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Details
Odoln'i, Vænir
Upper-Class
Fluent in Ælvish, Eudaimonic, and Common
Appearance
Two thirds the height of a man, Yonakouchi is a slender, svelt thing of black and grey fur, clad in a clashing red robe with a golden flower pattern. She wears naught else, save for a white rope, and blue beads tied to that rope and her tail. Eyes glowing blue with her Governed Ardor, the icy Gristle in her throat occasionally leaves her breath cool enough that it mists the air in front of her.
Moving with a deliberate calm, the night-vixen is rarely ever in a rush. When she stops to think, her entire body and each of her tails freezes, nigh-statuesque until her lips move.
As a seven-tail Inari, Yonakouchi keeps most of her tails hidden, only showing one until she has need of more. She does not like these touched and reacts with aggravation when this happens, perfectly willing to swat even the youth who dare to try. Tethers of Apparation exist in her tails, making them as durable as steel, yet still soft and silky.
Personality
Truly ancient, Yonakouchi is a second generation Inari - one of the Fae - born and cursed by the blood of her lineage. Wrought with the insatiable need to eat the livers of sapient beings, Yonakouchi struggles with her own form of detached empathy. Having eaten the livers of nearly forty-five thousand men and women, this is a song and dance that she has taken upon herself to survive after all this time, earning pride in her long life as a six-tail from which hundreds of lineages of Inari are descended.
Wielding Seeming, Yonakouochi will often take the form her prey finds most beautiful, slowly revealing her true nature to them - or not at all, when she feels they will understand. Craving intimacy, she longs for those who look at her and see the truth of a powerful vixen that they would never betray. However, she knows that few could appreciate such a terrible thing as an Inari 'undressing' from their Seeming.
Yona, however, trusts slowly. She is quick to dominate others, but slow to yield herself and be vulnerable. Time and time again, she has lost her confidants in a moment of weakness, be it her own or her failure to appease the hearts of those who would scorn her for her need to eat mortal livers. Monster, Rakshasa, fox-witch, she has been called many names and has appeared throughout history to powerful men who thought to claim her for themselves.
Progeny
A dedicated mother, Yonakouchi cares deeply for her children, raising them carefully to help avoid their downfall. They each share her curse, and those who cannot moderate themselves, she imprisons to shield them from being caught and quartered, taking their Inari's Ball to keep them loyal to her and returning it when she feels they are ready. Even after giving birth hundreds of times, and having lost thousands of her descendants to cullings by mortals or even her own teeth to protect the Inari coven, she still feels this maternal sense towards her fellow Inari.
At least 200 of Yonakouchi's children still live, scattered across the Planes of Antarok and Ælphyne.
Arcana
Being an Inari, Yonakouchi had gathered the importance of fostering her own Arcana, and feels that sense among her own kind. She approaches this in a guarded, measured way, rarely revealing to others her true power, and sharing small pieces or advice those who wish to glean it for themselves. Even so, she finds such things fascinating, often more so than the people the magic is attached to. Questioning how things work, piecing them apart, and Deciphering all she can as an Ensorceller.
It began with a drum. The Inari had won, they had danced. They had taken the Seeming of Boggarts, and woven it into their tails, their very bloodline throbbing with potential. Now they hungered, and every night the thirty Inari with Glamour chose a have-not to be eaten, until they were no more.
These were the stories Yonakouchi was told in her youth, so long ago. These were the stories she was born into, and lived, for she had eaten the liver of one of the last few Inari who remained. Caught on the tail of starvation, she was thrust into a famine that had her family crossing an Arcadian Causeway to Antarok.
They ended up in Dullahan, at a time when an empire was but a dream to humanity.
With the magic in their tails so young, the Inari preyed upon humans, but many were caught. Their numbers dwindled until eventually it fell upon Yonakouchi to guide her people. Soon she paired off with one of the todds who remained, and she found herself to be a matron among her kind, guiding them through hunts and guile, learning what she could to blend in with those small human settlements. In those times, she could not afford to have many children, and she sent them away.
By the time Yonakouchi had her second tail, it was getting hard for her to understand her place in the world. Food was not so scarce, but it seemed that three of her children would die to every four, and Nekros festered in her soul. Forming a Pact with Hypnea, she went north to the land of Nedes and tarried with the old nobles there, for they were desperate and in need of a way to combat the dead of Slahane.
It was there Yonakouchi met her mentor, a Devorare who relied upon her instincts. She was made his Childe then, growing into the curse of seeking not just a liver during her feedings, but blood as well. Little changed beyond power, for her, except that hunting her prey became that much more enthralling.
A thousand years came and went, and Yonakouchi was sent to kill a dragon. To pluck its Gristled organ for her Sire. Achieving this, the man instead ordered her to have the organ planted within herself, that she would Cultivate it as he had his own. A weapon, it would be, against the growing hordes of the north.
It took Yonakouchi many years before she first heard the word Alítheia. Her sire sent her to Dullahan to deal with the magi who had learned the existence of Devorare. Aiding in the schism of the empire, Yonakouchi was tasked with slaying specific nobles so that they might never challenge Alítheia. At the time, Ensorcelling was a young idea, and Talismans were a rare thing. Even the Galsterei had to sleep, and that was when she Apparated into their home and took their lives as they slept. Creating Soul Stars from their souls and eating of Miasmata had allowed her to foster the art of Syphoning Metaphor from her prey.
By the time Dullahan fell, Yonakouchi had earned her seventh tail. She remained there in the ruined land as the people built back from all that had been done, feeding and nurturing her family. Then the day came that her Sire informed her she was to go to Ælheim and aid the Æld'Norai witch Hesperide fyn'Seiðr Maebh. Arriving in those enchanted forests and marshes, she was enthralled by just how much they felt like Ælphyne, and she hoped she would never have to leave the bounds of Ældrassil's Grist and his bioluminescent plants. In exchange for her loyalty, she was made to give up her Inari's Ball. At the time, it seemed like a fair trade.
Having been Hesperide's enforcer for the last few hundred years, Yonakouchi has enjoyed living in a land where a human liver, and blood, is bountiful. Much of that time had been spent nurturing Velho, the witch's son, who she helped to raise by warding off the dangers in his path. When the time came, Hesperide bade that she should make him her Childe of Devorare, and when she did so, the final screw of slavery was driven into her when the Inari's Ball she had pledged to Hesperide was given over to Velho, as if she were a dog with a leash.
Today, Yonakouchi feels sour towards the witch for this perceived betrayal. Even so, she is loyal in exchange for her being sponsored to live among the Æld'Norai as one of the Odoln'i Vænir, in service to Hesperide and Velho. Now she awaits permission from her Sire to take back her Inari's Ball, and serve Alítheia with autonomy. Until then . . . the coven of Inari in Ælheim continues to grow with her aid.
Seeming Imprint 0: Yonakouchi Imprint 1: A male Inari that looks much like her. Imprint 2: A 7' tall Young Dragon she killed for its Grist-organ. He is black, with thick scutes going down his back. Imprint 3: A Faelniri Human Male Imprint 4: A Faelniri Human Female Imprint 5: A Young Faelniri Human Boy Imprint 6: A Young Faelniri Human Girl Imprint 7: A White Rabbit Imprint 8: A Mouse Imprint 9: A Black Raven Imprint 10: A Pine Marten Imprint 11: An Aelheim Finch.
Originally wrought by the Æcturnis Hesperide fyn'Seiðr Maebh from Marshlog trees, and sewn with decorative bio-luminescent plants within the bounds of, Yona and her family live in this dimly mood-lit tangle of flora that feels much like the comfort of a forest night at all hours of the day. As Inari sleep for several days at a time, there are many hanging plants and bushes they may shelter within undisturbed, the entire 'structure' a maze of trails that can leave one lost. Oddly, the plants here 'feel' alive, but they are in actuality dead and can no longer be wielded by Draoidh or Æcturnis withour first reviving them, kept animated by the Outer Alchemy.
Tucked away are areas set aside for stables, grass-woven cages of wood wrought with locks, and metal ones, too. Somewhere within is a study where Yonakouchi keeps her Ensorcelling Supplies, but the Alkahest in her possession is buried elsewhere in the woods.
There is a fountain hewn from slate, beneath several sturdy boughs, to which water does not run. Nearby are cupboards filled with ropes, knives, and clay bowls.
Yonakouchi's Ball
An Inari's Ball is a ball of white-glowing rubbery material akin to Alkahest that an Inari is born with. Whomever possesses it holds great sway over the Inari in question, and Yonakouchi is no exception. So long as whomever holds it is in her favor, she is likely to feel secure, but should someone she doesn't like possess this object, she will surely feel so much anxiety that she will complicate their life in many ways, possibly arranging for their death, or its theft. Yonakouchi cannot will herself to harm whomever last touched the ball. Yonakouchi's ball is in the possession of her Childe, Velho.
Hesperide fyn'Seiðr Maebh
As the Æld'Norai who finds use for Yonakouchi, Hesperide is both a fellow member of Alítheia, and the source of Yonakouchi's 'food' - it is by Hesperide's will that she is able to take from the Fælniri her fill, and shelter within the village of Hespæria. Their relationship could be described as . . . tenebrous. Hesperide often has dark work for her, employing Yonakouchi's talents for killing, apparating, and freezing for all manner of ills.
Yonakouchi's relationship with Hesperide is complicated due to her giving away the Inari's Ball Yonakouchi had been made to hand over in exchange for her protection and sponsorship among the Æld'Norai. This betrayal stings, but they are both Alítheian, and her Sire who lives abroad has commanded her so.
Adversarial
TBA
Familial
Velho fyn'Seiðr Hespæros
Hesperide's son, Velho, is Yonakouchi's Childe of Devorare. She has mentored him for many a moon, bidden by his mother, and feels protective of him due to her connection. In many ways, she treats him like her own flesh and blood, but now that he was given her Inari's Ball against her will, she feels conflicted beneath the surface - if even more disarmed.
Velho is a Player Character.
Romantic
TBA
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Companion NPCs
Aster
644 Years Old
4'5" Tall
Male
Inari
Details
Crested Tailor
Fluent in Aelvish, Eudaimonic, and Common
Total XP: 100 (50 Tailoring, 25 Seeming, 25 Minor Merits)
Minor Merits: Seeming, Crest
Expert Skill SP Purchase (Crest)
Journeyman Skill SP Purchase (Tailoring)
Appearance
Aster is a two-tail Inari with silky white fur with an undercoat that seems to hold the light more intensely. He is always immaculately groomed and trimmed, wearing a gilded black robe of stunning make and golden symbols. His eyes are a dull mask of piercing reds, unnatural ringed pupils which glow ever so faintly behind them. Where the fur is short, his skin beneath is pinkish rather than pale as one might expect. Stretching out from his spine are a pair of tails.
No matter the form he takes, Aster carries an appealing, if subtle yet sweet vanilla-cream fragrance about him, and his breath, even the taste of him is warmly much the same with the added flavor of high quality freshly-baked dough. In that sense, he can be compared to a powdered, cream puff pastry given the form of an Inari or a person. He otherwise has no discernable odor on account of the Aesthete of his Crest.
When he takes the form of Fælnir, Aster wears blackened eyeliner and a rosy lip balm, with other such assortments and sundries. Often he wears those same robes, and publicly considers himself a tailor of designer clothing that even the Æld'Norai sometimes remark upon.
Astruviel operates a shop catering to the magi of Hæsperia, fashioning for them uniforms based on their preferences and Arcana, yet always with his own sense of Crested Aesthete. In this way, he is able to provide useful information to Hesperide and Yonakouchi on how the mages who commission him see themselves.
Fælnir Seeming
Personality
Aster can be described as a falsely-confident rooster, someone who chases comfort and leisure over knowledge and power. His voice is confident and charming, yet rather queer with careful enunciation and a wide span of pitch. He will "tss" and tisk, remarking on the qualities he enjoys.
When he has taken the form of a Fælnir, Aster is averse to being touched and liable to slap the offending hand away, and yet he still enjoys touching others. As an Inari, he loves to be pet, held onto, and even coddled in any way one can imagine.
Of the children that Yonakouchi has given birth to since her arrival in Ælheim, Aster is a father of most. His own children see him as weak and strange, many of them regretting that they are born to his lineage. Others are welcome to have someone capable of lending an ear without manipulation, and without challenge. He fears that his children might murder him one day, but Yonakouchi has made it perfectly clear that she will eat the liver of any who harm her precious tailor.
Aster knows of Yonakouchi's secrets, that she is something horrible and murderous beyond even an Inari, and yet he finds himself completely beholden to her, as she is the first to truly shelter him and guarantee the need of his kind, and also for the fact that she also possesses his Inari's Ball, which she has embedded into herself with Vicissitude.
Due to Aster being unable to harm Yonakouchi, he cannot utter her secrets unless they are pulled directly from his mind, even under the knife of torture.
History
Life for Astruviel began in Jian, where he was named Hataka by his mother. In time it became clear that he was odd for an Inari, preferring laze and creative exploration to violence - and in fact, he bribed the Inari of his coven, arranging with them that they should give him livers in exchange for maintaining their wardrobes and outfits. This worked out well for him, until his mother decided that he was more of a liability than an asset, and they banished him.
Left to the streets, Aster could not hunt. He went to a dragon who Sought clothing, and enslaved himself perpetually to its wants, and in turn he was given access to freshly slain criminals. However, this was not the life he wanted, and his art was never good enough. Eventually derided and forbade from ever sewing again, he was still a slave, he was treated terribly by the dragon. Misery grew, until he longed for escape with such intensity that he fostered within himself Crest.
Quietly breaking his bonds, Aster cast off the name Hataka for something more starry, and then escaped into the night with several dried livers. He left to explore southward across the deserts, bartering with Rakshasa in Bast. It became clear they did not value his work, and so he went to the forests of Ælheim. Making his way to Hæsperia, he found himself sniffed out by Yonakouchi in 19,735 of the Second Age. She tortured him at first, thinking him dangerous, but he grew to understand her position and the value of her arrangement with Hesperide.
Taking kindly to him after a few years of warm, shared slumbers in the tangle of her home, Yonakouchi now immensely values the Inari with Crest, and wears the robes he sews for her. Indeed, he fashions clothing and gifts that Yonakouchi uses to advance her goals in other matters, and she oft has enough livers to share.
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Minion NPCs
ATTACH HERE
21 Ghouls
Yonakouchi rarely leaves any blood behind. Her Tethers are mostly desiccated ghouls.
