IN CHARACTER

Isabelle is widely known for her compassion toward others, an empathetic acuity. She is unerringly accepting and kind, demanding a fair hand to all regardless of their background or place amongst the mundanes (humans), or downworlders (other supernatural beings in accord with the Shadowhunters.) Isabelle is the type to tirelessly stand or speak up for those she feels have been wronged, even if to her own detriment, and is a strict believer in justice. She was raised from a young age to join her family as a Shadowhunter with a mother yielding one maternal hand, one sharp as the commander of the institute in which they practice. She is not the type to stay quiet, to grit her teeth, or avert her eyes, and does not take lightly to any threat held to those close to her; their danger, their suffering, is very much so hers.

Shadowhunters, appointed warriors on earth of the Angel Raziel, are meant to keep peace within the Shadow World. However, as their culture developed, so did their distaste for mundanes and downworlders. Isabelle has played a large role in challenging this ancestral history. Numerous times over she stands for seelies, vampires, beings of all kinds despite those within the Institute that would sooner settle for a hate they've grown comfortable with than the idea of peace between all kinds. This has caused others, along with her mother, to discredit her capability as a Shadowhunter–but there is no part of her that believes kinds should be divided or unnecessary blood be shed.

There is nothing more important to Isabelle than family. Should anything happen to them, whether truly by fault of her own, it's something that's taken very personally, a guilt that stays with her. Despite the torn relationship she has with her parents, she has an utmost respect for her mother, a woman whom she never feels she's really able to meet the expectations of. Coming from a family with a broken marriage, learning her father had cheated on her mother, you can often see flares of anger at the idea of infidelity and a lack of loyalty stir within her. She is one to nurture and protect, no matter what it takes. She keeps her own heart very close knit and tucked within her chest, and despite the emphasis she puts on loyalty, she has a difficult time trusting those outside of her family. She appears (and is, at heart) a warm socialite with an uncanny ability to befriend a mere stranger, but letting someone in is an entirely different ball game that many have only barely scratched the surface of.

“I watch my brothers give their heart away and I 
think, don't you know better? Hearts are breakable.
And I think even when you heal, you're never what
you were before.”

Given her physical gifts, one wouldn't peg her as sensitive, but beneath a well-trained exterior is a fragility that terrifies her, one that she's desperately kept hidden. After suffering a stab wound that quickly nurtured an infection, Isabelle was introduced to a substance known as yin fen, a silver, powdery substance created by warlocks made to accelerate healing, and also acts as a stimulant. Unbeknownst to her, as it was given to her by a former head of the institute and someone whom all Shadowhunters could safely assume was an ally, yin fen is highly addictive and, if taken for a long period, can kill the user. Not only did Isabelle become reliant on yin fen's properties, but she also began nursing directly on the source–vampire venom, i.e., the bite of a vampire. Her abuse of the yin fen and venom was largely kept from her family as she deteriorated–she did not want to be seen as weak, or unfit to join her comrades. The only one who came to knew of her addiction was her brother, Alec, and to all others, she simply had a 'flu.'

While substance abuse is particularly triggering for Isabelle despite her sobriety, it wasn't so much the addiction itself that left her feeling highly ashamed as it was the reliant state it left her in. Her mother had once pleaded with her after a heated argument 'don't be afraid to love'; an ebbing reminder that stayed with her. And yet, two men of which she allowed herself to trust in such a brittle state took advantage of a rare flare of dependence. One, Raphael, a man whom she'd grown close to and a vampire, had allowed her to feed her addiction, using her desperation to quell her withdrawals as a means of distracting her while the downworlders planned an attack against someone she considered family. After a fallout with Raphael, given he broke her code of loyalty, she recklessly heads straight for a vampire den. It's there she's attacked and found by Sebastian, a Shadowhunter from London who took her unconscious form to his apartment. There, she's nurtured and given a medicinal root extract, known to aid in the withdrawal of yin fen. It's his taking her in that set Isabelle on the path of recovery, and with it came gratitude, and a personal invitation into the institute. Long story short, he became an integral part of the institute, only to later find out his true name was Jonathan, and he came with a death wish upon her step-brother. A death wish she let in to the institute, a death wish she trusted, a death with she invited.

Isabelle held a dream as a little girl to be one of the Iron Sisters, a group of women who create angelic weapons for Nephilim. What had once been a rose-tinted reality became a revealing, burdensome truth: Isabelle could not pass the purity trial to gain entrance to the Sister's Citadel. The yin fen, holding demonic properties, had deemed her unpure.

It's these manipulations she fell under too readily that created an unnerved link between trusting others and naivety. Isabelle despises the weakness associated with needing anyone other than herself, the thought of being anything other than wildly independent, and as a result will suffer greatly before going to another for help. These events also heightened an already crucifying sense of responsibility she's put upon herself since she was young. An addiction that no longer holds her (and truthfully did not encapsulate much of the season) highlights so many of the intricate facets of her deepest fears, insecurities, and truths. Even though she no longer yearns for the demonic powder or the venom, the scars of what the substance unfolded remain with her.

Perhaps questionable, then, is her striking confidence. There is an adept surety to the way she carries herself, having learned the means of using her body and tongue as instruments to charm others to her favor. It's a wavering balance between sincerity and a deception technique fine-tuned throughout the years. This confidence seems to have gone through various life-cycles, well before the addiction coming across coy and provocative. Held to the ever-rising standards of her mother, she was deemed by the woman as incapable of making the sacrifices necessary to uphold their name to the Clave, the political body of Shadowhunters. Learning her mother's perception of her fractured her sense of identity. Isabelle changed her entire wardrobe, bringing forth a regal and refined confidence that, while shadowing the softer, more child-like pieces of her, left her far more accepted. Eventually, Isabelle begins to discover and define her own sense of self. Still biting, yet kind. Still aware, yet unforgiving in the woman she's becoming.

MORAL CODES –
▶ "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
▶ "Always do the right thing, even if it does not benefit you."
▶ "Be brave, and above all, be fair."
▶ "Do not judge."
▶ "Loyalty is everything."

POWERS/ABILITIES –


▶ ANGELIC PHYSIOLOGY. Nephilim are naturally gifted with enhanced speed, strength, agility, coordination, and stamina. They are also able to summon seraph blades–weapons specifically wielded and responsive only to Shadowhunters–when needed.

▶ RUNIC MAGIC. Due to the angelic blood of Raziel in their system, Nephilim are able to use tools otherwise known as runes to enhance various physical and mental abilities. Runes are applied to the skin and, to anyone estranged to the world of Shadowhunters, would appear as no more than a collection of strange, symbolic tattoos scripted across their body. Here is a list of all of Isabelle's canonic runes, along with a description of each and the ability they enhance. At any given time, Isabelle can trace a new rune with a preferred/needed ability. However, they can only be created with a stele, made of a heavenly metal known as adamas, which will be on her person upon arriving to Deerington.

▶ TRAINED IN COMBAT. Being raised in to the initiation of a Shadowhunter, Isabelle has trained since she was a young girl in hand to hand armed and unarmed combat. She is incredibly deft, disarming, and fluent in self-defense. Her weapon of choice is a whip, which can also transform into a staff, and while out of use hugs discreetly about her wrist as a serpent bracelet.

WEAKNESSES –

Despite being a Nephilim and the naturally enhanced abilities that come with angelic blood, she is still human and, as it goes, mortal. Isabelle comes garnered with the weaknesses you'd readily find in another: a self-crippling sense of responsibility for her loved ones, a history of substance abuse that wears at her psyche, and a degree of loyalty that puts her in harms way more often than not.

(OOC: WARPING – I don't think I would go in to the game readily nerfing Isabelle's 'abilities', however, after reading through the warping section I would love to play around with the 'healing abilities' warp, wherein any healing rune she attempts to use for herself would result in hurting another. Thus, she would sacrifice herself for the sake of the other person.)