WlfSamurai
Maelstrom Engineer
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Dice Northern Wind (Exalted)
- Thread starter WlfSamurai
- Start date
JayTee
Eight Thousand Club
Name: Chance Harlock
Caste: Zenith
Caste: Zenith
Str 3
Dex 5
Stam 4
Cha 5
Man 1
App 4
Per 3
Int 3
Wits 3
Melee 5 (F)
Integrity 5 ©
Presence 5 ©
Resistance 5 ©
Investigation 5 (F)
Lore 5
Occult 5 (F)
Athletics 5 (F)
Awareness 5
Sail 5 (F)
Artifact 2 (Daiklave)
Resources 5
Essence 4
Willpower 10
Personal Motes 22/22
Peripheral Motes 42/42
Dodge DV: 9
Parry DV 7
Soak: 7B/7L, 19B/19L with Iron Kettle Body
Attacks:
Daiklave Speed 5, Accuracy 14, Damage 8/2L, Defense 7, Rate 4
Health Levels
-0, O
-1, OOOO
-2, OOOOOOOO
-4, O
Incap/dying, OOOO
Melee
1st Excellency
Infinite Mastery
Hungry Tiger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
Golden Destruction Cut
Rising Sun Slash
Dipping Swallow Defense
Bulwark Stance
Heavenly Guardian Defense
Call the Blade
Integrity
3rd Excellency
Temptation Resisting Stance
Elusive Dream Defense
Integrity Protecting Prana
Presence
1st Excellency
Irresistible Salesman Spirit
Hypnotic Tongue Technique
Resistance
1st Excellency
Ox Body Technique x3
Invincible Essence Reinforcement
Durability of Oak
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique
Iron Kettle Body
Immunity to Everything Technique
Unbreakable Warrior's Mastery
Investigation
1st Excellency
Courter's Eye Technique
Consumer Evaluating Glance
Crafty Observation Method
Occult
1st Excellency
Spirit Detecting Glance
Spirit Cutting Attack
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Demon of the First Circle
Athletics
1st Excellency
Graceful Crane Stance
Feather Foot Style
Monkey Leap Technique
Soaring Crane Leap
Awareness
1st Excellency
Keen Sight Technique
Panoptic Fusion Discipline
Surprise Anticipation Technique
Sail
1st Excellency
Ship Claiming Stance
Hull Preserving Technique
Perfect Reckoning Technique
Salty Dog Method
Dex 5
Stam 4
Cha 5
Man 1
App 4
Per 3
Int 3
Wits 3
Melee 5 (F)
Integrity 5 ©
Presence 5 ©
Resistance 5 ©
Investigation 5 (F)
Lore 5
Occult 5 (F)
Athletics 5 (F)
Awareness 5
Sail 5 (F)
Artifact 2 (Daiklave)
Resources 5
Essence 4
Willpower 10
Personal Motes 22/22
Peripheral Motes 42/42
Dodge DV: 9
Parry DV 7
Soak: 7B/7L, 19B/19L with Iron Kettle Body
Attacks:
Daiklave Speed 5, Accuracy 14, Damage 8/2L, Defense 7, Rate 4
Health Levels
-0, O
-1, OOOO
-2, OOOOOOOO
-4, O
Incap/dying, OOOO
Melee
1st Excellency
Infinite Mastery
Hungry Tiger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
Golden Destruction Cut
Rising Sun Slash
Dipping Swallow Defense
Bulwark Stance
Heavenly Guardian Defense
Call the Blade
Integrity
3rd Excellency
Temptation Resisting Stance
Elusive Dream Defense
Integrity Protecting Prana
Presence
1st Excellency
Irresistible Salesman Spirit
Hypnotic Tongue Technique
Resistance
1st Excellency
Ox Body Technique x3
Invincible Essence Reinforcement
Durability of Oak
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique
Iron Kettle Body
Immunity to Everything Technique
Unbreakable Warrior's Mastery
Investigation
1st Excellency
Courter's Eye Technique
Consumer Evaluating Glance
Crafty Observation Method
Occult
1st Excellency
Spirit Detecting Glance
Spirit Cutting Attack
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Demon of the First Circle
Athletics
1st Excellency
Graceful Crane Stance
Feather Foot Style
Monkey Leap Technique
Soaring Crane Leap
Awareness
1st Excellency
Keen Sight Technique
Panoptic Fusion Discipline
Surprise Anticipation Technique
Sail
1st Excellency
Ship Claiming Stance
Hull Preserving Technique
Perfect Reckoning Technique
Salty Dog Method
Arynne
Salmon of Doubt
ASHEN THUNDER
Motivation: Bring the fire of Heaven down on the army of the dead. Ash has positive Intimacies towards Thunder, her workshop manse and the act of creation. She has negative Intimacies towards the Silver Prince and zombies.
Caste: Dawn
Anima: A scarlet-plumed warrior clad in golden armor; when iconic, the warrior is surrounded by licking red-and-gold flames
Theme Song: “Ash Like Snow’’
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The First Age
Even as Spring Thunder carried him away at frantic speed from the site of the massacre, Weeping Gold could feel his strength flooding away with his blood, carried away on the crest of anguish. There was no way he could possibly make it back to Valadilene. Not with those wounds. He could smell the stench of his own blackened flesh filling the fuselage.
His thoughts were wobbly with shock, and for a moment, he was back on the bloody field where he Exalted, struggling against pain and weariness to create an improvised weapon out of the broken bits of his fuel bolt launcher. He had succeeded -- impossibly, but he had succeeded, his primitive shoulder cannon belching flames like a fire dragon, flames that glowed brighter gold with every blast -- it was not enough in the face of a howling horde of monsters, and he had known he would share the fate of the rest of his platoon.
Then, the Chosen of the Sun had arrived. There was only one of him, but the fire that exploded from his twin weapons outshone Weeping Gold’s crude bursts like the Sun outshines the Stars. It swept across the depraved abominations like flames sweeping across the Southern savannas, and when he lowered his gun, they were all dead.
Weeping Gold had never forgotten that day, and not just because of his Exaltation. He remembered the Chosen raising him to his feet and saying gruffly, “Don’t kneel anymore. We’re both Solars now.’’ And, even more gruffly and grudgingly, “You did very well with very little. The measure of a man. When your basic training is finished, come and see me.’’
And now he remembered the mad light in his sifu’s eyes before the fiery bolts erupted, burning his brothers to charred bones. Why, master? his mind cried. Were we not always faithful to you? Were we not the only ones you trusted? Your Circle betrayed you, but we never did. We did you repay our loyalty, our love, with rage and murder?
He wasn’t the only target his master had attacked in that last frenzy. Thunder’s controls felt heavy, stiff -- heavier and stiffer than his own injuries alone could explain.
Another memory flashed through his mind -- the first time he ever saw Whiteflowers, as he lay in the hospital after the battle, still very weak and faint despite his Exaltation; he thought she was a goddess of death, come to collect his soul. No mortal woman, he thought, could be that beautiful, or that deadly-looking, even when offering water, and touching him with cool strong hands. And he was right. But she had been a goddess of life, instead, come to claim him for her own. But this time, she was too far away.
Grief tore at him then, for Whiteflowers, for his brother students so pitilessly killed, for the Once-Righteous Master, become in the end a devil like those he fought. And for Spring Thunder Over the Mountain, who was losing altitude with every mile of ocean his crosses. His delicate flight mechanisms were damaged, and beneath him, the cold sea, dotted here and there with mountainous, unforgiving islets, waited hungrily. He would fall soon, sharing the doom of his maker.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, Thunder’s voice said in his mind, and that last loyalty brought a tiny crumb of comfort, like a healing anodyne to his sifu’s betrayal. Still, he would have liked to live long enough to say goodbye to Whiteflowers.
The surface was flying towards them with terrible speed, and he could not tell whether it was land or sea. All he could see was a beautiful, bronze-skinned face smiling at him. With his last strength, he smiled back...
The Second Age
One summer day, a young girl from a small village went into the woods, following a small stream into a part of the forest her parents and the village priest had warned her to avoid.
The ground gave way beneath her and she tumbled into a deep crevasse in the earth; the fall knocked her unconscious, and when she awoke it was to find herself in a strange cavern. The earth there seemed more like petrified bone than mud or rock: jagged ivory protrusions jutted from the walls, and the stone was splotched with blue and violet as if bruised.
Exploring further into the cave, the girl found a titanic armored figure encased in mud and roots. Too curious to be really afraid, she climbed up its chest till she came to a hollow space of some kind, which she entered. No sooner had she done so than a man appeared -- the most beautiful man the dazzled young girl had ever seen -- and began speaking to her urgently in an unknown tongue.
The girl, whose name was Ash, visited the “metal man’’ many, many times over the next few years. She learned to speak the language of the man who besought her to help him, as well as his name: Spring Thunder Over the Mountain. She cut away the roots and dug the mud from his limbs; she brought him the tools and supplies he asked for, though she often had to steal them.
Under Thunder’s direction she began repairing the damage to his enormous frame. The directions spilled into long conversations, as the ancient spirit, desperately lonely after his centuries buried in the ground, began to treat her as a confidant, telling her about the First Age, about the gods and the Exalted and the world as it once was.
As time passed, a strange curse struck the lands around her village. Small animals, birds and insects were found dead. Hunters returned with less and less game. Even the trees seemed to fade, growing sickly and gray, and the villagers found they were exhausted, no matter how much they rested. Though as worried by the curse as anyone else, Ash never connected it with her new companion.
She had always been the odd one out; her father, a sailor, had come from the North, and she had his light skin and red hair. She was also slightly built, in contrast to the Western ideal of the sturdy, muscular farmgirl, glowing with ruddy health. Her mother often fretted over her marriage prospects, but Ash did not care, especially now that she had someone else “different’’ to talk to. She hugged her secret to herself in silence.
The morning of her sixteenth birthday, Ash set out to the woods early. She had received a new bow as a birthday gift, and was eager to try it out.
Her quiet morning was interrupted by the far-off clash of weapons, by distant cries and inhuman laughter. Ash knew what the sounds meant. But instead of running back, she ran deeper into the forest, following the fateful stream till she reached the cavern where the “metal man’’ lay, almost completely cleared of his earthen bonds. “Help us now,’’ she demanded. “Whatever you want, whatever you need, I promise I’ll do it, no matter what! Just help us. Help me stop them!’’
The golden man looked at her, sadly, she thought. “How much are you willing to give up, to save them?’’ he asked. “Your strength? Your health?’’
“Yes,’’ Ash said. She felt strangely weak and dizzy.
“Your life?’’
“Yes.’’
“Even though you are not close to any of them except your own parents? Even though they laugh at you because you are different?’’
“Yes!’’ yelled Ash, sinking to her knees. She ached all over, as if she were running out of air, as if something terribly heavy were pressing down upon her, pressing hard --
Spring Thunder Over the Mountain smiled.
And suddenly, Ash was engulfed in golden light.
When she came back to herself, she was already strapped into Thunder’s fuselage; they tore their way free of the cave, reborn again, together.
Thunder’s delicate Essence weapons had deteriorated into scrap during his long centuries underground, but he still had his mighty orichalcum fists and his deadly Charms. The war ghosts and their nemissary commander were like butterflies caught in a rockslide. In the exultant daze of victory, Ash emerged from Thunder, only to find her neighbors looking at her with terror. Some of them screamed at her that this was her fault.
Devastated and bewildered, Ash (and Thunder) fled to where her house stood -- only to find that the undead had attacked this part of the village first. Ash knelt in the smoking hole that was once her home next to her parents’ smoldering remains, and could not weep. Rage replaced fear and a new resolve came over her.
“Let’s go, Thunder. There’s nothing for us here.’’
Five years later...
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3; Charisma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3; Perception 4, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Virtue Flaw: Red Rage of Compassion
Abilities: Archery 5 (Warstrider Weapons +2), Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Craft 5, Dodge 3, Integrity 3, Investigation 2, Linguistics (Native: Seatongue; Others: Skytongue, Old Realm, Rivertongue) 3, Lore 5, Martial Arts 5 (Fighting in Armor +2), Occult 5 (Art of Alchemy +2), Presence 3, Resistance 5, Ride 2, Sail 2, Stealth 3, Survival 3, War 5
Backgrounds: Allies 3 (Thunderbirds), Ally 5 (Warstrider AI), Artifact 1 (Hearthstone amulet), Artifact 2 (Plasma tongue repeater), Artifact 4 (High Speed Aquatic Propulsion system), Artifact 4 (Flight system), Artifact 5 (Royal warstrider), Manse 3 (The Blue Grotto), Manse 4 (The Brass Redoubt), Resources 4
Charms --
Excellencies: Archery (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Infinite Mastery), Craft (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Integrity (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Martial Arts (1st, 2nd, Infinite Mastery), Occult (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Presence (1st), Resistance (1st, 2nd, 3rd), War (1st, 2nd)
Archery: Essence Arrow Attack (All 3), Solar Flare Methodology, Storm-Gathering Practice, There is No Wind, Trance of Unhesitating Speed
Craft: Crack-Mending Technique, Craftsman Needs No Tools, Durability-Enhancing Technique, Design Beyond Limit, Object-Strengthening Touch, Peerless Paragon of Magitech, Words-as-Workshop Method
Integrity: Righteous Lion Defense, Rising Sun Soul, Shedding Infinite Radiance
Martial Arts: Fists of Iron Technique, Thunderclap Rush Attack
Occult: Ghost-Eating Technique, Spirit-Cutting Attack, Spirit-Detecting Glance
Presence: Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgment
Resistance: Adamant Skin Technique, Durability of Oak Meditation, Iron Skin Concentration, Ox-Body Technique x4, Spirit Strengthens the Skin
War: Elegant Dance of Bow and Blade, Supreme Martial Instinct
Supernatural Martial Arts --
Righteous Devil Style: Azure Abacus Meditation, Blessing of Righteous Solar Spark Meditation, Cloud of Ebon Devils, Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique, Kiss of the Sun Concentration, Righteous Devil Form, Lightning Draw Stance, Phoenix Flies on Golden Wings Attack
Thaumaturgy --
Art of Alchemy, Adept Degree: (0) Alchemical Touchstone; (1) Courtesan’s Caress Potion, Craft Jade, Craft Sleep Grenade, Eagle’s Eye Potion; (2) Alchemical Weapon Fuel, Ardent Embrace Resin, Craft Smoke Grenade, Distill Orichalcum
Join Battle: 7
Attacks (Ash) --
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 3B, Defense 11, Rate 3
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 6B, Defense 7, Rate 2
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 3B, Defense - , Rate 1
Plasma Tongue Repeater: Speed 5, Accuracy 11, Damage 10L, Rate 1, Range 20
Exceptional Hook Swords: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 7L, Defense 13, Rate 3
Attacks (Ash n’ Thunder) --
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 19B, Defense 11, Rate 3
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 22B, Defense 7, Rate 2
Fire Projector: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Damage 12L, Rate 1 (5), Range 20
Warstrider Hook Swords: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 22L, Defense 12, Rate 3
Soak (Ash): 1L/3B
Soak (Ash n’Thunder): 27L/29B (Orichalcum royal warstrider, +26L/26B, Hardness 13L/3B; Mobility -2, Fatigue 2)
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated
Dodge DV: 4/3
Willpower: 7
Essence: 4
Personal: 19
Peripheral: 44/45
BPs: Valor 3 (1), Willpower 7 (2), Archery 5 (1),Craft: Magitech 5 (1), Lore 5 (1), Occult 5 (1), Resistance 5 (2), Ally 5 (2), Artifact 5 (2), Manse 3 (3), War 4 (1), Martial Arts 4 (1), Martial Arts 5 (1), Essence Arrow effects (1), War 5 (1), Infinite Archery Mastery (3), Infinite Martial Arts Mastery (3), Art of Alchemy 2 (8)
Spring Thunder Over the Mountains is an Osprey-class royal orichalcum warstrider, twenty-four feet tall and weighing four tons. More than four centuries old at the time of the Usurpation, the ancient war machine is fully sentient, possessing clear memories of the First Age as well as a full complement of powerful Charms it can use to aid its pilot. It once possessed a cutting edge array of Essence weapons, but they were lost centuries ago. It still has aquatic and flight subsystems, which add 12 to the attunement cost, for a total cost of 27 motes! (This is one reason Ash has not built artifact replacements.)
Fifteen hundred years trapped underground, however, have left Thunder excessively lonely, not to say clingy. It (or “he’’ as the warstrider prefers) frequently contacts Ash telepathically about less-than-important matters, often at the least opportune times. He sometimes displays jealousy towards others Ash confides in, and is contemptuous and dismissive of the capabilities of other powerful artifacts, a failing which may have unfortunate consequences for them both.
Thunder and the Sergeant (see below) have a long-running (literally, as it has been going on for two millennia now) feud: the Sergeant believes that small gods are too unpredictable and unstable, compared to the “perfection’’ of mechanical minds, to be reliable allies to the Solar Exalted. Thunder considers the automaton to be nothing more than a jumped-up toaster. Their mutual loyalty to Ash keeps a lid on their rivalry for now, but it continues to simmer.
Attributes: Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 0; Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3; Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Charms: Donning Spiritual Armor, Essence Bite, Measure the Wind, Spirit Cutting, Tracking, Uncanny Prowess
Willpower: 5
Essence: 3
Essence Pool: 30
Level 3 Water Manse
The Azure Grotto was known throughout the old Realm for its size, the intense blue tones of its interior and the magical light which emanated from the objects immersed in its waters. It was said that those who swam regularly there retained a youthful freshness, never suffering from sickness and healing all their wounds quickly. Tradition has it that one of the Anathema once made her home there, to take advantage of the mild climate and the seclusion. Dividing her time between her twelve palaces and orgiastic feasts, she bathed in the blue light of the cave, swimming among naked boys and girls. Those who displeased her were flung into the sea from a high rock.
The location of the Azure Grotto is a mystery in the Second Age, largely because the entrance is hidden under water during all but the lowest of low tides, but also because of certain magics worked into it at its creation.
Game Effects: (Manse’s rating of 3 x 2) = 6 Creation Points. The Azure Grotto is a Life-Sustaining (3) manse -- those who spend much time there find their natural lifespans increased by 25%. In addition, anyone within the cave is immune to normal sickness and gains three automatic successes on any Resistance roll against magical Sickness or Poison effects. They also heal one lethal health level every hour and one aggravated level every five hours. Comfort Zone (1) ensures that visitors can breathe the enchanted water and suffer no ill effects from prolonged immersion. A Veil of Shadow (2) makes the entrance difficult to perceive.
The hearthstone of the manse is a Bloodstone (Oadenol’s Codex, p. 96); Ash took it as a trophy from a vodonik who wore it as a jewel in his crown. Apparently he never actually explored the healing cave, wearing its hearthstone only as an ornament and a status symbol -- a fatal mistake on his part.
Level 4 Fire Manse
Built around and within a magically capped volcano, the Brass Redoubt is a long-forgotten military outpost from the First Age, and is laid out and designed as a manufactory and depot for the construction of war automata. Nestled between the observation tower and a warehouse/barracks is the entrance to a subterranean workshop that once held enough parts and raw material to keep a scale of automata operational for about a month of heavy combat or about a year of light skirmishing.
The confusing maze of paths leading up the mountain slope to the main keep are organized so as to cause an approaching force to travel in a spiral pattern around it on the way in, facing many dead ends. This allows intruders to be watched (or fired upon) from the keep during their entire approach. The Brass Redoubt is otherwise not much of a fortress, lacking catapults, ballistae, Essence artillery or other impedimenta. It’s entirely possible the Redoubt lacked such defenses to begin with -- it was a R&D station and repair depot, after all...and the products of its workshop were entirely capable of defending the base themselves.
In addition to being a military depot, the Brass Redoubt was the personal workshop of Ash’s predecessor, a weaponsmith who designed an improved version of the Brass Legion that had synthetic “flesh’’ and was capable of learning and evolving in response to obstacles. Whether these new legionaries ever saw action -- indeed, whether they were ever built at all, save for one prototype -- before the Usurpation is questionable. The Solar destroyed all his blueprints when the uprising began, after learning how the Dragon-Blooded of the South caused the original Brass Legion to turn against its creator. However, a copy of the plans was filed at Denandsor, in accordance with R&D regs. Presumably the Daimyo of Denandsor made use of them...which is why there are still a few Terminator-class models roaming Creation trying to pass as mortal mercenaries...
Furthermore, the “Sergeant’’, an ancient Legionary constructed to serve as the manse’s caretaker, remains active, though his centuries of lonely duty have rendered him somewhat...eccentric. He’s stuck faithfully to his post all this time, though, as he will tell anyone who asks. The past 1,500 years have been hard on him -- he no longer has skin (as he puts it, he is “dreadfully out of uniform”) or, indeed much sanity. He cannot attack the reincarnation of his creator (and has no wish to do so) but he is still “at war’’ with the “rebels”.) His pompous manner and battered appearance have led Ash, at least to underestimate his true capabilities...especially since she mostly sees him trudging around the Redoubt doing routine repairs, or suggesting (“Respectfully, ma’am!”) that she put on uniform herself.
Game Effects: (Manse’s rating of 4) x 2 + Maintenance 2 + 1 level of hearthstone sacrifice = 11 Creation Points. The Redoubt’s Workshop (3) is a flawless one for creating artifacts; and a four-dot workshop for repairing magitech items. Comfort Zone (2) allows its inhabitants to ignore the rules of thermal convection, as well as toxic gas or clouds of ash. The Sergeant acts as the manse’s Guardian (3).
The hearthstone of the Brass Redoubt is a Jewel of the Master’s Forge. This ruby cabochon functions as a Jewel of the Master’s Hand (Oadenol’s Codex, p. 90) except that the primary bonus is to Craft (Fire) instead of Craft (Earth).
In addition, the Brass Redoubt is a Network Node (1), supplying two relay points (2) to the Northern Wind.
Not long after her Exaltation, Ash came across a small port town that had lost several ships to a greedy vodonik. Furious on their behalf, she tracked the elemental across the waves, only to find it locked in battle with a thunderbird. Her entrance into the fight quickly led to the vodonik's demise.
At first the thunderbird was suspicious, almost outright accusing her of kill-stealing -- but when she assured him she only wanted to stop the vodonik's predations, not claim it as a trophy, he became very friendly, calling her "Princess of the Earth" and "Bronze Tigress" and thanking her for her help. Most interestingly, the air elemental told her that if she should chance to kill another vile water-spirit on her own, she should bring the corpse -- "or some scraps of it", the thunderbird added, looking at the Solar's great suit of armor -- to his master, the lord of the West Wind, who would pay Ash a good bounty. "For he hates such criminals as this one, and desires to see them purged from the West."
This sounded good to the young Dawn, who had just begun to realize how much operating and maintaining a warstrider would cost. So when she beheaded a nymph who had drowned several beautiful mortal girls out of psychotic jealousy, she walked across the sea until she found a wind-bear, who directed her to the palace of his master, a bear-headed dragon.
Since then, Ash has made a habit of collecting trophies from any water elementals she kills, and bringing them to Black Grinning Bear, who always rewards her handsomely. Sometimes the reward consists of exotic ingredients for artifacts, sometimes thunderbirds or huraka to aid her in an upcoming battle, and sometimes the services of those few air elementals who can craft more than war-clubs. Her hearthstone amulet was created with the cooperation of a thunderbird artisan, and the shape honors his aid.
She has become quite good friends with some of the thunderbirds as well, joining them in their revels -- and in their raids on the sanctums of water-spirits. Though Ash will not kill without cause, she is sometimes too easily persuaded by her friends that a certain water elemental deserves to die. As a result, while Ashen Thunder is known as a champion among mortals and a staunch ally among air elementals, to the elementals of water Ash is "the Golden Bitch". Trouble looms, as the more powerful water elementals begin to take notice.
Even as Spring Thunder carried him away at frantic speed from the site of the massacre, Weeping Gold could feel his strength flooding away with his blood, carried away on the crest of anguish. There was no way he could possibly make it back to Valadilene. Not with those wounds. He could smell the stench of his own blackened flesh filling the fuselage.
His thoughts were wobbly with shock, and for a moment, he was back on the bloody field where he Exalted, struggling against pain and weariness to create an improvised weapon out of the broken bits of his fuel bolt launcher. He had succeeded -- impossibly, but he had succeeded, his primitive shoulder cannon belching flames like a fire dragon, flames that glowed brighter gold with every blast -- it was not enough in the face of a howling horde of monsters, and he had known he would share the fate of the rest of his platoon.
Then, the Chosen of the Sun had arrived. There was only one of him, but the fire that exploded from his twin weapons outshone Weeping Gold’s crude bursts like the Sun outshines the Stars. It swept across the depraved abominations like flames sweeping across the Southern savannas, and when he lowered his gun, they were all dead.
Weeping Gold had never forgotten that day, and not just because of his Exaltation. He remembered the Chosen raising him to his feet and saying gruffly, “Don’t kneel anymore. We’re both Solars now.’’ And, even more gruffly and grudgingly, “You did very well with very little. The measure of a man. When your basic training is finished, come and see me.’’
And now he remembered the mad light in his sifu’s eyes before the fiery bolts erupted, burning his brothers to charred bones. Why, master? his mind cried. Were we not always faithful to you? Were we not the only ones you trusted? Your Circle betrayed you, but we never did. We did you repay our loyalty, our love, with rage and murder?
He wasn’t the only target his master had attacked in that last frenzy. Thunder’s controls felt heavy, stiff -- heavier and stiffer than his own injuries alone could explain.
Another memory flashed through his mind -- the first time he ever saw Whiteflowers, as he lay in the hospital after the battle, still very weak and faint despite his Exaltation; he thought she was a goddess of death, come to collect his soul. No mortal woman, he thought, could be that beautiful, or that deadly-looking, even when offering water, and touching him with cool strong hands. And he was right. But she had been a goddess of life, instead, come to claim him for her own. But this time, she was too far away.
Grief tore at him then, for Whiteflowers, for his brother students so pitilessly killed, for the Once-Righteous Master, become in the end a devil like those he fought. And for Spring Thunder Over the Mountain, who was losing altitude with every mile of ocean his crosses. His delicate flight mechanisms were damaged, and beneath him, the cold sea, dotted here and there with mountainous, unforgiving islets, waited hungrily. He would fall soon, sharing the doom of his maker.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, Thunder’s voice said in his mind, and that last loyalty brought a tiny crumb of comfort, like a healing anodyne to his sifu’s betrayal. Still, he would have liked to live long enough to say goodbye to Whiteflowers.
The surface was flying towards them with terrible speed, and he could not tell whether it was land or sea. All he could see was a beautiful, bronze-skinned face smiling at him. With his last strength, he smiled back...
The Second Age
One summer day, a young girl from a small village went into the woods, following a small stream into a part of the forest her parents and the village priest had warned her to avoid.
The ground gave way beneath her and she tumbled into a deep crevasse in the earth; the fall knocked her unconscious, and when she awoke it was to find herself in a strange cavern. The earth there seemed more like petrified bone than mud or rock: jagged ivory protrusions jutted from the walls, and the stone was splotched with blue and violet as if bruised.
Exploring further into the cave, the girl found a titanic armored figure encased in mud and roots. Too curious to be really afraid, she climbed up its chest till she came to a hollow space of some kind, which she entered. No sooner had she done so than a man appeared -- the most beautiful man the dazzled young girl had ever seen -- and began speaking to her urgently in an unknown tongue.
The girl, whose name was Ash, visited the “metal man’’ many, many times over the next few years. She learned to speak the language of the man who besought her to help him, as well as his name: Spring Thunder Over the Mountain. She cut away the roots and dug the mud from his limbs; she brought him the tools and supplies he asked for, though she often had to steal them.
Under Thunder’s direction she began repairing the damage to his enormous frame. The directions spilled into long conversations, as the ancient spirit, desperately lonely after his centuries buried in the ground, began to treat her as a confidant, telling her about the First Age, about the gods and the Exalted and the world as it once was.
As time passed, a strange curse struck the lands around her village. Small animals, birds and insects were found dead. Hunters returned with less and less game. Even the trees seemed to fade, growing sickly and gray, and the villagers found they were exhausted, no matter how much they rested. Though as worried by the curse as anyone else, Ash never connected it with her new companion.
She had always been the odd one out; her father, a sailor, had come from the North, and she had his light skin and red hair. She was also slightly built, in contrast to the Western ideal of the sturdy, muscular farmgirl, glowing with ruddy health. Her mother often fretted over her marriage prospects, but Ash did not care, especially now that she had someone else “different’’ to talk to. She hugged her secret to herself in silence.
The morning of her sixteenth birthday, Ash set out to the woods early. She had received a new bow as a birthday gift, and was eager to try it out.
Her quiet morning was interrupted by the far-off clash of weapons, by distant cries and inhuman laughter. Ash knew what the sounds meant. But instead of running back, she ran deeper into the forest, following the fateful stream till she reached the cavern where the “metal man’’ lay, almost completely cleared of his earthen bonds. “Help us now,’’ she demanded. “Whatever you want, whatever you need, I promise I’ll do it, no matter what! Just help us. Help me stop them!’’
The golden man looked at her, sadly, she thought. “How much are you willing to give up, to save them?’’ he asked. “Your strength? Your health?’’
“Yes,’’ Ash said. She felt strangely weak and dizzy.
“Your life?’’
“Yes.’’
“Even though you are not close to any of them except your own parents? Even though they laugh at you because you are different?’’
“Yes!’’ yelled Ash, sinking to her knees. She ached all over, as if she were running out of air, as if something terribly heavy were pressing down upon her, pressing hard --
Spring Thunder Over the Mountain smiled.
And suddenly, Ash was engulfed in golden light.
When she came back to herself, she was already strapped into Thunder’s fuselage; they tore their way free of the cave, reborn again, together.
Thunder’s delicate Essence weapons had deteriorated into scrap during his long centuries underground, but he still had his mighty orichalcum fists and his deadly Charms. The war ghosts and their nemissary commander were like butterflies caught in a rockslide. In the exultant daze of victory, Ash emerged from Thunder, only to find her neighbors looking at her with terror. Some of them screamed at her that this was her fault.
Devastated and bewildered, Ash (and Thunder) fled to where her house stood -- only to find that the undead had attacked this part of the village first. Ash knelt in the smoking hole that was once her home next to her parents’ smoldering remains, and could not weep. Rage replaced fear and a new resolve came over her.
“Let’s go, Thunder. There’s nothing for us here.’’
Five years later...
HAVE YOU BEEN HIT HARD BY THE TIME OF TUMULT?
WE HAVE THE SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEMS!
Has the Realm toppled your tiny country's government as its latest domino? Are undead artificers field-testing their latest necrotech abomination on your little fishing village? Have demon pirates made a Hell out of your island paradise?
Never fear: you've got two friends with a state-of-the-art, fully submersible war machine better than anything your enemies can field, ready to defend your freedom and your way of life. We're experienced, we're (reasonably) discreet, and all we ask is a small donation to help keep our baby running.
We're Ashen Thunder. We go where we're needed.
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3; Charisma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3; Perception 4, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Virtue Flaw: Red Rage of Compassion
Abilities: Archery 5 (Warstrider Weapons +2), Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Craft 5, Dodge 3, Integrity 3, Investigation 2, Linguistics (Native: Seatongue; Others: Skytongue, Old Realm, Rivertongue) 3, Lore 5, Martial Arts 5 (Fighting in Armor +2), Occult 5 (Art of Alchemy +2), Presence 3, Resistance 5, Ride 2, Sail 2, Stealth 3, Survival 3, War 5
Backgrounds: Allies 3 (Thunderbirds), Ally 5 (Warstrider AI), Artifact 1 (Hearthstone amulet), Artifact 2 (Plasma tongue repeater), Artifact 4 (High Speed Aquatic Propulsion system), Artifact 4 (Flight system), Artifact 5 (Royal warstrider), Manse 3 (The Blue Grotto), Manse 4 (The Brass Redoubt), Resources 4
Charms --
Excellencies: Archery (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Infinite Mastery), Craft (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Integrity (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Martial Arts (1st, 2nd, Infinite Mastery), Occult (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Presence (1st), Resistance (1st, 2nd, 3rd), War (1st, 2nd)
Archery: Essence Arrow Attack (All 3), Solar Flare Methodology, Storm-Gathering Practice, There is No Wind, Trance of Unhesitating Speed
Craft: Crack-Mending Technique, Craftsman Needs No Tools, Durability-Enhancing Technique, Design Beyond Limit, Object-Strengthening Touch, Peerless Paragon of Magitech, Words-as-Workshop Method
Integrity: Righteous Lion Defense, Rising Sun Soul, Shedding Infinite Radiance
Martial Arts: Fists of Iron Technique, Thunderclap Rush Attack
Occult: Ghost-Eating Technique, Spirit-Cutting Attack, Spirit-Detecting Glance
Presence: Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgment
Resistance: Adamant Skin Technique, Durability of Oak Meditation, Iron Skin Concentration, Ox-Body Technique x4, Spirit Strengthens the Skin
War: Elegant Dance of Bow and Blade, Supreme Martial Instinct
Supernatural Martial Arts --
Righteous Devil Style: Azure Abacus Meditation, Blessing of Righteous Solar Spark Meditation, Cloud of Ebon Devils, Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique, Kiss of the Sun Concentration, Righteous Devil Form, Lightning Draw Stance, Phoenix Flies on Golden Wings Attack
Thaumaturgy --
Art of Alchemy, Adept Degree: (0) Alchemical Touchstone; (1) Courtesan’s Caress Potion, Craft Jade, Craft Sleep Grenade, Eagle’s Eye Potion; (2) Alchemical Weapon Fuel, Ardent Embrace Resin, Craft Smoke Grenade, Distill Orichalcum
Join Battle: 7
Attacks (Ash) --
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 3B, Defense 11, Rate 3
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 6B, Defense 7, Rate 2
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 3B, Defense - , Rate 1
Plasma Tongue Repeater: Speed 5, Accuracy 11, Damage 10L, Rate 1, Range 20
Exceptional Hook Swords: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 7L, Defense 13, Rate 3
Attacks (Ash n’ Thunder) --
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 19B, Defense 11, Rate 3
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 22B, Defense 7, Rate 2
Fire Projector: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Damage 12L, Rate 1 (5), Range 20
Warstrider Hook Swords: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 22L, Defense 12, Rate 3
Soak (Ash): 1L/3B
Soak (Ash n’Thunder): 27L/29B (Orichalcum royal warstrider, +26L/26B, Hardness 13L/3B; Mobility -2, Fatigue 2)
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated
Dodge DV: 4/3
Willpower: 7
Essence: 4
Personal: 19
Peripheral: 44/45
BPs: Valor 3 (1), Willpower 7 (2), Archery 5 (1),Craft: Magitech 5 (1), Lore 5 (1), Occult 5 (1), Resistance 5 (2), Ally 5 (2), Artifact 5 (2), Manse 3 (3), War 4 (1), Martial Arts 4 (1), Martial Arts 5 (1), Essence Arrow effects (1), War 5 (1), Infinite Archery Mastery (3), Infinite Martial Arts Mastery (3), Art of Alchemy 2 (8)
Spring Thunder Over the Mountains is an Osprey-class royal orichalcum warstrider, twenty-four feet tall and weighing four tons. More than four centuries old at the time of the Usurpation, the ancient war machine is fully sentient, possessing clear memories of the First Age as well as a full complement of powerful Charms it can use to aid its pilot. It once possessed a cutting edge array of Essence weapons, but they were lost centuries ago. It still has aquatic and flight subsystems, which add 12 to the attunement cost, for a total cost of 27 motes! (This is one reason Ash has not built artifact replacements.)
Fifteen hundred years trapped underground, however, have left Thunder excessively lonely, not to say clingy. It (or “he’’ as the warstrider prefers) frequently contacts Ash telepathically about less-than-important matters, often at the least opportune times. He sometimes displays jealousy towards others Ash confides in, and is contemptuous and dismissive of the capabilities of other powerful artifacts, a failing which may have unfortunate consequences for them both.
Thunder and the Sergeant (see below) have a long-running (literally, as it has been going on for two millennia now) feud: the Sergeant believes that small gods are too unpredictable and unstable, compared to the “perfection’’ of mechanical minds, to be reliable allies to the Solar Exalted. Thunder considers the automaton to be nothing more than a jumped-up toaster. Their mutual loyalty to Ash keeps a lid on their rivalry for now, but it continues to simmer.
Attributes: Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 0; Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3; Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Charms: Donning Spiritual Armor, Essence Bite, Measure the Wind, Spirit Cutting, Tracking, Uncanny Prowess
Willpower: 5
Essence: 3
Essence Pool: 30
Level 3 Water Manse
The Azure Grotto was known throughout the old Realm for its size, the intense blue tones of its interior and the magical light which emanated from the objects immersed in its waters. It was said that those who swam regularly there retained a youthful freshness, never suffering from sickness and healing all their wounds quickly. Tradition has it that one of the Anathema once made her home there, to take advantage of the mild climate and the seclusion. Dividing her time between her twelve palaces and orgiastic feasts, she bathed in the blue light of the cave, swimming among naked boys and girls. Those who displeased her were flung into the sea from a high rock.
The location of the Azure Grotto is a mystery in the Second Age, largely because the entrance is hidden under water during all but the lowest of low tides, but also because of certain magics worked into it at its creation.
Game Effects: (Manse’s rating of 3 x 2) = 6 Creation Points. The Azure Grotto is a Life-Sustaining (3) manse -- those who spend much time there find their natural lifespans increased by 25%. In addition, anyone within the cave is immune to normal sickness and gains three automatic successes on any Resistance roll against magical Sickness or Poison effects. They also heal one lethal health level every hour and one aggravated level every five hours. Comfort Zone (1) ensures that visitors can breathe the enchanted water and suffer no ill effects from prolonged immersion. A Veil of Shadow (2) makes the entrance difficult to perceive.
The hearthstone of the manse is a Bloodstone (Oadenol’s Codex, p. 96); Ash took it as a trophy from a vodonik who wore it as a jewel in his crown. Apparently he never actually explored the healing cave, wearing its hearthstone only as an ornament and a status symbol -- a fatal mistake on his part.
Level 4 Fire Manse
Built around and within a magically capped volcano, the Brass Redoubt is a long-forgotten military outpost from the First Age, and is laid out and designed as a manufactory and depot for the construction of war automata. Nestled between the observation tower and a warehouse/barracks is the entrance to a subterranean workshop that once held enough parts and raw material to keep a scale of automata operational for about a month of heavy combat or about a year of light skirmishing.
The confusing maze of paths leading up the mountain slope to the main keep are organized so as to cause an approaching force to travel in a spiral pattern around it on the way in, facing many dead ends. This allows intruders to be watched (or fired upon) from the keep during their entire approach. The Brass Redoubt is otherwise not much of a fortress, lacking catapults, ballistae, Essence artillery or other impedimenta. It’s entirely possible the Redoubt lacked such defenses to begin with -- it was a R&D station and repair depot, after all...and the products of its workshop were entirely capable of defending the base themselves.
In addition to being a military depot, the Brass Redoubt was the personal workshop of Ash’s predecessor, a weaponsmith who designed an improved version of the Brass Legion that had synthetic “flesh’’ and was capable of learning and evolving in response to obstacles. Whether these new legionaries ever saw action -- indeed, whether they were ever built at all, save for one prototype -- before the Usurpation is questionable. The Solar destroyed all his blueprints when the uprising began, after learning how the Dragon-Blooded of the South caused the original Brass Legion to turn against its creator. However, a copy of the plans was filed at Denandsor, in accordance with R&D regs. Presumably the Daimyo of Denandsor made use of them...which is why there are still a few Terminator-class models roaming Creation trying to pass as mortal mercenaries...
Furthermore, the “Sergeant’’, an ancient Legionary constructed to serve as the manse’s caretaker, remains active, though his centuries of lonely duty have rendered him somewhat...eccentric. He’s stuck faithfully to his post all this time, though, as he will tell anyone who asks. The past 1,500 years have been hard on him -- he no longer has skin (as he puts it, he is “dreadfully out of uniform”) or, indeed much sanity. He cannot attack the reincarnation of his creator (and has no wish to do so) but he is still “at war’’ with the “rebels”.) His pompous manner and battered appearance have led Ash, at least to underestimate his true capabilities...especially since she mostly sees him trudging around the Redoubt doing routine repairs, or suggesting (“Respectfully, ma’am!”) that she put on uniform herself.
Game Effects: (Manse’s rating of 4) x 2 + Maintenance 2 + 1 level of hearthstone sacrifice = 11 Creation Points. The Redoubt’s Workshop (3) is a flawless one for creating artifacts; and a four-dot workshop for repairing magitech items. Comfort Zone (2) allows its inhabitants to ignore the rules of thermal convection, as well as toxic gas or clouds of ash. The Sergeant acts as the manse’s Guardian (3).
The hearthstone of the Brass Redoubt is a Jewel of the Master’s Forge. This ruby cabochon functions as a Jewel of the Master’s Hand (Oadenol’s Codex, p. 90) except that the primary bonus is to Craft (Fire) instead of Craft (Earth).
In addition, the Brass Redoubt is a Network Node (1), supplying two relay points (2) to the Northern Wind.
Not long after her Exaltation, Ash came across a small port town that had lost several ships to a greedy vodonik. Furious on their behalf, she tracked the elemental across the waves, only to find it locked in battle with a thunderbird. Her entrance into the fight quickly led to the vodonik's demise.
At first the thunderbird was suspicious, almost outright accusing her of kill-stealing -- but when she assured him she only wanted to stop the vodonik's predations, not claim it as a trophy, he became very friendly, calling her "Princess of the Earth" and "Bronze Tigress" and thanking her for her help. Most interestingly, the air elemental told her that if she should chance to kill another vile water-spirit on her own, she should bring the corpse -- "or some scraps of it", the thunderbird added, looking at the Solar's great suit of armor -- to his master, the lord of the West Wind, who would pay Ash a good bounty. "For he hates such criminals as this one, and desires to see them purged from the West."
This sounded good to the young Dawn, who had just begun to realize how much operating and maintaining a warstrider would cost. So when she beheaded a nymph who had drowned several beautiful mortal girls out of psychotic jealousy, she walked across the sea until she found a wind-bear, who directed her to the palace of his master, a bear-headed dragon.
Since then, Ash has made a habit of collecting trophies from any water elementals she kills, and bringing them to Black Grinning Bear, who always rewards her handsomely. Sometimes the reward consists of exotic ingredients for artifacts, sometimes thunderbirds or huraka to aid her in an upcoming battle, and sometimes the services of those few air elementals who can craft more than war-clubs. Her hearthstone amulet was created with the cooperation of a thunderbird artisan, and the shape honors his aid.
She has become quite good friends with some of the thunderbirds as well, joining them in their revels -- and in their raids on the sanctums of water-spirits. Though Ash will not kill without cause, she is sometimes too easily persuaded by her friends that a certain water elemental deserves to die. As a result, while Ashen Thunder is known as a champion among mortals and a staunch ally among air elementals, to the elementals of water Ash is "the Golden Bitch". Trouble looms, as the more powerful water elementals begin to take notice.
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Esbilon
Seven Thousand Club
- Name: Silent Tsunami
Caste: Scourge
Anima: Her every gesture is echoed by the harp-fingers of an Angyalka
Motivation: To show people that they are much more similar than they think.
Urge: Make a hypocrite of every bigot (Ophidian).
Personality
Silent Tsunami is a very easy going young woman. Pleasant in conversation to her friends and strangers both. She is perhaps a little more flirtatious than most would consider entirely appropriate, but a large part of that is the freedom she still feels for not living in a society obsessed with proper bloodlines mixing properly. The thing that gets her agitated, however, is when people alienate other people, paint them as fundamentally evil or wrong or other. She will only rarely back down from such a fight, and when she does it is generally to return later with more pointed arguments (this is only sometimes a euphemism).
Appearance
Fundamentally, she still has the sharp, angular features of her ancestors, but Exaltion has smoothed out many of the other things that set her apart from humans. Her skin still carries a slight tinge of green, but in Creation, that is hardly enough to mark her. She has burning, orange eyes that seems to see deep into others, but also light up a room when she is laughing. Her laugh, though pleasant to listen to, has the unfortunate side-effect of revealing her unsettlingly sharp and pointed teeth. The only thing about her that unquestionably marks her as one of the Lintha is her long, white hair which she usually wears loose.
The core of Lintha society is hypocrisy and self-deception. Less than half the blood of their greatest 'Pureblood' lines can be traced back to the Lintha of old, they merely prioritize the obvious external features; green skin, sharp lines, white hair, and crimson eyes over the true lineage. And indeed over the truth.
It was a close thing when an all too human-like girl was born to the Gajui sept that she, her mother, her suspected father, and their parents in turn were not murdered outright. Quite likely that had to do with the amount of loot in her father's pirate ship and the number of swords under his command.
Lintha are taught to hate from a young age. Hate the Realm, hate mere mortals, hate Coral, hate the gods (though still appease them), and most of all hate weakness and disloyalty. The girl who would later take the name Silent Tsunami often had the experience that they mostly learned to hate her. But not exclusively so, she would recognize in the back of her mind while their latest cruelty against her was played out, against their very society. Their traditions and understanding of history was not that of a people who would actually conquer the world, but rather that of one that tried to restore a past glory. These were the things that would make her smile while her body screamed in agony, and let her spit her own blood in their faces.
Despite the hatred her fellows felt for her, and she for them, she went with them out on the great Western Ocean. The pirate ships always need more crew, and even though her skin was only faintly greenish, and her eyes more orange than red, this was what she had been born for. Piracy on a Lintha ship was an odd experience at first. The picture painted back in Bluehaven was of heroic warriors defeating the enemies through skill in battle and the superiority of the Lintha blood, but when you got right down to it, most of piracy consisted of taking things away from people who had already surrendered from sheer terror at your reputation, and then being suitably intimidating, and maybe stabbing anyone who looked like they might be having ideas. There was no skill to it, and she found it all rather disappointing.
The change came when they first met a ship from the Realm. Now, that was a fight! People jumping from ship to ship, the Great Mother's mighty sea serpents tearing into the jade-reinforced hull of the other ship, and usurping Dragon-Charm being matched by the superiority of the Lintha blood. At least that's how it should have been, but when she saw the Dragonblooded soldiers standing back to back, she could not help but count the bodies at their feet and see that they took down ten or more Lintha warriors for every one slain or forced to surrender. So much for the superiority of Lintha blood. Of course, the mediocrity of Lintha blood and their superior numbers were more than enough to win the day, and let the hypocrits and self-deceivers claim that all of their propaganda was actually true. The young woman who would later take the name Silent Tsunami did not care, she'd found something she found much more interesting: The survivors. Here were people from another world, another culture, a different people! What must they be like? How must they think? With a sharpened blade in hand and the ship's head torturer she set out to find out.
It was a life-changing experience, getting to know those Realm soldiers so intimately. At the end of the second day, she knew them better than their family and ship-mates knew them. At the end of the third, she knew them better than they had known themselves when she started. She found it all fascinating. Not so much the details they knew of local trade routes and the amount of the Water Fleet activity, but their lives, their thoughts, who they were, and who they dreamed to be. In a sense, she realized, they were not really so different from the people she had grown up with. In her own way, she came to love these as men as much as she did her brothers (though, to be fair, that might not be saying so very much).
After they had run into a Coralese privateer, she got to know some of its crew as well, and again she was fascinated by the subtle differences and strong similarities between them and both the Lintha and the men of the Scarlet Realm. The trouble started when she came to realize how little she really knew about her own people, and how she might apply the same principles there. The Lintha are a harsh people by most standards, but they value a certain amount of discipline and loyalty, taking a knife and diving into one of your own's most personal thoughts was not acceptable social behaviour.
She found her chance when they were back in Bluehaven. The Lintha only breed according to strictly controlled programs and a lot of old back-room politicking. Of course, that doesn't stop young people from having flings and romances as well as they can, and because of the strictness of their society, and the value placed on pure breeding, these young people have to be circumspect. Fortunately for her, this also means that it is relatively easy for a pretty girl who wants it to get a young man to come with her to an isolated place. Turning the tables on him and starting to actually get to know him properly is of course a more complicated matter, but she managed. It was exhilarating. It was hard for her to say later what she liked more, how he really was like the Coralese and Imperials she had met before, or the subtle fundamental differences she had to ascribe to the blood of the Great Mother.
In the end, it did not matter. Her fellows found out, and knowing that escape was impossible, she gave herself to them. She tried to tell them what she had learned, but she was unsurprised to find them uninterested. They found it amusing to go through the motions of returning her the same favor she had done the young man, but they didn't get it. They never asked her any real questions, it was only about the pain and hurting her. After two days, they threw her in a cell to regain some modicum of strength, so that they might continue the day after. It was here that she heard music for the first time. The Lintha have their songs, of course, songs to fight to, songs to drink to, songs to row to, but they have forgotten what music truly is. Nothing like this. Soft, tender tones, pulled out of the very stream of time and into the tattered remains of her ears. She smiled despite the blood and though it pained her, looked around for the source of this wondrous sound. A demon sat there, kneeling, its beautiful face turned towards her while its many-fingered hands moved softly through the air in front of it. Their eyes met, they both smiled, and a bargain was struck.
When she came out of her Chrysalis Grotesque the next day, it was to the sight of the people who had tortured her so inexpertly what seemed to her mere moments before. They were not looking down on her this time, instead they were on their knees, begging her forgiveness and praising her as the servant of the Great Mother she surely was. She found this a little confusing, and somewhat endearing. It appeared they had finally learned something from their endeavours after all.
She was led to the Lintha Ng Oroo's great cave from which Dukantha himself had stepped three centuries and a half earlier. She walked for longer than she had in her short life, and when she emerged on the other side, she was in Hell, and she was home.
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Cirno
Sleepwalking Fairy
- Name: Spirit of the Cenote; Senya
Caste: Eclipse
Concept: Shaman, Mentor
Motivation: Teach humans of the West to improve their relations with spirits (and other Essence users), rather than be in their service
Intimacies: Cult's Inner Circle (responsibility);
Story, Myth, and Legend
In the West, there was a tribe that drowned young maidens, sacrifices to a spirit residing in a cenote of green waters. One day, at the height of their ritual sacrifice, the spirit emerged from the pool in the form of a woman. She took their offering by the hand, and they sank into the depths.
A year and a day would pass before the maiden returned to the tribe alive and whole, announcing she was a shaman sent by the Spirit of the Cenote. Trained in the ways of alchemy, she delivered them from their illnesses and misfortunes.
In another story, it is a fair youth that returns, having grown broad in shoulder and stout of heart. He leads their hunters through the wild jungle claimed by beastman and elemental. The tribe never again wants for sustenance.
And so it goes. Pray to the Spirit of the Cenote, and may she take pity upon your people.
Pearls of Wisdom Coat Grains of Truth
Though Senya once disliked these stories, she never dissuaded their telling. Over decades, she has developed a cult that has elevated her name among the polytheistic religions of the forested isles of the West. Those of her cult's inner circle know and guard the written signs of her true name, Keno'oahine.
<how she joined Chance Harlock's group>
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