Shinkoku

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"I am a sword and a sheath. I am a sword to cut through my path, and I am a sheath when I wish to lay rest."
- 信告, to another hero in Pocket D
Shin-4.jpg
Striking down his foe.
Shinkoku
Player: @Darkshot Avenger
Basic Data
Origin: Originicon natural.png
Archetype: H archetypeicon scrapper.png
Security Level: 20
Occupation: midnight bartender
Personal Data
Real Name: Sanada, Tetsuhiro 真田鉄弘
Known Aliases: "Shin", Tetsu
Identity: secret
Species: Human
Age: 40
Height: 181 cm (5'11)
Weight: 77 kg (170 lbs)
Eye Color: dark brown
Hair Color: black, dyed brown
Blood Type: AB-
Biographical Data
Birthplace: Aomori, Japan
Birthdate: January 8, 1984
Citizenship: Japan
Current Residence: Kings Row
Religion/Faith: Shinto
Sexual Orientation: homosexual
Marital Status: Taken
Known Languages
Japanese, English
Known Relatives
Sanada, Takahiro (father, deceased); Sanada, Chieko (mother, deceased); Sanada, Yasuhiro (grandfather, deceased)
Known Powers
Stealth (passed down from training with magics)
Training / Abilities
Heavily trained in single and double katana, near-perfect body conditioning and fitness, ability to use the environment around him to his advantage
Equipment
double ninjatou
Footnotes


信　"shin" - faith -- 告　"koku" - revelation

Shinkoku is a 27-year old hero born in northern Japan. He comes to Paragon in hopes of finding answers of the tragic events that have happened in his past. For most of his life, he has always held a blade, very skilled in both single and double katana, and the art of stealth. The first tragic event in his life cost him his home, his mother, his father, and his grandfather. The second cost him his foster father, who was also his master. Currently, he is a midnight bartender at a local bar and lounge in Kings Row.

Contents

Characteristics

His personality is that of the silent archetype. In addition, he is also soft-spoken, and socially inept. As a child, he didn't really have friends as he was more absorbed in his training with the katana. He looked up to his father and grandfather very much, hoping to become masters like they both were.

He was raised in a strict environment as a child, and was raised with the ideals that were based around the Bushido. Because of this upbringing, he is very polite and courteous towards strangers. Which, in more ways than one, earns him friends. While he is terrified of the thought of people becoming emotionally close to him, he would like to be very close to someone and protect them with all his life. He does, however, think that idea is very far-fetched and believes that he will never achieve such a feat.

Because of his past, he has a jaded view of life and prefers to be alone, and will usually only speak when spoken to, or unless the situation warrants it. But more often than not, he's around other people. Especially so due to the nature of his job as a bartender and he's pretty much forced to interact with them. Even then, he has developed emotional barriers that many people have found very difficult to break down. Some people might find him cold-hearted, but give him the time of the day and you may find out that he's actually very kind.

Background

Let's see how short, or long, I can make this.

Birth and childhood

Shinkoku was born as Tetsuhiro Sanada on January 8th, 1984 to father Takahiro Sanada and mother Chieko Sanada on the northern shores of Aomori, Japan. Tracing back to over 400 years, his family is a direct descendant of the legendary samurai, Yukimura Sanada from the Sengoku Era. (The Warring States period) He was raised in a strict household, and was raised on ideals based on the Bushidō. As a young child, he naturally became interested in the art of the katana as he witnessed his father and grandfather using them. At the age of 5, his grandfather strictly began training him in sword arts. Specifically, battojutsu (抜刀術) and iaido (居合道). With ease, he began to pick up skills quite quickly. For a 7-year old, his skill with a blade was quite impressive.

On February 23, 1992, the city of Aomori was suddenly put on alert. The people of Aomori went on a frenzy. Suddenly, shots started coming up from the air. No one knew what it was at the time. Homes were destroyed, and people were killed. Sadly, this included Tetsuhiro's mother, father, and grandfather. It wasn't until later that heroes showed up and stopped this invasion. Reports later showed that it was Rikti ships were the ones who invaded this city in northern Japan. Of course, Tetsuhiro did not know this at the time. At 8 years old, he was alone, and he did not know anyone. He was forced to fend for himself. The only thing he had on him was his blade.

Found by a master

The only thing Tetsuhiro knew at this time was to head south. Maybe he'd run into relatives down south so he made way for Tokyo. Walking. Though after walking for six hours, he decided to stop for a break in the Iwate prefecture. While taking a break, he saw four bandits attempting to rob a convenience store. Tetsuhiro's instincts told him that he needed to stop them. After he finally apprehended the thieves, he attempted to flee the scene before police arrived. As he walked out of the store, however, a masked man who introduced himself as "Genkoku" (幻告) grabbed his hand and asked him a series of questions about his talent and prowess and skill. In actuality, this man was inside the store invisible as he was the one who wanted to apprehend the thieves, only Tetsuhiro took action first. From that moment on, this man wanted to take Tetsuhiro under his wing and train him and so took him home in an attempt to find his parents.

When the young Tetsuhiro told this man about what happened in Aomori, this man decided to foster him as his own son and continue training him. Only this time, he would be trained in the art of dual blades instead of just one. "Genkoku" (whose real name is Yashirou Sasaki　佐々木矢志郎) didn't believe it at first that Tetsuhiro was a descendant of Yukimura Sanada. He had the unfortunate event of finding that out the hard way, as he was defeated in a single blade duel with an 8-year old. Then again, he underestimated Tetsuhiro's ability so he went easy on him. Big mistake.

Adolescent Stages

While Genkoku himself did not have strict rules in the household, he did have strict rules on training. And Tetsuhiro followed them very obediently. This meant that every day after school, he spent it strictly on training. While getting near flawless grades in school, he spent most (if not all) of his free time training. Due to all this training, he became physically fit and every single sports club in the high school he attended wanted him to be a part of their team. Sadly, they were all politely declined by Tetsuhiro.

Becoming very skillful in dual blades as well as single blades, Genkoku also taught him the art of stealth. Tetsuhiro was very intrigued, maybe even a little afraid of it at first. But even then it took him little time to become skillful at it.

Throughout his high school life, numerous people have been telling him that there has been one individual who seems to have been watching him, possibly stalking him. One Kai Shishigami (獅子神 戒), they said. Acknowledging the warnings, Tetsuhiro thought nothing of it and continued on with his day. Though he couldn't help but wonder why anyone would be stalking him. There would be days where he and Kai would literally be face to face with each other. While Kai wanted so bad to fight Tetsuhiro, he did not give in to giving him the fight that he wanted. One night, however, Kai would somehow find Tetsuhiro and demand to fight him. Tetsuhiro had only a bokken and Kai was unarmed. Still, Kai wanted a fight. And fight was given to him. The end result of that fight would leave Tetsuhiro victorious. He exploited Kai's anger and used it to his advantage.

Unfortunately, Tetsuhiro would be punished for giving in to temptation. He was told that he fought another without a purpose. From this point on, Tetsuhiro would ignore every single one of Kai's demands for a rematch.

Death of a loved one

Even after high school and throughout his early adulthood, he trained with Genkoku. Tetsuhiro decided to go to Iwate University and study business while he stayed with Genkoku. Unfortunately, another demise was to hit him. In May 2007, he came home and found his home completely thrashed. He kept calm at first, but then wondered where Master Genkoku was. He found the master badly injured in the training area of his place. On the floor. Rocks and pebbles seemed to be around the area. Genkoku was unconscious and Tetsuhiro quickly rushed him to the nearest hospital.

Unfortunately, it was too late. He sustained massive blood loss and many internal injuries that Genkoku was basically breathing his last breaths. His last words to Tetsuhiro were, "Trolls... Paragon... America... Sorry..." before he finally flatlined. It seemed to have been one of those situations for Tetsuhiro where "you don't know what you got 'til it's gone." After giving a proper burial for him, Tetsuhiro decided to take his master's prized blades, named Futago Kanenintou (双子金忍刀 - in other words, a twin gold ninjatou), and fled Japan and headed to Paragon City, Rhode Island. He wanted answers. He went under the guise, Shinkoku (will be referred to as Shin for the rest of this article), and decided to mask himself in order to further hide his real identity, Tetsuhiro Sanada.

Paragon City experiences

A business card showing Shin's real name, where he works, and ways to contact him. It is said that once you have this card, he trusts you with his life.

He arrived in Paragon City and soon found himself frustrated. At himself. At best, his English was poor, and he was unable to communicate with other people and other heroes. After registering himself as a hero, he decided to dedicate some time to studying English and to try and perfect it. Though not completely perfect in his enunciation, he believes that his studies have allowed him to be more than sufficient in communicating with people. He would find himself assimilating fairly quickly, and adapting to their speech. He would only have a light Japanese accent while he spoke English.

He made it his main target, while doing the hero gig, to focus on Trolls and quickly became a Troll Task Force Member after finding out their concentration in The Hollows. After defeating Frostfire, he was provided with no answers that pertain to Genkoku. After two years, he still continues to struggle for answers.

Along the way, he somehow became interested in bartending and so he went to bartending school and became a bartender in Kings Row, which is where he found solitary residence and began making more income. It is also here that Shin began the know-how on not to be such a social retard. Even still, the conversations he had with the patrons were kept strictly for business only. Any advances made towards him (female or male) were met with a brief silence followed by the question, "May I get you something to drink?" And it wouldn't be uncommon for him to be receiving said advances.

More towards the present

Identity differences. It proves one thing about his secrecy.

In the process, he actually made friends with one Freedom Darling, or better known as Allie and with one Hawkstrike, who he ended up dating for awhile. However, that did not last long, as their differences towards one another seemed too great and they just seemed to have drifted apart, causing his emotional barriers to be put up once again.

In the midst of that, a somewhat familiar face showed itself while Shin was looking forward to spending some time with Hawkstrike in Pocket D. One Kai Shishigami showed up demanding to know where a "Sanada" was. That same night, he figured out why he had been spying (read: stalking) on Shin back in his high school days, which involved some rivalry that happened back in the past with the Sanada and the Shishigami family. It would be much later, however, that Shin and Kai would come to a certain understand about this rivalry. However, he would continue to see Kai in the eyes of a one-sided rival.

He also met Lucy Xiao in the midst of this also through Hawkstrike.

For a short while, he was a part of the supergroup, Sanctuary of Heroes. But for reasons that he did not feel like he fit in, he decided to abruptly leave the group without notice or even a trace.

He befriended one Seth (known as Blood Nexus in-game) and they seemed to have hit it off fairly well being friends. Even though he's admitted to himself that he wouldn't mind being more than a friend, he knows that nothing will come of it, as he feels that there are some things about Seth that he somehow can't understand. They would continue being friends, mostly people-watching in Pocket D.

He then became affiliated with The Brawlers. He found the recruiting process somehow way too easy. While he feels a little uneasy about that, he decided that he would give it a chance. Ultimately, he once again vanished from the SuperGroup without trace or notice.

Shin was then recruited into the SuperGroup, The Jadewire. He didn't realize that a lot of people were in this SuperGroup and already, he believes he will just once again fade into the background. And unfortunately, this is what happened. As of 20 Aug 2009, Shin left The Jadewire to pursue other organizations that may have use for his skills.

Shin would receive an anonymous tip-off about a man named Yashiro Sasaki that would lead him to leaving the east coast and head out to the west coast. He would remain here for almost six months. Unfortunately, he would find absolutely nothing of value or use or knowledge to him and he would then return to Paragon. He was once again back to square one.

Recently, he has come to befriend a man named Caleb. Tetsuhiro found this man easy to talk to, and they found themselves becoming close. During all of this, Tetsuhiro and Kai would come to a certain understanding that he would no longer see him as a pointless rival, but as a friend, as Kai had made it obvious on many occasions before. Tetsuhiro would slowly let his walls come down on people he trusted most, and he was beginning to trust Kai.

Battle Examination

Shinkoku has a number of skills in his arsenal which allows him to dispose of his foes.

Single and Dual Blade

While Shin is very talented and skillful in both single and dual blade katana, he prefers fighting with two blades in his hand. While some people may say that having swords mean having to compensate for something else, this man's skill with swords can be considered something extraordinary. Perhaps it is because of his natural talent with them, or perhaps it's because of his heritage and his ancestors.

Stealth

You never even knew he was there in the first place.

A skill passed down from his Master Genkoku, and down to him, the art of stealth was taught to Shin. Due to his nature, he somehow feels better when he is concealed from the naked eye.

Athleticism

Due to this rigorous training for 95% of his life, he has become fit and very close to being a perfect human. He can run faster, jump higher, and have quite a bit more endurance than even the most athletic non-super human. He has trained his mind, body, and soul and very very rarely does he ever get sick. He regularly meditates.

Friends of Paragon

Even though he's quiet, soft-spoken, perhaps socially retarded, and distant, he's met quite a bit of people in Paragon. The following people are ones he considers as "friends".

More about the silent blade

Tetsuhiro Sanada as portrayed by singer and voice actor, Mamoru Miyano.

Ancestry

As stated earlier, his ancestry can be traced back as early as the Sengoku era of Japan to legendary samurai Yukimura Sanada. He and his father Masayuki were responsible for winning a critical battle in the First Siege of Ueda Castle where the Sanada clan only had 2,000 men while Ieyasu Tokugawa's army had 7,000. He was also victorious during the Second Siege of Ueda Castle where Ieyasu's son Hidetada sent 38,000 men and there were only 2,000 in the Sanada army. Unfortunately, Hidetada's forces had to withdraw as this took place the same day as the Battle of Sekigahara. The Sanada clan sided with both the Eastern army (eldest son Nobuyuki was placed here) and the Western army (father Masayuki and Yukimura were placed here) to ensure their clan's survival.

Blogger

Against his better judgement (and probably mine, too), Tetsu has a LiveJournal. You can read about it here.

Thoughts

If your character knows Shin or Tetsu and have any comments or thoughts to leave, do it here.

Shin's playlist

Sadly, I'm pretty sure you won't understand some of these. Don't worry, you're not supposed to.

Theoretical Attributes

Power Grid
  Statistic
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 
  Intelligence
               
  Strength
       
  Speed
           
  Durability
               
  Energy Projection
   
  Fighting Skill
                       
 
Retrieved from "http://virtueverse.net/wiki/Shinkoku"
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