Character:Lioness
Lioness[edit]
Sethra's father El Noil Snoil was a Delzahn noble, by bloodline at least, although of no significant wealth or power. He was renowed though as swordsman and travelled much of the south seeking one or the other. Ultimately if he found either, he lost them, but he earned a formidable reputation for a mortal and found a Brakhani wife to bring back to Chiaroscuro. In the city of glass, his reputation gave him a trusted post in the guard of a Khan and his wife gave him a daughter before she died.
As a result Sethra grew up in a comfortable, if not prosperous household, with no mother to raise her. As a mark of favour to his loyal retainer, the Khan allowed Sethra to be taught by the same tutors as the children of his concubines but for the girl it was plain that her father was everything. He taught her to ride, to shoot a bow and to use a sword. It wasn't a matter of speculation that she would be Dereth - no one except Sethra ever doubted it.
Within days of the girl coming of age and donning a gray sash, Sethra had been recruited as another of the Khan's guards. He was on duty with his father three years ago when a thief decided that the rumoured hoard of the clan might include more than obols and jade silver. No ordinary thief: of the five protecting the treasury that night three were dead before Sethra and his last companion realised that they fought a sable dragon. The older warrior was killed buying time for Sethra to sound the horn calling for aid.
With stealth no longer entirely feasible, the outcaste dragonblooded smashed Sethra aside, shattering his glass scimitar effortlessly and spent essence ruthlessly to defeat the locks. When the young delzahn gathered his wits it was to see the thief, barely encumbered by an ornate casket under one arm, rushing towards a window, pursued by Sethra' father. Gathering himself, Sethra sprang upon the thief, seeking to slow the Exalt long enough to for his father to catch up. In this he was successful, staggering the outcaste woman. Father and daughter then faced the dragonblood together... until a thrust by the Exalt's baneclaw pierced his father's heart.
Screaming in rage, Sethra broke the water aspect's grip on the weapon, instead drawing it forth herself and wounding her opponent three times before he or his opponent registered that although they fought in the darkness of the night, Sethra himself was sunlit. The younger warrior's surprise was his undoing, for as reinforcements finally rushed inside the outcaste leapt into the shadows, screaming "Anathema!" Seeing only Sethra, ablaze with the light of the sun and wielding a weapon stained with his own father's blood, it is hardly surprising that Sethra's comrades loosed arrows at him and he was forced to herself flee through the open window.
The Khan, enraged at the loss of the casket's contents, chose to declare that Sethra was the culprit and offered a healthy reward for her capture. Enraged, Sethra returned and challenged the old man to a duel, cutting him down with ease and taking the finest horse from his stables to ride out into the desert before his kin could wreak a terrible revenge upon the young dereth.
He rode into the sands. And perhaps there he came across the half-buried ruin of an ancient palace, long lost to time. Possibly in the catacombs beneath it, he found a lost treasury in which lay a long, curved blade of orichalcum, set aside in centuries before the Usurpation in favour of more sophisticated weapons. Conceivably, he may have even have scaled Mount Eledeth, near his mother's homeland, and bargained with the strange creatures that call it home.
But this, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with the Lioness, a young swordswoman who fights wielding an orichalcum saber and a baneclaw of blackest jade. Scandalous, since he doesn't hide his face like a decent dereth 'man', instead wearing sheer silks. Hunting, it is said, one of Daana'd's children for reasons of vengeance. Drawn always to the city of glass by dreams of other foes. Of another Anathema, one marked by the setting sun. Of a victory in the sands in sight of Chiaroscuro, albeit a city unruined and yet also smaller, a victory in which he had fought alongside horned and reptilian warriors against a host of foes who were both one and many, both foul and yet fundamental.
Character Sheet[edit]
- Name: Lioness
- Concept: dereth sword prince
- Caste: Dawn
- Anima: A celestial lioness with bared fangs
- Motivation: avenge the death of her father
Intimacies:
- protect Mount Eledath's Dragon King community,
- seek understanding of dreams
Attributes:
- Str 4, Cha 3, Per 3
- Dex 5, Man 1, Int 1
- Sta 2, App 5, Wit 3
Abilities:
- “Caste Abilities”: Archery 3, Martial Arts 2, Melee 5 (Two Weapons +2), Thrown, War 1
- “Favored Abilities”: Athletics 1, Integrity 1, Presence 1, Resistance 1, Ride 3
- “Other Abilities”: Awareness 1, Dodge 1, Investigation 1, Linguistics 2 (Firetongue, Riverspeak, High Holy Tongue), Lore 2, Occult 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2
Backgrounds:
- Ally (adult Anklok) 1
- Artifact (Black Jade Baneclaw) 1
- Artifact (Orichalcum Reaper Daiklave) 2
- Resources 3
Virtues, Essence, & WP:
- Comp 2
- Conv 4
- Temp 1
- Valor 3
- WP 7
- Essence 3
- Personal 16
- Peripheral 38
Charms:
- Melee: 1st Melee Excellency, One Weapon, Two Blows, Flashing Edge of Dawn, Hungry Tiger Technique, Fire and Stones Strike, Shining Razor Wind, Dipping Swallow Defense, Bulwark Stance, Five Fold Bulwark Stance, Heavenly Guardian Stance (Valor Flaw)
Combos:
- Explosive Blade-Honing Prana: Five-Fold Bulwark Stance + Shining Razor Wind
Equipment and miscellaneous:
- In addition to artifact weapons carries two fighting batons and a longbow. Wears a breastplate of Chiaroscuro glass
- owns a camel, has a light tent and camping gear in his saddlebags as well as some portable booty from recent employment as a mercenary
- Usually veils his face
Combat Notes:
- Dodge Defense Value: 5 ( (5 dex + 1 dodge + 3 ess) / 2)
- Parry Defense Value: 9 ( (5 dex + 5 melee + 2 speciality + 6 sword def) / 2)
- Soak: 5 lethal / 4 bashing (Glass Breastplate +4L/2B -0 0)
- Health Levels: -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Inc
- Orichalcum Reaper Daiklave - Spd: 4 Acc: +5 (17) Dam: +4 (8L) Def: +2 (14) Rate: 4 Attune: 5
- Black Jade Baneclaw - Spd: 4 Acc: +1 (13) Dam: +4 (8L) Def: +6 (18) Rate: 3 Attune: 4 (for bonus)
- Fine Longbow (Broadhead) - Spd: 6 Acc: +1 (13) Dam: +2 (6L) Rate: 3 Rng: 200m
- Perfect Batons - Spd: 5 Acc: +2 (14) Dam: +7 (12B) Def: +2 (14) Rate: 2
- Punch - Spd: 5 Acc: +1 (8) Dam: +0 (4B) Def: +2 (9) Rate: 3
- Kick - Spd: 5 Acc: +0 (7) Dam: +3 (7B) Def: -2 (5) Rate: 2
- Clinch - Spd: 6 Acc: +0 (7) Dam: +0 (4B) Rate: 1
- Dodge Mental Defense Value: 6 ( (7 will + 1 integrity + 3 ess) / 2)
- Parry Mental Defense Value: 2 ( (3 Charisma + 1 Presence) / 2)
