bakuzan
burlycloud.

prosopopoeia ❀ trade baron emeritus.

see you're mad
you can't delude
but there is no substitute
for intuition —
there's no superstition.

so if you find you're
ㅤpetrifiedㅤㅤ
to let some
ㅤnatural lawㅤ apply —
then there's a
whole lot missing.

see you know i'm blessed
ㅤcelestially.ㅤ
got a direct link with
ㅤㅤdestiny.ㅤㅤ

“i doп’т like тo вe like eveгyвody else," dolly said. “i would пeveг sтoop so low тo вe fasнioпaвle, тнaт’s тнe easiesт тнiпg iп тнe woгld тo do."
"i'м veгy гeal as faг as мy ouтlook oп life aпd тнe way i caгe aвouт people aпd тнe way i caгe aвouт мyself aпd тнe тнiпgs i caгe aвouт. [...] i aм suгe of мyself as a peгsoп. i aм suгe of мy тaleпт. i’м suгe of мy love foг life aпd тнaт soгт of тнiпg. i aм veгy coптeпт. i like тнe kiпd of peгsoп тнaт i aм.”

mighty fine vines.

Only in silhouette can one assume Bakuzan is a Pandaren, or was, once - lacking the healthy chubbiness and richly silken fur of her kin, her visible form is almost always entirely hidden under layers of leather and chainmail, no matter the climate or temperature.

Miniscule flowers, tendrils of vines and assorted greenery stubbornly manage to worm themselves out between slats in her armaments.

Most notably, she bears a pair of vine-rich, leafy growths starting between her shoulder blades, the sproutlings for which are layered out lazily across her collarbones and torso.

Multiple outcroppings of varying plants have taken root all over her, in fact; colossal sheaves of bark trail off into thick ropes of roots down her arms and up around her calves.

botani buddy.

Unless the observer has come into direct contact with 100% pure Botani™ in AU Draenor of Olde™, it's highly unlikely they'll recognize what is left of Baku's near-dead husk as a genesaur seed - referred to reverently by the Botani as a 'death bloom'.

Her entire body is wreathed in and formed inextricably from plant life mainly from Azeroth and beyond, sure, and she has sprawling vines on her shoulders and limbs, yes. But as far as the layman knows, she's just some weirdo farmer-shaman that's got way too green of a... thumb. Paw?

Druids would likely not be psyched to witness her command of - not cooperation with - plant life. Laughing Skull orcs would very likely immediately percieve her as a hostile threat. Seasoned Gorgrond veterans may steer cleer out of concern, and venerable Rangari might side-eye her out of principle.

mudmug mouthed.

Bakuzan speaks with an incredibly heavy Valley accent; more often than not, half her words are slurred or drawled out of place. Good thing she yammers enough to make up for the disparity.

Able to talk the bark off a tree stump, Baku will idly chitchat about nearly anything to nearly anyone at nearly any time.

out of date.

Baku's been happily sequestered away in Bumpkinville, Pandaria, for the last [REDACTED] year(s) — she'd lived in relatively calm cluelessness when it came to current events, and until recently, enjoyed it.

Then Primalists showed up and summoned elementals all over her farmstead. Seeing this as some kind of Ox-given sign, she took the initiative to see what else was missed out on during her short-lived retirement.

Topics like 'maw-walkers', 'a shattered sky', 'missing monarchs', 'deposed warchiefs', 'dragons and dragon-adjacents', 'Primalists' and 'another world tree' are lost on her.

'but botani mulch all of their victims.'

Baku was infected with Botani plant life, yes, but never by any of the spores or seeds that 'turned' the soldiers of the Horde and Alliance out in the swamps. She was infected by a death bloom, which, by all instances, references and quests in which it appears, does not corrupt and mulch the host.

ㅤ"When a champion like Dionor falls, a Death Bloom will grow from his husk.ㅤ ㅤI was to collect this Bloom and perform a sacred rite hereㅤ ㅤto release his life force back to the Overgrowth."ㅤ

A death bloom is a growth from a genesaur that manifests from its corpse when one is slain, and is part of a ritual sacred to the Botani that results in the genesaur's spirit returning to the Overgrowth.

ㅤ"Using birthing pools of potent nature energies,ㅤ ㅤthe botani are able to transfer the spirits of fallen genesaur into new bodies."ㅤ

In a character/guild storyline that took place during WoD, Bakuzan was infected with the bloom to try and steer her back to Gorgrond in times of physical duress, where she would be intercepted by loyal high-ranking Botani and used as a host for the beginnings of the next Evergrowth. But, with the advent of the Horde and the Alliance (not to mention the Iron Horde) crushing the majority of Botani enclaves, and being thirty-five years in the present along with on a different world, its influence was considerably weakened enough to merely thrive off of the pandaren's life force to sustain itself.However, during the appearance of Argus and its subsequent fel aura that blanketed Azeroth, Bakuzan was driven to further weakness - already suffering from prior fel-induced injuries accrued over the course of the war against the Iron Horde, the bloom took over her body in the way that it was designed to do, with the parasite finally overcoming the host. In her last conscious moments, Bakuzan directed the whiplashing vines and tendrils that sought out other lifeforms to instead turn inwards, wrapping around her body in a cocoon that kept the bloom self-contained until it rotted away, leaving only her body and a seemingly dead husk.Bakuzan's stubborn spirit lived on, anchored in the earth of the Valley instead of passing onto the Shadowlands. With the removal of Argus from the skyline and the rumbling of That Sword™ into the crust of the earth, Bakuzan's wayward spirit returned to her remains and broke free of the bark cocoon that had imprisoned her. She now walks Azeroth as a living plantdaren creature, with Bakuzan's memories, thoughts and feelings - and a control akin to accomplished Botani vineweavers without the imminent corruption that they aim to seed into wherever it is they've infested.

ㅤ"At last, it is done. Dionor has left and his spawn shall follow him in due time."ㅤ

ㅤageㅤㅤlate 30s.
ㅤpronounsㅤㅤshe/her.
ㅤbirthplaceㅤㅤstoneplow, valley of the four winds.
ㅤtarot cardㅤㅤwheel of fortune.
ㅤreligionㅤㅤveneration of niuzao, the black ox.
ㅤparentsㅤㅤbenjiro & botan burlycloud [deceased].
ㅤhalf-siblingㅤㅤhonnoji lotusheart [missing].

Bakuzan has a small but stout frame buried 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 musculature, she doesn't have abnormal strength, but she's lifted more than a few barrels in her prime, so chucking around Human-sized miscreants isn't difficult for her at all.

Interwoven with lush growths that jut out at uneven and asymmetrical angles, buds in leaves on vines and chunks of moss like a first-timer's floral arrangement form an uneasy, but surprisingly fascinating landscape in which a casual observer might partake. Unorthodox from the get-go, what with being made entirely out of wood, plants and other naturally occurring detritus, Bakuzan's limbs are likewise encased in solid bark, bracing her body for the rigors of healing and combat.

She keeps the right side of her face covered at all times by a thick layer of blended-in, camouflaging barkskin. When it's fully uncovered, there is a ripped rictus grin exposing the entirety of the inner jaw under a chunk of her right cheek, with vines layering up and into the bleached-bone jaw socket like one would expect to see from muscled sinew.

Strikingly framed with borderline-obtrusive eyebrows which are, of course, mostly lichen-coated, Baku's eyes have gone appearingly AWOL. They're supplanted by blackened, hollow sockets housing a singular bright iris, the verdant glow of which seems to swap sockets based on the direction she's looking. It's evocative of having a bad time, one might say. Her heart-shaped face, once plump and squished, has thinned out considerably; cheekbones jut outwards from a gaunt visage when likewise revealed. There are varying gouge-marks in the accouterments of wood and moss that make up her expressions as long-healed scars that formed around her body's very literal regrowth over years passed.

Besides the obvious, there is a husk of what looks to be a football-shaped, oblong husk of wood sprouting from between her shoulder blades; on occasion, vines, roots, blooms and who knows what other plant-adjacent plot devices will pulse from this growth in tandem with her emotions or actions. It's probably fine! Don't worry about it.

She bears wispy brown hair on her crown, typically kept chopped short and tinged green with varying colors of moss. 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.

The plantdaren is usually 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 properly.

For outerwear, 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.

Because of her vine-laden body, Baku smells faintly of fresh-cut oak, petrichor and cut grass at all times. She speaks with a very heavy Valley of the Four Winds ('Mudmug') drawl that intensifies based on mood, and is often a point of ridicule or noted interest by those listening to her.

❀ trade baron .

Bakuzan Burlycloud has been through and seen much in her time since leaving the safety of her farm in Halfhill to set out on adventure for herself with the Alliance. Her story began slightly prior to the invasion of the Iron Horde, where in fleeing from an arranged marriage to a nearby farmer's son, she stowed away on a ship to Stormwind City - leaving behind everything she knew to work her way up the ladder of supply chain management. Deployments to the front of several fields of battle with her semi-successful (arguably 'marginally') outfit, the Four Winds Trade Company, earned the vehemently vibrant Trade Baron (a self-styled moniker) war accolades and a relatively respectable cashflow.

Satisfied with her career trajectory [and a jangling bag of medals], Baku largely retired following the Legion's defeat, happy to settle back at home cultivating thriving crops of witchberries - but never again without the same shrewdly eager eye for business she'd managed to grow in tandem with her new form. From multiplicative experiences, Baku boasts near-boundless patience and an empathetic ear to acquaintances, and enjoys a good snack around friends and family-types - brooding over the latest gossip, or offering a ruminating ear when times are tough.

Evocative of the durable bark sheathing her vines, Bakuzan remains tenacious to a fault, having escaped the Shadowlands' clutches not once, but twice from astronomical willpower - once through surviving an assassin's blade, then again when the awakening death bloom threatened to envelop those incurred injuries. Due to these instances, and the consistent blooming and dying off of flora and insects in and around her, Bakuzan contentedly sees life and death as an ephemeral inevitability. She takes life easily and slowly these days, enjoying what Azeroth has left to offer; a tumultuous life with tumultuous experiences has led Bakuzan to understand that the bad times are just that - times that are bad - and everything has a growth, flourish, rot and return period as part of the cycle in which she gets to experience.

'hero'. Bakuzan has earned numerous commendations and large-scale accolades through her military service - in acting with Stoneplow-living common sense and gravitas, her career grew quickly behind the front lines to establish secure supply delivery in times of defense sieges and aggressive invasions alike. Though now out of scope of large-scale military operations, Baku still holds that beloved moniker of Trade Baron close to her hollow-wood chest, and she's quick to make contacts, deals and routes with anyone who asks. She spends her days happily living a humble life managing sales of witchberry crops - and whatever the winds bring - here and there at assorted marketplaces; her first and truest calling.

She's classically trained as a midwife and once obtained a medical license while staying in Alterac, but that's long since expired.

❀ prosopopoeia .

'plantdaren' is not a typo.
baku's got a genesaur death bloom embedded in her wooden body.

Since a venture to Gorgrond a decade ago went arwy, 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. The death bloom has been, Baku believes, rendered inert; seemingly purged of its genesaur spirit.

Regardless of origin, these natural sprouts don't just appear to superficially be a part of the armaments the 'plantdaren' 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 her naturally-siphoning body act as a sort of overriding system to the host plant - enabling Baku 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 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.