Reika | 25 | HumanA P P E R A N C E :
Reika is slender and muscular, standing tall for a human at six and a half feet. A mane of long black hair is often kept loosely tied back on his scalp, and his face is kept clean-shaven. His eyes, dimly amber and disinterested, are narrow, creased, and tired. Reika has straight, angular facial features, and pale skin marred with dirt and old blood. He can usually be seen wearing the loose, flowing garb that is traditional in his tribe, bright clothes since faded and tattered, with a brown hooded cloak, a plain sword belt, and a pair of leather shoes bound with cord against his shins.
M I N D :
Reika comes from a clan that worships battle and holds a high standard of honor. Such honor comes with a strict code: one should not kill unjustly, one should find peace in the way of the sword, and one should not fear death. However, Reika was born cursed with the clan's most disdainful aspect: Reika was born with overwhelming, uncontrollable wrath. Reika will generally attempt to maintain his clan's doctrine of honor, but that doctrine quickly slips away in the face of threat or insult. Otherwise, Reika is typically thoughtful, inquisitive and somewhat detached, but, being a still-youthful man, is prone to competitiveness and arrogance as well. His tribe is primitive, and so he does not know many things about the world at large. He does not speak the common tongue entirely fluently, and has a strange sense of humor, seeming to often misinterpret what others are saying for something amusing. Reika holds surprisingly existential views on life, leading to baffling behavior at times, but equally as often can lead to bouts of wisdom.
H I S T O R Y:
Reika's people are a nomadic tribe travelling freely within Nurban's southwestern grasslands. The tribe existed close to nature, self-sufficiently taming and feeding off the land. A small tribe, they were mostly untouched by the Endless, though they pay their tribute when required to maintain their freedom.
Among the grasslands were several other tribes, and whenever their paths met, feuding was inevitable. One point of conflict stood taller than the rest: the sword of the Wind Spirit, Sanmeogan. When Reika was seventeen years of age, his tribe possessed the sword of worship, and another tribe sought to take it. Reika's people were ultimately defeated in that battle and Sanmeogan was taken, and though the tribes' collective code of honor prevented any needless casualties, the humiliation was too great for Reika to bear. Reika followed the other tribe back to their dwelling, and whilst they celebrated, stole the sword back.
At the edge of the dwelling, steps away from returning home, Reika heard a warrior boasting about the victory. Something snapped in his mind. He drew Sanmeogan from its sheath, stalked back to the dwelling, and slaughtered everyone in sight with the Wind Spirit's power.
Sanmeogan was tainted on that day. The spirit dwelling within the sword became hungry, craving blood, the wind aura around it taking on the color of that which it desired. Reika, disgraced, knew he could never go back to the village. After wandering for a time, he offered himself to the Second Legion, Sanmeogan in hand.
M O D U S O P R E R A N D I:
Reika is often dispatched to the front lines, wherein his specialty lies: anti-personnel, slaughter-en-masse. Being an expert and agile swordsman, he is at his strongest in single combat, but Sanmeogan's power lends him terrible abilities. By using his own blood, or the blood of his enemies, Reika can propel forward blades of crimson wind so sharp they can slice apart several fully-armored men at once. Beyond this ability, Reika has little use in the field, being not a man of strategy nor possessing any particular technical skills, though he is also a capable hunter.
O P I N I O N S O N O T H E R S
@neogreggory Arthur Wick: Arthur's sense of honor and duty was immediately admirable for Reika. Reika knows him best from the occasional sparring session, and enjoys pestering the man whenever he can catch Arthur in one of his usual melancholy dispositions.
@Virgil Myaenthar'Sul: Reika did not know what the small creature was, but was deeply resentful of the way it skittered around the battlefield, cowering behind a crossbow. He could recall kicking such a creature several times in the past, but could not be certain it was the same one.
@Lexicon Magatha Toil: When Reika first saw the demon as she made her way through the encampment, he was visibly unsettled by her appearance. The horns of a beast, eyes aglow like a cat's - she seemed to manifest from the stories elders told the children to put them to bed at night. Her gaze locked at his as he stood in the throng of legionnaires, white-knuckle grip on his sword, before she moved away. Later in the night, Reika would learn that the demon's name was Mags, and that she regarded her fellow soldiers amicably, joining in their merriment and on occasion drinking them under the table. Reika chanced a conversation with the demon, which carried pleasantly, and decided afterward that she was not very different from most others, for a demon. Still, he could not help but continue to watch her warily whenever she was around. After their first battle together, a quick battle in which Reika was able to use the full extent of Sanmeogan's slaying power, he had seldom seen Mags again. She seemed to be avoiding him, but it made little difference to him. He was glad to be rid of her.
@Iuniper Aeudla Vesnat: Reika had always been drawn to the elven woman. He had felt a kinship toward her, though whether it was this kinship or simply lust that drove his attraction he was not certain. She was definitely comely, as was true of most elvenkind. She seemed similar to him in many ways, though his own attempts at conversation were usually met with some cryptic response or just a penetrating gaze.
