[hider=雪村安][center][h1][u] Y U K I M U R A Y A S U ❖ 雪村安 [/u][/h1] [img]https://cdn.donmai.us/original/43/8b/__original_drawn_by_guweiz__438bc4aca9c70777647cbe930db0077a.jpg[/img][h1][u] H A R B I N G E R ❖ 前触れ C R O W ' S F O O T ❖ カラスの足跡[/u][/h1][/center] [b][center] [color=#5F9EA0][i]"I don't like your tone. Change it, lest I prefer silence."[/i][/color] [/center][/b] [hr][hr][center][h2]4 3 [color=B22222]|[/color] S H I M A D A [color=B22222]|[/color] Y Ō H E I [color=B22222]|[/color] 7 3 W I L D B L O O D [color=B22222]|[/color] I C E V E I N[/h2] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VufKvPtPCfg[/youtube][/center] [hr][hr] [h3][u]A P P E A R A N C E [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]外[/color][color=8B0000]観[/color][/h3] Standing at a relatively tall 5'10" / 178 cm, Yasu cuts an imposing figure, with a perpetually grim countenance to match. Her battle-hardened gaze is the result of a cumulative four decades of childhood neglect, desperation, survival, and endless combat. Resting bitch face is a more or less permanent feature, with only the bravest and most reckless of men rising to the challenge of attempting to coax a smile out of her. The tailored garments that she wears serve to highlight the unique role that she played in the imperial army, and the honor that such a role entails. However, both her honor, and Yasu herself have seen better days. While very few dare to insult Yasu to her face, it's generally agreed that she is "past her prime" as both a warrior and woman, leading to the derisive nickname of "Crow's Foot" in place of her honorary title, "Harbinger." [h3][u]B A C K G R O U N D [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]履[/color][color=8B0000]歴[/color][/h3] Roughly 45 years ago in Yukishima, one humble nameless village among many was sacked by ReTanese pirates who had wandered further inland than the locals had expected. Husbands and fathers were murdered—mothers and wives were plundered. It was in this context that Yasu was conceived. Mercifully, the greedy and overconfident pirates who'd lingered too long in the village were summarily dispatched by a tribe of local Yasoi. Ruthlessly, the remaining human villagers were largely left to their own devices afterwards, neglected by their own Nikanese government. An unwanted child who served as a reminder of the horrors that had taken place there, Yasu was used for sympathy from strangers on the road, abused at home, and eventually abandoned by the woman who claimed to be her mother—though nobody else ever assured her that was the case. She only knew that both her father and the man who should have raised her were both dead. She was alone in the world, and would have to steal or kill to survive the harsh, cold climate. She initially chose the former, intent on making it work. Eventually, however, she had to kill too. She became good at it—to a degree that disturbed even her. Eventually, however, she would have to meet her match, and it could only end in one of two ways: death, or servitude. In another stroke of pure luck, she was offered to serve. At first, she would act as a mercenary in the service of the imperial army, but if she improved, she would become part of it. Not only would she improve, but her bastard father had left her a parting gift in the form of the Icevein mana type. This knowledge would lift some of the burden upon her heart. Like her father, she too was a killer, but it wasn't because of some innate violence she'd inherited from him. There was a reason she was good at what she did, and she could turn it into something honorable. At least, that's what she thought. Her baseborn origins would prove a major obstacle to her advancement—something which would prove to be one of many sticking points for Shimada Masaharu's relationship with the Shogun. Seeing the talented youth held back by blood rubbed him the wrong way. Political theatrics ensued, excuses were made, and Yasu was given a title and some worthless stretch of wetlands to call her very own. Truthfully, Shimada cared more than she did. To this day, she still hasn't been to the location. Her battles continued, and she would begin to win some real favor. In one particularly gruesome battle, she would appear to meet her end, with one soldier reporting that he'd seen Yasu's body being picked apart by crows—only to see her return to camp the next morning. Stories spread of the baseborn mercenary killer who defied death itself to continue her brutal campaign against the accursed ReTanese pirates. Her infamy reached a peak when villagers spotted a giant crow flying out to sea, storm clouds following it. No ReTanese pirate ships were seen for several days after that. More political theatrics ensued. The Nikanese government acted like they'd always supported Yasu and attempted to gradually move her away from Shimada, sensing his impending disillusionment. Yasu saw through it all, and made it clear to Shimada that she would stand with him. Somehow, this pledge of loyalty reached the ears of their enemies, and Yasu would be attacked by an assassin. The assassin would fail to kill her, but would leave her with a lasting Blood Mark curse that would prevent her injured shoulder from ever healing, to stop Yasu from reaching her full potential as a warrior—whatever it might've been. Unfortunately, Yasu was also unable to kill the would-be assassin, and was punished for this "failure" by being stripped of her noble title. In an act of open defiance against whatever parties might be responsible for this attempt on her life, Shimada gifted Yasu a prized pair of ōdachi with some special enchantments. Her role in the upcoming war was decided—her fate sealed. [h3][u]P E R S O N A L I T Y [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]人[/color][color=8B0000]格[/color][/h3] [indent][color=B22222]❖ Terse ❖ Cold ❖ Strict ❖ Loyal ❖ Zealous ❖[/color][/indent] Yasu is a woman of few words and even fewer visible emotions. She keeps others at arm's length both figuratively and physically, and her true nature is hard to pin down. All her subordinates really know about her is that she is hard on them and loyal to the Daimyo above all else. What precious little she may be able to open up to others is something only her superiors and those who have otherwise earned her respect are privileged to experience. It is known by all, however, that she viciously hates pirates of all stripes, the ReTanese most of all. Some joke in hushed tones that if her hatred fueled her magic, she'd be unstoppable. However, her passion cuts both ways. She carries the burden of "no man left behind" on her perpetually wounded shoulder. Her loyalty to her soldiers is as unyielding as her fierce mien. If it is possible to assign the youngest to any duty other than the front lines, she will find an excuse to keep them away from it. The only thing she expects in return is a soldier's respect. [h3][u]M O T I V A T I O N [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]動[/color][color=8B0000]機[/color][/h3] For the longest time, Yasu's sole motivation was base survival. Now, she finds herself in the privileged position to be allowed the space and time to contemplate the meaning of her life, and it's in these times of introspection that she realizes that she has no real idea what she's doing with her life or why. Her base instincts led her to this point rather efficiently, but they can no longer be relied upon for setting tomorrow's goals. All she needs to do to maintain her current level of prosperity is to keep killing, and the hollow nature of such an existence fills her with a strange sense of dread that she can't quite put a name to. She is mostly uneducated, ignorant of the nature of her own emotions, and lacks the proper vocabulary to even put it into words and express it in a way that others might be able to help her cope. So instead, she latches on to what little satisfaction she can glean from continuing to kill the ReTanese pirates, who are guilty by association with the men responsible for both her life's beginnings and her current state of understated misery. Aside from the unachievable goal of killing every last man who ever dared sail under a black flag, only Shimada remains. Only he ever gave her good reason to kill. If anyone should be in charge of the imperial army, it's Shimada—who knows what it is to fight and to take lives. The other candidates are softened by their wealth, conniving and cowardly, or corrupted by foreign influences. In this, she is resolute. Compared to that, she cares nothing for her "lost" honor. Those who took it from her would have done so even if she'd killed the assassin; it was just an excuse. Those men do not decide her self-worth. [h3][u]T H A U M A T U R G Y [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]魔[/color][color=8B0000]法[/color][/h3] [indent][color=B22222]❖ Magnetic: Expert (5) ❖ Arcane: Journeyman (4) ❖ Binding: Apprentice (2) ❖ Chemical: Journeyman (4) ❖ Kinetic: Expert (5) ❖[/color][/indent] Yasu's primary schools of magic are Magnetic and Kinetic, supplemented by a subkit of the cryomantic and illusory Arcane spells and the "Gaze" line of internal Chemical spells (sans Dominion). She also prefers supplementary use of a handful of utility spells she knows such as Blessing of Expulsion over the use of Binding, which is by far her weakest school. Yasu's respect for authority is represented by her complete lack of knowledge or interest in the forbidden schools—and her magic power, which would be about 7.14 when expressed in RAS, is too low to support Atomic or Temporal. Overall, Yasu prefers to control her opponents' range, locking them down with a brutal blend of Chemical and Kinetic and bombarding them with Magnetic, or charging in with Kinetic enhanced with Arcane, in a manner that's quite reminiscent of the ReTanese art of Vai-to her enemies have made her so very familiar with. It is her Icevein manas that provide the cherry on top, giving her defense and speed advantages in most scenarios. True to her derivative style, she has no original spells to call her very own. The army taught her all she knows. [h3][u]S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]技[/color][color=8B0000]量[/color][/h3] [indent][color=B22222]❖ Silent Assassin ❖ Fearsome Reputation ❖ Plainspoken ❖ Dependable ❖ Street Smart ❖[/color][/indent] Yasu does one thing very well, and that is killing her and her Daimyo's enemies. With Kinetic sound nullification and flight, no target is beyond her reach. She struggles with light-bending illusions while in motion, but hiding in the shadows and striking from the treetops and rooftops is a strong option for her. She can also excel in open combat when the time is right, particularly when supported by a small tactical unit, where her defensive options can really shine. One understated option for her is to simply take her targets without a fight. The Harbinger's reputation speaks for itself; her silent, menacing presence elicits a swift surrender from cowards. In this, her curt and ineloquent manners play to her strength rather than her weakness. When it comes to her allies, they too will have little reason to doubt the blunt honesty of her few and infrequent words, whether the nature of them is positive or negative. While her face is perpetually sour, it too is honest. Lying is not a skill she possesses to any useful degree, which her allies may see as a positive point. Yasu is also low-key quite observant, listening in to the gossip around camp and finding ways to be useful when she "has nothing better to do." Anyone with sense can see that she's trying to help, though she denies this positive aspect of her nature. Perhaps she truly does see herself as simply killing time, unable to understand why she so readily offers her assistance, or perhaps she merely understands that dead weight will be dropped at the first sign of trouble. Never mind that, at this point, such a thing would never happen to her—old habits die hard. She retains the strong survival instincts that got her this far in life, including an uncanny intuition for the ill intentions of others. She may not be able to put into words for the rest of the group [i]why[/i] someone gives her a bad vibe, but she'll certainly make it known. She may not be smart enough to understand the detailed workings of a con, but she'll spot the artist a mile away. [h3][u]W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]弱[/color][color=8B0000]点[/color][/h3] [indent][color=B22222]❖ Unfriendly Face ❖ Taciturn ❖ Uneducated ❖ Superficial ❖ Reckless ❖[/color][/indent] Yasu is not very approachable, tending to scowl at others for seemingly no reason at all. Sometimes she actually is in a bad mood, but occasionally, it's simply because of her shoulder pain—but she doesn't want to say anything about it, lest others see her as weak and delicate. Her emotions are at times a mystery even to her. She's had to be so strong for so long that being vulnerable is a challenge, and the vocabulary to express herself just isn't a thing she possesses. For most of her life, she's been uneducated, only learning basic literacy and arithmetic in her 20s and beyond, which gives her a rather myopic view of the world. Enemies are enemies, and Yasu doesn't care about their sob stories or complex ethical or moral dilemmas that she doesn't understand. While it makes her an effective and reliable soldier, those with softer dispositions might think Yasu a bit callous or even unstable. She tends to judge others based on surface-level observations, a habit which served her well on the streets but leaves her judgment wanting in the noble courts. She's not winning over any allies through negotiations, even if she wanted to. Chances are good that where another may see a powerful potential ally, Yasu only sees a threat. It can make her quite short-sighted. She can also be pretty reckless, as the longer she lives and the more lives she takes, the less she tends to value her own life, preferring to protect the Daimyo and innocents over herself. [h3][u]I N V E N T O R Y [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]所[/color][color=8B0000]有[/color][color=800000]物[/color][/h3] The collection of rings that Yasu wears are all wedding bands scavenged from the corpses of ReTanese pirates, for whom she has a downright venomous distaste. These are the only non-functional items on her person. Aside from the rings, Yasu travels light, carrying only a modest amount of bandages, a self-refilling water gourd, her survival knife, a flint and steel, a map/star chart, and compass/pocket watch. Some mages may scoff that she even carries this much, but Yasu remembers how helpless she would feel without them, having spent the first third of her life without magic. Knowing that magic can be disrupted by various means, she can't bring herself to part with them. [hider=太陽イーターと月ブレーカ][b]Taiyō-ītā and Tsuki-burēka Description:[/b] A pair of Nikanese ōdachi enchanted with Blackrot and Limitbreaker manas, respectively. Given as a gift by Shimada Masaharu as an act of open defiance against whatever party might be responsible for the attempt on Yasu's life. Their staggering power is to be used sparingly, on account of Yasu's perpetual shoulder pain. [b]Draw The World:[/b] Unsheathing Taiyō-ītā—even partially—draws a substantial amount of energy from the user's own manas, as well as their immediate surroundings. Tsuki-burēka is then drawn to unleash a devastating counter. [hider=Meta Analysis]When defending, roll 3 sets of dice. Combine the value of the 2 best rolls and set the 3rd aside. The value of the 2 best rolls combined is used to defend against every incoming attack this round, aimed at Yasu or any ally she's joint-defending. If she meets the threshold for a counter attack, use the highest value roll to attack. For every time Yasu uses this ability (up to 3 rounds per battle) the lowest roll resulting from the above will be the maximum value she can roll while attacking, an effect that lasts 3 rounds for every 1 round Taiyō-ītā was used to defend. The effect compounds when used consecutively, with the 2 best rolls overall being used as a defense value, the best roll being used as the attack/counter attack value, and the worst roll used as the maximum value for attacking for the full duration of the debuff. As an example, let's say she uses all 3 of her allowed Taiyō-ītā uses in a row. While her values for attacking and defending can only climb for those first 3 rounds, for the next 9 rounds the lowest roll she got out of the 9 total rolls will be her maximum value when attacking (she can still roll lower than that, if after 9 rolls she still hasn't had truly horrible luck yet).[/hider] [b]Taiyō-ītā's Curse:[/b] If Taiyō-ītā is fully drawn, its hunger will not be sated until it has taken a life. If a killing blow is not performed within 3 rounds, the user will be sucked into its scabbard along with the blade, and they will die effectively of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghettification]spaghettification.[/url] [hider=Meta Analysis]Fully unsheathing Taiyō-ītā is a decision that can only be made if it has never been used in the current battle. If Yasu has drawn it at all in the current battle, she will not have enough strength left to fully release it from its scabbard. If she does fully draw it, all 3 dice sets are combined to reduce incoming damage, with the highest 2 sets being used for counter attacking—but unlike with Draw the World, the debuff will last for the entire battle, with the lowest of 9 sets of dice rolls serving as her maximum attack power for the remainder of the fight after sheathing the blade. If she does not score a kill within those 3 rounds of combat, she will be physically unable to sheathe the blade, and suffer an unavoidable and unresistible flat 2,000 damage.[/hider][/hider] [hider=森のささやき][b]Mori no Sasayaki Description:[/b] A pair of earrings enchanted with Sensemaster and Skinspeaker manas, respectively. [b]Sharpen:[/b] Enhances the wearer's sense of hearing according to their will, allowing them to pick up distant or quiet sounds, such as the movement of nearby water sources, wildlife, or enemy troops. They can also be used for eavesdropping, though this application is notably useless if the wearer doesn't understand what's being said. Another underrated feature is sound nullification, when you just want to mute any dull conversation, or meditate. [b]Orienting Reflex:[/b] Subtly tugs the user's earlobe towards nearby troop movement sounds. Considerably more effective when used during solo or small-unit stealth missions, notably less so when marching alongside an army. In general, the earrings prefer to detect the larger numbers. If the enemy is outnumbered, or if a single enemy is stalking a small group, the earrings will simply tug in the direction of allies—which does have its own uses.[/hider] [hider=前触れのマント][b]Maebure no Manto Description:[/b] The Harbinger's Mantle: a unique uniform for Yasu, courtesy of the Nikanese government. [b]Sonic Negation:[/b] Mutes the typical "flapping" noises of clothing, making the wearer deathly silent even at high speeds. [b]Reaper's Flight:[/b] Removes the need for the wearer to cast Kinetic Levitation. Grants passive levitation.[/hider] [h3][u]M I S C E L L A N E O U S [/u][color=FFF5EE]___[/color] [color=FFDAB9]__[/color] [color=FFA07A]__[/color] [color=FA8072]_[/color] [color=CD5C5C]_[/color] [color=B22222]そ[/color][color=8B0000]の[/color][color=800000]他[/color][/h3] [indent][color=B22222]❖ Colour Code: [color=#5F9EA0]#5F9EA0 "CadetBlue"[/color] ❖ Has become an impressively "picky eater" over the years. Servants catering her meals conveniently tend to eat quite well. ❖ Often seen "meditating," but she doesn't do a lot of thinking. She passes the time staring off into space, appreciating nature. ❖ Surprisingly, has hobbies. Known to leave the Daimyo notes in the form of origami or weighted down by small wooden carvings. ❖ Musically inclined. Often whistles when alone, and will quietly join a campfire song or sea shanty when no one is paying attention. ❖ Yasu has never opened up to anyone about her past, prior to joining the army. Not even the Daimyo knows she is half-ReTanese.[/color][/indent][/hider]