Miedvied/Matoskah

The Northern Tribe of the Great White Bear dwells beyond the stony, ice-capped walls of Whitewall. Its people hunt the Great White Bear, and its meat brings them full stomachs and staves off the chill for a night. Seasons pass, bringing snow and death and the shrinking of the tribe - eating away at the families the way that the sea does the beach, plucking a grain here and anon with every sweep. In the lean times, when the Great White Bear grows hungry, and he wishes to sacrifice no more of his children so that the tribe might have full bellies, he directs them against the Mammoth, Mammoth's children and Mammoth's followers. Death comes; but death always comes.

The Great White Bear, once-father of the Winter Winds about Whitewall and currently a middle-ranking administrator in the Bureau of Humanity, overseer of Bleak Desolation and Despair in the mid-North.

Occasionally, however, even the Great White Bear seeks warmth. Like most idle gods in these sad times, he often finds it between the thighs of some rustic.

--

The Tribe of the Great White Bear would break like waves on stones against the defenses of Whitewall. They failed every time, if you could measure success in how many of them escaped with their lives. They succeeded every time, if you measured the way they did - by glory sought in dying valiantly. No one was considered lacking in honor or courage for being struck down by the ice-sculpted Syndics.

Every now and again, however, a follower of the Great White Bear breaks his blade and burns his leathers and washes the Bear-fat from his skin. He finds himself working the sharecropping lands of Whitewall, and settles for the life of the civilized weaklings. For all their rhetoric about the pitiable lives of civilized beings, some seek to be just as weak - to give themselves up to the strength of civilization's inertia, and enjoy the benefits of the support network that exists in a totalitarianism.

One such man, Migina ("returning moon") son of Miakoda ("power of the moon") found himself standing in the home of the woman Kendra Jelsmith of Whitewall. In gem-dusted unbleached rags, with a half-uncut emerald in hand, goggles pushed up on her head and hair pulled back into a ponytail, she was too busy to be afraid of the invader. She blinked at the half-dressed man wielding a blade larger than his chest, pointed at the tool sitting on the bench beside him, and said "Gimme."

Migina son of Miakoda did not return to his tribe.

--

Six years later, with half-dark child born to the jewel-smith Kendra, Migina was plucked off the stret by the Syndic's secret police. He was cast out of the walls, one of Whitewall's annual sacrifices. His fate remains unknown to wife and child.

--

The child, Matoskah ("white bear") son of Migina was raised by the jewel-crafter Kendra Kelsmith of Whitewall, with the tales of the great hunters singing in his heart, and the education of the weak white man in his mind.

He didn't grow up with two left thumbs, but found himself with no heart for his mother's craft. He took to education like a fish to water - had he been left in the wastes, he would have undoubtedly followed in the footsteps of shamans and perhaps been chosen by Luna to become a No-Moon beast-god. Here, he did not - his mother's every earned cent went to buy him literacy and mathematics and he landed an apprenticeship to a local wise man; an engineer and a healer. Matoskah took after him.

And still the old songs crooned in his heart.

--

The day will come, his father told him, that you will have to make the passage to manhood.

Your mother and sisters and brothers will know. Your mother will pack for you a skin of water, and a knife, and some food. She will give it unto you.

The men will come for you. Me, perhaps. Or your uncles and cousins. They will take you from your home, with your water and your food and your knife. One will give you special bear fat to put upon your skin; this is not the warming fat, but the strong scented one - what you would use for bait on the hunt, you now use to cover your body.

They will lead you into the wild, and abandon you.

You will hunt.

You will find the proper animal; he will offer himself unto you. When he offers himself, you will slaughter and drink of his heart's blood. And you will be a man. And the tribe will eat, for the hunt you have made, for the success you have had. Everyone will eat and their bellies will be full, for you have been a man and a provider.

No one will starve or freeze or die; you have done right by your people.

--

And so he waited.

His father did not come.

And he waited.

His uncles did not come.

And he waited.

His cousins, they did not come.

--

On his fourteenth birthday, he packed his own skin of water. He packed his own food. He took the hunting knife his father had once owned, that had been his father's before he'd been torn out of their lives and cast out, and set out.

He prowled the city in the night. He found a neighboring sharecropper's oxen. It was a large animal, and it's breath steamed in the cold of the night. It's eyes should have rolled with fear of the predator coming for it, like the other animals did. It did not; it offered itself.

Matoskah drank of its blood, gone black in the shining golden light cast forth by the half-circle upon his brow. He was chosen, and came alive.

--

Isn't motivated by greed or desire for fame or power over others. Usually needs a woman to motivate him; tends to pick up women all the time, using them as his temporary goals - attaching them to his newest project, and discarding them soon after he succeeds. He doesn't do this consciously, though; he's the master of the hard fall and the rapid recovery. (Yes, inspired by Burning Chrome.)

--

Name: Matoskah son of Miginah
Caste: Twilight, Solar
Concept: Geek / Civilized Barbarian / Educated Basher
Nature: Thrillseeker
Totem: Polar Bear
Inheritance: 0
Anima: Ice-sculpted bear wreathed in golden fire

Attributes:
Strength 4 (+3), Dexterity 2, Stamina 3(+2)*
Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3
Wits 3, Perception 4, Intelligence 4

• Soak with full stamina

Abilities:
Lore 3F, Craft 1F, Medicine 3F, Occult 2F, Investigation 1F, Athletics 3F, Survival 3F, Brawl 3F, Awareness 1, Stealth 1F, Endurance 2, Resistance 3F, Linguistics 1 (Native tongue: Low realm, additional tongues: airtongue)

Virtues:
Compassion 2
Valor 2
Conviction 2
Temperance 3

Permanent Essence: 3 (Personal: 15) (Peripheral: 36)
Willpower: 6

Backgrounds:
Backing 1 - (invested) - would like to see him become an initiate of the Silver Pact during play.
Resources 1 - Access to mother's business funds
Mentor 1 - the local savant
Familiar 3 - War mastiff, large enough to ride.
Artifact 1 - (invested) - would just like to see him come across something appropriate. Perhaps a book of spells, so he can invest in Occult /sorcery down the road.

Charms:
Ferocious Jab
Fist of Iron Technique
Dragon Coil Technique
Increasing Strength Exercise
Flawless Diagnosis Technique
Ailment Rectifying Method
Integrity Protecting Prana
Hardship Surviving Mendicant Spirit
Durability of Oak Meditation
Iron Skin Concentration
Flawless Handiwork Method

Merits:
Mutation - Tough - 4 pts.
Mutation - Large - 3 pts.

Flaws:
Unusual Appearance - 2 pts. - Icy breath, blue-white patches of skin, cool body temp.
Climate Sensitive - 2 pts. - Hot/humid climates
Child - 3 pts.

• Ferocious Jab, 1 mote, Instant, Supplemental. On a successful attack, count extra successes twice for determining damage. May spend essence after character rolls for the attack.
• Fists of Iron Technique. 1 mote, Instant, Supplemental. Until next action, hands to lethal damage, safely parry lethal damage blows with her hands. +1 accuracy, +2L damage when attacking.
• Dragon Coil Technique. 3 motes per turn, duration varies, simple. Clinch damage is now lethal; add Essence dice to all clinch pools.
• Increasing Strength Exercise. 3 motes per dot, one scene, simple. Cannot increase Strength by more than Essence.
• Flawless Diagnosis Technique. 1 mote, Five Minutes, simple. By examining a patient closely and hearing about her symptoms, the character flawlessly diagnoses her illness.
• Ailment-Rectifying Method. 10 motes, six hours, simple. Non-life-threatening illnesses dissipate immediately. More serious ailment may require a Stamina + Resistance roll (without any wound or disease-related penalties). Success indicates the illness fades over the course of the Charm's duration. Very serious illnesses may require two or more successes. May require using the charm repeatedly to accumulate successes. Even the most serious illnesses are halted in their progress by this charm, and even the Great Contagion only requires 5 successes to dissipate. Can only use on himself.
• Integrity Protecting Prana, 5 motes 1 will, one day, simple. Make his person proof against Wyld energies. Mind and body cannot be warped by the Wyld. Possessions are vulnerable, but will not attack the character.
• Hardship Surviving Mendicant Spirit, 5 motes, one day, simple. Character is perfectly at home in a harsh wilderness environment, protecting him even if he is unprepared.
• Durability of Oak Meditation, 1 mote per 2B added to soak, one scene, simple. Maximum soak bonus is equal to Stamina + Resistance. Compatible with armor.
• Iron Skin Concentration, 3 motes, instant, reflexive. Reduce damage of any attack the character is aware of to minimum damage (usually the character's essence). Compatible with armor.
• Flawless Handiwork Method, 3 motes per success, instant, supplemental. Make a regular Int + Craft or Sta + Craft roll. May purchase additional successes, up to Essence rating + Successes rolled.

Combat Notes:

• Movement in Combat: Dex + 12 (14) yards and take full dice action. Spend a full action moving to go 3Dex + 20 (62) yards. Moves on initiatve tick her dice action is taken on. Movement is not offensive, and does not take a penalty for being held.
• Negative modifier equal to amount of initiatve ticks held is applied to all actions for the remainder of the turn.
• Wound penalties apply to init totals.
• Minimum damage of attacks equal to Permanent Essence.
• Penalties cannot reduce dice pool below permanent Essence score, except for wound penalties.
• Permanent Essence dice added to all dodge pools.
• Clinch attak has accuracy, damage, and defense of 0. Rate 1. Clinch damage is bashing. Successes add to damage done on the clinch when the attacker chooses to do damage. The clinch roll itself is a Strength + Brawl or Dexterity + Brawl roll, which can be defended (parried and doged) against normally. Target of a clinch may attempt a clinch roll as a defensive action to take control of or escape a clinch on the turn that the clinch is initiated, but only if he has an action with which to do so. On each subsequent turn, the players both make a clinch roll on the highest initiative of the participants - this is the dice action for all participants in the clinch. Grappler with the greatest number of successes controls the clinch, and can opt to do damage equal to Strength + Extra Successes on the opposed roll, to end the clinch, or to hold without dealing damage. A combatant ending a lcnich may, at his option, push his opponent back a number of yards equal to his Strength when ending the clinch or knock his opponent prone when ending the clinch. The player of a character in a clinch who has multiple actions may attempt multiple clinch rolls. He makes his contested clinch roll against his opponent's last roll, while his opponent does not roll at all. EAch of these attempts is considered a separate attack or control attempt.

Clinch: Speed -6, Accuracy 0, Damage 0B, Defense 0, Rate 1
Cestus: Speed 0, Accuracy 0, Damage 0L, Defense +2, Rate 4
Fist: Speed 0, Accuracy +1, Damage 0B, Defense +2, Rate 5
Kick: Speed -3, Accuracy +1, Damage 3B, Defense -2, Rate 3
Tree Trunk: Speed +8, Accuracy 0, Damage 14B, Defense -4, Rate 1

Base Initiative: 5
Attack:
Clinch: Attack 10, Speed -1, Damage 7B, Defense 10
Cestus: Attack 5, Speed 5, Damage 7L, Defense 7
Fist: Attack 6, Speed 5, Damage 7B, Defense 7
Kick: Attack 6, Speed 2, Damage 10B, Defense 3
Tree Trunk: Attack 5, Speed 13, Damage 21B, Defense 1

Health Levels: -0 x 2 / - 1 x 3 / -2 x 4 / -4 x 1 / I.
Dodge Pool: 4
Soak: 5B/5L

comments

Hmmm... I'm not entirely sure that I see how his background justifies Wyld mutations (or his unusual appearance). Is everyone in his father's tribe a God-Blood? If so, shouldn't he have the merit where he passes on his God-Blooded attributes to his children? Also, aI find it hard to imagine an abnormally large fourteen year-old being treated as a child in harsh climes. Do you expect the Child flaw to actually come into play? If so, how? Reading his background, I got a cool Urban Hunter probably-Night-Caste vibe. I was sort of surprised when I read Geek-Twilight, because the geekiness didn't come through. Definitely a cool character, I just think it could use some more cohesiveness. - szilard

I knew I was subtle about it, but I thought the implication had been fairly clear - he doesn't hail from a tribe of god-blooded. Rather, his mother was impregnated by Great White Bear; he assumed that Migina was his father. He was not. Moreover, the Mutation merit doesn't represent actual Wyld mutations; actual wyld mutations cap your Essence pretty severely. Rather, it's used to purchase traits from the Wyld Mutations sections. It can represent any supernatural influence. Moreover, the Child flaw is a social condition - would you treat a huge strong 14 year old as an adult, just because he's huge and strong? I do have my hesitations about that flaw, just because in agrarian and tribal society 14 is adulthood; but all the canon we've seen on the topic so far has Exalted being treated as non-adults until well past the age of 14. Moreover, the game is to take place in and around Whitewall, which means with civilized people - who might not say "Kiddy wanna lolly?" to the PC, but aren't exactly going to treat him as an adult just because he's huge. As for the geekiness, he's actually very geeky; he's an engineer by trade and physician on the side. I came up with the character as I was discussing with a friend GCG's statement that Creation savants have 0 and trig and so forth; meaning they've got calculus as well. That's some pretty advanced stuff, and I thought it'd be cool to have a geek that would bring it into play. I went with the barbarity for the cool contrast, and having a barbarian with an attitude other than "Civilization! Argh, destroy!" - Miedvied

This IS a pretty cool character. I like. That being said - it's not at all clear, at least to my reading, that Great White Bear is his father. You've stated that Great White Bear occasionally mates with mortal women, but you said that and then went straight into talking about the tribe, so I assumed you were saying that the tribe, as a whole, is descended from him. Regarding the Child flaw, how big is Matoskah, actually? If my memory is accurate the Large mutation is about seven feet tall. I'd think that if he's that big, and past puberty, and generally acting like an adult, people would just assume he was one. - Kalisara

Yeah, I would make that clearer myself. As for the Child thing, the canon about Exalted being treated as non-adults has, to my memory, mostly involved people in the Realm, which is a far cry from Whitewall; people aren't even out of school by age 14 in the Realm. I could be wrong, though. Personally, I wouldn't give him Child either.
~ Shataina
PS: In other news, I admire the fact that this character is comparatively well-balanced.

I second both suggestions. You should make it clear that Great White Bear is his father and make it clear that he is a geek, pehaps by adding another in character bit where he does somthing geeky. I forsee very interesting interaction between his father and him as I expect his father probably wanted him to become a great barbarian and instead he becomes an engineer. Great White Bear might even think of him as a failure. -- BrilliantRain