Character Sheet

Warlord of the Army of the Sun. Presently commanding the quarantine force near Thorns and overseeing ongoing operations and training in the southeast region.

Private Journal

Microfiction

Glorious Wren doffs her black war helm, and sets her blade aside. Below the soulsteel artifice is the face of a young woman, pale and unblemished, framed by hair as light as her skin, with deep crimson eyes. She holds one slender arm out, and begins to speak, her tongue heavily accented by the harshness of the north.

“Three stories, I will tell, and then you will know why I have come.

“The first is the story of the flesh. I was born as the sun burned low and cold in the sky, though I did not see the sun. I was born in the labyrinths of Gethamane, in the hidden places of the priesthood to which my father belonged. The winds took him from us not long after, and my mother raised me. She taught me what she could of how to survive, how to prosper. Who to talk to, who to avoid, and where to run when needed. I ran through the tunnels, and lived in them, and learned in them. I was named Terin Kakaral, but my mother called me Wren, after the small birds of the frozen north.

“The second is the story of the mind. When I was young, a man began to gather power to himself. The Young Bull, they called him, and great rewards were offered for knowledge of his deeds. In those early days, Yurgen Kaneko did not stride with the might and glory that now surrounds him, but he offered a simple path: to walk with him in the ice, and aid him in his crusade. Crush the Realm, he said, and we will rule the North. Ours will be the power and the glory of empire. And I believed, and I followed him into battle, again and again, until I was recognized, and raised up.

“The third is the story of the soul. We fought the lackeys of the Haslanti league that year, who would bend knee to the cursed Realm before following the banner of a true leader. My fellow soldiers, my friends fell around me, cut down by blade and arrow, but we fought on for eight hours, battling through a moonless night. When the sun finally arose, the slaughter was such that I could not tell our dead from theirs, nor our living from theirs - the blood washed us all of any meaning. But I heard the wind roar in my ears, and the dawning light picked out for me my foes, and led my blade to them, and all my fallen were paid.

“It was then I knew what battle was, and why the Bull fights. Not for glory or gold, but to break on the wheel of history the backs of the unjust, to settle the scores of the Realm and its decadence, and return the Sun to its true place among Creation. I returned to Yurgen Kaneko, and offered him my blade anew. He offered me a Blade at first, then a Spear, then finally a Wind and a place at his side, as I won battles and brought honor to his name and the name of the Unconquered Sun. As the Realm prepared to respond anew, we girded ourselves for the onslaught. It was then he sent me forth. 'My council has read the stars,' he said, 'and seen great doings to the South. A Circle, joined in power, rising against their enemies.' He sent me, his hand and eye, to meet with them, to offer them alliance, and to aid them in their struggles. And so I took men, wrested ships from the battered Realm, and sailed south.”

• “Nachstenleibe” and “Gedult” (“Charity” and “Patience”) - Twin blades, reminiscent of Wavecleaver Daiklaives, only better balanced. Wren's oldest weapons, recovered from one of the Gethamane temples. Each is a wide chopping blade of orichalcum, marked with runic scrip similar to the carvings that adorn the Gethamane walls, and decorated with rings along the spine of the blade. Short and powerful, they saw much use in sea battle, particularly below decks. Wren keeps them very brightly polished.
• “Elegie fur Gefallen” (“Elegy for the Fallen”) - A suit of elaborate, capable soulsteel battle armor. It fits closely, and resembles an advanced version of articulated plate. The battle helm can be removed, or can mechanically retract into the neckplate. As combat armor, it has a variety of powerful capabilities, including Oblivion's Panoply - a thin coating of pure oblivion over the armor, which offers it powerful defenses above and beyond the usual. Originally named “Wall of the Despairing Heart” and worn by the deathknight Mistress of the Seven Paths of Hatred. When Wren and her ships docked near Thorns unaware of its fall, the Mistress of the Seven Paths of Hatred lead a powerful striking force against them, and Wren was forced into a fighting withdrawal. Weary from their months at sea, her soldiers fell by the score before Wren managed to throw the assault back. In one-on-one combat with Mistress of the Seven Paths of Hatred, Wren was badly wounded, but slew her foe and claimed the armor as a trophy. In honor of the men she lost, she retitled it “Elegy for the Fallen”. She no longer wears it habitually, as the martial arts styles she's learned do not permit armor. However, she keeps it safe, just in case.
• Glorious Transceiver
• Windhands Gemstone - A three-dot hearthstone of Air, linking her to a manse conquered by Kaneko. It provides her with no meaningful capability, as it is entirely consumed to power Elegie fur Gefallen.
• Gem of Clear Thought - A one-dot hearthstone of Air, linked to a manse in the south. It provides +1 on all Wits rolls.
• Home's Hearth - A five-dot Sidereal hearthstone, linked to the Lap. It provides instant transport to and from the mans.
• Gem of Perfect Mobility - A five-dot Solar hearthstone, linked to the Lap. It halves the speed of all actions.
• Seven Leaping Dragon Stone - A four-dot Solar hearthstone, linked to the House of Three Blades. It provides a +4 bonus to the accuracy of all Martial Arts attacks.
• Ice Gem - A four-dot Abyssal hearthstone, linked to Abhorant. It radiates a noticeable aura of cold, and adds +4L to the damage of all attacks.
• Hearthstone Locations:
  • Nachstenleibe (2) - Gem of Clear Thought, Seven Leaping Dragon Stone
  • Gedult (2) - Gem of Perfect Mobility, Home's Hearth
  • Bracers (1) - Ice Gem
  • Elegie fur Gefallen (3) - Windhands Gemstone (powers armor), open, open

Wren is tall, lithe, and well-muscled. She has extremely pale skin, dark red eyes, and short, silver-white hair - in the main, she looks a lot like Ivy from Soul Calibur, though a bit younger and clad in white and gold robes.

Her anima does not burn as many Solars' do. Instead, it crackles out with the hot, gold-white glare of the sun over ice. In its full, totemic form, intricate patterns of straight lines and sharp corners appear woven in a lattice reminiscent of the tunnels and labyrinths of her home.

Wren is a known Anathema, who has fought and led pitched battles against both the Realm and the Haslanti League multiple times. Generals she has faced in the field probably regard her as personally honorable and not entirely without mercy, but also as a supernaturally capable fighter who displays in battle a frightening disregard for any virtue whatsoever. Tales magnified in the telling might paint her as a truly frightening creature.

The Oblivion's Panoply possessed by Elegie fur Gefallen is normally a gift granted only to a Deathlord's favored servants. By killing the Mistress of the Seven Paths of Hatred and taking it as a trophy, she has earned considerable enmity from the Mask of Winters.

Motivation: “Bring victory to those who rule justly”
Wren knows that the order of Creation, particularly the Realm, is flawed. She hopes that under a strong ruler, such as Kaneko, and with the aid of the Unconquered Sun, people have both greater freedom and less to fear. She is intensely wary of bureaucracy, feeling that layers insulating a ruler from his people are the primary cause of unjust rule. A king should walk with his subjects, that he will know them.

Intimacy: “Yurgen Kaneko”
Wren was never personally involved with Kaneko. However, she's served him as a capable soldier and general for years, and is fiercely loyal to him and his cause.

Intimacy: “the Army of the Sun”
Like any good commander, Wren is concerned about the well-being of her command.

Intimacy: “toppling the Realm” (fading)
Above and beyond her general motivation, her battles against the Realm specifically had driven her to an undisguised loathing for them, particularly given the abuse to which they routinely subject captured prisoners of war. She respects a few Realm soldiers as capable warriors but is unlikely to befriend any of them. Her stance on this has softened since interacting with Realm troops in the quarantine forces and learning of Ebon Jade Duskchild's history.

Intimacy: “destroy Mask of Winters”
After seeing many of her men lost, she despises the deathlord Mask of Winters, and responds to his increased pressure against Kirighast with a determination to end him.

Intimacy: “protect Kirighast”
With her army deployed in the region, she's had plenty of contact with Burning Sands and Kirighast. She takes her responsibility to protect the area very seriously, and is determined to see that it prospers. She has no interest in direct rule.

Wren is confident, but not arrogant. She prefers forthrightness over deception, but can be quite tactful when necessary. Unlike many attractive women, she rarely uses her appearance as a weapon - the majority of her charisma comes from her self-awareness and command experience. She dislikes plans and objectives that are excessively complex, having learned too many times what happens to plans on a battlefield, and distrusts demons, considering them too random and a security risk. It's possible she tells more war stories then are, strictly speaking, necessary, but usually they serve to illustrate a point.

She still speaks Riverspeak with a noticeably northern accent, but is well-practiced in it, and has begun learning the principles of Low and High Realm as well. She's remains uncomfortable in the warmth of the South, and get increasingly so the further south she gets.

“No, son of Tepet. We will not surrender. Outnumbered we may be, but ours is the glory of the Unconquered Sun. Ours is the Mandate of Heaven. You have no chance of survival. Make your peace.”
- parley prior to the Second Battle of the Frozen Ford

”Kriegsherr Wren, the Realm forces are maneuvering east. It appears they will bypass the trap all together.”
“I will have to sweeten the pot. Saddle my horse and bring me my blades. I'll offer them a target they cannot refuse.”
- the lead-up to what the Bull calls the Battle of Three Nights, and the Realm calls the Massacre of Deception

”Kriegsherr, something is approaching from the south.”
“Ah, I wondered if Thorns would send someone out to meet us. Raise the banner and prepare to receive guests.”
“Kriegsherr! Scouts report - they fly a deathlord's flag! A deathknight leads them - a full regiment or more!”
“… And we stepped into it like young colts. Damn me. Vorwartsflamme, to me, and full arms! Trumpet, sound full retreat! Get to the ships. We'll hold them off.”
“Yes, ma'am. Good luck.”
“We'll have no luck this day. May the sun protect us.”
“Well, good hunting then. For the Bull.”
“For the Bull, stangemeister.”
- landing at Thorns