Wilderward

Wilderward is the heroic name of Detective Wilderward Fleta Flitterflight, a fairy from another world.

Description
Fleta is tall for a fairy, at a full 7 inches, but has a typically slender figure. She is very fair of skin, so that she could almost be made of porcelain. Her thigh-length hair is bright pink, matching well her pink and purple butterfly-like wings. Her features are delicate and her piercingly blue eyes large.

She wears only a piece of diaphanous turquoise cloth, carefully wrapped to avoid interfering with her wings while preserving modesty: her wilderward uniform.

Origin
Fleta lacks a single defining origin story. Her abilities are simply those of her species – even if she is especially gifted and driven to master them – and several smaller events set her on the path of being a hero.

For as long as she can remember – though perhaps there was some forgotten cause in her childhood -–Fleta has alway been especially ambitious, curious and exploratory. This led her one day, when still a child, to stumble upon a group of three hostile zarks. Her single-handed defeat of them draw her the attention of the authorities, and when she was old enough she was invited to train for the wilderwards.

The wilderwards were originally a body to guard again wild animals, but have assumed the functions of a general defensive military and police force. Fleta, unsurprisingly given her adventurous nature, was assigned more traditional duties, but distinguished herself again by solving a series of mysterious thefts which had baffled the detective wilderwards. Recognising her talent in this field too, they invited her to train as a detective.

Given her dual talents, Fleta was, once qualified, often assigned to detective work with an element of danger (such as cases involving non-fairies). It was when she was far afield on such a case that she suddenly found herself in a strange world, populated chiefly by humans with advanced technology, a victim of the second Rift Crisis. A less adventurous fairy would doubtless try to get back as soon as possible, but Fleta's insatiable curiosity held her. Besides, she reasoned, if this world and hers can cross over, it is her duty to assess the risks posed by the world before reporting back. Of course, a proper report on a whole world will take some time to compile...

So Fleta stayed on Earth-1 for a "while". Given her environment, sense of duty and love of adventure, becoming a hero was inevitable.

Powers
The fairies of Fleta's homeworld have an innate ability of transformation magic, and Fleta is especially gifted in that regard, although she is still young and has not learned to shape magic without song and dance. Apart from directly transforming a target, Fleta has learned a few tricks: she can attack and entangle by transforming something in the vicinity of the target into something dangerous or ensnaring, build barriers, and tunnel by shaping what she is passing through about her. Like all fairies, she can also unravel magic by directing the transformational magic at the magic itself. She cannot, however, transform herself: the nature of fairy magic requires the caster to remain steady in form, as a sort of fulcrum, during a spell.

Fairies' innately magical nature makes them immune to ageing, disease and extremes of temperature, and resistant to injury from non-magical sources. They also can, somehow, understand and speak languages they have never met. Their wings allow flight, though their tiny stature means their other movement modes are reduced. They have sharp senses, the ability to see into the UV spectrum, and – a benefit of being small – especially sharp eyes for seeing small things.

Personality
Like all fairies, Fleta has a playfulness that can seem carefree and even frivolous to outsiders, but in her case this is offset by an ambition and curiosity which has led her to seek out the unusually adventurous life of a wilderward. Her curiosity (not to say nosiness) stands her in good stead as a detective, though it can also lead her into trouble.

Fleta take her job, and her duty, as a detective wilderward very seriously, which can come as a surprise to those that only see a playful fairy. When serious is not needed, however, she loves a good (or even bad) practical joke, just like any other fairy.

Relations
Fleta is relatively new to this world and has yet to form any particularly close friendships, though her joining Starguard may soon change that.

History
Fleta was born in one of the many quaint little fairy tree-villages in the Ellusian Forest, which is on an otherdimensional world. The fairies live an idyllic life. They are hunter-gatherers, with a little horticulture. The basic level of government, such as it is, is the village, but there are great moots twice a year of all the fairies of the forest, and they have several bodies that have authority in all villages, such as the wilderwards, charged with protecting fairykind. It is not in fairy nature to wage offensive war, and they generally settle disputes by contests of skills rather than fights, so having such a force above village level is not as controversial as one might expect.

Fleta distinguished herself early from her peers, being unusually serious (for a fairy), ambitious and adventurous. Before she was fully grown she defeated three zarks (human-sized humanoids) who were headed for her village single-handedly, displaying great talent in magic. She was invited to train for the wilderwards, and became the youngest ever fairy to join. When she showed herself adept at solving mysteries as well, she received further training, and became the youngest ever detective as well.

Fleta thus became perhaps the most famous fairy of recent years, though not the most popular: her unusual drive and ambition made her a bit too strange for most. But she served both patrolling the borders and solving crimes for several years, till, at the age of 39, she found herself mysteriously transported to another world, full of humans and machines - a new adventure! She'll return sometime, once she's explored earth and written a report on it, maybe in a year, or a decade. Or a century. That's not so long, after all...