ReclaimingTheBrokenAge/TheHangedWoman

Description

The Hanged Woman is an absolutely grotesque figure. Her body is that of a waif-like, almost skeletal woman, scarred and stitched over major arteries and ligaments, with an insane glitter in her eyes. She is naked except for the heavy soulsteel chains that hang her, upside down, from the body of Asura, the massive hekathonkhiere whose mind she long ago ensnared. Asura’s only purpose in live is to support the fragile frame of the Hanged Woman, whose body has atrophied to the point where it is incapable of movement beyond turning its neck and moving its eyes. The Hanged Woman must communicate telepathically, as her lungs are too weak to project sound; the voice she projects into the minds of others is raspy and sinister, yet promises great, morbid wisdom to those who listen.

The Hanged Woman did not always live in this miserable state, nor has she always taken her current appellation. Before the coming of the Abyssals she was known as Oblivion’s Most Beauteous Voice, as in those days she possessed a visage that rivaled even the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears in its splendor and beauty. The Beauteous Voice was a perfect zealot of the Malfeans; she openly chastised her fellow Deathlords for being lax in the Malfean cause, and directly accused the First and Forsaken Lion of treason against their dead gods. This unholier-than-thou mentality would eventually be her undoing, but at the height of her power it was her greatest asset. She was known to have penned several treatises on the subject of death and Oblivion and made many alliances with the nephwrack priests in Stygia. Although she had a fortress known as the Spire of Sighs on the banks of the Phlegethon she spent most of her time meditating in the Labyrinth, close as possible to the Mouth of Oblivion itself. Her cult of ghosts and specters grew to massive numbers; many saw her as a messiah of the dead. Her spiritual success ended quickly when she made a philosophical enemy of the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible. The Beauteous Voice’s criticism of the Bishop’s philosophies might seem slight in retrospect, but at the time the Bishop was furious beyond consolation. He made a pact with the First and Forsaken Lion, an earlier opponent of the Beauteous Voice, and together they put the Spire of Sighs under siege.

The Beauteous Voice never put much emphasis on martial might, and thus she found herself totally unable to defend herself from both the Bishop and the Lion. Her enemy Deathlords defeated her after an only brief battle and then cast her from the top of her spire, beaten and weak. While the Beauteous Voice lay broken on the ground below, the Bishop cast his great Malediction that forever shattered her physical might. The Bishop and Lion then left her there and returned to their homes.

This proved hasty, however, because although her body was forever weakened, her mind was still potent. By chance, the hulking hekatonkhiere named Asura lumbered by, searching for the ethereal flesh of ghosts to devour. The Beauteous Voice saw her chance within Asura; he was a specimen of undeniable strength, but of weak will and intelligence. Using Necromancy of her own invention, the Beauteous Voice ensnared Asura and compelled him to take her body to a sanctuary.

Asura was difficult to control at first, but ultimately his will was broken. The Beauteous Voice took the title of the Hanged Woman after she began using Asura as a surrogate body. After rebuilding her power for a time, she returned to the political scene of the Underworld just in time to receive her share of Abyssal Exalted. She continues to preach Oblivion, and maintains that the Malfeans have shown her the higher road of forgiveness, meaning that she bears no ill will to the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible or the First and Forsaken Lion. This is a lie, of course; she was plotting her revenge on them before they even finished defeating her. Despite her setbacks, the Hanged Woman is still fanatical to the cause of the Malfeans. Although her first defeat has taught her to increase her military power, it is still a secondary concern to her preaching. If anything, her broken state aids her in this; to her followers, she presents herself as an eternally suffering, sacrificial lamb figure, one to whom Oblivion would be a great release, but continues to exist because there are others who need guidance before she can move on.

The Hanged Woman and Asura are linked by a perverted symbiosis. In battle, the Hanged Woman depends on Asura to inflict a constant barrage of physical attacks against her opponent whilst simultaneously protecting her. The Abyssal Junction spell that links them allows the Hanged Woman to channel some of her own ability into Asura, effectively giving Asura the ability to use combat Charms and Combos. The Hanged Woman is a very effective psychic combatant as well as a talented sorcerer and necromancer; she can use these skills independent of Asura.

Nature: Paragon
Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 0, Stamina 1, Charisma 9, Manipulation 9, Appearance 0, Perception 9, Intelligence 9, Wits 9
Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 6, Temperance 6, Valor 5
Abilities*: Archery 1 (5), Brawl 1 (5), Martial Arts 1 (5), Melee 1 (7), Thrown 1 (3), Endurance 1 (5), Performance 6, Presence 6, Resistance 1 (5), Survival 5, Investigation 4, Lore 7 (on Malfeans +3), Medicine 5, Occult 9, Athletics 1 (3), Awareness 5, Dodge 1 (3), Bureaucracy 3, Linguistics 6, Socialize 6

• Many of the Hanged Woman’s abilities have atrophied to 1; the numbers in parentheses are what those abilities were before the Bishop’s Malediction was unleashed and what the Hanged Woman can channel into Asura.
  

Backgrounds: Abyssal Command 5, Allies 5, Artifact 5, Contacts 5, Followers 5, Influence 5, Liege (the Malfeans) 5, Necromancy 5, Resources 5, Spies 5, Underworld Manse 5+, Whispers 5+
Charms: All Solar and Abyssal charms in both Exalted and Exalted: the Abyssals, as well as a number of custom charms and all arcanoi.
Spells: Assume the Hanged Woman knows all sorcery and necromancy from Exalted, Bo3C, and Exalted: The Abyssals, as well as numerous custom spells.
Base Initiative: 10
Attacks: The Hanged Woman is incapable of physical attacks; instead she relies on charms, spells, and arcanoi while Asura attacks.
Willpower: 10
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Dodge Pool: 1* Soak: 0L/1B

• Unless the Hanged Woman has somehow been separated from Asura, use the ogre’s dodge pool instead.
  

Essence: 9
Essence Pool: 140
Health Levels:
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Asura, Soulless Underworld Ogre</b>

<b>Attributes: Strength 10, Dexterity 3, Stamina 10, Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 0, Intelligence 0, Wits 5

• Asura’s personality, and therefore his social and mental attributes, has long been erased by the Hanged Woman’s constant possession.
  

Virtues: N/A
Abilities: Brawl 7, Melee 5, Dodge 3, Endurance 5, Resistance 5, Athletics 3
Base Initiative: 8
Attack:
Fist: Speed 8 Accuracy 17 Damage 10B Defense 17
Scythe of Atrophy: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 22L, Defense 10
Dodge Pool: 6 Soak: 15L/20B (natural)
Willpower: 1*
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Health Levels:
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Other Notes: *All attempts to control Asura’s mind result in a reflexive resisted roll against the Hanged Woman’s Manipulation + Occult + her Essence in automatic successes.

Ability Channeling</b>

Due to the nature of their symbiosis, the Hanged Woman can reflexively channel abilities that she possesses into Asura. Any dots that the Hanged Woman possesses can be transferred to Asura for one mote per dot, and the transferred ability lasts for a number of turns equal to the Hanged Woman’s permanent Essence (9).

Charms and Combos can likewise be transferred as a simple action. Any essence that Asura drains using Abyssal Charms goes to the Hanged Woman’s essence pool rather than Asura’s. Sorcery and necromancy can never be transferred.

<b>The Scythe of Atrophy</b>

Asura wields a nasty soulsteel sickle known as the Scythe of Atrophy. Anyone struck by the Scythe is drained of five motes of peripheral essence, and in addition must roll each of her physical attributes; for each success, she retains one dot in that attribute. This roll can never be botched, and an attribute can never be lowered below one. The lost dots slowly return at the rate of one per scene per attribute.

Goals, Alliances, Conflicts

The Hanged Woman’s goals are twofold: one, take revenge on the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible and the First and Forsaken lion, and two, find further spiritual advancement in the service of the Malfeans. Both goals she hopes to achieve through her favored servant, Pale Lily Prophetess, whose insight into the Malfeans exceeds even that of the Deathlords’ themselves. Pale Lily Prophetess is kept within a dark chamber all day and night, listening to the whispers of the Malfeans and reporting them to her lord. The Hanged Woman believes, not entirely falsely, that the actions of her fellow Deathlords greatly displease the Malfeans; by listening intently to the varied ramblings and prophecies of Pale Lily she hopes to carry out the will of the Malfeans by acting as judge and executioner against the other Deathlords.

In her quest for vengeance against the First and Forsaken Lion, the Hanged Woman has forged a tenuous alliance with Princess Magnificent With Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers, as Princess Magnificent has no great love of the Lion and yearns for her freedom. This alliance is hampered, however, by the will of He Who Holds in Thrall; neither the Hanged Woman nor Princess Magnificent wish to defy the Malfean, the former on reasons of principle and the latter out of fear. So the Hanged Woman’s support from the Princess is unreliable at best.

In her cold heart, the Hanged Woman knows that a conflict with Mask of Winters will be inevitable. Mask of Winters’ megalomania is well-known to the Hanged Woman, for the Mask features prominently in the whispers of the Pale Lily Prophetess. To this end the Hanged Woman has begun preliminary dealings with Walker in Darkness. Like her alliance with Princess Magnificent, however, nothing concrete has materialized from this. Still, in order to keep relations between the two Deathlords friendly, Walker in Darkness has loaned the Hanged Woman a promising young deathknight titled either the Equinox Butcher or Falling Leaves Betrayer, depending on whom you ask.

Finally, the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils has taken notice of Pale Lily Prophetess and has sent a diplomat Moonshadow, Mourns for the Living, to the Hanged Woman’s court. Mourns for the Living is trying to arrange a way for the Dowager to observe the peculiarities of Pale Lily’s whispers. The Hanged Woman is unconvinced; she is very protective of Pale Lily and her gift, viewing them as her most valuable resources.

The Hanged Woman’s Servants

One could say that Asura is the first among the Hanged Woman’s servants, but the fact of the matter is that Asura has been dominated so ruthlessly by the Hanged Woman that he is little more than a vessel. Truly, the Hanged Woman’s most prized servant is the Pale Lily Prophetess; the nightmare visions of the prophetess are the cornerstone of the Hanged Woman's plans.

Oblivious Euthanasia, another of the Hanged Woman's deathknights, is a strange case among the Abyssals. An endlessly compassionate and pacifist deathknight, Euthanasia makes her way from settlement to settlement in the Threshold, finding the most sad and sick specimens of life. She ends their pain quickly, silently, and painlessly in the night with a special poison of her own making.

Player characters are most likely to meet up with Evocative Remembrance and her bodyguard, the Silent Yojimbo. They both make a habit of walking Creation; Evocative Remembrance's goal is to convert newly reborn Solars to the worship of death (with the Hanged Woman as their high priestess, of course). She hasn't been successful in this, but her hopes are still high; she has more than enough charm to send hundreds of mortals to their willing deaths. The Silent Yojimbo never speaks; apparently his only mission is to protect Evocative Remembrance in her quest.

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