- Invitation Status
- Posting Speed
- Multiple posts per day
- 1-3 posts per day
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- Writing Levels
- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Primarily Prefer Male
- Genres
- High Fantasy (things dealing with magical worlds, often with multiple races think final fantasy and its many varying incarnations), Dark Fantasy (fantasy dealing generally with darker themes such as monsters and demons), Action, Supernatural
Name: Sasuke
Alias/Titles: Whirlwind, Kuro (to close friends and family), Monkey/Sarutobi (if you want to get your head caved in)
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Profession: Street Performer, Punisher
Likes: women, music, honest and hard-working people, freedom, dancing
Dislikes: bladed weapons, anyone who enjoys making others suffer
Bio: 50 years ago, an Italian Jesuit had brought with him the first black man to set foot upon Japanese soil. A servant once warrior who was now tasked in waiting on the hands and feet of a pompous priest; come to spread His word where none had asked to hear it and all had more important things to focus on like the psychopathic daimyo constantly engaging in war with one another. However one such psychopath happened to be Nobunaga Oda, and he happened to have quite a fascination with foreign cultures. So it came as a surprise to few when the devil king of the 6th heaven sought to meet the 'man with skin back as an ox'. The black man, who was named Yasuke by the Japanese (his original name was yasufe), found a friendship in this 'demon king' and was brought out of service to the jesuites by him, even becoming a samurai in Nobunaga's service.
The Italian looked down upon Yasuke for his complexion, but Oda instead saw a man with the strength to snap those who annoyed him like twigs, and yet chose not to. In their developing friendship Yasuke would explain that in his youth he had been hot-blooded and eager to call himself a warrior, convincing himself there was some sort of glory in the name, but that this had come to an end when he had gotten in a brawl with another hot blooded youth with similar ideas, and ultimately won by murder. Yasuke had not gone into the conflict intending to end a life, but had found that when he was pressed with the decision between loosing, or fighting with lethal force, he had chosen wrong. Filled with guilt with what he had done and rightfully branded a criminal, he had found redemption in the service of the servants of God. Nobunaga found all of this amusing and considered Yasufe to be a valuable ally, not as another blade but as a trusted shield under his service. To that extent, while he had given Yasuke a sword and taught him how to use it upon making him a samurai, he also had a western shield crafted for him. It was perfectly round buckler about 15 inches in diameter that Nobunaga gifted to Yasuke because he knew it suited his brawler's fighting style much better than the sword ever would.
Unfortunately Yasuke's shield would not prove enough to save Nobunaga from the flames of honno-ji three years later. He had escaped the temple after Nobunaga committed seppuku, fleeing with Nobutada to azuchi castle and fighting to defend him from Akechi Mitsuhide's men, but here too he failed before the traitor's numbers and was captured. However, while Mitsuhide had hated Nobunaga, he had never had any ill will towards the quiet and respectful Yasuke, so rather than have him killed as an enemy soldier the black man was instead returned to the Jesuits' care as he was 'just a beast who knew nothing (and thus was unaccountable)'.
Yasuke mourned his friend's loss and his inability to protect him, and was robbed of any thoughts of vengeance when hideyoshi beat him to the punch. While he had not been officially stripped of his tile, these were the end of Yasuke's days as a samurai and he returned to living a simple life among the servants of god, eventually marrying a Japanese christian convert by the name of Fumiko. As the sengoku period came to a close through hideyoshi's rule Yasuke was able to find peace, siring a son nearly two decades after first coming to the Japanese islands. Unfortunately the peace would not last as the last embers of the sengoku period came with the Tokugawa usurping the Toyotomi. Whereas Hideyoshi had at least been tolerant of christians thanks to Nobunaga's open welcome of them in the past, Ieyasu saw them as a disruptive force to be removed, and Yasuke knew that with him in power it would only be a matter of time before danger returned to threaten his family.
This prompted him to pick up his old buckler, left unused since his failure at honno-ji and azuchi, and train himself once more. Yasuke also used his much of the funds he had saved up to buy enough iron to have a second shield forged for his son Sauske once he had become big enough to hold one. He taught Sasuke the wild martial dances of their people, and how he had refined them by observing the fighting styles of the japanese. With punches, graples, flips, kicks and all manner of shield bashes (both with the flat and the reinforced edge of the buckler) Yasuke taught his son how to be a shield, how to break an opponent without killing him. He instilled his son with the values he had gained through his own experience, as any good father ought, and wanted to impart on him the knowledge of how to use his strength and temper his youthful hot blood so as to protect those important to him.
Sasuke had grown up idolizing his father. He wholeheartedly believed in the lessons his father taught him and trained hard to one day become a fighter as skilled as him. Unfortunately when he was 17 the daimyo saw fit to cut the training short. Harassment of christians was already cmmon by the daimyo;s men and the few remaining Jesuit missionaries knew they were no longer welcomed in nippon, and now finally the Shogun had declared christianity as illegal. Those who refused (or were suspected to be likely to refuse) to abandon the western church were therefore criminals in the eyes of the shogunate and were taken from their homes.
When the soldiers came to Sasuke's village his father would have liked nothing more than let everything end peacefully, but the other men were not going to let themselves be kicked out of their own homes. Thus when a fight inevitably broke out the black samurai came to the aid of his friends and neighbours. Sasuke also joined in the fray but ultimately with he and his father being the only really experienced combatants on the villager's side, it was no surprise that they lost the fight. Yasuke died that day, cut down by a man with far fewer reservations to killing than he. Sasuke was deported, like the rest of his village, off japanese soil with only what they all had managed to grab in their arms before the soldier hauled them away. Sasuke only thought to grab his father's buckler, and hold onto his own.
He was separated from his mother as the men and women were taken away separately and was never able to find out what happened to her. Sasuke himself was deported with many of the younger men to Ritenkyo, stripped of japanese citizenship and branded a permanent resident of the prison island. Sasuke was full of rage against the shogun's men, but quickly found that rage could not keep your stomach full and that few people had use of a warrior who could only fight with shields beyond considering him a curiosity piece. Capitalizing on that curiosity piece angle Sasuke became a wandering perforer, turning his martial arts into a dance he used to entertain others in return for coin. It was this way that Sasuke kept himself fed and traveled the island of the broken and rejected. He eventually encountered nother pair of entertainers; a Goze (blind songstress) by the name of Narumi who played the shamisen, and a man named Jingen, only a few years older than Sasuke, who was ostencibly Narumi's percussionist but was mostly acting as her body guard while she travelled. The three became fast friends and they were quick to incorporate their acts together, mixing their music to his dance.
however, even with this newfound happiness sasuke could not forget the anger he held inside. While all on the island were victims of the shogunate some were not above taking advantage of the weakness and misfortune of others in order to increase their own standing on the island. From the brigands who pillaged peaceful farming villages, to the three blades of dominion themselves, Sasuke found many parasites ready to prey on those weaker than them and always rose to challenge them whenever he saw them bully or take advantage of anyone else.
He is a generally pretty laid-back guy who enjoys having a good time, but the anger he feels towards those who unjustly harm others is always ready to burst forth when he sees injustice. And while he continues to use shields and foregoes bladed weaponry in his father's memory, he has beaten several opponents to death with his blows since coming to the island. On some level he knows this goes against what his father tried to teach him, but Sasuke tells himself that rapists and murderers the likes of which he's met on the island threw away their right to live long ago anyways.
recently to avoid causing his band mates trouble he has gotten to sneaking out and tracking down people he has seen abuse others at night, after the fact, to punish them for their misdeeds. While he tells himself this is to protect Narumi and Jingen, he also keeps his night time vigilantism a secret from them.
Weapon(s): he weilds his father's buckler in his right hand, and his own in his left.
Fighting Style: Sasuke fights in his own dual-wielding version of father's style which is similar in principle to Capoeira. Many acrobatic flips and turns to disorient and intimidate the opponent, however his style has less focus on kicks than capoeira and instead focuses on putting the momentum of those spins and turns into Sasuke's arms in order to deliver bone-crushing blows with the bucklers that Sasuke dual wields into battle. Of course, the shields are ultimately defensive tools, not blunt weaponry, so in addition to strikes Sasuke is also very handy at blocking/parrying weapon strikes and moving in for the counter when he sees the chance. His style is well suited to taking out several brawlers at once and is useful against most swordsmen since the majority of samurai have never had to work around a western shield before, let alone two. Unfortunately his style also suffers from incredibly short range, making him weak against pole-arms and ranged attacks. His acrobatics also require a fair amount of stamina, meaning that he will tire out quickly if the fight drags on and he is not careful. It's this style that has given him the moniker 'whirlwind' among some.
Trivia: Because of his name, some less-than-educated folk have mistaken him for the legendary ninja Sarutobi Sasuke (who would be his elder by at least 30 years). Even worse, those people have a tendency of then assuming that "the reason people call you (actually talking about sarutobi) a monkey is because of your black skin?". Sasuke has grown very annoyed with this and typically reacts violently when someone confuses him for the ninja, or calls him 'monkey'.
He has also become quite fond of the Street of Flowers in his years on the island, becoming a regular customer and coming for a visit whenever he is in the region.
EDIT (almost forgot ;) )
Battle Theme:
Last edited: