Kamsi Merik

Kamsi Merik, most commonly referred to as simply 'Kamsi', is a merfolk planeswalker from Zendikar. She is primarily aligned with white and blue mana, though on at least one occasion she has been secondarily aligned with red mana.

Description
Kamsi has teal and beige skin that is splotchy where the two colors meet. This skin is covered in small scales that are hard to see individually, except when they glint in intense light. Her 'hair' is a blue fin-like protrusion extending from the front of her head to down around the bottom of her shoulder blades. Fins run along her arms from her wrists to slightly past her elbows, and opposite to the side of her thumbs. Another set of fins run along the outer sides of her legs, from above the ankle to just below the knee. She lacks eyebrows, instead having a thin ridge of spines above her eyes. Her body type is chubby and bottom-heavy.

Her clothing is typically practical where she needs it to be. However, she prefers fancier clothing with long, flowing additions when she has the opportunity to wear them. The most common colors among her outfits are white, blue, grey, and brown. She typically avoids clothing that covers her forearms and lower legs, as the feeling of having her fins folded down makes her uncomfortable.

Kamsi is 24 years old as of the War of the Spark, though her relationship with Artemia starts some time after that event.

Personality
Kamsi is kind, polite, and somewhat shy, especially around large groups of people or those she is not familiar with. Despite her timidity, she will often help or protect those in need no matter how well she knows them.

She suffers from issues with confidence in her own abilities, and places a large amount of responsibility on herself as a result. If someone comes to harm while she is around, she will blame herself for allowing it to happen, even when the circumstances are out of her control. She will protect others fervently, sometimes to her own detriment.

Abilities
Kamsi wields both binding magic to immobilize enemies and protection magic to shield herself and allies from harm.

History
Kamsi was born in a small village in the Calcite Flats of Tazeem, Zendikar. When she was 9, a harsh Roil storm and the tsunami elemental it created destroyed the village, forcing her and her parents to relocate to Sea Gate. It was this event that made her vow to become a lullmage like her mother. Their new living situation was not as pleasant as their previous home, but Kamsi’s parents made do. Often one parent would stay home to care for their daughter while the other went off to take jobs. Eventually at the age of 16, Kamsi would enroll in training to become a lullmage at Sea Gate’s Lighthouse. After two years, she officially became a lullmage, and as a graduation gift her mother gifted her with the driftwood quarterstaff that she claims as her most prized possession.

For two and a half years after, Kamsi would hire herself out to expedition groups looking for a lullmage, traveling much of Zendikar in that time. However, one fateful adventure would change her life forever. While traveling the mountains of Akoum, a fierce Roil surge triggered a landslide that came down on the party she was traveling with. Kamsi was able to save herself with shielding magic, but watched as the others were crushed. Feeling guilty and disrought, her spark ignited and sent her to Ravnica.

She began to wander the streets of the world-city aimlessly, dazed and confused by what had happened. In just a few minutes she was attacked by a mugger who assumed she would be an easy target. Instead she was able to defend herself with binding magic, and subdued the thief. Azorius soldiers that had come to assess the commotion were impressed by her talents and offered her a place in the guild. She accepted, and was given quarters and assigned a rank of guildmage. During this time, she learned that she could integrate the guild’s magic into what she already knew, and secretly copied their documents on law magic. However, she left after a few months of working there, growing tired of the guild's endless bureaucracy and incidents involving abuse of authority. Now on her own, she began renting an apartment with the money she had earned, and started a career of writing both short stories and studies on magic and experiments with spell splicing.

While working as a writer, she would occasionally make trips to other planes to explore them and learn about their magical practices, such as Innistrad, Dominaria, Shandalar, and Vryn. On a trip to return home and visit her family, she found her homeworld overrun with Eldrazi. She joined the Zendikari forces in defeating them, along with Gideon and the rest of the newly-formed Gatewatch’s help. During this conflict, learned some of the roilmages' magic from former lullmage teachers. In the final stand against the Titans, she nearly pushed herself to the breaking point with her magic while protecting a group of soldiers from a surge of Eldrazi spawn. Since then she has had some restraint with pushing herself, though only a little bit.

A few weeks before the War of the Spark began, she was invited to take a vacation on Kamigawa by her friend and fellow planeswalker Samger. She accepted and went with Samger and her adoptive family. Although Kamsi was beckoned to Ravnica by the interplanar beacon, she ignored it and remained on Kamigawa. Upon coming back to Ravnica, she deeply regretted this decision as she took in the destruction, including her apartment. Saddened by the sight of such devastation and the loss of most of her possessions, she decided to explore the Multiverse for a while to ease her mind. Eventually she meets Artemia on Eldraine and the two become romantically involved.

Trivia

 * Kamsi hates being cold and will avoid cooler planes as much as possible.
 * Her favorite drink is mint tea, her favorite food is seafood paella, and her favorite dessert is cheesecake.
 * Her design was based on Igor Kieryluk's artwork for the cards Enclave Elite and Enclave Cryptologist.