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Exalted > Saroko Aoni

Saroko Aoni – Magi-tech geek-girl and technophile

Background

A daughter of a minor Gentes, Saroko Aoni was apparently destined to lead the life of the many hundreds of other such; grow up, serve in a Field Force for a term and then life as a citizen of Lookshy.

Her childhood was unremarkable, as such things go, making friends and enemies through school, learning mathematics and geography and history and music and the other things that the children of the Seventh Legion are taught as they grow up. She had crushes, made a fool of herself on more than one occasion, but these were the minor trials of life as a mortal child, and in the great scheme of things they didn’t affect her future overly. All of that changed at when she was fourteen.

During a trip with her classmates to visit one of the Seventh Legion’s many occult workshops she saw a trio of sorcerer-technicians busily repairing one of the mighty gunzosha suits that are the preserve of the best mortal soldiers the city can muster. Enraptured by the workings of jade and prayer, reagent and enchantment, she left the group behind and spent the rest of the day talking to the occultists – only leaving when her exasperated teacher pulled her away for the fourth time.

She knew that day what she wanted to do, and studied frequently through the nights, reading the publicly available texts on sorcery and the occult, learning everything she could. She shunned the company of her fellows, completely fascinated by the interactions of Essence, and her social skills soon fell by the wayside, the petty intrigues of her classmates no longer of any interest.

When Aoni reached adulthood she looked forwards to her service with the Legion, sure that her magical talents wouldn’t go unnoticed. That this happened was, to be fair, less due to her own knowledge, and more to one of the sorcerer-technicians she had spoken to for hours years before, who had recognized the talent in the small girl and quietly passed her name on for consideration to the Intelligence Directorate.

She passed through basic training, and then entered the school for shugan-junai, her natural occult talents finally being stretched for the first time, as she was exposed to the dense curriculum that covered such subjects as the Old Realm language, gods and elementals and demons and the correct methods for approaching them, the proper prayers and correct alchemical mixtures to use when servicing a suit of ashigaru armour, and so on…

Exaltation

The moment of her Second Breath came during a particularly stressful period for Aoni, studying as she was for her the examinations that would grant her full shugan-junai status, or leave her languishing (or worse), depending on the results. As the Varangian clockwork timepiece on her wall (a gift from her father for her birthday) chimed midnight, a text that had previously been barely comprehensible to the young woman suddenly swam into clear focus, and the other technical manuals that were spread out across her bed likewise became simple to navigate, information practically leaping out of them as she studied.

She passed the final test easily, graduating with a score higher than that achievable by a mortal of her age – the understanding of Essence instinctive to the Exalted causing her to answer certain questions in a way that betrayed this knowledge.

The news quickly spread, the Exaltation of a Saroko cause for celebration in the house she had grown up in, for such an event, while not unheard of, was unlikely in the extreme. As she had later cause to bemoan, however, becoming one of the Chosen merely meant that her workload increased, as she was seconded to the Academy of Sorcery, there to learn how to manipulate and wield the magics of the Emerald Circle, that she could better maintain the equipment and contribute to the defence of a Field Force.

Appearance

Saroko Aoni is short, barely topping 5’ in height (something she usually offsets with footwear that adds 2-3”) and relatively slight, two traits that often cause those seeing her for the first time to underestimate her. When she’s not wearing the Dragon Armour that has been assigned to her by the Seventh Legion she prefers to wear the work-armour of a sorcerer-technician, and only rarely will she be seen without smears of grease or some strange alchemical mixture on her face and hands, and she often finds herself tinkering with any spare piece of equipment that comes her way.

For a picture go [http://www.hyung-taekim.org/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=2 here].

Character Sheet

Nature:Explorer

Attributes
Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3, Intelligence 4, Perception 3, Wits 3
Virtues (Virtue Flaw)
Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 2, Valour 2
Abilities (Aspect, Favoured)
Archery 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Brawl 3, Bureaucracy 1, Craft 5 (First Age Weapons +2, First Age Devices +1), Dodge 3, Endurance 1, Investigation 2 (What’s this button do? +1), Larceny 1, Linguistics 3 (Native: Riverspeak, Arcanix, Forest-tongue, Old Realm), Lore 4 (The Dead +1), Martial Arts 0, Medicine 0, Melee 2, Occult 4, Performance 1, Presence 1, Resistance 0, Ride 1, Sail 0, Socialise 0, Stealth 2, Survival 0, Thrown 3 (Aerial Combat +1)
Backgrounds
Artefact 3, Breeding 2, Connections (Stores Directorate) 2, Manse 2, Resources 2, Sorcery 3
Charms
Blade-Deflecting Palm, Elemental Bolt Attack, Elemental Concentration Technique, Flaw-Finding Examination, Flickering Candle Meditation, Indisputable Physical Analysis Technique,Terrestrial Circle Sorcery,Wind-Carried Words Technique
Spells
Incantation of Effective Restoration, Infallible Messenger,Ritual of Elemental Empowerment
Anima Effects
5m – triple leaping distance & take no damage from falls for the scene.
Flaws
Vice (2pt): Temperance “New Toys” (Aoni, as a quintessential geek, can be easily distracted from her duties by a shiny new piece of magitechnology or other artefacts.)
Anima Banner
When it achieves full totemic potency, the anima banner of Saroko Aoni resolves into intricate patterns of lightning that fill the air around her.

Initiative: 7
Dodge Pool: 10
Soak: 16L / 16B (Air Dragon Armour 15L/13B, Fatigue 1)

Attacks (+ cannot parry lethal damage without stunts)
Punch – Speed 7, Attack 8, Damage 2B, Parry 9+, Rate 5
Kick – Speed 4, Attack 8, Damage 4B, Parry 4+, Rate 3
In Dragon Armour
Punch – Speed 7, Attack 8, Damage 4B, Parry 9, Rate 5
Lightning Corona (Melee) – Speed 9, Attack 8, Damage 13L, Parry 8, Rate 4 (costs 1m/turn)
Lightning Corona (Ranged) – Attack 7, Damage 14L*, Rate 1, Range 200 (costs 2m/shot)
* (Does damage to all within 10’ of target area)
Smashfist – Speed 10, Attack 8, Damage 10L, Parry 9, Rate 4
plus Lightning Corona – Speed 12, Attack 9, Damage 19L, Parry 10, Rate 4 (costs 2m/turn)

Essence: 3
Willpower: 5
Essence Pool: Personal – 10 / Peripheral – 25
Health Levels: -0 / -1 / -1 / -2 / -2 / -4 / Incap

Experience: Total - 21 / Current - 13 / Spent - 8

Equipment

Maintenance manuals written in highly technical Old Realm, sorcerer-technician’s work-armour (6L/4B, +2 soak vs. heat effects, Fatigue 2, Mobility –3), the tools and equipment of a shugan-junai, prayer strips, alchemical reagents Most Terrifying Armour of the Air Dragon, Puissant Toolroll, Ambient Essence Diagnosticator, Dragon Armour Smashfist

Background Expansions

Artefact •••

This background gives Aoni access to four dots of artifacts, with no single item being rated at greater than •••.

Puissant Toolroll (Artefact •)
Appearing as nothing more than a particularly fine leather roll approximately 12” in length and 4” around of the sort used for containing and organising a workman’s tools, this pouch conceals a powerful secret. When used by an Exalt who spends 3 motes to activate it he will find that for the next full day its magic guides his hands and he will always have the most appropriate tool just to hand. Mechanically, this provides a +2 bonus to all Craft and Occult rolls involving the construction or repair of items no larger than a horse.
Ambient Essence Diagnosticator (Artefact •)
Wrapped around the left forearm of the Dragon Armour assigned to Aoni is a complex piece of Shogunate sorcery – a device that can read the currents and flows of ambient Essence and, when the complex read-out is read by a sufficiently skilled user, give a clear map of both current and recent Essence use within the immediate vicinity (20 yards) as well as the type of Essence and even sometimes the kind of effect.
To use the Ambient Essence Diagnosticator requires a minimum of Lore ••• and Occult •••, and when the user wishes to activate it she feeds 5 motes into the device and then waits for a minute while the complex array of Essence-focussing prisms, delicate spinning discs of the Magical Materials and carefully arranged sensory fibre-networks gather their information. To correctly interpret this information requires an Intelligence or Perception + Occult test, with the number of successes gauging the degree and accuracy of information provided.
Dragon Armour Smashfist (Artefact ••)
This hefty device was fitted to the right gauntlet of Aoni’s Dragon Armour– a powerful artefact weapon that combines with the Lightning Corona ability of the armour itself to create truly devastating attacks. When activated (which takes a reflexive action) several large claws forged from blue jade allow extend around the armour’s gauntlet, and electricity begins to crackle visibly around the talons. If Aoni uses the melee version of the Lightning Corona of her Air Dragon Armour while this weapon is active the bonuses of the power are added to the attack – however, this effect doubles the cost of the power, to 4 motes per turn of use.

⚠ <pre> 

                                        Speed  Accuracy  Damage  Defence  Rate  Commitment
               Dragon Armour Smashfist    +3      +1      +6L      +2      4        5m

⚠ </pre>

Breeding ••

The Saroko family is a minor Gentes of Lookshy, and the blood of the Elemental Dragons runs thin in their line. The last direct relative of Aoni’s who Exalted was her grandfather, a Fire-aspect who served with distinction in the Second Field Force before falling in battle just three months before his descendant took her Second Breath. Like many other Lookshy natives, however, she has a Dragon-blooded uncle and also a cousin.

Connections (Stores Directorate) ••

As a sorcerer-technician with ambitions of becoming a sorcerer-engineer, Aoni has used some time and her meagre social skills to make a few contacts and garner some pull within the Stores Directorate of the Seventh Legion bureaucracy. Her major contacts within the Directorate are:
Desai Golden Hawk is, unbeknownst to Aoni, the sorcerer-technician (now a full sorcerer-engineer) who was largely responsible for her entry into their order in the first place. Trying to be fair to the others cadets he has kept his relationship with her to a minimum, but some interaction was almost inevitable.
Sunbeam Dove is a stores clerk for the Directorate, and her responsibilities include keeping track of everything and making sure that things are where they are supposed to be. Unfortunately she is also secretly in love with the young Dragon-blood (whose lack of social skills keep her oblivious to the attentions of the younger girl), and is willing to help out the object of her affections, perhaps more than she really should given her position.

Manse ••

A small Manse, the Perspicacious House was gifted to Aoni upon her Exaltation by her Dragon-blooded uncle, since news regarding the circumstances of that event spread rapidly. He felt that the Hearthstone it provided would be better suited to someone with her obvious talents for the occult and arcane, rather than his position as a commander of men. It creates a Wavecrest Awareness Gem (see Aspect Book : Air, p.75)

Resources ••

Aoni has a small amount of coin, both Lookshy minted jade and Guild silver, some of which is her own (from her family allowance) and some issued to her for the mission, and so while not wealthy, Aoni isn’t hurting for cash should some spending prove necessary.

Sorcery •••

Her time at the Academy of Sorcery was well spent, her tutors in the magical arts teaching her both to manipulate her own Essence with greater facility and a trio of spells useful to one destined to become a shugan-junai.

Free Stuff

The Most Terrifying Armour of the Air Dragon (Artefact ••••, Repair 3)
A large suit of First Age era magitech powered-armour. Its powers and stats are listed below for ease of reference:
  • +2 dice to all Endurance & Resistance checks to fight off the effects of poison, disease or infection.
  • +2 dice to all Awareness checks (1 mote per minute of use). Also grants Essence sight (costs 2 motes per minute).
  • +2 Strength for all tasks involving brute power - this includes damage in combat.
  • +2 difficulty on all Awareness checks for someone to spot the armour provided they are at least 10' away (costs 1 mote per scene).
  • +2 difficulty on all astrology and divination checks to divine the location or intent of the wearer. This specifically includes Sidereal astrology (5 motes & 1 Willpower per day of use).
  • Doubles the wearer's ground speed.
  • Comes equipped with an elemental lens.
  • Has a Lightning Corona that can be used in close or ranged combat (see above for stats).
  • The armour can fly at a speed of 45 yards per turn for a number of turns equal to the wearer's Essence (costs 3 motes). For an additional mote the winds this power creates also increase the difficulty of ranged attacks against the wearer by 1.
  • The armour can fly at a speed of 60mph for an hour (costs 5 motes). Manoeuverability is highly limited, requiring a difficulty 2 Dexterity + Athletics check.
  • The armour has been modified, decreasing the cost of the Lightning Corona by 1m in all modes, and adding +4L to it's basic damage.

⚠ <pre> 

                                                          Soak      Mobility  Fatigue  Commitment
        The Most Terrifying Armour of the Air Dragon   15L / 13B        0        1          7

⚠ </pre>

XP Expenditure

  • 03-12-04: Spent 1xp to raise Stealth from • to ••
  • 10-12-04: Spent 7xp to raise Craft from •••• to •••••