Thief of Words
Archivist for Hire
Name: Ink
Gender: Female
Caste: Eclipse
Age: 500
Concept: Rags to Riches Economist and Philanthropist
Motivation: To Protect Creation from dissolution and improve the lot of all its people through the Order-Conferring Trade Pattern.
Appearance:
Seeming to be a striking woman on the cusp of 30 years of age, one could be excused for underestimating Ink based upon first impressions. Her clothing is typically shockingly simple and understated, normally going clad in a pair of loose black trousers and a white top, or the reverse. One could even be forgiven for mistaking her name for a nickname, presuming it based on the way her entire right arm, from fingertips to shoulder, is tattooed jet black. In fact, her mother named Ink for her black hair, just as her sister Sky was named for her light blue eyes.
Background:
Few places in Creation are as miserable as the Outback. None are as lawless. Absent are the protections or privileges of mortal life under the Second Deliberative. An experiment to produce sufficiently ruthless and tough candidates to colonize Creation's frontiers overseen by a pair of Lunar Exalts, the Outback is the closest place in Creation to the arbitrary enforced awfulness of the Demon City.
Simply surviving there is an accomplishment. Surviving unscarred is an impossibility. Surviving with one's soul intact, a miracle.
Ink was such a miracle.
Most hearts grow hard in those circumstances. Most kindly souls grow cruel, cynical. That was, after all, the intent behind the experiment. Those that did not fit the mold were removed, lest they attaint the results.
Ink drew attention for managing to create a semi-functioning bureaucracy in a minor Outback 'city', really more of a shanty-town bartering station. She consolidated power by instituting currency and consolidating resources. She was marked as having potential as an organizer.
All the while, she made small and subtle moves to protect individuals, to allay minor miseries she was able to. She kept it quiet, kept it subtle, swore the beneficiaries to secrecy. After all, she was risking her life. Everyone in the Outback knew what happened to people who tried to fix the place.
They vanished into the Never Never.
And so she sneakily shepherded the people she could, not with physical might, but with her mind, her knack for organization, and with her resources. She wasn't always successful. But she never forgot those she failed. For each one, she had a single black dot tattooed by hand on her right arm.
Things went well, proceeding in much the same course for several years. She lived...if not in contentment, then at least better than ought have been expected. Things changed with Sky's death, however.
She was killed by some bored young Terrestrial, come to slum in the Outback and test his skills with the blade against real, desperate enemies.
It took a year-and-a-half for her contacts to track down the young exalt. Still enraged and grieving, she hired folk to ambush and cripple her sister's murderer. It took most of her resources, but she spent them willingly. She watched the entire time.
It left her empty. Hollowed out. It did nothing to make up for her sister's death. It in no way changed the oppressive nature of her homeland. For weeks, she fixated on the knowledge that the young bravo had been nothing but a symptom of a sweeping and systemic rot. The hollowness in her heart filled up, swelled with a burning fury at the unfairness, the wrongness that was the Outback.
Everyone knew that trying to fix the Outback was a death sentence.
Ink couldn't bring herself to care.
She'd discovered that she hated the injustice of it all more than she feared her own death.
And so she set about trying to fix the Outback.
It wasn't long before agents of the Argent manipulators behind the Outback came for her. An immense, powerful man, with silver tattoos and a talking Tyrant Lizard as a companion came to intimidate her. She had promise, they said. She could be ruthless, they offered. She could survive, if only she gave up trying to break (their words) the Outback.
When she said no the first time, they tried to terrify her into compliance.
Always stubborn, Ink clutched the dot-strewn, still-healing flesh of her right arm to drown the fear in an ironclad reminder of why she did as she had.
When she said no the second time, preparing to unleash a withering speech at the thug, it was his turn to be abashed and dismayed. For the young wastelander shone with all the blinding glory of the crowned sun, power backing up her certainty as an intricate diagram of ink black and searing white flowed into the air around her.
Things got...awkward from there. Unauthorized to terrorize or kill a new Solar, the Lunar left to seek his mentors' guidance. Ferried to an interview with the elder Lunars in charge of the Outback, both Ink and they were in for a shock: she had inherited the exaltation of one of the pair's bondmate. Discussions did not improve after that discovery, only growing more heated and recriminating.
[to be continued]
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 5
Manipulation: 3
Appearance: 4
Perception: 2
Intelligence: 6
Wits: 2
Abilities:
Dawn
Archery:
Martial Arts: 5
Melee:
Thrown: 1
War:
Zenith
Integrity: 5
Performance: 6
Presence: 5
Resistance: 3
Survival:
Twilight
Craft:
Investigation: 5
Lore: 3
Medicine:
Occult: 3
Night
Athletics:
Awareness: 2
Dodge: 2
Stealth: 1
Larceny: 3
Eclipse
Bureaucracy: 6
Linguistics: 5
Ride:
Sail: 1
Socialize: 6
Join Battle: 4
DDV: 6
DMDV: 9
PMDV: 6
Backgrounds
Wealth: Legendary
Panoply: Legendary
Manse: 5
Connections (The Deliberative): 3
Connections (Bureau of Humanity): 2
Connections (Bureau of Heaven): 4
Allies (Yo Ping, God of Peace): 5
Savant: 1
Cult: 1
Virtues
Compassion: 3
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2
Virtue Flaw: Golden Philanthropist Obligation
Overcome by a sense of compassion and noblesse oblige, the Lawgiver must immediately and dedicatedly work to make substantive, material improvements to the lives of those around her. She spares no thought for other projects or ideas, throwing her all into this new passion project.
Partial Control: The Lawgiver must throw herself into the project, but she is not wholly consumed by it. She must still spend a majority of her time on the new undertaking, but she does not feel compelled to drop everything for the philanthropic effort.
Duration: 1 Day
Trigger: Seeing suffering caused by systemic poverty
Limit: 0
Health Levels:
Willpower: 8
Essence: 6
Personal:
Peripheral:
Committed:
Intimacies
Systemic Injustice: Fury
Cruelty: Contempt
[Former Incarnation of Bondmate]: Detestation
The Order-Conferring Trade Pattern: Protective Pride
Useless Formalities: Mild Annoyance
Simple Pleasures: Contentment
Humanity: Hope
A Good Party: Joi de Vie
Arrogance: Irritation
Gods: Wry Fondness
Merits/Flaws
Carouser: 2
Code of Honor: 2
Unlucky: 1
Diminished Sense (Vision): 2
Sterile: 1
Charms
Integrity
1st Integrity Excellency
Integrity-Protecting Prana
Performance
2nd Performance Excellency
Supreme Perfection of Performance
Respect Commanding Attitude
Phantom-Conjuring Performance
Demon-Wracking Glory
Presence
2nd Presence Excellency
Majestic Radiant Presence
Underling Promoting Touch
Authority-Radiating Stance
Irresistible Salesman Stance
Resistance
2nd Resistance Excellency
Durability of Oak Meditation
Iron Kettle Body
Investigation
2nd Investigation Excellency
Courtier's Eye Technique
Judge's Ear Technique
Consumer-Evaluating Glance
Know the Soul's Price
Bureaucracy
2nd Bureaucracy Excellency
Frugal Merchant Method
Insightful Buyer Tech
Speed the Wheels
Servant-Rewarding Benevolence
Immanent Solar Glory
Linguistics
2nd Linguistics
Whirling Brush Method
Flawless Brush Discipline
Sagacious Reading of Intent
Socialize
2nd Socialize Excellency
Wise-Eyed Courtier Method
Wild Revelry Approach
Taboo-Inflicting Diatribe
Mastery of Small Manners
Gathering the Congregation
Non-Solar Charms
Sidereal
Presence
Force Decision
Investigation
Efficient Secretary Technique
Bureaucracy
Icy Hand
Martial Arts Styles
Celestial Styles
Mantis Style
Leaping Mantis Technique
Iron Arm Block
Mantis Form
Sidereal Styles
Charcoal March of Spiders Style
Maw of Dripping Venom
Artifacts
Necklace of Solar Charisma: 3
Infinite Resplendence Amulet (Composite): 5
Orichalcum Hearthstone Bracers: 2
Hearthstone Amulet: 1
Serpent Sting Staff: 2
Ring of Being: 5
Hearthstones
Jewel of the Clever Merchant
Seven Leaping Dragon Stone
Jewel of Perfect Mobility
Bookkeeping:
BP:
Ess4-Ess6: 14 BP
Bur4-Bur6: 2 BP
Wealth4-Wealth6: 4bp
Panoply4-Panoply6: 4bp
Ally4-Ally5: 2bp
WP5-WP8: 3bp
Inv3-Inv4: 1bp
Gender: Female
Caste: Eclipse
Age: 500
Concept: Rags to Riches Economist and Philanthropist
Motivation: To Protect Creation from dissolution and improve the lot of all its people through the Order-Conferring Trade Pattern.
Appearance:
Seeming to be a striking woman on the cusp of 30 years of age, one could be excused for underestimating Ink based upon first impressions. Her clothing is typically shockingly simple and understated, normally going clad in a pair of loose black trousers and a white top, or the reverse. One could even be forgiven for mistaking her name for a nickname, presuming it based on the way her entire right arm, from fingertips to shoulder, is tattooed jet black. In fact, her mother named Ink for her black hair, just as her sister Sky was named for her light blue eyes.
Background:
Few places in Creation are as miserable as the Outback. None are as lawless. Absent are the protections or privileges of mortal life under the Second Deliberative. An experiment to produce sufficiently ruthless and tough candidates to colonize Creation's frontiers overseen by a pair of Lunar Exalts, the Outback is the closest place in Creation to the arbitrary enforced awfulness of the Demon City.
Simply surviving there is an accomplishment. Surviving unscarred is an impossibility. Surviving with one's soul intact, a miracle.
Ink was such a miracle.
Most hearts grow hard in those circumstances. Most kindly souls grow cruel, cynical. That was, after all, the intent behind the experiment. Those that did not fit the mold were removed, lest they attaint the results.
Ink drew attention for managing to create a semi-functioning bureaucracy in a minor Outback 'city', really more of a shanty-town bartering station. She consolidated power by instituting currency and consolidating resources. She was marked as having potential as an organizer.
All the while, she made small and subtle moves to protect individuals, to allay minor miseries she was able to. She kept it quiet, kept it subtle, swore the beneficiaries to secrecy. After all, she was risking her life. Everyone in the Outback knew what happened to people who tried to fix the place.
They vanished into the Never Never.
And so she sneakily shepherded the people she could, not with physical might, but with her mind, her knack for organization, and with her resources. She wasn't always successful. But she never forgot those she failed. For each one, she had a single black dot tattooed by hand on her right arm.
Things went well, proceeding in much the same course for several years. She lived...if not in contentment, then at least better than ought have been expected. Things changed with Sky's death, however.
She was killed by some bored young Terrestrial, come to slum in the Outback and test his skills with the blade against real, desperate enemies.
It took a year-and-a-half for her contacts to track down the young exalt. Still enraged and grieving, she hired folk to ambush and cripple her sister's murderer. It took most of her resources, but she spent them willingly. She watched the entire time.
It left her empty. Hollowed out. It did nothing to make up for her sister's death. It in no way changed the oppressive nature of her homeland. For weeks, she fixated on the knowledge that the young bravo had been nothing but a symptom of a sweeping and systemic rot. The hollowness in her heart filled up, swelled with a burning fury at the unfairness, the wrongness that was the Outback.
Everyone knew that trying to fix the Outback was a death sentence.
Ink couldn't bring herself to care.
She'd discovered that she hated the injustice of it all more than she feared her own death.
And so she set about trying to fix the Outback.
It wasn't long before agents of the Argent manipulators behind the Outback came for her. An immense, powerful man, with silver tattoos and a talking Tyrant Lizard as a companion came to intimidate her. She had promise, they said. She could be ruthless, they offered. She could survive, if only she gave up trying to break (their words) the Outback.
When she said no the first time, they tried to terrify her into compliance.
Always stubborn, Ink clutched the dot-strewn, still-healing flesh of her right arm to drown the fear in an ironclad reminder of why she did as she had.
When she said no the second time, preparing to unleash a withering speech at the thug, it was his turn to be abashed and dismayed. For the young wastelander shone with all the blinding glory of the crowned sun, power backing up her certainty as an intricate diagram of ink black and searing white flowed into the air around her.
Things got...awkward from there. Unauthorized to terrorize or kill a new Solar, the Lunar left to seek his mentors' guidance. Ferried to an interview with the elder Lunars in charge of the Outback, both Ink and they were in for a shock: she had inherited the exaltation of one of the pair's bondmate. Discussions did not improve after that discovery, only growing more heated and recriminating.
[to be continued]
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 5
Manipulation: 3
Appearance: 4
Perception: 2
Intelligence: 6
Wits: 2
Abilities:
Dawn
Archery:
Martial Arts: 5
Melee:
Thrown: 1
War:
Zenith
Integrity: 5
Performance: 6
Presence: 5
Resistance: 3
Survival:
Twilight
Craft:
Investigation: 5
Lore: 3
Medicine:
Occult: 3
Night
Athletics:
Awareness: 2
Dodge: 2
Stealth: 1
Larceny: 3
Eclipse
Bureaucracy: 6
Linguistics: 5
Ride:
Sail: 1
Socialize: 6
Join Battle: 4
DDV: 6
DMDV: 9
PMDV: 6
Backgrounds
Wealth: Legendary
Panoply: Legendary
Manse: 5
Connections (The Deliberative): 3
Connections (Bureau of Humanity): 2
Connections (Bureau of Heaven): 4
Allies (Yo Ping, God of Peace): 5
Savant: 1
Cult: 1
Virtues
Compassion: 3
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2
Virtue Flaw: Golden Philanthropist Obligation
Overcome by a sense of compassion and noblesse oblige, the Lawgiver must immediately and dedicatedly work to make substantive, material improvements to the lives of those around her. She spares no thought for other projects or ideas, throwing her all into this new passion project.
Partial Control: The Lawgiver must throw herself into the project, but she is not wholly consumed by it. She must still spend a majority of her time on the new undertaking, but she does not feel compelled to drop everything for the philanthropic effort.
Duration: 1 Day
Trigger: Seeing suffering caused by systemic poverty
Limit: 0
Health Levels:
Willpower: 8
Essence: 6
Personal:
Peripheral:
Committed:
Intimacies
Systemic Injustice: Fury
Cruelty: Contempt
[Former Incarnation of Bondmate]: Detestation
The Order-Conferring Trade Pattern: Protective Pride
Useless Formalities: Mild Annoyance
Simple Pleasures: Contentment
Humanity: Hope
A Good Party: Joi de Vie
Arrogance: Irritation
Gods: Wry Fondness
Merits/Flaws
Carouser: 2
Code of Honor: 2
Unlucky: 1
Diminished Sense (Vision): 2
Sterile: 1
Charms
Integrity
1st Integrity Excellency
Integrity-Protecting Prana
Performance
2nd Performance Excellency
Supreme Perfection of Performance
Respect Commanding Attitude
Phantom-Conjuring Performance
Demon-Wracking Glory
Presence
2nd Presence Excellency
Majestic Radiant Presence
Underling Promoting Touch
Authority-Radiating Stance
Irresistible Salesman Stance
Resistance
2nd Resistance Excellency
Durability of Oak Meditation
Iron Kettle Body
Investigation
2nd Investigation Excellency
Courtier's Eye Technique
Judge's Ear Technique
Consumer-Evaluating Glance
Know the Soul's Price
Bureaucracy
2nd Bureaucracy Excellency
Frugal Merchant Method
Insightful Buyer Tech
Speed the Wheels
Servant-Rewarding Benevolence
Immanent Solar Glory
Linguistics
2nd Linguistics
Whirling Brush Method
Flawless Brush Discipline
Sagacious Reading of Intent
Socialize
2nd Socialize Excellency
Wise-Eyed Courtier Method
Wild Revelry Approach
Taboo-Inflicting Diatribe
Mastery of Small Manners
Gathering the Congregation
Non-Solar Charms
Sidereal
Presence
Force Decision
Investigation
Efficient Secretary Technique
Bureaucracy
Icy Hand
Martial Arts Styles
Celestial Styles
Mantis Style
Leaping Mantis Technique
Iron Arm Block
Mantis Form
Sidereal Styles
Charcoal March of Spiders Style
Maw of Dripping Venom
Artifacts
Necklace of Solar Charisma: 3
Infinite Resplendence Amulet (Composite): 5
Orichalcum Hearthstone Bracers: 2
Hearthstone Amulet: 1
Serpent Sting Staff: 2
Ring of Being: 5
Hearthstones
Jewel of the Clever Merchant
Seven Leaping Dragon Stone
Jewel of Perfect Mobility
Bookkeeping:
BP:
Ess4-Ess6: 14 BP
Bur4-Bur6: 2 BP
Wealth4-Wealth6: 4bp
Panoply4-Panoply6: 4bp
Ally4-Ally5: 2bp
WP5-WP8: 3bp
Inv3-Inv4: 1bp
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