Forest-Crushing Song

Name: Forest-Crushing Song (Kaltha Mountain-Hare)
Age: 24
Exaltation/Caste: Casteless Lunar
Affiliations: Icewalker Tribes


Bio:

The Heptagram is not the only means by which someone can learn about Sorcery - anyone with knowledge of the five trials may attempt to undertake them and learn the means by which they can manipulate Creation by their own willpower. Kaltha's tribe was led by one such individual, an eccentric Lost Egg who used his command of Sorcery to provide for - and to a lesser extent, maintain control of - the Mountain-Hare tribe. As a young woman, Kaltha was selected to become his assistant; not to learn his magic, but simply to aid in his research and gather the worldly things that he was too busy to see after on his own. Like any dutiful wizard's apprentice, she spent a good amount of her free time furtively gleaning what knowledge she could... once he taught her how to read.

It was during her duties to the Mountain-Hare Sorcerer that Kaltha was caught far from home during a biting, cruel blizzard. She found refuge in an ice cavern to attempt to ride out the storm. Days and nights passed, and her food ran short; the blizzard showed no signs of breaking. Braving the storm would mean almost certain death, but staying put would mean absolutely certain death. Protecting herself as best she could, Kaltha left her refuge for the embrace of stingingly painful snow and bone-chilling cold. 

Hypothermia set in quickly, and frostbite threatened her limbs. Sleep clouded the corners of her vision, the pervasive and oppressive slumber of death by cold. When lingering death forced her to her knees, Kaltha crawled. When it pushed her face into the snow, she pulled herself forward - if only to not be buried under the heavy snowfall. And when warmth washed over her and her pains faded, Kaltha made her peace with the Gods of her tribe. But death had not come for her; instead she was visited by a many-faced spirit of incredible power, it's form constantly shifting between male and female, nurturer and slayer, fearsome and comforting, ancient and constantly reborn. All and nothing all at once, Luna had come to her in her final moments. The glowing trickster God leaned down and pulled Kaltha to her feet in one motion, imbuing the girl with incredible power. Her aches had been banished, the cold had lost it's deadly edge. She, too, had been remade... and remade into more than she'd been before. Her whim completed, Luna departed, leaving Kaltha in a blizzard that now carried as much threat as a summer rain. And as she soon discovered, it carried no bite whatsoever to the massive, powerful aurochs she assumed as naturally as the flesh she'd been born to.

It was a full month before Kaltha returned to her tribe; solitude did not suit her as much as she'd thought it would. Her tribe had long presumed her dead, and although there was a small degree of celebration, most understood that the young woman - who refused to speak of her experience - was fundamentally different in some way. Moreover, the man who'd refused to share the secrets of his beloved Sorcery was now dismayed to find that his moon-eyed apprentice understood the principles better than even he did. Before he could drive her from his service and connive some pretense for throwing a potential outstart out of the tribe, a reason arrived to act on his behalf. 

Three strangers appeared in the village overnight, dour and foreign, demanding to speak with Kaltha. The leader of this trio - a man who introduced himself as Forest-Cast-Skyward - explained to Kaltha that she'd become a Lunar Exalted, a chosen child of the Incarnae Luna to protect and guide creation. He explained the Trials she would endure, the moonsilver tattoos that would suppress her transformative powers to ensure her safety - so that changing forms would not also carry the risk of becoming a mindless beast over the years, at the cost of locking her 'Caste' into a single phase of the moon. They explained that she'd be brought into the Silver Pact, a network of Lunars, and fostered to a suitable teacher who could help her guide her growth in a healthy way.

Kaltha politely declined their offer. An argument broke out, for some reason, and her guests left in a snit. But Kaltha felt that Luna - the spirit who had imbued her with this power - had intended for It's children to be as mutable and changing as It was, and to limit herself in the name of safety was an affront. An insult to the gift she'd been given. Unfortunately for Kaltha, her would-be comrades made sure everyone in the village knew that Kaltha would eventually become a ravening, bloodthirsty monster out of spite, and she knew that if she didn't leave, she would be made to leave. So she left.

But not before helping herself to her former mentor's library. He was too terrified to stop her. 

Since then, Kaltha - who has taken the name 'Forest-Crushing Song' in order to mock the dour Silver Pact recruiter who got her kicked out of her village, and to blend in with the customs of other Lunar Exalted - travels on her own, exploring the North. She has found a her own way of marrying her moderate sorcery 'education' with her natural abilities, though she's aware that these practices make her something of an aberration among abominations. 


Appearance:

Forest-Crushing Song - or simply 'Song' - is not a large or threatening woman. She stands only a couple inches above 5 feet tall, and sports a compact and almost matronly build; wide hips, appealing curves, and a face that is somewhat predisposed to gentle expressions. That said, she has six or seven large, ugly scars across her body, administered by blades encountered in her travels. Two large slashes forming an 'X' on her back, three notable scars from a claw taken across the cheek, and a few on her legs. Aside from the cuts on her face, the others are typically covered. She does, after all, tend to keep to the frozen wastes of the North and dresses appropriately for the weather. Even though her supernatural constitution no longer demands that she do so. 

Among her duties to the Mountain-Hare Sorcerer, Song cultivated a lovely singing voice - a necessary skill, when your tribe keeps their history and legends in musical form. She may not speak often or loudly, but she is capable of raising her voice to a frightening extent when she wants to.  


Potential Plot Hooks:

-Song was once a member of the relatively unimportant Mountain-Hare tribe, and sometimes visits them - usually in disguise in some manner. Events that affect the Mountain-Hare tribe will invariably draw her attention, and harm to her tribe will (eventually) be answered with some sort of retribution.
-Forest-Crushing Song is a casteless Lunar. She has eschewed the traditional moonsilver tattoos that keep her people's shapeshifting powers from running wild and turning them into mindless Chimerae, and this is a concern to some. Young or persuasive Lunars might seek to change her mind about this, bringing a knowledgeable ally into the Silver Pact while saving her eventual sanity and life. They might also want to seek her out, because...
-Song has discovered some manner of hunting and acquiring the forms of demons, and typically prefers to take these forms over those of normal animals. The jury is still out as to whether this is an inherently evil act, although it's likely unhealthy in some way. Still incredibly useful.


Character Sheet - 30BP, 0XP

Past RPs: