Name: James "Logan" Howlett
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Former Canon:
Blood Type: O Negative
Personal Belongings: white top, worn jeans, aged leather jacket, wallet loaded with meaningful mementos
Equipment and Weapons: A pair of claws (SF's Vega style) with accompanying gauntlets, Mike's Belt Buckle, Glock 37 (3x magazines)
Personality: An angry and gruff Canadian; perhaps its his stature that's left him in something a constant, permanent tizzy. Logan is bound by a code of honor and holds himself to a standard one could see better than most, even if it does not appears so from the outset. Despite his brutish exterior, James is a kind, if hardened, soul and his sense of justice and right behooves him to act for the sake of others beyond himself.
Former Backstory: Sickly child turned mutant via severe duress, survived on his lonesome for decades, entered a series of conflicts including but not limited to both World Wars, enrolled in a special weapons program where he was named Weapon X, encountered a number of unique individuals before joining Charles Xavier's X-Men, and more. At one point he became the headmaster of a similar school to Xavier's, the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
In short: what ya lookin' at, bub??? Stay the hell away from mah school.
New Backstory: Mister Howlett hails from a middle-class family in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The best damn city in the world with the cleanest air ever. He regrets havin' ever left it. As a lad, his upbringing was a good, if hard, one. His good and proper values had been instilled in him by his father, whether it was by word or by the back of his hand. This was where the core aspects of his personality formed, creating the gruff and rugged individual today, through his childhood experience and the experiences that followed in his adult life.
He'd wide eyes despite the circumstances of his raising, despite his family's relative success. There was one thing James Howlett knew he wanted to do; go out there and explore the world. Yukon was nothing unfamiliar to him, with the rest of Canada being the same. In his child-like hubris, he thought the United States of America would hold the next adventure for him, the stepping stone in his life's journey. Without a word, Logan abruptly departed from Whitehorse, catching a bus down to the borders within the Ontario territory. From there, he crossed over into the land of the free and home of the brave. Filled with ecstatic enthusiasm, James took to traveling the east coast for some time. Despite taking on the occasional menial jobs, his funds ran low and he came face to face with a decision: return home or join the military. Realizing that the latter meant further opportunity to travel the world, if not the country itself, Logan opted to do just that. He was eighteen years old at the time.
Howlett was deployed to Lebanon after basic training, in the midst of the Cold War, alongside over a thousand other marines. From there on, he continued to serve for three years.
After the brief tryst with the military, Logan took to becoming a contractor for hire as to expand his options for travel in the world. Howlett rapidly made his mark in the industry known as a fairly talented operator, finding that the job and all that came with it came easily to him. A couple years followed as he underwent several successful operations before he finally made the startling realization: as talented as he was, as effective as he was, he truly did not have any love for the job. It served his needs but eventually the means did not justify the ends for Logan as he'd seen several bloody conflicts. Dissatisified, he disappeared in similar fashion as leaving home, and wandered the lands of Europe and Asia, eventually crossing over into Japan.
It was there his life took a turn. The Japanese were an intriguing, if wary, sort and their culture appealed to Logan to a degree. Specifically the ideals situated within the Bushido Code and those that practiced it, the Samurai. The core precepts resonated with Logan's core values and this pushed the wandering traveler to seek out those few that still practiced the way of the Samurai. Labeled a gajin and oft remarked toward as an outsider, it made the journey difficult in doing so. In time he was successful. He slowly incorporated the nuances of the natives' customs and language, easing the transition. He eventually came across a wizened master of the old style, a kindly old man who was hesitant to take in a student. The old master's stonewalling eventually gave way to the sheer fervent persistence and drive of Logan's; he'd realized that the Gajin, that this outsider, perhaps best epitomized the tenets oft the Bushido code. Abound with happiness at his success, Logan threw himself into the new training. It was during this time that he would eventually encounter the one he recognized as the love of his life: Mariko Yashida, the daughter of a Yakuza clan.
Though at the time, he hadn't known that exactly. Until it was made readily apparently upon his first advances. Still, that did nothing to dissuade the bullheaded Canadian and his actions caught her eye. Mariko found herself intrigued in the actions of the outsider and perhaps more. Something flowered in between the two as the young Howlett would strike out in the dark of night after his master was fast asleep, meeting the clan's heiress under the moon among the cherry blossoms. It was truly a wonderful period in the young Logan's life, one that was not meant to last.
Mariko's father, Lord Shingen Yashida, caught wind of their secret meetings and made blatantly clear she was to not be touched let alone seen by a mere Gaijin. This came in the form of Yakuza thugs delivering the message, via threat of death of Logan's master and by extension his. His only option left was to leave the country by the next night, else they would deliver on their word. This did not sit well with the brash Howlett and he decided on ultimately a foolhardy path: taking the fight to them, for his love. These were Yakuza but of the old ways, those that practiced the use of the sword. Armed with this knowledge and his blade, Logan challenged the clan to a duel to the death, for the sole right to wed Mariko.
A bloody conflict followed, with nigh a dozen men slain by his hands. James would not come out of the brief war unscathed, having received wounds here and there. That deterred him not, the pain and hindrance of his encumbered limbs mattering not at all. The remainder of the surviving men alluded this outsider to a fierce beast, one that brimmed with savage bloodthirst in the face of overwhelming adversary, against all odds. Against any and all wounds. A monster of a beast that refused to simply keel over and die. Still, even he was a mortal man and despite fending for himself, the bloodloss took its toll. Unconsciousness claimed Logan and in seemingly the final moments of lucidity, he was sure that would be the last time he'd ever open his eyes.
He was wrong.
This was made blatantly clear when he awoke the following day, his wounds having been tended to and treated, with a sight he'd remember for the rest of his life. His love, Mariko Yashida, there by his side. Logan would learn that Mariko had caught wind of it all and went to her father, pleading for his life to be spared and that she'd do whatever it'd take. The cost was high; James would have to leave Japan and never return and that Mariko sealed her fate as stepping in as the next head of the family. A prospect she never once considered, looking to elsewhere. Heartbroken, Logan made every attempt to persuade Mariko otherwise only to find that it was impossible. The deed was done, he would have his life at the expense of Mariko's.
In a twist of irony, Logan would be made aware that he'd the respect of Lord Yashida for what he'd done in the name of love. Logan found disgust as he realized further the nature of what his actions had entailed. Seeing that there was nothing he could do further about his or Mariko's fate, he left for the United States in solemn despair. For home.
In the years to follow, Logan became a naturalized citizen, holding a dual citizenship. He would go on to open a dojo in Salt Lake City, one that followed a style of his own devising from his life experience and teachings via the military and his time in Japan. Through the dojo, he would encounter many a unique character and eventually provided a clandestine service to government's agents aside his regular students.
Despite the loss of his love and the banishment from Japan, Logan strove to discover a purpose all his own in life and it was here, in the form of ensuring that others could protect themselves through his teaching and enabling a place of peace and understanding.
Other: Makes a mean sushi dinner.
