Member
Mirai Kurojishi
Title(s): Silk like Steel,Spider in the Lion’s Den
Gender: Female
Age: 137
Alignment: Lawful Evil.
Rank: FES
Objective for the Grail: To reach the root of course- her way.
Character Objectives: Major objectives- to prove to the family that their now declining combative arts are not a dead end and to prove to herself that her own talents have not diminished in any way. Minor objectives- meet exciting new people, share stories and drink, then kill them… Maybe drag a husband home.
Command Seal: A simplified hannya mask, the three segments consisting of the main body of the mask and the two individual horns.
Personality: Vicious elegance, a grotesque and unnatural kind of grace that defies the natural order and tramples over others to assert itself, the very essence of a beautiful tyrant. Not to be confused with the aspect of a spoiled princess who is never told no, hers is the demeanor of someone who crushes those that refuse them and conquers dissent with manipulation when possible and force when necessary.
This does not however equate to innate cruelty, those who can weather her intensity and stand tall by her side are met with not just respect but generosity. Even an enemy that cannot be vanquished is held in high esteem if they do not wither under her gaze.
...Of course such a headstrong and domineering disposition is troublesome when you’re not the head of house, and no sane husband would have such a dreadful woman.
A middle daughter of the Kurojishi three generations prior, and the oldest surviving member of what was formerly the family’s main branch. Despite this she is not the head of the family, a fact that she is less than amused with to this day, a shift in priorities some years ago saw the Kurojishi family on a totally new path, leaving Mirai and her now dead contemporaries in the past. While today the clan proceeds apace towards the root through the practice of art, their original calling was something far less docile.
The tale proper begins in the early 10th century, during an age where monsters, yokai, still roamed Japan and took what they wanted from the land and those people in who lived upon it. Such things of course are not easily abided by man, and with the aid of the great sorcerer who revolutionized the magics of an entire culturesphere and the valor of warriors the likes of which would never be seen again mankind pushed the yokai that roamed the land freely into the shadows. The Kurojishi family as it exists today traces its roots, plural, back to this era with its ancestors planted firmly on both sides of the conflict.
To trace the lineage properly by name, the Kurojishi were a clan of magus in service to the emperor, a family of once humble priests called to service in the nation’s time of need. With the teachings of his great advisor Abe no Seimei they traveled far across the land in support of his grace’s forces to lend their aid in exterminating the threat of the yokai. This is of course a history far from remarkable, many families find their roots in this very same tale, without so much as a single detail amiss.
However to trace the lineage by name only however forfeits half of the story, both sides of which are worth telling. Another clan of much loftier birth, a lineage of proud samurai whose name is now buried all too intentionally, worked closely with the Kurojishi in their sacred duty and swiftly carried out these exterminations without fail. Such ruthless killers were they that the oni who fled before them and hid away high into the mountains plotted a revenge most foul. They visited upon their women in the night in a manner most secretive, such that even the defiled knew not their own undoing until all was said and done.
What one would expect follows naturally and what actually occurred are however two entirely separate matters (though in another time, in another world, perhaps it would have gone differently...). It was with the merciful intercession of the Kurojishi clan, steadfast and honorable in their duty to not only the emperor but to their friends and companions, that saved this family of samurai from destruction.
Though tainted of blood they were not tainted of heart, and while it could not be risked that the blood of an oni be allowed into court they were allowed to continue carrying out their duties. Thus, scrubbed from the record and put under the supervision of the Kurojishi clan they continued to hunt and kill those who had stolen their glory but not their valor. They became fearsome and terrifying warriors who wielded the power of the oni, who turned their bodies into deadly weapons and forged the very bones of their own fallen into weapons even mightier still.
So it would continue to be for some great many years, first in service to the royal family and later in service to the Demon Hunter's Association, and even as the world became less and less rife with conflict whose origin did not stem from man the two entwined families prospered. With time their arts blended together, no longer two separate entities acting in support of each other but rather one conjoined whole that was greater than its pieces.
So too in time did their blood mingle, at first in secret for fear of reprisal and then openly and without fear as they emerged into the modern era, and the lineage became all the stronger for it. The infusion of blood of a phantasmal lineage increased the quality of the family’s stock as mages, while the synthesis of their arts would lead to a kind of magecraft entirely unique to their new clan. By the dawn of the 17th century the two blood lines had become entirely one, just in time to revolutionize their own recently discovered form of magecraft.
It is only now in this last century, in an age so utterly devoid of prey, that the hunt has finally and truly ended. As the family branched out and seized a more modern kind of power- art, industry, finance- those ancient arts fell to the wayside, and the once most prominent members of the clan have fallen to the wayside with them as the final keepers of their craft.
The tale proper begins in the early 10th century, during an age where monsters, yokai, still roamed Japan and took what they wanted from the land and those people in who lived upon it. Such things of course are not easily abided by man, and with the aid of the great sorcerer who revolutionized the magics of an entire culturesphere and the valor of warriors the likes of which would never be seen again mankind pushed the yokai that roamed the land freely into the shadows. The Kurojishi family as it exists today traces its roots, plural, back to this era with its ancestors planted firmly on both sides of the conflict.
To trace the lineage properly by name, the Kurojishi were a clan of magus in service to the emperor, a family of once humble priests called to service in the nation’s time of need. With the teachings of his great advisor Abe no Seimei they traveled far across the land in support of his grace’s forces to lend their aid in exterminating the threat of the yokai. This is of course a history far from remarkable, many families find their roots in this very same tale, without so much as a single detail amiss.
However to trace the lineage by name only however forfeits half of the story, both sides of which are worth telling. Another clan of much loftier birth, a lineage of proud samurai whose name is now buried all too intentionally, worked closely with the Kurojishi in their sacred duty and swiftly carried out these exterminations without fail. Such ruthless killers were they that the oni who fled before them and hid away high into the mountains plotted a revenge most foul. They visited upon their women in the night in a manner most secretive, such that even the defiled knew not their own undoing until all was said and done.
What one would expect follows naturally and what actually occurred are however two entirely separate matters (though in another time, in another world, perhaps it would have gone differently...). It was with the merciful intercession of the Kurojishi clan, steadfast and honorable in their duty to not only the emperor but to their friends and companions, that saved this family of samurai from destruction.
Though tainted of blood they were not tainted of heart, and while it could not be risked that the blood of an oni be allowed into court they were allowed to continue carrying out their duties. Thus, scrubbed from the record and put under the supervision of the Kurojishi clan they continued to hunt and kill those who had stolen their glory but not their valor. They became fearsome and terrifying warriors who wielded the power of the oni, who turned their bodies into deadly weapons and forged the very bones of their own fallen into weapons even mightier still.
So it would continue to be for some great many years, first in service to the royal family and later in service to the Demon Hunter's Association, and even as the world became less and less rife with conflict whose origin did not stem from man the two entwined families prospered. With time their arts blended together, no longer two separate entities acting in support of each other but rather one conjoined whole that was greater than its pieces.
So too in time did their blood mingle, at first in secret for fear of reprisal and then openly and without fear as they emerged into the modern era, and the lineage became all the stronger for it. The infusion of blood of a phantasmal lineage increased the quality of the family’s stock as mages, while the synthesis of their arts would lead to a kind of magecraft entirely unique to their new clan. By the dawn of the 17th century the two blood lines had become entirely one, just in time to revolutionize their own recently discovered form of magecraft.
It is only now in this last century, in an age so utterly devoid of prey, that the hunt has finally and truly ended. As the family branched out and seized a more modern kind of power- art, industry, finance- those ancient arts fell to the wayside, and the once most prominent members of the clan have fallen to the wayside with them as the final keepers of their craft.
Magic Circuit Switch: The sound of bone snapping.
Number of Magic Circuits: D
Quality of Magic Circuits: B
Elemental Affinity: Bone
Magecraft
A diverse and widely practiced field from which nearly all traditional Japanese magecraft is based. It combines astrology, alchemy, shamanism, geomancy, and wu xing into a discipline encompassing nearly all of a magi’s needs. Divination, the control of spirits, creation of familiars, evocation of the five elements, enactment of curses, the creation of barriers, and much more are all possible within this system.
The Kurojishi family not only traces its roots as magi back to those first practitioners of the art but has enjoyed an uninterrupted lineage of nearly a thousand years to perfect it as well, so to say they excel in this field would be an understatement. While Mirai, as with her siblings, specializes in those aspects most suited to detecting and driving out malignants there is no aspect of the craft in which she is not a competent if not excellent practitioner.
The Kurojishi family not only traces its roots as magi back to those first practitioners of the art but has enjoyed an uninterrupted lineage of nearly a thousand years to perfect it as well, so to say they excel in this field would be an understatement. While Mirai, as with her siblings, specializes in those aspects most suited to detecting and driving out malignants there is no aspect of the craft in which she is not a competent if not excellent practitioner.
The creation of clockworks, usually from interlocking wooden parts with a driving spring. A normal karakuri is just that, a simple gadget that moves at the command of its assembly to repeat one exact action over and over until its driving spring wears out- though they have been used as everything from expensive complicated toys to automated assassination devices.
The karakuri created by experienced magi are complicated devices that bend the normal rules of physical interaction between components to achieve complicated modular tasks that would be absolutely impossible for their already impressive mundane counterparts. Functionally such they serve as something of a counterpart to the golem of kaballic tradition though it is a much much younger magical foundation.
This was the specialty of the Kurojishi family since the 17th century when they first pioneered the craft, however Mirai's competence in it compared to her forbears is somewhat middling. While other families have since co-opted this foundation and pursued it to somewhere near its logical end point the Kurojishi clan has instead branched off into a much more specialized and narrow form of Karakuri that is wholly unique to their own peculiar bloodline, hence her falling relatively behind the curve compared to the other modern masters.
The karakuri created by experienced magi are complicated devices that bend the normal rules of physical interaction between components to achieve complicated modular tasks that would be absolutely impossible for their already impressive mundane counterparts. Functionally such they serve as something of a counterpart to the golem of kaballic tradition though it is a much much younger magical foundation.
This was the specialty of the Kurojishi family since the 17th century when they first pioneered the craft, however Mirai's competence in it compared to her forbears is somewhat middling. While other families have since co-opted this foundation and pursued it to somewhere near its logical end point the Kurojishi clan has instead branched off into a much more specialized and narrow form of Karakuri that is wholly unique to their own peculiar bloodline, hence her falling relatively behind the curve compared to the other modern masters.
This is the process of inheritance that defined the nameless and tragic clan of samurai whose bloodline was tainted by the treacherous oni, which they brought unto the Kurojishi when the two became one. The means by which the deceased members of the clan are made to serve the living in their relentless quest to eradicate all youkai from the land. The art which distinguishes them from their peers.
Upon death the bones and blood of the Kurojishi are collected and fashioned into tools before being placed in a kiln, along with the grudges of both the magus and those they had slain.These kilns are then imbued with the properties of a ‘hell’ and left fired for great amounts of time, years or even decades, until the complete joining of wraith and bone. Upon completion there is no way to tell where the weapon stops and the grudges begin, a result possible only because of the combination of the elemental affinity they possess for bone and their demonic lineage.
These not-quite living items were traditionally arms and armor of superior quality, self-guiding weapons that would sunder the very spirits of their foes and raiments that would literally bleed for their wearers so they did not have to. Now they take a different form, the components of the clockwork oddities that the Kurojishi clan pioneered. While others carried on working away with wood trying to elevate the mystery of their newborn craft the Kurojishi instead made use of their literal new blood to tie it to an old and terrifying mystery and the unending grudge to turn the gears endlessly of their own volition.
Upon death the bones and blood of the Kurojishi are collected and fashioned into tools before being placed in a kiln, along with the grudges of both the magus and those they had slain.These kilns are then imbued with the properties of a ‘hell’ and left fired for great amounts of time, years or even decades, until the complete joining of wraith and bone. Upon completion there is no way to tell where the weapon stops and the grudges begin, a result possible only because of the combination of the elemental affinity they possess for bone and their demonic lineage.
These not-quite living items were traditionally arms and armor of superior quality, self-guiding weapons that would sunder the very spirits of their foes and raiments that would literally bleed for their wearers so they did not have to. Now they take a different form, the components of the clockwork oddities that the Kurojishi clan pioneered. While others carried on working away with wood trying to elevate the mystery of their newborn craft the Kurojishi instead made use of their literal new blood to tie it to an old and terrifying mystery and the unending grudge to turn the gears endlessly of their own volition.
A specialized curse that Mirai developed, it is derived from an archaic form of magecraft which was used to use grudges to directly reinforce the self at the cost of one’s humanity. The curse is engraved directly onto the body, acting as a supplement to the magic circuits, but instead of accessing the latent mana of the world it burns away the grudges of the fallen to convert into magical energy.
Weapons
An incredibly complex karakuri body replacement based on older blueprints. It is made from some of the purest components to ever come from the Kurojishi family’s forge, and finished over with lacquered wood plating. It replaces entirely the outer extremities while adding two additional pairs of arms, and encases the shoulders, chest, and hips, leaving the head and torso in-tact.
The speed, strength and toughness exhibited by its limbs all greatly exceed what a human body could naturally achieve, rivaling the attributes of a magus specialized in reinforcement, and it is capable of running down and tearing a person apart limb from limb with ease. Since it is spliced directly into the body and the hosts magic circuits have fused into the control framework, it acts as an extension of the natural body to offer an unparalleled degree of precision and control.
In fact due to the nature of the components the body itself is fooled into believing that the mystic code is a part of it. Because of this nigh perfect integration the additional sets of arms allow her to perform much faster Mudras, her substitute for verbal incantations, allowing her to cast her spells at two times the normal speed by sequencing the hand signs between her different limbs.
The speed, strength and toughness exhibited by its limbs all greatly exceed what a human body could naturally achieve, rivaling the attributes of a magus specialized in reinforcement, and it is capable of running down and tearing a person apart limb from limb with ease. Since it is spliced directly into the body and the hosts magic circuits have fused into the control framework, it acts as an extension of the natural body to offer an unparalleled degree of precision and control.
In fact due to the nature of the components the body itself is fooled into believing that the mystic code is a part of it. Because of this nigh perfect integration the additional sets of arms allow her to perform much faster Mudras, her substitute for verbal incantations, allowing her to cast her spells at two times the normal speed by sequencing the hand signs between her different limbs.
A paper umbrella, when open it creates a circular cushion of air a below it parallel to its own body, solid enough to support the weight of an average adult. In such manner it allows one to stand or walk on air, controlling the ascent or descent with the angle of the umbrella.
A large crate of consecrated wood from Aokigahara. A crate of pre-molded internal components made from kiln-fired ancestral bone. Mallets and wood clamps. Large stack of rice paper and a traditional ink stone. Small box of raw cinnabar. Half a dozen human-hair calligraphy brushes. Three pounds salt from the inland sea. Two iron flasks of mercury. Assorted incense.
Exceptional Benefit: Superior Mystic Code.
—Saber Class: d'Artagnan—
"Saber reporting for duty! Wait… Saber!? ...But I worked so hard to be a musketeer...”
Origin: Three Musketeers Legend
Era: Age of Man, 17th Century
Gender: FeMale.
Attribute: Man
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Backstory: As Per The Three Musketeers, except she is a beautiful tomboy (bifauxnen) who impersonates a man to redeem the honor of her house (instead of merely being the son of a dishonored house).
Personality: Optimistic and bright, d'Artagnan is a young woman who seeks glory and fortune earnestly but modestly in the trail of others of greater stature than herself. She is clever in all the wrong ways, and that combined with her impulsive nature often makes her look like a bigger fool than someone who isn't clever at all. She is somewhat impressionable, and despite her rank as captain she is prone to falling in line when someone else takes charge.
...Or out of line for a pretty lady. She is a hopeless romantic whose characteristically good luck fails her in that avenue alone. She claims all women are beautiful, but while she insists she likes men as well she is elusive on the subject of what her particular type is.
She answered the call of the grail in the hope of distinguishing herself in her own new tale of heroics without the help of Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, so she can finally feel as though she is truly worthy of being "the Fourth Musketeer". Ironic given the nature of her Noble Phantasm.
— Parameters —
STR:C | END:C | AGI:B+ | MAG:D | LCK:A+ | NP:C
Her Luck receives a positive adjustment in situations wherein she appears to be at a disadvantage, including being attacked unawares.
Her Agility receives a positive adjustment for the purposes of swordplay and related derring-do.
— Class Skills —
Magic Resistance C: An ability that cancels all magecraft of rank C or below. Ther is not the same as lowering the rank of magecraft, as ranks higher than C are unaffected.
Riding D: The ability to control and fight while mounted on anything that a human might normally be able to ride, even on a wild mount. This does not include any form of magical beast.
— Personal Skills —
Beauty of Trouble with Women C: A kind of awareness of one's weakness towards women that borders on a self-fulfilling curse. In d’Artagnan’s case this dreadful skill was inscribed upon her legend from constantly falling head over heels in love with nearly every beautiful woman she came across.
Marksman C: The ability to hit distant targets with a great degree of precision, even with subpar weapons and munitions. At this rank it is possible to accurately land shots even at the outer reaches of her pistols or muskets against targets moving at great speed.
Disengage C: The ability to safely remove oneself from combat without penalty. At this rank conditions can be reset to the same state as they were prior to the engagement.
Knight Tactics C: The ability to offer false openings to capitalize on an enemy's weakness when attacking, even fooling the instincts of a trained warrior. With this ability it is possible to bypass powerful defensive skills that would aid the enemy in blocking or evading the follow-up strike, even ones that border on precognition.
— Armaments —
Sword- A standard issue cup hilt rapier that you would expect anyone bearing the title “Musketeer” to possess. Four feet in length, but with a good balance that offers exceptional control and a strong tip that is capable of inflicting deep wounds with even light attacks.
Parrying Dagger- An equally standard issue off-hand dagger popular with fencers, used primarily for defense rather than offense. It has a strong wide guard that makes blocking or deflecting attacks even from full sized weapons easy.
Musket- The namesake of the Musketeers despite being less romanticized than the rapier. A black powder long-gun that fires a large lead shot. It’s large bore and long barrel provide exceptional power despite its archaic nature.
Pistols- Two black powder hand-guns that fire a not-quite-as-large lead shot. While they aren’t particularly powerful their ease of carry and use is an appreciable asset.
Horse- A non-descript horse of a stature and ability befitting a servant, it can be summoned at will to a location nearby.
— Noble Phantasms —
All for One and One for All!
My Cherished Friends and Companions, The Three Musketeers
Rank: C Type: Anti unit, Range: 15 Maximum Targets: 3
A Noble Phantasm that condenses d'Artagnan's nature as the simultaneous protagonist and second fiddle of her own legend into a single moment. The turning point oh every ill-conceived blunder she stumbled into, the answer to her every prayer, the intercession of her beloved companions to save her from her own foolishness.
Three simultaneous strikes, from three separate swords, erupt upon the field of battle to simultaneously defend and attack on behalf of d'Artagnan, displaying a terrifying mastery of swordplay that even a fencer so fine as she could never hope to match, before vanishing as if they were never there. Due to the relatively low power of the attacks the noble phantasm is shockingly cost efficient on a strike-by-strike basis, even if there are three of them.
While the noble phantasm's true name can be evoked to enable a sustained effect, allowing for autonomous strikes within its range so as to cause d'Artagnan to fight with the force of four men rather than one it needn't be so. If she is in danger the noble phantasm will activate of its own accord, pending a luck check, saving her hide before she even realizes she has bitten off more than she can chew.
— Parameters —
Increase Strength from C to B
Increase Agility from B+ to A+
— Class Skills —
Magic Resistance from C to B
— Personal Skills —
Bravery B: the ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. It also has the bonus effect of increasing melee damage. Not usable under the effects of Mad Enhancement.
— Noble Phantasm —
Range: from 15 to ????.
Represents the nature of the musketeers as being about their own business in France while d’Artagnan conducts her own investigations, thus they could spring into action from anywhere at any time, defending or attacking from outside the usually limited range of the Noble Phantasm. When used as a deliberate offensive action by way of invoking the true name d'Artagnan must still be able to clearly formulate the attack upon the target and location, which is to say she must still be directly observing them (as opposed to scrying or other forms of remote viewing) rather than merely thinking "Musketeers, go attack Berserker".
Increase Strength from C to B
Increase Agility from B+ to A+
— Class Skills —
Magic Resistance from C to B
— Personal Skills —
Bravery B: the ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. It also has the bonus effect of increasing melee damage. Not usable under the effects of Mad Enhancement.
— Noble Phantasm —
Range: from 15 to ????.
Represents the nature of the musketeers as being about their own business in France while d’Artagnan conducts her own investigations, thus they could spring into action from anywhere at any time, defending or attacking from outside the usually limited range of the Noble Phantasm. When used as a deliberate offensive action by way of invoking the true name d'Artagnan must still be able to clearly formulate the attack upon the target and location, which is to say she must still be directly observing them (as opposed to scrying or other forms of remote viewing) rather than merely thinking "Musketeers, go attack Berserker".
