About Kato SalomanKato
Survival +3, Appraise +3, Bluff +7, Craft +3, Fly +3, Profession +3, Use Magic Device +7, Diplomacy +7, Heal +3, Knowledge (history) +3, Knowledge (planes) +3, Knowledge (religion) +3, Sense Motive +3, and Spellcraft +3, Acrobatics +3, Climb +4, Perform +7.
Bloodline Arcana(s):
Bloodline Powers:
Oracle's Curse (Ex):
Mystery: Flame Revelations:
Gaze of Flames (Su): You can see through fire, fog, and smoke without penalty as long as the light is sufficient to allow you to see normally. At 7th level, you can gaze through any source of flame within 10 feet per oracle level, as if using clairvoyance. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your oracle level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive. Oracle Spells Known:
Sorcerer Spells Known:
Background
Kato Saloman is a man born of confused fortunes. Some would see him and think him blessed; the mirror shows him only an alien form and a lack of future prospects. He was born to a father and mother of some means. His father, Olufemi Saloman, is a wizard working for the Sovereign. The practicality of wizardry is a useful and valued component of surveillance and control in the Empire, and Olufemi was one of these fairly high-valued cogs. Olufemi had the good fortune to be a dab hand at magic, and clawed his way through the ranks to make his seat on a advisory council to the governor of (insert fairly important city name here). Despite the nature of his position, Olufemi was still replaceable. This was standard for many who worked for the Sovereign in positions of note, but it tends to create a constant strain on these people of the upper echelons of society. Olufemi did not take to strain well. Volatile would be an unfair description of his temperament. Explosive would not be adequate either. Perhaps the best manner in which to communicate his fury would be to describe his home. The sparse white walls and dark wood floors are blackened by scorch marks unable to be removed even through the most diligent scrubbing. The rugs are singed and withered, and no paintings are hung. The dining room table has a portion in the center that looks subtly different than the rest, as if it had been replaced. Kato grew up well-accustomed to these outbursts, and tried his hardest to avoid them. He was mostly successful - Olufemi did not seek to vent on beings that were not to blame; inanimate objects he maintained no such restraint towards. The true fracturing of their relationship when Kato's heritage became apparent. It was a fairly normal day in the Saloman household - Olufemi was out, and Kato was stuck at home with his mother, Thulile. Thulile was a quiet woman, capable of getting her meaning and intentions across without a word. A surprising amount of the furies of her husband was downgraded into simple grumbling with only a raised eyebrow. Most times, however, she simply let them run their course. His grandmother, Lindiwe, was visiting. Her husband, Kato's grandfather, was long dead, and Lindiwe visited uncommonly. To be honest, no one in the family was quite sure what she got up to. Even in her considerably advanced age, she maintained an air of mystery. Her and Thulile had always gotten on well, both being well-reasoned women. Kato was very fond of his grandmother, at least conceptually, because at this time he was very young, perhaps only just out of his fourth year. He had been feeling rather ill throughout this visit, a strange blurriness coming over his vision, hot aches racing through his torso, and a painful tingling in his hands present the moment his Lindiwe walked through the door. There was something different in his perception of her; perhaps a shimmering, differentiated from the blurriness through the sense of heat it projected, surrounded her. Perhaps the light bounced oddly across her brass skin, which were not there upon Kato's second look. He had retired quickly to the room bordering on the living room, not quite study and not quite secondary visiting room. He kept to himself, trundling around as a young child is wont to do, keeping to the shade that this side of the house afforded. He could hear his mother and grandmother conversing in the other room, and whenever his grandmother spoke a fiery ache pulsed in his forehead. He was relieved when he heard his father's rumbling greeting, returned from his council business. But then the door opened, and in front of him stood not only his father, but what could only be his grandmother. At first Kato sought only to shout a greeting - how had his father not noticed the creature looming behind him? But then, his mouth open, he looked again. It was his grandmother, but she was... changed. Slitted green eyes, reminiscent of a snake, brass scales and a heat incomparably hotter than the fiery conjurings of his father were features it seemed only he could see and feel, present upon Lindiwe. In the same moment, he felt the pain in his hands escalate, and he looked down to see, not the small brown hands he was used to, but a pair of large, scaly claws, the weight of which he found to heavy to bear, and he fell. When he awoke, it was in his bed, the sun shining even through the curtains, which were admittedly made of fairly thin white material. He felt whole, the dream of last night barely a shadow on his mind. This was until his peace was disturbed by the entrance of his father. The glare on his face let Kato know that something was quite wrong, though he could not fathom what. It was his mother's face, just hovering over his father's shoulder, etched with fear and fatigue, that communicated to him that his nightmare had been very much a thing of reality. Olufemi gave him a once over, then snorted and left the room. Thulile stayed. She told Kato the circumstances - Olufemi had very strongly argued that he must be given over to the Sovereign, for inspection and evaluation. She had managed to control his fear; for that was what motivated his father. He had only reached his tenuous position, and harboring a child with such strange curiosities about him could only threaten that. But Thulile had calmed him, and convinced him to let Kato remain, his secret hidden. Things went on in this manner for a surprising amount of time - about 6 years. Life in the house was relatively the same as it had always been, though Kato perhaps took on a more cautious manner around his father. This was not just to keep himself safe, but because Olufemi was also at the center of some criticism regarding his decisions and policies in office. It was a time of high stress. One would think the rages would increase, but Olufemi took to an even more ominous habit - secluding himself. Kato, despite his lack of contact with the outside world (school was kept at home, consisting of endless readings of archaic arcane texts that his father set him), knew, through what his mother related to him and the occasional bits his father let slip, knew that many of the other councilors were bearing down on Olufemi, eager to give his post away to others they viewed with more fondness, and that he was scrambling to keep his position. Early in Kato's eleventh year, Olufemi returned with visitors. White-robed and masked, Kato was told they were doctors of a particular nature, though what this meant he did not know. He was examined. Poked, prodded, peered at. He was rather frightened by their eccentric appearance and the lack of noise they made. Their seeing the boy was both of a political interest, and they lacked all care towards his personal feelings on the subject of experimentation. While this was going on, an unmasked man, robe filigreed with gold, questioned Kato. He was polite, clean-shaven, never made a move that didn't seem deliberate. He even smelled nice. He introduced himself in a clear, slightly high voice, as Tomas Mortier. He asked Kato numerous questions on things that Kato had no answer for, shown lights in his eyes, tested his breathing. Subtler physical tests than what the masked men were doing. The entire time Mortier kept a steady stream of encouragement, and his gaze was steady and kind. Despite the oddness of the situation, Kato managed to keep his panic under control. Eventually, and without ceremony, Kato was taken away. He did not see his parents again. From this time onward, for the next six years, he would be kept in isolation, kept company only by Tomas Mortier and various masked doctors. Or perhaps they were all the same two he had originally encountered. Kato would never know, as they did not speak, nor communicate in any fashion. He eventually gathered that he had been given in exchange for the security of his father's position, along with other promises and gifts, the specifics of which Kato was never privy to. He grew angry in this near-solitary life, where the only person who ever talked to him was Mortier. The man was ever kind and patient, and even managed, on occasion, to get Kato to speak. As time went on, Kato's body began a steady change. He gained strange slitted eyes, reminiscent of the horror that influenced his change, though orange in color, and fingers longer and harder than before, topped with nails that have become steadily more and more claw-like. As Kato grew, Mortier became more open. They began to converse as equals, and occasionally Tomas, as Kato grew to call him, would even loan Kato books. While Kato never outgrew his suspicions and resentment, he eventually acquiesced to the fact that Tomas was the closest thing to an ally he had. They bonded, if begrudgingly, but it was too late for a deeper understanding of each other. Kato was to be released. The last night of testing, Mortier went over their usual routine, resolutely ignoring the parting. It was only at the end of the meeting, when he closed the door for the last time on Kato, that he acknowledged their parting with a sad smile. On his 17th birthday, Kato was released back into the city he was born. He was told he had not reached his potential in the fashion they had hoped, and was of no further use. He was given a sack of coins and a push out of the carriage he had been carried on. He was happy to be free of his confinement, but did not return to his old home. He knew he wouldn't be able to kill his father for his treachery, so he took to the lower-class areas of the city, seeking work. He worked multiple positions for seedier organizations, from courier, to bartender for a bar that fronted for a subversive criminal group, to bouncer, to dock-worker. His life steadily degrading, in his twentieth year, drunk and stumbling around the lower quarters, Kato took his first life. What it was over, he can't remember. But what happened afterwards is all too ready to come to mind. A burning sensation, extremely familiar to Kato, washed over him. What may have happened to him physically in these moments he is unsure; all he knows is that in his mind, he was aflame. A flaming effigy of himself, burning to a crisp and then being reborn, malevolent creatures in the shape of his fears, clawed and fiery, swimming in and out his perception. A nightmare realm was all that remained of his psyche, an agony that would never stop. Until it did. He awoke to the rattling of carriages, the pale faces of strange men, and the voice of a man asking about the conditions of the prisoners; this, Kato presumed, included him. Ten Minute Background:
Step 1: 1a. I think it's important to impart how... burnt Kato looks. The mottled skin I mentioned in his Appearance section is meant to imply this. It's as if smoke has been etched onto his skin. 1b. Kato is a beast. He's a quick, charming, made-of-magic beast, but a beast none-the-less. He's had a hard life, and he will not hesitate to take it out on others. He also won't hesitate to indulge himself. This doesn't mean he's evil, he just looks out for number one. 1c. A tie-in to the above; he's immature. I suppose you could make excuses for him, but in essence he is a petty human being. 1d. In contrast to his father, he's slow to really anger, but will hold a grudge indefinitely. Sometimes he'll stop on a whim; other times he'll stop because he can't conceivably do anything about it. Most of the time he does not have this much sense. 1e. He dislikes trickery. If he can get away with it, he'll fight you face-to-face. Step 2:
Step 3:
Step 4.
Step 5.
Appearance
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