Matsuno Isaki

Genji-myo
Path of 1,000 Whispers
Hollow Reed of Joshikosei
Warden of the Great Principle
Jina of the Court of the Prismatic Storm

Description


Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 lb.
Ethnicity: East Asian
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Long simple black
Clothing: White and gray business casual
Comportment/Cadence: Confident
Distinctions: Though barely just out of high school, Isaki carries herself with the professional confidence of a veteran corporate go-getter, dressed to kill, immaculately groomed, calculatingly friendly, and frustratingly gorgeous; she always seems to know just what to say, when to say, and who to say it to
Supernatural Qualities: Mischief lurks behind the lenses of the stylish glasses (that she doesn't actually need)
Accoutrements: Light jewelry
Traits: Appearance 5 (beautiful); Style 5 (classic); Perfect Liar, Perfect Protocol

“I think he truly enjoys me as Joshikosei. How adorable.”

History


Date of Birth: June 7th, 1873
Home: Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan
Family: Oku Kiyomori and Hama (parents); Nikko-no-Kanojo (Dharmic anonym)
Second Breath: External Supernatural Trigger (Isaki grew up in a rich gentry family during the Meiji Restoration era of Japan, whose pledge to the emperor helped ensure their transition into the zaibatsu corporatocracy that replaced the old feudal order; as the only child, she had just gotten used to the idea of inheriting her family's wealth and how she might lead her life, when a jealous cousin, who had been named as legal heir in case something happened, murdered Isaki; she regained consciousness in a truly horrid place: a turn-of-the-century Westernized office in the Wicked City, banal and maddeningly repetitive, wherein she was a mere secretary; she asserted herself and serviced the "old man" corporate exec-like demons and escaped while they were helpless, darting desperately through the realm until she scrambled up the Scarlet Path and out of Hell), 1891
Mentor: Honda Kazumoro
The Test: Trial by Influence (when she dug herself out of her grave, mindless and ravenous, a local Mandarin Crane subdued and restored her; Isaki discovered her body had been buried in the wealthy family plot, and she was back in Nikko, still a small town, but large enough to house the Court of the Old Man, an ancient and respected court of national spirituality; Isaki found herself drawn to the Path of the Thousand Whispers instead, having learned that family was not trustworthy anyway, and that a singular path through existence was the definition of hell anyway)
Comrades: Hori Tamiyo, Asari Wazuka, Ouji Eitsu, Rokuda Rie, Cooper Wise
Key Event #1: Awe & Wonder (during her Ré, she met other young gaki and together they formed a Wu simply called the Nikko 5, formed to harvest Urns around the countryside)
Key Event #2: War (when World War II fell, she and her Wu stayed domestic, working to waylay and repel both Gui Ren and Kin-jin who attempted to infiltrate Tokyo; all the while, she began to experiment with "lesser masks" and identities, as Rootless Tree disciples must)
Key Event #3: Awe & Wonder (after the war when peace came and a whole new crop of Hungry Dead arrived, Isaki made a name for herself by embracing her path's tenets but always keeping an open mind, "young at heart", that wanted fresh perspectives; Running Monkeys came to respect her for such a matter-of-fact pragmatic attitude)
Key Event #4: Awe & Wonder (later, she was granted permission to study abroad in the Jade Court at Changan as part of a diplomatic cultural hand-shake; due to old prejudices, however, she found herself shut out of most regular activity, and so aligned with Bamboo Princes who were still nominally Quincunx, but welcomed outsiders, even gaki, even if meant radicalizing each other; over these years, she adopted multiple professions and lives at once, staying at least a step ahead of the strict Chinese authorities always; she learned that such "throwaway" life experiments were easier in a foreign land where she had few connections)
Key Event #5: Awe & Wonder (when the Nikko 5 regathered, she found herself eager to broaden her horizons even further, to broaden her life experiences in a new locale altogether; both she and her sisters had new goals and a new style and approach, so with the Mandarins' permission and minor going-away gifts for the jina, they struck out for San Francisco in the US to bolster their Wan Kuei allies' Great Leap Forward)
Transition: Shift in Nature (but when she arrived, she and her Wu-mates felt inexplicably drawn to a chi'n ta, and this mortal mage was not even Japanese; Isaki actually made first contact with Cooper in disguise as a Japanese-American teen student to ensure he was no threat to the rest of the Wu; after Tamiyo seduced him, it opened her and the rest of the Wu to accept this connection as part of their new approach to the world beyond Nikko)

The P’o


Appearance: Isaki often sees her murdering cousin, long since dead (during the fire-bombing of Tokyo during WW2), mocking her and urging her to abandon meaningful pursuits like he did.
Trigger: Whenever a diversion is presented that she would normally be interested in pursuing on her own, but are focused on other things.

Jade Talismans


Gray (***)
Appearance: A commemorative coin sculpted from mottled gray jade and inlaid with gold, remembering the ascent of the Meiji Emperor
Origin: Gift

Magical Artifacts


Silk Fan of the High Lady
Appearance: A gentry's lounging fan crafted of the finest paper and bound by silk; it is decorated with scenes of a great imperial feast
Origin: Gift
Effects: 1) By waving the fan even idly, it summons a brief but stiff breeze (a 25 mph-blast) in a 50x20-foot cone of effect, enough to extinguish small flames and threaten the balance of anyone in its path
Activation: Simply waving the fan is not enough; she must also sacrifice a point of Chi (either kind)

Significant Others


Names: Hori Tamiyo, Ouji Eitsu, Rokuda Rie, Asari Wazuka, 1910; Cooper Wise, 2012
Nature: Erotic

Wazuka



Tamiyo



Eitsu



Rie



Cooper



Weakness
The World Is Not Enough


Isaki was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and that spoon was rudely ripped out. She's been picking up her broken teeth ever since, trying to put together a series of new lives to compensate in the hopes that it will make up for what she lost.

Likelihood of Corruption

Average.

Her devotion to her Dharmic inclinations have her all over the place like a girl with multiple-personality disorder, so those seeking to corrupt "her" must also corrupt all of "them" as well.

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Eye of the Storm

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