Xiphia-Final

Xiphia
High Aspect: Mermaid Blade Maven
Trouble: The 10 million Beli Fish

Born into slavery, Xiphia never knew her mother by the light of day.  Her mother was kept far away, and could only sneak out rarely at night to visit her daughter.  (There was always a rumor that Xiphia's father was none other than her owner, but she was never certain if this was true or not-)by the time she thought to ask, her mother was already dead, the bond of affection most children have for their parents stillborn.  She was raised by an unrelated, but elderly mermaid, who took care of all the young girls and boys in her charge, but Xiphia was a particular favorite.  Xiphia's cold and harsh introduction to the world of Chattel Slavery really came when she was 5 years old.  An older mermaid, only a little younger than her mother, was savagely whipped almost to death in front of her as she hid in a closet.  Her own harsh tutelage was to begin when she was about that age as well, a ruthless introduction to the world of dance of all things.  But after all, a mermaid who's tail has not split is worth a great deal of money-and more if she has skills and beauty to augment her price.  So the young girls were frequently forced to master new 'steps' in order to earn their food, when they were not used and abused mercilessly.

Xiphia did learn things on her own as well.  Though her ability to read is extremely limited, she acquired it on her own, via tricking other, more educated and less enslaved children into showing off their skills and then copying it ruthlessly.  Later, her master decided that an aura of exotic danger could be added to his mermaid's charm by teaching her to swords dance.  The master swordsman who he found to teach this advised against it, as a slave trained in the art of dancing with a blade would, by necessity, come to know how to handle it in war as well-a lesson that Xiphia never let on that she had learned.  After all, if her blade was just a prop, who cared how sharp it was?  Her master, knowing that nobody would ever hire him if he mentioned the savage beating she had given him during his one attempt to break her spirit, kept mum.  Even then however, her thoughts turned to other things-many slaves suffered more than she did, and her master was seldom physically cruel.  And she even found time for love, though it proved to be a curse.  After all, it was love that got her pregnant, and love that motivated her to run away-and her heart that broke when he was speared by their captors just before they reached the sea in their plan to run away.

A lesser mermaid, injured and pregnant, with no support and no knowledge of the outside world, would have likely died.  But Swordfish mermaids are said to be the fiercest and most wild and destructive tribe of their kind.  Xiphia nearly did die several times-eaten by a sea-king, starving in the wide open blue sea, and hunted by slave catchers who forced her to dive deep into a realm of nightmares.  Finally, on the shores of XXX island, she gave birth to her daughter Gladia and met an elderly couple who helped her to raise the child.  Xiphia made an attempt at fishing to provide for Gladia, but after she found that slavers were looking for her and her baby, she left, seeking to come up with another plan.  Eventually, she decided that if she was property, she would buy her freedom, by gathering a huge pile of money and using it to ensure her and her daughter's safety.  Leaving Gladia behind, she set out on her quest to make lots of money by whatever means a practically illiterate and somewhat violent mermaid could find.

Xiphia is one of the legendarily attractive mermaids, and boy, does it show. She is athletic and curvy, having put on muscle tone and mass since her escape from slavery.  She's tall, but not one of the Giant Mermaids-she's just bigger than a normal person.  Her hair is extremely long, down to her knees when untucked from it's topknot and complicated updo, and her back is tanned more heavily than her front, from swimming from island to island.  She has an aquiline nose and sharp features, and her tail is unusually swift-though this makes her faster even than most mermaids.  She sometimes has an elegant sail-like dorsal fin-but not when she's out of the water.  She fights with both a sword and a dagger at the same time.

1. Athletics - Moving with speed and strength +4
2. Burglary - Sneaking and stealing without being caught +2
3. Combat - Fighting with weapons, fists, or strange powers +5
4. Craft - Making things - cooking, carpentry, etc +1
5. Deceive - Fooling people into believing falsehoods or overlooking truths +1
6. Empathy - Understanding people and getting them to understand you +1
7. History - Having vast knowledge about the history of the world
8. Notice - Spotting things that aren't obvious +2
9. Physique - Being built like a sack of bricks +3
10. Provoke - Frightening, intimidating, or goading others into action against their will. +2
11. Rapport - Conversing elegantly and persuasively and getting people to like you. +1
12. Reputation - Leveraging your fame or infamy to get what you want.+1
13. Survival - Navigating and surviving on the untamed seas.
14. Will - Having indomitable mental fortitude. +3

Actual Fish out of Water:  While adept at living and working under the sea, Xiphia still has to wrap her head around this whole 'land' and 'walking' thing.  The fact that her previous experience was mostly focused around dragging herself from fishbowl to fishbowl doesn't help matters much.
Team Mom:  As one of the oldest members of the team, Xiphia takes care of everyone.  Too bad she can be a bit of a helicopter, hovering over people when they don't want it.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Xiphia can save money-but she can also easily be conned out of it or fail to see how spending money now might benefit her later.
"Grand Pas, pas de crux, en pointe

Stunts:
Find Your Partner.  Gain +2 to attacking when using Combat in a duel.  A duel, for this stunt, is any mono-a-mono contest of arms, uninterrupted by third parties on either side.
Heart of Blades.  Gain +1 to Create Advantage and Defense with Combat when facing an opponent using a sword.
Pelagic Perception: Use Notice instead of Seafaring to predict storms, navigate, and find food in the open ocean.
Signature Aspect: Mermaid Blade Maven (Invoke once for free, get 2 fate points for compels, pay 2 to ignore compels)
Virtuoso la Danzaspada:  Spend a fate point to sunder any inanimate object, barrier or obstacle.  Ships and uniquely tough objects may make a defense roll, and some ships are completely immune due to being alive.  Xiphia may deal a 2 shift hit instead of a boost on a success with style at defense, once per turn.  She may also require a hit she deals deal damage directly to consequences once per fight.

Stress: Physical: [][][][]
Mental: [][][]

Fate Points: 5/6
Minor:
Moderate:
Severe:

Experiences:  There Are Two Kinds of Pirates. A Mother's Promise, The View From the Top, The Grand Line's Not So Tough. Broken But Unbowed