Post by Karishima Yumi on Mar 28, 2010 20:29:54 GMT -5
THE CHARACTER SHEET
FROM HERE TO THERE
FULL NAME: Karishima Yumi
ALIAS / NICKNAMES: Mother Kari, or just 'Kari' (known), The Lady of Shadows (courtesan title), The Spider (secret)
AGE: 150
BIRTHDATE: Oct 29
RACE: Half Human / Half Demon
SOCIAL STATUS: Commoner
OCCUPATION:Sapphis Castle Librarian (officially, leaves the day to day operations to her staff), Head Mistress of the Elizabeth Riley Memorial Orphanage (Primary), Owner and Madam of the House of Earthly Delights (secondary), Organized Crime Boss (secret)
DOWN TO THE FINER POINTS
HEIGHT: 5'5" (normal) 7'5" (tentacles fully extended.)
WEIGHT: 230 lbs (bulk of weight in lower, tentacle half of her body)
HAIR: Teal, waist length
EYES: Teal
GENERAL APPEARANCE: From the hips up Karishima resembles a perfect normal human female, albeit a bit on the top-heavy side. She has teal colored eyes and matching waist long hair, pretty, blemish free face with a cute button nose and small mouth. Her ears are a bit on the long side (being vaguely 'elfish' in appearance). Her bust is an impressive (though not ridiculous) 36C, and her skin, through fair, tans very well.
From the hips down however, Karishima has no legs, but a mass of purple-pink tentacles, erasing any chance of her being mistaken for a human. She has four large 'locomotion' tentacles visible at all times that she uses to get around, and an unknown number hidden inside her body of various sizes, which emerge only when needed or necessary. Though she can exert mental control over all her tentacles when she so chooses, some of them have a tendency to act on their own if she isn’t paying close enough attention. For obvious reasons, Karishima only wears long dresses, gowns, or skirts when in public. In private, she actually prefers being naked
PICTURE:
PERSONALITY: Once, Karishima was a shy, timid woman perpetually self-conscious about her half-demon body. Time has taught her how to come to terms with what she is, and how people perceive her. Since coming to this realization, Karishima has become a confident and passionate woman. Shrewd and clever Karishima can match words with the most razor tongued noble. Spending her life surrounded by books has granted her a degree of knowledge not seen by most woman at her station, especially the half-breeds. This book knowledge combined with over a century of life and the street smarts that has brought has made her into a clever woman, who knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it.
LIKES:
Swimming, drawing, panting, (particularly the human female from) reading, writing, being alone
DISLIKES:
The Propagation of Royalty in all its forms.
BELOW THE SURFACE
SPECIAL SKILLS: Being part tentacle demon, Karishima has tremendous physical strength, greater than any normal human, on par with many species of demon. She is also incredibly flexible and agile, which is remarkable for someone her weight. The underside of her four ‘main’ tentacles are all lined with suction cups that she can use to stick to any surface. Scaling the walls or hanging form the ceiling is quite easy for her. She can choose when they will stick and when they wont, so it almost never happens accidentally.
Her tentacles make her a natural swimmer, and she can breath underwater. As a result, she loved being submerged, and will often find a large body of water and sink herself to the bottom if she wants think or be alone.
WEAPONS:None
MAGICAL ABILITIES: Like a chameleon or octopus, Karishima can change the appearance of her skin to blend in with her surroundings, rendering her effectively invisible. The catch is it only works on her skin, clothing would give her away.
As time passed and she came to accept her dual nature, she began to explore her natural demonic affinities. Now, after a century of practice she is an accomplished shadow and blood sorceress.
FAMILY: Asoa Yumi (mother, deceased) Glemph (father, deceased)
BACKGROUND: Once upon a time, there was girl named Karishima.
In the language of the Dealthwok Clan, a race of monstrous, amphibious, tentacled demons 'Karishima' means 'miracle'. It was fitting name for the impossible offspring of human mother and Dealthwok father, the first ever recorded. Karishima had the misfortune of being born just as the Lady Ivory came to Venus, however. Once she joined with the struggling Emperor, the Purge of Venus began, as the 'good' people rose up to drive the criminals and demons out of their city. Her father Glemph was killed in the Purge, her mother exiled as demon-lover. Though she would stay with her husbands kin for a time, with the birth of her half-breed daughter, Asao was excommunicated from even them.
Mother and child returned to Venus in the cover of night. The well-to-do Yumi family, owner of several profitable stores wanted nothing to do with either of them, forcing Asao to beg, steal, borrow, and sell herself to provide for her child. One night she went out and never came back. Karishima was forced to fend fort herself, but did not last long before she was found and sold into slavery at the age of six.
It was then the aging librarian, of Sapphis Castle, Portia, discovered her. She bought the child, took her home, educated and took care of her so that she could retire and Karishima could take her place. Portia's plan work and by the time Karishima entered adulthood she was every bit the librarian that Portia was, if not more so. About this time, Anactoira I filled the castle with women from whom she would pick her bride. Having been raised in Sapphis Castle by Portia, Karishima thought of the palace as her home, and resented it being invaded so. Moreover, she began to grow bitter at all the beautiful women throwing themselves at the imperial princess even as they dared not look at her grotesque body for more that a few seconds. But most of all, she hated the royal family for what they did, blaming them for her fathers death and her mother's disappearance.
But there was little a librarian could do about such matters. Anactoria I eventually picked her bride, married, and eventually assumed the throne. As the now Empress Anactoria aged, Karishima began to realize that she was not. The Dealthwok Clan could live for centuries, she knew, but it never occurred to her before that the same might apply to her as well. Realizing that this enabled her a unique preservative on life itself, Karishima began to make plans...
After Anactoria's reign ended, the empire began to backslide once more. Having long since come to the conclusion that the the system of monarchy was the cause for the realms constant rise and fall in stability, and armed with patience of a a lifespan that could easily last 400 years or more, Karishima put her plans into action.
First, she used her considerable clout with the royal family and the imperial council (having served both for a considerable span of time) to seize control of the Yumi's family wealth, which was her birthright in any case. She then sank this wealth into a variety of business and interests, some local, some foreign. With the returns on this wealth, she diversified, seeding the local Venus economy with though personal and professional purchases, keeping the economy afloat as a succession of ineffective emperors and empress came and went. And in so doing, became well known and even popular among the common people, despite her obvious demonic heritage.
Her spending widened to include various charities. The largest of which being the massive and well maintained Elizabeth Riley Memorial Orphanage located in the New River District, which sets the standard for orphanages the empire over for its care, treatment, and education of orphans. Many of these orphans, long after they are adopted or come of age, go on to work for Karishima in one of her many business. Within a generation the nickname bestowed on her from these grateful orphans “Mother Kari”, became a household name.
Public opinion was as high as it was likely to get, but before Karishima could begin the final phase of her plan, she was struck by two setbacks.
First, it came to light that a large part if her wealth came from the effective management of numerous brothels, both locally and oversees. Since it was already common knowledge that many of the orphans she took care of wound up working for her in some capacity, scandal erupted as many people fell under the impression that she was grooming orphans to work as courtesans to make herself more money. It was not a claim she could easily refute as some of the orphans did choose to do just that, out of some misplaced sense of paying her back or because they wanted to or even because they felt that was the only job that would have them. Rather than deny it, Karishima gambled with public opinion by openly stating that she believed the art of provding pleasure in all its forms, including sex, to be among the highest professions one could could aspire to – then proved it by becoming a courtesan herself for twenty years. She bought the now-defunct House of the Seven Lamps in Nights Doorstep and renovated it into the only four story mansion in the district, to serve not only as Venus' most upscale house of pleasure, but also her permanent home. It was renamed The House of Earthly Delights.
The gamble worked. By placing herself on the line, despite her considerable wealth, she defused the scandal and proved that she was a real 'woman of the people', never one to ask them to do what she was unwilling or unable to do herself. She had the citizens of Venus on her side again, even as their dissatisfaction with the imperial royalty rose. Then the second setback struck.
The Emperor Galeron and Empress Alexis came to power, and finally began to stabilize the realm. The people, with their short life spans and even shorter memory began to slip away from her. Though she was and is still held in high regard, with the empire begging to stabilize and prosper, people would no longer look for a viable alternative in her.
Clearly, it was time for an adjustment in plans.
She is still loved by the people, and trusted by the royal family. So no-one would suspect that the whispered rumors of and underworld crime-baron, known only as The Spider are in fact referring to her. In one hand, Karishima builds trust and good will with the people, spreading and making gold freely. In the other, The Spider unites the criminal element of Venus under one banner – or eliminates those who try to be free agents.
The spider is nearly ready to strike. It just needs and opening.
Thank the gods for the fool girl Anactoria IV, and her childish desire to repeat history. This is just the opening The Spider needs...
THE MASTERMIND
ALIAS: YuriChampion
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS: Toph Bei Fong, Anactoria Sapphis IV
HOW YOU GOT HERE: Old Sapphis
NOTES: Ok, I promise, no more characters.
