Ostensibly a traveling student now separated from her mentor, but her surprising array of skills suggests something more. Her name is written 那磉, Nā Sǎng.
Appearance
Sang has long black hair usually worn in a tight bun held in place by one or more large pins/sticks. She has light green eyes and is a little darker of skin than most people from Bah Sing Se. Otherwise her appearance is highly unremarkable, almost to such a point that one would assume conscious effort on her part to achieve such a generic and unremarkable look. Like most people from the Earth Kingdom she dresses mostly in warm tans and browns with decorations of green or gold. Appropriate for her age and occupation she wears a simple traveling robe tied with a green ribbon/sash with light gold-colored embroidery. While she does wear small spectacles, especially when reading, careful observation suggests that they are fake.
Possessions
- 4 Zanzi, 1 rat-tail comb and 2 Pick-combs; ceramic but with concealed sharpened steel cores, the removable portion concealed with decorative engraving, can be used offensively as needles or stilletos and in the case of the pins and rat-tail comb are thin enough to be used in some lockpicking. Also carries a number of ordinary hairpins that can also be improvised for picking.
- 1 Traveling robe, formal dress, and traveling cloak; all three are reversible with different color/patterns on each side and are cut so that a minimal adjustment of pins and ties can produce multiple different styles of clothing both serving to quickly change appearance and to adjust to a range of social circumstances. All 3 also have a length of thin wire, several pins, and a lockpick, sewn somewhere inside of them.
- Make-up kit, small mirror, and brush; while also containing basic components of make-up the kit also contains some poisons (2 ingested and 1 injected/injury, 1 ingested is a hallucinogen and the other 2 are both tranquilizing) and a strong powdered acid, the brush has a hollow handle with a concealed space inside (currently empty).
- A folding fan with a weighted metal frame
- Folding box of "botanical samples;" the samples are genuine but contain an abnormally large number of toxic or medicinal plants
- A selection of scrolls and textbooks; all relate to the ostensible areas of study for Sang, being primarily literature, botany, and philosophy.
- Trail Pack; a backpack/satchel that contains basic items most people would find helpful when traveling, an eye for detail might reveal that the climbing gear, knife, and hatchet (with a pyrbar head) all seem more useful to someone attempting burglary than for someone doing a wilderness travel.
- Papers; Sang carries all the expected papers for a traveling student within the Earth Kingdom
- Notebooks, brush pens, an inkstone, and 10 inkblocks; while some notebooks are used for lessons and notes and one is used as a diary all of them do contain some coded notes or messages in Sang's shorthand, 4 of the inkblocks are actually poisons (needing only shaving and mixing with water to make them usable), 2 of them are tranquilizers, 1 is a paralytic, and 1 is hallucinogenic with each the tranquilizers being split into 1 ingested and one injury, the paralytic being injury based, and the hallucinogenic being ingested, the inkstone has a concealed chamber (currently empty).
- 3 Sashes (in 3 shades of green and gold); each sash has razor-edged metal links and a length of wire concealed by their fold and the embroidery to enable them to be used as weapons
- 2 Bracelets with ceramic decorations; the decorations are poisoning chambers designed to make it easy to conceal the release of their contents into food or drink.
Skills
- Sang is quite skilled at matters of stealth and security, she can move quietly and hide well, can climb and scale most buildings, and is highly proficient at picking locks and disarming traps
- She is also good at most of the social aspects, being reasonably good at deception and having a good grasp of most social graces
- As can be expected, given her cover, she's pretty knowledgeable about philosophy and literature
- More so than these she has a very sharp eye for plants and is well versed in their uses in medicine and poisons
- She has training in basic medicine and apothecary tasks, though the later is focused more on mixing useful compounds for espionage work
- Her memory is exceptional but not quite photographic
- While Sang and all of her peers are trained in a wide range of armed and unarmed combat; Sang is most proficient with small and light weapons (with the exception of being also proficient with a basic spear) and specifically specializes in use of needles, her fan, and the bladed sash.
- The fighting method they teach the students has its roots in the same fighting style as the Kyoshi Warriors, but the fans used have a heavier weight on their hinge and the style is more focused on defense and escape than on direct battle.
Background
Born to a small farming family near Bah Sing Se, Sang was orphaned at an early age by a fire that consumed her home. She was taken in and raised by the College of Pao Leng in Bah Sing Se. On the surface the collage is a charitable effort by the kingdom that takes in orphans and provides them with education and a proper upbringing. When they reach their senior years (the latter half of their education) they're often sent out with some of the teachers to learn in the field and see more of the world. After their education ends the youth are all guaranteed placement in a job with the government of the Earth Kingdom.
Sang specifically is a student only 4 years from graduation (14 years old) who was traveling along the northernmost towns of the Earth Kingdom with her mentor Ran Binong as part of a study on the indigenous plants in that area. Unfortunately they ran afoul of a Fire Nation patrol, Ran distracted them so that Sang could escape. She's since made her way along the coast trying to find a way around the Fire Nation forces to get back to Bah Sing Se.
However, in actuality the College of Pao Leng is a front run by the intelligence forces of the Earth Kingdom. It trains up the orphaned children as operatives to take advantage of the tendency for people to underestimate them as well as the believable cover story of traveling students and teachers. Sang was making contact with agents in the towns nearest the advancing Fire Nation and Sang is primarily returning to deliver their reports on the make up and organization of the forces in that area.
Personality
Sang's personality can seem mercurial or bipolar as she readily switches it as needed to maintain her cover. When presenting as an innocent student she comes across as shy and demure, being very polite and seeming extremely fragile. But when she's not playing a role she quickly become far more energetic and gregarious, viewing anyone she feels comfortable enough to drop the guise around as being a comrade and becomes reflexively friendly towards them. At times it seems there's a brittleness to this behavior that suggests even this might be some sort of cover.
Other interests
Sang sadly doesn't seem to have much in the way of other interests, she seems to be a wholly devoted student/agent and spends all her spare time working on her skills, equipment, or studies.