Rabidporcupine — Roleplayer Guild

WHAM! Here's my new character, who's actually probably one of my oldest consistent characters, but don'tquestionitWHAM!

Name:
Jeremy Lindall

Age: 
24

Appearance:



Height: 
6'4"

Weight: 
201 lbs

Likes:
Peace and quiet
Reading
Cooking, particularly with exotic ingredients
Gardening
Fishing
Games
Anime
Really just cartoons in general
Musicals, but apparently only if Hugh Jackman is in them
Annoying, loudmouthed idiots who jump into trouble without even thinking

Dislikes:
Wasting food
Being the center of attention
Being dragged into awful situations
Annoying, loudmouthed idiots who jump into trouble without even thinking

Zodiac Sign:
Taurus

Special Talent: 
Well apparently, it's getting himself into some kind of godawful, terrifying situation that really should end with him in a hospital bed on an at least bi-monthly basis, with the only reason it doesn't being that he has an equally incredible ability to claw his way out of them through a healthy combination of fighting, improvising, multiple poor attempts at manipulation and running and/or driving away very fast.

Profession: 
Nowhere right now, he's kind of a new arrival.

Bio/Personality:
Jeremy's life could aptly be described as hectic, specifically 'too hectic for him'. Growing up in the mean streets of New Jersey, he was always a fairly shy kid, preferring to spend his time with in peace, working on his little vegetable garden. This all changed when his mother introduced him to her coworker and his daughter.

Hannah Washburne, who he would soon come to realize may very well have been the devil herself.

From the moment they met, he was trapped in the position of being her 'best friend', as like him, she had pretty much no friends either. However, where on his part it was due to being shy and quiet, Hannah's friendship troubles came from the exact opposite situation, and he almost immediately pinned her as the most infuriating person he'd ever met. Within the week, he realized that 'best friends' apparently meant cleaning up after her and trying desperately to play peacemaker whenever she picked fights with the other kids, which was often. Eventually, even this wasn't enough, and he quickly had to learn how to handle himself in a fight or get the crap beaten out of him.

And yet, despite all the trouble she constantly dragged him into, he couldn't help but enjoy himself. Oh, he'd still sigh and complain over the situation which was completely reasonable considering how he'd accidentally become a proper delinquent just by continuing to spend time with her, but he knew he'd go along with it anyway. After all, whether or not it was true when they first met, by the time he was seventeen, he truly considered her his closest friend, and he knew the feeling was mutual. They had been fighting side by side for just under ten years, and they were so close they could basically figure out what the other was thinking at any given moment. And sometimes, in the earliest hours of the morning, he'd wonder if maybe... maybe there was even something more to their relationship...

But he would never know. Because she died that year.

In the end, it wasn't even one of the fights she'd picked that did it. She was hit by a car that had gone out of control while they walked home from school. From there, everything changed.

He began lashing out, picking fights himself, and rebuffing the other friends he and Hannah had managed to make. He rarely spent time at home as well, and the smoking habit he had unfortunately picked up over last couple of years got far, far worse. It wasn't until Hannah's father talked to him that he realized just how bad he'd become. This wasn't the Jeremy who'd been her best friend. This was just some jackass who was going out of his way to make everyone else as upset as he was, and while she may have had the bad habit of picking fights, hurting people for no reason was one thing she absolutely did not approve of.

From there, he worked to get better again. He began seeing a psychiatrist, reached back out to the friends he thought he'd lost, but thankfully figured he was just going through a hard time, and threw himself back into his old hobbies. And thanks to all of these, slowly but surely, he managed to begin the arduous process of dragging himself out of his depression.

That was four years ago, and while he's still not completely better, he's... something. He isn't actively acting like an asshole anymore, so there's that, and while his natural pessimism is still pretty intense, there's a kind of lazy optimism that's helped make the days a little easier to get through. Still, even six years couldn't fix things completely, not when everywhere he looked he saw something that reminded him of their old adventures. This has led him to the decision that, if he stayed in New Jersey, he'd never be able to put his pain behind him. After a few months of looking around, he finally managed to find a small, cheap apartment in Sol City. Now he's finally moved in with everything sorted out, ready to finally begin the next chapter of his life.


Your character's favorite song:


Actor or Actress/Public Figure who would play your Character in a movie:
Not really sure, unless they could somehow go back in time and get young, Blue Heelers era Hugh Jackman. Not to say he probably couldn't pull it off now, the guy is still ridiculously attractive. It's just that he doesn't look twenty-four anymore.


Very Simple: Are you, as a PLAYER more a solo/small group poster or would you consider yourself a social butterfly open for anything?
Despite what Jeremy would want, I usually have trouble posting unless I've got someone to bounce off of, preferably multiple people. So yeah, let's butterfly it up and annoy Jeremy to our hearts content!

Choose a number from 1-5 telling us where you would rate yourself in the above criteria. ONE being the least interactive and FIVE being the most.
I'm going to go with 3, because it sounds better than saying that I'm usually fluctuating between 2 and 4 at any given point.


Most of you guys already know me and just forgot, but I promise I'm not upset by that, and you guys can't see me crying on my side of the screen to prove me wrong.

*Your age: 23

*What part of the world are you from: The good ol' AU of Stralia.

*How many years have you been writing/roleplaying: ADHD has unfortunately eviscerated my memory, but I'm pretty sure it's something like four years now.

*How often do you have time to post: Considering I'm unemployed and am no longer in my course due to less than stellar intelligence, I technically have quite a bit of time to post. I'm also lazy though, so I can only hope I manage to get my shit together and post like a normal person this time.


Also I'm probably totally gonna bring Joseph back anyway. I don't care if people only remember him for his hilarious cardboard suit and mastery of the mysterious pigeon style of martial arts, I'll bring him back. And he'll have at least one post for him to get some more character development this season before fading away into the background again!

Name of Nation:
Akumori

Almost entirely Oni, with a number of stronger members of the other, smaller, weaker races.

Oni:
The Oni are a race of large, muscular creatures that tend to resemble the demons of other nations mythology. Their height tends to range between seven and nine feet, but this along with their musculature has the unfortunate side effect of requiring an almost ridiculous amount of food, and even with a stomach almost perfectly designed to squeeze every last drop of nutrients from their food, most oni still need to consume somewhere around 8000 calories every day. There are two subtypes of oni, the red-skinned Ikazuchi Oni and the blue-skinned Shinatsuhiko Oni. There are very few physical differences between these subtypes, with the only variation outside of skin colour being that Shinatsuhiko Oni only have one horn in the center of their forehead, while Ikazuchi Oni have two.

Oni culture can be a rather polarising subject amongst other races. On the one hand, their bluntness social situations, tendency to launch into spontaneous brawls and seeming complete lack of restraint cause many of the more reserved nations to look down on the race as little more than barbaric idiots. However, while this is not necessarily completely untrue, those who are willing to look past these attributes can see that Oni culture is surprisingly deep.

Oni society is built around the concept of clans, which encompasses everything from a single bloodline to the country itself. The first clan is the Dokei Ichizoku, the extended family, which tends to attract the most loyalty from any given oni. These clans are led by the Clan Head, usually the oldest and most experienced member of the clan, although unfortunately this does not always mean the wisest. After that comes the Taku Ichizoku, the town or village an oni lives in. While generally not as close as a Dokei, members of a Taku are still extremely close, often forming lifelong friendships. It isn’t rare for every inhabitant of a town to know each other after all, so it is only natural that they would come to see each other as just another, larger extended family. These are led by a council of the clan heads, with one of them being elected into the role of elder by the others. Thankfully, elders do tend to be some of the wisest members of the race, having experienced enough to have developed at the very least a mild sense of restraint in their general lives, and serve on their own council as advisors to the Enma, the oni king. Then there is the third clan, the Hifu Ichizoku, whether you are an Ikazuchi or Shinatsuhiko Oni. While these clans held a lot more importance in the past, they have slowly faded out as the race has grown more and more. These days, it only tends to come up during the Festival of the Sky, where the council of elders elect a single representative from the Ikazuchi and Shinatsuhiko as candidates to take the throne. These candidates then duel in the plaza of the sky temple, the fortress the Enma rules from, and the winner becomes the new Enma, mirroring the original legend of the brothers Fujin and Raijin. However, as the duel rarely actually ends in death, and the loser is still considered an exceptionally talented member of the oni race, they are traditionally chosen to serve as the Enma’s right hand and closest advisor, and it is common for the pair to form a lifelong friendship and rivalry that transcends any other. This leads into the fourth clan, the Daizen Ichizoku, which encompasses the whole of the Oni nation. As mentioned before, this is led by the Enma, who rules the nation as an autocrat with the aid of the council of elders. After the Dokei, the Daizen Ichizoku tends to have the most loyalty from each individual, as the attributes elders look for to be elected as a candidate tend to be perfectly in line with the will of the rest of the race as a whole.

In addition to the four clans, oni involved in the military or hunting units tend to form an unofficial fifth one, known as the Hagane Ichizoku. This encapsulates the bonds formed between those who fight together, and is often a close contender even for the Dokei.

A large part of Oni culture is formed around combat, and it is considered a perfectly acceptable, if not outright expected, way to solve disagreements. It isn’t rare to walk into an Akumori inn or tavern and see at least four pairs of brawling oni, if not the entire patronage hurling punches and kicks. If one can’t find a brawl to watch or take part in, the oni also regularly hold tournaments or competitions, sometimes specifically to create an excuse to fight if they can’t find any other. That being said, many oni prefer to fight strong opponents, which can be difficult to find considering their immense size. However, one of the larger focuses of the Akumori government is the Hunters Guild, which not only allows members to placate this urge, but also aids in providing additional materials for the craftsman, and enough food to help the population not starve to death.

Despite their general brash, boorish behaviour in social situations, oni can actually show remarkable displays of precision and delicacy when the task calls for it. This is especially clear in two of the most common oni pastimes outside of fighting, craftsmanship and cooking. Oni craftsmanship, which mostly stemmed from weapon and armour smithing, is actually fairly well known for its intricacies and attention to detail. During the creation of weapons and armour, the utmost care is put into creating ensuring they are both visually impressive and practical to use, and the use of both magically enhanced metals and strong monster materials contribute to a distinct style. 

The other core tenant of Oni culture is cooking, which has evolved naturally over time thanks to the extremely high dietary requirements of the giant creatures. Over the last few centuries, culinary arts have exploded in Akumori, with a constantly evolving cuisine utilising ingredients from the many species of monster in the Akumori mountains and surrounding forests. While many recipes are made to be appropriate for any race, the oni themselves tend to prefer extremely spicy foods, with some of the most spicy dishes presenting actual physical danger if consumed by races with weaker constitutions. These meals are almost always accompanied by extremely strong alcohol, often also brewed by the oni themselves, although they will accept imported alcohol too if they have nothing else.

In terms of religion, Oni do not strictly worship gods, instead revering their ancestors as the progenitors of oni culture. These are the brothers, Fujin and Raijin, and their father, Enma. In oni legends, Enma was the chief of a small band of Akuma, the race that would eventually become the oni, and settled in the mountains that would become their home many thousands of years ago. When he died, his sons both hoped to show the other that they would make a better successor to their father through actions and ideas that would eventually lay the groundwork for most of the modern oni culture. However, after ten years of competition, the pair eventually decided that they would settle things once and for all with a duel. This battle lasted for three whole days, as the pair proved to be almost completely equal. However, in the end, the graceful Fujin emerged victorious, having barely beaten out the sharper, more jagged movements of his brother. From then on, he ruled with the same talent and compassion as his father had, with Raijin as his faithful second in command. Eventually, these two would become known as the fathers of the entire oni race, with Fujin’s children eventually becoming the Shinatsuhiko Oni, and Raijin’s becoming the Ikazuchi. Unfortunately, after a great period of prosperity for the village, these two clans would eventually become so different that it led to a great schism, which would in turn lead to the nation dissolving into warring tribes, barely holding on to the fragments of their ancient culture. However, the legend of Fujin and Raijin was used to great effect during the reunification period, their friendship and brotherly bonds becoming a potent symbol for the oni to rally behind, and eventually cementing their positions as the closest things to patron deities of the entire race.

Finally, as can be seen by almost everyone who travels through Akumori, the oni have a long history of festivals and events. These can either be nationwide festivals organised by the government, or unofficial festivals, that rarely spread outside of a single village. The two most famous of the oni festivals are the Festival of the Sky, which takes place when the nations previous Enma either dies or steps down, and is used to determine the next Enma, and the Festival of the Nine Days, which represents the events leading to the creation of the previous festival and founding of the Hunters Guild. This takes place during the same nine days every year, with great feasts held in every guild hall for the public, usually consisting of dishes made from particularly dangerous monsters. If the Festival of the Sky should happen to fall within the time frame of the Festival of Nine Days, it is considered a very good omen, confirming that the Enma elected from it will be a truly great ruler.

Year 5997: Founding and Rise of Akumori Village
The village of Akumori is founded, carved into the rock by a clan of Akuma led by the great chief Enma and his sons Fujin and Raijin after travelling from distant, long forgotten lands. The village grows in prosperity, hidden from the world within the mountains.

Year 5984: Death of Enma
Enma is killed defeating the great serpent Orochi, leading to the competition between Raijin and Fujin to prove themselves more worthy of succeeding their father. During the following ten years, the first ancient iteration of the hunters guild is founded by Fujin, while the secrets of oni craftsmanship and creation of mystic crafts are discovered by Raijin.

Year 5974: Duel of the Sky
Fujin and Raijin realise that all their accomplishments are invariably on par with each other, and decide to simply settle the matter with one final duel. After a great battle spanning three entire days, Fujin finally manages to best his brother. He takes his place as leader of Akumori, while Raijin becomes his second in command.

Year 5840: The Great Schism
After over a century of relative peace, tensions begin to form between the Ikazuchi Oni descended from Raijin and the Shinatsuhiko Oni descended from Fujin, whose forms are now quite different from each other and more similar to the forms seen today. Although the sparks that finally ignited the conflict have been lost to time, a violent schism finally occurs between the two clans, and the resulting civil war leaves the once unified village shattered, the surviving oni regressing into tribes in the surrounding mountains and forests. The village itself is abandoned, and eventually lost to time.

Year 5840 - 1760: Warring Tribes Period
For over four thousand years, the oni exist in the form of countless small tribes and clans, the relationships between which being tense at the best of times. Tribal warfare is common, memories of Akumori, Enma, Fujin and Raijin exist in the form of stories and mythology, and the techniques and knowledge from the village exist only in fragments, scattered between the tribes and passed down from generation to generation, slowly being rebuilt over itself over the centuries. 

Year 1760: Rediscovery of Akumori
After millennia of existing as feuding tribes, a small clan of oni rediscover the ruins of Akumori after fleeing into the mountains to escape a rival clan. The young clan head, Shuten Doji, decides to claim the ancient stone village as their new refuge, unaware of the true nature of the ruins. Eventually after settling in, the clan slowly begins to rediscover the ancient knowledge of the original inhabitants, and slowly connect the dots between these discoveries and their ancient legends. After confirming their home to be the ancient village, Shuten Doji uses the villages rediscovery as a symbol to rally behind, greatly increasing his own prestige among the other clans and embarking on a campaign to reunite the clans.

Year 1758 - Year 1724: Reunification Period
Over the next thirty-four years, Shuten Doji travels the land, slowly building his retinue and gaining the trust of the other tribes through clever gifting of portions of the ancient techniques of Akumori and good old fashioned wrestling. While this works for many tribes, others are not so simple to convince, and numerous tribes react violently to the attempts at integration. However, with greater numbers, superior technology and advanced military techniques on their side, Akumori makes short work of the vast majority of these clans. Only a few clans, such as the Mashiga Clan, pose any true obstacle to Doji’s armies, managing to hold them off for a full two years through the uncharacteristic use of guerilla warfare. However, by the year 1724, Akumori is officially recognized as a single, reunified nation, covering both the vast Akumori mountains and vast stretches of the surrounding forests to the east and south. Shuten Doji takes his place as chief of the united oni clans, and over the course of his life, he forms the clan system, establishes the council of elders, and has his forgemasters travel the country to teach their craft in the newly built villages and towns. By the time of his death, many believe him to be the greatest leader of the oni since Enma himself, and eventually as he is likened to the ancient ruler more and more often, the name eventually becomes synonymous with the leadership of Akumori as a whole.

Year 1683: The Reign of Nine Days
Using information left from Old Akumori, the granddaughter of Shuten Doji, Shuten Ibuki, re-establishes the hunters guild. More interested in hunting monsters with her fledgeling organization than taking the throne, she spends the nine days after her father’s retirement cooperating with the council of elders to plan a festival where a new successor can be found, leading to the creation of the Festival of the Sky. After the festival is over, Ibuki hands leadership of Akumori to Oshutoru Kotaro of the Shinatsuhiko, victor of the festival, and took her place as the first guildmaster of the hunters guild.

Year 1501: Igarashi Raiga ascends the throne
After the previous Enma steps down, Igarashi Raiga of the Ikazuchi defeats Togashi Dozen of the Shinatsuhiko in the Festival of the Sky and becomes the next Enma of Akumori. Formerly the head of the hunters guild branch in his home village of Tsukino, he was known as an extremely capable hunter. As the Enma however, while Raiga is noted to have done fairly well, there is very little to make him stand out amongst his predecessors so far.

Territorial Claims:

Akumori’s economy, while generally weaker than many other nations, still manages to keep the nation afloat. It is almost entirely built around the Hunters Guild these days, an organization that hires oni and strong recruits from other races out to hunt entities deemed to be dangers to society. As these are usually the large monsters that inhabit the wilds of Akumori and surrounding nations, this sees the meat, scales, bones and other remains pass through the guilds stores, which then go on to be used in the world famous dishes of the oni chefs, or the similarly well known weapons and armour of the oni blacksmiths. These are then either bought back by guild members either for food or to become even more effective hunters respectively, or sold to other nations and independent adventurers. All of these factors supplement the general fee that must be paid to post an official hunt, which increases with the potential difficulty of the hunt. About half of this fee goes to the hunters as a reward for successful completion, and the rest goes into guild administration and ‘taxes’, although in the end the government and the guild are generally close enough that they will just fund national endeavours.

Of course, that isn’t to say that the guild is the only source of income for the nation, as many independent craftsmen, cooks and general labourers can be found all over Akumori, willing to put their efforts to good use and mostly willing to part with a percentage of it in the name of national interests.

The military may very well be the most important aspect of Oni society. Ever since the days of the Akuma, the race has seen combat as a way to both prove one's worth and solve most forms of conflict. Of course, when it comes to simply solving disputes, there is rarely serious intent to harm, but the point is that almost each and every Oni over the age of ten is an at least somewhat capable fighter. This is compounded by the fact that, while usually very blunt and to the point, Oni can be rather cunning, even slightly devious, when it comes to combat. True, most of them still prefer to face their enemy head on in glorious, honourable combat, but if the situation calls for it, they are more than willing to employ tactics that prove them to be more than the simple brutes many other races have mistaken them for in the past. They also have a surprisingly high understanding of the science behind military endeavors. 

In addition to this, it is not uncommon for many Oni to have at least one mystic craft on their person, especially when entering battle. These are objects, usually weapons or armour, that have had the soul of a monstrous creature bound to it, giving it unique magical properties. They are usually crafted using a combination of normal metals and monster parts too, which makes it easier to bind the soul to the item. Mystic crafts can give any Oni that would wield them a significant advantage in combat if used cleverly.

Akumori doesn’t actually have anything that could be considered a navy, with their only seaworthy vessels being fishing boats.

Mystic Crafts
Using magics that date back to the days of Fujin and Raijin, Oni craftsmen are able to create items with materials from certain monsters or other living things. By combining them with the usual materials, they can create weapons, armour, and all kinds of other items, and bind the souls of those monsters into the items themselves. Depending on the monster and it’s abilities, this can have any number of effects. For example, binding the soul of a fire dragon to a weapon could cause it to release bursts of flame, while doing the same with a suit of armour could cause it to become extremely heat resistant.

BIG MASCLE MAN
Oni are extremely tall, generally standing around ten or so feet tall. They are also extremely muscular. This, as you’ve probably guessed, means that they are ridiculously physically capable, whether on the fields of battle or merely as labourers. However, supporting a body like theirs requires a truly ridiculous amount of food, approaching eight thousand calories a day.

Surabhumi: Basically best friends, even if they won’t admit it yet. A few pretty good trade deals exist between the two nations.

Regnum of Imasicia: Relations are a little rocky, considering how much the Regnum hates Surabhumi, but they are part of a treaty with Akumori, Drakon and the Kipchak Khanate, working together to hunt down Oni bandits, many of whom are cannibalistic and extremely dangerous to smaller races.

Arcana: We like to tease each other, but in the end we’re friends, even if they’re jealous of our superior magic abilities.

Land Area: 14
Land Fertility: 14
Development: 16
Land Power: 20 
Naval Power: 1
Economy: 9
Magical Reserves: 14
Magical Sophistication: 14

Nothing I can think of at the moment, but who knows.

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Depression Tree.

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