Difference between revisions of "Nikink/JadeWisdom"

Revision as of 01:45, 27 June 2009

Jade Wisdom

Artisan Caste Loreseeker.

• Born... hatched... er... carved... about 30 years ago Nope, still too old... shit... maybe 6 years ago???
  • Yep, 6 freakin' years! 4 years of that is Schooling.
• Bit of a bully as a child, nope, no 'childhood', maybe young'un perhaps?
  • Freshly hatched Artisans are 'adopted' out to other Artisans for a year, before entering the big Artisan college.
• After graduating school entered the Conclave.
  • As per every other Artisan.
• As Artisan and Conclave member, had many various servants and lived in comparative ease.
  • With small number of elder Artisans (not uncommon to form small pseudo families like this).
  • 'Family' Estate beneath the Realm.
  • Urvar.
• Had an Enlightened Warrior (Damok of Lutar) as a friend... as much as they could be, with the societal restrictions.
  • Not actually many societal restrictions...
• Damok commanded Jade Wisdom's personal guard.
• Uncovered suspicious activity by another Conclave member, Immanent Avalanche.
  • Maybe this guy on the road to Chaos Seer?
  • Making deals with others to gain more power in the Conclave...
  • Making deals with things to eventually gain access to the surface lands?
• Series of cunning investigations proved Immanent Avalanche to be consorting with... someone, or something unnatural.
  • I'm picturing something Abyssally, green flame,skull motif. Tricksy, subtle and cunning.
  • I leave up to the GM what it actually is.
• Attempted to reveal this unwholesome partnership to the local Conclave but got laughed out of court, so to speak.
  • Politically outmaneuvered with ease by Immanent Avalanche and his supporters, friends, allies.
• Forced into exile.
  • Took his home guard and a contingent of workers to the surface and tried hurriedly to gain permission from an Exalt to stave off the Geas.
• Sold the services of his followers to a couple of Terrestrial Exalts for small skirmishes within the Hundred Kingdoms.
  • New
  • Named his ad-hoc mercenary company the "Scrupulous Saxifrage Section"
    • Yes, that means something meaningful-ish to those who know some etymology... :)
      • Scrupluous : L. scrupulus "uneasiness, anxiety, pricking of conscience," lit. "small sharp stone"
      • Saxifrage : L. saxifraga herba, lit. "a rock-breaking herb," from saxifragus "stonebreaking," from saxum "stone, rock" + frag-, root of frangere "to break"
      • Section : L. sectionem (nom. sectio) "a cutting, cutting off, division,"
        • Yes, I am a nerd, why do you ask??? :)
  • End of New
  • Save the village of Three-Gates from undead attack
  • Campaigned for a month against the kingdom of Rose-Essence, which had been aggressively encroaching upon its neighbouring kingdoms.
  • Campaigned with the forces of King Ling of the Whispering Protectorate.
  • Took part in the Battle of Nine Horses.
• His warriors were led by the very capable Damok.
  • Which was good, as Jade Wisdom has few martial skills.
• Jade Wisdom spent majority of his time with the commanders.
  • Reading treatises, studying, analysing intelligence.
• Some attrition was caused by night attacks upon the Kingdom's forces - including the Jadeborn.
  • I dare say the worst attacks were by undead forces.
• Within 2 seasons, most Workers had been slain, and about a third of the Warriors.
  • One final night of terror wiped out the entire force - Jadeborn, Dragon-Bloods and mortals.
  • Something big and impressive, but left to the GM. :)
  • Jade Wisdom was one of only a handful who survived.
    • He managed to retreat into a river and hide underwater for a very long time.
    • His retreat was covered by Damok, who was eventually slain.
• After their DB employer was slain, Jade Wisdom was forced to look for another Exalt willing to take his service.
• He was found by a small Lookshy force, and pledged service to the Dragon Blooded commander Karal Fortunate-Serpent.
  • Fortunate Serpent is a middle-aged Sorcerer Engineer who was using the scouting mission to look for relics etc for use and study by Lookshy.
• He travelled with the Lookshy force for another season, primarily offering advice and knowledge, occasionally scouting and skirmishing.
  • Studied available scrolls and books voraciously whenever he could.
• The Dragon-Bloods honoured his service, and the tale of Damok, by implanting the Aegis-Implants.
• The Lookshy force was stationed in a redoubt.
  • I'm picturing north of Greyfalls, east of Sijan. But could be anywhere the GM wishes.
• Befriended a Lookshy Immaculate of Pasiap, Resolute Ox of Gens Yan-Tu.
  • Jade Wisdom learned of the supernatural Martial Arts from Resolute Ox.
  • Resolute Ox is a few years younger than Fortunate Snake.
    • Knows Jade Mountain Style (all) and Earth Dragon Style (to Weapon Breaking Defence)
  • Jade Wisdom learned a great deal of patience and indeed, wisdom, from Resolute Ox.
  • Jade Wisdom has taken to emulating the forms and katas of those styles
    • one day... sigh. :)
• At the end of that season, the troops were heading back to Lookshy.
  • Another ambush by unknowns saw the small force broken and fleeing.
    • This attack included demons and ninjas.
      • And an explosion. :)
    • 1st Ascending Fire 768, Baos Gap tells Jade that the Deathlord Mask of Winters was behind this attack. Baos Exalted as a Dawn in this battle.
• Jade Wisdom got separated from the Dragon-Bloods, and is unsure of their fate.
• At a loss of how to find them, he has walked for three weeks through the Scavenger lands, asking for the fastest way to Lookshy.
• Most who answered stated River Travel as the fastest way, and so he headed to Nexus.
• Arrived at Nexus about a week ago.
  • Staying at Madame Wu's Tea-House of Excellent Courage
• Enjoying Nexus' hustle and bustle and crowded streets.
• His available savings have dwindled to next to nothing.
  • Was en-route to the Nexus docks to get passage to Lookshy when game starts.

• Ascending Fire Unit 17 was recovered from the slain form of Damok.
• Resolute Denial comes from his estates. Heirloom of sorts, granted to the house-protector (in this case, Damok).
• Witty Retort was also a gift to Damok from the house estate.
• Rumour of Glory is white and blue silken armour. Given to Jade Wisdom upon his graduation from the Academy.
  • White trousers and shirt with sky blue tunic. Intricate designs of gears on gears on gears are subtly embroidered into the tunic. The white silk has amazingly intricate designs (representative of Creation) in fine silver thread. At eight points within the design there are faint coglike designs.
  • Handed down from incarnation to incarnation.
• Gem of the White Jade Tree comes from an ancestral (so to speak) manse within his estate.
• Gem of Mobility originates from a Solar Manse on the side of Mount Meru. Long forgotten.
  • Jade Wisdom stumbled across it during a school excursion.
• Skin Mount Amulets implanted in his solar plexus and belly chakra by his request prior to entering exile.
  • Figured he would need the extra essence to survive the wilderness.

• Ally 1
  • Karal Fortunate-Serpent
    • Air Aspect Sorcerer Technician
    • Essence 4-5
• Ally 2
  • Yan-Tu Resolute Ox
    • Earth Aspect Lookshy Immaculate
    • Essence 4
• Contact 1
  • Lookshy Military

Name:    Jade Wisdom
Caste:   Artisan
Motivation:  Break the Great Geas?
Anima:   none at all
Concept: Mercenary Savant
XP: Left/Total: 6/108 (+25 background xp = 133 total)

4+6+25(background)+5+6+8+7+6+7 +6+6+6+6+7+7+15+6

Intimacies : Personal Honor, Knowledge, Tea, Perfect Butterfly

Attributes

Character Description

Light yellow-brown skin, bald, but with mustache and beard of red hair. I'm picturing Li Mu Bai, but with red facial hair.

Expanded Backgrounds

More details about backgrounds here.

Commentary

Yuhui 玉慧 Jade wisdom

• ui as "way"
• u as the 'u' in "flute" (American pronunciation) or 'oo' in "woo" (British) BUT after q, j, x and y, as a German umlauted u
• h a gutteral, as in the Scottish "loch"
  • So, Y,u,ch,ay. That's a bit unpronounceable to me!

I get the impression that the ST isn't liking the effect of the Gem of Perfect Mobility with other effects that reduce Speed, notably Jade MM Bonus, to Speed 2. While I agree that generally Speed 3 is the minimum allowable speed (say from Jade Artifacts and Charm stacking) I have two counter arguments:

1. This effect is due to:

• A level 5 Hearthstone.
  • Ergo, most powerful level of Stone should have powerful effects
  • Ergo, a stealable / breakable item
    • Which is why Jade Wisdom keeps it embedded in the skin mount amulet under his clothes and armour to keep it hidden
  • Ergo, The Manse it came from is also a weak point
    • should an enemy discover the Stone they may decide to locate the Manse to disrupt the geomancy and thus break the Stone
    • The manse may also be uncovered the same way that Jade Wisdom found it, ie by stumbling across it accidentally, and the discoverers tweaking the geomancy to start a new stone reforming without even knowing of Jade Wisdom's existence.
• A Speed 4 weapon.
  • with a Speed 5 or higher weapon there is obviously no more Speed 2 actions as the Stone halves speed (round up).

1. Jade Wisdom is in a game surrounded by Exalts:

• This gives him an edge to remain viable for longer
  • The other characters can get Extra Action Charms easily
    • Only kinda extra-action Charm available for Jadeborn is Essence 5
      • Jade Wisdom is only Essence 2
      • That Charm is unfavoured, so is costing Jade Wisdom 12xp to get, after all the other 12xp pre-requisites.
  • Exalt level enemies can already paste him, so this Stone may be a lifesaver due to faster reaction times, movement and synergy with the other Hearthstone.
  • Keeps his DV up
    • Ergo, life preserving in combat
  • Keeps his accuracy pool up
    • Ergo, compensates somewhat for the low pool (compared to Exalt level foes)
    • Conversely, onslaught penalties do not accrue over different ticks.
  • Also, he will never be able to combo
    • Until Essence 5, and with custom Charms requiring ST approval.

But! I don't want to piss off the ST, and I can see the trouble with Speed 2 actions in general. If I were running the game, I would not allow Speed to go below 3 in any other manner apart from this Stone. Good House rule seems to be for every reduction in Speed below 3, the Rate of action goes up 1. This works well for accumulated Jade MM and Charm synergies and Exalts (and I would use this House rule if I were running). Doesn't work so well in this case because:

1. Stone explicitly halves Speed, doesn't reduce by X
2. Small non-boostable pool mean that the Extra Rate is useless for non-Exalt level creatures (non-Excellency Charm wielders) as it means missing three times instead of maybe hitting twice.

So the Stone itself needs tweaking to get across the idea of a level 5 power that increases action speed to obviously supernatural levels. In 1st Ed. the Stone granted 2 independent actions each turn (not compatible with Extra Action Charms), thus this conversion halved the Speed - seems a similar effect, but obviously has issues.

What about:

• Rate of all actions is increased by 1
• Speed of all actions is reduced by 1
• Multiple Action penalty reduced by 3

All of these stack with MM bonuses and Charm effects, but the house rule regarding Speed 3 is used, so if this Stone reduces an Action to less than Speed 3, it stays at 3 but the Rate increases. This Rate increase is somewhat mitigated by the Multiple Action bonus.

The Stone keeps all other benefits (basically just movement speed increase).

Thoughts?