Crooked Rook

" Lost something essential? Like a hollow shell without the filling, or you lose a bit of soul and something else takes its place and plugs into the stuff the soul would."

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The Oni known to Kennet as Crooked Rook is a late but major player in the story of Pale.

Personality

She is described as a strategist more then a manipulator.<ref>“If she asked for the reinforcements not because she needed them, but because she wanted to show us?” Lis interrupted.

“Yeah.”

“I thought that too, at first. But the more time I spend with her, the more I think she’s not… not a schemer. She doesn’t lie while telling the truth or pull tricks like a Fae does. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t like sneak attacks, she does. But she’s a tactician.”

“More overt?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah. She doesn’t leave you wondering, I think. It’s about where, when, and how she makes her moves." - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.1</ref> Has a large amount of prejudice towards practitioners based around her experiences. Largely conflict averse, not cowardice, but rather liking to have outcomes decided without having to have physical confrontations happen in the first place.

Hates practitioner society as an institution.

Miss

Knows her

Reggie

Taken him under her wing though keeping much to herself.

Description

She appears as an elderly woman of the stiff-backed/strong & no-nonsense variety.<ref>8.7 Spoilers: New Other Correspondence</ref> She has skin that ranges from dark, cold purple at the broader, flatter parts to a warmer pink and orange-pink in places.<ref>Shaking Hands 9.5</ref> She is described has having "the face of a demon", with a narrow overall structure, narrow eyes, all framed with white hair so fine and light that it hangs like a halo around her head and down her shoulders.<ref name="sh95"/> The interior structure of her mouth is distinctly non-human.<ref>“I assumed. How do you think things went?” Rook asked, not taking her eyes off of Lucy. She moved the mask away from her mouth, and Lucy got a glimpse of those fangs of hers, that curved too far back into Rook’s mouth, until it looked like her narrow tongue would have to dance between them as she spoke. - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.7</ref>

"She wore a black dress that was layered in panels, more at the lower body than the upper, each panel decorated at the edges. More decoration was mounted at her back with crescent blades and a birdcage, scrolls were pinned to her sleeves so they hung down with the fabric, and an assortment of items were dangling from her belts, all like they were supposed to be there. One of her hands rested atop an asymmetrical walking stick coated in so much black lacquer that the wood only remained in the shape of the branch it had once been. It had been a nasty branch too, straight, with bits sticking out all down its length, almost like wide thorns."<ref name="sh95">She wore a black dress that was layered in panels, more at the lower body than the upper, each panel decorated at the edges. More decoration was mounted at her back with crescent blades and a birdcage, scrolls were pinned to her sleeves so they hung down with the fabric, and an assortment of items were dangling from her belts, all like they were supposed to be there. One of her hands rested atop an asymmetrical walking stick coated in so much black lacquer that the wood only remained in the shape of the branch it had once been. It had been a nasty branch too, straight, with bits sticking out all down its length, almost like wide thorns.

Her other hand held a mask at her lower face. The face of a demon, narrow, eyes narrower, cheekbones like razor blades, all framed by the white hair that she didn’t tie into any visible ponytail, so fine, light, and uncombed it was like a halo around her head, extending down her shoulders. The bone-white mask of a serene human grandmother’s face was held up, covering the lower half of that face. The light that shone from the streetlight below her feet had the same effect as that thing where people would shine flashlights at their face to highlight the shadows. - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.5</ref>

She tends to hold a bone-white Menpō, a mask that cover the lower face, that depicts a serene grandmother's mouth. <ref>Shaking Hands 9.5</ref><ref>Shaking Hands 9.Z</ref>

Abilities

She has demonstrated the ability to manipulate the spiritual makeup and to undo or twist the bindings of Others after trapping them in boxes.<ref>[8.7 Spoilers:] New Other Correspondence</ref> This can allow her to radically alter the type of the Other in question.<ref>“Scary like… I saw her trap an Other. Bogeyman, strapped to a spiked wheel. Had a bunch of spirits with her, and they dove into the trap. A wind elemental too, I think. Adjusted the box, rotated parts of it. She asked for reinforcements in case it came out fighting. I was there, so were goblins. Trap opens, and the Other isn’t strapped to the wheel anymore. No spikes. Looked happier, balancing on the wheel, cavorting around like a circus performer. Then she bent down, picked up a corroded iron spike that had been stuck in the ground, and put it in her belt. For the next time.”

“She changes them, fundamentally?” Verona asked.

“Took the abyss out of it, put in some wind and spirit. Like it was easy.” - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.1</ref> She has showcased the need to ber specific about what changes she makes to others so that they are stable long term.

She mentions that she's a member of a sect of Oni who build boxes and cages, with an implication that these are related to the positions and roles that Others take in the world.<ref>Shaking Hands 9.Z</ref>

She is adroit in saying one thing and meaning another.

Chronology

Before the Story

A very old Oni coming from Europe that allegedly never really stopped fighting the Oni Wars.

At some point she met Miss. Claims to have seen many situations like Kennet.

After Fall of the perimeter

Was recruited by Kennet council to help protect the town.

References