Unrepentant Soldier

An Ancient Nemissary in service of the character:maskofwinter

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Leader of the Ghost-Dancer Faction

When the Mask of Winters’ chief representative steps into the throne chamber of the Autocrat, silence descends, followed by nervous compliments and trembling sycophantry, for few are feared more in the court of the Puppet King than the Unrepentant Soldier. The stink of preservatives and dust oozes from him, for his flesh is not his own. As a profoundly skilled nemissary, he wears the androgynously beautiful Patchwork Regalia, a masterpiece of necrosurgery crafted from the mortal remains of the Dragon-Blooded who dared to defend Thorns from the Mask of Winters. The long, fiery locks of a Fire Aspect surround his lovely face and fall upon his broad, statuesque shoulders. The liquid onyx eyes of an Earth Aspect watch those around him with ill-tempered disdain. The soft, feminine lips of a Wood Aspect part to sigh with boredom. Combined of the flesh of 20 Dynasts, it mottles magnificently, slowly gliding from the shale white of his Earth-aspected shoulders to the snow white of his Airaspected waist, with a myriad of patches and hues of pale skin visible between. If one looks closely enough, the subtle lines and markings of the stitching trace swirling patterns beneath his skin. The warrior wears long, flowing pants and a curving soulsteel reaper daiklave named Parting Sigh but little else, so that all may behold the beauty of his corpse-garment.

In life, the Unrepentant Soldier was a Lookshy legionnaire who perished in the Gunzota Incident. In death, the Unrepentant Soldier was among the Mask of Winters’ most favored warriors, and for his service, he was awarded the Patchwork Regalia and a position as representative in Thorns, able to drink from its passions and vices at his whim. But the Unrepentant Soldier has grown discontent with his post and prize, for he has quietly begun to suspect that he is in exile. Watching the deathknights eclipse the favor of nemissaries with other Deathlords, the Unrepentant Soldier fears the same is occurring with the Mask of Winters, and that Abyssals are replacing him and his kind as the preeminent powers among the dead. This suspicion makes him brood, yearning to return to Juggernaut, and his ill temper leads to bloodshed in the court, as he’s cut down three courtiers for offending his sight. The courtiers tread carefully around the nemissary now, dependent upon him for his ties to the Mask of Winters, but terrified of offending him.

Those who cluster the closest to him take one of two forms. The mortals who manage to win his favor are those who truly admire the dead. Often rebellious youths enamored of nihilistic hedonism, they smear their faces with ash or paint themselves in gray, dressing in the fashions of the dead and supporting their actions with an unreasoning fury. The courts have named them “Ghost-Dancers.” The dead who enter the Unrepentant Soldier’s inner circle are those who feel themselves exiled from the Mask of Winters’ presence. They tire of Thorns and wish to move on to bigger, better things, such as conquering the rest of the Scavenger Lands or simply doing something other than suffering the presence of petty mortals. The Exiles make use of the Ghost-Dancers as playthings, which amuses both sides greatly, as tormenting some ash-masked teenage boy brings a moment of respite to the Unrepentant Soldier’s passionate malaise.

The Ghost-Dancers and the Exiles ally most closely with the Silken Faction, for the Mask of Winters seems to favor Wisdom Whispered, and they wish to gain the favor of the Deathlord. The other factions, however, work tirelessly to gain the Unrepentant Soldier’s ear, in hopes that he will speak well of them to his master.

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