Post by Lance on Aug 28, 2021 4:09:34 GMT -5
Personal information and social status
Name: Kaede
Race: Magically Conceived Oni/Mountain Troll Hybrid
Age: 350
Gender: Female
Appearance: Kaede is incredibly unique for an Oni, being bereft of 'mask' composed of bone that her kin are born with, and stands at an astounding 8 feet 2 inches tall. Her hair is raven black, reaching straight down to about her shoulder blades with bangs that part around a large, sharply curving horn that juts from her forehead much like a Rhino's horn. This horn is made of hardened bone and tapers to an incredibly sharp point, making it a feasible weapon if Kaede were to use it as such. The horn is dyed a light reddish orange to contrast with her skin, which is a light tan.
Kaede's face rides a thin line between womanly beauty while still having some girlish features, her eyes in particular are expressive, with bright amber irises that convey emotion quite well even when words fail, this is combined with a small, slightly pointed nose and mildly rounded face that can give the impression that Kaede is far younger than she actually is...or at least it would, if it wasn't for her figure.
Kaede's build is very curvaceous, with a prominent bust and slightly smaller hips that stick out more because her limbs and abdomen are comparatively slender, this contrasts sharply with normal Oni, who boast far stockier builds that favor muscle, even among the women. The cause of this is unknown, but the best guess is that it is a combination of her mixed blood and the 'tweaks' that she underwent whilst still within her mother's womb. Despite her 'softer' looking appearance however, Kaede is still born of two races with incredible physical strength, and is easily capable of lifting about 2300 pounds over her head with some effort, and has been seen lifting up to 4 tons with a great amount of strain. This is far less than a mountain troll is capable of, but it still makes her terrifyingly powerful for a creature of her size and appearance.
Kaede's sense of dress is rather functional, with a loose fitting tunic with a sarashi wrap underneath to keep her chest contained when performing physical tasks (Essentially acting like a sports bra for people who exercise or do physical labor. The tunic closes at just below the collarbone, and ends at just above the waist. The tunic's sleeves are wide and end at the middle of Kaede's bicep, and the top as a whole is a mossy green color, with dull ocher colored bands that run along the edge of the garment. Her pants are similarly utilitarian, being a dull sandy brown and ending at her knees, and are secured with a string-tie at the waistband. Her footwear consists of a simple pair of sandals, fashioned from leather.
The closest thing Kaede has to a piece of fashion is a bright red sash that she wears tied around her waist, with one side untucked similarly to a kama (a sort of armored skirt worn off of one's belt, usually worn to protect the back of someone's legs or knees without restricting movement). It serves little functional purpose, but seems to have a personal significance to her.
Personality: Kaede presents herself as a cheerful, friendly young woman, always happy to welcome strangers to the village or assist her neighbors with anything that they need (provided she isn't currently occupied with her own work, of course). She is relatively easygoing, sometimes to the extent that she can look a bit airheaded, forgetting minor details or being a generally bubbly and chipper person who enjoys poking fun at her friends and enjoying herself. This surface level assessment is remarkably accurate, but Kaede has more lurking beneath the surface than her bubbly demeanor would show.
Underneath her bubbly exterior, Kaede has a bit of anger and a sense of loneliness about her, due to the anxiety her village had about the circumstances of her birth when she was younger. She does not hate or loath the village, given that they eventually grew past their fears and embraced her as their own. Given what the Oni clans have gone through, she understands why they were nervous to say nothing of how she had difficulty in controlling her immense strength as a child when it came to sparring, but their past behavior still leaves a bit of bitterness that Kaede herself is somewhat ashamed of holding onto even as she's become an adult. This sense of isolation has made her incredibly protective of people that she considers friends or family, clinging to them for support when she alone isn't emotionally strong enough.
Her dependency has a side effect, one of the few things that can awaken the Troll-like bloodlust that her genetic father passed onto her is to hurt or threaten the people she cares for, this anger takes the form of a stoic viciousness that is utterly counter to her normal demeanor. Thankfully, outside of these very rare circumstances, her anger is shown with a firm, but soft spoken intensity that many say carries more weight than if she were to bellow and scream.
Overall, despite her lonely childhood and the trials that come with her unique origins, Kaede is very well adjusted. She often takes it upon herself to be the rock for her friends and family, providing an almost motherly sense of warmth and kindness to those that she tries to comfort.
Home Realm: Terra Mystica
Affiliation: Earth Kingdom Oni Village
Alignment: Neutral Good
History: Kaede was not conceived like a normal living creature, she is the result of centuries of research by a Majin biomancer who's crippling sense of guilt led him to a unique (though some would call it foolhardy) attempt to create new, hybrid races that could offset the massive population loss that many sentient species suffered in the aftermath of Terra Mystica's displacement from the Earthen plane.
This interest in fighting population loss made the Oni a natural candidate for his new crusade. This majin, a millenia old sorcerer named Geb, had been researching his theory for centuries, and had discovered that, of all creatures, the beastial and monstrously hardy Mountain Trolls were close matches to the Oni. Geb's grasp of Biomancy was such that he was capable of understanding things like the genome and cellular functions (Though it was of a more mystical understanding of how certain creatures share a common origin, as opposed to a pinpoint knowledge of genetics that modern humans posses.)
Armed with this knowledge, he proposed his solution to every Oni clan who would listen...and was roundly rejected by all of them, with varying degrees of politeness. The aftereffects of the war with the Cuorum, and the botched attempt the Oni made of magically altering themselves, led to a deep distrust of Biomancy among almost all of the race as a whole, and even those who didn't distrust Geb's magic saw his attempts as cross breeding with a race as violent and dangerous as Mountain trolls to be far too hazardous.
Only one Oni, a woman from the Earth Clan named Shinju, who was never able to conceive traditionally, offered to accept the offer and become a test subject. The process was long and drawn out, partly due to the difficulties in finding a male Mountain Troll who could be a suitable donor (I.E: not easily able to kill Geb in the process of using spatial magic to retrieve a...ahem, "sample".), and partially due to Geb quadruple checking his research to ensure that Shinju would be able to handle the process of giving birth.
But, after a year of careful study and sample gathering, Geb finally had what he needed to induce a pregnancy within Shinju using a mixture of spatial magic and Biomancy to successfully induce Terra Mystica's first artificial insemination. The prognosis was good throughout the pregnancy, though Geb kept a constant watch on both Shinju and her unborn child's health and used his biomancy to ensure that the child developed in a healthy way...in fact, some think that he did more than just maintain the child's health during her gestation...
But, despite the odd circumstances behind it, Kaede was born 9 months after she was conceived, right on time. The birth was difficult, the baby's genetics made her far larger than a normal birth for an Oni. The baby was a girl, a girl who was over 36 inches long and 33 pounds a birth. But aside from her incredible size, she possessed an even more astounding trait, her face was visible. She was born without the bony skull growths that normally cover an Oni's head from birth. This was the proof the Geb needed, proof that a hybrid born with magical aid could undo even the seemingly insurmountable curse that the Oni had accidentally stricken themselves with.
Shinju named her first and only child Kaede, after both the maple trees that grew around their home, and for her immense height and size even as a newborn.
Kaede spent the first four years of her life with Geb and Shinju, being kept separate from the rest of the village to ensure that she grew healthily into childhood. Once she was cleared by "Grandpa Geb" as Kaede started calling him, she was introduced to the village proper...to mixed results.
The villagers did not know how to react to the child, born looking like them and yet not, and apparently this was due to Geb using the very magic that had cursed them with the Great Maiming to begin with. It didn't help that Kaede was impossibly strong and large for her age, standing four and a half feet tall and able to lift 80 pounds over her head with little effort. This incredible strength and stature was a source of concern for many of the village's parents and caretakers, who feared that the young girl could seriously injure anyone she played with if things got rough like they usually did with Oni children.
Despite this however, Kaede managed to make a few friends, and quickly showed that despite her Mountain Troll blood, she was as friendly and amiable as any child at her age could be. In fact, her incredible strength made her a bit of a local attraction, showing off by lifting heavy things like they were nothing or letting a half dozen of them hang on her like a tree as she walked about without any hindrance. She was able to showcase her strength without incident for 15 years But like all children, she would sometimes forget that seemingly innocuous actions could have serious consequences.
The accident had started as nothing more than children playing at being warriors, a game of rough-housing that went just far enough that Kaede's magnificent strength showed that it could be just as much of a liability as it was an asset. During the mock battle, Kaede grabbed her "opponent's" forearm to block a strike, and lightly swung them around to put them off balance...but she wasn't light enough.
There was a loud, cracking pop, and a cry of pain as the Oni's arm went slack all the sudden. Kaede immediately released the child, and saw that their shoulder was hanging limp. With a mere tug, she'd severely dislocated her friend's shoulder. Upon seeing what she had done, Kaede began to panic, looking around and seeing the other villagers looking at her with (in her mind) suspicion. In her panicked, remorseful state, Kaede turned and ran into the forest, hearing the adults shouting behind her to come back and fearing that they would scream or do worse to her for hurting her friend.
She hid in the woods for two days, running deeper inside the forest to avoid anyone she heard searching for her. Even as the nights grew cold and damp, she would hide in bushes or under overhangs to try and fight the elements instead of heading home. On the third night, as Kaede started making to run to a new hiding place, an Oni leaped down from the overhang she was huddled under. He was green and red, and a good 50 years older than her, looking like someone just entering their teens. He held out his hand and spoke to her in a gentle, soothing voice and told her his name: Kabuki.
Kaede knew who he was, the Chieftain's son, and known for being a strong fighter even for his age, no surprise given that his father personally assisted him in his training. Kaede thought for a moment that he had been sent to capture her, or possibly even end her life for hurting the child, and started to break down crying, saying that she was sorry and would never come back if it made the village happy...And then she felt him gently cup her jaw and turn her head up to look him in the face.
He told her that he had come on his own, that the others had given up looking hoping that she would return when the cold and hunger was too much, so that she could explain herself. He said that wasn't good enough, and that he'd promised Kaede's mother that she would be brought back safe. When Kaede asked why he would do all that, when she'd proven that she wasn't safe to be around, he simply laughed and said "If I had a piece of gold for every time I'd hurt myself sparring, I'd be able to melt them down and make a life sized statue of myself."
He then offered Kaede some food and water, and swore to her on his own honor and his father's that if anyone had an issue with him bringing her home, or saying that she was only guilty of hurting someone by accident, that they would answer to him. The pair arrived at the village, and as Kaede expect, several of the older Oni were keeping their distance from her, acting as if she was an accident waiting to happen.
Kabuki saw this and became visibly angry, and for a moment Kaede considered running away again. Only for Kabuki to grab her hand and gently urge her to the sparring ring, even against her timid insistence that she would accidentally hurt him. He took up a kendo stick and tossed her a practice club, telling her to try and fight him with everything she had. The fight was hilariously one sided, Kabuki's skill with a sword was no match when Kaede's strength, even when she was timidly swinging with no form, or even trying to win, could smash through his blocks or swat aside his strikes even with the light pine club that was meant for children and young teens who barely knew the ropes. Kabuki was sent sprawling with a single half-hearted smack to the ribs, and they both heard a couple sharp cracks that signaled some new broken ribs for the young warrior.
But Kabuki didn't cry, or even seem to wince. He coughed, got to his feet...and laughed. He laughed even as he held his rapidly bruising abdomen, and walked over to a mortified Kaede with his hand outstretched, as if to ask her to shake it. When he saw the villagers surrounding the sparring ring, he lowered his hands, showing the wound that he'd suffered for all the village to see.
"You see this!?" He cried, holding his arms out even as he surely felt pain lancing through his midsection at the movement. "This is what happens when you spar, whether your opponent is as mighty as a mountain-" Kabuki gestured to Kaede, "Or as meek looking as a doe." He pointed to another Oni in the crowd, a small, slender looking woman...his mother. He then pointed to a scar on his chest, one from a blade. "My father gave me this, I was no older than Kaede is now! Did you all scorn him, push him into the woods!? No, was it because he was chieftain, or because he wasn't a scared girl who's been taught to fear her own strength by COWARDS!?"
Kaede looked around in awe as the Oni who had been regarding her with fear recoiled at the words, becoming chastened at being declared cowardly for their behavior. This was the chieftain's only son, the one who was almost guaranteed to be voted the next in line to lead them...and he was not only defending her, but let himself get hurt for her.
"This girl, Kaede...is the strongest of us, the mightiest. But you would have her cower in fear of her own strength, when it could be used to help others!? Would you have had us hide and let others die when the Cuorum was butchering the innocent too!? She is worthy of respect and kindness, because no matter what she looks like, or how she was born...she is one of US!" Kabuki slammed his fist on his chest, his voice becoming a commanding bellow that made the girl's heart skip a beat and her face flush bright red.
He walked over to the taller girl and gently took her hand before thrusting it up in the air, crying out her name like a war cry. "HER NAME IS KAEDE! AND AS LONG AS MY HEART BEATS WITHIN MY BREAST, SHE IS MY FRIEND! IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS, COME DOWN SO I CAN SHOW YOU THAT EVEN WITH THREE BROKEN RIBS I CAN SHOW YOU A REAL ONI'S MIGHT!"
Several of the Oni cheered, and Kaede saw that among them...all of them were her childhood friends, even the boy who's arm she'd injured yelled her name: "KAEDE!"
From that moment on, Kaede was never looked at with suspicion again...and from that moment, she realized something. She loved Kabuki with all of her heart.
The aftermath of this incident was a flurry of activity afterwards, her friends had all come to her saying that they were glad that she was okay, and the injured boy even apologized to her for the trouble, admitting that he had stumbled and fell when she spun them around, which is what they believed led to the injury in the first place. Her mother hugged her, cried and said that if she ever ran away like that again, she would hire a mercenary company to drag her home if need be, something that made Kaede laugh in spite of the tears that rolled down her face upon hugging her mother.
Kabuki stuck with her almost constantly after that, teaching her how to play the flute as well as methods to train her body to become even stronger. She grew with these lessons, both in knowledge and physically, she shot up in height once puberty hit, and she had to awkwardly ask Kabuki how to bind her chest once she began to blossom into a woman. It was a clumsy attempt to perhaps win his affections by using her body, but Kabuki was either to naïve or too chivalrous to take her up on it, simply laughing and dutifully showing her how to use bandage to bind her chest, saying it was no different than tying off an abdominal wound.
As she grew larger and stronger, Kaede began to take up jobs for the village, often chopping down several trees on her own to collect for firewood and charcoal, or digging irrigation ditches for the farmers. She also learned how to play the Taiko drums as her chosen instrument, wielding two massive Kanabo clubs as her drumsticks as well as learning how to wield her Earth Magic. It was during this time that she discovered her magical specialty as well, Lithomancy. She could command the earth to forge stone weapons or constructs that were almost unbreakable, and use her magic to sense things through the earth, a boon for hunting parties when storing meat for the coming winter.
But she was not spared some measure of tragedy during this time, her "Grandpa" Geb was killed by a fire drake while attempting to secure a sample from it, trying to learn how to bolster the dropping dragon and Wyvern Population by studying their more primitive cousins. His body was never found and a small ceremony was held for him, Kabuki and his Family attended alongside Kaede and Shinju. Kaede kept to keeping a shrine with a small painting of her adoptive grandfather by her bed, praying to him whenever she needed guidance or just wanted to tell him how she was doing.
More time passed, and life went on as it is wont to do. Kabuki grew into a skilled fighter and an excellent musician, and eventually he left to wander the world as he'd always dreamed of. Before he left however, he gave Kaede a red sash that matched his own, telling her that he would always write her to share tales of his journeys, and that as long as she had his sash there would always be a piece of him by her side. Kaede started crying and hugging Kabuki, only to laugh as she realized that he'd made a pun to try and make her smile, needless to say it worked, and she literally wears it so that it hangs by her side to this day.
Since then, Kaede has kept busy working for the village, chopping wood, helping the farmers and constantly improving her drum skills with her clubs. She moonlights as a nanny for the young of the village, serving as a smiling, supportive big sister for the children as she always has done. The only change to her routine is that every third week of the month, she waits eagerly for the mail carrier to arrive with a new letter for her from Kabuki, and with his newest letter her anticipation has only grown.
She stared down at the parchment, reading it and smiling as she heard tales of the fire kingdom's warm weather and green fields, only to shift to worry as he talked about a clan of bandits that terrorized a duchy owned by a young noblewoman. Her smile grew once more, her heart flipping a bit as she read on about his battle with the clan, how his light magic slew many of them with barely any effort. She imagined him doing so, swooning a bit at how courageous and noble he appeared in her minds eye...and then she read about how the girl's mother was horribly cruel to her, how she was trained to be nothing more than a pawn, and she felt her heart ache. He told her of how he came to care for her, how she was adopted by the fire king himself when her mother's cruel ambitions were discovered!
He told her of how he'd joined an Acheologist and a thief, and how they were heading to the earth kingdom to claim it's treasure and the girl's rightful place as it's Royal Heir...and that this girl was his lover, his mate and wife. Kaede felt her heart sink slightly, all these years of swooning, and she'd never just come out and said how she felt...she admitted it, she was slightly jealous of the girl. But she would not let that turn her cold, she smiled again and folded the letter, looking down at the sketch Kabuki had made of his new love, alongside a small message.
The girl had dark hair and dark eyes, a willowy form and slender features that almost made Kaede think that the girl was an elf. But upon seeing her rounded ears, she realized that this noblewoman was indeed human. "Heh, she's actually pretty beautiful. At least Kabuki didn't fall for someone who was out of his league.~"
She glanced down at the small message, her smile growing a bit wider at her friend's words. 'I can't wait to see you again! After decades on the road, coming back home is going to be incredible. I hope that you come to like her as much as I have, I...I honestly sometimes wonder what could have been if I'd decided to stay like some of the villagers wanted. Perhaps...I will have to speak to my father, but I want you to accompany us. I promise to sit down and talk about it with you in full as soon as I can!'
Kaede just chuckled again and folded the picture, tucking it into her belt and turning to walk back to the village. "Rosaline De Flores, hm? Well, this girl better be as amazing as Kabuki says, because I'm not just going to let anyone take him from me.~"
Combat potential
Weapons:
Armor:
Enchanted weapons/accessories:
Weaknesses:
Magical potential
Special/Racial Abilities:
Magical Affinity:
Spells Known (_/35sP):
Name: Kaede
Race: Magically Conceived Oni/Mountain Troll Hybrid
Age: 350
Gender: Female
Appearance: Kaede is incredibly unique for an Oni, being bereft of 'mask' composed of bone that her kin are born with, and stands at an astounding 8 feet 2 inches tall. Her hair is raven black, reaching straight down to about her shoulder blades with bangs that part around a large, sharply curving horn that juts from her forehead much like a Rhino's horn. This horn is made of hardened bone and tapers to an incredibly sharp point, making it a feasible weapon if Kaede were to use it as such. The horn is dyed a light reddish orange to contrast with her skin, which is a light tan.
Kaede's face rides a thin line between womanly beauty while still having some girlish features, her eyes in particular are expressive, with bright amber irises that convey emotion quite well even when words fail, this is combined with a small, slightly pointed nose and mildly rounded face that can give the impression that Kaede is far younger than she actually is...or at least it would, if it wasn't for her figure.
Kaede's build is very curvaceous, with a prominent bust and slightly smaller hips that stick out more because her limbs and abdomen are comparatively slender, this contrasts sharply with normal Oni, who boast far stockier builds that favor muscle, even among the women. The cause of this is unknown, but the best guess is that it is a combination of her mixed blood and the 'tweaks' that she underwent whilst still within her mother's womb. Despite her 'softer' looking appearance however, Kaede is still born of two races with incredible physical strength, and is easily capable of lifting about 2300 pounds over her head with some effort, and has been seen lifting up to 4 tons with a great amount of strain. This is far less than a mountain troll is capable of, but it still makes her terrifyingly powerful for a creature of her size and appearance.
Kaede's sense of dress is rather functional, with a loose fitting tunic with a sarashi wrap underneath to keep her chest contained when performing physical tasks (Essentially acting like a sports bra for people who exercise or do physical labor. The tunic closes at just below the collarbone, and ends at just above the waist. The tunic's sleeves are wide and end at the middle of Kaede's bicep, and the top as a whole is a mossy green color, with dull ocher colored bands that run along the edge of the garment. Her pants are similarly utilitarian, being a dull sandy brown and ending at her knees, and are secured with a string-tie at the waistband. Her footwear consists of a simple pair of sandals, fashioned from leather.
The closest thing Kaede has to a piece of fashion is a bright red sash that she wears tied around her waist, with one side untucked similarly to a kama (a sort of armored skirt worn off of one's belt, usually worn to protect the back of someone's legs or knees without restricting movement). It serves little functional purpose, but seems to have a personal significance to her.
Personality: Kaede presents herself as a cheerful, friendly young woman, always happy to welcome strangers to the village or assist her neighbors with anything that they need (provided she isn't currently occupied with her own work, of course). She is relatively easygoing, sometimes to the extent that she can look a bit airheaded, forgetting minor details or being a generally bubbly and chipper person who enjoys poking fun at her friends and enjoying herself. This surface level assessment is remarkably accurate, but Kaede has more lurking beneath the surface than her bubbly demeanor would show.
Underneath her bubbly exterior, Kaede has a bit of anger and a sense of loneliness about her, due to the anxiety her village had about the circumstances of her birth when she was younger. She does not hate or loath the village, given that they eventually grew past their fears and embraced her as their own. Given what the Oni clans have gone through, she understands why they were nervous to say nothing of how she had difficulty in controlling her immense strength as a child when it came to sparring, but their past behavior still leaves a bit of bitterness that Kaede herself is somewhat ashamed of holding onto even as she's become an adult. This sense of isolation has made her incredibly protective of people that she considers friends or family, clinging to them for support when she alone isn't emotionally strong enough.
Her dependency has a side effect, one of the few things that can awaken the Troll-like bloodlust that her genetic father passed onto her is to hurt or threaten the people she cares for, this anger takes the form of a stoic viciousness that is utterly counter to her normal demeanor. Thankfully, outside of these very rare circumstances, her anger is shown with a firm, but soft spoken intensity that many say carries more weight than if she were to bellow and scream.
Overall, despite her lonely childhood and the trials that come with her unique origins, Kaede is very well adjusted. She often takes it upon herself to be the rock for her friends and family, providing an almost motherly sense of warmth and kindness to those that she tries to comfort.
Home Realm: Terra Mystica
Affiliation: Earth Kingdom Oni Village
Alignment: Neutral Good
History: Kaede was not conceived like a normal living creature, she is the result of centuries of research by a Majin biomancer who's crippling sense of guilt led him to a unique (though some would call it foolhardy) attempt to create new, hybrid races that could offset the massive population loss that many sentient species suffered in the aftermath of Terra Mystica's displacement from the Earthen plane.
This interest in fighting population loss made the Oni a natural candidate for his new crusade. This majin, a millenia old sorcerer named Geb, had been researching his theory for centuries, and had discovered that, of all creatures, the beastial and monstrously hardy Mountain Trolls were close matches to the Oni. Geb's grasp of Biomancy was such that he was capable of understanding things like the genome and cellular functions (Though it was of a more mystical understanding of how certain creatures share a common origin, as opposed to a pinpoint knowledge of genetics that modern humans posses.)
Armed with this knowledge, he proposed his solution to every Oni clan who would listen...and was roundly rejected by all of them, with varying degrees of politeness. The aftereffects of the war with the Cuorum, and the botched attempt the Oni made of magically altering themselves, led to a deep distrust of Biomancy among almost all of the race as a whole, and even those who didn't distrust Geb's magic saw his attempts as cross breeding with a race as violent and dangerous as Mountain trolls to be far too hazardous.
Only one Oni, a woman from the Earth Clan named Shinju, who was never able to conceive traditionally, offered to accept the offer and become a test subject. The process was long and drawn out, partly due to the difficulties in finding a male Mountain Troll who could be a suitable donor (I.E: not easily able to kill Geb in the process of using spatial magic to retrieve a...ahem, "sample".), and partially due to Geb quadruple checking his research to ensure that Shinju would be able to handle the process of giving birth.
But, after a year of careful study and sample gathering, Geb finally had what he needed to induce a pregnancy within Shinju using a mixture of spatial magic and Biomancy to successfully induce Terra Mystica's first artificial insemination. The prognosis was good throughout the pregnancy, though Geb kept a constant watch on both Shinju and her unborn child's health and used his biomancy to ensure that the child developed in a healthy way...in fact, some think that he did more than just maintain the child's health during her gestation...
But, despite the odd circumstances behind it, Kaede was born 9 months after she was conceived, right on time. The birth was difficult, the baby's genetics made her far larger than a normal birth for an Oni. The baby was a girl, a girl who was over 36 inches long and 33 pounds a birth. But aside from her incredible size, she possessed an even more astounding trait, her face was visible. She was born without the bony skull growths that normally cover an Oni's head from birth. This was the proof the Geb needed, proof that a hybrid born with magical aid could undo even the seemingly insurmountable curse that the Oni had accidentally stricken themselves with.
Shinju named her first and only child Kaede, after both the maple trees that grew around their home, and for her immense height and size even as a newborn.
Kaede spent the first four years of her life with Geb and Shinju, being kept separate from the rest of the village to ensure that she grew healthily into childhood. Once she was cleared by "Grandpa Geb" as Kaede started calling him, she was introduced to the village proper...to mixed results.
The villagers did not know how to react to the child, born looking like them and yet not, and apparently this was due to Geb using the very magic that had cursed them with the Great Maiming to begin with. It didn't help that Kaede was impossibly strong and large for her age, standing four and a half feet tall and able to lift 80 pounds over her head with little effort. This incredible strength and stature was a source of concern for many of the village's parents and caretakers, who feared that the young girl could seriously injure anyone she played with if things got rough like they usually did with Oni children.
Despite this however, Kaede managed to make a few friends, and quickly showed that despite her Mountain Troll blood, she was as friendly and amiable as any child at her age could be. In fact, her incredible strength made her a bit of a local attraction, showing off by lifting heavy things like they were nothing or letting a half dozen of them hang on her like a tree as she walked about without any hindrance. She was able to showcase her strength without incident for 15 years But like all children, she would sometimes forget that seemingly innocuous actions could have serious consequences.
The accident had started as nothing more than children playing at being warriors, a game of rough-housing that went just far enough that Kaede's magnificent strength showed that it could be just as much of a liability as it was an asset. During the mock battle, Kaede grabbed her "opponent's" forearm to block a strike, and lightly swung them around to put them off balance...but she wasn't light enough.
There was a loud, cracking pop, and a cry of pain as the Oni's arm went slack all the sudden. Kaede immediately released the child, and saw that their shoulder was hanging limp. With a mere tug, she'd severely dislocated her friend's shoulder. Upon seeing what she had done, Kaede began to panic, looking around and seeing the other villagers looking at her with (in her mind) suspicion. In her panicked, remorseful state, Kaede turned and ran into the forest, hearing the adults shouting behind her to come back and fearing that they would scream or do worse to her for hurting her friend.
She hid in the woods for two days, running deeper inside the forest to avoid anyone she heard searching for her. Even as the nights grew cold and damp, she would hide in bushes or under overhangs to try and fight the elements instead of heading home. On the third night, as Kaede started making to run to a new hiding place, an Oni leaped down from the overhang she was huddled under. He was green and red, and a good 50 years older than her, looking like someone just entering their teens. He held out his hand and spoke to her in a gentle, soothing voice and told her his name: Kabuki.
Kaede knew who he was, the Chieftain's son, and known for being a strong fighter even for his age, no surprise given that his father personally assisted him in his training. Kaede thought for a moment that he had been sent to capture her, or possibly even end her life for hurting the child, and started to break down crying, saying that she was sorry and would never come back if it made the village happy...And then she felt him gently cup her jaw and turn her head up to look him in the face.
He told her that he had come on his own, that the others had given up looking hoping that she would return when the cold and hunger was too much, so that she could explain herself. He said that wasn't good enough, and that he'd promised Kaede's mother that she would be brought back safe. When Kaede asked why he would do all that, when she'd proven that she wasn't safe to be around, he simply laughed and said "If I had a piece of gold for every time I'd hurt myself sparring, I'd be able to melt them down and make a life sized statue of myself."
He then offered Kaede some food and water, and swore to her on his own honor and his father's that if anyone had an issue with him bringing her home, or saying that she was only guilty of hurting someone by accident, that they would answer to him. The pair arrived at the village, and as Kaede expect, several of the older Oni were keeping their distance from her, acting as if she was an accident waiting to happen.
Kabuki saw this and became visibly angry, and for a moment Kaede considered running away again. Only for Kabuki to grab her hand and gently urge her to the sparring ring, even against her timid insistence that she would accidentally hurt him. He took up a kendo stick and tossed her a practice club, telling her to try and fight him with everything she had. The fight was hilariously one sided, Kabuki's skill with a sword was no match when Kaede's strength, even when she was timidly swinging with no form, or even trying to win, could smash through his blocks or swat aside his strikes even with the light pine club that was meant for children and young teens who barely knew the ropes. Kabuki was sent sprawling with a single half-hearted smack to the ribs, and they both heard a couple sharp cracks that signaled some new broken ribs for the young warrior.
But Kabuki didn't cry, or even seem to wince. He coughed, got to his feet...and laughed. He laughed even as he held his rapidly bruising abdomen, and walked over to a mortified Kaede with his hand outstretched, as if to ask her to shake it. When he saw the villagers surrounding the sparring ring, he lowered his hands, showing the wound that he'd suffered for all the village to see.
"You see this!?" He cried, holding his arms out even as he surely felt pain lancing through his midsection at the movement. "This is what happens when you spar, whether your opponent is as mighty as a mountain-" Kabuki gestured to Kaede, "Or as meek looking as a doe." He pointed to another Oni in the crowd, a small, slender looking woman...his mother. He then pointed to a scar on his chest, one from a blade. "My father gave me this, I was no older than Kaede is now! Did you all scorn him, push him into the woods!? No, was it because he was chieftain, or because he wasn't a scared girl who's been taught to fear her own strength by COWARDS!?"
Kaede looked around in awe as the Oni who had been regarding her with fear recoiled at the words, becoming chastened at being declared cowardly for their behavior. This was the chieftain's only son, the one who was almost guaranteed to be voted the next in line to lead them...and he was not only defending her, but let himself get hurt for her.
"This girl, Kaede...is the strongest of us, the mightiest. But you would have her cower in fear of her own strength, when it could be used to help others!? Would you have had us hide and let others die when the Cuorum was butchering the innocent too!? She is worthy of respect and kindness, because no matter what she looks like, or how she was born...she is one of US!" Kabuki slammed his fist on his chest, his voice becoming a commanding bellow that made the girl's heart skip a beat and her face flush bright red.
He walked over to the taller girl and gently took her hand before thrusting it up in the air, crying out her name like a war cry. "HER NAME IS KAEDE! AND AS LONG AS MY HEART BEATS WITHIN MY BREAST, SHE IS MY FRIEND! IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS, COME DOWN SO I CAN SHOW YOU THAT EVEN WITH THREE BROKEN RIBS I CAN SHOW YOU A REAL ONI'S MIGHT!"
Several of the Oni cheered, and Kaede saw that among them...all of them were her childhood friends, even the boy who's arm she'd injured yelled her name: "KAEDE!"
From that moment on, Kaede was never looked at with suspicion again...and from that moment, she realized something. She loved Kabuki with all of her heart.
The aftermath of this incident was a flurry of activity afterwards, her friends had all come to her saying that they were glad that she was okay, and the injured boy even apologized to her for the trouble, admitting that he had stumbled and fell when she spun them around, which is what they believed led to the injury in the first place. Her mother hugged her, cried and said that if she ever ran away like that again, she would hire a mercenary company to drag her home if need be, something that made Kaede laugh in spite of the tears that rolled down her face upon hugging her mother.
Kabuki stuck with her almost constantly after that, teaching her how to play the flute as well as methods to train her body to become even stronger. She grew with these lessons, both in knowledge and physically, she shot up in height once puberty hit, and she had to awkwardly ask Kabuki how to bind her chest once she began to blossom into a woman. It was a clumsy attempt to perhaps win his affections by using her body, but Kabuki was either to naïve or too chivalrous to take her up on it, simply laughing and dutifully showing her how to use bandage to bind her chest, saying it was no different than tying off an abdominal wound.
As she grew larger and stronger, Kaede began to take up jobs for the village, often chopping down several trees on her own to collect for firewood and charcoal, or digging irrigation ditches for the farmers. She also learned how to play the Taiko drums as her chosen instrument, wielding two massive Kanabo clubs as her drumsticks as well as learning how to wield her Earth Magic. It was during this time that she discovered her magical specialty as well, Lithomancy. She could command the earth to forge stone weapons or constructs that were almost unbreakable, and use her magic to sense things through the earth, a boon for hunting parties when storing meat for the coming winter.
But she was not spared some measure of tragedy during this time, her "Grandpa" Geb was killed by a fire drake while attempting to secure a sample from it, trying to learn how to bolster the dropping dragon and Wyvern Population by studying their more primitive cousins. His body was never found and a small ceremony was held for him, Kabuki and his Family attended alongside Kaede and Shinju. Kaede kept to keeping a shrine with a small painting of her adoptive grandfather by her bed, praying to him whenever she needed guidance or just wanted to tell him how she was doing.
More time passed, and life went on as it is wont to do. Kabuki grew into a skilled fighter and an excellent musician, and eventually he left to wander the world as he'd always dreamed of. Before he left however, he gave Kaede a red sash that matched his own, telling her that he would always write her to share tales of his journeys, and that as long as she had his sash there would always be a piece of him by her side. Kaede started crying and hugging Kabuki, only to laugh as she realized that he'd made a pun to try and make her smile, needless to say it worked, and she literally wears it so that it hangs by her side to this day.
Since then, Kaede has kept busy working for the village, chopping wood, helping the farmers and constantly improving her drum skills with her clubs. She moonlights as a nanny for the young of the village, serving as a smiling, supportive big sister for the children as she always has done. The only change to her routine is that every third week of the month, she waits eagerly for the mail carrier to arrive with a new letter for her from Kabuki, and with his newest letter her anticipation has only grown.
She stared down at the parchment, reading it and smiling as she heard tales of the fire kingdom's warm weather and green fields, only to shift to worry as he talked about a clan of bandits that terrorized a duchy owned by a young noblewoman. Her smile grew once more, her heart flipping a bit as she read on about his battle with the clan, how his light magic slew many of them with barely any effort. She imagined him doing so, swooning a bit at how courageous and noble he appeared in her minds eye...and then she read about how the girl's mother was horribly cruel to her, how she was trained to be nothing more than a pawn, and she felt her heart ache. He told her of how he came to care for her, how she was adopted by the fire king himself when her mother's cruel ambitions were discovered!
He told her of how he'd joined an Acheologist and a thief, and how they were heading to the earth kingdom to claim it's treasure and the girl's rightful place as it's Royal Heir...and that this girl was his lover, his mate and wife. Kaede felt her heart sink slightly, all these years of swooning, and she'd never just come out and said how she felt...she admitted it, she was slightly jealous of the girl. But she would not let that turn her cold, she smiled again and folded the letter, looking down at the sketch Kabuki had made of his new love, alongside a small message.
The girl had dark hair and dark eyes, a willowy form and slender features that almost made Kaede think that the girl was an elf. But upon seeing her rounded ears, she realized that this noblewoman was indeed human. "Heh, she's actually pretty beautiful. At least Kabuki didn't fall for someone who was out of his league.~"
She glanced down at the small message, her smile growing a bit wider at her friend's words. 'I can't wait to see you again! After decades on the road, coming back home is going to be incredible. I hope that you come to like her as much as I have, I...I honestly sometimes wonder what could have been if I'd decided to stay like some of the villagers wanted. Perhaps...I will have to speak to my father, but I want you to accompany us. I promise to sit down and talk about it with you in full as soon as I can!'
Kaede just chuckled again and folded the picture, tucking it into her belt and turning to walk back to the village. "Rosaline De Flores, hm? Well, this girl better be as amazing as Kabuki says, because I'm not just going to let anyone take him from me.~"
Combat potential
Weapons:
Armor:
Enchanted weapons/accessories:
Weaknesses:
Magical potential
Special/Racial Abilities:
Magical Affinity:
Spells Known (_/35sP):
Great to see this place still pluggin' along. I just wanted to pop in and say I'm getting rid of our affiliate system so you can feel free to take down our aff banner. Take care!