GoldenCat/AshenTearsPuppeteer

The Cat of Death

‘When your allies leave you, when mistrust tear your home apart, when your own son stabs you through the heart in the ruins of all you held dear – I will be there, hands into your daughter’s knickers, looking down on you. Just so you know, oh king. Just so you know it was /me/’

Forsaken Name : Ledaal Kalyan
Abyssal Ttitle : Ashen Tears Puppeteer
Religious Title : Daimyo of Night and Whispers
Alias : Mohan Sabati

Concept : Dynast-Born Manipulator
Nature : Hedonist ( Gain willpower whenever you have a really good time, and brings others in )
Caste : Moonshadow ( Children of Dust, Hollow Darkness )
Charm Theme : Lord of Mind’s Labyrinth Who Moves As the Darkest Cat

Anima Banner : A bright blow in waving night-black and purple. Within it, comes countless coiled strings, lashing, hitting the ground and coiling around him like a thousand snakes, sounding like whips. When fully iconic, feline crimson eyes appear behind him, the eyes of a hunter. The strings rush to all those influenced by his presence powers, directing his actions as he moves with the speed and swiftness of a cat through his foes...

Anima Power : By spending 10 motes, he may sanctify any oath he is party to or witness, with a flash of his anima, black and violet sways around him, the strings of his anima binding the hands together with a searing sensation. Any who breaks such oaths suffers a number of botches on critical times equal to Mohan’s essence. He is also a talented generalist, able to learn the charms of other magical creatures, at double the Essence cost.

Religious Role : To the Cult, Ashen Tears Puppeteer is the Daimyo of Night and Whispers - The spymaster supreme. He knows everything, of everyone. Or at least, pretends damn well to, feline eyes and everyone can simply _see_ the grin under the mask... if they come close enough. And they won't, for coming so close is known to place one in his threads, where to his amusement he might make them great, or destroy their very lives utterly, until they cry sour on the ashes of all they loved... and yet, there is little reason not to approach the seductive, resourceful man who might answer all your questions... or throw you in the lottery of your life.

Goals : Mohan has some clear goals in his mind – the first one is the simplest – money and power. He wants to be as well off as his Dynastic family, to hold all the weath he can on the palm of his hand. He also wants power, to know to be safe and well-backed. He wants to break the Coral archipelago for their resources first, as he considers them savages. The Dynasty, he wants to get just to make a point. And the houses Ledaal and Ragara in particular.

He wants to get a decent foothold on the realm, and specially turn some of house Ledaal on his puppets. And he really wants to find and break a Sidereal Exalted, so as to present his Deathlord with such a gift as a servant of heaven, as the first step to get into its inner workings and cripple it. And because he wishes to be able to manipulate as only Venus can. And finally, he intends to survive the enemies his schemes got him so far, a task that seem harder and harder as the web closes on him...

Appearance

Ashen Tears is assossosiated with cats, and he certainly looks the part. His hair is pitch-black, falling down his back in a waterfall of night, the gleams it catches shining like the stars on the underworld. His eyes are crimson, sharp like those of a hunter, of a feline.

And his face... from the seductive mien of a beautiful hunter to the strikingly cute, closed-eyes smile of a cat, warming any who see it, it can change drastically on a whim – leaving any to wonder which is his poker face, and which is the true mien. He is a well-built man, healthy and athletic, who carries himself in the manner of a feline – even when looking up at someone, he never begs, he only demands. But sweetly, in a manner that is never intrusive. His midnight-black hair falls to half his back, and is slim like silk.

He dresses in fine robes, usually black and crimson or black and violet – still wearing much the same fashion as he did in the Dynasty, decorated with either the image of dragons, or intricate abstracrt patterns. The intricate symbol of house Ledaal can still be seen in many of the sashes and scarves he wears.

That is, of course, to the living world. That is the Mohan Sabati merchants and kings are so found of, for which their daughters sigh for. To the Order of the Endless Night, he is Daimyo of Night and Whispers – a man shrouded in a heavy wine-red cloak, midnight-black hair falling from behind his mask.

He walks without a word, carrying himself as a god, and all know that simply making contact with where his eyes should be can make one target of his amusement, place one under his power – to be pushed up to grandeur or have all of one’s life turned to ash by one’s own hands, until even the tears follow this fate.

Attributes

Physical [6]
Strength ***
Dexterity ***
Stamina ***

Mental [4]
Intelligence ***
Perception **
Wits ***

Social [8]
Manipulation *****
Appearance *****
Charisma ***

Abilities [25]

Dusk
[F] Martial Arts ****

Midnight
Performance **
[F] Presence *****
Survival *

Daybreak
[F] Occult **
Lore ****

Day
[F] Athletics *
[F] Dodge ***
Stealth *
Awareness **
Larceny *

Moonshadow [Caste]
Bureaucracy **
Sail *
Socialize ***
Linguistics **
Languages : Old Realm, High Realm, Wavetongue

Charms [10]

Presence
Elegant Tyrant’s Majesty
Soul-Flaying Gaze
Compelling Whisper Technique
Irresistible Succubus Style

Performance
Haunting Inflection Trick

Dodge
Flitting Shadow Form
Fivefold Shadow Form

Martial Arts

Tiger Style
Crimson Leaping Cat Techinque
Striking Fury Claws Attack
Tiger Form

Advantages

Virtues[5]
Conviction ***
Compassion **
Temperance ***
Valor **

Essence ***
Personal Essence - 21
Peripheral Essence - 39
Total: 60
Commited:

Health -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Inc.

Willpower 6

Backgrounds [13]

Resources ****

Even before his Abyssal exaltation, Kalyan was already a merchant of some renown on the area, with quite the manipulator with it. After his exaltation, he became able to get truly wondrous merchandise, and to make the greatest deals... His primary dealing is with human merchandise – slaves, exotic pets for the powerful. He caters for nobles on Wavecrest and Rich men on Coral, but, mostly, deals extensively with An-Teng, catering primarily for the Dragon-Blooded with all manner of exotic people he can find – those with exotic wyld mutations, the pretty ones the shadowlands generate, and even some Nyrlisa has crafted exquisitely and sold to him. He keeps mostly pretty females around, but deals in male merchandise occasionally as well. He has even managed to get a couple outcaste dragon-blooded and sell them to human royalty, the ultimate rush for them.. after he got the ultimate rush of subduing them himself.

His secondary dealing is with spices, silks, and other fineries – not only he understands much of them for his lavish lifestyle, that tries its best to mimic the realm’s splendor, but he deals in it, the best and most exotic fineries he can find, the most comfortable materials in the most stylish cuts, made by men and faerie both, only at the reach of the wealthiest nobles or the dragon-blooded. And finally, he deals in information, his sweetest currency. He knows all, but only partakes of little.. and at a hefty price. Both of his outward bussiness serve as a cover to the third, which is an open secret – all know to ask him, few know how he knows what he does, and none other than the receptor knows what he says.

Artifacts *****

Manse **

The Palace of Fallen Roses is a great manse located in the greatest of the Ashcream Islands, on the far end of its Shadowland area – where he can still enjoy some of the sun and of the ocean when he feels like so. The Palace itself has a great garden of roses, watered with blood least once a Lunar cycle. Apples and Jambo and many another red fruits dot the orchard that are its expansive gardens, and Ashen Tears has a special liking for Jambo, so deliciously sin-red, so immaculately snow-white on the inside.

The Manse itself is made of black and white marble worked together, veined red. They are worked in a thousand masks in releve, some of comedy, some of tragedy, most of mystery. In some of the rooms, they are also stories... of betrayal, of control, and mostly, of lust. It is a palace, and bursts with activity due to the informants coming and going contantly, leaving the Pupeteer the reports he has to constantly read and file, both of his bussiness and of his espionage organization. The Manse has running water, filling warm baths, but said water has a slight red tinge, and a taste that seems to carry just a bit of iron... but yet, it cleans very well, and is quite an asset to vanity.

The Palace of Fallen Roses produces the following Hearthstone :

( Courtesy of Ikselam, whom I’d like to thank for making up half of the Hearthstones I have ever used or seen people use. Thank you, oh Daymyo of glittering gems! ^_^ )

Blood-Lust Jewel

Manse ••
Trigger: Licking or kissing a wound. 

This teardrop-shaped gem is colored a deep, opaque carmine, like congealing blood. If its wearer touches his mouth to an open wound, the wounded person will experience a surge of ecstatic, intensely erotic pleasure. When this power is used, the target must make an immediate Temperance check. If she gets even one success, she has managed to suppress her body's reaction and is able to act normally. If she fails, her mind is clouded by pleasure and all her actions for the remainder of the turn are at -2 dice. A botch means that she has been totally overcome by the sensation, and is unable to act at all for the remainder of the turn. This power may be used while an Abyssal is drinking blood from a victim.

Spies *****

It took him only a few years. The Sightblinders were a powerful machine when he arrived, yes... but soon, he rose on its ranks. The Ashen Tears Pupeteer would accept nothing if not control over the organization, and in only a few years he became one of its major figures – and turned the organization into a juggernaut. With the right deals, and stringing the right people as his puppets, he soon had eyes and ears in all of the West – such small patch of lands, such flamboyant organizations! – On the Silver Prince’s Elder Concil, on Coral’s merchants, on Eos’ pirates – everywhere in the West, someone ultimately answers to the Ashen Tears Puppeteer.

If it was the East, he might have worked harder to ensure his eyes were everywhere, but in the West, they were simply the first step. His wing of the Sightblinders – The Midnight Graces – Expanded all accross Creation, with agents in all five directions, including – to his delight – inside the Realm’s great houses. Unfortunately, Ledaal is too watchful for him to penetrate with any degree of precision, but he keeps trying.

Most frightening of the Midnight Graces are the Azure Ashes ( Whose full name is Perfected Stalkers of Azure Ashes ), an elite of Ghost-Blooded Ashen Tears recruited out of the best both Ashcream and Skullstone had to offer. They were specially trained in the arts of espionage and assassination, and, although they number only 25 – 5 for each direction – their might is frightening. Alone, they can bring oblivion to any mortal – usually using the poison of a shellfish that makes the victim’s lips and nails the color of the western ocean, hence their name – but together... the 5 on each direction join once a year, during Calibration, and that is the one and only time they will accept contracts on the Exalted or other powerful beings. But against a full directional circle, not even Ashen Tears would have any chance. A pact with Nyrlisa, a Raksha of the Pearl Court had their bodies perfected in the very images of desire, able to be accepted anywhere. And a pact with Telar, a former Dragon-Blooded Sorcerer’s ghost ensures they receive training in the most powerful Arcanoi available. They are certainly one of Ashen Tear’s mightest assets, when called upon.

He has few contenders for power within the Sightblinders, the most notorious being the Spider in Darkness and Agony – but thankfully, their radically different spheres of influence – him as the director of the far-reaching spies and her as the inquisitor, the head of the counter-spies – keeps them from having any conflict... for now.

Cult **

A Lord of the Vermillion Fist, Ashen Tears puppeteer is the god of the night and whispers on the Cult of the Order of the Endless Night – those who wish to get others under their power, be it in manipulative schemes or passion, pray to him. At times, they will give him a great enough offering that he will notice while passing by, or be informed of it, a situation in which he might find amusing to actually help the person’s schemes...

Liege ****

The Crimson Emperor is both his liege-lord and a kindred soul. He understands his lord perfectly, and shares many his dreams of power and conquest. On his command, Mohan expanded the Sightblinders so their strings reach to almost all of Creation. On his command, Mohan made contacts with many of the west, and stablished a powerful indentity there. It was his lord who taught him the corruption of his solar charms that allow Mohan to bend people to his will, and more than once, both sat on a table with undead aides, and discussed their next steps.

A few times during those meetings, Mohan has broken to informal tone with the Emperor, a fact that was cut off shaprly. But more and more, he understands his deathlord... having even a pretty solid guess of what happened to bring the Emperor about. He knows the Emperor probably has an even better grasp on him, and hopes and prays, but not to the Malfeans he is supposed to believe, that the Emperor agrees with him on the futility of wholesale destruction...

Influence ***

Mohan Sabati is a very proeminent figure on the West. From the markets of Coral to the Balls in An-Teng, he is a well-known figure in the higher circles, friend of merchants and kings, always ready to sell the newest robe, concubine or information to them. Well-known and friendly regarded in most of the West, and specially in Wavecrest and An-Teng, he is sure to have a warm welcome and a cut in the right deals.

Flaws

Enemy

Ragara Urien is the sole survivor of the ‘satrapy affair’ the Puppeteer was involved in. Seeking vengeance, unable to admit the blood of his mother and sister are on his hands, seeking the return of his little brother, he took to the West, eyes clouded by rage... together with his father, Ragara Aias, an old and powerful dragon-blooded admiral. Together, both want him dead for all he was the cause of... still unsure of what exactly the man is, if spirit, raksha or anathema.

Rival

The Lord of Empty Oceans is one of the Crimson Emperor’s most powerful ghostly servants, charged with both the rule of one of Ashscream islands and a great position within the Sightblinders. He commands a powerful personal guard, and a cache of artifacts he acquired in at least six centuries serving the Crimson Emperor. To defy him in his territory means certain death. As it meant to the Ledaal Kalyan. Found in his bedchamber with Ivory Garden Princess, the Lord’s lover, Kalyan was thrown out of his window after a severe beating... but as the Lord of Empty Oceans looked down his shattered window at the corpse that should be down there, he saw the boy, exaltation burning on his forehead.

The Puppeteer humilliated him, and by doing so, became his superior. Closer to the Emperor than the Lord had always been, and his rate of success in expanding the Sightblinders – even renaming and creating great wings within it – has been astouding. The Lord of Empty Oceans hated the whelp from day one, and his hatred and envy grows more every day... whatever setback he can place on the Moonshadow’s path, he will.

Secrets

Mohan Sabati is a figure of renown in the West, very friendly with both Wavecrest and Coral, known far and wide. It would greatly damage his reputation if he was exposed as anathema – and even more if he was known to be a servant of a deathlord who controls spies deeply rooted in the territories of all his ‘friends’

Greater Curse

The Daimyo of Night and Whispers abuses the goodwill of the Malfeans – his constant lovemaking with mortals, the time he spends in Wavecrest and Coral enjoying the good life and pretending to be only another human, an unexalted dynast in ‘disguise’... so much that he had his curse heightened, not in small part due to the efforts of his rival, who prayed to the Malfeans and spoke much of ‘lessons of humilty’ to the Crimson Emperor...

Bonus Points [34]

Bonus – 15 Liege – 9 Flaws – 10

Essence (+1) – 7
Abilities (+6) – 6
Virtue (+1) - 3

Backgrounds (+10) - 18
Influence (+3) – 3
Liege (+4) – 5
Resources-Artifact-Spies (+5) – 10

Flaws - 10
Greater Curse - 3
Enemy - 3
Rival - 3
Secrets - 1

History

Ledaal Kalyan lived a classic dynastic life – comfortable, at the same time spoiled into being a prince of the earth and pushed to the limit to prove himself worthy of it. He tried, oh, he tried... primary school was a rush, family was a constant power-play. By secondary school, he had not Exalted. But, there was no doubt he would, right? Such a talented, dashing young man couldn’t be forsaken by the Dragons...

... But, in the end, he was.

Each and every classmate who exalted was a blow to his ego. More and more, the world walked to the godhood that should be his’.. and left him behind. And the boy who dreamed of protecting the empire against monsters on the fringe of the world saw the walls of useless paperwork close up around him. His talent got him in the Spiral Academy, but soon he noticed one needed more than that to properly survive on a Dragon-Blooded school. When a discussion about the character of the Empress and their houses broke out a fight between him and Ragara Urien, he learned some truths.

The first he learned when getting all the blame for it, despite receiving several injuries and staying a week in the nursery, while Urien was mostly unscathed. And the second he learned when Ragara flaunted being Tepet Nina’s, Kalyan’s girlfriend to the night before their fight, paramour in front of all the school. Then he learned... that the Dragons were more deserving of everything. Even love.

Out of the Spiral Academy, he was still in the cradle of power, but felt so... inadequate. The Ledaal libraries were open for him, and on service the family, he learned much... but, every day the weight was stronger on him, suffocating. A smart man who carried himself with an unmistakable, captivating presence, he was able to get in many places in his house and learn many things... among them, he learned about the Deathlords. And an insane plan began to form on his mind...

He got it made with his family, and got the right paperwork and an starting money to head to the West... where he had learned vague mentions to two of those, who had settled a long while ago. When one is a hero wishing to invade and overthrow a foe, you want to deal with those who are still expanding or in flux... but, when you are like Kalyan, who wished to become part of their empire to learn enough and then come back to his family a hero... those settled, with a system one could exploit as much as the Dynasty, were ideal. And so, he shipped to the West, desperate for recognition, desperate to do something for the empire, his empire...

But, as soon as he got out of the Realm, everything changed. The weight was gone from his shoulders, completely. Suddenly, he was more cultured, beautiful, stronger and well-trained than any around him. Suddenly, striding in the trappings of the Realm marked him as a high type of god-blooded... and his manners and his prowess proved it well. All wanted to know ‘news of the realm’, and he made women swoon over him... this was... like a dream! And the little he managed to get before finally resuming his ‘mission’, it was so... his’! But a single meeting with a Dragon-Blooded made him rememer... and then, he ventured into the nearest shadowland. And then he came to Ashscream.

His realistic side in grips with the wild romantic within him, wanting to simply settle down, he did not really come with a great plan on his mind – mostly, he was curious. Curious of the land of the dead he had heard so much about. Curious about the enemies of the Realm. After the culture shock he had with the West, he saw not much more on the Underworld – other society, other rules. His arrival involed problems with ghostly pirates, which set the tone for his coming to the archipelago – corpus-hand against his throat, he grabbed the pirate’s hand, ‘I am a scion of the Dynasty. Rabble have no right to touch me!’ and with a movement, threw said rabble to the dark ocean, where something devoured the ghost with an horrible, horrible noise.

His presence was enough to make the others back off, as he strode off the ship and into the shadowland, feeling as a king. And in this self-confident euphoria he met her.

Ivory Garden Princess was the lover of a very powerful man on Ashscream, the Lord of Empty Oceans, and one of the most beautiful ghostly princess any have ever laid their eyes on. The Lord, of course, guarded her jealously. When Kalyan met the Ivory Garden Princess, he knew he had to have her. And he did, after a short and flamboyant courtship. But not for long.

The Lord found out, meeting them together in his own bedchamber, high out on his Manse. The Ghost Lord’s anger flared on his corpus, and he didn’t waste a moment before launching himself on Kalyan. The Dynast was confident, for a moment. He had fought ghosts before, he had fought men before, and he was no Dragon. Or so he thought. The Lord moved with nightmarish speed, and for a moment, he felt within a nightmare. Using the most basic of his Arcanoi and combat techniques, the Lord broke Kalyan’s ribs and smashed his chest so hard he flew through the stained-glass round window, and to his death below. But he didn’t die.

Each breath was the touch of Malfeas’ green sun upon him. The glass pierced his broken bones, and he was sure some of it was going within his heart and lungs. Each breath filled his mouth with blood... and for a moment, he saw himself from above. But not as a spirit of light. No, as a swirling darkness in someone’s hands. In his hands. He was promised life. And power. There was more.. something about giving the gift of oblivion or the void or spreading the underworld. He didn’t care. He wanted the power. And all he could do with it.

And when the Lord of Empty Oceans looked down his broken window, he did not see a cocky mortal gushing blood in his last breaths. He saw a demigod rising, dark light exploding like a pillar around the man who was once Ledaal Kalyan, puppeteer strings hitting the ground like lashes, two great eyes of a cat looking straight at him. Kalyan had finally received it. Power. The power he craved so. And Empty Oceans saw, behind him... his lord. The Crimson Emperor stood behind the new Exalt, smiling.

And, as his first act as a god, he laughed. He laughed, long and hard, the sweetest, most carefree laugh he had given all his life. As his second act, he looked at Ivory Garden Princess on the window, behind the lord, and blew her a kiss, petulant to the lord as he would have never been before. And, as his third act, he turned around, and knelt. He knelt before the emperor, earnestly, and called him his lord. He had finally gotten it. He did not become any dragon... he was Hesiesh himself! And he knelt down to a being on par with an Elemental Dragon. No... the Crimson Emperor was more. So much more.

The man once known as Ledaal Kalyan, now the Ashen Tears Puppeteer, did not look down once.

Into the Labyrinth... some things changed. The true nature of what he became. The true nature of his ultimate masters. Kalyan looked at a Malfean in his last moment as Kalyan... and knew a greater fear than any Dynast could ever place in him. And he also knew that he would not do it. He wanted to enjoy the world, to have it kneel to him... not to have it bleed until nothing was left. But yet, he said the vows. Yet, he became an Abyssal Exalted.

That changed him. He had never known true power, until then. He had never known true majesty, until then. He understood Creation as a whole when he saw it bleeding in the dreams of his Malfean. And when he came out, shrouded in a dark cloak, face covered in a mask, to have his cult kneel before him, styling himself the Daimyo of Night and Whispers, a tribute to his own vanity and gifts.

One day, he would throw the Malfeans into the Void, for the good of the world. A world that would dance on his strings. One day, he would break the Realm and make those superiorists understand the true meaning of power as they kneel before him. One day, he would make heaven tremble. One day, and he knew exactly how to go about it. When he summoned the Sightblinders together and met their leaders, his shadow empire began. The man who came out of the Labyrinth understood more of escope, finesse and planning than the dynast boy he once was had ever dreamed of.

The Mask was a gift from the Emperor himself - a tool for the persona he would assume. As the Daimyo, he wove legends about him as a cloak - made it so the Cult feared and worshipped his persona on the form of a fickle attittude, rewarding some with greatness in his plots and their own, or by taking a special interest on their lives... an interest which led to their complete and total ruin. The Mask is a crucial piece of his 'goodhood' - it keeps him unnatainable, powerful - as long as he wears it about his face, the Cult simply knows they are seeing a god.

The Manse was another 'gift' from the Lord of Empty Oceans. As soon as he ascended from the Labyrinth and both met in neutral ground... venom stirred. He had come uninvited, sullied the Lord's honor, and now the whelp was a Lord of the Vermillion Fist, with authority surpassing even his'? No... that would not stand! From that moment the Lord had tried to undermine each and every conquest of Ashen Tears... with some degree of success. Ivory Garden Princess' decision to leave, vanishing without a trace so as to not be caught in their conflict only threw more fuel to the fire on the Lord's side. But the first victory belonged to Ashen - on the grounds of his far-reaching operations, he managed control of a shadowland manse on Ashscream islands, instead of his former Underworld dwelling. The Palace of Fallen Roses became the pillar of his career as a spy for the Crimson Emperor, and his haven from his role on the Cult...