IsleOfJade/PCs
Contents
Protagonists
The following are summaries of our main protagonists. As they are fleshed out I will describe more so you can work from and with each other as you press forward. Remember, you've all known each other for years, so you will have well established relationships even if you aren't particularly close.
The Hero
Name: Kaimi
Concept: A brash, undisciplined young mortal girl of immense martial arts talent.
Motivation:
Martial Arts Styles: No supernatural martial arts, but she fights using an athletic, fast-moving, leaping style.
Archetypes: Hero.
Description: Kaimi is a 20 year old female with pale olive skin, and long black hair, normally bound in a braid, with bangs that she has brush her fingers through so many times that they now sweep naturally off toward the sides of her head. She has striking emerald eyes and a playful gaze, a small somewhat flat nose and a small mouth, tough it is often made larger by a smile. She is about 5’3” and has a slight build and a cocky stance. She dresses in clothing similar to the school uniform. However the shirt sleeve ends are contained in red cloth wrapped down to her wrists. Her pants, which hang just below the knees, are similarly tied down with brown straps and cloth that run up from her shoes. She wears two swords by her hips bound by brown cord around her waist. Her only other ornamentation is a round brass charm she won off of a child in the village. She wears this as a necklace. It is strung through a small hole in the top of the charm with a thin leather braid.
Kaimi gives off an air of strong self confidence. She moves with an easy grace and always with sense of purpose, whether it be toward a mastering a new technique, or the chance of some new fun. She often has a confident, satisfied glint in her eyes and a small smile on her lips during any sort of sparring. Kaimi laughs easily and is generally friendly.
History: Young and innocent, Kaimi has spent her entire life at the school. She has no past, no parents, no idea where she came from. She was raised by Master Li, his instructors, and any students who took a passing interest in her. She received no formal education, other than in the martial arts, and learned what people were inclined to teach her. She grew up in an undisciplined--some might say uncivilized--environment, except when it came to the martial arts.
For most of her childhood Kaimi has been a bit of an uncouth young girl, but one who was deeply loyal to her close friends. She and Dawn Star, and later Tetsuko, were the only children at the school, and they took it upon themselves to find ways to occupy their time. Gifted with an active imagination, Kaimi lead the other two (whose natures were more conservative) on what she termed "wild adventures." They explored the school grounds, and when they had explored every inch that they could they expanded into the village, then the countryside and its ancient ruins, and even found their way into places like the Elemental's Grotto and the Marshlands of Undying Twilight. They warred with the village kids, and fought along side the village kids against the farm kids, and fought alongside the village and farm kids against the children of merchants who passed through on fleets of trade barges. Kaimi made up stories, as well, especially about her origins, to explain who she was and why she was important. She's not a bad liar, and employs the tactic openly and proudly.
At a certain point in her life, when she reached adolescence, she began to get very serious about her martial arts training. Some of this was because of Master Li's insistence that she hone her talents to a fine level, and some of it was the result of an incident in the Marshlands that isn't spoken of much today but for which she received a stern lashing from Master Li, and a lot of it probably has to do with the pressure she felt from those around her who were excelling at the martial arts and her need to prove herself every bit as good as them, even if they were exalts and she was not. In getting serious she got very good, and very disciplined (at least when she was training), and excelled among all the other mortals to the point where she could rival the exalts, at least on the basis of skill alone.
Master Li delighted in the realization of her promise, and took it upon himself to train her even harder. He devotes tremendous time to instructing her one on one, and even if he is harder on her than he is on any other student there has grown a rumbling of resentment toward this attention from some of the exalted students. Its brought her into conflict with Gao the Lesser and (the Rival) once or twice and, much as it pains her that she needs it, Tetsuko, Master Li, and (the Elemental)(who has taken some interest in her as well) have sheltered her from direct and violent confrontation with either.
Today Kaimi is the First Student at the school, which means she ranks above all the other mortals but technically below the exalted and others who have moved on to supernatural martial art styles. Still, her place as first above all is certain due to Master Li's dedication to training her to be the most disciplined, most precise, most perfect executer of his brand of Martial Arts he has ever taught.
The Guardian
Name: Tetsuko, aka Sook
Concept: A quiet bruiser with a soft side, he has sworn to protect Kaimi.
Motivation: Grandfather Oak Style
Archetypes: Guardian, Loyalist
Martial Arts Styles:
Description:Tetsuko is huge...7' 8" tall,and a bit over 375 pounds,all taut,bulging muscle stretched tight over his massive bone structure...his skin is a deep,woody tan,thick and rough to the touch, with many variations of pigment in places he gets lots of sun...he has long,shoulder blade length silvery white hair with a slight greenish tint,that grows all over his head and hangs down over the right side of his face most of the time,adding what is in truth an insignificant covering over his most striking feature,a green jade plate over the right quarter of his head,including his right eye,which is shaped very finely like an eye and socket,with white and black jade filling in the parts of the eye that are those colors...he has a stong,sharp,stoney straight nose,and his left eye is slightly sunken but round,with a dark greyish brown iris...he has strong,thin lips and straight,white,well cared for teeth,and a slightly pointed,stiff triangular chin,with high cheekbones..he has a long,thin neck,and he tends toward long features with prominent joints,large knuckles,elbows,knees,etc....he carries himself slightly hunched,though this is more due to the fact that he spends much of his time trying to pull himself down to the level of those around him,and walks with a loping yet deliberate gate.
Tetsuko is wearing a simple yet functional brown fighting monks robe,with a cowl he rarely has up,and dark green silk pants,a basic brown linen sleeveless tie-button shirt,and a simple green linen sash. He does not usually wear shoes,and is usually carrying a simple,unshaved branch as a walking stick. On his sash are various small leather sacks and bags,that he uses to gather herbs and carry various gardening implements...these can be removed with ease by removing the sash...he removes the robe when he spars.
History: When Sook was a young boy, he was seriously wounded in an animal attack. Kaimi, a year or so younger than he, found him and brought him back to the school, where his injuries were cared for. He therefore survived, but not without complications. A jade plate was thaumaturgically affixed to his skull, and he has been slower than normal since. Still, he became strong and was not unintelligent.
Sook took to Kaimi, who was charismatic and attractive, immediately after his recovery. At first he merely tagged along with her and Dawn Star as Kaimi led her two companions on wild adventures in the wilderness, or to do battle with the town and farm kids, or to make mischief among the traders passing along the rivers. He would soon be accepted into their clique as a trusted friend.
As they grew older, Sook became bigger and stronger, until he was much larger than most men. He also Exalted, and took on the Wood Aspect of the Terrestrial Exalts. Ever since he was rescued he has told himself that he would pay back the favor by protecting Kaimi at all costs. Now he uses his strength and powers toward that end.
The Teacher
Name: Mou-Shendu (Qin Ming-Hou)
Concept: A Noble who has sworn off the ways of his house to pursue enlightenment and more peaceful endeavors.
Motivation: To obtain ultimate enlightenment and oneness with Creation through intimate and mystical knowledge of Essence.
Archetypes: Pathfinder, Teacher
Martial Arts Styles: Harmonious Descending Whirlpool Style
History and Description: Mou-Shendu is not the man he once was. Those who have been at Master Li's school for the last eight years remember his once elegant and lavish dress, which spoke of great wealth and nobility. Even his birth name, Qin Ming-Hou, was once pridefully worn as a family insignia of the noble house of Qin. But these days, Mou-Shendu would hardly be recognized as the same man. He has long since abandoned the ideals of politics and power, and along with them, his affluent dress and given name.
Today he wears the robes that typify the students of Master Li's school, excepting that his are white, and that a pale blue sash is draped over one shoulder a crosses the chest to connect with a matching cloth belt, into which a single Sai is tucked. His once silky black hair is now completely shaved away, revealing more of his tanned skin, which shows a blue-green hue in the light. Mou-Shendu 's most obvious feature, though, inescapably marks him as the man from his past: the intricate tattoo patterns of the noblemen of house Qin. These cover much of his body, though most are hidden beneath his robes. Those that adorn his checks and forehead, and wrap around the back of his neck, however, remain plain for all to see.
Mou-Shendu is about thirty years old, is not tall, has a lean, wiry build and moves with the grace of a ripple-less brook. His features are soft -- he has a short, round nose, inconspicuous lips, and deep brown eyes that seem to pool when one gazes into them. He never wears shoes, and often carries a one-strapped, cloth pack that holds mysterious objects, strange tools, vials and powders, and often a book or two of some ancient content.
The Rival
Name: Yukio
Concept: A roguish martial artist with a large ego who has honed his skills in an efficient, deadly direction.
Motivation: To perfect his skills and surpass Master Li and all other Martial Artists in his prowess.
Archetypes: Adversary.
Martial Arts Styles: Ebon Shadow Style
Description:
History: Raised by a thug of an uncle who did not care for him, the Rival was not exactly forced to survive on the streets of Yu. He chose to. What else was an adolescent boy to do in a large city with the time alloted him by a disinterested parental figure? Picking pockets, petty theft, con games. These were the skills the Rival cultivated in the great bazaars and side alleys of the Jade Isle's greatest city. This was the "fun" he chose for himself.
Exaltation elevated him from a competent petty thief to an exceptional petty thief. He became a master of his art, and none could catch him at his game. It almost became too easy, and he was forced to choose greater targets to keep his interest. Even so, he never thought of a different life that the blood of the dragons could have brought him.
It was perhaps unsurprising that the young thrill-seeking Rival bit off more than he could chew, although it certainly surprised him. His target was an old man strolling casually through the Vermillion Market. He had a trinket--something intricate and old--that had caught the thief's eye. The old man turned out to be a master at the martial arts, with eyes like a hawk and reflexes like a cobra. The rival, ignorant of his true potential and almost completely unprepared for what he had stumbled upon, was for the first time in his life thwarted...and handidly. He received a terrible beating at the hands of the strange old man, and would have been handed over to the authorities had that wandering sifu not seen the potential the rival couldn't fathom. Instead, the man known as Master Li offered the Rival a place at his school in the tiny village of Two Rivers. The choice--between imprisonment and possible disfigurement at the hands of the law, or training by a powerful master at a far off martial arts school--was easy.
The Rival excelled at his physical training if not at the philosophies Master Li espoused. He became incredibly skilled, especially in the arts of stealth, surprise, and misdirection, and over seven or so years became one of Master Li's most deadly students. But he never lost the ego or drive that made him seek the thrills of the thievish life. To this day he believes he can and will one day surpass all other martial artists; even his master. And he has grown a bit disgruntled at the attention Master Li gives to the mortal Hero, who cannot match him and who will never even come close. He is arguably the most skilled student at the school and he deserves the extra attention Master Li bestows elsewhere.
The Elemental
Name: Ayame of the Spring Mists
Concept: A Sprite of the Spring Rains and surviving "deity" of the fallen Water Cult.
Motivation: To remove the Immaculates from power.
Archetypes:
Martial Arts Styles: The Art of Victorious Concession
Description: Ayame is a peculiar creature, clearly not mortal, but shares many traits with those terrestrial beings. With a stretch of the imagination she could almost appear to be a water-aspected Dragon-Blood, however her large pearly eyes and impish ears clearly indicate she is beyond even that. With hair the colour of seafoam and a skin tone like the blue seas of the west she does have a profound exotic beauty. Her features and size would seem to coincide with those of a 16 year old girl, leaving her at a rather diminutive five feet and three inches, weighing not much more than a dozen pounds over a hundred. Her petite body is covered lightly in scales, almost as a dragon, but much smaller, to the point at which they can only be noticed by a keen eye, or close inspection. She carries herself with what must be either the carelessness of youth, or extreme self confidence, and her face often compliment it with a childish grin. She is rarely seen without her large target shield strapped to her back, looking too heavy for her small form, but she doesn't show and strain if there is any. The large shield resembles a massive blue scale, composed itself of many smaller scales which reflect the light, creating rainbows across their surface in the right light. Covering the rest of her body are what appear to be white robes with royal blue trim, and a small emblem of a water droplette, indicating her connection to the Water Dragon Cult. The robes are less than modest, the skirt not descending past the middle of her thigh, and is completely sleeveless, leaving most of her limbs open to the elements. Upon extremely close examination one would also find her neck is adorned with a set of gills, and her fingers and toes are lightly webbed.
History: Ayame once enjoyed widespread admiration and worship on the Jade Isle. The people of the Isle prayed and made offerings to her to entice her to bestow upon their fields the life-renewing rains of the spring. But more than just an agricultural spirit, she was the daughter of the Water Dragon herself and held dominion over all the Spring rains on the Jade Isle. It was she who awoke the mighty forests and rolling grasses from their long winter slumber. It was she who sprinkled the landscape with dewdrops and the opened the wondrous flowers the Isle was known for. Even the wild animals and beasts adored her, for she was a spirit of life and rebirth as much as water and rain.
That all changed when the Immaculate Order of the Lotus made war on the Water Cult and its followers. Like the other water gods and elementals, she fought against the encroaching monks and their immaculate doctrine. But the monks assaulted the shrines and Manses of the water gods, tearing them down or claiming them for themselves. They murdered the priests and cultists, and converted the followers of the cult. And they sowed fear in the hearts of the people who once adored the water gods, causing them to turn away from the once powerful spirits. Finally they assaulted the seat of the Water Dragon herself, and all the power went out of the water gods and they knew their roles no more.
Ayame fled the devastation of the war, seeking solace without direction. Through happenstance or providence, she stumbled on the Two Rivers School of Enlightenment and Martial Arts and the sagely Master Li. A vision in the rains themselves told her that this was the place where she should remain, to wait until such a time as the water gods might be delivered by a champion returned to time. And so she has remained at the school, learning martial arts as the mortals and exalted do, bidding her time for who knows what? It has been almost twenty years now, and no sign of this champion has shown itself.
