Lingering Smoke

From Lavosbyssals

Revision as of 11:48, 13 July 2007

Lingering Smoke is a Midnight Caste. Before his not-quite-death, he was- oddly enough- a tomb robber, and an unusually effective one at that. This might be because of his relentless bravery in the face of danger. It might be because of his ability to wheedle information out of even the most secretive of artifact dealers and lore collectors. It might be because he's a lucky prick who loves exaggerating his exploits. According to him, his success is entirely due to his skill in entrepreneurship; he simply saw a need, and he filled it.

His name was Mark Balamada. As a young wannabe punk, he had a small epiphany: what makes tombs so damn hard to take from? Because often, no living soul knows where they are or what's actually in them. How does one solve that while doing the least possible amount of work? Why, one could find someone else to ask than the living. He learned how to talk to the dead- and how to protect himself from them- and though it ended up being considerably more work than he'd expected, he ended up with a nice little business trading favors for ghostly knowledge. Fortune (much of which goes to pay medical expenses)! Treasure (a lot of which is unusable and damn near uncarryable for mortals)! Fame (just under enough to get stabbed in the night)! It wasn't a bad life at all, he thought.

Sadly, one can't spend that much time around people, even dead ones, without developing a bit of sympathy for them. Okay, a lot of sympathy. Eventually, Mark's little favor-trading business had him doing things for ghosts who couldn't possibly have anything useful to say. Going out of his way for them. Even actually... helping them. The horror!

That was what eventually got him. He was off on some damn fool quest he still refuses to talk about- something about "a kid" and "shut up"- and ran into someone who was rather insistent that he not be allowed to make good on his word. Long story short, he ended up pinned to the wall by something very sharp and painful, and someone decided to make him an offer he couldn't refuse...

Character Sheet

Lingering Smoke
Midnight Caste
Motivation: Find and protect the knowledge of the past and present from those who would abuse it.
Anima: A flowing dome of green-and-black smoke, with vague blocky shapes and the occasional glitter in the "background".

Attributes:

Str ** Dex *** Sta **
Cha ***** Man **** App ***
Per *** Int *** Wits ***

Abilities:

(Midnight)
Integrity ****
Performance *****
Presence ***
Resistance **
Survival

(Favored)
Lore **
Occult **
Bureaucracy **
Larceny **
Dodge **

(Other)
Melee **
Athletics **
Awareness **
Stealth **
Investigation ***
Socialize **
Linguistics * (Flametongue- Native, Old Realm)

(Specialties)
Occult (Ghosts) **
Performance (Making Blatant, Over-the-Top Lies Seem Perfectly Believable) **

Virtues- Cmp *** Con ** Val **** Tem ** | Flaw: Foolhardy Contempt
Intimacies: Never Admitting He's A Nice Guy, The First Artifact He Ever Personally Found (Whistle), Aiding Small Children and Other Cute Innocent Things In Danger
Essence- ** Personal &(4/13) | Peripheral (32/32) | Committed- armor4, lance5
HL - 0 1 1 2 2 4 I | Exp: 0 Spent: 0 | Willpower- ***** **

Merits/Flaws:
Born to Rule (+2), Eternal Vow (+3)
Favor (-3), Permanent Caste Mark (-2), Known Anathema (-1)

Charms: (unfinished)

Backgrounds:
Allies *
Artifacts *****
Contacts (Artifact Hunters) *
Contacts (Underworld) *
Influence **
Whispers **
Underworld Manse **

Descriptions and Elaborations

Hello! Come in, come in, getcha a drink? Name's Lingering Smoke, artifact trader, treasure hunter, née Mark Balamada, Black Ghost of the Dunes and all that. I'm sure you've heard of me, why else would you be here, so just what can I do ya for?

Preferred Name(s): Smoke, Mark, Lingering Smoke (in about that order)
Age: 35 Basic Description: Tall, wiry, brown hair that doesn't quite cover that eerie black circle yet, hazel eyes, and pale skin (sadly, tans fade fast in the Underworld). Image (Deviantart)
Personality: Smoke is, above most other things, an actor. He might be an overweening fop of little worth when you meet him, or he might be a cold-hearted thief who'd sell out his grandma for a handful of shekels, but five minutes later he'll be a daring, rogueish man of mystery to that pretty lady in the corner and he'll be just as convincing in it as you ever saw him. In truth, he's naturally a lot more mild of feeling than he pretends to be, but his rabid sense of adventure tends to drive him to ends that surprise even himself.
Origin: Born a street rat in Gem. One known living family member, his older sister; current relationship basically extends to sending each other Calibration cards. Normally operates in the South.

Backgrounds
Allies *

• Sylvester Tam-iaki. Somebody had to teach him how to find ghosts, and that somebody was this guy. He's God-Blooded, and a pretty good thaumaturge and artificer, partly because of Mark's repayment over the years in the form of discreet backing and sharing some of the... less monetarily valuable things he finds.
  

Artifact *****

• Soulsteel Reinforced Breastplate (***, +12L/+11B, 9L/9B, -1M, 1F, &Att4). This particular item was given to him when he Exalted. It would be proper to give it back if he ever chose not to use it for some reason.
  
• Fivefold Harmonic Adapter (*, R1)
  
  • Moonsilver Dire Lance (**, sp5, acc+2, +8L(+12L charge), def+2, Rate2, &Att5). You can find the damnedest things in tombs, you know? Somebody might want this back someday, to say the least.
    
• Ghost-Summoning Whistle (**). The first thing he ever found, Smoke originally kept this as a token of good luck. This may or may not be a good thing, as it's gotten him into trouble more than once. He tends to keep it on his person whether he's using it or not. (see Intimacies)
  
• Essence Flare Pillars (**, R1). Because they're fun.
  

Contacts

Artifact Hunters - It pays to know what other people are doing in a business like this. Smoke has had a long-standing non-competition arrangement with one person in particular, who will happily trade services if there's something Smoke doesn't want to directly have his hands in. "Trade", of course, being the operative word there.

Underworld - Not all of the ghosts Smoke has dealt with before Exalting have chosen Lethe, and some of the ones that did have still-unliving friends.

Influence
Around various places in the South, mostly; likely at least one small Shadowland. This isn't so much political or social influence as it is Emperor Norton-esque notoriety; people may find him charming, annoying or (more so lately) scary, but you can't act like he does and not make a lasting impression on a lot of people.
Underworld Manse **
Need to ask some questions on this if it comes up.
Merits/Flaws

• Eternal Vow - This could be the hook for an epic romance. It could also be the hook for an epic comedy, a major tragedy, or a minor character note.
  
• Favor - He never did complete that last request. This is probably payback to somebody he unintentionally screwed over by doing the whole "dying except not" thing, but there are plenty of other options appropriate to the character at the GM's option.
  
• Permanent Caste Mark - Smoke has a habit of lying to himself about being anything other than a particularly clever thug. Someone thought this was an appropriate addition.
  
• Known Anathema 1 - The main thing keeping this number low is the relatively short time he's actually been Exalted.