Tepet Marek Udo

Basic Information

Name: Tepet Marek Udo
AKA: Udo
Player: Tony
Type: Dragon-Blooded Exalt
Age: 19
Aspect: Wood
Concept: Graduate of the Cloister of Wisdom
Motivation: Discover the mistakes of our ancestors so that they may never be repeated.
Political Affiliation: The Realm
Anima: As Udo's anima grows in power from a corona of brilliant green essence it spreads to the ground beneath his feet, spreading across the ground and any surface, even vertical, it comes into contact with like an out of control growth of vines and ivy. At its peek this ivy of green essence in accompanied by the sounds of a bamboo forest creaking in the wind.
Likes: New Experiences, Meditation, Raw Fish, Nature
Dislikes: Warfare, Red Meat, Pollution & Contaminants, Small Spaces
Tepet Marek Udo: Character Sheet

Stories

Sins of Our Fathers

Prelude

• The Plea for Honor - A letter to Udo from his Grandfather, Tepet Marek, imploring Udo to reconsider his decision to join The Immacualate Order.

Baptism by Fire

• Congraduations! - Aden's Graduation Party, a small gala of a few hundred guests.
• On The Road Again - Our young heroes head south to the city of Paragon.
• Sailing the Seven Seas - The trip from Noble to Paragon by ship.

Background

Udo is the eldest son of Tepet Marek Dato, an Air Aspected Dragon-Lord, and Cynis Calliope, a mortal who helps operate The Garden of Crimson Pleasures in the Imperial City. Udo has a younger sister, Cynis Thalia, who is 15 and has not exalted, as a result she was not sent to secondary school and has taken up apprenticeship in her mothers business. Both children are the result of their father's second marriage, after the death of his first wife, and the stories say that the two met while Dato was grieving his wife and Calliope eased his pain and loneliness. Calliope is almost 200 years her husbands junior and had both Udo and Thalia in her early 20's, shortly after the birth of Thalia, Dato grew tired of his mortal companion and returned to his post with the Tepet legions in the northern areas of the threshold. Dato returned rarely from the distant north, even after his son exalted and was adopted into House Tepet, he was expected to retire with a few years when the Tepet legions met their end in combat with The Bull of the North, Tepet Marek Dato was among those who never returned from the frozen tundra.

Udo was born before his mother and father wed, House Tepet at least was still unaware of the relationship as Dato internally debated the seriousness of his fling with the mortal woman. Once Udo was born he decided to marry her, and a small and informal ceremony was held for the marriage, at least in comparison to the typical dynastic wedding between two of the Great Houses. This period was the only time in Udo's life that Dato lived on the Blessed Isle, not long after the wedding Calliope was again pregnant with Udo's younger sister Thalia. The small family lived within the Imperial City at a private residence that his father's centuries of military service had paid for. Because Dato and Calliope's marriage was not a formal affair, and the houses did not have a hand in arranging it or supporting the children, Udo was born into his mother's house and was known as Cynis Udo before his exaltation. Within a few months of Thalia's birth Dato returned to the legions of the north, he returned very seldom to the Blessed Isle and left the raising of his children to Calliope and the servants of House Cynis.

Udo was a quiet child growing up and often intensely private among the other children, especially as a young boy this often made him stand out to the more open Cynis children who he lived with. Early on it was not something his mother worried greatly over, his father was often very aloof and it seemed like a similar enough quality. As Udo started to attend primary school it became a further concern, at the Imperial Capitol the children tended to stick together with the other children of their house, a system that worked well. However, Udo didn't really fit in with the other Cynis children, and therefore found himself without very many friends. A fact that typically bothered him very little, but started to concern members of his family.

Primary school was a difficult time for Udo, though he rarely let it show to even his closest family and friends. He struggled to make close relationships during his childhood, and even casual friends would eventually drift away once a closer friend or family member urged his friends away from him. He was not thought of as an ill-mannered or fated child, however he was thought of as an odd child and overall unspectacular one. Facts the other children rarely let him forget, especially the more popular ones, and eventually this led to bullying. Udo naturally did what every mother told their children, he ignored them. And the other kids did exactly what any victim of bullying would tell you they do, they got more angry about it.

Aden had already exalted at the young age of 11 by this point, and though he was one of the most popular children at the primary school that he attended along with Udo, he had never partaken in bullying of any sort. Aden's manner was to more or less ignore those who had failed to make an impression on him, good or bad, and Udo certainly fell into that category. The opinions of other children were not the sort of things that would sway Aden's judgement. At the same time other children's feelings towards Udo had continued to grow more negative, and during an unsupervised physical training session two boys from House Cathak took their bullying a step too far. The bullying turned to a physical beating, which Udo would not fight back; Udo had fallen to the ground while the boys beat on him with Bokken. Seeing an unarmed, outnumbered boy beaten on the ground offended Aden's strong sense of honor, regardless of the House of those involved and he immediately stepped in to put an end to it. Already an exalt and a far superior swordsmen he disarmed both boys with relative ease, sending both to run from the scene before an instructor came upon it, meanwhile Aden helped the injured Udo to the clinic.

That was the end of the it, neither Udo nor Aden turned either of the other boys in to the instructors for the event and they had no further interaction regarding it. Udo sent a formal letter of gratitude to Aden's home out of respect for what Udo considered a genuine act of honor, something Udo thought Dragon Blooded society was sorely lacking. No response was sent or needed, and the two didn't interact again until some time later.

Udo didn't exalt just after his graduation from primary school, leaving him only the summer between primary and secondary school to get entrance to one; most of his family and instructors were pleasantly surprised by his exaltation, however he was also sorely unprepared to apply for and attend one of the best secondary schools since most assumed he would not. House Tepet saw an opportunity to pluck a Dragon Blooded member from the community and add them to their military strength, even if Udo was a Wood Aspect, every exalt was a considerable gain for one of the Great Houses. In reality Cynis had little claim to the boy, since his exalted father was a member of House Tepet, and several small favors and bribes were all it took for Tepet to officially adopt Udo into the House. A formal adoption ceremony was held, Dato returned from the North to attend and the formal ceremony was the first and only time Udo met his Grandfather, Tepet Marek. After the adoption ceremony Udo was set up with a private tutor, Sesus Odair, to prepare him for entrance into The House of Bells where his new house had decided he would attend.

Sesus Odair is a former legionnaire and retired instructor from The House of Bells, in his retirement he occasionally provides service to The Realm by taking certain young exalts under his esteemed tutelage. Cathak Aden was Odair's only other student at the time, and in fact it was somewhat rare for him to take a second in a given year; however he accepted due to the unique opportunity to mentor two incredibly different students. Most of Odair's students were like Aden, already exceptional and already accepted into the secondary school of their choice, their House simply thought they were destined for great things and wished to set them above the other Dragon-Blooded youths. Udo on the other hand was trying to catch up so that he could get accepted into one of the four prestigious academies of the Realm. Initially it must have looked hopeless, but Odair used a different method of training for both children which proved a tremendous success.

Rather than providing one-on-one instruction to the boys, Odair set up alternating scenarios where the two boys would compete and then cooperate with one another in a wide variety of tasks and missions. The training exercises would test them in every way, and rigorously worked the bodies and minds of both students. Just as Odair had designed it, both students made tremendous strides in their abilities, rounding out their weaknesses by working with one another and pushing their strengths to new heights as the other Dragon-Blood quickly improved and competed with the other. More importantly, in Odair's mind at least, the two boys grew together and formed a tight bond of friendship during their one summer of intensive training together. Almost the entire three months was spent living on Odair's estate, besides one another they only had contact with Odair and his servants, by the end of their training both felt like they had known each other for their entire childhoods. Finally the summer came to an end and both boys returned home to prepare for their entrance into The House of Bells.

While Aden was already accepted into The House of Bells, Udo was still in the process of applying and being accepted. Fortunately for him he came from a prestigious bloodline and had the honored recommendation of not only family members but Sesus Odair, a former instructor at the House of Bells. His prospects for getting in late were very good, he simply needed to complete a final interview with the committee of admissions, but things went very wrong before the end. The bulk of the interview went very well, Udo had been coached on how to respond, but their final question changed his fate. When asked why he wanted to attend the House of Bells, Udo calmly and truthfully informed them that he didn't. Shocked and appalled at the boys answer the committee was in uproar, the headmaster of the school as much as any of them asked him the question again. Udo repeated his answer with all due respect, but he did not desire to attend the House of Bells and would not lie about it. The headmaster stormed angrily from the room at having his time wasted by another spoiled brat from the dynasty, to quote his words, and needless to say Udo was not admitted to the House of Bells.

Word spread quickly of the event and of his rejection from the school, obviously his family was incredibly displeased, even his mother expressed her disappointment. House Tepet of course attempted to downplay the entire event, instead looking into sending him to a less prestigious school such as The Palace of Tamed Storm, where they could quite literally beat the disrespect out of him. Udo though was not caught as off guard as the rest of his family, neither was Aden though he spoke of it to no one, and had already applied to attend the Cloister of Wisdom. He was a long shot to get in on such short notice, and his show of disrespect to The House of Bells wasn't likely to help him enter the Cloister. However ill deeds often earn friendships as easily as good deeds, a particular monk at the Cloister of Wisdom, who happened to have a long standing disagreement with the Headmaster of The House of Bells, heard about Udo's act of disrespect and requested a meeting with him. Willow Rose met with Udo at the Palace Sublime the day before classes would start, if she didn't get him in that day he would leave the next day to spend the next 7 years at The Palace of Tamed Storm. Udo must have made quite the impression, or perhaps was lucky enough that The Cloister of Wisdom had an open spot that year, either way with the help of Willow Rose he was accepted to The Cloister of Wisdom and began class the next morning.

Udo had a somewhat tumultuous start at The Cloister of Wisdom, as it turns out even perspective Immaculate Monks hear about it when you disrespect the Headmaster of The House of Bells. Willow Rose was a hands off mentor and let Udo break himself into the new environment, which he was not so well prepared for, but he soon found that he fit in here better than he had at any other point in his life. He enjoyed the long hours of self reflection, tedious history lessons engrossed him, high level martial arts styles fascinated him, and above all else there was an endless amount to discover about this place and world from the perspective of The Cloister of Wisdom. Within a few months of attendance he fit in quiet well at the academy, while he never grew outrageously popular he had a fair number of close friends. He was an above average, but overall unspectacular student while at The Cloister, several teachers criticized him for becoming distracted during in depth studies. Though Udo would argue he only lost interest once he stopped learning from their classes, at times he would say as much and often earn a scolding, but over time he learned the proper way to broach the discussion topic and often got into healthy, yet heated debates with teachers. The open forum even among teachers and students at The Cloister was one of his favorite things about it, and while at entry he did not think the life of an Immaculate Monk sounded all that appealing, by the end of his studies he was nearly ready to take his vows and fairly closely followed the restrictions of the first coil.

During his later years at the school news that the Tepet legions had been defeated by an anathema in the North spread around the Realm, further news of the events came to the ears of Udo when it was reported that Tepet Marek Dato, his father, was among those killed in battle. Udo felt more sadness for his father's death than he had expected, never being very close to the man, but they were relatively fond of one another when they were together and occasionally wrote back and forth. House Tepet was in an uproar of course, but there was little they could do about it. There was even less that Udo could do so he refocused himself on his studies, becoming a bit better student after the event but otherwise unchanged. To this day Udo fasts on the day of his father's death as a silent way to honor him and the others that fell in the North.

It was Resplendent Air of his last year at The Cloister of Wisdom when he received the letter from his Grandfather, Tepet Marek, one of the five leaders of House Tepet. The letter was polite and formal, it bore no mention of their relation outside of the fact that both were members of House Tepet and servants of the Scarlet Throne. Marek strongly urged Udo to reconsider taking vows to join the Immaculate Order, urging him to instead help the House that adopted him to return to former glory after the destruction of their legions. Now more than ever House Tepet needed all of it's Dragon-Blooded to produce offspring and serve in the House legions. Udo's immediate response was negative, what a foolish reason to abandon his own goals, for a House that has hardly done him any service that was not intended only to help themselves. Willow Rose took a different approach and urged Udo to reconsider, not that he should not take the vows to become a Monk but he should rethink what House Tepet has done for him and means to him and the people he cares about.

Udo excused himself from The Cloister for two short days and visited his mother and sister in The Imperial City, the only two family members he was ever particularly close with, and sought their advice. To his surprise both of them thought that Udo should honor the request of his Grandfather, and that during desperate times we must all make sacrifices, both pledged to support him regardless of what decision he made but nudged him towards siding with the House. Udo returned to The Cloister somewhat shaken, he had expected the same reaction from Willow Rose, his mother, and sister as he had had. None of them owed much if anything to House Tepet, they had no motive to push him into their service unless they genuinely felt that way. Udo had only one more close friend with whom he sought council on the manner.

Aden received a letter from Udo on the first day of Ascending Water, explaining the situation that confronted Udo and asking for his good friend's advice. Aden and Udo had seen each other only occasionally over the years since they started secondary schooling at their respective academies; however, they frequently wrote one another in order to remain close. Aden's response came quickly as he had already thought of writing Udo soon about an impending trip post-graduation. Aden was unsure of how to ask Udo, but saw an opportunity in Udo's request for advice. Aden asked Udo to attend a trip to the Threshold with him, saying that he would explain their motives and destination at Aden's graduation party on Descending Water 9. Udo could use the trip as reason to buy time before making his choice, undoubtedly he would gain a great deal of enlightenment on his travels that would aid him in making his choice upon his return.

Udo accepted immediately and informed both The Immaculate Order and his family about the decision he had made, both of which were reasonably pleased he had chosen to leave his options open and supported the trip. Udo delayed things enough that he had managed to get his own graduation party cancelled, rather intentionally never planned. House Tepet typically preferred to do more for new graduates, but the situation was difficult for them and saving the money in such dire times was a wise thing so no one put up much of a fight. Udo graduated from the Cloister of Wisdom of Descending Water 1, no one attending his graduation, at his own request and he left the school shortly after the ceremony ended. Udo made the short journey on foot from The Cloister of Wisdom to The Palace Sublime.

Personality

Tepet Marek Udo has never fit in particularly well among his brothers and sisters of House Tepet, nor did he inspire a great deal of affection while he lived among members of House Cynis before his exaltation. In his childhood members of House Cynis who were familiar with him referred to him as an oddly private child, though he rarely inspired much conflict nor found himself tied up in it, he never showed much interest in the activities that children of the house were supposed to occupy their time with. His mother worried that he was too withdrawn and would struggle to fit in among the other dynastic children at school. It was likely a legitimate concern, however his easy going personality made him a small number of loyal enough friends and his mother's concerns were soon diminished.

After his exaltation and adoption into House Tepet proper he found it even harder to fit in, though he never showed concern about trivial matters such as conformance. Or so he assured his mother. Peers and mentors within the house described Udo as whimsical, in a tone that could only be implied as criticism, a trait they blamed on thin blood, an insult to the impure aspect of his exaltation. In reality Udo always fell too far between the House of his birth, Cynis, and the House he exalted into, Tepet, to be accepted by either.

Perhaps as a result of this he's never shown birth rights the proper amount of respect, at least when Imperial etiquette is concerned, and has instead always judged others by the intent of their actions and strength of their character. His demeanor is typically that of a quiet observer who shows a surprising amount of wisdom and resolve when he chooses to speak up; he follows his own code of honor along with the Immaculate Faith which guide his actions far more than social or political maneuvering.

Goals & Objectives

Intimacies My family has always provided me a base of stability and support in my life, I owe a great deal of loyalty to both my mother and sister. The Immaculate Order has guided me through much of my childhood and into adult life, their service to me is only a representation of the greater good they perform across all of Creation.

Udo's goals are somewhat in a state of flux, at least in the short term. He had long planned to join The Immaculate Order to refine his mind and body and to grow in wisdom so that he could face the present and inevitable future. However, much of that has changed now that House Tepet has come calling and asked him to reconsider vowing his life to The Order. While his decision to join The Order or not is a life altering choice, it does not change his motivations for the future. Udo believes Creation is at a critical point in it's existence, and in order to assure this time of change results in a better Creation in the future he is willing to do what is necessary. Of course the process of figuring out the right actions to take and gaining the knowledge and experience to enact them is no small task on its own.

Personal Quote

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."