Seno Nakakami
| Seno Nakakami | |
 "I have a floofy feather. Your argument is invalid." | |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Hyur |
| Clan | Doman |
| Citizenship | None |
| Place of Birth | Doma |
| Nameday | 6th Sun, 4th Astral Moon (Age: 24) |
| Guardian | Byregot, the Builder |
| Profession | Swordsman, voidsent-slayer, enemy of Garlemald |
| Orientation | Heterosexual |
| Marital Status | Married to Motoko Nakakami |
Seno Nakakami (中神 勢能, Nakakami Seno) is a male midlander hyur hailing from Doma. A master swordsman and manipulator of ki, he is one of the handful of surviving practitioners of the Doman Shinmeiryū swordsmanship school following the eradication of its members during the Doman revolt against Garlemald. He and his wife, Motoko Nakakami, fled to Eorzea following the revolt and have since spent their time scouting the lay of the land, learning Eorzean culture, assisting other Doman refugees, and nursing a powerful hate for the Empire and all things associated with it.
Contents
Biography
To Be Elaborated Upon
(Temporary bullet-point format just to have it written down until we know enough Doman lore to flesh it out/correct inconsistencies)
- Born in Doma's capital city(?), sent by parents to study the established school of swordsmanship known as Shinmei-ryū, a swordsmanship style of particular samurai who specialize in exorcising Voidsent.
- Friends with Motoko Aoyama, a fellow youngster training in the school.
- Around the age of fourteen, Motoko's sister declares her intent to no longer be the first in line to inherit ownership of the school. This causes Motoko no small amount of stress, wherein she spends a year fleeing the school and hermitting her time at a remote inn before Seno tracks her down and convinces her to come home.
- Shortly before age eighteen, he marries Motoko and she takes his last name.
- Garlean occupation happens due to Gekkai, a member of the shinobi of Doma, selling secrets and information to the Garlean Empire. No small amount of Domans die in the initial fighting, but the country is allowed to survive and persist after total domination. The shinobi declare Kasaru Redbeak the traitor due to misunderstanding, and Oboro Moonrise and a small group of shinobi leave Doma to pursue him.
- At some point, between a few months to a year after Gekkai's betrayal, Doma plans and executes a revolt against their Garlean occupiers due to knowledge of growing tension concerning the Garlean succession. This begins Garlemald's act of wiping out the Domans.
- Among the first forces to attack and lead the front lines are the Shinmeiryū warriors. The Domans are successful in taking out many established occupiers... and the Garleans initial organized infantry falls easily to the Shinmeiryū and other forces in Doma.
- It quickly becomes clear how outclassed the Domans are, however, when Garlemald musters and organizes a large force to utter decimate the country, displeased with the revolt in its entirety. As a large Magitek force mounts to crush the smaller country, the Shinmeiryū cavalry organizes to stand against them despite all odds.
- It is at this time, before the final of battle, that Tsuruko renders Motoko unconscious and orders Seno to flee. It is the reasoning of the elder warrior that on that day, all of the practitioners of Shinmeiryū will die. Tsuruko sees no favorable outcome and has even heard that the Lady Yugiri and her entourage were planning an exodus should the straits become dire. Tsuruko believes that the school must be preserved and she refuses to see her sister die, so she sends Seno away, bidding him take her sister and act as a scout in lands where fleeing Domans might live. Despite misgivings, Seno rides from their homeland, fleeing with Motoko and Setsuna overland to the coast.
- Motoko awakes furious with both Seno and Setsuna and it is by no small feat that the two broker passage for the group on a ship to flee their burning country, the Garleans on their heels.
- After some time at sea, traveling to the island nation of merchants, Radz-at-Han, Motoko, Seno and Setsuna broke passage to a merchant vessel headed back to Limsa Lominsa and land in Eorzea.
- Motoko spends a fair deal of time livid with her husband and her page, but the flavor and spirit of the new land shes in softens her somewhat and she throws herself into exploring new fighting styles as they scout the realm, hoping to find a suitable place for the Domans to live, should those fleeing arrive.
- The trio eventually travel to Ul'dah, where Seno and Motoko ally themselves with the Immortal Flames. In doing so, they begin to establish themselves as viable fighters, but plainly attempt to keep a low profile, rising only so far enough in rank with the company that they might secure horse-birds for themselves to allow them better means of travel. Motoko names them after Tsuruko's cranes, naming hers Shippu and Seno's Hayate.
- At Motoko's desire to learn as much of the land as possible, she begins to seek out and study other combat arms schools. Seno does as well, spending a short time under the Gladiators' Guild, the Marauders' Guild, the Lancers' Guild, and the Pugilists' Guild but finds very little that strikes his fancy. He primarily spends his time acquiring money to live on by keeping an ear out for voidsent that need to be destroyed. They also train under a monk named Shanna Swiftgrace that fled Ala Mhigo's decimation by Garlemald, picking up the tricks and tools employed by the Ala Mhigans and adding them to their prior knowledge of hand-to-hand combat.
- At this time, the Scions eradicate the Ultima Weapon and Yugiri and the remaining Domans flee a broken homeland, after some time of struggle against the Garleans left Doma utterly destroyed.
- Then it is by chance and happenstance that Motoko and Seno hear of Domans in Wineport, and they go to investigate, discovering Oboro Moonrise and his group attempting to hunt down Kasaru Redbeak. Aiding Oboro over the course of a month, the group unravels the plot of Gekkai, learning that he is responsible for Doma's initial occupation. Together, they slay the man.
- Shortly after, Yugiri and her Domans arrive in Vesper Bay and the events of her trying to secure a new homestead for the refugees begin. Though the Syndicate blocks Ul'dah from offering aid, Seno and Motoko reunite with their fellow countrymen and join them in Mor Dhona to begin what they hope are their new lives. At this time, the first new student of Shinmei-ryū was initiated, as one of the refugees, Kotomi Katakura, expressed interest and decided to learn under Motoko and Seno.
- Motoko and Seno, by no small amount of effort, secure enough funds to purchase a homestead in the Lavender Beds, where they turn the landing of the house into a training room, hoping to find other souls willing to learn the way of their swordsmanship.
- Eventually becomes acquainted with Gunnbjorn Darkblade.
Character
Appearance
Standing at six fulms, Seno is taller than the average Doman, and many hyur as well. His face reflects many of the features common to Doman men, with the exception of his vibrant green eyes. He keeps his dark brown hair worn short and a bit shaggy, but not of a length or depth where an opponent could easily grab it in combat. Though he doesn't often display it, his body form is that of angular leanness from a lifetime spent honing the art of the sword. He lacks the overdeveloped muscle mass of fighters more built for pure strength, his body possessed of the sleeker, lighter muscle found in those who favor speed above strength in battle.
Since coming to Eorzea, he has taken up wearing what he considers to be the gaudiest attire he could possibly find without still offending his own sensibilities: a fancy maroon shirt festooned with buckles, tassels, and belts, complete with a garish scarf and a feathered headband and feathered boots as well. That's not to say he hasn't stuck to his roots. His main casual outfit consists of a dark blue dragon-motif yukata and light, flowing black pants. For training purposes, he possesses a dark blue gi and black hakama, the traditional outfit for male practitioners of Shinmeiryū.
Personality
Smartass, snarky, and sarcastic are three of the first words one would probably think of to define Seno. Almost always seen with a smug smirk on his face, he often has a quip prepared for any given situation, though their wittiness can vary wildly per comment. That said, he's not an out-and-out asshole, mostly playing the smartass for his own entertainment. He's truly quite a laid-back fellow, willing to laugh off nearly any barb that another person might throw at him. His friendship, once gained, is stronger than steel, and he would not hesitate to balance his own life against the safety of those he values as friends.
Above even the voidsent that the Shinmeiryū are sworn to destroy, Seno views the Garlean Empire as his mortal nemesis, though his hatred for the nation pales in comparison to that of his wife; hers is the hot, furious hatred of a wounded tigress, while his own is the calculated, cold revenge of a sleeping dragon. One of his own oft-invoked phrases for why he can keep a more level head regarding the Empire is that he is possessed of a "long memory, short fuse, big revenge." While Motoko would draw her blade on any who had ever assisted the Empire in any manner, Seno will give an individual approximately fifteen seconds to convince him that he shouldn't end their miserable life before he would do the same.
His irreverence carries over even into battle, very rarely taking most combat seriously in the first rounds, preferring to spend time taunting his foes or putting on a show for any observers. This does not mean he underestimates his foes; far from it, in fact: the more skill he estimates a foe to have, the more time he'll spend screwing around in an effort to frustrate them into acting rashly. He is capable of snapping from this mocking irreverence to complete and utter seriousness in the span of an eyeblink, and when and under what circumstances he'll do so is known only to him; even Motoko can not accurately predict when he'll make that switch. While he does have a strong sense of justice and honor, his views are more flexible than those of his wife, and he's very fond of pragmatism in combat--it's the only way he could beat Motoko in a fight.
Powers and Abilities
- Weapon Proficiency (Katana): Considered an incredibly-talented swordsman, Seno is highly skilled in the use of katana weapons. Though he is capable of more traditional usage of the weapon, he vastly prefers--and becomes that much more dangerous--to fight pragmatically rather than in any regimented style, taking advantage of the environment and other factors to gain an edge against his opponents. Many more traditional samurai consider him to be a gutter fighter, but are not wont to utter it due to his standing in Shinmeiryū and ties to the Aoyama family.
- Combat Style - Shinmeiryū: Shinmeiryū (神鳴流 Shinmei-ryū), meaning "God's Cry School", is an ancient Doman martial art with roots in Kendo. Shinmeiryu blends the sword technique and discipline of kendo with an additional, secret art of ki manipulation, for the ultimate goal of slaying voidsent and upholding honor and justice. The power of this fighting style is colloquially said to be able to divide the heavens and cleave mountains in half, though there is no denying that their skill makes them incredibly powerful combatants.
- Combat Style - Fist of Rhalgr: Trained in the Ala Mhigan martial style by Shanna Swiftgrace, he has incorporated several of the teachings of the monk style into the judo-based unarmed style he learned in Doma. Though skilled in the unarmed combat style, he vastly prefers to fight with a weapon, and most often will use the unarmed style during an incredibly-rare time he's caught without a weapon or a as a means to reach a weapon.
- Combat Style - Iaijutsu: Iaido (居合道 Iaidō or just Iai 居合) is a martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard or saya, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard. Seno excels at this style of swordsmanship, so skilled that he is capable of performing an iai strike many times over the course of a battle, rather than just at the beginning.
- Raizensoku: An iaijutsu strike in which Seno tenses, then draws his blade, moves forward, and strikes outward in less than a second. He accomplishes the strike so fast that he leaves an afterimage of himself, tensed, where he had been standing. This technique is only effective within five feet, but within that range, this technique cannot be dodged or blocked. The only way to avoid Raizensoku is to be outside its range, or strike while he is tensing for the technique. Seno typically will initiate combat with this technique to deal absurd damage, and often one-shot, foes who are caught flat-footed by it.
- Advanced Projectile Deflection: Superhuman reaction times and reflexes, acquired as a result of years of Shinmeiryū training and a close, almost-preternatural bond with his weapon allow Seno the ability to knock away any projectile attack that he is aware of, up to and including gunfire. This ability does not allow him to wade effortlessly into a storm of magitek reaper fire without taking any hits; he can at most deflect up to five projectiles in any one action.
- Ancestral Weapon Shinaijou: Seno's mainhand weapon, Shinaijou is a masterwork katana passed down in his family for countless generations that houses the soul of an ancient and renowned warrior princess of the Aoyama family. The unique traits of the weapon are an ability to detect love/heartbreak and dis/honesty in its environment. A cracking sound is heard coming from the blade when it detects dishonesty within its zone of truth, glows with a warm white light when exposed to love, and weeps openly when exposed to heartbreak. The forging technique used to create it allow Seno to more easily channel his ki into the various Shinmeiryū techniques.
- Ancestral Weapon Kagetaku: Seno's offhand weapon, Kagetaku is a wakizashi that has been passed down alongside Shinaijou for generations. It houses the soul of Kazue Aoyama, and was once the main weapon of Kazue herself. Unlike Shinaijou, there is nothing particularly special about Kagetaku other than its exceptionally-keen edge, which never seems to dull or need sharpening.
Trivia
Likes
- Eorzean culture
- Honor
- Combat pragmatism
Dislikes
- Garlean Empire
- Traitors
- Unfaithfulness
Hobbies/Talents
- Improvised usages of ki.
- Intentionally mangling metaphors by combining two or more similar ones, then acting like he doesn't know any better.
Other
Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)
◢ Uncommon Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)
◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)
◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)
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Music
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Annotations
17-Nov-14: Page created. More to come. 30-Nov-14: Added music and stuff.
