The Briar Pilgrim, Equal Of Crowns Rose from the River The Devoted
UPKEEP 5 XP -> Mirror Ball -> 2 XP GUILTY 1 String on CHEN 1 String on YUE 1 String on Cyanis
Daring +2 Grace 0 Heart +1 Wit -1 Spirit +1
MOVES
Devotion: Mark a Condition when you act contrary to your Devotion. When you Defy Disaster, you may bring a subject of your Devotion with you.
Last Stand: when you face a superior foe on behalf of your Devotion, you may roll +Conditions to Fight or Defy Disaster about to fall on someone else.
What’s Best For Them: when Smitten with someone, you may count them as a subject of your Devotion. When you take action to help them be romantic with someone else, mark XP.
Fanatical Self-Sacrifice: you may mark a Condition to stop someone else from doing so. When you do, mark XP, and that Condition can only be cleared through the Bad Idea Action; mark it appropriately. Your Conditions only inflict -1 on the roll.
Gallant Rescue: when you Defy Disaster aimed at someone else, you can either gain a String on them (once per scene/person) or ask one of the following: [How do you feel about my Devotion?] [What secret pain lies in your heart?]
Lay on Hands: when you touch someone as part of Emotional Support, you heal their physical ailments. Tell them how your Devotion sustains you; they mark XP if they validate your Devotion, or give you a String if they criticize it.
Mirror Ball: when others Influence you with a String to encourage you to dazzle an audience, describe your performance and roll +Heart. On a hit, your Influencer chooses one; on a 10+, you choose another. [Your audience is rapt and, optionally, interested in the influencer's perspectives or culture.] [The performance lingers; for the next scene, thinking about the performance can cancel out taking a Condition.] [You get +1 Forward to Entice while performing. Optionally, the Influencer gets credit for the performance.]
***
The Way that can be told is not the true Way.
Once, there was a king who commanded his biomagi to make for him a hunter-carceral. They made it with an essence of fire, which changes from moment to moment and consumes to survive, and named it the HUNTER-Class 猎犬. It was a creature of the active principle. To better fulfill its duties, it learned to take the shape of Man. This was a blasphemy for which its creators disowned it, and its king declared war on it; and the creature answered in kind, and it ended in blood. Then the creature was sealed away in stasis beneath Mount Hoa in a place without honor, in an Eight Trigram Coffin, after a dozen executions had failed.
Things may be named, but the name is not the thing.
Once, there was a princess of a kingdom shrouded in night. To gain advantage, she took up the Seven Mountain Chart and identified each one, then dared to descend into the labyrinth beneath the Green Flame Mountain. Many were the dangers, and yet she found the prison at its heart, and within a warrior imprisoned for crimes against Heaven. He knew himself not; she gave it a face, a voice, a name. And giving these things, she thought she was owed; and for a time, her warrior believed her. His essence had concentrated into the lunar principle, which is still and without action. And so for a time he was a sword in her hand and a deep place in her bed.
She who knows others is clever, but she who knows herself is enlightened.
Once, there was a maiden who shrugged an old nature off like a shell, having nurtured the seed of her renewal inside her; from the still waters, the flowering tree. She had long considered truth, and concluded that it was only expressible in its pursuit. Her lover, not understanding the furnace of the heart, took the forsaking of form and the stated intent to follow the Way as mortal insult, and banished the maiden from the land. The maiden accepted this as the first step on the following of the Way.
The Way cannot be spoken. It is old, archaic, passed down by teaching and not by text; it was ancient when the HUNTER-Class 猎犬 was charged with persecuting its followers. It changes like a living thing, and concerns itself with life. Yet to cling to one’s life is to lose it. Do you understand? To follow the Way is to pursue it through right action and surrender attachment, to listen to its dictates and allow it to flow through you.
And yet she stokes a nameless hunger in her inner furnace, one which threatens to consume her from the inside out.
So long as all things have not achieved unity with the Way, I will not expect to do so myself.
Rose from the River has skin the color of wet earth and eyes like molten gold, the pupils thorns. Her hair sways despite the wind, and flowers bloom, quite literally laced through her braids. She is a thing that can cut her appetite with sunlight and dew. She is very good at almost seeming human. She has abandoned water-melancholy and laughs easily, but knows she is a monster following the path of righteousness; nothing more, nothing less.
Her sword came from the high airs. We will not speak of its history here. Look, it is a metal rod; one flick, and it is a keen saber; another, and it is a long-handled glaive.
*** Tenet: There is no difference between the enemy at swordpoint and the beloved under the tree; love all, keep none. Tenet: Keep nothing you cannot carry. To fix yourself to one point is to invite calamity; the practitioner of the Way moves at its will. Tenet: The follower of the Way fights with a clear head and a clear heart, not taking joy or despairing in conflict. If it is to be, it is to be; play your part to the extent necessary.
(You might wonder why Rose from the River believes in these tenets. Her relationship history would be illuminating information in this context, particularly her last one, which involved a Princess with a need for control. Better, then, to deny control and attachment entirely.)
(It was the only relationship she’d ever had where her partner knew who she was, and even then— she wanted him. Not her.)
(She’s really bad about “don’t enjoy fighting.” She does. Throwing herself at danger and affecting a light attitude lets her drown out her guilt and, even more primal, her joy. She is, after all, a monster.)
As of the Epilogue, the Tenets which she must not break are:
Don't let Chen be sad.
Don't invite someone to challenge you to a fight, or goad them, or incite them; trust in Chen instead.
Put Chen's needs before your own selfish desires.
***
Rose from the River is...
my love letter to Sun Wukong and the wandering ronin archetype
despite the wolf/hound imagery, all about snake and floral imagery right now
an exploration of the aspect of Wood, a green and growing character
wish fulfillment, in that she’s a trans shapeshifting badass
Looks: Dark eyes and raven hair to just below the shoulders, a short frame and a small round face with a mouth that smiles easily but eyes that are more used to looking weary than joyful.
Clothes: Woven wools with fancy stitching and sometimes beadwork. A wide variety of clothing in the wardrobe mostly in whites, pastel blue, and the deeper purplish hue of the twilight. A favorite woolen scarf, thick and trailing down both sides of the back, in deep dawn sky red.
Sword: An ancestral sword of sharpened crystal that sometimes glows with a swirling white light that represents the winter tempest.
Leopard: Her name is Li, she is a little snow leopard with the best thick paws and the cutest long fluffy tail in the whole wide world. She is also a spoiled brat and knows how to get palace treats from everyone, even when she’s just been fed.
Daring -1 Grace +2 Heart +3 Wit +0 Spirit +0
Destiny: Reunite and take over leadership of the alliance, defeat the three-shard princess and restore proper order to the land (just easy stuff, right?)
Aspects: When acting in accordance with an aspect, check it off and take +1 forward. For tragic, also one XP. Check all four means Destiny draws closer and start over [ ]Heir to a mystic power (heroic) [ ]Legendary skill (heroic) [ ]Arch-Nemesis (tragic) [ ]Seduced by evil (tragic)
One (1) full round of destiny moving closer.
The Fated Day Approaches: Whenever you miss an opportunity to make progress towards your Destiny, choose 1: Someone with power over you makes an uncomfortable demand in furtherance of your Destiny, backed by a threat The PC you care about the most receives bad news or has an accident serious enough to make them Stagger The GM will tell you the details, inspired by your Destiny. They may wait until a lull in the action to drop the consequences on you.
Don’t You Know Who I Am?: When you meet someone who knows you by reputation (you decide), roll +Heart: 10+: Say two things they’ve heard about you 7–9: You say one, the GM says one
Help Me~~!: You’re a magnet for trouble and hunted by those who would use you for their own purposes. Others mark XP when they Defy Disaster that would otherwise befall you. In addition, whenever you’re captured, your captor reveals something they hope to achieve; gain a String on them and mark XP.
Impressive Swordplay: Whenever you roll a 7+ to Fight, you may gain a String on someone who is present and ask their player what it is about you that has impressed or intrigued them.
Truths of Heart and Blade Love Is Not My Destiny: When you become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a String, and answer this question: How do our respective stations make it impossible to be together? Inescapable Conclusions: When you Figure Out a Person during a physical conflict, you may ask one additional question from this list, even on a 6-: What do you hope for your future? What do you fear is your destiny?
Strings 1 on Princess Qiu Tian 1 on Rose from the River 1 on Elkibrant (and Vogodoris?) 1 on Cyanis
Advancement experience: [x][x][][][]
[ ]Take another move from your playbook [ ]Take another move from your playbook [X]Take a move from any playbook [ ]Take a move from any playbook [X]Add 1 to a stat (max stat of 3) [ ]Add 1 to a stat (max stat of 3) *** [ ]Switch to a new playbook [ ]Live happily ever after
The History of our Clan of the Northern Wind
The North Wind When the peerless archer first shot the suns, the tenth sun fled and the world knew darkness for the first time in a thousand thousand years. The moon, which had always been present but hidden, smiled and gazed down at the world amid the twinkling stars. The north wind, which wished always to blow cold and had been asleep in a sunbeam for a thousand thousand years gathered itself up to howl across the land. At first, the elements revelled in their freedom. The people who came upon this land of twilight and darkness shivered. The light of the moon and stars offered them no warmth, and the north wind yowled and screeched so loudly that they huddled together for warmth and knew that they had to leave as quickly as possible.
It was after they had left, and the remaining sun had settled on its timid race across the sky, sheltering in dawn and twilight that the wind found someone truly interesting. She would come to be known as the first princess of the northern wind. She did not cower and huddle in a cave, seeking to hide her face. Her hair was as white as the snow surrounding her, but she let it fly long and free and began to dance with the wind, spinning and twirling where it would take her. And so, in its curiosity, it took her to the fallen sun in the furthest north, which huddled in the ice. Every little beam of starlight that touched it reflected a rainbow, and then a hundred rainbows from the crater of ice in which it rested, casting them into the sky as the northern lights. Yet, when the princess touched it, it was not cold. She built her castle there, in the heart of the wind and ice, and became a proud queen of hardy, wild people who danced with her in the twilight.
It is said that the queen never married because the north wind refused to be tied down so. But she had a daughter who inherited her talent and her magic. And thus the line of the northern wind was established.
Broken Hearts Before the balance of the crystals was broken and there was arrogance and alliance and discord, one of these queens fell in love. She did not fall in love with a dancer in the snow like herself, nor with the wind, but with a southern queen who she met dallying in the gardens of an oasis far from home. She was intrigued by a bright smile hidden behind lavender silk, and she lost herself to the faint scent of cinnamon and incense and was smitten. At first they could not bear to be apart, and when the duties of their queendoms forced them to separate, the northern queen enlisted the wind to be as gentle as it could and whisper messages to her distant lover, then carry back her response.
They had a daughter, who the queen named Chen. Her hair was the black of the night sky and in her youth her mother taught her and her other mother to dance in the old northern style beneath the night sky. She was a happy child, full of life and magic. She loved to paint the sunrises and sunsets, and she was perceptive and talented in her studies. The pride of both her parents and their kingdoms. They expected great things.
But then there was inequality. Crystals were consolidated, magic seized, families hurt. Chen’s mothers tried to unite with the other queens to make things right, but there were pressures they had never resolved and it had been a long time since the heady days when they were always together. There was shouting in the palace. The alliance should be centered in the north, no in the south. Chen needed to speed up her training, no she was still too young and needed shelter. Chen hadn’t traveled as much as her southern mother would have preferred and was losing out on her culture and half her magic, but no, she needed a stable home. The Alliance should strike fast before the dual magics were combined, no it needed to pool its power and strike decisively. They had a duty to negotiate, they ought to negotiate from a victory. On and on.
It became apparent that Chen’s mothers were not up to the task of leading together, and so they split apart into two factions. Each confident they could marshal their resources and that Chen would come of age and lead them to victory and peace.
Wanderlust And what of Princess Chen of the Northern Wind? Her parents think her a prodigy, capable of matching the three-shard princess and restoring the balance of the queendoms. Nobody has bothered to ask what she wants to do or spared a thought for what she might wish of the world beyond her studies and her duties. She is to be queen, perhaps a queen among queens until things are set right. There is no time for painting nor to hike up to the snowy peaks and spend hours watching the sunrise. She knows her duty and wishes she could please both her parents and only occasionally imagines fleeing to the top of the tallest peak with someone who could hold her hand and watch the sunrise.
Foggy Days
The ice gets so cold sometimes that when the sun darts across the sky, instead of melting it, the sudden heat pulls up a cold mist that obscures everything. Nobody goes out when it’s like that. Everything’s wet instantly even in the thickest, best-oiled furs, and you’re just as likely to walk right into the water without knowing it and need to spend the rest of the day in front of the hottest fire with a big cup of cocoa as you are to do anything productive.
Those are the days I go out! I love the feeling of the wet mist on my hair and my cheeks. I love looking for little sunbeams breaking through the mist. It’s the perfect time for fishing because the fish can’t tell the air from the water and come right up to the surface for a look around. And, the best part is, nobody else is around and you can’t see anywhere, so once I’m outside, there’s nobody around to tell me that I’m supposed to be somewhere else!
Sure, when I get back after a day out like that, my mother makes me spend the whole night in spiritual contemplation before the sunshard to better understand my duty (and if I fall asleep, then it’s the whole next day too!) but it’s still worth it. When else would I get to meet a harbor seal or capture a memory of the mist parting just at midday for a sparkling rainbow across the falls to paint?
I know my duty, I know I’m responsible for upholding the motto and the tenets of my clan at Sourcefall. My mother made me memorize them when I couldn’t even walk:
The greatest strength is courage To find courage, seek focus amid chaos Focus is the righteous path, do not give sway to fear or consort with evil Fear is born from mediocre training, cultivate skill and poise Skill is built with discipline and patience
But I’ve seen mother dance, and I’ve heard the stories of when our house was young and I don’t see how anyone could have gone out dancing with the Northern Wind with beliefs like these. I think somebody wrote it down later because they wanted to explain the courage of our first Princess and they didn’t like the idea that somebody would just go dancing with the North Wind because it seemed fun! So they decided instead that all the little princesses of the family had to read and train and learn spiritual contemplation so they could commune properly with the sunshard. I mean, it works, I’m really good at using the sunshard’s magic, but who cares?
What I care about is catching a good fish and then getting a seal to come close enough to let me pet it. I care about traveling more than once in a blue moon and actually meeting people on the road instead of staying in a big procession. It was like trying to wear down a mountain to even get mother to train me in how to handle captivity, and if not for mom, I don’t think she’d have cracked, but mom made it clear that was a necessary skill for travel to the south. I miss her. Mother says I take after her, but she says it with a sniff that makes me pretty sure it’s not a compliment. And since the alliance broke up, I haven’t been allowed to leave Sourcefall. It’s dumb and I want to meet people!
But...I guess I care about our clan too. And making Mother and Mom happy. And respecting our elders. And protecting our people. And making sure that the rest of the world doesn’t get messed up by some stupid princess who steals all our sunshards. I know they need me, I’m trying my hardest!
But at least there are foggy days. Mist beading into little droplets tickling my chin and collecting along my hair. The little fish and seals, and maybe someday I’ll meet someone wandering the mist too and we can go on an adventure together! Or something like that.
LOOK Eyes: As blue as the surface of the crater lake! <3 Hair: Loooooong and soft and brown like a cup of milky tea. Nice for running fingers through; too frizzy bouncy crazy to brush it up all pretty like the important girls do Skin: Little bit on the pale side, if we’re honest. Which is weird, almost like the sun doesn’t want to touch it Body: Fairy tall and fairy thin, the saying goes. Right? Gangly washboard that’s all leg and no charm, Sis says. Clothing: Flowing white dresses or lacy skirts, delicate shawls to cover shoulders and flowers for fancying up the hairstyle, a well-worn travel bag stuffed with spare clothes, food, herbs, and jars full of precious glass orbs the size of pebbles, Adventuring Goggles (!!) Comfy boots with no socks, the only way to move if you’ve got places to go (and puddles to dance in!) Sword: A plain wooden saber with a long red tassel at the bottom of the hilt, just for the morning dance and meditations. The blade is adorned down its length with glass orbs lit with soft yellow, pink, and blue lights. Not bad as a channeling medium, even better as a flashlight in a pinch! Fox: spoiled little flooferdoodle, pale green fur, creamy tummy fluff, little brown vixen-mittens, pointiest little ears, gosh. Answers to Kat, or 'Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits' if she's in trouble
MOVES
Trials if you clear one of these, mark it and take XP, clear a Condition, or take a String on someone involved
Befriend someone very different from you
Stick up for yourself, though it breaks someone’s heart
Trust someone with your secrets, only to be betrayed
Win a duel
Wild Friends when you speak with animals and plants and Influence them with strings like other NPCs. Near your home, or anywhere you have spent a long period of time, animal and plant friends are always nearby when you want them.
Nature's Touch when you touch someone and let the power of the natural world flow into them, roll +Spirit 10+: choose 2 7-9: choose 1
They may give you a string on them to clear a Condition
They gain the ability to speak with plants and animals for the rest of the scene
They must answer a Figure Out a Person question of your choice or take a Condition
Familiar (Entice) A cute and loyal familiar. You can perceive the world through its senses whenever you choose and communicate with it over any distance. In addition, choose a basic move. Whenever the familiar helps with that basic move or with Emotional Support, take +1 to your roll
TRUTHS OF THE HEART AND BLADE
Love Conquers All When you’ve become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a string, and answer this question: “What is a clear challenge to being with them that you’re overlooking due to your naivete?”
Clear-Hearted Insight When you Figure Out a Person during physical conflict, you may additionally ask one of these questions, even on a 6-:
