• Name: Amut
• Caste: Zenith
• Concept: Exasperated Messiah
• Motivation: Strike down those who value their wealth and power above their fellow humans. Shout at the fellow humans whose apathy or short-sightedness allows it.
• Positive Intimacies: The Inaba, Joyous Spring, and against all appropriate judgement, Desert Girl.
• Negative Intimacies: Human greed and exploitation.

Amut: Background

• Physical: Before Exalting, Amut was never completely lacking in brawn, but in free-diving, endurance, grace and speed were always more important.
• Social: Amut used to avoid company, but opened up somewhat during the hunt for the Five-Metal Shrike. Also, it's not at all certain if he was so… acceptably handsome before Exalting.
• Mental: His specialty is the subtle hints, clues and ESP that lead him to good finds. However, he prefers things at his own pace, and sudden changes in situation have always caught him off guard.

Amut is in his early thirties. He stands just over six feet tall, with deeply tanned skin, faded brown eyes, a wiry mess of black hair falling to his neck, and a matching full and lustrous beard. He is found habitually barefoot, wearing short, loose, mud-coloured moleskin trousers, a rumpled linen shirt, and, when not dripping wet, an almost visible crust of dried ocean salt.

• Linguistics: Amut travels some way afield collecting and selling salvage. As such, he's familiar with Riverspeak and Low Realm. His childhood education means he can still speak High Realm, too. He recently learned Old Realm for the sake of convenience.
• Craft: Wood ●●, Water ●. Amut knows just enough to keep Inaba afloat and himself fed.
• Performance: +1 (Flute) One way Amut passes the time at sea is by playing a simple wooden flute. Before Exalting, he became reasonably skilled at this; now, suffused with the essence of the Unconquered Sun, he can coax sounds of heartbreaking transcendental beauty and power from the gnarled bamboo tube. In addition, his father has passed on to him a seemingly-endless repertoire of incredibly salty nautical songs from his days sailing with his company, though he makes no effort to advertise this talent.
• Melee: +2 (Staves); +1 (Non-lethal attacks): Amut specialises in staff fighting, his gaff being the closest thing to a weapon he's ever been comfortable holding. Likewise, he has no stomach for killing - when forced to fight, he prefers to aim to incapacitate.

Amut's gaff has had its hook and shaft replaced several times in the years it's been his constant companion, but this last repair might stick: the head has been worked into the hook-end of an orichalcum juggernaut which, once attuned, handles as lightly and delicately as its old softwood self, but whose strikes have the weight of a charging bull behind them. This new gaff takes an elongated S-shape, having its ends worked into an asymmetrical pair of hooks, sized to ensnare human limbs and necks, and its midsection subtly curved to allow brutal wrenching and twisting forces to be applied.

Attack dice: 16 [5 (Dex) + 5 (Melee) + 3 (Staff/Bashing Spec) + 2 (Weapon Acc) + 1 (Favoured)]

Raw damage: Hits + 15B

Natural soak: 4B/2L

Dodge DV: 6

Parry DV: 6

Essence: ●●●

Regeneration: 2 (Active), 6 (Relaxing), 10 (Sleeping)

Personal Essence Pool: 15/16

Peripheral Essence Pool: 2/37

Anima Level: 0

Willpower: ●●● ●●●

Seeing his attempts to forcefully drag humanity to its own betterment meet with similar success to windward urination, Amut's exasperation overcomes his desire to save everyone he encounters, and he makes every effort to return to the sea, to get away from the glaring evidence of the futility of his aim. He boards the Inaba and strikes out for the open ocean, heading away from land as fast and as far as possible. If the Inaba is inaccessible, he will attempt to acquire a boat with which to make his departure. In extreme circumstances, he will simply dive into the sea and start swimming.

Amut separates himself from the party, and refuses to talk to them or anyone else.

One day.

Amut sees his efforts rejected or fall foul of incompetence and greed, driving home his gnawing suspicion that even the power of the Unconquered Sun is worthless against the perversity of the human heart.

●●●●●●●●○○

First Melee Excellency + Thunderbolt Attack Prana + Seven Shadow Evasion

• Cost: 1m per die
• Type: Reflexive (Step 1 if attacking, Step 2 if defending)
• Duration: Instant

Add dice to a roll using Presence.

• Cost: Free
• Type: Permanent
• Duration: Variable

Creates illusory sights and sounds in conjunction with a performance. Cannot be used to deceive or confuse without a Stunt.

• Cost: 10m
• Type: Reflexive
• Duration: Indefinite

Negates environmental penalties to Survival rolls, but does not protect against environmental damage.

• Cost: 3m
• Type: Reflexive
• Duration: One Scene

Automatically succeed on any valid Athletics action to keep balance. Treat any surface at least as wide and strong as a human hair as a three-foot-wide ledge capable of supporting one thousand pounds for the purpose of movement and Athletics actions.

• Cost: 3m
• Type: Reflexive
• Duration: One scene

Jump with a Move action rather than Miscellaneous, and double length of all jumps.

• Cost: 3m, 1wp
• Type: Supplemental
• Duration: Instant

Attack with a signature athletic move. Grants one bonus success in Step 3, doubles post-soak damage in Step 7.

• Cost: 1m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
• Duration: Instant

Ignore all penalties to Dodge DV when resolving an attack. Undodgeable attacks still reduce DV to 0 but no other penalties apply.

• Cost: 3m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
• Duration: Instant
• Perfect Defense Flaw: Compassion

Perfect dodge against any attack, including undodgeable. Attack cannot be unexpected.

• Cost: 1m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
• Duration: Instant

Renders unexpected attacks expected.

• Cost: 3m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 1 or 2)
• Duration: One scene

Remove up to Essence in external penalties to all nautical operations.

• Cost: –
• Type: Permanent
• Duration: Permanent

Enhance Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit to add immunity to environmental damage (i.e. drowning, burning, suffocation) unless actively inflicted by another character.

• Cost: 1m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
• Duration: Instant

Cause a weapon owned by the Exalt to fly to their hand from up to (Essence * 10) yards away.

• Cost: 1m
• Type: Simple (Speed 3)
• Duration: Indefinite

Allows the Exalt to store an owned weapon Elsewhere as long as the Essence is committed.

• Cost: 1m
• Type: Reflexive (Step 1 attacking, Step 2 defending)
• Duration: Until next action

Causes the Exalt to act appropriately for the social group they are interacting with. Decreases the effective Magnitude of such a group by 1 for social combat. Increases the Exalt's effective Appearance by 1. Allows the Exalt to immediately understand the basic motivations of everyone present (equivalent to 3 successes on a mundane Investigation roll).

• Cost: 4m
• Type: Reflexive
• Duration: One scene

Allows the Exalt to move over weak or unstable surfaces that would ordinarily not support their weight (such as water). The Exalt can stand still on such surfaces with a successful Difficulty 2 (Dexterity + Athletics) roll for each action in which they do not move.

Essence 2→3: 7 BP

Dodge 3→4: 1 BP

Favoured Weapon: 2 BP

Willpower 6→7: 2 BP

Phobia (Claustrophobia): -3 BP

Dexterity 4→5: 4 BP

Melee Specialty: Staves, Staves: 1 BP

Melee Specialty: Non-lethal attacks; Performance Specialty: Flute: 1 BP

(Last updated: Standing in a cell with a wet finger and a new appreciation for the value of literacy)

(Last updated: Striking a Wile E. Coyote pose with the detached yoke of the Short Bus on Father's upper hull)

(Last updated: Posing with the other Creation Rangers and trying to think of an inspirational battle cry while facing down Rollo)

(Last updated: End Of Campaign)

• ?? unused
• ??? spent
• 220 total

• 0 unused
• 5 spent
• 5 total

Wits 2→3: 6 XP

First Melee Excellency: Essence Overwhelming: 8 XP

Melee 3→4: 5 XP

Athletics 3→4: 5 XP

Presence 3→4: 5 XP

Linguistics 1→2: 2 XP (Learned Old Realm)

First Performance Excellency: Essence Overwhelming: 8 XP

First Athletics Excellency: Essence Overwhelming: 8 XP

Conviction 2→3: 6 XP

Martial Arts 0→1: 3 XP

Melee 4→5: 7 XP

Socialize 0→1: 3 XP

Socialize 1→2: 2 XP

Survival 3→4: 5 XP

Survival 4→5: 7 XP

Food Gathering Exercise: 8 XP

Sail 2→3: 3 XP

Sail 3→4: 5 XP

Essence 3→4: 24 XP

Element-Resisting Prana: 8 XP

Call The Blade: 8 XP

Summoning The Loyal Steel: 8 XP

Charisma 2→3: 8 XP

Manipulation 2→3: 8 XP

Mastery of Small Manners: 8 XP

Feather-Foot Style: 8 XP

RETCONS!!!

Linguistics 2→3 (High Realm): 4 XP

(WHY YES I RECEIVED AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION AS A CHILD!!! NO I DON'T KNOW WHAT THOSE DYNASTS ARE TALKING ABOUT WHY DO YOU ASK)

Lore 0→1: 3 XP

(Oh god Amut has been illiterate all this time let's just say Joyous taught him his ABCs in a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE OF EA-EXALTED)

Craft (Wood) 0→1: 3 XP

Craft (Wood) 1→2, Craft (Water) 0→1: 2 XP

(Inaba has not needed maintenance for two decades. During that time, Amut has subsisted on raw fish and cold ramen in saltwater.)