Dynasty & Decadence/Onais

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Peleps Taric Onais is a player character in Dynasty & Decadence played by (τὸ κατέχον)

Peleps Taric Onais

• Aspect: Water
• Concept: Spyhunter of the All-Seeing Eye
• Motivation: Keep the Eye free of outside influence
• Anima: A gently undulating pool of dark water, accompanied by the sounds of waves lapping a shoreline; as the banner grows in strength, the waves grow violent, and the sound is that of the sea smashing against cliffs.
• Anima Power: For 5m, ignores environmental penalties from water, can breathe underwater, and can walk across water as if it were land.

Attributes

• Str 2, Dex 2, Sta 2
• Cha 3, Man 5, App 2
• Per 4, Int 5, Wit 3

Abilities

Caste

• Bureaucracy 5 (Finding corruption +2)
• Investigation 5 (Counter-intelligence +3)
• Larceny 3
• Martial Arts 3

Favored

• Linguistics 4 (High Realm, Low Realm, Seatongue, Skytongue, Rivertongue)
• Lore 3 (Gateway +3)
• Integrity 5

Other

• Archery 1
• Awareness 3
• Craft 2 (Air 2, Water 1)
• Dodge 2
• Melee 2
• Occult 3
• Performance 2
• Presence 3
• Resistance 2
• Ride 1
• Socialize 3
• War 3

Backgrounds

General

• Allies 1 (Enuma Preven, House Iselsi protege)
• Artifact 2
• Backing 4 (All-Seeing Eye)
• Backing 3 (Imperial Treasury)
• Breeding 3
• Connections 5 (All-Seeing Eye)
• Connections 2 (Thousand Scales)
• Connections 1 (Magistracy)
• Henchmen 3 (Favored agents of the Eye)
• Manse 3 (Eye & Treasury manses to which he's attuned)
• Reputation 3 (Someone who knows how to navigate the Imperial Bureaucracy)
• Resources 2
• Retainers 1 (His personal secretary, plus his immediate underlings at the Treasury & the Eye)

Charms

Awareness

• 1st Awareness Excellency
• Sense-Riding Technique

Bureaucracy

• 1st Bureaucracy Excellency
• Confluence of Savant Thought
• Geese Flying South Administration

Integrity

• 1st Integrity Excellency
• Oath of the Ten-Thousand Dragons
• Ten-Thousand Dragons Fight as One
• Granite Curtain of Serenity

Investigation

• 1st Investigation Excellency
• Terrestrial Investigation Reinforcement
• Scent of Crime Method
• Falsehood Unearthing Attitude
• Revelation of Associates Hunch
• Tampering Detection Technique
• Heart-Maze Navigation

Larceny

• Observer Awareness Method

Linguistics

• 1st Linguistics Excellency
• Language Learning Ritual
• Cipher Missive
• Poisoned-Tongue Technique
• Voice of Mastery
• Wind-Carried Words
• Voices on the Wind

Lore

• 1st Lore Excellency
• Elemental Concentration Technique

Virtues

• Compassion 2
• Conviction 4
• Temperance 4
• Valor 1

Other traits

Essence 4

• Personal motes 15
• Peripheral motes 36
• Committed motes (peripheral) TBD

Willpower 8

Intimacies

• House Peleps Taric (loyalty)
• The All-Seeing Eye (commitment)
• His brother, Grolush (fraternal love)
• His adopted son, Korel (protective)
• His protege, Enuma Preven (affection)

Artifacts and Panoply

Artifacts (4 dots total, none above 2)

• Reinforced Buff Jacket
• Hearthstone Amulet x2

Hearthstones (6 dots total, none above 3)

• Bloodstone
• Gemstone of Surface Thoughts
• Memory Stone

Defense Values

• DDV: 4 [(Dex + Dodge + Ess)/2]
• PDV 2/3 [(Dex + Mel/MA + Weapon)/2]
• DMDV: 8 [(WP + Int + Ess)/2]
• PMDV: 4 [(Man + Pre/Soc)/2]

Bonus points

• Attributes: 0 bp
• Abilities: 9 bp (7 aspect/favored dots, 2 for 4 specialties)
• Charms: 5 bp
• Backgrounds: 18 bp (6 [3 dots for 4+] + 12 [12 dots for 3 & under])
• Virtues/Willpower/Essence: 13 bp (10 from Essence, 3 from Willpower)

Experience Points

• 10 xp banked

Backstory, Details, &c.

Description

Onais possesses none of the physical graces that commoners often associate with the majestic Princes of the Earth; he appears to possess neither overwhelming power, nor exceptional grace, nor divine hardiness. His looks could charitably be described as 'average', even if he weren't inclined to dress as modestly -- even shabbily -- as his station permits, and even if his frame didn't testify to a life dedicated to never missing a meal or a drink. While he's often a welcome presence at social gatherings -- he's quick to laugh and slow to anger, always ready to raise a glass or pass along a dish -- he's also no one's idea of a magnetic personality.

Only those closest to him, or those who have saw him in his youth playing at Gateway, or those who are exceptionally perceptive can see why the Dragons chose him: the glint in his eyes as he reads a room, the slight smile as he takes the perfect measure of those before him , the gentle calm as he navigates the thorniest problems, and the no-nonsense self-assurance in his voice when his words inevitably find their mark.

Questionnaire

1) Why are you devoted to keeping this sub-House alive against all odds?

Onais never wholly outgrew a son's awe of his father, and to do less than defend his memory & his legacy now is unthinkable to him. Moreover, the fact that he's used his position within the Eye to aid the family on occasion was trivial while Taric was a power in Dynastic politics; a weakened House leaves Onais exposed on that score.

2) The Dynasty isn't all about family. What loyalties and causes compete with your loyalty to House Peleps Taric?

Though intensely loyal to his family, it has been in the All-Seeing Eye that Onais became his own man, and through which he forged his own legacy and destiny. He is thoroughly devoted to its mission, in his role as one of the primary agents of the Inward-Looking Eye.

3) In what ways are you products of the Dynasty?

In what way isn't he? A star pupil in his primary school, a talented product of the Spiral Academy, an effective if indifferent senior bureaucrat in the Imperial Treasury, and now one of the lynchpins of the All-Seeing Eye -- Onais's whole life has been by, of & for the Dynasty. Perhaps his only departure from the norm is his cynicism toward the Immaculate Order; born primarily of professional rivalry, he's quick to dismiss the monks' virtues in private, though he's perfectly orthodox in his belief.

4) What have you openly achieved in the past century that makes you a worthy subject for historians of the next Age to investigate thoroughly?

To those outside the web of Imperial politics, Onais appears to be -- so far as such a thing exists -- a typical Dynast: a well-connected bureaucrat who is loyal to the Empress, moderate in his venality, and always ready for the next salon. To those inside, he is the Ever-Patient Spider, a formidable spymaster of the All-Seeing Eye. Recruited form his position in the Treasury to fight corruption, he made his mark in the All-Seeing Eye almost immediately upon his commission in a very different sphere. Thanks to his suspicious mind and unfailing attention, he uncovered a network of spies within the Bureaucracy established by an agent of Lookshy; thanks to Onais, the spies were hanged and the 7th Legion agent was turned into an asset of the Realm, providing the Eye with invaluable intelligence -- and a means to feed disinformation to Lookshy -- for a century to come. The latest fruit of this early victory was the identification & recruitment of Korel; it was a substantial victory for the Realm that Onais parlayed into a family victory.

Other successes include: the early identification & infiltration of the Seven Thrushes Conspiracy, which threatened to engulf the northern Threshold (and which Onais used to help his father enlarge Phumugrun); discovering & uprooting the Numberless Obols Brotherhood, a wide-ranging attempt by the Guild to infiltrate the Tax & Treasury ministries; the choreographing of the Long Night's Dance, a brutally efficient & systematic purge within the Eye of rogue assets and suspected double-agents (and probably more than a few unfortunates who had simply made the wrong enemies). Most recently, he wrote & promulgated The Dragons' Ceaseless Waking, a meditation on life in the Eye's service-cum-protocol for combating infiltration; in the twenty years since it first appeared, it has become de rigeur reading for those who wish to be accepted into the Eye Turned Inwards.

Onais is also a well-known, if now semi-retired, grandmaster of Gateway; as a youth of twenty-five years old, he defeated no less a luminary than Cathak Cacek thanks to his then-revolutionary Vengeful Ghost defense. A few years later, he published Languid Satrap, Forgotten Ghosts, a classic in defensive Gateway tactics.

5) What weaknesses do you possess that aren't just personal failings, but could be exploited by your enemies to cost you the Game of Thrones? What are the fields of engagement where you can't just apply Game Theory analysis, but instead will act against your own interests?

As a matter of official policy, the Eye demands its members abstain from House politicking; some activity in that latter regard is overlooked, even expected; but full-on engagement is very much frowned upon. Another potential weakness is his (more than professional) interest in his protege, Enuma Preven, a sorcerer & assassion of House Iselsi; he reminds Onais of all that he loves in Grolush & Aisha both.

Onais on his Family

Alaric -- All honor to dear father's brother! Even setting aside his preternatural grace, he is entitled to unfailing respect on that account, and his steady good sense is essential. The ceaseless piety, the perfect humility -- that, I confess, I can do without.

Pranzha -- Now that father has been taken from us, I find dear Pranzha's tales as welcome as I did as a youth. But whereas they once struck me as ornament, now I see them as the armor that safeguards Taric's glory. His role is vital in the tests to come.

Hayabusa -- Who has not enjoyed a walk through a garden, come across a bloom of surpassing beauty, leaned in to appreciate its scent -- and found there the presentiment of rot? She unsettles me, but she does have the nicest parties.

Aisha -- My dearest sister; her visits were outcroppings of joy on my youth's terrain. To renew our relationship in this time of struggle is to find a green shoot reaching heavenward on a blasted plain. Truth be told, I suspect she needs me.

Sikandi -- I could hardly believe the news when it came! I, who pride myself on seeing three moves ahead, taken off guard! I'd hardly be able to forgive her, were her newfound position (to say nothing of her competence) not so damned welcome.

Grolush -- He had all that I wished to have as a boy: good looks, a strong body, and most of all, father's attention. I suppose I should be jealous of him, but I can't bring myself to feel anything but love.

Taen -- A wretched, spoiled little boy. Fortunately, there are uses for those such as him. As our enemies encircle us, he'll make a most convenient and obvious target to draw them out. And if he comes through, perhaps he'll even learn a bit of prudence.

Korel -- The very emblem of my success, though none may recognize him as such. I suspect that secrecy keeps him at arm's length; my life and my work are as foreign to him as is Lookshy to me. How ironic it is that this adoptee is more like my father than his eldest son.

Medoina -- A sensible (not to say profitable!) young woman, befitting a fellow product of the Spiral; she is a credit to our family, and a boon to our family's credit.

Noltis -- A Dynast of estimable talents, and a most worthy match for young Medoina. One of these days, I must get to know him better. Much, much better.