Teflonshugenja/Varian

Varian Ironcrow

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/punslinger/74f1e0aa.jpg

As of now I bet you got me wrong
So unsure you run from something strong
I havent felt like this in so long
Wrong, in a sense too far gone from love
That dont last forever
Somethings gotta turn out right

- "Got Me Wrong," Alice in Chains

Vital Statistics

Caste: Dawn Concept: Scruffy Gunslinger Motivation: Help pull Humanity up by its bootstraps Age: 31 Apparent Age: about 30 Gender: Male Hair: Short, untamable, reddish brown Eyes: Pale blue, expressive Skin: Naturally fair, but has a tan Height: 6'0" Weight: 180 lbs. Homeland: Lords' Crossing, the Blessed Isle Birth Name: Malandric Varian Anima: Wrathful Phoenix Permanent Essence: 3

Strength: 4 Dexterity: 5 Stamina: 4
Charisma: 3 Manipulation: 2 Appearance: 3
Perception: 3 Intelligence: 3 Wits: 4

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

Personal Essence: 17 Peripheral Essence: 40

Total Essence Regained Per Hour: Generally 4

Abilities and Specialties

Dawn

Archery*: 3
Martial Arts*: 5 (Gunslinging 3)
Melee*: 4 (Two-Edged Swords 2)
Thrown*: 3
War*: 4

Zenith

Integrity: 2
Performance: 3 (Harmonica, Singing, Violin)
Presence: 2
Resistance*: 4
Survival*: 4

Twilight

Craft: 0
Investigation*: 3
Lore: 2
Medicine: 1
Occult: 1

Night

Athletics: 3
Awareness*: 4 (Join Battle 3)
Dodge*: 5 (At Range 2)
Larceny: 1
Stealth: 0

Eclipse

Bureaucracy: 0
Linguistics: 2 (High Realm*, Low Realm, Riverspeak)
Ride: 3
Sail: 0
Socialize: 2

Backgrounds

Artifact: 2 (Paired Plasma Tongue Repeaters, Salvation & Perdition)
Artifact: 2 (Paired Red Jade Short Daiklaives)
Artifact: 2 (Red Jade Reinfoced Buff Jacket)
Contacts: 3 (3 Major Contacts, several minor contacts)
Sifu: 1 (Is trained by Four Shadows Bright, just not often)
Resources: 1 (Doesn't have much money he really earned on the level)

Combat

Sarah Belding: Be careful. You're a man who makes people afraid, and that's dangerous.
The Stranger: Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.

- High Plains Drifter

Join Battle: 11 Join Debate: 8 Join War: 8 -Magnitude

Health Track
-0 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -4 Incapacitated Dying Dying Dying Dead

Armor:
Bashing Soak: 10 (8) Lethal Soak: 7 (8) Aggrivated Soak: 7 (4) Hardness: 5 (LTeflonshugenja/Varian/B) Notes: Fatigue 0, Mobility -1. The numbers in parentheses are his soaks when he uses Iron Kettle Body, which replaces his armor soaks.

Total Soak:
Bashing: 14 (12) Lethal: 9 (10) Aggravated: 7 (4) Hardness: 5 vs. Bashing or Lethal (or Ag)

Attacks:
Salvation & Perdition: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 15 Damage: 10L Defense: 10 Range: 20 yds. Rate: 1 each
Short Daiklaives: Speed: 4 Accuracy: 15 Damage: 8L Defense: 12 Range: - Rate: 3 each
Firedust Grenade: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 9 Damage: 9L, 4L to 3yd. Radius Defense: - Range: 10 yds. Rate: 1
Bare Fist: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 11 Damage: 4B(5B w/ brass knuckles) Defense: 12 Range: - Rate: 3
Thrown Knife: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 8 Damage: 6L Defense: - Range: 15 yds. Rate: 3
Lily (Firewand): Speed: 5 Accuracy: 14 Damage: 12L Defense: - Range: 10 yds. Rate: 1
Lily's Bayonet: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 11 Damage: 8L Defense: 11 Range: - Rate: 2
Sacred & Profane (Flamepieces): Speed: 5 Accuracy: 14 Damage: 8L Defense: 10 Range: 8 yds. Rate: 1 each
Longbow (Broadhead Arrows): Speed: 6 Accuracy: 8 Damage: 6L Defense: - Range: 200 yds. Rate: 3
Kick: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 10 Damage: 7B Defense: 8 Range: - Rate: 2

Intimacies:
Defend My Circle, Personal Friends, Fair Play (Personal Code), Uphold the Higher Law, Stick it to the Man, Liberate Barony, The People of High Moors, Soldiers Under My Command

Dodge DV Melee: 7 Dodge DV Ranged: 8 Parry DV: 6
Mental Dodge DV: 6 Mental Parry DV: 3

Charms

Excellencies and the Basics:
Martial Arts Overwhelming, Dodge Triumphant, Awareness Triumphant, Investigation Triumphant, Thrown Triumphant, Survival Resurgent
Ox Body Technique (x2), Body Mending Meditation (10m, heal 10x normal rate)

Trackless Region Navigation: 7m, Simple, Indefinite. Allows Varian to never become lost, and to lead a number of people of magnitude equal to his essence through even the most inhospitable terrain at 10 miles per day through literally impenetrable jungle or the like, or 20 miles per day for any other dense wilderness.
Shadow Over Water: 1m, Reflexive, Instant. Resets Dodge DV to maximum against one attack.
Seven Shadow Evasion: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Perfectly dodges one attack. Flaw of Valor.
Reflex Sidestep Technique: 1m, Reflexive, Instant. Varian can use his full Dodge DV against one unexpected attack.
Flow Like Blood: 5m,1w, Simple, Scene. Maintains dodge DV despite onslaught or coordinated attacks, offers no mitigation to DV loss coming from flurries.
Durability of Oak Meditation: 2m, Reflexive, Instant. Sets Hardness to eight against one attack.
Iron Skin Concentration: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Roll Stamina + Resistance against attacker's Essence. If successful, the attack fails. If failed, add 8 to soaks against the attack.
Iron Kettle Body: 4m, 1w, Simple, Scene. Adds +8 to Bashing and Lethal soaks, and +4 to Aggrivated soak.
Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Doubles the base damage of one MA attack before soak is applied.
Lightning Draw Stance: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Adds Martial Arts score to a Join Battle roll.
Blessing of Righteous Solar Spark Meditation: 2m, Simple, Until Fired. Adds Essence in dice to the base damage of one shot, and that shot does Aggrivated damage against Creatures of Darkness.
Cloud of Ebon Devils: 1m, Reflexive, Instant. Instantly reloads a flame weapon to full capacity.
Righteous Devil Form: 5m, Simple, Scene. Targets one individual, induces an unnatural mental influence to confront Varian. Can be resisted by one willpower per action until out of range. Range is roughly line of sight.

Combos

I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my guns; he who kills with his guns has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart

- The Gunslinger

Shoot From the Hip: 3+m, 1w. First Martial Arts Excellency, Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique. Often immediately preceded by Lightning Draw Stance.
Varian's hands blur with speed and crackling flames of essence race down his arms from his chest and into his guns, which boom apocalyptically loud as the roaring cartridges blaze forth, tracing out a perfectly straight line that bores into his enemy.

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifacts

Tank: So what do you need? Besides a miracle.
Neo: Guns. Lots of guns.

-The Matrix

Salvation and Perdition: Paired Plasma Tongue Repeaters, made of Orichalcum and steel, with sandalwood grips. Four Shadows Bright arranged for Varian to find these as he Exalted, and they probably have a long and bloody history, but Varian only knows what he's done to add to that. Speed 5, +2 Accuracy, 10L Damage, 20 yard Range, Rate of one each.

Paired Red Jade Short Daiklaives: Once wielded by Elegant Ruby, a good man who happened to be a devout Immaculate Monk bent on killing the Anathema, and so wound up dead. Varian's determined that the blades remain dedicated to a good cause, so Ruby's death means something. Speed 4, +4 Accuracy, 4L Damage, +1 Defense, Rate 2 each.

Duster: Red Jade Reinforced Buff Jacket. Varian generally walks around with it unbuttoned, so he can reach his guns more easily. The jacket itself is a rich brown color, somewhat faded at the elbows and along the hems from wear. When buttoned properly, however, it presents a compellingly regal image which, while perfectly suited to a Dragon-Blooded paladin, tends to contrast somewhat with the stubble and scars of the current owner. Even so, when he makes an effort and shaves closely so that he only has a five o'clock shadow most of the day, his natural, if somewhat rough and hands-on, leadership ability shines forth.

Contacts

Coruscant Mercy: Varian's best bet for firedust and repeater ammo for a long time, "Lady" Coruscant Mercy ran a shop in the west of High Moors that sold many fine Southern imports, particularly explosives. After a confrontation with Three Knives Syndicate men left her shop a pile of wreckage and ashes, Varian gave her a significant amount of silver to help her start up a new shop- partly out of a feeling of being somewhat responsible for what happened to her shop, partly so he can have another source for his preferred weapons, but mostly because he's fond of the powder-covered young lady, who is fairly nice and easygoing as markup artists specializing in explosives go. She recently bulldozed him into providing her with a new shop in Fallbrook.

Punctilious Vaunt: Vaunt also comes across repeater ammo from time to time, and in general makes his living selling rare items to collectors for princely sums. He's not a bad fellow, and he comes across information as a part of his business, so Varian likes dealing with him. Varian is also convinced that Vaunt is a fundamentally decent man because unlike the vast majority of merchants in his position, he does not engage in slave trade. Vaunt asserts this is because the slavery trade isn't profitable enough to justify the trouble it is, but Varian is pretty sure a lot of the "trouble" he talking about is a pesky conscience.

Uncle Rat: Not one to be bothered by conscience, the information-broker and retired syndicate boss known as Uncle Rat lives in opulent debauchery in the north of Five Springs Barony. He trades in secrets- if you want to know about something in Barony, Uncle Rat either knows it or can find out. He tends to charge exorbitant amounts of money, or from more interesting clients, favors. Varian currently owes him one favor, and has given his word not to interfere with his business.

Minor Contacts: Varian also knows a host of petty criminals, ex-syndicate men, prostitutes, and drifters he can hit up for information or maybe a place to crash for a night. The named minor contacts thus far consist of:
Fluttering Silk, the Faerie Whore, a singularly unpleasant woman about four feet tall with fragile-looking butterfly-like wings protruding from her back. Stone Ox, the strongman, former Green Fire bullyboy whose conscience wouldn't let him go on wrecking shops. He managed to buy his way out, and is extremely nervous about any mention of his old life, since he has a new family. Seems to think well enough of Varian despite fearing the trouble he brings. Flint the Snitch: more or less a Three Knives spy who Varian happens to know about, Flint is a fundamentally cowardly fellow who would sooner blab everything than see himself hurt- a useful guy to know.

Influence

Since his circle took over the capital of High Moors Barony, Fallbrook, Varian has a significant amount of influence there. High Moors is now governed by Uriel, and obeys the Code of Laws given to them by Varian. He has most of his influence over Law enforcement and the military, since he is the Commander in ultimate command of both.

Sifu

Four Shadows Bright, chief Sifu of the Gold Faction, has taken a slight interest in seeing Varian develop into a Righteous Devil Style practitioner, and perhaps one day, master. However, Bright is an extraordinarily busy fellow and somewhat excerable by temperment, so he has little time to spare for any of Varian's usual antics. With any other man, this would lead to a clash, but Varian actually respects his Sifu enough to do as he says, which most of the time means leaving him alone.

Description

Varian's a scruffy fella, a little on the tall and rangy side, with a baseball player's build and explosive sort of strength. He's not bad looking despite a couple of scars and a slightly bent nose, and given to good-humored, lopsided grins. His hair is more or less brown, with red and blond highlights throughout, and perpetually tousled. He's naturally fair skinned but somewhat sun-tanned and roughened, and unlike all those wannabe bishonen Exalts, he doesn't shave his chest. His facial features are aristocratic and strong, with high cheekbones and a solid jawline. His eyes are a pale but expressive shade of blue, appearing frigid and calculating when he's engaged in a fight for his life, burning with emotion when he is impassioned, or a soft sky color when he's at his ease. Despite his tendency to fall back on slang and feigned ignorance, Varian is actually a very sharp fellow and his eyes always give this away, taking in his surroundings and even tiny details with piercing intelligence. The more or less permanent stubble that covers his face is at least as tough as he is; damn near impossible to completely get rid of. On those rare few occasions when he actually is clean-shaven, his face appears oddly vulnerable. He tends to dress in relatively close-fitting comfortable garb made of cotton or linen, and generally wears the colors red, brown, black, and grey. Offsetting these colors, he goes for brass (or orichalcum) belt buckles, weapon hilts, etc. It is worth noting that he tends to go about openly better armed than most small armies.

Personality

Varian is defined by his easygoing nature, his courage, loyalty, and empathy. In contrast, he can also be reckless and vindictive when he's riled- and it's not as hard as it should be to rile him. He genuinely does care about most folk, however, due to a rare ability to put himself in their place and really understand them. He has very little personal fear, and thinks well on his feet in a crisis, which makes him a remarkably effective warrior willing to risk it all to deliver his friends to safety. Given a few minutes to relax, Varian will light up a cigarette, knock back a shot or two of whiskey (never more than that at a time, since Verdence pulled him out of the bottle) and either pull out his harmonica or, if there's a receptive audience, let loose one of his seemingly inexhaustible store of dirty jokes. As a result of this and his generally laid-back attitude, he tends to get on well with strangers, at least those without sizeable sticks in their asses.

Objectives

Some men look at the world and ask, why?
I dream of things that have never been, and ask, why not?

- Robert F. Kennedy

First and foremost, Varian dreams of the day when Creation is a meritocracy, with people rising as high as their abilities will take them, and no one stuck in chains or living off their family's largesse unto the umpteenth generation of worthless louts. He himself having been one of those worthless louts at one point in his life, he feels like he's got some ground to make up still. There isn't much that means more to him than having and earning the respect and esteem of the people who he himself admires- mostly his friends but also good people who probably think of him as a demon prince as of now, and the occasional woman who he thinks of as more than just a pretty face. He loathes tyrrany on a visceral level and would be extraordinarily pleased to personally break the power of slaveholding autocrats like the Realm and the Guild, but saves the hottest of his fury for inhuman beings that prey upon the helpless innocents of Creation. He wants to establish Barony as a place of safety and freedom not only for other Solar Exalted (though that certainly is an important part of his goals) but also for anyone who wants a better life- escaped slaves, refugees, and the downtrodden and largely ignorant masses who populate it now.

Tastes and Preferences

When it comes to food, Varian likes simple, hearty fare that fills him up and warms his belly. Meat and potatoes, of course, but thick stews, pork and beans, and the like are also some of his favorites. He prefers a couple of shots of hard liquor to a couple of beers, and particularly favors whiskey, but he also has a weakness for strong hot tea that he acquired growing up. However, the rougher elements of Barony tend to associate tea with monks and sissies, so he is careful about where and how he requests it to avoid brawls which, while he would undoubtedly win, would complicate his morning. He likes earthtone colors, as well as red and black, and the color gold is growing on him. Musically, he likes to play and listen to honest and folksy music most of the time, but he misses terribly the grand and sweepingly romantic operas and symphonies he attended as a boy. In terms of his lodgings, Varian tends toward what one might call "Old West Baroque," the sort of decorations one might find in a late ninetenth century frontier governor's mansion, theatre, or particularly pricey brothel. Architecturally, he prefers a classical and clean Greco-Roman look for official buildings, with more of an Ottoman flavor in the numerous domes and slim towers that should offset such a city- these preferences are new, and likely influenced by First Age memories. Varian has also come to love the climate of Barony despite his numerous complaints about it early on (and he still complains about it just for the hell of it sometimes)- mountainous and chilly, with clear blue skies full of fluffy white clouds, the air heavy with the scent of pine. In terms of women, he has very little in the way of physical preference- if a woman can be considered attractive, Varian usually considers her attractive as well. He slightly prefers slim to curvaceous (though neither is at all bad), and strongly prefers women who are confident and intelligent, though watching a naturally shy girl overcome her self-doubt is, of course, a turn on. Since a list of turn ons would be ridiculously lengthy, suffice to say really only demonic heritage, genuine ugliness, or persistent bitchiness can really turn him off, and there might even be exceptions to the first of those. Recently, he has found himself thinking more and more of the sidereal Verity Black, troubled deeply that she doesn't seem to think much of him. Most other people would be able to tell him that he's falling for her in spite of himself. He's still not sure what's going on there, however, and by the time he figures it out, it'll be far too late.

Family

House Malandric of Lords' Crossing, on the Blessed Isle. His father runs the House business interests (mostly a series of increasingly shady land deals) while his mother runs the household with an iron fist. He has two younger brothers, the elder of whom is a decent enough kid who idolized his reckless big brother but was more responsible by nature, and the younger who is a horrid little snitch. He also has an untold number of cousins, uncles, aunts and whatnot he never really bothered to keep proper track of except to avoid accidental incest (which is alarmingly common and scarcely noticed among the intermarried patrician families of the Realm's interior).

History

Varian was originally born to a patrician family in the Realm, though you'd never get him to admit it. He was a problem child and any hopes his parents might have had of him marrying into one of the Great Houses were soon dashed. Irresponsible, prone to recklessness and rebelliousness, and a poor student, when Varian reached adulthood his family arranged to have him sent to "look after their interests in Threshold" with no small amount of relief. What they never expected was for him to drop off the map almost as soon as he got there.

Varian spent a number of years working for Mastema Fangborn, the mob boss of the Green Fire Syndicate. He was the "face" who went along with Mastema's bullyboys to convince reluctant shopowners and farmers that it would really be in their best interest if they paid up. After doing this for some time, however, it began to chafe, and he started entertaining ideas of leaving. It was on his last job when he was sent - along with Mastema's oldest son - to retrieve a pair of First Age artifacts from a mining outpost that had unearthed them that things suddenly changed. After getting in a disagreement with the other members of the gang about their rough treatment of one of the locals, Varian abruptly drew his Second Breath. In the ensuing chaos, Mastema's son died and Varian ran for the hills.

Generally a good-for-nothing deadbeat, Varian has a streak of nobility that has become more and more prevalent since his Exaltation - much to his dismay.

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