Mariko

Character Page for Mariko in CrazyIvan's "Nothing Certain" Exalted Game

Exalt: Infernal
Caste: Scourge
Anima:
Concept: Rogue Angel of Satan

Character Details

Bio

"The world has no justice. Existence is a cosmic joke. But we've got power, and power is the only thing that matters: here, let us define our own truth."

Mariko lost her parents at a young age to specters, and was taken in by Teresu Nagashi, a mortal splinter house of the Lookshy Gens Teresu that specialized in exorcism. Mariko grew to love her foster father and honed her skills in order to repay his kindness. Her efforts led to her inheritance of the Teresu family heirloom, the reaper daiklave Thunder's Call, which she used to great effect. She developed a sort of nemesis in the form of the demoness Ilandymion, an unnaturally gifted angyalka who had been the mastermind behind several Yozi cults in the region, but the angyalka knew better than to directly challenge Mariko with Thunder's Call.

Mariko was due to be betrothed to Nagashi's son Nagare, and would have succeeded Nagashi as the head of the Teresu family. However, her cousin (by adoption) May murdered Nagashi, framed Mariko for the deed and altered Nagashi's will, resulting in Mariko being stripped of her position in the family and losing her inheritance. Though plunged into the depths of despair, she simply swallowed her heartache and went into seclusion, taking Thunder's Call with her.

At this point, May could have inherited the headship of the family with no problems, but she was greedy. She wanted - needed - Thunder's Call to prove that she was the rightful heir. But Mariko had long made peace with the fact that she was an exile, and refused to return the sword on the grounds that Nagashi had directly gifted it to her. So May told her the truth; that she was the one who had killed Nagashi and ruined her life.

That did the trick. Mariko came out of seclusion, wearing the white of death and carrying Thunder's Call. Of course, May was ready, and anticipating that Mariko would be the hardest fight of her life, she had done the unforgivable; she'd summoned the very demons she was sworn to destroy and bargained with them to aid her in slaying Mariko. The battle was a furious one, but in the end, Mariko fell, and May took Thunder's Call from her nerveless fingers.

Her tendons slit and her body violated, Mariko was left to die alone as a cold rain began to fall. Just as the hot tears began flowing down her face, an old friend came to meet her. Ilandymion, the angyalka, knelt beside her broken body and placed her long fingers on the girl's forehead. She spoke softly and sweetly of how much she had savored their relationship and how tragic it was that it would have to end this way... unless, of course, Mariko accepted the bargain she had come to make. Mariko could have it all again; power, respect, lands, a family, justice for Nagashi's death... all she had to do was say yes.

Even then, Mariko almost refused. She was a demon huntress, after all, and the fact that May had used demons to fight her filled her with revulsion.

And then Ilandymion pointed out that she could have her revenge on that bitch May.

The sheer hatred and malice in the "yessssssss" of her reply shocked even the hardened angyalka. As the demoness' hair flowed around Mariko, as Ilandymion pressed her body to the mortal girl's so tightly they clove together as one flesh, as the Infernal Exaltation she carried in her body melded with Mariko's soul, she giggled as she passed on her final secret.

Ilandymion had been the one who had masterminded the seduction and corruption of May, and urged her to kill Nagashi. She had been the one who supplied the demons that May had needed to defeat Mariko.

But by that time it was far, far too late.

Mariko emerged from her Chrysalis Grotesque five days later, Ilandymion bound to her soul, carrying the cursed, demon-tainted sword that May had used to slash through her tendons while the blood-apes held her down. With it in hand, she returned to the Teresu manor and returned it to its rightful owner. Straight through the chest, even. But of course, first she made May sign a confession of her crimes. Since they had no ink, Mariko chopped off one of May's fingertips and made her write with it. But it was simply too small, and nobody would be able to read it. So the Infernal Mariko had May scrawl her confession across the walls of the manor, with the blood from her severed wrists. Then, her lust for vengeance sated for the moment, she followed Ilandymion's direction to the nearest Yozi cult, and travelled to Malfeas for her formal initiation into the Thing Infernal.

In the depths of Hell, Mariko spent her rage stalking the streets of the demon city and its coliseums, fighting every single thing that dared challenge her and ruthlessly crushing them into the dirt, until the legend of Mariko the Demon Slayer was whispered fervently thoughout the underground fighting circles, and even among the Second Circle citizens. And through her ceaseless struggles, she finally realised the truth of Creation: that in the end, only the edge of the sword matters. The strong rule over the weak, and the weak can do nothing. Even the Primordials, the greatest wonderworkers and innovators of the cosmos, were laid low by humans who were less than the excrescence of the excrescence of their innards; because humans had the Exaltation, and thus they had power.

And now, she had an Exaltation.

There is no justice in the world, there is no meaning but what you can carve from it with bloody knives. so let my sword be justice. And if anyone asks, what gives you the right to be judge and executioner? She would smile, and say - because I am the strongest.

Clutching this hard-won truth to herself, Mariko returned to Creation; with ambition and daring, and justice for all.

First Age Bio:Inquisitor Dav Tarragon was a pupil of the infamous Gold-Shadowed Arrow, who saw iniquity in every corner and heresy in every heart. While he was not as brutally zealous as his predecessor, Dav grew disgusted with the corruption of the Age of Dreams, and elected to spend more and more of his time in Malfeas, running his rings of demon informants and spies. The only reason for returning to Creation was his mated wife, Moonlake Whisper, who dutifully maintained their little estate in the North where he would spend Calibration with her. Though she always asked him to go with her to Meru for the Calibration feasts, he steadfastly refused, saying that the air there was more toxic than Malfeas' miasma.

At last, he relented one year, and consented to accompany her to the heart of Creation. That was the year of the Usurpation. He died protecting his wife from a crazed Lawgiver, who thought his fellow Solars were betraying him.

Appearance

Mariko is an attractive young woman with a somewhat unfocused, ditzy look to her. She has long black hair, which is slightly prehensile; it grabs at apples (her favorite food) when she's hungry and sometimes moves of its own accord. Her fingers are long and tapered, and her voice has an ethereal, musical quality to it. While she generally wears her suit of battered gunzosha armor while travelling, she's perfectly at ease without it. In fact, the only thing she's never without is the enormous black sword that seems too large for her to wield at times...

Motivation

To be a Big Damn Hero

Urge

Adorjani - Become The Strongest

Character Sheet

Attributes

Strength 3/8
Dexterity 5
Stamina 2/7

Charisma 5
Manipulation 1
Appearance 5

Perception 2
Intelligence 2
Wit 5

Abilities

Caste:
Integrity 5
Performance 5

Favoured:
Athletics 5
Awareness 3
Dodge 5 (vs Essence Channelers 2)
Melee 5 (Swords 3)
Occult 5 (Yozi Charms 3)

Others:
Linguistics 1
Lore 1

Virtues/Willpower/Essence

Compassion 3
Conviction 5
Temperance 2
Valor 3

Willpower 10

Essence 5
Personal 25
Peripheral 58 + 10(Sun-Heart Furnace Soul)
Committed to Charms 10 (Mind-Hand Manipulation)
Committed to Artifacts 8 (defrayed by Eternal Sun-Core Empowerment) (Soul Edge)

Background

Artifact 5: Soul Edge (Infernal-corrupted Soul Mirror)
Backing 1: Adorjan
Cult 5: The Cult of Mariko
Influence 1: Demons of Adorjan
Manse 1: Jewel of the Flying Heart
Lunar Bond 5

Permanent Caste Mark 1
Intolerance (Bullies/Oppressors) 3
Enemy 3 (Abyssals hunting her for Soul Edge)
Greater Curse 3

Charms

Insignificant Embers Intuition 1
Green Sun Nimbus Flare 2
Wrath-Stoked Bonfire Soul 3
Cold Fire Desolation Brand 4
Skyfire Seizing Repast 5
Sun-Heart Furnace Soul 6
Rage-Stoked Inferno Soul 7
Eternal Sun-Core Empowerment 8
By Pain Reforged 9
Furious Anvil Practice 10

1st/2nd Cecelyne Excellency x4
Cecelyne Mythos Exultant 11
Effortless Cecelyne Dominance 12
Transcendent Desert Creature 13
Sand-Slip Trick 14
Sands Through Fingers Defense 15
Soul-Sieve Transmutation 16
Scorpion-Tailed Mirage Technique x2 17-18
Sand-Strike Blast 19
Dune Burst Onslaught 20
World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation 21
Stone-Flayer Touch 22
Verdant Emptiness Endowment

Essence-Dissecting Stare 23
Mind-Hand Manipulation 24
Force-Suppression Barrier 25
Unseen Force Application 26

Sorcerous Initiation of Cecelyne 27
- Slave-Spawn Summons
- Infallible Messenger
- Unbreakable Bones of Basalt

Wind-Born Stride 28
Death-Dealing Journey 29
Joy In Violence Approach 30
Threat-Monitoring Excitement 31
Who Strikes The Wind? 32
Kalmanka's Grace 33
Laughing Gust Denial 34
Opened Eye of the Hurricane 35
Running To Forever 36
Sacred Kamilla's Inhalation 37
Murder is Meat 38
Broken Silence Laughter Defense 39

Combo

Killing Storm Stance - Opened Eye of the Hurricane, Who Strikes The Wind?, Threat-Monitoring Excitement, Sands-Through-Fingers Defense, Death-Dealing Journey, Insignificant Embers Intuition, Skyfire-Seizing Repast, Furious Anvil Practice, Force-Suppression Barrier, Broken Silence Laughter Defense, First Cecelyne Excellency, Freedom Lets Go.

And Justice For All - Green Sun Nimbus Flare, World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation

Artifacts and Equipment

Soul Edge

Combat

Soul Edge
Speed 5
Accuracy 17 (21 with 4 souls expended)
Damage 20L/4 (24L/4 with 4 souls expended) and 5m drained + victim loses (victim's essence) in motes and 1 willpower on hit that inflicts damage
Defense +1 (+5 with 4 souls expended)
Rate 2 (6 with 4 souls expended)

Parry DV: 7 with Soul Edge, 9 with MHM
Dodge DV: 10

Soak: 0A/1L/2B
Hardness: 0L/0B

XP

XP Total: 248
XP Spent: 214
XP Available: 34

XP Expenditures

04 Stamina 1 > 2
04 Perception 1 > 2
04 Intelligence 1 > 2
06 Artifact 3 > 5
06 Cult 3 > 5
08 Transcendent Desert Creature 1
08 Sand-Slip Trick 2
08 Sands Through Fingers Defense 3
08 Soul-Sieve Transmutation 4
08 Scorpion-Tailed Mirage Technique x2 5
08 Sand-Strike Blast 6
08 Dune Burst Onslaught 7
08 World-Grinding Sandstorm Devastation 8
08 Stone-Flayer Touch 9
08 Sorcerous Initiation of Cecelyne 10
08 Wind-Born Stride 11
08 Death-Dealing Journey 12
08 Joy In Violence Approach 13
08 Threat-Monitoring Excitement 14
08 Who Strikes The Wind? 15
08 Kalmanka's Grace 16
08 Laughing Gust Denial 17
08 Opened Eye of the Hurricane 18
08 Running To Forever 19
08 Sacred Kamilla's Inhalation 20
08 Murder is Meat 21
08 Broken Silence Laughter Defense 22
06 And Justice For All
08 Verdant Emptiness Endowment