MeiRen/MmeDerring
I wanted to have a powerful Bronze Faction Sidereal to go as a foil to Ayesha Ura. Chejop Kejak is the obvious choice, but he's too powerful and he comes with too much baggage. I can't imagine him having him involved in the nitty gritty aspects of one of my series. The following is what I came up with:
Mme. Dering, Chosen of the Maiden of Serenity
The First Age and the years immediatelly after it were an incredibly wealthy period. Jessica Dering's Mom wasn't particularly well off, but she had a house with two stories, nice pastel curtains, clean rugs and lots and lots of dolls. Jessica liked to play with dolls. Mommy dolls would marry Daddy dolls and have cute little baby dolls who would study Sorcery from teacher dolls. Jessica especially liked the Daddy dolls, sometimes she would have go hunting, have them fight wars, or have them be disappeared by the Solar Secret Police dolls.
Later, Jessica's Mom never could figure out why she had bought all those dolls. She ended up giving them to one of the charities the Dragon Blooded set up for children whose parents had been killed in the Usurpation. It just seemed appropriate, somehow.
Mme. Derring rose quickly in the ranks of the Bronze Faction. She worked hard, and to the extent that the Dynasts havn't all killed each other yet, she's largely to blame. 100 years ago, Chejop started inviting her too a few Inner Circle meetings, and she appears to be in line to take over the leadership of the faction. She's a brilliant military strategist, a level headed organizer, a learned astrologer, a manipulator par excellence, and a caregiver who honestly cares about the Realm.
Most of Mme Derring's time is taken up by managing the Realm. Although she deals with all facets of life in the Dynasty, she particularly likes to go to Dragon Blooded parties. There, she listens to the gossip about who and who ought to get married and what their kids would look like, and she acts on it. She makes the right "concidences" happen for true love to blossom (or not) as is necessary, arranges political marriages, and otherwise keeps things moving. Mme. Derring herself perfers marriage to the more casual relationships practiced by many Exalted and is married to a Lunar barely 50 years her junior.
Mme. Derring's nominal position in Yu Shan is as overseer of diplomatic meetings, a job which gives her an excuse to travel almost anywhere in Creation on bussiness. She long ago abandoned the antiquated name "Jessica", and now calls herself Willow when her family name is not enough.
Game Stats
Caste: Serenity
Nature: Caregiver
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5, Charisma 6, Manipulation 6, Appearance 5, Perception 5, Intelligence 5, Wits 7
Virtues: Compassion 5, Convition 5, Temperance 4, Valor 3
Backgrounds: Acquaintances 5 (her family and the neighborhood where she lives in Yu-Shan), Celestial Manse 4, Salary 5, Savant 4.
Charms, Abilities, and Colleges: Derring's Charms, Abilities, Colleges, and Connections list are left to your imagination. I would consider a few points: If Derring is a recurrent ally, don't let her have the same schtick as any of your PCs, or they'll feel slighted. If she's an occasionally ally, making her a more bad ass version of one of the PCs might actually feel cool (look what you'll be able to do in a few levels!). If she's an opponent, give her whatever powers you like, but consider giving her a few allies on her level to avoid "evil mastermind loneliness syndrome."
