Ledaal Endar

Ledaal Endar is a character played by Shantak in Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy Exalted PbP game in RPG.net

Ledaal Endar

• Aspect: Water
• Concept: Broken magistrate-hero turned into spymaster bureaucrat and operator of the All-Seeing Eye
• Motivation: Discover and destroy the traitors hiding under the Scarlett Empress's eyes.
• Anima: Formerly a blue waterspout, but after Endar's injury, his anima has turned into a dark whirlpool that's completely silent, even on the higher levels when it looks to be raging.
• Anima power: Spend 5m to get complete water freedom, plus the ability to walk on water.

Description

Endar's dark hair is kept short, and it is already beginning to show signs of graying. His jaw is angular and his deep blue eyes often scowl at those he doesn't know well. He was once more muscular, but has let himself somewhat out of shape after losing his leg. Though his prosthesis leg is well adjusted, he still limps while walking and makes a distinct noise unless he concentrates on avoiding it.

He dresses simply, favoring darker colors, and usually wears a long, short-collared coat on top. His daiklave, the Ebony Bane Blade, is often with him unless it really doesn't suit the occasion. Likewise, he keeps his bracers with him to have access to all his hearthstones. Despite all this caution, he's never been assaulted or targeted by an assassination.

Attributes

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

Abilities

Caste

• Bureaucracy 3
• Investigation 5 (Interviewing suspects +2)
• Larceny 3
• Martial Arts 3

Favored

• Integrity 4 (Against Terrestrial charms +2)
• Linguistics 4 (High Realm (native), Low Realm, Skytongue, Riverspeak, Old Realm (still learning))
• Lore 3 (The Realm +2)

Others

• Archery 1
• Awareness 2
• Stealth 1
• Melee 1
• Occult 3
• Performance 1
• Presence 3
• Resistance 1
• Ride 1
• Socialize 1
• Survival 1
• War 1

Backgrounds

• Allies 1 (Ragara Sera, Endar's wife)
• Artifact 3 (6 dots: 3-dot, 2-dot and 1-dot artifacts, described below)
• Backing (All-Seeing Eye) 3
• Breeding 1 (born to a Dragon-Blooded father and mortal mother (both dead by now)
• Connections (All-Seeing Eye) 4
• Connections (Magistracy) 1
• Manse 3 (6 dots: 3-dot, 2-dot and 1-dot manses available, described below)
• Reputation 2 (Known from his time as a magistrate)
• Resources 3 ((not especially wealthy for a dynast)
• Retainers 1 (a steward and an adjutant)

Artifact details

• Ebony Bane Blade (black jade daiklave, Artifact 3)

This dark sword is narrower than usual daiklaves. The black blade looks like it's shining when light hits it. The Ebony Bane Blade has been bestowed an enchantment that allows it to penetrate armor more easily than a regular daiklave. The blade has a hearthstone setting and the hilt is hollow and can be opened to store small items (Endar keeps a vial of Arrow Frog poison here). Speed 5, Accuracy +3, Damage +6L, Defense +2, Rate 3, Attune 5, Tags: Piercing Additional bonuses (Jade): -1 Speed, +1 Damage

(So it's basically a daiklave that does piercing damage, and has one extra dot in cost. I figured that should be okay, as all the Grand Something weapons do pierced as well and are Artifact 3.)

• Blue Jade Hearthstone Bracers (Artifact 2)

Commitment 4 motes, provide 3-die bonus to dodge attempts, give -1 Speed to attacks, have a hearthstone setting

• Exquisite Prosthesis Leg (Artifact 1)

An artificial leg made of feathersteel and jade alloy. Gives no actual bonuses over a mundane peg leg, but I figured that this could basically act as a hearthstone amulet at the same time. Due to the unusual design, the commitment cost could be double (2) what a simple amulet has. The hearthstone setting is hidden under a cap covering the knee part.

Hearthstone and manse details

• Bloodstone (Manse 3, Oadenol's Codex p96)

Hearthstone of Water. Gives the bearer immunity against all non-magical diseases and poisons. The bearer also automatically resists all magical poisons. In addition, the bearer never bleeds. The bloodstone comes from a manse belonging to the All-Seeing Eye, and is often granted to operatives who need immunity to poison when being in danger of being poisoned or when they themselves are using poison and want to avoid accidental mishaps. Endar is in the possession of the stone, but often lends it to the assassins of the Eye.

• Jewel of Swift Comprehension (Manse 2, Oadenol's Codex p86)

Hearthstone of Air. Enables the bearer to read text and conduct searches Essence + 1 times fater than normal. Also reduces the difficulty of all Lore and Investigation rolls involving reading or visual observation by 2. The jewel was granted to Endar by the House Iselsi when he first started as a magistrate, and it comes from a manse in the Scavenger Lands. It's been in his possession ever since, though at one time when an earthquake caused damage to the manse, he had to return there to attune to the building again.

• Stone of the Emerald Rooster (Manse 1, Oadenol's Codex p99)

Hearthstone of Wood. Gives the bearer a bonus on all Survival and Resistance rolls equal to one-hald his Valor, rounded up. This hearthstone was probably one of the reasons Endar survived after losing his leg. The stone comes from the manse serving as Endar's home when he's not in the Imperial City. The manse is located a few days journey south of the Imperial City, and it was granted to him by House Ledaal when he married Ragara Sera to serve as the household for the couple. The gesture was not done for pure kindness, as by doing this House Ledaal managed direct the new family to live in a place of their choosing.

The manse is called the Emerald Roost, and it was constructed by a Ledaal manse architect as his first work after graduating from the House of Well-Favored Aspect. The building is basically a two-story villa made of wood, with the essence channeled through the wooden frame, occasionally causing sprouts to grow from the walls.

Normally, Endar has the Bloodstone in his daiklave, Jewel of Swift Comprehension in his leg and Stone of the Emerald Rooster in his hearthstone bracers.

Charms

Investigation

• First Investigation Excellency [1m/2dice dice adder]
• Scent-of-Crime Method [2m finds greatest guilt present with Man + Investigation]
• Falsehood Unearthing Attitude [5m 1wp detects lies from someone for one scene]
• Tampering Detection Technique [2m detects if an object has been tampered with during the last year]

Larceny

• Observer Awareness Method [1m notices if watched with Per + Larceny]
• Precise Ink Technique [3m copies handwriting and style for one task]

Martial Arts

• Five-Dragon Fortitude [1m/2B or 1L increases soak against an attack]

Integrity

• Second Integrity Excellency [2m/success or DV booster]
• Oath of the Ten-Thousand Dragons (devoted to the Scarlet Empress) [when devotion challenged, boosts DV by Integrity]

Lore

• Third Lore Excellency [3m allows a reroll]

Resistance

• Ox-Body Technique [extra -1/-2 health levels]

Linguistics

• Language-Learning Ritual [5m 1wp learns a new language after listening and meditating for an hour]
• Cipher Missive [3m creates a coded message that can be read by selected individuals]
• Wind-Carried Words Technique [1m per message plus distance, sends a private message to a range]
• Voices on the Wind [3+ motes can listen to speech within Essence x 100 feet]

Occult

• Terrestrial Circle Sorcery [1wp can cast sorcery]
• Emerald Countermagic [10m or 20m, can protect against or shatter sorcery]

Virtues

• Compassion 2
• Conviction 4
• Temperance 3
• Valor 3

Other traits

Amputee [2 pt. Flaw for Exalted, 1e Player's Guide p31] (left leg replaced with a prosthesis, half movement rate, -3 to Athletics rolls involving footwork)

Essence 4

• Personal motes 11
• Peripheral motes 32
• Committed motes (peripheral) 11

Willpower 8

Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap

Intimacies

• House Iselsi
• Scarlet Throne

(Not Intimacies, but moderately important things that might become intimacies in the future:

• Ragara Sera
• Ragara Parik
• All-Seeing Eye
• Emerald Roost)

The Four Questions

1) Why are you more loyal to the Empress and/or the Realm than the average Dynast?

From young age, I was conditioned to serve the Scarlet Empress and to stay faithful to her. All Iselsi owe it to her, as if it wasn't for her benevolence, our house would be in the same state as the Manosque, all because of a few traitors to the Empire.

I have the Empress to thank for my past appointment to a magistrate, and I have her to thank me for my current position with the All-Seeing Eye. She has so proved that she respects the work I do, and it is a matter of personal honor for me to be loyal to her.

Moreover, she is the sole reason the Realm is where it is now, at the height of its power. She is the sole reason all the Creation exists at the moment. I would die for her cause, and so should every other dynast.

2) Who do you serve, apart from the Empress? Who else constitutes a superior?

I serve the All-Seeing Eye, which serves the Empress. I also serve my original house, the Iselsi, which also serves the Empress. My elders in House Ledaal are knowledgeable, even more so than the Iselsi, but I only pay them lip service unless their wants converge with those of the Empress and the Eye.

However, I have doubts abouts those behind the All-Seeing Eye, the secret masters who control it. The Empress must know of them, I realize, but I do not yet know how she can trust them. I must investigate these faceless figures behind the Eye to know who they are and if they really should be trusted.

3) What did you openly achieve in the past century that makes you a worthy subject for historians of the next Age to investigate thoroughly?

I worked as a magistrate for nearly fifty years. During this time, I have purged the Realm of many traitors and conspirators who have sought to hurt the Realm.

The dim-witted fools who tried to sell information of our navy to Lookshy were uncovered by my skills, and I defeated their leader - a Lost Egg adopted to a Great House but faithful to Lookshy - in a fight atop of a First Age Shipyard.

The hiding place of the leaders of the Bloodied Scythe Uprising was found by me, and I lead the troop that went there to subdue the rebellion. During the battle, I saved the life of a favored grandson of the Empress by slaying the the one threatening his life - an Outcaste working with the rebels and using a stolen Dragon Armor.

I have tried, judged and sometimes executed many corrupt officials who have been preying on the poor. During my tour in the north-western coast of the Blessed Isle, my name became so known that officials with things to hide have even fled when they've heard that I was coming to their town.

Then... I had started a tour in the Northern Threshold, and I fought the Lunar Anathema called Roaming Moonstone Axe. I had the... debatable honor of being the only Dragon-Blooded who has survived a battle with him... I guess that's an achievement... but not one I wanted to sacrifice my left leg for.

For the past decades, I have worked for the Eye, and my accomplishments have been more... clandestine. Directing spies against foreign nations and planning assassinations even within the Realm... That's not something they tell tales of. So my fame has diminished, and I'm probably not even know to this generation the Realm's populace.

4) 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 interests?

A part of me died when I was mauled by the Anathema. I never fully recovered, even though I know those who have remained worthy warriors even though they have lost a leg. It is a shame to me, that I wasn't able to recover like I wanted. Or maybe I didn't want, after being in that fight.

I still long for action. My daiklave hasn't dulled with my skills, and I still want to believe that I could best another Dragon-Blood in a fight. I still want to believe that I could carry out the same missions as my operatives do. I even want to believe that I might be secretly attacked, forced to defend myself and then triumph, even if I'm not sure of the outcome.

I was once a proud man. While I still have some pride and honor, I am not above using deception or poison if I were in a fight. In fact, some parts of me are waiting for it.

While I am loyal to the All-Seeign Eye, I have my doubts about who really controls the Eye and for what cause. If I investigate, if I find out things I don't like... What will I do then? What if I find that the interests of the Empress, of the Eye, of the Iselsi... if they don't agree with one another. Who will I be faithful in the end? I... I don't know.

Backstory

Ledaal Endar (born Iselsi Radu) was integrated into House Ledaal under an invented identity with the help of another Iselsi hiding within the other house. This happened after Radu's early exaltation and after the boy was properly conditioned to never reveal his secret and to stay faithful to the Iselsi and the Scarlet Throne.

Radu, now Endar, studied in the Spiral Academy, but didn't find the bureaucratic life right for him. So he went to tour the Threshold after graduating, doing some soul-searching, he claimed. Actually, he went to a satrapy secretly ruled by the Iselsi to discuss where the future would take him.

There, Endar received an intensive combat training with promises that he was on his way to become a magistrate once they would orchestrate an incident that brings him to the Scarlett Empress' attention in a good way. This incident took place ten years later, when Endar exposed a traitor to the Empire in the presence of the Empress. In fact, the Empress might have been playing along in the plot, wanting a good reason to appoint a young magistrate who would be loyal to her and the Scarlet Throne in the way only an Iselsi can. Even this day, Endar doesn't know the truth behind this intrigue.

However, Endar became a magistrate, most often traveling alone and rooting out corruption and keeping his eyes open for dangers to the Realm. During his years, Endar revealed a conspiracy of dynasts selling information to Lookshy, investigated many corrupt officials (often finding guilt if there was any) and uncovered evidence that enabled the Empire to subdue the Bloodied Scythe Uprising before it grew too large.

His success earned Endar jade and fame, and he eventually married an Air-aspected dynast from House Ragara. Endar's wife, Ragara Sera, is a sorceress, and while they later had one Exalted and one un-Exalted child, there isn't really actual love between the couple, but some genuine affection nonetheless.

Still continuing his tasks as a magistrate, Endar had the misfortune of confronting a Lunar Anathema while traveling in the Northern Threshold. The beast slew his few men, and the two fought fiercely. The battle ended when the Anathema had gravely wounded Endar and severed his left leg above the knee, and Endar done the same to the Lunar's weapon arm with his daiklave. As Endar was lying in the ground, near death, the Anathema sneered and nearly instantly regenerated its missing arm back. It likely then made a remark of Endar's lost leg in Old Realm, but the Terrestrial didn't fully comprehend it. However, the way the Dragon-Blooded had fought had impressed the beast, and so it left him alive (though near death), leg amputated with a Grimcleaver.

It took weeks of crawling and fighting wild animals, but Endar managed to drag himself close enough to Cherak to get help. However, the stump where his leg had been had remained untreated for so long that not even medical charms could restore the leg again. He returned to the Realm as a cripple who was no longer fit for a magistrate.

After Sera claimed back a favor from an artificer she had studied with in the Heptagram, Endar was fitted with an artificial leg that allowed him to walk, even if this was slow. Then, the Scarlet Empress herself let Endar know that he would not be wasted in some pen-pusher job, but he would join the All-Seeing Eye on the administrative level. Whether it was the Empress herself deciding, or if this was a proposal from the Iselsi running the Eye, Endar was now in deep debt to both parties.

This was fifty years from now. Endar has advanced far within the hierarchy of the Eye, becoming an operator and overseeing numerous spies and managing operatives of his own. Though much of his work is administrative, he still longs for to do field work himself even though he knows that his disability makes him unfit for such work. His loyalties still lie with the Scarlet Throne and his original house, the Iselsi, like they do with so many other members of the All-Seeing Eye. However, the years and his work have made him more paranoid than before. He knows the Eye has secret masters of its own, and he is not sure they share his own loyalties.

Recently, the house elders have informed him that someone close to the Scarlet Empress is plotting an assassination or even a coup. Then, just afterwards, comes the mysterious invitation hinting of the Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy. Is it a coincidence? Even if not, it could offer the chance of finding out the potential assassin and counter-assassinate the traitor, no matter the cost to Endar.

Family

Ragara Sera, Endar's wife, is an Air-aspected sorceress few years shy of her first century. They have been married for sixty years and were brought together by a Ragara matchmaker after the house had some problem arranging a suitable marriage for Sera due to her being a sorceress. There was little love between the two at first, and it has never flamed passionately, but they have learned to respect and care for each other. Sera, strangely for one with her education, works in the Thousand Scales under Bal Keraz as a junior minister, assisting in matters requiring sorcery.

Ragara Maya, Endar's daughter and first child, never Exalted. As a result, Endar hasn't had much to do with her. Maya is now married to another Ragara patrician from another branch of the family, and while their son, Karuma, is already past the age to Exalt, they have high hopes for their daughter, Sini.

Ragara Parik, Endar's son, has recently Exalted - as an Earth aspect. At Sera's insistence, she and Endar have arranged Parik a place in the Heptagram, where he will be leaving soon. Parik has shown some sadistic tendencies during his time in the primary school, but Endar believes these will go away once he grows up a bit.

Endar's mother - the woman who gave him birth and raised him - was named Vysia, but she was a mortal and is already long gone. His father was an Iselsi, but one who he never knew or never even learned his name. Endar think that Ledaal Elias - the Iselsi already hiding within House Ledaal and who helped to created Endar's identity - might have been his father. The rare times they met, Elias seemed to treat Endar with regard one might give his own son. Endar never managed to ask him about it, as he disappeared already during Endar's time as a magistrate, thought to have met his fate somewhere in the Threshold.