Ava
“Everything ends eventually. That does not mean I have to let it end today.”
Overview
Ava, known as The Crimson Preserver, is an ancient and exceptionally powerful member of The Crimson Order and the daughter of Aethros, the Crimson Creator.
Her exact age and origin remain unknown.
Unlike her father, whose abilities and mythology are heavily associated with creation, Ava is associated with preservation, continuity, and time.
She possesses extraordinary control over temporal phenomena and can temporarily alter the properties of anomalous abilities.
Despite her connection to Aethros, Ava does not remember much of her earliest existence.
Even her original name was once believed lost.
The name Ava is the identity she currently uses.
Whether it was her original name remains uncertain.
Quick Facts
- Name: Ava
- Known As: The Crimson Preserver
- Species: Unknown
- Gender: Female
- Age: Unknown
- Height: 5’7”
- Faction: The Crimson Order
- Position: Senior Member
- Relation: Daughter of Aethros
- Origin: Unknown
- Status: Active
Appearance
Ava possesses a humanoid female form approximately 5’7” in height.
Her most recognizable feature is the gas mask she frequently wears.
Unlike various anomalous masks encountered elsewhere throughout the galaxy, Ava appears to retain complete control over the object.
The mask does not control her.
She controls it.
Its age, origin, and exact function remain unknown.
Whether it serves a practical purpose, acts as an ancient artifact, or simply holds personal significance to Ava has never been confirmed.
Her clothing and equipment commonly incorporate dark materials and crimson detailing consistent with imagery associated with the Crimson Order.
Personality
Ava is considerably quieter and more introspective than Aethros.
She rarely displays the overwhelming confidence commonly associated with beings of comparable power.
Much of this stems from her fragmented memory.
Ava knows who her father is.
She knows what she is capable of.
She knows that she has existed for an extraordinarily long period of time.
What she does not always know is why.
Large sections of her earliest memories are missing, incomplete, or contradictory.
Rather than obsessively attempting to recover them, Ava generally focuses on protecting what still exists.
This philosophy appears closely connected to her title.
Where Aethros is associated with creation, Ava believes that creating something has little meaning if nothing remains to preserve it.
The Crimson Preserver
The meaning of Preserver extends far beyond Ava’s ability to manipulate time.
Within surviving accounts concerning the Crimson Order, Ava repeatedly appears during events involving extinction, destruction, collapsing civilizations, and the loss of historically important knowledge.
Her intervention does not always prevent destruction entirely.
Instead, she appears primarily concerned with ensuring that something survives.
A civilization may fall.
A species may disappear.
A world may be destroyed.
But Ava frequently attempts to preserve people, knowledge, artifacts, memories, or fragments that would otherwise vanish completely.
Whether this responsibility was given to her by Aethros or chosen independently remains unknown.
Abilities
Temporal Manipulation
Ava possesses extensive control over the flow of time within localized areas.
Known manifestations include:
- Slowing temporal progression
- Accelerating temporal progression
- Temporarily stopping local movement
- Altering the relative passage of time between individuals
- Repositioning herself through short temporal distortions
Her abilities are extremely powerful but are not believed to grant unrestricted control over history.
Ava cannot casually rewrite entire timelines or erase major historical events without consequence.
Large-scale temporal interference becomes increasingly unstable and dangerous.
Temporal Preservation
One of Ava’s most unusual abilities allows her to preserve an object, individual, or localized area in a temporary temporal state.
While preserved, deterioration and conventional physical change can be dramatically reduced or halted.
This ability has been used to protect critically wounded individuals, endangered artifacts, and objects threatened with complete destruction.
Temporal preservation is not permanent.
Eventually, normal progression must resume.
Spatial Translocation
Like Aethros, Ava can seemingly relocate herself without conventional transportation.
Observers generally describe this ability as teleportation.
Whether this is genuine spatial teleportation or another application of her control over time remains unclear.
Ability Alteration
Ava can temporarily alter the properties of another individual’s anomalous abilities.
Rather than permanently stealing or removing a power, she can modify how it functions for a limited period.
Possible alterations include:
- Reducing an ability’s strength
- Increasing its strength
- Changing its effective duration
- Altering its range
- Restricting specific aspects of the ability
- Temporarily changing how the ability manifests
The stronger or more complex the target ability, the harder it becomes for Ava to alter safely.
Changes are temporary.
Ava cannot permanently rewrite another individual’s nature through this ability.
Limitations
Despite her immense abilities, Ava is not omnipotent.
Temporal manipulation becomes increasingly difficult as the scale and duration of the effect increases.
Attempts to significantly alter established events may create unpredictable consequences.
She also cannot simply reverse every death or disaster.
There appear to be limits beyond which an event cannot safely be undone.
Ava’s ability to modify powers similarly depends upon the nature and strength of the target.
Certain cosmic or extremely anomalous entities may resist alteration entirely.
Memory Loss
Ava possesses extensive gaps in her memory.
The cause remains unknown.
She remembers Aethros and recognizes her place within the Crimson Order, but portions of her earliest history appear to be completely inaccessible.
It is unclear whether her memories were:
- Lost naturally over immense periods of time
- Damaged by temporal manipulation
- Deliberately removed
- Sealed by another entity
- Sacrificed during an ancient event
Aethros has never publicly explained the loss.
Ava rarely asks him.
Relationship with Aethros
Ava is the daughter of Aethros.
The exact nature of their relationship is difficult for outsiders to understand.
Aethros appears to regard Ava as considerably more than a subordinate within the Crimson Order.
Likewise, Ava acknowledges him as her father rather than merely the Order’s leader.
However, their philosophies differ.
Aethros represents creation.
Ava represents preservation.
Aethros appears comfortable allowing things to end when their purpose has been fulfilled.
Ava is considerably more reluctant to accept irreversible loss.
These differences have occasionally caused disagreement between them, though there is no evidence of outright hostility.
The Gas Mask
Ava’s mask has become one of the most recognizable symbols associated with the Crimson Order.
Its purpose remains unknown.
Some accounts describe unusual activity within the mask when Ava uses her temporal abilities.
Others insist it possesses anomalous properties of its own.
Ava has never explained it.
Attempts to describe the mask as controlling or possessing its wearer have been consistently contradicted by observed behaviour.
If anything, the opposite appears to be true.
Unknowns
Major unanswered questions surrounding Ava include:
- How old is she?
- Who or what was her other parent?
- Was Ava born naturally?
- Is Ava her original name?
- Why are portions of her memory missing?
- What is the origin of her mask?
- Why was she given the title Crimson Preserver?
- How far can her temporal manipulation truly extend?
- Has she ever successfully reversed a major historical event?
- What was her role during the earliest history of the Crimson Order?