Revision as of 22:03, 2 March 2005

Baku, The Darkened Hound

Background: Sharia’s mother told no one, not even her husband, that she had been raped by a former legionnaire of Lookshy (a dark Exalt currently wanted by the Lookshy authorities for other war crimes and still at large in the Scavenger lands), but Sharia knew. Somehow, she knew. The guilt she felt for her mother’s suffering tormented the young girl nightly with dark dreams of self-hatred. The night she entered adolescence she exalted upon her bed, caught in the throes of a horrific nightmare. The energy of her Exaltation combined with the darkness of her dreams, and Baku sprung from her mind fully formed, a creature crafted of her own fear.

Few can elicit terror better than Baku. He stalks the Scavenger lands as a bogeyman, hunting the wicked and only reluctantly sparing the innocent. Those communities aware of him whisper cautionary tales to their children, using his name to frighten them into good behavior. Born in Creation, he seldom enters Rakshastan, for in while Creation he is unique, but in the Wyld he is just another dream-shaped monster.

However, Baku faces a crossroad, for his nature is divided. He is a monster, a creature of darkness that revels in fear and pain. He longs to ravage the innocent and steal away their hope. Yet Baku is also a creature of justice, for he inflicts punishment upon the wicked. His duality tears at him, and he finds himself evolving. He fears the day that he can no longer maintain his two sides, and that he must forever forsake one side or split in twain. Thus, Baku's travels have purpose: the find a solution to his unique dilemma.

Description: Baku is tall and slim, like most Raksha nobles. His skin is white and impossibly, beautifully smooth, almost painful to behold. His hair is black and textured, and those who see or touch it find peculiar comfort in it. Claws decorate his hands and emphasize his languid gestures. When an observer faces him, Baku’s eyes are dark and his features elegant, but seen from the corner of one’s eyes, his features twist to something beautifully horrific and indistinct. He favors the clothing of Creation, particularly leather and a voluminous cloak that hides the perfection of his physique.

Role-playing Tips: Baku enjoys his intimidating nature and revels in the fear he can cause. His nature is Bravo, and thus Baku gains willpower whenever he makes someone back down. This retreat need not always be one of fear, for he relishes the fact that he can prevent confrontations simply through force of will. Likewise, when aiding his comrades, he can become dimissive of those he perceives as weak, protecting them “despite themselves.”

Though he is a creature that protects the innocent, he longs to torment them. The sight of the wide-eyed beauty of an innocent village girl or the cocky ignorance of a peasant boy tugs at his heart, a temptation sometimes too strong for him to resist. Baku’s Conviction based Lure is the Harming of Innocents: Whenever he harms an innocent, he must channel Conviction. The definition of innocence is not legal. It doesn’t matter to Baku whether you are convicted of a crime or not, only your freedom from guilt and cynicism. His Lure cannot force him to channel his Conviction more than once per Scene. Should he succumb to his Lure too often, he will forget himself and suffer The Curse of Namelessness (+2 diff to all Lore checks or Conviction checks, +2 difficulty to all those who would interrogate him).

When feeding, Baku swallows fear, despair and innocence. Thus, he consumes Compassion or Valor. However, he prefers the taste of high morales, and thus favors victims with high Conviction and Temperance, particularly if they have violated their virtues recently. In general, he evokes despair and terror by literally running his targets into the ground in a hunt, or by stalking them. He forces them to consent to his ravaging by agreeing to leave them in peace.

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