Character:Mnemon Ai (Once more, with feeling)

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Potential Character for Once more with feeling.

Mnemon Ai
Caste: Earth
Concept: Imperial Benevolent General

First Impression and Appearance Text

Motivation

Reform the Realm into a more equal and just society

Intimacies

• The Scarlet Empress (+)
• Sesus Liusa (+)
• Mnemon (+)
• His Family (+)
• The 22nd Legion (now 2nd Mnemon Legion) (+)
• Politicians (-)
• The citizens of the Realm and the Threshold (+)

Anima

Describe here in full your Caste anima power. Also tell us your totemic form.

Attributes

PHYSICAL: 4 Strength, 4 Dexterity, 4 Stamina
SOCIAL: 5 Charisma, 2 Manipulation, 3 Appearance
MENTAL: 4 Perception, 5 Intelligence, 4 Wits

Abilities

Caste Abilities

• Awareness 3
• Craft (Earth) 5 (2,5 BP)
• Craft (Air) 1 (0,5 BP)
• Craft (Fire) 3 (1,5 BP)
• Craft (Water) 1 (0,5 BP)
• Craft (Wood) 2 (1 BP)
• Integrity 5 (1 BP)
• Resistance 5 (2 BP)
• War 5 (2 BP) (Large Tactics +3) (Siege Warfare +3) (18 xp)

Favored Abilities

• Melee 5 (2 BP)
• Presence 5 (2 BP)
• Performance 4 (1 BP)
• Lore 4 (1 BP)
• Athletics 3

Unfavored Abilities

• Bureaucracy 3
• Lingustics 3 (High Realm, Low Realm, Riverspeak, Flametounge)
• Ride 2
• Martial Arts 1
• Socialize 2
• Occult 3

Backgrounds

Allies 1 (10)

The Dragonblooded Dragonlords of his Legion

Charms

Occult

• Terrestial Circle Sorcery

Essence

Essence: 5
Personal: 20m
Peripheral: 48m
Committed: #

Willpower

9

Virtues

Compassion: 4
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 4

Limit Break

Describe your flaw and record here your limit

Equipment

List your stuff here, including combat stats if you have weapons

History

Give us at least two or three short paragraphs

Personality

Give at least one short paragraph

Merits and Flaws

Legendary Breeding

Awesome level of Terrestrial

Tactical Instinct

Experienced General

Life Debt

Before the Scarlet Empress disapperared she granted her prodigy general several boons, for which he agreed to pay back with his life. Now that the Empress has disappeared, he has devoted himself to find her.

Major Boon

Through long support by his Grandmother Mnemon he has come to owe a large debt to his family.

Code of Honor

An honest man, Ai is very loyal to his close friends.

Dark Secret

To save his cousin from death Ai killed an Immaculate priest.

BP and Exp

• Skills 17 BP
• Willpower +1 2BP
• Essence +3 30 BP
• Backgrounds +3 3BP

• Merits and flaws -7BP

• Temperance 2 3xp
• 24 Background points 72exp

Backstory

Early Life and Schooling

Mnemon Ai was born as the grandson of Mnemon, the second child of Mnemon Anel and Gan. He showed to be a bright kid from early age, and maybe his combined interest of assembling large constructions of playing blocks and vast arrays of toy soldiers he arranged as young was an indication of what he would come to be later. During his childhood he did the normal activities, but was also interested in craft and strategy more than the other children in the household. He exalted one month before he was scheduled to go to primary school, proving his strong blood.

When going to primary school his interest of battles and construction grew, in fact so much that he was considered a "scroll worm" by a number of his classmates. One night some of those who thought he was weak and only read all time decided to "beat some sense to him", but Ai proved to be almost as skilled with the sword as with his reading and the rest of the time he was left alone by any potential bullies.

When finishing primary school he was given the choice of either pursuing to be an architect or going to the House of Bells to become an officer. In the end his interest of war won, and he was enrolled in the military school. While doing ok in the physical tasks he shone in the mental parts, especially when it was about large perspective strategy and sieges, traditional Mnemon areas.

Early Military Life

After getting through the House of Bells as the student of his class he was transferred to a legion in the field. He quickly moved up the ranks and only two years after getting his post as a scale lieutenant he became talon-captain and continued on steadily to becoming a dragonlord in a short time. Some of the more notable confrontations of this time is the Breakout of Blood Canyon, the Hound Dog Hunt and the Gold Hawk Uprising.

The first of these happened when Ai was a fresh Talon-captain, he and his unit had been on a scouting misseon and was returning to base when assaulted by a greatly larger barbarian horde. With little option left his unit ran with the howling barbarians in his heels for four days before being cornered in the Blood Canyon by nightfall. Blood Canyon was an old battle site where two large armies had clashed long ago, and the barbarians still believed the restless souls of those dead soldiers still roamed at night. Their leaders decided to make camp outside, leaving the legionaries to their own fate in the haunted canyon.

But Ai knew of the barbarians fears and retreated only a short way in before resting his troops. Three hours before daybreak he roused his troops, using white and black clay to paint his soldiers before they would charge the sleeping barbarians. The barbarians were stricken hard, they had never anticipated that the enemy would try and break out and security was lax, many barbarians still sleeping off the pre-victory celebration. In addition the white-gray soldiers stirred fear in them, many cut down where they stood, paralyzed in terror. In less than five minutes a dragon of barbarians lay dead while all that the legionaries had sustained were a few cuts and bruises.

The next day the barbarians would continue the pursuits, but morale was low and desertion a factor, making them an essentially worthless excuse for fighting force.

The Gold Hawk uprising was happened when Ai had been a dragonlord for quite a while, an anathema mastermind had slowly and secretly gained much power in the area. During the first night a number of teams of assassins managed to penetrate the defenses of a large number of higher officers in a well planned operation. Not all attacked died, but those who didn't become so were badly wounded and knocked out of action, the only to remain unscathed was Mnemon Ai who was forced to take command of the whole legion.

This was a deliberate tactic, the resistance had presumed that since Ai had been so kind and generous to the people he would be reasonable to talk with, and could be persuaded to leave the area. Thus the assassin squad that had been sent was supposed to fail, to spare him.

But the plan was flawed, Ai had no intention to talk, only hours after the assassination attempts he had taken control of the legion, leading them to quickly crush the rebellion before it had time to really start. Only half a week later the whole region had been pacified, the mastermind behind the whole thing executed.

General of a Legion

Shortly after the Gold Hawk uprising Ai was promoted general and has stayed so since then. He has been offered to join the high command a few times the last twenty years, but have turned them down, not wanting to abandon his legion. His time as a commander is marked by many victories, but is characteristics of his use of his troops to build roads, forts and other constructions in the areas where they have been stationed, often greatly improving the region. Thus he has gotten the nickname "the Builder" and his legion "the Bridge-builders".

But building is not all his troops can, at many occasions his troops have proved their fighting worth and he his skills as a general, the most notable one the South Helat Campaign. This was a four year campaign approx 15 years ago where Ai had been given the overall command over two other legions in addition to his own to defeat a rising anathema warlord in the southeast. Upon arriving at the area his own legion and one of the supporting legions clashed with the warlord's army. 17,000 legionaries and support troops went head to head with the more than two times as large force. A hunt had joined the Realm army and constantly nagged Ai to charge straight ahead, killing the anathema general, but he refused. Instead he played it carefully, advancing slowly, taking in the enemy force. After three hours of both armies sizing up each other they clashed together, the elite legionaries making up for them being outnumbered. After a short time it showed that the two forces, and their generals were equal. As night fell both armies, who both had sustained large losses, pulled back.

This was the beginning for the four year campaign where Ai built up his strategic position, fortifying his army and sending diplomats to surrounding areas. He constructed the vast series of fortifications, towers, tunnels and trenches that would be known as Ai's Moving Castle. It started with the erection of Fort Gan, where Ai located his headquarters, and from there started to reinforce and expand the construction. After a while he started building trenches, and at the ends of these, forts and towers during night, rapidly gaining some secured hundred yards or more every night. At the end of the campaign the series of fortifications stretched some 100 miles with numerous branches in different directions.

His actions were often criticised by outsiders of him being slow, and there was voices that demanded that he would retreat, charge or be replaced. Ai was unfazed by this threat, but considered annoying enough that he left his army to go to the capital and speak with the empress herself. After talking he returned to his army, now carrying an order to continue his campaign in the way he pleased until he had defeated the warlord or got an explicit order from the empress.

The war continued for a long time, marked mostly by minor clashes and the legions steadily advancing. At times the enemy would capture a newly built fort at the end of the line, this would be answered by initial fighting, but if the enemy was too big they would retreat to a safer location, and after that often level the fort with siege weapons, fortifications could easily be built again. At times they would build booby-trapped constructions, with one or two weak points that could be struck as the call of retreat sounded to topple the building over the enemy. After some time the enemy grew tired of this and stopped attacking.

The end would come as Ai managed to surround the castle where the enemy warlord resided. It was an impressive castle, nigh-unassailable, and if he would succeed it would take a huge toll on his forces. Ai, however, never had a thought about charging the castle. Instead he cut off all connections to food and reinforcements before starting the half-month long bombardement of the castle that in the end reduced the impressive castle to nothing but a pile of rubble. The warlord's body was found naked under a large stone, mashed into a pulp.

It was this this campaign that gave cause to the famous quote "I came, I waited, I crushed". This expression was coined during the celebration of his victory in the Imperial Capital, as some dynasts asked for details about the campaign. At last he, quite irritated at this point, answered with that, which since then has been a popular expression, especially among the Mnemons. The real quote is really "I came, I waited, I grounded him into the dust", but the other version is easier to say and is more widely spread.

The Bound Devils Conspiracy

After several years of dutiful work as a threshold General, there seemed to be an opportunity for promotion. One of the five high Hydra Lords, the Imperial Army's highest instance of command, was stepping down and the general was one of the stars of the upcoming chain of promotions. In the back rooms, however, Ai had already been promoted. Ai was chosen to become part of a group of select young powerful exalts who were granted access to the Imperial Manse and to become some of the Empress' closest advisers and agents. Chosen from all aspects of Realm society they were individually not too powerful, but together formed an impressive array of capabilites and skills. They were all also chosen due to extreme loyalty to the Empress.

Ai was however dragged away from his new duties as troubled started brewing in the very lands his legion was stationed in. As events unfolded the rebellion turned out to be orchestrated by a woman calling herself the Sole Claw, who turned out to be the very anathema that had been his way to generalhood. After the loss of his cousin, friend and legion-sorceress Mnemon Jemala to the lures of Anathema, Ai killed an immaculate chaplain to cover up the failure of his cousin, shipping her home to his grandmother to take care of. Jemala would later recover and be put under Ai's command again, if because of nothing else so that he could keep an eye on her. Spurred on by this he hunted down and killed his old enemy once again, gaining great acclaim.

Serving as a part of this gave Mnemon Ai several close friends and powerful contacts in the high end of dragonblooded society. He was also promoted into a chief command role organising several Eastern thresholds. This promotion was not happily recieved by the general, however, as he far preferred the front work where he felt he was contributing, nonetheless he accepted and worked diligently as this promotion had been brought by the Empress herself. This would have been all well and good had it not been for Sesus Liusa.

As Ai was now stationed again on the Isle he attempted half-heartedly to move into politics, but the military man was not adapted to the back-room intruigings of the Imperial City. Furthermore it came out that he had had a child with Sesus Liusa, one of his dragonlords and long time lover. The child had been planned by Liusa, and unable to give up on his second big love in his life he sped up the separation from his wife and applied to marry Sesus Liusa.

The Sesus refused. It was unknown what caused this, Ai petitioned to his grand mother to help him, but no such was given. Left without wife and bethrothal Ai was an almost crushed man, and was gone by in the eyes of the Isle politics. He achived no further promotions during the five years until the fateful year.

The Disapperance of the Scarlet Empress

As a member of the Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy and with access to the Imperial Manse, Ai and his comrades were among the first to know of the Empress' disapperance and quickly started investigating. But even with their vast power and intelligence the disapperance proved an elusive quest and slowly the brotherhood fell apart. As the Imperial Legions were converted into House Legions Mnemon Ai managed to talk his grandmother to return him to the 22nd and adopt the legion as a house legion. In doing this he expended a lot of his favor with his grandmother who expected him to stay extremely loyal to her during the upcoming battle for the throne. By offering good marriages for the remaining Dragon Lords he managed to keep most of his High Command in store.

Since then Mnemon Ai have been doing what he does best, support Mnemon satrapies with his legion, co-ordinating the legions in the east, while at the same time look for clues regarding the disappeared Empress. Until five months ago.

The Destruction of Nexus and What Happened thereafter

Five months ago the Deathlord known as Mask of Winters invaded and destroyed the city of Nexus, immediately marching on Grey Forks. This move could not be ignored by the Realm and Ai soon got his orders. Gather whatever troops he could gain and lead them to the siege of Great Forks. Hastly assembling his Legion, calling in five more in the region, among those the Mnemon 3rd led by his old comrade and brother-in-law Mnemon Zeni T'Hor and the Sesus 5th where his old lover Sesus Liusa served. Gathering a this huge army together with assembled Auxillaries the total number of soldiers easily made some 50,000 armed men and women under his command.

However, assembling the army took time and marching as well and when he arrived the lands around Great Forks was well under the Mask's control. Trying to by pass the enemy armies he soon received word of a greater enemy, the Fair Folk advancing from the edges of Creation. Caught between Oblivion and Wyld the General did what he always did.

Dug in and stood firm.

Mnemon Ai's Family and Close

Mnemon

Mnemon is the grandmother of Ai and (as you all know) a skilled sorceress and head of the family. She and Ai has a good relation and they like each other, there are rumors about him being a bed fellow on the occasions when he visits the capital, but they have never been proven. In addition to the feelings between the two Mnemon needs Ai, Ai is one of the few skilled commanders in the Mnemon house, and possibly the most able. Also Ai has contributed quite a lot to the riches of the house, not only by spoils of war, but also by improving the Mnemon satrapies, making them peaceful and gain an efficient infrastructure, which has led to some of the earlier poorer satrapies to become some of the most profitable. Ai and his wife both officially live within Mnemon's household (as does his mother), but Ai himself is often away in field, and rarely home.

Mnemon Gan (born Atares Gan) (Earth Aspect)(Dead)

Mnemon Gan is Mnemon Ai's father and was a Lost Egg found at the age of 50. He was a skilled sorcerer and chose to join the legions, where he became a cadre mage. His skills soon won him some fame and glory, and he was invited to the court. There he met Mnemon and they both managed to charm each other and they became bed companions. Gan was adopted into the house and married to Mnemon's daughter Anel, which led to the birth of three children with Anel (it is uncertain if he got any with Mnemon). Soon after the third child was born Gan went away on a Wyld Hunt, where he was killed by a superior Anathema sorcerer.

Mnemon Anel (Earth Aspect)

Mnemon Anel is Ai's mother, a beatiful woman in her third century. She is a daughter of Mnemon and holds a position within her mother's household as hostess and administrator of the lands around it. She frequently moves among the higher circles of Realm society, where she is renowned for her beauty and her dancing skills, and has a large number of lovers and companions, but has not married again since becoming a widow about 130 years ago. She loves her three children who love her back, although she has to say that she feels that her own mother is stealing the attention of her second child, Ai.

Recently moved to Nexus to become the offical Realm ambassador but has been considered lost since the Mask of Winter's invasion, moved with her recent husband and youngest child Mnemon Opile, who was lost during the move.

Mnemon Yavanadir

While Mnemon Ai is a proof of career success for the Mnemon house, Yavanadir is a proof of it's excellent breeding. She was betrothed and married very early, since she turned out to be pregnant only half a year into the betrothal, and the family rushed the marriage to be three months later. In the following 150 years of marriage she has managed to produce no less than 21 children, of whom 18 has exalted, one has just entered the age of exaltation and one is still a small child, and she has currently become pregnant again. The group of children is a palette of the five elements, leaning towards the ones of the house, but still varied with 6 Earth Aspects, 5 Air, 3 Fire and 2 Wood and Water.

There is, however the question of fatherhood, as Yavanadir has spent time in bed with most men (and a large portion of the women) in the imperial court, something like half of those in the imperial city (including her own brother once, which they talk very little about) and many more outside the city. This however is not a large problem, since her husband has claimed all children as his and raised them as such, and her grandmother Mnemon trust her in her choosings of well-bred males to produce offspring with.

One could believe that 21 births would wear out even a dynast's body, but not this woman's. As the philosopher Ni'Tache said "what does not kill makes stronger.", and she is still in excellent physique and is a great charmer of both sexes.

Worthy of note is the oldest of Ai's nieces, Karla, an air aspect who was born one month later than him and who he spent a lot of time with in his childhood (and some time together in bed in their older youth), who has become a sort of closer sister to him than his real ones. Also, they have been sporadic, but regularly, bed companions since then as a sort of bonding, and it was through Karla's care that he managed to live through the loss of Asari, his first wife.

Mnemon Tisahan

Ai's younger sister is far from the children producing factory her elder sister is, having only one child. She was married politically with a Tepet dynast, whom she gave a child within short time. However, short after that the two came into conflict with each other, and their marriage was declared null and void two years ago. The sister went back to her grandmother's house a long time ago, however, bringing the child with her, who has become a smaller conflict between the two houses.

As a part to cement the deal for the accepting the 22nd Legion into a House Legion she married Zeni T'Hor, Ai's old comrade in arms and successor.

Mnemon Opile

Ai's youngest sister is young and unexalted, a slight disappointment for Mnemon, who had hoped her genes would knock out the ones of the weak bred father she had married Anel to in order to gain control of his trading fleet. She was to follow her mother to her office in Nexus, but was declared lost before they arrived and is presumed dead.

Mnemon Asari (Fire Aspect) (Dead)

Asari was Ai's first wife, a Lost Egg sponsored by the Mnemon family through Pasiap's Stair. Adventurer and sorceress she charmed first Ai, and then both Anel and Mnemon, which made them agree on the marriage between the two, despite Asari's much weaker breeding. The two loved each other deeply and fitted perfectly together as a couple.

However, the time they spent together as wife and husband was not long, five years after the marriage (and the fourteen years of being engaged) the pregnant Asari went to see her husband before the birth of her child, since they both wanted him to be present, but he could not abandon his post. On the way there her travel party was ambushed by rebels, Asari, wild as she was, had decided to not bring many guards and the party was soon overwhelmed. Asari herself was weakened due to the pregnancy, but still managed to kill all of her assailants. However her wounds were too deep, and she was found the next day dead just outside a village.

Mnemon Taria (Air Aspect)

Mnemon Taria is Ai's second wife, a far relative from the Air branch of the Mnemon house. The two has been married for 30 years and though there is strong affection between the two, there is little love. She has worked for a long time as a minister, but is currently vying for becoming a Satrap. She has two children with Ai, Alit and Sar, who she has big plans for.

Mnemon Alit (Earth Aspect)

Alit is Ai's daughter and first child. She exalted early and showed as her grandfather, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother an affinity for magic. She has finished her studies at the Heptagram and now spends a lot of time with her great-grandmother. Bethroted to her second-cousin Mnemon Sarates, Winglord in Ai's legion.

Mnemon Tar (Air)

Tar is Ai's son and second child. A twenty two year old Air aspect who are finishing studies at the Order.

Mnemon Sarates (Air Aspect)

Sarates is Ai's cousin's son, betrothed to his daughter and one of his Winglords in the 2nd Mnemon A graduate from Bell's house with decent marks, who shows more interest in fighting itself than the leading of units, but still a decent officer.

Dragonlord Sesus Liusa (Wood Aspect)

Ai's foremost lover and one of the Dragon Lords in the Bridge-builders. She and Ai has had a relation for about 40 years now and it has grown stronger and stronger with time. However, both of them makes difference between love and work, and when acting in command of the legion they are both professional and Ai treats her no better than any other of his Dragon Lords. She is still un-married and not even betrothed, since the house Sesus still is unsure to whom to marry her.

Ten years ago during campaign against the re-appearing Zarathes she became pregnant with Ai's child. After an assassination attempt on her and the child she was sent back to the Isle, ordered to not come back until the child was born. When she had done so Ai had already presented Zarathes head to the Empress and he had received promotion, tapping him out of the Legion to a post on the Isle. As Ai started to enter into the fox games of politics a deal was struck with the Sesus. He would admit to the child, separate from his current wife and marry Liusa. Ai held up his end of the deal, the Sesus did not of unknown reason. One guess was that it was orchestrated by Liusa's sister, Sesus Sikandi as a revenge on the general, and possibly out of jealousy.

Liusa is currently stationed under Ai's command in a Sesus House Legion in the composite force.

Dragonlord Mnemon Zeni T'Hor

Zeni is one of Ai's most senior friends, and was Ai's successor over the legion for a short while. He was born a peasant on the isle, but found no happiness in working the earth and left for the legions. By the age of 25 he had climbed up the field promotion ladder to Scalelieutenant when he suddenly exalted, probably due to him possibly being the bastard child of his home's Prefect.

Since then he has climbed the hard way up the ranks to Dragonlord, proving his abilities on the field over and over again. He has never sworn to any one house, keeping neutral and loyal to the legion and army, but is looking towards the possibility of retirement within a graspable time, and is thinking of trying to get a wife within one of the houses. As Ai was promoted he gained command over the legion, and shortly after that married Ai's younger sister Tisahan.

As Ai reclaimed his legion only years after he was transfered to another Mnemon Legion, but stayed in close contact with Ai over the years as they served in the same area. He is currently serving under his old general alongside in the composite force.

Tistil Kaser "Old Man" (Mortal)

Tistil is one of Ai's former Dragon Lords, who now serve with him as an advisor. Tistil was the son of a patrician and managed to pass the prerequisites of the House of Bells exceedingly well for being a mortal and graduated among the top of his class, despite being un-exalted. He was given a position as a Scale Lieutenant in the Bridge-builders, and for thirty years he made an extraordinary career in the legions, to the end so good that he is one of the few mortals gaining the rank of Dragon Lord.

He continued to serve as such for ten years before retiring to become an advisor for Ai. He may be old, but he is still in decent shape, and his mind is no less strong as it was before. He and Ai are good friends, and has been for a long time, and while Ai has offered countless of times the old man to retire on one of his house's estates the man has politely refused the offers, he has been a soldier, and shall die a soldier.

More Texts

More fluff about Mnemon Ai.

• Mnemon Ai and his niece and Ai gets disturbing news
• Mnemon Ai meeting the Empress in person for the first time
• Mnemon Ai meeting the Empress in private and an excerpt of the South Helat Campaign
• Ai finding Dragonlord Mnemon Jemala and killing an Immaculate monk