Channi (Raikama)

## Channi

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> “The beautiful imperial consort with a mysterious background. She has a lot of pet snakes.” - Elizabeth Lim
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**Channi** meaning *“moon face girl”* was Vanna’s sister. Vanna was the sun to her moon. Channi became **Raikama**, Shiori’s stepmother.

**Her Radiance**, Channi name her self this name for the light that makes the lanterns glow at night. The light that poured from Vanna's heart and into her own when she was alive. That light that she will never forget, to carry it until her last day, until she see her again.

## Biography

### Her Radiant Curse

When Channi was 2, close to 3, her mother have birth to her sister, Vanna, but she was dying. Her father, Adah, wanted to sacrifice his new born child to Angma, the Demon Witch, to save his wife. Luckily for Vanna she was so beautiful and enchanting it persuade her father, not to sacrifice her, instead Adah chose Channi to be scared. While in the jungle Channi meet Ukar, and then a tiger. Ukar bit Channi before the tiger did anything to Channi. The bit was poised for anyone who came close to her blood, protecting Channi but it did not save her or her sister. Adah cursed Channi’s face promise to come back 17 years later to undo the curse if she has her sister. If not she will come for both of them.

The other children of her village used to throw turtle eggs at her when she walked down the road. And called her a monster, a snake demon, a witch, many other names that were far more cruel. Her adah forced her to wear a mask wherever she went, even at home. Beating her when she disobeyed. He was the only person she ever feared (Oshli thinks). He worked her hard, giving her chores to keep her out of sight.

Three days before Vanna’s birthday, King Meguh come to visit a day before Vanna’s selection ceremony, to discust matters with Khuan. On the day of the selection ceremony Channi was watching, on top of a roof, Kings around Tambu Isles, including Emperor Hanriyu, showing up to the Temple of Dawn. The kings promised not to go to war, gave present to Vanna, then auctioned off Vanna to who can afford more. King Meguh was the richest king in Tambu and also the one Channi despised the most, but before they agreed Prince Rongyo came offering his kingdom. Dakuok

#### Pre-Six Crimson Cranes

Channi tried to protect her sister, Vanna, from the dragon pearl in her heart. It was more of a curse than a blessing, for it attracted demons as well as princes and kings.

Channi did terrible things, hoping to find a way to break the curse on her face and look like everyone else. In the end, the person she loved the most paid the price. When Vanna died, her pearl buried itself in Channi’s heart to keep it from breaking, and it fulfilled her dearest wish in the cruelest way. It gave Channi a new face, her sister's face.

Raikama wanted to die, seeing Vanna's face every time she looked in the mirror. Raikama cut her face leaving a scar. Thinking she couldn’t bear it, not until she met Emperor Hanriyu. Raikama was in a selected arrangement as Vanna, having all the kings, emperors, princes of Lor’yan. Emperor Hanriyu was to judge the contest for her hand. He lost his wife, whom he loved more than life itself, and he was kind to her. Understanding each other's sorrows, Raikama came with him to Kiata, to become a part of his family. Upon arriving at Kiata, Shiori hugged her, thinking she came from the moon.

Once when Shiori put a snake on Reiji’s bed and Raikama was giving her a lecture, Shiori said “well then, you’re the only snake I like, Stepmother.” Raikama told her “one day, you’ll despise me”, which ended in Shiori calling her “mother” and forgetting her memories. From there, their relationship change.

When Emperor Hanriyu planned to marry off Shiori to a king abroad or one of Lord Yuji’s sons to strengthen the warlords’ support for the throne. But she fought for Shiori to choose her own match, but the council wouldn’t have it. So she swore that Shiori’s marriage would at least bring her happiness.

Raikama had been infamously cold toward the courtiers. One evening, the court children gathered around her. Their parents had instructed them to fawn over her beauty, and so they did (irritated her). So she asked what they thought of the scar on her face. All the children lied that they barely noticed it. Except Takkan. He hadn’t said a word until that moment ‘If you wanted to be told you were beautiful, you would hide your scar. But you don’t. It tells your story, a story that’s meant only for those worthy of hearing it.’ His parents must have been mortified, his mother especially. For months she sent them apology tapestries and an alarming number of rabbits carved of pine. She had them all thrown out. She made the Emperor promise her not to tell Shiori, because she would never give him a chance if she knew.

When Raikama caught Shiori in the Moon Garden, her sanctuary, her snakes told her about Shiori's magic. It was powerful and dangerous; many would covet it. Raikama did what she could to hide Shiori's powers and keep them from manifesting, even if that meant distancing herself from her. The next day the Emperor summoned Shiori to her audience chamber, to tell her she is betrothed to Takkan. Shiori begs her father and her to not marry Takkan.

### Six Crimson Cranes

When Shiori fell into the Sacred Lake, with the sash from Lord Yuji, containing Four Breaths, Shiori fell into a slumber for days. When Shiori recovered the sash from the lake, Raikama took it away, because she recognized it had been poisoned. Raikama tried to protect Shiori from Lord Yuji, but Shiori found out she was a sorcerer and told her brother. Raikama turn the brothers into cranes and put a curse on Shiori.

### The Dragon’s Promise

Shiori buried her ashes near the sacred tree in the jungle of Tambu, not far from where Ujal dwells.

## Personality

She was exceptionally strong, bold, and loyal. She was a good judge of character, she could see the light in others, whereas they saw only the darkness in her. That was her greatest pain. She became Raikama a clever and wise person.

## Physical Description

Channi was often condemned as a demon because of her serpentine face, which was her most defining trait in Her Radiant Curse. She was tanned and sinewy, her limbs as muscular as seasoned sentinl’s. Her serpent’s face was her most defining feature, and was found terrifying to most people aside from a few: such as Vanna and Hokzuh. Her nose was pushed in and raised high, with hypnotic yellow eyes, pupils thin as slits, similar to a serpent. Her gaze alone would make grown men cower. Green scales mottled her body all the way up to her neck, where human skin takes over. Her hair was in a long messy braid, and she would wear a thin wooden mask until later on in Her Radiant Curse, as she discarded it after a conversation with Hokzuh. It was implied that her scales could change color, as they turnt white with grief asher sister died. Raikaima had her sister’s face she cut her face, leaving a scar.

## Powers

In Tambu, Channi as an affinity with serpents gave her some power. In Kiata her magic comes from Wraith’s pearl. It is unlike any other, dark and broken, still a very great source, to emanate her powers.

The pearl is wild and unrestrained. The pearl augments her power and obeys her commands, but not always in the way she wished.

When Raikam turned Shiori’s brothers into cranes, was how the pearl chose to obey her wishes. They could have really died if Shiori had spoken, because the pearl does not lie.

The pearl takes fate and twists it to its own purpose, because it wishes to return to its owner. Its power had been a burden Raikama, until Shiori freed her.

## Relationships

### Shiori

Shiori was curious about Raikama and her snakes. At first she didn't mind, but Raikama grew to love her. Shiori made Raikama so happy that her light began to shine too brightly. Raikama knew she couldn't keep her secrets from Shiori forever. That was why she closed her heart to Shiori. Buried her memories and did all she could to keep her away from magic, even if that meant keeping Shiori from herself. But then Shiori’s powers surfaced anyway, even meeting a dragon. Raikama knew it'd only be a matter of time before someone else found out about her magic. Raikama wanted to tell, so many times, but she was afraid of revealing her own secrets. Of losing Shiori, and her father, her family.

### Vanna

Channi loved her sister with all of her heart, never once resenting her for the admiration that her sister’s light attracted, while Channi’s monstrous face received torment in return. Vanna was one of the few people who looked at Channi and didn’t see a monster, along with Hokzuh (though the latter may not entirely count, seeing that he too is a “monster”, albeit one far more dangerous than Channi.)

The two were very close when they were younger, with Vanna often defending her from their Adah’s wrath and coming with her to occasionally sneak out of the house; one of the few times that the “Golden One” could have some respite from everyone’s unfaltering stare. Vanna would often ask Channi for memories of their mother. Channi was extremely protective of Vanna, fighting in her stead in the suitor’s contest and training for years in order to protect her from Angma. Sometimes she couldn’t her sister's blithe optimism, and wanted her to fight for herself. Sometimes Vanna would inadvertently hurt her, by not believing in her warnings about Angma and their shared curse.

Vanna was the one she hated more than anyone and loved more than anyone. Channi’s heart was shattered when she died, to the point where she made the decision to leave everything about her old life behind in order to find peace, as she could not bear wearing the burden of her sister’s light.

### Emperor Hanriyu

She initially met him at the suitor’s contest, and had a significantly higher opinion of him than the other kings as he did not flaunt his wealth or vanity like the others did. Later, after her sister died and Raikama took on her appearance, she had to deal with the suitors that flocked for her hand in marriage. And so, she proposed a contest: Any one who could make her smile, something she had never done since “Channi” died, would receive her hand in marriage. Hanriyu was the only one who did so, which was her goal as she wanted to find peace in the non-magical, quiet kingdom of Kaita. They married each other not for love, but they were friends. His children eased her pain, and so did his.

### Wraith/Hokzuh

When the Serpent King saved her life, he told her to seek out someone named “Hokzuh” in order to help her in defeating the Demon Witch. She searched for him as much as she could on the small island of Sundau, occasionally bring Vanna with her to the furthest outskirts of the island toto call out his name, in hopes that he would be able to hear her. Fast forward to the suitor’s contest, Channi was pitted against the Demon-Dragon in Meguh’s Arena, beating him in the Arena after an intense fight, though this led to him betraying her. Later, however, they strike a deal which led to the two of them escaping from Meguh’s menagerie and assist each other on their journey.

Contrary to what they both thought, the two were always sworn to be enemies, as the other half of his Pearl, the Dragon half, lies in the heart of Channi’s sister Vanna, the one whom she loved most. And yet, they inevitably grew closer to one another, as their fates were “inextricably tied”. She felt a bond with him, a feeling of total acceptance and belonging from him that she never had from anyone, even Vanna. They both understand each other, two monstrous outcasts that the entire world was against, cursed and alone by greater powers far beyond their doing. She convinces him that he deserves to be free and he encourages her to shed her mask and fight for herself.They both made each other smile.

Over time, she begins to fall for him, and this leads her to go against Ukar’s warnings and tell him the truth about the Pearl, leading him to feel betrayed and leave her at Tai’ya as their deal was fulfilled. Later on, though, he saves her life at Prince Rongyo’s Palace, though he abandoned her sister in favor of his Moonstone, the one thing that repressed his Demon side and prevented him from slaughtering his allies. She interrogated him about it over food, and learned about his past in Meguh’s servitude and the Bonemaker’s Arena; how Meguh exploited his Demon side and lack of control over it. Channi decided to forgive him in exchange for a promise; a sacred and solumn oath: no harm will come to her sister, and he must wait until Vanna dies naturally in order to receive the Pearl and ascend to the Heavens. He accepts.

As she was preparing for the final battle against Angma, he appears again to help her against a hoard of monstrous demons that ambushed her in the jungle. He flies her to the clearing, near the valley where she is to fight Angma. Hokzuh instructs her about the best way to fight the Demon Witch, and they talk for a while about the future when this is all over. A peaceful moment happens between them, and they kiss for the first (and last) time, before Hokzuh leaves her to battle Angma.

In the end, however, Angma destroys Hokzuh’s Moonstone, the sole thing that prevents him from turning into a pure Demon, and in a blind rampage he breaks his oath and kills her sister. Betrayed and heartbroken, Channi restrains him using the Pearl’s magic and rushes to her sister, but it was too late. She picks up the two halves of the Pearl and finds a thread of his soul in it, sworn away in his broken oath. She claims the Pearl, but gives him a chance to earn it back in order to bring back her sister.

The Pearl, however, finds him unworthy, as he had broken his promise to Channi, and it makes that known by not allowing him to even touch its surface. His Demonic side resurfaces, and he continues his rampage before Channi stops him. As the Pearl demands that he pay for breaking his promise, and there was no way to restrain his Demon side once more, she decides on a curse that banished him to the forgotten corners of the world, and only until her death will awaken him and allow him to be free. Until then, he will live in darkness, dooming him to his current fate.

## Appearance

* Six Crimson Cranes
* The Dragon’s Promise (Mentioned Only)
* Her Radiant Curse

## Trivia

* She and her sister love orchids.
* In Her Radiant Curse it may be implied that she choice Takkan as Shiori's husband because of his honest eyes that reminded her of her mothers eyes.
* Channi was never a princesses, but she was always a queen.

## Quotes

* *“But not all poison is bad. Sometimes it’s a medicine in disguise.”* — Six Crimson Cranes
* “A viper is poisonous, whether it wants to be or not.” - Six Crimson Cranes
* “Channari was a girl who lived by the sea, who kept the fire with a spoon and pot. Stir, stir, a soup for lovely skin. Simmer, simmer, a stew for thick black hair. But what did she make for a happy smile? Cakes, cakes, with coconut and sugarcane.” — Six Crimson Cranes
* “Surround yourself with those who’ll love you always, through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone’s lantern shine.” — Six Crimson Cranes
* ”A promise is not a kiss in the wind, to be thrown about without care.” - The Dragon’s Promise
* “I wasn’t born a monster.” - Her Radiant Curse
* “I've learned to carry a weapon everywhere I go. Call it prescience, call it vigilance. . .. And when it comes to my sister, I will not take any chances.” - Her Radiant Curse

## Galley

By Blanca MontielBy Tran NgunBy Kelly Chong Lydia Blagden