OhJames/Challenge2

History

This kid was born and raised in Nexus, up in the fancy end of town. His mother was a socialite and inveterate liar, while his father was a dirty old man grasping at any pretty, little thing that sauntered his way. Neither of them was particularly interested in child rearing, what with the abundance of delicious vices all around, so they handed the kid off to a wet nurse and basically forgot about him.

The kid was smart, quick on his feet, and had a talent for the written and spoken word that surprised even his addled parents. Mother showed off her little child prodigy to the ladies she took tea with, while Father snorted at such a feminine hobby. It was not until later that they would actually start to care.

Left to his own devices, the kid kept writing. He wrote stories, which he never showed to anyone, about loving families and the joys of life in the outdoors. As time wore on, however, his style began to darken. The story-families broke down, torn apart by addiction and lust, much like the boy’s own. The boy lost control of himself, succumbing to the things he hated most. After drugs and sex, he began looking for something more interesting. He found his illicit thrill in perfume, sweet talcum, and fine silk.

Now, his parents wallowed in vice and iniquity, but it was traditional vice and iniquity. When they realized their son was a filthy cross-dresser, they threw him out of the house. They turned him out of the fancy end of Nexus, forcing the kid to move to the slums.

Ironically enough, it was among the rats and the shit and the piss that the kid thrived. He was pretty enough to sell himself, which he did, but his talent for writing catchy lyrics brought him to the attention of the proprietors of various establishments. They took him in, fed him, clothed him, albeit skimpily, and let him do his thing. The customers liked it, and musicians would pay good money for talented verse. The performances he gave garnered quite a reputation among the connoisseurs of the underground sex trade; his pretty, young voice and lithe body sent an electric shock straight to the libido. For a moment, he was even happy.

Alas, a dissolute life of sex, drugs, and heretical music is not one fated to end happily. The boy was beaten and left for dead by a pair of thugs who objected to his dress habits, left face-down in the gutter while the rain sluiced over his immaculate make-up and hair. It was insulting.

How dare they? The nerve! He was just getting into his game! He could have been famous! He would have returned to his parents and put them to shame! But no, some bigoted thugs had cracked his lovely neck and dumped him in the rain. No fame, no fortune, no vengeance.

He wouldn’t stand for it.

No, you won’t, murmured a bemused and ominous voice, just behind his ear.

---

Two years later, Deepest Fall of Innocence emerged from the festering halls of Juggernaut, bearing fine robes and an ivory mask.

Description and Personality

Fall is a cold, hard bitch who doesn't give a damn about what anyone else thinks and would like to see most people roasted alive, slowly, over a pit of pyre flame. This is not a feasible desire. Therefore, he contents himself with his poetry and the knowledge that everything will be dead soon.

When he wears his own face, which is not often, he is a blond youth of deceptive frailty with a small, lopsided smile and eyes like pools of green water. Normally, he wears a vicious scowl and holds himself like a snake about to strike, betraying his otherwise innocent air. However, he much prefers to go about in drag, either through magical means or his own modest talents, so few people see this aspect of the deathknight. He only takes his birth face before those he truly loves or before those upon whom he wishes a slow, painful demise.

The Crunch

Title: Deepest Fall of Innocence
Liege: Mask of Winters
Caste: Moonshadow
Concept: Cynical cross-dresser
Nature: Critic
Anima: Horrible leering masks swirl about his shoulders, vomiting forth blood, spiders, and corpses.

ATTRIBUTES
Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3
Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 4

ABILITIES
Dusk: *Archery 3, *Brawl 4
Midnight: Performance 3 *Resistance 3
Daybreak: Lore 1, *Occult 3
Day: Dodge 2, Larceny 2, *Stealth 3
Moonshadow: *Linguistics 4, *Socialize 4

ADVANTAGES
Backgrounds:
Allies 2
Fall has met and dealt with two beings of note. One is a naive young Solar, just come into his power, who has fallen hopelessly in love with the deathknight. The boy's name is Shining Hawk and he tends to frequent the outskirts of Nexus. The other is a raksha, Little Trouble Girl, who has taken an interest in Fall's artistic development. She hopes to cultivate the Abyssal into her lover and seneschal, so as to further her own narrative.

Artifact 1
Fall's most important possession is his Mask, which he simply calls Liar. He wears it almost constantly, usually appearing as a raven-haired beauty with deep, seductive green eyes. When called to fight, which he dislkes, he wears a generic soulsteel smashfist that lacks even a name.

Contacts 3
Due to Fall's time spent in seedy bars and brothels, he is quite well-connected among the addled and immoral inhabitants of Nexus' underground. Gilfleng Feng, a huge man with sharp eyes, runs a bar called the Bunch of Grapes and keeps tabs on every customer who walks through his doors. Lila Glimmering Veil is the most popular dancer and courtesan in Firewander and has a certain amount of professional courtesy for Fall. Girls gotta stick together, after all. Finally, Nightingale Rising is a well-connected nobleman who has acquired quite an appetite for Fall's... talent.

Influence 2
In his time, Fall has provided entertainment for many of the bored socialites of Nexus. As a result, they sometimes confide in him and will occasionally even seek his advice on matters of the heart. Fall is only too eager to help, of course

Liege 2
Mask of Winters is only slightly amused by Fall's antics. He intends to let him fool around, come into his power, and then call him back to Juggernaut so the boy can leave his ridiculous hobbies behind.

Resources 1
Fall is poor, yes, but he doesn't care. He likes slumming it. He doesn't rent an apartment, preferring to crash with one-night stands or sleep on the street. Because of this, he can afford to dine well a few times a week and enjoys liquor of all kinds.

Spies 3
Fall serves as the Mask of Winters' spymaster in Nexus. As a result, he controls of bureau of 100 agents, many of them prostitutes or courtesans like himself, with several hundred more part-time informants scattered throughout the city and surrounding countryside.

Underworld Manse 1
The House of Shadowplay is a level two Abyssal Manse located about three miles from the edge of Thorns' shadowland. When he feels the need, Fall takes a week or two off from his spymaster duties to reside in the eternally dark corridors of his home. He carries a Gem of Shadows, even in Creation.

Whispers 1
The voices of the Malfeans do not whisper loudly in the space between Fall's ears. He occasionally receives hints about plots against him.

Charms:
Brawl: Ravaging Strike (161), Lashing Tempest Attack (161), Bone-Shattering Blow (162) Performance: Haunting Inflection Trick (176) Occult: Spirit Sensing Technique (198) Dodge: Flitting Shadow Form (205), Uncanny Impulse Evasion (206) Linguistics: Language Absorbing Method (213), Peerless Fluency Style (213), Theft of Words (214) Socialize: Passion-Unveiling Glance (222)

Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, Valor 2

Willpower 6
Essence 2: Personal 12, Peripheral 29, Committed 4

Bonus point spread: caste/favored abilities – 8, backgrounds – 3, attributes – 4
Liege point spread: charm – 4

Comments

Creepy. Especially so given that I decided a while ago that MoW's messenger in my game was going to be a cross-dressing Moonshadow. I wonder if that says something about Moonshadows?
-- BrilliantRain

Oh no... I play a Moonshadow on Jadecity! Could that mean...! -- OhJames

Wait...were you the Lionite one who was in the scene with Azure Rain where he bitched out and flared rather than fight? *ish curious* -- Caelene