Age: 19
Physical: A broad, smiling, bald monk tattooed with strange mandalas.
Family: Kegado's father (Dhao Fu Hua) is cousin to the Zhi Min Hua, making that Daifu his first cousin, once removed. Similarly, Zhi Min Hua's daughter, Delicate Moonlight Lotus, is thus Kegado's second cousin.
Also from the Three Blossoms: Yanmei
Alts: Xiao, Janos, Guardian Frost
Fame
Kegado is the worst monk that ever studied at the Three Blossoms Shrine, outside Xian. Laughing, undisciplined, fond of wine and women, he displays none of the virtues of this temple devoted to four Immortals. But, for some reason, he has been given the important (for the shrine) duty of reporting to the Temple of the Nine Immortals in Xian, both to get aid for the shrine itself and to represent the Three Blossoms in the larger struggle. Kegado mostly seems to think this is grand fun.
Tulpas
Kegado's tattoos bind several of Kega's divine Tulpas to his service - or at least to his destiny. By and large, the Tulpas are not particularly happy about this but there's nothing to be done. Either the accident was unavoidable or Kega's will is involved. Here are the Tulpas who have manifested to date:
- Si Wen the Fu Lion (takes over Kegado's form)
- Two-Tailed Fo, the White Wolf (takes over Kegado's form)
- Komao the Earthen Rampart
Shrine of the Three Blossoms
Northwest of Xian, where the picturesque villages of the lush plains shelter against the rugged backdrop of the Smoke Hills, one can find the unique and ancient Shrine of the Three Blossoms. Originally an Elven meditation ashram, abandoned during the onslaught of the Red Tide, this secluded place of natural beauty was reclaimed by the refugees and transformed into a shrine by Xianese monks. The shrine itself centers on a large, nearly perfectly round sacred pool. Because of the mineral content in the water, and the geothermal caldera which forms the basin of the pool, its waters are startlingly clear and pure, the basin itself a vibrant green. Even more unusual, a different type of flower blooms on each of three banks of the pool, despite the normally dangerous effects of volcanic waters on growth. On the west bank of the pool grow the white lilies sacred to Shinrai, while the blue irises of Mimasa cover the east and the red hibiscus of Hesika lend sensual hue to the south. The pool itself, with its emerald waters, represents the immortal Kega, who brings the other three together in her embrace.
And so, the Three Blossoms Shrine reveres Mimasa, Hesika and Shinrai as the three handmaidens of Kega, who is the primary deity of this temple. Its monks conduct sacred rituals over the pools and mix esoteric drugs and tinctures from the blossoms and rare plants that grow in this secluded glen. In the hills behind the temple, they maintain sacred hot springs, known to promote health, serenity and virility. Visitors to the Three Blossoms are expected to leave a small donation to help pay for the maintenance of the shrine. But it is not finances that most threatens the shrine, now. Rather, the encroaching goblin hordes are a worry, even for these holy men and monks.
Description
If he were to be defined only by his broad and beaming smile, his broad and bronzed shoulders, and his broad and expansive ways, then we might say that Kegado was a simple man, rustic and earthy. With mud-brown eyes and clean-shaven scalp, we would know him as a priest of some sort, a monk of some distant order, albeit one more given to life's joys than its rigors.
But we cannot so easily define Kegado. For while he is all of those things, he is also clearly something else. Bright green ink inscribes strange and intricate mandalas over his sun-kissed skin. On his left shoulder, around his right eye, on the back of his bald head, along the inside of a forearm, these shapes and circles are scribed with perfect precision. Occasionally, they seem to glimmer in the light, as if metallic or otherwise iridescent.
He wears a long, double-breasted coat of mandarin cut, heavy leather left to its natural brown hue. Cuffed and edged in cream linen, it falls over his green paji - baggy pants of rough silk - to mid thigh. A coolie hat protects his bald pate from the sun and rings of jade bless his fingers. He carries a prayer staff, stout oak capped with four bronze rings that jangle as he walks.
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