Utara

Utara
Rice	400
Water	250
Yin	2
Melee	Piercing
Missile/Ranged	None
Strengths	Magic (-75%), Fire (-25%)
Weaknesses	Piercing (+50%)
Passive	Pleasure and Pain: When Utara takes damage, nearby enemies get momentarily stunned. Poison Dagger: Utara's dagger poisons foes, making them taking damage over time

Share my bed, share my sorrow.

— Utara

Utara is a Zen Master of the Serpent Clan.

Background

Anyone who believes the geisha arts are a harmless business of strewing flowers and strumming tunes should meet Utara. In appearance she resembles a normal geisha of great beauty, but she incarnates the dark side of their practices - she is a seductress, a poisoner, and possibly insane.

Utara was the only child of a small family from an equally small farming village. Her traumatic upbringing began at the age of four, when a group of ruffians sacked her village, killing nearly everyone and burning the whole thing to the ground. For reasons unknown, Utara's life was spared that day. The bandits eventually dumped her off at the footsteps of a bathhouse, where she was taken in by a group of geishas.

Through the years, Utara eventually forgot the horrifying incident and started to excel in the healing arts of the geishas. At the age of six, she had learned all the traditional dances of the geishas and had developed a stunning soprano voice. At the age of 11, she was assisting the bathhouse healer perform complicated spells, and by the time she was 15, she was easily the most proficient healer among her group of geishas.

One night, however, a group of Lord Shinja's hired raiders arrived at the bathhouse and started boasting about their "discipline" of some local peasants. Most of the men had minor wounds, which Utara and a few other geishas attended to. As the night wore on, all the geishas except for Utara had retired to their quarters. It was at this point that something within Utara had resurfaced, something that she had buried deep within her many years ago. Some of the geishas awoke to Utara's high-pitched singing to find that the raiders were convulsing and dying - some simply shriveling away to dust - before their very eyes. When her singing had perished the last of the raiders, Utara thanked the geishas for their years of hospitality and disappeared into the night.

Utara paints her face with a deathly white color and wears long, sharp gloves that give off the illusion that her hands are branches. Attached to one of her forearms is a thin blade that she uses to deadly effect, rapidly slicing and riposting her enemies. Indeed, her proficience with the weapon is so great that any melee attack made on Utara comes with a price; for unless the blow slays Utara, she will immediately counter-attack, making sure that anyone that harms her will be harmed by her in turn. Utara is, without a doubt, one of the strangest (and deadliest) weapons in the Serpent Clan's arsenal.

Battle Gear

	Song of Sorrow	Stamina: 40%
When she wishes Utara can sing a strange, keening song, borne of her tragic past and thirst for revenge. None can hear it without risk to their life and sanity.

Trivia

• Utara's name might've been derived from the Sanskrit noun uttara (उत्तर), meaning "North."
• Utara was intended to wield Poison Nails, according to her concept art & her weapon's name in the data file. Upon release, she wields a poisonous double-headed dagger.
• Utara can actually be recruited in the original Battle Realms campaign, should the player choose to side with the Serpent Clan and assault the designated region. At the start of the mission, Longtooth furiously instructs her to attack Kenji and his forces as well bring the Butcher's (Kenji) head under Grayback's orders. (Utara was forced to reluctantly serve the Wolf clan since she was defeated by Grayback seven years ago) However, as more Wolf swamp towns were destroyed and with the Wolf clan's Keep torn down by the latter's forces, Utara will call the Wolf clan weaklings and remarks that Kenji deserves of her unique talents more than ever and finally, rejects the entire Wolf clan and quickly allies herself with the Serpent Clan. As long as Utara survives throughout the mission she will be available for future missions by recruiting her from the Keep.
• Utara also appears in Grayback's Journey as an secondary antagonist. She was the one who led the Serpent clan witches and its forces in their assault against Gaihla's druidesses and dryads order by intentionally destroying the forest temple and at the same time met with Grayback in which she states of her collaboration with Yvaine (by ordering Gaihla to be captured alive and promised to her double her usual fee) and mocks Grayback that Gaihla will never be found and even doubling her fee even further by bringing back the latter's severed head as she challenges him then retreats to her base within her keep. In its aftermath, upon the destruction of her base and by cornering Utara within the forest temple, he later questioned her on Gaihla's whereabouts and swears to let her go free but she negatively rebuffed the offer and warns him if he doesn't kill her at a last second will be last mistake he'll ever be making and immediately forced her to reveal Gaihla's location (with the latter being imprisoned in Soban's laboratory in which Soban is about to dissect her and transforming her as one of the "Abominations") and declares that they will meet again. She was next seen this time with a band of Serpent crossbowmen waiting at the entrance of the mountain pass as Grayback, Wildeye and Gaihla attempt to sought refuge in the monastery from the harsh cold. Knowingly, she orchestrated the ambush set for him which Wildeye suspected earlier as a trap by imprisoning the monks inside, Utara taunts them that they won't be so lucky as she and her band engages them into combat which forced her to flee with her band beaten. In the final mission, Utara and Budo led the Serpent reinforcements to assist Yvaine's Lotus forces against Grayback and his army to no avail.

Gallery

Utara Concept Art

Quotes (Move)

• "Only for you"
• "I love to please"
• "Hmmm....yes....Let me"
• "I will"
• "As you command"
• "Anywhere you like?"

Quotes (Attack)

• "Leave it to me"
• "Finish them off!"
• "Do them!"
• "Let me"
• "I want to"
• "Oh....yes!"

Quotes (When engaging in melee combat)

• "Baby!!.. Oh beat me, yes...!!"
• "Take it!"

Quotes (Kill)

• "How pleasing"
• "I want some more"
• "Beg for me"
• "Perfect"
• "Small little one"

Quotes (Healed)

• "Ahhh..."
• "Ahhh.... Pleasing!"
• "Mmmm.... I like it!"