Diana Thompson is the latest Astrologer of Toronto, inheriting the title from her previous master, Doug.[1]
Appearance[]
A woman appearing around thirty years of age with blonde hair, carrying a golden spindle. When dressed casual she has skirt over tights, slippers, and a loose woolen sweatshirt, with her hair tied back in a ponytail.
Personality[]
Diana seemed level-headed and reasonable in her first appearance before Blake Thorburn, although it was hinted that she was attracted to him by Jeremy Meath. It is later revealed that she opposes Conquest because of the fact he took her master's ghost and enslaved it after he sacrificed himself to protect her. She doesn't like violence and describes herself as a geek. She holds so much sentimentalism for her former master, Doug, that losing anything of his haunts her.
Abilities[]
Diana practices Astrology, and utilizes installations around Toronto to create constructs, spirits that last a short time but can be made to her liking. She created one that served as an archer during the contest. And can create many other types all seemingly with specific purposes and abilities.[2] She can also seemingly teleport.
Outside of Toronto and her setup she doesn't have many assets to use.[3]
She may have a spindle implement.
History[]
Background[]
When her mentor was alive he took her in and taught her what she knows, including board games like the one she played when she challenged Jeremy for his right to a demesne.[4] At some point later in the past, he made her fall into lust with a being that was more spirit than human, causing hostilities.[5] Having inherited her title, she felt anger and vengeful towards Conquest as she was forced to work alongside him in exchange for him keeping her master's ghost.
Toronto Arc[]
She declared her opposition of Conquest when Blake arrived, only to end up as one of Conquest's Champions.
During the contest, her construct, Perseus, killed Fell and injured Alexis severely before Rose used James Corvidae to turn her and the Sisters of the Torch against one another by attracting their fire spirit to one of the properties she owned. She revealed, later on, that Conquest had ordered her to attack and kill one of them and she chose the one she knew the longest and was the most expendable, although she tried not to fatally injure the rest.
She later consents to allowing Blake to use his magic as long as the contest is stalled, in exchange for trying to get the Sisters to stop harassing her, which seemed to work until the Abstract Demon cut his connections and restarted the fight. It is later revealed that she was unsuccessful in defending her properties.
Finale Arc[]
She later arrives with the other members of the Toronto Council at the beckoning of Rose and Faysal, with Rose condemning Jacob's Bell to Toronto and dragging them into the conflict.
She helped empower Evan to give the group a chance to go out and defeat the fallen Lord of Jacob's Bell.
Fanart Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ “Astrologer? Powerful. Doing a succession thing. Every time they get old, they find an apprentice, teach them, and pass on the title and the knowledge. I never really got what she did. Future sight, sure. Connections? Yeah. Summoning things from the sky? Yep. But never directly, there’s some underlying system of rules and relationships she has to navigate.” - Excerpt from Collateral 4.10
- ↑ “Fell,” I said. “I need to know about the Astrologer. I know she was an apprentice, her master passed the buck to her. She was apparently sympathetic to us, but Conquest tapped her as his champion. I know she apparently summons things, but I don’t know much else.”
“She does summon things. Those things are more manufactured than produced. Drawing spirits from the area, then cobbling them together under an impression. If a ghost is a psychic imprint on the fabric of the world, then the Astrologer makes the imprints and then fills them in with the available resources.”
“Making ghosts?” I asked.
”The candle that burns twice as hot burns half as long. Her summonings burn bright, and they don’t last for very long.”
I nodded.
“Power has a price. She and her predecessors have paid a literal price for their power. To make her impressions, she uses machines at the outer rim of the city. Lights, lasers, and properties she controls throughout Toronto. Not as organized as you might imagine. They’re points of light on a dark canvas, and she uses them to draw pictures.”
“Constellations?” Rose asked.
“Essentially. Nobody in Toronto has a firm grounding on what the exact rules are. Those of us who do have books on astrology are working with ideas that are often a hundred years old, if not older. What she’s doing is larger in scale than what the books propose, but it’s also limited to certain things appearing in certain places, after certain preparations are made.”
I frowned. “I want to say we don’t have to worry about her unless she lures us to a specific location, but that’s no guarantee, is it? We could wander right into an ideal spot for her.”
“Or she could find our location, use a computer to turn certain lights on and off, and align her metaphorical ‘stars’ to drop something minor in our midst,” Fell said. “As a practitioner, she’s no particular threat to Conquest. Too conditional. As a strategic asset, she’s a problem.” - Excerpt from Subordination 6.9 - ↑ “Diana. Astrologer. I don’t have a lot to bring to the table, but more because it’s fixated in Toronto. I brought three arrangements, and a fourth to recharge another. I’ve already used two.” - Excerpt from Judgment 16.3
- ↑ Interlude 9
- ↑ “Lots. Word is he was trying to make a play, some time back. Offered favors here and there. One of the Sisters wanted a baby, he delivered. Baited the Astrologer into falling in lust with something more spirit than person, and she wasn’t happy when that spell was broken. Even started collecting more vicious things to keep in reserve, we’ve heard. Then it all fell apart around the start of the ‘oughts. He’s mostly flying solo now, a little more inebriated a little more often. We’ve mostly steered clear. He and we march to the beats of very different drums, so to speak.” - Excerpt from Collateral 4.10