Hien Kurogane
 Hien Kurogane
| |
 Also known as Kasasagi Kiba | |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Au Ra |
| Clan | Raen |
| Citizenship | Limsa Lominsa |
| Age | 30 |
| Occupation | Owner of Elysium (private club), Bartender for DTP (see further down) |
| Class | Ninja, Machinist |
| Place of Residence | Ul'dah |
Hien, a Raen originally hailing from Doma, is a smuggler and information broker, as well as occasionally petty thief. He is a member of a piratical organization known colloquially as the Debauchery Tea Party (an inside joke on their part reflecting their history as pirates who are now attempting to present themselves as legitimate traders in tea and spices). He used to run a tavern in their name until it burnt down in a recent unfortunate incident, and now currently operates from a small tavern in Coerthas, around the Dragonhead area.
Though his past few years have been spent as a pirate, Hien is himself closer to a smuggler, information broker, and chief-string-puller of the weak minded. For the DTP Hien acts as information broker and point of contact for those seeking to employ the group for shadier work than most mercenary companies would be willing to undertake. He works to gather together a collection of useful individuals whose skills in all manner of ill-deeds can be put to use for the company, whilst simultaneously building up a network of contacts, informants and skilled individuals of his own - just in case...
Contents
Appearance
Dress Style: Smart but comfortable. He prefers dark, muted colors and simple clothes.
Accessories: Hien wears a pendant on a heavy silver chain, which he rarely be seen without. He also carries a book on his person in which he is often writing notes.
Scars/Distinguishing Features: He has a scar above his left eye, as well as several other scars on his arms, shoulders and back. Aside from the one above his eye, the majority are not visible while dressed.
Character and Personality
Personality: Hien is a careful and calculating individual, a manipulator who prefers to tie strings to people with which make them dance, rather than resorting to the use of violence. He is not averse to using physical threats when necessary, however he commonly believes that there are easier ways to get what he wants than with brutality, and that intimidation does not always need be physical in nature.
On the outside he is genial and friendly individual, a man who spends most of his public time managing his own private bar or tending to the DTP's more public one. However, close observers might note that he tends to listen more than he talks and is more than willing to let loose tongues wag, often encouraging them share more than they initially intend.
As an individual, he is fiercely loyal to those he considers his allies, but he can be both vengeful and vindictive toward those he feels have crossed him and reserves a special kind of hatred and ill will toward betrayers and double-crossers. As for individuals whom he does not know, particular if they happen to become the focus of one of his jobs, he can be manipulative and occasionally two-faced. He is not afraid to don a mask a play the fool if it will get him what he wants.
In all, Hien is a careful, observant individual who takes great care in his endeavors. He is extremely analytical, always looking for motives and weaknesses to be exploited, in the belief that, even if such information is never used, it is always useful to have. Yet in his darker moments he can exhibit elements of arrogance and pride. He can be careless with the lives and feelings of those he who cross his path often exploiting them for personal gain or on the wishes of a paying clients, and he does not always consider himself with the aftermath beyond ensuring that it does not blow back on him or those who hired him.
Motivations and goals: Hien is motivated mostly by the desire to find a place for himself, and having found such a place he will fight to protect it. This often drives him to protect those closest to him but always with a hint of self interest. Though unlikely to ever double cross and individual unless first wronged himself, he will occasionally manipulate events to engender the best outcome for his own interests.
Hien also has an interest in knowledge, with no particular preference for its method of acquisition, and is usually willing to pay a price for particularly useful information. As well as being a useful thing to possess in terms of his business, he is also a firm believer in the idea that it is the thing you don't see coming that will often get you killed. And he very much values his life.
Personal Interests: Hien is exceptionally proud of his bar, having spent an enormous amount of time and effort to both obtain and maintain it. From this sanctuary he is able to operate his own business, as well as that which he manages in the DTP's name, and he is fiercely protective of it and its secrets -- often to the point that he is willing to cause physical harm to those who threaten it.
Positive traits: Analytical, intelligent, opportunistic, ambitious, loyal.
Flaws: Arrogant, manipulative, cynical, suspicious of other people's motives, can be a dirty fighter
Skills and Preferences
Skills, interests and hobbies: Hien values information, and is an avid collector of books and scrolls as much as he is secrets and whispers. He has a deep interest in magic, aether and arcanima and a strong drive for knowledge of all kinds. He
Likes: Books, music, crowded places, chococbo racing
Dislikes: Anyone being in a position to have leverage over him, surprises, abusive individuals, carbuncles, people breaking things in his bar
Fears: His biggest fear is of events in Doma eventually catching up to him. Following the razing of the city state there is the distinct possibility that surviving family members may be in Eorzea and the chance of crossing paths concerns him, as does the ultimate outcome should they catch up with him still bearing grudges.
Combat
Weapon(s) of choice: Knives, daggers, swords, and a particular fascination with guns.
Fighting Style: Hien likes to be able to set up the field of battle to his own advantage, preferring only to enter into a conflict if he is sure of his chance of winning. In general, he would prefer to have someone else do the fighting, and tends to draw his own weapon only if pressed, ambushed or a close friend would be in danger if he fled.
He prefers to fight with a knife or long blade, though will occasionally use a gun from a distance, though he is more likely to fight dirty and ambush someone when they are least expecting it than engage in a fair and honest fight. In a toe-to-toe confrontation where he feels he is outmatched or unprepared, he is more likely to try to escape a conflict than engage in something he's sure to lose.
Strengths (in combat): Hien fights best when he can set up the field in advance and has allies he can rely on. He tends to fight dirty, and isn't afraid to use trickery, deception and generally unfair methods to win.
Weaknesses (in combat): Hien has little knowledge of nor training in any form of magical arts. As a result, his skills in both magical offense and defense are poor, and when faced with a competent mage he'd rather run than risk being blown to pieces. However, if he can be sure of support from allies, he will often make any enemy mage his first target on the field of battle, recognizing them as possibly the greatest threat and seeking to neutralize them as fast as possible.
Background
Place of Birth: Doma
History: Hien was born and raised in Doma but fled the city state in his mid twenties in order to escape trouble of his own making. As he left, and for personal reasons he rarely discloses, he stole an item of considerable value from his own family, carrying it with him across the seas, and which he still carries now. Fearing pursuit for this theft, he boarded and ship and paid the captain handsomely to ferry him as far away as they were traveling.
Unfortunately, the merchant vessel came under attack by pirates only a few weeks into their journey and the captain of the pirate crew not only recognized Hien from pervious interactions with his family, but threatened to turn him over to them unless he agreed to put his blade, and brain, to use as part of the pirate crew. Reluctantly, Hien agreed and for a long while served unwillingly under a captain who was both vindictive and cruel, not only toward those he preyed up, but to those who crewed with him as well.
When the crew of the Bloody Cross finally mutinied against him, Hien was right there with the ringleaders. It was his suggestion to leave the captain, bloodied but not yet dead, on an island where they walled him up inside a cave with only a bottle of poison-tainted water that would promise the man a most agonizing death -- if he chose to take it to escape the slower fate of starving to death alone.
Back on the ship, a hostage taken by the previous captain only a few nights before the mutiny which overthrew him, provided the new crew with further avenues for prosperity. Where the old captain had sought to ransom him, Captain Cross instead opted to enter into a deal with the man, providing the pirates with their first real ally within the port city of Limsa Lominsa. Hien was sent as head of a small delegation that would operate from land, but his true purpose was to watch the man for signs of treachery, and to make sure that he stick to the terms of their deal -- in exchange for his freedom, he would support and protect the pirates from his position of wealth and influence within the city, allowing them to expand their interests further inland rather than needing to rely on the vagaries of the sea. In turn, if the relationship proved fruitful, the partnership would become one of mutual benefit, with Ino's crew engaging in jobs on their patron's behalf.
As their land based enterprise grew, taking on the dubious name of the Debauchery Tea Party --in part as a joking reference to their piratical history-- they expanded into smuggling and later into black marketeering, gambling and ultimately jobs of a more delicate and bloody nature.
Hien moved himself into a position from which he could manage the security and interests of the group, watching threats from inside as intently as those from outside. With his own cohort of spies, saboteurs and assassins, he took on the role of Spymaster, managing the company's interests from the shadows and ensuring that trouble was dealt with swiftly and silently, including from those within their own ranks.
Publicly, he currently operates as a bartender in one of the DTP's taverns, as well as being the owner and manager of his own private club from which he operates a secretive venture of his own — not always in the name of the DTP.
Family: Hien's family name is Kiba. Though he goes by Kurogane now it was a pseudonym he took on leaving Doma.
Hien has two living uncles with whom he is not on very good terms due to past events and friction within the family. Aside from them, he hasn't had contact with anyone since leaving Doma and he has no idea who may have survived the Garlean attack on the city state, since none ever came ashore with the refugees. He has however, been in recent contact with his uncles in an attempt to smooth relations with his surviving family.
Rumors
Some from Doma might know his family name, Kiba and of the network of clans that they associated with, who were rumored to be involved in a variety of illegal dealings..
Some might have heard rumors of a son of the Kiba line being involved in the escape of a wanted criminal, before likewise vanishing himself, and possibly of the violent repercussions suffered by the clan he left behind.
Very few people outside the family will know exactly why he fled or the names of those involved. Feel free to send me an OOC message for further information if desired.
Contact Information
IC
Hien often rents rooms above a small tavern in Dragonhead, Coerthas (not Camp Dragonhead, but the small town south of it where the where the Observatorium is). He can often be found drinking in that bar, and messages left for him there are usually delivered. Alternatively, he can be contacted via his pirate contacts in Limsa Lominsa, or by anyone seeking out the Silverleaf trading company who operate in and out of La Noscea's ports.
OOC
In game: Hien Kurogane
Hydaelyn Roleplayers RPC: Valtiere
Time Zone: EST
Feel free to contact at any time via the RPC, or add me as a friend in game. I'm always open to RP, and happy to discuss the possibility of former IC connections or new acquaintances. I am most often online in the evenings, from 10pm EST onwards, and always available through the RPC.
