Post by yulan on May 7, 2008 16:47:21 GMT -6
Name: Mahone
Age: 29
Nationality: Earth Kingdom
Appearance: Mahone is a slender woman of about 5’6 with lightly tanned skin. Her face bears several pockmarks from an illness that struck her as a child, and her hands are covered in old calluses, faint burns, and small chemical stains left over from accidents during her apothecary training. When working or outside, her black hair is tied into a loose ponytail with a leather cord and slung over one shoulder, where the tip trails to the middle of her chest. Otherwise, she lets it down loose. Her eyes are dark green, almost black, shining with intent as razor-sharp as obsidian.
At first glance, she is hardly intimidating, even pitiable due to the marks on her face, but others should wait and talk to her before making final judgments. Strength is woven into every syllable she speaks, and the small sly grins she’s so fond of lend her the look of one who might be plotting something, or it might just be your imagination. Mahone carries herself like someone untouchable, exuding confidence and a touch of arrogance with every stride, every breath. The piercing glances she’s practiced to perfection warn very well that she’s not someone to be trifled with, despite her appearance.
Her clothing rarely changes from day to day, a loose white robe with a heavier green robe on top that reaches her knees. The green robe has white trim and is decorated with many bronze-colored octagonal shapes, which are concentrated in random patterns down the back of the garment, her front torso area, and at the ends of the sleeves. For convenience’s sake, Mahone prefers long pants, usually of a dark green color with white trim similar to her over-robe’s. A wide bronze sash keeps both robes closed around her waist, yet loose enough to leave her breastbone exposed. Her shoes are black slippers, comfortable and practical.
She wears a red string necklace with a copper coin tied into a nest of intricate knots, resting against her skin just above the ‘V’ where the two sides of her robes meet. Mahone also wears many red string bracelets threaded with dangling wooden beads around her wrists and lower arms, sometimes as many as twenty bracelets at a time. Among all these beads, a few are hollow and can be opened; she hides in them miniscule amounts of poison, antidotes, and other handy substances for emergency use.
History:
Mahone grew up in a poor fishing village on the Earth Kingdom continent’s eastern coast. When she was nine, the village was attacked by raiders, their houses demolished and boats set on fire, and in the end she was kidnapped along with several other girls of varying ages. The raiders were heading to the outskirts of the Si Wong Desert, intending to sell off their human spoils as slaves, but in one of the towns they stopped in, the militia recognized the raiders for who they were and arrested most of them. Those who escaped never showed their faces in town again. The girls were effectively freed.
However, the town didn’t have the resources to provide for the group of misplaced girls, and they were told they would have to fend for themselves. Some of the older girls made their way back to the fishing village, though they weren’t sure if there was even a village left, after that devastating raid. Mahone was one of those who chose to stay behind; with her close friend, Kiyoda, who had also been captured, they took to the streets. A mix of generosity and pity from the townspeople allowed them to survive for a while.
When Mahone was eleven, an illness swept through the town and took Kiyoda victim among many others. Mahone herself fell sick soon after, eventually fainting in the street, and might’ve died if not for the help of a kind passing soul. Deng Jin was an apothecary on his way back to Omashu from a business trip in Ba Sing Se. Thanks to him, Mahone received what medical attention she needed and made a full recovery. Afterwards, he offered her to stay with him and become his apprentice. With Kiyoda gone and no desire to return to her village, she eagerly agreed.
Deng Jin introduced her to all his knowledge on plants and herbs, how to weigh and measure precisely, which mixtures could be used as medicines, stimulants, or poisons, and how to diagnose symptoms in sick clients. More than just a teacher, he became her father figure, taking excellent care of all her needs, even teaching her to read and write. Soon enough, she was able to work in his shop just like a regular employee. By day, she helped with the measurements and invoices. At night, Mahone returned home with Deng Jin and discussed his growing business over supper, which customers were especially loyal, some new concoctions they could test.
As the years passed, Deng Jin’s small business grew into quite a successful company, well known in Omashu and most towns near the city. Just as his apothecary business reached new heights, so did Mahone’s education. He had been giving her advice since the first day of her apprenticeship, but now he formalized her training and granted her open access to all the secrets he knew about his business, how to present oneself to partners and clients, how to gain trust and collect favors. Happy to receive even more attention from her ‘father’, Mahone soaked up this knowledge and applied it well, and Deng Jin came to consider her a vice president of sorts for his company.
But trouble was brewing. A powerful rival company, Saiun Foxrose, had noticed the explosive growth of Deng Jin’s business and came to him one day, offering to buy it from him. Of course, he declined. After his refusal, mysterious misfortunes started to plague his small company. Shipments would disappear, employees would have to miss work due to strange accidents, customers would cancel deals for no apparent reason. There seemed to be no end to these sorts of problems, and the longer it went on, the more Deng Jin’s company was dragged through the mud. Its reputation fell. Sales collapsed. Deng Jin’s beloved business was fast approaching ruin.
He promised Mahone that he had a plan for bringing it back onto its feet, and if there was anyone who could fix this mess, she believed that her teacher and ‘father’ was the only candidate. She trusted him completely.
Whatever Deng Jin’s plan was however, she never got to hear it, because the next day he was found dead in the darkness of Omashu’s many alleyways. As his acting vice president, Mahone took over, but before she could sort out the jumble the company was in or even recover from Deng Jin’s death, she was paid an abrupt visit by representatives from Saiun Foxrose. They made their demands clear: she was to either turn over the company and its remaining assets to Saiun Foxrose, or be killed. Under that sort of pressure, with her life on the line and Deng Jin no longer around to support her, Mahone caved and gave up the company. Shortly after, she left Omashu for good. She was twenty-five years old.
It wasn’t just Deng Jin’s death hanging over her head. In the years preceding it, she had watched helplessly as his health, pride, and company deteriorated. She owed him so much, and to see him in such pain, she felt it herself just as acutely. After the events that drove her out of Omashu, Mahone was dead certain that Saiun Foxrose had orchestrated Deng Jin’s downfall from the very beginning. Both Deng Jin and Mahone had been utterly humiliated by Saiun Foxrose, and she swore to the spirit of her ‘father’ that she would get even if it was the last thing she did.
Using the little money she had left, Mahone started up a tiny apothecary shop in Ba Sing Se, where Saiun Foxrose’s headquarters was located. With the skills she had been taught, Mahone carved out a pleasant niche for herself in the Lower Ring, building up connections that would eventually stretch deep into the black market and the underworld. Besides looking after the health of her clients, she also readily supplied poisons and assisted in smuggling contraband drugs, even dispensed advice on which substances were best depending on what harm her clients wanted done. Mahone knew how to gain trust and collect favors, but more importantly, how to repay her debts and present herself as a cutthroat businesswoman.
Over the past four years, Mahone has cultivated and reinforced a strong network of allies and friends. They’re the ones who know how to stay out of trouble while doing their jobs, and she knows she can rely on them as much as they rely on her.
Saiun Foxrose is run by an executive board of five men. Whenever the time is ripe, she calls in her favors to order hits against those men, and so far she’s managed to cripple one and kill two since the day she started in Ba Sing Se, though replacement executives are promoted faster than she can get rid of them. But that’s alright. The murders still shake Saiun Foxrose’s foundation, and causing them so much trouble brings her great pleasure. So far, they have no idea it’s her doing, or even that she’s still alive, because the outward appearance of Mahone’s shop hasn’t changed at all from its tiny size, a humble two-story building at the end of the vegetable market; she lives on the second floor. The true strength of her business lies in her connections to the underworld—those who aren’t involved in darker dealings think of Mahone as just their simple local apothecary.
These days, she’s still saving favors, doing business both legally and illegally within Ba Sing Se. The promise she made to Deng Jin’s spirit to get revenge on Saiun Foxrose is all she lives for now. No matter how many years it takes, she will see that wretched company fall to dust and scatter in the wind.
Personality:
Behind each of Mahone’s thoughts and actions stands a single goal: to take vengeance against Saiun Foxrose for killing Deng Jin and forcing her to surrender his company to them. Her hatred for the people running Saiun Foxrose knows no bounds, and that deep loathing powers her determination to bring them untold ruin. For that purpose she has summoned every last dreg of strength from the shadows of her heart and warped her persona from the kind, docile woman she once was. In order to challenge Saiun Foxrose, who used illicit tactics to destroy Deng Jin, Mahone realizes she must be just as ruthless; it took much time and strife, but she has successfully transformed into a cold, shrewd businesswoman.
This new face is the one she uses to greet the world. She knows no fear, acknowledges no enemy except Saiun Foxrose, and accepts any means to take them out. Mahone carries an air of rigid calm punctuated by amused playfulness, as if she is in absolute control of her surroundings, prepared at all times to adapt and deal with any surprises. Her morals and those of the general public are no longer parallel; she is perfectly willing to step on the law’s toes to fulfill her agenda. Her most important clients, the ones who became allies in her personal war, respect her sense of conduct. Her emotions are kept in constant check, she always remembers her debts and is generous with repayment, and above all, she is impeccably aware of her status in relation to her business partners. She performs like a true professional.
However, what occupy the fore of her thoughts are her own interests. Actions that won’t benefit her won’t budge Mahone an inch. If an agreement with another party becomes useless before the contract is finished, she will break it if she can do so without penalty—the bothersome concept known as ‘ethics’ doesn’t apply in those cases. Her goals are bold, and it’s hard enough to concentrate on them without having to worry about someone else’s problems. In this way, she is often seen as a selfish woman, not that it bothers her. Surely her soul will suffer for what she’s done, but it’s for the sake of Deng Jin’s honor and the memory of his generosity. She is simply a willful vessel for his spirit’s retribution. Nothing else matters.
Age: 29
Nationality: Earth Kingdom
Appearance: Mahone is a slender woman of about 5’6 with lightly tanned skin. Her face bears several pockmarks from an illness that struck her as a child, and her hands are covered in old calluses, faint burns, and small chemical stains left over from accidents during her apothecary training. When working or outside, her black hair is tied into a loose ponytail with a leather cord and slung over one shoulder, where the tip trails to the middle of her chest. Otherwise, she lets it down loose. Her eyes are dark green, almost black, shining with intent as razor-sharp as obsidian.
At first glance, she is hardly intimidating, even pitiable due to the marks on her face, but others should wait and talk to her before making final judgments. Strength is woven into every syllable she speaks, and the small sly grins she’s so fond of lend her the look of one who might be plotting something, or it might just be your imagination. Mahone carries herself like someone untouchable, exuding confidence and a touch of arrogance with every stride, every breath. The piercing glances she’s practiced to perfection warn very well that she’s not someone to be trifled with, despite her appearance.
Her clothing rarely changes from day to day, a loose white robe with a heavier green robe on top that reaches her knees. The green robe has white trim and is decorated with many bronze-colored octagonal shapes, which are concentrated in random patterns down the back of the garment, her front torso area, and at the ends of the sleeves. For convenience’s sake, Mahone prefers long pants, usually of a dark green color with white trim similar to her over-robe’s. A wide bronze sash keeps both robes closed around her waist, yet loose enough to leave her breastbone exposed. Her shoes are black slippers, comfortable and practical.
She wears a red string necklace with a copper coin tied into a nest of intricate knots, resting against her skin just above the ‘V’ where the two sides of her robes meet. Mahone also wears many red string bracelets threaded with dangling wooden beads around her wrists and lower arms, sometimes as many as twenty bracelets at a time. Among all these beads, a few are hollow and can be opened; she hides in them miniscule amounts of poison, antidotes, and other handy substances for emergency use.
History:
Mahone grew up in a poor fishing village on the Earth Kingdom continent’s eastern coast. When she was nine, the village was attacked by raiders, their houses demolished and boats set on fire, and in the end she was kidnapped along with several other girls of varying ages. The raiders were heading to the outskirts of the Si Wong Desert, intending to sell off their human spoils as slaves, but in one of the towns they stopped in, the militia recognized the raiders for who they were and arrested most of them. Those who escaped never showed their faces in town again. The girls were effectively freed.
However, the town didn’t have the resources to provide for the group of misplaced girls, and they were told they would have to fend for themselves. Some of the older girls made their way back to the fishing village, though they weren’t sure if there was even a village left, after that devastating raid. Mahone was one of those who chose to stay behind; with her close friend, Kiyoda, who had also been captured, they took to the streets. A mix of generosity and pity from the townspeople allowed them to survive for a while.
When Mahone was eleven, an illness swept through the town and took Kiyoda victim among many others. Mahone herself fell sick soon after, eventually fainting in the street, and might’ve died if not for the help of a kind passing soul. Deng Jin was an apothecary on his way back to Omashu from a business trip in Ba Sing Se. Thanks to him, Mahone received what medical attention she needed and made a full recovery. Afterwards, he offered her to stay with him and become his apprentice. With Kiyoda gone and no desire to return to her village, she eagerly agreed.
Deng Jin introduced her to all his knowledge on plants and herbs, how to weigh and measure precisely, which mixtures could be used as medicines, stimulants, or poisons, and how to diagnose symptoms in sick clients. More than just a teacher, he became her father figure, taking excellent care of all her needs, even teaching her to read and write. Soon enough, she was able to work in his shop just like a regular employee. By day, she helped with the measurements and invoices. At night, Mahone returned home with Deng Jin and discussed his growing business over supper, which customers were especially loyal, some new concoctions they could test.
As the years passed, Deng Jin’s small business grew into quite a successful company, well known in Omashu and most towns near the city. Just as his apothecary business reached new heights, so did Mahone’s education. He had been giving her advice since the first day of her apprenticeship, but now he formalized her training and granted her open access to all the secrets he knew about his business, how to present oneself to partners and clients, how to gain trust and collect favors. Happy to receive even more attention from her ‘father’, Mahone soaked up this knowledge and applied it well, and Deng Jin came to consider her a vice president of sorts for his company.
But trouble was brewing. A powerful rival company, Saiun Foxrose, had noticed the explosive growth of Deng Jin’s business and came to him one day, offering to buy it from him. Of course, he declined. After his refusal, mysterious misfortunes started to plague his small company. Shipments would disappear, employees would have to miss work due to strange accidents, customers would cancel deals for no apparent reason. There seemed to be no end to these sorts of problems, and the longer it went on, the more Deng Jin’s company was dragged through the mud. Its reputation fell. Sales collapsed. Deng Jin’s beloved business was fast approaching ruin.
He promised Mahone that he had a plan for bringing it back onto its feet, and if there was anyone who could fix this mess, she believed that her teacher and ‘father’ was the only candidate. She trusted him completely.
Whatever Deng Jin’s plan was however, she never got to hear it, because the next day he was found dead in the darkness of Omashu’s many alleyways. As his acting vice president, Mahone took over, but before she could sort out the jumble the company was in or even recover from Deng Jin’s death, she was paid an abrupt visit by representatives from Saiun Foxrose. They made their demands clear: she was to either turn over the company and its remaining assets to Saiun Foxrose, or be killed. Under that sort of pressure, with her life on the line and Deng Jin no longer around to support her, Mahone caved and gave up the company. Shortly after, she left Omashu for good. She was twenty-five years old.
It wasn’t just Deng Jin’s death hanging over her head. In the years preceding it, she had watched helplessly as his health, pride, and company deteriorated. She owed him so much, and to see him in such pain, she felt it herself just as acutely. After the events that drove her out of Omashu, Mahone was dead certain that Saiun Foxrose had orchestrated Deng Jin’s downfall from the very beginning. Both Deng Jin and Mahone had been utterly humiliated by Saiun Foxrose, and she swore to the spirit of her ‘father’ that she would get even if it was the last thing she did.
Using the little money she had left, Mahone started up a tiny apothecary shop in Ba Sing Se, where Saiun Foxrose’s headquarters was located. With the skills she had been taught, Mahone carved out a pleasant niche for herself in the Lower Ring, building up connections that would eventually stretch deep into the black market and the underworld. Besides looking after the health of her clients, she also readily supplied poisons and assisted in smuggling contraband drugs, even dispensed advice on which substances were best depending on what harm her clients wanted done. Mahone knew how to gain trust and collect favors, but more importantly, how to repay her debts and present herself as a cutthroat businesswoman.
Over the past four years, Mahone has cultivated and reinforced a strong network of allies and friends. They’re the ones who know how to stay out of trouble while doing their jobs, and she knows she can rely on them as much as they rely on her.
Saiun Foxrose is run by an executive board of five men. Whenever the time is ripe, she calls in her favors to order hits against those men, and so far she’s managed to cripple one and kill two since the day she started in Ba Sing Se, though replacement executives are promoted faster than she can get rid of them. But that’s alright. The murders still shake Saiun Foxrose’s foundation, and causing them so much trouble brings her great pleasure. So far, they have no idea it’s her doing, or even that she’s still alive, because the outward appearance of Mahone’s shop hasn’t changed at all from its tiny size, a humble two-story building at the end of the vegetable market; she lives on the second floor. The true strength of her business lies in her connections to the underworld—those who aren’t involved in darker dealings think of Mahone as just their simple local apothecary.
These days, she’s still saving favors, doing business both legally and illegally within Ba Sing Se. The promise she made to Deng Jin’s spirit to get revenge on Saiun Foxrose is all she lives for now. No matter how many years it takes, she will see that wretched company fall to dust and scatter in the wind.
Personality:
Behind each of Mahone’s thoughts and actions stands a single goal: to take vengeance against Saiun Foxrose for killing Deng Jin and forcing her to surrender his company to them. Her hatred for the people running Saiun Foxrose knows no bounds, and that deep loathing powers her determination to bring them untold ruin. For that purpose she has summoned every last dreg of strength from the shadows of her heart and warped her persona from the kind, docile woman she once was. In order to challenge Saiun Foxrose, who used illicit tactics to destroy Deng Jin, Mahone realizes she must be just as ruthless; it took much time and strife, but she has successfully transformed into a cold, shrewd businesswoman.
This new face is the one she uses to greet the world. She knows no fear, acknowledges no enemy except Saiun Foxrose, and accepts any means to take them out. Mahone carries an air of rigid calm punctuated by amused playfulness, as if she is in absolute control of her surroundings, prepared at all times to adapt and deal with any surprises. Her morals and those of the general public are no longer parallel; she is perfectly willing to step on the law’s toes to fulfill her agenda. Her most important clients, the ones who became allies in her personal war, respect her sense of conduct. Her emotions are kept in constant check, she always remembers her debts and is generous with repayment, and above all, she is impeccably aware of her status in relation to her business partners. She performs like a true professional.
However, what occupy the fore of her thoughts are her own interests. Actions that won’t benefit her won’t budge Mahone an inch. If an agreement with another party becomes useless before the contract is finished, she will break it if she can do so without penalty—the bothersome concept known as ‘ethics’ doesn’t apply in those cases. Her goals are bold, and it’s hard enough to concentrate on them without having to worry about someone else’s problems. In this way, she is often seen as a selfish woman, not that it bothers her. Surely her soul will suffer for what she’s done, but it’s for the sake of Deng Jin’s honor and the memory of his generosity. She is simply a willful vessel for his spirit’s retribution. Nothing else matters.