Tiarynn/Snowy

Snowy Silver Night

Concept: Predestined Sorcerer, Shaman and Sage

Caste: No Moon

Anima Totem: Heavy silver snowfall, illuminated from the centre by her tattoos and caste mark.

Age: 22

History

Born in Resplendant peak to a hunter and a weaver, Snowy never knew her true parents. When she was barely a year old, a robed and hooded stranger appeared in town from the wilderness. This stranger headed directly to the shamans of the city, impressing upon them the need to take Snowy and have her trained as a shaman. This stranger then discussed the same with her parents, who willingly gave her up to be trained. To this day, both her parents and the shamans are adamant that not only did the stranger have nothing to do with the decision, but it has been decided even before she was born that she would be trained as a shaman. No one else is willing to comment on this, and the nature of the stranger is a mystery to all who witnessed the strange event. The stranger stayed in town just long enough to ensure the successful transfer, then disappeared into the wilderness in exactly the same manner as arriving.

Growing up as a shaman-in-training was intense. Shaman children were not named until they had successfully passed into adulthood, so it was fourteen years simply being called 'child.' While they did try and see that all the children received adequate time to be children, they were still taught much. Since training of a new shaman was fairly rare, there were large gaps in the ages and training tended to be simple apprenticeship. First to be taught to all were languages, Old Realm was a priority, so that they may talk with the Fair Folk and read the ancient books and scrolls of wisdom, in addition, they were taught Skytongue as the local language, and given basic lessions in Forest-tongue and the languages of the nearby tribes of barbarians. As the children grew, they were taught not only the lessions necessary to be a shaman in terms of the knowledge, but the practicality of it, shamans were not only the sages and healers, they also helped run the city and they all had to know how to lead. Of course, like all children of the city, they had to earn their passage into adulthood by proving themselves worthy with the ritual hunt. They were prepared and sent off into the forests, not to return until they had something they had killed themselves, or something equally as valuable to return with. Shaman children were also required to meditate and ponder their prize, for this was when they would be named by the forests.

Snowy felt herself exceptionally lucky when she had spotted a boar on her second day of her hunt, but whenever she had gotten close enough to attempt to attack it, it would run off, moving with a practiced grace through the woods, leading her farther and farther from the city. This went on for three days, each day took her farther from the city, and closer to her destiny. On the fifth day, around mid day, she stalked the boar into a small depression below a low cliff, but when she searched the area, the boar was gone, and in its place was a pack of wolves, all eagar to begin their own hunt. The wolves chased her relentlessly, toying with her, letting her get away time and time again when they could of taken her down easily and her spear would of been useless against them. The wolves persued her into the moonless night, driving her into an area thicker with trees, trees from an abandoned First-Age tree farm that grew in rows too thick to pass between, and a row where the end was blocked off by a giant tree too big to climb over. She was trapped. The largest wolf paced her down the row, oblivious to her spearpoint, intent on the kill. She set the spear, ready for the wolf to leap at her neck, ducking back out of the way to let the wolf impale itself on her spear. With a growl and a leap, the wolf did just that, quickly expiring as the spear head found its way into its chest. She pushed the dead corpse off her spear, stabbing it in the direction of the other wolves, scaring them off with the death of their pack leader.

From the corpse of the wolf, a silver, etheral form emerged, bathing the area in white light, it slowly coalesced into a perfected version of the mother Snowy never knew, cloaked in a silver robe. She smiled softly and held out her hand as an invitation, “I am Luna, and you are mine now, child.” Snowy took the hand of Luna's avatar, being pulled into her lap as a mother would hold a child. The avatar of Luna spoke again, softly, “You know why you have been chosen. Seek your totem, it will come to you when you are ready. Then seek out another one of my children, for there are things I will not be able to teach you. Do not return to your home until you have done these things, Snowy Silver Night.” Snowy simply nodded, hugging the avatar as it turned etheral and melted away into nothingness.

With the avatar gone, Snowy gave in to her new, more powerful animal instincts, racing after the wolves that had persued her, turning the tables on them as they had turned the tables on her earlier. One by one, she hunted down and tore the throat of each wolf out, leaving the corpses. As she gradually regain her control of her new self, she remembered the words of Luna, that she needed to find a totem. It then occured to her that she had no idea how one found a totem, or what she would do once she found it, but if one was to find her, then it was a matter of time. And that time was now. She spotted a snowy owl, only a few branches up a tree, picking apart its own kill, a large rabbit. Giving in once again to her instincts, she pounced off the ground, scrambling up the tree and knocking the owl off its perch, carrying it with her as they both fell to the ground. She had positioned herself so that the owl was under her and she landed on it with a sickening crack, breaking its spine and killing it instantly. She discarded the now-dead rabbit, still cluched in the owl's talons, and was overcome with the desire to devour the owl, the whole owl. It took her most of the next day to do so, but she ate the entire owl, feathers and all, consuming it to gain its powers, taking it as her totem. Over the next few days, she lived like the animal she had now partially become, hunting and killing with her bare hands and claws for food, with greater efficiency than she ever could as a human.

With her new-found powers, she quickly adapted to life in the wilderness, but always heeding the advice she had been given, kept herself looking to others of Luna, relying on her ability to transfer her owl eyes into her human form. It took her nearly a month of searching to find what she was looking for, a great beast of a man, thirteen foot high, covered in silver plate, weilding a silver axe built for someone even twice his current size but which he handled with grace and ease, battling with three, more normal sized people, all covered in jade, with the body of another jade-covered individual laying no more than a hundred yards away, and the huge man appeared to be on the defensive. Realizing what was going on, a fellow lunar beset by the Wyld Hunt, she shifted into her owl form, taking flight to survey the scene. While there was little that she could do to help the other lunar directly, she did notice a large sword by the fallen terrestrial. Seizing her opportunity, she landed on the sword, shifting herself into a new form for her, one of war, covered in feathers like an owl, but silver feathers and with its wings, but otherwise human. Pouring her essence into the sword, she found it came to be light enough to wield, though it drained her greatly. With the clamour of battle, none noticed her until one of the terrestrials had his allies sword thrust through him from behind. In the ensueing chaos, the lunars prevailed over the weaker terrestrials, the huge axe doing grim work.

After the battle, both lunars returned to their normal forms, Snowy nude and tanned from her time in the woods, the other still respelendant in his plate, but now merely a large person. He looked her over and laughed a bit, then smiled to her, “I had heard rumors there was a new hunter around, a savage beast without much control, taking what she needed with no regard for others. I am known simply as Grizzly, and I will be your tutor into the life you are now to lead as one of Luna's Beloved. We must leave this place quickly, but we must take care of these fallen before they decide to hunt us in death as well as life.” Grizzly then proceeded to pile the corpses, bidding Snowy to collect firewood so that the bodies may burn and leave only the empty suits of armour and masterless weapons to mark the spot. With the bodies burning, they moved off, Grizzly leading them to a small, dark cave, “Your assistance there was most aprecciated, though it was not necessary. I am more than capable of handling myself against those chosen by the Dragons. Now, you will have many questions, but there is only one that we must answer now, and that is the matter of your caste.” With this, he begins to remove his armour, revealing his tattoos glowing beneith it, remnants of the fight from before, lighting up the cave, showing it stocked with preserved meat, cheeses and wine, obviously one of his caches. “I am a Full Moon, the warriors of Luna. You are not a Full Moon, though you do have a certain way with that Daiklave you borrowed. The other castes are Waxing Moon, priestesses and courtesans, and you could certainly be one of those, Half Moons, strategests they call themselves, I don't think thats you, Waning Moons, spies, tricksters, again, not you from what I have seen, and then No Moons, mystics and sorcerers, and I havn't seen enough of you to say. Now, there are two ways to go about testing you before I set your caste with tattoos, the hard, arduous process of running trials, or the easy and far more fun way of laying with me until we both decide what you should be. Choose, now.” Snowy pondered for a short while, looking down at her nude self, then to the man she had just met, then nodded her head as she made a decision, “I choose the second option, and I am Snowy Silver Night.”

On the night after the fourth day, they emerged from the cave, travelling to a clearing with only Grizzly's tattooing equipment, specially prepared for the marking of a new Lunar. While Grizzly was not usually one for ceremony, this one had to be followed, the ritual taking them from shortly after dusk to just before dawn. Grizzly was quite the artist, flowing lines and tribal designs burned into Snowy's skin, forever marking her as one of the No Moons.

Snowy and Grizzly travelled together for many months, heading to the east, then south, to the lair of Anja Silverclaws, a No Moon sorcerer, to complete Snowy's training. By the time they arrived, Snowy was showing her pregnancy, but it hadn't slowed her down yet. They had also aquired a large quantity of moonsilver to create artifacts for Snowy. Anja lived in her manse, a large structure of marble and basalt, looking silver from a distance, a small tribe of cat beastmen serving as security and research assistants. Grizzly showed them past the beastman guards, looking through the manse before they found Anja searching through an old tome, he gave her a little wave, “Anja Silverclaws, its been too long! I've brought someone for you. This is Snowy Silver Night, call her Snowy, she's a new No Moon, and she needs training.” Snowy sort of waved to Anja, a little worried over her pregnant belly and sorcery, especially sorcery gone wrong. Anja looked up and smiled, nodding as she moved over to the two, patting Snowy's stomach, grinning to her, “He get you too? Well, no matter whose it is, I'm happy to take on an apprentice, but it won't be a quick thing, Sorcery takes its own time, but I can already feel you're ready. And its been a good while Grizzly, are you planning to stay a while too?” Grizzly nodded himself, “A while, I owe someone some artifacts.” Anja grinned a little more, “Good! I take it theres no need to have the guest quarters prepared?” Snowy slowly shook her head to that, Grizzly as well.

And so began Snowy's sorcerous apprenticeship. Using the moonsilver, the three of them produced Snowy's artifact set in addition to her training in sorcery(add artifact set stuff here). Snowy's pregnancy proceeded just fine, despite the sorcery, and she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy with the usual ease of an Exalt. Grizzly left a week after his son was born, vowing to track Snowy down to see her and his son at least once every two years, and hopefully every year. Snowy's apprenticeship took another eight months after the birth of her son, and she stayed with Anja for another month, before Anja took it upon herself to return Snowy and her son to Resplendant Peak, via a Cloud Trapeze, dropping them off only a few miles outside of the city. Saying their goodbyes, Anja then turned around and headed her own way, leaving Snowy and her son to return to their home.

Snowy returned to her home with the air of a triumphant hero. She was dressed in her moonsilver shaman robes, her son cradled in a sling in one arm, her moonsilver staff carried in her other arm, obsidian tip held high, her caste mark and tattoos burning silver as she passed through the city, on her way to the only home she ever knew, the shaman's longhouse. The people of Resplendant Peak regarded her with a great mix of emotions. Fear at seeing what was supposed to be a ghost, for she had not returned from the ritual hunt and was assumed dead, with a full public funeral and all, also fear for what a lunar may bring down on them. Respect for the Lunar she had become, for lunars had helped them in the past, and indeed one still claimed ownership of the manse at the heart of the city, though no-one had been inside in years, and respect for her as a new mother. And of course happiness, seeing one of their own return, even so powerful, that she has not forgotten where she came from.

When Snowy reached the house of the shamans, word had already reached them that she had returned, and that she was different, so they were waiting, the doors open, the high shaman bidding her enter. The high shaman led her to the feast table, where only two spots remained unfilled, the head of the table, the high shaman's place, and the place to the immediate right. The high shaman waited, letting her choose her own place at the table. Snowy, without hesitation, took her place at the head of the table, she would not deny who she was, even to those who were still greater than her, even if it was only in her mind, the high shaman taking the remaining spot. Snowy then stood, addressing the gathered shamans, her son still cradled in her arms, “I am Snowy Silver Night. I come before you not only as one of the Beloved of Luna, but as one trained by many of you here and one calling this city home. I am deeply honoured to have this position at the table, and I will be staying here until such time as I am needed in Luna's service, though Resplendant Peak will always be my home and I will always return when I am able. I am sure you all have many, many questions, but for now, let us eat and celebrate!” This elicted quite the cheer, and the celebration began throughout the city, a festival started in her honour, spread by the shamans.

So began Snowy Silver Night's elevation to Goddess-Queen of Resplendant Peak. In only a few years, she established herself as a good leader, making few changes to those things that worked, while working personally to reform areas that needed help, though her decisions can sometimes be rash. Grizzly did return as promised, though they rarely see eachother more than once a year. Snowy has made two trips back to Anja's manse, to further her studies of sorcery, even though the trip is long and dangerous with the threat of the Wyld Hunt. The owner of the manse in the city is still unknown, and Snowy is hesitant to alter the essence flows within the manse to cause a break in the attunement, for the wrath of the unknown is not something she wishes to bring down on her city. She is confident in her abilities to rule, but has kept the entirety of the administrative structure, knowing that her long trips can be quite damaging to the city and wishing to minimize anything that may happen. Her son, who she named Little Bear on the first anniversary of his birth, is being taught the ways of the forest by only the best.

Description

Human Form:

• In her human form, Snowy is about 5' 5” tall, and weighs about 140 lbs. She has long black hair, which she tends to keep looking wild, and her skin is tanned from the time she spends out in the wilderness. Her eyes are always a silvery-grey, and sparkle more than usual under the light, in addition to their eerie similarity to the eyes of an owl, which they are, and they are always full of wisdom. She dresses in hides and furs, fashioned into a long robe, prefering white furs and lighter coloured hides. Her silver tattoos cover her torso, as well as her upper arms and legs, plus the two curling over and around her owl eyes. All her tattoos are of a typical flowing tribal design, befitting a lunar. Along with her tattoos, she has both nipples pierced, from which hang moonsilver pieces shaped like her caste mark. Her caste mark is two crescent moons joined at the top, and slightly seperated at the bottom. She is never without her specially crafted staff, known as the Staff of the Moonless Night. Her armour is also with her most times, traditional shaman robes from Resplendant Peak, made of tough leather and cloth, reinforced by moonsilver threads, known only as the Silver Shaman Robes. In addition, she is always wearing her moonsilver choker, a Collar of Luna's Cleansing Light, since it is never fitting for the Goddess-Queen of a city to be unkempt.

Owl Form:

• In Owl form, she appears as a pure white snowy owl, her feathers showing the hint of silver on their edges and blue towards their bases. Her caste mark is still easily distunguishable as its pair of pure moonsilver crescents, and her claws and beak are dark, providing stark contrast against her feathers. Her eyes are exactly the same as they are in human form, giving her her tell.

Ascension Form:

• Ascension form, being the form of war, is unsubtle, for she appears as a great winged human. Her skin turns pure white as the snow and glints silver in the right light. Her wings spread wide, feathers looking as her owl form feathers do. Her eyes grow, becoming larger, though they appear the same as her other forms, and glow with her inner wisdom.

Totem Animal:

• Snowy Owl
  • Flying Wings
  • Tiny
  • Feathers
  • Claws
  • Eye Color (Enhanced Sight)
  • Eye Color (Night Vision)
  • No Manipulators
  • Total Cost : 8

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifacts: 3 dots

• Staff of the Moonless Night
  • The first of the three items Grizzly crafted in exchange for Snowy bearing his child, the Staff of the Moonless Night was also enhanced by Anja. The staff's core is a study length of ironwood, wrapped in woven moonsilver threads, sealed together with essence. At one end is a large chunk of obsidian, toughened again with earth essence and held in place by the moonsilver thread. The other end is a core of black lead, adding weight in order to strike heavier blows, again wrapped in moonsilver thread and sealed with essence.
  • In addition to its obvious properties as a weapon, the staff is also a potent conduit for sorcery with the large quantity of moonsilver used in its construction. Offensive sorcery can be channeled down the staff, granting a 6-die bonus to any sorcery used in such a way. It also acts as a potent detector of magic, granting a 4-die bonus to any awareness or occult rolls to detect magic.

• Silver Shaman's Wrap
  • The second of the three items, the Silver Shaman's Wrap is a robe styled like that of the shaman's of Resplendant Peak, reinforced with not only tough leather, but moonsilver fabrics and threads, giving it the same properties as a reinforced buff jacket made of moonsilver.

• Collar of Luna's Cleansing Light
  • The moonsilver version of a Collar of Dawn's Cleansing Light.

Cult: 3 dots

• Snowy is worshipped as Goddess-Queen of Resplendant Peak.

Mentor: 2 dots

• Anja Silverclaws is Snowy's connection to sorcery. While they may go years between seeing eachother, the visits are long enough for Snowy to learn a more about sorcery.

Mentor: 1 dot

• Grizzly is Snowy's first teacher and taught her all he could about being a lunar. They still see each other, though not more than once a year, and Grizzly has recently been more interested in his son than Snowy.

Blood Library: 1 dot

• Snowy has access to the following creature forms in addition to her totem form:
  • Arctic Wolf (6 points):
    • A white and grey furred wolf, fairly large as far as wolves go.
    • Thick Fur
    • Enhanced Smell & Hearing
    • Multiple Legs
    • Claws
    • Fangs
    • Sturdy
    • Small
    • No Manipulators
  • Emerald Monkey (4 points):
    • Emerald Monkey with standard emerald fur and sharp teeth, prehensile tail for grabbing and swinging.
    • Fur
    • Prehensile Tail
    • Fangs
    • Small
  • Deer (3 points):
    • A spotted young doe, brown and black with white spots and black tail.
    • Fur
    • Multiple Legs
    • Gazelle's Stride
    • Prey
    • No Manipulators
  • Cat (4 points):
    • A small, lithe black and white female cat, with a black back, white belly and white head, white legs except for black boots.
    • Fur
    • Claws
    • Enhanced Hearing
    • Eye Colour (Night Vision)
    • Multiple Legs
    • Tiny
    • Tail
    • No Manipulators
  • River Fish (0 points):
    • A standard fish, about 1 foot long, silver scales going bluer on the back.
    • Gills
    • Miniscule
    • Gazelle's Stride (Underwater)
    • Prey
    • Aquatic
  • Emerald Vines of Allure (8 points):
    • Emerald Vines of Allure (or Emmy) was a Priestess of Resplendant Peak and is a stunning young woman typical of the area, light skin and green-blue hair. She had many lovers over her short life, and spurned many more. She was poisoned by one of the lovers, a slow, terrible poison to which there is no cure for a mortal. Snowy granted her the release of a quick death, in exchange for her heart's blood and her form.
    • Str: 2
    • Dex: 4
    • Sta: 4
    • App: 6

Crunchy Stuff

Attributes

• Strength: 2
• Dexterity: 5
• Stamina: 4

• Charisma: 3
• Manipulation: 3
• Appearance: 3

• Perception: 5
• Intelligence: 4
• Wits: 5

Abilities

• Archery: 0
• Athletics: 1
• Awareness: 1
• Brawl: 0
• Dodge: 1
• Endurance: 1
• Martial Arts: 1
• Melee: 3
• Resistance: 1
• Thrown: 0

• Crafts: 0
• Larceny: 0
• Linguistics: 2
• Performance: 2
• Presence: 2
• Ride: 0
• Sail: 0
• Socialize: 2
• Stealth: 1
• Survival: 2

• Bureaucracy: 0
• Investigation: 0
• Lore: 3
• Medicine: 2
• Occult: 5

Specialties

• None

Advantages

• Willpower: 8

• Compassion: 3
• Conviction: 4
• Temperance: 2
• Valor: 2

• Essence: 4

• Personal: 20
• Peripheral: 56

Combat Stuff

• Health Levels
  • -0: x1
  • -1: x2
  • -2: x6
  • -4: x1
  • I: x1

• Dodge Pool: 10

• Soak:
  • B: 14
  • L: 9
  • A: 7

• Hardness:
  • B: 5
  • L: 3
  • A: 3

• Staff of the Moonless Night:
  • Speed: 17
  • Accuracy: 12
  • Damage: 6L or 14B
  • Defense: 12
  • Rate: 3

• Claws (totemic):
  • Speed: 10
  • Accuracy: 7
  • Damage: 2L
  • Defense: 8
  • Rate: 5

Ascension Form

• Strength: 2
• Dexterity: 6
• Stamina: 4

• Charisma: 3
• Manipulation: 2
• Appearance: 3

• Perception: 8
• Intelligence: 4
• Wits: 5

• Dodge Pool: 11

• Staff of the Moonless Night:
  • Speed: 18
  • Accuracy: 13
  • Damage: 6L or 14B
  • Defense: 13
  • Rate: 3

• Ascension Claws:
  • Speed: 12
  • Accuracy: 8
  • Damage: 3L
  • Defense: 7
  • Rate: 3

• Ascension Effects:
  • Wound-Knitting Power

Charms:

• Harmony with the Inner Beast

• Ox-Body Technique (1x (4x -2))
• Shining Essence Peacock

• Feline Guard Technique

• Hide of the Cunning Hunter
• Masking the Brilliant Form

• Luna's Ascension
• Wound-Knitting Power
• Wisdom of Luna

• Silver-Soul's Intelligence
• Intelligence of the Moon-Kissed
• Pulse of the Invisible
• Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
• Primordial Fire Harmony
• Tattoo-Cutting Wisdom
• Moon-Chasing Crysanthemum Pattern

Spells

• Emerald Countermagic
• Death of Obsidian Butterflies
• Sting of the Ice Hornet
• Fugue of Truth
• Cirrus Skiff

Equipment:

• Staff of the Moonless Night (Moonsilver Wrackstaff)
• Moonsilver Reinforced Buff Jacket (using modified MM rules)
• equipment to tattoo a new lunar
• Collar of Luna's Cleansing Light

Languages:

• Skytongue
• Forest-tongue
• Old Realm

Flaws:

• Known Anathema (-2)
• Addiction: Marijuana (-1)

Experience:

• Total: 135
• Spent: 114
• Remaining: 21