Andrix/JoyousSky
Name: Joyous Sky (Alita)
Caste: Zenith
Motivation: To eliminate the deathlords and purge creation of shadowlands
Anima: A flock of golden songbirds
Concept: Ghost Hunter
XP: Spent/Total: 314/345
Attributes
Strength •••, Dexterity •••••, Stamina •••
Charisma ••••, Manipulation ••, Appearance ••••
Perception ••••, Intelligence ••••, Wits ••••
Abilities</b>
<b>Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Bureaucracy 4, Dodge 2, Integrity 5, Lore 3, Medicine 2, Melee 5 (+2 short swords), Occult 4 (+2 Ghosts), Performance 5 (+3 Flutes), Presence 3, Resistance 2, Survival 3, War 2
Virtues</b>
<b>Compassion ••••, Conviction ••••, Temperance •••, Valor ••
Virtue Flaw Heart of Flint: 4
Willpower •••••••
Essence ••••
Personal 19
Peripheral 48
Intimacies</b>
Her flute and music, Her wives, Her extended 'family', The Unconquered Sun, Fear of the Neverborn, Lu Zhin (negative), Seven Sentinels, Juniper, Requiem for the Last Man Standing (and getting her redemption), Seras Winterblood
<b>Backgrounds:</b>
<b>Artifact(1) •• (Willow Blade)
Artifact(2) ••• (Ash Blade)
Mentor •• (Seras Winterblood)
Resources ••
Health Levels</b> 0*1, -1*3, -2*4, -4*1, Incap
<b>Charms</b>
<b>Bureaucracy 1st Bureaucracy Excellency
Integrity 2nd Integrity Excellency, Temptation Resisting Stance, Elusive Dream Defence
Melee 1st Melee Excellency, Dipping Swallow Defence, One Weapon Two Blows, Peony Blossom Attack, Iron Whirlwind Attack, Heavenly Guardian Defence, Bulwark Stance, Fivefold Bulwark Stance
Occult Spirit Cutting Attack, Spirit Detecting Glance, All-Encompassing Sorcerers Sight
Performance 1st Performance Excellency, 2nd Performance Excellency, Performance Essence Flow, Heart-Compelling Method, Phantom-Conjuring Performance, Musician Without Fingers Technique, Spirit Clenching Aria, Infatuation-Gathering Idol Methodology, Zealot Heart Sonata
Resistance Ox-Body Technique (x1)
Combos</b>
None
<b>Sorcery</b>
None
<b>Combat Stats</b>
<b>Join Battle 5, Soak 7B/4L/3A (Buff Jacket), Dodge DV 11/2
Punch Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 2B, Defence 7/2, Rate 3
Kick Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 5B, Defence 3/2, Rate 2
Clinch Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 2B, Defence 5/2, Rate 1
Willow and Ash Blades Speed 4, Accuracy 14, Damage 5L, Defence 13/2, Rate 2
Short Daiklave Speed 4, Accuracy 15, Damage 6L, Defence 14/2, Rate 3
Social Combat Stats</b>
<b>Join Debate 5, Dodge MDV 15/2
Presence Speed 4, Accuracy 6, Parry 6/2, Rate 2
Performance Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Parry 8/2, Rate 1
Investigation Speed 5, Accuracy 3, Parry 3/2, Rate 2
Backstory
Joyous Sky was born within a medium sized shadowland to the west of Linowa to a small semi-nomadic tribe who for generations had tasked themselves with placating the dead within, guiding them back to their rightful place of rest and preventing them from accidentally spilling over into creation. The tribes tradition held, that when a child was born, the father would walk out and look for a sign from the gods, taking from it the child’s spirit name. On the morning she was born, her father journeyed out and was met with, rather than the normal, dull grey dawn of the shadowlands, a rare pink and orange sunrise. While known to her friends and family as Alita, she was given the formal name of Joyous Sky.
Alita’s mother died in childbirth and her father succumbed to an intense fever while she was still young, leaving her to be raised by her grandfather. Though too young to remember either of them properly or even grieve for them as she grew older, she struggled to express herself as well as the few other children in the tribe and was always quiet. The only real joy afforded to her was when her grandfather, a skilled craftsman fashioned her a small wooden flute and taught her to play it.
She was also too young to remember exactly when the shadowland was claimed by the deathlady, The Maid of a Thousand Veils, simply that there was once a time when she hadn’t ruled their home. The elders of the tribe were wise enough to know that they couldn’t stop her and her minions. Instead, they vowed to carry on doing what the tribe had always done and use its traditions and methods to prevent shadowlands increasingly abundant denizens from spilling over into creation. Amused, the deathlady didn’t wipe them out, choosing to let them remain for sport, the same way a noble keeps deer in the grounds of their homes and to provide something tangible for her minions to sharpen their teeth on.
When Alita was ten, her grandfather passed on of old age and she was taken in by the tribes elders who had noted the promise she had shown when being taught the tribes knowledge and how to fight using the swords of ash and willow the tribe crafted to combat spirits. She was a prodigy and determined, driven not by a hatred of the undead, rather a clarity of purpose and conviction that creation must be rid of such things. By seventeen, she was as adept at fighting the undead as any in the tribe and her knowledge was surpassed only by the wisest of the elders.
Alita exalted when a group of hungry ghosts driven by The Maiden's latest exalted recruit, a Lunar corrupted to her cause, caught her tribe unprepared. Recognising the young and old of the tribe would be slowest as they fled and cut down, she decided to stand and fight; placing herself between her tribe and it's attackes. She knew there was no way she could win or survive. Instead her reasoning was that one life was out weighed by those of the many and it was therefore the best course of action. As she exalted, recognition came over the lunar who, to the confusion of everyone else present, ordered off the attack and returned to his mistress.
Joyous Sky doesn’t realise that the beast that confronted her is the reincarnation of her lunar mate. Nor does she know that The Maid of a Thousand Veils is the soul of her first age incarnation returned as a deathlord while she has inherited her solar essence. The lunar mate (who I haven't got a name for) came to investigate the deathlord and see if anything could be done to stop her, but when he was captured he learnt how he had turned his back on her in the first age and watched her die as she begged for him to save her. The Maid manipulated this guilt and eventually broke him and he pledged to serve her. The attack on the tribe was designed to prove he was loyal enough by killing on her word alone.
Alita, having left the tribe, uses her more formal name Joyous Sky, her previous name being something deeply personal to her that was only ever used by close family and friends. She believes that the return of the Unconquered Sun and the Solar exalted is the best course for creation and is driven to this end. However, she doesn’t particularly take any joy from being an exalt, seeing it as a burden and responsibility she has if creation is to be lead along the best path. If pressed, the one thing she would say she is truly thankful for is that it has allowed her music to develop further than she could ever have taken it as a mortal.
Description
Sky is a touch below average height for her age and if anything looks slightly younger than her 17 years would suggest. Having spent almost all of her life living in a shadowland she retains a pale complexion that people can use to instantly place her origins. On top of this her hair, roughly cut to shoulder length, appears black at most angles, but has a strange dark blueish hue to it if caught from the right angels. Normally, she chooses not to entertain anything but practicallity, and this is reflected in her clothes, generally wearing simple things with her buff jacket over the top and a belt to which she can strap her blades. Sky treasures the flute her grandfather made her and as a result carries it everywhere with her, this too is normally strapped to her belt, held in a special leather pouch.
Part of Sky's love of music comes from the fact that she can find talking to people difficult. It's easier to say so much more with her flute than it is with words. However, it also means she finds herself pretty shy around new people and a touch distant, a fact made even worse by her sheer dedication, almost all of her time being spend training so she can, 'do her best, and, 'do the right thing.' Underneath the serious exterior of Joyous Sky however remains the young Alita who was known to her family, out in the creation for the first time, both confused and amazed. She's particularly taken with flowers and things of natural beauty as her childhood in the shadowland had almost led her to believe such things couldn't exist.
