Sunn Tzen
From Gameresource
Name: Sunn Tzen
Caste: Chosen of Mars
Concept: Patient Strategist
Motivation: Restore peace and order to Creation by adhering to the Path of Least Bloodshed
Intimacies: Hua Zhao Yi (apprentice), his children
Anima: An ominous mist of blood-like crimson.
Contents |
Attributes
Strength: 3 Dexterity: 5 Stamina: 3
Charisma: 3 (costs = 8xp) Manipulation: 3 Appearance: 2
Perception: 3 Intelligence: 3 Wits: 3
Abilities
Journeys
Resistance: 2
Ride: 0
Sail: 3 (favored) (costs = 3xp)
Survival: 0
Thrown: 0
Serenity
Craft: 0
Dodge: 2
Linguistics: 1
Performance: 3
Socialize: 0
Battles
Archery: 0
Athletics: 3
Melee: 5 (costs = 4 bp)
Presence: 4 (costs = 5xp)
War: 5 (costs = 2 Bp, 7 xp)
Secrets
Investigation: 0
Larceny: 0
Lore: 3 (costs = 4xp)
Occult: 2 (favored)
Stealth: 0
Endings
Awareness: 3 (costs = 3xp) (favored)
Bureaucracy: 2
Integrity: 2
Martial Arts: 5 (favored) (costs = 4 bp)
Medicine: 0
Specialties:
Backgrounds
Backing: 3 (Night Sky Regime) - Tzen is still a young member of the NSR, but his strategies and tactical expertise during the Usurpation kept many of his fellows alive during those frantic hours. He is considered well on his way of becoming a leading figure in the new order and has the backing to further prove himself to his superiors.
Savant: 3 - Well schooled in the arts of artifice and lore.
Sifu: 3 (Shining Rebuke, Chosen of Journeys) - Tzen's Sifu is a well-respected member of the Fivefold Fellowship. A master at a number of Sidereal martial arts and even more celestial ones, he is a Sifu sought out by many practitioners. He had suffered grievous injuries during the coup, but is recovering swiftly and finding every reason to be up and about, much to the chagrin of his medical caretakers.
Celestial Manse: 1 (The Teahouse of Quiet Repast) (costs = 1bp) - Tzen's home in Yu-Shan is a modest (by Yu-Shan standards) teahouse and garden of magnificent beauty and serenity. It is located far from the bustling center of the heavenly city and is well-tended by loyal servants. The Manse produces no hearthstone, its energies devoted to maintaining the grounds and providing a rich and comfortable environment to its inhabitants. His two daughters are kept safe here.
Artifact: 5 (Fourfold Virtue) (costs = 4bp) - An ancient weapon from an ancient time. The saber is famous amongst the Fellowship, and is his prizen possession.
Wealth: 3 - Due to his influence in the NSR, Tzen maintains a tidy fortune at his disposal. Some political wrangling also ensured that much of his wife's more sentimental assets were funneled his way rather than being absorbed by the new Regime. He uses little of his wealth these days, hoping to one day bestow much of it to his heirs.
Other Artifacts
Artifact: 1
Metaphysical Information
Willpower 7/7
Virtues: Compassion: 2 Conviction: 4 (costs = 3bp) Temperance: 3 Valor: 2
Essence: 3
Personal: 12/12
Peripheral: 24/34
Committed: 10
Limit 0/10
Experience: 0/30
Combat Information
Join Battle: 6 (12 with Secrets of Future Strife)
Join Debate: 3
Join War: 8
Dodge DV:
Parry DV:
Mental Dodge DV: 6
Mental Parry DV: 2
Punch: Spd 5, Acc +1, Dmg +0B, Rate 3, Tag N
Kick: Spd 5, Dmg +3B, Rate 2, Tag N
Clinch: Spd 6, Dmg +0B, Rate 1, Tags C,N,P
Weapons: Fourfold Virtue: Spd 4, Dmg +1L, Rate 3, Tags M,P
Natural Soak: 3B/2L
Armored Soak:
Total Soaks:
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
---
Charms
Performance: Second Performance Excellency
Melee: Impeding the Flow (pg 155, MoEP:S), Serenity in Blood (pg 155, MoEP:S)
War: Second War Excellency
Awareness: Prior Warning (pg 173, MoEP:S), Expected Pain (pg 173, MoEP:S)
Martial Arts: Second MA Excellency, Fifth MA Excellency, Secrets of Future Strife (pg 180, MoEP:S), Flight of Mercury (pg 181, MoEP:S), Blade of the Battle Maiden (pg 182, MoEP:S), Joy in Adversity Stance (pg 182, MoEP:S)
Colleges
The Banner: 3
The Pillar: 1
The Sword: 2
The Gull: 1
Personal Information
Appearance
Those that meet Tzen usually decide that his looks are decided plain. He possesses a tall, leanly muscled frame that is accustomed to hardship and exercise. His eyes used to be a common shade of brown before they became the ruby hued irises that they are now, and his deep brown hair is kept short and well trimmed. The Chosen of Battles often chooses simple attire, usually grays and whites. He has recently taken to dressing in a collared uniform of immaculate white with black and gray trim. His saber, Fourfold Virtue is always at his side in its polished, black lacquered scabbard, tied to his belt with a silk sash. He speaks with a soft but commanding voice, one that gives those that hear it the image of a composed general standing amidst a pitched battle. A somber man, his peers remember when his eyes were full of joy and bravado, now replaced with almost detached calm and only occasion slips that could be mistaken for smiles.
History
Tzen was born in a humble farming complex near the city of Denandsor in the Eastern Threshold. Even at a young age, he understood the necessity of conflict, and the resolution of such clashes between individuals, groups, and nations. He saw the same in the grasses and the animals, each striving against one another to grow stronger and survive. However, he also saw that each being was linked to one another. But understanding conflict did not leave him without compassion. On the contrary, he saw the preciousness that was life. His father was the physician of their community and though he never pursued his father's profession, he was impressed with the need and motivation to protect the lives of all things.
When his future kindred came to prepare him for his future as Mars' Chosen and an agent of heaven, he accepted his new roles with an almost unearthly vigor, sure that his training will and efforts will protect the lives of Creation to a degree that few can understand, let alone achieve. When he exalted as a Chosen of Battles the following year, he was placed under the guidance of Shining Rebuke, a well respected Vizier under Mercury. Through his new Sifu, Tzen learned much of both heaven and Creation, and his place in both. His natural talents in strategy and command impressed his elders, and his adeptness in martial arts set him apart from his peers. His skilled with the blade earned him the right to wield Fourfold Virtue, the weapon of his predecessor. When his Sifu deemed him ready, he was brought to see the Loom of Fate, and that experience gave him renewed purpose. Seeing the grand tapestry that encompassed all the existed, Tzen saw firsthand how every strand is vital to the whole, each thread beautiful and precious.
It was after his first encounter with the Loom of Fate that he realized the secrets of Fourfold Virtue, and he went on to wield the blade with both skill and compassion, having the distinction of never having taken a single life in a hundred years of service. During this time he also caught the eye of a young Lawgiver, the two maintaining an affair and soon after, a family in secret. But alas, this life was not to last as the fateful decision came to Usurp the Solar Exalted.
Despite not seeing the same madness and evils committed by the Solars in his lover, he nonetheless saw it in the many older Lawgivers that ruled Creation callously. To protect the many, they told him, the few must die. Only then will Creation be truly safe and at peace. For the peace-loving Chosen of Battles, the choice was almost maddening, as every a single life was precious. But eventually, he relented and was persuaded that the all of the Solars must fall, lest the survivors retaliate in confusion and anger. For years he toiled in secret with his kind, his heart in turmoil as he plotted the death of the his lover and her fellows even as he spent his treasured moments with her and their two daughters. And when the Sidereals and their allies struck, he was there to ensure their success through his intellect rather than his skill with the blade, and even watched as his love was executed. In a moment of weakness however, he secretly had their children secreted away to Yu-Shan, where they would be safe from harm, where he watches over them still.
And so, the reign of the Solar Deliberative ended, but their coup, their Usurpation, had failed. The Solar did indeed return and now Creation is divided and on the verge of self-destructive war. This failure has weighed heavily on Tzen's mind. Were they wrong? Had they miscalculated? Did it even matter? What mattered was that far more lives were at risk now than there were when the Solars ruled uncontested. Peace and order must be restored, but too many lives have already been lost. Conflict was and will always be a necessity, but only when such conflict is controlled, can good result from it. To this end, Tzen wielded his influence within the Night Sky Regime towards surgical strikes against the Regime's enemies' capability to make war, rather than the massacres that some of his peers demand. He also spent substantial time and energies towards reconciling estranged allies and swaying open enemies.
Due to these new responsibilities he has had little time to see his children. They were too young understand the Usurpation, and now they too will grow up without a mother and father in their lives. And finally, his thoughts sometimes stray to the mother of his children, whose exaltation will no doubt return. What will this new bearer remember? And what would he do when they finally meet?
Fourfold Virtue
Note: If this artifact is unacceptable, please let me know and I'll pick up some less custom-made stuff and make some background changes accordingly.
Appearance:
Fourfold Virtue is a saber of frosty white starmetal. The blade is narrow, only about an inch wide and has only a slight curve to it. The basket hilt is intricately carved from pure white jade.
History:
The creation of this blade is shrouded in mystery. It was discovered by a nascent Solar Exalted on one of the many broken battlefields on Creation during the Primordial War. The weapon was a beautiful masterwork in smithing, and no one, not even the Great Maker, claimed to have forged such a weapon. When the Solar champion felt while fighting, an older and wiser Sidereal took up the blade and with it, saw the end of that great war.
This Sidereal, a Chosen of Mars unlocked the blade’s powers and was a swordmaster with few peers in his day. When his allotted time elapsed, he passed his knowledge of the sword, known as the Fourfold Virtue, on to his exaltation’s successor. And so the blade, whose beauty was renowned even during a time of tremendous works, found itself in the hands of Sunn Tzen. Guided by his predecessor’s notes, he too unlocked the powers of the Fourfold Virtue, and discovered that the two shared a common belief.
Powers:
A Reflection of Convictions – Between swordmasters, whose weapons have become an extension of their will, a clash of blades is a clash of convictions. “I will cut you,” is opposed by, “I will not be cut.” Fourfold Virtue understands this inherent principle and imparts this wisdom upon its wielder. By spending and committing motes of essence equal to their permanent essence, the wielder gains a bonus to their parry DV equal to their permanent essence score.
The Tempered Mind Respires – Patience and self-control are the hallmarks of effective swordsmanship. A hurried mind rushes the body and weakens it while a calm mind reaps the benefits. For each time an attack on the wielder fails to overcome their parry DV, the blade drains 1 mote of essence from the attacker. 1 willpower point is used in place of 1 mote if the attacker has no motes to spend. These motes are stored in the blade and may not be used by the wielder to power their own charms. For the purposes of this transaction, 1 willpower point is equal to 1 mote. Stored motes dissipate after 1 day.
Compassion Embraces the Soul – A blade drawn to protect is greater than a blade drawn to destroy. Fourfold Virtue impresses this desire upon those that would stand against its wielder. By spending 4 motes of stored essence, or by supplementing the blade with their own, the wielder may choose to deal no damage if their next attack lands. Instead, the victim gains 1 point of compassion and loses 1 point of conviction, temperance, or valor (attacker’s choice). This ability cannot be used to negate Virtue Flaws. Lost virtues will be restored by 1 dot per day after the first day. Compassion gained in this manner is completely lost after the first day.
Spirits Break Upon the Valorous – The greatest of swordmasters break their opponent’s will to fight, for a dead foe may never become an ally. On a successful strike on an enemy, the wielder may choose to spend 6 motes of stored essence, or supplement it with their own. Activating this power causes the attack to deal no damage, and requires a successful Dex + Martial Arts roll with the wielder’s permanent essence score in automatic successes against the target’s mental DV. If the roll succeeds, the target gains a temporary positive intimacy towards the wielder of Fourfold Virtue. This intimacy can be made permanent only if there is an open spot on the character's list of intimacies. Otherwise, it fades after a day.
Speed: 4
Accuracy: 4
Damage: 1L
Defense: 2
Rate: 3
Attune: 10
Tags: M,P
