Editing Character: Killing Frost (section)

==Each Background==
Artifact 3:Cloud Runner is the extensively rebuilt airboat that first carried Killing Frost to his Exaltation. Its canopy entirely rewoven, hull repaired, and manual propulsion system replaced with a custom design based on an Essence engine found within the Crystal Aviary, the ship is a custom Excellent Air Boat, capable of transporting his small contingent of Beastmen and mercenary marines, as well as a few staterooms for...guests. While it is by no means a proper warship, and Frost is loathe to pilot it into combat with vessels designed expressly for aerial combat, he has made several modifications that allow it to stand up to anything the Haslanti Air Fleet can muster - at the expense of cutting the cargo capacity of the vessel in half. Cloud Runner has two deck-mounted Siege Crossbows, one port and one starboard, capable of firing in 180 degree arcs along their respective sides, as well at 45 degree elevations up or down. Additionally, much of the lost cargo capacity was taken up by a special compartment in the hull of the ship with sliding doors opening it to the air. Within this compartment, Frost's personal craft is usually stored on launch rails for swift deployment.


Artifact 5:Along with the Essence engine stored within the Crystal Aviary's workshops, the private transport of the Manse's original owner, a Moonsilver Warbird built with the design of a stylized falcon. The craft set idle, its owner long murdered before she could return to her rural estate, under the protective watch of the Manse's inbuilt servant force. A First Age model, Luna's Dart is armed with an internal Essence reserve and a light implosion bow. The latter led to a rather embarrassing loss of one of Lookshy's prized Manta-class transports, which has brought the pirate to the attention of the General Staff. In Frost's defense, they did shoot first. Luna's Dart is most often transported in the specialized compartment aboard Cloud Runner, although on occasion Frost operates it independently.


Artifact 2:Killing Frost's weapon is, in actuality, a serendipitous acquisition. An informant among the dockworkers of Iron Fall reported something of considerable value - something worth guarding heavily - being loaded onto a Guild trade convoy heading south on the River of Tears. Killing Frost's band of raiders fell upon the convoy, and locked in a strongbox in the Guild representative's was a Moonsilver Reaper Daiklave Frost has taken as his own, and dubbed Windcutter.


Artifact 3: An ancient Moonsilver reinforced breastplate once owned by a previous incarnation, the Ox of Dreams, Nimble Bulwark is simple and plainly decorated, and typically the only armor Killing Frost wears into battle.


Ally 1:Killing Frost's second in command, confidante, and sometime lover is an Outcaste Dragon Blood by the name of Cera Kandsmit. Driven from her birthplace when she Exalted among an Icewalker clan considering allying with the Bull of the North, she fled to the League in hopes of finding a hospitable home. The woman's tale resonated with Killing Frost, and as an ambitious Dynast had once done for him, Frost took the woman under his wing (literally) and groomed her as an officer. The air-aspected Dragon Blood has proven to be a useful ally indeed, and Frost has begun entertaining the notion of attempting to add the blood of the Dragons into his small cadre of Beastmen. After all, there is nothing wrong with the Terestrial Exalted - just the Terestrial Exalted who sit on the thrones of Lookshy and the Imperial City.


Followers 3:Killing Frost, should he find his back against the wall, is capable of fielding a well-armed force of around 100 mortals, a mix of Haslanti air fleet veterans and a small but growing contingent of Beastmen. These are typically split up into two groups, 60 of whom accompany Frost on raids, and the other 40 of whom guard the Manse that serves as their base of operations. 


Manse 3:The Crystal Aviary. Nestled deep in a fjord in Malice Bay, the Crystal Aviary is a Lunar-aspected manse overlooking a very small Greenfield occupied by a handful of farming villages. The manse is a gaping cavern at the end of the Fjord large enough to accommodates an airship, whose interior glimmers with crystal and naturally occurring trace deposits of Moonsilver. Living quarters, shops and the like have been carved into these great walls by their long-dead architect, and Frost now uses it as his base of operations. While he is not in charge of the surrounding villages, the imposing Manse, and the presence of upwards of 40 well armed soldiers, makes his influence a considerable one in the area. Thus far, he has not abused it.

"The Crystal Aviary" - Level 3 Manse, 6 Creation Points.
Drawbacks: 2 Maintenance: The glimmering walls of the Manse dim in the faded light of the New Moon, and must be throughly washed and polished.

The Crystal Aviary was originally designed by a No Moon sorceress in the first age as a place of retreat and quiet contemplation, as well as an isolated workshop when she wished to devote her time to pet projects. As such it is remarkably comfortable for its location, and well equipped for crafting.

Powers: Workshop Manse (Magitech), Comfort Zone, Magical Conveniences - Cold silver candles, Advanced training room, Self-cataloging library, Weapon maintaining armory, Internal garden. Bound Servant Force. In the center of the Manse, a twisting pedestal of crystal and moonsilver cradles a Gem of the Graceful Hunter (stats per Gem of the Elemental Travel)


Reputation (The League, Silver Pact, Confederation of Rivers) 1: Killing Frost, while an experienced Lunar, has spent much of his time building his strength, mustering his modest forces, and cautiously expanding. Yet rumors of a phantom airship bearing a Moonsilver creature out of nightmare have begun to circulate in the Far North, and Frost has recently come to the attention of the General Staff after several trade convoys - including one escorted by a Manta - never made it to port. The Silver Pact also watches curiously - Frost has not yet found his mate, and his dabblings in the Thousand Streams River are minor at best. Yet word has reached the great Elder Leviathan of the return of Viper's Exaltation, and reports have it the ancient orca listened with interest...


Contacts 2:In a number of guises, Frost has built a network of informants, fences, etc. that, while sparse, span much of the North-East of Creation.


Resources 4:Killing Frost has made an impressive fortune preying on military and merchant convoys - although much of it is spent maintaining the supplies needed to keep his small fleet in the air. He hopes, someday, to amass enough to begin the construction of a successor to Cloud Runner, constructed as a proper war vessel by First Age, or at least Shogunate, standards.


Manse 4:Hundred Headed Viper, in the First Age, traveled the world on a great many tasks for her Solar Mate, those he had neither the inclination - or often the time to do so, if Deliberative business kept him in Meru. One she did with great pleasure was to see to the management of his modest estates in the East, and to...entertain, various dignitaries, allies, and personal friends. The Serpentine Grotto is a Manse devoted to these tasks, and Viper's most frequent residence when not either in Meru with her mate, or deployed in the West.

The manse itself is hidden underground beneath a standing grove of ancient trees. The interior is cut from the stone of the earth itself, a sworn Brotherhood of Creation's premiere Mansewrights having built its chambers from the living Earth. It's halls are cool to the touch and marble smooth, the manse a dozen of winding corridors. Water flows freely through many of them in small, trickling streams, isolated alcoves for privacy, discrete activity or visiting guests winding off, their spaces strewn with silk cushions and glowing, welcoming light. In the center of these corridors is a large, two story, perfectly circular room that makes up the living quarters of Viper. The upper floor is largely dominated by shelves for books and mementos, the second an opulent bedroom of considerable splendor and majesty. From this room, a single narrow passage leads to a small cave looking out on the waters of Inland Sea, the cave just large enough for a single, compact flying vessel.

4 Dot Manse, 10 points of Powers
Maintenance 2: A day, once a month, must be spent ensuring the forest does not encroach into the entry to the Manse, and roots driven from the ceilings.
4 points: Wyld Revocation - the passages and grottos seem to shift based on the Hearthstone holder's whim, and the central living chamber and hearthstone room counts as a location in the Bordermarches for the purposes of crafting, Charm use, and Lunar breeding.
1 point: Comfort Zone
1 point: Well Favored Aspect (Lunar)
2 points: Archive (Aerial Warfare)
1 point: Magical Conveniences
1 point: Minor tricks and traps - all save one hallway seem to lead away from the main living chamber, rather than toward it.

Produces a Stone of Dream Entrance 

The manse is guarded and maintained by a clan of Essence Spiders, bound for generations by treaty with the Manse's original holder, and any future reincarnation that presents themselves - in exchange, the Wood above the Manse is granted to them as their domain, and all but those the Manseholder wishes are fair game to the great predators, their range protected by the presence of the Celestial. The last Exalt to test the tenacity of the spider's resolve, one Cynis Devra, disappeared on an expedition to probe some of the more obscure manses. Her screams could be heard in nearby Parenwatch for three days.


Influence (Parenwatch) 1:The small coastal town of Parenwatch has seen its share of good times and bad since the First Age. Farmers still occasionally pull up the large, precisely cut wall stones of the town at its prime in far farm fields, but the its boundaries have contracted considerably since then. Now, it is a farming and fishing village of about 400 souls. Roughly 200 live in the walled town itself, with the balance in outlying farms. Some trade is conducted with its larger neighbors, and the ruling Elder Council attempted, unsuccessfully, to formalize trade relations with Lookshy.


Prominent features of the town are The Paren, a massive rock spire rising out of the sea that gives the town its name, and has created the somewhat protected fishing grounds around the town's modest port, and Demon's Wood, a nearby stand of trees that wise craftsmen and children have learned to avoid. Within the city is also a modest monument to a fallen Lunar of unknown name, but neither body nor magical grave goods are within.


Ally (The Grotto's Spiders) 1