Auraya of the White
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Auraya of The White is the main character in the Age of the Five series of books by Trudi Canavan. She is one of the five Whites: the Avatars of the Pantheon of Five Gods. The Five Gods are the only 'real' Gods left alive, after the massive War of the gods. The religion that worship the Five is called the Circle, and the followers are the Circlians. Auraya is the third most powerful Circlian alive, and is fifth leader of the faith. All Circlians have a degree of magic, but most only have enough to heat a pan, or light a candle. However, some have abilities far beyond this. If they are magically and morally strong enough, they are eligible to become a White, if there is a vacancy. Auraya was the most devout, and strongest available, and was chosen as the fifth and final White.
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[edit] Possessions
Auraya owns many items, including a set of forbidden correspondence letters (destroyed in the first chapter). Most notably, she owns a pet Veez called Mischief, who is a kind of small primate similar to a fox, with notable differences. His hands can grip onto any surface and he has the ability to speak, and has limited forms of both telepathy and telekinesis. For example, Mischief can pick the lock on his cage with his Gift.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Auraya was already a powerful sorcerer, before her abilities were boosted by the will of the Five. Now, as a White, she is stated as the third most powerful Circlian alive, however this statement is now held in question (see below) Auraya has the ability to channel magic from the environment into whatever she wills. She can use the magic to create or destroy barriers, levitate objects, communicate telepathically, heal (to a degree), create blasts of pure force or energy, and has developed the singularly unique ability of using magic to move her physical form, effectively creating the power of flight. Like a fly, she can instantaneously change direction or stop. By creating a forcefield in front of her, she can shield herself from the wind. the shape of that shield can alter her speed greatly: a long, arrow-shaped field allows for her to be aerodynamic and fast, while a flat or "scoop" shaped field will abruptly slow her.
Auraya was trained since her youth to be a Dreamweaver by Leiard - who is later found to be Mirar (the dream weaver's founder and an immortal like Auraya) - so she now has skills in this field too. Notably, she can communicate telepathically through her dreams, and has vast knowledge of medicinal herbs. However, she is far from a master of the Dreamweaving Arts.
[edit] Appearance
Auraya is said to be beautiful and sharp-featured, but a less sexually active White than Mairae, who is known for leading men to lust after her after she has her way. Auraya normally keeps her hair in a plait because her flying Gift, as she found out earlier, messes it easily. She wears the attire of the white (a plain white circ(robe)) and usually has Mischief lazing on her lap.
[edit] Role in the Novels
In the battle with the Pentadrians, Auraya tapped a force of unimaginable power and showed herself to be vastly superior in magical ability than both her allies and her enemies. She managed to break a shield powered by five extremely powerful magicians (at least two of which supposedly more powerful than her) and kill the leading (also the most powerful) Pentadrian, Kuar. Her actions caused the cessation of the war, as it was evident the Pentadrian invaders would not win. She later realises that she is more powerful than the White's leader, Juran, while in a dream link with Mirar.
It has recently been hypothesized (in Last of the Wilds, by Emerahl and Mirar) that Auraya is in fact a Wild, and therefore able to achieve immortality on her own, rather than needing the Gods' assistance. Her Gift of Flight would be her innate Wild Gift, something which Mirar believes all Wilds have.
Auraya also left the White, reducing them to just four in number, after Huan repeatedly ordered her to kill Mirar/Leiard, and tried to prevent her from helping the plagued Siyee communities. In Voice of the Gods, Auraya meets with Emerahl in a void, who teaches her, among many other things, the ability to become an immortal and the technique for shielding the mind. The Pentadrian Voices also realize that Auraya is almost certainly more powerful than any one.
Auraya accompanies the siyee on an attempt to destroy the breeding stock of the Pentadrian's black birds. She is, however, banned from helping the siyee, for supposed symbolic reasons. The siyee are ambushed, and taken captive. First Voice Nekuan blackmails Auraya into staying with the Pentadrians-for every day she stays, one more siyee will be released. On the last day, he told her the last siyee has fallen ill, and she rushes to his side, only to discover he has lured her into a void, where he chains her to the back of a throne.
While trapped, her only connection to the outside world is through dreamlinking with Mirar. He tells her of the scroll of the gods, discovered by Emerahl, and how it reveals that all gods were once immortals, and all immortals were once human, that Gods do not have the power to take souls, and that Gods can be killed, by surrounding them with six gods or immortals, and draining all the magic out of a specific spot. This creates a void where the gods cannot live. The five gods in power had, with the help of a dead god, killed all the other gods, creating the voids. The sixth god had then wrote the scroll of the gods, and committed suicide.
The immortals decide to enlist Auraya in their cause, manipulate events so that if she is loose in time, then the gods will be surrounded.
Auraya eventually escapes, with the help of her veez, Mischief. In the conclusion to Voice of the Gods, Auraya, the Twins, The Gull, Mirar, and Emerahl, the only six immortals in existence (and therefore the most powerful sorcerers alive)surround the five gods, and create a void, trapping all five gods in the small bit of magic at the very center. Chaia, unwilling to live with the other four gods until magic has leaked back into the void, uses the last of the magic in the void, by gathering it to himself and transforming it into light. This completely drains the oasis of magic in the void, killing them.
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