Dynasty & Decadence/Alaric

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Peleps Alaric is a player character in Dynasty & Decadence played by Tyrnis

Peleps Alaric

• Aspect: Fire
• Concept: Repentant hedonist turned devout Immaculate
• Motivation: Pending
• Anima: His anima is blue flame with occasional flecks of orange and white surrounded by a nimbus of hissing steam. When iconic, his anima banner manifests in the form of a giant peacock with brilliant plumage containing all the colors of flame in hypnotic swirling patterns.
• Anima Power: Spend five motes to be surrounded by flames dealing 4L to any unarmed or grappling attacks and increases such attacks made by him by +4L. Is immune to fire during duration.

Description

Were it not for the red jade bracers on his wrists (and when he feels he needs them, the black jade clawed gloves on his hands) and the unmistakable aspect markings from his breeding, age, and essence, Alaric might easily be called an unassuming man. At just under six feet tall, he is fairly average in height for a resident of the Blessed Isle, and though his build is muscular, it is not overly so. His skin is ruddy and he radiates a faint heat even without the expenditure of essence. Although his body may still be strong, his face shows the lines of age, which marks him as particularly old among Dragon-Blooded, who often keep the fullness of their youth for centuries. His hands are calloused like that of a laborer, but his shaved head is the truest visual sign of his calling. His robes are well made without being ostentatious, and a trained eye would recognize them as a light armor not uncommon among martial artists in the Order. His feet are shod in simple wooden sandals, and a conical straw hat keeps the sun off his head and out of his eyes.

Attributes

I told my grandmother how you hlpeed. She said, “bake them a cake!”

Social

• Charima: 3
• Manipulation: 2
• Appearance: 3

Mental

• Perception: 3
• Intelligence: 3
• Wits: 3

Abilities

Fire

• (A) Athletics: 5
• (A) Dodge: 5
• (A) Melee: 2
• (A) Presence: 4
• (A) Socialize: 3

Air

• Linguistics: 2
• Lore: 3 (Immaculate Faith x1)
• Occult: 2
• Stealth: 1
• Thrown: 0

Earth

• (F) Awareness: 4
• Craft: 2 [Earth, Wood] (Earth: Landscaping x1, Wood: Gardening x1)
• Integrity: 3 (Against Heresy x 1)
• Resistance: 3
• War: 3

Water

• Bureaucracy: 2
• (F) Investigation: 4 (Rooting Out Corruption x1)
• Larceny: 2
• (F) Martial Arts: 5 (Water Dragon Style x3)
• Sail: 2

Wood

• Archery: 1
• Medicine: 1
• Performance: 3 (Oratory x1)
• Ride: 2
• Survival: 2

Backgrounds

General

• Artifact: 3
• Backing (Immaculate Order): 4
• Backing (House Peleps): 2
• Breeding: 3
• Connections (Realm Commoners): 3
• Henchmen: 2
• Manse: 3
• Resources: 1
• Reputation: 3

Charms

Martial Arts (Celestial)

• Moment of Danaa’d: Simple, 3m+1wp to interact normally with dematerialized spirits.
• Flowing Water Defense: Reflexive, 1m to subtract -1 from own dice pools while making enemies subtract -3 for (essence) actions.
• Rippling Water Strike: Supplemental, 1m to cause strikes to affect 10ft radius with same # bashing dice as target takes (ignores armor). At Ess 4, can spend 1m per person to exempt individuals (max Ess).
• Drowning in Blood Technique:
• Shrugging Water Dragon Escape:
• Water Dragon Form:
• Flow Reversal Strike:
• Crashing Wave Style:
• Theft of Essence Method:
• Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool Stance:
• Bottomless Depths Defense:
• Essence Dousing Wave Attack:
• Tsunami Force Shout:

Martial Arts (Terrestrial)

• First Martial Arts Excellency: Reflexive, 1m/2 dice

Dodge

• First Dodge Excellency: Reflexive, 1m/2 dice

Presence

• First Presence Excellency: Reflexive, 1m/2 dice

Performance

• First Performance Excellency: Reflexive, 1m/2 dice

Investigation

• First Investigation Excellency: Reflexive, 1m/2 dice
• Scent of Crime Method:
• Falsehood Unearthing Attitude:
• Bloodhound's Nose Technique:

Virtues

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

Other traits

Essence: 4

• Personal motes: 0
• Peripheral motes: 0
• Committed motes (peripheral): 0

Willpower: 7

Intimacies

• Peleps Taric Aisha (paternal fondness)
• Household Taric (loyalty)
• The Immaculate Faith (devout belief)
• The Common People of the Realm (protectiveness)
• (Remainder Pending)

Artifacts

• Danaa'd's Infinite Reach (Artifact 3) - Forged by the legendary craftsman Tokuga Harima, this pair of black jade Guantlets of Distant Claws were presented as a gift to the Empress shortly after the founding of the Realm when Harima's daimyo pledged loyalty. Regardless of their surroundings, the claws are always cool to the touch and smell faintly of the sea. The wave patterns etched into the handguards sometimes seem to move of their own volition, and more than a few monks over the years have found them a wonderful meditation aid. The Empress presented the claws as a gift to the Order more than 500 years ago, and they were granted to Alaric for his use when he was appointed a Celestially Guided Itinerant by the Mouth of Peace. (Standard stats for Gauntlets of Distant Claws)
• The Imbalanced Flames (Artifact 2) - Given to Alaric by his teacher after he mastered the Water Dragon Style, this pair of red jade hearthstone bracers was meant to remind Alaric of the difficulty of being out of harmony with his own nature, but also a reminder that, just as he had mastered Water Dragon Style and brought peace to his elemental nature, so too could he find resolution to his inner struggles.
• Reinforced Robes (Artifact 1) - The life of an itinerant monk can be a difficult one, and no matter one's skill at martial arts, sometimes a blow is going to land. While not offering as much protection as a buff jacket, these robes are woven with jade to make them more resilient to damage (identical stats to a chain shirt).

Hearthstones

• Stone of Aquatic Prowess (Water, Manse 3)

• Kata Sculpting Gem (Water, Manse 2)

• Stone of Humble Glory (Air, Manse 1)

Henchmen

• Quiet Breeze - Quiet Breeze earned his name, not for a trait he actually possessed, but rather as a gentle reminder that he had a tendency to talk entirely too much even when he should be silently meditating. A mortal of common birth, he was the youngest son of a tanner in a small town on the Blessed Isle. Joining the Order was more a matter of pragmatism than faith -- he didn't stand to inherit the family business, and his father had all the help he needed in his older brothers, so he was an extra mouth to feed. He'd always loved the stories that the monks told when they taught the children at the temple, so joining the Order seemed as good a route as any. Always bright, he proved to have a gift for thaumaturgy, particularly warding. His teacher at the Palace Sublime felt that he might best put his skills to use by spending some time as an itinerant before settling down to temple life, and asked Alaric to take the young man under his wing.

• Pending

Background and Additional Info

The Five Questions

1. Why are you devoted to keeping this sub-House alive against all odds? Guilt, more than anything, drives Alaric to strive to keep the household alive. He was, ultimately, a failure to House Peleps -- first from his own arrogance, which resulted in the death of his younger sister, and second by joining the Immaculate Order against his parents' wishes, thus derailing a number of well-made plans. Keeping household Taric alive is one more way he feels he can atone for the sins of his youth.
2. The Dynasty isn't all about family. What loyalties and causes compete with your loyalty to House Peleps Taric? First and foremost are his loyalties to the Immaculate Order. As a Celestially Guided Itinerant, Alaric answers directly to the Mouth of Peace, who would take very poorly to be asked to wait while he fulfilled family obligations.
3. In what ways are you products of the Dynasty? Alaric is a Dynast through and through. He has seen (and practiced) many of the excesses of Dynastic life in his youth, and his adult life has been devoted to the religion that legitimizes the Dynasty. Even in his protective fondness for the common people of the Realm, he expects them to maintain their place and will punish those who step too far out of line (that said, he has more often been the one to step in to protect the people from a fellow Dynast who has overstepped their rightful place -- to be one of the Dragon-Blooded is a heavy obligation, even if it also brings with it privileges.)
4. What have you openly achieved in the past century that makes you a worthy subject for historians of the next Age to investigate thoroughly?
5. 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 own interests?

Alaric on his family

• Korel - From what I have seen of him, Korel is a gifted technician, a capable warrior, and more importantly, a good man. Rare qualities to find in one who proved willing to defect from his former home, but I, of all people, cannot fault him for his past. He is a credit to our House.
• Pranzha - Pending
• Hayabusa - Pending
• Aisha - Ah, my little Aisha. Even if duty did not bind me to stay and fight for the place of our household now that Taric is gone, I would do so for no better reason that because she needed my help. She is the daughter that I could never have, and I would not abandon her in a time of need. The rage that burns so fiercely in her heart troubles me greatly; were it possible I would quench it with my own life's blood rather than see it consume her.
• Hinoko - I count myself privileged to have spent an all too brief time serving under her. I hope more of my brothers and sisters in the Order will take up the call to spend time serving as chaplains to the Navy; not only may they serve the seamen of the Realm, but they may carry the light of the Faith with them to to peoples at every port of call who might not otherwise see a Monk in their lifetimes. It speaks well of her style of command and of how she trains her officers when the men were not more than a little surprised to see one of the Chosen of the Dragons swabbing the decks alongside them. If truth be told, it can be a little unnerving how very much like my brother she is, but too it gives me hope for the future of our household.
• Grolush - Pending
• Sikandi - Pending
• Taen - He is me, as I would have been but for the grace of the Dragons. He wears his stubborn pride and self-indulgence as a massive boulder locked about his own neck, and it threatens to drag him down to the depths from which we return only in our next life. Though the river may carry away even the greatest of mountains, given time, I fear that he cannot wait so long. I only pray I have the strength to keep him from drowning, as Taric once did for me, long enough that he might open his eyes and see that he still holds the key to that lock if he will but use it.
• Onais - My discussions with him on the state of the Realm always prove most enlightening; he has the kind of keen insight that would well-serve a Magistrate, and his own questions of me never fail to strike to the quick of matters. If he has not climbed higher in the Thousand Scales, it is lack of interest in doing so rather than lack of ability.
• Medoina - I remember when I would visit home when she was a child; she used to love helping me tend to the gardens. Back then, I could actually teach her a little of the proper placement of flowers, stones, and water. She has far surpassed her old teacher now, though she still humors an old man by helping him with the gardening on occasion.

History

Insert Backstory here.

Bonus Point Breakdown

• Backgrounds: 5
• Backgrounds Above 3 x1: 2
• Essence 3-->4: 10
• Virtues x1: 3
• Abilities: 17
• Non-favored Abilities Above 3 x1: 2
• Favored Specialties x4: 2
• Non-Favored Specialties x4: 4