OOC: APPLICATION
In-Game Name: Kyuzou
Age: 35
Gender: male
Current Residence: The Sea Hawk
Position & Ship: The Sea Hawk - quartermaster
Appearance: There are only two things that people notice about Kyuzou. Well, three, but the swords are usually dwarfed by his bushy blonde hair and distinctive red trench coat. His hair is so bushy that it looks like some kind of rather odd furry helmet than real hair. It falls into his red eyes and puffs out to the sides and pretty much looks like it has a life of its own. His red trench is down to his ankles, and black stripes run up the arms and the front. Underneath the trench, he usually wears a black turtle neck shirt and black pants. Despite his red eyes and blonde hair, the rest of his features are typical Nihonian - slanted eyes, sharp chin, stoic in expression and appearance.
Personality: A quiet man, he really doesn’t take the time to hanging around others, get involved with others or even try to be liked by anyone on or off ship. He keeps to himself, guards his privacy with the edge of his swords, and tends to discipline crewmembers on an equal basis. He rarely talks except when he is forced to, and when he does, it is usually very quiet. He prefers to use his actions more so than his words. Being a samurai, he tends to not hold anything in value except a good fight against someone of equal skill - guns and other such things he views with scorn and disgust. Any fool can aim a gun but it takes a master to truly be able to wield the sword. He is a warrior, not a powder monkey.
Abilities/Weapons: He uses a two-sword technique, a type of fighting style that is highly unusual among the samurai families of Nihon. Like all samurai, he can use his skills to deflect bullets, high powered lazars and some magical attacks however he needs to focus his energy to do so. Made from adamantium as is the custom, his swords can cut through most materials known to man, the thin swords can cut through anything with in reason. He can’t cut a whole city in half or even the bigger flying vessels because of their armor and sheer bulk, but he has been known to cut the smaller flying crafts (the one person to four manned vessels) down.
Weaknesses: Kyuzou really has no special abilities outside of his samurai training. He is a normal human and outside his fighting ability, he shows no other gift. He is wanted man on the mainland, with a large bounty on his head. He and Vash are often mistaken for brothers, and even sometimes he gets chased by men after Vash’s bounty. Kyuzou enjoys fighting way too much and it is hard for him to stop once he is engaged in full battle with a worthy opponent.
History:
He doesn’t talk much about his past - not that he talks much at all. It is true that Kyuzou is from Nihon, from one of the samurai families from the area. He grew up like a first son of such a family - learning the sword along with other rules of behavior and etiquette that his people cherish above all things. He studied under several different masters of the blade until he decided to study the unique ‘two-sword’ technique. He grew up in the dojo with his teacher and at age 14 he was sent to study warfare on board a Fleet ship. After serving for four years, Kyuzou was asked to become a bodyguard for important figures that helped with funding the Fleet.
He went and worked with another samurai for several years, guarding the rich merchant whose dealings helped fund the Fleet to build their impressively large airships. Used to the excitement of the War, Kyuzou fell into a rut, hating himself for being made into nothing more than a well-trained lapdog but still not having the will to move on. Samurai protected people and his job was to protect this fat merchant and his family.
Then one day, the merchant’s son decided to kidnap a farm girl. Unforeseen by the son, the farm girl had a small group of ronin with her, and they whisked her away from the son’s clutches. Kyuzou, hearing that the lesser guards were so easily defeated, decided to test his hand against these ronin. In the following fight, he and the ronin were unable to decide who the master swordsman was. It was invigorating. Kyuzou itched to fight the other samurai again, but his so-called master would hear none of it. He also learnt that the farm girl needed help to protect her village from rogues trying to raze the place to the ground.
Kyuzou fought his need for duty against his craving for a worthy battle. In the end, his craving won, and after he dispatched his fellow samurai in battle, he joined the ronin in their quest. The merchant’s son refused to let the girl go that easy however, and in the ensuing battles, he attempted to kidnap her again and again. In the end, Kyuzou struck the man down, while the other ronin struck down the merchant himself before fleeing the capitol to the village.
They fought against the rogues, driving them back again and again. In the last battle, Kyuzou was shot and fell off the cliff overhanging the water far below. He should have died, but instead he smash into the deck of a small airship. The pilot was a strangely dressed man who took him to a small island, where a witch doctor tended to his wounds. When he was healed enough to travel, Kyuzou left to a more populated island where he could get some work. Hiring onto The Sea Hawk, he went from gunner to quartermaster within a matter of days. He’s been there ever since.