Tabby
Derpsichord
“By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
Personality
The errant goddess of Wisdom is defined by her purview as much as she defines it - she is intelligent and perceptive, but keenly aware that she is insufficient to represent what she must. As a result, she is one of the most dynamic gods in Creation, constantly questioning and reforging herself in an eternal attempt to truly embody her nature. The dichotomy has weakened her in some ways, leaving her with a certain level of indecision and self-doubt that she stringently hides, but so too has it strengthened her in others. Without that need to improve, to become more than what she is, she would be entrapped by the same stasis as most gods, unlikely to have pursued her swordsmanship or having embarked on her fall from heaven in search of answers.
Sakuya is fond of many individuals from Yu-Shan, but endlessly frustrated with the resistance to change that many of its denizens possess, the worship of the "normal" that even many of her friends partake in to some degree or another. She remembers a time when the gods and Exalted worked together to create a world truly worth living in, and believes that is the key to an ascendant world once more. Rather than supporting the Gold faction and their inherent belief in the superiority of Sidereal judgement, much less those gods who believe that the Exalted are simply liabilities waiting to explode, Sakuya sees a world in which diplomacy and wisdom carry the day, where rather than unhinged Solars and aloof gods there is a balance that allows both to participate and feel ownership. Where all can see the consequences of their actions, be held in check by their peers to avoid the worst but still be free to live and improve the world on their own terms.
Needless to say, her views are kept somewhat private by necessity - Sakuya is important enough to (probably) avoid a Sidereal death squad and (probably) connected enough to avoid serious sabotage, but she knows the wisdom of not needlessly antagonizing those who have a fair degree of ability to complicate her life. She keeps her views private among her inner group of acquaintances and her more radical views - that the gods need Solars to keep from slipping into stasis and complacency - secret from all but a few of her most trusted confidants, but enough has been disseminated of her views that the more informed of Yu-Shan are generally aware that her views are not quite in line with the norm.
In person, Sakuya is much less outspoken than her borderline-radical beliefs might suggest; quiet and reserved, she is thoroughly personable and pleasant to be around, perceptive enough to read others well and generally inoffensive, though she does not often speak in absolutes unless roused to a proper debate. She leads without authority, gently pushing others to consider her words or their own motives without going on the offensive directly. Usually. Sakuya has a sharper tongue than she generally reveals, chiding in a tone of disappointment and disapproval that is almost eerily motherly - and all the more effective for it when she deems it necessary. There is a steel to her, unbending and unbreakable, that speak to her moral caliber and the depth of convictions forged over a thousand years of internal debate.
Sakuya has mixed feelings about her attempts to represent her purview, but sees it as a mandate for guidance for herself and others; even if she cannot truly embody it she feels it is her duty to use what she does understand of it to help others, offering guidance and reason as the situation permits, even as she uses it to try to guide her own actions. Knowledge and wisdom are entwined intimately in her mind - knowledge without wisdom is aimless, but wisdom without knowledge is a false wisdom useful only for erroneous judgement and an empty moral high ground. As a result, she seeks knowledge, both for its own sake and to better represent that which she must be; her manse is home to one of the largest and most varied private libraries in Yu-Shan, full of books on a thousand different subjects, and most of them read at least once.
Backstory
Born amidst the temporal shenanigans of the Primordial War, not even Sakuya is entirely sure exactly how long she has existed or what role she might have been originally meant to fill - by the time anyone had the time to worry about details like that, she had been around long enough, and made herself useful enough, that her birth was seen as nothing more than a side effect of reality-ravaging nature of the war, a minor curiosity utterly dwarfed in importance by the task of rebuilding a war torn by strife. Sakuya herself was quite alright with that; she had been around as long as she could remember, and was more interested in the glorious new dawn than the shadows of a murky past. The war had claimed countless Exalted and spirits alike, after all. Even if she knew that her predecessor's name, it was clear that he was not around to do his job anymore, which left her to keep watch over her purview.
The First Age was an interesting amalgamation of excitement and disappointment entwined, Twilights stretching her awareness in debates before turning around and launching experiments that threatened to rend time and space. Solars were radiant and majestic but also terrifying and petty, she learned, capable of feats both great and terrible, with nothing to hold them in check. Sakuya counseled wisdom and patience, and was rebuffed for her efforts; the Solars had been left Creation while the gods retired to Yu-Shan, and she could do little to change that arrangement. It was frustrating, stifling, but she knew her place and so did little, looking inwards to see where she had erred - and beginning a very long tradition of uncertainty as to what exactly her place was and how she should fulfill those duties.
The Usurpation was less a surprise to her than most, a Bronze faction Sidereal seeking her out for guidance the night before. Not even Sakuya herself remembers that night, but the Sidereal was found lifeless the next morning, dead by his own hand, with madness in his lifeless eyes. The incident was forgotten in Heaven quite quickly as the Usurpation happened, but the so-called Goddess of Wisdom was perturbed more by her own inability to recall their meeting than by the deaths of countless Solars; something important had happened that night, she was sure of it, but she was not privy to it, and that ate at her.
The sheer brutal efficiency of the Usurpation shattered Sakuya's already tenuous relationship with Sidereals entirely - where once she had been in equal parts oddly fond of and intellectually distrusting of them, the knowledge of how thoroughly they had gone beyond their station shook what faith she could hold in them. What they did to Lytek, how they broke the mask, the turmoil they hurled Creation into based on conjecture and possibility; she was disgusted by it, as were many gods. Endings are simply gates to new beginnings, though, and even in her displeasure, so too did the brazen act plant a very dangerous seed in her own mind, iron evidence that fate could be altered, that not even Solars were invulnerable in the word they had forged in their image.
Perhaps what the Sidereals had done was not so much wrong in principle as in action, she came to wonder in private. Certainly there should have been something that could have been done to bring the Solars into check, to share power more fairly. Unfamiliar with the Great Curse, Sakuya strove to understand the madness of Solars and Lunars alike, as well as what had overtaken the Five-Score Fellowship to undertake such a slaughter.
Unsurprisingly, she's still trying a millennium later.
Perhaps nothing would have ever come from her borderline-heretical thoughts, locked away by her rigid adherence to order and peace, had a chance conversation with one of her most enduring friends not sparked change even she could not foresee. The politics of Heaven were nothing new to her, but she had not known about Ghataru's secret plan to find a worthy Solar replacement himself. His decision to confide in her on his plan ignited the spark that had been flickering within her for thousands of years. Perhaps simply waiting was no longer the appropriate course of action - faced with what she saw with unprecedented clarity, the possibility of acting directly to bring Creation above the squalid existence it had sunk to in the years since she once did nothing, Sakuya decided that perhaps it was time for her to become the change she wished to see in the world.
Of course, for one of Yu-Shan's most enduring and powerful gods to go gallivanting about creation stirring up trouble was likely a somewhat unwise career move. She would have to delegate her position, spend vast resources on bribes, hide her true form and power alike while on her mission - but Sakuya had not built up a nearly unrivaled network of contacts, allies, and people who owed her favors for nothing, made easier by her unofficial status as one of the best people in Yu-Shan to confide in to relieve stress, and so her brilliantly daring - or absolutely moronic, she still hasn't quite decided which - plan took fruit in a relatively short amount of time, as the denizens of Yu-Shan even notice its passage. She would renounce some of the prayer dedicated to her, swallowing the severe blow to her power in order to turn those prayers into ambrosia, for bribes or simply to grease the wheels.
Sakuya knew all too well, though, that no amount of preparation could truly stave off the clock that would begin ticking the instant she left her duties to others. Power struggles would quickly develop, the trail of red herrings and conflicting paperwork she had left behind would eventually be unraveled by the tireless diligence of the Celestial Lions if they were called to investigate, and even if she did find some measure of success, the sheer change that Solars inevitably brought with them would upset the existing order of heaven and earth alike - and as that order slipped, as the group grew to attract attention from the power brokers of the world, her own subterfuge would itself inevitably crumble beneath its own weight.
Once chance. One mission. If she failed, the best that would await her was being melted down into Starmetal - and that was assuming that Abyssals or Fair Folk did not get to her first. Even if all the gods of heaven took her side and the Unconquered Sun himself spoke out in her favor, the censure she would receive would reduce her to little more than a sewer worker. But the possibilities, the tantalizing visions of a world she had once glimpsed at the start of the first age? That was a cause worth fighting for. A cause worth putting her life, her very existence on the line for. She would no longer simply watch - she would do.
Statistics
Physical
Strength 2
Dexterity 5
Stamina 2
Social
Charisma 5
Manipulation 1
Appearance 5
Mental
Perception 5
Intelligence 4
Wits 4
Abilities
Melee 5
Presence 5
Lore 5
Linguistics 5 (Old Realm, High Realm, Low Realm, Forgotten Tongue)
Occult 5
Integrity 5
Performance 5
Buraucracy 5
Stealth 3
Awareness 3
Medicine 3
Investigation 3
Virtues
Temperance 5
Sakuya detests lying and is more than slightly perturbed by her own deception, but her iron conviction in her goals help keep her on the path no matter how it may wear at her to sully her beliefs in the name of any task, no matter the rewards.
Conviction 5
She holds fast to beliefs, not to opinions - she constantly gauges her own reactions and thoughts, searching for some transient quality of "wisdom" that can be gleaned from them, but is much less malleable when it comes to morality. Exactly what she is capable of... part of her is dimly aware of just how far she may have to go, but Sakuya hopes that will never be tested.
Compassion 3
There is a certain disconnect between herself and her fellow gods, and an even greater distance between her and humanity, but she believes that closing that gap is part of her duty, as well as a route to enlightenment.
Valor 3
Almost ironic given the common view of her nature, Sakuya can be thoroughly stubborn to the point of bullishness, unwilling to back down once she gets emotionally invested in anything, and she has more than a passing amount of pride in her swordsmanship, honed by sheer dedication over numerous centuries.
Backgrounds
Alondite, the Eternal Edge [Artifact 3 weapon]
The Goddess of Wisdom's legendary blade, said to cut through truth itself. Much like its owner, it is much diminished from what it was. It is currently approximately on par with a daiklave, though its current appearance is that of a simple but well-forged Starmetal nodachi - much longer than it would first appear when sheathed. While most of its powers are currently sealed, it can still launch blades of wind (essentially ranged melee attacks) for a small expenditure of essence, though this is an Obvious effect.
Spirit Garb [Artifact 2 kimono]
Sakuya's garb for countless centuries, a tasteful green kimono infused with vast quantities of essence. Tougher than most mortal armor, but trades some durability for flexibility - after all, what would a goddess residing in peaceful Yu-Shan need with heavy armor?
Cydaea, the Goddess of Chaos [Ally 5]
Originally a minor spirit of bad luck, the events of the Usurpation, along with a string of ironically good luck, catapulted her almost overnight to one of the most powerful deities of Yu-Shan as the avatar of chaos in a world gone mad. Despite her meteoric ascension, she has remained remarkably down-to-earth, keeping her slightly off-kilter sense of humor and a sense of pragmatism that few gods can match. She is also Sakuya's best friend, the two having met through chance long before she came into power and building an enduring friendship over several millennia. Sakuya's staunchest ally, the two of them exchanged favors on a regular basis, though she is clueless as to Sakuya's current whereabouts and more than a little worried.
Cydaea regularly introduces herself by her old title, still slightly uncomfortable in her expanded role despite how long she has had to acclimatize to it, but generally does so in order to pass herself off as something less than what she truly is. While she has a solid work ethic, her attitude is terrible, and she often takes the easiest path rather than the best when her ethics allow; combined with a sense of humor so bad it could kill a Behemoth, she has a poor reputation in Yu-Shan. This is only calcified by her tendency to prefer her old job to the new, as well as her holding fast to her original snake motif - she looks untrustworthy at the best of times and downright terrifying when in a bad mood, though she is actually quite caring and borders on matronly.
Treia, the Goddess of Order [Ally 1]
A long-term ally of Sakuya's, their relationship has fallen on rocky times in the past millennium or so. While she was once one of Creation's most powerful goddesses, the chaos of the Usurpation and the Fair Folk invasion have done little to bulwark her power. She views herself as a "temporarily embarrassed millionaire," so to speak, and holds fast to what respect she can demand from others while constantly attempting to figure out how to return to her former stature - Treia is not ambitious for its own sake in the least and has no aspirations beyond what she once was, but feels it is her duty, and indeed birthright, to return to her station. It has become somewhat of an obsession, and interfered with a number of her relationships, not least her friendship with Sakuya. The two have grown somewhat distant in the last few centuries as they explore different and conflicting ideologies, and while Treia is secretly as frustrated by the development as Sakuya is, she has no idea how to bridge the gap nor is she able to overcome her growing focus on a return to power.
Treia and Cydaea get along about as well as cats and dogs, though that would be to severely understate just how much they dislike each other. Jealousy of Cydaea's ascension, mixed with disapproval of the former minor spirit's lackadaisical outwards attitude to her new duties and bad vibes, poisons Treia's perceptions of the other goddess. While she is even more unlikely to admit it than the jealousy part, there is also a certain degree of frustrated jealousy in regards to the well-known relationship between the goddesses of Wisdom and Chaos; as Treia's friendship with Sakuya continues to break down, she can't really help herself but redirect much of that frustrating at what she sees as her replacement. Cydaea, for her part, relishes any opportunity to infuriate Treia and generally make a nuisance of herself - which has about as positive of an effect on their relationship as one might expect. Neither goddess has ever gotten along more than absolutely necessary, and neither has the least interest in bridging the gap. Sakuya has long since given up on bringing them anywhere together, and just does her best to mediate with limited success.
Nara-O, the Keeper of Secrets [Ally 1]
Sakuya is pretty much clueless as to what the hell her relationship with "Yu-Shan's most aggravating conspiracy theorist" actually is, as a laughing Cydaea once dubbed the legendary god, but is vaguely aware of some degree of importance to its existence. Everyone in Yu-Shan knows that Nara-O does not reveal its true form to anyone, and that it only trades one secret if it receives a much more valuable one in return. That Nara-O revealed itself - herself - to Sakuya of her own accord, striking up a frustratingly vague and seemingly aimless relationship often buoyed by seemingly-pointless questions, only leads to two possibilities, that either Nara-O recently went completely insane (very possible) or that her actions revealed something to her more valuable than the secrecy of her identity. That the latter is more likely doesn't really do much to assuage Sakuya's worries, nor does she have the faintest clue of what Nara-O gets out of their relationship. The secretive goddess is certainly fascinating and their conversations thought-provoking, but the lack of trust between them stymies Sakuya's attempts at building a true friendship. While tremendously powerful and influential, Nara-O has never made any apparent effort to aid Sakuya or even offer advice, though the questions she raises often provide some insight the goddess of wisdom would never have arrived at on her own.
Whether or not that translates to Nara-O actually helping or just pleasant coincidence probably frustrates and confuses Sakuya more than anything else. It doesn't really help that she has no idea what Nara-O's position on her little adventure is, for that matter - unable to trust Nara-O enough to reveal it directly or ask for help, she is keenly aware that the Keeper of Secrets most likely knows of her plans but has so far done nothing to stop them. That she knows of. It pains her to even consider it, but Sakuya has wondered more than once if Nara-O is simply waiting to set her up, her growing paranoia struggling against her own shame at her inability to trust a friend.
Charms
Blessings
Benefaction - Sakuya grants a tiny fraction of the wisdom she represents to her target, granting them a degree of unnatural clarity in her name. This bonus can transcend abilities, but only applies when the recipient is acting in good faith, in Sakuya's name, and/or with existing clarity of purpose.
Divinations
Amethyst Awareness - The ability to see what lies beyond the physical plane, to track the flow of essence and understand its patterns. Fitting that the Goddess of Wisdom ought to be able to view the world in details most cannot; the invisible and the intangible alike are as real to her as "reality" is to most, allowing Sakuya to recognize the use of magic and sorcery or view dematerialized spirits and the like without issue.
Memory Mirror - What use are the feeble walls of the mind against a god? While she generally refrains from using it, this charm grants Sakuya the ability to effortlessly read the memories of mortals and those of unsuspecting equals with some effort. While it is difficult to actually immunize one's self to this ability short of active defenses or simply having stronger essence than her, she refrains from using it on a regular basis out of an innate respect for the privacy of others, as well as thousands of years in Yu-Shan where it is considered exceedingly bad etiquette to even attempt it without very good reason.
Sendings
Call - Sakuya presses a short message into a flow of essence that reaches its intended target nearly instantly, allowing her to plant simple ideas or terse sentences to another. Anyone familiar with her voice will instantly recognize her as the sender, while those who do not know her will recognize that the message comes from another source - she cannot plant ideas into the subconscious or otherwise belie the nature of the message.
Dreamscape - The ability to communicate through dreams is one of the Goddess of Wisdom's many abilities, to impart wisdom to another in their sleep or hold a conversation without being bounded by the constraints of time as it exists in the material plane. By appearing to another in their dreams, Sakuya can train - or be trained, though she has had little need for the latter in a long time - others quickly or engage in debates. This ability can be used on waking targets, sending them into a state of fugue for a brief instant in order to launch a social attack or simply rely a message; this requires effort on Sakuya's part and the target can resist it with willpower. Willing targets can allow themselves to be drawn in, and regardless of the target's reaction the state only lasts for a split second in real time, though it can last any amount of time in the dreamscape itself.
Divine Works
Affinity [Wind] Control - While Sakuya does not have a direct connection to the element, there are thematic similarities in her purview to how wind is often seen across many cultures. Combined with her natural affinity to wind, she has learned to use it as a weapon or a tool, encasing her weapon in cutting wind, attacking with scything blades of air from a distance, or even sheathing herself in it to deflect blows. Only one effect can be active at a time, but Sakuya can switch between them reflexively.
Relocations
Landscape Travel - By bending reality around her, Sakuya can travel at double the rate at which she appears to be moving, or simply fly at her normal movement rate without any apparent effort.
Loom Stride - By focusing her conviction and willpower alike, Sakuya can simply rewrite her location, deciding to be here rather than there without crossing the intervening distance or waiting for the flow of time, or indeed the Loom of Fate itself, to accept her new position. The distance she can travel is measured in meters rather than miles, but offers very little ability to react to her victims, and can end a battle before it has even begun.
Aegis
Blessed [Wind] Body - As part of her strong affinity to air, Sakuya can essentially completely immunize herself to the element, destabilizing the essence of attacks and absorbing them into her being as sustenance. This is an active rather than a passive effect, requiring some concentration on her part, but is not limited in scope or duration - it is a part of her.
Sheathing the Material Form - Wrapping herself in layers of essence, Sakuya wears her power as a defense of its own to turn aside blades and blunt blows. While not as effective as heavy armor, this does not interfere with her mobility in the least, and in conjunction with her magical robes, provides a surprisingly durable defense.
Edges
Spirit-Cutting - That something may not exist in the material plane is of little import to her blade; if it exists, Alondite can cut it. This allows her to attack dematerialized spirits as though they were material, though Amethyst Awareness must be active for Sakuya to actually see her target.
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