<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Suzume Chiyu's 20 Questions</strong></span><br/><span class="bbc_u">1. What clan does you character belong too</span>: Sparrow<br/>She sits very still, watching you with dark, pensive eyes. “The sparrow is small, but endures. And have you seen many small ones, band together, to drive away the hawk? Some perish … but their children live. And soon … the hawk comes no more; he seeks easier prey.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">2. What family does you character belong too</span>: Suzume<br/>She tilts her head to the side, a faint flicker of emotion barely visible at the arrogance of the Great Clans who ask this question, so redundant for the Minor Clans. “The Suzume is all there is of Sparrow,” she speaks gently, correctly and courteously answering that question. If there is the hint on her voice as of speaking to a very small, rather stupid child, it is subtle enough that trying to claim insult would make the asker seem foolish.  “We were once Crane, but now our feathers are darker, and less fine, but the honor at our core shines that much brighter.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">3. Is your character a Bushi, A shugenja, or a Courtier</span>: Shugenja<br/>“The spirits called me, indeed, although I did not … understand what I felt.” There is a long moment of silence, a private grief.  “There are no other Shugenja who are close kin to me. The spirits move as they will, not as we wish. It is best to … stay alert.<br/><span class="bbc_u">4. How would others describe you characters appearance</span>:<br/>Pretty, and deeply introspective. Sometimes seems to shut the world out. Someone who manages to be lonely even in a crowded room. Bright, but with a brittle quality. She has thin, clever fingers equally adept on an instrument or healing a patient. Her smile brings to mind not the rising of the sun, glorious, changing everything, but a shooting star, glorious still, but doomed to end in darkness.<br/>She has dark, mysterious eyes, often seeming to be looking at some inner scene, and soft, feather soft hair. Her skin is flawless and her features carry some of her great-aunt's beauty.<br/><span class="bbc_u">5. What is you character's primary motivation</span>: “I wish to see my people fed; for not one more Sparrow, from Eta to Daiymo, to starve. The safety of my family and welfare of my clan is worth any price.” She listens a moment, a faint smile appearing, that makes her lovely features breathtaking. “I am a practical person … we must plow, sew and harvest; someone must cook, and clean and make medicines.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">6. Who is the person your character trusts most in the world</span>: Her mother.<br/>“It is my Lady Mother who has most shown me honor, and courage and compassion. I hope to be worthy of her, and trust her most in the world.” Grief and guilt glimmers in her eyes. “Only on one topic do we … disagree.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">7. What is you character's greatest strength and weakness</span>:<br/>“I do not worry about what is impossible, but about what resources are here, now to solve whatever problem faces us. I was honored to learn courtesy of the Tonbo and Ishiken-do from the Phoenix, granting me the courtesy and skills to deal with many different issues.” She looks at away. “Love sometimes defeats honor.”<br/>Her great strength is her ability to see the practical, possible answer; to see through to the heart of a problem backed up by her Tonbo training in courtesy and diplomacy, which often gives her the chance to help solve the problem. Her greatest weakness is her great love for her disgraced Ronin brother.<br/><span class="bbc_u">8. What does your character think of Bushido</span>:<br/>“Bushido is for an ideal world. and if everyone correctly obeyed its tenets we would live in a very pleasant world. But they don not, and in the end Bushido remains is merely an ideal; the harvest must still come in, the silk be woven into cloth, the meals cooked. In accomplishing those basic tasks all else is accomplished. Worry less about the ideals of Bushido then its purpose.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">9. What is you character's opinion of her clan</span>:<br/>“I love the Sparrow Clan, for our honor in adversity and grace under fire. I yearn to add enough to our holdings, to not always teeter on the edge of destruction; for all of our people to survive each winter, not perish due to the lack of simple things like food, clothing and heat.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">10. Is your character married</span>: She is not, nor promised.<br/>Her eyes flare and she goes still. “You may speak to all those warring over the right to bestow my hand in marriage. My great aunt, my mother, both of my Sensei's and even a Hare family.” The tension eases and a faint humor appears. “Let us hope between they pick someone sensible.”<br/><span class="bbc_u">11. Does your character have any prejudices</span>:<br/>“I do not know most of the clans well; I have been studying. Yet I find the Tonbo and Dragon odd beyond enduring; they seek always for something that cannot be found by those seeking it, and the great, careless wealth of the Crane is a thorn in my side; some of my families could eat through the winter on the scraps of one days dinner.”<br/>She finds the Tonbo and Dragon a little odd, constantly to be seeking something that cannot be found by looking for it, but that must come on its own. The great wealth of the Crane is a trouble to her, since she knows so many with great need.<br/><span class="bbc_u">12. To whom does you character owe the most loyalty</span>:<br/>She answers obliquely. “The ancestors decide who hears them, and whom they hear. So to my blood family goes my first loyalty; my brothers and my mother.”<br/>In order: blood family, Clan, Phoenix, Tonbo.<br/><span class="bbc_u">13. What are your character's most favorite and least favorite things</span>: Her dad's half carved sparrow is her most treasured possession, harvest festival her favorite religious rite, and walking in the evening is her favorite activity. Her favorite place to be is with her loved ones. She adores the tea ceremony,with its rituals of peace and harmony. Chiyu despises yelling and loud scenes; she hates death with a passion, seeing it as the true enemy, and she finds it grates upon her to watch the wealthy waste food.<br/><span class="bbc_u">14. Does your character have any recurring mannerisms</span>: Chiyu always carries her father's half-carved sparrow with her, and when seeking to shut out the world will run her fingers lightly over it. Having no tasks to do is a burden for her; sitting still, without the focus of meditating, her mind wanders to unpleasant things. She likes to have small things to do with her hands, even unconsciously sorting stones, or her fingers making the movements to soundless melodies.<br/><span class="bbc_u">15. What about you character's emotions</span>: Chiyu is someone of deep thoughts, but who is fearful of her uncontrolled emotions. She knows the consequence of letting one's emotions rule, and has seen the blood that inevitably flows from that. She seeks to find resolutions to conflict that do not require battle, even if she is mindful that the Kami have declared such as an honorable path. The world contains both pain and joy, and Chiyu feels both, on her own behalf as well as those whom she tries to help.<br/><span class="bbc_u">16. How would your character handle a subordinate's inappropriate behavior</span>: A gentle reminder of the correct way to do it, and then have them practice twenty times.<br/><span class="bbc_u">17. What is you character's highest ambition</span>: To bring land and wealth to Sparrow clan (not wealth by Great Clan standards, but enough that she need never know another family to starve). Though she'd also like to find away for her brother to be redeemed.<br/><span class="bbc_u">18. How would your character's parents describe her</span>: Deeply, fiercely proud. Their daughter has touched things they never have, and never will. They regret that they can't share her experiences, nor totally understand her, but do not regret the choices they made. She is both terribly practical and familiar, keeping her focus on what task needs doing next and strange and unknowable, hearing the whispers on the wind.<br/><span class="bbc_u">19. How religious is you character</span>:<br/>She smiles faintly. “Faith? It is not faith. The spirits, ancestors, kami and Kami make themselves known in a hundred ways, each day. We know well the Celestial Order, and our place in it.” She leans close, whispering, “but tread carefully. Their ways are not ours, their purposes are not ours. Even your own ancestors scarcely recall what it is to be mortal. They will use you up, and leave you a broken husk, promising you only your next life.” Her practical side appears. “And how would you even know if they paid their debt?”<br/><span class="bbc_u">20. How will your character die</span>: Her wish: In bed, shortly after her beloved husband, with a dozen loving children and grandchildren clustered around her bed. More likely: Realizing her strength is waning, during a planting ceremony she will simply surrender her life to the spirits as a final offering and beg for a fruitful harvest for her people. Her fear: To be cut down anonymously, meaninglessly without achieving anything with her life.<br/><br/><br/>