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[Shootandrun]

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Player Name: Shootandrun
Character Name: Kenshin Hiroshi
Profession: Samurai
Clan: Hiroshi
Family: Hiroshi
School: Kajitora Bushi school

Physical Description: Kenshin is a tall man defined by powerful muscle and an impressive endurance. Being in his early forties, with his hair slowly graying over his head, he is no longer as fast and agile as he was in his youth, but intense and repetitive training have maintained his strength and stamina as though he was still twenty. Standing a head over most of those around him, he has a very imposing and - some might say - intimidating presence, amplified by a voice so strong that it would not have been out of place had it been possessed by a tiger.

Personality: Kenshin is a man quick to smile and slow to anger. Naturally curious and nearly always good-natured, he is defined partly by a fierce wanderlust which has guided him throughout the imperial land and partly by a desire to do good - whatever that means. Honorable and possessing a rather unique sense of justice, he has no qualms with settling feuds and repaying crimes with steel rather than the law. Although the years have improved his patience and made him consider his actions more carefully, he has been known to make rather... Brash decisions in moments of anger, decisions which have put him in trouble in the past. He has no trouble with interacting with those of lower rank or class than himself, although he expects a certain respect from all but his closest friends.

Skills: Kenshin is a master of the Kajitora fighting style; he wields with great talent the Bisento and the Yumi, although he is slightly more proficient in melee than at range. Trained to fight in very heavy armor and relatively inept on horseback, he is a veritable powerhouse at short range, being formidably strong and resistant. However, due partly to his training's emphasis on armor rather than dodging and partly to his age, he is relatively slow compared to most Bushi. Apart from his martial skills, he is surprisingly adept in the ways of the court, being a smooth talker and able to discern lies with relative ease. He is educated in the ways of the nobility and knows the etiquette needed to interact with them.

Biography: Born as the third son to the Daimyo of the Hiroshi clan, Kenshin was destined to be a Samurai throughout his life. He spent most of his youth at court, learning of politics and of  the power of words. At a relatively young age, he joined the Kajitora Bushi school, due to his father's choice, and his body was shaped much like the ideal Kajitora Samurai's body had to be - all strength and stamina, with speed and reflexes being secondary. Although during his twenties he stopped training alongside with a teacher, he would go on to spend the rest of his life self-training to maintain his capacity to fight in such a style.

As his youth abandoned him and time passed, he grew more restless and curious - he wished to see the world around him and to travel further than the lands of his own clan. He would spend a long time in his latter life wondering what pushed him towards the decision of leaving, and although no answer fully satisfied him, he assumed it was partly because he was growing tired of the internal politics of his clan and partly because he had no desire of spending his life waiting for his family members to die to achieve a greater rank. Kenshin decided that he would reach glory by himself and due to his own merit, not because he was born to have a greater rank than his peers; and so at the age of twenty-nine he asked his father for the permission of wandering the Empire and seeing what the world had to offer. After a long discussion, the permission was granted, and so he left.

His travels took him far and wide; but at the age of forty-two, he realized it was time to slow down a little. He could sense a civil war brewing in the empire, and he knew that soon blood would flow freely throughout the land. Because of this, he decided it would soon be time to return to his family; and so he left the border of the Shadowlands, where he had been at the time of his choice, to march east. He stopped for a few weeks to rest in the town of Amemura, where he intended to start his journey into the heartlands of the empire.

Goals: To see what the world has to offer, to serve his family's interests in the civil war - which is why he feels he must return to them - and to achieve glory without the aid of his family or his birth.

Spoiler: Clan (click to show/hide)

Name: Hiroshi
Description: The Hiroshi clan is a minor one in the western reaches of the Empire, lying a few months away from Amemura. It was founded by the Hiroshi family when it split away from the Takashiro clan, and the family has remained at its head since. Relatively unremarkable when it comes to politics, it sided on the side of the Daiyama clan two centuries ago, before its Daimyo became the Shogun, and has remained loyal to it ever since.
The clan generally favors the Kajitora school when it comes to forming its Samurai, and as such has earned a reputation of never backing down from a battle. It is renowned for its armor and weaponsmiths, and geographically possesses mostly mountainous territories, stretching over one relatively large island and a few small ones used by fishermen.
Mon: An oak tree rooted on a hill; a tiger stands in its shadow.

Spoiler: School (click to show/hide)

Name: Kajitora Bushi school
Specialty: A fighting style taught only to Samurai, focusing on the Bisento and the Yumi.
Description: The school has an emphasis on mastering the style of the Tiger and the Flame - in melee, the Samurai wielding the Bisento must be the tiger, strong, direct, and powerful - while at range he must be the Flame - burning out the life of his enemies with arrows made to pierce deeply and to make them bleed. The school teaches that honor should be a Samurai's greatest quality, and as such also puts an emphasis on never retreating, which is why Samurai following its teaching prefer the endurance and the unchanging determination provided by stamina training and armor over the speed and agility required to dodge. The Kajitora school is not affiliated with any particular clan, although it holds a great deal of influence amongst the Hiroshi.

[thatkid]

Aaand mine:
Character

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Player Name: thatkid
Character Name: Daiyama Kenji (Also Sometimes Known As: Kichiro, Kazuki, and Kouki )
Age: 24
Profession: Ronin
Clan: Daiyama
Family: Daiyama
School: Kasenkou "The River of Peace"
Physical Description: A lean, sleepy-looking man with frizzy, unkempt shoulder-length hair and stormy eyes. He appears youthful, all the same, and none would deny that beneath his physique is the athletic musculature of a warrior.
Personality: Lax in nature, some may describe Kenji as carefree as the winds which guide his path. As set in the way of Bushidos as the mountains are set in their place upon Saikoku, and as undeterred by the problems which face him as a slowly coursing river, it is a rare day that anything might ruffle his feathers. Though always polite and kind- and gregarious, when the mood strikes him- on the rare occasion that the justice and honor of the land are harmed the fiery passion within his soul is revealed.
Themesong: Stone in Focus
Skills: A true poet and artisan, Kenshi makes a point to always carry with him scrolls and ink, that he might do honor to the beauty the Kami has seen fit to show him during his travels. He is known, by those who have traveled with him, to regularly seek silent meditation at sunrise, and is quick to invite his companions to join him in retrospection. It comes as no surprise, then, that he is well versed in the tea ceremony. Despite this gentle nature, Kenshi is a skilled combatant as well, particularly in the honorable art of iaijutsu, and is as nimble a warrior as any, easily dodging blows. It is rumored, also, that he is capable of disguising his form when necessary. How else would he travel undetected for so long? And, of course, as is necessary for his position, he is very observant- perhaps, in part, due to his regular meditations.
Biography: It is no secret that the late Shogun and Daimyo of the Daiyama clan had a younger brother. It is no secret, also, that this younger brother has not been seen at court for quite some time. Some believe him to be dead. Others, perhaps, believe that he is in hiding. The first notion is certainly false. The second is only partially true. It is true that Kenji is in hiding now. Not because he fears assassins, for a true Samurai knows not of such cowardice, but that he knows that should he reemerge from his travels there are those that will attempt to utilize him as a pawn in the brewing civil war. That the kami have seen fit to see his brother dead indicates that the Daiyama's divine right has ended, should it not be reclaimed, and Kenji intends to remain uninvolved until such a time as he is granted a sign from the Heavens that he has been Chosen for such a path.
But what of before? As a youth, Kenji was stricken by wanderlust. While he could certainly act as a Bushi in service to his family, it was agreed, for the safety of his brother, that it would be best if he were not involved in politics. And so he took to roaming. First, in search of strength and glory, though as time wore on he soon began to seek Truth. In his wanderings he has often come to the aid of those in need- be the peasantry or the local magistrate or daimyo, though ever in the guise of a wandering, unaffiliated Ronin. The death of his brother has not changed that quest, though it has certainly begun to test his virtue.
Goals: Through his travels, Kenji seeks to refine his school, perhaps one day developing his own, so that he might become a paragon of Bushido.

School

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Kasenkou "The River of Peace"
Specialty: Bushi
Description: A lesser school within the Daiyama clan, relegated to one or two small monasteries, Kasenkou places an emphasis on the inner peace and enlightenment which might be acquired through careful meditation. The style of swordsmanship taught appears, on the surface, to be flowing and languid, but like a powerful river, it is deceptively fast, often pulling the unwary where they dare not tread. Those of the school often follow an almost monastic lifestyle, regularly, though not always, eschewing many worldly possessions in accordance with the belief that this life, and the materials within, are transitory at best.

+1 to Shoot's Character

[mcclay]

Mcclay: The character looks good to me- I'll get onto making a sheet for him.

The other part of your app... the clan is fine in principle, if somewhat sparse in description, but the names you have for them... well, they kinda suck, frankly.    You should come up with something that at least sounds Japanese; this is a helpful resource for that that I wholeheartedly recommend. EDIT: To clarify, I don't object to foreign names... just not for families, unless they're actually foreign. (and that wouldn't have affected my decision, anyway)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On a more humorous note, Yuri is a male name... in Russian. In Japanese, almost every single variation of the kanji in Yuri used for names is female, with the most common use of the word being 'lily'... or lesbian pornography. 

Also, I noticed that thatkid never explained Void points anywhere, so I'll probably get a briefing on them up in the second post sometime.

EDIT THE SECOND: Why, exactly, is your character a Ronin? Also, why is his surname completely different to that of his family?

Ronin is a wandering Samurai right? He left home to go fight evil and the other clan and shit.
Also hie surname is different because I'm an idiot.

[Shootandrun]

Unless I'm mistaken, Ronin are warriors without masters, which makes them either bandits or dishonorable Samurai. A wandering Samurai is a Samurai... Who wanders.

E: Any warrior with samurai-like training and birth but who does not have a master would technically fit as a Ronin. A Bushi would be someone who couldn't have been a samurai in the first place - like a peasant with a sword. I may be wrong, though. Hail?

[HailFire]

Ronin is a wandering Samurai right? He left home to go fight evil and the other clan and shit.
Also hie surname is different because I'm an idiot.

Noooot exactly. Ronin are clanless samurai- usually because they were disowned and cast out by their clan for some great failure, their clan was destroyed, or because of their birth- typically, being born a bastard to a peasant mother, or having two ronin parents; either way, never owing fealty to a clan in the first place.

I suppose in retrospect you'd technically be a ronin on account of running away from home at an early age, which is why you don't have any formal training... you're likely written off as dead by now, but, being your family's heir, your life could become significantly more complicated if anyone realizes who you are... a fact which you're probably not even aware of, lacking the formal education of one of your standing. So I suppose that was a mis-reading on my part; funny, since my character in Nihon Nights was in a markedly similar situation. 

You still haven't fixed those names, though. C'mon, man.

Filiusneox and Shootandrun: You're approved pending us finishing up your character sheets. Pretty soon I'll whip up an OP for the IC thread and some lore for the two existing clans/families, and you can start posting.

[mcclay]

Yeah, I'll get to work on the names. Fucking Japanese, how does it work?

[thatkid]

I'd like to point out to prospective players that it's possible to start with holdings. Granted, running a province will eat a good bit of your experience, (villages less so) and I, if not Hail, will be very, very strict about the quality of the application for any such character. Don't want idiots starting as the head of a clan, y'know?

Also, while we don't have a LOT of clans yet, please don't be afraid to app in as a member of any existing clan or family.

[HailFire]

Filiusneox, Shootandrun, thatkid: Your sheets are done, so feel free to start posting! Mcclay: Your approval is still pending you fixing up your application. We were talking about waiting for you, since you're already invested in the game... but we've got pretty much everything else finished up already, and it's been a couple days.

Also: While the game starts in Amemura, as players start to spread out, you'll be able to start in any town where other PCs have been.

I have my own character in mind as well, but priorities. 

ED: Mcclay, you're cleared for posting.

[mcclay]

Allright, I made the names not foreign. They should be better now.

[evilcherry]

declaration of interest. Sheet may come tomorrow.

[thatkid]

This hasn't quite come up yet, but I think it will probably be important eventually. I'm going to write a quick explanation on spending experience points and what exactly Insight Ranks are.

Spoiler: Insight (click to show/hide)

Those you who have already received your (mechanical) sheet have probably noticed something regarding Insight near the top. It will look something like "Insight Rank: 1 (Score: 144)." In essence, Insight Rank is your character level. As your insight rank raises, so does your current schools rank. Barring shugenja, ronin, and monks, each school will have a new technique at each rank up to rank 4. If you don't get a new technique for whatever reason, don't sweat it. They help, but they hardly will turn the tide of battle unless your character was built with the technique in mind.
That being said, they are nice to have, and you're no doubt wondering how one goes about raising their insight rank. This is where the Score section of that line comes in. Alongside an insight rank, you have an insight score. When your insight score reaches a certain threshold, your rank goes up. It's all rather simple. If you'd like to know the exact score needed for each rank, I'd advise you to acquire the rulebook, but I can tell you how the score is calculated. First, you take all of your rings (ie. the elements + void) and add those together. Multiply this by 10. Finally, add your skill ranks to that result. This is your insight rank.

I should add: In the event that you change schools, or begin learning under someone else, there WILL be a disparity between insight rank and school rank. If, for instance, Kenji reaches insight and school rank 2 in Kasenkou and then begins training in the Kajitori school, when he next gains an insight rank he will gain Kajitori Rank 1. Kasenkou will not increase.
Hopefully this all makes sense.

Spoiler: Spending EXP (click to show/hide)

I'm not entirely sure how Hailfire intends to hand out experience points, but all the same, we should probably get an explanation on how to spend them out of the way now.
This, too, is rather simple:
When purchasing a new skill rank, you pay a number of points equal to that rank. (Kenji wants to raise his Kenjutsu skill from 2 to 3. He needs to pay 3 experience).
When purchasing a new emphases, you pay 2 experience.
When raising a trait, you pay the new score for that trait multiplied by 4. (Usagi wants to raise her Agility to 3, so she must pay 12 experience).
When raising the Void ring, and ONLY the Void ring, you pay the new score multiplied by 6. (Hiroto wants to raise his void from 2 to 3. He must pay 18 experience).
Following character creation, advantages and disadvantages are generally gained through play. In the off-chance that you have a reason to buy either, you should probably just discuss it with Hail.

[wolfchild]

I am intersted, if there is room, but i don't realy want to download and read the rulebook, and not until my morning either.

[thatkid]

I am intersted, if there is room, but i don't realy want to download and read the rulebook, and not until my morning either.

As stated in the thread title, we are always recruiting/there is always room for new players. As stated in the post directly after the OP, you don't need to have access to the rulebook. However, a lot of things, mechanically, may be a mystery without it.

[evilcherry]

Spoiler:  Hirai Terunobu (click to show/hide)

Player Name: evilcherry
Character Name: Hirai Gensaburo Terunobu (平井 源三郎 輝信)
Profession: Samurai
Clan: Mie
Family: Hirai
School: Shin San'in Hekireki School
Physical Description: A young man somewhere around 16, still too young to face a real battle (his Genpuku was consummated at a spontaneous clash arising from a family feud, which naturally has little real fighting), or to lead troops into them. Despite that, his school's teaching makes him physically more than capable to fight a man or two.
Personality: Mild, friendly, and generally caring for his subjects - perhaps too caring. Tend to be indecisive at moments, ill-suited to lead a family. Dislikes his stepfather.
Skills: His studies at the Shin San'in Hekireki School made him a very strong man, and he is skilled in the Spear, staff and the Tanto as it is the three main pillars of his school. He is practically illiterate, like a lot of Samurai in the era. He got reasonable skill at talking.

Bio: Being raised as a third-born (hence named Gensaburo), He is almost destined to be either sent to the fields early to lead his father's men, or to be adopted by another family who is in need of a heir. He was one of the later, and thus become adopted in the Hirai family. Later on, however, like many before him, his stepfather and a concubine gave birth to a son, and his relationship with his father became progressively stranded.

Eventually, the Hirai family even used his existence to claim ownership on Gensaburo's father's fief, and thus quarrels, later open fighting broke out. The results were good for the Hirai Family, but for Gensaburo is very depressing as he had to fight against his own father, at the tender age of 14.

Disillusioned, and would probably qualify for depression if he lives in our age, Gensaburo asked for a two year-break from his duties, in order to find a heibo school to better prepare himself for his lifelong profession. It was an escape from reality, but he eventually enrolled for two years at the Shin San'in Hekireki School, with his stepfather paying for his lodging.

Now he's 16...
Goals:

As he finished (or better say he now got through the initial stage of) his Budou studies, he need to return home. He will not be heir; he will not lead a family; he will be practically something obsolete but not expendable. His main obstacle from here will be himself, and his real coming of age.
He is now getting into Amemura by Train...

Spoiler: Hirai Family (click to show/hide)

Name: Hirai Family
Clan: Mie Clan
Description: The Hirai Family is being sandwiched between a few sub-families of the Mie clan. Politics is dominated by factional and familial feuds.
Mon: Three Black stripes on a red background.

Spoiler: Mie Clan (click to show/hide)

The Mie Clan (三重) is a Clan in the western reaches of the Empire. Due to extensive intermarriage and the expanding railway network, intra-clan feuds are becoming very common. The current head of family, Mie Naoteru (三重 直輝) was powerless in preventing these fights.
Mon: 6 upright triangles, in three rows of 1, 2, and 3, forming a larger triangle. White on Red.

Spoiler: Shin San'in Hekireki School (click to show/hide)

Name: Shin San'in Hekireki School (新山陰霹靂流)
Specialty/Desc: This school deems itself to be a very practical school, and focus on body strength and three pillars of skills, namely the Yari (Spear) , Bo (Staff) and the Tanto (short sword). Unlike most other school the Katana is deemed not as useful on the field and in emergencies, and thus gave way to the three main pillars. It encourages the spread of the school to peasants, and currently it has a private army of 500 men, comprised of followers.

Just note that it is very, very rude in feudal Japan to call someone his full name, in any case.

[HailFire]

I've finally finished my own application! Don't worry, It wasn't/isn't getting in the way of updates- I'm still working on the next one, and thatkid'll be doing my rolls. 

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Player Name: HailFire
Character Name: Mukade Kishiko
Profession: Courtier
Clan: Mukade
Family: Mukade
School: Mukade Tradition
Physical Description: A youth of 18, Kishiko is unusually tall, especially for a woman, at 5'6", with a lean, athletic, and (to her chagrin) boyish build. Her dark hair is fairly typical, and kept back in a short tail, but her brown eyes are somewhat more unusual- the left one having an amber-colored segment in the bottom-left corner. While she's otherwise fairly attractive, her appearance is also somewhat marred by the result of accidental injuries; most noticeably, a scar running across the bridge of her nose, and missing the tip of her right ring finger.
Personality: Bright and brimming with energy, she's confident, diligent, optimistic, and enthusiastic, but impatient, somewhat childish (she frequently refers to herself in the third person), and accident-prone, as well as quite often being louder than necessary due to her hardness of hearing.
     
Her wild spirit is tempered by a deeply rooted respect for her elders and loyalty to her clan- though she hasn't quite yet resigned herself to inevitably being pawned off in some political marriage or other. Aside from her athletic pursuits, she's also quite fond of spicy food, rainy days, kemari (a game much like hackeysack), and Isao, her pet cat that usually rides around in her pack. She hates snow and the cold, and is mildly claustrophobic.
Skills: Kishiko has a smattering of skill in a wide variety of subjects, but is a competent courtier, incredibly athletic- running everywhere she goes, even when not strictly necessary- and, after nearly killing an aggressive and insufferably persistent suitor with a rake by accident, has adopted the kumade as her weapon of choice, continuing the Mukade tradition of eccentricity.
Biography: The youngest daughter out of a handful of sons, Kishiko spent much of her childhood traveling from one court to another with her parents, constantly acting as a courier and helping with a wide variety of other odd jobs, trading favors with whoever needed assistance to further her family, as is the Mukade way... though haste and poor luck have led to injury multiple times, in particular when a spill into a pond during training turned nasty, as she managed to hit the water hard enough and at just the right angle to burst an eardrum.
Goals: Kishiko's life hasn't changed much in the years since she reached adulthood; her primary mission is still to serve her clan in whatever capacity necessary; she has arrived in Amemura as a courier, bearing sensitive and confidential information between members of the Centipede, but various other sundry tasks surely await. Mukade never rests!
     
Otherwise, her courtly, physical, and martial training are constant endeavors, and she aspires to be Saikoku's fastest runner- it might not be possible to outrun a horse, much less a train, but one can dream, can't they?
     
Nurturing Isao, the cat she received from one of her older brothers when he left to train as a yojinbo, is another constant task; he's actually close to a couple years older than she is, and, surprisingly, he's managed to go his whole life without getting his tail cut, as well as being in remarkably good health for his age- if the legend of cats gaining magical powers when they reach a certain age is true, he might prove to be a valuable ally as well as a friend.

Spoiler:  Family (click to show/hide)

Name: Mukade
Clan: Mukade
Description: The Centipede are an influential clan, but spread thin over much of the western half of the Empire- they actually hold very little land for themselves, in whatever they can inherit through tactically arranged marriages. A hundred legs working in unison, they're a cunning, industrious, and insular people; even the most distant branches of the family are as brothers and sisters to each other, and for any member of the clan to deny food and shelter to another is a serious breach of etiquette.
     
What has earned the Mukade much of their (in)fam(e/y), however, is their system of commerce: they are just as much merchants as samurai, but they deal in favors rather than coin; exchanges of gifts and services, within the clan and without, to be repayed in kind at a time of the benefactor's choosing. This, perhaps, is their deadliest weapon: a Centipede is always willing to lend a helping hand, but they never forget a favor- particularly significant debts to the clan have hung in limbo for years, until just the right moment to collect... and more than one samurai family has met poverty and ruin as a result (or worse, for failing to honor their obligations).
     
Militarily, the Centipede also has little presence- most of the clan involve themselves in courtly affairs, and their warrior samurai are primarily yojinbo, but underestimating their ferocity in battle has been the final mistake of many a foolish bandit or samurai, as they happily lay down their lives for their brothers, their clients, and their clan.
     
Their warrior traditions, indeed, are every part as unusual as the rest of the clan: an age of peace has led to much theorycrafting and the creation of many new combat styles, but where most clans seek perfection in their arms of choice, Mukade's martial artists- both widely spread around the Empire, and with access to the techniques of several other clans- have sought out anything that could even remotely be construed as a weapon, seeking to create a style around each to allow its effective use in combat.
     
No other families actually pledge allegiance to the clan, but they have a wide web of "allies" (some of whom they're actually on good terms with!), and are patron to a minor, more conventional family that has branched off from their lineage. With the nation on the brink of war, the next few years look like they may be a time of unparallelled opportunity...
Mon: A stylized centipede marching in a circle. Mukade never rests!

Spoiler: School (click to show/hide)

Name: Mukade Tradition
Specialty: Courtier
Description: While the Centipede Clan does have dedicated dojos in their few holdings to train their many yojinbo, they do not have a courtier school, as such- raising children and tutoring them in courtly etiquette and intrigue is typically a community affair among most or all of the clan members present in the area.
     
Their primary tactics, however, are universal: everyone needs something, and Mukade courtiers are experts at both sniffing out the one thing that even their staunchest political enemies have to have, and providing it... for a price, of course, whether it be concessions in court, or a debt of gratitude to be repayed at a later date- something which they take very seriously.

Evilcherry: Your app looks good enough to start working on your character, but you're obviously going to have to finish it before we can accept you. (Goals will help us set plot hooks for you, too!)

Finally, before I forget again: I did stick that briefing on Void points in the rules spoiler in the OP- I just forgot to mention it.