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.