Quendalon/LiOfOrchid

(This is the original sheet. Current sheet can be found here: LiOfOrchid/LiSheet)

Name: Li of Orchid \\ Caste: Dawn \\ Nature: Paragon \\ Anima: A sunburst with sword-like rays \\ Concept: Tya Swordswoman

Attributes:\\ Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3\\ Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3\\ Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3

Abilities:\\ Archery 1, Athletics 2, Awareness 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Endurance 1, Linguistics 1, Lore 1, Martial Arts 3, Medicine 3, Melee 4, Occult 3, Resistance 1, Sail 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2, Thrown 1

Backgrounds: Artifact 4, Manse 2, Resources 1

Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Temperance 3, Valor 3\\ Virtue Flaw: Ascetic Drive

Charms:

• Endurance\\

Ox-Body Technique

• Martial Arts\\

Crane Dances Through the Reeds

• Medicine\\

Flawless Diagnostic Technique\\ Body-Mending Meditation

• Melee\\

Excellent Strike\\ Hungry Tiger Technique\\ One Weapon, Two Blows\\ Golden Essence Block\\ Dipping Swallow Defense\\ Bulwark Stance

Willpower: 6\\ Health: -0 / -1 / -1 / -1 / -2 / -2 / -2 / -2 / -4 / Incapacitated \\ Essence: 3\\ Essence pool: 15/31(37)

Equipment: Simple clothes, two slim swords wrapped in cloth

Combat:\\ Base initiative: 8\\ Soak: 3B/1L\\ Dodge: 7\\ Attacks:\\ Bare Hands: Spd 8, Acc 8, Dmg 3B, Def 8\\ Orichalcum Jian: Spd 12, Acc 11, Dmg 5L, Def 11

Character Background

Backstory

Li is an orphan and her parentage, a mystery. She was found as a newborn babe on the shore, on Orchid Island. The simple fisher folk who discovered her assumed she was the child of spirits or possibly the Fair Folk and wanted to leave her to her fate. However, Orchid had as its guardian a God-Blooded hermit, Wudi, who decided to take the child in.

Wudi was the son of Gomata, the Western God of Fertility and Peace. Gomata, as his domains befit, has sired many children throughout the West. As a youth, Wudi committed himself to the study of the blade. He traveled across Creation, seeking adventure and glory. Time passed and as Wudi grew older, he gave up his reckless ways and began to study medicine and sorcery. Finally, after eighty years abroad in Creation, he returned to the west and retired to the peaceful and remote Orchid. He cultivated himself and meditated on the universal flow of Essence, and also acted as benefactor and protector of the simple villagers of Orchid.

Wudi cared for the child and named her Li, which means "revelation." Li was never accepted by the villagers of Orchid, who regarded her with suspicion and kept their children away from her. Seeing that she would never be a part of the simple life that the villagers had, Wudi resolved to teach Li as much as he could, so that she could also strive to perfect herself. He gave Li her first blade when she was six, a thin-bladed dagger; a year later, Wudi gave Li her first book, a primer on medicine. From then on, she trained constantly. She mastered the use of every weapon imaginable by the time she was sixteen and could care for all but the most serious of ailments with ease. Still, the villagers had trouble accepting her as one of their own, though she had lived all her life with them. In order to make her more acceptable, Wudi saw to her initiation into the Tya not long after her first flowering.

By her twentieth year, Li had become more or less a part of Orchid’s society. At this time, a pirate named Zerus had been operating in the area. A devoted worshipper of Siakal, the Western Goddess of War and Blood, Zerus was widely feared. Orchid had been relatively safe from pirate attacks since the arrival of Wudi but Zerus was not deterred by the stories of the hermit God-Blood. When his raid on Orchid came, it was unexpected and deadly.

Wudi and Li spotted the fires from their home on the mountain above the village in the early hours before dawn. They rushed down to help and caught the pirates as they were boarding their ship with captives and stolen treasure. Wudi cut his way through the pirate crew down the shore towards Zerus, Li trailing in his wake. Spotting the old God-Blood, Zerus only laughed and shook a necklace made of finger bones and shark teeth, shouting towards the ocean. Then, from out of the waves came two Children of Siakal, horrific shark-spirits. They came at Wudi with terrible claws and teeth. The God-Blood did his best but it was a losing battle. Meanwhile, Li had charged past the spirits to attack Zerus. Though she her skill had been finely honed by years of training, Li was not experienced in battle; Zerus was a ferocious veteran. They fought among the sand and waves, neither able to gain the advantage until Li heard Wudi cry out behind her and she chanced to see the Children of Siakal knock him down and close for the kill.

At that moment, the dawn broke and Li felt something grow and blossom within her. She felt the power of the Unconquered Sun go into her and with a single blow, her sword cut through Zerus’ spear and then through his chest. She turned to face the two Children of Siakal. She dueled with the spirits for an hour until at last she found her opening and slew them both with a single stroke. The pirates fled, leaving behind their captives, their booty and their dead captain.

By the grace of his father, Wudi survived, though he had lost his left leg below the knee. Familiar with the old lore, he knew what Li had become. The villagers, however, regarded Li with new fear and she quickly realized she could not stay on Orchid. A week after the pirate attack, Wudi had recovered enough to guide her to the Golden-Water Palace, which he had known of, but was unable to exploit himself. There, Li found her daiklaves, Radiance and Brilliance. She also found a small skiff, another artifact of the First Age. The magical boat had enough power to take her from her home across the Western Ocean to the Southlands, where she will seek her destiny...

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifact ••••

Radiance and Brilliance</i>\\ Paired orichalcum jian\\ Spd +4, Acc +2, Dmg +2L, Def +2 (each)\\ Requires: Strength 1; Commitment 6 (3 per sword)\\

These orichalcum swords are almost identical in appearance, with slim graceful blades and arching quillons. Each has a single Hearthstone setting in its blade just above the hilt. Individually, each functions as a standard orichalcum slashing sword. But their true powers only manifest when the two are combined.

Whenever the two swords are wielded together, they shed a clear golden glow equal to that of a lantern. For a cost of 5 motes, the wielder may intensify the swords' light, causing them to blaze as brightly as the sun for the duration of the scene. This light is visible for miles, and serves to dazzle those who gaze upon the wielder. Enemies attacking her subtract a number of dice from their pools equal to her permanent Essence. This benefit is not cumulative with Snake Form, and only applies to creatures that can see the wielder; blind opponents are unaffected. In addition, for so long as the swords burn with sunlight, they inflict aggravated wounds upon demons, the undead, and other creatures of darkness

Manse ••

The Golden-Water Palace is located on a tiny rock of an island, close to Li’s home, Orchid Island. The island is a monolith rising sheer from the waves, with no place to land even a small boat. To reach the cave openings at the top of the island, one must climb from a vessel up the side of the wet cliffs for over 400 feet.

The interior of the Golden-Water Palace is a glory to behold. From the openings around the top of the island, one enters into corridors cut naturally into the rock by flowing water. Into the basalt rock of the walls are cut myriad arcane symbols, etched in gold and bronze. All the corridors lead down into the central hall, a great spherical room with a large pool of water in the center. The interior of the pool is covered in gold and the water within fairly glows, giving the Golden-Water Palace its name. The pool leads into the ocean by means of small passages in the stone beneath and only at the moments of highest and lowest tide are the waters still; at all other times, they churn and whirl in a magnificent whirlpool as the tides drive the waters in and out of the pool.

The looming walls and high columns of the central hall are gilt with gold and bronze and depict various stories and legends of the First Age. Glass-covered shafts in the ceiling, lined with mirrors, let in the sunlight so that at dawn, noon and dusk, the entire hall is filled with dazzling light. A pair of bridges arc thin and gracefully over the pool, meeting in the center. Here, above the center of the whirlpool, is a pedestal where two Hearthstones form – one for the element of Water (Pearl of Pure Waters) and one for the Celestial element of the Sun (Sunhawk's Eye).

Away from the central hall are more corridors that wind down into the rock, many of which plunge below water. These passages are unsafe, for like the central pool, the tides force the water in and out of them with tremendous force and a corridor that was dry a moment ago may suddenly be flooded without notice. A few corridors (leading upwards) terminate in small rooms that were once used for living space and storage. These rooms are bare and empty now.

<i>Pearl of Pure Waters

Water •
Trigger: Pouring water over the stone

This pale blue pearl shimmers with golden highlights. The stone purifies any water poured over its setting, cleansing it of all natural impurities. Even seawater becomes as drinkable as the sweetest spring water. Note that water must actually be poured over the stone to be affected; simply immersing the stone in a body of water will have no effect.

Sunhawk's Eye</b>

<b>Solar •
Trigger: None, constant

This translucent stone fades from a brilliant gold at its center to a deep, warm brown at the edges. Bright light cannot impair the wearer's vision. A character bearing this Hearthstone may stare directly at the Sun's light without harm, and is similarly immune to magics that use light to cause blindness.