Zhautas App

[poisonmedicine]

PLAYER PROFILE
Player name: Amy
Age: 36
Contact: palmedfire or hawkwolf#3221 on Discord
Characters currently in-game: None
Triggers/Fears/Squicks: Eye trauma - mostly just images though. Written descriptions are okay.

Character Motivation: Terela would come because mysterious diseases are one of her interests. And she would tell people that that was her only reason for coming. But she's also volunteered because until the event, her world wasn't even aware there were other planets, much less other universes, and she wants to find out as much as she can about all of them, and bring that information back home so her House can use it.

VOLUNTEER PROFILE

Name: Terela Sesus
Age: Chronological age - 64. Apparent age - 28
Physical Appearance: link
Point in Timeline: Word had just reached the Blessed Isle of the destruction of the Tepet legions
World Description: link
History/Background:
* Born on the Blessed Isle, raised mostly by tutors and nannies.
* Exalted as a Wood Aspect Dragonblooded at age 12.
* Attended the Cloister of Wisdom - studied martial arts and medicine
* While she was in school, she was contacted by an elder of House Sesus and received training in spycraft and poisons
* Married to Chevan Cynis
* Had two children over the next 20 years. Both Exalted
* Under the direction of the House elders, established herself as a healer with special expertise in odd diseases.
* Husband died fighting rebels in on of the outlying provinces. Terela didn't mourn him much.
* The Scarlet Empress disappeared, throwing the Realm into chaos
* House elders push for more of Terela's patients to... not recover if they're not allied with House Sesus
* House Tepet legions destroyed by the Bull of the North


Noteworthy Positive Characteristics:
Magnanimous - While she might have a huge superiority complex, Terela is a firm believer in the Immaculate Philosophy, especially the idea that it's the duty of Dragonbloods to educate those less enlightened. In her intelligence work for her house she's had a lot of contact with non-Dragonblooded citizens of the Realm, and enjoys using her personal allowance to set up ones who she finds interesting and promising with better educations for them or their children than they could normally hope to afford. She had thoughts of funding scholarships for promising peasants in the Threshold satraps to be brought to the Blessed Isle for better education.

Self Assured Terela is very confident in herself, her skills, and her place in the world. She was the first in her secondary school class to Exalt, by nearly four months, and nearly everyone around her reinforced the idea that that meant she was destined for great things. The harsh, acetic training she received at the Cloister of Wisdom taught her she could survive nearly anything the world threw at her. Both her children Exalted - not as young as she did, but at perfectly reasonable ages. Sure, learning that the universe was way bigger than she'd ever known threw her for a bit of a loop, but overall, she is pretty confident that she will be able to handle and excel at whatever is thrown her way.

Ambitious It would be easy for Terela to just skate by, doing what's expected of her, and becoming a valued, if unexceptional member of her House. But that has never been enough for her. In school, especially at the Cloister of Wisdom she pushed herself to master everything, faster and better. She loved the martial arts lessons because sparring was always a great way to prove her skills. Even though her role as a House agent has meant she needs to avoid drawing attention to herself, she still wants to be the best at whatever she's doing. And yes, to receive the recognition for it, if only within her House. This is part of why she agreed to come to Zhautas. At home, Terela was one Sesus operative out of many. One healer out of a legion of them. One Dragonblooded out of ten thousand. But on Zhautas she will be only one. She will make a name for herself one way or another.

Noteworthy Negative Characteristics:
Arrogant Terela is sure she's stronger, smarter, and more enlightened than anyone else around her. She bears the blood of Dragons after all, doesn't she? She is a devout follower of the Immaculate Philosophy, which states that Dragonblooded are by nature more enlightened than those who don't bear the blood of the Dragons. While she is happy to educate and support those she considers beneath her, they do not have the right to tell her what to do, or worse, stand in her way. While she is not a violent as some of her kin - she will rarely kill someone who disrespects her, but she is more than willing to slap or strike someone she considers too 'uppity'. When her younger son was a child, she once dismissed all of his nurses and tutors because they tried to tell her it was inappropriate to be trying to build up poison resistance in a child.

Misandrist Terela was raised with the understanding that men are emotionally volatile, and unstable. Really not suited to any positions of real authority, unless they have a woman looking after them. These are just obvious facts that Terela was raised with. Her husband took her family name and joined her household when their House elders worked out the political match between them and other than making sure she had children by him, Terela considered him little more than a mild annoyance. She's met a few men who seem worthy of respect, but it takes a lot longer for her to take a man seriously than a woman.

Hedonist Terela is easily distracted by pleasure. Not just sexual pleasure - good food, luxurious fabrics, even really good smells can pull her away from wanting to concentrate on anything else. It's expected, at least somewhat of a Wood Aspected Dragonblooded, and once she passed through her early, asceticism required years at the Cloister of Wisdom, she's never again passed up a chance for a new sensory experience. One of the few good things she considered her husband to have brought to their marriage was invites to Cynis House parties, with all their delights of food, sex and exotic drugs. She rarely passed up a chance to attend such a party. If she could gather information or advance her Houses goals there, good, but if not, the experience itself was always worth it.

Entitled Terela grew up with nothing but the best, and she expects no less. That she's had to come to Zhautas without a full staff is extremely aggravating. Since she's reached adulthood she's never had less than a body servant, a cook, and a general maid, and often had a household of more. She is Dragonblooded, the lesser people should be happy, honored even, to provide for her needs. When chocolate became nearly impossible to get on the Blessed Isle, thanks to rebellion in the cacao producing provinces, she raged at her servants - she wanted it, it was their responsibility to get it for her, regardless of difficulty or cost.

Powers/Abilities:
Terela is a practitioner of White Veil style martial arts, which lets her make attacks from surprise as well as attack pressure points to either cause extreme pain or paralysis in the targeted limb that can last for several hours.
She can also relieve pain and heal minor injuries with a touch, though only once a day per person as well as diagnose any illness she's familiar with with a glance.
She can see and attack ghosts and other incorporeal beings, but she has to know they're around to activate her ability to see them.
She is immune to poisons from plant or animal sources.
The more she does any of the above, the stronger her anima gets. At first it's just a faint green glow around her, but then it gets brighter and extends out further. Eventually it coalesces into the image of a writhing mass of thorny vines, and at that point it can poison anyone (aside from Terela) who comes into contact with it for more than a few moments. It fades away slowly over the period of a few hours if she doesn't tap into her powers.

Character Fears: Disappointing her House, being stuck inside away from any growing things for more than a few days, maggots and other insects associated with decay

Personal Item: A leather bound copy of The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier containing faint markings allowing it to be used as a cipher key.