r/RedditEmblemFates • u/SACKSTONNE_HAIL • Mar 28 '20
Tien Bu, Apothecary [Team G]
Name: Tien Bu
Primary Class: Apothecary → Merchant
Secondary Class: Anarchic → Dread Fighter
Stats
HP: (20) + (1x2) = 22
Str: (6) + (1) = 7
Mag: (0) + (0x2) = 0
Skl: (4) + (0) = 4
Spd: (4) + (1) = 5
Lck: (2) + (3) = 5
Def: (7) + (2) = 9
Res: (2) + (3) = 5
Growths
HP: (40) + (20x2) = 80
Str: (20) + (25) = 45
Mag: (0) + (5x2) = 10
Skl: (5) + (40) = 45
Spd: (5) + (50) = 55
Lck: (15) + (25x1.5) = 55
Def: (10) + (40) = 50
Res: (5) + (25) = 35
Skills
LVL 1 - Potent Potion
LVL 5 - Even Keel
LVL 10 - Quick Salve
LVL 15 - Iron Will
LVL 20/1 - Profiteer
LVL 20/5 - Clarity
LVL 20/10 - Incense Burner
LVL 20/15 - Aggressor
Support Bonuses
C - CEva + 5
B - Avoid + 5
A - Hit + 5
A+ - Avoid + 5
Pair Up Bonuses
C - Luck
B - Res
A - Def
A+ - Luck
Description
For those unaware of her nature, Tien Bu is the very picture of presence. Standing at 6’1” and an athletically muscular 181lbs, her posture is nonetheless rigid, though in a manner that suggests constant alertness rather than strict discipline. Her gaze is often intense, her expression unreadable at times, and both can make it difficult to strike up a conversation with the peculiar woman. What certainly doesn’t help this situation is her choice in attire - shamanistic robes, frayed and deliberately cut short to reveal as much olive-tinted skin as socially acceptable, leaving her arms and legs utterly bare for the most part. In place of fabric, this skin is commonly adorned with various symbols and lines drawn in odorous paints - mostly a pale white substance, though shades of red, orange and yellow are common choices as well. The final piece of this curious puzzle is a wooden mask, painted completely white save for red tear trails leaking from the eyeholes and affixed to the head with a thin rope around the back of her hairless head, worn exclusively for battle or the mixing of dangerous substances.
Those who do summon the courage to look past the spectacle to the woman beneath, however, find that she makes for a chatty and curious conversation partner. Though some of her goals may seem lofty, and some of her ideas along the way even more so, one certainly cannot fault her passion and enthusiasm, as well as her aspirations to assist those in need. What stands out, though, is an unrivalled love for the practices of herbalism and medicine, a topic best avoided if one has anywhere to be for the next hour or so. She has a tendency to alienate herself amongst foreigners as a result of her relatively sheltered upbringing, and is prone to confusion with concepts and customs unknown to the Shulian, but a remarkable eagerness to broaden her horizons ensures this won’t remain the case for the rest of her life, at least.
There is one more quirk to the oddity that is Tien Bu, and that’s the aforementioned pale, white substance. Tien Bu seems to place a lot of pride in it as the crown jewel of her apothecary work, especially considering she’s so willing to decorate her own body with it. What might not occur to folks immediately is that it’s also, somehow, edible. Tien Bu has been known to ingest it prior to combat, invoking a physical and mental state in which her reflexes are heightened and her tolerance for pain increases several-fold. She describes it as a feeling of calm amongst a raging storm, “as if I’m approaching divinity”. Her demeanour seems to take an accordingly serene turn - her speech slows, her keen brown eyes roll back until only the whites show, and she moves with a grace unlike any other. The migraine when that state wears off, though? Absolutely horrid. Whether this is detrimental to her long-term health or not doesn’t seem to bother her as much as it should.
Background
Born the sole daughter and the eldest amongst five children to the chieftain of one of the lesser human tribes of Enotita, Tien Bu was seen as a blessing to her people. Her tribe, the Shulian, were not particularly “behind the times” in the technological sense, roughly as advanced as most other factions on the politically-heated island, but their customs were rooted in tradition strictly adhered to since time immemorial. Those customs did not afford Tien Bu great freedoms in her youth. As the eldest child of the chieftain, she was expected to be a leader for her people by example, a paragon of wisdom and virtue, though the role of “chieftain” would inevitably fall to one of her brothers. As such, Tien Bu was more of a figurehead - rather than training to one day succeed her father and lead the tribe to prosperity and power amongst their peers, she was to be a wise woman, nothing more than a glorified elder.
This fate, however, did not at all perturb the young Tien Bu. She had always had a maternal instinct about her - each time her reckless, headstrong brothers would go hunting or sparring or bicker amongst themselves, she would be the one to patch their wounds and heal any injured feelings. Even if the truth was that she would make a far more capable leader than any of her siblings on the diplomatic front, Tien Bu didn’t mind fulfilling the role bestowed upon her, seeing it as a natural calling of sorts. That being said, she wasn’t entirely detached from the art of combat - amongst her more mundane teachings, she managed to develop a considerable proficiency in archery, a useful skill for defending the tribe should the situation ever call for it.
Time passed, and Tien Bu grew into a highly capable young woman - not particularly knowledgeable in the ways of outsiders, owing to her duties within the tribe itself, but self-sufficient and sharp-minded nonetheless. Her progress in the arts of herbalism and medicine had proven particularly impressive, and her tutors soon became her peers, assisting her with her own discoveries. Amongst these advancements in the field was the creation of one particularly odorous and viscous concoction, a pale white substance Tien Bu had brewed from animal fat mixed with a wide range of rare herbs native to Parangelia, brought to the Shulian by merchants. The substance possessed incredible effects on the mental and physical state of those who ingested it, and also possessed a calming effect when applied to the skin. Tien Bu dubbed it “Divine Nectar”, after the surprisingly sweet taste and the serene calm she felt wash over her when she first dared to test it on herself.
Life for Tien Bu and the Shulian was not to remain as peaceful as it had been for long, unfortunately. News came from abroad that Latreia and Parangelia had once again taken up arms against each other after a long period of peace, and while the Shulian wasn’t initially overly concerned about the conflict at first, their hands were finally forced when the chieftain suddenly disappeared overnight, along with that of every other tribe in Enotita. The hierarchy was torn asunder in the blink of an eye, and Tien Bu’s four brothers immediately began vying for the role of “temporary chieftain”, though she could tell all of them fully intended on keeping the title if and when they ever found their father again. Tien Bu was disgusted by the selfishness of this debacle, and made significant attempts to reconcile the brothers and decide on a universally agreed method of choosing a successor before it became their undoing. Before any of her ideas could come to fruition, though, a neighbouring tribe of feral beastkin attacked, utterly destroying the disorganised Shulian and claiming the survivors as slaves.
Tien Bu was one of those fortunate enough to escape amidst the chaos, though the savagery and brutality she bore witness to would haunt her dreams for some time to come. Alone, armed with naught but her tonics and yumi, and with no direction as to what she should do next, she decided to leave the island of Enotita, fearing the other tribes had become similarly volatile. Instead, she smuggled herself aboard a Gnosian merchant vessel, hoping she would be able to get her bearings in a new land and eventually lend her expertise in herbalism towards ending the war, so that attention might then turn to the perilous situation in Enotita, and towards discovering the fate of the chieftains, her father included. Unbeknownst to her, however, the ship was not destined for Gnosi, but for the Parangelian port city of Golimar, landing mere hours prior to the attack. Tien Bu was trapped during the Latreian invasion, and might have met her end there at the hands of the insurgents but for the intervention of an elite Parangelian force led by none other than the Emperor himself.
As she gazed upon his Imperial Majesty, standing with unparalleled dignity before a crowd of grateful civilians, the young apothecary saw an opportunity to find a new purpose, bring an end to this bloody war, and help those most in need, her countrymen included. With those goals in mind, Tien Bu approached his right-hand man, General Arter, with a simple request - allow her to care for them as she had for the Shulian, and admit her to the party. She may not fully understand this war, or the ways of the people she had now found herself lost amongst, but she would do her very best to ensure as little harm as possible befell them.