Character:Nuwa

Nuwa
Dawn Caste aspiring sword-saint

A young woman whose face reflects her mixed Southern and Eastern heritage with tanned skin and almond eyes. Clad in the traditional fighting robes shared by several orders of martial monks she might be thought one of the Immaculate Order if not for her long black hair, which she ties back with hair clips of carved wood. Matched by the color of her clothes her forest green eyes are calm and compassionate, reminiscent of a still pool of water deep in the woods. The only adornment she wears is a pendant carved into the form of an opening flower which she carries on a piece of string around her neck. At her side she carries two old, slightly curved swords of mortal manufacture but great quality.

Motivation

To free the people of the east from false prophets and tyranny so they can find their way to enlightenment.

Anima

When Nuwa taps into peripheral essence her castemark shimmers in rose-tinged gold. With further expenditures the cloak of her anima becomes visible, a deep gold suffused by the glorious red of the sunrise that surrounds her as a coruscating aura. At its maximum it coalesces into its iconic form, a ring of flying blades high over Nuwa's head - the Crown of Swords, a banner that has struck fear into the hearts of her opponents since times immemorial.

Attributes

PHYSICAL: Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4
SOCIAL: Charisma 5, Manipulation 1, Appearance 4
MENTAL: Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4

Abilities

Caste Abilities

Martial Arts 5 (Unarmed +1), Melee 6 (Swords +3), War 3 --- [7 BP]

Favored Abilities

Integrity 3 (Self-control +1), Presence 5, Resistance 3, Lore 3, Medicine 4, Athletics 3, Awareness 5 (Join Battle +1) --- [6 BP]

Unfavored Abilities

Survival 1, Craft 2, Investigation 3, Occult 2, Linguistics 3 (Forest-tongue, Riverspeak, Old Realm, Low Realm), Socialize 1

Backgrounds

Face 3

Nuwa's name is well known among practitioners of the martial arts across the East. Her reputation began as that of a teen prodigy when she won her first contest at the age of 15 and was given the affectionate name of 'East Wind's Iron Blossom' by the presiding master. Since then as her talent matured and her mastery of the blade grew this reputation has steadily increased. News of the bitter triumph over the Saint Resplendent in Blood-Stained Steel, the hard lessons she gave to the godblooded High-Flying Silver and Steady Iron Heart and her other exploits of the past few months have spread quickly through the martial arts world. Among some her name is tainted by her Anathema nature, but her flawless skill none can deny.

Heirloom 2

The Rose's Thorns, a set of paired swords, were a gift to Nuwa from her sifu Wisdom of the Eastern Wind when she left his dojo behind to learn from the world. Originally forged by a Shogunate master smith the red-tinged blades represent the very pinnacle of mortal craft and art and are no less sharp today than when they first saw the light of day almost a thousand years ago. It is said that five times five gods of war and conflict, among them the Maiden of Battles herself, were petitioned to bless the swords and empower the thaumaturgic rituals upon them. The hilts, being of lesser resistance against the ages than the blades, were recently recreated from a rare red wood from the far eastern jungles by Wisdom of the Eastern Wind. Properly treated this wood creates a bond between the weapon and its bearer akin to the attunement of an Exalt's magical weapon.
The Rose's Thorns are in rules terms perfect straight swords (Spd 4, Acc +4, Dmg +3L, Def +2, Rate 3). However as a mortal weapons they do not possess the indestructibility of artifact weapons.

Charms

Melee

Call the Blade (1m, call your weapon to your hand from Ess*10 meters away)
Summoning the Loyal Steel
Dipping Swallow Defense (2m, use full PDV)
Bulwark Stance (5m, negate all penalties to PDV for one action)
Fivefold Bulwark Stance (5m, 1wp, DV penalties for actions reduced by 1, no onslaught penalties)
Eye of the Storm Meditation
Heavenly Guardian Defense (4m, perfect defense with the Temperance Flaw) Glorious Solar Weaponry
Hand of the Master
Merciful Bodhisattva Attitude

Presence

Irresistible Salesman Spirit
Truth Shines Like The Sun

Integrity

Temptation-Resisting Stance (6m, add Temperance to mental DVs)
Righteous Lion Defense

Medicine

Wound-Mending Care

Athletics

Graceful Crane Stance (3m, perfect balance)

Awareness

Surprise-Anticipation Method (1m, negate any surprise)

Linguistics

Sagacious Reading of Intent

Intimacies

The Noble Path leads to enlightenment and the Art of the Sword guides my steps.
My sifu, Wisdom of the East Wind, is like a father to me.
Wherever possible I must avoid needless deaths, but for some people reincarnation is the only way they will learn.

Essence

Essence: 3
Peripheral: 27/27 (32)
Personal: 13/13
Committed: 5 peripheral (daiklave)
Anima Status: None

Health Levels: -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Incapacitated
(wounds are designated as bashing, lethal or aggravated)

Willpower

OOOOO OOO (Willpower 8/8) --- [2 BP]

Virtues

Compassion: 3 - Strength is only a virtue when it is used to protect the weak and for the benefit of all.
Conviction: 2 - Don't focus on your goals to the point of obsession - you'll lose sight of the big picture.
Temperance: 4 - Worldly desires and attachments are the source of all suffering. Free yourself from them.
Valor: 2 - Courage means facing your fears, not self-aggrandising quests for glory.

Limit Break

Ascetic Drive
When the pressure becomes too great Nuwa often leaves her material possessions behind and retreats into seclusion to meditate far away from worldly affairs.

Limit Condition: Being confronted with her own failures and human weaknesses.
Limit: ----- -----

Equipment

Hand: Spd 5, Acc 12, Dmg 3B, PDV 6, rate 3
Kick: Spd 6, Acc 10, Dmg 6B, PDV 5, rate 1
Wooden stick: Spd 4, Acc 14, Dmg 6B, PDV 8, rate 3
Thorn: Spd 4, Acc 18, Dmg 7L, PDV 8, rate 2

History

Nuwa's memories of her early childhood are vague. Her mother's love, the feeling of safety in her father's arms, a place she only knows as 'home'. Then there's the frightening images of her father returning home with fear in his eyes one day, her mother helping her to pack her toys and then a hasty flight from home. A succession of strange and foreign places follows in her mind's eye as the young family travels far and wide, never staying in one place for more than a few days. But clearest in her memories are the moments as her mother admonishes her to wait while she and father go to take care of something and the awful feeling of abandonment as even after hours and then days neither of them returns to her.

Subsequently, so she has been told, she was found close to death by a group of monks, among them Wisdom of the Eastern Wind who saved Nuwa and brought her with him back to his monastery. A time of safety and learning followed and as the years passed Nuwa found some happiness again among the eclectic collection of monks, philosophers and martial artists her surrogate father had gathered around him. From the scholars she learned lessons of writing and history, the wise instructed her in the teachings of the Noble Path that leads to the cessation of suffering, and the warrior monks taught her the arts martial. It was in that last field that her true talent was found as she learned with astonishing speed not just the physical but also the metaphysical aspects of the arts. Her aptitude for the sword in particular was shown to be extraordinary as she won her first tournament at the age of 15, surpassing even much more experienced fighters. And since then her talent has only blossomed more and more.

At the age of 20 Nuwa and her teachers both came to the conclusion that it would do Nuwa good to leave the monastery behind and wander through the world for a time. In that way she would be able to learn more of Creation than was possible staying at her new home, and benefit from the wisdom of different and perhaps even greater masters. Privately her hope was also that she might discover something about her parents, find the traces they left or maybe even find them alive and well somewhere. However the lessons the world had to teach were horrific to the naive young woman. People outside the monastery and the lands under its protection were beset by bandits, monsters and most often of all pitiable poverty, they lied and stole and murdered, and they laughed when she told them this was not the way to enlightenment. Many times she had to demonstrate her skills with the blade to protect herself or someone else from the depredations of the wicked or desperate, more than once ending in death. And that she had killed only in self-defense was of small comfort to Nuwa, who strained to keep to the Noble Path's purity and avoidance of violence.

But the greatest upheaval in her life was still to come. As Nuwa guested at a friendly master's dojo in Varsi the Deathknight calling himself The Saint Resplendent in Blood-Stained Steel attacked, seeking to test his new hammer on the martial artists in attendance. Among the burning ruins of the dojo and the shattered bodies of her hosts Nuwa met the Saint with bright steel in her hands and the calm acceptance of death in her heart, for she fought not for herself or glory but for every man or woman that might be able to flee while she held the monster off. And though the Deathknight broke bones and dealt terrible damage with every successful strike Nuwa's virtuous cause gave her strength and she managed to cut him as well, once, twice, thrice. Taunting her the so-called Saint asked her why she even tried, why she risked her life when she could not win - after all he had died once before and yet here he stood. Just then in a moment of transcendent brilliance Nuwa saw a way, a move that would send the Abyssal back into the screaming void that had spawned him. And she began executing the maneuver, pushing the limits of mortal ability to the utmost and penetrating the Deathknight's defenses in a way he had never before considered. But as the Dark Exalt stumbled backwards in shock, grasping at the wound at his throat Nuwa spoke in reply, surrounded by rose-tinged golden light: "It is not your death I seek, to reduce the suffering in the world that is my goal. But I can see that you suffer as well, that pain drives you to violence." And she withdrew her sword, having deliberately missed the deadly stroke by fractions of an inch. "But suffering can cease. Let me instruct you." The Saint however, blinded by fear and misconceptions, fled.

Personality

Six months of wandering through Creation, of seeing its lowest depths and its highest heights, have left their mark on Nuwa. No longer is she the naive young woman who walked out the gates of the monastery and did not understand why anyone would lie or commit crimes against her neighbor. But while she has accepted that living in the world is more difficult than it is in a sheltered monastery that is to her mind only more reason to hold on to her ethics, even if they seem plainly unreasonable to most everybody else. And so Nuwa keeps speaking the truth no matter how inconvenient, helping anyone she can and assuming the best of people. She tolerates no tyranny over the mind or the body, as that impedes the ability of the individuals in question to find their way to enlightenment.

Though she approaches many matters with great seriousness Nuwa is quick to laugh in circumstances of less consequence and not having seen much of the world yet remains curious about many of its aspects. Humbleness she sees as a great virtue and she is very aware that despite her skill she has not yet attained the wisdom that marks a true master, though realistically in the absence of one any help or guidance that she can give will have to do.

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