Dynasty & Decadence/Onais

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Peleps Taric Onais is a player character in Dynasty & Decadence played by (τὸ κατέχον)

Peleps Taric Onais

• Aspect: Water
• Concept: Spymaster of the All-Seeing Eye
• Motivation: Keep the Eye free of outside influence
• Anima: A gently undulating pool of dark water, accompanied by the sounds of waves lapping a shoreline; as the banner grows in strength, the waves grow violent, and the sound is that of the sea smashing against cliffs.
• Anima Power: For 5m, ignores environmental penalties from water, can breathe underwater, and can walk across water as if it were land.

Attributes

• Str 2, Dex 2, Sta 2
• Cha 3, Man 5, App 2
• Per 4, Int 5, Wit 3

Abilities

Caste

• Bureaucracy 5 (Finding corruption x1)
• Investigation 5 (Counter-intelligence x3)
• Larceny 2
• Martial Arts 3

Favored

• Awareness 4 (Noticing details x1)
• Linguistics 4 (High Realm, Low Realm, Seatongue, Skytongue, Rivertongue)
• Presence 4 (Interrogation x3)

Other

• Archery 1
• Craft 3 (Air 3, Wood 2, Water 1)
• Dodge 2
• Integrity 3
• Lore 3
• Melee 2
• Occult 3
• Performance 2
• Resistance 2
• Ride 1
• Socialize 3
• War 3

Backgrounds

General

• Allies 2 (Dynast Wife & House Iselsi protege)
• Artifact 3 (TBD)
• Backing 5 (All-Seeing Eye)
• Backing 3 (Imperial Treasury)
• Breeding 3
• Connections 5 (All-Seeing Eye)
• Connections 3 (Thousand Scales)
• Connections 2 (Magistracy)
• Connections 2 (Scarlet Empress's Court)
• Connections 1 (Deliberative)
• Henchmen 3 (Favored agents of the Eye)
• Manse 3 (Eye & Treasury manses to which he's attuned)
• Reputation 2 (Someone who knows how to navigate the Imperial Bureaucracy)
• Resources 2
• Retainers 2 (His personal secretary, plus his immediate underlings at the Treasury & the Eye)

Charms

Awareness

• 2nd Awareness Excellency
• Sense-Riding Technique
• All-Encompassing Earth Sense

Bureaucracy

• Confluence of Savant Thought
• Geese Flying South Administration

Integrity

• 1st Integrity Excellency
• Oath of the Ten-Thousand Dragons

Investigation

• 2nd Investigation Excellency
• Scent of Crime Method
• Falsehood Unearthing Attitude
• Revelation of Associates Hunch
• Tampering Detection Technique
• Exposing the Untrue Heart Method (Custom, Pending)

Larceny

• Observer Awareness Method

Linguistics

• 1st Linguistics Excellency
• Poisoned-Tongue Technique
• Language Learning Ritual
• Cipher Missive
• Voice of Mastery

Lore

• Elemental Concentration Technique

Occult

• Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
• Emerald Countermagic
• Infallible Messenger

Presence

• 1st Presence Excellency
• Glowing Coal Radiance
• (Custom, Pending)

Virtues

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

Other traits

Essence 3

• Personal motes 13
• Peripheral motes 33
• Committed motes (peripheral) X

Willpower 9

Intimacies

• TBD

Artifacts and Panoply

• TBD

Bonus points

• Attributes: 0 bp
• Abilities: 9 bp (7 aspect/favored dots, 2 for 4 specialties)
• Charms: 5 bp (1 aspect/favored charms)
• Backgrounds: 27 bp (8 [4 dots for 4+] + 19 [19 dots for 3 & under])
• Virtues/Willpower/Essence: 4 bp (4 from Willpower)

Backstory, Details, &c.

Questionnaire

1) Why are you devoted to keeping this sub-House alive against all odds?

Onais never wholly outgrew a son's awe of his father, and to do less than defend his memory & his legacy now is unthinkable to him. Moreover, the fact that he's used his position within the Eye to aid the family on occasion was trivial while Taric was a power in Dynastic politics; a weakened House leaves Onais exposed on that score. And last, Onais is very eager to renew his relationship with his sister Aisha, on whom he had quite a crush as a young man.

2) The Dynasty isn't all about family. What loyalties and causes compete with your loyalty to House Peleps Taric?

Though intensely loyal to his family, it has been in the All-Seeing Eye that Onais became his own man, and through which he forged his own legacy and destiny. He is thoroughly devoted to its mission.

3) In what ways are you products of the Dynasty?

In what way isn't he? A star pupil in his primary school, a talented product of the Spiral Academy, an effective if indifferent senior bureaucrat in the Imperial Treasury, and now one of the lynchpins of the All-Seeing Eye -- Onais's whole life has been by, of & for the Dynasty. Perhaps his only departure from the norm is his cynicism toward the Immaculate Order; born primarily of professional rivalry, he's quick to dismiss the monks' virtues in private, though he's perfectly orthodox in his belief.

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?

To those outside the web of Imperial politics, Onais appears to be -- so far as such a thing exists -- a typical Dynast: a well-connected bureaucrat who is loyal to the Empress, moderate in his venality, and always ready for the next salon. To those inside, he is the Ever-Patient Spider, a formidable spymaster of the All-Seeing Eye. Recruited form his position in the Treasury to fight corruption, he made his mark in the All-Seeing Eye almost immediately upon his commission in a very different sphere. Thanks to his suspicious mind and unfailing attention, he uncovered a network of spies within the Bureaucracy established by an agent of Lookshy; thanks to Onais, the spies were hanged and the 7th Legion agent was turned into an asset of the Realm, providing the Eye with invaluable intelligence -- and a means to feed disinformation to Lookshy -- for a century to come. The latest fruit of this early victory was the identification & recruitment of Korel; it was a substantial victory for the Realm that Onais parlayed into a family victory.

Other successes include: the early identification & infiltration of the Seven Thrushes Conspiracy, which threatened to engulf the northern Threshold (and which Onais used to help his father enlarge Phumugrun); discovering & uprooting the Numberless Obols Brotherhood, a wide-ranging attempt by the Guild to infiltrate the Tax & Treasury ministries; the choreographing of the Long Night's Dance, a brutally efficient & systematic purge within the Eye of rogue assets and suspected double-agents (and probably more than a few unfortunates who had simply made the wrong enemies). Most recently, he wrote & promulgated The Dragons' Ceaseless Waking, a meditation on life in the Eye's service-cum-protocol for combating infiltration; in the twenty years since it first appeared, it has become de rigeur reading for those who wish to be accepted into the Eye Turned Inwards.

Onais is also a well-known, if now semi-retired, grandmaster of Gateway; as a youth of twenty-five years old, he defeated no less a luminary than Cathak Cacek thanks to his then-revolutionary Vengeful Ghost defense. A few years later, he published Languid Satrap, Forgotten Ghosts, a classic in defensive Gateway tactics.

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?

As a matter of official policy, the Eye demands its members abstain from House politicking; some activity in that latter regard is overlooked, even expected; but full-on engagement is very much frowned upon. Another potential weakness is his (more than professional) interest in his protege, Enuma Prevan, a sorcerer & assassion of House Iselsi; she reminds him very much of his sister Aisha.

Onais on his Family

Alaric -- All honor to dear father's brother! Even setting aside his preternatural grace, he is entitled to unfailing respect on that account. The ceaseless piety, the perfect humility -- that, I confess, I can do without.

Pranzha -- Now that father has been taken from us, I find dear Pranzha's tales as welcome as I did as a youth. But whereas they once struck me as ornament, now I see them as the armor that safeguards Taric's glory. His role is vital in the tests to come.

Hayabusa -- Who has not enjoyed a walk through a garden, come across a bloom of surpassing beauty, leaned in to appreciate its scent -- and found there the presentiment of rot? She unsettles me, but she does have the nicest parties.

Aisha -- My dearest sister; her visits were outcroppings of joy on my youth's terrain. To renew our relationship in this time of struggle is to find a green shoot reaching heavenward on a blasted plain.

Hinoko -- In my garden, I have climbing roses that, over the years, have grown to great heights thanks to a strong bamboo trellis; on the rare occasions a guest is invited there, they are always taken by the roses. For my part, I have come to appreciate the trellis.

Sikandi -- I could hardly believe the news when it came! I, who pride myself on seeing three moves ahead, taken off guard! I'd hardly be able to forgive her, were her newfound position (to say nothing of her competence!) not so damned welcome.

Grolush -- A most familiar story: two brothers, constantly in competition as youths, become thick as thieves when grown. Less familiar is the businesses the brothers came to take up.

Taen -- Some plants grow moderately, building a firm foundation of roots and thick nest of leaves before displaying their flowers. Others cannot wait to display their glory, blooming with barely a root in the ground or a leaf searching for sun. It is the latter that require the steady hand of the skilled horticulturalist, but also that have the most potential.

Korel -- The very emblem of my success, and for that reason he is both my pride and a vulnerability.

Medoina -- A sensible (not to say profitable!) young woman, befitting a fellow product of the Spiral; she is a credit to our family, and a boon to our family's credit.