Name: Inoki (Ki, to most)
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Craft: Smithcraft (Engineering)
Rank: Apprentice/Candidate
History:
Born Inoki, but called Ki by pretty much everyone in Ghenza, she was the only daughter born after two strapping sons. Her father, Vorigal, is a proud smithcrafter who isn't entirely enthusiastic about instructing his slip of a daughter in the Craft. After all, it wasn't like she would be passing on the family craft to anyone unless her future husband died. Very conservative thinking that gets him the stinkeye from quite a few people in Ghenza - a trained pair of hands is a trained pair of hands! - but there you go.
However, he hadn't expected the little girl to outpace her sibs in all in the basics, and then devote herself to engineering - Vorigal's own specialty, while her brothers made their own craft niches. Maybe there was more potential in the girl than he thought. So she's been taught, and taught well, but right along with it has been a heaping helping of 'staying unmarried and bringing pride to my line is a good thing.' Much to Vorigal's pleasure, Inoki's adhering to that.
Ki's father currently has her running around as a 'fixit' girl; should a machine get broken, she'll be there with bells on and tools in hand. While some apprentices in her Craft might grouse at the fetch and carry and want to get to the 'good stuff', Inoki understands completely that this is another stage of education. How else will she get exposure to the many machines and gadgets around Ghenza, and be prepared to fix the majority of them?
She wasn't present for the most recent Hatching at Ghenza, as one of the senior Crafters had spied a few problems with one of the nearby waterwheels, and Ki was ordered to go assist. The intricacy of the issue grabbed her attention and dragged it fifty dragonlengths. The girl assisted in repairing it, and returned shortly after Hatching ended.
Appearance:
Inoki is a scholar, and her small, slim frame contributes to that appearance. She's still in the throes of adolescence, though, with dark circles under her owlish dark green eyes that never seem to fade, a snubby nose, and ears that stick out just a tad.
Thanks to a lifetime under the sun, Inoki's skin is tanned to the shade of oversteeped klah and a little weatherbeaten, and her hair is a sooty black with the occasional touch of auburn here and there. Her hair is, assuredly, not long. Ki has far more important things to do than fuss over her hair, and there is really no point in being so vain when you're surrounded by situations and chemicals that can wreck it so...Thus. Although she's had it trimmed into a sensible boyish cut (the better to not have to deal with it), the slightly longer bangs tend to flop into her face. The left side of her lips seems to always be quirked up slightly in the beginnings of a slight smile.
Her clothes are chosen with her Craft in mind, which would explain the earthen tones of her sleeveless tunic and trous – the brown and dark grey hues conceal a goodly part of the grease smudges, charcoal marks, and everpresent metaldust that tend to be part of her engineering vocation. The marks of her craft are evident along her hands -- all the washing and scrubbing in the world never seems to get them out. Inoki carries them with pride, however; she earned those.
Personality:
Ki is one of those people for which her life is her work and her work is her life. While there will always be those that don’t see what on earth could possibly be so fascinating about an equation that fills almost half a page, or the qualities of different grades of Cromcoal, those within the Smithcraft will always understand her drive. She's not a genius; let’s get that out of the way immediately. But Ki is very smart, and studies extremely hard.
"Yes, but does it *work*?"
There are engineers-to-be that will be lead the Craft to a shining future. As new theories are posited and new techniques brought to the fore, the Craft will change.
Ki is *not* one of those types of engineers.
She is very hidebound and distrustful of the shiny and new. For the love of Faranth, why break what doesn't need fixing? The old way of doing it works well enough. This is not to say she won't *use* new ideas...once they're proven. She doesn't even trust her own inventions; there's a lot of gadgets and gewgaws she's cobbled together or sketched out ideas for and put away, because while she knows what she *wants* them to do, she's not at all confident they will. A lot of researching and observation later, maybe she'll start using it freely. Maybe after she's positive they won't up and kill them all.
"Please go get some klah, okay? No, do not worry, I have this completely under control."
While she knows her limitations (at that moment, anyway) and accepts them (sort of) for the duration, she is prone to overwork in her efforts to prove herself 'just one of the guys'. She's firmly of the opinion that if her fellow Craftmates do one hour of work on a project, she should do two. Or maybe more. Actually, would y'all mind just stepping back and letting her do it? She'll get back to you when it's done...properly.
You see, Ki is a perfectionist with a heaping helping of trust issues. Part of it comes from having to put in twice the effort to be considered good in her father's eyes, and the other half comes from having been at Ground Zero several times when an apprentice team project has gone wrong. And guess who they all blamed, according to her? In reaction to that, has resolved never to be the one in the crossfire when Things Go Wrong.
In order to keep that from happening, she tends to prefer solo assignments, only asking for help grudgingly. If she has to be on a team, she will politely ride herd on every aspect of the project to the point that some of her teammates may consider homicide - and no Conclave in the land would convict them.
"Really, Timos, you might want to check your math there....and wait, Ajinan. I think that spring has been drawn too tightly. Are you sure you do not want me to work on this bit, instead? After all, I do have smaller hands than you, and I can get in there..."
If they say 'shard it' and hand over the project just to shut down Inoki's needling, she will be confused because she was just trying to help and point out things to fix. But inwardly, she'll be pleased, because now it can be done right. At least in her opinion.
(Some have been known to take advantage of this, and let her do all the work, and take credit later.)
"People do not make *sense*. But I can rebuild them...better...faster...stro - oh. Wrong genre."
The ever logical Ki's slightly naïve when it comes to Figuring People Out (tm). She likes the world when it makes sense, and probably wouldn’t recognize flirtation if someone hit her over the head with it. Why wouldn't someone just come out and say what they want to say? What's the need with all the code? She can read people to some extent; she's not a complete social misfit, but she'll never be the light of a social gathering.
Once in a relationship of any kind - even just a basic friendship - she can be counted on to work at it. She tweaks it like she would one of her gadgets, thinking there are always things that need to be fixed. It’s imperative for her to try and understand her friend or lover. Affection? It’s there, but on her terms. Ki saves that for private moments – waving it around is silly. Sadly enough, this curiosity and need to 'fix' what is going along perfectly well is what’s ruined what few romantic encounters she’s had.
Other: No gold/bronze
