StalkerofShadows/CeruleanVoid

Chosen of Secrets in my Wyld & Ice campaign.
StalkerofShadows

Name: Cerulean Void
Caste: Secrets
Concept: Savant
Motivation: Restore the Solars to power
Anima: Green rays of light

Attributes
Strength: 2
Stamina: 3
Dexterity: 4

Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 2
Appearance: 2

Perception: 3
Intelligence: 4
Wits: 4

Abilities

• Integrity 1
• Thrown 1
• Craft (Fate) 3
• Dodge 3
• Linguistics 2
• Performance 2
• Socialize 2
• Resistance 2
• Investigation 3
• Larceny 3
• Lore 4
• Occult 4
• Stealth 3
• Athletics 2
• Awareness 3
• Bueracracy 2
• Martial Arts 5

Specialties

• 7-section staff 2

Charms

• Martial Arts
  • Secrets of Future Strife
  • Joy in Adversity Stance
  • Blade of the Battle Maiden
  • Flight of Mercury
• Resistance
  • Ox-Body Technique
• Stealth
  • Soft Presence Practice
  • Walking Outside Fate Technique
• Lore
  • Systematic Understanding of Everything
  • 1st Lore Excellency
• Dodge
  • Duck Fate
    
  • 1st Dodge Excellency
• Occult
  • Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
    
    • Emerald Countermagic
      
    • Invulnerable Skin of Bronze
      
    • Infallible Messenger
      
    • Disguise of the New Face
    • Impervious Sphere of Water
  • Summon Elemental
  • Celestial Circle Sorcery
    • Sapphire Countermagic
    • Summon the Calibration Gate

Colleges

• Sorcerer 2
• Key 2
• Treasure Trove 2
• Guardian 1

Backgrounds

• Artifact: 4
• Salary: 3
• Sifu: 2 (Crystal Lotus)
• Savant: 3
• Sorcery: 3
• Backing (Gold Faction) 1

Essence: 4

• Personal: 15/15
• Peripheral: 33/43

Willpower: 7
Virtues

• Compassion: 2
  
• Conviction: 4
  
• Temperance: 3
  
• Valor: 2
  

Intimacies

• Gethamane
• Protection of orphans

Equipment

• Starmetal throwing needles
• Discrete Essence Armor
• Perfect straight sword

Attacks

Soak

• Natural: 3B/1L
  
• Invulnerable Skin of Bronze: 12B/6L, hardness 12B/6L

Join Battle: 14
DDV: 5
PDV: 6
MDDV: 6
MPDV:

Intimacies

Merits & Flaws

• Rivals: 1

Experience: 17/90

Background:

Cerulean Void is a native son of Gethamane. His younger years were spent in the loving home of his family. While young, he played with his older brothers and sisters, and he adapted quickly to their games mastering all but the most athletic with ease. His parents were not rich by any standard but they found the means to support the family.

His life changed dramatically at an early age. His family, suspected of being members of the immaculate order were hunted and slaughtered. He watched as his family was taken down as traitors and conspirators. Cerulean lived by running and hiding. He did not know where he was running but he knew if he was found he would meet the same fate as the rest of his family. Finally when he was unable to run any farther he was lost. As he began to study his surroundings he saw great murals. Some depicted epic battles, others glorious cities and yet others mighty heroes standing against insurmountable odds.

Eventually he made his way out of the catacomb remnants of the first age and back to the city proper. His first winter was the hardest. Fortunately he survived, some through theft some through gifts and warm beds provided by those who knew his family. He was never able to gain a new home though. Anyone who sheltered him long ran the risk of being punished for harboring a fugitive. When he wasn’t looking for food or shelter, Cerulean spent his time studying the murals he had found on his first days alone. He learned of the overthrow of the primordials, and of the great prosperity of the first age. He learned of a history and of a civilization that he never knew existed. On the streets he learned to hide, to listen and to learn all he could. His natural gifts allowed him to soak up a vast amount of information.

A few years after becoming an orphan he began to receive visits from a gorgeous woman who seemed foreign and yet familiar. She unraveled many of the stories and secrets that he found in the catacombs. Her name was Crystal Lotus and she became Cerulean’s closest friend. She would walk through the streets of the city with him, but later when he would mention her people never seemed to recognize her presence. Eventually he quit even mentioning her thinking perhaps that the people might not treat him well if they thought he was a liar or worse had gone mad.

His tutelage under Crystal Lotus lasted into his early teens. One night, she asked him to meet him in the catacombs, saying she had found a new mural and didn’t want him to miss out on the new find. Under the cover of night Cerulean dashed and climbed through the catacombs with Crystal until coming upon a beautifully crafted mural. It depicted five maidens surrounding a golden harp. As he stared into the faces of the maidens each seamed to begin to move. Yet, as soon he would refocus his eyes the movement would cease. Finally his gaze fell upon the last maiden. She appeared slightly older than the rest and carried in her hand a measuring rod. As Cerulean’s eyes made contact with her eyes she began to glow bright green, and a voice spoke to him. The soothing feminine voice said, “I am Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets. I have chosen you from the world to be my Exalted. You have a strong mind and determination to learn the Secrets of the world and of the First Age, and so I charge you with this mission. Restore the majesty that was the first age to the world. The Solars have returned and I need an emissary, one who can locate the lost secrets of the first age, use them to establish the order the gods originally intended, and set the path of fate so that our glory might again be known throughout creation.”

When Cerulean awoke he was at the feet of Crystal; however the glow that encompassed the maiden’s form now encompassed him. She explained that the Sidereal Exalted are the guardians of fate and that they knew he was to one day Exalt as a member of their order. She was sent to Gethamane to begin his tutelage so that when he did Exalt he would have the basis of knowledge needed to hone those skills that would be necessary in the future.

Crystal and Cerulean soon left Gethamane for the Celestial city of Yu-Shan. As the years passed in Gethamane his name was forgotten first, then his face, finally after several years of absence the city finally forgot about the little orphan boy named Cerulean who survived his families destruction, only those with strong essences remembered, unfortunately those were the ones that Cerulean would wish had forgotten.

In Yu-Shan he studied under many masters but his Siphu was always Crystal Lotus. She taught him to hone his skills and to control and use his essence wisely. She also began his instruction in the fine arts of sorcery teaching him the basics he would need for a lifetime of study. After nearly a decade of study Cerulean was finally prepared to be embark on the destiny that his goddess had laid before him.

Appearance:

Cerulean is slight for a northerner. His frame is well toned yet never considered large. His muscles twitch as if speed not strength are their asset. His skin is a very light tan, the years in Yu-Shan have at least changed his complexion a little. His hair however is white like the snow; it is long and straight usually left hanging but sometime pulled back to better expose his face. His clothes are simple. He wears long flowing silk clothing that allows his moves to be subtle but also allows for great freedom. The color of his clothing reflects his two life stages. He typically is found in green to honor his patron Maiden, however at times he changes into a light blue outfit in remembrance of his homeland. In addition to his Kamishimo outfit, Cerulean often wears ceramic masks. This is particularly true when he is actively engaged in his missions. Only the most leisurely of times invoke the calm that makes him comfortable without his mask. The masks are simple in design and rarely depict anything complicated not even a human face. Because Cerulean Exalted at a young age his appearances are that of a young man or even teenager; despite this, great wisdom and strength lie behind his cold blue eyes.

Cerulean as an Epic Hero:

Cerulean’s drive to be a hero comes from the role given to him in shaping fate. He strives to uncover the secrets (Sorcery, Technology, and Society) of the first age and to restore those to the current age. He sees the first age as a world above and beyond the current one. Above all it was a world where instead of Exalted hunting Exalted it was a world where the Exalted worked together to overthrow the Primordials. He also has more minor personal goals. He strives to find what he lost as a child. He therefore will begin most acquaintances very aloof; however, when he knows this person is going to stay by him he will dedicate all he can to them. He also is very empathetic to the needs and concerns of those displaced from friends and family. During his travels he will seek to help those who have found themselves in similar situations that he did as a child. Finally while he holds no driving grudge against those who destroyed his family, he knows that one day they may return to try and finish the job.

Cerulean’s skills come from the two ideals of his patron Maiden. The first belongs to the realm of sorcery, the second aspect to his skills revolve around the nature of stealth. He excels in both areas of training. Even his choice of weapons reflects his skills. He has become a master not of large weapons or those that are obtrusive. Instead he has become a master of thrown weapons, particularly throwing needles. These weapons, for Cerulean, emphasize skill over strength and secrecy over showing off. These are the concepts and choices that drive Cerulean as he embarks on his mission within creation