Severer of Distastefully Elongated Existences

Severer of Distastefully Elongated Existences
Caste: Xia (Warrior / Entertainer)
Concept: Duelist

Severer is long and slender as a blade, all long limbs and sinewy strength. His face is angular, with sharp cheekbones and a hawk-nose, and his skin is tanned but smooth. Though not conventionally handsome, he has a sharp, deadly beauty to him, and when he moves it is with the quick, precise elegance of a swooping bird of prey. He wears a jeweled breastplate of blue steel and gauntlets with a hawk insignia on the wrists. His hair is blonde and spiky.

Motivation

Defeat the greatest Creation-born warrior alive in single combat.

Attributes

PHYSICAL: Strength 5, Dexterity 7, Stamina 7
SOCIAL: Charisma 7, Manipulation 3, Appearance 6
MENTAL: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 7

Abilities

Caste Abilities

Archery 1, Larceny 1, Martial Arts 4, Performance 2 (singing his own praise +1), Stealth 2

Favored Abilities

Athletics 5, Melee 7 (swords +3), Presence 4 (intimidate +1)

Unfavored Abilities

Awareness 3, Dodge 3, Integrity 2, Resistance 2, Socialise 2

Backgrounds

Artifact

2. Severer was given twin daiklaves called Heartstiller and Soulender by his maker, who claimed to have found them on a quest in her distant youth. When dueling a lore-wise creature on his travels, he also managed to snatch from it an Utopia Stone, an oneiromantic spell that makes people forget the existence of pain. Severer was pleased with the idea of making others as happy and fearless as himself, so he kept it for a day when he might find it amusing to use it.

Birth

3. Severer was created by the Baroness Of Dreams At Midnight, an Ornamental Raksha who ruled a Freehold in the Northern Middlemarches. He was always a noble, made as a champion in courtly duels.

Gossamer

3. By serving various masters well as a hired sword, Severer has grown quite well off.

Style

2. Severer is quick and graceful in motion and thought, a dancer as much as a fencer, though he lacks the imagination of a true artist.

Charms

Mask

Assumption of Dreams and Passion. Can create a human form for himself that invokes a given emotion. GWM p158, SoE p109.

Elegant Muse Attitude. When wearing an Assumption of Dreams and Passion, can add dice to any roll consistent with the emotion the Assumption is based on. GWM p166, SoE p113.

Emotion-Weaving Style. When wearing an Assumption of Dreams and Passion, can infuse a mortal with the emotion the Assumption is based on. GWM p167, SoE p113.

Emotional Evocation. When wearing an Assumption of Dreams and Passion, can summon his possessions into Creation. They appear in a form influenced by the emotion the Assumption is based on. GWM p167, SoE p114.

Heart

Bastion of the Self (Sword). Immune to all physical attacks and Sword Shaping attacks that aren't magical or reinforced with a stunt. Bonus to DV against all magical or stunt-enhanced physical attacks and Sword Shaping attacks. GWM p168, SoE p116.

Cup

Ravishing the Created Form. Able to feed off of a consenting mortal. GWM p176, SoE p120.

Banquet of Crumbs. Able to feed off of ambient emotion. GWM p178, SoE p121.

Ring

Essence-Forging Art. Able to create mundane inanimate objects within the Wyld. GWM p193, SoE p129.

Staff

Awakened Dream Manufacture. Can create servants within the Wyld. GWM p199, SoE p130.

Sword

First Sword Excellency. Can add extra dice to Sword Shaping actions.

Pincer of Transcendent Time and Fate. Can make two Sword Shaping attacks or two physical attacks at once. GWM p210, SoE p134.

Radiance of the Invincible Warrior. Can ignore penalties to his Shaping DV against a single Sword or Staff Shaping attack. Can disappear and rematerialise a short distance away upon being physically attacked. GWM p212, SoE p135.

All-Inclusive Nightmare Defense. Can remove from readiness a Shaping weapon he has successfully parried an attack from. Can cause nightmare-stuff to cling to a physical weapon, requiring it to be cleaned off before being used again. GWM p213, SoE p136.

Peerless Ways of the Sword. Can parry other kinds of Shaping attacks with his Sword Shaping DV. Can tell whether a Creation-born has ever been vexed. GWM p214, SoE p137.

Fantastic Grotesquerie Shell. Can give himself feathers, wings and/or enhanced sight when wearing an Assumption. SoE p137.

Intimicies

• Formal dueling
• His swords
• His bird, Ironsoar

Essence

Essence: 3
Personal: 30
Committed: 6

Willpower

8

Virtues

Conscience: 3
Conviction: 2
Temperance: 2
Valor: 5 (Lure: Never turn down a chance to make a beautiful kill)

Graces

The Heart: 3
The Cup: 3
The Staff: 1
The Ring: 1
The Sword: 5

Shaping Combat

Heart DV: 5

Cup Combat

Cup Attack: 5+[Weapon Accuracy]
Cup Damage: 3+[Weapon Damage]
Cup DV: Half of [5 + Weapon Defense]
Cup Soak: 15
Cup Health Levels: 6

Staff Combat

Staff Attack: 5+[Weapon Accuracy]
Staff Damage: 6+[Weapon Damage]
Staff DV: Half of [5 + Weapon Defense]
Staff Soak: 15
Staff Health Levels: 3

Ring Combat

Ring Attack: 5+[Weapon Accuracy]
Ring Damage: 3+[Weapon Damage]
Ring DV: Half of [5 + Weapon Defense]
Ring Soak: 15
Ring Health Levels: 3

Sword Combat

Sword Attack: 14+[Weapon Accuracy]
Sword Damage: 5+[Weapon Damage]
Sword DV: Half of [14 + Weapon Defense]
Sword Soak: 15
Sword Health Levels: 10

Physical Combat

Dodge DV: 7 (6 with armour)
Parry DV: 10
Bashing Soak: 9 (+2 breastplate)
Lethal Soak: 7 (+4 breastplate)
Aggravated Soak: 0
Health Levels: -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Incap

Property

Two moonsilver short daiklaves (Speed 4, Accuracy +2, Damage +3L/2, Defence +1, Rate 2, O, Th), a Utopia Stone, a breastplate. A jeweled dagger (Sword Grace), a ruby ring (Heart Grace), a silver belt-flask containing fine brandy (Cup Grace), a silver hand-mirror (Ring Grace), a rod-shaped seal for signing duelist contracts (Staff Grace).

Retinue

Ironsoar, a Monster in the form of a giant hawk-like creature. Dribblegum, his deformed squire and Mutant Warleader.

History

Severer of Distastefully Elongated Existences was created by the mistress of a distant Freehold, intended to serve as her champion in matters of honour. To that purpose, he was created with unfailing courage (or a simulation thereof), exemplary fighting skills, and the capacity for great love (or a simulation thereof). He was given twin magical blades called Heartstiller and Soulender with which to fight his maker's battles, and many other favours and tokens were bestowed on him besides as he won great victories in her name.

However, while Severer had been made to display the signs of love, his understanding of loyalty and purpose was almost nonexistent - his mistress had believed, or found it satisfying to pretend to believe, that being overcome by her beauty and grace would bind Severer to her so closely that he would never want to betray her, so closely that he would remember her even if he forgot himself. She was right about the first, but wrong about the second - when enemies stormed her Freehold and killed her (a state she found it amusing to remain in for several centuries thereafter), Severer was not at her side; he had wandered far away hunting a behemoth whose jeweled heart he meant to give her as a gift.

Bereft and grief-stricken - which was a new and interesting state of being, albeit one he found to get tedious surprisingly soon - he took to wandering the Middlemarches, looking for masters to serve and battles to fight, soon coming to almost entirely forget his background in favour of focusing on the ever-moving present. He has no true goals, but does as the mood strikes him, a way of life that suits him quite well. Still, he can't deny that he is curious about the rumours he hears of Creation, a world where the enemies you defeat never rise again and there can be only one to claim the position as the mightiest warrior alive.

Personality

Severer is friendly, happy-go-lucky, cheerful and completely merciless. He considers his life to be one long adventure, full of danger and excitement, and he likes it that way. He'll swear eternal friendship to you today and betray you tomorrow, never planning to do either thing but simply seizing the spur of the moment. He carries ill-will to no one, even as he kills them, but nor does he particularly worry about anyone's well-being unless he has currently decided that he loves them.

Goals and Motivations

Severer lives to drink fine wine, love beautiful women, and slay terrible opponents. Win or lose, he loves a challenge, and likes nothing better than to hunt and fight the fiercest of enemies.