Aleni (Grass Spiders)

Basic Information

Name: Aleni
Type: Dragon-Blooded Exalt
Age: 39
Player: NPC
Aspect: Fire
Concept: Grass-Spider
Motivation: Find the one that got away.
Political Affiliation: The Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders
Anima: A complicated spindle of fiery gears eventually unfurls into organic and natural curves, which take the shape of crocodiles that carry away the ephemeral bodies of the dead, clearing the way for the future.
Likes: Dogs, lizards, hot weather, markets, string instruments
Dislikes: Promise-breakers, birds, percussion instruments, blunt weapons

Background

Aleni bears an unspeakable burden - she may have failed to complete to a hit, and the matter remains unresolved. Sometime shortly after her recruitment, Aleni was given the task of killing a man known only as 'The Tightrope Walker'. Originally a circus performer from Great Forks, he made his way to the extreme North and claimed to find a golden thread leading to worlds outside of Creation. Although Nazareth was intrigued when he was approached by divine agents hoping to resolve the matter through channels unrelated to Heaven, he could not ignore the exorbitant sum they were offering for the job - Nazareth's curiosity would have to die with their target. For reasons Aleni will never understand and always resent, Nazareth chose her to carry out the hit.

Aleni tracked the man to his hideout in the extreme North and set about her carefully laid plans. Everything was going smoothly until a previously unseen figure appeared from amidst the blizzards to defend the mark. Though Aleni fought valiantly, she was knocked unconscious and awoke in a pool of her own blood. She was seriously wounded, even for an Exalt - her left arm had been cleaved completely off (and was never found), and she was stranded in the middle of an extremely unkind environment. Worse, however, was the disappearance of both the mark and the figure defending him. Although tracking efforts continued for several years afterward, the search became less and less of a priority, eventually transforming into resigned defeat. The Grass Spiders could not locate the man. He has not been seen publicly in Creation since, and though the divine agents who called for the hit assume the man has vanished for good, and consider the matter resolved, Aleni does not. She was scarred both physically and mentally, and although she serves the Order as a productive member, at her core, she cannot truly be at peace until she knows what has become of the man she was assigned to kill and learns the truth about the figure who appeared to defend him.

Aleni grew up on the streets of the Nexus - although she was initially a pickpocket, her short temper led to a reputation for violent crime. After inadvertently thwarting one of the decrees, the Hooded Executioners attempted to live up to their name, but as they readied their halberds to slay the young thief, she took her Second Breath, quickly destroying her would-be captors. With a pile of dead Hooded Executioners at her feet, she quickly fled Nexus. On the run, word of her exploits quickly spread to the ears of the Grass Spiders, who recruited the young Exalted girl into their ranks.

Though actual limb restoration is beyond even Rizuka's capability, she has many times offered Aleni a biomagitechnical replacement for her arm. Aleni refuses every time, preferring the wound to remind of her previous failures - only when she accomplishes her Motivation will she accept any sort of prosthetic.

What She's Been Up To

Over the course of the past seven years, Aleni has grown into a matriarchal role within the Shaded Templar. As its most driven personality, Aleni keeps the circle focused and acts as the glue holding it together. She is able to balance Ryn's careful and targeted approach with Champ and Carp's reckless antics and harnesses Cello's sorcery when she can. Aleni's down-to-earth, no-bullshit, by-the-book approach often puts her on the same wavelength as Ryn, who also takes the Order's mandate to harm no innocent civilians very seriously. Aleni and Ryn frequently train together and have become the circle's fiercest fighters; though Ryn frequently (albeit barely) bests her, many remark that Aleni might be one of the Order's best sword-wielders were she given the blessing of a second arm. Aleni continues to refuse any prosthetic to replace her lost arm, wearing the scar as a reminder of her failure.

Aleni also gets along with Carp fairly well in spite of Carp's radically different approach to their work. Both Aleni and Carp refuse to make the Order into anything that it isn't - While Aleni's interpretation (the Order is a group of politically-neutral artists-for-hire who re-invent their craft) is perhaps a bit more grandiose than Carp's (the Order is a bunch of expensive sellswords), both members tend to keep their mouths shut to upper management, and when given a job to do, they do it without asking any questions or thinking about the implications - like any assassin should. They also each refuse to entertain any delusions that Grass-Spiders are saving the world or making it a better place; they are honest about the wicked nature of their craft. This same attitude has kept Aleni disinterested in the Veil War... until recently.

While she and Ryn were pursuing a mark in Chanta, on one of the jobs engineered by the While Veil Society to draw the Grass-Spiders away from the Range Homes, Aleni encountered Ruol, who was speaking to a contact there. Although Ruol quickly left the scene, Ruol's contact made reference to the Tightrope Walker - Aleni's lost mark. ((I will change this to a link eventually - this is a forthcoming moment.)) This marked the first concrete link to the man Aleni had uncovered in years. This sparked Aleni's interest in the White Veil Society, and since then, she has had a begrudging interest in the Veil War. At Ryn's suggestion, she still tries very hard to keep the Shaded Templar out of it, but she always keeps an ear secretly open whenever more involved members, such as Leviticus and Anton, discuss matters related to the White Veil Society.