Difference between revisions of "AlabasterPrince"

Revision as of 21:11, 17 March 2005

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The Alabaster Prince of Ashes
Nature: Visionary
Concept: Dreamer of Oblivion
Caste: Moonshadow
Picture: [[1]]
Anima: Vague Moving Shadows and Half-Heard Whispers

Str 2
Dex 5
Stm 2

Chr 4
Man 3
App 4

Per 2
Int 3
Wts 2

Linguistics 1 (Native: High Realm, Old Realm)
Ride 1
Socialize 4
Melee 5
Performance 5 (+2 Voice)
Presence 4
Occult 4 (+2 Dream Interpretation)
Lore 4 (+2 First Age)
Dodge 2
Awareness 2
Athletics 1

Compassion 3
Temperance 2
Conviction 2
Valor 2

Flaw: Compassion
Break: Compassionate Martyrdom

Essence 2
Willpower 6

Merits and Flaws:
Prescient Dreamer (+3)
Nightmares (-3)
Enchanting Feature: Voice (+2)
Unbidden Oracle (-1)

Backgrounds:
Liege 2 (4bp to Whispers)
Resources 3
Manse 3 (Produces a Gem of Dream Entry)
Whispers 5
Artifacts 2 (Soulsteel & Bone Daiklave, Bone Ciclet)

Charms:
Furious Blade
Slashing Ghost Talon
Elegant Flowing Deflection
Haunting Inflection Technique
Withering Dirge
Raiton’s Nimble Perch
Passion-Unveiling Glance
Intimations of Mortality
Exquisite Etiquette Style
Loyalty Withering Technique

His Artifacts:
Sorrows of the Brother Betrayed (Bone Circlet): Artifact 2
Created by an Abyssal courtier from the bones of an ancient king who was assassinated by his own brother, this narrow circlet is armor for those who would prefer not to be seen wearing it. When its bearer is attacked, the runes carved into the circlet ignite with a cold light and for an instant a set of ornate and beautiful bone plate appears. After contact, the armor vanishes. Since the artifact only summons the spectral 'essence' of the plate, it does not offer the same protection that a “real” suit would. (Commitment 5, +5L/+5B)

Dream’s Eternal Kiss (Soulsteel and Bone Daiklave): Artifact 3
Commitment, Damage, Speed as per standard.
Special Effect: Innate ‘Void Sheath’ effect that allows it to be stored Elsewhere until needed.

His Manse:
The Roost. The Prince’s manse isn’t in the Underworld, it’s in Creation… It’s the Oblivion-tainted remains of the manse that belonged to his shard’s last Solar incarnation.  It’s a ruined temple in the classical style, built on a mountaintop. Perfect for dramatic posing and duels in dangerous places.

His Melodramatic Monologue:
”I had the dream again last night.

I saw the snow fall in summer and I saw the banners burning. The king’s wall was cast down and the whole of the White City was red with blood. There was no sun or moon in the sky. There were no stars left to see the things that I had done… Terrible things, Kuhashi. Frightening things…

Why, Kuhashi?
Why do they keep showing me these things?

I don’t have the strength to stop them. I never have… I know that you always believed that I did. I know that you thought that knowing the future gave us power over it… and to my shame, I let you believe that. I should have told you the truth, Kuhashi. I should have told you that knowing is nothing. That it’s better not to know…

But you’ll never have to see the things that I have… I saved you from that. It was the only thing that I could do…

You had always been so kind to me, Kuhashi. You were the only one who wasn’t afraid to have your fortune told. That’s why I couldn’t leave you to the fate I saw. You asked me why, when I held the blade. I didn’t have time to say it then... I didn’t know how to tell you that I took your life to save you. That I took your life… because I loved you.

I remember how warm your blood was on my hands, Kuhashi… I remember turning the blade and feeling that my own was too. I wanted to follow you. I tried to… But… I was afraid. The voices spoke to me in the darkness and the cold, and I listened to them. Anything, I said, was better than the emptiness of death.

I was a fool, Kuhashi… I know that now. They’ve given me a new life. I serve the masters of Oblivion, as I once served your father. I am their seer and their voice… and I serve them well. But when I dream of you, you turn away. You never speak and your eyes are blind to me.

Kuhashi... forgive me.
I didn't know what I would become.”

His History & Background:
Okay, angst aside, the long and short of the Prince’s history is that he was born in a small village in the North. His own prophetic dreams and his ability to interpret the dreams of others came to light early on, and he was taken as something of a “court seer” by the ruler of a nearby trade city. He was a weird kid who tended to creep the courtiers out a bit… but he was charming in a morbid sort of way, pretty, and valuable to his lord. He managed to make a few friends along the way, among them the Kuhashi person mentioned in his monologue (About whom I know nothing- So have fun mucking with them as you see fit. I don’t even know if Ku was a guy or a gal.), and he would have had a reasonably good life.

Unfortunately, he’s nuts…

The dreams that he had (and has-) of the future tended to be violent and very disturbing. Being the compassionate sort, he was troubled by the amount of suffering he saw in them. The idea of the people he cared for having to go through that kind of nastiness was just unbearable… and the voices he's always heard in his head assured him that they would, indeed, have to do exactly that.

So he tried to save them the only way he knew how.
... He killed them.

He killed both his lord and Kuhashi. Once he was done, he intended to take himself out of the picture too, but the Malfeans (and his Deathlord-) had other ideas. They took advantage of his own fear of death to lure him into becoming a deathknight.

On one hand, the Prince has a new life that does seem to suit him. After all, Oblivion is peace (or so the Malfeans tell him-) and sending souls into it is the one sure way to keep them from suffering the pain and horror of lifetime after lifetime of death and destruction in Creation… But on the other hand, there’s still this shred of conscience that rebels and tells him that he’s turned into a monster, and that the beings he’s serving are abominations… The dreams about Kuhashi are a manifestation of that.

Yes, he’s an angst-puppy...
But what good abyssal isn't? ;)