Kyomi (Starfinder)

Starfinder Society Profile

• Known Name: Kyomi
  
• Race: Kitsune
  
• Age: Early-20s
  
• Height: 5'2"
  
• Alignment: Chaotic Good.
  
• Affiliations: None known.
  
• Belief: Desna, Goddess of the North Star.
  
• Theme: Botscrap Junkracer
  
• Character Class: Operative [Driver].
  
• Place of Origin: Botscrap, Absalom Station.
  
• Player/Type: NPC

Appearance

Kyomi in her "tailless form"

Most people know Kyomi as a petite human female with striking blue eyes and long auburn hair that is usually either dishevelled or tied up at the back in some way (or both), though shorter at the front and typically styled towards one side. She has a generally rounded face with angular, slightly vulpine features, that only slightly betrays her true heritage for those who know what to look out for. She has a fairly slender but athletic figure, in good shape from a general inability to keep still for long unless she is flying an aircraft (and the way she pilots vehicles also reflects this restlessness). She is fond of wearing light cosmetics, usually magically applied, and wearing colourful clothing - favouring blues with white highlights. Some people have commented that Kyomi seems to have a near-endless clothing collection, but truthfully she will admit to friends that she has only a small amount of clothing (enough to be taken in her backpack if desired) and she simply uses her limited ability with transmutation magic and "impeccable taste" to transform her clothing into other, similar outfits of similar design, and typically keeps them clean likewise via magic use. Her reliance on this low-level magic is so casual and heavily used, that people in the known often assume she must be a spellcaster of some form - but Kyomi admits she has "merely dabbled" enough for her needs. When wearing armour, her current signature armour is Lashunta Tempweave, which appears as a brown leather-like tunic over form-fitting black breeches. The materials are kinetic and energy resistant and low-level energy fields provide life support when activated, with no obvious helmet - though there are pieces worn on her cheeks to generate a form of "force-field helmet" when needed.

This is, however, what Kyomi refers to as "the tailless form"amongst those that know her well - who soon learn that Kyomi is in fact not human at all. She is from a race known as the Kitsune, or Gumiyo, or the Nine-Tailed Fox, or a variety of other names attributed to this race of anthropomorphic fox-like creatures that some believe originated in the First World, home of the Fey, and came over to Golarion much like Gnomes and other fey creatures did eons ago, and for a long time were considered legends and spirits. Whatever the truth, as the secrets and legends appear lost to the Gap, the reality is that she is a shapechanger from a race that has few numbers and little in the way of community other than a general willingness to help and be amiable to any other Kitsune they may encounter. In her entire life, Kyomi has only ever met one other Kitsune, and holds little expectation of meeting others in the future. In her "true form" she resembles an anthropomorphic fox with long, auburn fur with white highlights. Her eyes remain a striking blue in this form, as does her lithe figure, except with a layer of thin fur and a large, bushy tail. She has an elongated snout in this form and her teeth sharpen somewhat, allowing her to deliver a nasty bite if desired. There is little physical difference in the body structure of her forms, so her armour and outfits (which are usually loose in places by design) easily accommodate either form.

Kyome is not embarrassed about what she is - but she simply prefers to avoid the attention of revealing her true form (an irony considering she is renown as somewhat of an attention-seeker). There was a time her race would hide their true nature so as not to be confused for evil lycanthropes, or due to their legend as heart-eating, deceiving and cunning tricksters. These days, in a galaxy with hundreds of aliens, demons, and other shapeshifting beings far more malevolent and commonplace than the Kitsune of legend, few would particularly notice or care. It is more a case of being a race so rarely seen that it would likely attract interest - often with questions she herself cannot answer - and she simply prefers people notice and like her for her character and achievements than a rarity of genetics. Still, amongst friends, she frequently "lets her hair out" and remains in her true form, if only so she can properly shampoo and groom her fur. Despite the legends, she has only one tail. She has heard legends that wise or magically powerful Kitsune may grow up to nine tails, so she doubts that she'll ever have a second tail as she considers herself neither particularly magically powerful, nor wise.

Background

Kyomi in her true form

Kyomi was born amongst the stars - or so she says. The truth is that she doesn't know where she's from, only that she was found concealed under a small shine to the goddess Desna on a small cargo vessel that had exited Drift space near Absalom Station. The ship had suffered significant damage. It was only by sheer luck that the ship was able to exit the Drift, and the ship's engines were barely functional, with life support having failed completely. There were signs of violence and torn apart bodies, appearing as if the crew had been attacked by some kind of hostile entity that had gotten on board during the voyage, causing the death of most of the crew and causing ship damage which included to the life-support systems. Those who didn't die a violent death died shortly after life-support failed, with Kyomi the only survivor as she was wearing a simple magical amulet (as it turns out, a Spell Amulet containing the Life Bubble spell) that provided her with magically created life support that allowed her to survive after the ship's life support systems failed. The amulet had iconography of the deity Desna, and was her most cherished childhood item - her only link to her family origins.

Kyomi was raised in an orphanage in Botscrap, a rough and tumble part of Absalom Station. Growing up, she struggled to find her place in the world, feeling like an outsider among the other children. It wasn't until she was in her adolescence that she went through her first change, experiencing strange and confusing sensations as she transformed into her true form as a kitsune. She was frightened and alone, not understanding what was happening to her. That's when another kitsune appeared to her, an older and more experienced member of their race who had sensed her distress. The older kitsune explained to Kyomi what she was and helped her through the confusing process of her first change and taught her how to switch betwen the "tailless form" she had worn her entire life, and her true form. But the older kitsune had to leave soon afterward, and Kyomi was left alone once again.

Entering her teen years, Kyomi soon learnt the harsh realities of survival in the gritty and dangerous streets. Determined to prosper, she learned to fend for herself using her natural wits and agility, and became skilled at pickpocketing, staying undetected, and theft in order to survive and prosper. She also learnt how to navigate the complex web of rival Goblin and Ysoki street gangs, which she often dealt with to get by. As she grew up, she began having dreams of a blue and white amulet, and some investigating revealed to her the truth about her origins, of which she had been told very little growing up. The amulet was supposed to have been put into storage as Kyomi's only known family heirloom, but corrupt employees had stolen it. Kyomi managed to trace it to having been sold to Lhana "Diamond" Nokoriso, an Ysoki merchant with suspected links to the Golden League crime syndicate.

Kyomi's life took a dramatic turn when she decided to steal back what she thought was rightly hers. She infiltrated Diamond's business, managed to find the amulet gathering dust in a storage room containing other "acquired" items, and retrieved it. In the process, however, she got spotted, and being chased by armed thus stole an enercycle to get away. This was how Kyomi discovered her natural aptitude for piloting as she was chased by pursuing gang members through the streets of Botscrap, but somehow managed to outmaneuver her pursuers and crash-landed near her orphanage. Despite her brave escape, however, young Kyomi had done little to cover her tracks and soon after Lhana turned up at her orphanage with a few goons. Impressed by Kyomi's piloting skills and stubborn refusal to return "her" amulet despite the overwhelming physical threat, Lhana let Kyomi keep the item in return for agreeing to doing jobs for her as a thief and Junkracer pilot - and effectively took her under her wing, providing her with training, guidance, and becoming a form of adoptive aunt to her. In an attempt to curb the wild young kitsune's foolhardiness, Lhana got her favoured Golden League Xun (a powerful enforcer) to teach Kyomi the rudiments of an ancient ascetic martial art from pre-Gap Golarion's Tian continent, teaching her how to tap into her natural Qi energy and channel it through her blows. Although Lhana hoped that her martial training would lead to Kyomi becoming a valued Xun herself, Kyomi's innate personality soon made it obvious to Lhana that although Kyomi was both loyal to her and a very good pilot and thief, she would never be able to be moulded into a Xun assassin or enforcer for the Golden League. Once Kyomi had paid off her debt, Lhana let her go officially but kept her on, treating her as a favoured freelancer. Lhana would use Kyomi for Golden League operations but always kept her on the fringes for her own protection, ensuring she did not learn enough to make her a problem that would need to be resolved - and Kyomi was smart enough to know what questions not to ask.

In her later teens, once the orphanage officially booted her out, Kyomi survived by joining a Gnome-Yski junkracer team. Although she was primarilly their pilot, they also valued her ability to "acquire" components needed (that may or may not have allegedly previously been in the posession of rival teams). She learnt much about creative engineering from her team, including their racial languages. She found the infamous gnomish hyperactiveness and ysoki skitterishness not alike her natural disposition, and so although the danger and hardship of this period of life was not inconsiderable, it was one of the happiest times of Kyomi's life. Her aptitude and increasing skill in piloting led to her eventually getting a "steady job" as a dockyard pilot, exposing her to more types of starships and increasing her proficiency. In her spare time, she freelanced as a pilot (meaning that she would mostly do freelance jobs for Lhana that typically involved stealing ships/vehicles or otherwise aiding Lhana illicitly acquire or smuggle ships or goods).

She initially learnt about the faith of Desna (the goddess of travel and luck) after recoving her childhood amulet, which had Desnan iconography (the crystal itself was blue and shaped like a butterfly) and words she would learn were from the holy text, but had never been particularly religious or affiliated with any religion. During one particularly harrowing spaceflight, however, Kyomi found herself clutching her amulet and praying to Desna for safe passage. Through what could only be described as miraculous luck, she made it through the ordeal relatively unscathed. This led to a reflection of her life and, from that moment, she found herself a true believer of the faith of Desna, believing that the goddess had watched over her since she had been hidden in that ship's shrine, and encouraged her to follow her hopes and dreams, via her dreams. This encouraged her to investigate the amulet further and begin to dabble in Technomancy to both enhance her natural magical abilities, and be able to tap into the spell encoded into the amulet's lattice, the same spell that saved her life when she was a child.

Although content with her life, she wanted more than to work the dockyards and do jobs for Lhana, and dreams of travel and exciting new worlds and experiences filled her dreams each night - and after meeting a member of the Starfinder Society during a shuttle run, Kyomi decided to take him up on his offer of membership in the Starfinder Society, hoping to scratch the itch to travel amongst the stars and see many exciting new starships.

Personality

Kyomi was once described as being "like a hamster on coffee" and she admits to being somewhat hyperactive. She finds it hard to just sit back and relax and do nothing. Even her relaxing activities tend to be things such as dancing, playing video games, or gymnastics. She loves doing things and being active, simply for it's own pleasure. Piloting is her first love - be it terrestrial vehicles or starships, she is happiest when she is behind the proverbial wheel, especially when going at unsafe speeds. She can sometimes appear to be somewhat contradictory, for example she hates violence, but loves laser-tag and similar faux-combat, and violent video games always have her laughing in glee. Ultimately, it is not so much that she must be active, rather that she is a naturally very active thrill-seeker who finds it hard to resist doing things that she thinks would be fun, even (and especially) if those things might be quite risky. She isn't foolhardy, but she is somewhat of an adrenaline junkie and hedonist, albeit a good-natured one.

Her desire to remain in constant motion can be problematic, however. Although she can be patient when she needs to, she has a natural wanderlust that is only further enhanced by her religious beliefs. A strong desire to travel, meet new people and races, and see new sights, means that she gets restless and angsty if she remains in the same place for too long. A place with a lot of new things to do would entertain her longer but, once she has seen everything she feels interests her/there is to see, she quickly gets restless and wants to move on to someplace else. Even if there is still much more for her to see, it is common for her to express the desire to go somewhere else, even if they then return later on. She simply doesn't like staying in one planet, space station, or settlement for more than a few days without getting restless.

She has shown an aversion to dogs and similar canines, or canine-like species. She claims there is an instinctual racial animosity and fear for dogs buried deep within her and that, although she does not harbour this animosity personally, it is a practical wariness. For some reason, there is a uniqueness to her natural scent - a mild scent of cherry blossoms that most humans would only detect by sniffing her up close, and would assume is perfume, hair shampoo or other product. Canines, however, as well as other beings with similarly powerful sense of scent, can easily detect the uniqueness of this scent as standing out amongst others in its uniqueness. This can actually give her away when she is trying to immitate others, and especially for those who have encountered her kind before, who can use this to quickly identify her true race or that "she does not smell like a human." As such, she has a natural self-preservation aversion instinct towards dogs (that typically bark at her if untrained, and trained dogs often react to her much like security dogs would to detecting someone smuggling contraband) and others with these senses. This wariness only applies to those she does not know when she is trying to pretend to be human, or be stealthy. Amongst friends, who typically quickly learn her true race, she has no such aversion as there is no need for her to be wary. In fact, amongst such allies the uniqueness of her scent could even be a benefit, as it would allow them to locate her with greater ease if there was a need.

Overall, Kyomi is good-natured and fun-loving. She strongly appreciates all kinds of art and music, especially dance, and it is one of the few ways to see her actually remain still and be calm for extended periods. She can literally get lost in art or music with her appreciation. Play a beautiful melody, and it is rare to not end up with Kyomi prancing around like a prima ballerina. She is incredibly cunning and mischievous, however. She loves jokes, especially witty ones, sarcasm, witty reparte, and intricate and overly complicated plots and jokes. She has been known to spend weeks building up a network of white lies and events that ultimately reveal in a "gotcha" moment of a joke or prank. They are almost always harmless in nature, although the victim of the prank may not feel that way if they find themselves "affectionately humiliated" in front of their laughing peers. Against enemies, these jokes may take a more serious and darker twist. An explosive device set us a boobytrap is likely to display a "Happy birthday, enjoy your present!" message just before it goes bang, leave some other self-amusing statement, or be done in a way that amuses her. She doesn't usually do these jokes when doing something she knows will kill. She dislikes violence but understands the necessity, but she doesn't (usually) make a joke out of it.

Other Notes: Magical Abilities

Kyomi has the natural magical abilities common to all Kitsune - the ability to create dancing lights and do minor magical feats (what spellcasters refer to as the "Token Spell"). She has dabbled into tapping into this innate magical ability via technomancy just enough to allow her to be able to use the spell amulet that saved her life as a child, the closest thing she has to a family heirloom. Though she certainly has the potential, she does not have the interest in developing her technomancy further, and "true" technomancers are often dismayed at her casual (some would say disrespectful) way of employing her magical abilities.

She generally uses her limited magical abilities and spells for personal entertainment or grooming - such as using the Token Spell cantrip to clean her clothing and equipment, make her food or beverages warmer or taste different (or play a prank on friends and make theirs cold or taste odd) and the Wardrobe Change cantrip to transmute her limited selection of clothing so frequently that it seems like she has an infinite and ever-changing collection of clothing that she hardly ever wears twice; as well as changing her hairstyle, length, and colour. She also has the ability to render small items temporarily invisible. Although this invisibility does not last long, she can re-apply it as often as she likes. She frequently employs this ability to help her steal things in plain sight (with no-one seeing her walking away with it) or to make her own weapons or other items invisible to smuggle in/out of disallowed areas.

She is also known to frivolously abuse the Unseen Servant spell. Mostly, she uses it as a form of personal butler, maid, and personal groomer. It frequently carries and fetches things for her, does cleaning and sorting for her, and other chores she rarely feels like doing herself. She has been known to creatively employ it in combat and for stealth, however, such as using it to cause a momentary distraction so she can swipe something or infiltrate an area.

Combat Style

Kyomi dislikes violence and would generally attempt to avoid combat if possible - although she does enjoy starship/vehicular combat (some would say too much) as she is a bit of an adrenaline junkie. A natural high agility combined with lifetime of sneaking, thievery, junkracing, and piloting combat starships has led to very accurate and speedy reflexes and hand-eye coordination. This makes Kyomi a naturally good shot, and she has specialised in using sniper rifles, in particular. Her rifle of choice is a coil rifle - it may not be the most damaging sniper rifle out there but Kyomi favours it because it has a much higher fire rate than most sniper rifles, meaning she uses it much like if it was a longarm, albeit with a smaller clip in exchange for longer range and lack of automatic/burst fire. This weapon has proven effective in fairly close quarters as well as when she has taken position as a sniper (both for stealth or tactical gain). She prefers to "fire less, hit more" overall, reducing her fire rate to spend more time aiming to have better chance of striking her target, and inflicting more damage. She doesn't like hurting others, so prefers to try to take opponent out quickly - seeing it as a type of mercy. Even if not sniping, she prefers to keep her distance from opponents, remain behind cover, and fire for effect.

She carries a small arm but hardly ever uses it. It is used typically only in situations where use of a large, two-handed rifle would be impractical, or when she is not able to take her rifle with her (such as security measures in many places which often allow only small arms as a sidearm, but not larger weapons). Contrary to her use with the rifle, she is more likely to use rapid shooting with less aiming and accuracy with her small arm - typically as the situation tends to favour the necessity.

What tends to surprise many people is that Kyomi is a well-trained martial artist in ancient Golarian Tian styles. Whilst she prefers using her sniper rifle at a distance, more than one opponent has been surprised when they move into melee range, or have picked a bar fight with her just to have the little redhead hand them their asses with a swift punch in the nads and a kick in the face. She literally knows pressure and critical points of the body and can use martial arts moves to strike accurately at them, being able to find chinks in people's armour and kill or disable them with accurate strikes.

When not able to shoot from behind cover, Kyomi prefers to stay fast and mobile, relying on her acrobatics skill and speed to flit around the battlefield, making herself a tricky target whilst helping her allies in the best way she feels, often by moving into flanking positions. She is a natural risk-taker, and in combat can sometimes expose her flank in her aim to get into good positions to take out a target, relying on her speed to avoid hits or her allies to cover her back.

Social Style

Kyomi is very easy to get along with. Quite extrovert, attention-seeking, and fun-loving, anyone who isn't a complete bore and enjoys having a fun time, especially being involved in madcap activities, and/or appreciates jokes and pranks, will naturally find it easy to befriend her. She is naturally friendly and polite to everyone (including and especially to sour-faced guards) and tries to avoid conflicts, preferring to simply walk away from uncomfortable situations or when things turn ugly. At worst, she will be (relatively) quiet and respectful around those she dislikes but has to tolerate/work with, and hyper and friendly with anyone who reciprocates.

Having said, actually getting close to her is not as easy. She tends to move around a lot and so typically doesn't make deep roots. She has a lot of friendly acquaintances all over the place, but few good friends. She typically becomes quite close to a couple (or up to a handful) of people in a crew that she signs on with, but rarely stays long enough to form deep connections to most of them. This has been mostly a matter of circumstance - as to date she has been mostly doing short-duration freelance jobs with different crews, rather than a long-term job with a fixed crew - combined with her wanderlust. If she was to remain with one group for an extended duration, she would likely end up becoming close friends with anyone who simply "lets her in" and makes the effort. Ultimately, to get close to her they simply need to accept her for who she is, and show they care and are willing to be as loyal to her as she would be to them. Whilst her promising to do something has virtually no weight and will be kept only as long as it suits her, her heart is kind and well-meaning and she is fiercely loyal to and protective of her friends, quite literally willing to put herself in the line of fire for them. But if this feeling of loyalty does not appear to be reciprocated, it is common to see her feeling hurt and quickly distancing herself (typically by moving on to another job and crew).

A lifetime of self-sufficiency and independence as the only member of her race in a heavily-populated location, raised on the streets and orphanages learning to cope by herself, with her only mother-figure being a criminal underworld boss, she simply does not really know what it is to have strong connections or family; and would find making these as confusing and scary as she would exciting and endearing.

Signature Equipment

Armour & Weapons

• D-Suit I: a form-fitting white jumpsuit worn under blue-white reinforced breeches, heavy boots, and a thick jacket. Upgraded with descent thrusters to protect her from falling from great heights.
• Coil Rifle, Specialist: a rapid-firing sniper rifle using magnetic coils to hyper-accelerate ammunition to great velocity. Accessories with a light bipod for sniping stability, as well as a sniper scope for accuracy. Has a Trailblazing fusion to negate penalties and miss chance from environmental conditions, and a seeking fusion to enhance ability to hit targets behind cover.
• Ember Pistol, Truth-sequence: a semi-automatic pistol that heats up ammunition on firing, which cauterises wounds on impact, with a chance to cause burn damage.
• Knife, Survival: a simple knife kept in a boot holster, intended more for utility and survival use than as a weapon.

Augments

• Flip Glands: These expanded cochlear implants orient Kyomi's equilibrium to zero-gravity conditions; their name is derived from the enhancements’ popularity among extreme-sport athletes.
• Lightvision Shades: A pair of hardlight transmitters embedded into Kyomi's head create a stylish set of sunglasses when activated, the style of which she can alter when she activates. While active, they provide resistance to the effects of bright lights and blinding effects.
• Personal Upgrade, Mk 1 Ability Crystal: Kyomi meditated using magical ability crystals, permanently enhancing her hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
• Sneaky Graft: Soft magical sound-suppressing pads installed in the soles of Kyomi's feet make her stealthier. The sound suppression both makes her more silent while moving and reduces the sound made by weapons whilst sniping.
• Vocal Modulator: Kyomi's throat has been equipped with a series of miniature actuators built specifically to reshape her voice box, along with miniature hyper-resonant chambers that dynamically close or open. This allows her to change the pitch, timbre, and tone of her voice. As a result, Kyomi can more easily imitate accents or pronounce alien languages, and aids her when she disguises herself.
• Void Flyer Graft: This augmentation allows Kyomi to go one hour a day without breathing while also ignoring the harmful effects of a vacuum. When in a vacuum, she automatically grows a pair of sparkly blue butterfly wings made from pure energy, granting her a the ability to fly in vacuum. They do not function in atmosphere.

Magic Items

• Reckless Gloves: A set of gloves that enhances Kyomi's ability to pilot vehicles and starships recklessly, such as when ramming or colliding with other vehicles.
• Spell Amulet, 1st: The magical amulet found on Kyomi as a child that saved her life, this amulet has stored the data for the Life Bubble spell. Kyomi (or any spellcaster with the ability) can use her limited magical ability to recharge the magic in the amulet, allowing her to cast this spell, although she does not actually have the ability to cast this spell herself.

Technological Items

• Crash Pad: A popular safety accessory for stunt performers, competitive climbers, and others who regularly risk falling or sustaining high-impact injuries, a crash pad is a rectangular packet of polyfluid worn on a belt or clipped to armor. A built-in altimeter can be set to customize the distance fallen before the crash pad activates, but it defaults to 15 feet. Further, an included accelerometer can be set to account for any acceleration that could prove harmful to a wearer. When Kyomi would fall or suffer an impact from her body being moved through space, such as in a vehicle collision, the crash pad activates, flash manufacturing ablative, protective foam and surrounding her with it, reducing the potential impact damage taken.
• Tool Kit, Astrogator: These navigation tools aid Kyomi in both navigating vehicles whilst planet-side, and astrogating starships in space.

Other Items

• Book, The Eight Scrolls: The Holy text of the faith of the Song of the Spheres. These writings detail Desna's early days and the basic edicts of her faith.

Signature Quotes

• "We are all different but there's something kind of FANTASTIC about that, isn't there?"
• "Clever as a devil… and twice as pretty!"
• "I'm a mote in the Void, watch how I sail!"

Gallery

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  Kyomi in her "tailless form"

• 

  Kyomi in her true form

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