Appearance:
Name: Lord Gushiken Rentarou alias Lord "Guren"
Species: Human
Sex: Male
Faction: House Gushiken
Occupation: Lord Samurai (Daimyo)
Abilities: Although not a spirit user or an exorcist himself, Rentarou has accumulated a moderate wealth of supernatural rites and knowledge to deal with youkai, fundamentally charms and enchantments. His own blade is blessed and can exorcise demons. He is spiritually aware and he is able to see ghosts.
History: To speak of Guren, one has to speak about the fall and rise of house Gushiken. Landlocked between powerful warring nonhuman leaders and powerful lords, house Gushiken was a small, unassuming land ruled by a rather low-key family of samurai whose main highlight was the quality of some of their bamboo crafts. When Rentarou was born, he was born a genius among mediocre people. Yet, despite the disparity between his own talent and those who surrounded him, he never felt alone and bitter. His family was understanding of the whims and demands of the young lord-to-be and for the most part, tried to steer him in the righteous path while tolerating his somewhat peculiar thirst for knowledge and ambitious aims.
Rentarou ascended to lordship not long after becoming a full-fledged samurai, following his lord father demise in a rather inane scuffle with one of his warring neighbours. His mother soon followed, becoming suddenly ill and bedridden not long after a plague. Or perhaps the grief or losing her loved one. Rentarou was thus left with a small land, and a 12 year old priestess sister to protect. The situation looked grim, but the new lord Gushiken managed to grasp the ebbs and flows of power rather quick and stabilised what seemed a dying household. While somewhat strained and grim, the hatred that would later drive his actions had not nested inside him.
It would take the bizarre abduction of his sister and posterior gruesome death by a maddened mother kitsune, in order to save her ailing kid, to awaken the beast that was later known as lord "Guren". He was merciless, and executed both mother and child. He was not swift, nor merciful, and he made a public example by displaying their flayed corpses. Disturbingly, he would craft a sword bathed in the blood of his own sister. The notice spread like wildfire, and several of his nonhuman neighbours showed hostility towards the madman.
But he plotted. And waited. When swords did not do the job, he would use arrows. When those did not work, he would use fire. He never stopped to consider the fairness of his actions merely beyond the faintest adherence of bushido, and his bloody tenacity broke enemy armies, lines and sieges. Both a Great Tengu's followers and an entire Oni clan fell victims to his viciousness, and he did not stop there. He took over their domains and added them to his own, from which he has ruled them ever since with a severe iron fist, specially with those who are not human, who were condemned to live as second class citizens, always under the threat of flailing, execution or slavery.
Yet, for all his bloody exploits, Guren's managing talent did not go unnoticed. Having conquered ten times the land he once was granted, he used the unified rule to promote resource gathering, commerce and urbanism, raising the living standards significantly in his territories. Only for humans, that is. Countless nonhumans have been relegated to sacrificial pawns in the shadows of his rule.
With the death of the Emperor, Rentarou sees a further chance to expand his ambitious project, as he is still in his mid forties, but at the same time, he is aware that the same instability might embolden more enemies to try and bring the ambitious House Gushiken to an end. It is a time to thread lightly, move swiftly and find kindred spirits.