Shinji, Yorei goryo
Statistics
Template: Ghost
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- Blast (Conjured Weapon - A flight of black arrows leave the silk sleeves of his robe to strike his target; Ice; Biting Cold)
- Winter (Cold, Create Ice, Freeze, Fog, Killing Frost, Rain, Snow, Wind)
- Flight
- Insubstantial (Limitations: 1- Any kind of paper/parchment that has writing on it [A paper wall, no problem. Write on that wall and he can't go through.]; 2- Any barrier blessed by a holy man; 3- Tree bark, whether still on the trees or used in making an object, such as rain coat, basket, hat, etc. Leaves and undergrowth are no problem; 4- Secret limitation chosen by the GM, not yet discovered by the recently deceased Shinji...)
- Abysmal Spines (Appears as jagged, broken black arrows, jutting out from his body at odd angles)
Wealth level: Poor
Image
Shinji appears as a simple, kindly-looking young man. Dressed in fine silk clothes that seem to hint at high birth, he carries himself with grace and beauty. But at a whim, the true visage of Shinji can appear, a dark and broken man, the instruments of his murder still buried within him.Silence
- trees in winter frost
black arrows whistle in flight
his spirit lingers
-Shinji
Silence.
The moment was born into it and ended with its touch. Shinji sat, still, growing cold in the winter air. Around him, the trees lay naked and bare, frosted with new snow. And the words never escaped him. They filled his mind and he hoarded them like precious stones, writing them down to parchment.
The life of a poet.
He wrote, capturing and paring down the essence of the moment, each scene carved, word by word, until he could do no more. Each haiku was a single breath of the soul and it meant everything to him.
It was the screams that pulled him from his rest. The screams of the dying and not yet dead. They echoed in the wood, mingled with laughter. the wood darkened with the evil of men. Something whistled behind him.
Shinji turned as the first arrow took him in the throat, yanking him backwards and down into the icy grass, his red blood melting the morning frost. He struggled, but could not move. There was the sound of clapping and more laughter, growing closer. He wanted to cry out, but his voice would not help him.
Rough hands lifted him, rough faces sneered and taunted as they placed him on a tree. Shinki could not make out how many there were, but there seeemed a stream of them, coming from the edge of the wood like a river of darkness. He wanted to run, to hide, but his legs would not help him.
His chest felt warm and there was a softness at the edge of everything, and words came to him, final thoughts budding into haiku, into the language of his soul. Stillborn, they could be shared with no one, and words could not help him.
In a line they formed, the only order in the chaos of the morning, their bows high and ready. Black arrows lined each one, aching for flight. There was a calm that came over him, almost a release.
It was the calm before the storm. His heart raged a moment, then the world was filled with black rain, as arrow after arrow pierced his flesh.
Silence.
The moment was born into it and ended with its touch. Shinji sat,
still, growing cold in the winter air. Around him, the trees lay
naked and bare, frosted with new snow. And the words never escaped him.
They filled his mind and he hoarded them like precious stones:
- trees in winter frost
black arrows whistle in flight
his spirit lingers
-Shinji
Background
Shinji was Kakita Shinji in life, although out of modesty he signed his poetry with only his personal name. The third son of a wealthy lord, he was raised with the best, which is why he's had the time to devote his life to poetry and not something more valuable and useful. He was used to safety on his father's lands and wandered into a wood plagued by bandits. He wasn't paying attention and it cost him his life.
Note:
Shinji's picture in human form comes from the television show "Samurai Jack." It was obtained by Shinji's player, Mark Metzner, from an unknown site. Used without permission. No copyright challenge intended.
Shinji's Sorcery schtick "Winter" is simply adapted from the "Weather"
schtick in the main rulebook, where the special effects Heat and Humidity,
Lightning,
and Thunder have been replaced by three special effects from David
Eber's "Ice"
Sorcery schtick. A fourth of these special effects has been converted
to a Blast special effect. Can you figure out what Shinji's theme
is? :-)
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