Latest revision as of 01:15, 6 April 2010

Silent Sunset

My character for ADamiani's Just Add Water, a Sidereal game set in the West

Current status: Active

Description

A man of slender build, belying his agility and wiry strength, Silent Sunset stands about 5'5. He is slightly pale in the manner of one who works inside and often at night and keeps his black hair short and spiky. His eyes are an interesting contrast of warm brown and violet sparks twinkling behind his pupils. Depending on the destinies he wears the appearance changes quite a bit, but his usual clothes consist of several swathes of cloth, fixed and held together by a seemingly chaotic arrangement of strips, bands and ribbons ranging from bright crimson to dark violet to black.

Silent Sunset grew up in one of the villages near Sijan and was schooled in the family trade, which (naturally one might say) was in funeral rites. Despite that rather depressing occupation and though he learned much of the many forms of death he never let him be brought down or adopted the cynism so common among the caretakers of the dead. Indeed his undaunted spirit and honest words comforted many of those coming to his father's house afraid of death or sad over the loss of a loved one.

Since his Exaltation his rather strange career has become even stranger - resolving the many problems of fated death and the associated affairs (far too often helping such fates along) is nothing like what he has done before and often far more unpleasant. But just as holding daily prayers for the dead and helping his father lead the grand processions could not bring Silent Sunset down, so has the grueling work proven unable to drive him along the path of cynic detachment and dark brooding like so many of his fellow Endbringers. In fact some say that his heart is far too soft to perform the duties required by the Violet Bier of Sorrows - comforting words to those fated to die are not what an assassin is supposed to give. Yet, none could deny the young Reckoner's exceptional abilities and so it came, that he was attached to the Investigation on behalf of the Violet Bier.

Resplendent Destinies

Silent's most used Resplendent Destiny is that of Kiero Quan, a secular Immaculate from Nexus. Feeling his death approaching the old monk has vowed to go on a holy pilgrimage to see the five Elemental Poles of Creation, the places most sacred to the Immaculate Dragons. After a journey starting with great haste and all-to-worldly concerns he has slowly come to understand, that there is more to pilgrimage than mere travelling - villages and kingdoms are not just something to pass through, they are places of opportunity. Opportunity to help the sick, to give advice, to comfort the grieving - to show himself worthy of the blessings he has received. And if he dies before he has completed his pilgrimage, yes, before even reaching the first of the Elemental Poles, and has changed a few lifes for the better, then it will have been successful indeed. This is a Resplendant Destiny of The Corpse with 4 effect points remaining.

Tepet Lisano is a high ranking officer of the All-Seeing Eye, primarily tasked with investigating important matters and delivering important orders for the Eye. Behind the gruff and business-like exterior and all the usual gestures of corruption he actually cares deeply about the future of the Realm and strives to serve its best interests at all times. Of course this does mean, that sometimes he needs to interpret his orders creatively ... but it's for the best of Creation! This is a Resplendant Destiny of The Key with 0 effect points remaining, meaning it's kaputt.

Xuk'kuk, a wise old medicine man, hermit and thaumaturgist of the Ba'noori on the Naxauatl island. He's suspicious of everything new, suspicious of everything foreign and is quite good at making scary-looking dances and strange noises, that look like he's putting terrible curses on people. RD of the Key, one month, 2 effect points.

Mechanics

Name: Silent Sunset
Caste: Chosen of Endings
Nature: Caregiver
Concept: Compassionate bringer of death
Anima: Halo of dark violet light
XP: 97 (57 spent, 40 unspent)

ATTRIBUTES
Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2
Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 4

ABILITIES
Craft(Fate) 2, Dodge 3, Linguistics 2 (Riverspeak, Old Realm, Watertongue), Performance 4 (Prayers), Socialize 4, Archery 1, Melee 2, Larceny 2, Lore 3 (+2 Underworld), Occult 2, Stealth 5, Athletics 4, Awareness 2, Bureaucrazy 2, Martial Arts 5 (+3 Sai), Medicine 2 (+2 Painless Death).

BACKGROUNDS
Artifact 3, Artifact ?, Sifu 3, Familiar 3, Celestial Manse 2, Salary 2.

FLAWS: Greater Curse 2, Rival 1, 2x Celestial Favor 2.

VIRTUES: Compassion 3, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, Valour 2

Willpower: 6
Essence: 3
Essence pool: 12/22 (34, 12 motes commited to artifacts)
Health Levels: -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Incapacitated
Paradox: XXXX

CHARMS

Dodge:
Absence, Duck Fate, Avoidance Kata
Performance:
Perfection in Life, Defense of Shining Joy
Socialize:
Hot-Eyed Snake Whispering
Melee:
Impeding the Flow
Lore:
Avoiding the Truth Technique
Stealth:
Soft Presence Practice, Blinding the Boar
Martial Arts:
Image of Death Technique, Wall Climbing Technique, Distracting Finger-Gesture Attack, Ebon Shadow Form, Seven Points of Weakness Strike, Limb-Immobilizing Technique
Medicine:
Smooth Transition

ASTROLOGY
Silent Sunset is initiated into the following colleges:
The Key 1, The Mask 1, The Sorcerer 1, The Corpse 2, The Crow 1, The Rising Smoke 1

EQUIPMENT

Clothing, a small medicine/poison kit, "Saturn's Blessings" (paired artifact daggers)

COMBAT
Base initiative: 9 Soak: 2B/1L (Unarmoured)
Dodge: 12
Minimum Damage: 3

ATTACKS
Punch: Spd 9, Acc 11, Dmg 4B, Def 12, Rate 5
Kick: Spd 6, Acc 11, Dmg 7B, Def 9, Rate 3
Clinch: Spd 3, Acc 10, Dmg 4B, Def 10, Rate 1
"Saturn's Blessings": Spd 12, Acc 18, Dmg 10L, Def 15, Rate 6

MOVEMENT
Normal: 17 yds
Full: 34 yds

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifact *** - Saturn's Blessings

A paired set of slightly curved daggers reminiscent of Sai these are Silent Sunset's favoured weapons. The blades are of darkened steel and non-reflective, only the whirling inlays of starmetal depicting the threads of Fate and the knots the weapons are destined to cut shimmer mysteriously. Yet, for all their deadly efficacy as an assassin's weapons, Saturn's Blessings match their current wielder in their character. So sharp are their edges and so fine is its point, that no pain follows their touch, no agony accompanies even a deadly wound if their owner channels 2 motes to invoke the Essence of Merciful Endings. Indeed, not even a wound is left behind if the Endbringer so desires, spending 3m to cut the thread of a man's Fate instead of his flesh.
Stats (based on the short daiklave): Spd +3, Acc +5, Dmg +6L, Def +2, Rate 6

Artifact *** - the Shroud of the Starless Sky

Few nights are utterly dark. Almost always Luna's everchanging face shines upon Creation and the Constellations of the Maidens's stars wheel in the sky. It is those few nights, when Luna hides herself and no stars pierce the gloom of Sol's absence, that are to be feared. Demons walk the earth in those nights, the Dead refuse their ordained Endings and mortal wickedness knows no bounds. In Elder times the Solars of the Night Caste watched over humanity in such times, as did the Lunars of the No-Moon Caste. Now, after the Fall of the First Age and the long degeneration following it, it is only the Sidereal Exalted that remain vigilant, only the Sidereals who still strive to protect Creation from the gravest threats. And with items such as this one they have turned obstacles into advantages: The Shroud of the Starless Sky consists of a single piece of shimmering dark silk, which is wound around the body in accordance to arcane rules based on the eminence of different astrological houses. Just like the stars are hidden in the darkest of nights, so is the wearer of these clothes if he wishes it - he gains four additional dice on stealth checks while in Creation as shadows gather around him and eyes turn away. And like the stars' influence is all the more subtle and beyond all efforts to strike back, when hidden in the sky, the owner of this garments becomes elusive like a shadow and his weapons move unseen - by channeling 5 motes the difficulty to attack him or defend against him (dodge and parry) is raised by two for five turns.

Sifu *** - Shu Lien, the Scholar of Shadowed Days

A revered if politically all but ignored Elder of the Violet Bier of Sorrows, Shu Lien left the Bronze Faction behind as the results of the Ursurpation slowly became clear and the memories of her past incarnation, who spearheaded the assassinations in that fateful night, became to much to bear. Unlike others she could not see appeal in the Gold of Silver Factions either and has been working alone towards finding a solution overlooked by the great groups - and has subsequently been pushed out of most positions of political consequence. When she was called upon to teach Silent Sunset, it seemed at first that her melancholy and the young Sidereal's youthful optimism would clash catastrophically, but in time a balance of sorts has developped as Silent Sunset began to understand the burdens of being one of the Endbringers and Shu Lien came to appreciate the value of a little colour in these shadowed days.
Shu Lien teaches the Violet Bier of Sorrows, Ebon Shadow, Charcoal Mark of Spiders and Prismatic Arrangement of Creation styles.

Familiar *** - Hali Ba, (former) God of Abnormally Small Birds in the Far West

Times have been hard indeed for this little god since the Contagion and the relapse of his area of responsibility into the Wyld. However in Silent Sunset he has found a friend and a reason to remain with the Celestial Bureaucrazy. Hali Ba takes the form of an exceptionally small black bird, quite incongruent with his voice.

Celestial Manse ** - the Pavillon of Serene Contemplation

Silent's first and (so far) only success in working the bureaucrazy and its inofficial sides, the Pavillon is a manse of middling power, but fits its owner very well. Sparsely decorated, yet elegant it consists of a number of rooms arranged as a confusing maze around the central dojo and the meditation room above (think Japanese 'palace' with chapels and dojo). It produces as Hearthstone the Stone of the Empty Knifes, which allows Silent to store his weapons almost invisibly as tattoos on his arms, yet draw them seemingly from nothing with startling speed.

Salary **

As active and quite successful agent of the Bureau of Destiny Silent's salary is in the upper middle range for someone as young as him.

Greater Curse **

The Pattern Spiders were NOT happy about what Silent Sunset's previous incarnation did to the Destiny of Gem. For his arrogance and failure to think through with the application of high-order Astrology, his Shard has been censured - he has a permanent two points of Paradox.

Rival *

Notable Iron Blossom of the Crimson Panoply of Victory, like many others, had set his sights on the Pavillon of Serene Contemplation, when its pending redistribution was announced. And unlike most he had a good chance due to his affair with Three Gardens Rising of the Bureau of Heaven. But then came along Silent Sunset, barely out of training, and with the help of Walls of Alabaster took it just like that! Iron has been waiting for a chance to get even for several months and Sunset suspects, that if the assignation to the Investigation had not come from the Old Man himself, he might well be tasked to count the number of fish falling to Wyld depredations every month or something like that - while only a few years Silent's senior, Iron Blossom is as much an adept of the bureaucrazy as he is of the blade.

Celestial Favors Owed ** + **

The favor owed to Violet Catastrophe for his unofficial help is only the latest in a series of exchanges - Silent finds he can deal with persons in the open much better than tamper with forms or initiate rumors. Of the bigger favors he owes, one is to Walls of Alabaster, Undersecretary in the Department for the Allocation of Heavenly Spaces, within the Bureau of Heaven. The patient god knows only too well, that such arrangements are often rather profitable given the position the Bureau of Destiny holds and the need so many young workers of Destiny have of connections. Another is to Silence Between Words, one of the middle-rank planners of Destiny at the Violet Bier, who covered up the embarassing mistakes Silent made on his third assignment, allowing him to keep face despite the failure.

Notes on mechanical stuff

BP: 18 +7(flaws) - [10(Essence) +2(MA) +2(Stealth) +1(Performance) +3(abilities) +4(specialities) +3(Conviction)] = 0

XP expenditures:

• Athletics raised to 4 (5XP), Socialise raised to 4 (5XP).
• Seven Points of Weakness Strike (8XP), Limb-Immobilizing Technique (8XP), Impeding the Flow (11XP), Avoiding the Truth Technique (11XP), Blinding the Boar (9XP) - 57XP spent, 24 days of training time.

Cool things to get at some point: World Shaping Artistic Vision (11XP, 4 days), Investigation 2 (5XP, 4 weeks), Auspicious Prospects for Endings (11XP, ??), Walking Outside Fate (9XP, 5 days), More Ebon Shadow (8XP, 3-5 days), College of The Sword (5XP, 3 weeks), Essence 4 (24 XP, 3 months), CMoS (10XP, 4 weeks+) ...

Comments welcome!