Stanoje/NelaKozok

Background

The soldier studied her Visor's readouts carefully. The unknown beings she watched clearly were powerful Essence-users, but they were unlike anything she had seen before. Bodies that were patchworks of diverse flesh and the Magical Materials; patterns of Essence-flow perfectly ordered and symmetrical in more dimensions than the Sidereal's Visor could resolve.

This was not what held her captivated.

It was the tools these beings were using. All two-hundred and six beings in the camp, Essence-users and mortals alike, were carrying devices Nela Kozok had never seen before, never even dreamed of laying her eyes on. And she wanted to have them.

Lying in the tall grass of the hilltop, hidden from sight by skill and magic, the Chosen had been watching these unknowns for almost an hour now. She had just completed a standard Creation-side reconnaissance mission and was on her way to the gate that would transport her back to Heaven when a spirit had delivered an urgent message from Stalking Tiger Calm, who was both her sifu and direct superior.

Chosen Kozok, the cherub had recited. We have detected a localized discontinuity in the tapestry one point three miles north-northwest of your current position. Approach and observe, but do not engage possible hostiles unless directly attacked. Then return to Yu-Shan and report your findings to me immediately. End of message.

So she changed her direction and, aided in her stealth by Charms and Astrology, slowly made her way up the hillside to her current vantage point, from where she now was recording everything she saw through her Essence-Scrying Visor.

And what she saw. Whoever these beings were, they possessed magitechnology more advanced than anything she had ever used. The most powerful ones carried blades of coherent Essence. Mortals clad in bulky mechanical armor lifted boulders out of the way. Machines hovered slowly above the ground and left behind no traces of vegetation were they passed.

It was magnificent.

With a tap to the Visor's side, Nela increased the magnification so that she could take a closer look at one of these beings that so radiant with power. Its body appeared to be the result of crude Soulsteel forging; each patch of exposed skin had a different tone. It seemed random, but to someone with Nela’s eye for form and function, it was clear that every aspect of the being’s appearance had been deliberately designed to invoke dread in those it encountered.

The being's head jerked upward to look right at Nela.

Not wasting any breath on profanity, the Sidereal sprang up and ran down the opposite side of the hill. Her stealth training took over; without conscious thought, she invoked magic to mask her flight and increase her speed. She didn't dare run directly to the gate without being reasonably sure that she wasn't being followed first, so she changed her direction several times.

Hours later, still under an Essence-woven guise, she approached the celestial gateway. She thought about what she would say during her debriefing by Stalking Tiger Calm, and about how she could get her hands on the glorious devices whose use she had witnessed today. Maybe it's time to switch employers once again, she thought as she stepped through the gate.

Character sheet

Name: Nela Kozok
Type: Sidereal
Caste: Journeys
Nature: Hedonist
Concept: defector to the Autochthonians
Quote: "Don't touch my gear."
Experience Points: Sidereal PC starting points + 240 XP

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

Abilities:

Athletics 4, Awareness (Sight 1) 5, Bureaucracy 2, Craft (Fate) 2, Dodge 4, Endurance (Long Distance Running 3) 4, Linguistics 3, Lore 3, Martial Arts 2, Melee 4, Occult 2, Ride 3, Socialize 2, Stealth (Camouflage 2, Sneaking 1) 5, Survival 4, Thrown 5

Backgrounds: Acquaintances 4, Artifact 5, Connections (The Immaculate Order) 2, Connections (The Threshold) 2, Manse 3, Resources 3, Savant 3

Virtues:
Compassion 2, Conviction 1, Temperance 4, Valor 3

Willpower: 7
Health: -0,-1,-1,-2,-2,-4,Incapacitated
Essence: 3
Personal: 13, Peripheral: 35, Committed: varies

Colleges:
The Gull 2
The Messenger 3
The Quiver 3

Charms:
Athletics: Burn Life; Forgotten Earth; Inexorable Advance
Awareness: Expected Pain; Inevitable Pursuit; Prior Warning
Dodge: Absence; Avoidance Kata; Duck Fate
Endurance: Heartless Maiden Trance; Optimistic Security Practice; Unswerving Juggernaut Principle; Unwavering Well-Being Meditation
Lore: Systematic Understanging of Everything
Melee: Harmony of Blows; Impeding the Flow
Stealth: Blinding the Boar; Ceasing to Exist Approach; Soft Presence Practice; Subordinate Inspiration Technique; Walking Outside Fate
Survival: Becoming the Wilderness; Sky and Rain Mantra
Thrown: Essence Thorn Practice; Life Gets Worse Approach; Pain Amplification Stratagem; Willful Weapon Method

Combat:
Base Initiative: 8
Soak: 4B/2L/0A (unarmored)
Dodge: 11
Attacks:
Starmetal Beam Klave: Spd 15, Acc 11, Dmg 11L, Def 10, Rate 5
Starmetal Gyroskopic Chakram: Acc 10, Dmg 6L, Def 9, Rate 3, Rng 30
Fist: Spd 8, Acc 7, Dmg 3B, Def 8, Rate 5

Equipment: Respirator Module, Courier Drone, Starmetal Gyroscopic Chakram, Starmetal Beam Klave, Crimson Armor of the Unseen Assassin, Essence-Scrying Visor, Essence Pulse Granades, Hearthstone compass, Belt of Shadow Walking, Windhands Gemstone, Hearthstone Amulet

Combos

Distant Death Technique

Life Gets Worse Approach

Pain Amplification Stratagem

Willful Weapon Method

Unwavering Well-Being Meditation

Avoidance Kata

Enhanced attack with optional reflexive defenses.

There Is No Surprise

Expected Pain

Avoidance Kata

Duck Fate

Unwavering Well-Being Meditation

Forgotten Earth

Impeding the Flow

React to surprises before they happen.

History

Nela Kozok is a soldier who does not care why or who she is told to fight. All she wants is to use first-rate weapons and equipment and the freedom to do her job properly.

Her specialty is entering hostile territories, be they battle zones, Shadowlands or naturally hazardous areas, performing reconnaissance and retrieving individuals or objects stuck there. She prefers a subtle commando-type approach, but when the shit hits the fan she is not above simply cutting through the opposition.

Following her Exaltation she had enjoyed the advanced training techniques and wondrous equipment of Heaven. As long as the Bronze Faction was the one with the best toys, she happily carried out mission after mission for her superiors.

After encountering an Autochthonian expedition, she was so fascinated with their magitechnological devices that she soon switched sides again and became the first Sidereal serving alongside Alchemical Exalts. She usually wears a particular Resplendent Destiny when interacting with her new employers.

Nela was equipped with powerful devices and sent on many missions in Creation, mostly involving sabotage. The Autochthonians don't yet trust her enough to allow her into their home, but she believes that it will only be a matter of time.

On her missions, she sometimes uses Resplendent Destinies to appear as harmless civilians, but she prefers to use her stealth training and Arcane Fate; that way, she is not seen at all or soon forgotten in the event that she should be spotted.

Nela doesn't know that these missions are meant primarily to observe her. Alchemical and mortal savant-engineers pour over detailed Essence scans of her performances in order to learn as much as possible about the Sidereal nature. Once they have learned all they can from watching her, they will switch to more invasive procedures, including vivisection and an attempt to reconfigure her shard.

As long as she stays outside fate, her fellow Sidereals consider her missing in action. Should they find out otherwise, they would dedicate a massive amount of resources towards dealing with her, which includes the option of killing her so that her shard can reincarnate.

---

• Back to Stanoje