Furo

LN Ryukan Human Shugenja 16
HP: 110 (16 HD)
Init: +2 Speed: 20 feet
Space/Reach: 5 feet
AC: 17
BAB: +8/+3
Attack: 
Abilities: STR 14, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 16, WIS 16, CHA 20
Saves: Fort +08, Ref +07, Will +15
Skills: Concentration +8, Diplomacy +22, Heal +13, Knowledge (Arcana) +15, Knowledge (Geography) +15, Knowledge (History) +15, Knowledge (Local) +15, Knowledge (Nature) +15, Knowledge (Nobility) +15, Knowledge (Religion) +15, Knowledge (The Planes) +15, Spellcraft +8
Languages: Common, Shou, Goreshan, Magolan
Feats: Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Augment Healing, Spell Focus (Law), Iron Will, Endurance, Indomitable Soul
Possessions: Ring of Protection +5, Amulet of the Sparrow
Patron: Celestial Bureaucracy
Features:
Human Qualities
Element Focus: Furo’s Favored Element is Water.
Sense Elements (Sp): As a full-round action, Furo can become aware of all sources of water within 10 feet of him/her. He learns the size of the objects, but not their precise location, or actual name. The amount of information he/she learns depends upon his Spellcraft check result. He can use this ability six times per day.
Imbue Element: Furo has altered the element tied to the following spells, and can cast them as if they were tied to the water element: Detect Thoughts, Detect Scrying, Teleport, Protection From Spells.
Spellcasting:
Shugenja Spells Per Day (CL 16): 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 / 3
Shugenja Spells Known: 5-4 / 3-2 / 3-2 / 2-2 / 2-2 / 2-2 / 2-1 / 2-1 / 1-0
Combat/Tactics: Furo, in his advanced age, is not much of a fighter himself. When confronted, he is more likely to use his magic and guile to avoid conflict, fleeing when possible. His mind is sharp, however, and he is a cunning tactician, having learned a great deal from military leaders while in the Imperial Court.
Friends/Allies: Furo is a member of the Imperial Court, and has known the current Emperor since he was an infant. Though, currently, he is acting in opposition of the Emperor, Furo believes himself to be carrying out his will, and is acting like the Emperor would if he didn’t have other bureaucrats and ministers whispering into his ear. Since initiating the rebellion of Taifu, he has become the de facto leader of the island-nation, and has the respect and endearment of most native island residents.
Foes/Enemies: Because of his membership in the Imperial Court, and the influence he can exert over the Emperor, Furo has made many enemies over the years- especially since he is a Shugenja, and often opposes the power plays and exploitation wished by other ministers, who seek only power or wealth. As the power behind the rebellion on Taifu, many in the Shou Empire despise Furo, seeing him a traitor to the nation, in that he is fighting against it.
Appearance: Furo is 68 years old, and looks every year. His face is wrinkled, and his frame has become frail. He is mostly bald, with a small amount of white hair that cascades down to the small of his back, has large, bushy eyebrows, and a fluffy white beard that extends down to his stomach. He typically wears loose fitting robes of blue, purple, and white, and can always be seen walking with a cane.
Personality: Furo can be both deadly serious, and a joker, and can manifest both personalities within moments of each other. Above all, Furo is a deeply religious individual, and does what his internal morals dictate as virtuous, good, and righteous. He often thinks in the long term, which is how he explains that, by aiding the rebels on Taifu, he is actually aiding the Emperor, and the rest of the Shou Empire.
History: Furo was born in the year 1,080, the son of Yoshido, the High Imperial Shugenja of the Palace of the Six Elements. With his birth, his father would have a son to pass on the status to, and as such, Furo’s training towards being a Shugenja began almost immediately, beginning as soon as the young child could walk and talk.
When he was three, Tai Ho Chien was born, the child who would eventually grow up to be the Emperor that Furo served. Because their age difference was very small, the two grew up playing together, and became best friends. The two would be separated in 1,092, when Furo was taken with his father on a tour across the Shou Empire to learn about the elements, the spirits, and the empire itself firsthand. Furo would be gone for 13 years, and would return in 1,105, ten years after his former best friend was installed as the Emperor of the Shou Imperium.
In their new roles, Furo and Tai Ho were forced to end their familial relationship, and replace it with a court relationship, something that hurt Emperor Tai Ho more than Furo. The two would get along amiably for the next few decades, with Furo often times acting as an impromptu advisor to the Emperor because of their previous relationship, which featured an older-brother, younger-brother dynamic. This extra influence Furo had on the Emperor caused much consternation in the Bu-Chen Zhang, the eleven-member advisory board that assists the Emperor in his daily rule and governance.
In 1,140, Furo traveled for the first time to the Spice Isles, the small chain of islands off of the Shou Empire’s eastern coasts that were colonized by the empire in 1,091. Upon landing on Taifu, the largest island in the chain, he was first exposed to the horror and atrocities that were being committed by the Shou soldiers garrisoned there in the name of Emperor Tai Ho Chien. Concerned for both the people of Taifu, as well as the image of the Shou Empire, Furo resolved to bring up the matter during the next Bu-Chen Zhang session he was planning on attending.
That meeting took place two years later, in 1,142. Addressing his fellow ministers, as well as the Emperor, Furo implored Emperor Tai Ho to give up imperialistically sucking the natural resources from the islands, at the expense of the native people, animals, and ecology. By this point, however, the wasting disease that would ravage the Emperor was in full effect, and he had temporarily given his other ministers power to handle more day-to-day affairs than was normal, as to allow him more time to gather his strength and attempt to fight the disease. Being as that most of the other Bu-Chen Zhang ministers had negative opinions of Furo, coupled with the fact that most were interested simply in power, wealth, and prestige, no matter who they hurt in their race to obtain all of it, Furo’s requests were denied. To make matters worse, some ministers openly questioned Furo’s loyalty to the Emperor.
Resigned, Furo met with his friend one last time. In this brief meeting, Furo told Tai Ho that though he may not always seem it in the coming future, he was completely loyal to the Empire, and to his friend. Later in the year, on Emperor Tai Ho’s birthday, Furo declared the independence of Taifu, and the rest of the Spice Isles from the Shou Empire. Some Bu-Chen Zhang ministers demanded that Furo be imprisoned and executed for sedition, but Emperor Tai Ho prevented them, knowing that his friend would not take such drastic actions without a just cause, and ordered an inquisition be made into the colonization of the Spice Isles as the empire defended her claim on the islands against the natives.
Within a year, the rebels on Taifu captured the island’s capital, Dojeng, and assembled a force large enough to fight with the army and navy of the Shou Empire, composed mostly of volunteering natives, and paid mercenaries from around the world. The fight for the Spice Isles are still going on, with Furo commanding the natives against the same empire he pledged his loyalty to. Furo explains this paradox by stating that the greedy ministers who spearheaded the barbaric colonization practices used on the islands were wrong, and that in doing so, they were overextending their power and circumventing the Shou, using his wasting disease as an excuse to rape the land for their own benefit, as well as sully the name of the empire. He believes himself fighting against these corrupt ministers, and not Emperor Tai Ho Chien, or the Shou Empire. He has affirmed many times that once Taifu has normalized relations with the Shou Empire, and conflict between the two nations has ended, he plans to leave the Spice Isles and return to the Palace of the Six Elements, to advise and guide the Emperor as his High Imperial Shugenja, and his oldest friend.
Motivations and Goals: Furo seeks to support the rebellion on Taifu, and hopes that the natives of the Spice Isles gain their independence. He is currently their leader, but has no political agenda, and does not intend to accept any kind of leadership role once their goals have been accomplished. He looks forward to the day that he will be able to return to the Palace of the Six Elements and return to the shrine that his family has always served as caretakers of. Having no children, he wishes to begin training a successor for himself, likely a native of Taifu.