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View Full Version : Grade-A-Backstory, Exalted Edition



Leliel
2010-08-18, 10:03 PM
Anyway, this is my first Loyalist Green Sun Prince character, and for him, I wanted a "trickster priest"-type character that could very easily be a hero or a villain if he so chose. Think Coyote from Native American myth, with the potential to evolve into Raven as he learns wisdom and understanding.

Well, that, and I wanted to create a character who's driving motivation is "Stick it to Chejop Kejack". Since I don't have Sidereals, well, I made someone he literally cannot see coming. Outside of Fate, and all that.

Because I like writing backstories IC, here's the scene where Yeshen accepted the Second Breath.

...Yeshen.

I looked up from the desk I had immersed myself in, trying desperately to forget the deed I had failed to prevent. I could have sworn someone was calling my name...

Yeshen Tabranni of An-Teng...

As I still could. I had been trained to recognize the voice of a dematerialized spirit since my apprenticeship in the temple. ...Y-yes? Is someone there?

"...May I be your guest? For a time?"

I paled a little at that, as I knew the wards had been set to ward out children of the dark. Which meant...

But then I realized something-for the moment, I didn't care. "So long as you obey by the laws of hospitality, demon. Ghost. Whatever. Dragons know this place can't be defiled any more."

"I wouldn't dream of it." The air around me began to shimmer, followed soon by a tongue of silver flame erupting at the doorway, which flared and then coalesced into an almost painfully beautiful Southern woman, dressed as a dancer.

"A gilmyne, I presume. Sent by some dark power to convince me to turn my back on the Immaculate path, now that I doubt it's doctrine?" I half-asked, more bitterly amused then fearful.

The Dancer at the Saigoth Gates cocked her mirror-body's head, looking innocently amused. "Hm, perhaps. Assuming you wish to listen to what my mistress has to say. But first, she said, striding over to a spare chair and pulling it up, "Why don't you tell me about you first? We First Circles do love individual stories, seeing as how rare they are in our City."

I decided to amuse her for a bit. For right now, I needed one who wouldn't judge my actions, even if it was a spirit who had permitted much worse. Very well then, spirit...

"I am Yeshen Tabranni, born to a family of priests in An-Teng, to Bi'nh and Bao Tabranni. From my youth, it was quite clear that I was a shy one, almost phobic of most social situations, but also that I had an eidetic memory, and a hyperlexic knack for even the most obtuse texts in the temple. The Immaculate monks quickly noticed this in their rounds of us potential apprentices, and I was chosen for training as a scribe and scholar. From there, I was indoctrinated and taught in the ways of the Order by my master, and by the time I entered puberty, I fully believed in it's teachings. The path of reincarnation. The mandate of Anathema. The need to remain in one's station. The supremacy of the Dragon-Blooded.

"Such was my faith and life. I would never have dreamed of anything more.

"Up until my twenty-sixth birthday, my life was, shall we say, fairly unremarkable for an An-Tengi of the scholarly persuasion. True, I have many memories of that time, but if you were to ask around, you would find many variations on the same theme-hopes of being recognized by the visiting Dragon-Bloods, devotion and care for our families-those sorts of memories.

"But one day, one month to the day after my twenty-sixth year, what I thought was a gift from the gods came to my door-I was indeed recognized by a Dynast...of House Cynis. I had heard of their infamous hedonism, but I managed to convince myself that Zanin and his house were somehow slighted by a loud minority. My family had indeed once told me that my tendency to see the best in people is both my greatest strength...and my ultimate weakness. I understand what they meant, now.


"I was ensconced as one of Zanin's personal record-keepers, so as to keep a tally of his activities and sort through his paperwork. While I was never the most perceptive person in the world-I'm notoriously scatterbrained when it comes to things outside of my interests and work-I began to notice that a lot of my paperwork seemed...well, shady. Some parts of it were missing, others conflicted directly with what I knew. I kept my mouth shut-best not to insult those above me by acting outside my station-but I began to investigate. If I am to be a scribe, best to know exactly what I am scribing, yes?

"I have no shame in saying that what I found was like a rotten onion, with every layer revealing a deeper level of corruption and debauchery.

"Unless this is your first time in our world, you know many of the stories-brother-sister incest, treating subjects like sexual toys, casual abuse of servants-the more I read, the more I believed this was the norm amidst the house, not the exception. Not Zanin, though-he seemed to believe in a far more subtle cruelty, a psychological and emotional torture that left his victims broken wrecks who emotionally depended on him for validation. Willing slaves, their chains a broken heart. The worst kind of slavery, in my opinion-however a necessary evil it may be, willfully, enthralling oneself to a cruel master because one tries to convince himself he is kind...it makes my stomach churn.

"I don't remember the exact time and date I realized I needed to stop this, but one day, not but a week ago, I confronted Zanin about it. Etiquette or not, this inhumanity needed to stop.

"He...didn't listen."

At this point, the gilmyne raised her hand and gestured for me to stop.

"You're not telling me something. I can hear it in your voice.


I was suddenly silenced, caught in the act.

"Hm. Your face shows me truth. There was something else, wasn't there?

Frozen, I mouthed wordlessly.

"No matter. I've seen it before, in Hell.

"He didn't just ignore you, did he? He grew insulted that you called out his actions. A servant should obey without question or pause, and you did neither.

"So he confronted you with...what? Family? No? Loyalty? No. Faith...Ah." She leaned in closer to me. "He questioned your devotion to the Immaculate Texts."

"...Yes. I blinked back a couple tears as the memory came back. "He said that if I was truly a good student of the monks, I would have known that the Dragon-Bloods are inherently blessed by the gods. He said that no matter how debauched that his actions may look like from the outside, that his inherent superiority blessed him with grace and freedom in whatever he chose. By daring to even think that he was somehow in error, I was showing my own inner wickedness and hubris. And I believed him.

"But he wasn't done yet, was he? You needed to be taught a lesson."

I chocked a bit.

"I've looked at your memories. This temple was prominent in it. My guess is...it was where you were taught your trade."

Wordlessly, I nodded

"He used his connections to ensure the monks were all away this night. He then gathered some of his house for one of their parties, and forced you to come. He then sent for someone important to you-who was it? Sister? Wife?...Oh. She looked genuinely empathetic, her own face showing a bit of shock. "Mother."

I nodded.

"And they made you watch."

I didn't need to nod. By this point, my tears were enough.

The gilmyne edged over to me, hesitantly placing her hand on my shoulder. After a few minutes of silence, she hesitantly spoke "We demons don't have families, as mortals know it. But...I do feel love for the gilmyne who formed my parent-fire, and if someone did whatever Zanin did to your mother to one of them...I can understand."

Suddenly, I whipped around and knocked her hand off me. "What do you understand, Dancer? Your gods are monsters. You expect their tenants to be unfair and cruel. Whereas for me; I seethed, feeling rage and anger consume my heart, My gods preach kindness and duty, and yet, they allow the Dragon-Bloods to violate and destroy mortals whenever they please, while we toil beneath them, praising them as holiness made flesh! HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTAND!?"

She chuckled a bit at my outburst-but not malevolently. "I'm sorry. It's just that you reacted the way exactly as the mistress said you would to the Maiden's Lie."

I stopped. "What do you mean?"

She got up and walked over to the door to the main temple. "Since you would not believe me otherwise, I am informed this temple has prayer strips devoted to keeping demons honest...?"

I got them out from my old desk, and handed them to her.

"Convenient. Very well-what if I told you that the gods' will, as the Immaculates state it, is not what you think it is...?"

One could almost hear my world shattering as I learned the complete story of the "Anathema". How they were created by Autocthon, the traitorous brother of the Titans, and gifted to the disgruntled Celestial Incarna. How, under free reign, they created a world of wonders and terrors, where they were free to do as they wished. How the Terrestrials and the Sidereals, afraid of the world being destroyed by the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, conspired to kill them and trap the source of their powers in a Jade Prison. And, most importantly, how the original transcriber of the Immaculate Texts was none other then the leader of the dominant faction of Anathema he had told us to hate, a cold-blooded mastermind too obsessed with his own power to actually care for the Fate of the mortals he was supposed to protect.

She stopped after she told me of Kejack, allowing what she said to sink into my disbelieving mind. Slowly, I got out a bronze talisman that my mother had given to me many years ago, showing the Maidens' stars arranged in the heavens. Almost without hearing myself, I asked: "I suppose this is the part where you tempt me into service of the Yozis."

"From a certain point of view. But I think of it as a call to justice for you and all those fooled by Chejop." It was then that I noticed silver sand, glowing with power, swimming beneath the skin of her form.

"You see, it was not through the gods that the Exaltations were freed from the Prison. Rather, it was the infinite schemes of the Ebon Dragon, most whole of the Yozis, that broke it open, with him taking fifty of them for the true masters of this world. Of these, ten were gifted to my mistress, Cecelyne, the First Judge. I contain one of these Second Breaths, transformed into a form loyal to what should have been it's rightful master-the power of the Malefactors, the prophets of the Endless Desert.

"While I will be the first to admit that Cecelyne is a god-monster, she is an honest and magnificent god-monster, endlessly devoted to her many worshipers and acolytes, judging each prayer for aide without bias or prejudice. Her laws, while elitist and biased in favor of the strong, are just, honest, and above all, forgiving. If one has true merit, they shall be treated with respect and kindness by her loyal priests, no matter the accidents of their birth or their station. Which is why I have come to you, Tabranni.

"This shard felt the fear and temerity you had in going against the teachings of a false faith, it's tenants chains of lies. But it forgives you, Yeshen, as Cecelyne will if you accept it of your own free will. Just as my mistress shows compassion to all those worthy of it, I ask you, without bias or prejudice, but respect for your mind and potential, to take both me and the Second Breath I carry into your soul, and take your place among the Quartz Bulls of Malfeas. With that most high chair, you shall be given to power to make judgments based upon what you desire to see within a person, rather then what some washed-up Sidereal who hasn't walked Creation since the Shogunate does. With the power of the Desert backing you, even the very Loom of Fate will be at your command, allowing you to gift all those betrayed by the Dragon Bloods with some of her infinite knowledge and power, allowing them to stand up to all those who once laughed at them. And maybe, she said, whispering in my ear, perhaps you shall sit where Kejack sits now, far more fulfilled in your then he ever was, and with adoring crowds praising your every edict."

I could say that I hesitated, but that would be a horrible lie. What I really did was crush my old talisman in my fist, my loathing for everything it represented set in stone. "Your offer is considered and appreciated. Tell me,", I said, tossing the crushed pendant aside, "will 'taking you into me' hurt, or is it some sort of euphemism?"

She laughed, her purpose fulfilled. "Oh, nothing so vulgar. Just breath in slowly..." she said, grasping me in a tight embrace. ...and let my Essence flow over and into you." With that, her mirror-body vanished, revealing a body of silver flame that felt like a suet. Suddenly, I realized what she meant...just before her body enveloped me completely, and my mind went dark.


That backstory doesn't say what happened to him after he came out of the Chrysalis, but let's say he and Florivet could form a club for "Geeks Who Got A Life, And Are Loving Every Second Of It".

So? Good, bad, not worth commenting?