Ascending Bow of Hateful Ruin

The girl who was to become known as Ascending Bow of Hateful Ruin was born in Sijan. It is perhaps fitting that a Death Knight was born, exalted and corrupted in the land of the dead, and she often wonders if her destiny was pre-determined or if she had any control over it. Her tale seems quite simple, and if she had been born in any other city perhaps this girl would have married a boy, raised children with said boy, grown old with and buried next to said boy. As the gods would have it though, she was born into the land of the Death Lords and life would never be so simple.

Damien. The name haunts her dreams, spoken in soft whispers that feed on her memories. Now eyes are all she sees, startling green eyes that pierce the dark crevices of her soul and judge her weaknesses, her failings, her wickedness.

Born in Sijan. Exalted under the Unconquered Sun in Sijan. Corrupted by Walker in Darkness in Sijan. Nothing else matters for these are the only events which define her. She reached aged 22 in human years before her first cursed exaltation, 22 years of studies and rituals while slowly dying under the guise of living. Known for her cunning mind and gift for discovering untold knowledge, the girl became The Whisperer of Secrets, the ear to whom all of Sijan’s dead tell their truths upon their dying breaths.

It was a foolish girl who took this mantle, for few Whisperers hold their positions long when the living try to claim the secrets of the dead for themselves. When her family was slaughtered by ruthless mercenaries for “motivation” to meet their demands for information from the dead, she exalted as a Solar and sought her revenge. Six months of investigation, loosening tongues with cunning words or a sharp blade, and the bodies of her enemies lay dead in her wake. And there she stood, beholden to all of their accumulated knowledge, and very much aware of the fact that the Death Lord known as First and Forsaken Lion was the true seeker of the Whisperer’s knowledge.

With this information in hand but no idea how to act on it, she once again found herself in Sijan. Nothing had changed. Death was everywhere and it was nowhere. She ran to her Damien’s house, hoping that her best friend might soothe her angry spirit and offer the welcoming she longed for. Upon arrival she watched from the shadows as Death Knights serving First and Forsaken Lion took Damien as their prisoner. Though she was a Solar exalt, the girl knew she was in no position to take on 3 Death Knights alone. Her heart seeped with hatred for the Death Lord, he who had taken everything from her.

And that is when Walker in Darkness offered her salvation. He offered an interesting job prospect, to acquire information he wished that required her talents and in return he offered her the chance to seek vengeance upon First and Forsaken Lion. She fled from Sijan with her Master and not once did she look back. She never saw the striking green eyes staring after her.

Experience Awards for the First Session

Everyone receives 1 xp for showing up. Patrick receives an additional xp for the cookie he was awarded for telling Crimson Jaguar that he was here "to lead these children to their glorious end." Joey has already received 3 xp for his character background. Thus, we have following:

Crimson Jaguar: 4 xp

Mended Serpent Dancing in the Moonlight Waters: 2 xp

I've forgotten Michelle's character's name at the moment: 1 xp

All NPCs gain one-half of your average xp, so they are at 3(.5) additional xp

Found on RPG.net and Relevant: Solar/Lunar Bond

All the Incarnae could reasonably have predicted that something was going to exist after the Primordial War ended, that their chosen would exist, and Creation would exist, and that the one would have lasting effects on the other. And have planned for the eventuality. You can see a lot of that planning. But they all think differently, and plan for future problems differently.

The Sun is a straightforward solutions guy. His answer to the problems of an uncertain future is a be so good that he can handle anything. And the anything he expects to handle is direct threats; monsters from the Wyld, leftover behemoths, renegade Primordials, and so forth. Discreet, external, unambiguously Bad Stuff. So, he built his chosen that way, like him, because that's the best way to be. If a Solar can identify a problem, he can work, and prepare, and eventually, probably pretty quickly, stand in front of that problem and shut it down cold. The Sun doesn't anticipate problems, or plan for them, he identifiesthem and then solves them.

Meanwhile, the Maidens are cheaters. They're the opposite. They intentionally look ahead in the game, via crazy precognition magic and Samsara, and then, at the right time, just conveniently happen to have a solution already prepared for the problem. When ghosts show up, having never previously existed, well, gosh, it's sure convenient that their chosen have magic that puts the animate dead to rest, isn't it? Gosh, it's like they knew... And so, they skip all the intermediate steps and just insert the solutions to problems. This doesn't always work, because the Maidens still like a surprise now and then, plus the illusion of Free Will, so they just peek ahead a little bit, and stop as soon as they think they understand enough of the problem to solve it, rather than getting a complete walkthrough. This is frustrating for their chosen, because frequently they get to stroll around making it look easy, but sometimes they drop into a situation ready for a zombie apocalypse and realize they're actually dealing with a flash mob of unruly cosplayers.

Luna, on the other hand, plans for the future all the time, but she doesn't have cheaty future-looking powers. She plans the old-fashioned way, by thinking hard, sometimes with multiple brains at once. And she's powerful, but not infinitely powerful, so she can't always plan on steamrolling any threats. Plus, she's good friends with some who CAN steamroll just about any threat, so why should she bother? It's no fun to be, literally, a pale imitation of the Unconquered Sun. If there's a problem that can be solved with force, she can always pick up the phone and call the sun. If there's a problem that can be foreseen, she doesn't even have to call the Maidens, they'll know about it and deal with it on their own. Luna plans for the problems that Sun can't steamroll, and the Maidens can't cheap-shot. She's there to pop up when some jackass Ishvara thinks he's discovered kryptonite for the Sun and Creation is his for the taking, to deliver a quick kidney punch and send him crying back to Nirupadhika. Luna thinks sideways, to solve problems that weren't anticipated. And, I maintain, her chosen are built from that same philosophy.

So, then, what does this have to do with giving every Lunar a solar bondmate?

The answer is that the solar bond does not, in the end, exist for the benefit of the Lunars. It also does not exist for the benefit of the Solars. Luna wasn't trying to help either of those groups; they didn't exist yet when she was forging exaltions.

Solar Bond exists for the benefit of Creation, which Luna is Fiercely Protective of, after all.

I think Luna, in all her tricksy, tricksy, glory, looked around at things and tried to figure out what Creation would need the most. She tried to figure out what the greatest threats to Creation would be, and make sure her Chosen were set up to do something about it. And, being the sort of outside-the-box thinker that she is, the being whose first act upon creation was to win a knife fight with infinite potential varieties of herself and eat them, Luna realized that the greatest possible threats to Creation, in the long run, stemmed from the Solar Exalted.

Solars, in their purviews, are unbeatable. Like their patron, if a Solar sets about doing something, it will be done, unless opposed by someone of equivalent power.

Therefore, so long as the Solars exist and are reliable, Creation is safe. It's protected. It's secure. That's good.

It follows, then, that any real threat to Creation is necessarily going to involve either some enemy neutralizing the Solars, or the Solars themselves turning on Creation and becoming a threat. To threaten Creation, you must either take the Solars out of play, or turn the Solars themselves against the world.

Luna is the only patron who could make this determination. The Sun could conceive of his chosen losing, but there's nothing he can do to protect against that which he hasn't already done. He's made them the best he can. And he can no more imagine them turning against the world en mass than he can contemplate turning traitor himself. It's not how he operates. And the Maidens are totally unreliable. If they look ahead and see that Creation should end that way, they'll sit by and let it happen, and praise the workings of Samsara. Plus, there's no cheat code for beating Solars.

So, Luna spat on her hands and set to work, and built a solution Luna Style. To protect the world, she needed her chosen to protect the Solars; protect the solars from getting chumped when some unanticipated weakness popped up to take them off the field, and to protect their loyalty; to ensure that most of them always served Creation, and would not abandon it to build their own castles in the Wyld or tear it down with their own hands.

And, being Luna, she drew on her experience with Gaia and utilized her most powerful and terrible weapon: love. Gaia wished to abandon Creation, and would have, but Luna loved her, and was loved by her in turn, and so anchored her to the world. Luna bound Gaia to the good of Creation with bonds of affection, and not even the other titans could pull those apart.

So, Luna recreated that, in miniature, with her chosen. Each Lunar loves one Solar, values him, will fight for him. And each Solar, no matter how far he grows from humanity, no matter how old he becomes, has one person who loves him, and will seek him out, sooner or later, and stand with him.

Capture a Solar alive, and send him to the most distant shores of the Faraway, lost and unable to reincarnate? There is one being who will never stop looking for that solar, never give up, because love does not give up, and that being is equipped with every advantage Luna could give to survive any hardship and trail her prey across any distance. Bury a solar at the bottom of the sea, and the lunar will become a fish and swim to the rescue. Entomb a solar in the underworld, and the lunar will turn into a ghost and hunt him still. And whatever means you used to disable the solar, whatever trick or weakness you employed, will not stop the lunar, because the lunar changes like the moon, and can change weaknesses as easily as changing a face.

And, if a solar were to turn against Creation, become its enemy, still the Lunar is there. When the neverborn whisper to an Abyssal that the world has nothing good in it, that all is ashes and pain, there's one being who will stand there and call them liars, out of love. One being that can't be scourged by Resonance, can't be driven off by horror. No abyssal can truly say, "I hate all things, for all things hate me." When the Yozi sing their songs of failure and spite and envy, when they say that an Infernal has been given nothing good by Creation, and should give it back evil in turn, there's always a Lunar there to call them liars, and offer one good thing, at least. One being they can't be punished for associating with, for making compromises to, one being who will not flinch at monstrous form and inhuman changes. No infernal can truly say, "I despise all things, for all things despise me."

Obviously, this plan hasn't been perfect. The Lunars were driven off, for a time, and the solars were neutralized, and then many turned against that which they should protect, just as Luna thought might happen. But that's when you need a plan of last resort the most. And there's still time for this plan to bear fruit, because Luna's chosen are still there, they still love, and they were selected to never, ever, quit.

What Fesojynok Looks Like

Fesojynok's appearance is a cross between the three following people:

" alt="Mike Tyson"/>

http://www.clattoverata.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Xerxes1.jpg" alt="Xerxes from 300"/>

http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/thumbs/1163944042_anti-akio.jpg" alt="Ohtori Akio from Shoujo Kakumei Utena"/>

He wields a pair of orichalcum Artifact flame pieces that look like a cross between the following images:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgER2MxAqIlHSVKxG4BgDyIMpmQb9xuqD9sfRnMtSUUP5Pzx597n7hzz-pZX8TBCiZRcqDsC0e0B5m7Ruqh65939vBZMLV-7K7XbywkxFf3_itX76_BYvvpOX4k6Hw4Gk-hpYw4sur_SLg/s400/i7vei7yo32i7yeo3.jpg" />

http://www.cosplayhouse.com/images/D/Black_Cat_Train_Heartnet_Gun_ver_01-2-05.jpg" />

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3366271850_d2285be9d0_z.jpg" />

The two pistols are chained together with a very long orichalcum chain, at the center of which is a setting for a hearthstone, which looks like a cross between the following images:

http://www.1999.co.jp/itbig15/10154611.jpg" />

(though, rather than dangling from the chain, the hearthstone setting is attached on either side to the chain)

http://static.opalauctions.com/uploads/content/content_1294036056.jpg" />

http://www.crystalinks.com/ancientalienspacesuit2.jpg" />

For anyone who is descriptively- or depictively-inclined, there are experience points on the table for describing/depicting Fesojynok. The xp will be awarded as if you had described or depicted your character.

Visual reference..

See the dude walking across the sand at 1.00 :)

Crimson Jaguar Character

Crimson Jaguar

CRIMSON JAGUAR was born Suadi Ilmadre, the son of a shoemaker and a fortune-teller, one of the scattered Izhalvi peoples of Harborhead. He was the first and only child born to his parents before they were both slain by bandits on their way to Kirighast. The attackers thought to put him out of his misery, but the tattoos on his mothers hands marked her as a witch- it was bad enough luck to have murdered her without taking her child as well.

Only six years old, he might have died in those great plains, but he was found by a much more well equipped merchant caravan of the Shayanti. The wealthy leader of the caravan kept him as a slave and gopher, free to give him hazardous objectives without the guilt of endangering a child of his own people. The young Suadi, or Little Dog as he was then called, was not a gifted thief - but as he returned time after time from bungled and dangerous assignments, bruised, bleeding but still furiously alive, the merchant began to recognize his natural talent as a fighter. As he grew older, he learned the hunting skills of his people in the urban jungle of Kirighast; He made his first kill at the age of twelve. The merchant grew fond of his little assassin, whom no-one suspected capable of taking so many lives, who was so good at finding the secrets of his quarry that made them easy prey.

That fondness ended when Suadi presented evidence collected over many years of the merchant's corruption to the Capital Army, bringing down his benefactor with a thrown knife to the calf as he tried to escape. With no-where else to go, he signed up with the 47th Legion to continue his training. He knew that his father has been too weak to protect him, and resolved to dedicate his life to the aquisition of martial power, the only kind of freedom he knew.

Suadi quickly rose through the ranks, performing his duties with single-minded dedication. As a platoon commander, he led devastating sting operations against the bandit groups around Kirighast. He would often take point on these missions, not trusting his cohorts to match his discretion - only after he had silently disposed of the bandit leaders and spread panic among the rest would the men under his command rush to his aid, finding their leader showered with blood and surrounded by corpses. It was during this time that he was given the name of Crimson Jaguar.

His military career brought him respect, a living wage, and after a time a wife and a son of his own. It also brought a debilitating ennui and depression. It seemed to him that no matter how strong and skilled he became, he still lived and died at the behest of another. Worse, he was a servant of the Realm, whose exploitation and corruption became more apparent as he grew in years. Disinterested in gambling and the company of women, he turned to solitary alcoholism and drug abuse, experimenting with a wide variety of substances in search for a way out of his own psyche.

Such was his prowess that his chronic consumption didn't slow down his rise to power. His skilful investigation into an unusually insular cult of Alhat revealed the corrupting influence of the Yozis, and after a fierce duel with the cult's demon-blooded leader - whose claws carved the triple-scar across his face - he was recognized by one of the agents of the local Wyld hunt. It seemed that he had a new purpose - instead of hunting his fellow men, he would be part of an elite group dedicated to purging the enemies of humanity from the world. It seemed like a new day was dawning..

NOTES ON SUADI'S FUTURE

The Crimson Jaguar is not a leader. Foremost, he is a hunter and a killer. In an ideal world, he would work as part of a perfect Circle of Solars, allowing the Zenith to be the inspirational leader and figurehead. However, his growing dissatisfaction with his life of serving unworthy masters, coupled with the new sense of purpose gifted by his Solar exaltation, means that if he cannot find a leader he feels he can put his sword behind, he may feel called to assume the mantle of leadership. He is not well inclined towards leadership, as reflected by his relatively low social abilities and lack of favored social abilities. Investing his experience here will be inefficient, and he will assume such a role with reluctance; however, if this is the best way to serve his people, then so be it.

Suadi's drug habit has not been cleaned away by his Exaltation. It is prone to act on him in his most vulnerable moments, of which it is often the cause; a night terror will leave him sweating, shaking and reaching for the medicine bag. Worse, he will sometimes be assailed by hallucinations during his waking hours, causing him to make critical errors of judgment or confusing him at a crucial moment. He is privately ashamed of his drug use, and extremely defensive about it. In his heart of hearts though, he believes that freeing himself from this burden is essential for him to realize his destiny.