The May Queen

Information

The May Queen was a character created by Blackest Night. As with many of his characters, it follows a particular theme, in this case that of a Mother Earth figure and a parasitic plant.

The May Queen is one of Blackest Night's most beloved characters, even rising above his liking for some of his Sins. To his knowledge, the May Queen was, at its creation, a unique character. Until that point, a majority of characters had been humanoid in appearance and manner. The May Queen was a departure from that.

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Name: The May Queen

Age: This particular May Queen is roughly four hundred and sixty seven years old. The previous May Queens have lived up to the lofty ages of 3876 years before spreading their seeds and passing into that eternal night. Although there may be many seeds spread across the world at once, only one blooms into the May Queen at a time. In order to accomplish this, the chosen seed quickly sends out strong fumes into Earth's atmosphere, which carry and, when picked up by the other sentient seeds, alert them that the May Queen has been chosen. When the current incarnation dies, it will spread seeds into Earth's jet streams and another May Queen will be chosen. If, for some reason, such a process is impeded upon, one of the previous May Queen's seeds will bloom.

Appearance: Once fully bloomed, a May Queen may reach heights up to thirty feet tall. The visible base of the sentient plant is a sturdy, thick stem easily fifteen feet in diameter and, through the species' millenia of adaptation, highly resistant to physical attacks. The dermal tissue is as hard as steel, while still allowing water and carbon dioxide to flow through. It is comprised of several external layers that get progressively thinner as they near the top of the plant. Roots, as hard as the stem and much more flexible, extend from it, rising in and out of the ground as they snake their way further into the earth. If it so desires, the May Queen is capable of using these roots to attack opponents, defend against them or absorb opponents altogether. Through specialized capillaries, the May Queen is capable of using her roots, as well as every part of its body, to secrete poisons of various intents and lethalities. At the plant's will, the stem is capable of temporarily shooting upwards in order to protect the flower that adorns it.

Above the stem, rather than a thinner section, rests a large red rose, just as wide as the plant's stem. The deep, stunning red offsets the gentle green of the plant's stem and the dark center is often covered by its petals. The flower's petals are extraordinarily sharp, a defense mechanism used to injure those who steer too close. The petals often flutter in any breeze provided and, should the May Queen decide to move from location to location, provide an air-tight shield that encases the pistil of the flower by folding inwards.

The pistil of the May Queen is truly a sight to behold. As a result of its adaptation and ever-increased contact with humans, as well as subsequent ingestion thereof, the pistil now takes the form of a bald, pale, human female. Nude aside from the flowers around her, the May Queen's pistil may appear as anything from a very young girl to a fully matured woman, depending upon the plant's age. It acts as the mind of the plant, the section where its sentience, concious mind, memories and all cognitive existence is centered. The pistil rarely speaks and when it does, it speaks at little more than a basic level, communicating only main thoughts through the spoken word. The pistil is not as durable as the stem and as such, often stays within its rose shield. The pistil's form seems to be kneeling languidly inside of her rose, her "legs" connected to the flower itself.

Abilities: The May Queen species is one capable of immediate adaptation and a very sturdy plant to boot. Past May Queens have thrived on the rims of volcanoes and at the bottom of the sea. They have existed on the highest mountain peaks and in the deepest canyons. When attacked by a virus, the May Queen's advanced immune system immediately generates antibodies used to locate and destroy the invading virus. The speed of the eradication dpends upon the strength and quantity of the virus injected. The more severe the infection, the longer the eradication. It is capable of adapting to extremities in order to ensure its survival, acclimating to intense heat or frigid cold. The color of the rose's petals depends upon what his has adapted to. High altitudes cause the rose to become white, whereas intense heat gives the rose a fiery red hue. Excessive water or cold lends the flower a blue tint and an abundance of surrounding vegetation gives the rose a green color.

The May Queen is granted a high degree of control over surrounding vegetation. In humans, this ability is called chlorokinesis. She is capable of impaling attacker through the use of mutated plant roots, choking her victims to suffocation through vines, and crushing the bodies of her assailants underneath her fellow plants. The May Queen is able to bolster quick evolution and growth of plants, as well as the manufacturing of immensely varying toxins. The toxins are spread in several ways, through spores, injected fluids or highly acidic liquids. Capable of turning the tiniest lily is a furious embodiment of nature's wrath, The May Queen presents a powerful threat to any who dare stray too close.

Aside from her natural chlorokinesis, the May Queen also weilds a degree of geokinesis, also known as the mental ability to control and manipulate Earth. She mainly uses this to pummel her opponents or crush them beneath boulders. She can dig tunnels with ease and creae large fissures in the earth. One particular May Queen utilized this power to such an extent that her lair was at the end of a series of catacombs dug 100 feet into the earth.

The May Queen perpetually releases pheromones into the air around it. Depending upon its desires, the the pheromones have varying effects. They can be used to drive creatures around it into a blind, confused rage, or lull them to a quiet, peaceful slumber. These pheromones are transferred through the air and affect creatures when they are inhaled. The May Queen, though rarely, has shown some mercy in her existence. Rather than lulling some victims of hers to sleep, then aborsbing them, the May Queen had entranced them to be her servants. She then acts like a mother, often holding the entranced ones in her vines and cradling them like children. Upon their eventual death, as all things eventually succumb to time, the May Queen aborbs her "children", allowing their conciousness to live on inside of her.

The May Queen a sight range of three hundred and sixty degrees, effectively rendering her capable of seeing in all directions. This allows her to see even when her pistil is enclosed in the rose. As such, she is nigh impossible to sneak up on and even harder to surprise at all. Having no true front side, the May Queen, obviously, has no back side.

Despite her rather grounded appearance, The May Queen can be surprisingly mobile when she so desires. Using either her roots or geokinetic abilities to bolster movement, the May Queen is capable of traversing large distances with great speed and power. She is capable of moving beneath the surface of the earth by digging into the crust and creating tunnels for her to utilize. The May Queen can collapse these tunnels at will, should another being attempt to use them as well.

The May Queen's main way of surviving is through the absorbtion of other beings. After incapacitating then, the May Queen assimilates them into her body. After such an event, they are connected to the May Queen's nervous system and injected with multitudes of paralyzing neurotoxins. These toxins keep the victim physically alive while rendering them incapable of any movement or rebellion against her. The May Queen begins to absorb their conciousness into her own, slowly and progressively rendering her victims brain-dead.During this, the victims are digested to provide nourishment for the Queen. Using her stolen conciousnesses, the May Queen is able to communicate with her victims, usually through the mental voice of one of her past victims. Upon the defeat of a May Queen, all of that Queen's stolen conciousnesses are psychically transferred to the next Queen. As a creation of the Gods and as one of the representations of the earth iitself, the May Queen is highly resistant to magic. Even the most potent of fire spells may leave only a small burn upon her.

The May Queen is an intelligent, sentient creature. She is capable of her own thoughts and actions. The Queen possesses problem-solving skills as well as the capability to plan and strategize. She is well beyond the base conciousness of the lesser plants.

Personality: The personality of the May Queen leaves quite a bit to be desired. Although a sentient and intelligent creature, the May Queen hangs in the gap between a purely logical creature and one of solely instinct. She is mostly driven by the desire to spread, feed, and perpetuate her own life as well as her entire race. Due to this, nearly all of her actions are designed to serve those purposes. She will attempt to neutralize, destroy, and possiblly devour any of those who attacker and will not hesitate to destroy entire settlements in order to provide the desired nesting ground.

However, as her conciousness grows, the May Queen shows some astonishingly human traits. On rare occasions, the May Queen will subject humans to severely hypnotic pheromones and, rather than eat them, she will begin to act as a caretaker, or a mother. She tends to her "children", treating them like helpless infants as she holds them gently in her vines. Her "children" live the remainder of their lives in a clueless euphoria, truly seeing the May Queen as their mother and themselves as dependend upon her. Whether or not absorption is a better fate is a question best left up to philosophers. If they are attacked, the May Queen becomes very hostile and defends her "children" vigorously. As her conciousness increases, the May Queen has grown an fondness for music. This fondness for music his one of her most exploitable flaws. Music soothes the savage beat.

History: Demeter, goddess of the harvest. She had lost her daughter Persephone to that accursed Hades. Livid, she struck the earth barren and refused to allow anything to grow. The seasons reflected her emotions. When Persephone was reunited with her mother and released from Hades grasp, the land was fertile and plants grew freely. Spring and summer set upon the world. When Persephone was forced to return to the Underworld, the land became frigid and bare as fall and winter took their hold upon the land. Demeter was furious at Hades for taking her daughter away from her and although the use of fall and winter helped to channel this rage, it was nowhere near big enough to exact Demeter's wrath.

During one particularly cold winter, Demeter faced a great dishonor. Humans began to rehect her, even after it as Demeter herself who had given humans the gift of agriculure. They believed their bountiful crops from summer were the result of human "superiority", rather than divine will. It was a truly arrogant belief, indeed.

It was then that Demeter would exact her wrath. Ceres, goddess of growing plants, pitied Demeter's recent bad luck and gave her a seed, informing the furious goddess that it would aid her in her revenge. Demeter infused within this seed her anger for the farmers, hatred for Hades, and her terrible longing for her daughter. This seed contained a beast of Ceres' and Demeter's own creation, one of great beauty and one of even greater power. It would be with this seed that Demeter would unleash her fury upon those who forsaked her.

She named her creation the May Queen, referencing spring and the joy that came when Persephone was allowed to visit her. She planted this seed on Earth, and used the creature it bore to exact her revenge upon the humans. The May Queen ingested those traitorous humans, absorbing them and ridding the world of their traitorous actions. With each human she ingested, the May Queen became more powerful and better suited to act upon Demeter's anger.

However, Demeter's anger was short-lived. She quickly felt as though her anger upon the humans had been exacted and realized that no matter how many she killed, it would not lessen the pain of having to give Persephone up to Hades every year. Yet, the May Queen still existed and the urge to spread and feed did not leave her as quickly as Demeter's anger left her. Demeter, though knowing that the May Queen had helped relieve her of her debilitating and blinding anger, realized that her existence was threatening the existence of all humans rather than those who betrayed her.

As Demeter made the final decision to destroy the May Queen, the newly-sentient plany took steps of its own. It began to act of its own accord, defying the orders of a goddess. Before Demeter wiped the original May Queen off of the face of the Earth, The May Queen dispersed its seeds and, with the blessings of Aeolus, traveled through the wind to the many corners of the globe. Demeter remained unaware of the plant's actions and, after destroying the original May Queen, believed the threat to be over and cast such thoughts from her mind.

The May Queen's descendants stayed hidden from the Goddess, living in deep forests, sunken canyons and all other extremities so that they may grow and assimilate others in relative peace. Only now, after the gods and goddesses of old have been forgotten and cast into oblivion, have the May Queens chosen to make their presence more noticeable. As their conciousness increases, so does their desire to grow and spread.

Few are safe from the Queen.