Moxiane/LukaTheFox

Luka the Fox, Underworld Negotiator

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History

Born and growing up in Nexus, Luka's childhood was the mixture of wonders and terrors peculiar to life in the City of a Million Lice. His father died before Luka's first birthday; a largely innocent man caught up in a bloody riot, leaving his mother to work as a rag-seller alone. Most of his first twelve years were spent on the streets of Sentinel's Hill & Firewander, playing with other kids, stealing fruit and generally getting into the kinds of trouble endemic to childhood.

The one of his gang Exalted as an Terrestrial, assumed leadership, and, for a few months, they were kings of their neighbourhood - no-one would stand against one of the Chosen. Then some of the merchants, sick of the rampant extortion, hired a small group of mercenaries, including two Dragon-Blooded, to take the gang down. It wasn't even a fight.

Luckily, Luka was elsewhere and when he arrived half of his friends were wounded or killed, and Brook (their Dragon-Blooded leader) had been taken away by the soldiers. He did what he could for his friends and then left, not to seek revenge, but to make sure that this didn't happen again - Luka had, in the last weeks of the rampage, argued against their excesses, saying that they bring more trouble than it was worth. Of course, as a child still his words did not carry much weight.

The next few years were eventful. He garnered his sobrique following a series of skillful plays at card-tables that left him with a sizeable purse, enough to provide comfortably for his aging mother. He began to talk to the various gangs and tongs that ran much of the everyday underworld of Nexus, advocating agreements and boundaries rather than the low-level war endemic to that population. His renown grew, and his words began to be heard, and small agreements were brokered that proved to be beneficial to all involved parties and reduced the burden on the everyday folk at the same time.

Exaltation

It was in the half-light before sunrise that power came to Luka. Staring out of a brothel window onto a busy street he watched the people going about their business; traders & artisans, beggars & whores, mercenaries & cut-throats. It was at this moment that a euphoria, stronger than any he had known from pipe or woman, struck him; a sense of knowledge and connection filled his mind, and when he looked down onto the street once more he could see the threads of society binding the citizens together. Lust, hate, need, jealousy, love; all and more, and it seemed but the work of a moment to cut or strengthen any of these threads.

A gasp from the bed brought him out of this reverie, and he saw that the room was aglow with a blindingly white fiery radiance, and that the source of this light was him. For once lost for words, he ran out of the room, leaving the cowering courtesan in her bed, and fled into the streets. Once the light faded, he tried to come to terms with what had happened to him.

Character Sheet

Motivation: Unify the Hundred Kingdoms

Attributes

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

Virtues (Virtue Flaw)

Compassion 2, Conviction 3 (Heart of Flint), Temperance 3, Valour 2

Abilities (Caste or Favoured)

Archery 0, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Bureaucracy 1, Craft 0, Dodge 3, Integrity 1, Investigation 3, Larceny 3, Linguistics 3, Lore 1, Martial Arts 2, Medicine 0, Melee 4, Occult 0, Performance 4, Presence 3, Resistance 0, Ride 1, Sail 0, Socialise 4, Stealth 1, Survival 0, Thrown 2, War 0

Backgrounds

Artifact 2, Contacts 3, Resources 3

Excellencies

Dodge (1st), Larceny (2nd), Melee (1st), Performance (1st), Socialise (2nd)

Charms

Courtiers Eye Technique (Inv), Dipping Swallow Defence (Mel), Graceful Crane Stance (Ath), Hungry Tiger Technique (Mel), Mastery of Small Manners (Soc), Respect Commanding Attitude (Per)

Spells

None

Join Battle: 6

Dodge DV: 4

Soak: 3A/4L/3B (3L/1B chain shirt, Fatigue 1)

Attacks (+ cannot parry lethal damage without stunts)

Punch - Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 2B, Parry DV 4+, Rate 3, Tags

N

Kick - Speed 5, Attack 5, Damage 5B, Defence 2+, Rate 2, Tags: N

Cloudbreaker - Speed 5, Attack 10, Damage 10L/14L, Parry DV 5, Rate 3, Tags: 2, L, R

Join Debate: 6

Dodge MDV: 4

Parry MDV: 4

Intimacies

Vara is Luka's elderly mother. While still mostly healthy, and no longer working as a rag-seller thanks to Luka's largesse, she is in her late 60s. She is aware of what Luka is, and while she still holds to a lot of the old stories, her son remains her son.

Despite (or perhaps because of) coming from as chaotic a city as Nexus, Luka has a deep-rooted desire for Order.

Limit: 0

Essence: 2

Willpower: 6

Essence Pool: Personal 12 / Peripheral 25 (30) / Committed 5

Health Levels: -0 / -1 / -1 / -2 / -2 / -4 / Incap

Belongings

Practical clothes

Long jacket

Awesome hat

Dice

Cloudbreaker (orichalcum direlance)

Chain shirt

Horse (stolen)

Anima Banner

A fox of flickering white flame, with eyes that ripple like the sun on the horizon. The fox is playful at times, and vicious at others, depending on Luka's mood when called into being.

Background Expansions

Artifact •• (Cloudbreaker, Orichalcum Direlance)

The first few days following his Second Breath were, and are, hazy for Luka; he wandered the streets of Nexus largely unaware of his surroundings, until he found himself in an old, long-overgrown park hidden in the Nexus district. Ancient, crumbling statuary, any inscriptions long since eroded away, were all that remained and in his daze Luka did not notice the small gang of cut-throats following him. One sculpture appeared less time-ravaged than the others and Luka found himself drawn towards it, staring up at statuesque woman carved out of ancient marble, and it was here that the muggers decided to confront their would-be victim.

It was a cloudy day; murky skies are perfect weather for robbery and murder, but Luka, lost in contemplation, did not hear the initial coarse challenge. The thieves' leader impatiently stepped forwards and reached for the new Exalt's shoulder, and at that moment the sun broke through the clouds to shine a golden beam directly onto Luka and the object of his attention. Where her hands had been empty the statue now held a mighty spear; its half of black wood and its blade a 18" orichalcum razor that glowed in the light.

A few seconds after Luka reached for this weapon, that he instinctively recognises as his, his erstwhile robbers lay motionless on the ground in pools of their own congealing blood.

Speed 5, Accuracy +3, Damage +8L/+12L, Defence +3, Rate 2, Tags: 2, L, R

Contacts •••

As a negotiator and general people-person, Luka dealt with a lot of people, both before and after he was Chosen, and has a knack for finding someone he can deal with. He also travelled outside Nexus, and developed a few friendships with in useful places.

• Blackriver Iphen: A Guild merchant and caravan leader, Iphen has been dealing with Luka for several years, doing business on both sides of the law (as little as that means in Nexus). He travels a circuit with his caravan, returning to Nexus for about two months of the year, while the rest is spent on the road.
• Kottle: A clerk working for the Council of Entities, Luka cultivated Kottle's friendship over the course of a year, eventually gaining his confidence. Spending his days in Nexus, Kottle keeps up on the latest doings of the Council as well as much gossip from the upper-crust of Nexian society.
• To be determined

Resources •••

While hardly rich, Luka's dealings have left him with not-inconsiderable means at his disposal, mostly in the form of Guild silver.

Experience

Total: 26

Banked: 13

History: Socialise 3->4 (5xp), Graceful Crane Stance (8xp)