Lady Lethe

Lady Lethe is a woman (human in appearance and likely human in origin) who has reached near-mythological status throughout Earth-1776. She works as a dealer in memories, trading the bad for the good or vice versa.

She also happens to be Sol's entry for the first ever Fanon Con Character Creation Contest! Yay! Let's home she'll be memorable!

Background
Little is known about her early life, other that she appears to be human (or humanoid) and thus was probably likely born on a version of Earth, a faraway human colony, or was simply an offspring of offworld parents.

Her first "appearances", should you call them that, were all in military camps, following professional militaries or mercenary camps around. She grouped herselves in with the rest of the "logisticians", along with priests, prostitutes, looters, black market dealers, and the other sort of people that often follow military men around in attempts to profit off of combat. She worked as some sort of quasi-prostitute, promising to trade men's bad memories for brighter experiences.

It is reported that she found the memories gathered here to be too depressing, and soon abandoned the armies. It is entirely possible that she ran out of good memories entirely.

Following that, she spent some time wandering the cosmos and doing some "soul searching". It is said that during this time she lived and experienced hundreds of thousands of lives, possibly by either spending time with them or by absorbing their memories outright.

Modern Day
At some point, Lady Lethe was allowed into the legendary planet of Lore (as stated earlier, Sol doesn't have a page yet : where she soon set up a "shop" and began to sell memories. She did have a building at one point, where she based her operations from. While here, she set up various operations and allegedly even began a lab where she looked into creating synthetic memories.

After a few arrests, she eventually abandoned her old shop and leaving it derelict. She now wanders around the streets of lore, soliciting her wares and attracting customers. She even sleeps outside, leaving many to wonder if she could have sold her own memory of where her house is (though, this is just a rumor).

There, on the streets of Lore, she operates. Nowadays, she will offer to buy your memories in exchange for skills or access to other memories in her possession. Should you not want to trade memories but just wish to buy, she has been known to buy small portions of your soul. What she uses them for is currently unknown.

Criminal Record
Lady Lethe has been arrested on several occassions for her dealings, mostly based around soliciting (by far the most prevalent), spreading "dis"information, lying to officials and law enforcement, assault, public intoxication, tax evasion, tampering with/destruction of evidence, and corruption of minors (on what grounds is ultimately unknown).

Every attempt to bring her to court has failed. Not only do the witness accounts fail to match up, but the juries often remember entirely different stories and information than the ones provided by the prosecution. Most lawyers or judges decide it is just not worth taking her to court anymore, as any memories of the event will likely be forgotten in the future.

Personality
There are varying accounts of what she is like as a person. If it isn't clear by now, she is a very mysterious person. She may not let much information about her surface, preferring it to be forgotten, though that is just a theory.

Some say she is one of the wisest beings ever recorded, as if she has experienced as much as time itself has. Others say she is amnesiac, or very forgetful, and that she is feigning her wisdom in an attempt to cover up her insecurities and/or mental flaws.

It is incredibly likely that her personality is incredibly volatile. With memories constantly being lost (presumably) and gained, it is entirely possible that her personality is been disassembled or reshaped with each new experience.

What can be said for sure is that she is not an honest person. Some reports state that she is a tricky, deceitful liar. She is patient, willing to watch her enemies tire themselves out before winning through sly, underhanded tactics. It has been suggested that she's just intentionally vague with her words and signals. Perhaps this does have a "trickster" motive behind it.

Regardless of her "honesty", she does seem to have some basic morals, seeing as how she will offer to buy or sell memories rather than forcing them out of someone as she is capable of doing.

She is also naturally inquisitive and curious, with a penchant for learning. She has reportedly stated that had she not become a trader of memories, she would have become a librarian. But, having become a trader of memories, she says she has "read more books than ever been written". Whether she means books literally or symbolically (i.e. experiencing memories/lives as "reading books") is unknown, but it is possible she could mean both.

She has appeared helpful and benevolent on occassion, but it should be warned not to trust her too much. She will most definitely want something in return (preferably knowledge or experience). In addition, she may provide falsified or edited information.

Appearance
Lady Lethe can normally be found lazing around on the plane of Lore (which has yet to be added to the Earth-1776 compendium). She does normally not have a stall, but rather sits or leans on a bench, wall, porch, or door stoop.

Lady Lethe often wears a black clothes (such as leather pants and black tops), with aged old scarves - both knitted and silk - in a myriad of different colors draped around her shoulders. She has also been seen to wear a shall from time to time. When it gets colder or darker out, she can be found wrapped up in a quilt or afghan that she likely knitted together herself. On the quilts she wears, there appear to be symbols that represent her favorite memories.

She herself stands at a respectable 5'8, nearly as tall as the average human male and taller than most other human women. She has a Greek nose and strange, sickly green eyes. Her skin is pale and splotchy, perhaps even dirty. It is unknown how often she showers, but it is likely not very often considering she never seems to move from her favorite spots (much like a cat).

Her hair is long and wavy, colored in a myriad of different tones. The most apparent are browns and blondes, but there are dashes of grey hidden throughout her locks as well.

Interstingly enough, Lady Lethe smells like an odd mixture of old lady perfume and baby powder.

Perhaps the most interesting and identifying trait of her appearance would be the odd trinkets she likes to hang from her neck and wrists in the forms of necklaces and bracelets (respectively). They are essentially mirrors, pierced with chains, that "dangle" from brass bands. These mirrors are highly reflective and often clash together when she moves, yet they strangely make a melodic sound instead of the din one would normally expect. This has led some to suspect that they may be a MacGuffin or the source to her powers.

Abilities
If it has not been made obvious yet, Lady Lethe has the ability to "manipulate" memories. She can absorb memories and transmit memories to and from other people. It is unknown if this ability is innate (i.e. from a mutation or her genetics), was acquired, or is due to a MacGuffin or similar magical object (the principal suspect being the strange trinkets she wears around her wrists and neck).

It is currently unknown whether she can preserve her own memories or if she forgets them when she trades them away. Perhaps she doesn't know herself.

It is overwhelmingly likely that she does possess the ability to steal memories at will, and without the consent of the "supplier". Should you lock eyes with her, it is likely that she can read any of your memories at will, and possibbly even take or steal them from you.

In addition, Lady Lethe can "summon" or "awaken" lost, forgotten, or suppressed memories, especially traumatic events.

While in hand-to-hand combat with her, you will likely end up in a situation where you're either unable to remember what you had last done or where you have seemingly flown from a situation where you had an upper hand to one where you have been defeated. She has a tendency to tamper with short-term memories in the heat of combat, such as adding in false situations or removing the truth. This is all done to overwhelm her foe's sense of reality.

Due to her abilities, she seems to have learned many different skills as well, making her a renaissance woman.

Weaknesses and Tips
It is best to keep a notepad, recorder, or a similar device with the purpose of recording information on hand while encountering her. That way, in the event that she does purge your memories, you do have some concrete evidence of what transpired.

It is unknown if she is able to learn skills that are basic instinct.

A possible strategy would be to focus your mind on the worst, most traumatic, and most disguisting memories you can think of if she does attempt to enter your mind to forcibly steal your memories. In addition, she often requires eye contact to utilize her abilities, so it would be of great use if you managed to hide or conceal your eyes in some manner (species without clear eye sockets have an obvious advantage).

Ultimately, it is better to stay on her better side than fighting her outright. The best tacti of all is to just not deal with her (this obviously does not work if you have a memory that she particularly wants).

Trivia

 * This is Sol's first entry to the first ever Fanon Con Creation Contest. Hopefully there will be a second!
 * Lady Lethe takes her name from the River Lethe in Greek mythology. The river is symbolic of forgetting painful memories. In the afterlife, souls can drink from the river and return to life without recollection of their past life, forgetting all of their memories so they can start with a clean slate.
 * The river is located in the planes of Oblivion. Before you comment on that, I'd like to clear something up. Those of you who think that "oblivion" essentially means "destruction" or something along those lines, you're wrong. Oblivion is closer to something meaning being unaware or forgotten. As in, oblivious. It's not really a direct threat to threaten someone with "oblivion". That could mean a night of sick partying that you won't remember tomorrow, and hey, that doesn't sound so bad to me at all.
 * The rest of the page is designed to be in an "insider's perspective", as in, someone who inhabits the same world as Lady Lethe. Not as just an outsider, like us.
 * This was partially inspired by the Secure-Contain-Protect Foundation, yes.