The Grand Empire has ruled Tsukishima for thousands of years, maintaining the Bakuhatsu dynasty for generations. Their current ruler, Emperor Kaoru Bakuhatsu, has recently brought the empire to new heights by accepting the trade agreements of a foreign baron, focusing newfound imperial funds on developing technology such as the steam drill, gatling gun, and zeppelin. This is believed to have extended man's domain and power further than it had been intended to be by the gods, which has caused a recent uprising of demons taking corporeal forms and killing villagers in scores.

Though this supernatural insurrection has been all but denied by shoguns and other government officials, the Grand Imperial Military has been stationed in many villages for seemingly no reason, though many suspect Emperor Kaoru has begun to take notice. Although areas occupied by the Grand Imperial Military are kept safe from demons and spirits, the soldiers and samurai employed by the government are essentially immune to most laws, and are known for their wanton cruelty, stealing goods and women alike from villages with impunity. This lack of transparency on the empire's part and anger towards the occupying army has caused a rift in Tsukishima's society, with more and more citizens fed up with the empire and turning to bandit groups to protect them. However, as the bandit groups usually require extortion payments and are oftentimes as bad as the occupying soldiers, the lives of peasants are currently much harder than they ever have been.

Our characters have all recently been imprisoned, and have nothing in common but the fact that they have all recently escaped -- The details of this will be gradually revealed through flashback filler, of course -- and their uneasy trust in one another.

Our story takes place in Tsukishima, a crescent-shaped continent about the size of Europe, ruled by The Grand Empire, which is as faceless and evil as it sounds. As is the case with many anime settings, the country is ambiguously Japanese without actually being set in Japan -- Characters and locations have Japanese names, spirituality is divided by nameless Buddhist and Shinto religions, and concepts like honor and filial piety have a place in everyday life. The setting will be split between rural and urban villages, with smaller villages having hand-pumped water and traditional architecture (Rice paper walls, tatami mats, squat toilets) while more urban villages have _some electricity, plumbing, and western-style beds.

Though one of the themes of the RP is the world's rapid industrialization, keep in mind that there aren't any crazy cyberpunk neon cities. At most, the level of the tech in our world is the same as that of the Naruto universe; In the most urban areas, Electricity, pre-packaged food, plastic, gunpowder, and steam-powered machinery are commonplace. Gatling guns and cannons exist, though only the highest order of the Grand Imperial Army, the Royal Guard, have access to them. Aside from the setting's vaguely steampunk technology, Tsukishima has a few other anachronisms -- Borrowing from inspirations like Samurai Champloo and Afro Samurai, hip hop exists in our world, although it is rudimentary and played with the setting's available instruments. Graffiti is common in urban districts, though it is done with calligraphy brushes and paint brushes alike, and big cities usually have a few warrior-poets reciting lyrics into the butt of their katana at sake houses and brothels, if you know where to find them. Otherwise, culture in Tsukishima is a more or less that of Edo era Japan.

In terms of realism, try to consider our world low-fantasy -- Onis, Kappas, Yokai, and all other mythical creatures are still mythical, and dragons are only ever seen in papery forms at parades. Only recently have supernatural occurrences started happening, and that's limited to demons and other vengeful spirits like that. Magic is performed by the highest-ranking priests and monks, and is usually limited to healing wounds, ki strikes, and that cool levitating meditation trick. Otherwise, if you want to kill somebody, you're going to use a sword and not a magic missile.

Our RP will be about as dark as the average 90's anime, and will borrow from a few (Most notably, Ninja Scroll). Graphic, if unrealistic violence will be the norm, whereas other dark themes will mostly take the side stage, or be balanced out to make the world less of a complete crapsack. A member of the group is an alcoholic, but he's the goofy kind. Soldiers are said to rape peasants, but it is never shown in the RP. The group encounters a drug-addicted prostitute, but she turns out to be a man in drag with a deep voice, and so on.

Additionally, though the RP will have realistic occurrences and consequences, I'll admit that the main group will have a level of plot armor. Feel free to be a bit more brave or outspoken in your actions, as I guarantee you won't die. I won't guarantee nobody's getting maimed or psychologically damaged if they take unnecessary risks, but know from here on out that your character won't die, which seems a good segway to mention all the lighter elements of the RP -- As with the thematic sources, comedic relief will be fairly frequent, so don't worry about the world getting too depressing. Anime themes like the The Power of Friendship® and defiance against an evil authority will be invoked, and we may pick up a cute animal sidekick or two on the way.

1. Aside from just being an RP, I want this to be a long term group of homies we can all get to know and talk to about character development, plot arcs, and just general shit-shooting. In other words, don't join this RP if you're not looking for some cool pals to talk to on the internet, or if you're gonna be rude. I tried this twice before, and as they say, I'm hoping the third time is the charm.

2. Try to not use a well-known anime character as your character's image. In the same vein, try not to go with tropes other characters hit, or having a similar backstory to the other characters. I guess rule two is just "Be original".

3. Be cool like the Fonz. There's only three or fourof us, so it's unlikely there'll be any in-fighting, but in the event that there is, try to be mature and respectful to one another. I created this RP with having a tight-knit group of friends, so always assume the best of one another, try to give criticism in a polite fashion, etc. Don't be a dick.

4. This RP is about character development first and foremost, while the other half is plot advancement. Your character should slowly change over time, for better or worse. This can include cool new abilities, but should also be psychological in nature. Delve deep into personalities and experiences.

5. Last but not least, have fun!

Most countries date their founding on the arrival of foreign invaders -- Not Tsukishima. For thousands upon thousands of years, the Tsukihito have met every invading force with the same swords that they pass down through generations. The island nation has had their ruling family, the Bakuhatsu family, for as long as they have recorded their history through paintings and the written word -- which they had developed sooner than other cultures -- and most likely longer than even that. In the same vein, Tsukishima has only ever had two religions, which have both simply been called The Sacred Path and The Holy Path for as long as anyone remembers. The Sacred Path is originally from Seung Yua, and follows the teachings of The Enlightened One, who is also a spiritual figure in its predecessor, The Divine Path, whereas The Holy Path is a polytheistic animist religion native to Tsukishima.

Although the Bakuhatsu family rules by way of divine right, daimyō and shoguns are technically elected positions, though it is common knowledge that they are systematically kept in place through filial ties, bribery, and self-serving laws. Before every election, the victor is already common knowledge. There are many shoguns, with the title being about equivalent to a lord, though there are only four daimyō and obviously, one emperor. Each shogun has control of a few thousand, sometimes up to ten thousand, citizens. Each daimyō controls a few hundred thousand citizens, whereas the emperor controls the country, which has approximately one million citizens. Shogun and daimyō occasionally involve themselves in disputes over their land, taxation, borders, and other squabbles. These disputes have given birth to Tsukishima's samurai and shinobi castes.

Tsukishima has two neighboring countries -- Goristan and Seung Yua. Goristan is the larger of the two, spanning further than Tsukishima's fleet has sailed. Goristan has a generally cold relationship with Tsukishima -- they have no trade or immigration with Tsukishima, having a mountainous coast, though there are very rare immigrants who are mostly fleeing persecution for various crimes. They are called Goristi, and have appearances ranging from European to Eurasian. Aside from this, little is known about their country other than that they are seen as inferior to the Tsukihito, having tried to invade unsuccessfully three times. They are thought to be loud, rude, and greedy. It is the setting's equivalent to China, Russia, and The West.

Seung Yua is a small island nation near Tsukishima's southeastern coast. It is largely comprised of its own ethnic group, the Seungyo, though its eastern coast has a thriving population of immigrants from Tsukishima. It is a relatively poor country, and its people are generally seen as dirty, smelly, unintelligent, and clearly inferior to Tsukishima. Though it carries a great number of negative stereotypes, it is also seen as mystical, exotic, and spiritual, due to it being the birthplace of The Sacred Path and its predecessor, the Divine Path -- Buddhism and Hinduism, respectively -- It is believed that the founder of The Sacred Path was born in Seung Yua and came by way of raft because he's Siddhartha. It is the setting's equivalent to India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Are you still accepting?
Yes! My character's a martial artist, so I'm calling dibs there. Other than that, I'd like to have 2-3 more players. Ninjas, shrine maidens, former guards, swordsmen, priests, monks, archers, other stuff I can't think of, all fair game.

What are the thematic inspirations?
Thank you for asking, italicized text! Samurai Champloo is the biggest inspiration, as most of the RP planning revolved around the episodic adventures of a small group of outlaws. Afro Samurai's unrealistically skilled eccentric swordsmen also play a big part in Hagakure, and so does Naruto's identity-based-on-fighting-style aspect. Hagakure will hopefully evolve past its inspirations and into its own thing depending on which way everybody wants to take it.

Where's the character sheet?

_{N A M E}

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_{A G E}

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_{T O T E M}

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_{A P P E A R A N C E}

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_{P E R S O N A L I T Y}

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_{H I S T O R Y}

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_{S T R E N G T H S & W E A K N E S S E S}

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_{L I K E S & D I S L I K E S}

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_{T H E M E}

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Name
Marasaru Hisao, The Drunken Monkey
_{Mara is a Buddhist demon who personifies unwholesome impulses, and Saru means monkey. Hisao means Life story.
His name means, very loosely, "The story of a monkey's life of unwholesome temptation".
Mah-ruh-sah-roo Hee-sow}

Age
28

Totem
Monkey

Appearance
For a drunkard, Hisao isn't too bad to look at. He's certainly not handsome, though he gets a lot of attention from those interested in his "bara" physique, which, unfortunately for him, happen to mostly be other guys. Aside from his pointed eyebrows and ears that have been described as 'chimplike', he has fairly masculine features -- Tanned skin, a pointed jawline, hair swept up and back, a frame packed with thick muscle, and hands as callused as the day is long. He's only an inch or two taller than the average man, but his brawny frame usually earn him "The Big One" when picking him out of a crowd, only a few instances less than "The Smelly One".

Like most vagrant winos, Hisao carries the smell of sake with him wherever he goes, which is uncoincidentally paired with a hollowed gourd he keeps strapped to his side, a relaxed stance, and an empty coin-purse. He does little in the ways of masking his lifestyle, and rarely bathes anywhere but streams. He typically dresses in earth tones with a rope for a belt in lieu of a sash, foregoing any footwear for increased agility. He somehow constantly has five o'clock shadow, which his full-blooded Tsukishimite genes keep from growing into an actual beard.

Personality
Outwardly, Hisao is a jovial, drunken party animal, if something of a slovenly vagrant. He isn't especially slow or quick to violence but will solve a problem with words or his fists depending on whether his opponent is more numerous, bigger, or stronger than him, and has very little problem with running away and living to fight (and drink) another day. Talking to Hisao, you either get the impression that he's pretending to be dumber than he is, or that he's an idiot with rare moments of brilliance. It's a little of both. Hisao will typically try to get out of a situation by sweet-talking or outright lying, and relies on his agility and brute force when that fails.

Aside from drinking, Hisao has a deep appreciation for poetry, and would probably fancy himself a wandering bard if he knew what bard meant. Though he does not write his poems down, he has written several haikus and ballads in his mind, and easily memorizes songs, stories, and just about any information set to a rhythm. Aside from begging and stealing, Hisao funds his drinking habit reciting his poems on the streets and in amateur "Poetry Battles" at taverns and festivals.

In his most personal, private moments, Hisao is decidedly less jolly. While he is a loner who enjoys his lifestyle, he is aware of his social standing as an addict and outcast, and is quite lonely. He blames himself for sabotaging the opportunities for sobriety he has been met with, and has a very low opinion of himself as a whole, believing (arguably rightfully so) that he is a worthless drunk. Rare moments shine through during Hisao's sobriety that offer a portrait of his depression, though it is largely suppressed by his frat boy demeanor and his practically never being sober.

History
Hisao is a good example of a decent person dealt a bad hand at birth. Hisao was born into the lowest of castes, the hamlet-dwelling handlers of the dead, Burakumin. The son of a slaughterhouse worker and a leather tanner, Hisao had little in the ways of opportunities growing up. His teenage years mostly involved working as an underling for the local crime boss and later as a member of The Blue Obi Gang, spending his earnings on liquor and little else. This continued throughout most of his life until his mid-twenties, with Hisao having developed into an alcoholic too unreliable to employ for robberies and other nefarious schemes -- After a highway robbery was foiled by Hisao being disarmed by the gang's victim, who then used Hisao's sword to kill another member, Hisao was beaten within an inch of his life by his fellow Blue Obis and left for dead under a bridge.

After his expulsion from the gang, Hisao was taken in by a temple of The Divine Path, a fringe religion in Tsukishima, though the second largest in Seung Yua. Hisao stayed at their temple, which they called an ashram, for three years, learning their ways of nonviolence, reflective meditation, and the system they called "Karma", welcoming Hisao into their faith with open arms. He stayed at the temple partly out of respect for those who had saved his life, but in sincerity, his stay at the ashram was mostly an attempt to wean himself off of the drink. Eventually, Hisao was driven half-mad from withdrawal and left in the night, stealing and selling one of the temple's golden statues to buy himself a barrel of wine. Since then, he has lived as a wanderer and a beggar, living mostly off of panhandling and stealing when safe opportunities arise. His most recent robbery ended with his drunkenly tripping over a hole in the road's brickwork during his escape and knocking himself out. Seeing as his victim was the son of a local shogun, things have certainly looked brighter for Hisao.

Strengths

Divine Drunkard
Hisao has unintentionally become extremely proficient in his own style of martial arts, which he has dubbed Yotta kami no ken -- Drunken Divine Fist. His style is one of confusion and redirection, mixing the fighting style known as Kalaripayattu taught to him by gurus and his own variations on the traditional Drunken Fist style, frequently changing direction mid-swing, pausing to drink, and rolling on the ground to evade attacks. His sloshing and tumbling serve as very fluid motions to lull his enemies into false senses of security, hiding his powerful, grounded strikes. This leaves Hisao as an incredibly hard-to-hit target, which is made even harder considering how dirty he fights -- The Drunken Monkey is no stranger to spitting high-proof alcohol into the eyes of enemies, bone-shattering kicks to the groin, and other "techniques" any true martial artist would consider dishonorable.

As a result of having trained in his binge-drinking filled youth, Hisao becomes increasingly skilled as he drinks, fighting in a downright sloppy and slow-moving manner when sober, and becoming a one-man gang as he becomes more and more intoxicated. When he is completely blind drunk, Hisao can perform feats that border on supernatural -- Running on walls, disarming trained imperial swordsmen, and kicking dents into trees. Aside from his fists, Hisao has been known to frequently use improvised weapons such as broken bottles, rocks, his vomit, the sheathes of swords, and just about anything that is within reach.

Hanumanly
Hisao is the biggest, strongest member of the group -- say what you will about skill and experience, Hisao is pound for pound a heavier hitter, capable of tanking hits that would kill lesser men. Some attribute his constitution to drunken numbness, other attribute it to his muscular frame, while others assume it was one of those weird meditative yoga skills he picked up at the ashram. Whatever the case may be, Hisao has pretty high strength and constitution scores.

Acrofatic
Though he's more musclefat than fat, Hisao is surprisingly agile for his large frame and unhealthy lifestyle. Owing this attribute to being lanky in his youth and not gaining his broad frame until a late growth spurt, Hisao has agility you'd expect from a trained spider monkey. He knuckle-walks when he is tired, leaps into trees when he is hiding, and can practically flip on his heels when he's being chased. Aside from his strength and constitution, Hisao also rolled a pretty high dexterity.

Weaknesses

Look out for Number One
Hisao has a bad track record for team playing. He was kicked out of a gang for his drunken mistake making him responsible for the death of a member, and stayed with the gurus who had nursed him back to health until he was strong enough to steal and sell one of their priceless artifacts. Whether Hisao is loyal to himself or to drinking, Hisao has always been on Hisao's side. Whether this holds true for our group will remain to be seen.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Heineken
In the plainest of terms, Hisao is too much of a drunk to reliably do things functional people can. While his martial ability increases with his drinking, his social graces plummet. Sober Hisao knows when to run from a fight, when to bow, and when to place a well-timed joke, while Drunk Hisao lacks all of this knowledge. When he is drinking, which is pretty often, Hisao runs the risk of starting fights, falling flat on his face, getting caught stealing, giving away secret information, getting kidnapped, and other easily avoidable mistakes. His constant goal while he's awake is to get drunker, and he gets drunk enough to throw up way earlier than he gets drunk enough to pass out, and that's never fun.

Ambiguous Heathen
Ever since being nursed to health by an isolated temple of gurus, Hisao has followed The Divine Path. Normally this presents little challenges in day-to-day interactions, though his abstinence from meat and hundreds of oddly specific gods draw unwanted attention from the more religious citizens of Tsukishima. Monks and Priests can usually put aside their differences for long enough to hate a third party, which is usually either The Heavenly Path of Goristan, or The Divine Path of Seung Yua. Hisao just happens to be a member of the one with even less of a presence in Tsukishima.

Stoopid Munky
In the plainest of terms, years of blunt force trauma to the head and hard, hard drinking layered on top of a school-free upbringing and adoption of strange religious philosophies have made Hisao's dumpstats Intelligence and Wisdom. He isn't necessarily gullible or naive, moreso uneducated and willfully ignorant. Hisao doesn't know why the sun rises, it just rises. He could read a book and find out (He couldn't, actually), but he wouldn't want to, because to do so would spoil the wonder he sees in the world. In the same vein, Hisao does not know where honey comes from, where the moon goes during the day, or how fish breathe underwater. Honey just is, the moon just goes, and fish just do, and that's fine with Hisao.

Crazy Hobo
There are dirty people who are just disheveled and sweaty, and then there are dirty people who can get cold enough that they'll pee on themselves to get warm. Want to guess where Hisao is on that spectrum? For the past decade, Hisao has lived under wagons, in stables, and on rocks in the forest he finds to be especially smooth and bedlike. He has lost a fair degree of his civilized nature, which was arguably not the strongest to begin with, to the choices one must make as a beggar -- Eating trash, stealing from the needy, killing at the drop of a hat, and other unpleasant truths have all become facets of Hisao's personality.

Likes

• Meditation
• Salted plums
• Curry
• Incense

Dislikes

• Kabuki Actors
• Tea
• The Grand Empire
• Losing sleep

Theme
My Guru