Campaign:NEWSPAPER GAEM/Ten-Feathered Pen

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Basics

• Name: Ten-Feathered Pen
• Concept: Strung-Out Rabble-Rousing Reporter
• Caste/Aspect: Sidereal Chosen of Secrets
• Anima Banner: The Sign of Jupiter bobbing drunkenly in a haze of green light
• Motivation: Restore the Solars to power in Heaven and end the Celestial Bureaucracy's corruption.
• Intimacies: Feeding his addiction, breaking his addiction, finding worthy Exalts
• Experience: 0/0

Background

A mischievous god met a young, hardworking Sidereal from the Celestial Records Department and began to court him, begging little favors here and there and rewarding the spindly young man with small favors of her own. When she grew tired of him, she decided to try out one of her nastier tricks on him, simply to see if it worked. She fed him a morsel of Ambrosia laced with the prayers of an addict. The poor young Sidereal became forever addicted to the sweet substance. The god left him in the orgasmic throes of the delicious flavor, and was never heard from since.

Ten-Feathered Pen, the hapless Sidereal who was the victim of the cruel prank, was left without any way to get another fix of the solidified faith, and so he began to steal, skim, and pilfer his way through the budgets of other bureaus, careful never to take enough to get him noticed. Then, Ten Feathered Pen was discovered porking his way through the quarterly budget of Ambrosia of another department. His salary was cut off and he was forced to live out of his office in the Records Department. He was allowed to keep his position, mainly due to his usefulness and knowledge of the department, but also because it was where he could do the least harm and the intervention of several allies. He was allowed to work off his punishment, so long as he kept his head low and did as he was told. He got a good deal of what he'd lost to his punishment back, but his longing for Ambrosia only got worse.

He almost forgot his addiction when he stumbled on an old memorandum with the name of that trickster goddess who'd gotten him hooked on Ambrosia, and another Sidereal's name stamped at the bottom, ordering her to get him addicted to it. He followed the trail back, until obstructive bureaucracy kept him from going further. He knew, then, that he'd never find his answers as long as the current system was in place. He transferred to the Eastern Convention and signed on with the Yu-Shan times. In them, he sees the potential to overthrow the current regime and put the Sun back in its rightful place in the sky. And maybe, along the way, clear his own name of shame.

Appearance

Ten-Feathered Pen looks underfed and sickly, on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. Spite keeps him walking, and sheer bloody-mindedness. He is almost never seen without a cigar in his mouth, constantly puffing away great clouds of smoke. He is tall and thin underneath drab green travel clothes, sticks held together by weather-worn skin and whipcord sinew. He rarely eats, years of binging having killed his ability to taste, and because he knows nothing can compare to the heavenly taste of Ambrosia. His dark eyes glitter alternately with fevered intelligence and desperate need underneath a shock of unkempt black hair.

Attributes

• Physical: Strength 2 - Dexterity 5 - Stamina 2
• Social: Charisma 1 - Manipulation 5 - Appearance 1
• Mental: Perception 4 - Intelligence 4 - Wits 3

Abilities

 [ ]Archery:    	0   [ ]Integrity:    	2   [ ]Craft:		0
 [F]Martial Arts:	5   [ ]Performance:	3   [C]Investigation:	4
 [ ]Melee:         	0   [ ]Presence:    	3   [C]Lore:          	4
 [ ]Thrown:        	1   [ ]Resistance:	0   [ ]Medicine:	0
 [ ]War:           	0   [ ]Survival:     	0   [C]Occult:        	2

 [ ]Athletics:    	1   [F]Bureaucracy:	3
 [F]Awareness:     	4   [ ]Linguistics:  	2
 [F]Dodge:         	5   [ ]Ride:         	0
 [C]Larceny:       	3   [ ]Sail:         	0
 [C]Stealth:		4   [ ]Socialize:    	3

• Specialties: Dodge (:V +3), Investigation (Cutting through bullshit +1), Martial Arts (Pole Weapons +2)
• Languages: Old Realm, Riverspeak, Low Realm
• Crafts: :V

Physical Combat

Join Battle: 12

Parry DV: 7 (8 w/Pole-Shaped Weapons)

Dodge DV: 9 (11 vs. :V)

Soak: 5A/6L/5B (Hardness 0L/0B)

Health Levels: 011224ID

Wounds: 0

Move: 5, Dash: 11, Jump: 3

Weapon                     Spd  Acc   Dam     PDV  Rate  Range  
Punchan                 -   5    12   +(2)B    2(2)  2      -  
Kickan                  -   5    10   +(5)B    2(2)  2      -
Arm's Length  		-   4    16   +(9)L    3(3)  3      -
Arm's Length  		-   4    16   +(17)B   3(3)  3      -

Social Combat

Join Debate: 6

Presence Attack - Speed 4, Dice Pool 8, Rate 2

Investigation Attack - Speed 5, Dice Pool 9, Rate 2

Performance Attack - Speed 6, Dice Pool 8, Rate 1

Parry MDV: 5 (5 while Cutting Through Bullshit)

Dodge MDV: 6

Essence

• Essence: 2
• Regeneration: 6/hr at ease, 10/hr sleeping
• Personal Essence Pool: 11/11
• Peripheral Essence Pool: 17/28
• Committed Essence: 5+4+2=11

Willpower

• Willpower: 7
• Temporary: 7

Virtues

Virtues:

• Compassion: 3
• Conviction: 4
• Temperance: 1
• Valor: 1
• Flawed Fate: Seeking
• Limit Break: 0/10

Backgrounds

• Artifact 2 (Arm's Length)
• Artifact 2 (Silk Armour)
• Artifact 2 (Starmetal Hearthstone Bracers)
• Connections 2 (Cult of the Illuminated)
• Connections 2 (Yu-Shan)
• Salary 2
• Celestial Manse 1 (Jewel of the Flying Heart)
• Connections 1 (Yu-Shan Time)
• Connections 1 (Court of Seasons)
• Connections 1 (Gold Faction)
• Savant 1

Charms and Combos

Charms

• 3rd Dodge Excellency - 3m, Reflexive, Instant: Ten Pen may reroll one use of the Dodge ability, or add his rating in Dodge to one Dodge dice pool.
• Absence - 2m, Reflexive, Instant: Ten Pen ignores all penalties to his Dodge DV for one attack.
• Blinding the Boar - 5m, 1wp, Simple, Five Actions: Ten Pen rolls (Manipulation+Stealth), success meaning those who see him cannot understand him or describe him beyond vague generalities. Also, all rolls to affect, influence or notice him take an external penalty equal to the successes on the roll.
• Prior Warning - 6m, Simple (Speed 4, DV -0), Five Hours: Any time during the next five hours, Ten Pen may make a reflexive (Wits+Awareness) roll, each success alerting him two minutes in advance of danger.
• Expected Pain - 3m, Reflexive, Instant: As long as he has Essence to spend, Ten Pen is alerted one miscellaneous action before any unexpected danger or misfortune will happen.
• Secrets of Future Strife - --m, Permanent: Ten Pen's unmodified Join Battle pool is doubled.
• Joy in Adversity Stance - 5m, Reflexive, One Scene: Whenever an attack fails to overcome Ten Pen's DVs, he rolls his permanent Essence and regains two motes for each success. The attack must be a danger to him.
• Blade of the Battle Maiden - 2m/die, 2wp, Reflexive, One Scene: For the rest of the scene, Ten Pen's Martial Arts attacks deal lethal damage, he may block lethal and ranged attacks without a stunt, and gains one die to every unarmed Martial Arts Attack and the pool used to calculate Parry DV, and the maximum number of dice allowed to be added rises to (Dexterity+Martial Arts).
• Efficient Secretary Technique - 2m, Simple, One Miscellaneous Action: Ten Pen spits out a small pattern spider constructed of Essence which scuttles off to find one answer for him. It must be a concrete fact rather than an abstraction or thought.
• Methodology of Secrets - 5m, Reflexive, Until Ten Pen next sleeps: After using this charm while sleeping Ten Pen wakes up with three bonus specialties which he may split among up to three Abilities. He may also add it to the effect roll for Astrology that corresponds to the ability used.
• Avoiding the Truth Technique - 3m, Supplemental, Instant: Ten Pen adds his Larceny in automatic successes to one social ability roll, and if the action beats the target's Dodge MDV, then the target believes that Ten Pen is lying and that he's been caught in it.
• Force Decision - 4m, Simple, Instant: Ten Pen makes a (Manipulation+Presence) roll, difficulty (target's Essence), and forces the target to make the decision he wants them to make.

Potential Comboes

• Banana Peel of Fate (3rd Dodge Excellency, Absence)

When Ten Pen invokes these charms in tandem with each other, Fate reveals some interesting bauble, trinket or widget lying on the ground or in some odd location that puts him just out of reach of the enemy's blow. Or, he slips on something unpleasant, trips on a tree root, or is hit by something that knocks him out of the way of harm. Whatever the mechanism, it never puts him in the way of further harm.

Colleges

• The Sorcerer: *** The Sorcerer is one of the Exalted and a Prince of the Earth. He displays goods of the magical materials, a caste mark and regal bearing. He wears armor and carries a daiklave.

Invincible Essence Core, one Endurance: Ten Pen may reflexively block any effect that lowers his permanent Essence, causes him to lose his memory or makes him lose access to spells, Charms, Combos or Abilities, except for pattern bite or the weakening effect of his Greater Sign.

Prince of the Earth, one Endurance per scene: Ten Pen has many peers but no superiors. +3 dice to all social rolls with the un-Exalted, so long as he acts the part of an Exalt. This implies no sense of superiority.

Seer, variable Endurance: If Ten Pen takes part in astrology to determine or plan the future with another Sidereal, he may spend any amount of Endurance to give bonus dice to the attempt.

• The Mask: ** The Mask wears clothes of soft fabric and a mask to conceal his face. He is quiet, and he does not announce himself. The Mask clings to sacred places and lingers around manses and demesnes.

Privacy-Enhancing Gesture, one Endurance: The area within (Essence x10) yards of Ten Pen becomes proof against supernatural scrying, teleportation and other forms of intrusion. This includes observation using the Everywhere and Nowhere Technique.

Foot Treads No Twig, one Endurance, one Paradox die: Ten Pen may reroll a single (Dexterity+Stealth) roll before it’s compared to an enemy’s roll.

Everywhere and Nowhere Technique, one Endurance, three Paradox dice per week: Ten Pen can conceal himself in the most unlikely of places—between raindrops, between the moments of the hour and behind the curtains on a dusty stair in a faraway town. Ten Pen eats by dining on the food of others when they look away, and sleeps only in the secret places that the Division of Secrets salts across the Tapestry as safe houses. None can see him, but he sees much. In any place where there are shadows and he is unobserved, the character can instantly disappear. So long as he persists in this furtive existence, she avoids all legal, bureaucratic and official scrutiny. Those attempting to deliver summonses to him are powerless without supernatural tracking, and those attempting to find him must beat his (Intelligence + Occult) roll, with his (college + Essence) added as automatic successes. This existence of supernatural occultation is demanding, and he has just seven free hours per week to spy and observe on those within a number of miles equal to his Essence, so long as those places are not proof against scrying and supernatural intrusion.

• The Treasure Trove: ** The Treasure Trove carries a book of wisdom and wears scholar’s robes. She is poor in terms of money but educated in formal learning. The Treasure Trove is deeply impractical but means well.

Stab the Seer’s Eyes, one Endurance per season: Ten Pen is instantly aware of any mortal astrological reading about him and can cause it to give any result he pleases.

Dismissive Scholar’s Sniff, one Endurance: Ten Pen may always appeal to an authority yet unread. He may add his Essence to a Lore or Bureaucracy roll, provided he is arguing with one whose Lore does not exceed his own.

Professional Mien, one Endurance per month: Those around Ten Pen will treat him as if he were cultured and educated and turn to him to resolve linguistic disputes, solve difficult problems and so on. This is an Illusion effect. Ten Pen may add his Essence to Presence or Socialize rolls, but only if his Lore is higher than the target’s Intelligence.

Inventory

• Silk Armour - Ten-Feathered Pen's travel clothes are threaded with the material used to make Silk Armour, which has kept him from death when his long legs don't carry him out of danger fast enough.

Soak: +5L/+3B, Hardness: 0L/0B Mobility: -0, Fatigue: 0

• Arm's Length - This thin starmetal wrackstaff is one of Ten Pen's favorite tools. It is minimally adorned with traces of blocky, circuit-like patterns which make the vague outline of a man's face in the middle, and has a tiny fist clutching the hearthstone socket at the end. At the other end of the staff is another hand, this one held flat and chisel sharp.

Speed: 4, Acc: +3, Damage: +7L, Def: +2, Rate: 3; 2, M, P, R

Speed: 4, Acc: +3, Damage: +15B, Def: +2, Rate: 3; 2, M, R

• Evidence Folder - This small, leatherbound folder is kept neatly tucked inside a small backpack stuffed with travel essentials, assorted goods, and a ton of cigars. Inside it is every piece of evidence he's collected on his downfall and various notes on his case.

Advancement

Awareness 4 (4 BP)
Specialties (3 BP)
Dodge 5 (2 BP)
Martial Arts 5 (2 BP)
Lore 4 (2 BP)
Investigation 4 (2 BP)
Connections 2 (2 BP)
Stealth 4 (1 BP)
Larceny 3 (1 BP)