Sypher (Character)

World/Setting of 1st Encounter: Barbarians & Blasters
Race: Human Ronin Shinobi
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 148 lbs.
Body: 22
Armor: NIFE (-3)*
Adventure Points: 0
Fate Points: 6
Character Points: 65

Abilities:

Psybernetic INSIGHT** (15)

Parkour (10)

Ninjutsu (5)

Mentalist's Sleight of Hand (10)

Telekinetic Rupture (10) (2d6)

Bugei Juhappan*** (11)

Holistic Healing (4)

Gear/Weapons:
*Reinforced titanium nano-weave infiltration exosuit (NIFE) and **INSIGHT (Infiltrator's Nightfall Sensory Input and Guidance Hub Tech)
Machine Pistols (2d4)
Carbonized titanium katana (long sword)
Carbonized titanium wakizashi (short sword)
Kunai (multi-purpose tool resembling a chisel)
Paracord (wrapped around hilts)
Happo (hollowed egg shells filled with pepper, dust, and metal filings)

Notes:
*** - "The 18 Martial Arts"

Backstory:

Prologue:

Sypher had a name, a people, and a home before his restless heart sent him far and wide in the War against the Taint. "Kaze" (風) they called him in the language of the Sun, which meant "wind." Wind he was, flowing swiftly from place to place, slowly ambling in shifting thoughts, only bent on the path of adventure. His village high in the mountains allowed his wandering heart to move about the great temple-town, which had grown up from the ashes as a place that united two peoples: Those of the Sun who sought "bushido" or "warrior's way" in a torn world, and those of the Moon who lived as free spirits after the philosophy of parkour. The unity of purpose in these two peoples allowed them great freedom in lifestyles and enabled them to merge over time to create the "Twilit kindred." Clans grew from this merger, along with a combination of arts and skills that would greatly help them in the War of the Taint to come.

Kaze hailed from Clan Jade Tortoise, a tribe that saw the world as in perpetual movement. This movement may be seen in the slow change of the seasons in their perpetual walk of life, or unseen but felt as the wind on its endless journey through the world. "Change," the elders say, "comes both slowly swiftly: Age moulds the man slowly, while Experience may grow him quickly; death follows both." "This," the wise point out, "can be seen in how the world has changed. The sudden darkening of mankind forced children of the Sun and Moon to journey and find a new home, where they came to live through many hardships in the twilight of the world. Also, note the unforeseen appearance of the Tainted, with their warped-warpers twisting the world in their wake. Their shadow awakened the light hidden within the twilit kindred, and the way of the warrior found purpose once more against the monstrosities made by necromancers." This darkness was the Taint, a horde of mutated creatures and their sorcerer masters. The clans combined their lore and skills to resist the Tainted forces, and found a great source of power hidden in both peoples. Heroes arose and destroyed the presence of the Taint below the slopes of their mountains, but would go no further. In the wisdom of the Wise, they shut their borders with a strong leaguer and let few pass into their midst. Peace returned to their mountains as a soft spring in the winter of the world.

Kaze was young when the War of the Taint raged in their valley, yet the stink of battle and the terror of those long nights did not wholly leave his heart. He studied the 18 arts and followed the warrior's way, as all youth in his generation had to learn. He also possessed another art, the power to sense and alter things with his mind. The elders noted both his skill and his willfulness, and many hoped he would take the path of the sage; Kaze's heart burned in him and would not let him sit idle while the Taint remained in the world. The junior warrior stood before the council of the wise and asked leave to hunt the tainted beyond their borders. Most refused his request, save the Singers of the clan. The Singers possessed the gifts of foretelling, and little they spoke in the councils that did not forebode of doom to come. They spoke before the council could pronounce their final refusal a verse that would hold Kaze on his way,

"Wind you are, blowing farther and wider with each passing year,

Wind you must remain, leaving clan and kindred's mountain home,

Where will you go, when hidden hill is all you have known?

When will you hear again the songbird and see the snow?

A sword on the wind will blow from flying mountain,

Air will join earth in the war against the hated Taint--

There the Wind will blow in the banner of your kindred,

Upon soaring mountain you will remember the way,

Will the wind will blow again upon this mountain?

Only the Ancients and the Great Elder can tell…"

The council grieved to send a son alone on such a forbidden and dangerous path, but none would gainsay the Singers when they spoke. The elders then banished the young warrior until either fate or death brought him back to his people. Kaze could not bear the arms or signs of his people into the outside world, nor practice their people's art, in accordance with the pronouncement of both singers and sages. As an act of mercy, the elders brought forth tokens of goodwill: Travel provisions; worn garments from their traveling past; and a helm and curais, a relic rumored to give a warrior sight beyond that of his eyes. Both the helm and clothes hailed from their distant pilgrimage in darker days. Last, and most painful, the elders stripped Kaze of his name, giving him a new one to wear. "You will bear the name Sypher, for a mystery you are, as is your fate, lost-son. Yet, you alone will discover the riddle of the way before you."

"Until a sword on the wind sings forth from flying mountain," added the Singers.

So went Sypher from the home he loved, the memory of snowcaps like diamonds radiant with light and forests of endless emerald burning in his heart. Yet, the keener fire for adventure and justice swept him far away from the secret valley, and turned his back on his home.

The Journey before Cit-Nimbus:

The next months were hard on Sypher, the hardest he had known--though not the hardest he would face. The young exile lived in the shadows, as he quickly discovered the mutants were stronger and hardier from their terrible lives. SIGHT guided him, and Sypher was rarely ambushed without knowing beforehand of coming trouble. It was this that allowed him to develop his mental art to afflict his enemies from the shadows. Sypher remained true to his banishment, foregoing the fullness of the eighteen arts and the martial way. However, Sypher found this restriction acted as a tool to refine his character. His spirit's course deepened, and though it carried him into strange lands, his will reflect the philosophy of his people all the more. The lone warrior fought for freedom and the renewal of humanity, a humanity he had seen in the hidden mountain and that SIGHT revealed in its memories. SIGHT's images could not prepare Sypher for the world outside his former home; devastation ruled most of the world, and many things had changed since the founding of the mountain refuge. Yet, the gift of SIGHT enabled the pilgrim to accept the presence of androids like J-453 and make the tougher discernment between good and bad mutants (He never did fully trust any "tainted.")

He could not accept the more barbaric way of life to which mankind had given itself elsewhere. Nobility of virtue rarely existed, much less restraint; hedonism had never been lauded even in the ripest summers of the hidden realm. Sypher found solace in the little demands J-453's robotic life accorded him, and he genuinely rejoiced at the discovery of Bulk, an ancient and venerable spirit of stone. Sypher surprised himself when he took pity on two mutants in their torment at the hands of sorcerers, sparing their lives. The seasoned warrior heeded the wisdom of Bulk and allowed them to join their party. Sypher slowly appreciated the aid the brutes offered in a scrap against the world's formidable forces.

Now:

Sypher will recognize the Singers' words parallel what he thought impossible before coming to Cit-nimbus: Mountains that fly, and (more importantly) the ban could be lifted. He will journey to the forge to request assistance in reforging his current armor into the exosuit below, as well as the tools necessary to take up the trade as a ronin shinobi.