heretic_blade | app for jigokucho

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Xander
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: yes
CONTACT: journal PM
CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Okada Izō
CANON: Fate/Grand Order
CANON REFERENCE: here. Additionally, in guda guda 3, the event he was featured in, he encountered the master and Ryouma Sakamoto, joined their side after briefly getting into a fight, fought the Lancer in the Grail War before they all reached the final fight with Akechi Mistuhide. In an act of selflessness, he stayed behind to ensure everyone else escaped after the fight. He did not die there, however, and resurfaced later to fight the master in the later part of the event, upset that no one went to check on him.
CANON POINT: post-lostbelt 2
CRAU HISTORY: In Slumscape, Izō learned to rely on and trust in others after experiencing horrific occurrences. He attempted to push everyone who said they cared about him away until they pushed back and forced him to see that he was cared about. This had the strange effect of making him not care as much about his own well-being and started to live for the sake of others. He has a tengu he only knows as Karasu inhabiting his body who has served to make his impulsiveness and need to act on instinct that much worse. In his despair, he allowed the tengu considerable control over his body in return for more power to protect the people he cared about.
AGE: Mid to late 20s (unsure of exact age – Servants are pulled from the prime of their life and that's when Izō was most active)
APPEARANCE: here. Additionally, he has lengthened ears, sharpened canines, black wings, clawed hands, and crow feet as a consequence of bonding strongly with the tengu in his body.
CONTRACT PAYMENT: To be freed from his youkai with the guarantee it will be given its own body.

QUESTIONNAIRE:
1. How important is loyalty to you? What does it take to earn your loyalty? What extents are you willing to go through to maintain loyalty, and respect the loyalty others might have invested in you?

Loyalty is extremely important to Izō. He has been the victim of betrayal both real and perceived several times in his life. It takes a lot to earn his loyalty because of that, but once it's earned, it will never be broken by him. If he trusts in someone enough to be loyal to them, he will do anything to maintain that loyalty. He is extremely eager to please in the first place, so it's a natural extension of that. In the same vein, if someone is loyal to him, he will also do anything to maintain that feeling. Those deemed worthy of his loyalty are worth killing for.

2. Your Faction leader, not just your boss but the leader, has asked you to carry out a hit. The target is a non-affiliated public leader, well-liked by the people of the city. Do you carry it out? Why or why not?

Without hesitation. Izō is well-known enough for his killings as part of the Tosa Loyalist Party that he ascended to the Throne of Heroes so he can be summoned as a Servant in Holy Grail Wars. He does what he's told when he's told to do it because that's all he's ever been good at. Killing is just what he does and that's his usefulness. A weapon doesn't ask questions.

3. You've worked with your Faction awhile now and you feel like the reward of your contract is within reach. But at the last moment, you are told you have even more service to pay beforehand, an obscure clause in the contract being exploited to keep you under your boss's thumb even longer. Your Faction Leader hasn't spoken on this, and might be able to dispute it. Do you go to your leader? Do you argue the dispute yourself? Do you begrudgingly accept the additional work? Something else?

Izō would call bullshit on that and cause a (probably violent) scene before running to the Faction Leader, demanding to know the truth of the situation. Under no circumstances would he just accept the extra work. He may not be very smart, but he knows when he's being used or exploited and will not tolerate it if he can help it.

4. What is your favorite diversion? Hobbies, indulgences, vices? Would you put off important things for that diversion, or would you be more strict about how you spend your time and/or money?

Izō has weakness for booze, gambling, and sex. He is frivolous with his money and would absolutely put off doing something important if he had a chance to try to win big at a gambling hall or to get drunk on someone else's dime. His indulgence is a problem, something made worse by the tengu that shares his body; his impulsiveness is worse than ever because of that.

POWERS & ABILITIES: Izō is a Servant, meaning he is stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human. They can take a huge amount of damage, are capable of running very quickly and for great distances, jumping long distances, and their reflexes and movements are faster and greater than that of a human.

His body is made of ether, not of flesh and blood, despite the fact his body behaves as a human's. A Servant has two forms: Spirit and Material. Material is the solid, human-like form that they use to interact with the world at large; Spirit is a noncorporeal form, where they are still aware, but they cannot interact with physical objects -- it's a form used to preserve mana, as they have no form to maintain and therefore use no mana to exist. He also requires a steady supply of mana from his Master to exist.

Like all Servants, he has a Noble Phantasm (a weapon or ability owned by a Heroic Spirit):

Shimatsuken - Settlement Sword

It is not his sword, but rather his own unorthodox swordsmanship. He can reproduce any sword technique with a glance. This is limited to techniques he knew during his lifetime when he's first summoned, but he can increase his strength with sword techniques witnessed after his summoning. His ability to copy techniques is limited to single-target attacks and cannot be used to copy abilities that rely on a Noble Phantasm.
Being a Servant, he has a number of skills (note: anything in quotes is quoted directly from translations of the Fate/ materials books)

Presence Concealment B

Signature skill of Assassin-class Servants. He can hide his presence as a Servant. This is typically used for spying; his rank also allows him to disappear and be extremely difficult to detect. This ability is diminished when he's preparing an attack.

Manslayer A

A specialized sword skill for cutting down humans with a blade. "A practical form of swordplay focused on nothing but victory, unsuited for one whose soul seeks out the truth of the blade. Yet that is why it is strong, and so brittle."

Mind's Eye (False) C

A natural talent to foresee/sense and avoid danger on the basis of an innate 6th sense, intuition, or prescience. It also lets him sense what's beyond visual obstructions, such as walls, to a degree.

One with the Sword, as Swift and Nimble as a Falcon A

This phrase was used to describe his skill with a sword when he was seeking out training in dojos during the Edo period. While he never studied any school or art seriously enough to be initiated into any of them, he has a natural talent and skill with the blade that rivals masters of any art.

In addition to this, he has some abilities granted to him by Karasu, the tengu living in his body: wind magic (strong cutting winds, sudden gusts) and limited disguise magic.

SUITABILITY: Izō is a killer and was known in life to have a gambling problem and frequented prostitutes. He's generally kind of a violent scumbag with very grey morals. He's well-suited for an environment where violence and vice are the norm because it's what he knew in life.

FACTION SUITABILITY:

Shuten: Izō is naturally violent and also very strong. He's good at following orders and respecting the chain of command, even when it's detrimental to himself. There's also no one who drinks or parties quite as hard as he does. He'd be found in all the haunts of the Shuten clan, given his propensity for gambling and fighting. He also isn't a liar, despite being an assassin. Their ideals fit him well.

Tamamo: He has no qualms about being involved in their typical line of work, it just isn't his specialty. He's not exactly good at pleasing customers and would likely start a fight with a difficult one. The only job he'd excel at is sex work (and potentially as a host), but that would only attract a certain customer type. If someone's willing to gamble on him, he'd be willing to do anything it takes to survive.

Sutoku: He has a tengu living in his body. Aside from that, the specialty of the Asssassin class is information gathering. Izō has been used as a hidden spy to gather intel and is not above making use of that information to get what he needs. It's simply another part of his skill set that could be used by the Daitengu. He is not very smart, though, and has that going against him.

Enma: I'm gonna be real, this is the worst fit for Izō. He is not the law-abiding type and has a disdain for authority of all stripes. He would not be cooperative nor would he really want to do his job in this faction. He would just be a problem for the Enma.