Trapped Fire
Edit: Now up-to-date here.
NameNellens Takuma, Trapped Fire
ConceptEndlessly kind bureaucrat turned fallen savior
DescriptionA 23-year-old young man in a vicar's outfit who sweats clouds.
MotivationJoin all living things, including the Yozis, in empathy and love.
UrgeMaster the nature of the Yozis in order to cause them to transcend the oaths sworn on their natures.
IntimaciesLoving all living things●●
Shepherding the Yozis from themselves and others●●
The welfare of Greyfalls●●
Causing no undue harm●●
The memory of Cathak Lunira●●
LanguagesHigh Realm, Riverspeak, Old Realm
CasteDefiler
Patron YoziShe Who Lives in Her Name
Favored YoziCecelyne
AnimaOne hundred and eight globes resembling those of She Who Lives in Her Name, containing green-white fire.
Experience0 unspent/0 total
Essence●●●○○○○○○○
Personal Pool16/16
Peripheral Pool35/38
Respiration Rate6m/hr from hearthstone, 4m/hr relaxed or 8m/hr resting, extra 1wp per night's sleep
Willpower●●●●●●●○○○
■■■■■■■
Compassion●●●●●Conviction●●○○○Temperance●●○○○Valor●○○○○
■■■■■■■■■■
Primary VirtueCompassion
Abscissic PlatesApplicable at zero Willpower once per scene. The Ecstatic: gain Limit when observing others attempting to fulfill great passions. The Functionary: gain Limit when circumstances interfere with one's obsessions.
TormentCurse of Cecelyne: Roll Essence. Takuma and any unwanted Intimacies are scourged with silver sand and suffer lethal damage equal to the number of successes, soakable only with natural soak or non-Infernal Charms.
Limit□□□□□□□□□□
Strength●●○○○Charisma●●●○○Perception●●●●●
Dexterity●●○○○Manipulation●●●●● ●Intelligence●●●●●
Stamina●●●○○Appearance●●○○○Wits●○○○○
Archery○○○○○Integrity●●●○○Craft○○○○○Athletics○○○○○Bureaucracy●●●●○
Martial Arts○○○○○Performance●●○○○Investigation●●●○○Awareness●○○○○Linguistics●●●○○
Melee●○○○○Presence●●●○○Lore●●●○○Dodge●●●○○Ride○○○○○
Thrown○○○○○Resistance●○○○○Medicine○○○○○Larceny○○○○○Sail○○○○○
War○○○○○Survival○○○○○Occult●●●●●Stealth○○○○○Socialize●●●●○
Awareness (Social Politics)●○○Performance (Trenchant Arguments)●○○
Linguistics (Old Realm Malfean Dialect)●○○
Artifact●●●○○A demon ink tattoo of a chrysogona's mask over his heart.
Backing●○○○○Low-level ranking in the lawmaking order of the Endless Desert.
Cult●○○○○Reverence provided by a Yozi cult on a gate of inauspicious passage in an eastern swamp.
Influence●○○○○Importance afforded by the mission to free the Yozis.
Manse●●●○○The Glass Governance Cathedral, a Cecelyne-aspected manse in the Demon City.
Past Lives●●○○○The memories of the First Age sorceress Salina.
Resources●○○○○Limited skill in bartering materials between Malfeas and Creation.
Savant●○○○○Instinctive familiarity with First Age lore flowing from Salina's memories.
CharmYoziMinCostTypeDurationKeywordsEffects
Hardened Devil BodyMalfeas1-PermanentAlwaysStackableAdds three -2 health levels and one -1 health level.
First Cecelyne ExcellencyCecelyne11m/dieReflexive (1/2)InstantCombo-OKAdd dice up to (Attribute+Ability) or (Trait+Essence) to a roll resonating with the nature of Cecelyne.
Sorcerous Enlightenment of CecelyneCecelyne3-PermanentAlwaysSorcerousEnables Shape Emerald Circle Sorcery actions. Reduce the cost of spells to summon, bind or banish servitors by 10m+1wp, to a minimum of 5m+1wp. May not cast spells that shape wood or create edible food or potable water.
Factual Determination AnalysisHer Name22mReflexiveInstantCombo-OKDetermine whether a statement was intended to deceive through falsehood or omission.
Essence-Dissecting StareHer Name23mSimpleOne hourCombo-BasicSee immaterial. Treat all Charms as Obvious. Sense artifacts, demesnes, manses, and beings with Essence 4+.
Counter-Conceptual InterpositionHer Name25m+Reflexive (2)InstantCombo-OK, Obvious, ShapingReshape reality and conjure suitable phenomena to perfectly parry any attack. Add a 5m surcharge against unfamiliar Charms or Combos.
Mind-Hand ManipulationHer Name2/310mSimpleIndefiniteCombo-OK, Obvious, SorcerousEnable telekinesis, using Willpower for Dexterity, Essence for Strength, and Occult for the ability. May keep up a number of objects equal to Essence held aloft at once. Must control a clinch to hold people aloft.
SpellCircleCostTargetEffects
Slave-Spawn SummonsEmerald10+mOne first circle demonSummon and bind a first circle demon, instilling it with an invulnerable Intimacy of terrified awe towards the caster for the duration of binding. Cast at sunset with one Shape Emerald Circle Sorcery action. May not be cast in the Underworld.
-0□6 hours rest
-1□□2 days rest
-2□□□□□4 days rest
-4□□2 weeks rest
Incapacitated□2 weeks rest
Dying□□□2 weeks rest
PossessionsVicar's outfit, brass shoes, firmin-needle utility knife, rudimentary clay amulet hearthstone setting, traveller's buff jacket
ArtifactsNone.
ManseThe Glass Governance Cathedral, spires of silver glass rising in the middle of the Demon City where the sands of the desert Cecelyne blow in. The Cecelyne-aspected manse dominates the environment of Malfeas within, forming a boundary that limits even the chaos caused by Cecelyne's Yozi kin. Altars to the Endless Desert within aid in attuning oneself to the essence of Cecelyne, reducing the cost of spells cast through the Sorcerous Enlightenment of Cecelyne by 10m or half their mote cost rounded up, whichever is lower, and adding the manse's rating to the caster's effective Essence score for determining effects. Comfort Zone (2cp), Rainbow Tabernacle (4cp).
HearthstoneThe Orb of Natural Right, a glass sphere which distorts any light that passes through it, containing shifting grains of silver sand. When attuned to the hearthstone while summoning demons, the bearer may replace a number of dice equal to his permanent Essence with automatic successes on his first roll to bind the demon.
Join Battle/Debate2Parry DV (Unarmed)2
Parry MDV5Parry DV (Telekinesis)5
Dodge MDV6Dodge DV4
Natural Soak3/2/0Armor Soak4/3/3
Total Soak7/5/3Pierced Soak5/3/1
AttackSpeedAccuracyDamageRateRangeDefenseTags
Punch532B3-2N
Kick525B2-0N
Clinch622B1--NCP
Telekinetic strike5123B3105N
Telekinetic blade*5123L3105NP
Telekinetic clinch6123B110-NCP
*Telekinetic blades inflict aggravated damage to creatures of the Wyld.
AttackSpeedCharismatic AccuracyManipulative AccuracyRateCharismatic DefenseManipulative Defense
Presence437223
Performance659134
Investigation5610235
Nellens Takuma was born to functionary parents at the satrapy of Greyfalls, patricians of House Nellens who had no reason to expect one of their thin-blooded eggs to hatch. There was relatively little concern over the boy being kept at the satrapy and trained at a primary school there rather than sent back to the Blessed Isle and groomed for potential greater things. And indeed, greater things did not seem to be in the cards for young Takuma. He was an exceptionally soft-hearted child, unprepared for the harsh life of a Dynastic scion, even one who had lessened expectations placed on his shoulders. The other children of the Realm would strike Takuma, spit venom on his parentage, and wheel past him in the dealings of Realm society, and though he was hurt, he would not fight back, and feared to stand up for himself. If anyone ever stood up for Takuma, it was just one other local Dynastic girl who would defend him and try to encourage him, and soon he had only one friend against the world. When she turned fifteen, Cathak Lunira disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and then he didn't have one.
Still, Takuma was a devoted young man. He read the precepts of the Immaculate Faith and adhered to them with great devotion, to the point where local immaculate monks would sometimes reproach and shame Dynastic locals for unbecoming behavior by saying they should emulate the Nellens boy; a handful believed he was destined for Exaltation despite his thin blood. His feeling of responsibility was great, and while he did not study for his functionary future with unusual vigor, he did study with unusual sincerity. He sought out and interacted with the native populace in dialogue rather than command, and though his will was not unusually strong, his heart was. All who reached out to Nellens Takuma received a hand to help them.
Takuma therefore lived, if not a life free of strife, a life with which he was mostly satisfied, until the arrival of Peleps Deled. The Wyld Hunt was passing through at the time, on the trail of Anathema rumored to be moving out from the Hundred Kingdoms, and the notorious Brother Deled was among them. The Anathema was not suspected to be in Greyfalls, but Deled found other offenses in minor divergences between his own interpretation of the Immaculate Faith and the local monastery's. Takuma had come to study and meditate on the dragons, but instead he saw before his eyes as Brother Deled's words became heated until he struck the local abbot. He reached out his hand to no effect as Deled's strikes grew more grievous. An invisible presence in the vicinity knew then what the boy could have done. His sincerity was great enough that it could have touched the heart of Peleps Deled, leading to a level of contrition that would ripple outward. But Deled was terrifying, and Takuma weak. When he spoke, the words barely came out, and Deled's barking for him to shut up and go on cowed him. He stared, throat devoid of words, and then ran from the monastery. Deled struck several more people before his fury passed, and his first victim died of his wounds. The scandal echoed outward. The Dynasts of Greyfalls were shocked and the natives enraged, certainly, but even as far away as Chiaroscuro, hearts hardened in response. More arguments spread through the immaculate community. Unrest grew and hatred stirred.
Takuma couldn't rest thereafter. His dreams replayed the incident over and over, and cloudy whispers told him he could have done something. He should have done something. They would whisper to him each night in more clarity, until he found himself remembering conversations with the voice attached to his memory. It told him he had a potential that could be unlocked, a power he could exercise to encourage harmony and right living, so that no rogue madmen like Peleps Deled would pollute the body of Creation. It told him that he had missed his chance, but that he was blessed, for he was being given another: take it now, and spread harmony throughout Creation, or refuse it, and be consigned to ignominy, his kindnesses forever outpaced by the cruelty of his peers. One night, a feeling of emptiness and futility spread out across his heart, and he despaired. He rose from the middle of his dream and said "yes," and was enveloped in clouds.
Takuma's memories following that are foggy, filled with strange portents and bizarre experiences. It wasn't long, though, before he was taken to Malfeas, and he understood fully what he was. He had taken the devil's bargain; he was Anathema. And yet he saw something new in the alien landscapes before him, as he was drowned in spiritual communion with She Who Lives in Her Name. They were demons, yes. They often did terrible things. But he saw now that they were living things, first and foremost, and in pain. In their torments, they thrashed about, and they did not know how to respond to the world around them any longer. The Yozis and all their lesser emanations and progeny preyed on victims to alleviate their own victimhoods. Then he knew, even as he was damned and his soul condemned, that he could still do good. Nellens Takuma had lost his redemption, but gained the redemption of something greater, if only he could figure to accomplish it. In two years now he has set to study, unusually sincere if not unusually vigorous, to a great undertaking: to heal the Yozis, free them from pain, and teach them the love and understanding that their creation, humanity, knows. He has presented the plan to his fellow denizens of Hell as a means by which to expand the Yozis' purviews and therefore, rather than transform Creation into something that is no longer enough like Creation to keep the Yozis out, transform the Yozis into something that is no longer enough like the Yozis to keep them bound within themselves. It is a wear on his spirit, and he knows not yet whether he can accomplish the task before him. But he knows it is the right thing to do, and that is, at least, comfort.
NameNellens Takuma, Trapped Fire
ConceptEndlessly kind bureaucrat turned fallen savior
DescriptionA 23-year-old young man in a vicar's outfit who sweats clouds.
MotivationJoin all living things, including the Yozis, in empathy and love.
UrgeMaster the nature of the Yozis in order to cause them to transcend the oaths sworn on their natures.
IntimaciesLoving all living things●●
Shepherding the Yozis from themselves and others●●
The welfare of Greyfalls●●
Causing no undue harm●●
The memory of Cathak Lunira●●
LanguagesHigh Realm, Riverspeak, Old Realm
CasteDefiler
Patron YoziShe Who Lives in Her Name
Favored YoziCecelyne
AnimaOne hundred and eight globes resembling those of She Who Lives in Her Name, containing green-white fire.
Experience0 unspent/0 total
Essence●●●○○○○○○○
Personal Pool16/16
Peripheral Pool35/38
Respiration Rate6m/hr from hearthstone, 4m/hr relaxed or 8m/hr resting, extra 1wp per night's sleep
Willpower●●●●●●●○○○
■■■■■■■
Compassion●●●●●Conviction●●○○○Temperance●●○○○Valor●○○○○
■■■■■■■■■■
Primary VirtueCompassion
Abscissic PlatesApplicable at zero Willpower once per scene. The Ecstatic: gain Limit when observing others attempting to fulfill great passions. The Functionary: gain Limit when circumstances interfere with one's obsessions.
TormentCurse of Cecelyne: Roll Essence. Takuma and any unwanted Intimacies are scourged with silver sand and suffer lethal damage equal to the number of successes, soakable only with natural soak or non-Infernal Charms.
Limit□□□□□□□□□□
Strength●●○○○Charisma●●●○○Perception●●●●●
Dexterity●●○○○Manipulation●●●●● ●Intelligence●●●●●
Stamina●●●○○Appearance●●○○○Wits●○○○○
Archery○○○○○Integrity●●●○○Craft○○○○○Athletics○○○○○Bureaucracy●●●●○
Martial Arts○○○○○Performance●●○○○Investigation●●●○○Awareness●○○○○Linguistics●●●○○
Melee●○○○○Presence●●●○○Lore●●●○○Dodge●●●○○Ride○○○○○
Thrown○○○○○Resistance●○○○○Medicine○○○○○Larceny○○○○○Sail○○○○○
War○○○○○Survival○○○○○Occult●●●●●Stealth○○○○○Socialize●●●●○
Awareness (Social Politics)●○○Performance (Trenchant Arguments)●○○
Linguistics (Old Realm Malfean Dialect)●○○
Artifact●●●○○A demon ink tattoo of a chrysogona's mask over his heart.
Backing●○○○○Low-level ranking in the lawmaking order of the Endless Desert.
Cult●○○○○Reverence provided by a Yozi cult on a gate of inauspicious passage in an eastern swamp.
Influence●○○○○Importance afforded by the mission to free the Yozis.
Manse●●●○○The Glass Governance Cathedral, a Cecelyne-aspected manse in the Demon City.
Past Lives●●○○○The memories of the First Age sorceress Salina.
Resources●○○○○Limited skill in bartering materials between Malfeas and Creation.
Savant●○○○○Instinctive familiarity with First Age lore flowing from Salina's memories.
CharmYoziMinCostTypeDurationKeywordsEffects
Hardened Devil BodyMalfeas1-PermanentAlwaysStackableAdds three -2 health levels and one -1 health level.
First Cecelyne ExcellencyCecelyne11m/dieReflexive (1/2)InstantCombo-OKAdd dice up to (Attribute+Ability) or (Trait+Essence) to a roll resonating with the nature of Cecelyne.
Sorcerous Enlightenment of CecelyneCecelyne3-PermanentAlwaysSorcerousEnables Shape Emerald Circle Sorcery actions. Reduce the cost of spells to summon, bind or banish servitors by 10m+1wp, to a minimum of 5m+1wp. May not cast spells that shape wood or create edible food or potable water.
Factual Determination AnalysisHer Name22mReflexiveInstantCombo-OKDetermine whether a statement was intended to deceive through falsehood or omission.
Essence-Dissecting StareHer Name23mSimpleOne hourCombo-BasicSee immaterial. Treat all Charms as Obvious. Sense artifacts, demesnes, manses, and beings with Essence 4+.
Counter-Conceptual InterpositionHer Name25m+Reflexive (2)InstantCombo-OK, Obvious, ShapingReshape reality and conjure suitable phenomena to perfectly parry any attack. Add a 5m surcharge against unfamiliar Charms or Combos.
Mind-Hand ManipulationHer Name2/310mSimpleIndefiniteCombo-OK, Obvious, SorcerousEnable telekinesis, using Willpower for Dexterity, Essence for Strength, and Occult for the ability. May keep up a number of objects equal to Essence held aloft at once. Must control a clinch to hold people aloft.
SpellCircleCostTargetEffects
Slave-Spawn SummonsEmerald10+mOne first circle demonSummon and bind a first circle demon, instilling it with an invulnerable Intimacy of terrified awe towards the caster for the duration of binding. Cast at sunset with one Shape Emerald Circle Sorcery action. May not be cast in the Underworld.
-0□6 hours rest
-1□□2 days rest
-2□□□□□4 days rest
-4□□2 weeks rest
Incapacitated□2 weeks rest
Dying□□□2 weeks rest
PossessionsVicar's outfit, brass shoes, firmin-needle utility knife, rudimentary clay amulet hearthstone setting, traveller's buff jacket
ArtifactsNone.
ManseThe Glass Governance Cathedral, spires of silver glass rising in the middle of the Demon City where the sands of the desert Cecelyne blow in. The Cecelyne-aspected manse dominates the environment of Malfeas within, forming a boundary that limits even the chaos caused by Cecelyne's Yozi kin. Altars to the Endless Desert within aid in attuning oneself to the essence of Cecelyne, reducing the cost of spells cast through the Sorcerous Enlightenment of Cecelyne by 10m or half their mote cost rounded up, whichever is lower, and adding the manse's rating to the caster's effective Essence score for determining effects. Comfort Zone (2cp), Rainbow Tabernacle (4cp).
HearthstoneThe Orb of Natural Right, a glass sphere which distorts any light that passes through it, containing shifting grains of silver sand. When attuned to the hearthstone while summoning demons, the bearer may replace a number of dice equal to his permanent Essence with automatic successes on his first roll to bind the demon.
Join Battle/Debate2Parry DV (Unarmed)2
Parry MDV5Parry DV (Telekinesis)5
Dodge MDV6Dodge DV4
Natural Soak3/2/0Armor Soak4/3/3
Total Soak7/5/3Pierced Soak5/3/1
AttackSpeedAccuracyDamageRateRangeDefenseTags
Punch532B3-2N
Kick525B2-0N
Clinch622B1--NCP
Telekinetic strike5123B3105N
Telekinetic blade*5123L3105NP
Telekinetic clinch6123B110-NCP
*Telekinetic blades inflict aggravated damage to creatures of the Wyld.
AttackSpeedCharismatic AccuracyManipulative AccuracyRateCharismatic DefenseManipulative Defense
Presence437223
Performance659134
Investigation5610235
Nellens Takuma was born to functionary parents at the satrapy of Greyfalls, patricians of House Nellens who had no reason to expect one of their thin-blooded eggs to hatch. There was relatively little concern over the boy being kept at the satrapy and trained at a primary school there rather than sent back to the Blessed Isle and groomed for potential greater things. And indeed, greater things did not seem to be in the cards for young Takuma. He was an exceptionally soft-hearted child, unprepared for the harsh life of a Dynastic scion, even one who had lessened expectations placed on his shoulders. The other children of the Realm would strike Takuma, spit venom on his parentage, and wheel past him in the dealings of Realm society, and though he was hurt, he would not fight back, and feared to stand up for himself. If anyone ever stood up for Takuma, it was just one other local Dynastic girl who would defend him and try to encourage him, and soon he had only one friend against the world. When she turned fifteen, Cathak Lunira disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and then he didn't have one.
Still, Takuma was a devoted young man. He read the precepts of the Immaculate Faith and adhered to them with great devotion, to the point where local immaculate monks would sometimes reproach and shame Dynastic locals for unbecoming behavior by saying they should emulate the Nellens boy; a handful believed he was destined for Exaltation despite his thin blood. His feeling of responsibility was great, and while he did not study for his functionary future with unusual vigor, he did study with unusual sincerity. He sought out and interacted with the native populace in dialogue rather than command, and though his will was not unusually strong, his heart was. All who reached out to Nellens Takuma received a hand to help them.
Takuma therefore lived, if not a life free of strife, a life with which he was mostly satisfied, until the arrival of Peleps Deled. The Wyld Hunt was passing through at the time, on the trail of Anathema rumored to be moving out from the Hundred Kingdoms, and the notorious Brother Deled was among them. The Anathema was not suspected to be in Greyfalls, but Deled found other offenses in minor divergences between his own interpretation of the Immaculate Faith and the local monastery's. Takuma had come to study and meditate on the dragons, but instead he saw before his eyes as Brother Deled's words became heated until he struck the local abbot. He reached out his hand to no effect as Deled's strikes grew more grievous. An invisible presence in the vicinity knew then what the boy could have done. His sincerity was great enough that it could have touched the heart of Peleps Deled, leading to a level of contrition that would ripple outward. But Deled was terrifying, and Takuma weak. When he spoke, the words barely came out, and Deled's barking for him to shut up and go on cowed him. He stared, throat devoid of words, and then ran from the monastery. Deled struck several more people before his fury passed, and his first victim died of his wounds. The scandal echoed outward. The Dynasts of Greyfalls were shocked and the natives enraged, certainly, but even as far away as Chiaroscuro, hearts hardened in response. More arguments spread through the immaculate community. Unrest grew and hatred stirred.
Takuma couldn't rest thereafter. His dreams replayed the incident over and over, and cloudy whispers told him he could have done something. He should have done something. They would whisper to him each night in more clarity, until he found himself remembering conversations with the voice attached to his memory. It told him he had a potential that could be unlocked, a power he could exercise to encourage harmony and right living, so that no rogue madmen like Peleps Deled would pollute the body of Creation. It told him that he had missed his chance, but that he was blessed, for he was being given another: take it now, and spread harmony throughout Creation, or refuse it, and be consigned to ignominy, his kindnesses forever outpaced by the cruelty of his peers. One night, a feeling of emptiness and futility spread out across his heart, and he despaired. He rose from the middle of his dream and said "yes," and was enveloped in clouds.
Takuma's memories following that are foggy, filled with strange portents and bizarre experiences. It wasn't long, though, before he was taken to Malfeas, and he understood fully what he was. He had taken the devil's bargain; he was Anathema. And yet he saw something new in the alien landscapes before him, as he was drowned in spiritual communion with She Who Lives in Her Name. They were demons, yes. They often did terrible things. But he saw now that they were living things, first and foremost, and in pain. In their torments, they thrashed about, and they did not know how to respond to the world around them any longer. The Yozis and all their lesser emanations and progeny preyed on victims to alleviate their own victimhoods. Then he knew, even as he was damned and his soul condemned, that he could still do good. Nellens Takuma had lost his redemption, but gained the redemption of something greater, if only he could figure to accomplish it. In two years now he has set to study, unusually sincere if not unusually vigorous, to a great undertaking: to heal the Yozis, free them from pain, and teach them the love and understanding that their creation, humanity, knows. He has presented the plan to his fellow denizens of Hell as a means by which to expand the Yozis' purviews and therefore, rather than transform Creation into something that is no longer enough like Creation to keep the Yozis out, transform the Yozis into something that is no longer enough like the Yozis to keep them bound within themselves. It is a wear on his spirit, and he knows not yet whether he can accomplish the task before him. But he knows it is the right thing to do, and that is, at least, comfort.