<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/GtxpFmt.jpg)</div>Character Name: Bayushi Mayu<br/>Clan: Scorpion<br/>Family: Bayushi<br/>School: Bayushi Courtier<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Background</div><div class="spoiler_body">Bayushi Hanae was an honest woman. A deadly flaw in the clan she was born to; lying didn’t come naturally to her but she was strong and took to the art of the sword. She was proud of herself when she became Yogo Masaru’s Yojimbo shortly after her Gempuku. Yogo Masaru admired the woman greatly, strength of character did not come naturally to him and he knew he fell short of many tenants of Bushido, though these were never things he spoke aloud. He also knew, in falling in love with Bayushi Hanae he would be her undoing. So he never touched the woman, never spoke of the feelings in his heart and tried his best to treat her like she was just his Yojimbo and he felt nothing more. Eventually Bayushi Hanae’s family married her to Bayushi Rin.<br/><br/>Bayushi Rin realized very quickly that his wife, was an honest woman and he sought to see her protected and as such spent much time with her. Family is still Family after all. Hanae became pregnant after only a year with Rin, and Masaru received a new Yojimbo. He was furious though, another man got to have his Hanae and in his mind did not think Rin appreciated Hanae as he should of. He concocted elaborate stories in his head about how Rin was an awful husband, and Hanae needed to be saved because she couldn’t see Rin’s deceit. Hanae woke up an early morning in spring, her stomach wrenching in the pain of labor. She wanted nothing more than something to drink before she rose from the futon to call for a servant to assist her. She was in luck, her dear husband always had the servants prepare a pot of tea at dawn and leave it for when he rose not long after. She had three cups of the tea, her thirst only growing as she drank and passed away before she could call for help once she realized what had happened.<br/><br/>Bayushi Mayu was pulled from her mother’s body a few hours later. Weak and small, barely breathing but the child made it through some miracle. It didn’t take Rin long to work out what had happened… and Masaru died under mysterious circumstances not long after. From the moment Mayu learned to speak Rin had one driving goal for his beloved and only child. She would not end up like her mother. Every night, as she grew Rin would sit her down before dinner and tell her to inform him of three things. The rule was, one of them must be a lie. If he could see through it immediately, or he knew for a fact all three things were true. He would send her to bed without dinner. A particularly well worded three things would earn her desert… and Mayu loved desert. She learned that the best way to get information from people was to get close to them, and people were slow to suspect her because she was a sickly child… What could she possibly do. She played on that, acted as if the poisons in her blood from birth were rattling her brain and there wasn’t much to Bayushi Mayu. Her father knew better. Bayushi Mayu is a liar.<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Character Sheet</div><div class="spoiler_body">Name: Bayushi Mayu<br/>Rank: 2<br/>Clan: Scorpion<br/>Experience Points: 45<br/>School: Bayushi Courtier<br/>Insight: 152<br/><br/><br/>Fire (3)<br/>Agility 3; Intelligence 3 <br/><br/>Water (2)<br/>Strength 2; Perception 2<br/><br/>Air (3)<br/>Reflexes 3; Awareness 4<br/><br/>Earth (2)<br/>Stamina 2; Willpower 2<br/><br/>Void (2)<br/>Void Points: 2<br/><br/><strong><br/>Skills:</strong><br/>*Sincerity                5        Awareness         9k4        Deceit<br/>*Courtier                3        Awareness         7k4        Gossip<br/>*Investigation        3        Perception          5k2<br/>*Temptation           3        Awarness           7k4<br/>*Calligraphy           1        Inteigence          4k2<br/>*Etiquette              1        Awareness         5k4<br/>*Lore (Heraldry)     1        Intelligence        4k3<br/>Stealth                   4        Agility                  7k3<br/>Artisan (Origami)    3        Awareness          7k4<br/>Acting                     2        Awareness          6k4<br/>Forgery                   1        Agility                  4k3<br/>Tea Ceremony        1        Void                     3k2<br/>War Fan                  1        Agility                  4k3<br/><br/><br/><strong>Starting Honor:</strong> 2.5<br/><strong><br/>Techniques:</strong><br/><br/>Rank 1: Weakness is My Strength<br/>The Bayushi are masters of ferreting out and exploiting the weaknesses and failures of others. Even if they do not know the exact nature of a rival's secrets, there mere realization that he has some sort of secret is enough for them to work with. When you are making a Contested Social Roll against someone else, you gain a Free Raise to your roll for every 3 points of Mental or Social Disadvantages (rounded off) he possesses. Disadvantages which did not award Experience Points still count for their normal point value for the purposes of this Technique. This technique cannot award more than 5 Free Raises.<br/><br/>The Bayushi are also known as the masters of both truth and lies, speaking so smoothly that both are indistinguishable in their mouths. You gain a Free Raise when using the Courtier skill to spread gossip, and need not Raise in order to conceal that you are the source of that gossip.<br/><br/>Rank 2: Shallow Waters<br/>The Scorpion know how to assess others, sensing their weaknesses so as to determine how best to bring them down. By conversing with someone for a few minutes, you can make a Contested Roll of your Investigation / Awareness against their Etiquette / Awareness. With a success, you learn the identity and rank of their lowest Mental and their lowest social Skill that has at least one Rank (The GM chooses in the case of ties). You may spend a Void point to also learn their next lowest Mental Trait and next lowest Social Skill.<br/><br/><strong>Advantages: </strong><br/><br/>READ LIPS [MENTAL] (3 POINTS)<br/>Either through natural ability or incredible patience and practice, you have the ability to understand what others are saying even if you cannot hear them, simply by observing how their lips move. When you are in a situation where others are speaking and you cannot hear them, you can understand what they are saying by making a Perception Trait Roll against TN 15 + 5 for every twenty feet away from you the speakers are.<br/><br/>SEVEN FORTUNES’ BLESSING [SPIRITUAL] (4 POINTS)<br/>One of the Seven Fortunes, the most powerful of all the Fortunes, has taken notice of you and showered you with his or her blessings. These can be powerful bonuses, but sometimes come with expectations. The Fortunes are both fickle and wrathful, after all. The Clans listed after each blessing may purchase that Advantage for 1 point less than its normal cost. Jurojin’s Blessing (Scorpion): The Fortune of Longevity favors you, and as a result you can expect a long and healthy life. Whenever you are rolling to resist the effects of a disease or poison, you gain a bonus of +2k0 to the total of the roll.<br/><br/><strong>Disadvantages:</strong><br/><br/>Permanent Wound [Physical] (4 Points)<br/>Some wounds will not heal, no matter how often they are treated or by what means. You first Wound Rank is always considered full.<br/><br/>Small [Physical] (3 Points)<br/>You are noticeably smaller than average for a denizen of the Emerald Empire. As a result, your Water Ring is considered one rank lower for determining the distance of your Move Actions, and you suffer a penalty of -1k0 on the Damage Rolls of all melee attacks. You may not take the Large Advantage.<br/><br/>Rumormonger [ SOCIAL] (5 Points)<br/>You cannot resist the temptation to spread rumors and gossip, no matter how ridiculous or outlandish they might seem. When presented with an opportunity to spread rumors, to resist doing so you must succeed at a Willpower Trait Roll with a TN equal to 5 x the Glory Rank of the highest-Glory individual involved in the rumor. <br/><br/><strong><br/>Items/Money:</strong><br/>5 Koku<br/><br/>Extravagant Clothing<br/>Wakizashi<br/>War Fan <br/>Calligraphy Set<br/>Traveling Pack<br/>     Mask <br/>     Spare Kimono and Sandals<br/>     Make up kit<br/>     Personal seal or chop<br/>     Parchment and charcoal (10)<br/>     Tea set<br/>     Sweets<br/>     Fan<br/>     Lantern<br/>     Chopsticks<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">XP Log</div><div class="spoiler_body">Item                          Cost    Spent<br/>Jurojin's Blessing    3   3<br/>Permanent Wound -4   -1<br/>Small                   -3    6<br/>Acting (0-2)            3    9<br/>Tea ceremony (0-1)    1   10<br/>Forgery (0-1)             1   11<br/>Sincerity (0-5)           15   26<br/>Read Lips                    3   29<br/>Temptation (1-3)    5   34<br/>Artisan Oragami (0-3)6   40<br/>Rumormonger     -5   35<br/>Stealth (0-4)       10   45<br/>Investigation (1-3)   5   50<br/>Courtier (1-3)           5   55<br/>Awareness (3-4)   16   71<br/>Reflexes (2-3)           12   83<br/>Intelligence (2-3)   12   95<br/></div></div><br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Twenty Questions</div><div class="spoiler_body">1. What Clan does your character belong to?<br/>Scorpion <br/><br/>2. What family does your character belong to?<br/>Bayushi<br/><br/>3. Is your character a bushi, a shugenja, or a courtier?<br/>Courtier<br/><br/>4. How would you describe your character's appearance?<br/>Bayushi Mayu is small in stature, just shy of five feet in height and rather waifish. Her skin is pale though if she is particuarly exerted it takes on a sickly pallid tone. She has deep chestunut colored hair and eyes of a deep enough brown they verge on appearing black from a distance. She often wears many hairpins often featuring flowers or butterflies chosen carefully to match her Kimono. She wears a black mask that is fashioned after a butterflies wings across her face she has a few other masks that she occasionally changes it out for. Underneath that mask she has one tattoo'd on her face that is carefully drawn to appear as if butterflies are resting on the edges of. She often appears to be cheerful, full of energy and obessesed with food and sweets. <br/><br/>5. What is your character's primary motivation?<br/>Outwardly, To meet a lot of interesting people and help the ones that have worthwhile goals achieve them. <br/>Inwardly, To find out a lot of interesting things about boring people and keep it in her pockets for when she needs it. <br/><br/>6. Who is the person your character trusts most in the world?<br/>Trust is a very strong word. There are people who are predictable and it's very easy to 'trust' in what they're probably going to do. <br/><br/>7. What is your character's greatest strength and weakness?<br/>Physical is where Mayu is the weakest. Having been poisoned at birth she falls short in physical prowess and endurance.<br/>Her greatest strength is knowing how to endear herself to people, and earn herself allies. <br/><br/>8. What does your character think of Bushido?<br/>Bushido is something that comes after the family, the clan, and the emperor. It's something extra to strive for but it shouldn't stand between doing what needs to be done and failing. <br/><br/>9. What is your character's opinion of his Clan?<br/>She outwardly does act as if she doesn't see that her clan is distrusted among the denizens of the empire. The Scorpion do what the Scorpion must. It's all plainly labeled and out in the open with the Mon of a stinging insect and everyone hiding behind masks. Isn't that really just the most honest thing?<br/><br/>10. Is your character married?<br/>Not as of yet. Her act has put off a few suitors... much to Bayushi Rin's chagrin though he does admit to himself that their inability to see through it does prove their lack of worthiness for his one and only daughter. <br/><br/>11. Does your character have any prejudices?<br/>From the first time she heard the story of the Unicorn storming the carpenter wall and claiming to be the long lost Ki-Rin she has always viewed their actions with a bit more suspicion than others. After all, liars know liars. <br/><br/>12. To whom does your character owe the most loyalty?<br/>The Emperor, Her Father, The clan, and her allies. In that precise order. <br/><br/>13. What are your character's favorite and least favorite things?<br/>Bayushi Mayu loves butterflies. She has been fascinated with them from childhood when she watched a passing wild fox eat one and die from being poisoned by the beautiful creature. From that day she had her odd fascination with them and has most of her personal items decorated with them, including her mask and most of her hairpins. They are beautiful yet toxic and because of that she feels a strong kinship with them. <br/><br/>She cannot abide a Scorpion who doesn't know how to play the game and keep things in the shadows. One of them already almost got her killed and that was quite enough. <br/><br/>14. Does your character have any recurring mannerisms?<br/>She tends to fiddle with her fan when sitting, and when standing she tends to tap the front of her geta against the ground to make them tap loudly when she's starting to get impatient. <br/><br/>15. What about your character's emotions?<br/>She tries to frame herself as a bubbly and carefree individual though when it comes to her genuine inner thoughts she is cooler and more calculating, but still maintains a fairly positive outlook on her life and those around her. <br/><br/>16. How would your character handle a subordinate's improper behavior?<br/>They will be booped with a fan on the nose and get a finger shaken at them. Not much else. The incident will however be noted in her mind. <br/><br/>17. How would your character's parents describe him?<br/>Bayushi Rin- My daughter is clever, she wears two masks where most Scorpions only wear one. <br/>Bayushi Hanae- She is a sweet and kind girl, with her head in the clouds dreaming of butterflies and sweets. <br/><br/>18. What is your character's highest ambition?<br/>To never let her true self be known to anyone other than her father. To fly low and gather for others and live peacefully in the background of a larger plan. <br/><br/>19. How religious is your character?<br/>She will stop at shrines and pray when appropriate and put on appearances of being a dutiful worshiper. She mostly just claps her hands and bows when she's supposed to. <br/><br/>20. How will your character die?<br/>Likely by posion. <br/></div></div>