KaedeTheButterfly
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Kaede, the Silk-Winged Ghost
Game: The End of the World, GMed by Shallows
Spirit Type: Minor Divinity
Concept: Pretty but Scatter-Brained Butterfly God
Nature: Caregiver
Inheritance: 3
Picture: (Bug) [[1]] and (Non-Bug) [[2]]
Str 1
Dex 5
Stm 2
Chr 4
Man 1
App 5
Per 3
Int 3
Wts 1
Performance 5
Dodge 5
Awareness 2
Bureaucracy 1
Investigation 1
Larceny 1
Linguistics 1 (Native: Old Realm, High Realm)
Lore 2
Occult 3
Presence 2
Socialize 3
Stealth 2
Merits:
Alternate Shape: Butterfly (4)
Prodigy: Dodge (2)
Enchanting Feature: Wings (2)
Awakened Essence
Flaws:
Mute (4)
Climate Sensitive: Cold (2)
Affected by Spirit Wards
Backgrounds:
Salary 2
Savant 3
Contacts 3
Reputation 2 (Sidereal Sidekick)
Influence 1 (Ranking Spirit in Suyu’s Household)
Artifact 2 (Multiform musical instrument)
Essence 2
Willpower 7
Compassion 4
Conviction 1
Temperance 2
Valor 3
Spirit Charms:
Materialize (Valor)
Principle of Motion (Valor)
Touch of Grace (Compassion)
His Artifact:
Cerasatra's Marvelous Instrument- Originally given to Suyu's Resplendent Destiny persona Harusame by a Dynastic patron, the Marvelous Instrument is a clever creation intended to make traveling musicians' lives easier. There are many variations of the Marvelous Instrument, with an assortment of shapes. In its native form, Kaede's is a fine koto of pale willow and green jade, with moonsilver pegs. It's alternate forms include a biwa, a hand drum, and a long-flute.
Attunement: 3 motes. Once attuned, a user may spend one mote of essence to alter the Marvelous Instrument's form to any of its secondary shapes. It retains that shape until the user switches it again or the attuement is dropped.
His History:
Kaede hasn't always been the ornamental house-pet of a Celestial Exalt...
Centuries ago, he was a gainfully employed divinity known as the Silk-Winged
Ghost, a proud and beautiful young god from the Division of Nature who over-saw
the migrations and well-being of the butterflies on the Sun Pearl Islands. When his bright-winged charges (and their homeland-) were lost to the Wyld
during the Great Contagion, like so many other gods, he suddenly found himself
stuck in Heaven without a purpose or an occupation.
Poverty and sorrow over the loss of his swallowtails eventually forced him into
an abandoned part of the city. The hardships of feral living weren't kind to
such a fragile being, though, and over the years much of his pride and power
were lost. In time he might have ceased to exist altogether...
Luckily, Suyu has a habit of bringing home strays... which started with the
tattered butterfly god. When she found him in a ruined park during an early
trip to Yu Shan, the soft-hearted Sidereal couldn't bear to leave him behind.
(Much to her sifu's amusement, she insisted that he'd just "followed her
home" and that she was only keeping him until she could find a good place
for him... It was a scene that Saiya Kadu knew they were destined to repeat
many times-)
While Suyu's other adoptees have all moved on to terrestrial assignments or
jobs as part of her own staff, her Sifu's, or an ally's, Kaede has stayed with
her... Hatsuyuki has taken the place of his long-lost butterflies, and acting
as the Sidereal's helper and companion is now the only job that he has any interest
in doing.
Kaede has two forms... a green-winged swallowtail (The form he favors in
Creation, even though it's small-) and a vaguely fae humanoid with ornamental
wings (The form he favors in Heaven, even though he can no longer fly when
using it-). He has no real combat capability in either form and neither speaks.
Like any ordinary butterfly, he's both completely harmless and absolutely
silent no matter what he looks like.
Silence aside, he's an excellent dancer, a good koto player, and a passable spy...
He has more courage than he's usually given credit for. He's also socially
adept, although his manners are hopelessly old-fashioned by the standards of Yu
Shan's society divas. (He was popular in his day, but there was no need to keep
up with the latest styles when he was living in the slums, so he's a few
centuries behind the times-). He considers himself an excellent judge of
character, though that may or may not be true-
Personality-wise, Kaede is devoted and fairly bright, but more than a little
scatter-brained. He usually means well, but he's far too easily distracted to
be trusted with anything too complex. He's also not the most sensible creature
in Creation, having little common sense and absolutely no guile.