Shiang, Katsutochi

[katsutochishiang]

N A M E Skylark

C O N T A C T S PM/Chatbox

O T H E R . C H A R A C T E R S Skylark

R A N D O M . F A C T I love blue smarties...and red skittles...yum!

N A M E Technically? Lord Katsutochi Shiang, but he'd never admit or respond to the 'lord' part.

N I C K N A M E S Katsu

A G E 20

B I R T H D A T E 27th January

G E N D E R Male

S E X U A L I T Y Heterosexual

O C C U P A T I O N Pirate

M A G I C ?

Electricity - Katsutochi has been able to call electricity almost from the moment he was born, laughing at the shivers of static that ran up and down his small arms. He delighted in giving his mother and other unwary adults a small shock when they went to pick him up, giggling in amusement at the results. Calling up the wild and sometimes unpredictable lightning comes as naturally as breathing to him, the charged air becoming so addictive it is almost a drug. Yet although he is young he is aware of the danger of his powers, and is leery of using it to its full potential unless he is forced - he also does not like the thought that he inherited anything from his biological father. He gets a rush from using the electricity and, like many electric users, is used to coping with the severe crash that comes afterwards - which in its most extreme can knock him out for several days. Always having an affinity for storms, Katsu can often be seen out in the wildest storms, laughing in sheer delight as the lightning strikes, placing fear into other men’s hearts - this makes him useful to have around during a storm at sea, although the other pirates often view him as somewhat crazy for some of the antics he pulls.

Astral Projection - Katsu first travelled outside of his actual body when he was just two years old - the time his mother and himself were called to live with the chancellor when it was feared his wife would be unable to produce a son and heir. Scared and wishing he was home, he was filled with such a sense of imprisonment that he reached out of his own body. Staring out at his own sleeping body was a huge shock and, terrified, he immediately lost concentration and returned to his own body. When his mother - who also had the power - realized what had happened she began to teach her son how to separate himself from his body at will, a skill that he is now able to use to some degree of accuracy. The uses of this at first eluded him, as he disregarded it in favour of his more exciting electric ability. However, when he joined the pirate ship he is currently on he realised that through using astral projection, he could scout ahead to ships that they were planning on capturing - finding out the number of men and if there was anything valuable on board.

ADMIN CLASSIFICATIONS
Astral Projection -- Level 2 -- Class B
Electricity -- Level 2 -- Class B

H E I G H T 5"9

B U I L D

Katsu has always been tall for his age, as all the weight he puts on seems to make him grow out instead of up. However several years of work on the seas has given him a fairly muscular build in the shoulders and arms, as the heavy lifting and sail hoisting is no work for the weak. Although there have been times in his life when food has been hard to come by, you would not know it by looking at him. His overall stature is of one who is not only well fed - but of one who is a survivor.

E Y E S
A very dark brown that can appear black depending on the light - occasionally they appear to light from within with one of his rare grins, but more often than not they hold a serious, thoughtful expression and can often be seen darting around the deck of the ship, or fixing on the minutest of details. His eyes miss nothing.

H A I R
His hair is black, and seems to almost flop around his head, living on a ship leaves little time for things such as cutting your hair and no vanity at all can be allowed - not when your hair gets doused with sea water several times a day. Katsu seems to be stubbornly neglectful of his hair however, and rarely takes the time to cut it, or even tie it back. Although he is wary of letting it grow too long after the time it got in his eyes during a fight and temporarily blinded him, resulting in one of the scars he carries.

I D E N T I F I E R S
Katsu has no tattoos, as he privately gets nauseous at the thought of needles - despite having faced far worse in his life. He has the normal collection of scars you would expect from a pirate who has spent several years at sea - although none could be classed as being an identifying aspect. He has a burn mark on his neck caused during his younger days of his electric power exploration, he accidently set a book on fire, which resulted in him jerking backwards but still catching a burn mark on his neck.

A P P E A R A N C E
Katsu is naturally handsome, although not in the sense that he looks 'pretty'. He has scars on his jaw and often forgets to shave, resulting in an almost permanent shadow across it. he would never classify himself as handsome and often waves away comments about his looks - as far as he is concerned he was born with his looks, he was given them, when people compliment him on them they are not complimenting him but the higher power that dictated who would look handsome and who would look ugly. Katsu has a straight, almost rigid posture, his body is almost constantly on alert, never restful he is often fidgeting, his hands are almost always busy with something, fixing a sail or tugging at the cuffs of his shirt. He would deny that his straight posture was due to any sense of manners he received, during the short months he spent in his father's house.

Katsu acts against his own nature -serious and thoughtful - when it comes to how he looks after his own body. He always carries scrapes and bruises, and rarely bothers to do more than bandage a wound that might scar if not sown up. This lack of care is not deliberate, he just doesn't think about what he could do to limit the damage to his own body. The clothes he wears are worn, but that is not rare in a pirate - often clothes are the last thing on his mind. He does however take care of the clothes he has - light linen shirts, often patched carefully over places of wear. Dark pants that don't show the dust, although these sometimes have rips of tears in them, which he hasn't had the time to repair, these are tucked into sturdy boots which have seen years of wear themselves - if he is lucky these will have a layer of wax to keep out the water, although more often than not he forgets and gets cold feet.

Despite his rigid posture, he is only ever relaxed when he is at sea, when at sea he moves with a rolling step that most sailors pick up at some point - or fall overboard - this makes him less than graceful on land however, and some think his rolling step is a swagger and take offence. When looking at Katsu the first thing you would note is that he is constantly in a state of awareness, looking for danger and even when relaxed his body is tensed - expecting the next blow or the next slash. He has high cheekbones and a defined jawline, which speaks of his high birth, although he casually gets his own back on any that comment on this. His colouring he gets from both parents - who were both from Wyeshing, although in appearance he hates to admit that he favours his father more than his mother.

L I K E S
-> Being at sea
-> Freedom
-> Silence
-> Storms
-> Sweets
-> Loyalty
-> Friendship
-> Fighting
-> Standing up for what you believe in

D I S L I K E S
-> Deception
-> Betrayal
-> His family
-> Being on land for any length of time
-> Weakness
-> Loss
-> Reading

F E A R S
-> Needles
-> Being forced to stay on land
-> Imprisonment
-> Someone he trusts betraying him

S T R E N G T H S
-> Stubbornness
-> Loyalty
-> Sword skills
-> Stealing
-> Surviving
-> Defiance

W E A K N E S S E S
-> His pride
-> His hatred for his family
-> His hatred of land
-> He would never fight his friends even if they betrayed him
-> He would do anything for someone who gains his loyalty

Q U I R K S
-> Thunderstorms - he loves them
-> Hums when he is focused on one particular task
-> Often forgets to eat for several days (almost fainted once)

G O A L S
-> Revenge on his father somehow
-> His own ship one day
-> Continue to avoid contact with his family

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Katsu has been shaped by what he sees as the betrayal of his mother, who was cast out and labelled a whore when it was found she was pregnant with the chancellors child - the way his father and his family turned her away when she was most in need is a constant, nagging pain to him. This pain has simmered throughout his life, and could quite easily have turned to bitterness if it hadn't been for the friendship of Dae Sul who saved the young Katsu from turning his life to the task of revenge on his father and his family. Instead he fostered the pain and turned it into a rage which eventually dissipated, he now feels nothing for the family he could have had - although he takes exception for his father who he loathes. Katsu us overall a complex individual and it is unlikely to ever know what he is thinking at any one time as he is prone to random actions, which not only surprise those around him but make them wary of him as well - his antic have given him the title 'crazy' on the ship he is currently on - The Not Sure Yet!.

Katsu is serious and careful by nature, he is a tactician, and often comes up with unorthodox plans to get their ship into and out of scraps, often without losing a single man. His methods might be wild, but what they lack in originality they make up for in detail, even from a young age he was able to see the movement of ships and men - he treated it as a game to see how long it would take him to 'capture' the enemy ships, in later life he put this into practise and is valued for his contribution to military strategy. His name, Katsutochi, means ‘to win cleverly’, it seemed that even from birth his mother had recognised some innate gift that Katsu had, a devilishly unique combination of intelligence and ruthlessness, that is lethal on and off the battlefield.

One of Katsu’s most dangerous faults is his pride, combined with his stubbornness this becomes a far more lethal blind-spot than he will ever let on. Katsu will never admit defeat, never give up, and never surrender – even when he has no hope of winning. This, he has partly learned, through the various disappointments in his life. He has learned that most people can’t be trusted, can’t be depended on and, at the end of day, the only one who he can rely on completely is himself. He refuses to be placed once more in a situation where he feels controlled and manipulated by others, he doesn’t want anything more to do with the family that deserted him; his loyalty once lost is lost forever. This does, however, make him a steadfast and loyal friend, who will stick up for those whom with whom he has placed his trust. It has been noted that to get to Katsu, to really hurt him, you would have to hurt one of his friends, for that is one of the only reasons he will strike out blindly, unconditionally and without remorse.

Katsu has the blood of men on his hands, and how he deals with that is with a blasé attitude, which fools almost everyone. Katsu does not kill indiscriminately, he places a huge amount of wealth on human life, and he believes it is precious. Yet, that will not stop him from killing in self-defence. Katsu has a powerful autopilot mode, which kicks in when he is in danger. Allowing him to kill, without feeling the cost that taking a life has upon him. It is only after that he feels the deaths, like a punch to his gut, it made him sick the first few times and after that there was a strange numbness, followed by an ice-cold rage. Even this fades eventually, leaving him just worn out and tired. He does not spend time contemplating the loss of life, like most other pirates, he doesn’t look at the morality of their cause; otherwise living would be too hard.

Most people make the mistake of thinking that Katsu does not have a sense of humour, when in fact he does. His sense of humour is dry, and he tends to smile with his eyes rather than his mouth. Despite having mastered the ability to control the way emotions appear on his face, Katsu’s eyes really are a window to his soul, any emotion he feels can generally be seen in his eyes immediately. He is slow with his compliments, and sometimes quick with his recriminations, especially when he sees shoddy work or watches someone not putting their all into their sword drill work. This is because he knows that through his own actions, and through other’s actions, people can put others at risk, can even cause the death of someone, without meaning to. He then knows that the guilt will hang over your head for the rest of your life, casting a shadow on everything you do. He holds the values of trust, honesty and determination above all.

F A M I L Y
Father -> __________ Shiang, 37 years old, Chancellor of Wyeshing
Mother-> Kikyo Nakura, deceased, servant
Half-Sister-> __________Shiang, 18 years old,
Half-Brother -> _________ Shiang, 18 years old,
Half-Sister-> Ashura-ai Shiang, 16 years old,


P L A C E . O F . B I R T H Wyeshing, City of Nagise.
H I S T O R Y

Katsu always knew exactly who and what he was. It followed him around in whispers, a word that was said just loud enough for the young Katsu to hear – just loud enough to cause a flash of pain to come into his mother’s eyes; bastard. Katsu was called it before he learned what it meant, when he repeated the word his mother bent down and looked at him fiercely, anger and panic in her youthful eyes, she would shake him and say, “No my Katsu, that is not who you are, not all you are, never believe that!” He grew up in one of the poorer regions of Nagise, his mother used to take him with her to work, as she cleaned the houses of those too rich to do it themselves, he had a strong bond with his mother and learned the values of humility, loyalty and honour from her.

When he still a young child – just turned 3 – his mother received a summons, it said that Katsu’s father’s wife had just given birth to a daughter, which meant Katsu remained as his father’s heir. The summons went on to explain that it would be of the benefit to all if Katsu came to stay in the palace, his mother was of cause invited to come as well. His mother wasn’t given the option of politely refusing. Fearing that his wife would be incapable of producing a male child, Katsu’s father was making sure that the heir to his legacy wouldn’t die on some street-corner; he was covering all his bases. The Chancellor was above all adamant that his lineage would live on, what his wife thought of all this was best not thought about. After a long and difficult pregnancy, she had been swiftly disregarded by her husband, who had then proceeded to invite his bastard heir and his mother into her home.

Katsu himself remembers very little of the time he spent in the palace, it was dominated by feelings of confusion, with people staring at him – whispering and judging. It was also significant because whist in the palace his gift of astral-projection showed itself for the first time. When the Chancellor’s wife became pregnant again, the whole palace seemed to hold its breath – what would happen if this next child was a girl? Would the Chancellor divorce his wife, or would he keep her – ignoring her as useless, good only for producing female children? It is unsure what the Chancellor would have done if his wife had produced another female heir, because when the child was born – it was his long awaited legitimate son.

Before the month was out, Katsu and his mother had been turned out of the palace, furious and devastated Katsu’s mother never recovered from the Chancellor’s cruel actions. Katsu grew up sharing a house with three other families, all of whom were poor. His mother drifted in and out of her depressive moods, sometimes being cheerful and then crashing into a strange numb sorrow, which not even her son’s begging could lift her out of. She worked to provide enough money to pay the rent and eat, Katsu learned early onto to steal to augment their savings, however if his mother ever caught him he was in big trouble – she disapproved of stealing. His mother’s fits of depression became more and more frequent, and by the time Katsu was in his early teens, she spent most of her time away from the world.

At the age of thirteen Katsu lost his mother to an outbreak of cholera that swept through the poorer parts of Nagise, alone and heartbroken the young Katsu blamed his father for the misfortune – knowing that, if he hadn’t thrown his mother out, she would still be alive. Full of hatred and with a strong desire to get away from the sphere of his father’s influence, Katsu left Nagise heading for the coast. He stole to survive, learning how to defend himself in the rough backstreets of whatever city he found himself in, he learnt early on to take advantage of any situation that might lead to food or money. He was fourteen by the time he finally hit the coast, and he hired onto a pirate ship, working as rat until he earned enough skill and experience to be promoted.

He met Dae Sul Koh when he was fifteen, he recognised a kindred spirit in his eyes, despite the fact the two of them were not very much alike. In the kill or be killed world of the pirates, their unlikely friendship was one of the reasons they managed to stay alive in the early days. Katsu had very little ambition, he was content to just coast in his position as one of the fore-deckers, boarding enemy ships to capture them, and warding off the enemy if they happened to get boarded themselves. After Dae Sul led a rebellion on the old pirate captain, Katsu wasn’t surprised when his friend took control of the ship, with only token protest from the rest of the crew – despite his youth he was cunning and sharp – the perfect leader.

Katsu became the tactician and advisor, laying out battle plans and pointing out the enemies weaknesses. He was Dae Sul’s eyes and ears amongst the crew, listening for threat of mutiny or discontent, relaying all he found out back to Dae Sul. Despite the fact Dae Sul can appear aloof and disapproving, Katsu recognises that like himself, Dae Sul is loyal and honest at heart – and as a captain he runs the ship in a way that results with the minimum of casualties on both sides. Katsu himself is content to remain as one of the first fighters on board the ship, renowned for his fearlessness in battle, and his cunning and forethought before and after.

C O D E . W O R D Wyeshing
S A M P L E . P O S T N/A

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