Shen Wei Han

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Description

Shen Wei Han is a rugged, competent infantry soldier. He is large and strong with more than his share of scars. He is nearly always wearing great armor or at least heavy mountain scale; he wears it so much that he seems out of place unarmored. Before game start, he was assigned to see to the safety of Zhu Cai-Wen traveling to the Butterfly Kingdom. Before that reassignment, he fought many battles and it shows. Since then, he has retired from the Dragon Army.


Outside of a fight, Wei Han acknowledges that diplomacy is not his best attribute and tries not to interfere... but he will step on toes to get his duty done if he has to. His skill set tends toward the useful, things which he learned soldiering. How to set up camp, cook, arrange enough supplies. How to maintain weapons and armor. Military courtesy.

In a fight, Shen Wei Han is a solid and dangerous opponent. He does not have the flair of a martial artist but he will get the job done. He was trained on the wall to stand with his companions as the anvil upon which the enemy assault is smashed, surviving to hold that line for the next wave. The survival of you and your line as an effective fighting force is vital: he will not hesitate to overkill an opponent if that decreases his own casualties. This is likely to create friction at some point with Chris but I don't expect it to be major.

In time, I expect people to discover that although he has a some of a Dog's stubborn streak he can be convinced (partially because I don't want it to become too annoying; feel free to tell me out of game if his personality becomes bothersome). Somehow, when he says "Yes" it can mean all sorts of things, including "No."

Background

When he was young, Shen Wei Han was enlisted into the Dragon Army as part of the Qin Chao Steppes levy. After training and several years at the Wall, his unit was set to patrolling the Imperial Highways. Over the following years, Shen Wei Han saw many imperial roads and was occasionally called to action. His commander Chang Hu took pride in his work, discharged his duties honorably, and instilled similar pride in his subordinates. When Chang Hu needed someone for tasks which weren't worth assigning many people, such as seeing that someone got home or fetching someone he wanted to speak to, he would often task Shen Wei Han. An experienced, burly soldier can keep a fight from happening, or make sure that any fight ends the right way. At this point, Shen Wei Han was one of his more experienced soldiers.

Southwest in the Jade Taiga, Wei Han's unit crossed paths with Tetsuki Ijichi. Tetsuki Ijichi was a VIP connected to the Regency Council trying to travel to Qin Chao Steppes; he had had a disagreement with some of the local nobility and was worried about his safety traveling (to this day, Shen Wei Han does not know what the disagreement was). At that time, Silken Wings was nearby. Li Merit heard of Tetsuki Ijichi's situation and spoke with Chang Hu. In the end, Shen Wei Han was detached to accompany Tetsuki Ijichi to the Steppes and then report to the garrison at the Wall for reassignment.

The circus, Shen Wei Han, and Tetsuki Ijichi travelled northwest while Chang Hu continued his patrol. The trip was uneventful. Upon reaching the wall, Shen Wei Han was assigned to a unit under Commander Lo Ping, guarding the wall.

The Wall

It has become obvious to the party that Shen Wei Han is intimately connected to the Great North Wall and is a guardian of it. Although Shen Wei Han realizes it too, he does not generally proclaim it so.

Stats

Physical Mental Spiritual
Body Reflexes Mind Social Tao
Force/Offense Strength = 13 Accuracy = 5 Intelligence = 6 Charisma = 7 Yang = 5
Precision/Defense Resistance = 11 Dexterity = 7 Wit = 8 Grace = 4 Yin = 5
Reserve Health = 10 Energy = 6 Resolve = 7 Status = 4 Chi = 5
Hit Points HP = (Health + Energy) * 5 = 80
Move Move = (Strength + Energy) / 2 = 10


Shticks

Level 1 shticks:

  • Social Armor: It's hard to imagine me without my weapons and armor; people will not usually try to ask me to leave them behind. Freq 5, Power 1. (Major, Taught) Cost: 5
  • 2 copies of Reserves: In combat, Wei Han appears larger, and his skin gives the impression of stoniness. +1 health. Freq 6, Power 1. (Major, Taught) Cost: 12
  • Reinforcements: As long as it is not completely unreasonable (locked in the bottom of an unknown cave), comrades in the Dragon Army can be summoned in time of great need (1/run, costs a Chi). They will be defensive in nature - trained in cover, blocking, fortifications. Freq 1, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 6
  • Arresting Glare: I have a very impressive glare, indicating that people should not pass. Freq 6, Power 1. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 9
  • Touched by Winter: Unfazed by cold. Freq 1, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 6
  • Nose for Trouble: Go in the direction most likely to have people who need help. (1/run, costs 1 Yin). Freq 1, Power 4. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 6
  • Swift Response: 1/run, you can spend a Yang to arrive at a (within the range of possibly reachable) battle "just in the nick of time" rather than "late". Freq 1, Power 6. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 9
  • Swift Response: 1/run, you can spend a Yang to have your unit (define once) arrive at a (conceivably reachable) battle "just in the nick of time" rather than "late". Freq 1, Power 6. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 9

Level 2 shticks:

  • That's not armor. *This* is armor: Able to wear armor. Freq 6, Power 2. (Major, Taught) Cost: 12
  • Touched by Winter II: Sense necromancy. Freq 2, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 12
  • Assist: 1/run, if I get doubles on my speed roll, I can give a "duplicate" action to someone else, only during that action. (If they already have an action then, it doesn't stack). Freq 2, Power 5. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 15
  • Taunt: 1/combat, may taunt an enemy into targeting me. Freq 3, Power 3. (Major, Taught) Cost: 9
  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: 1/run, I can choose from four remembered archetypes, to draw informative parallels, get historical information, or simply gain insight from experience. Freq 2, Power 5. (Major, Taught) Cost: 10
  • Mighty Blow: 1/turn, I may spend a point of Energy to have my sword strike at double (strength) dice. Freq 2, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 12

Level 3 shticks:

  • Hold the Line: Enemies find it hard to move past me, as if I am physically much wider than I am. Moving past is at half movement and makes people cold. Freq 6, Power 3. (Major, Taught) Cost: 18
  • Touched by Winter III: Sense threats along Wall. Freq 3, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 18
  • Target Invaders: You can sense someone who attacks you or your teammates, and your "teammates" can include any specific defensive position/vault/wall/etc. that you define for a scene. Freq 6, Power 3. (Major, Taught) Cost: 18
  • Smite: I can attack with my sword using my Strength. Freq 6, Power 3. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 27
  • Mighty Grab: I can grab with my Strength. Freq 5, Power 3. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 22

Level 4 shticks:

  • Protect: Once per action, disappear in a swirl of snow. Reappear immediately in another swirl of snow up to double my move away, standing in front of an attack aimed at someone else. Freq 5, Power 4. (Major, Taught) Cost: 20
  • Touched by Winter IV: Northern Wall Army treats me with extra authority. Freq 4, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 24
  • Spike the Line: 1/turn, I get a free die pool to attack someone who enters my "Hold the Line" area. It is a particularly staggering attack, as if targets have run into a stone wall. Freq 4, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 24
  • Riposte: Successes of my dodge = successes of an attack on my attacker. Freq 5, Power 4. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 30

Level 5 shticks:

  • Touched by Winter V: Move along the Wall. Freq 5, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 30
  • Brothers in Arms: For each teammate within 2 hexes, my sword damage is at +1 multiplier, up to x6. However, my sword damage *cannot* increase beyond x3 when I'm solo. Freq 6, Power 5. (Major, Taught) Cost: 30
  • Fa's Parry: 1/action, you may generate a die pool for parrying a melee attack with a sword. Freq 5, Power 5. (Minor, Taught) Cost: 37

Level 6 shticks:

  • Touched by Winter VI: Defense against non-physical attacks; frozen through next drift. Freq 6, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 36
  • Shield Block: Half damage from melee attacks, when using a shield. Freq 6, Power 6. (Major, Taught) Cost: 36

Remaining EP

  • 46 unspent EP

Planned schticks

  • Raise frequency of parry from 5 to 6.

Skills

  • 1 Acrobatics (x3 = 3)
  • 5 Active Perception (x2 = 10)
  • 2 All Axes (x4 = 8)
  • 20 All Swords (x4 = 80)
  • 2 Animal Handling (x2 = 4)
  • 8 Armor, Great (x2 = 16)
  • 4 Athletics (x5 = 20)
  • 1 Bargaining (x3 = 3)
  • 3 Blades (x5 = 15)
  • 1 Blunt Weapons (x5 = 5)
  • 1 Bodyguard (x3 = 3)
  • 19 Brawling (x3 = 57)
  • 3 Breaking Things (x3 = 9)
  • 6 Bureaucracy (x2 = 12)
  • 2 Carousing (x3 = 6)
  • 2 Close-mouthed (x2 = 4)
  • 11 Conversation (x5 = 55)
  • 1 Crossbow (x3 = 3)
  • 6 Death Checks (x2 = 12)
  • 1 Dreamwalking (x2 = 2)
  • 1 Driving (x2 = 2)
  • 2 Endurance (x3 = 6)
  • 1 Escape (x4 = 4)
  • 6 Feats of Strength (x4 = 24)
  • 1 Fireworks Throwing (x4 = 4)
  • 2 Free Irrigation (x0 = 0)
  • 4 Gather Information (x4 = 16)
  • 4 Ice Axe (x2 = 8)
  • 3 Impressive (x3 = 9)
  • 6 Intimidation (x2 = 12)
  • 6 KS: Dragon Army (x2 = 12)
  • 3 KS: Northern Barbarians (x3 = 9)
  • 2 KS: Recurring NPCs (x5 = 10)
  • 4 KS: The Wall (north) (x2 = 8)
  • 1 KS: Twelve Kingdoms (x3 = 3)
  • 8 Language: Senatali (x1 = 8)
  • 8 Language: Torghut (x1 = 8)
  • 3 Logistics (x2 = 6)
  • 1 Magic Ritual (x5 = 5)
  • 6 Memory (x3 = 18)
  • 1 Metalsmith (Broad) (x4 = 4)
  • 2 Music (x2 = 4)
  • 6 Notice Things While Asleep (x1 = 6)
  • 2 On Guard (x3 = 6)
  • 4 Outdoorsman (x5 = 20)
  • 4 PS: Charioteer (x2 = 8)
  • 6 PS: Infantry (x2 = 12)
  • 10 Passive Perception (x4 = 40)
  • 10 Performing (x1 = 10)
  • 8 Persuasion (x4 = 32)
  • 3 Sculpture (x1 = 3)
  • 4 Stealth (x4 = 16)
  • 4 Streetwise (x3 = 12)
  • 7 Strong Willed (x3 = 21)
  • 4 Survival (x3 = 12)
  • 12 Swimming (x1 = 12)
  • 3 Tactics (x3 = 9)
  • 3 Teaching (x2 = 6)
  • 1 Use Magic Device (x2 = 2)
  • 4 Vehicles (x4 = 16)
  • 24 Wall (x5 = 120)
  • 50 unspent SP

Inherent Skills

  • Death Checks
  • Wall
  • Great Armor

Things to Remember to Buy

Stuff

  • A heavy oxtail saber with a wide flare. The blade is dark and mottled, and the hilt wrapped with red cord. +3 to strength for sword strikes and damage
  • A lightweight sword of wavy-patterned bluish steel, with faint lines of a sort of wavy pattern, like stylized swirls of wind; the pommel has a greyish-blue stone in the hilt, which feels cold to the touch. +5 accuracy to strikes. Will return to my hand when called.
  • Sword which does social damage
  • Boots of standing fast
  • Bracers of Strength (+3 strength for lifting and feats of strength)
  • False hilt (on saber, will be disarmed instead of the saber)
  • Armor coloring ritual; materials for 4 uses.
  • Long term investment with Li Merit
  • 9 resistance Butterfly Dragon Armor. Oooh, pretty.
  • Great Armor, with colored black and grey in a pattern which gives an impression of the North Wall in winter.
  • 4 tael spent to put armor on commission 11/23. It will be done in about four runs, at which point the final payment of three tael will be due.

Training

Master Zhou set Wei Han to finding five different sources about a single form of Dragon Army training (swords seems appropriate). They need to be from different decades, at least 20 years ago. At least two interviews, at least two written.

  • 20 years, oral: Interview and training with a soldier in the Strand. Their styles have become more back-to-back, small group styles and less of the Northern shield wall.
  • 30 years, written: a book that seems to be from about thirty years ago, and looks like a guide for various exercises, from the basics of armed and unarmed combat, to strength training for armor and shield work, to archery. There is a bit about sword training; there is some mention of Forms, but practicing in pairs seems to be a bigger thing.
  • 40 years, oral: Interview and training with a soldier from the Jade Taiga. Forms were "not done as much." Riposte and disarm are coming into use, but the teachers disapprove because they are situational rather than universally usable.
  • 60 years, oral: Interview and training with an older soldier from the Illuminated Precincts, whose forms date back 60 years.
  • 80 years, written: a small leather-bound book, which seems to have been stuffed inside another book that nobody has looked at in forever; it's a journal of My Time In The Army. It starts in basic training, and goes through later postings and various skirmishes and larger battles. The account is written with an entertaining voice, and a knack for detail - probably why it's been kept around. Sword training in basic training seems to have started for the first long while with bamboo practice swords, and only when the cadets sufficiently impressed their sergeant were they permitted to use proper steel. Forms are mentioned here, and also later, when the soldier is no longer a rookie, there's talk of everyone having to come up with their own personal Form to demonstrate or practice some particular thing.

After completing this, Master Zhou meditated and said "You are immune to corruption, and to Corruption. But a solid link cannot hold in a chain that rusts out elsewhere. You will someday find that you must choose between betrayal in the letter, and betrayal of the spirit."

Further tasks from Master Zhou

"If you are to better understand your role in defending the Empire, you must first understand the relationship between the Empire and the Twelve Kingdoms.

"Seek out officials in six different Kingdoms, in different domains [e.g., military, trade, culture]. Three of these officials should owe their primary allegiance to their Kingdom, and three to the Empire. They should not be people you already know personally. Two of these should be low-level officials [Status < 6], two mid-level [6 <= Status <= 9], and two high-level [Status > 9]. Speak with each for an hour about the role they play, how the Kingdom and Empire interact, and how friction between them comes about and is resolved.

"When you have done this, return to me, and tell me what you have learned."

  • The Steward of the Roof of the World (Reflected City). Kingdom, high status.
  • Inspector Fu. Empire, high status.
  • The High Warlord of the Forest of Chin. Kingdom, high status.
  • Master Xiong, Jade Taiga (City of Spires). Kingdom, Culture, mid status?
  • Low status tax collector, Bear Mountain. Kingdom, trade, low status.
  • Medium status Imperial tax collector, Bear Mountain. Empire, trade, mid status.
  • Dragon Army commander, Watchdog Steppes. Empire, military, mid status.
  • Garrison commander for the Southwest wall (Strand). Empire, military, low status.
  • Officials of the Dragon Army in the Magpie's Treasure. Empire, military, low status.

After completing this, Master Zhou gave a pointed parable on right vs righteousness, and on changing Wei Han's nature.

Language

Being infantry, Shen Wei Han is a little less "polite" than some.

  • Fei Ren: literally, "Useless Person"
  • Chusheng: literally, "animal". Also used as an expletive, much like "Damn!" would be.
  • Ri: literally, "to do", or "fuck".
  • Si gui: literally, "dead imp" or "dead demon". Profanity.
  • Shi dan: literally, "shit egg" or "turd".

Note: the GMs have voiced a preference; these will be used rarely.

Name

"Wei Han" or "Weihan" is his personal name. His family name is "Shen". Shen is a fairly common family name.

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Future

  • Stats