Aiko Kawaguchi is a mage of the Celestial Chorus.
Biography[]
A Monist, Aiko Kawaguchi began her religious life as a member of Omoto-kyo, a syncretic religious movement in Japan (See Dragons of the East, p. 37). A survivor of the Second World War, her life eerily mirrored that of Omoto-kyo's founder, Deguchi Nao. Like Nao, she grew up in abject poverty and suffered through the death of her children. Like Nao, the experience of losing them to an unexploded bomb while they were searching the ruins of Tokyo for things to sell drove her insane. It also Awakened her Avatar.
Guided by the voices of her son and daughter, she came to study the teachings of Nao's successor, Deguchi Onisaburo. She became his disciple for the last few years of his life, and she went on to promote Omoto-kyo after he died in 1948.
Onisaburo preached a doctrine that espoused one world religion and universal disarmament, which were attractive opinions for a woman who had lived in the shadow of war and devastation. Of course, he also preached that he was the messiah, the true Emperor of Japan and the natural leader of this universal church, but any doubts that this claim stirred were muted by the beauty of his message. She kept her own miracle-working capabilities a secret because she didn't want to undermine Onisaburo's message and attract followers, but she used healing prayers from time to time to help the poor. She gave special attention to children.
Despite the efforts of Kawaguchi and others, Omoto-kyo attracted only a few new adherents in the postwar era. Nonetheless, she did come to the attention of Michael Kawamori, a US Army Chaplain, interpreter and Singer. Kawamori detected a special intensity in the woman as he listened to her lectures on Omoto-kyo and, he followed her on her anonymous missions of mercy. Eventually, he inducted her into the Celestial Chorus and arranged to give her the means to travel and meet other followers of the One.
While the Ascension War intensified during the '60s, Kawaguchi argued for an immediate end to hostilities. At the time, this sentiment generated resentment in her fellow Singers, but eventually, a few of them started to appreciate her arguments. The Reckoning finally made people stand up and listen to the impassioned Adept. The tumultuous events of the time seemed like a vindication of everything she had said.
Recently, she's turned her manic energies away from the external matters, and she has set to work to unify the Chorus itself. More than a few choirs have felt put upon by her demands, but that feeling has been balanced by the lengths she'll go to help her fellow Choristers. Some Singers wonder if the amount of self-sacrifice she's willing to go through to unite the Tradition is a sign of some sort of messiah complex.
The fact of the matter is that her madness has never entirely ebbed. She's spent 64 years wishing that she could join her children, but they have forbidden her (through the guise of her Avatar) to commit suicide. Instead, she tries to destroy herself for the good of the Chorus, in the hope that the One will let her die in His service.
Appearance[]
Aiko Kawaguchi is a spry 90-year-old with wild white hair and emaciated features. She wears light blue dresses and an assortment of prayer necklaces from many cultures. She speaks Japanese, English, Sanskrit and Latin in a scratchy, high-pitched tone, alternating between long meditative pauses and rapid-fire statements that don't leave a single pause for interjection.
When she doesn't think anyone is looking, she whispers to her children.
Stats[]
Faction: Monist
Essence: Primordial
Nature: Martyr
Demeanor: Director
Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 5, Appearance 2, Perception 4, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Abilities: Academics (Comparative Theology) 4, Awareness 5 (Emanations of Children), Cosmology 4 (Shinto Realms), Enigmas 3, Etiquette 3, Investigation 2, Leadership 4 (Pleading), Linguistics 3, Medicine 3, Meditation 4 (Chanting), Occult 2, Streetwise 1
Backgrounds: Avatar 4, Destiny 4, Dream 3
Arete: 5
Spheres: Correspondence 4, Life 4, Mind 3, Prime 4, Spirit 3, Time 2
Willpower: 8
Quintessence: 8
Paradox: 2
Resonance: (Dynamic) Unifying, (Entropic) Selfless
References[]
- MTAs: Celestial Chorus Tradition Book, p. 69-71