Fam, The Eternal

Fam Kirinsuri is an Easterling monk, one of the fellows of explorers that joined the Blades under the direction of Perimi. Though she does not yet know it, she is destined to set into motion a series of events that will, in time, make the Kirinsuir/Killingsly clan one of the most powerful political forces in the world.

The Past
Fam was born in the legendary village of Han Tu Wei, where it is illegal for a woman to marry unless her potential husband can best her in unarmed combat. As an infant the elderly monks of the village realized that Fam was a one in five hundred chance; a child who's Qi was so powerful it could be felt and whom had a natural affinity for the wind. At the age of five, Fam was taken from her family and inducted into the Order of the Pristine.

Under the tutelage of the monks Fam learned to nurture and advance her affinity with the wind to such an extent that by the time she reached ten years old she was considered a master of the art. The monks also took note of her intense attraction to history and taught her not only the history of the East but also mon. They taught her meditation skills, culinary arts, tumbling, and acrobatics.

Fam found the overly-aggressive unarmed fighting style of her village distasteful and so developed her own style, which came to be called Pan Do Wushu. Rather than learn the vicious joint locks and bone breaking strikes of her familiar martial art she chose to develop a style that focused on the attacker's own momentum and aggression, using it as a weapon against him. The monks quietly scoffed at the notion, thinking that such a fighting style would never be successful in an actual fight.

They were wrong.

As Fam matured and developed she began to live by a specific code of honor, which she named the Code of Duty. It reads as follows. Fam had her first suitor when she was twelve years old, the age when she was seen as no longer a child but a woman. Her suitor, a beautiful man named Sung Pai, asked for her hand and in village tradition the two met to do battle. The monks were assured that Sung, with his superior martial arts skills, would easily claim his bride. Imagine everyone's shock when Fam defeated the village hero with a series of throws, leg hooks, and holds. The defeat was even more remarkable considering that Fam was born blind. Fam's fighting style was recognized and respected, and younger children as well as some adults came to her for instruction in the art.
 * 1) One's duty to the universe is to recognize that all life is sacred. We are not given the authority to choose the time or place of when we enter the world, therefore we do not have the authority to choose when another will leave it.
 * 2) One's duty to humanity is to speak nothing but the truth, whether it be historical truth, personal truth, or scientific truth. If one cannot speak truth, one does not speak.
 * 3) One's duty to the clan is to strengthen the weak, uphold the fallen, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and defend the defenseless.
 * 4) One's duty to oneself is to train the mind to obedience. Thought should be pure, unclouded, and unaffected by emotion. Meditate to cleanse and purify the mind and tame the emotions.
 * 5) One's duty to one's foe is to understand that the enemy is never the villain in his own eyes. It is duty to defeat the enemy in harmony and defense, never to attack him.

Fam met Perimi when she was fourteen, and the two became fast friends. A year later, when Perimi organized the Blades expedition and sent word to Fam asking if the air monk would like to be a part of the group, Fam readily agreed.

Voice Actress: Kathleen Turner

The Present
While journeying with the Blades, Fam has become the most famous Elementalist in Paradigm's history, a legacy that will generate a future that not even she could suspect. Less so because of her actions or monastic message with the Pristines it is more her avatar gift: As an avatar of Eheru Fam is able to utilize her Qi to generate and manipulate all four base elements: air, earth, fire, and water; something no elementalist has ever been able to do or shall ever be able to do again.

The Future
Fam will make history. When she is in her later years, her fighting style will become the standard of everyone in her bloodline. She will be recognized by the entire clan as the most wise, and accorded power, authority, and respect. She will insist that the clan adopt her Code of Duty, and they will. Fam will rename herself Pan Do Ra, which in her native dialect means "one who is dutiful."

As she nears her final sleep, the entire Kirinsuri clan will mourn and come to a breakthrough decision. Every first born female born in Fam's direct line will take the name Pandora and lead the clan, therefore preserving the immortality of Fam. Fam's daughter, grand-daughter- great-gradaughter, and so on will become Pandora at the age of fifteen and take leadership of the clan.

Throughout the years the clan will become involved in politics and law enforcement, with each passing generation seeing more power and influence pour in as each new Pandora rises to lead the clan. Members of the clan will become politicians, bankers, and captains of industry until the name Kirinsuri means power.

In 1975, the Kirinsuri clan elder Miyamoto will take his family to the United States, and there anglicize the clan name to Killingsly. His daughter, Tachete, will become Pandora but dishonor the entire clan. Pandora Killingsly will battle and be defeated by Maximilian Xenon, the hero known as Warhammer. She will give birth to two daughters: Chyenne the eldest, and her younger sister Suzuko. When Pandora, as part of the Outsiders hero team, elects to stay with her husband and become a criminal, she will be ejected by the entire clan. Pandora's daughter Chyenne will also become the villain Prism, and so the youngest daughter ( and the first ever in history) Suzuko will inherit the name Pandora and with it the entire clan.

In the new Millennium Suzuko's daughter Michiko, a powerful Asian sorceress and force for good in Millennium City, will take on the role and responsibility of the hereditary title Pandora.

Skills
Fam has spent her entire life making a study of mon, crests, shields, and insignia. Given a concise description she can correctly identify which person, house, or group such artwork belongs to; no matter how obscure.

Fam is fluent in her native regional dialect, as well as the Dynastic language of Iho, and the Imperial Cant. She is very skilled in the Eastern culinary arts and enjoys cooking as a hobby. She is formidable in Eastern philosophies and paths of enlightenment and often speaks in proverbs when asked a question rather than give a direct answer.

On the more mystic aspects of her lifestyle and upbringing, Fam is a master Elementalist with a thorough working knowledge of Qi. She is able to sense the flow of Qi which comes off of all living beings and determine whether that Qi is positive (an ally) or negavive (a hostile adversary). Her ability to sense Qi allows her to detect individuals even if they are hiding, disguised, or invisible. Fam's ability to sense Qi is not automatic, she must actively choose to detect Qi. She cannot sense things that do not normally generate Qi on their own such as undead of Qi fueled constructs as the Qi possessed by such creatures is not a natural flow.

Fam has perfect balance. She can't trip or stumble, and can walk or run across surfaces as narrow as a rope without fear of falling. She can, at will, move so quietly as to be undetectable by normal means of hearing.

Pan Do, Weapon Skills, and Other Skills
Fam's self-created and self-taught unarmed fighting style follows her personal code against killing. It is a 'gentle' internal style, that focuses on directing one's own Qi and utilizing circular motions rather than linear strikes. Pan Do Yu Dian is meant to be non-lethal. The style is exemplified with ending the fight by bringing the foe to the ground and rendering him helpless rather than severely injuring or killing him. The primary forms of attack are hip and shoulder throws, leg sweeps and leg hooks, painful and disabling joint locks, amd techniques for disarming weapons. As Fam is the originator of the style and its sole user, the style is unique among the Eastern Yu Dian.

As Fam's fame has grown throughout the continent so too has grown the fame of Pan Do. Although Fam herself has never given a name of any of the techniques of the style others have. Some of the more famous techniques Fam utilizes are:
 * 1) Storm Breaks the Tree: Utilized against a foe attempting to grab with both arms. Fam grabs both incoming wrists, using her thumbs to dig into the nerve clusters just below the inner wrists to paralyze the arms. At the same moment, Fam executes a front snap kick to the solar plexus. The foe is then taken to ground winded and with both arms paralyzed.
 * 2) River Runs Free: As the foe attacks, Fam drops into a low Cross Stance. She grabs the foe behind the heel of each foot and yanks both feet forward. The foe is then taken to the ground flat on his back.
 * 3) Banner In the Wind: As the foe strikes, Fam executes a twisting torso evasion. At the same moment she executes a forward Palm Upwards strike, smashing her fingertips into the hollow of the foe's throat. The strike blocks the foe's ability to breathe for a split second, causing him to drop to the ground.
 * 4) Snake Consumes Rabbit: One of the more dangerous strikes of Pan Do Yu Dian. As the foe strikes Fam uses one hand to deflect the strike upwards and away. At the same time she lunges into a swift Bow Stance and delivers a knife hand strike to the floating ribs, shattering them.
 * 5) Butterfly Spreads Her Wings: As the foe executes an attack, Fam drops into an extremely low Horse Stance to evade the strike. At the exact same moment, she executes a strong uppercut into the groin.

But by far the most powerful and famous strike in Pan Do Yu Dian is the Xiàtiān de Wéifēng, or "Summer Breeze". Fam forms a fist with the first two knuckles of her right hand extended, funnels her personal Qi through her fist, and strikes the enemy between the eyes. The strike does no actual damage whatsoever but so overloads the victim's 'third eye' chakra with positive Qi that the subject is rendered instantly unconscious for several minutes. This is the strike she used to defeat her suitor Sung Pai with, astonished her village elders, and won respect for her pacifistic style of self-defense.

Her favorite weapon is a Qi infused threshing flail named Yiwu (I. "Truth"). Yiwu is a Kirinsuri family heirloom, created by her great-grandfather and passed down to the eldest child throughout the generations. The flail is painted white, with a 3' long base attached with a single steel ring to a heavy steel banded foot long striking head. She can channel her Elementalism abilities through the flail. The enchantments placed on the flail ensure it can never be taken from her; if it is dropped, taken away, or stolen it will simply reappear in her hands a few seconds later. With an unspoken command the flail can generate tremendous striking force. The force is powerful enough to send a line of foes flying and utterly bring down a foot thick stone wall. Fam's skill with Yiwu is superb. In addition to just using it as a striking weapon, Fam is able to use the staff portion to thrust, strike, parry, and disarm. She can perform leg sweeps and hooks with the weapon to knock a foe's feet out from under him and can use Yiwu to block and deflect missile weapons, and even strike such weapons from the air.

Fam possesses an almost encyclopedic knowledge of human anatomy, which allows her to defeat a foe by attacking joints, nerve clusters, and large nerves such as the vegas nerve in order to numb limbs or otherwise render the foe helpless without inflicting serious injury or death. Her knowledge of anatomy is limited to humans only, not monster races or 'near-humans' such as elves or Mattimeo. She is a skilled acrobat and tumbler, able to land on her feet after being thrown as well as perform complex gymnastic maneuvers, dodges, and evades. She is familiar with the use of all Eastern martial weapons but is trained only in the use of broadsword, spear, flail, pole, and twin melon hammers.

Limitations
Fam is blind, but most of the time not hampered by her disability. She 'sees' by perceiving how the air currents move around objects and is able through this means to make out shapes though she can't identify colors, features, or fine details. In areas with limited or no air movement, such as deep caves or dungeons she becomes truly blind and must be assisted.

Additionally, her ability to manipulate the air currents of the environment around her do not work indoors, where there is simply not enough moving air for her to shape and direct.