#kitah

The country to which Kitah belongs is a small one, and reclusive; hemmed in by mountains on two sides, sea on a third, and desert wastes on the fourth, its people have developed some unique cultural traditions. They’re also influenced by those of the other lands surrounding them, of course, and the sailors with whom they trade, but some things that are rare in other parts of the world are the norm in Kitah’s land... such as the widespread worship of the Earth Spirits, claimed to be ancient and powerful beings forged the Material Plane, brought forth humankind, and then sank down deep into the earth. When the ground shakes, as it often does, Kitah’s people say that it is the Earth Spirits rattling the bones of the world to send messages to their people.

(All the other races were made by spirits too--the flighty gnomes are clearly descendants of wind spirits, elves of forest spirits, halflings of hill spirits, and so on--but only humans are descended from the Earth Spirits themselves. Dwarves are from the lesser stone spirits, it’s complicated.)

While all humans are believed to be descended from the Earth Spirits, certain families are seen as being the most closely related to them, the truest heirs with the purest bloodlines. Instead of such titles as ‘lord’ or ‘lady,’ ‘duke’ or ‘queen,’ they are called the Exalted--but in function, they are the nobles of the land all the same. In theory, any child can be found to be Exalted, and the monasteries that test and train children are open to novices from any walk of life. In practice, it is rare for a child from the common folk to be found to have potential, and far more common for the children of those already Exalted to be found to be Exalted as well. Thus, the belief that it is a matter of purity of blood.

As a child, Kitah showed only a minor connection to the earth upon testing. Had she been a child of the common folk, the monastery her family brought her to would have sent her away. However, for the daughter of three generations of Exalted, a minor connection was enough. She wouldn’t be the ruler of the family’s domain, the defender of the land and the people who lived up on it--that would be reserved for her younger brother Lan, whose stone sorcery flourished during his monastic training--but she was raised and trained to be his right hand, his majordomo, perhaps at times even his defender and knight. The plan was always for her to enter the monastery at sixteen, receive what slight training she was capable of absorbing, and then return home at twenty to take up her role alongside him so that her parents could step down.

Kitah thus was raised with a strong sense of responsibility, both to her family and to the common folk they served, but no expectation of greater privilege than her family’s position already brought her. Unlike her brother, she would never be in the running for the position of the Most Exalted, the leader of both the country and the religion it followed; she was only a lesser Exalted, bound to serve her betters, specifically her kin. Such an orderly hierarchy would best serve the land and its people, so Kitah had no objection to it, and no ambition to rise farther.

Such a philosophical position served her well in the monastery where she studied. As she had little in the way of magical talent, she was not sent to the same monastery as her brother, a place where the monks were monks only in name (and mostly stone sorcerers themselves); instead, she was sent to one where she could hone her physical strength and mental discipline, and use them to unlock what shreds of talent she had. The calm and force of will that Kitah had always possessed was honed here into a weapon, one that she could use at need to defend herself and those who depended upon her. There was only one thing that disturbed her focus: a fellow-student, a girl named Riko who had all the talent that Kitah lacked, and none of her discipline. Riko was a whirlwind, tearing through combat training without learning any of the deeper lessons behind it, and she was Kitah’s least favorite sparring partner.

But their teachers believed that their opposing natures would balance out, and hoped that Kitah could teach Riko some of her focus and calm, and so they were matched together again and again. And though she had no intention of becoming Ryuko’s friend, or even speaking to her outside of the practice ground, slowly Kitah was dragged into Riko’s orbit inch by creeping inch. Riko seemed determined to befriend her, and it took Kitah a long time to figure out why. Finally, it dawned on her that, while she never spoke to Riko with affection, she was one of only a few students there to even address her with respect. Riko, she learned, was common-born, and more talented than most of the well-born Exalted there. Kitah had always thought that jealousy was beneath those of her station, but finally she recognized it in the eyes of those around her. Jealousy, and contempt, and bitterness; Kitah was ashamed that she had missed it for so long.

Her own natural reserve made it difficult to actually befriend Riko, whose inconstant energy she still found challenging to handle. They were not naturally made to be friends. But they were trying. And two years of effort took them fairly far, in mutual alliance if not in deep intimacy. Far enough for Kitah to learn that the monks believed Riko had the potential to become Most Exalted, and to decide that she wanted to support her in that effort. Once she’d seen the contempt that her fellow students felt for this commoner, she was able to see it elsewhere, in her visits home. Not in her father, who believed what he had taught her, but in her mother, and in some of her aunts and uncles, and in her brother, who was also, she had learned, a potential Most Exalted. She would rather see Riko, with her restless energy and her constant drive to form bonds, rise to that position than see it go to her arrogant and self-isolating brother. Riko would truly work for the common people, and Kitah was no longer certain that Lan would.

(Also, other feelings aside, she was possibly a little in love with Riko. Or maybe in lust. She wasn’t sure, and she certainly didn’t intend to do anything about it, but she was too relentless in her self-examination to pretend that it had no effect on her decisions.)

When she returned home at twenty, Kitah took up her role as Lan’s right hand, but continued exchanging letters with Riko in secret. It would be several years before the current Most Exalted considered retirement, so nothing would come to a head just yet, and Kitah would not betray her family or her duties to them. But if she exchanged correspondence with a friend, and wrote in them about her life, and her family, and the responsibilities of an Exalted family, there was no harm in that--if Riko was learning anything from that, well, Riko learned from everything and everyone, she just did it cross-wise. Kitah had discovered that long ago, in the midst of frustration at Riko’s refusal to follow her tutelage.

The time for choosing the next Most Exalted came at last. The method for replacing a voluntarily retiring Most Exalted was simple: each monastery recommended one of its recently-graduated students or current monks, and they fought on sacred ground, each testing their Exalted abilities against each other until only one remained standing. There were five monasteries, five candidates, and Lan and Riko were both among them. And, in a short matter of time, they were the only two left standing.

Kitah had thought that her loyalties to both of them were safe, for the rules of the contest forbid any contestant from seeking an advantage over the other outside of the arena. Only the Earth Spirits, if they chose to act, could tip the scales. But after two devastating matches came to draws, Lan did what Kitah had desperately hoped he would not: he came to her, asking her to tell him of the years that she and Riko had trained together, seeking a weakness. It was for the good of the family, Lan told her, and though he was breaking sacred laws by seeking this knowledge, she could not bring herself to break equally sacred customs (ones she’d bent, already, with her letters, and could not bring all the way to the breaking point) by refusing him.

She did her best to keep her tales vague and unhelpful, pinning it on her unhappiness that he was breaking the rules. But while Lan might be desperate, he wasn’t stupid. From Kitah’s descriptions, he deduced a weakness of form on Riko’s right side, and in the next match, he took advantage of it. Riko, her confidence shattered, was brought down. And in the pomp and excitement of the ceremonies that followed, she disappeared. No matter how Kitah sought her, she was nowhere to be found.

Lan was made the Most Exalted, but his rule quickly proved to be an unfortunate one. In his first two years, valleys flooded, crops failed, pastures burned, and--most damning to their people--the earth shook in a series of violent earthquakes, burying villages under mudslides and avalanches. It was clear that the Earth Spirits were displeased, though only Lan and Kitah knew why. To make the truth public would shame Lan and her family in front of the whole of the country, but at last Kitah confronted Lan, forcing him to hear the truth: he was not the rightful Most Exalted, and he knew it. For the good of the land and its people, Riko had to be found.

Fearful and abashed, Lan agreed. He didn’t dare admit the truth even to his closest advisors, but Kitah already knew. So it would be her responsibility to find Riko and bring her home. If she challenged him, and defeated him, she would win the seat, and then the Earth Spirits would be mollified, and the land would settle once more. So Kitah set out, beyond the borders of their tiny homeland, for if Riko was to be found there she would have been found in the first two years. She was somewhere else, somewhere beyond their borders, and it was up to Kitah to track her down.

Race: Human

Ability Score Increase: Your ability scores each increase by 1.

Age: Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century. Kitah is 29.

Alignment: Lawful Good.

Size: Medium. Kitah stands at 5′8″ and is about 210 pounds.

Speed: Base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages: Common, Primordial

Class: Monk (Way of the Four Elements)

Monastery: Your monastery is carved out of a mountainside, where it looms over a treacherous pass.

Monastic Icon: the Heavy Step: Let your feet fall firmly upon the earth, so that it knows well your presence.

Master: Your master was a distant and enigmatic figure who never explained his expectations, which you regardless know that you did not meet.

Weapon proficiencies: simple weapons, shortswords

Tool proficiencies: lyre

Saving throw proficiencies: Strength, Dexterity

Skill proficiencies: Athletics, Insight

Elemental Disciplines:

Elemental Attunement (3rd level)

Fist of Unbroken Air (3rd level)

Gong of the Summit (6th level)

Clench of the North Wind (11th level)

Wave of Rolling Earth (17th level)

Eternal Mountain Defense (17th level, replacing either Elemental Attunement or Clench of the North Wind)

Background: Noble

Skill proficiencies: History, Persuasion

Toll proficiencies: Dragonchess set

Languages: Giant

Feature: Position of Privilege (welcomed in high society, accommodated by common folk, audience with local noble)

Personality Traits:

No one could doubt by looking at my regal bearing that I am a cut above the unwashed masses.

Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood.

My favor, once lost, is lost forever.

I’ll settle for nothing less than perfection. (from Entertainer)

I am utterly serene, even in the face of disaster. (from Hermit)

Ideals:

Responsibility: It is my duty to respect the authority of those above me, just as those below must respect mine.

Family: Blood runs thicker than water.

Noble Obligation: It is my duty to protect and care for the people beneath me.

Logic: Emotions must not cloud our sense of what is right and true, or our logical thinking. (from Hermit)

Bonds:

I am in love with a common-born person that my family despises.

My loyalty to my (rightful) sovereign is unwavering.

The common folk must see me as a hero of the people.

Flaws:

I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin my family forever.

In fact, the world does revolve around me.

I am dogmatic in my thoughts and philosophy. (from Hermit)

I’ll follow orders, even if I think they’re wrong. (from Sailor)