Kala Kal'kanis for 5e

AsgardianMetal

So, here we have Kala Kal'kanis remade for 5e.  I have made her an eldritch knight, the closest thing to a sword mage I could find.  It is pretty close.  I have chosen to make whirling blade spell for 5e.  I had to come up with stats for Skast, a fey panther that follows her around.  The biggest problem I had in converting Kala was her vampiric nature.  In 4e, she had taken vampiric heritage.  I have got her bite and the rest is the all roleplaying.  Here I have her all ready for playing!

Kala Kal’kanis

Drow/vampire female, fighter (eldritch knight) level 8

Background: Noble (position of privilege)

Personality: confused between freedom and loyalty.  She wants to be free, but is consumed by her loyalty to her family and her wanting none of that.

Ideal: family.

Bond: nothing is more important that the other members of my family.

Flaw: I hide a scandalous secret that can ruin my family forever.  Her vampire heritage and her love for Itami.

Str 16, Con 12, Dex 14, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 12

AC 19 (half-plate, dex, ring of protection)

HP (8d10+8) 60

Proficiencies +3

• Skills: arcana (+7), athletics (+6), history (+7), intimidation (+4), perception (+3), persuasion (+4)
• Tools: dragonchess
• Armor: all armor and shields
• Weapons: all simple and martial weapons
• Saving throws: strength (+6), constiution (+4)

Drow Abilities

• Darkvision 120'
• Drow magic: dancing lights (cantrip); faerie fire and darkness 1/day.  Use charisma.
• Drow weapon training: rapiers, short sword, hand crossbow
• Keen senses 
• Fey ancestry
• Sunlight sensitivity
• Trance
• Languages: common, elvish, undercommon

Fighter Abilities 

• Fighting style: great weapon fighting
• Second wind: 1d10+8
• Action surge
• Extra attack
• Weapon bond
• War magic
• Spellcasting.  DC15, spell attack modifier +7.  Spells: 4/2
• Cantrips: fire bolt, ray of frost
• First: magic missile, protection from evil and good, shield, witch bolt
• Second: misty step, whirling blade

Feats: great weapon master

Attacks

• +1 greatword, +7 to hit, 2d6+4 (reroll 1s and 2s) damage
• Bite, +6 to hit, one willing creature, or a creature that is grappled by Kala, incapacitated, or restrained. 1d4+3 damage.

Gear: masterwork half-plate (no disadvantage on stealth), "Vicious"+1 greatsword, House Kal'kanis Insignia Ring.  Other equipment as needed.

Notes

• Received training in Arcana
• Vicious is a +1 great sword that was made especial for Kala.  On a critical hit, it will do an extra +2d6 of damage, in addition to the normal critical hit bonus.
• House Kal'kanis Insignia Ring is a +1 ring of protection that will also gives the wearer a +2 intimidation against other drow and spiders.
• Whirling Blade.  2nd level transmutation.  Casting time: 1 action.  Range: 30'.  Components: V, M (bladed weapon to be thrown, not consumed).  Duration: instantaneous.  You throw you bladed weapon at a target up to 30' away.  Using your spell attack modifier to hit, you will deal damage equal to as if you had wielded it and the weapon returns to your hand.  On a miss, repeat the attack against a second target within 30' of the first. If you miss, repeat the attack against a third target within 30' of the second. If you miss again, repeat the attack against a fourth target within 30' of the third. Your weapon then returns to your hand.

Skast, the fey panther
Medium beast, unaligned

AC 13
Hit Points (5d8+5) 35
Speed 50', climb 40'

Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 4, Wis 14, Cha 9

Skills: Perception +4, Stealth +7
Senses: passive Perception 14
Languages: -
Challenge 1

Keen Smell. Skast has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Pounce.  If Skast moves at least 20' straight forward toward a creature right before hitting it with a claw attack, the target must succeed on a DC12 Strength saving throw of be knocked prone.  If the target is prone, the panther can take a bonus action to make one bite attack against it.
Misty Step.  It can do misty step once per combat.

Bite.  Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5', one target.  Hit 1d6+2 piercing damage.
Claw.  Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5', one target.  Hit 1d4+2 slashing damage.

Rynyn Chronicles; Aliens; Avari'stacha (The Cross)

The Ethereals from X-Com: Enemy Unknown game (great freakin game by the way!).  The closest thing to the Cross I could find.

Avari'stacha, or the Cross as they are commonly known among the humans, are a bipedal alien race with four arms, two greater and two lesser arms.   Large arms are for strength the lesser arms are for agility.  They appear to by a cross between insects and lizards.  When they appear without their helmets, one can see their mandible and four eyes.  They are so named The Cross by the humans for their ships when first sighted appeared to be cross shaped.  There appears to be three distinct sub-races.

The Sage (Amar) Class are the only class that has the psychic abilities, though all of the Cross have a limited form telepathy that allows them to silently communicate.  The Sage Class is incredibly thin and tall, standing about two meters tall.  There are only around a hundred of the sages left and all are incredibly powerful psychics who ponder the mysteries of Twani'cjik.  The most powerful one is Wan'chett because he is so incredibly old, at least ten times as old as any Cross.

• Ashae'jin is the leader of the Sages and sits in the High Triumvirate.  Female
• Wan'chett is the oldest known Cross due to his extended sleep for two-thousand years on Mars.

The Soldier (Re'kesh) Class much taller and look incredible buff.  They stand around two hundred fifteen centimeter and weigh upwards to a hundred thirty-five kilos.  They are incredibly strong, at least two to three times as strong as a fit human.  They are quick and surprisingly silent and number among the most numerous of the Cross due to the massive cloning of Soldiers.  They are put into a variety of Kesh.  The first Kesh is made up of naturally born Soldiers.  The second and on are made up of cloned soldiers.  Naturally born Soldiers are generally more independent than those of other kesh for those of the Second and beyond are created for loyalty above all.

• Mak'shar of the Second Kesh.  He is a cloned soldier.
• Mak'tar of the Second Kesh.  He is a cloned soldier.
• Una'keel is the leader of the Soldiers, a First Kesh warrior who sits on the High Triumvirate .

The final class are the Workers.  Those of the Worker (Soxi) Class cover every one from simple laborers to doctors and scientists.  They are shorter and a bit more stocky then the Sages but are a bit stronger.  There are two sub-classes of the Worker Caste, the intelligent thinker with a larger cranial capacity that many of the technicians doctors and scientist come from, and a stronger, resilient laborer class.

• Arli'tan is the Cross doctor on the cityship in charge of filling the space for the labs.  Female.
• My'cor sits on the High Triumvirate for the workers.

Rin danTaven for Fate Core

Rin danTaven by +Minerva Fox 

Rin danTaven

High Concept: Hidden Order of the Thorn Agent

Trouble: Speaks Her Mind Regardless of the Consequences 

Refresh 2

Aspects

• A Blade for Every Occasion: she carries a lot of different knives.
• Loves the Princess Like a Little Sister: she is not that much older than the princess so it was only natural that she bonded with the princess like the way she did.
• Schooled by the Best People in North Realm: among her pedigree, she was taught by the most skilled thief and the Archmage of North Realm.

Stunts

• Ball Toss. Throwing a basketball isn't very different from throwing a knife. You may use your Athletics skill in place of Shoot for thrown weapons.
• Defend the Weak. When someone is attacked physically while within your zone, you can spend a fate point to redirect that attack to yourself. You may defend against that attack at +1.
• Eye for Detail. Your visual memory is so strong that with a little concentration, you can revisit any place you've been to in your memory in exacting detail. Sometimes, you can even pick up on details that you hadn’t consciously realized before. To use this ability, spend a fate point and make a single perception-based roll (usually Investigate, but not necessarily limited to that) to find things out as if you were still in the location, no matter how long ago you left it.
• Feint. When it looks like you're going to go right, you go left and vice-versa. +2 to create advantages with Deceive that relate to confusion and misdirection in physical combat.

Skills

• Arcane +1
• Athletics +3
• Burglary +1
• Deceive +4
• Empathy +1
• Fight +2
• Investigate +3
• Notice +1
• Stealth +2
• Will +2

Extras

• ARC Suit.  By wearing the full body suit, Rin can go invisible and remain as such for the scene if she wishes at the cost of a refresh point.
• Arcane Hand.  Rin's left hand is magical.  Her magical prosthesis was made by the most skilled artisans and enchanted by the Archmage of North Realm herself.  It has a hidden compartment and the hand can detach and move on its own at her mental command.
• Enchanted Armor.  Her armor is equivalent to eladrin silk and has an armor value of B2/4, enchanted.
• House danTaven.  Rin is of the noble House danTaven and as such carries with it all the good and bad of that position. 

Her history is read in the Rin's Tale.

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale, Chapter 2.13

Rin danTaven by +Minerva Fox 

[I want to change this.  It is so bad…]

“..hat are we doing with her?” Rin heard though the blood pounding in her ears.  The voice was that of an older man, rough and gravely.  She groggily awoke on her side where she had been thrown.  Her blood had pooled in her white hair of the damp volcanic stone.

“What do you want to do then?” a younger man asked.  “She is a noble of damned House danTaven and they be trickier than you.  We be lucky she did not come in with the damned guardsmen.”  She was in a room, most likely underground.  She could hear dripping water falling into a pool of water nearby.  The smell of soot was in the air and something was cooking over an open flame.

“Then she is not so gods damned tricky then is she?” the older man said.  She could feel that she was bound with tamma cord, a strong native plant that grew in thin hair-like vines.  It was used as binding when braided into ropes of varying size.  Rin was bound tightly with her hands behind her back, so much so that the she could not feel the flesh in her real hand.  She heard the older man turn away in disgust and stepped out of the room.

The younger man sighed as Rin heard another figure step on in.  “What’s up with Gregor?” a female voice asked.  Rin sighed.  She figured that they were in a room with a single exit.  She also figured out that her clothes was lose on her body.  They have taken away her blades… all of them.

“Why don’t we ask our guest?  Come now.  I know you are awake so you can stop playing, acting like you are asleep.”

Rin opened her eyes and saw that her assessment was pretty much right.  It was a cave hewn of the volcanic stone.  On the walls were tapestries and thing that weren’t tapestries; rugs that hung on the wall.  A small fire burned with a hunk of fish cooking over it.  The room was sloped a bit toward the exit and the dripping water ran down to the far corner.  A large sleeping pallet was in the far corner filled with blankets and furs.  The short man with a wound in his leg sat before the fire and a tall, flame haired woman stood and looked at her.  She was most-likely Spartan Related as she looked as though she was in really good shape in the tight leather she was in.

“Why would the Princess’s handmaiden run after me?  A well-armed handmaiden at that?” the man said.

Rin struggled to a seated position.  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she said she grimaced.  She noticed that the man was looking at her dagger that she wore openly on her belt.  It was the ancient blade that her father Elham had given her.  “I would like that blade back,” she said in a voice as calm as she could muster. 

He only looked at her as he shoved the dagger back into its sheath.  “You are very interesting,” he said.  “A handmaid with some two dozen blades on her.  Kind of young to be a bodyguard, or an assassin.”

“To be an assassin there is no age limit.  I serve the Crown of North Realm, nothing more, unlike you.  You would dare to strike down the heir to the Kingdom.  Who paid you, hmm?”

He looked at the woman with red hair.  “I am no assassin,” he simply said.  The woman coughed and he reiterated.  “I never sought out a copper for that.  That bastard went way too far and you know it,” he retorted heatedly. 

She bent down and kissed him on the forehead; pushing back his hair.  “I know baby, sorry.  I miss her too.”

Rin thought that it was a very intimate moment she was witnessing and stayed quiet.  The man sniffed and wiped his nose with a finger that looked dirty despite being washed.  “Like I said, I am no assassin.  The King and Queen of North Realm did nothing to me or mine, much less their little girl.” 

“Then why are you the one the one that we are looking for?  You know that it is only a matter of time before they capture you.”

“And they will have the wrong person.”  He sighed.  “Do you want to hear the whole story or just sit there and judge me?”

Rin sat there and thought about it for a moment while the man sat there and turned his fish on the fire.  “Well, it seems like I am not going anywhere.  I will listen to your story…” 

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale, Chapter 2.12

Several things happened at once that Rin with her heightened senses could see everything that was happening in slow motion.  She could see the short man running forward, bringing up his pistol.  The light glinting off the polished black metal.  Each pounding step that he took as it splashed in the thin puddles at their feet.  The man behind them was jumping up on the fountain to bring his weapon to bear.  His cloak was fluttering as he took aim.  She could see a third man, an undercover operative squaring his shoulder as he brought up his handgun.  The crowd gasping, screaming and running form the Princess and the assassins.

Rin’s mind ran faster than her body could manage.  She could kill either man with a thrown blade but she was not fast enough to catch them both.  So she did the only thing that was left, she tackled the Princess, bringing her back to the shorter attacker where she had hoped the magic of the cloak would prove enough to save her.  The assassin to their rear was began to shout something but was taken out so all he cried was a gargled scream.  He got a shot of though and it tore through her magical prosthesis as she brought the Princess down in a splash of water from the fountain. 

A much larger splash fell beside them as Sir Hanar plunged in the shallow fountain.  He was aboard an undercover airship in a Daedalus Class mecha-suit.  She looked up at him, a Rose on his breastplate with blade and handgun drawn standing protectively over them both.  “Are you alright?” she could hear him ask.  It was like he was far away.  Everyone was far away as Rin did a quick look around, the water running into her eyes.  There he was; the short assassin.  Rin did not even think about it as she got up and leapt over the fountain.

“Watch her!  I am going after him!” she cried and started running, leaving the Princess peeking over the edge of fountain.  She could see the guardsmen coming into the square and the people in the plaza panicking.

He was fast, probably faster than her but for the bullet wound he had taken in the leg.  She could see blood splattered on the ground as she could see him ducking around the corner before the coming guardsmen.  She quickly edged herself around the corner, taking care not to be shot at.  “Damn," she muttered as she could see him duck into a sewer grate.  She didn’t give it another thought as she ran to and slid feet first past the grate.

She landed feet first and a knife palmed in her right hand.  Her left hand was a bit stiff due to the gunshot wound.  She cursed herself.  She had acted too quickly to do a self-assessment after she was shot.  “Damn it Lady Rin,” she could hear Sir Hanar say in her ear.  “Where are you so we can sent backup?” he asked, though it sounded more like a command.

She took out the earpiece for a moment listening for the labored breathing and looking for ripples or blood in the darkness.  She heard the feint beats of footsteps coming from her right.  She edged down the passageway, trying to find that balance between speed and silence.  She put her earpiece back in and heard the Princess talking.

“Rin, come back!” she was saying but static was building up.

“I almost have him,” Rin whispered and hoped that they had heard her as all she now heard was static.  She felt alive though as the excitement of the chase pumped adrenaline in her system.  When the chase was on, she often acted without thinking.  Part of her loved the chase and part of her felt like she was letting Itami down for leading her into the trap.

She stopped.  She could no longer hear the footsteps that she was following.  She berated herself again in her mind and was coming to a junction carved though the volcanic rock.  Water poured down at her feet over the edge of the precipice going deeper into the earth.  There was very little light, save for what was coming in from grates that were above her head.

“Damn,” she whispered.  “It seems like I lost him,” she said though her mike.  She continued to look through the darkness and could barely see the passageways that lead to this junction.

“Good,” she heard Sir Hanar say.  “You can come back before you give Her Highness a coronary.”

Rin sighed and backed away from the edge silently.  She listened on more time for anything out of the ordinary, but all she heard was the water moving, dripping and falling down.  She didn’t hear the footsteps behind her as it bashed her in the head with a sap.  

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale Chapter 2.11

The people did not believe that the Princess of North Realm was there talking to them.  It was something that Rin told her to do.  Take the power from the organizers and talk to the people directly.  Rin glanced over her shoulder and could see that Rikkard was furious.  Sofia grabbed him by the arm to prevent him from following the two girls.  She just shook her head and while she caught Rin’s eye and mouthed the word, touché.  Rin smiled and took off her cloak and gave it to a young boy who did not have one.  She smiled as she took her scribe kit out and followed Itami and started to take notes.

Food was a big part of the people’s complaints, which kind of surprised Rin.  However, she was part of the ruling class, so food was never that much of a concern.  There was very little arable land for farming among the hard scrabble lands of the Maarke and the people were complaining about the high prices for a single loaf of bread or a haunch of cudder.  The bread was made with a flour that has a mix of soy in it as well as a native grain.  Eave maybe a planet that provides much but for certain amino acids that a human need to survive.  The Maarke had fish and the bounty of the sea to live on but for this simple fact that the needed the fortified bread that the flour from the Barony of Leavestonne made.

“I never knew,” Itami whispered to Rin.  “Doesn’t House danAven handle most of the contracts to the Maarke?”  Rin nodded her head.  House danRahn ran the Barony of Leavetonne and it was the breadbasket of the Realm.  House danAven controlled much of the shipping by airship.  The Barony of Leavestonne was on the other side of the continent but still, they have not heard of any deficit in this springs planting to allow for this shortage in the market.

[Give Sir Hanar a codename in the last part of the chapter.]

“Copper,” she heard Sir Hanar call for her over the secure line.  “Check your six.  We have got four targets moving towards Silver’s location.  We have got confirmation that short one without adornments on his cloak is part of an anarchist cell.”  Rin casually turned to her right as if to answer a question and saw them from the corner of her eye.

“Copy,” she whispered into her throat mike.  She moved a bit closer Itami and said a single word: mikka.  Mikkas were the small, swift animals that the eladrin rode, akin to deer.  Skittish animals, they used the word mikka, to denote trouble and that Itami should be ready to run should it arise.  Itami missed a step and swallowed hard.

“Is it too late to change my mind?” she joked.

Rin excused Itami from the crowd for a moment and fixed Itami’s cloak.  She could get a better look at the people that were stalking them.  “Sorry love,” Rin said smiling.  “Should it come to it, just like the way we practiced.”  Itami nodded her head and Rin sent her back to the crowd of people to talk to them.  Rin only kept sloppy notes as her attention was mainly focused on the four.  She could see that there were three men and a woman creeping up on them from multiple points.  Rin cursed herself in letting them get so far out into the square in the middle of this crowd.

“Hammer.  How soon can you join Silver?” She asked in a whisper while guiding Itami over to the side of the plaza.

“I could be there is a manner of seconds.  Faster if you don’t mind me landing on a couple of civilians.”  Rin groaned and thought the joke was in poor taste.  “I could be there faster if you moved more to the side or gave me a place to land.”

Rin spotted a fountain and maneuvered the Princess over to it.  It measured some three meters in diameter and had an elfin like creature pouring out the water from a vase.  “Make a speech,” Rin said as she helped Itami up to stand on the broad fountain.  The princess looked confused.  “We need some time Your Highness.”

She nodded as the people came up to fountain to hear what the princess had to say.  “I can see why you are all here” she said boldly with her Princess voice.  “You can be sure that I hear you all.  Some of you may want democracy,” she said as she looked over to the stand on which the organizers where standing on.  Someone in the crowd cried, aye.  “But most of you just want a decent price on food.  I do not know why food is so expensive, but I along with Lady Rin promise to get to the bottom of it and bring food to you all at a fair and decent price.”

“Why don’t we just take the land we need from the eladrin,” Rikkard called out from the stand on which he was on.  “They possess over ninety percent of the land while we have to scrabble about the rocks and precipices.”  Several consenting voices rose up to agree with him.

“We scrabble over the rocks and precipices because we have too.  We cannot go against our allies, the eladrin.  We do not want to go against them for we do not want to end in perpetual war like the Empire of Tulath is in.”

All the while they were talking Rin was watching the short man.  He was about a hundred seventy centimeters tall, had long black hair and a scar that split is right brow in two.  He was intent on staring at something behind the Princess which confused Rin.  Then he was a blur of motion as he drew his blade and a pistol in both hands.  Rin twisted her back and tried to bring the princess down.  Behind her, Rin could see a second gunman and she cursed herself for her hubris. 

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale Chapter 2.10

Rin/Minerva Fox

Itami nodded.  “Yes mother,” she said sarcastically.  “I swear, you are just like her.”  This kind of hurt Rin a bit.  She was barely nineteen.  She thought about her schooling and while she was intelligent she missed out on a lot of what it was like to be a kid.  She was crushed but hid it well.

“Not everyone will have your best interest at heart, dear.  We are just being careful.”  Rin smiled and cupped a hand over a beaming Sofia’s.

*

Sir Hanar did not like it one bit.  Rin wasn’t sure if it was because the knight disliked the Davic boy or not.  Captain Vaughn absolutely hated the idea.  “You want to send the Princess into a den of ravids… on such short notice?”  He did not like the demonstrators, hated them in fact.  He liked them to a pack of wolf-like ravids that have come to live on the edges of society.  But, there was little he could do to stop the Princess to see the world as it is.  It was on the great advantages of North Realm’s fosterage program.  Rin being a handmaiden to the Princess was, by her very nature a Knight of the Order of the Rose.  She had additional duties however, as prescribed by Akane, the Queen of the North Realm herself.  Rin was charged by Her Majesty to act as her guardian.  It was something that Itami railed against, but when she could not sneak out without Rin knowing about it, she gave in.

[Change: Akane also knows she is of the Order of the Thorn, so three people officially knows.]

There was another reason for Rin to agree to the dangerous, unknown meeting.  She could gage the participants with greater means than the grainy photos and unknown witnesses giving verification.  She had given the order for Vaughn to double the guard and have three of them undercover in the crowds.  Rin had an eidetic memory, so she memorized the faces of all of the uncover operatives and all known key players of the pro-democracy movement.  It was risky, but Rin was sure she could protect Her Highness.

*

It was coming late into the day when the sun threatened to sink below the horizon.  Crowds of people already were forming amid the guardsmen that stayed on the periphery of the square.  The air was cold and thick that night while the prospect of rain loomed.  All ready fog was forming off the Morning Sea and was inching its way to shore to creep up the escarpment.

“There a lot more people than I thought were going to be here,” Itami whispered to Rin as they walked up to the plaza.  They wore cloaks of sea gray, the same as many other people wore on this night growing dark.  They were the same, save for Itami’s had a simple brocade of knotwork on its edge.  Their hoods where up and at Rin’s insistence they did not were skirts, but long pants and good boots, just in case they had to flee. 

Rin held onto Itami’s hand tighter.  “It is never too late to change your mind.”  Rin smiled from under her hood. 

Itami just shook her head.  “No.  I said that I will attend and I will not start any sort of political career by showing that I am weak.  Anyway, they may have something that can benefit the nation,” she said softly.  “I am interested in what they have to say so, like what you say, I should always try what is put before me.”

Rin’s smile grew bigger as she became more and more attuned to the crowds that were coming.  She pulled her attention away from Itami and scanned the crowd that they were swimming though.  It was mainly filled with young students talking in small groups or standing before preaching demagogues.  Her eyes scanning in every demagogue and rabble-rouser she could see to keep in her memory.  She glanced over her shoulder and could see one of the undercover men following them a discreet business away.  They came upon a makeshift stage that looked to Rin like a gallows.  Strung above the stage where signs saying “Democracy Now!” and “Equality, Opportunity, Freedom.”  It did not make sense to Rin.  What were the people really rebelling against?  The people have freedom.  The opportunity and equality goes to those who deserve it.  Nothing is handed to these people as they had to work for it.  The nobility had to work for it in their actions and deeds.  The common people had to work for it in doing the best job that they can do.

“Ready,” Rin whispered to the girl.  She nodded as she walked up to step of the stage.  “Are you ready Sir Hanar?” she whispered into her mike at her collar.  She head the two clicks he gave in acknowledgement.  Rin followed Itami and could see the crowds of people.  There were at least a thousand people there.

“Hello Lady Rin,” she heard a musical voice say from under a hood of a cloak.  A length of blonde hair tumbled out of the hood and she knew that it was Sofia Hess.  When Rin got to the top, Sofia held her by the shoulders and kissed both cheeks under her own hood.  “I am so glad that you have come,” she smiled and turned to face the others on the stage.  “Or I should say WE are happy that Her Highness has come to talk to us.”  She could see the three others beside the Princess, Sofia and Rin.

“It does not look like a simple talk,” Rin said as she passed by Sofia to stand by Itami.  Her hand though trailed behind her and down the tall woman’s arm to her hand.  Sofia smiled causing Rin to blush as she shook off her embarrassment.  “It looks like an ambush to me.”

“Nonsense,” she could see Rikkard Davic say.  “This is a peaceful demonstration, isn’t it?” he yelled over the crowd.  The crowd laughed and a few cheered.  “After all, Her Highness wanted to see a peaceful demonstration for a while.  We have just obliged her.”

Itami looked around and swallowed hard.  She stepped forward and removed her hood.  Everyone could see her copper colored hair and firm demeanor.  Rin could not help but to smile.  It took guts to stand before a crowd of people and she did not flinch.  “Greetings all,” she began.  “I am Itami danAndahar, the Royal Scion of House danAndahar and heir apparent to the Throne of North Realm.”  The crowd was awed and some of them removed their hoods and others bowed their heads.  Others, Rin noticed, talked amongst themselves and she concentrated fully on them, quietly whispering to the guardsman her fears and concerns.  Some cheered but most of the people grumbled.  “I have come in good faith to observe your demonstration and talk to you, the people to learn of your concerns and troubles.  It is my hope that in better understanding the problems, we can come up with a solution to what is ailing you all.”  The leaders of this demonstration where taken aback as Rin followed Itami off the stage to go among the people. 

Rynyn Chronicles: We are Under Threat...

Rynyn in her Rapier class mecha-suit.
Shimmering_Sword/deviantArt

[This is part of the Rynyn Chronicles that have spanned for nearly every day for the last five years.  This is the start of chapter six or seven.  Hehe, I forgot which.]

“We are under threat,” Wan’chett began.  It took several more days before the member states could make it here to ruins of Los Angeles.  The streaming and glittering towers of the Cross ships makes for a nice change when put next to the ruins of the two singularity attacks.  You still can’t get over what the crystalline structure is made of, but if you could get samples to your materials lab, it would be marvelous.  The Psiguard are in force, providing security for the entire conference.

“We are under threat that is coming.  Over two-thousand years ago, the war between the Xioi and us, what you call the Cross, it was a war that we were losing.”  People are muttering all over.  It looks like the United Nations in here.  There are ambassadors form all the member states and Japan who is the only nation not to join.  There are also leaders of the most powerful companies on the planet, especially the one that provide defense contracts.  Lucy is sitting with a contingent of Sword industries vice-presidents.  You are sitting with Masamune Forge, including a member of your team.  There are high-ranking members the military here from all ranks.  Chambers is there looking surly as ever but Helen is also there, it looks like she is sitting at attention, her eyes just looking over the crowd.  “No,” his translator box boomed.  “It is a war we have lost.  For millennia my people have been cast adrift in the cosmos.  Sometimes being chased by the Xioi and their Ilick commanders.”

Above him, rendered in perfect, holographic form is a hideous shape of an Ilick, hunched over.  It looks short, but that was an illusion.  If it were to stand straight, it would be over two-hundred-fifty centimeters tall.  Its head looks like an octopus with too many tentacles coming out from underneath it.  Four tentacles came the mass, longer than the others.  It had two pale white eyes, with long, claw like fingers on long, spindly arms.  “This my dear friends is an Ilick.  A creature born of nightmares, fully enslaved to the Xioi for over five millennia.”

He paused for a moment too let the image sink in.  “This… this is a Xioi,” Wan’chett said and the holographic representation grew to over a hundred meters in length, filling the entire space above “Wan’chett.  If looked like a dark, sickly squid with a hundred of smaller tentacles that surrounded the main tentacles which extended for several hundred meters.  “This giant monstrosity is but a young specimen.  It lives in space but can enter the atmosphere to ravage cities.  It has parasites that we call Xioi-cral that live in the mass of tentacles.  Small, about the size of what you call cat, they are ravenous creatures that if attach themselves a host creature will control them until they die when all the blood is consumed.  There mental powers are great.  Greater than the girl psychics that you have created using the imperfect genetic science and genes that you have harvested from our people found on Mars.  Greater than the combined might of the High Triumvirate of the Cross.  More powerful than Rynyn, the greatest girl psychic that you have ever produced, who ended your civil war eleven years ago.  Greater than I, the lone survivor of the ancient Cross bloodlines, the most powerful of the Cross that remain.”  The great room was silent, the people are all to stunned to say anything staring at the Lovecraftian horror that hovers above them.

His translator box squawked back to life.  “Your people are clever.  You have created a tentative peace between all of your people when faced with a threat.  You have created great works of science and are taking steps to explore your solar system.  You are clever, but not clever enough.  I have seen countless, clever races who stood before the might of the Xioi and they have all have failed.  We can’t leave this planet now to the Xioi, because while they are mighty and powerful they do have a weakness.  Hubris.  They have devoured countless worlds but they are prideful, thinking that none can stand before them.” 

He turns to face a senator form European Union.  “I know what you are thinking Senator Haasfeldon.  You think that you can ask us to leave and the Xioi will pass you by, but they will not.  Your people have created psychics and therefore you have placed yourself on, how do you say, radar?  You have created psychic ripples in the fabric of the universe and they will come and enslave you, for no one has ever created psychics before.  That is the reason my people came to your planet.  Humanity is infinitely malleable, allowing you to create psychics because you were able to use our genes in your own genetic makeups.  Now if you take a look at the packet that you have received in your e-readers…”

The huge squid-like creature that is the Xioi seemed to derezz for a second.  Almost everyone failed to notice it, but you and Becky did.  Helen who is sitting across the room from you stands up.  “FOOLS ALL,” the huge Xioi said menacingly, it voice dripping with venom and vile.  “DO YOU THINK THAT YOU, OF ALL INSIGNIFICANT CREATURES IN THE COSMOS CAN STOP US?  AN EXAMPLE OF OUR POWER WE SHALL SHOW YOU AS WE CAN CONTROL THE SIMPLE MINDED ONES AMONG YOU ALL.” 

The Psiguard, the people who had the bud of psychic potential within them began to scream all in unison.  Instantly, the Cross guard of the warrior caste surrounded Wan’chett, their heavy weapons and blades at the ready as the first of the Psiguard began to fire into the unarmed crowds of delegates...

Rin as done by Minerva

I have artwork!  I feel all important now!

Rin as done by +Minerva Fox.  You can see more of her work on her deviantART site.  And Min... I have more ideas!  muahahaha!

Now to get her, her commission...

Rin's Tale, Chapter 1 Recap

Rin is up to Chapter 2!  I have read and reread what I have written so far, and for the most part I am happy with what I wrote.  There are a few changes that I want to make.

• I am changing the hair color of Rin to white and Itami to red.  White is a rare hair color and I think it will signify her own specialty that will come.
• I want to extend her nightmare more as evident in Part 1.  Make it more visceral.
• In Part 2 I want to explain her magical prosthetic hand in better detail.
• Part 3 I want to detail the airship in greater detail.  I want to do the same thing for the Maarke Aerodrome, the tarn aviaries and Maarke itself Part 4.  In Part 5 the details need to be increased in the home of Kemmon.  Beef up the details.
• In Part 6, I need to redo the confrontation between Rin the Rikkard.  Originally Rikkard was to be an anarchist, but I was thinking and talking to +Rynyn and I made him a pro-democracy demonstrator.  Now in order to do it, I am going to have to make pro-democracy movements more prevalent and central to the story.  There is the side that says that the people will rise to position of prominence.  That is why North Realm has all manner of knighthoods and awards that people gain gain.  Thinking of it, I am thinking the people of the Barony of the Maarke are pro-democracy because they are having the students there.  The Barony of Holdingford because they have a large discrepancy between the rich and poor.  I would say the only places that are staunchly opposed to it would be the Baronies of Stormtonne and Leavestonne and of course the capital of Danaan Tir.
• The bath scene.  Hmm.  In Parts 7 and 8, I am thinking that I will have to redo it a bit to make it more clear of both the women's intentions.  Rin is fascinated by Sofia but she still does her duty by preparing to take or kill her.  The fact that Sofia went ahead and kissed her at the time was that she needed to think.  Rin almost had her when she mention Oleg Veklos, something that wasn't North Realm but came from the Empire.  Sofia knew that there was something up with Rin and that just confirmed it for her.  She doesn't know what yet, but she does have her suspicions.  
• I was speaking with +Rynyn and we came to conclusion that she is still a virgin.  Women haven't really interested her until Sofia and men, well her infatuation her older (step) brother has dampened her mood to having a relationship.  That is really screwed in the head, isn't it?

Well, that is Chapter 1.  In Chapter 2 it deals with the pro-democracy movement.  She is going to meet the thieves Dade and Katella.

If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, do let me know.  I enjoy hearing from people!

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale 9

Chapter 2

That night Rin’s dreams were troubled.  It wasn’t dreams of Redcap goblins, but of tall, statuesque blondes that haunted her dreams.  She woke breathing fast and sweating a little bit.  “Get yourself together girl,” she muttered to herself as she cupped her head with a hand.  She rolled out of bed and shook the cobwebs of the night from her head and stumbled over the bathroom.  She stared at herself in the mirror and yawned deeply.  It was going to be a long day.

Looking refreshed as she tugged up her glove on her prosthetic hand, she went to the kitchens to fetch herself and Itami’s breakfast.  Normally, it would have been brought up to Itami’s room by a servant but Rin walked down to take it from him.  She threw on some more fruit a loaf of bread and some additional ham made from a cudder.  There were no animal native to Earth or any number of worlds that the humans have colonized before crash landing on Eave save for a close approximation of a chicken that was made in the early days of the crash from scavenged genetic technology.  Dogs, cats and even ferrets were kept as pets and they survived and thrived despite the giant proportions of the native fauna.  Cudders were a close approximation of an Earth pig.  At least that is what the first forced colonists said of the giant six-legged creatures that stood as tall as a man.

Rin passed through the outer chamber’s to Itami’s room where Sir Hanar stayed.  He was taking a bath and Rin left him the extra food that she brought up with her after calling out to him that she brought him breakfast.  She sighed as she stood outside Itami’s door.  She steeled her nerve and knocked on the door, before going in.

“Put the breakfast on the table,” Itami called out from behind a privacy screen.  Rin put the tray down and sat down to eat.  She picked at the ham and the bread with some butter made of the aurach’s milk and sweetened with the honey made from the large native bees that lived on Eave.  “Oh,” Itami said when she came around the screen.

Rin stood up and then knelt down.  “Your highness.  I apologize for my behavior yesterday.  You of can of course defend yourself and the policies of North Realm.  Forgive me.”

Itami just stood there for a moment before speaking.  “Oh Rin.  Get up.  It is I who should apologize.  I know you were only looking out for me.”  She reached out with her hands to pick Rin up off the ground.  She hugged Rin.  Itami broke the hug.  “But seriously now, I know you are very smart, so take it easy on those of us who aren’t.”

“Of course Itami,” Rin responded with a smile.  “Again I am sorry.”

The two young women sat down and ate there breakfast and made of idle chit-chat.  Rin asked her how was schooling like for the two weeks she was gone.  Itami asked her about Rin’s brother and his impending marriage to an eladrin.  Rin hid it well, but a part of her was crushed that Aylen was getting married.  It was a fantasy anyway and she smiled as she ate.

“So,” Itami said a little apprehensively.  “I have been meaning to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Rin said as she bit down on the last of her bread.

Itami looked a bit uncomfortable but she took a deep breath and exhaled.  “Well, I have been asked by Rikkard to attend a pro-democracy meeting…”

Rin’s first and immediate answer as to say know, but she thought about it.  “Well, I am not too sure.  I am going to need more information on it.  We are also going to have to get Sir Hanar’s take on it and let Captain Vaughn know that you are going, IF we decide to go.”  Sir Hanar wasn’t going to like it and Captain Vaughn of the Maarke’s police force attachment that was assigned to guard Itami would absolutely hate the idea.  However, unless there was a direct threat on the Princess’s life, the decision belonged to Rin.  “We will let the good Captain know where it is so the place can be vetted.  I assume Rikkard at the very least have also been cleared, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten so close to you already.”

Itami nodded.  “Yes mother,” she said sarcastically.  “I swear, you are just like her.”

“Not everyone will have your best interest at heart, dear.  We are just being careful.”  Rin smiled and cupped a hand over Itami's.

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale 8

[I changed Rin’s hair to white and Itami’s hair to red.]

"It seems you know quite a lot about me, not surprising that considering who I am.  Curious though, not many people know about the airship crash."

“Well,” Sofia said as she slunk over closer to Rin looking over her shoulder.  “Don’t tell anybody, but I am somewhat noblephile,” she said.  “I make it a hobby to know things about the nobles.  I know that you are adopted because your brother, Lord Aylen’s birth was difficult that your mother could not have any more children.  She wanted to have more children and couldn’t.” 

Rin had heard that there people like that, that made it their business to now about the nobility.  That was not in the realm of impossibility.  “That was simple.  My mother always wanted more children.  How was the Barony of Maarke formed?”

“Paul Taere want to find a place to set up his observatory.  That was easy,” she said as she moved before Rin and stared her in the eye.  “Give me a harder one,” Sofia gave her a hungry grin.

Rin tried to suppress her gulp.  “Alright.  What was the name of the first airship developed here in the Northern Marches?”

“Angel, named for the Baron Emeric danHanno of Kassingtonne’s wife.  Another,” she said as she inched closer and Rin felt Sofia’s hands on her knees.  Her hands felt hot, hotter than the water itself.

“What was the name of the King who halted the expansion to the south at Harro’s Wall?” Rin whispered.

“Vancent, also known as the Cautious.”  Rin could feel Sofia’s hands moving unseen under the water slowly over the outside of her thighs.

Rin did nothing to stop her.  “The Order of the Crescent Sword.  Who was the first recipient?” she gulped slightly.

Sofia had to thing about this one for few seconds.  “Captain Chloe Benson who married into the Baron Davis danAven of Holdingford after the siege of siege of North Realm by the Empire.”  Her face was inches away from Rin.  “Last question,” she breathed.

Rin felt it hard to think, between the heat of the bath and the heat of Sofia so achingly close.  She had not felt like this for any person except for her adopted brother.  “Oleg Veklos had to leave the military.  Why?”

“Because his parents were killed and he had to assume the mantle of…” Sofia stopped her face from inching in for a kiss, “… Earl.”  They stared at one another for a moment.  Rin could tell that Sofia was tensing up in the water and she extended her blade she had hidden in prosthetic.

Then it happened fast.

Sofia kissed her long and hard. 

At first Rin was surprised, her mind actually shut down form all its buzzing as she was swept up by the moment.  Her hands came up and entwined themselves around Sofia’s body and held her, the knife’s blade forgotten and still extended in the back of her hand.  Rin could feel the muscles in Sofia’s form, hard and unyielding in some places, but soft and pliable in others.  The heat was incredible, not heat of the bath but between the two women.

“That was cheating,” Sofia whispered after the kiss was broken.  “Veklos is a Tulathian family, not Danaan.”

Rin smiled shyly.  The tall woman was quick on her feet and Rin wasn’t sure once again.  “Well.  You know of the nobility quite well,” she said as she put her hands back under the murky water, the knife blade slowly sliding back into her hand.  “Tulathian and Danaan.”

“I think we may have to get out of the bath,” Sofia said.  “I think it is getting to hot in here.  You are all red.”

“I am not the only one…”

Slowly, they let each other go and Sofia pulled away and stood.  Water poured from her statuesque form, her flesh red from the heat of the bath and each other, her blonde hair limp form the heat of the water.  “I hope that I shall see you again.”

“Oh.  I am sure we shall meet each other again,” she gave the tall woman a meaningful glance.

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale 7 reworked, with stats for Sofia Hess

[I have changed the conversation between Rin and Sofia.  She gives a lot of information she would not give out like that.  It needs to unfold.  Like I said, I am not a professional writer as of yet!]

[Here it is along with stats for Sofia.]

“Help yourself,” Rin said as she waved a hand over the tray of food.  Sofia stretched out of the water.  She wasn’t musclebound but very well put together.  “You are Spartan related aren’t you?” Rin asked.  The Spartans were a genetically created race of man that was created by United Terra, the precursor to the Empire of Tulath.  In the hundred or so years that the war in the stars raged on, there have been a couple of defection to the Earth Directorate of the Spartans.  When they crashed on Eave however, they no longer had access to the technology that made the Spartans.  There were very few Spartans that have a hundred percent blood, especially in the North and they were called Spartan Blooded.  Anybody who had the genes but not the size and strength of a Spartan were called Spartan Related.  Rin thought that Sofia was one.

“You have a good eye.”  Sofia looked over her right arm at Rin as she was getting a steamed bun.  “That is what my mother told me,” Sofia said as she sat down and ate the bite sized bun.

“Of what family?  Hess’s aren’t one of the Spartan Blooded families.”

“No they aren’t," Sofia said with an unpleasant voice.  "My mother was a whore who lived in Undershadow, south of The Wall."

"Oh," Rin said uncomfortably.  "I am sorry.  I did not mean to burden you with unfond memories."

"It is but a memory, long past now but still it stings from time to time."  Sofia took a deep breath and smiled softly at Rin.  "Like yourself Lady Rin.  To be taken in and adopted by House danTaven after you were rescued from the airship crash.  You are very fortunate indeed."

Rin smiled but inside her mind was working at breakneck speed.  "Thank you.  I was indeed fortunate.  The previous Baron was a indeed a kind man."  Both women smiled at one another and Rin knew that she was a much more dangerous opponent than the Davic boy.

Sofia Hess

Concept: Hidden Section 4 Agent

Trouble: Enamoured with the North

Aspects: Sexy Vamp; Stronger Than I Look

Careful +2

Clever +1

Flashy +3

Forceful +2

Quick +0

Sneaky +1

• Because I am a femme fatal, once per game session I can charm and enamour a person who finds me attactive to gain a piece of information.
• Because I am Spartan Related, I gain a +2 to forcibly defend against a physical attack.
• [One additional stunt to be determined]

Sofia is an Empire Section Command agent.  She works for Section 4 and has been a deep cover agent for the last five years.  The story that she gave Rin is a total lie.

by fae-photography/deviantART

FAE stats for Rin danTaven

Rin danTaven

Concept: Hidden Order of the Thorn Agent

Trouble: Speaks Her Mind

Aspects: A Blade for Every Occasion; Love the Princess Like a Little Sister; Smarter Than She Looks

Careful +1

Clever +2

Flashy +1

Forceful +0

Quick +2

Sneaky +3

• Because no one expects my to do it, I gain a +2 when I sneakily attack with a knife in combat where my opponent is unaware.
• Because I am quick and clever, I gain a +2 when I cleverly overcome tricks and traps.
• Because my left prosthetic hand can detach, I gain a +2 to sneakily create an advantage when it is off and moves on it own.

This is Rin for now.  If you have an idea for a stunt give it too me!  I am interested in seeing what you have based on what I have written.  I wish I could find some artwork for Rin, her prosthetic hand and such, but alas, not was found.

Stories from Eave: Rin's Tale 7

Itami diid not look at all pleased.  “I did not need you coming to the rescue like that!” she said angrily.  She was busy collecting her books, stowing them in her leather knapsack.  “We go through and have heated discussions about it all the time, something that I could have deflected away with some words that I would have spoken if I were given the chance too!”

Rin knew that Itami was right, but at the same time she was wrong.  “I am sorry Your Highness,” she said with a bow as the young girl stormed off.  Rin looked up and saw Sir Hanar mouth the words “I thought you were right,” as he left to follow the girl out.  “I will talk to her.”  So much for the nice homecoming.

*

Rin sighed as she walked along the path away from the Colleges.  Itami was still not having any of her that evening, so she decided to go to a local bathhouse that lay off campus.  The White Willow was one such onsen.  It has the painting of an Earth willow tree on the front and was one of the first that was built here as was incredibly old.  The painting has been redone many times in the centuries that it has been in place.  The stones were old and worn to a smooth sheen that she walked along.  There were many other onsens that catered to partying students, but not this one.  It was quiet and that is what Rin craved.

The smiling proprietor was Master Wan and if you believe the stories his family has run The Willow ever since the laid the first paving stone.  “Hello Lady Rin.  It is so nice to see you again.”

“Hello Master Wan.  Sorry I came late and I am sure you want to close, but can I convince you to stay open for an hour or so?”

“Of course my lady,” he said with a bow.  “For you, anything.”  The tensions seemed to melt away off of Rin as she sighed contently.  “Stay as long as you desire.  I will see if Mistress Wan can get you a little something to eat as well.”

After bathing, Rin stepped into the murky hot springs.  The water was a pale white due to a higher concentration of calcium and occasionally bubbled from beneath the water’s surface.  It was an outdoor hot springs, one that had the cover of its black, stoned walls.  She sighed as she leaned back and laid there with the towel folded over her eyes.  She did not know how long she was laying there and she did not care.  The hot waters where warming and comfortable.

“Ahh, Mistress Wan,” Rin said when heard the door open.  “You can put the food here,” she mentions blindly as she motioned to a flat rock beside her.

“I am not Mistress Wan,” she heard an even voice say to her.  Rin lifted off her towel and she saw a well-muscled form that still had all the curves of a beautiful woman.  She had to swallow hard as the wavy blonde hair of Sofia began to slowly edge her way into the pool.  There wasn’t a scar or blemish on her and that was something that Rin felt an instant disliking for.  Even the Princess has her fair share of scars from her years of fosterage.  “Fancy meeting you here, Lady Rin,” she said.  Rin cleared her throat, keeping all but her head underwater.  Sofia still sat straight up, carefully bundling up her long blonde hair into a bun at the top of her hair.  Her breasts slowly submerging under the hot, white water when she was done. 

Rin had to swallow hard.

“Yes it is,” Rin said as Sofia leaned back and spread her arms out wide to rest them long beside her.  “I would almost say you following me.”

Sofia smiled.  “Please.  This is just the quietest one off the campus that is within walking distance.  Just like you I assume.  Having to get away from the hustle and bustle of having to watch over the princess.  One could not blame you for taking a relaxing bath.”

Rin took off the towel at the top of her head and raised an eyebrow.  “Yes,” she simply said, “the other bathhouses are filled with students who do not know how to relax properly.”  Sofia just nodded staring intently at Rin.  Rin was seriously thinking about getting up and leaving when the sliding door opened again.  Rin jumped.  It was slight but she did and was sure that Sofia picked up on it.  She didn’t say anything but turned to Mistress Wan entering the small bath.

“Saved by the Mistress of the House,” Rin muttered under her breath.  She smiled up at the plump woman who brought her a tray filled with small dishes and a small hand blown bottle filled with a blue liquid is a bowl of ice.

“Something cold for the hot bath,” Mistress Wan smiled.  She has brought a bottle of winter wine.  A drink that was alcoholic as long as it was served ice cold.  It was an eladrin drink and was a most welcome surprise.  She poured two glasses as Rin noticed that Sofia has moved over to sit next to her.  Mistress Wan smiled and excused herself from the bath.  Sofia took her glass and marveled at the blue liquor.

“So is it true that if it warms up, the taste is spoiled?” she asked.

Rin cleared her throat.  “Yes.”

“How so?” Sofia asked as she sniffed her cup.

Rin lifted her right hand up and out of the pool and took the second small cup.  “Magic.”  She said the word as it were normal.  It was to her, but Sofia for a moment did not look convinced.  The moment passed but still nagged at Rin.

“To your health,” Sofia said.

“For now and forever,” Rin countered with the traditional Baronial toast.  The women both drank down there cups and it burned with a cold sensation all the way down to their cores. 

Sofia raised an eyebrow.  “My.  That is good,” she said as her breath came out in a chill fog that dissipated over the simmering waters. 

“Help yourself,” Rin said as she waved a hand over the tray of food.  Sofia stretched out of the water.  She wasn’t musclebound but very well put together.  “You are Spartan related aren’t you?” Rin asked.  Sofia looked over her right arm at Rin as she was getting a steamed bun.

“That is what my mother told me,” Sofia said as she sat down and ate the bite sized bun.

“Of what family?  Hess’s aren’t one of the Spartan Blooded families.”

“No they aren’t.  My mother was a whore,” she said angrily.  “Literally.  She was a prostitute who lived in Undershadow, south of The Wall.  So I do not know who my father is, or really who my mother was.  She would always berate me for being Spartan Related, not fully Spartan Blooded.  She felt that if she had a child who was Spartan Blooded that she would rise in position.  I was ten years old, already a couple of centimeters taller than she was when she tried to whore me out,” she said as she looked in the water.  “She said I looked of age thanks to my Spartan father.  That I should earn my keep.  I left that night and never looked back.”  She sighed and looked up at Rin.  “So that is my sad story,” she said as she turned to the winter wine and poured herself another glass.

Rin sat there and quietly stored her story in her mind.  “I am sorry,” she spoke.  “I did not mean to bring up unfond memories.”

Sofia looked up after she drank her second cup of wine.  She sighed again and let out her breath.  She calmed herself down and slowly her previous demeanor came back.  That sly and slinky vamp that made Rin uncomfortable.  But she wasn’t that uncomfortable now that she knew Sofia.  She would still need to watch her step however as Rin suspected that there was a lot more to Sophia than meets the eye.