Tailao, Honorary of the Mourning Blade
Summary
Among Maika's many warring factions, none come close to the ruin wrought by Tailao. She and her karsoru kin stalked the lands, plundering and killing everything in their path. For their purpose was a singular one: to draw the strong to them, and become stronger themselves. In doing so, they would challenge the Heavens and battle the goddesses of the lands. For Tailao and her unrelenting strength, that proved the only natural outcome for her desire. When none came, they marched upon Tomu next. A warrior goddess of old descended soon after, a frail and sickly looking human who brought a rusty blade to bear, despite it being twice their own height. One-by-one, Tailao's warriors fell in honorable combat, veterans of hundreds of battles felled by a most ridiculous sight. Atop a field littered with bodies, Tailao at last drew her own weapon, and their battle commenced. Over an entire week they raged across the fields. Tailao's strength began wavering, a weakness that only enraged her further. Despite her fury, she was cut down all the same, slain standing with weapon in hand. The goddess departed, but for Tailao, she refused death's harbinger, forcing herself alive again through sheer determination. Comely villagers soon discovered her unconscious on the battlefield and took her with them. Undaunted in spirit but broken in body, she was bedridden for years, a near cripple. For Tailao's sharp mind, such an existence proved agonizing. It would be the village's sole monk who visited her that brought any relief. His sharp wit and curious philosophies occupied her day and night. In them a daunting question of self-purpose arose, a need to understand what her strength was supposed to be. Strength for its own sake soon lost any meaning, no matter how much she stubbornly clung to it. The world, however, hadn't forgotten about Tailao. Those she'd wronged came seeking vengeance. Their attack were sudden and swift, slaughtering the peaceful village around her. Tailao, weak still, fought however she could, only to be pushed back. The monk sacrificed himself in noble defense, cut in two before her. With no other recourse, she fled into the mountains surrounding the village. In her flight, she stumbled into a decrepit shrine, almost as old and rotten as the stone around it. It offered a path into a cave, and she took it as her pursuers neared. Great murals covered the walls, showing battles of times unknowable. Noble duels, heinous slaughters, and all things in between arrayed before her eyes. At the center of them all were two swords; both enormous blades, greater than their wielders. One she recognized immediately, the hallmarks of the same goddess' sword that cut her down. The other, to her surprise, she found at the end of the cave. Impaled upon a stone, sickly blood-stained mana oozed off it, radiating with despair. Heavily it weighed upon her heart, but in the same, she found an odd feeling of familiarity. Grasping the sword, it spoke to her in a way only souls could. Two blades, one bound for glory and the Heavens, the other drowning in sorrow and innocent blood. Possessing strength beyond strength, it hated all the wrongs it had done, and there was no way toward redemption. It spoke with the same frustrations Tailao felt, but unlike it, she saw a path they could both set upon. Cutting down her pursuers with unnatural ease, she returned to the burned down village. Burying all there, she took upon herself the monk's icons and part of his blood-stained vestments. In remembering his words, she set out, no destination in mind, her feet carrying themselves with purpose. The blood on her hands felt at home with that of her sword's, an eternal mark of shame from the innocents they'd both killed. Whether or not they would forgive her, Tailao did not care. In using her vast strength, all that mattered was to pursue justice. For, only in a just world could one reach greater heights, or so the monk had spoken at length about. She wasn't sure about that, but she would never forget how resolutely he spoke of it. If her way had failed, then she would try his. And so the Mourning Blade agreed with her.Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Physically robust and in exemplary health, Tailao looms over most humanoids. Her ramshackle armor and clothing does little to disguise her physique, though few might call it risque. By karsoru standards she can be considered beautiful, though others will find her roughness off-putting.
Body Features
Various scars cover her body from head-to-toe, some thin, some long, a few looking like she got a chunk bitten out of her. While not to the extent of the oldest warriors, no one can mistake her veteran history at a glance. Her noticeable bosom is typically wrapped up securely as a practical measure.
The two crystalline horns coming out of her head rise up from the temples and sweep across the upper side of the forehead. They somewhat point forward at a diagonal angle, mixing an appearance of a crown and a dangerous weapon. They're made out of a pink flourite-like substance, and have imperfections on the inside that make them rather refractive.
Facial Features
With a triangular face and a firm neck, Tailao cuts an imposing look accentuated by her oval-shaped eyes. As two large bangs are tied out and hanging on either side of her face, this often reinforces the seriousness she exudes.
Identifying Characteristics
Tailao's horns are distinctive among karsoru bloodlines; at least in Maika. Few bloodlines sported such a look, and her notorious actions have tainted their once lustrous regard. Otherwise, most anyone tends to notice her carrying the Mourning Blade more than anything else.
Special abilities
Supernatural Strength -- Even for a karsoru born and raised in war, Tailao's incredible physical aptitude defies belief. She can go head-to-head against dragons themselves and make them fear for their lives.
Unbreakable Will -- Her raw determination is so great she can defy death itself; an estimable feat in the eyes of humans, arguably.
Apparel & Accessories
Tailao wears a guard that covers her mouth and jaw, ending at her cheeks. The black-looking steel accentuates her naturally terrifying features, an old karsoru tradition for a warrior. Below, her chest is bound with white wrappings while an open vestment shirt of yellow color acts as her 'armor'. Padded cloth underneath bulks up her already formidable frame, and the attire is noticeably worn by age and combat but seemingly maintained. Upon her left arm she wears part of the robes that belonged to her friend, the monk. With that arm through one of the sleeves, it hangs off her side, billowing like a half-cape. The small but extensive prayer beads the monk carried are wrapped around her right arm, being her sword arm.
She wears baggy gray-colored pants, of which a loin cloth hangs between her legs front and back. Emblazoned across it is a simplistic, cutting curve of a character simply meaning 'leader'. The pants progressively deteriorate past the knees, exposing her feet and shins completely. She wears thick wooden sandals, perhaps the only 'new' piece of attire if only because they were replaced recently. The comically large Mourning Blade is strapped in at her hip, as she is large enough to draw it normally rather than over the shoulder.
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Female
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Education
Having never learned formally, Tailao was taught more by experience and whichever senior she had at the time. Growing up on the battlefield, she is remarkably adept at fighting, strategizing, and thriving in such an environment. Her eventual rise to leadership came from sheer ingenuity and outsmarting her competition. From there, she made a point of trying to learn what enemy generals and strategists knew. Not only to see how they think, but to take their own thoughts and use it against them.
Mental Trauma
Tailao is purpose-oriented to a fault. If she doesn't have something she is actively working towards, it quickly grates and wears her down. This could be seen as her adaptation toward the trauma of battlefield living, and she is quite capable at shutting out 'frivolous' distractions.
Intellectual Characteristics
Direct and to the point with an almost offensive casualness, Tailao doesn't mince words or meander about. It is not that she cannot do nuance, but rather she finds it boring and bothersome. There are few things that a direct path cannot resolve, but a good warrior keeps options for those. Because of how she grew up on the battlefield, she keeps an eye out for decorum, manners, and honor (to an extent). These ritualistic structures are home for her, and it is the language she thinks and speaks with.
While her drive to defeat the goddesses has been tempered, her unwavering focus remains. Now in pursuit of her own ideals of justice, she is trying to reconcile what she knows to what the monk she lived with taught her. Complicating that is all the other teachings of the world, and all the different ways people see things. When what little patience she has for contemplation evaporates, she inevitably resolves to do whatever she thinks will work best.
Morality & Philosophy
Life and death are found at the edge of a blade, and so Tailao worked to always be the one wielding that blade. To do so required strength and conviction, two qualities she relentlessly pursued day after day. Her life was very much survive or be eaten, and little allowed for anything else. Still, the pursuit of veltrony pleasures and qualities were the highlight notes. Honor became a matter of import among warriors, though it was not often extended to peasants or the downtrodden. As her strength grew, she saw the weakness of others as mere stepping stones onto more worthy foes.
Since her time with the village monk, Tailao has reevaluated her measure of worth in the idea of strength. It remains a self-evident truth: if one cannot protect what they hold, others will destroy/take it. Those who possess an abundance of strength, however, perhaps should not take anything their eye beholds. What if one of great strength protected the weak, and they flourished in their many ways? She is not so certain of what that path may entail. If all her strength in the end is lost to leeches taking what is not theirs to have, then it'd be a waste of time.
She has chosen to trust in the monk's words, for however hard they are to believe sometimes.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Strength above everything else, now tempered by a pursuit of 'justice'. Tailao seeks to redeem the wrongs she has done, to clear the blood staining the Mourning Blade, and perhaps learn the true meaning of the monk's teachings. Her road is one she cannot see, but her feet walk on it all the same. Despite the nobility of such an effort, her gruesome past yet stalks her.
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