Red Sky's Circle

This Circle is led by an evil Eclipse Caste pirate.

back to Ikselam's Circles.

Initial concept, from back around February 2003

Last night I had this idea for an island-themed Circle. I drew a surfer, and that led to me thinking of surfing-themed characters. One thing led to another.

I even have a gimmick: this Circle is evil. Its leader is a sinister Eclipse who has sneakily used his oath power to bind the others into his service.

Dawn: Surfer. Duuude! Zenith: Priestess. Exalted while in process of being sacrificed to a volcano god. Night: Witch doctor. Twilight: Eclipse's sidekick/thrall. Eclipse: Ambitious trader from outside the archipelago.

Beginnings of a more detailed workup, mainly done in February and March

Marlin "Red Sky" Sharkskin - a scheming pirate lord who uses and abuses his Eclipse powers on a constant basis. Looking to bring other Solars under his sway as part of his neverending quest for power. His anima is a spider (?). Nature: Architect.

Red Sky is a 100 xp character. He probably knows Sorcery. He is a tall, solidly-built man, with black hair and a strong profile. Like just about every other naturally pale-skinned person in the West, he has a deep tan. Red Sky is in his 30s.

Red Sky is a villain. He's calculating, ruthless, and cares for little beyond the acquisition of power. He doesn't really have a grand vision; no ultimate goal he can think of seems big enough to be satisfying. So he just expands his reach one small step at a time, searching for the fulfillment he'll never find even if he controls the entire world.

Cormorant - Red Sky's slave. Originally a storyteller; now his muscle, constrained by oaths to never speak (so that she can't use her arsenal of Presence and Performance Charms against RS or his men). Her anima is an albatross. Nature: Martyr.

Cormorant is a 90xp character. She is a tall, slim woman whose tan brings out her freckles. She has red hair, usually mostly concealed under a bandanna. Cormorant is in her late 20s.

Cormorant is a ticking time bomb whose only purpose in life has become to drag Red Sky screaming with her into Hell. Whenever she is not carrying out his orders, she is plotting how to work around (or through) her oaths and destroy him.

Ao - A surfer/warrior, accompanied by his water nymph friend. Wise Monkey's student. His anima is a dolphin. Nature: Hedonist.

Ao is built like a pro swimmer, sleek and muscular. His unruly blond hair contrasts sharply with his dark bronze skin. Ao is in his early 20s.

Ao is kind of a dork. It's not that he's dumb, he just doesn't have a guileful bone in his body, and doesn't really get that other people might be different. Clever Monkey manipulates him shamelessly and constantly.

"Clever Monkey" Moei - A shaman with some kind of unusual backstory which justifies the Night thing. I know it can be done, but I'm at a loss right now. He could, like, use tricksy subterfuge to play spirits against each other in order to protect his island. Yeah. His anima is a monkey. Nature: Conniver.

Clever Monkey is a small, wiry black man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair. A lot of people overestimate his age (he's in his late 30s).

Clever Monkey is intended to show how a Conniver can be a "good guy." He doesn't directly attack his enemies, and may actually ally with them occasionally, but he -does- ultimately stand for righteousness. He probably pretends to be under Red Sky's sway, taking advantage of the pirate's arrogance while he figures out how to free Cormorant and get Teoxihuitl to be less delusional.

Teoxihuitl - an idealistic (and very young) priestess. Exalted while in the process of being sacrificed (voluntarily) to a volcano god. Her anima is a tortoise. Nature: Gallant.

Teoxihuitl has a strong fire theme. She has a tendency to think of the UCS as being just like the volcano gods she worshiped prior to Exaltation, which is provably false. Here's a thought: she should be -sympathetic- towards Red Sky.

Teoxihuitl is a short, dark-skinned girl who seems to be miraculously skipping the "awkward, gangly" stage of adolescence (she is 15). She has black hair and a rounded face and body.

Teoxihuitl is Lyta-esque, in a slightly less psychotically insane way. She's an evangelist, and believes that Red Sky's efforts to unite Western Solars are righteous. Her divine charge should support this: "Gather my wayward children together" &c. Her upbringing (she was basically raised from birth as a high priestess/sacrifice) has left her with some extremely delusional ideas about how humans should relate to each other -- in short, Teoxihuitl has a God complex. Which is only aggravated by her ability to call down divine fire to smite people, ho ho.

Our story begins with Red Sky. He Exalts, probably in a situation revolving about a secret island of treasure or something.

Some time later, Cormorant is "recruited" by Red Sky. He saves her life (or someone else's life -- might be more likely for Martyr nature) in exchange for an oath of service (which has since ballooned into its current form). It's very likely he heard about her, and the whole thing was a setup from the beginning.

Teoxihuitl gets sucked into Red Sky's web of lies.

Clever Monkey keeps his Exaltation hidden for several years, only revealing himself in the events surrounding Ao's Exaltation (which might very well occur when Red Sky arrives in search of Clever Monkey... hmm).

Ao might well Exalt when Red Sky's pirates attack his island.

If I felt like it, I could throw in some references to sig characters. Given Red Sky's MO, he'd certainly have heard of Lyta, Ocean Pearl, Moray Darktide et al., and would probably want to search them out if he thought he'd have the upper hand. He'd be wary of Lyta's sinister Sidereal handler, and Darktide's Deathlord patron. Various Solars could also attempt to recruit him.

2/14/03

Ideas for Teoxihuitl I had during lunch today:

The volcano god should be extremely mad when she fails to die after being hurled into his caldera. I have this notion that he was exiled from Heaven long ago because of the UCS, so he'd be even more angry about his sacrifice going Solar. My current idea is that he runs amok and destroys the island in anger. This -somehow- leads to Teoxihuitl being lost at sea and washing up on another island, where she meets with Red Sky's pirates. I have NO IDEA how this could occur. Hm, maybe the volcano god demands that she be exiled from the island OR ELSE he'll erupt and blow it up -- so she ends up in a little canoe, drifting wherever the current takes her. That makes more sense. Whatever way it ends up working, she should have all kinds of delirious visions and stuff when her water runs out and she's drifting on the open sea, under the blazing eye of the sun.

The new plan also has her less evil, more naive. And more susceptible to Red Sky's rakish buccaneer charm (teenage girl than she is). She still has some extremely delusional ideas, but she's less Lyta-like. Essentially, she's a good kid who's been taken in by a wily guy who can read her uncomplicated personality like an open book.

Teoxihuitl has sworn some kind of oath to Red Sky. It is probably not all that crippling -- probably something like "I pledge to help you in your quest to spread Solar power."

Teoxihuitl looks Hispanic (Aztec, actually. Imagine that), with dark skin and slightly wavy black hair. She's pretty short. She might have oddly-colored eyes (like dark red or orange, to go with the fire schtick. Dunno how those colors would look on a dark-complected person, though). She definitely dresses to impress; at least, it's impressive that her relatively slight frame can support an amount of gaudy gold jewelry that would make Mr. T stagger. Besides jewelry, she isn't too big on clothing in general -- she comes from the Southwest, where it is hot and humid ALL THE TIME. She probably has several body piercings -- nose, ears, belly button, eyebrow, &c. At any given time, she should probably have motes committed to Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit, so that she won't have to change her mode of dress to reflect the local climate.

Her Charm selection: Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit, Salamander's Touch Tech, Unquenchable Conflagration Tech, Sun's Flaming Tongue Attack, Element-Resisting Prana, Harmonious Presence Meditation, Majestic Radiant Presence, Durability of Oak Meditation, Iron Skin Concentration, Ox-Body (-1,-2,-2)

Essence: 3 (7pts) Virtues: Compassion 2 Conviction 3 Temperance 1, Valor 3

Str 2 Dex 3 Sta 4 Cha 5 Man 2 App 4 Per 2 Int 3 Wit 2

Need 5 survival, 4 presence, 3 resistance, good endurance score for element-resisting, good performance. Specialties in "volcano gods" and "religious fervor" -- possibly a performance specialty in "posing impressively". Resistance specialty "environmental damage" or maybe just "firewalking".

Other favored abilities: Occult, Socialize, Melee? Archery? Dodge?, Medicine, Awareness(?)

Backgrounds: Artifacts (gotten from Red Sky most likely), Mentor?? (Red Sky), Manse??, Resources (so much gold!), Familiar? Crap, I have no idea what her backgrounds are going to look like. Hm, maybe Backing would better represent Red Sky's influence.

2/16

Teoxihuitl's "patron deity" is now named Lanatoxec.

Ao now has a water elemental sidekick. Her gimmick is that she can only speak while underwater. When above the surface, water wells out of her mouth whenever she opens it. She is probably a nymph of the sort found on p.296. I have this idea that her hair should look, feel, and move like water. Perhaps she is Ao's familiar as well as his ally? She needs a name, too. (Mui? Too similar to Moei. Perhaps some Adjectival Noun or Verbing Noun moniker.)

I need to figure out what Ao's job was before he Exalted. It needs to justify him being a surfer. He could be a fisherman who just likes surfing for fun. But why would he become a Dawn? Maybe he's a prince.

Ao and Moei come from the same island(s). Red Sky could come across them by chance or design... it might be difficult to justify them going with him... UNLESS I make up some fake reason which is just something Clever Monkey made up to cover his real motivation; he sees through Red Sky and wants to free Cormorant and Teoxihuitl from his web of deceit. That could work.

Clever Monkey's Charms: Spirit-Detecting Glance, All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, Reed In The Wind, Shadow Over Water, 7 Shadow Evasion, Leaping Dodge, Graceful Crane Stance, Fish Swimming Tech, Sensory Acuity Prana, Easily Overlooked Presence Method

I think CM will start as a 20 xp character.

Ao's Charms: Graceful Crane Stance, Fish Swimming Tech, Increasing Strength Exercise, Excellent Strike, Ferocious Jab, Fist of Iron, Ox-Stunning Blow, Durability of Oak, Iron Skin, Reed In The Wind

2/16

And how the heck do I justify Cormorant? You'd think that since Red Sky is not in fact a total retard, he would figure out some sneaky way of using her existing powers to his benefit, instead of completely eviscerating them and just keeping her around as what amounts to a trophy. I need to rethink this.

Cormorant's Charms: Harmonious Presence, Listener-Swaying Argument, Hypnotic Tongue Tech, Masterful Performance Exercise, Heart-Compelling Method, Respect-Commanding Attitude, Body-Mending Meditation, Touch of Blissful Release, Reed in the Wind, Excellent Strike

And I also run into the problem of why she's a Twilight. How is a storyteller not an Eclipse? Obviously I have to play to the "teacher" aspect of Twilights instead of the L33T P0WERZZZZ!!!11

Maybe it's not that she can't talk at all, she just needs permission from RS.

2/16

Red Sky starts with lots of points plowed into backgrounds. He's going to Exalt when his pirate crew (he's first mate) follows a magic map to an Isle of Wonders. He backstabs the captain and takes over the ship. Not sure why, but he does. Think the backstory from Treasure Island.

RS's Charms: Wise-Eyed Courtier Method, Motive-Discerning Tech, Masterful Dissimulation Method, Harmonious Presence Meditation, Deft Official's Way, Sledgehammer Fist Punch, Crashing Wave Throw, Reed In The Wind, Ox- Body, Salty Dog Method

I may end up spending bp on Charms for him.

Need: Manse 5 (4pts), Artifact 5??? (4pts -- but he may not need this. He isn't going to be loaded down with stuff...though he might have a ship...), Resources 5 (6 pts), Followers 3-4

He may have some godawful powerful hearthstone, like a Gem of Adamant Skin or even...

3/19 Red Sky's background might now involve his & co. being stranded on Isle of Wonders. Not sure quite how yet.

Need to figure out how exactly the Circle gets together. Specifically, how Cormorant, Moei and Ao were picked up. Teoxihuitl is pretty much worked out at this point.

Notes/Comments

Very bright orange eyes - flame bright, you might say - can look quite stunning against a dark complection; see Ansem from the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts for an example, off the top of my head. Also, depending on whether there are any nearby islands, maybe Ao is a messenger surfer? *g* I keep thinking of that movie, Surf Ninjas.... - Okensha

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Red Sky's Circle

Initial concept, from back around February 2003

Beginnings of a more detailed workup, mainly done in February and March

Notes/Comments

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