Difference between revisions of "GoldenCat/ColdSky"

Abilities

<b>Warrior</b>
Martial Arts 5(Swords+3)

<b>Priest</b>
Performance 3(Sword Dance +2), Presence 3,

<b>Savant</b>
Lore 2, Occult 2(Fair Folk+2), Investigation 3

<b>Assassin</b>
Athletics 3(+2) Awareness 4(Spot Ambush+3), Larceny 2, Stealth 3

<b>Diplomat</b>
Linguistics 1 ( Forest Tongue, Sky Tongue )

Backgrounds

• <b>Artifact *****</b>
  

Starless Infinity
Reaper Daiklave - Artifact **
The Blade of the Harada Family.
The Blade of the Winter School of Five Dragons Fight as One.
A Blade of tradition, one which hardly saw the world outside of the shrine to its founder, be it due to its requirement of an enlightement few achieve, or the greed that waving Magical Materials around bring.
Even with such enlightement, few had it in hand.
Cold Sky never lets go of it.

A beautiful Reaper Daiklave, handle and sheath made of beautiful noble mahogany and cast with Black Jade, the shape of five dragons wirling around it, delicate painting of five colors in them, around the river-tinged black. Unsheathed, howerver... it is very much unlike the outside.Cold dark steel and Black Jade, flowing like a river in a night without stars. And so it flows, a darkness which can only be filled by the admiration to a sword-dance or the blood of an assassination.

New Moon's Shadow
Shield Bracer - Artifact **
A Bracer made of Black Jade, it is as the ocean when the silver lady hides. Ephemeral. Unseen. Abstract forms form waves around it, and they seem to move as one touch, rearranging themselves in new patterns which perfectly evade even the most soft digits. And with it on hand, Kenji moves as swiftly through the shadows of the world as light never touches, through the shadows at his foot, on the angles of his clothes, on the edges of rooms... and due to that, he receives a protection equivalent to a Tower Shield - subtracting one success from all close attacks and two from all ranged attacks. It also holds the Bloodstone which compliments Cold Sky's legend...

Onyx Sillhouette
Perfect Buff Jacket - Artifact *
A masterwork jet-black kimono, somewhat loose and comfortable as silk... and yet, it has masterfully-folded with pieces of indestructible black glass and iron, making it every bit as strong as it is soft. It looks loose and like no protection at all, but a knife would be hard-pressed to go through at all.

• <b>Manse ***</b>
  

Green Winter( Manse ** ) is the Dojo of his family on the Ashen District of the Boil. A Manse of moderate power, secured by his father when his family arrived on this dystopian place, as Kenji was but a child. They came seeking something unlike the beautiful chaos of the East... and, dirty and harsh as the Boil was, there was something there. In the rhytmic sounds of the Industrial District, in the very feel of violence in the Boil... there was a sense of order. And the harshness that would impel martial intent. That would do. And so, away from the depredations of Lunar Anathema, in a place of sheltered, but harsh order, they built Green Winter after taking it from the minor god of the Ashen District, the Iron Wind Walker.

Green Winter is a stark contrast to most of the buildings on the Ashen District – gardens that can only grow there with the essence of water, a small lake that purifies the waters that come through it and allows for aquatic plants to grow... and a serene feel in its Shogunate architecture. It creates a Bloodstone – and every time its owner is injured, kanjis of martial wisdom appear on its walls on a crimson ink, only to vanish on the turning of the seasons. The sparring rooms also have this effect on all inside, and when people fight there, the kanji instead tells them of their failings, teaching as well as protecting.

House of Cold Flame( Manse * ) is a small Manse located on a hill a few miles from the Boil, which he uses as a retreat when the Boil is too suffocating. After all, he can stray out of the road as he is now. He won it over the bloody body of the man who had it before, a thaumathurge swordsman, in a duel in the Court of Fallow Endearments. The Manse is small and warm, litted with braziers and with an ever-burning fire in its center, the many flames flickering in the wind that blows relentlessly around it. And that is what marks the Gem of the Tiger's Claw which is set into his blade - a gem that gives +1 to his strikes with the edged weapon, and half his Valor( rounded up ) to his Athletics checks.

• <b>Contacts **</b>
  

Bronze Heart, Lieutenant of Iron Tears
Bronze Heart was born of bronze, but without a heart. An automaton, a child of Iron Tears. A soul was there as he fought for his creator, a soul was there was he again and again protected his creator. And it was after he prevented that a methanical spider of Ligier touch Iron Tears and make his heart into Brass beating for a Green Sun that he was dismantled. Dismantled of a bronze body without a heart, given a body of the essence of bronze, of ambrosia and prayer. His soul and heart now making him more than he ever was, now more than any living thing. He was now a God.

An Essence 3 divinity, he fully explores his potential, and the Brass God is a master of many forms of combat, shunning Magical Materials over the bronze blades and armor of the Age of Sorrows which he so resonates with. As such, he is Iron Tear's guard, the gatekeeper in harsh times. But of course, this is Whiteshield, and so, he rarely goes to Yu-Shan, preferring to walk the streets and own a luxurious place in Highlane, which he shares with his mortal lover of the time, as his relationships seldom last. He truly cares for the results of such relationships, though - and is a very prolific deity in this sense. In this sense of himself, he is surprisingly harmless - an overprotective father and a cheerful Lover, worrying and stressing in the most harmless sense, in stark contrast to his existence as the Bronze Blade of Iron Tears.

He became an acquaintance to Cold Sky in strange circumstances - they involved swords drawn, a flesh and chips of bronze falling without any loss of blood, and the eventual victory of the Bronze God over the foolish mortal. But he was a foolish mortal who never, ever gave up. That intrigued Bronze Heart, and so he had Sky healed, staying close to the eastern man during his recovery, a time in which they talked for a long time. They formed a bond then, athough it cannot be called a true friendship. Bronze Tears was intrigued by the roots and techniques of Cold Sky's art, although he had no interest for the Eastern Philosophy of it, but that made him seek its root on the Realm Legions.

Such acquaintance led Bronze Heart to give Cold Sky one of his daughters, Copper Flower, for safekeeping and tutelage in exchange for a Manse Guard... and they still talk from time to time, meeting without a set time or moment in the Glass Sorrel restaurant. In those meetings, the deity keeps Kenji well-informed of the supernatural world of the Boil... and Kenji greedily drinks these bits of information, needing more power, more of the toys and tools of gods to be able to finally beat back the chaos of his life.

Stantz Berugunson of the Foreman Association
Foremen are often forced to settle labor disputes or enforce safety regulations with five-knuckle diplomacy. For most it's a simple matter of strength and cunning; fighting plainly and as dirty as possible. Stantz, however, had always had hesitations about it. Not in performing his duties nor out of any pacifistic tendencies, but rather because he saw inefficient a simple punch could be. Miners were a tough lot and simply bruising them might only serve for 'accidents' to happen later. Broken bones and supernatural displays would make for a much more effective negotiating tool.

Stantz is not Cold Sky's most naturally talented pupil by any means, but he is the eldest student and one of the few who has begun to mater even the basic principles of the Root of the Perfected Lotus… if mostly by sheer pig-headed stubbornness. Cold Sky has openly told Stantz many times that the big foremen had reached the peek of development he could accomplish, only to have Stantz press on with impossible lessons until he mastered them. A big and brutal man in life, he makes for an odd sight in a kimono, meditating in a lotus position on the floor of the dojo and seems far more at home in training exercises which involve breaking things.

Lessons as expensive as they are, Stantz and Cold Sky have a certain deal that was made in an almost comically vague conversation. In exchange for a reduce in the cost in his training, Stantz is Cold Sky’s spy within the Foreman’s Association and provides the assassin with a great deal of information on the happenings and workings of the inner government. The information aids Cold Sky in knowing who to avoid working for and who he can play for all they are worth, as well as more direct knowledge such as floorplans of government buildings and schedules of their agents.

Of all people, Stantz is the only member of Cold Sky’s student body who gets along well with his troublesome pupil Copper Flower and the only one apart from Cold Sky who seems to be able to impress any manner of control over the girl. Yet, Copper Flower often awakens a bit of mischief in Stantz rather than his pragmatism enforcing itself over her and more often than not, the two are partners in crime in most of the practical jokes and ‘mishaps’ that befall others in Green Winter.

• <b>Resources **</b>
  

Kenji is moderately well off. He is paid by his patron god and all his students, as well as by Hemmlock. But he rarely gets to keep most of it. Just making sure his Manse is well-tended to is expensive enough, as well as his blade. And anyone he can pays for more power, more skill, as fast as he can. Calibration is coming again fast. Another chance is coming against fast...

• <b>Mentor *</b>
  

Kondou Harada is Cold Sky’s Great Grandfather.
Kondou Harada has been dead for a hundred years now.
His ghost has been a shadow over his family’s life, a honored ancestor, lord and master. He seldom appears, but he is honored every day, his shrine gracing the training halls, together with his effigy. But Kondou Harada has never forgotten his descendants, or their martial tradition. He taught Cold Sky’s grandmother, father, and mother. And every generation he becomes more set in his ways, ruthless and indomitable in keeping his lineage alive, in keeping them strong, in passing his wisdom for them in full. And so, he comes in Cold Sky’s dreams at times, or even, rarely, materializes in his dojo to teach him.

There are times Kenji Harada hates his grandfather. After all, it was his doctrine who pushed him to do what he did to his sister. It was his doctrine who broke his family. It was how much he believed in all he had been told by the ghost in dreams that made him lose everything. And yet, it is not that wisdom that gives him his only chance to have it back? Was he not right all along that would be needed? Pehaps not for itself as the ghost so prattled around, but... Kenji needs his honored ancestor. And so, he buries his doubts, says his prayers, and waits for his teaching dreams...

Merits

• Essence Awareness
• Essence Mastery
• Essence Recovery
• Manse Attunement
• Magical Attunement

He is in harmony.
He has transcended.
As a result of his training, of his dedication, of his destiny, he has full use of his essence. He can attune to items made of magical materials and to manses as a magical being, and so can he respire essence to recover his motes. His soul is on par with that of the Exalted. But his body...

• Daredevil

Cold sky is a Mortal
And yet, he dallies with those of spirit blood. With Gods. With Demons.
Every year, he fights the Fair Folk, and to be ready, he meets others.
Something keeps him alive in this. When he takes on those odds, something smiles on him. Or he does so himself. He simply... works better when he pushes himself, works better when he does things he simply should not do! And when he does, when he takes on any act with a difficulty of 3 or higher and stunts, he can spend 1 willpower to double his stunt dice.

• The Flow of Essence
  • (Physical)

Cold Sky is in harmony with his self and the essence that surrounds him. He understands it, and if he has true need to accomplish a task, the essence around him can flow with his own, to enhance his will. It costs 2 motes per dot added to a physical attribute for one action, and a willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the total dots added for it to work, made after the motes are paid for.

Flaws

• Rival

The people of the Boil know well of Tsuyu Harada, Autumn Rose.

Tales of a dancer without compare. Of a gentle heart that warmed even the coldest northern soul. Tsuyu was well-loved even in that harsh a neighborhood, and many who have tried to do to her what usually happened with such girls in the Boil received the harshest punishment by any nearby. She had the heart of all who knew her, with her gentleness and the poetry that were her movements.

And yet, to her family, and especially to her older brother she was simply... infuriating. She had so much more talent than him. So much more talent than him, he knew... so much talent she wasted with flirts, with dancing, unfocused, frivolous! He tried to show her that, he tried to make her understand, but only made her close herself to him. And the more he practiced, the more he saw the perfection on her slightest movement that hours of practice never gave him... and saw her waste it all.

He tried to show it to her. To open her to the words of their ancestor and show her how she could ascend, find balance, harmony, focus! But she just would not. He realised he needed something for direction then... antagonism had to be it, her brother thought.

The mistake of a lifetime.

He hurt her, and yet, that only gave him emnity of others. And finally, on what was to be the most cheerful day of her life, her great dancing on one of the rare festivals to ever grace the Boil... he took her parents there to roll their eyes to her clothing, he ripped it and broke the act, he gave her semi-naked self a speech on how she should not do such frivolous things, follow her path... and almost killed one of her friends who tried to protect her. She thought he had been killed, and on that moment, snapped.

She ran away, away from her family, away from her friends, from all she knew. And somewhere in her fugue, she met a... thing. A thing that was her doom, and that of her family.

The thing took pity on her. The thing sooted her, and made sure she would never suffer again. The thing made it so her brother could never hurt her again, and showed her wonders a Mortal can barely conceive. He made it so she could not be hurt again, but also decided to act on her moment of rage and teach those who hurt her a lesson.

The thing appeared to her parents, and made both in cold gossamer blades for his panoply. The thing appeared to her brother, taking his girlfriend away, and more... because, the girlfriend on hands, he asked the one who would be known as Cold Sky, ‘what is she to you?’

‘My Heart’, Kenji Harada replied. And so, the beautiful thing ripped life out of her. ‘It is not like you used it for anything, anyway. Much as your sister told me.’ And proceeded to take out his true heart. To leave Kenji Harada as an empty shell living a broken life. Beautiful, but cold and hollow as the winter. Cold Sky.

The People of the Boil know this story.

And they avoid the Thing that is Tsuyu Harada, for she is irrevocably mad. Her dance no less alluring, but now chaotic, maddening. Her movements no less graceful, but violent, lustful, destructive. She goes where she pleases and does what she pleases, she is the Glass Spider’s occasional lover, and he loves her madness, but even he is wary – for she is a truly dangerous creature, and he fears she might bring down even him on her chaos.

And she remembers her brother, whom she deigns to play with, from time to time – giving him just as much as she felt was given her, after the wonders she has seen – sadness, grief and suffocating pain.

• Heartless

As the Beautiful Thing from Beyond the World held his girlfriend and killed her, he cried. Tears of anger, of grief, of love. They stopped as the Raksha slid his hand within his chest, and snuffed all love out of him. On his chest, there is a hole his kimono barely conceals. A smooth, clean-cut depression where one can see nothing but darkness, and a eerie, cold icy light.

That is where Cold Sky’s heart should be.

As a result, he may never channel his Compassion, and receives -2 on all social pools that deal with feelings or emotional reactions. And of course, although he may be angry, possessive, grief-stricking and lustful... he may never, ever love again.

• Disciple

Copper Flower is the sweetest little girl one has ever laid his eyes o... what am I saying, she is a disruptive little brat. So much her father, the Bronze Heart, first lieutenant to Iron Tears, gave her away. So she could learn discipline. So she could learn to understand the prowess of her heritage. So she would stop breaking his stuff!

The arrangement was a godsend for Kenji – if he taught the girl how to act prim and proper, done for her what he wanted to do for his sister, Bronze Heart would keep lesser spirits about his Manse, to protect it, and use his influence to keep most from even wanting in it. A wonderful deal. If Copper wasn’t so... so....! She is better off now, as time and Sky have made her less of a brat, but Sky still have to keep her around, intruding in all of his life, and taking her everywhere...

• Unusual Appearance

Kenji looks striking. Not just that places him apart from a crowd...
... but he looks like an Eastern man in the Far North. It really makes him glaring amidst many blonde-haired, pale-skinned workers...

• Addiction
  • (Tobacco)

Kenji smokes quite a bit, a long pipe on hand as he lets the smoke out to the cold air outside...

Tempers