Kalisara/KhaTik
NAME: Kha Tik
ALIASES: Ruj Batu ("the Red Spear"); "Teller of Forgotten Tales"
CONCEPT: Impatient Revolutionary
PLAYER: Skandha
MOTIVATION: Organizing a Solar power base in the South
CASTE: Night
ANIMA TOTEM: Clusters of tiny purple spiders trailing glittering webs
HOMELAND: Chiaroscuro
ATTRIBUTES:
STR 2, DEX 5, STA 4
PER 4, INT 2, WIT 3
CHA 2, MAN 4, APP 1
CASTE ABILITIES:
Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Dodge 3, Larceny 3
FAVORED ABILITIES:
Melee 4, Integrity 2, Performance 2, Bureaucracy 3, Socialize 3
OTHER ABILITIES:
Resistance 2, Linguistics 2 (Native: Flametongue; High Realm, Old Realm), Lore 1, Presence 1
ABILITY SPECIALTIES:
Disguise x3 (Larceny), Spears x3 (Melee), Storytelling (Performance), Corrupting Officials (Bureaucracy), Arranging Favors (Socialize), First Age History (Lore)
BACKGROUNDS:
Artifact 1 (Red Jade Hearthstone Amulet), Artifact 2 (Red Jade Lamellar Armor), Artifact 2 (Red Jade Dire Lance), Backing 1 (Chiaroscuro Secret Police), Contacts 1 (network of informants divided between Gem, Paragon, and Chiaroscuro), Followers 1 (Rha and Tar Tik, brothers; assorted secret police officers), Manse 1 (oasis located roughly two days travel SE of Chiaroscuro), Resources 3 (cache of jade talents hidden at Manse; income from secret police position)
WILLPOWER:
Permanent 7 / Temporary 7
VIRTUES:
Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 1, Valor 3
Virtue Flaw: Foolhardy Contempt
Limit Break Condition: Fighting against losing odds, challenged to single combat, or is obligated to prove bravery
ESSENCE & ANIMA:
Permanent 3
Personal 16
Peripheral 28 (max 37; 9 committed)
Committed 9 (to Hearthstone Amulet, Dire Lance, Lamellar)
CHARMSKalisara/KhaTik/COMBOS:
Second Dodge Excellency, Shadow Over Water, Second Melee Excellency, One Weapon Two Blows, Dipping Swallow Defense, Durability of Oak Meditation, Second Bureaucracy Excellency, Indolent Official Charm, Wise-Eyed Courtier Method, Mastery of Small Manners; "Dancing Flame Technique" (Second Melee Excellency + One Weapon Two Blows, 3 motes)
POSSESSIONS:
Talisman vs Disease (+1 to Resistance rolls vs illness), Wood Hearthstone of Healing (+3 to Medicine rolls), Hearthstone Amulet, Lamellar Armor, Dire Lance, Delzahn Short Sword, Delzahn Nomadic Robes, Traveler's Cloak, Traveler's Boots, Traveler's Purse, Coins, Rope, Maps, Blank Scrolls, Ink & Brushes
BONUS POINTS REMAINING: 0 (+1 Essence, 7BP; +1 Willpower, 2BP; +1 Melee, 1BP; +1 Presence, 2BP; +10 FavoredKalisara/Caste Specialties, 5BP; +2 Artifact, 2BP; +1 Contacts, 1BP; +3 Resources, 3BP; +1 Combo, 2BP)
XP: 0
WEAPONRY:
Red Jade Dire Lance
(SpeedKalisara/Attune): 5/+2/(+8/12L)/+2/2/5
Exceptional Delzahn Short Sword
(SpeedKalisara/Rate): 5/+2/3L/+2/3
Punch
(SpeedKalisara/Rate): 5/+1/+0B/+2/3
Kick
(SpeedKalisara/Rate): 5/+0/+3B/-2/2
Clinch
(SpeedKalisara/Rate): 6/+0/+0B/-/1
ARMOR:
Red Jade Lamellar Armor
(SoakKalisara/Attune): (8L/9B)/(5L/5B)/-1/0/3
HEALTH:
Base Soak (BKalisara/KhaTik/L): 4/2
+ Armor (BKalisara/KhaTik/Agg): 8/9/9
+ Misc (BKalisara/KhaTik/Agg): 0/0/0
= Total (BKalisara/KhaTik/Agg): 12/11/9
Levels (-0x1/-1x2/-2x2/-4x1Kalisara/KhaTik/Dead)
COMBAT:
Attuned Red Jade Dire Lance Base Attack Pool 14 (DEX 5 + MEL 4 + Spear Spec. 3 + ACC 2)
Exceptional Delzahn Short Sword Base Attack Pool 11 (DEX 5 + MEL 4 + ACC 2)
Punch Base Attack Pool 10 (DEX 5 + MEL 4 + ACC 1)
Kick Base Attack Pool 9 (DEX 5 + MEL 4)
Clinch Base Attack Pool 9 (DEX 5 + MEL 4)
Join Battle 5
Base Dodge DV 6
Base Parry DV 6
Base Dodge MDV 6
Base Parry MDV 4
Intimacies: "Preserving Clan Tik;" "Humbling the Perfect"
QUOTE: "My Lord, I have some information for you..."
BACKGROUND:
Unlike most Delzahn lowborns in Chiaroscuro, Kha Tik managed to escape the crushing hand-to-mouth lifestyle fate had apparently ordained for him. His parents were forced to sell him at the age of ten--along with his two younger brothers Rha and Tar--to Guild slave traders making the Gem-Paragon-Chiaroscuro trading circuit. But fortune intervened in the person of Nat Yut, the manager of a traveling theatre company operating in the South region. Employing them as simple laborers and foremen at first, Yut quickly noticed the quick fingers and wit possessed by the brothers, and decided to educate all three in the arts of storytelling and stagecraft. Things continued in that vein for the next few years, with Kha's skill for performance growing by leaps and bounds under Yut's dedicated instruction. Soon enough, Kha reckoned that he might join the troupe on a full-time basis--but this was interrupted by his ascendance to the age of majority. Under the rule of the Perfect of Paragon, this meant that he would now be forced to swear loyalty to the Perfect--or face banishment...or worse.
EXALTATION:
But Kha Tik and his brothers--still viewing themselves as sons of Chiaroscuro--refused. For the next few months, he and his brothers spent their time dodging the henchmen of the Perfect when not performing, and using Guild cosmetics to fake the Perfect's brand when before the public. However, a malicious Paragon nobleman who had seen the false brands wear off during a previous performance hatched a scheme to acquire them all as personal slaves. Tipped off by the nobleman who claimed that he had been robbed, the Paragon guardsmen burst in late one night, bludgeoning the players into senselessness one by one and dragging them off in shackles to waiting prisoners' carts. Coming upon the scene after walking the city streets and gathering fodder for the next performance, Kha stood there frozen with shock and fury as the guardsmen tossed the last of the troupe into the carts and rode away. He regained control of himself just before one of the guardsmen turned and spotted him as he melted away into the shadows of the nearest alley. With his mind filled with nothing but thoughts of his brothers facing agonizing torture and death, and with the troupe's prop weapons already confiscated by the guardsmen, he grabbed a nearby tent pole to serve as a makeshift weapon, then vaulted on to one of the low rooftops and bounded toward the guards. He finally caught up with them about a mile from the gaol, dropping from the roof onto the street directly in front of them. Too late, he saw that the Captain of the guard was a Dragon-Blood outcaste, with elemental puffs of smoke still rising from his body after the exertion of the raid. The two wagons stopped, with another four guardsmen leaping off the wagons and flanking their commander. Even as the Dragon-Blood cast aside his cloak to reveal a fearsome red jade lance and a pair of matching tiger claws, Kha could think only of his brothers and friends, and resolved to free them or die in the attempt. He rushed toward the Captain, screaming a Delzahn battle cry and expecting to meet a quick death--and that was when he felt a strange burning fever spreading over his entire body, while the area around him seemed to darken. Amazingly, he saw fear in the Dragon-Blood's eyes, and the Captain even took a step back. Kha closed the distance between the two in the next instant, and disarmed the Captain with a mighty swing of the tent pole. The jade lance went flying to one side, and in a blur Kha reversed his strike and clubbed the Captain violently across the side of his head, hearing a sickening crack as the Captain's neck broke. He leapt toward the other guardsmen as the burning sensation seemed to concentrate itself on his forehead, while at the same time a throbbing power infused his limbs with boundless strength and speed. The guardsman in the rear gave one panic-stricken gasp--"Anathema!"--before Kha's hands blurred out again and spitted his three comrades on the tent pole with a single strike. Snatching a short sword from one of the dying guardsmen, Kha stalked the last one menacingly, now feeling the heat on his forehead contract itself into a thin ring of blazing golden light. Kha dispatched the last with a swift slash across the throat, then turned back to the prisoners' wagons.
Fortunately, his brothers and friends were still alive, though some still remained unconscious from the beatings served by the overzealous guardsmen (and Nat Yut would remain paralyzed on one side for life). Knowing that all their lives were in danger now, and that this would continue as long as he remained with them, Kha told his brothers to make for Gem that very night and stay there until their friends were healed. He swore to see them again in Gem, while he would now go to Chiaroscuro and seek his fortune there. After despoiling the guardsmen (with Kha keeping the Captain's fine lance and lamellar for himself), they said their final tearful goodbyes outside the city gates, and Kha fled into the Southern wastes.
After wandering around for a few days in the baking desert sands, hoping to shake off any pursuit, Kha decided to head in the direction of Chiaroscuro. It was then that a strange woman appeared before him, shining with the aura of the gods and beckoning him to a decrepit stone pyramid that suddenly revealed itself in the distance. Once there, she revealed herself as a Chosen of the Maidens, confirming that she was one favored by Heaven much like Kha himself, and that Heaven had mandated that she assist him in coming into his own. Kha found himself believing her words in spite of the obvious strangeness of the situation, and followed her into the Manse. He remained there for months as she schooled him in the nature of the world beyond the South and the Blessed Isle, tutored him in the history of the First Age and the glories of the Celestial Exalted, and trained him in the arts of channeling the power granted to him by the Unconquered Sun. Soon his instruction came to an end, and Kha set out for Chiaroscuro, disguising himself as an indigent storyteller while he evaluated how he might best accomplish his goals. Finally he began spreading tales of a wandering mercenary known as the Red Spear--whose glorious feats in faraway lands were legion--making sure that these legends reached the ears of those in power. At the same time, he began shadowing the more thoroughly corrupt members of the Chiaroscuro security forces and subtly used his arts to increase their avarice and egocentrism. Some time later, he appeared before a high-ranking officer of the Tri-Khan's guard, claiming to be the Red Spear himself. He advised the officer that certain of those under his command had become spies in the employ of Paragon. A quick investigation proved the truth of Kha's words, and Kha himself offered to bring them in for judgement. After bringing them in alive and unharmed (though the same could not be said for their venal underlings who might have proven that Kha's allegations were slightly exaggerated), Kha gained a commission as an investigator, replacing the now-disgraced traitors before him. Easily switching between multiple identities in order to root out threats to Chiaroscuro and then dispatching them, Kha rapidly gained the esteem of his superiors. However, he has not forgotten his mission to revenge himself upon the Perfect, and plans to wield Chiaroscuro itself as a weapon against the hated tyrant--all with the ultimate aim of restoring the rule of the Children of the Sun in the Perfect's place (as foreseen by his Sidereal teacher). Currently, Kha is on assignment in Gem, ostensibly to meet with the Tri-Khan's agents in that city--but his true goals are to regroup with his brothers who have suddenly gone missing, and to make contact with the leader of the Illuminated Cult operating within the city.
APPEARANCE:
When he journeys incognito, Kha Tik uses his abilities at disguise to completely alter his form and appearance. In his preferred identity of "the Teller of Forgotten Tales," Kha appears as a bent-over white-haired old man wrapped in traditional Delzahn nomadic robes, with inflamed skin and a fearsome scar nearly obliterating the left side of his face. As the Red Spear, Kha wears a dark purple hooded cloak cinched around his suit of lamellar, with breeches and a scarf of similar homespun material over the lower half of his face. He stores his possessions in a purse of yeddim hide, and still carries the ancient red jade lance confiscated from an unlucky Paragon guardsman. He is a tall wiry young man in his early 20s with cold green eyes, reddish-brown hair and coffee-colored skin. Kha stands about 5'10 and weighs 170 pounds.
