Yurgen Kaneko

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Yurgen Kaneko, the Bull of the North from page 345 of the Second Edition Exalted Core Rules book, published by White Wolf Publishing.

Exalted is a role-playing game published by White Wolf Publishing. The game is classified as high fantasy. It is strongly influenced by Japanese anime and manga, the cultures of China and Rome, and a number of literary sources such as the writings of Michael Moorcock. Yurgen Kaneko is one of the signature characters of Exalted, a representative of the Solar Exalted Dawn Caste.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Pre-Exaltation

Yurgen Kaneko began his life as a barbarian of the Icewalker Tribes, specifically the Redplains Elk tribe of the farthest North. He lived a full life as a warrior and leader of his tribe. His children were grown and his grandchildren were even of age to marry. He was seasons older than anyone in his tribe and had even outlived the shaman. The eyes of his people had begun to turn away from him and conversations fell quiet when he came near. No one in his tribe knew what to do with him - he was a man who had passed out of the circle of life without dying.

Yurgen followed the old customs of his tribe and walked away from his people, for the good of the tribe, out into the snow and tundra to die. He left with no weapons or provisions and his skis carried him over the rise and fall of the plains; the frost-dead grass gleaming like knives and the long, strange voices of omen dogs carrying over the air toward him. As day passed on into night, the temperature dropped and Yurgen thought that this was his time to die. The omen dogs came into view, circling him, waiting for the time that he passed from this fight. Strangely, though, they sank to their bellies, whining.

[edit] Exaltation

After Yurgen walked away out onto the tundra, a woman appeared out of the mist, and for a moment he wondered if his wife had come to take him to the ancestors. She seemed to condense out of the fog. Despite the cold, his body ached for her. The ice spirit that had come to claim his life began to steal all the warmth from his body. It was then that the freezing cold became burning heat and the ice spirit dissolved into water with a voiceless scream. The light grew brighter, blinding him. Whispers fell around him, voices, and flickering images like dreams he'd never dreamt before.

His bones fused, exploding, his skin melting as the light took him, shaped him and made him newborn. Pushing himself up on shaking arms, he could see the glowing aura surrounding his body, a soft pale light like the first kiss of the sun in spring. He could still see the edges and scars on his fingers, the bump of an old broken bone. He was himself, but he was different. He felt more like himself, shining like a new day, than he had ever felt in his life. He knew that he had been chosen for greatness and went back to the tribes to make that greatness a reality.

[edit] Since his Exaltation

He did not return to the Redwater Elk tribe, but instead joined with the Blackwater tribe. The mammoth herders had taken him in, fed him, given him shelter, and accepted him as their own. The people of his new tribe were amazed at his skills and children would follow him. Women would offer to help him out of his clothing and tend to his wounds, but they were always amazed that he had none. The sorceress, Samea had to try to hide his caste-mark with red mud so that it could not be seen. Now that his body was strong again and his mind sharp, people listened when he spoke and with his skill at war, he has lead them to many victories. The tribes that have gathered under his banner have savaged the soft men of the cities and have successfully fought off the raids of the Raksha and the dead. When the Wyld Hunt finally came for him, as he knew it would, he lead them through the Silver Wastes and the Snow Blossom Cascades, weakening the Hunt with his great endurance. In their moment of weakness, he assaulted them and destroyed them.

That was ten years ago, and since then, Yurgen has united nearly all of the Icewalker tribes and expanded his influence greatly. Only half a half a year ago, he met the Tepet legions, lead by Tepet Arada, and wielded his warriors like a surgeon's knife against their greater numbers. After months of war and blood, the legions were humbled and Yurgen was given his title: Bull of the North.

[edit] Stories involving Yurgen Kaneko

• In Jess Hartley's novel, "In Northern Twilight", Arianna and Swan find their way to Yurgen's camp. Yurgen tries to enlist Arianna's aid in destroying his enemies by enticing her with the chance to seek out treasures and knowledge in a library that has been lost since the First Age. Arianna's goals are not the same as his own, and his attempts to control her fail. During a clashing of forces between the Realm and the Bull of the North, one of the Bull's allies, an Exalted sorceress named Samea, unleashes a magma kraken in the forest to destroy their enemies, but the fires it generates are soon out of control and threaten to consume the entire forest.

[edit] Other notes on Yurgen Kaneko

• He is a barbarian warlord and a leader by nature.
• He owns a red jade daiklave, Sun's Fire, taken from one of the soldiers of the Wyld Hunt that tried to destroy him. He uses it as a valuable fire-starting tool as well as a weapon.
• He is a brilliant general and has defeated the entire Tepet legions in combat.
• His virtue flaw is the Foolhardy Contempt.

[edit] References

• Exalted (2001) - ISBN 1-56504-623-4, WW8800.
• Caste Book Dawn (2001) - ISBN 1-58846-653-1, WW8830.
• In Northern Twilight (2004) - ISBN 1-58846-861-5, WW10067.
• Exalted: Second Edition (2006) - ISBN 1-58846-684-1, WW80000.

[edit] External Links

• JessHartley.com - Official site for Jess Hartley, author of In Northern Twilight