Theme Music:
Hearse The Halo, by Modern Day BabylonName: Jaden Bernes
Alias: Fearless
Age: 15-18
Ship Role: Lookout
Personality: "Talk is cheap, actions speak" is a maxim Jaden lives by: He says little, preferring to speak through his skills. Experience has made him slow to trust; judging people by their actions instead of words. He can seem cold and aloof on first impression. But, again talk is cheap.
Jaden prefers to avoid fights if he can. But, he has little patience for willful ignorance, and even less for those who abuse their power.
While carrying himself with a Zen-like cool, he does have a sarcastic sense of humor, and is something of a satirist. If an opponent manages to get a word out of him, it's usually some form of sass before he pushes the attack. However, he can be awkward when it comes to intimate matters. A life of controlling your emotions can make you bad at expressing them.
Being a driven young man; Jaden is constantly concerned with pushing his limits; academically, mentally, physically, and so on. He believes the path to power is through enlightenment, and the path to enlightenment is through discipline, study and practice. Always looking to learn, Jaden actually yearns for a teacher.
Background: Orphaned as an infant, Jaden's life was the orphanage. While the adults said they cared for the children like family; they were abused and made to work from sunrise to sunset. While the other other orphans said they were family; they always fought and the older ones bullied and extorted the younger ones. In a pirate town rife with crime, violence and despair, Jaden saw little hope in his future.
Until he met an elderly librarian. The elderly lady often invited Jaden for tea where she taught him to read. From there, he studied the various books she kept. He studied history, math, sciences, philosophy and mythology. He also learned martial arts and tactics.
One such book only had six techniques. But those techniques proved powerful, albeit dangerous if used recklessly. And so, Jaden learned how to anticipate danger, allowing him to avoid pointless fights. Eventually, he needn't fear anyone at the orphanage, or the city for that matter.
Feeling confident in his ability, Jaden began traveling. He worked odd jobs to get around; assisting a cook here, playing backup guitar there. When he worked on ships, his talent for reading situations made navigating and evading trouble easy. But not always.
One day, Jaden got into a fight with some pirates. A high-ranking marine recognized the techniques he used as "Rokushiki", a supposedly secret style only taught to the marines' elite. Jaden was given a choice; join the marines, or be executed for treason. Jaden's refusal led to him making short work of the grunts. But, their officer was also a Rokushiki practitioner. One far more advanced and experienced than Jaden
"Conceited brat! All you know are the bare basics! This is what
real mastery looks like!" Dodging a lunge left Jaden open to a storm of Rankyaku. Unable to activate the Tekkai technique, Jaden was nearly ripped apart by a storm of Rankyaku. He washed up on an island where a fishing village took him in and nursed him back to health. It was here Jaden realized just how vast the world truly was.
If he hoped to survive, he needed true mastery. But how? A fisherman suggested Jaden head east; there he might find a Haki monastery and train there...
Skills:
- Proficient with wayfaring, basic ship repair, and first-aid
- Proficient at survival, cooking, forging, and sewing (mostly for repairing damaged clothing)
- Self-taught scholar and researcher
Abilities
- Matrix Flow Martial Arts: By studying the underlying principles of various martial arts, Jaden had developed his own fighting style. It can be said fighting Jaden is like trying to fight the air itself:
- Elusive and suffocating like smoke.
- Reflective, rebuffing, consuming and consuming like a tornado
- Swift and forceful as a gale. - Basic Rokushiki techniques: Soru, Geppou, Tekkai, Kami-E, Shigan, and Rankyaku
- Hyper Observant: Very good at reading people through body language and strong situational awareness, allowing Jaden to predict how a situation might unfold.
Weapons/ Items:
- Camping pack including various supplies such as a compass, looking glass, tent, water skin, mess kit, latrine, tinder.
- Smithing tools, including a whetstone.
- Guitar
- A sabre, lent to Jaden by a fisherman
- A Pistol, loaned by the same fisherman, and 20 rounds
BrokenPromise
Landaus Five-One