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Long ago, before or in the early years of Ireland's 4th dynasty, there lived the Fathi, the Irish equivalent of Druids. During one of their sacred ceremonies, Graal appeared to the gathered and demanded a mate. Graal, then known as Cenn Cruaich, or Lord of the Mound, was one of the gods the Fathi offered blood sacrifices to, usually of infants. The Fathi submitted to him and gave him their most beautiful female, Sylff's mother, whose name is forgotten. Graal and the woman joined and Sylff was born five months later (darklings gestate shorter than full humans). Upon seeing his new daughter, Graal offered the mother a look of disgust and vanished; Sylff was not the rifter for which he had hoped. The mother, however, was still honored by her people for having bore their god's child and Sylff, then named Cyhiraeth, was treated as such due her stature. She was taught powerful Fathi magicks and customs but showed a natural violent streak, a bloodlust and temper, that frightened many. She became instrumental in the sacrifices offered to the Fathi gods as the designated slaughterer.
She murdered hundreds if not thousands, vastly expanding her physical strength. The Fathi chiefs reasoned that since a god's daughter was performing the sacrifices, they would be granted more power. In truth, only Cyhiraeth gained anything and eventually her bloodlust became almost unsatiable. She emitted an inhuman shriek before each kill, a sound that carried for miles and terrified all who heard it. Her name, Cyhiraeth, and she herself, became known as a goddess whose cry fortold death. Not long after reaching physical maturity, a half-sister, Domnu, appeared and explained to Sylff what she truly was; a darkling, not a godling. Domnu also assisted in teaching Sylff how to change forms, showed her strengths and weaknesses. Soon, Sylff left the Fathi and followed Domnu to join her clan, the Fomorians, who had made Ireland their home after tiring of their sea-roving lives off the shores of Africa. The young half-demon came to know her true family, a warlike motley group of inhumans, who lived off imposed taxes on the surrounding tribes.
The Fomorians themselves, however, lived in a secluded stronghold on an island off the Northwest Coast. Many Fomors did not bother with their human halves and appeared grotesque, doleful by choice. The cheiftain of the Fomors was an ancient cyclops named Balor. His daughter, Ethne, was married off to a rival tribe as a token of goodwill. She later gave birth to Llugh of the Longhand, and, as had been foretold, he would prove to be Balor's bane. The prophecy came true on a dark day on the plain of Mag Tuireadh when Llugh and his tribe, the Tuatha de Danann, massacred the Fomorians having learned secrets of their weakness and magicks through Ethne and Llugh. It was believed that only Sylff, young and terrified, survived the battle by becoming a mist the winds blew away. Over the centuries, she has learned to be a warrior without peer, immensely strong, sure, and fast. Sylff has been many things and taken many names over the centuries but is currently known as Sylvia Killman, a dragonlady of Wallstreet. Fierce and unrelenting, she buys up and merges any and all businesses she can.
She is extremely private, generally unknown, and possesses a veritable empire which she rules with an iron fist and strategic brilliance. All her names have earned her fear and respect.
Like all darklings, Sylff has low-level healing and shapeshifting abilities. As Chalyss' bloodgift is to create a rift, so Sylff's is to transform into a mist fully or partially. This ability she can use in several ways, including mist-melding with another being and resolidifying inside, taking that being's space as her own. This is messy, but quite formidable. Stronger than Chalyss, faster, and near invulnerable, rare is her equal in hand-to-hand combat; she has learned many styles and incorporates them all into a unique one all her own. Sylff's scythe spews forth hellflame which is mentally controlled by Sylff and reduces to ashes all but the demonic. Fathi-taught, she knows many powerful runic and Earth spells. Her command over the elements exceeds her kind's norm and she has become quite creative in using them.
She also learned many ritual spells, but using them is uncommon. She is psionic, though not terribly powerful in it, and has a degree of telekenisis. Illusions are a specialty of hers and she is adept in many other things, some yet to be revealed.
***Sylff is known to have three children: Hellrazer, a ruinling (3/4ths demon), and the twins Chylde Winde and Wylde Hunte. The first was sired by Khasm who also sired Chalyss' son S'Karr, and the latter two were fathered by a human man. Chylde is now a vampire and Wylde, an overzealous ex-nun, is a vampire hunter/slayer***
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