To Catch the Setting Sun/Tepet Veii

To_Catch_the_Setting_Sun.

Tepet Ejava and Veii

*Tepet Veii, the Sainted Maiden of Other People's Fortunes

• Caste: Malefactor
• Concept: Petty Vengeance and Corrupting Benevolence
• A sharp-featured woman with burnt auburn hair and reptilian eyes and tongue, Veii dresses and accouters herself like a Dynastic general, on those few occasions when she isn't using Loom Snarling Deception.

Motivation

• To stand on the dais of the Scarlet Throne, look down into the Roseblack's face at the moment of her greatest victory, and chuckle as she takes it away.

Intimacies

Natural

Negative

The Roseblack (Hate) House Tepet (Resentment)

Positive

The Roseblack (Love) The Ebon Dragon (kinship)

Anima

Malefactor: By spending 5 motes, Malefactors gain +1 Appearance and a single bonus success on social attacks against all demons or lower essence characters. They also gain +1 automatic success on all rolls to bind Demons.

Banner: Veii's banner is an erupting column of silvery-black sand, shot through with blinking eyes and twisting tendrils of shadow.

Sainted Maiden

Attributes

Physical

• Strength 2
• Dexterity 4
• Stamina 1

Social

• Charisma 1
• Manipulation 5
• Appearance 5

Mental

• Perception 4
• Intelligence 3
• Wits 2

Abilities

Caste

Integrity 4 Performance 3 Presence 5 (+2 Persuasion)

Favored

Melee 5 (+3 Tepet Legion style; 1-hand and shield) Lore 3 Occult 4 (+2 Demonic knowledge) Socialize 2 (+2 Discerning Intent)

Unfavored

Awareness 4 Bureaucracy 2 (+1 Impeding) Linguistics 2 (Old Realm, High Realm, Seatongue

Backgrounds

Each Background

Automatic Infernal backgrounds: Cult 1 (Champion of hell) Backing 1 (ED) Influence 1 (ED)

Backgrounds:

Cult 5 (Sainted Maiden of Other People’s Fortunes) - Veii has established a widespread personal cult in the West by masquerading as The Sainted Maiden, Goddess of Thwarted Ambitions. All over the Western isles, rumor says that if you kneel down in certain hallowed locations, spill blood on the sand, and speak a prayer, your greatest desires may be granted. The maiden answers prayers haphazardly, but with real power; healing the sick and lame, granting strength to the weak and beauty to the plain, etc. Her favorite prayers, however, are those tinged with spiteful, obsessive jealousy. Most of her followers have little or no idea they're mixed up in a Yozi cult.

Demonic Familiar 1 (Teodozjia): Amu is the high priest of Veii's church, the Herald of the Sainted Maiden. The Demon Lion goes forth when Veii cannot, delivering Veiis orders and collecting fulfillment on debts incurred from Veii's answered prayers.

Allies 3: (Sesus Kajak Milada, Dragonblooded Akuma): The very first Urge delivered to her by the Ebon Dragon was to tempt another Exalt to his service. Veii chose Sesus Milada, a young fire-aspect captain in the Water Fleet, to be her victim because Milada had once been the great love of The Roseblack's life, before the vagaries of military service tore them apart. After a lengthy corruption, Milada became Veii's part-time lover, ally, and an infernal akuma. Veii believes that the day when she springs this revelation on her sister will be one of the sweetest in her life.

Corrupted Birthright: The weapons and armor of a Tepet Field Captain, taken from the Field of Futile Blood and tainted with vitriol, Veii cherishes these mementos of the artifacts she was denied before her exaltation. Artifact 2: Vitriolic Jade Reinforced Breastplate Artifact 2: Vitriolic Jade Reaver Daiklave

Artifact 3 (Tongue of the Serpent Prince): Veii's tongue was cut out and replaced with a black, forked version that whispers only lies. +2 bonus dice on Manipulation-based social attacks, and they become UMI.

Infamy 3: Veii hasn't performed the Rock-star like deeds of her compatriot Kyrioch, but the Ebon Dragon savors her petty, pathetic, melodramatic obsession with destroying her sister and bestows his favors accordingly.

Merits

Each Merit

Describe the Merit and it's cost

Flaws

Each Flaw

• Describe the Flaw and it's cost

Charms

Each Ability or Attribute

1st Cecylene Ex
1st Ebon Dragon Ex
Cecylene Inevitability technique
Sorceress Enlightenment of Cecylene (Emerald)
Sorceress Enlightenment of Cecylene (Sapphire)

Ebon Dragon charms:

Witness to Darkness
Fervor-Driven Antagonism Technique x2
Loom-Snarling Deception
Eldritch Secrets Mastery

Cecylene Charms:

Hellscry Chakra
Demonic Primacy of Essence

Penitents Like Scattered Grains
Temple-Self Apotheosis

Holy land infliction

Verdant Emptiness Endowment
Bestowal of Accursed Fortune
Miracle Gift Mastery
As You Wish
Draught of Sweet Infinity
Scoured Perfection of Form
Palaces Like Sandcastles

Transcendent Desert Creature
Knowing the Desolate Heart

Sand-Slip Trick
Scorpion-Tailed Mirage Technique (2x)
Sand Through Fingers Defense

Spells:

Slave Spawn Summons
Stormwind Rider

Fiend-Vassal Conscription
The Faithful Ally

Essence

• Essence: 4
• Personal: 22/22
• Peripheral: 35/47
• Committed to Charms: 0
• Committed to artifacts:12
• Willpower: 10/10
• Anima status:

Virtues

• Compassion: 3
• Conviction: 4
• Temperance: 1
• Valor: 1
• (Virtue channels used: None)

Limit Break

Ophidian Urge (Conviction): Veii works to exalt the unworthy and raise the bitter, downtrodden, and mean-spirited. Veii gains limit when forced to confront the fact that she is wasting her life on a crazy obsession with a sibling who, for the most part, was a pretty decent sister.

Conflict

Physical

• Join Battle: 6
• Dodge DV: 3
• Parry DV: 6(Daiklave) / 8(Buckler)
• Soak: Armor: 10L/10B/10A 8/8 Hardness

Perronelle: 7L/13B 5/5 Hardness

Movement

• Move: 3
• Dash: 9

Social

• Join Debate: 3
• Dodge MDV: 9
• Parry MDV: 5

Health Levels

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

Equipment

Vitriolic Jade Reaver Daiklave: Speed 4 Acc +14 Dmg 11L/2 Parry DV 6 Rate 2

History

You won't find Tepet Veii in the annals. Unlike her glorious older sister, whose inevitable rise to power she watched with envy, the second daughter of Tepet Ellora never did anything worth remembering. She failed to exalt in her teens, failed in her application to the House of Bells, failed to find advancement in a meager clerical posting in the Tepet Legions, and failed to attract a suitable mate. All the while, the Roseblack's legend grew and grew until it eclipsed nearly every other member of the family. To the Ebon Dragon's senses, Veeii's bitterness was like a vertical black spike towering over the emotional landscape of the Blessed Isles; he couldn't have resisted the urge to tempt her if he'd tried. For her part, Veii couldn't crawl inside the Chrysalis Grotesque fast enough. Since emerging as the Sainted Maiden of Other People's Fortunes, Veii has reveled in the taste of a real, true Exaltation, and become a religious figure famous for bestowing unearned rewards. All over Creation the least, the bitter-hearted, and the disenfranchised whisper to one another that if you go to a certain spot, kneel down, and pray, a shadowy woman robed in dark crimson and shadowy jade will appear and grant you your heart's greatest desire, in exchange for a few small favors.

Since her exaltation, Veii has been slowly grinding the Roseblack's fortunes into the dirt. Her earliest and sweetest success lay in corrupting Sesus Kajak Milada, the Roseblack's first love, into an akuma of the Ebon Dragon. While not directly responsible for the fall of House Tepet at the battle of Futile Blood -- you'd need a twenty page diagram to cover all the hands stirring that pot -- Veii was responsible for Ejava's ensuing exile, and in setting much of the Blessed Isle against the young general. The fact that overcoming Veii's adversities has, ironically, only brought the Roseblack to greater prominence fuels Veii's resentment. Despite her feelings, she would never turn a killing hand against Tepet Ejava, and has actually thwarted plans against the Roseblack's life; she wants her sister's acknowledgement and awe, not her death, even if it requires breaking the Realm in half to get it. You might think that no one would be petty enough to free the Ebon Dragon solely to score a point in a childish game of oneupsmanship, but you might turn out to be wrong.

Personality

Veii is lazy, obsessive, vain, truculent, and occasionally magnanimous. She always favors the underdog over the the powerful, unless the underdog turns against her, in which case she stomps on their faces like the best of them. She prefers talking to violence, guile to forcefulness, and giving to taking. She will subordinate herself to those more powerful than she is in the hopes of betraying them later. She has a soft spot for children, cripples, the weak, and the ugly; she always seeks to grant the wishes of those who want to be more than they are. This altruism may seem astonishing from one of the Ebon Dragon's chosen, but the nothing pleases the Ebon Dragon more than watching people get what they desire and remain unhappy, except possibly the joy of taking it away again.

Thoughts on the Reclamation

Tepet Veii is neither for nor against the freeing of the Yozi, and yet she works towards that goal nevertheless. She suspects herself perfectly capable of enduring a world in which the Yozi are freed. She has a certain amount of respect for the Ebon Dragon; she too defines herself by being the antithesis of another. She feels more at home among the creatures of Malfeas than she ever did when being bullied, scolded, or pitied by the Dynasts of her own family. On the other hand, she is aware what the Reclamation could cost the world, and in her more introspective moments she abhors it. She occasionally considers betraying the Ebon Dragon, and is comforted by the idea that he does the same for her. But first things first: the Roseblack.

Goals

Veii seeks to use Verdant Empress Endowment to give people what they want and what she thinks they deserve. Veii is actually quite lavish with her Verdant gifts, usually demanding inconsequential or absurd favors in return; she might demand that a merchant seduce a neighbor's wife in exchange for a fortune, or that a barmaid travel a day into the wilderness, dig a hole, and bury three small black stones. Sometimes these favors are part of long term plan, and other times they are done for her own amusement. Other times, she simply requires them to say a prayer to the Sainted Maiden every night, swelling the ranks of her cult. She has a soft spot for any youth whose desires exceed their reach. Because of her own bitter youth, Veii is a poor judge of who ought to receive blessings and who shouldn't; her altruistic tendencies can actually be more dangerous than her venal ones, a fact that makes the Ebon Dragon chuckle every time.

Family

Each Member

Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack

Ejava is seven years Veii's senior, and the star around which Veii's life has always revolved. Everything she ever did before her exaltation failed to measure up to her sister's success. Ejava was a proud warrior and general; Veii had the soul of a sly courtier. Ejava exalted unusually early, and received top marks in the House of Bells; Veii never exalted, and failed to find placement at even the least war colleges. Ejava conquered armies; Veii ended up handling the paperwork for one of the merchant branches of House Tepet. Ejava was the apple of her famous grandfather's eye; Veii barely impinged on his consciousness.

Tepet Ejava wasn't at all a bad sister. She rather liked little Veii, in a distant way, when she found the time in her busy schedule. She was genuinely sad to hear of Veii's disappearance after a presumed bandit attack. She has no clue that several of the various campaigns of revenge against her and the Vermilion legion were engineered by her psychotic sister.

Tepet Arada, the Wind General

Veii had little to do with the fall of house Tepet, but she was responsible for drawing her grandfather out of retirement, partially by making sure the Realm stayed fractious and divided, and partly by bringing whispers of the Roseblack's coup to his ears. She hasn't entirely worked out what she wants from him, (although she secretly craves his admiration) but she is well aware that bringing one of the greatest living generals over to lead Hell's armies would bring her major kudos with her masters.

XP

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• Spent: # (make a list of all purchases here)
• Unspent: #