Archived Application: Scorched
Out of Character Information
player name: Leca
player livejournal: “lecanis”
playing here: Meguro Gau
where did you find us? enablers on plurk XP
are you 16 years of age or older?: Sadly, quite a bit older.
In Character Information
character name: Kurogane
Fandom: Tsubasa: Resorvoir Chronicle
Timeline: manga, chapter 182
character's age: Early twenties
powers, skills, pets and equipment: Kurogane’s main skill set is that of a ninja; he’s been trained from a young age to fight, and can do so both with and without weapons. He has several special attacks that he uses with his sword, such as the Tenma kurysen (Sky dragon flash) which takes the form of a dragon made of lightning. His family’s most prized attack, however, is the Hama Ryū-ō Jin, which he often uses when fighting multiple opponents or to end a battle.
He’s shown mowing through large amounts of trained fighters, and holds his own against supernatural beings of several types over the course of the series, including working as a demon hunter in one of the worlds along the journey. He’s likely to hunt some of the monsters in Anatole.
Not only does he have great strength and speed, however, he’s also quite perceptive, and can quickly assess a situation and make tactical decisions. He’s always quick to find weak points in both opponents and allies, as well as recognizing strengths. He is trained to be a leader in battle, and has experience doing so.
His primary weapon is his family’s heirloom sword, Ginryu which was given back to him recently in his travels when he returned to his home country. He also wears light armor.
The only other important piece of equipment that requires mentioning is Kurogane’s prosthetic arm. It was procured for him from a more technologically advanced world than his own, but he is still getting used to it, so expect to see a little fumbling.
In terms of limiting his powers, I don’t think it would likely be necessary. He’s not going to kill people for nothing, especially after all he’s been through, and he’s not likely to seek out fights with anything but the monsters. I also don’t think he really needs any additional powers.
canon history: Kurogane was born the son of a lord and a priestess, in the province of Suwa, in the country of Nihon. His parent’s responsibility to the land and it’s people was always a major influence in his life: his father was a great warrior and his mother protected the land via a magical barrier. Thus the values of protecting others and being strong for the sake of others were in Kurogane’s mind from a young age.
As a child, Kurogane trained hard, constantly begging his father to let him learn more techniques, to spend more time training with him, to watch him grow up to match the lord’s own strength. He learned his father’s special technique - Hama Ryū-ō Jin - and swore to grow up to protect all the people of Suwa.
This isn’t to say that training was the only thing on the boy’s mind: when his mother became ill, his focus expanded to include looking after her and doing everything he could to keep her comfortable. The situation was made worse by the fact that, with the barrier that protected the land weakened, Kurogane’s father had to work much harder to fight the demons encroaching on the territory, and was away most of the time.
The situation finally came to a head when Kurogane’s father came home injured and with a shattered katana, retrieved the family heirloom sword, and then left again to fight. The words he said to Kurogane at this time about protecting others would stay with the boy his entire life, and fuel his determination to become ever stronger.
After his father went back to the fight, Kurogane’s mother insisted on going to pray for his success, despite being very ill.Kurogane stayed outside the shrine to guard his mother, and reacted quickly when he heard her cry out, but even so he discovered her impaled on a strange-looking sword that had just appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Following his mother’s death, the demons who had previously been held back by her magic were allowed to swarm the province.
The young Kurogane did not react well at all, especially not when his father’s sword (still held by his severed arm) came at him along with one of the demons. He snapped, and for a long while, there was nothing but bloodshed, as the young warrior simply slayed demon after demon.
He was found, eventually, in the ruins of his home, clutching his mother’s body and completely incapable of understanding exactly what had happened. He reacted to the empress and her warriors with thoughtless, mad violence, and after slaying every ninja sent to subdue him, was about to be brought down with the young miko ‘Tsukuyomi’ intervened, telling him let his mother sleep and bringing Kurogane back to himself. The teenager cried himself to sleep as all that had passed truly became understood.
After that point, Kurogane pledged his service to Tsukuyomi, who introduced herself to him again as Princess Tomoyo. The ninja’s fealty to Tomoyo was something that would continue throughout his life, and he served her faithfully even as he continued to search for his mother’s murderer. The real sword ‘Ginryu’ was requested to be buried with his mother, and a replacement version served as his weapon during this time.
When Kurogane was in his early twenties, however, Princess Tomoyo sent him away to ‘learn the true meaning of strength’, for the warrior’s focus on becoming more powerful and defeating all enemies had become a problem. Kurogane was constantly fighting and showed no mercy, often killing after having been forbidden to do so. As a result, when the Princess sent him to the Dimension Witch to begin his journey, she laid a curse on him that taking life would make him weaker.
Kurogane “happened” to arrive at the shop of the Dimension Witch at the same time as several others, though it was later revealed that this meeting was all part of a larger plan by several parties. The result was that he wound up caught up in a quest: to retrieve the memories of a Princess Sakura from Clow Country, turned into feathers and scattered between worlds. His companions on this quest, as well as Sakura herself, were a boy named Syaoran and a rather outwardly jovial mage named Fai.
Kurogane himself had no interest in taking up someone else’s quest, only wanting to get back to his own country, both because of his fealty to his princess and to hold her accountable for his exile. However, when told that he could not be simply returned to his world, he paid the price of his (replica) katana Ginryu, and went on his way with the others, becoming their traveling companion despite his hesitation.
As the quest progressed, his insistence that he wouldn’t help because it ‘had nothing to do with him’ became more and more a lie. In fact, he quickly found himself helping Syaoran train, increasing his skills in combat and helping him to learn to overcome the weakness of blindness in one eye (a weakness that Kurogane himself noticed quite quickly.) He constantly fought for the protection of those around him, despite having said he had no reason to, and became closer to his companions as time went on.
While each of his traveling companions had their own affect on him - Syaoran and Sakura becoming ‘the children’ to protect and care for - it was the mage Fai who had the most effect on Kurogane, making the ninja determined to force the often fake-smiling blond to both care about his own life and admit that he cared about others.
In the various worlds they visited, the four companions - along with a magical creature named Mokona who performed the magic to take them from one world to another - had a variety of adventures. Everything from racing high-tech vehicles to controlling guardian spirits, hunting demons in one world and joining an army of gods in another, encountering all manner of folks - some of whom were alternate world versions of people they knew. The one that threw Kurogane himself most for a loop was of course seeing another version of his own Princess Tomoyo, and his thoughts often strayed to returning home.
It was in a place called Tokyo - a post apocalyptic sort of place where acid rain falls and fresh water is sparse - where his determination began to change. It was in that place that many things changed among the traveling companions, with the revelation that Syaoran not only was a clone of another Syaoran, but also that he was willing to betray his companions to gather the feathers, as programmed by Fei Wong Reed, who created the clone. Among these revelations, the ‘real’ Syaoran replaced the clone among the group, but the clone left with something quite precious: Fai’s left eye, along with half of his magic.
Fai, in critical condition in a land with minimal medical supplies and in shock from the loss of both eye and magic, was quite resigned to his death. Kurogane, on the other hand... proved that while he still wished to return to Nihon country, he felt himself capable of having more than one loyalty and promise at once. He chose to save Fai’s life at the price of Fai becoming a vampire, and Kurogane himself being the only ‘prey’ his system could accept.
Becoming Fai’s ‘bait’ or ‘prey’ was a rather easy decision on Kurogane’s part - he made it based solely on a wish to save the other’s life, and without knowing that it would extend his own life span as well. He also made that decision knowing that it wasn’t Fai’s wish, and thus, it added to the wall already between the two men. In fact, after that point, Fai began calling him “Kurogane” rather than the ridiculous teasing nick-names he’d used before, taking an obvious step back from the bond between them.
The chilly atmosphere among that group on a personal level after all these revelations and events followed them through more worlds, as they continue to travel, only to find that the Clone Syaoran is leaving a trail of destruction in his own search for the feathers.
To a place known as Infinity where deadly chess games became the group’s new occupation - and when they left that place, the group was missing yet another member: Sakura, whose body and soul had been split in an attempt to change a series of events she had seen in a prophetic dream. Once again, Kurogane found himself stopping Fai, who had attacked the princess because of a curse laid upon him, from ending his own life, and once again the relationship between the group members became more distant.
The next world would prove just as important. The group agreed to go (at a price, of course) to the world where Sakura’s body had ended up, and find themselves in Celes country, the home world of the mage Fai. In that place, Fai’s tragic history was revealed, and the conflict there ended with Kurogane taking the life of the King whom Fai had been fleeing their entire journey.
The result of this was another curse of the mage’s coming into effect; the entire world of Celes began to collapse by his magic. In order to send his companions - with Sakura’s body - out of the collapsing world, Fai was ready to stay behind. However, Princess Tomoya spoke to Kurogane through dreams and offered another solution; the sacrifice of his left arm (which holds a spell cast by Fai) and the sword that he has carried through most of their adventures in return for taking Fai from the world with him.
He awakened back in his own country, with Princess Tomoyo by his bed. It is revealed that she feels he has learned the true meaning of strength by his willingness to sacrifice his physical prowess (with his arm and sword) in order to protect one that he cares about. Thus Kurogane has fulfilled the quest that she herself set for him when she banished him from this world.
Also while he is in this country, he attempts to turn down an offer of a technologically advanced prosthetic arm, not willing to pay any price for it, only to find that Fai himself has already agreed to give up the rest of his magic for it. So Kurogane accepts the arm, marveling at the advanced ability of it to adapt to him, though he isn’t quite used to it yet.
The appearance of both a vampire hunter met earlier in their travels who holds one of Sakura’s feathers and the Clone Syaoran who was using Fai’s magic without hesitation lead to more fighting in Nihon country, and Sakura’s body was again lost, whisked away by another previously met foe. This led to important decisions for Syaoran, Fai, and Kurogane as well.
Before leaving the world, Kurogane also accepted back his family’s heirloom sword, which Tomoyo had been holding for him all this time. He swore his fealty to his princess again, as he had before, fully intending to return to that country and serve her, but only after the journey that he was now choosing for himself was done. As such, the last thing Kurogane remembers is standing before the Dimension Witch Yuuko, along with Fai and the ‘real’ Syoaran, waiting to be sent to where Sakura has been taken away to once again, to retrieve the princess and take part in the final battle against the enemy who has been pulling strings behind the scenes this entire time.
personality: Kurogane is overall a pretty serious fellow. He’s very dedicated to his own goals, which include finding the man who killed his mother (revealed to be related to the captivity and cloning of Syaoran) and protecting those he cares about. His childhood obsession with becoming stronger might have changed a bit since he realized that ‘strength’ means more than just physical, but he definitely still feels strongly about his physical training.
He’s always expected a lot from himself, and often that carries over into being too serious. He has a hard time joking around or doing things for no reason other than “fun” and expects a certain amount of seriousness from those around him as well. He’s also got some very strong opinions about things like self-worth and gratitude, evidenced by something he tells Fai: “There’s nothing in the world I hate more than those who take their lives for granted.”
He is easily annoyed by people who joke around too much or refuse to take matters seriously, but over time, he’s begun to enjoy a certain amount of playfulness, and misses it when his companions stop behaving this way.
His perceptiveness is also a pretty major part of his personality. If you’re trying to hide something from Kurogane, you’d better be damn good at it. He pays attention to a lot of details that most people who miss, and can discern not just battle weaknesses, but also catches on a lot to what people are feeling and thinking. How much of that he gives away is often another matter; he plays his own knowledge pretty close to the vest, unless he’s trying to help someone.
At this point in his life, he’s actually changed a lot in a relatively short time, because of the events in various worlds and his relationships with those he traveled them with. So there are times when he still reacts in the older ways, automatically believes he can solve a situation with his physical strength, focuses on strategies that aren’t necessarily his current way of doing things. He’s very much at this point in his life in a state of evolution, and it shows.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? For one thing, he’s already used to hopping worlds! The setting will be a little different from the worlds he’s been to, but also interesting for him to explore. Plus his mix of old-school ninja+having some experience with very high technology makes him pretty ready for the steampunk-inspired setting.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample:
[Narrow red eyes are glaring at the screen as if the device just might bite him. The expression on the man’s face isn’t any better; he is obviously not pleased.]
I seem to be lost.
[He holds the Forge out from himself a little, pans it, showing his surroundings; it’s very foggy here. He has in fact wandered pretty far out from the center of town.]
Is there a way to get a map on this thing?
[He’s not liking this asking for help thing. And if that damn mage (or anyone else) laughs at him, they’re in for some serious pain. He makes sure to catch a shot of his big-ass sword before ending the message just to be sure that is properly understood, in case his expression didn’t make it clear.]
Third Person Sample:
Kurogane wasn’t that fond of cities, when it got right down to it. Technology could serve a lot of purposes, and he’d seen some of the good things it could do, but he fully believed that could exist without the masses of humanity shoved in one place. Which is what he felt that Anatole was, really. Too many people too close together, and no wonder some parts of it got very seedy.
He just wanted a nice bit of country air, honestly. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to get it here, anywhere.
If he was honest with himself, the other thing that he wanted was to be alone for a little while. He’d woken up to Fai in the room with him, not managed proper eye contact or a real conversation with the man, and found the mage randomly appearing and disappearing on a schedule he hadn’t managed to comprehend.
Mostly without actual words.
Conversation with others in the world had gone a bit better, perhaps, but what he wanted, really, was to have a moment to feel lonely while actually alone, not lonely in the center of others. Either way, the loneliness didn’t seem likely to let up soon.
So he moved through the streets, rather aimlessly, well-armed and armored and on alert for any kind of danger despite his intention of nothing more than a little stroll. He found himself picking out landmarks, trying to map his surroundings, and firmly tried to shut the instinct down.
There was no reason to fight here, nothing to be fighting for. No leads on getting out of this dimension, no idea how to move onward with their quest. No sign of the others he had traveled with, no sign of any magical feathers, nothing.
No goal, no reason, nothing.
The ninja scowled, growled, and turned on his heel suddenly, eliciting a few strange looks from other walking the street. Purposeful strides took toward the tunnels beneath the city... after all, perhaps finding himself a fight would make him feel better, necessary or otherwise.
Anything else? On the first-person sample, the dialogue IS short because Kurogane isn’t really the most wordy person, unless it’s something he feels really needs to be said. I hope that works!