DarkSirenSally/Nerissa

Nerissa Sensha

Nerissa stands nearly six feet tall, with thick curly russet hair that spills down nearly to her waist, held back from her face by a headscarf in contrasting blue. Her eyes are blue as well, a deep cool blue reminiscent of the ocean's murky depths. She is tanned and rugged looking, her face handsome more than pretty, her skin weathered by years of sea-salt and unsavory weather, of sunlight bearing down during hot summer days. Nonetheless, her body is without a doubt female, her broad-shouldered, curvaceous figure sculpted taut from toiling regularly at a blacksmith's forge, from the daily rigors of sailing and combat practice. She has done more than practice, though, apparent from the numerous scars upon her body, most notably a long scar that runs across her jaw from left shoulder to chin. The rest are hidden underneath her typical outfit -- a snug, deep brown leather vest worn over a billowing white tunic cinched at the wrists and laced up the chest, matching brown leather breeches laced up the sides, and sturdy black leather boots. Her only visible piece of jewelry is a shark tooth hanging from a black leather necklace, etched meticulously with the image of a trireme.

When armed for battle, Nerissa is an impressive sight, clad in a suit of heavy armor forged plate by plate to mold perfectly to her measurements, with a spiked tetsubo -- also custom forged -- strapped to her body and a sturdy, plated gauntlet strapped to her left hand. She may also carry an array of other weapons attached to her belt or slung across her back, depending on mood or necessity, but she always favors blunt weapons and is most proficient with them, or with her gauntleted fists.

Heeding the Sea's Call - Nerissa's (yes, admittedly lengthy, but what else did you expect? ^^) history / biography thing.

For posterity, I've kept Nerissa's old sheet, made for a long defunct mixed-exalt game by ParitySoul, set in the West.

Solar Exalted Character Sheet

Name: Nerissa Sensha

Player: Dark Siren Sally

Caste: Dawn

Concept: Fighting blacksmith and former ship's captain who yearns to sail again.

Nature: Paragon

Anima: Weapons of all kinds, seemingly crafted of molten gold, burst forth into a wickedly bristling mandala with Nerissa at its center. The layers of weapons increase in length and thickness as her Essence expenditure increases.

Bonus points (total: 15, unused: 15)

• Abilities: -13 bp
• Backgrounds: -2 bp
• Combos: -3 bp
• Merits: -2 bp
• Flaws: +5 bp

Experience points (total: 0, unused: 0)

Attributes

Physical [1]

• Strength 4
• Dexterity 4
• Stamina 3

Social [3]

• Charisma 3
• Manipulation 2
• Appearance 2

Mental [2]

• Perception 2
• Intelligence 4
• Wits 3

Abilities

Dawn (c)

• Archery
• Brawl - 3 (3 bp)
  • Specialty: Disarm - 2 (1 bp)
• Martial Arts
• Melee - 3 + 1 (1 bp) = 4
  • Specialty: Blunt Weapons - 2 (1 bp)
• Thrown - 3 (3 bp)

Zenith

• Endurance (f) - 3
• Performance
• Presence - 3
• Resistance (f) - 2
• Survival

Twilight

• Craft (f)
  • Craft (Armorsmithing) - 3
  • Craft (Weaponsmithing) - 3 + 1 (1 bp) = 4
  • Craft (Shipbuilding) - 1
• Investigation
• Lore - 2
• Medicine
• Occult - 2

Night

• Athletics (f) - 2
• Awareness - 1
• Dodge
• Larceny
• Stealth

Eclipse

• Bureaucracy
• Linguistics - 1
  • Known Languages: Seatongue (native), Riverspeak
• Ride
• Sail (f) - 3 (3 bp)
• Socialize

Backgrounds

• Artifact - 3
  • First Age Light Warship "Horizon Breaker" (Level 3)
  • Orichalcum Throwing Hammer "Forgemaster's Friend" (Level 2)
  • Orichalcum Smashfist "Blade-Catcher" (Level 1)

• Followers - 3
  • Future crew members of the Horizon Breaker in the Second Age.
    • Ardent Leah (Leah): Second in command (kubernetes). Best sailor of the group. Thick, deep green hair cut short to follow her jawline, bronze skin, blue-green eyes. Ambidextrous, with scimitar in right hand and curved dagger in the left.
    • Camilla: Former nobleman's daughter who changed her name. Ash blonde hair, fair skin, stormy grey eyes. Though trained in battle, favoring the rapier, she serves the crew best as purser, supervising finances and ship's provisions.
    • Meridia: Tall, strong and stocky, with curly red hair tied in a ponytail, bronze skin and hazel eyes. Serves as both cook and carpenter, as needed; also assists Nerissa when they have access to a forge. Primarily favors axes.
    • Linnet Seine (Linnet, or Lin): Surgeon and medic, also skilled with knives in battle. Blue-black hair cut short and spiky, brown skin and green eyes.
    • Iku and Kalu: Twins, very dark skinned with short-cropped black hair, golden eyes, compact, lithe and wiry forms. Topsmen skilled with shortbow and scimitar.
    • Sienna Nevermoor: A distant descendant of Alcasta Nevermoor. Tanned, freckled skin, blue eyes, long brown hair caught in two braids. Spear and quarterstaff wielder, trained with many blades as well. Serves as ship's armsman.

• Resources - 1 + 2 (2 bp) = 3

Charms

• Brawl: Ferocious Jab
• Brawl: Thunderclap Rush Attack
• Melee: Excellent Strike
• Melee: Golden Essence Block
• Melee: Dipping Swallow Defense
• Resistance: Durability of Oak Meditation
• Resistance: Whirlwind Armor-Donning Prana
• Endurance: Armored Scout's Invigoration
• Craft: Flawless Handiwork Method
• Sail: Salty Dog Method

Combos

• Ever-Vigilant Arsenal (Thunderclap Rush Attack, Excellent Strike, Dipping Swallow Defense) (3 bp)
  • Fluff description forthcoming. :o

Merits

• Ambidextrous (1 bp)
  • Nerissa can use both hands with equal dexterity, allowing her to wield weapons in either hand without penalty.

• Internal Compass (1 bp)
  • Nerissa has an uncanny sense of direction. She gains 1 extra die for navigating a ship or finding her way through a maze. She can orient herself to one of the cardinal directions with a Wits + Awareness roll of difficulty 1.

Flaws

• Damaged Artifact (+2 bp)
  • The Horizon Breaker, Nerissa's Light Warship from the First Age, is severely damaged in the current age after a thousand years of falling into disrepair.

• Nightmares (+3 bp)
  • It happened an age ago, but Nerissa still dreams of the loss of Alcasta and the crew of the Siren's Fancy. In her nightmares the seas are always violent and the rains always relentless, and the beautiful monstrosities of the ocean depths rise up to claim all those she loves.

Virtues

• Compassion - 3
• Conviction - 2
• Temperance - 1
• Valor - 3

• Virtue Flaw: Red Rage of Compassion (Exalted p. 132)

Essence and Willpower

• Essence - 2
• Willpower - 3 (Compassion) + 3 (Valor) = 6
• Personal Essence - 6 (2 x Essence) + 6 (Willpower) = 12
• Peripheral Essence - 14 (7 x Essence) + 6 (Willpower) + 9 (sum of Virtues) - 8 (committed) = 21

Health Levels

• -0 x 1
• -1 x 2
• -2 x 2
• -4 x 1
• Incapacitated

Equipment

Artifacts

• First Age Light Warship "Horizon Breaker" (Artifact level 3)
  • Stats and details found on Savage Seas p. 64-65. Also note the "First Age Warships" box on p. 62.

• Orichalcum Throwing Hammer "Forgemaster's Friend" (Artifact level 2)
  • (melee) Spd +3 / Acc +2 / Dam +4L / Def +2 / Rate 4
  • (thrown) Acc +2 / Dam +4L / Rate 3 / Range 20
  • All stats include orichalcum bonus
  • Min Str 2, Dex 3
  • Commit 5
  • Returns to wielder at end of turn (barring obstacles, and only up to 100 yards distance). Otherwise, she can summon Forgemaster's Friend from Elsewhere as a reflexive action at the cost of 1 mote.
  • When used as a forge hammer, decreases the difficulty of Craft (Armorsmithing) and Craft (Weaponsmithing) by 2, to a minimum of 1.

• Orichalcum Smashfist "Blade-Catcher" (Artifact level 1)
  • Spd -3 / Acc +2 / Dam +5L / Def +4 / Rate 7
  • All stats include orichalcum bonus
  • Min Str 2
  • Commit 3
  • Shaped like the pincer of a golden crab, with small nubs and spikes texturing its broad surface, this orichalcum brawling aid attaches to the upper arm and extends past the knuckles. The split seperating the pincers is wide enough that she can catch weapons with them and potentially even disarm them.
  • Adds +1 die to disarm attempts using Brawl.

Mundane

The weapons and armor below are items that Nerissa has forged herself.

"Exceptional" is used as described in the "Exceptional Weapons" box in Exalted p. 326, with the addition that points can be used to increase Rate as well. It works similarly for armor, except that one may distribute the three points between soak, mobility and fatigue values (decreasing, not increasing, in case of fatigue). It takes 2 points to raise lethal soak by 1, and 1 point to raise bashing soak by 1. The points cannot be used to raise any single value by more than 1.

• Exceptional Fighting Gauntlet
  • Spd -6 / Acc +1 / Dam +5L / Def +3 / Rate 4
  • Min Str 2

• Exceptional Tetsubo
  • Spd +3 / Acc +0 / Dam +12B / Def -2 / Rate 2
  • Min Str 4

• Exceptional Superheavy Plate
  • Soak 12L/13B / Mobility -3 / Fatigue 2

Other items of note

• Shark Tooth Necklace
  • Of sentimental value to Nerissa, once belonging to her long-dead lover, Alcasta Nevermoor.