Cynis Kozen

“Quote”

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Aspect: - Fire Anima: - A corona of flames igniting into a scarlet crane
Concept: -
Motivation: - To reduce the suffering of the common man in the Realm
XP total: 75 , XP unspent: 37 ,


= History =

On the Blessed Isle there are many children born in the Dynastic famillies who never exalt despite the hopes placed in them that they do. Cynis Kozen was not one of these children. Born the illegitimate son to a manager of one of House Cynis' public establishments in Pangu, following a drunken encounter with his father Cynis Rathas. Rathas likely never even knew his son existed and if he did certainly hoped he would never take the second breath lest his scandal be found out. The Dragons, it would seem, had other plans. Not only did Kozen exalt, he did so at such a time as his father had chosen to visit the establishment again with his Sworn Brotherhood, who instantly noticed the simillarity to Rathas, both physically and in his anima manifestation. Rathas had little choice but to file for adoption of the boy. Kozen's mother was paid a substantial stipend in exchange for her son, given to his good strength of blood a fact made obvious by his relatively young age of Exaltation at 14, she currently enjoys a luxurious life off the back of well placed investments of the stipend although has not seen her son since and is nearing the end of her days.

Kozen managed to adjust quickly to the dynastic lifestyle having received rudimentary schooling (albeit at a much lower level than his new family) and was already well-versed in the high classed social etiquette having served Dynasts of House Cynis as long as he could remember. In fact one of his tutors, his new uncle Cynis Arakku, remembered him from the earlier life and developed a strong bond with the boy treating him more like a son than Rathas. Arakku was the main influence on Kozen's early life and arranged for the marriage between Kozen and Arakku's, then unexalted, daughter, Aiaka.

Arakku trained Kozen in the Dynastic ways of Gateway, poetry, statecraft, playing the sanxian, sampling tea (and later wine) as well as most rudimentary armed combat. However his uncle always reminded Kozen of the importance of fellowship and alliances, "The best swordsman cannot win against the 10,000 dragons, but the worst cannot lose if they are with him." As such Kozen has done his best not to anger other dynasts and is held in largely good stead because of it. Unfortunately he has been unable to win over his birth father, whose hatred has intensified over the years as only one of his three other children has Exalted (and has become more of a problem to House Cynis than anything else).

Given Kozen's talent for Gateway and spear fighting Arakku suggested that Kozen seek a place in the House of Bells at the age of twenty. It was here that Kozen first encountered Tepet Lisara and learned more from her about the actual workings of the Realm than he'd ever been taught. While at first the two were friends, Kozen quickly tired of Lisara's self-important attitude. Her use of blackmail and sexual favours in order to succeed only served to sicken Kozen further. It was at this point that Kozen began to doubt the Mandate of the Dragons and questioned whether the Terrestrial Exalted really were fit to rule. Having now seen in full that the chosen of the Dragons were capable of being just as petty, spiteful and selfish as any mortal, Kozen began to question the Immaculate Philosophy and wonder if the power they held really qualified the Dragon-Blooded to rule over Creation, as they clearly were not the infallible bastions of virtue the common man was made to believe. At the very least Kozen knew that he couldn't complete his course at the House of Bells knowing that the progress of Tepet Lisara would sicken him to watch.

On returning to Pangu Kozen confided in Arakku the worries that plagued him. For a long time his uncle was silent then warned his nephew; "do not mention any of this again." House Cynis was not overly concerned about the dropout from the House of Bells as soldiery was rarely the choice of it's Dynasts anyway. Instead Kozen spent some years travelling the Realm and Threshold with Arakku and other members of House Cynis learning the "House Trade", so that if he would not be a conquering general he could at least host a gala worthy of one. Dealing with the pirates attacking the Cynis trade ships on the Inland Sea Kozen encountered Lightning Shark. Shark was a pirate who attacked the ship Kozen was sailing in and the two met in single combat. Impressed by how fearless Shark was in engaging a dragon-blood Kozen spared his life. Shark has since accompanied Kozen in his travels assissting him with the former pirate's knowledge of the less reputable areas of creation's port cities as well as opening certain paths that would be closed to the dragon blood (sometimes quite literally).

Since those days Kozen returned to the Blessed Isle where he took a more political path. He also began to make his plans to marry Aiaka, who had since joined the Legions like her father before and was becoming a promising Special Forces agent. However the plans were abruptly postponed as both received the news of Arakku's death in the northern campaign against the Bull of the North. Kozen was angered greatly to find that his uncle had been under the direct command of his old schoolfriend Tepet Lisara. Now convinced that the Realm is corrupted throughout he has become even more active in the push for change. To this end Kozen believes that one of the most likely sources of this change is to be found in the Roseblack and is backing Nellens Poramo's movement to support her return. However Kozen is willing to consider even more extreme change for the Realm in order to bring about change for the greater good, even if they border on the Blasphemous. Kozen mentioned this to Aiaka who, also embittered by the means of her father's death, surprised her husband to be and agreed fully. However before they are willing to act on these extreme ideas the two have been roaming the Threshold trying to garner support, progress has been slow but there have been some Dynasts of House Cynis who may not be wholly opposed to the notion…

++++Every Daiklave Has a Story

Lashing Dragon's Tongue

Crafted in RY359 for the Realm General Harak Morus also known as the Supple Spear. He acquired this nickname on account of his refusal to use any spear other than those crafted from the flexible bamboo of his native Juche prefecture claiming that the lack of flexibility in the weapon would be too great a disadvantage. For this reason he never carried an artifact weapon into battle despite the insistence of his peers. Once, while on a campaign he encountered one of the Lunar Exalted and was intrigued by the fluid form of its weapons. Harak managed to disarm his opponent of the moonsilver blade and force his retreat. He handed this weapon to his friend Ledaal, the Empress' daughter and famous sorceress. Ledaal studied the nature of the moonsilver in detail and with aid from her sidereal advisors was able to infuse trace elements of the flowing metal into the haft of a red Jade Direlance infused with a small amount of green Jade to emulate the woden nature of the bamboo. Aside from the increased flexibility Ledaal noted that the haft was able to shorten to the length of a sword hilt allowing the weapon to be worn at the belt if desired. She finally presented this new weapon to Harak who was delighted by the fluidity of the spear and carried it on all his campaigns.

When the Supple Spear died he left his beloved weapon, which he named Lashing Dragon's Tongue, to his son, Voruk, who married the granddaughter of Cynis Falen. He in turn left the weapon to his grandson Cynis Arakku, his only direct descendant in the legion. Arakku bore the weapon when he fought in the Northern Campaign alongside the Tepet Legions and on his death the weapon was returned to his family and, as Arakku had wished presented to his nephew and student Cynis Kozen.

Wild Reveller's Chalice

When Cynis Belar Rokujai set up his information gathering prostitution service [sidenote: official fluff] he realised the importance of "in Vinum Veratis". He understood that pillowtalk comes much more easily with a little wine. Wine is however a sociable thing and he needed a way to get his customers drunk without getting drunk himself. To this end he commissioned a number of these green jade inlaid drinking goblets from house sorcerers. Since their inception they have become quite popular within house Cynis both among Rokujai's courtesan-spies and with regular Scions who want to enjoy as much of their week-long orgies as possible by curbing their inebriation.

Smoke crested Waves

In his time in the Threshold Kozen encountered many Dragon-Blooded. Not all were from the realm and not all were friendly. In one incident he had the misfortune to encounter the dreaded Linthan pirates during his time serving with the Wood Fleet. The ship which attacked his own was captained by one of the outcaste dragons. Kozen assumed his enemy to be unaccustomed to ship-board combat due to his choice of heavy armour. However the jade armour posed no obstacle for his opponent who moved as lightly as unarmoured after a long hard fought battle Kozen eventually defeated the Linthan. He took his opponents armour as his prize and resized it to fit himself. The resizing however involved stripping away most of the reinforced breastplate leaving only the core breastplate and bracers. Kozen found that this suited him more anyway and retained these items as a momento of his first proper fight with another Exalt.


= Attributes =

Mental Attributes
Intelligence: 2, Wits: 3, Perception: 2

Physical Attributes
Strength: 3, Dexterity: 3, Stamina: 3

Social Attributes:
Appearance: 4, Manipulation: 3, Charisma: 3


= Abilities =

*Linguistics: 3…………Awareness: 2…………….*Athletics: 3
Lore: 2………………….Craft:……………………..*Dodge: 4
Occult:………………..*Integrity: 3………………*Melee: 4
Stealth:……………….. Resistance: 2……………*Presence: 3
Thrown:…………………War: 1……………………*Socialise: 5

Bureaucracy: 2…………Archery: 1
Investigation: 2………..Medicine:
Larceny: 2…………….*Performance: 3
Martial Arts: 1………….Ride: 1
Sail:……………………..Survival:

Specialities:

Social (High Society) +1
Social (When drink is involved) +1
Melee Duels +1
Linguistics (High Realm)


= Backgrounds =

Dynastic Manse: 1
Destiny: 2
Allies: 1 (Aiaka)
Breeding: 2
Artefact: 3
Resources: 4
Retainers: 1
Henchmen: 1 (Shark)
Connections (House Cynis): 2
Connections (Deliberative): 2


= Essence and Virtues =

Compassion: 3 / Conviction: 2 / Temperance: 2 / Valour: 2

Virtue flaw - Fiery Compassion

Willpower: 7

Essence:

Rating: 3 = Personal: 12/12 Peripheral: 16/27 Committed: 9

Anima Effect: Can ignite with a touch and all people touching take essence damage


= Unique features =


= Status and Equipment =

Artefacts:

- Jade Direlance
- Jade Hearthstone Bracers
- Wild Reveller's Chalice
- Jade Breastplate

Heartstone and Manse:

-The Monkey Stone (set into bracers) - Level 2 Wood - reduces balance climbing and jumping difficulties by 2 and dounbles climb speed and jump distance.

Other items:

-
-

Defences:

Dodge D.V = 7
Parry D.V. = 5
Mental D.V = 6

Health and soak:

Soak: 8L/7B


= Charms =

1st Socialise Excellency - 1M/2Dice
Sweeten the Tap - 2M Makes any drink much better and decreases all Socialise targets by 1 for a scene
2nd Socialise Excellency - 2M/success
Brother Against Brother Insinuation- 4M 1Wp (Mainpulation + Socialise) vs. Dodge MDV (essence in auto success) turns someone against another person
Effortlessly Rising Flame - 1M get up immediately or +2 to athletics for jumping
Dragon-Graced Blade - 1M +4L and weapon is on fire
1st Dodge Excellency - 1M/2Dice
Safety Among Enemies - 3M 1Wp Redirect attack to another target if dodge DV is greater than 1/2 enemy attack pool


= Dice Pool cheat sheet =

Damage Spd 3 Acc: 9 Def: 5 Damage: 11L/16L Rate: 2


= Play style =


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