Shogun
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| The Shogun enjoys a cup of tea while experiencing the St. Martial night life. | |
| The Shogun | |
| Player: Aku | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Hannibal Steele |
| Known Aliases: | "Tranquility" [retired] |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 29 |
| Height: | 6'0" |
| Weight: | 210 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Leader of the Shogunate |
| Place of Birth: | Rhode Island |
| Base of Operations: | Providence |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Sorcery | |
| Known Abilities | |
| World-Class Martial Artist, Thief, and Tactician. Considered an expert in the Occult, particularly Demonology. | |
| Equipment | |
| Numerous Magical Inventions | |
| ' | |
Origin
Few would know about the superhero called Tranquility. He was a B-List superhero before and during the Rikti War. Hannibal Steele was born to a lower-class family in Providence, Rhode Island. A youth known for his reckless behavior, his parents thought it would be appropriate for him to find an extra-curricular activity to keep him out of trouble, and enrolled him in a local Karate dojo. However, by the age of 8 years old... Hannibal Steele's family was murdered in cold blood by an unknown suspect. The youth decided to take it on himself to find out who was responsible, and began a futile crusade. His investigation led him to a few of Tub Ci's lackeys from nearby Paragon City, and he stowed away on a cargo ship, patiently biding his time until some information would come up. As expected, he overheard a few of Tub Ci's enforcers discussing the 'Steele' family's murder in cold blood... and he let go of his discipline for just an instant, to charge at the grown men in a blind rage. The youth was laughed at, and easily defeated... and eventually interrogated. Revealing that his family was murdered by them, they responded not with violence... but with calm acknowledgement, knowing the importance of his family. The ship eventually went to China, where Hannibal was brought to one of the Tsoo's overseas headquarters as a new 'recruit'. He did not stay long, unwilling to become a part of the 'ink men', and fled to Shanghai where he became a street rat. He was taken in by a group of renegade youth like himself... orphans mostly, and taught to pickpocket and steal. It was a meager living, but Hannibal did what he had to in order to survive. It all changed, when he tried to pick the pocket of the wrong man one day...
A mysterious traveler from Japan would travel through the streets of Shanghai, hooded and cloaked... and Hannibal thought he was simply an easy mark. Attempting to take his wallet, he was caught by the wrist. Hannibal had been a skilled thief for some time... but to be caught this easily bordered on the supernatural. The Traveler would see the potential in the young boy and offered to teach him more than what he already knew... which at this point was thievery and rudimentary martial arts. Hannibal agreed, figuring the Traveler would give him the knowledge needed to defeat the Tsoo, and their leader later on. For years Hannibal was the Traveler's student in his mountain dojo in Japan. Honing his body and mind to near-perfection, Hannibal had become a skilled warrior and his agility and strength were unmatched by the Traveler's other students. The Traveler would eventually tell Hannibal that he had nothing more to teach him... and to go out and bring the Tsoo to justice, and not to give into revenge. Hannibal bid his master a fond farewell, and returned to Rhode Island.
Paragon City was nice... at first. He had carved out a small stake of territory in a few blocks of Kings' Row. His 'costume' was little more than his training Gi with an emblazened Yin-Yang on the back, and a headband with two eyeholes cut out to function as a mask. He did not use weapons, preferring to use his bare hands... which was more than enough to keep the sidewalks clear of common thugs. He worked at a local cafe by day, and by night was investigating the Tsoo with relentless devotion. As his adventures continued, his clashes with the Tsoo became more and more frequent. Tub Ci eventually called on a contractor to permanently deal with the young man after Hannibal (disguised as Tranquility) crashed a dinner party. The Shogun, as he was called... was a vile, wicked old man. Years of harnessing supernatural forces to give him un-naturally long life left him withered... but no less powerful. He had been contracted by Tub Ci to deal with the 'pest' from Kings' Row, and set into motion a series of events years before he was even known by Tranquility. The Shogun wanted Tranquility's soul... a pure, but powerful soul... in his quest for true immortality, and he would stop at nothing to get it. Hannibal Steele felt eyes on him from the shadows at night. He felt certain citizens walking past him during the day with malice in their eyes. This conspiratorial feeling only haunted the young warrior more as he started to unravel the truth of his family's murderer... that it was not the Tsoo at all, but rather a double-agent pretending to work for the Tsoo, and Hannibal's family knew who it was!
As Hannibal donned Tranquility's costume once more, he made his way to Steel Canyon when he found the location of the double-agent, and was the lone passenger on the train on his way there. Suddenly, the windows of the car were cut open and he was assaulted by ninjas. After a lengthy, tiresome battle both inside and outside the car, Tranquility was kicked off of the rail and landed in a grassy meadow and was knocked unconscious. After coming to, he found himself greeted by the Shogun -- and surrounded by dozens of silent ninja warriors. This was the Shogun's first attempt to acquire his soul, and Hannibal resisted his efforts... and fled, unable to find the double-agent, but he would not give up that night.
Months followed, and Hannibal Steele's life was mired by a string of 'bad luck' and 'unfortunate coincidences'. He began investigating the Shogun, and every answer he uncovered only seemed to lead to more questions... and was no closer to finding his new archnemesis. Furthermore, the Shogun began staging more theatrical schemes in Paragon City -- and started battling other superheroes as well with a frightening degree of efficiency. Tranquility would not be shaken, though. And he continued to fight the Shogun's forces time after time on the rooftops of Kings' Row in his efforts to defeat the megalomaniac, and his various schemes. The Shogun temporarily put his efforts to capture Hannibal Steele's soul when the Rikti War ignited, and began moving his organization out of Paragon City's limelight. Hannibal smelled retreat, and took this opportunity to uncover the Shogun and his machinations once and for all. A climactic battle with the old man took place in Independence Port, with the Shogun horribly weakened by the Rikti's advancement who tore through his minions relentlessly. Even Hannibal knew it was foolish to pursue personal revenge in the face of a global threat such as this. He eventually beat the truth out of the Shogun, who told him that Hannibal Steele's family were unknowingly targeted by a rogue faction of his minions... a case of simple mistaken identity. Furious at this anticlimactic and seemingly random act of violence... Hannibal landed a furious strike into the Shogun's face, shattering his facial bones and sending him flying into the bay. Hannibal was assaulted by Rikti forces almost immediately after, and was unable to follow the Shogun.
Hannibal's injuries were far more serious than he believed them to be, and he was unable to take up the guise of Tranquility until his body mended. But he would not give up his pursuit of the Shogun. As hero and hero fell in the Rikti War... Hannibal chose to evacuate Paragon City and faked his demise. The burned, tattered training gi and simple headband was found floating in Independence Port and Tranquility was added to the increasing number of casualties of the Rikti. Tub Ci and the Shogun believed the news as well, and the Shogun decided to 'celebrate' his fallen adversary's death... while infuriated he was unable to end the young hero personally. He tracked down Hannibal Steele's high school girlfriend, a native of Kings' Row in a final act of villainy. Lisa Gregg, a perky young redhead who had fallen in love with Tranquility when he saved her from a mugging... was one of the few who knew his true identity. After all, she went to school with him! The Shogun engineered her death in a theatric fashion... he arranged for her to be poisoned. Lisa Gregg would die a slow and painful death for no reason other than knowing Tranquility -- and being the teenage sweetheart of Hannibal Steele, the local 'detective geek-slash-barista' of Kings' Row.
Upon arriving in Japan, the horribly disfigured and crippled Hannibal Steele tracked down the Shogun, using his barely recognizable face as his 'new' mask. Confronting the old man in his Tokyo penthouse, Hannibal brutally defeated his bodyguards but was no match for the Shogun, who despite missing an eye and sporting a similar disfigurement thanks to Tranquility's chi-powered blow, was still incredibly powerful... especially in the mystic arts. Hannibal would not give up, though. Even when given the news of his girlfriend's poisoning and subsequent death... Hannibal continued to swing at his superior foe until he was drained of all stamina. The Shogun easily took down the youth with a single nerve strike that paralyzed him, and told Hannibal the dark truth... that Hannibal was destined to bring order to a chaotic world, or at least... his soul was.
The paralyzed former hero would watch and listen as the Shogun revealed it all, assuming Hannibal Steele would die afterwards in a similar painful way as his girlfriend did. The Shogun told him that Tub Ci had contracted him out to deal with him. Only that Tranquility was as much a threat to Tub Ci as a mosquito, and he wanted the Shogun's 'special' skills of subterfuge and deception to lead Steele to chase ghosts, while leaving the Tsoo alone. His price, besides a generous fee... was Tranquility's soul. Pure. Righteous. Powerful. Hannibal only seemed to taunt the old man, saying his soul was not pure. That he had stolen and manipulated as a street rat, that he had revenge in his heart... that the Shogun would have been better off harvesting the soul of Lisa Gregg rather than himself. The Shogun laughed mockingly, and revealed that he had. Afraid that his girlfriend's soul was in the posession of his diabolical archnemesis, Hannibal was at last... broken. He remained quiet as the Shogun revealed that he was telling the truth about his family's murderer. That it was in actuality a case of mistaken identity. That there was another Steele family who knew of the Shogun's double-agent who worked inside the Tsoo. That this kind of mistake was one reason why the Shogun did not kill Hannibal outright... that he knew the young man deserved his revenge. That there was a sense of justice that the Shogun's equal and opposite force in the world was a monster he created. He told Hannibal that he was not the first Shogun -- but he was the most powerful. That he had been alive for well over two-hundred years, and cultivated and shaped a league of spies, thieves, and assassins throughout the world known as the Shogunate, with himself as leader. He had gone farther than any other Shogun had... and that he engineered such diabolical plans on Paragon City and the rest of the world to bring order to it -- an order the Shogunate could provide through secrecy and stealth. The nameless bystanders on the street? Politicians? Movie Stars? Scientists? The Hot Dog Vendor? The cab driver? All were potential servants... that loyalty was the only true currency of the world, and that currency could be traded when given their soul... he laughed maniacally as he showed Hannibal his massive library of mystical texts... all containing information on the occult. Demons. Black Magic. Conjuring. Alchemy. Everything a master sorceror would need to know in his quest for unlimited power. He told Hannibal Steele that with the Rikti invasion of Earth... that the Shogunate would no longer need to be used to protect humanity from itself. That with this new extra-terrestrial threat that devastasted Paragon City... Hannibal was little more than the previous chapter. That the Rikti and all that came of them would be the Shogunate's new target. The Shogun told Hannibal that he lacked what was necessary to ascend to greatness. That the purity of his girlfriend's soul would sustain his life for another hundred years... and that Hannibal's soul was fit for nothing more than fuel for his war machine. Hannibal, broken and defeated expected to die. But the memory of Lisa Gregg and her quiet words of enthusiasm for what Tranquility stood for... balance, peace, and justice... filled Hannibal with raw emotion and he knew he had to take his crusade one step further. He had always knocked his foes unconscious or tied them up... murder was a line he promised he would not cross. But was only the first of many promises to be broken that night. The Shogun, distracted by his own arrogance and overconfidence was blindsided by the rage-fueled Hannibal Steele, who clamped his hands around the old man's throat until his life passed from his body. Tranquility had died that day... just as he had died in Independence Port during the Rikti War. He had taken his first life.
But it would not be the last chapter in Steele's life. Rather, the first page in a new book. The loyal warriors who were bound to the Shogun looked at the young man who had killed their master, and subsequently kneeled before him. Hannibal expected to be torn apart by the Shogun's minions. Instead, he had earned their loyalty through the death of the previous one. An honor-bound oath that passed from Shogun to Shogun. Hannibal would learn that it was a title passed on from father to son in ancient Japan. That the previous Shogun (whose true name was lost to time and deception) was the son of the previous Shogun ages ago, and his grandfather was the Shogun before his own father. He had not sired any children himself. Hannibal Steele would break the tradition. Not only was he not his son... he wasn't even Japanese. An American by birth, he was as close to a son as the Shogun had -- noone else devoted so much time to him as his archnemesis. He began looking through the countless stores of information, and as Paragon City erected their War Walls... and as new heroes took the place of those who had fallen... Hannibal Steele began succumbing to the dark arts of the Shogunate. It was awkward at first... commanding spies, thieves, and assassins. But he grew into the role over time. He would journey to Paragon City -- not intent on fighting heroes, but rather other mystical groups. He viewed himself as 'above' revenge now, and the Tsoo were only there to give him information. The Circle of Thorns and their demons opened new doorways in Hannibal's growing mystical knowledge. The Carnival and their enslavement of souls were of particular use to him. As the time went by, he found himself swearing not to become the evil would-be world dictator his predecessor was. He learned many new arts, such as healing his scars and wounds, and extending his life through the manipulation of the netherworld. He learned how to harness darkness, how to control and instill fear, and when he succumbed to his eventual defeat at the hands of Paragon City's heroes? He went only by his predecessor's name... Hannibal Steele had become the Shogun.
Driven by a thirst for power, for knowledge... a trait never lost since High School, the Shogun decided he was the only true hope the world had for any sort of peace. His secret organization, the Shogunate... would be used to further his agenda of a better world. A world that he decided he was fit to police. Paragon City did not view things as he did... when the Shogun was convicted of numerous crimes, he was sentenced to serve a long sentence in Brickstown. Confined in a mystical cell where his own magic could not escape, the Shogun spent most of his time in meditation. His spies would drop off notes and bits of information regularly inside the prison, including plans that Lord Recluse had put into motion Operation: DESTINY, and that Kalinda had divined that the Shogun was on that very list. Arachnos would arrive in Brickstown later, and the Shogun would move his organization to the Rogue Isles. Carving a niche for himself as a simple information trafficker and demonologist, the Shogun gained enough wealth and acquired a small private island near St. Martial as his new headquarters. Built to resemble an ancient japanese castle, Sovereign Island as it would be called... was also very secure. His men would endlessly patrol the area, while his own wards on the island cloaked it in a veil of ocean fog and confused any approaching ships into turning away. He would travel to St. Martial regularly, gaining information -- either through legitimate means, or by force. Maintaining a calm composure that made him far more different than his predecessor, the Shogun preferred to remain neutral while biding his time to make his move against Arachnos.
Ghost Widow was one of the first to notice Hannibal's mystic powers. She had watched the Shogun assist the Wretch in killing a splinter cell of Fortunatas who wanted her erased from Arachnos, and she also kept a close eye on his affinity for the dark arts, and his own thirst for greater power. She became the Shogun's last teacher... and imparted some of her own powerful abilities onto him. He had even more control over the forces of the netherworld, and could use the souls of his enemies just as Ghost Widow did. Upon betraying Ghost Widow -- she only remarked with a smile that the Shogun's destiny was now his own, but that his enemies would not stop in trying to usurp his power and defeat him.
Since then, the Shogun has used his underworld organization to acquire greater power. More mystical tomes, more information on demons and other denizens of the underworld... the acquisition of more information could not be stopped. The Shogun had even successfully bound an immortal Oni Lord to his will, who acted as an advisor and spiritual mentor to the Shogunate. Lord Akuma would stay at the Shogun's side, helplessly bound to serving him. It was Lord Akuma who would reveal to Hannibal the name of the demon that possessed him -- and every Shogun before him, in exchange for more power on this plane of reality. The Shogun obliged him, and began using synthetic H-Boosters (or Hamidon Enhancements) on the Demon Lord, magnifying his power to unbelievable levels. Lord Akuma would tell the Shogun that he was the home of a particularly ancient demon, Lord Akuma's own ancestor -- Aku. A demon so ancient and influential that he had no other name than that of the word "Evil". Aku would inhabit every bearer of the title of the Shogun for ages... and Hannibal Steele was but the latest. Knowing the demon's name, however... would change his fate. Aku would not be able to overpower Hannibal Steele or manipulate him so long as he knew him by name, and Lord Akuma saw it as the only price worth being augmented by Hannibal's dealings with the powerful H-Boosters he had access to. Lord Akuma was only the first of his experiments on the living. His own ninjas would eventually be injected with other H-Boosters, before Hannibal started using them on himself having deemed them 'safe'. These efforts would only lead to more breakthroughs. The Shogun had fought against the Kheldians before, and was amazed at how powerful the Nictus were. Knowing he could not be bonded with a Nictus life form, he decided to cheat. He began an exhaustive trial to capture Nictus essence, but was met with failure after failure. It wasn't until fighting against Romulus Augustus that the Shogun was given new enlightenment on the Nictus energy beings.
His new inventive research would lead to the Umbral Gauntlets. These dark, armored gauntlets were magically enchanted with powerful mystical bonds, and shards of Shadow Cyst Crystal were finely cut, polished, and inlaid on the knuckles. Months of research combining both kheldian science and knowledge of the netherworld resulted in the Shogun being able to leech the life energy of his enemies to heal and sustain himself. A side-effect of this powerful perversion was that the Shogun no longer seemed to age, and his scars would eventually permanently disappear after frequent usage of the Umbral Gauntlets. When the Rikti invaded again, the Shogunate was there to take Vanguard's call. The Shogun would eventually come to respect Lady Grey, and became immediately curious of the mysteries surrounding the Dark Watcher. He started to investigate the Dark Watcher once the Rikti seemed to have been held off, but was approached by him in secret. The Dark Watcher offered the Shogun the opportunity to increase his own dark powers for the good of the Earth... only if he focused attention away from himself, and on the Rikti instead. Manipulating the Shogun in this way, the Dark Watcher was successful, and he simulated the Dark Watcher's own power against the Rikti to great effect. The greatest invention came much later. On a quest to simulate the Void Hunters' technology in a mystical way, the Shogun was defeated by a powerful Peacebringer who knew that he could not let Void Hunter technology fall into his hands. The Peacebringer sacrificed his own life -- burning out both the human and kheldian energies to place the Shogun in a vegetative state during the spring of 2009. The catatonic megalomaniac would be diligently guarded by his ninja masters and tended by his herbalists for months afterwards. For six months the souls of Hannibal Steele and Aku worked against each other. One trying to maintain dominance over the other, and the crimes of the Shogun seemingly dropped off of the radar. Some thought he had even died and was replaced by a new Shogun... but Hannibal's enormous will triumphed, and forced the spirit of Aku to awaken his ravaged body. The Shogun's criminal acts picked up once more, and his body and mind soon recovered from the kheldian attack. He would eventually resume his hunt for Void Hunter technology, but found the Quantum Rifles to be unsuited to his tastes. Instead, the kheldian attack left him with a partial 'radiation' of life energy that was not otherwise there, and he channeled this ambient radiation through his Umbral Gauntlets, and after much practice -- was able to consciously summon an unbound nictus that was bound to his will for a short period of time. Much like Lord Akuma, the Nictus was his slave, his servant. But because of the lack of control the Shogun had over it -- it simply did what it desired to, while it followed its 'new' home, who harnessed mystically-bonded shadow cyst crystals.
Powers
Limits
Equipment
Umbral Gauntlets. Soul Gems (for collecting souls). Business Cards. Cellphone. The Shogun will normally have a small stilleto concealed up his right sleeve if he wishes to assassinate someone personally.
Personality
Prim, Proper, clean-shaven. The Shogun's long raven hair is almost always tied neatly in a ponytail. He prefers proper etiquette, and even when insulting someone... will usually do so in a polite manner of speaking. He's been accused of having a silver tongue.
OOC Notes
Hannibal Steele aka the Shogun is inspired from several media sources. Chances are you can identify them if you read his history and connect the dots. The Shogun has been in play since City of Villains launch in 2005. I base his considerable powers due in part to the fact he's one of the first villains to enter the Rogue Islands since it was 'opened', and he has continued growing ever since. He is my most powerful character, bar none. Keep in mind he is powerful, but he is not invincible. If you want to fight him, keep in mind I do take levels and vet badges into account, if RP plans are not made otherwise (I have no trouble scripting the Shogun to take a nasty fall if it means a good story), but don't expect the Shogun to go down easily if your character isn't as seasoned as he is. I lose more fights than I win as a matter of courtesy, entertainment, and IC skill (with my characters usually surpassed by others) with other characters. The Shogun is my sole exception. I have enough characters that lose constantly as it is.
