MoonSword/RagaraValeria

Name: Ragara Valeria
Aspect: Earth
Motivation: Defense of her companions and home
Anima: Moving from a vague shadow and sounds of stone scraping in the dark to, at full power, a great dragon of obsidian and marble rising behind her, wings outstretched.
Concept: A tough, compassionate young woman carrying a big stick.

Attributes:
Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3
Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3

Abilities: (Any abilities in bold are favored/caste)
Archery 1, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Craft 3, Dodge 4, Integrity 1, Investigation 1, Linguistics 0 (High Realm, Low Realm), Lore 2, Martial Arts 1, Medicine (Battlefield medicine +1) 2, Melee (Jade staff +2) 5, Occult 3, Perform 1, Presence 2, Resistance 3, Survival 1, War 2

Backgrounds: Artifact 3, Backing (Scarlet Haven) 1, Breeding 3, Resources 3

Virtues:
Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valor 3
Virtue Flaw: Compassion

Willpower: 7
Health: -0x1, -1x3, -2x3, -4x1, I
Essence: 3
Essence Pool: 12 / 28 (8 committed)
Flaws: Disturbing (2 pt.), Mute (0 pt.), Unusual Appearance (1 pt.)

Charms:
Awareness
All-Encompassing Earth Sense, First Excellency
Craft
First Excellency
Dodge
First Excellency
Medicine
Third Excellency
Melee
Dragon-Graced Weapon, First Excellency
Occult
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Resistance
First Resistance, Impervious Skin of Stone, Ox-Body Technique, Strength of Stone Technique

Spells:
Emerald Countermagic

Combos:
Body of Unyielding Stone: Impervious Skin of Stone, Strength of Stone Technique; costs 3+m (2m per person on Strength of Stone, 1m for 2L/2B on Impervious Skin of Stone) and 1wp; Obvious (Friv, I need to talk with you!)

Equipment: Black jade staff (treated as grand goremaul mechanically), perfect knife (+2 accuracy, +2 damage, +1 defense), exceptional fighting gauntlets (black leather, +1 accuracy, +1 damage, +1 defense; will be worn during combat), longbow, 10 frog crotch arrows, 10 target arrows, 20 broadhead arrows, perfect buff jacket (+2L/+2B soak, mobility -0, fatigue 1)

Combat:
Soak: 3B/1L/0A (unarmored)
Armored Soak: 5B/3L/0A Dodge DV: 4
Attacks:
Grand Staff of Jade - Spd 4, Acc 2, Def -1, Dmg 21L/5, Rate 1

Combat pools: Acc 13, Parry DV 5, Damage 21L/5

XP (Unspent/Total): 1/68

Character Description

More than a couple of people in and around Scarlet Haven have said that Ragara Valeria must have offended two of the Maidens and pleased the other two in a past life, given the remarkable combination of fortune and ill luck that have both come her way. Born with skin the color of obsidian and developing a head of marble-white hair, Valeria was the daughter of the sorcerer Ragara Valos and a younger, now-deceased Terrestrial officer. Initially trained as a savant and sorcerer, Valeria has harbored a minor fear of sorcery since her sixth year of life, when a spell her father was casting failed spectacularly... and centered its ill effects on her. Unnaturally quiet and the focus of a subtle aura of distrust and fear, Valeria grew up lonely and shy, only forming close relationships with a few people. Her father Valos was not one of them and, until very recently, having both of them in the same room together was considered an explosive situation, thanks to the emotional and spiritual fallout from the spell that cursed the younger member of House Ragara.

Ever since, Valeria has poured herself into her studies of the way of the sword, learning forging from the unit's Quartermaster and teaching herself a ruthless form of staff-fighting that has bested more than one swordsman. Extremely strong, she stands little more than five and a half feet but is built tough and quick. Her intellect and perception is acute for such a physically-focused young woman but she lacks any semblance of social grace. Strong-willed and reasonably charismatic, the cloud of ill-aspect that follows her around has made Valeria's already quiet nature extremely unpersuasive.

Valeria's friend, Hailey Brightdawn, is one of the few people in town that can manage to get the normally stubborn and taciturn Valeria to smile at all. A few people have whispered (inaccurate) rumors that they are lovers but Valeria extends the same level of compassionate valor to anyone close to her.

Backgrounds and Flaws

Artifact (Grand Staff of Jade) - Mechanically treated as a grand goremaul, this great staff of wrought black jade is Valeria's pride and joy. It was made from a ruined grand daiklave by Valeria and Valos, the first time the pair have worked together since she was a teenager. This slowly leading to a certain level of accord between the two, the first since she and her father had what many considered a permanent falling out. She has yet to find a proper name for her staff but is still looking.

Breeding - Her parents were both Dragon-Blooded and Valeria has one of the higher incidences of Breeding in the city. This is rarely apparent, however, because of the very unusual manifestation of her aspect markings.

Disturbing - As a result of one of her father's spells botching spectacularly in her presence in her childhood, many people find themselves profoundly uncomfortable around Valeria. There is just something... odd, ineffably strange about her that many find off-putting. Mostly affecting mortals, this aura of the weird has made Valeria a gruff sort, secretly wanting someone to look past the strangeness and see the real, caring person underneath. Even so, few Terrestrials make the effort to get to know her, leaving her a lonely young woman.

Mute - While not truly mute, Valeria has always been quiet, her voice never raised above the whispers of stone that mark her as one of the Exalted of the Earth. This quiet seems to be connected to her father's spell botching as mentioned above. (Mechanically, this isn't a Flaw, it's a feature, but since I took it from the Flaw in the Player's Guide, I decided to just go ahead and write it up that way.)

Resources - Valeria is a good craftswoman with weapons and tools and has made a decent bit of jade scrip making such things for her fellow soldiers and scouts. While not the most personable sort in Scarlet Haven, Valeria's craftsmanship cannot be denied and many of the city's officers carry a weapon she had a hand in making. All of the weapons and armor she normally carries was made in her workshop in the barracks; Valeria's refusal to carry any weapon she didn't make is infamous in the city. It's often said that even the mundane weapons forged by her hand have a bit of magic sewn into them.

Unusual Appearance - Valeria's skin is ebon black and has been since she was born, as her hair turned the white of new-fallen snow. While this is actually a particularly strange manifestation of the normal aspect markings of a Dragon-Blooded (her skin is the same color as polished obsidian and her hair the color of white marble), the effect makes her stand out. Given that she prefers black clothing most of the time, her appearance would be bizarre and slightly disturbing even without the aura of discomfort she projects unconsciously.

Comments

Love the concept, the character is approved. However, you appear to have two more bonus points to spend.(3 bonus points spent in Abilities, 3 in Backgrounds, 3 in Virtues, 5 for Charms, 2 for Willpower, with 3 flaw points). A short history would also be awesome, although just the hints in the artifacts and flaws are great. :) - FrivYeti

I haven't gotten around to writing out the background yet. I'm planning to write one once I get it all figured out. - MoonSword

Okay, she's up to Essence 3, Friv. Long-term targets, in no particular order: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery, a few spells, Blinding Spark Distraction, First Resistance Excellency, First Occult Excellency, Strength of Stone Technique, Impervious Skin of Stone Meditation. I'm going to begin working up some data on her sorcery initiation and her sacrifice (probably tied into her own fears of sorcery from the accident in her backstory) and post it when it's done.