AlsaceAndLorraine/Saifa
Saifa Chosen of Secrets
Saifa was reborn in the city of Chirascuro, to a prosperous merchant family delighted with the birth of their first daughter. Bright, intelligent, and a trial to her mother from the very hour of her birth, when she was found to possess a very vigorous set of lungs. Her childhood was an on-going battle between her and her mother, as her mother strove to mold her into a proper heir to the house. Saifa resisted learning her sums, resisted any knowledge of the harvesting of silk worms, and most definitely resisted knowledge of the pedigree of the two hundred and fourteen other important merchant families of Chirascuro. She much preferred her private hobby of prying; she was fascinated by other people's secrets. But as she struggled, she also learned, and was swiftly developing real competence as a social butterfly-Saifa found gossip absolutely fascinating-and as an heir to an important merchant house.
One lonely night, Saifa followed two men home who were very obviously not whom they pretended to be. Her mother needed the saffron she was carried soon for the partybut Saifa was already annoyed to be doing servant's work, and ruthlessly decided to sacrifice the flavor of the soup. She paused when she saw the men cross the barrier of salt that protected Chirascuro from the dead, and almost sanity held her back but in the end, she thought the ghosts might kill her if she crossed the barrier, but she was sure her curiosity would otherwise. And as she ran from shadow to shadow, she was unseen and unhindered, for another followed close behind and guarded her footsteps. She found the men, but as she saw their monstrous alter, and theirvictimsshe couldn't forbear a gasp. The men who were not men turned, and saw her, and surely would have devoured her, had not the chuckling of a ghost distracted them. Saifa turned, and ran; but she took something with her from the alter as she fled, a book from which she learned the unsummoning of demons. And she met the two who were not men again, in the summoning circle, and sent them howling back to Malfeas. As she collapsed into sobs, for it had been a vicious battle for one who had, until she had screamed the last syllable of the Rite of Unbinding, been merely a mortal, she felt arms comforting her, and heard a voice soothing, under the strange green light that marked her Exaltation.
Holok told her she was a Chosen of Jupiter. He told her he was her friend. Holok brought her to Yu-shan, and saw to it that she was tutored appropriately. She didn't like it much, but she learned it; because she wanted Holok to be proud of her, and because she could never bear the knowledge that there was anything she didn't know that others did.
There was much she learned that she did not like. The daughter of successful entrepreneurs, Saifa believes very much in making one's own fate; in thumbing one's nose at the world, in last chances and desperate invention. Learning of the weavings of the Loom of Fate depressed her. How grand could one's story be, after all, if it was only really the weavings of soulless, indifferent spiders? The gods were not great, only petty, and corrupt, and powerful. Her fellow chosen-except for Holok- are remote. Inhuman. So truly concerned with the good of all she wonders if they can truly care for any.
Her first assignment was disaster. She had been well-trained, and the other newly-Exalted Sidereal she was assigned with was known to be very competent. In theory, it was trivial-something that could have been delegated to a godling of the Bureau, if there hadn't two newbies to be shepherded through the basics. There was a child, a peasant girl five years of age, who lived in the outskirts of Lookshy, and the two Sidereal needed only to ensure that she died of drowning within the next month. She wouldn't do it. The idea was monstrous. If it would create a hole in the tapestry, well, they could damn well weave around it. Nor would she see it done by Naiyan, her partner, who was of a more pragmatic mind and ruthless disposition. She fled from Three Forks, with the screaming child in her arms, to the only place she was sure they would not be found. Into the darkness of the shadowlands-and then into the Underworld.
They hid there thirty hideous days. Saifa emerged to find herself in real danger of summary execution. A demon of the second circle had made use of the snarl in Fate her action-or inaction-had caused, to devastating effect. Holok, who had confidence in her heart and ability if not her judgement, maneuvered, and she was reassigned to clean up after her mess, and defeat the demon. She beat it with her wits instead of outright battle, and won permanent place among the demon-hunters. Some among the elder Sidereal suspect Saifa made a fell alliance during her month in the Underworld (she didn't; she had only cowered in a cave and avoided contact with anyone), but will not send the shard out of commission for another twenty years unless they have evidence. Saifa, for her part, no longer will interfere in the workings of the Loom of Fate; the murders the demon made have convinced her she had only worsened the weaving. But she hates it, deeply. The system is evil, but necessary, she cannot think of a way to change it, so she can only participate as little as possible, and be ashamed.
Saifa enjoys her reassignment; hunting demons is dangerous, but worthwhile and undoubtedly in the interests of Creation. She fears that many of the machinations of the Sidereal no longer are; Saifa is an independent, who might lean toward the Gold Faction if it were not for Holok's place so firmly among the Bronze. She is generally tactically-oriented; preferring snooping around and finding the creature's weak point, or discovering the one thread to she need pull to unweave its plots, to outright battle.
Holok placed Tia, the child Saifa refused to kill, with a family in Three Forks. Saifa goes to visit her when she can. Tia's experience in the Underworld seems to have done her no harm, save for the darkness of her hair, the paleness of her skin, and an occasional otherworldliness in her eyes. Tia is the only person in Creation who recognizes Saifa's face.
Butterfly of the Thousand Whispering Voices (Ally 2)
The Butterfly is the goddess of gossip, and of moderate standing in the
hierarchy of the Bureau of Forbidden Ivy who has been more sympathetic
than most to a young Sidereal's trials. This is, granted, in part because
Saifa is generally unreserved about sharing her feelings, putting the
Butterfly in prime position for juicy intel on about those strange
Exalted, but is also because of a genuine kindness the goddess has for
Saifa. The Butterfly is never a deep thinker, but she is a clever one, and
she has upon occasion nudged Saifa into less dangerous waters.
Holok (Sifu 3) Elder of the Bronze faction (and a character in the Exalted novels, if you've read them). Holok never left his peasant roots entirely behind, still enjoying the cheap tea he grew up with. He's unpretentious, good-humored, and action always follows him, in spite of himself. He is kind, but will do what is necessary for Creation.
Appearance: Saifa's skin is a warm brown, her shoulder-length kinky hair the auburn so common in the south. Her eyes are black and sparkling. Saifa always dresses to the limit of what is allowable, as suits a wealthy merchant. She wears brocade outer-robes of vivid crimsons and greens, and inner-robes of violet and gold. If there is a choice, she will always choose the flamboyant over the subdued. Strings of green glass beads are wound through her hair. She carries her daiklave, One Last Chance, in a leather sheath studded with gems.
Manse: Saifa's unusual air-aspected Celestial Manse (lvl 3) is an inheritance from her previous incarnation, which Holok had rigorously defended on her behalf until she was ready to take it up again. Inside a gated woodlands, two delicate marble towers soar into the sky; one is shorter than the other. The uppermost chamber in each produce a hearthstone; the taller one a level 2 hearthstone, and the shorter one a level 1 hearthstone. dland; two two delicate marble towers soar into the sky; one is shorter than the <Sura> other. Artifacts:
In the hearthstone chambers of Saifa's manse, she discovered the treasures her predecessor had left behind: a daiklave, which Saifa renamed One Last Chance (it was called Destiny Unavoidable), and a starmetal thunderbolt shield (B3C p 94; adds 2 to difficulty for melee or ranged attacks against the character using it, subtracts one success from damage rolls against Sidereal who carries it; commitment 5 motes.).
