Shiori

Sexy Sea Captain of Amber

(Abyss Initiate In Training and Unexpected Reincarate)

o/~ come a little bit closer
don't stay in the shadows my boy
(la la la la la la la)
the melody's fading.....
now or never, love will go

I'll be there by your side
share your fears in the silent redemption
touch my lips, hold me tight
live in vanity for a while o/~

There is only one path and that is the path that you take, but you can take more than one path.

Cross over the cell bars, find a new maze, make the maze from it's path, find the cell bars, cross over the bars, find a maze, make the maze from its path, eat the food, eat the path.

"Well, if things do trainwreck, at least it promises to be entertaining to my folks."

Trump

"This trump wasn't a recent one; it had been drawn by me soon after my niece had re-entered the navy. She stood on the deck of one of Amber's ships, the decking clean and the rigging straight. Pale blue clouds traced across the sky, and the sea was calm. Shiori herself stood proudly, her naval jacket removed to reveal a violet tank top that showed off her muscular arms and Harad build to good effect. Her sword, a gift from my sister, her mother, rested in her gloved right hand, while her left waited on her hip above the sword's scabbard.

She smiled at the viewer, her wide blue eyes drawing you in towards her face, framed by her wavy raspberry hair and her crimson forelock which jutted out like a question mark. But her expression was mixed, and there was a shadow behind her eyes that I didn't quite fathom -- a tentativeness, an unsurety that was at odds to her public persona. Was she uncertain of her good fortune, much like Kanna felt at times? What had she seen in her decades out in Shadow to make her feel like this?

I did not know, but I did know one thing -- she hadn't walked the Fire Pattern in nearly two decades, even though I knew she had walked the others regularly in that time.

That worried me."

--- Princess Gabrielle of Ember

History and Background

Shiori is the only daughter of Captain Ruka and Crown Princess Kanna, born several months after the wave of births caused by the rites of High Summer in the prior year. She grew up around the Shalomar Naval Base and within New Rebma, since she was partially raised by her Aunt Juri whenever her mother was out on missions for the kingdoms. This mixed upbringing nurtured a love of sailing, singing, and the sea that has stayed with her and served her well over the decades.

Although Shiori lacked her mother's great strength and her father's endurance (leading some courtly wags to wonder if she truly is Kanna and Ruka's daughter), it was discovered early on in her life that she had some talent for the sword and for sorcery, and it is there that she has made her focus.

Shiori is so far the only Harad daughter who has attended both Ohtori Academy (1345-51) and Panopticon University (1365-73), earning high marks in her studies. This drive has also pushed her towards naval excellence. She graduated at the top of her class in the Amber City Naval Academy in 1355 AY, and went on to serve admirably in the naval component of several Amberite wars. There was also a stint in Chaos that she fondly remembers, serving as a "Goodwill Ambassador" (and putting on the occasional concert at Alarsways and the Embassy).

In the past three decades, Shiori has taken towards hanging around the Amber naval bases, supervising and undergoing advanced naval training with her father and her aunt Kozue. She's forayed into shadow several times during this period, and has managed to put out a couple albums under the "Snoop Mo G" label, though she's nowhere near as prolific as Random Tenjou has been. Shiori's content to perform at the taverns and bars that her naval travels take her, not seeking the glory that the Queen of Cross-Shadow Pop has gained.

Shiori's extended historical writeup can be found here.

Skills and Aptitudes

Shiori is about in the middle of the the road for warfare capability in her generation of the family -- she is not a standout like the dedicated wargods, but she is quite capable of swapping between being a front-line fighter or a rear-line mage as the sitution demands. The places where she signifigantly lacks are in endurance (which she continues to try to improve) and strength (which she is resigned to being at the bottom of the heap, no matter how hard she tries). She has signifigantly improved her psyche over the past days (weeks / months / years?), especially in the realm of mental nimbleness, so as to allow her finer control of her powers.

Shiori has the basic amount of Pattern skills for a member of the Royal Family, and has started learning some of the advanced arts. She is already a sorceress of renown, and has the ability to incorporate the power of the Pattern and the Elder Gods into her spells, as well as the Pattern skills she knows. She is a reasonable scholar, having taken an interest in many facets of ancient and current lore, such as that of the Unicorn, the Elder Gods, and the Sidar, and is always on the lookout for more useful things to learn.

She is an accomplished singer and guitarist, and continues to gain fame from her efforts. She, along with Random and Kurz, just completed a 4-album deal with the Dreaming's version of Motown Records, and she's looking forward to bringing those albums out to the Waking. She has a long-standing interest in gardening, which runs about as deep in her as her love for the sea, though she doesn't get to practice it as much as she would like to.

Shiori knows a small measure of shapeshifting, courtesy of her Uncle Davros. Her Combat form is that of a shapely merwoman, a sort of piscene/cetatean crossbreed, with green skin, green hair, neck gills, cortal and dorsal fins, webbed feet and hands, and a purple forelock. Less often seen is her Avatar form, a red-gold falconlike phoenix with a purple forelock of feathers between blue gas eyes.

Shiori has also learned some of the arts of the Abyss, including survival in its depths, sensing its use in Shadow, and shielding others from its effects. She continues to wield it effectively it in protecting her loved ones, which is somewhat surprising given the average Abyss Initiate's reputation for being a twisted, death-loving freak. But given how many in the family have had their metaphysical connections warped to heck and gone in the past weeks, Shiori being Abyssal is practically minor at this point.

She's also Pretty Princess Ember, and this seems to have set the stage for the revelation of Shiori's past life. Make of that what you will.

Selected Discography

[An Interview by the Dreaming's Rolling Stone magazine...]?

Personality, Beliefs, and Family Relationships

Shiori gets along moderately well with her family, though isn't seen as often as some due to her travels. Because of this, she sometimes lags a bit behind in the Rumor Mill, but she generally gets back up to speed quickly.

Among the elders in the early days, she seemed closest to her Aunt Juri and her Aunt Kozue, who both factored importantly in her early life. She also was seen with Telemian, occasionally adventuring together, leading to rumors of them having a "more than friends" relationship, though neither spoke out about anything akin to the sort.

This was surprising to many, because Shiori continues to be outgoing, energetic, opinionated, active -- and quite unashamedly bisexual, having had a series of lovers over the years of both genders. Although she (apparently) has some sense of who to flirt with and whom not, her sleeping around in the past has caused non-favorable commentary among the social vultures of the court.

For the most part, Shiori has come to terms with Telemain's recent death. She is still concerned and unhappy about Kozue's treason, but aside from one visit while her aunt was still in prison, she hasn't been able to find the time to visit her again to discuss current affairs.

Shiori's concerns about the entire Random / Juri / Tohru situation seem to have stabilized since having spent time with Random and Tohru during their extended Dreaming mission to recover Orien's mind and soul. She continues to be supportive of them, even from afar. It is quite possible that she's mulling over ways to aid them with undoing their vampirifications in one way or another.

Among the Elders, Shiori seems to be drawing more and more on guidance from Dowager Queen Anthy, given that she has been instrumental in the success of several joint operations, including the Dream Quest for Orien. Among her current generation, Shiori is rather close to Katherine d'Medici, the new Special Agent of Amber.

( Okay, 'rather close' is an understatement. They are lovers, and Shiori tends to get cutely flustered whenever the subject of marriage comes up. )

Other rumors place her possibly in a tryst with her 'brother' Orien, or her cousin Aburatsubo -- or perhaps all three. Whatever the truth, Shiori doesn't seem all that concerned... and their escapades in destroying the Three Eyes of the Violator, and in rescuing Orien's Body and Soul from KUGAR and Lord Foul seems to have solidified that bond to something new. How it will develop from here is anybody's guess.

Also, her connection to the Pretty Princess Fire Wand has allowed a past life to be revealed -- that she was once Shayla, Queen of the First Ember.

Shiori's Opinions on the PC's

Shiori's opinions on her generation of NPC's

Shiori's opinions on The Founders

Shiori's opinions on First Emberites

Shiori's opinions on The Elders

Shiori's opinions on The TAMD Generation

Shiori's opinions on The UnS Generation

Shiori's opinions on Spouses of the various Generations

Shiori's opinions on various and sundry other folk

Melniboneans

Shiori's opinions on enemies she's encountered or heard of

Shiori's opinions on various Cosmic Beings

Shiori's opinions on the Fate and Destiny simulacrums

Notable Items

Shiori doesn't have much in the way of gear, as she's a travellin' woman, but she does own a decent sword that was made for her by her mother, long ago, when she was about to enter the naval academy. She also owns (or perhaps 'partners with' would be a better term) a golden necklace with a purple gem inset in it, which goes by the name of 'Kosh', who knows many things of Conjuration and Trump.

She possesses two spell racks : one a pendant given to her by Nagisa and Yumi when she learned enough magic to use such things, another that takes the form of a bracelet made of gold and silver vines.

She and her team also seem to have come into possession of a sword, called 'Soul Calibur'. Its capabilities are currently unknown, save to them. It tends to cycle between them as to who carries it.

She also is now currently carrying around the Pretty Princess Wand of Fire. When not extended in wand form, its gem is stored in a bracer which Shiori habitually wears. It still needs some debugging.

Current Developments

Shiori hasn't been seen around the castle for several days. This is due to her having joined up with Special Mission Team {Shifter|Shiorien|Elder Whoopass} (which consists of herself, Orien, Aburatsubo, and the newly minted Special Agent Katherine d'Medici). They breifly popped up in Castle Amber late day five, having managed to avoid the day four curse, as they were deep in preparing for a mission for their patrons, the Elder Gods of Kadath.

Despite their task for the Elder Gods, Shiori and company, in various capacities and groupings, have managed to perform other emergency missions on both ends of Reality, including:

This is not all the singing sea captain has been involved in. During these dire times, she has also grabbed opportunities to spend time with her various loved ones.

She attended Minor's birthday party, gave Nanami Minor a Drum Set, and drank tea. After which, she headed to the Fortress of Babytude to hang out with her Aunt Juri, Random, the Triumverate, and the rest of the folks staying there. Shiori assisted with the births in Babyland, and had her hand crushed by Juri as a reward (all in the line of duty).

Shiori was then involved in cleanups in Helgramways, with side-missions to try to deal with Fate simulcrums, gathering Abyssal intelligence from the captured monks, and trying to smooth over interpersonal conflicts. She's also helped out Akari with the Big Helgram Soul Sendoff, getting Demetrius and Vash back to adulthood, and saved Aburatsubo from nigh-certain death.

The team has now successfully destroyed the three Eyes of the Violator, a task fraught with difficulty, danger, peril, and many many explosions. Despite some minor and major setbacks, they have triumphed. However, their next mission, against the Outsider team KUGAR did not go as well as desired, and led to the temporary capture and splitting of Orien. They recovered his missing parts, reintegrated him, got him free of his tea addiction -- and then they finally went and stomped over KUGAR with Cleats.

With a successful mission for House Helgram to secure the Dark Reign, Shiori has taken a brief breather to update her family as to current developments. Despite her fears, she was not raked over the coals by her mother, father, or grandmother. She is also now showing Jean, Princess of the First Ember, around the reborn kingdom of Ember, and will likely be doing this until it is time to go and hit certain House Darios Abyss Mistressses in the head many many times.

In-Game Performance Soundtrack

Current Intelligence Report on Abyss Master Affairs

(the above requires updating someday soon)

House Tremere Situation -- Circa Third Eye Hunt