Seinasta sunnudaginn skapaði ég enn og aftur persónu í legend of the five rings campaign setting-inu og datt mér í hug að delia henni með ykkur. Það var pláss fyrir einn spilara til viðbótar, og sóttu þó nokkrir um. Ég var sá heppni að þessu sinni ^^.
Fyrir þá sem ekki vita, þá er Legend of the Five Rings (l5r) austurlenskur heimur þar sem hetjurnar vaxa næstum á trjám. Heimurinn er mjög lifandi, og eru mjög oft mót bæði í spunaspilinu og CCGinu þar sem framtíðar söguþráður er skapaður. Nokkrar skáldsögur hafa verið gefnar út, auk endalausra aukabókum. 8 klön ráða ríkjum í þessu landi hinna útvöldu, landi barna sólarinnar og tunglsins. Þetta er mjög stéttaskiptur heimur þar sem miklir samurai-ar ráða ríkjum.
Til að hafa þetta sem auðskiljanlegast þá er (því miður) smá þörf á nokkrum orðskýringum. Ég mun hafa þær eins stuttar og auðskiljanlegar og ég get, og afsaka ef eitthvað er ekki nógu skýrt.
Togashi: Fjölskyldunafn innan dreka klaninu mikla. Þekktir fyrir öfluga munka.
Ize Zumi: Munkaregla innan dreka klaninu. Eru þekktir fyrir dulafull tattú sem veita þeim mjög dulna hæfileika.
Gempukku: Hálfgerð “ferming.” Eftir gempukku á að líta á persónuna sem fullorðinn samurai.
Samurai-ko: Kvenkyns samurai.
Mirumoto: Önnur öflug fjölskylda innan drekans. Mirumoto eru frekar með samurai-a en munka, og þekkjast fyrir sína einstöku sverðtækni, Niten.
Niten: Sverðtækni þar sem katana er notað í aðal hendinni, og wakizashi í hinni hendinni.
Tao of Shinsei: Mikilvægt heimspeki rit, sem fjallar um samræður fyrsta keisarans og manns sem kallaðist Shinsei. Shinsei var talinn vera vitrasti maður í öllur Rokugan.
Dojo: Sá skóli þar sem kennd er leið sverðsins.
Bukke: Tign Samurai-a sem á ekki landsvæði.
Bushido: Lífsreglur samurai-a. Sumir taka því alvarlegar en aðrir.
Eta: stéttleysingjar.
Shugenja: Heilagir prestar. Þeir svipa til sorcerer-a, nema það að hæfileikar þeirra geta náð yfir allt frá transmutation, yfir í abjuration, yfir í offensive galdra og jafnvel healing galdra. Mjög fjölhæfir galdramenn.
En nóg með útskýringar, hér er þessi character:
Togashi Hatsu
Born from the relations of two Ize Zumi, Hatsu hasn’t had a completely normal life. Not even by Dragon standards. As his parents disappeared from his life at an early age, fulfilling their karma in a duel with a clearly stronger opponent, Hatsu was left to the temples of the Ize Zumi. As he was coming to his gempukku he was already an established monk and familiar with the ways of the Tao of Shinsei but in truth, he was not certain whether he completely believed in it.
One day when Hatsu was around 12, maybe 13 and was probably a season or two away from his gempukku when he met a certain samurai-ko named Mirumoto Akohime. He had a lengthy discussion about everything and nothing, the world and the void, the living and the dead. Most importantly they discussed the Tao, and what it meant to actually believe in it. Hatsu and Akohime found themselves agreeing to very many things, having very shared opinions despite Akohime herself being quite old of age. In fact, Hatsu found himself agreeing so much with the venerable samurai-ko, and taking such a fond liking of her and her theories. It all turned full circle when he found that she was a major sensei of the Victory of the Living blade Dojo, and when she asked him if he wished to join them, not having completed his gempukku and all, he could not do anything else than fall down onto his knees in respect and humbly accept.
This is probably one of Hatsu’s most fond memory, and has taken up honoring greatly Hotei, the great Fortune of Happiness. Every year, on that day, the fifth day of the tiger, Hatsu doesn’t eat nor drink and strays from any of his usual habits that make him happy, honoring Hotei, hoping that he may enjoy the happiness that Hatsu enjoyed on that very day.
But because he transferred to the Victory of the Living blade Dojo, his gempukku was delayed by four years and making him one of the oldest dragons to have taken their gempukku being around the age of 17. But this mattered little to him as he was fond of Mirumoto’s teachings. His philosophy was alike to Shinsei’s, but it differed ever so slightly (in Hatsu’s favor).
They say that there’s no “one real” way of studying Mirumoto’s Niten style, as each student is encouraged to learn on his own two feet, to find his own way. The end result is though most of the time the same, resulting in a swift and incredibly deadly two weapon fighting style involving the katana in the main-hand, and the wakizashi in the off-hand. Yet again, Hatsu proved to be different from the others.
After learning the Niten “traditional” style, Hatsu developed his own offspring of it which he calls Bai-Niten which involves the basic principles of Niten, but adds his monk training, thus using his entire body and soul as a weapon, instead of “just two arms.”
Hatsu was given the status of Bukke but has kept his name of Togashi, showing off his monk roots. He kept on training both his monk and samurai skills and furthering his unique techniques whilst learning more of Mirumoto’s teachings. He strives for enlightment, trying to find it in all aspects of life.
Hatsu has grown up, becoming a man 25 years of age. He still pays heed to the teachings of Bushido, favoring Jin [compassion], and Chugo [duty and loyalty] over the other virtues, whilst constantly holding the Tao of Shinsei in high regards. He always has a hard time when confronting monks and those of lower status than him. He still thinks of monks as his peers, and unconsciously always thinks of bettering the life of those less than him. He has been accused of being overly sympathetic to the lower classes, even going as far as communing with the Eta.
Hatsu fell in love with a certain female shugenja from the Tamori family. The problem was that she was of a higher caste than him, being the family daimyo’s daughter, and the daimyo had rejected his proposal. He told him to “come back when you have found your way.” And that is what Hatsu intends to do. Despite the war going on, Hatsu took up the tradition of Musha Shugyo, or the warrior’s pilgrimage. A tradition as old as the empire itself, the Musha Shugyo involves the samurai leaving behind all his allegiances to the family, clan and everything else, and simply begins wandering the Empire. The goal of this wandering is to perfect the warrior’s art, in Hatsu’s case to find his way. Hatsu received the testimony of Mirumoto Akohime that this would definitely increase his skill as a samurai, and that he would come back a better man. And as such, the daimyo granted him leave, only to come back within ten years and prove how much he has learned. His love would await him.
If Hatsu had asked a month later, he wouldn’t have been granted the leave, as the volcanoes in the Dragon mountains erupted, and war broke out between the dragon, lion and phoenix clans. Although Hatsu is very tempted to return to his clansmen and fight in the war, he is determined to finish the Musha Shugyo, and thus may not go yet back to his old allegiances.
Right now Hatsu wanders the empire, seeking adventure wherever he goes. He dresses in a simple grey haori, a dark blue pullover cotton shirt underneath and wears dark hakama pants. His Daisho, decorated with green scabbards sit comfortably in his black obi. His hair sits in a low knot and it looks like he needs a shave. His deep yellow eyes seem to pierce those they gaze upon, and his determined look makes many think he’s of the Mirumoto, the Daidoji, or a similiar family. If only he wouldn’t have the huge image of the elemental dragon of air tattooed on his back (reaching up his spine), then guessing from what clan he’s from would actually be a tricky business.
Hatsu has a warm outlook on life, and always strives to do what he thinks brings him the most joy.
Notes
Niten means roughly “two arms” and is the fighting style employed by the samurai of the Mirumoto family.
Bai-Niten: “double-two arms,” meaning using his legs as well. Some people think Hatsu’s just being arrogant and saying that it’s twice as powerful as Niten, but that’s not really Hatsu’s thought of it.
En endinlega segið hvað ykkur finnst. Og fyrir þá (fáu) hér á Íslandi sem spila l5r, ekki hika við að láta heyra í ykkur.<br><br>Hellicat
<i>…I am the silence before the strike, the whispers before the howling screams…</i