A likely controversial draft. Let's see how it goes.

[hider=Eiishii][center][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/93/d4/ab/93d4abb166f61756aece52ba0edfcbcc.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]Umemoto Eiishii[/center]
[center]Alias: Hannya, The Traitor[/center]
 
 
[i][indent]Y'know, most people are afraid of Hannya. Not afraid like he's some big ass dragon or some giant demon or something, but the guy wears suits that cost more than an education and looks like he owns the investment firm that bought the real estate company that owns your house. He's just got that way about him, y'know, like he's abso-fucking-lutely sure of everything he does, and that's kinda intimidating, y’know? But when you start talking to him, he's actually a really grounded guy. Sure he smokes the kind of cigars I couldn't buy without a mission's pay, but he's pretty good at giving you the whole 'sage wisdom' bullshit without the bullshit, y’know? And then you start to get to know him a little more, hang out around the towers a bit, and you learn that most people aren't nearly as afraid of him as they ought to be.
[indent][indent]- Alex "Brightlance" Temple, Paladin of the Temple of Stars[/indent][/indent][/indent][/i]
 
 
Age: Unknown
Race: Unknown
 
Rank: Knight Captain
 
Biography/history:
[indent]It's hard to imagine what possible history someone like Hannya could have. He acts as though he sprang full formed from the earth, constant and singular, as he will no doubt someday return to it. The truth is substantially less dramatic, and a surprising amount of it is actually public record if one cares enough to put together the timeline.
 
Umemoto Eiishii was born to a prominent corporate family out of Lorrath. Manufacturers of arms and armor, he grew up wanting for little and receiving the best of everything from education to magical tutelage. Given his heritage and his position in his family, the only son of the Umemoto Arms Corp. president and chairman, it was assumed from an early age that he would take up his father's position at the head of the company, find a woman to have a son with, and retire to luxury and backseat corporate espionage like his father's father before him. The only real surprise is that none of that happened.
 
The only real secret in Eiishii's past is what changed. That [i]something[/i] did was self-evident, but what it could be was anyone's guess. There was no horrible fall out, no awful tragedy that anyone is aware of. As far as most people are concerned, Eiishii simply woke up one day, put aside every weapon and lesson and aspiration he'd been working towards, and began focusing solely on his swordsmanship. Day in and day out, until his muscles ached and his fingers bled and his instructors had long ago left, Eiishii practiced his swordsmanship. At first his parents assumed it to be a hobby, a kind of phase, but as months stretched by and the rest of his studies declined it was clear enough that something was amiss. Ultimatum after ultimatum was provided and ignored, his family unwilling to follow through with actually cutting him off. Eventually, as far as his parents were concerned, he was written off as a waste--his 'little hobby' wasn't expensive enough to be a bother when it came right down to it, and so they let him have it. Better than losing their son, and to their credit they could (and did) have another.
 
In a year, Eiishii cleanly defeated his master.
 
In two years, Eiishii cleanly defeated [i]his[/i] master.
 
In five, he had ended a slew of schools, academies, and training grounds single handedly.
 
It becomes difficult to track him through public record, at this point, because by then rumor of his prowess had begun to escape. A monster swordsman, an impossible prodigy had begun to work his way through school after school, learning techniques like most people drink water, before defeating its greatest masters and moving on. The more difficult it became for him to move between schools unnoticed, the more guile he began to display in his dedication to do so. There are stories still told about the friends he betrayed, the women he seduced, the wizened masters he bargained or threatened or cajoled out of their secrets, all under different names that only a careful historian could begin to put together as being Umemoto Eiishii himself.
 
By the time he emerged as himself again, he was a changed man. Having long been assumed dead by his family, who hadn't heard word from him in more than a decade, he returned to their household with his thanks for raising him and a simple warning that it was time for them to leave. Confused, he made it clear in no uncertain terms that it was no longer safe for them to remain in the city and that now was the time for them to take their belongings and go. He would be staying, himself, and he would be just fine without them.

In less than a month, the Second Stygian War broke out and his family’s holdings were decimated. Having refused to heed the ridiculous warning of their absentee son, his remaining family perished under the Stygian assault. Eiishiii had more important things to do--he had joined the Knights of Star and begun, for the first notable time in decades, to apply his trade under his own name.
 
With the Knights of Star fighting on both sides of the battle, Eiishiii began to acquire something of a reputation. The contracts he took were almost always those with a Knight of Stars counterpart on the other side of the battlefield, whether fighting for or against the Stygians. He himself showed no loyalty to either side, and instead took the battlefield against those most distinguished Knights with neither fear nor concern. To this day, no member of the order has been confirmed to have killed as many of their own as Eiishii the Traitor, earning him no small amount of enmity within the organization. An inquiry was held after several prominent Knights of the time fell, but the short of the matter was that he technically hadn't done anything wrong--he hadn't sought out his opponents, merely placed himself in their path as a natural extension of his contract. Though the charges of treason were dropped, it was not a satisfying victory for many and the notion of it lingered. With the actions of the Knights during the war pardoned, however, Eiishii...stopped.
 
Not doing missions, but he stopped searching out new schools of swordsmanship to best. He had, in his not-inconsequential perspective, become the finest swordsman alive. It was not a boast so much as a simple fact, demonstrated when needed either on missions or in defense of his title, and though he may have been bested on rare occasions by the capabilities of his foes it was never a failure of his skill that lost him the battle. The sole duelist to survive Lilliana Highfell’s infamous challenge, it was then that Eiishii realized that his body was simply unable to keep up with the demands of his technique. He could see through the blade mistress’ gambits, knew where and when and how to strike, but his body was simply unable to keep up.

So he sought to fix that.
 
With the Umemoto Arms Corp. and the money from his missions funding him, these days Eiishii spends much of his time appreciating the finer things in life when he isn’t exploring newfound options to expand his capabilities. Known on occasion to take on a student or two, his rank as a Knight Captain is reflective as much of the infamy he gained with the Knights during the Second Stygian War as it is by his own disinterest in taking a more prestigious position. There are some who are curious why he didn't leave with many of the others in search of Christian Highfell, and he refuses to comment on the matter, but most assume he was unwelcome in their company.[/indent]

Reason for recruitment: 
[indent]A predator hunts where his prey lays its head.[/indent]
 
Strength of Will: 
[indent]Greater[/indent]
 
Magic:
[indent]Channeled from Norforandus, Eiishii’s magic is extremely powerful but entirely localized. Eiishii has a single driving focus, a point to which his every effort goes to, and that is to truly master the art of killing men with a blade. To that end, he has developed significant supportive magic for himself including the following:
[list]
[*] Alchemy - Eiishii has become a master alchemist, learning to transmute and alter the physical properties of himself and his armaments to further refine their capabilities. In particular he has mastered the manipulation of his unique blade and the various augmentations that have been made to his body, increasing his reaction time, speed, and stamina to impossible levels.
[*] Divination - While largely unskilled at foreseeing the future or scrying different locations, Eiishii channels minor divination as part of his cocktail of combat magics to allow him to see the motions and movements of his opponents slightly before they happen. The effect is minimal, less than a second in advance of the action, but more reliable than most divination thanks to its limited scope. Eiishii also utilizes divination in his conjuration of The Marble to prevent opponents from hiding from his sight.
[*] Abjuration - Long ago having learned that those who fight only with blades can still die to plenty of other things, Eiishii has devoted a significant amount of effort into ensuring that he dies to nothing but a better bladesman, namely via his use of The Marble.
[*] Significant Spells:
	[list][*] The Marble
One of Eiishii’s most powerful abilities, The Marble is what he calls the cocktail of battle-magic effects he uses when he serious about an engagement. A mixture of abjuration and divination, The Marble is functionally an intensely powerful spherical barrier that surrounds Eiishii and prevents a truly stupendous amount of incoming nastiness from having much effect. In truth a form of channeled alteration of reality, it is one of two proper gifts granted to him by Norforandus in that it is far and away more powerful than it has much right to be. Within the confines of The Marble Eiishii is absolutely aware of everything that occurs, a powerful divinatory effect combined with an alchemical alteration in the surrounding environment that allows it to function as something of an extended nervous system. Combined with his implants and augmentations, Eiishii’s reactions to events that occur within it are very nearly prescient and limited almost entirely by the capabilities of his (admittedly augmented) physical body. 
 
The catch, of course, is that this ability’s range is explicitly and exactly limited to the length of his sword extended from his arm. Yes, it varies depending on the weapon he’s using, but when it comes down to it the ability is simply a manifestation of Eiishii’s impossible desire to be the best at what he does. When you’re serious about fighting Eiishii, you fight on his terms.

	[*] The Blade 
Eiishii’s second true talent from Norforandus. If The Marble is a manifestation of his need to die doing what he loves, The Blade is a manifestation of his need to kill with it. Another alchemical-abjurant effect, The Blade cuts. It cuts well. Functionally, it creates a two-dimensional, frictionless plane of abjurant energy along the edge of a blade that Eiishii wields while reinforcing and slimming the actual metal of it sufficiently to prevent it from shattering or deforming. Physical armor is almost useless against it, as it slides through matter at a literally molecular level; magical barriers prove more effective, as the actual force of the swing is rarely the true danger of it depending on the technique used at the time. More sinister, however, is Norforandus’ blessing--wounds made by The Blade do not go back together. Period. They may be cauterized, replaced, healed around, healed independently, and many other variations involving the word ‘healed’, but what they don’t do is come back together. The two parts are, for all intents and universal purposes, no longer part of the same creation and no longer meant to be a part of one another. Significantly, much in the same was as The Marble, The Blade works only and explicitly along the edge of a knife or sword wielded by Eiichii. While he can create an edge on almost anything with alchemy and abjuration, it just isn’t the same and both he and Norforandus know it.[/list]
[/list][/indent]
 
God relations: 
[indent]Insofar as Norforandus has clerics, Eiishii is one of them. Long ago the God of Hunger looked into the soul of a young man and saw in him a singular, driving, impossible desire to embody the act of killing men in this world. It took pity on him, and Eiishii honors his end of the bargain every day.

There are also rumors of something...else. Though Eiishii does not speak of it, there is a solemnity and a forced calm that he approaches in certain discussions. Ruin comes to those walking the path that Eiishii walks,
 and that he is a man on borrowed time is not as hard to see as he might like.[/indent]
 
Tech:
[indent]The main technology Eiishii uses is the augmentations to his physical and neural form that allow him to surpass his human limitations. A combination of bio-alchemical alterations and straight cybernetic enhancement, almost all of Eiishii’s functioning system has been enhanced and streamlined up. In particular his neural system and the attending muscle groups have been adjusted to an incredible and alarming degree, tuned up with the best medical, magical, and technical knowledge that money can buy. More than being able to run faster than a normal man, Eiishii can [i]react[/i] faster with short-twitch muscle movements boosted by anti-friction and anti-gravity nanites employed in a secondary nervous system to reduce impediments to his technique.
 
Aside from his general adjustments, Eiishii’s main form of magi-technology is the degree of shielding that goes into said implants and nervous systems. Eiishii values his mind and his techniques and isn’t about to let anyone with an EMP or decent Enchantment skills play havoc with either.[/indent]
 
Possessions/items/property:
[Indent]Money. A lot of money. Outside of that, Eiishi’s main possession is the bag of graphene particles that serves as his blade at any given time. By altering the components of them alchemically and electrically, Eiishii can reassemble them to form an extremely durable, powerful blade in any given form or shape required by his current technique.[/indent]
 
 
Skills:
[indent][list]
[*] The Blade
Eiishii is arguably the best bladesman alive. He is relatively sure that he is the best [i]technical[/i] swordsman alive, having mastered every known technique (including a great number of secret ones, at no small cost and expense to himself and others) in Galendar. This knowledge extends to knife combat as well, and to relative degrees other hand-to-hand bladed weaponry such as axes and spears, but he makes no bones about the fact that he is a swordsman first and foremost.
[*] The Marble
Eiishii is a master of close-quarters abjuration and alchemy. Though not particularly talented in grander applications, when it comes to arm’s reach there are few more skilled at both offensive and defensive application of barriers and reinforcing magics than Eiishii.
[*] Intelligence
Eiishii is reasonably intelligent about most things that he has an interest in. His deductive and inductive reasoning skills are significant, and while he isn’t a genius he’s not a dumb brute.[/list][/indent]
 
Misc:
[indent]Eiishii enjoys the finer things in life, and he is unrepentant about it. Money is meant to be spent and comfort is the reward of the living. He’s also a bitch for aesthetics and more than a little vain, taking good care of his appearance.

In truth, his live-for-today mentality is a simple result of the fact that he is doomed. People like Eiishii don't live and die well, and the sacrifices he has made to become who he is are beginning to weigh on him. While it may not appear physically, those sensitive to the ebbs and flows of fate and death magic receive a clear sense of foreboding from him, a foregone conclusion from the waiting dark.

The only question is what it could be.[/indent][/hider]