Entry 8


Name: Chinu-a
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Height: average (5ft 10in)


*** PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: ***

Chinu-a is wiry but athletic and hardy in build, as befits someone who lives off the wilderness. His black hair is roughly cut (by Chinu-a himself) to just below sholder height, and his beard is naturally short and wispy. His body is slightly scarred from life as a hunter and warrior. His main distinguishing feature present on his skin is the large tattoo on his right forearm of the symbol of the Guochuun Clan (the native word for "strength"), the clan that destroyed Shai's village. He keeps this tattoo hidden under a cloth bandage at all times.

Chinu-a usually wears a grey wolf-pelt cloak over a simple tunic. In the wild, he carries his distinctive hunting spear, shaped similar to harpoon, with its large barbed spearhead sharpened on one side that allows it to act somewhat like a halberd in close combat. He also wears a belt around his waist, with a large hunting knife for use as a tool or additional weapon slung on his left hip, and on his right hip he carries a small sickle for harvesting herbs and medicinal plants. Around his shoulders he wears several waterskins and pouches for carrying supplies. On his back he bears a quiver in which he keeps several javelins for hunting from a distance. He wears worn boots suitable for long travels in rough terrain.

When preparing for battle, Chinu-a leaves behind his cloak and supply equipment for extra mobility. He keeps his hunting spear, knife and javelins, and also carries battle medicine in a single set of pouches.


*** PERSONALITY: ***

Chinu-a is by nature a loner. He will rarely join in the conversations of others unless he feels it is very important. When he does speak, he has a slight hesitancy in his voice which is expressed as a stammer, and his words are often punctuated with unnatural pauses as he thinks of the correct way to express himself. He spends a lot of his time staring out into the wilderness quietly engrossed in his thoughts, or studying the wildlife around him. He has a natural distrust of other people, particularly of warriors. Due to his nature and history, he despises anyone who shows wanton cruelty or bloodthirstiness to other people. His major flaw is his own inconfidence in his abilities.

Chinu-a has been trained as a warrior, and while not the best of fighters available he is capable spearman. He prefers to fight at a distance, using his javelins at range, and keeping his opponents at bay with his heavy hunting spear at closer range. In tight quarters or as a last resort he will use his knife as a weapon. Unlike many of the group, Chinu-a maintains his level-headedness during battle, and is incapabale of going berserk. He tends to only put his heart into fights that he believes in, otherwise he tends to stay on the outskirts. He will also refuse to attack anyone who is unarmed. However, he will show no quarter to those who harm the defenseless.

His skills include an ability with medicines, and can heal minor wounds in battle. He is also an accomplished scout, and can survey a battleground before an attack. Although he does not know it, he is also a natural tactitian. He can offer sound battle planning advice if Shai is willing to hear it, although he will only offer it if he believes enough in both his abilities and in Shai's motives.

Due to his mistrust of the motives of barbarian warriors, his taciturn manner, and his controlled manner of fight style, Chinu-a does not naturally get on well with the other barbarians in the group. It is up to the player, as Shai, to bridge the gap between them. Part of this is getting Chinu-a to believe in his abilities as a warrior, which is difficut at first due to his cold and distant manner. If Shai reacts favourably to his suggestions, Chinu-a will gain confidence and begin to offer more advice about upcoming battles; he will also participate more with the group, fight more bravely and and begin to lose his characteristic stammer. However, if insulted or his advice is continuously refused, or if Shai's inquiries are too persistent for his liking, then he will withdraw completely from conversations and offering tactics until this is remedied.

Despite his usual detatched manner, Chinu-a will attempt to steer Shai towards showing mercy towards those who offer no threat to her; his opinion of her will grow if she offers clemency. He will voice his disgust the first few times that Shai shows unwarranted cruelty; repeated acts will cause him to withdraw (as per being insulted). Continued acts of bloodthistry barbarism will cause Chinu-a to rebel; his reaction will depend on his confidence level. If he is unconfident in his abilities, he will leave without notice, where he will forewarn those villages he thinks are defenceless of Shai's upcoming attacks (in which case Shai may have to hunt him down). If he is confident, he will challenge Shai when alone to redeem her ways, and fight her if she refuses.

Chinu-a has hidden motives for helping Shai based on his history which he is unlikely to reveal to her unless he feels he has complete trust. He seeks to avenge his slain mentor and to restore his clan from descent into murderous savages, but he lacks the confidence in his own abilities to achieve this by himself. He blames his own weakness as a warrior for the destruction of Shai's village and countless others, but he also can see from the fire in her eyes that through her actions he will have the best opportunity to redeem his past mistakes. However, he also sees that fire as a danger; he does not wish for Shai and her group to become the same monsters as those of his clan, and subtly acts to distill a sense of chivalry and mercy within his comrades. Also, since his wish is for the restoration and not the total destruction of his clan, he had the secondary motive of attempting to dissuade Shai from complete revenge against his clan.

Chinu-a knows that his background as a member of the Guochuun Clan is a danger to his safety in the vicinity of Shai and her group, and so will do all that he can to prevent his secret from being revealed. If his guard is down due to illness, injury, or to carelessness due to increased trust of Shai, it is possible for Shai to notice his tattoo identifying his origins. Depending on his confidence and trust of Shai, and to her reaction (such as understanding or blind rage), Chinu-a will either attempt to explain himself or flee.

During the final battle, Chinu-a will help Shai defeat and kill the leader of the Guochuun Clan, Ghang, and his elite warriors. However, if Shai attempts to take total revenge against the remainder of the clan, he will demand that she stops, and will fight her if she refuses.


*** HISTORY ***

(this is for reference purposes: the player need not be told all of this in game)

Chinu-a grew up in the barbarian camp of the Guochuun Clan. Quiet, thoughtful and slightly aloof, he did not fit in well with the rest of his boisterous, rowdy and often violent brethren growing up in their encampment. While his personality did not mesh with that of typical life of a barbarian warrior, the stories told by the elders instilled a sense of respect for the heroes of his clan, and the code that they believed in; honour, valour, bravery and persistence against all odds. He still joined in the games and mock battleswith the other boys in his clan, and as he grew older he trained in ways of the hunter and the warrior. Unlike most of of the barbarian boys, he tended to hunt and fight not with strength but with cunning; his ability to keep his cool and ability to spot weaknesses in his opponenets strategy could defeat boys many years his senior.

However, unlike his peers Chinu-a had a natural curiousity about the world around him. This led him to spend time asking questions to his clan's shaman, Buoge. Humouring the young boy, Buoge taught Chinu-a much about animals and plants, the ways of making medicine, and how nature affects the world around him. Through Buoge's different perspective of life, Chinu-a learnt that the way of the warrior was not the only path that one could take.

After reaching adolesence, and being tattooed with the symbol of the Guochuun Clan, Chinu-a began his proper warrior training. It was at this time that a new chieftan of the clan, Ghang, was chosen, and changes had already begun in the life of the village. The training became less about hunting and defense, and more about acts of aggression. The stories of the heroes were changed from that of chivalrous warriors to blood-thirsty conquerors, and the right of the strong to crush the weak. While Chinu-a was troubled by this, he did not have the courage to speak out. Only Buoge the shaman dared to defy Ghang: he warned that the present path would lead to the doom of the Guochuun Clan. Tensions were raised in the camp, and Ghang was openly furious with the disunity shown by the shaman. Suddenly, one day Beoge disappeared. While he had not proof, Chinu-a was certain that Ghang was somehow to blame, but he felt that he could do nothing; Ghang was too strong for him to openly challenge.

Finally, the day of Chinu-a initation as warriors of the clan had arrived. Ghang assembled his warriors before him, and told them of the coming of the age of the Guochuun Clan. Tomorrow at dawn, the clan was to pillage the neighbouring town, and leave no survivors. Initiate warriors were to bring to Ghang the head of an enemy villager as proof of their courage. As the other warriors cheered on their leader, Chinu-a felt sickened at this, and stared at the ground in disgust at how his fellow clansmen were violating the code of conduct that he believed in. Seeing this, Ghang marched up to Chinu-a and struck him to the ground, yelling "Cowardly dog! Obey your chieftan, lest you end up like that worm Buoge!"

That night, knowing he could not attack a defenceless village and fearing the retribution of Ghang, Chinu-a fled his camp into the darkness of the wild.

As the years grew on, Chinu-a lived the life of the wanderer, travelling from village to village and living off the wild. As he heard rumours of how the influence of the Guochuun Clan was claiming more lives, his hatred grew. He hates Ghang and how he had killed Buoge and corrupted his clan. He hates how his fellow warriors had so eagerly joined Ghang in his murderous conquest. But most of all, he hates his weakness, as shown by his inability to stand again Ghang and his cowardly flight from his responsibilities and the code of the warrior.