Whispers of Abyssion
06-21-11, 12:23 PM
Abilities are tied to specific skillsets and are given in list format beneath the appropriate headings.
Name: Touma Kamikaji
Pseudonym: -
Titles: Serpent Tamer
Age: 26
Race: Human
Hair Color: Dark Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 181cm (5'11")
Weight: 78kg (172lb)
Details
Occupation: Sakushi, Kijutsushi, Tatsujin
Personality: As befitting of a man known to his enemies as the Serpent Tamer, Touma is capable of putting on as many faces as he wishes. From faceless sage to charming prince, merciless manipulator to benevolent advisor, he has the ability and skill to come across as any personality that would best further his well-laid schemes. Long years of living dangerously amongst those able and willing to tear out his heart at a whim have honed the cunning mind and the quick thinking necessary to do this well, and even to those who know him beyond his outer facades, he comes off as ruthless and manipulative, the ends justifying any and all means. This includes actions that would be deemed by many as nihilistic and excessively destructive, but at the same time none can deny that Touma is darkly charismatic... extremely charismatic.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Touma would have lost himself amongst the need to survive. But beneath his deceptions and manipulations, beyond his obsessively controlling nature, lies a singular purpose, a focused drive to obtain the knowledge and power necessary to avert some foreseen future catastrophe. For that purpose he is willing to sacrifice everything: his friends, his enemies, even himself, alongside all manner of people both innocent and not, and the principles and moralities of every person and society, The alternative, known only to himself, is beyond his contemplation. Thus he hardens his heart and sets his plans into motion, knowing that those that survive, they will be all the stronger for it... himself included.
Appearance: Touma is tall for a Nipponese, well toned by his martial training although slightly emaciated from not eating well enough. His dark brown hair is very carefully ruffled and unkempt, calculated to give the impression of a man too preoccupied to take proper care of it. The lines of his face are distinctly aquiline and handsome, and he is not beyond making use of this advantage if necessary. His eyes are brown and murky, used to hiding secrets and giving false impressions. His features lost their youthfulness at a relatively early age, but his forehead in particular is heavily creased with worry.
He often dresses in simple Nipponese attire for everyday life, chosen as much for their ease of wear and maintenance. Despite their simplicity, however, there is a sophistication about the way he wears them that makes up for it. The sword worn at his waist only adds to the understated composure and poise.
Touma's voice is an unremarkable tenor, although he is able to change its pitch and timbre to suit any of his myriad needs.
Belongings
Weapons:
The weapon that Touma wears openly is a katana at his waist, encased in an lacquered ebony scabbard. The blade is made of darksteel and approximately seventy centimetres in length, single-edged and honed to a fine edge; it glimmers with barely contained malevolence, and is inlaid with a gold inscription of the an ancient Nipponese proverb, meikyoushisui ("Be under no illusions"). Whether by innate ability or in resonance with Touma's powers, the blade has the capability to negate low-level magic that it comes into contact with, whether this be fireball or enchantment or arcane construct, once every hour or so (even magical swords need time to recover, it seems).
A short ivory rod kept tucked into the breast of Touma's robes acts as the focus for his magical abilities. The rod itself is approximately twenty centimetres in length and five in diameter, a pair of intricately carved snakes winding around a central core. It has no true power beyond the ornamental, and has no use as a weapon, but without it on his person Touma is unable to focus his Kijutsu abilities to their full extent.
Armour and Clothing:
A traditional Nipponese robe of varying pattern, often combined with a haori overcoat to protect against the elements. As can be expected from thin cotton, is unlikely to provide much in the way of protection against direct attack.
A pair of sturdy straw sandles, far more resilient than they look at first sight, worn with the traditional two-toed socks.
Accessories:
A sharp shard of highly polished glass. The reflective surface acts as a mirror for his Kijutsu techniques, and it doubles as a knife in a pinch. Not a very good knife, mind, but a knife nonetheless.
An ornate bamboo kiseru, richly decorated with gilded carvings, bowl and mouthpiece made of inlaid gold. The length and weight of the pipe make it a decent back-up weapon. The bowl is filled with an explosive mixture of powder and ash that makes a decent smokescreen for a quick getaway. Note: Touma does not smoke.
A small pouch worn inside his robes for carrying coin as well as the aforementioned glass, kiseru, and rod.
Skills and Abilities
Sakushi: Touma is an extremely intelligent individual, but his abilities lie not as a scholar but as a schemer. He directs his keen mind towards the creation and enactment of ploys and schemes ranging from the simple to the elaborate, based on the dogged accumulation of fact and the prescient ability to sense fluctuations in the strands of fate and time. Neither is he alone in these undertakings; in fact, he prefers to oversee operations from afar and leave the dirty work to a handful of trusted subordinates whom he holds together through common purpose, shared profit, or sheer force of charisma. This is not to say that Touma is lazy or cowardly, but rather that both he and the members of his cadre know that he is indifferent in a battle at best, and that his greatest strengths lie in ensuring that such an event never comes to fruition in the first place. Just as they trust him to direct them according to a bigger picture that only he can see, he trusts them to carry out their duties without fail. Out of this shared trust is born an organisation that is as dangerous as it is elusive.
Kijutsushi: Kijutsu is a Nipponese incarnate discipline that involves the concentration of chi upon oneself's mind; practitioners of this discipline are regarded as esoteric and enigmatic even within Nippon (the word Kijutsu itself refers to 'unusual techniques'), and Touma is no exception. Kijutsu techniques harness the power of the mind in the form of clairvoyant and illusory abilities, but although they can manipulate pre-existing matter to a certain extent, they cannot create matter that does not exist or change the physical properties of creatures or objects; these are proprietory to the Senjutsu school of techniques that harness chi in one's physical body. Touma's Kijutsu techniques are a combination of innate talent and the hard work necessary to develop and master them, and although neither flashy nor powerful in battle situations, they play to his strengths of directing ploys from afar and only directly intervening when absolutely necessary.
Mirror Image (Kyougen): Utilising reflective surfaces as a medium, Touma can send part of his soul to a different place upon Althanas, allowing him to observe and communicate with objects and entities at the target location. This ability can only be used if there are reflective surfaces as both source and destination, and expressly disables direct interaction beyond observation and verbal communication. Sentient entities at the destination may be able to spot a disembodied head floating in said reflective surface if they are paying enough attention (or if Touma deliberately attracts said attention).
Blur (Shunshin): A combined technique that is half illusion and half teleportation, creates an afterimage of Touma in his previous location as the psymage himself escapes somewhere within ten metres. The afterimage dissipates like smoke as soon as it is physically interacted with in any manner, remaining locked in Touma's previous position and unable to communicate in any shape or form. Touma can only use this technique once every five minutes or so.
Tatsujin: Touma is not the finest of physical specimens, but neither is he a complete pushover in a brawl. He is a decent swordsman, able to match an experienced warrior for a short period of time, and the uniquely exotic nature of his swordsmanship means that an opponent usually hesitates before committing to battle. Touma is a practitioner of the ancient Nipponese techniques of battojutsu, allowing him to react swiftly to unexpected attack even when his sword remains sheathed. The range of his techniques is limited to approximately a metre in all directions, and their duration to one or two strokes, but within those limits, he is an extremely dangerous opponent both offensively and defensively.
Whispers of the Serpent: Many Nipponese mages are defined by their association with a guardian spirit to match their personality and their talents, and Touma - by virtue of long hours of study and even longer hours of subterfuge and espionage - is the authority on the matter. His personal association is with snakes of all shapes and sizes, up to and including the great wyrm Orochi. This is embodied by his endless thirst for and guardianship of knowledge to a particular means, and the cunning and manipulative means with which he pursues his end goals. Furthermore, it can be speculated that not a small amount of his personal charisma and charm comes from these supernatural means.
Character History
Touma Kamikaji was always an outsider.
In Nippon, where he was born and grew up, he was reviled for being the bastard of a merchantile foreigner and his mistress. He had a good life - his mother was a wealthy widow, and his oft-absent father was even richer - with access to everything a child could ever want. But beneath the layers of servantry and platitude, his parents resented the reminder of his unceremonious birth, and the shackles that it placed upon their relationship. His mother's immediate family were even less welcoming, given that one of their number had fallen so low as to marry a foreigner, and the wider public were less forgiving still. It wasn't long before, at the age of six, he was sent away to the Toho Institute of Higher Learning as a compromise between caring for him and getting rid of him.
At the Institute, his latent chi powers awakened and were carefully nurtured. Unlike the more ubiquitous powers of contemporaries such as Ingwe Helyanwe and Kayu Kanamai, his powers were rare and far more subtle; it took years for them to mature and even longer for him to master them in any shape or form. The risks were also great, and his burgeoning magic caused not a few incidents along the way, the canny manner in which he was able to explain away most of them earning him the title of the Silvertongue, or the Serpent Tamer. But he grew dissatisfied with the slow and steady nature at which he was encouraged to progress; he turned to darker paths in search for greater power and finesse. He yearned to control the world and those who inhabited it, shaping it to his purposes just as he could shape the spiritual flow of his magic.
It was then that he began hearing the Voice. It whispered in his ear, showing him the strands of fate: what might come, what would come, what was destined to come. Above all it whispered in his ear a Prophecy... a dire portent of a world-shaking event it called the Cataclysm.
He followed its lead, and with a number of contemporaries including Kayu, journied to join the daemons.
The Institute moulded Touma into a monster. Haidia tuned and refined him into an abomination. By living amongst his enemies, the very antithesis to his powers, he forced them into further development. He learned who to trust and how much to trust them, and he nurtured his connections amongst his friends and his foes, building up an organised network of allies willing and otherwise. He began to set the world in motion, an event here, a whisper there, plucking on the strands of fate to his own ends.
Some saw him as saviour. Others knew better. Touma himself remained indifferent.
After all, how could he control the world if it didn't exist any more?
Name: Touma Kamikaji
Pseudonym: -
Titles: Serpent Tamer
Age: 26
Race: Human
Hair Color: Dark Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 181cm (5'11")
Weight: 78kg (172lb)
Details
Occupation: Sakushi, Kijutsushi, Tatsujin
Personality: As befitting of a man known to his enemies as the Serpent Tamer, Touma is capable of putting on as many faces as he wishes. From faceless sage to charming prince, merciless manipulator to benevolent advisor, he has the ability and skill to come across as any personality that would best further his well-laid schemes. Long years of living dangerously amongst those able and willing to tear out his heart at a whim have honed the cunning mind and the quick thinking necessary to do this well, and even to those who know him beyond his outer facades, he comes off as ruthless and manipulative, the ends justifying any and all means. This includes actions that would be deemed by many as nihilistic and excessively destructive, but at the same time none can deny that Touma is darkly charismatic... extremely charismatic.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Touma would have lost himself amongst the need to survive. But beneath his deceptions and manipulations, beyond his obsessively controlling nature, lies a singular purpose, a focused drive to obtain the knowledge and power necessary to avert some foreseen future catastrophe. For that purpose he is willing to sacrifice everything: his friends, his enemies, even himself, alongside all manner of people both innocent and not, and the principles and moralities of every person and society, The alternative, known only to himself, is beyond his contemplation. Thus he hardens his heart and sets his plans into motion, knowing that those that survive, they will be all the stronger for it... himself included.
Appearance: Touma is tall for a Nipponese, well toned by his martial training although slightly emaciated from not eating well enough. His dark brown hair is very carefully ruffled and unkempt, calculated to give the impression of a man too preoccupied to take proper care of it. The lines of his face are distinctly aquiline and handsome, and he is not beyond making use of this advantage if necessary. His eyes are brown and murky, used to hiding secrets and giving false impressions. His features lost their youthfulness at a relatively early age, but his forehead in particular is heavily creased with worry.
He often dresses in simple Nipponese attire for everyday life, chosen as much for their ease of wear and maintenance. Despite their simplicity, however, there is a sophistication about the way he wears them that makes up for it. The sword worn at his waist only adds to the understated composure and poise.
Touma's voice is an unremarkable tenor, although he is able to change its pitch and timbre to suit any of his myriad needs.
Belongings
Weapons:
The weapon that Touma wears openly is a katana at his waist, encased in an lacquered ebony scabbard. The blade is made of darksteel and approximately seventy centimetres in length, single-edged and honed to a fine edge; it glimmers with barely contained malevolence, and is inlaid with a gold inscription of the an ancient Nipponese proverb, meikyoushisui ("Be under no illusions"). Whether by innate ability or in resonance with Touma's powers, the blade has the capability to negate low-level magic that it comes into contact with, whether this be fireball or enchantment or arcane construct, once every hour or so (even magical swords need time to recover, it seems).
A short ivory rod kept tucked into the breast of Touma's robes acts as the focus for his magical abilities. The rod itself is approximately twenty centimetres in length and five in diameter, a pair of intricately carved snakes winding around a central core. It has no true power beyond the ornamental, and has no use as a weapon, but without it on his person Touma is unable to focus his Kijutsu abilities to their full extent.
Armour and Clothing:
A traditional Nipponese robe of varying pattern, often combined with a haori overcoat to protect against the elements. As can be expected from thin cotton, is unlikely to provide much in the way of protection against direct attack.
A pair of sturdy straw sandles, far more resilient than they look at first sight, worn with the traditional two-toed socks.
Accessories:
A sharp shard of highly polished glass. The reflective surface acts as a mirror for his Kijutsu techniques, and it doubles as a knife in a pinch. Not a very good knife, mind, but a knife nonetheless.
An ornate bamboo kiseru, richly decorated with gilded carvings, bowl and mouthpiece made of inlaid gold. The length and weight of the pipe make it a decent back-up weapon. The bowl is filled with an explosive mixture of powder and ash that makes a decent smokescreen for a quick getaway. Note: Touma does not smoke.
A small pouch worn inside his robes for carrying coin as well as the aforementioned glass, kiseru, and rod.
Skills and Abilities
Sakushi: Touma is an extremely intelligent individual, but his abilities lie not as a scholar but as a schemer. He directs his keen mind towards the creation and enactment of ploys and schemes ranging from the simple to the elaborate, based on the dogged accumulation of fact and the prescient ability to sense fluctuations in the strands of fate and time. Neither is he alone in these undertakings; in fact, he prefers to oversee operations from afar and leave the dirty work to a handful of trusted subordinates whom he holds together through common purpose, shared profit, or sheer force of charisma. This is not to say that Touma is lazy or cowardly, but rather that both he and the members of his cadre know that he is indifferent in a battle at best, and that his greatest strengths lie in ensuring that such an event never comes to fruition in the first place. Just as they trust him to direct them according to a bigger picture that only he can see, he trusts them to carry out their duties without fail. Out of this shared trust is born an organisation that is as dangerous as it is elusive.
Kijutsushi: Kijutsu is a Nipponese incarnate discipline that involves the concentration of chi upon oneself's mind; practitioners of this discipline are regarded as esoteric and enigmatic even within Nippon (the word Kijutsu itself refers to 'unusual techniques'), and Touma is no exception. Kijutsu techniques harness the power of the mind in the form of clairvoyant and illusory abilities, but although they can manipulate pre-existing matter to a certain extent, they cannot create matter that does not exist or change the physical properties of creatures or objects; these are proprietory to the Senjutsu school of techniques that harness chi in one's physical body. Touma's Kijutsu techniques are a combination of innate talent and the hard work necessary to develop and master them, and although neither flashy nor powerful in battle situations, they play to his strengths of directing ploys from afar and only directly intervening when absolutely necessary.
Mirror Image (Kyougen): Utilising reflective surfaces as a medium, Touma can send part of his soul to a different place upon Althanas, allowing him to observe and communicate with objects and entities at the target location. This ability can only be used if there are reflective surfaces as both source and destination, and expressly disables direct interaction beyond observation and verbal communication. Sentient entities at the destination may be able to spot a disembodied head floating in said reflective surface if they are paying enough attention (or if Touma deliberately attracts said attention).
Blur (Shunshin): A combined technique that is half illusion and half teleportation, creates an afterimage of Touma in his previous location as the psymage himself escapes somewhere within ten metres. The afterimage dissipates like smoke as soon as it is physically interacted with in any manner, remaining locked in Touma's previous position and unable to communicate in any shape or form. Touma can only use this technique once every five minutes or so.
Tatsujin: Touma is not the finest of physical specimens, but neither is he a complete pushover in a brawl. He is a decent swordsman, able to match an experienced warrior for a short period of time, and the uniquely exotic nature of his swordsmanship means that an opponent usually hesitates before committing to battle. Touma is a practitioner of the ancient Nipponese techniques of battojutsu, allowing him to react swiftly to unexpected attack even when his sword remains sheathed. The range of his techniques is limited to approximately a metre in all directions, and their duration to one or two strokes, but within those limits, he is an extremely dangerous opponent both offensively and defensively.
Whispers of the Serpent: Many Nipponese mages are defined by their association with a guardian spirit to match their personality and their talents, and Touma - by virtue of long hours of study and even longer hours of subterfuge and espionage - is the authority on the matter. His personal association is with snakes of all shapes and sizes, up to and including the great wyrm Orochi. This is embodied by his endless thirst for and guardianship of knowledge to a particular means, and the cunning and manipulative means with which he pursues his end goals. Furthermore, it can be speculated that not a small amount of his personal charisma and charm comes from these supernatural means.
Character History
Touma Kamikaji was always an outsider.
In Nippon, where he was born and grew up, he was reviled for being the bastard of a merchantile foreigner and his mistress. He had a good life - his mother was a wealthy widow, and his oft-absent father was even richer - with access to everything a child could ever want. But beneath the layers of servantry and platitude, his parents resented the reminder of his unceremonious birth, and the shackles that it placed upon their relationship. His mother's immediate family were even less welcoming, given that one of their number had fallen so low as to marry a foreigner, and the wider public were less forgiving still. It wasn't long before, at the age of six, he was sent away to the Toho Institute of Higher Learning as a compromise between caring for him and getting rid of him.
At the Institute, his latent chi powers awakened and were carefully nurtured. Unlike the more ubiquitous powers of contemporaries such as Ingwe Helyanwe and Kayu Kanamai, his powers were rare and far more subtle; it took years for them to mature and even longer for him to master them in any shape or form. The risks were also great, and his burgeoning magic caused not a few incidents along the way, the canny manner in which he was able to explain away most of them earning him the title of the Silvertongue, or the Serpent Tamer. But he grew dissatisfied with the slow and steady nature at which he was encouraged to progress; he turned to darker paths in search for greater power and finesse. He yearned to control the world and those who inhabited it, shaping it to his purposes just as he could shape the spiritual flow of his magic.
It was then that he began hearing the Voice. It whispered in his ear, showing him the strands of fate: what might come, what would come, what was destined to come. Above all it whispered in his ear a Prophecy... a dire portent of a world-shaking event it called the Cataclysm.
He followed its lead, and with a number of contemporaries including Kayu, journied to join the daemons.
The Institute moulded Touma into a monster. Haidia tuned and refined him into an abomination. By living amongst his enemies, the very antithesis to his powers, he forced them into further development. He learned who to trust and how much to trust them, and he nurtured his connections amongst his friends and his foes, building up an organised network of allies willing and otherwise. He began to set the world in motion, an event here, a whisper there, plucking on the strands of fate to his own ends.
Some saw him as saviour. Others knew better. Touma himself remained indifferent.
After all, how could he control the world if it didn't exist any more?