked prone. On a critical hit the DC is instead 25 and they are knocked back 1d4x5 feet and knocked prone.

The Sash of Saint Alicia: The sash projects power and authority. The belt adds a +6 enhancement bonus to each of the wearer's ability scores. Once per day with a command the wearer can create a magic circle against evil. The sash provides fire resistance +15, DR/evil 5, water walking, and gains access to the Good Domain. The sash provides a +2 save to all within 20', and can heal 1/day.

Tasmia's Heart: It functions as both a helm of underwater action and a ring of freedom of movement. It also extends the wearer's life span, doubling the number of years in each remaining age category of the character's life, as well as her maximum age. For example, a human adult who dons Tasmia's heart would reach middle age at 70, old age at 106, venerable age at 140, and maximum age 2d20x2 years after that. Tasmia's heart counts as a shirt for the purpose of magic item limitations.

in Conclusion, there's literally no point in having her "adventure" since she's ridiculously capable of surviving literally anything thrown at her now. Time for her to do what she wants: Unrestricted, unstoppable, unending adventures doing whatever she feels like. She was a likable character, and I'll miss writing her.

Does kinda make you wonder what sort of stuff her daughters would get up to in the future....?