TheHoverpope/Tarak
Back to TheHoverpope
Back to TheHoverpope/Demons
Tarak-Brai, the Loathed Savant, Reflective Soul of the Hunted Meaning
Tayala was lost, but a little piece of her knew she wasn't. She didn't have a purpose besides running, but she knew it was because that was the purpose that Zuratha wanted from her. She didn't like this idea, though, so she reached into her chest and tore it out. Tarak-Brai is the understanding she pulled from her heart, the understanding that Tayala is no more free than any other soul of something greater, that she and her souls have their meaning that they are bound to. Tayala chooses to not believe this, and loathes Tarak-Brai for forcing her to acknowledge that this truth is part of her. Tarak-Brai appears as a glass man, whose body only refracts the light of the world, allowing clear sight of his pulsing green jade heart, white jade bones, black jade veins, blue jade lungs, and red jade sinews. He walks and speaks always of his views on the nature of existence, how one cannot run from what they are, for what they are is then in the running. He can always see to the heart of anything, and interprets everything in terms of inevitabilities; he holds that free will is an illusion, and claims to be able to see the entire future unfolding in front of him. Tayala despises him, and cannot abide his presence; she will flee him if they are together. He wishes only to wander and preach his word.
Rough stats
Essence 6, compassion 4, conviction 3, temperance 4, valor 3, willpower 8
High stats: intelligence 6, charisma 8, lore 6, presence 7, athletics 5, medicine 5
Special charms: Tarak always knows when a person with whom he speaks is lying or telling half-truths. When he hears a half-truth, he may spend eight motes and a willpower; truth seeps from his pores, and if a charisma + presence roll beats his target's MDV, he can force them to tell the complete truth unless they spend a willpower.
Tarak-Brai can, after a fashion, see the future. At a cost of six motes and a willpower, he can predict what events will transpire at any given point in the future in his direct area. He listens to the weave of fate or the chaotically ordered heartbeats of Malfeas, and rolls intelligence + lore; every success grants a day's worth of foresight. This will be accurate as long as the local future is not disrupted by changes in astrology or by significant essence use by anything but a demon of Zuratha. This power is precognitive, not preordinative; Tarak-Brai merely predicts what is likely to happen and sees it unfolding. Tarak-Brai is incapable of understanding that he may be wrong, and often retcons his own visions to be correct if he was mistaken.
For 10+ motes and a willpower, Tarak-Brai may enter the future after a fashion. He imprints himself on a place and names a time, within (successes on an Intelligence + presence roll) days. When that named time arrives, an image of Tarak-Brai forms in the air and may take one action per 10 motes spent on the invocation of the charm. This image is not sentient, and does only what it has been preordained to; if the future has changed from what Tarak-Brai expected due to essence channeling or anything else unexpected, an the image will attempt a task such as delivering a spoken message to someone who didn't arrive, or attempting to move a teapot that isn't there. The image is material, even if Tarak-Brai is not when he invokes it.
Tarak-Brai may study a being intensely; after doing so for an hour or more, even if only through his precognitive power, he spend six motes and a willpower to get three free successes on all opposed rolls against them, including combat and social combat; this lasts as long as the motes are committed. This is of indefinite duration.
