<div class="floatright">(http://pre01.deviantart.net/993d/th/pre/f/2012/195/c/a/legend_of_the_five_rings_female_samurai_by_phantom_cz-d579ozg.jpg)</div>Doji Shizuka<br/><br/>Air 3 Water 3 Fire 2 Earth 1 Void 2<br/><br/>1 Aesthetics<br/>1 Composition<br/>3 Courtesy<br/>2 Culture<br/>1 Design<br/>1 Games<br/>1 Government<br/>1 Martial Arts [Ranged]<br/>1 Meditation<br/>1 Performance<br/>1 Theology<br/><br/>Status 45 Glory 52 Honor 60<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Shallow Waters</div><div class="spoiler_body">Description: The Yasuki family claims to be able to look at anyone and know exactly what they want but will never ask for. Whether or not this boast is true, a good courtier learns to read the desires of those around them from the subtle cues of their responses in conversation, as well as how to probe for details without revealing their intentions.<br/>Prerequisites: School Rank 1 XP Cost: 2<br/>Activation: When you make a Social skill (Water) check targeting a character, you may spend [Opportunity] as follows:<br/>Water [Opportunity]: Learn one material item or worldly experience the<br/>target desires.<br/>Water [Opportunity 2]: Learn the target’s ninjō (see page 22).<br/></div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Lady Doji's Decree</div><div class="spoiler_body">Description: Culture, writing, law: without Doji, Rokugan would have none of these. Propriety and order were of great importance to the founder of the Crane Clan, and along with grace and eloquence. With a word, she was said to defuse the most dangerous situations. Crane Clan courtiers follow in her footsteps, striking at the heart of a matter with their words and transfixing all but the most callous or duplicitous hearts with the demand that they be heard.<br/>Prerequisites: Crane Clan, School Rank 2 XP Cost: 3<br/>Activation: Once per game session as an action, you may make a Courtesy (Void) check targeting a number of characters up to your school rank. The TN of this check is equal to the vigilance of the character with the highest status among your targets.<br/>Effects: If you succeed, your targets cannot perform Attack actions targeting you. This effect persists for one round, plus additional rounds equal to your bonus successes, or until you perform an Attack action.<br/></div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Speaking in Silence (School Ability)</div><div class="spoiler_body">Doji Courtiers are known across Rokugan for the subtlety with which they act, and no other courtier school can express such depths from a single gesture. Without ever breaking their perfect etiquette, the Doji Diplomats ensure that none can forget the grandeur and magnanimity of the Crane Clan, and that every favor they deign to give is returned to the Crane tenfold.<br/>Once per scene when making a check to persuade or influence someone, after Step 5: Choose Kept Dice, you may add a number of kept Ring dice showing results equal to your school rank.</div></div><br/><br/>Starting Outfit: Ceremonial clothes, wakizashi, bow, calligraphy set,<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Traveling Pack</div><div class="spoiler_body"><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>Coin Purse</li><li>Divination Kit (Kawaru Coins)</li><li>Fan</li><li>Shuki (set of one flask and two sake cups)</li><li>Small Hand Mirror</li><li>Small Tent</li><li>Spare Kimono</li><li>Tatami Mat</li><li>Tea Set</li><li>Wicker Umbrella</li></ul></div></div>, pony, 10 koku, ivory chopsticks.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">20 XP spent so far (24 total) - 4xp remaining</div><div class="spoiler_body">Rank 1: 16xp<br/>Fire 2 &gt; 6xp<br/>Courtesy 3 &gt; 6xp<br/>Games 1 &gt; 2xp<br/>Performance 1 &gt; 2xp<br/><br/>Rank 2: 4xp<br/>Government 1 &gt; 2xp<br/>Theology 1 &gt; 2xp<br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">20Q</div><div class="spoiler_body">1. What clan does your character belong to?  Crane<br/>2. What family does your character belong to?  The Doji Family<br/>3. What is your character’s role and school?  Doji Diplomat School [Courtier]<br/><br/>Skill Increases (choose five different skills): +1 Aesthetics, +1 Composition, +1 Courtesy, +1 Culture, +1 Martial Arts [Ranged]<br/><br/>Shūji (choose one): Shallow Waters<br/><br/>4. How does your character stand out within their school?  Self-awareness, insight, or mysticism (+1 Void Ring)<br/>5. What is your character’s duty to their lord?  To maintain peace while ensuring the superiority of her lord's position.<br/>6. What does your character long for?  To someday raise a family and pass on her wisdom.<br/>7. What is your character’s opinion of their clan?  Crane sets the standard of excellence to allow every other Clan to see how it looks, yet must graciously understand that no other Clan has a hope of reaching that standard.  +5 Glory.<br/>8. What does your character think of Bushidō?  If there was anything wrong with it, it would have been discovered centuries ago.  +10 Honor.<br/>9. What is your character’s greatest accomplishment so far?  I don't know if this is even feasible, but negotiating peace between some sort of manifested spirit and a village.  Sixth Sense [Void]<br/>10. What holds your character back the most in life?  Shizuka just can't seem to catch her breath as easily as other people.  Incurable Illness [Earth]<br/>11. What activity makes your character feel at peace?  The future is wonderful and mysterious, but sometimes arrives too slowly.  Fortune-Telling [Void] gives her a sense of belonging within the universe and helps remind her of her place within it.<br/>12. What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?  Shizuka does not fear death from battle, but she does fear mutilation, scars, the loss of her beauty.  Death would be a welcome end if the alternative is living flawed.  Battle Trauma [Fire]<br/>13. Who has your character learned the most from during their life?  Her grandmother Sakura has been an instrumental force throughout her life, teaching her all sorts of things, including how to have a conversation even when her lungs hurt far too much to actually speak.  Subtle Observer [Air]<br/>14. What detail do others find most striking about your character?  Shizuka has an interesting contrast with sound and silence.  In her element, she can spend hours without making a sound, but in more stressful situations or when exertion is required, the wheezing sound of catching her breath accompanies her movements.<br/><br/>One thing distinctive about Shizuka is her complete lack of ever wearing perfume or using incense.  As it has been explained, her connection to Air is so pure and absolute that the mundane air around her is difficult for her to breathe, triggering difficulties for her.  The reputation is such that offering her incense or perfume is seen as an insult.<br/><br/>Doji Shizuka rarely goes anywhere without elaborate fan, the edges made with gold instead of wood and depicting the original mute Doji Shizuka upon either side.  Upon one side, her ancestor smiles and beckons, and upon the other, she has her face turned completely to the side, raising her own fan in a symbol of dismissal.<br/><br/>She also never wears makeup.  Several years ago, a provincial governor idly commented that her beauty is so perfect that any attempts to wear cosmetics only detracted from her features.  In response, she gave her makeup kit to his attendant, who had been commenting on her own desire for cosmetics.<br/>15. How does your character react to stressful situations?  Trembling, shaking, reminding herself who she is and that she's a samurai.  During an unmasking, it's not unknown for her to run and hide, just curling up somewhere and crying.<br/>16. What are your character’s preexisting relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?  <br/><br/>After hearing of a dispute involving the Mantis Clan, Doji Shizuka was sent to investigate and handle the situation.  Rather than simply crush the Minor Clan, Shizuka listened with attention, discussing the matter and finding a solution that didn't really inconvenience Crane but allowed Mantis to save face.  As thanks, she was gifted with a pair of ivory chopsticks.<br/><br/>17. How would your character’s parents describe them?  Shizuka was always lavished and adorned with praise by her parents, leaving her both desirous of receiving more yet fully cognizant of the emptiness of the words.<br/><br/>Shizuka has developed a knack for Meditation, which her parents find quite acceptable.<br/>18. Who was your character named to honor?  (I kept my old roll.)  The first Shizuka was mute, living her complete life in silence, yet never straining to be understood.  Imperial Heritage.<br/>19. What is your character’s personal name?  Shizuka, which means "quiet."  Feminine.<br/>20. How should your character die?  If she has to die, I'd like her death to serve a purpose, such as standing alone against overwhelming odds long enough to give the Shugenja time to complete a ritual or something like that.  Being released from active duty and traveling enough that she can actually stop, settle a family and be a good mother would also be a sort of happy ending that would remove her from play.  Committing honorable seppuku is fully on the table if the plot necessitates it.<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">v1.0 Edits</div><div class="spoiler_body">I changed the wording for one part, and otherwise fully added text for others.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>During an <del>outburst</del> <strong>unmasking</strong>, it's not unknown for her to run and hide, just curling up somewhere and crying.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">“Additionally, choose one distinctive piece of equipment (other than a weapon or armor) that your character carries or wears most of the time. This bit of personal flare might accent their striking features or stand in contrast to them.”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>One thing distinctive about Shizuka is her complete lack of ever wearing perfume or using incense.  As it has been explained, her connection to Air is so pure and absolute that the mundane air around her is difficult for her to breathe, triggering difficulties for her.  The reputation is such that offering her incense or perfume is seen as an insult.<br/><br/>Doji Shizuka rarely goes anywhere without elaborate fan, the edges made with gold instead of wood and depicting the original mute Doji Shizuka upon either side.  Upon one side, her ancestor smiles and beckons, and upon the other, she has her face turned completely to the side, raising her own fan in a symbol of dismissal.<br/><br/>She also never wears makeup.  Several years ago, a provincial governor idly commented that her beauty is so perfect that any attempts to wear cosmetics only detracted from her features.  In response, she gave her makeup kit to his attendant, who had been commenting on her own desire for cosmetics.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">“Additionally, choose one item of rarity 7 or lower that your character received as a gift from one such group, took in battle fighting against them, or that otherwise relates to or symbolizes the character’s past and ongoing relationship with them. Add this item to your starting equipment.”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>After hearing of a dispute involving the Mantis Clan, Doji Shizuka was sent to investigate and handle the situation.  Rather than simply crush the Minor Clan, Shizuka listened with attention, discussing the matter and finding a solution that didn't really inconvenience Crane but allowed Mantis to save face.  As thanks, she was gifted with a pair of ivory chopsticks.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">“Additionally, gain one rank of a skill in which your character has 0 ranks, and determine whether your character’s parents approve of this extracurricular interest or see it as a regrettable deviation, and why.”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Shizuka has developed a knack for Meditation, which her parents find quite acceptable.<br/><br/>(I removed Meditation from the XP cost.)<br/><br/></div></div>