Kushana

Player Name: Eric
Contact Info: DW - overbringer, Plurk - Overbringer, AIM - EricOverbringer
Other Characters Played: Lancer, Batman, Avshar

Character Name: Kushana Menethil
Canon: Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind

Canon Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_%28manga%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_characters

AU Background: Kushana is the daughter of the Emperor's brother, making her fairly high on the line of succssion. When she was a young child, a rival of the Emperor tried to have her killed with a poisoned drink, but fate conspired that it was her mother who drank it instead of her. What would have killed a child merely drove her mother mad. She now lives a pathetic life, seeing everyone around her as strangers and enemies while talking to a rag doll that she thinks is young Kushana, despite Kushana herself being an adult now. Her father's advice to her was that if she wanted to live she must pretend not to understand what happened, for she lived in a nest of vipers. He died a year or two later under mysterious circumstances.

When she was old enough, Kushana joined the military, showing an aptitude for tactics and command, and a twisty mind that frequently came up with bizarre, unconventional strategies. She graduated at the top of her class, and went to command the empire's armies in foreign lands. She has spent the last four years to the southeast beyond Dagaria, commanding an army of mostly heavy knights, trying to hold together a number of small bickering nations that are ostensibly Dagaria's allies as she helps them against the much larger Dorok Principalities, led by their own holy emperor.

She has come home because she always comes to visit her mother during the spring court.

Personality: "Never forget, you live in a nest of vipers."

Kushana has grown up in the shadow of the absolute worst side of politics. She's known since she was a child that because of her birth she is an heir to the throne, and because she is an heir to the throne she has enemies. This burden has forced Kushana to put up a strong wall between her heart and mind and the rest of the world. She plays things close to the vest, keeping up a facade of dutiful loyalty to the crown behind which schemes and counter schemes are constantly bubbling. She plots as easily as she draws breath and assumes that everyone around her has their own agenda.

Which is a tragedy, because in her heart Kushana was once a kind person. A lifetime of fear and distrust have put her in great danger of descending down the path of vengeance, violence, and bloodshed and never returning, and this is what will happen if she is allowed to continue focusing entirely on ambition and politics. What she needs is a comrade who will remind her of what it means to stand for something other than yourself. She needs a cause.

In day to day conversation, Kushana usually plays the role of the aristocrat to the hilt. She is aloof and very concerned over proper ceremony to the point of seeming haughty and perhaps even a touch the spoiled princess at times. Her most common facial expression is a quietly amused smirk. She enjoys the privileges of her rank when she can because she feels a need to set a proper example of what royalty is for her men, but won't hesitate to throw all the fripperies of rank aside when things get rough. The only thing, though, that can REALLY make her lose her cool is threatening to harm her mother.

She is incredibly blunt. While her honesty may be in question, whatever she decides to say she won't dance around the issue. She has an incredible pokerface and always gives the impression that she is putting all her cards on the table without reservation. She particularly enjoys laying out the choices of a rival to them, explaining how each choice will play out, then leaning back and watching them work it out for themselves. When she's under stress, this bluntness takes on a flare for the dramatic. It is not unusual for her to swear sacred oaths to the halls of valor, especially when it comes to protecting or avenging the lives of those under her command.

She trained the men in her army personally. She is as fanatically loyal to them as they are fanatically loyal to her. Just as they will give their lives to protect her, she will sacrifice anything to protect them. She always makes a point of personally honoring soldiers who show particular heroism in battle.

Combat Style: Kushana is a skilled rider and swordsman, preferring a heavy slashing sword, but being competent at least with guns and a skilled knife fighter. She doesn't have any particularly unusual trademarks to her fighting style, just a competent all-rounder. Her main strength is more as a tactician than as a fighter.

Kingdom or Faction: Initially she will be unaligned, but she will probably join up with another faction or kingdom fairly soon and to switch sides often.

Primary Role: Commander

Soldier or Siege Company: The Dagarian Third Army has a fairly substantial engineer corps and a wing of airship bombers and interceptors, but it's heart is in heavy cavalry knights. Eschewing horses in favor of a massive breed of flightless birds from the periphery known as Horseclaws, the cavalry of the Third Army are masters of rapid, heavy strikes, specializing in smashing key enemy targets before they can mount an effective defense. They are also fanatically loyal to Kushana herself, and would follow her into the mouth of hell if she ordered it. And they would be following, because she leads from the front.

It should be noted that while Kushana's army is very, very large, the majority of it will be unavailable, as it is stuck out defending the periphery from Dorok.

Tarot Cards:
Past - The Moon, generates an aura of calm around the user
Present - The Chariot, increase the morale of your troops in battle
Future - Empress, heal someone's wounds

Title: The Doroks and the nations of the periphery know her as "The White Witch of Dagaria" due to her unpredictable and clever tactical maneuvers in battle.

Setting Considerations: Her cavalry in canon ride "horseclaws" instead of horses, which are the inspiration for Final Fantasy's chocobos and are essentially the same thing. The Periphery is a collection of small nations to the southwest of Dagaria that owe allegiance to the empire in exchange for protection. The Dorok Principalities are a large nation that frequently skirmish with Dagaria over the resource rich valleys of the Periphery.

Notes: Sup

Sample Post: http://testrun-box.dreamwidth.org/12903.html#comments

And a few Tarot questions because that didn't get excessive numbers of tags.

Why do you deserve to rule this land?
There are two heirs to the throne. If you'd rather Arthas the madman take it, you're welcome to him. I at least have no interest in burning this Empire to the ground.

It is the eve of a great battle, and the troops have made camp for the night. Where are you and what are you doing?
Discussing the strategies with my officers. Anything I can do to get more of my men through the battle alive. If I have the time, I'll make sure to mingle with the common troops, or to at least do things where they can see me, so they know their commander is with them.

For what cause are you willing to sacrifice yourself?
I would sacrifice myself if it meant saving the lands and people who have sworn allegiance to me. I give loyalty to them and I expect it to be returned. Also, I would sacrifice my life in an instant if it meant taking down the bastard poisoned my mother.