Kurulham/BlackRazorWind

Dani, the Black Razor Wind

The Black Razor Wind is a short, lithe young woman of perhaps nineteen, with olive skin, long black hair, and a stunning, almost delicate beauty, of the sort one would expect to find in a Dynastic harem. She dresses in the Cult's black robes, with a silver waning crescent moon on her collar, when not in the field. Her almond eyes are a brilliant, shining silver - her Tell. She wears a pair of black jade Hearthstone bracers, but the socket lies empty. In her true animal form, she is a beautiful sable with lustrous black fur and the same silver eyes. In this form, she often sits on the shoulders or around the neck of her Solar husband.

Born simply Dani, to a peasant family in the Threshold, she was rather homely until the age of about thirteen, when she blossomed into the flower of the region. Her beauty caught the attention of a young Cynis Dragon-Blood out on a drunken Calibration rampage when she was sixteen. As he and his companions held her down, she continued to struggle throughout the ordeal, until she was finally clubbed unconscious. When she came to, she was lying in a ditch several miles from town, battered and half-dead, with the Exalt's seed in her belly and hatred in her heart. With nothing more than a knife, she stalked him for two days, growing delirious with her injuries and starvation. When she bent to drink from a pool late on the second day, she saw a silver-haired young woman standing beside her in her reflection. The image stayed just long enough for the woman to touch her on the shoulder, and then she was gone. The next thing Dani knew, she was driving her knife through her rapist's throat as he stood watch. The rest of his companions died in their sleep, and Dani fled in the form of the sable with whose pelt she had strangled them.

The next six months were a blur to Dani. She remembers the miscarriage of the Cynis bastard when she nearly starved in the wilderness. She remembers running and killing with a pack of wolves. She remembers stumbling through the driving snow of the Dehennen range in the form of an arctic sable, guided by an instinct she could not name. What she does not remember are her encounters with Lupo and Venerable Silk, nor collapsing on the doorstep of the Sequestered Tabernacle, naked, bloodied, filthy, and near death from exhaustion and starvation.

Being Exalted, she recovered quickly, though her mind was slower to return to itself than her body. It was a month and more before she spoke again, and even then, it was in the Old Realm she had been hearing all around her, and not the Skytongue with which she had been raised. Though pieces of her memory came back with time, large portions of her life are lost to her forever. She does not remember the faces or voices of her parents, though she thinks she had a brother, and has vague memories of a lover. (In fact, she was recently married; her similarly-young husband was killed on that fateful Calibration night.) Similarly, she does not remember where she is from, though she remembers the peasant life. The night of her Exaltation, however, is crystal clear in her mind.

As she recovered, a second-year Solar named Storm on Gold was assigned as her mentor and tutor in the ways of the Cult. It is perhaps unsurprising that they soon became more than teacher and student. Shortly thereafter, her true training began; she has recently completed the ad-hoc course of study which Venerable Silk had set out for her.

Due to the Sequestered Tabernacle's total lack of knowledge about Lunar training techniques, most of her training has been in fundaments of Essence and sorcery; though she lacks powerful Charms, she is subtle and sly, and she is a sorcerous prodigy. These traits combine to make her one of the Cult's foremost young assassins; she will usually approach a target as the moon is waning, then kill on the night of the new moon with the Flying Guillotine, making her escape as an unkindness of ravens with the Flight of Separation. It is this trademark which has earned her the name Black Razor Wind; she does not answer to the name "Dani" from any save Storm on Gold and Venerable Silk, who are the only ones privileged to use her true name. This trademark has also earned her a bit of notoriety in the northern Threshold.

Though Dani is certainly a stunning beauty, she does not have the concomitant force of personality that most Solars possess. Her beauty is a quiet, ornamental thing, which she treasures only because it pleases Storm on Gold. She truly loves him; if she ever discovers his true feelings for her, her wrath will be great.

Caste: Casteless
Nature: Follower
Totem: Sable
Tell: Brilliant silver eyes

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

Abilities: *Athletics 2, *Awareness 2, Dodge 3, Endurance 1, Investigation 1, Larceny 1, Lore 1, Linguistics 1 ("Native": Old Realm, Skytongue), *Martial Arts 3, Occult 3, Presence 3, Resistance 1, Ride 1, Socialize 1, *Stealth 3, *Survival 2

Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Temperance 5, Valor 2

Backgrounds: Ally 1 (Kurulham/BlackRazorWind/StormOnGold), Artifact 1, Heart's Blood 2, Illumination 1, Resources 2, Sorcery 3

Essence: 3
Personal: 17
Peripheral: 46

Charms: Finding the Spirit's Shape, Shaping the Ideal Form, Humble Mouse Shape, Sense-Sharpening Change, Stealthy Fox Method, Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

Spells: Flight of Separation, Flying Guillotine, Virtuous Guardian of Flame

Flaws: Known Anathema

Known Shapes: Sable, wolf, mouse, raven, deer

Notes

It is not likely to become important, but Dani's is the Essence of a First Age Waning Moon named Belisan. However, if she were tattooed in the modern era, it is equally likely that she would be tattooed as a No Moon. Venerable Silk would like to see her tattooed, as he has heard tales of Faithful Pia's instability at Kether Rock, but Dani has shown no signs of such behavior and Venerable Silk is not willing to risk exposing her to the ideals of the Silver Pact. Belisan died defending his Solar wife during the Usurpation. Storm on Gold is not her reincarnation, but the reincarnation of a member of her Circle and a bitter rival.