Bakuzan Burlycloud

[...] see I know I'm blessed celestially

got a direct link with destiny

- Jamiroquai, 'Soul Education'

Bakuzan Burlycloud -- "...a'th'Stoneplow Burlyclouds, Trade Baron a'tha Four Winds" -- former Tillers' Union Chair for Export, Trade and Tourism, former Grand Alliance Supplier, former Witchberry magnate, Former Trade Baron of the Four Winds Trade Company, accomplished chef and caterer and now living proto-plant being/geomancer in training -- is an Alliance-aligned Mainland "Plantdaren" hailing from Stoneplow in the Valley of the Four Winds.

This page is a work in progress in perpetuity as of patch 7.2.

General History
Pandaren are known for their generosity, but the Burlycloud family is the rare exception. Warring brothers divided their farmlands between growing hops and barley or tobacco - relatively unused before the Mists parted in anything except ceremonies - and their infighting, mismanagement and poor treatment of their farmhands had driven a lot of the ancestors of other Valley residents away in disgust. During her cubhood, Baku had mostly kept to her own family at the insistence of their stubborn hatred, so she wouldn't know many Pandaren family names offhandedly. Eventually, the Burlycloud infighting drove their line to near starvation in their isolation, and an arranged marriage between the Burlyclouds and Shinebarrels' youngest cubs in order to merge the family lands and businesses was the only financial solution that in their desperation could piece together. When the Mists parted and the Mantid swarmed the Serpent's Spine at the insane Empress Shek'zeer's command, the rural village of Stoneplow was the first and last line of defense for the unprepared Valley. A nearby Shado-Pan regiment moved quickly to evacuate its residents, but Bakuzan's family were both too close to the initial crack in the Wall and much too stubborn to leave their precious farmland. Bakuzan herself paid a heavy price for this; in the midst of the chaos her mother was attacked and carried off by a Mantid footsoldier. Baku was defenseless to help - she grabbed onto the Mantid's leg and tried to free her mother, but was heavily injured in the attempt. The foul creature swung down at her with one of its kyparite weapons and struck her in the face, knocking her hard back down to the ground from the altitude they'd reached. Bakuzan then blacked out, and when she woke up, she was alone in Halfhill with no recollection of how she arrived. Her superficial wounds eventually healed over with minimal scarring, but her eye had been irreparably damaged - for all appearances and purposes, the socket in her eye had healed over with a large chunk of Kyparite lodged within in place of a functional eye.

Bakuzan was instructed to stay in Halfhill until the Mantid were cleared out, and was eventually hired on as a farmhand for the Tillers to earn her keep when it became clear to the Mudclaws that such a thing wasn't going to happen so easily. After some-odd years of working in Halfhill, word spread that Shunryu Shinebarrel, her arranged future husband, had been seen alive in the mountains of Kun-Lai and was soon making his way back to the Valley.



Bakuzan starkly objected to this reunion, and thanks to a hasty retreat facilitated through the timely arrival of a travelling Alliance merchant ship, Bakuzan stowed away and ended up alone in Stormwind's massive shipyard. Enamored by this new land, she joined up with the races of the Alliance, registering as a citizen of Stormwind and setting out to make her own fortune.

Baku made a name for herself upon arriving in Stormwind working as a 'meatshield for hire'; a cubhood spent building her hardiness up on the farm has toughened her skin and strengthened her muscles, and she took great pleasure in using her abilities to earn a few coins for a round of brews. Bakuzan never had lofty goals to become a famous adventurer, or a respected commander, or even a well traveled explorer; she ended up being just the right person at the right time for when she was needed. Her initial dream of becoming a Stormwind Guard nearly had the Pandaren laughed out of the city gates; only after turning to wearing false sets of armor and narrowly avoiding arrest for impersonation of an officer did Bakuzan finally wise up and look for more profitable business ventures elsewhere. Bakuzan eventually returned to her oft-rejected roots, and spent most of her time either working on her humble farm growing cabbages and witchberries in the Heartland of the Valley of Four Winds, hovering around Stormwind harassing the citizenry, filing paperwork for her Company or furthering her odd druidic-esque method of plant manipulation.

Using her clout as a Tillers Council member, earned through tireless dedication towards promoting the Pandaren culture, Bakuzan funded a small start-up after the events of the Tanaan Jungle invasion. Known as the Four Winds Trade Company, Baku seeks to form supply chains and deliveries to the front lines of Alliance battles in order to aid the war effort (and make quick coin while she's at it, by picking up side jobs and odd contracts from unorthodox clientele).

Since the formation of the Light's Accord, Bakuzan took her Trade Baron title very seriously - ramping up employment, securing further trade routes and stockpiling goods for barter and vendor. She intersperses her long days with visits to the Ox Temple in the Townlong Steppes, meditating to ask for much-needed fortitude.

Everything changed when the Legion invaded - the Winds were scattered quite literally when their trade routes and the majority of their clientele were destroyed in the wake of the Legion's advance. Bakuzan herself retreated to the safety of the Valley to cope with the ever-encroaching death bloom that threatened her life with each passing day.

Present Day
Denizens of Stormwind that have interacted with one Bakuzan Burlycloud/Ironhide/Brokenarrow in the past may have heard fleeting rumors of what happened to the former Four Winds Trade Company's storied 'Trade Baron', who seems to have disappeared without a trace during Azeroth's most dire hour.

The Botani bloom that had been rooted into her back for so long had finally taken over her fragile form, despite valiant years of battling against its impeding influence. In the last vestiges of her consciousness, the once-'plantdaren' directed the thrashing roots and bark inwards to instead encase her form in a cocoon of hardened steel-like wood and blooms - rendering her inert and immobile, trapped in a stasis of her own design and granting her a respite from the fate that befell so many in the wilds of Gorgrond.



This did not save her corporeal body from being wholly consumed by the twisting bloom in its twilight, however. Nothing escapes the snarled tethers of the Botani, even far beyond the reach of their homeworld - Bakuzan being no exception. Instead of becoming a zombified hulking mass, however, a selfless sacrifice was made.

The being once known as Bakuzan had instead consumed itself, starving the bloom of further feeding and manifesting wholly as a bent, yet unbroken, blooming tree in the backyard of the farm that she worked so hard to earn. Occasionally her farmhands, still in residual employ from loyalties and remnants of the Winds' coffers, tended to her inert form, but as the months passed, their loyalties waned, until the former Trade Baron was left alone to waft in the breezes of the Valley.

Conflicting stories circulated about those that visited 'Bakuzan', or rather, what she had become. A hopeful few had reported errant twitches of leaves or branches when they visited, in what could be construed as a recognition of those she once interacted with. Nobody knows what transpired betwen the time Bakuzan rooted herself into the earth for presumably the last time and the moment she 'awoke' from her stupor - a singular eye opening to examine the earth around her, one once framed by a titanium-cobalt prosthetic that was quickly plucked to make way for an iris that glowed iridescent, not unlike lichfire - hollow and empty like the socket that had formed around the metal, allowing the dancing light to swivel upwards towards Argus' shadow.

Uprooting herself from her sequestered exile, Bakuzan set out with trepidation to see what had become of her beloved Azeroth in the interim...

Appearances:

 * Invasion of Tanaan [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Tournament of Ages [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Army of the Truthful campaign [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Alexei's Trial [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Formation of the Light's Accord [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Honnoji's Return [ 625 K.C. ]
 * Reclamation of the Blasted Lands [ 35 L.C. ]

Bakuzan and the Strange Case of the Kyparite Eye
Bakuzan did not walk away unscathed from the initial swarm on Stoneplow - she sustained injuries to her face when she was struck by a Kyparite weapon, wielded by a Mantid footsoldier, as it was carrying off Baku's mother. The physical damages all but healed, except, strangely, her eye and the dead skin around it. For all intents and purposes, it appeared as though it'd been outright replaced with a Kyparite replica. For years, Bakuzan's left eye was a point of contention among her own kind and a curiosity for people who don't know her history. When confronted or mocked about it, there was no hesitation from the Pandaren in proving its functionality and uniqueness.

When looking at Baku from a distance, it almost looked as though her eye had been completely replaced with a false glass mock-up; fully functional despite its discoloration, Bakuzan never had issues with vision until overexertion and damage to it caused it to crack and splinter outward. After Company-related events in Uldum, her eye was damaged and subsequently repaired, but it appeared that its previous ability to unconsciously shield Bakuzan from harm with a spontaneous Kyparite shield when necessary had dissipated.

Prior : Leaving the Whole World Blind
During the climax of an event in aiding a druid of Highguard, Bakuzan took a particularly nasty swipe from a saronite-plated undead wyrm, knocking her silly and finally fracturing her eye into irreparable shards - lost to the dry, dead earth of the Plaguelands forever. Coldmaul, a Draenei Artificer and member of the Ebon Blade, has arranged a deal with Bakuzan to replace the eye with a prosthetic - a Titanium/Cobalt apparatus, connected to the nerves in her brain, engineered and enchanted to allow her unhindered sight. This has been perfomed in exchange for compensated repairs to his trading vessels in all Jade Forest and Krasarang ports, along with a not-so-modest gold payment plan.

Present Day:
Bakuzan's new form presents itself as an oddity - instead of her left eye missing and her right eye present, it's now her right eye that has gone blind, in a sense; while it normally resides in her left eye, she has a singular pupil that shifts from socket to socket depending on which direction she's facing. It's quite eerie to view the eye sliding from one side of her face to the other, and quite telling if she's glancing at something else behind her target's back. The eye glows with inner energies of the spirit world - whether it's chi or something to be desired is something only time can tell.

Bakuzan's Appearance
Since becoming encased in the dead remnants of the Botani bloom that once rooted itself into her spine, the topiary that had jutted only from her shoulders akin to a pair of spaulders has overtaken her entire body, rendering it encased fully in pulpy, moss-flecked wood.

Much like a pupating butterfly mulches itself into a goopy mess before it emerges from its cocoon, Bakuzan has broken free of the casing around her body to reveal a furless body resembling that of a solidly crafted oaken form, lined with saplings, blooms and sheaves of bark - that is to say, she's rendered entirely out of timber; no living soft tissue remains, only wood, branch and bloom alike.

''Knowing the undue duress it would cause the majority of Stormwind's more nature-oriented denizens, from harvest witches to the Kaldorei, Bakuzan has wisely elected to keep her new visage under wraps - taking great care to ensure that every inch of her is covered in leathers, cloth, platemail or bone - to discourage any passersby from attempting to question her origin. Not many survivors and veterans of the Draenor incursion were pleased with the results of the Botani's handiwork in Gorgrond, and Bakuzan is not aiming to be next in their crosshairs.''

Bakuzan has a well-built frame under deceiving layers of moss, grass, leather and bone, but carries the same shape as is expected for a Pandaren in her station; with her new musculature, she doesn't have abnormal Herculean strength, but she's lifted more than a few barrels in her time, so chucking around Human-sized miscreants isn't difficult for her at all. Her body outright is - unorthodox from other Pandaren, being made entirely out of wood, plants and other natural detritus. Her chest cavity appears to be hollow, while her limbs are solid wood, bracing her body for the rigors of healing and combat. Her heart-shaped face, once plump and squished while organic tissue and fur, has thinned out considerably; cheekbones noticeably jut outwards from her gaunt visage. Still peppered with large but non-obtrusive fuzzy eyebrows, mostly moss-coated, her eye sockets are completely hollow save for one iridescent iris that seems to shift sockets depending on which way she's looking. There are varying gouge-marks in the wood and moss that make up her face, scars that formed around her body's remaking that didn't quite grow back in.

She has wispy brown and shock-white hair on her head that has grown abnormally fast and long, tinged green with moss and pollen, more often than not pinned up strategically out of the way, adorned with well-worn but cared-for ornaments. Bakuzan also carries the Tillers Union dual-scythe insignia branded on her right shoulder along with a small lotus under her left collarbone; these are often hidden by leafy fronds draped carelessly over her collarbones. Since 'regrowing' her body, these tattoos still appear as burnt-in marks underneath a primary layer of moss-like fur. Bakuzan's hands have been replaced with solid, yet springy branches. These appendages look like something out of a druid's fever dream - instead of thickened singular branches that might seem as a point of weakness if easily broken, her hands appear to be woven together from innumerable wicker-like switches that work together to function in tandem as individual fingers. She's seen walking with a relaxed, sauntering gait, often swinging her arms in rhythm and occasionally near-tripping on some microscopic obstacle. Her steps are heavy and wooden, as to be expected, solid and noisy - incapable of sneaking about on tip-claw.

The bloom that once commandeered her entire upper torso has since withered away into a massive tree-stump-like appendage that is barren of any green life and health whatsoever; appearing more like an overgrown wart, beling the cancerous tumor that it is with its harmless-looking shape, reminiscent of unpeeled ginger. Bakuzan has tried and failed in a Stockholm-Syndrome afflicted manner to revive this bloom, but it remains inert and dead upon her back since her reformation and subsequent rebirth. Harvest-witches, druids and other beings attuned to Azeroth's and Draenor's life cycles may take notice of the bloom and react accordingly.

Faint scars, lined patches where fur won't grow back in, are traced upwards across her ribcage and small chest in a semi-circle, leading down the center of Bakuzan's midsection and ending abruptly above her belt line; the shape is akin to a question mark curving around her torso. There are more of the same along her upper arms that she'll typically hide with some form of gauze or undershirt, even in blistering-hot weather. She appears to be self-conscious of them, and won't talk about their origin. Another thick gash has been added to the scar pile; a thick, triangular stab wound, indicative even of a serrated blade, rests in the center of the question-mark scar - on her back is an exit wound resembling the same. These gashes have remained since Bakuzan's reformation, hints and keys to memories long since passed. Bakuzan is often found wearing varying degrees of loosely-fitting light leather armor, dyed in varying colors, riveted and tanned to withstand the rigors of tedious farmwork; most recently she proudly displays the colors of the Tillers Union. She has numerous tiny bottles and pouches strapped to one of two belts she always wears in the old Pandaren Brewmaster tradition - filled with esoteric cooking ingredients, poison cures, seeds, jugs of tea and bags of rich Valley soil.

Because of her earthen body, Baku smells faintly of fresh-cut oak, petrichor and cut grass at all times. Her voice carries with an echoing, haunted gravel. She speaks with a very heavy Valley of the Four Winds slur that intensifies based on mood, and is often a point of ridicule or note by those listening.

First Breath of the Four Winds
Upon Bakuzan's pilgrimage to Stoneplow, she was horrified to find her family homestead and its acres had been burned to the ground. After an untold time of kneeling in the blackened dirt, she picked herself up to realize that the areas around the small village were littered with remnants of Alliance and Horde armaments alike. Bakuzan then had a moment of brevity - the Alliance had attempted to aid her people ever since their untimely introduction on the Wandering Isle, going so far as to lay down their lives to amend the Sha situation they had unwittingly aided in unleashing. What had she done for them since arriving in Stormwind, other than sit on lightpoles and heckle passerby?

Nothing. Becoming a Stormwind Guard was a hopeless pipe dream; a waste of time - a farce, really. Bakuzan rose off the ground and dusted herself off. After mindlessly sifting through the rubble of her house, she finally retrieved an old shovel - the only thing she took from the wreckage - and set off towards the temple of the Black Ox, Niuzao, for meditation and self-reflection.

Upon arriving, Baku noticed the meager rations of the monks in training. They looked barren and bland; plain harvests from the Valley - brews, noodles, roasted fish, the occasional broth - but it filled up the trainees as if they were eating an entire banquet. That's when it hit her; Baku's way to aid the Alliance. Cooking for a handful of friends was one thing. Supplying meals to an entire army was definitely another. The disciples of Niuzao had given her many saying to reflect on during her stay in the temple; the saying that stood out the most hit Baku the hardest, as it spoke to her repressed feelings concerning her family's death -

 ' To fight out of fear or anger is to fight a war that never ends.'



Bakuzan could not continue to fight a war alone that had long since been over. The Mantid were all but wiped out; their Empress and murderous Klaxxi, deposed. There was no other way for Baku to move but forward; the path that lay ahead was one that she had tentatively stepped onto some time before - in service to the Grand Alliance that had so easily welcomed her in as one of their own.

After a period spent in meditation, Baku left the temple and headed for the first portal back to Stormwind. She had work to do. Many sleepless nights passed, and Bakuzan perfected, of all things, an instant noodle ration that Alliance infantry could keep with them for sustenance during long campaigns. Sure, a mage can magically conjure food with the Arcane arts, but nothing like what the Pandaren are capable of cooking - chiefly when its ingredients are enriched by Valley soil and Vale waters. When tested with late-night patrolling members of the Stormwind Guard, the meal was a resounding success - using the kit provided the 'customer' with a piping hot bowl of nutritious and filling noodles. The profit of these instant meals, in addition to the funding provided by the Tillers' Union and Bakuzan's witchberry near-monopoly, have aided in funding the Four Winds Trade Company operations. Bakuzan's instant meals continued to be produced at a local level in the Jade Forest and shipped out to Alliance encampments all across Azeroth; primarily in the Ashran territories, where they were a local favorite with Pandaren conscripts (for obvious reason). Her Company had slowly but surely grown to be a bloated behemoth of for-hire foolishness, known around the Eastern Kingdoms and beyond for their admittedly unorthodox successes in trade, supply and sellswordery. Bakuzan's stint as Trade Baron - a moniker lifted from the Goblin hierarchy with abounding affectations, thanks to puns regarding her species - had been monetarily successful, if not physically taxing on the young Baron. Bakuzan herded her employees much as a mother duck herds her ducklings; out of the safety of a still pond, and directly into a storm drain, whereupon she puffs up and shouts until the situation is righted by well-meaning allies.

The Legion's Advance
The Four Winds, to put it succinctly, had folded into the High Elven sect of Dalaran - the Silver Covenant's Highguard - in an attempt to keep the business afloat after many failed joint ventures and bad business investments. The Winds' new department, known then as Acquisitions, eventually caved - Bakuzan herself having vanished with nary a trace after the merger, citing a growing sickness and a need to manage the Botani-oriented bloom that infected her form. Without the boisterous Plantdaren acting as an anchor to balance out the madcap antics of the Winds in comparison to the rigorous aptitude of the High Elves, Acquisitions eventually parted ways with the Covenant and dispersed - ending the Winds' chapter, scattering them like their namesake.

The Four Winds have since disbanded following the 'death' of its fearless leader. Since her return, Bakuzan seems content in her new role as a  treespeaker, voice of the bark and branch, and does not appear to have any desire to return to the hustle and bustle life of a Trade Baron.

Romance / Relationships
Bakuzan's 'death' and subsequent rebirth into the avatar state that she currently inhabits renders her inadequate to being in a relationship with - well, anyone. She prefers solitude with nature at this point in her life, alone in the Valley while her non-romantic life partner Wey adventures and pandads about. Below is a record of her romantic pursuits, some infamous, some unknown to all but the reciprocator.

Wey-chung Brokenarrow
Bakuzan had most recently been seen with one Wey-Chung Brokenarrow, having hired him on during the LC36 Tournament of Ages as a pseudo-punitive position of booth guard and accidental attendant. He's since paused his training and oath-taking with the Shado Pan, claiming a needed break to join the ranks of the Company, in order to see the explore, see the world and partake in madcap antics and death-defying ventures. He followed Bakuzan's exodus from her own company and ventures into dealings with the Highguard, and then onwards from there - sharing their humble home in the Valley of the Four Winds.

It was Wey that looked after Bakuzan when she underwent her transformative ritual into a tree once the botani bloom that sprouted from her back threatened to swallow her whole. He tended to her weeds and pruned branches, kept bugs away and kept her fertilized. His care is likely why she lived through the ordeal - in a manner of speaking, anyway.

Despite his tendencies to waggle his equally oversized eyebrows at everything with a pulse, Wey's background as a Mainlander from Stoneplow had cemented a reciprocated attraction between the two that has, as of Bakuzan's rebirth, since reverted to a deep friendship - he's not exactly down for dating a tree, and she's not feeling it - literally.

Barsos Ironhide
Bakuzan is estranged from and longer married to Barsos Ironhide, whose fervent loyalties to the Ebon Blade and the elimination of the Cult of the Damned drove an irreparable wedge between the pair.

The once-storied Dwarven Death Knight has since been presumed AWOL in his one-man crusade against the legions of the Scourge. As such, Bakuzan is carrying on without him, refiling Company paperwork and once-revoked business licenses in her maiden name.

The silver wedding band forged from his Ironforge dog tags remains upon her person, albeit in a different form - reforged into a lusterless, five petaled lotus pin akin to those given out to her employees, engraved with her name and rank as Trade Baron. It's been permanently affixed to the bark sheaves covering her right shoulder.

Alexei
Bakuzan had experienced woefully unrequited feelings for a Draenei from the alternate Draenor from the Te'Amun order that went by the name of Alexei. They met before he had fully committed to the order, and she aided in teaching him basic words in Common, with the added benefit of boosting her own strength in the language. As the days passed, Bakuzan grew more attached to the Draenei, but knew that due to his order, his species and his infinitely longer-lasting lifespan, he would - or could - never reciprocate in the same manner. After the Four Winds aided the Te'Amun with the Highguard's Silver Reaver, Bakuzan and Alexei had drifted even further apart - with him spending time with his adopted daughter and new mate, Raoling, while Bakuzan buckled down to focus on her Company - and budding relationship with Barsos Ironhide.

A series of events with the Iron Horde lead to Alexei's peaceful family life shattered - his daughter murdered and wife missing and presumed dead in their home of Eventide Landing. Alexei soon fell to fel corruption, leading to a party being sent for his apprehension and arrest. After a series of investigations and battles with morbid consequence, Alexei was arrested. He stood trial against the Te'Amun's fledgling triumverate, with Bakuzan acting as a judge of character and witness - and was finally sentenced to be stripped from all titles and honorifics, along with all but the basest contact with the Light. Alexei was placed under house arrest to be treated for his fel sickness, and spends his days quietly fishing and making a small living for himself under the watchful eye of the Te'Amun's Triumverate. It is unknown whether or not he will ever reappear in Bakuzan's life, finally purged of his demonic taint.

The Shinebarrel Family
Meanwhile, Bakuzan unfortunately does have an arranged-marriage partner, Shunryu Shinebarrel, that absolutely repulses her. Not much is known about the Shinebarrel family at present - only that they were once a prominent source for materials grown in the Valley and used for production of Pandaren brews. Their granary has been destroyed in the Mantid raid on Stoneplow, and their fortunes scattered to the wind along with their product, and the once-prideful, snobby family members were forced to live as beggars; like the Burlyclouds, the Shinebarrels were not gun-shy about creating enemies in higher places, and to this day not a soul in the Valley can say either family name without a grimace or, at best, a look of pity. The youngest Shinebarrel, Shiyu-Nei, was sent off to the Eastern Kingdoms to train up her innate skills in the Arcane. Sources say the slovenly Shunryu can often be found sleeping under the steps of any bar in Pandaria. So far he hasn't found Bakuzan, and she's personally trying her hardest to keep it that way.

Combat
Despite the casual assumptions she gets thanks to her species, Bakuzan is not a traditional monk; as a cub, she had no patience for their renowned meditation techniques or spirituality. She spent her childhood on a farm lifting heavy barrels, eating sparsely and fighting off virmen and other pests, toughening up her body with the rigors of farmwork. At best, her fighting style can be boiled down to a stubborn refusal to die, supplemented by naturally augmented accelerated healing abilities. She rarely brute-forces her opponents out with pure strength; instead, she toughs it out until she's worn them down, and her innate healing allows her to shrug off most blows that would incapacitate lesser humanoids - at the expense of pure offense, Bakuzan favors a spongy, tanking defensive style of combat, allowing herself to be hit to spare others in harm's way at the expense of not being very strong offensively. Despite Bakuzan's constant internal struggles to act as a responsible business owner and keep her rather raucous employees in line, she doesn't mind getting into spats when sufficiently irked - or inebriated - and won't hesitate to physically start a fight when incensed enough by way of insults to her species, her 'condition' or her allies. Since starting the Company, however, Bakuzan has taken to more of a backseat healing role; choosing to use her innate talents with plant life siphoning and redirection to aid her allies in battle instead of staying on the front lines. When all else fails, Baku can always rely on her trusty shovel to bash the heads in of foes that get too close - just like whacking Vermin on the farm back home. When the Pandaren is in prime form, her Dirtbringer is a force to be reckoned with. It stuck with her while she was rooted in the earth in her tree form - a bit rusted and worse for wear, it's still good for bashing brains in when necessary.

As far as her healing goes, think in the terms of a restoration-focused druid, drawing upon powers of nature for healing, but in a much more rough-and-tumble fashion. Unlike followers of Remulos, those whom may show restraint out of respect or empathy for its life, Bakuzan will not hesitate to physically pull the life forces out of a nearby plant if necessary to imbue her allies with life-saving energies. She views them as a means to an end; much in a fashion to be expected by a Tiller-by-birth, plants are grown to be used in meaningful ways, not merely fawned over or coddled.

Due to her upbringing in the Valley and subsequent work as a farmhand, Bakuzan is attuned to the natural energies that flow from both the Mists and the magically imbued Valley soil. Thanks to this, she has a special way with nearly all plants; more than just a green-thumb, she can 'understand' them, in a way; both to accelerate growth for her own gain, and to be used as siphons in healing batteries for others in dire situations. In addition, her resistance to and awareness of poisons and disease are greatly heightened to near-invulnerable rates. We're talking elephant tranquilizer dose sizes of poison or knockout materials to affect her.

Unfortunately, pride is still Baku's biggest downfall; when provoked she puts more into showmanship and bluffing than any actual combat, and due to lack of decent experience, odds are she'll trip or knock herself out first when sober. Despite said bravado and swaggering when finally pushed to violence, Bakuzan will never kill or seriously injure anyone she's in a fight with unless it's absolutely necessary for her own survival, or has no control of her faculties. She talks a mean game, but will absolutely not perform a killing blow unless she's backed into a corner, and often has to stop employees from doing so on her behalf.

Plant-daren
A laborious recovery from a failed assassination attempt - and subsequent overdose of an extremely potent anti-necrotic poison antidote, administered whilst half-buried in a pile of Draenor shaman-blessed earth and a Draenor Ancient's Death Bloom - grew Bakuzan's inherently occurring self-healing tendencies to an exponential degree.

During an attempt to administer an antidote to free her from a convulsion-inducing poison, Bakuzan thrashed her way into an overflowing work bench and crashed into a pot containing a Death Bloom, recently claimed from Gorgrond and kept in the Outpost's herb garden. As she lay on top of the upturned earth, the bloom, seeds and various saplings, all mashed together in a pile of plant detritus, bonded the plant matter's root system to her then-open wounds and aided in her healing process.

Since then, Bakuzan has been able to summon, regrow and mentally control thick green growths of tendril-like vines that effortlessly sprout from her own body, as well as having her aforementioned green thumb enhanced to heights unimagined - acting as a sort of 'plantspeaker' to botanical life across Azeroth and beyond.

These natural sprouts don't just appear to superficially be a part of the armaments the Pandaren wears on a daily basis, but are fully integrated into her form - often forcing her to show to the curious or suspicious the holes cut and stitched specifically through her leathers as a place for the vines to pass through unheeded. Thick sheaves of bark plating sprout outwards from her clavicles in jutting layers, leaving room for untold amounts of quickly-regenerating ropes of greenery to trail down and around her torso and ending in far-reaching and stable roots that wrap around her legs - easily adaptable to root Bakuzan to the ground to absorb excess nutrients from the soil or to provide stability when needed.

These same roots are, honestly, the most key to Bakuzan's odd method of plant-channeling - without their support, she is unable to tap into nearby plants and siphon life from them; as she's not a traditional Druid, gifted with the ability to gently direct precious healing from her surroundings, the sprouts from the influence of the Death Bloom act as a sort of siphoning and overriding system - enabling Bakuzan to quickly inhibit or encourage the growth of greenery around her in a pinch, by integrating her own roots with those of the host plant in question. As a whole, the vines proper act naturally as secondary and even tertiary sets of appendages, working with near-surgical precision when Bakuzan has full mental acuity to devote to such things. Bakuzan's taken to storing smaller trinkets, Winds-centric paperwork and more valuable things inside these growths, citing them as the safest place on her person. Additionally, the living plants sprouting from odd angles on the Pandaren appear to shift forms on Bakuzan's mood and situation; from fully sprouted forms of imitating native Azerothian plant life as camouflage when necessary; hardening into ironwood-shutter-like bark plating for protection when threatened; blooming cascades of multi-colored flowers when joyful or infatuated; even withering away when their host is despondent or physically ill.

Armaments
Bakuzan unearthed a shovel in the burnt ruins of her family's farmstead during her pilgrimage home; uncharred by the flames that took the small house, but still scuffed and worn from years of age, it's the only relic she was able to recover, and thus very important to her family's storied heritage. The underside of the handle is emblazoned with an ornate 'B'; the metal looks worn and rusted, and appears as if it would be extremely heavy to wield - but Baku is able to carry it as if it weighed nothing at all. If one were to look hard enough at the shovel's head and shaft, it glows an almost imperceptible green-white. Her best guess is decades of use in the nutritive Valley soil had imbued it to somehow never break or bend -- until Barsos Ironhide snapped it in two during an altercation in the Square.

With equal parts affection and guilt, her then-on-and-off again romantic interest repaired the broken shovel, reforging the once-noble farm implement into a tool of blackened horticultural destruction he since dubbed 'The Dirtbringer '. Made of thickly folded layers of pressed Titanium with an ironwood hilt, the spade has lost its green glow associated with the healthy farmlands of the Valley, but is infinitely more durable in terms of bashing baddies upside the noggin. In addition to her shovel and her vines, Bakuzan always keeps a floating Thalassian planter next to her as a 'battery' in areas where reliable, healthy flora is scarce. Gifted by a well-meaning Elven ambassador, the admittedly garish planter was passed around from Tiller to Tiller with oh, I couldn'ts and please, I insists - until it ended up in Bakuzan's care.

While trying to impress the Elves of the Highguard with their efforts in Tanaan Jungle, it ironically ended up with her in the cockpit of their Silver Reaver during her capture, and quite possibly saved her life in the toxic environment with its life-giving air filtering. Since being rescued, the planter is kept at a manageable distance at all times, serving as an emotional and physical ballast for Bakuzan. She draws from it when there's no healthy flora, keeps fresh Valley soil in the bowl to aid in growth and will channel bioenergies from it in order to patch up her allies.

Musical Influences
Keep these in mind if you're actively interacting with Bakuzan; they help set the mood in context!

- Soul Education by Jamiroquai -

[ Main Theme ]

http://tinyurl.com/blessedcelestially

- Kusanagi by ODESZA -

[ Main Arrangement ]

http://www.tinyurl.com/bakuzanstheme

- DND (Do Not Destroy) - No More Heroes OST -

[ Trade Baron Override ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3LFZSEcS6Y

- Happy Boy - Harrison -

[ General Purpose Joy ]

https://soundcloud.com/harrison_music/happy-boy

- Monokuma-Sensei's Lesson (Dangan Ronpa OST) -

[ Drunk Theme ]

http://tinyurl.com/bakuzansdrunkagain

- Sly Cooper & The Thievius Raccoonus - Piranha Lake -

[ Brawling Theme ]

http://tinyurl.com/piranhalake

- Pepper Steak (OFF Soundtrack) -

[ The Four Winds Are Up To Shenanigans Theme ]

http://tinyurl.com/bakuonpatrol