Shu Izanagi

Shu Inazagi is Ninja- an assassin from the Meji Restoration period whom was thrown into the future en route to his target by unknown forces. Arriving nearly a hundred and fifty years later, his target had since died of old age, and almost everyone he knew was lost to the sands of time.

Trained in the Euthanatos Tradition, Shu plays the architypical noble assassin, although he is not without his share of secrets and shames. Out of time, he struggles to adapt to the modern world- but has also discovered that while a change in times has brought many changes to the world at large, his particular skillset is still extremely relevant. Rejoining the modern traditions, Shu seeks to identify the reason- and the cause- for his trip forward in time. He can never go back, but if there is any way to atone for his failures, he will seek it out.

A survivor by nature, he was raised by a famous assassin after the death of his family by slavers. Unused to the company of others, Shu knows that he can only truly rely on himself. It was during a mission under his master that Shu awoke, and became more than a simple assassin. A betrayal by an unknown party brought then young sleeper a hair's breadth away from death. Making contact with his avatar, the spirit of a powerful Shogunate warlord, Shu discovered a purpose that had previously been missing from his life. Duty forged him into a powerful weapon, and honour guided that weapon to strike he final blow.

Cast into the modern world, Shu struggles to reaffirm his sense of duty and justice with the realities of his current existence, and his now ancient failure. vowing not to fail again, Shu works to survive each day and advance his interests. He seeks the identity of his betrayer, and too follows his Avatar's shadowy goals- goals which are yet unknown to him.

Shu has successfully made his first step into the new world. Escaping the Technocracy with the aid of a like minded group (Kana, Team Japan), he has suffered a significant shock to his system, which has put him off his game. While still suffering from anachronism, Shu has taken the night to meditate on the current succession of events, and derive his next course of action from them. He has remembered that just because he's been zapped into the future does not negate the meaning of the old traditions, particularly his study of the ninja arts. Renewed in his conviction, Shu's current goals are to continue the work of the Euthanatos, advance his understanding of the martial arts (particularly Ki [magic]), and gather the materials needed to survive in this new world, as he is currently, in effect, penniless.

Shu has discovered that everything goes faster in the future, and decided that his largest priority is to train his ability to get out of the way until he is no longer as at risk from CRAZY FLYING ONI DOOMCHARIOTS. Unfortunately, this means he'll have to put off the advanced training in the Ki arts he had been planning on.

Luckily, he has been shopping with the party, and now has modern clothing, including the means to conceal his swords in public. He is also looking into procuring less visible armament, but still won't be enticed by firearms.

Basic Stats

Name: Shu Izanagi

Player: Kerrus

Nature: Survivor

Essence: Pattern

Demeanor: Penitent (I was sent here to end great evil. But I was too late, and there is much evil here. My duty is far from over)

Tradition: Euthanatos

Concept: Assassin from the Past (Meji Restoration/1860s)

Arete: 3

Willpower: 6/7

Quintessence: 3/3

Experience: 5/15

Foci:

Incognito: Silver Pocket Watch, Jade Dice.

NinjaMcNinja: Katana and Wakizashi.

Active Effects:

Defensive Charm Effect (Time 2 Entropy 1)

Duration: 4 succs (end of current story/ 1 month)

Effect: 4 Succs (Automatic defensive action AND immediate counter to any attack)

Attributes

Physical

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3

Stamina: 4 (Spec: Tirelessness)

Social

Charisma: 2

Manipulation: 2

Appearance: 2

Mental

Perception: 3

Intelligence: 2

Wits: 3

Talents

Alertness: 3

Athletics: 2

Awareness: 3

Dodge: 4 (Specialty: Sidestep)

Subterfuge: 3

Skills

Meditation: 2

Melee: 3

Stealth: 3

Survival: 1

Knowledges

Investigation: 3

Medicine: 2

Backgrounds

Avatar: 3

Mentor: 1 (Nakazawa Takumi)

Arcane: 3

Spheres

Entropy: 3

Time: 3

Rotes

The Ninja Strikes Surely: A ninja does not strike blindly, rather, he strikes with the sure knowledge of how to properly hit the target, and the confidence that he will. Directing a measure of his ki into his chosen weapon, he accelerates its movement to be just fast enough to catch his enemy off guard. Even when enemies see the blade coming, they are often surprised by the quickness of it.

Time 1: Lower the difficulty to hit with one per success

Sense the Twisted Ki: Unnatural Ki leave eddies and whorls in the local chi- a taint that, to a western sleeper, might appear as the smell of brimstone. Trained in the ninja arts, Shu can reach out with his Ki and feel for these imperfections, even if his physical senses cannot detect its source.

Entropy 2: The mage knows when something out of place in the environment is there.

Unbreak the Stagnant Flow: An application of Feng Shui'i, Shu allows directs his Ki to accumulate in little edies that siphon off to little stagnant pools within the circulatory system. These pools accumulate good luck that would otherwise be flowing through his body, resulting in periods of bad luck as he fills these pools with luck infused Ki. When in a situation where he needs good luck, and needs it now, he can unbreak the stagnant flow, resulting in a brief period of good luck as his Ki flows realign themselves. This ability is more commonly used to direct the external Chi'i, and is known to western learned Euthanatoi as the rote 'Balance the Scales' (Traditions Book Euthanatos, pg 67)

Entropy 2

The First Strike Never Misses: A ninja relies on stealth and subterfuge, and more importantly, on the inexperience of his enemy. Even if an enemy has encountered the ninja before, he can never be sure of how the ninja will strike- and this is the advantage that an adherent of ninjuitsu possesses. By focusing his Ki, the ninja can strike a blow that has a much greater chance of connecting.

Entropy 3: The Mage adds one success to the attack roll for each success rolled, but may only do so for the first attack he makes in a scene.

Every Weakness Has a Source: The art of shiatsu is one of the first thing any Ninja is taught. But pressure points do more than just affect the living- the inanimate too has it's own convergences of power- of ki. Patterns of structure, every object has a weak point. By infusing a sliver of ki in a pinpoint strike, the Ninja can cause the object to breakdown- to erode or shatter.

Entropy 1: The mage inflicts one extra level of health damage for each success. This still requires a mundane combat roll.

The Center Cannot Hold: An application of chance, the Ninja invokes his Ki and infuses it into his foci (typically the components of a game of chance) in brief burst. Rolling the dice or dealing the cards, the ki disrupts the local energy flows, causing an effect similar to removing the bottommost card from a house of cards- a domino effect of local chaos.

Entropy 3:

Other

Gear: Two swords, clothes on his back, foci, bag of two hundred year old ninja holstic medicines?

Paradigm: Assassin trained from birth to destroy a particular lineage. Trained in the use of 'death's art', a collection of powers and abilities focused on making it easier to kill or subdue someone. Death's Art is your traditional ninja secret art from a stylistic point of view. More Nabari no Ou or Ninja Scroll than Naruto, however.

Powers are primarily focused on the self- enhancing self into a better instrument of death. Typically uses Entropy/Time to glimpse into the future to determine enemy course of action. Melee focused- death god powers typically require a close contact with the victim. (Not a shooty character)

Typically views the world through the concept that people and things have a certain definable essence, and that to invoke Death's Art, one must invoke those essences- basically praying to the objects for the... right? Permission, maybe, to end them or use them to end someone. So like, he'd invoke the name of his sword, the lineage of it, its forger, and the like. He'd invoke the spirit of being sharp and true striking and stuff, and this would give him power.

Conversely, he wouldn't be able to really do stuff that he can't attribute to Death's Art- summoning a fireball out of thin air wouldn't be within his paradigm, because it's completely outside his view of how the world works. You can't invoke the spirit of fire and burning unless you have something to burn- to him, 'air', as we know it, isn't a substance. He might be able to light something on fire, but again, it would definitely have to be melee (and that assumes he even has points in Prime :p)

Merits & Flaws

Ambidextrous (1 point Merit)

You can perform tasks with your offhand at no penalty- such as wielding two weapons :D

Anachronism (2 Point Flaw) (2 point penalty when dealing with stuff outside his cultural knowledge. Lightbulbs? fine. Computers? less so)

Distorted Image (1 point flaw) (Images of your character do not appear... as your character. This manifests, for example, by images of your character depicting its shadow making rude gestures, or even your character appearing as a dragon or a shapeless horror. This is not so much of a problem to people who know what your character is as it is that the mall security cameras are showing Shiva the Destroyer in Housewares, Aisle 6.) [Manifests as Shu's shadow always holding a pair of drawn swords and swinging them around, regardless of what Shu is actually doing in the image]

XP Record

10 XP: Dodge to 4 (2x2 + 2x3 = 10) (24/02/2010)