So that gave me a lot of time to think. In this case, about the Whirlwind story. I lied: I did think a little bit more about the character, deciding that from the age of 9 onward, they had been a bodyguard and gotten a bit of a reputation for having done so, but otherwise, I didn't focus on him.
Instead, I built his team.
I'll start with the most interesting of the characters, though not his Lancer. This person has the nickname Hitokiri Kamikaze, which if my Japanese names are right, should translate to: Divine Wind Assassin. They are, obviously, an assassin, in this case for hire. They have a rule: if they're bored, they'll charge for their services: a decent, but affordable, rate, so they get fairly well-paid.
These assassinations are often lethal in nature, though again, if he is bored, he's not going to bother killing them unless he's paid to. If he has fun while fighting, he'll do it for free. This is why he doesn't always have a lot of money. And finally, if the fight he gets into is truly challenging, to the point where he'll have a hard time beating--yet alone killing--his opponent, he'll charge an obscenely high fee to so much as consider it: because he fears that if he won, if he actually beat the person, he would never have that type of challenge again.
He still is sometimes paid anyway, but most will flat-out refuse to pay it, so he'll reject following through. Him ticking off someone by doing this is, naturally, how he joins the protagonists' side. But as to describe a bit more about him: the defining trait about him is that he is fast.
Like, kills-you-before-you-realize-he-moved, fast. His second main trait? His perception ki is godly. He has an innate sense of things. I wanted to avoid the Blind Swordsman trope, but I did decide to have some fun, and have him be a deaf swordsman.
...Well, sort-of. His weapon of choice is a simple staff...or so it seems. Within the staff, on each end, he can extend a blade fine-tuned to his ki, as to give him a bladed staff. This is part of his success in attack: a favored move of his is to swing his staff just in front of the person's defenses, have it pass through, in that split second extent the blade out (thus, impaling them), slice, and retract a split second later, as to the naked eye appear like a plain staff cut through the target without having touched them.
A further trick? These blades are spring-loaded, so with a blast of ki, he can shoot them forward with enough force to impale a target. Only works twice (once for each side), of course, but an incredibly fast, effective, and deceptive way to instantly dispatch a target.
The final thing he can do is, with his bladed staff, is break it in half at the center. This creates two short-swords: the blades at the end of his staff are long enough that, when divided in half, they are not merely daggers with long handles; they are proper swords, albeit shortswords. (All straight-bladed, of course.)
An interesting fact about him is that he trained as--and thus, will fake--being a blind swordsman...while still being deaf. So, a sign he has begun to take the fight seriously is him opening his eyes. He's so good at perceptive ki that he can still fight while both blind and deaf, and even interact with others in conversations. He legitimately can't hear things, so sometimes if he's having trouble with perceiving something he may need to open his eyes in order to lip-read, but otherwise he's able to fake having a sense he doesn't, while simultaneously faking not having one he does.
He does have a major drawback, though: he's fast, and he's got excellent attacks. His innate perception means he can read his opponent's moves before they have even been made, even. However, while his speed is good, and his perception is godly, and his attack strength is very high, if he doesn't overwhelm his opponent, if he gives them an opening to counter-attack, only his fast reflexes keep him alive.
In short? Fragile Speedster Glass Cannon. He's good at getting in, then getting out. He's good at deceiving opponents, in spite of not particularly being skilled at masking ki and having nothing that's actually true trick-ki. If he doesn't think he can land a blow, he also is an archer, and he has the personality to match: the level-headed, cool, professional, aside from the thrill of combat he desires.
The actual Lancer also has a similar, but contrasting, moveset to the Whirlwind. In his case, he's got basically no ability to mask his ki whatsoever, but he's built his fighting style off of it, including some minor aspects of trick ki, while mostly focusing on raw attack and defense ki. (He does have some skill at perception ki, but only rudimentary level.)
His weapon is basically a straight-bladed longsword. Not necessarily European, but it has that basic aesthetic to it: straight rather than curved as we stereotypically envision all Japanese swords to be (or even, all Asian swords to be), and on his back rather than waist.
What he does, is that he wields it in his right hand but holds it with the handle near his ear, and his left hand extended outward. In other words...a very, very, very defensive stance. And, in a rarity, his ki is actually visible to others, deliberately so. His left hand is used to attack, and his right to defend, but in a moment's notice, this can suddenly and unexpectedly change: the left hand will ensnare an attack, and the right blade will slash.
He's very strong, a bit large, and fights in fairly unconventional ways, with a decent amount of speed behind his attacks. It's simple, but effective, as he can hold his own against some of the best fighters in the series, just like the others, in spite of this being known from the get-go.
The fourth character I thought of, either a girl or a young boy (haven't decided which yet), I made a decision: they wouldn't be able to use ki at all, but they would be an inventor, creating things and using them on the battlefield, fighting with the best ki users, and being so skilled that they don't need ki in order to win.
The fifth character, also underdeveloped like the fourth, would use two whips.
So, we've got a team going.
It's just a matter of what I'd actually do with them.
Don't have that now, and knowing me, probably never will.
Oh well. It's a fun idea at the least.
Instead, I built his team.
I'll start with the most interesting of the characters, though not his Lancer. This person has the nickname Hitokiri Kamikaze, which if my Japanese names are right, should translate to: Divine Wind Assassin. They are, obviously, an assassin, in this case for hire. They have a rule: if they're bored, they'll charge for their services: a decent, but affordable, rate, so they get fairly well-paid.
These assassinations are often lethal in nature, though again, if he is bored, he's not going to bother killing them unless he's paid to. If he has fun while fighting, he'll do it for free. This is why he doesn't always have a lot of money. And finally, if the fight he gets into is truly challenging, to the point where he'll have a hard time beating--yet alone killing--his opponent, he'll charge an obscenely high fee to so much as consider it: because he fears that if he won, if he actually beat the person, he would never have that type of challenge again.
He still is sometimes paid anyway, but most will flat-out refuse to pay it, so he'll reject following through. Him ticking off someone by doing this is, naturally, how he joins the protagonists' side. But as to describe a bit more about him: the defining trait about him is that he is fast.
Like, kills-you-before-you-realize-he-moved, fast. His second main trait? His perception ki is godly. He has an innate sense of things. I wanted to avoid the Blind Swordsman trope, but I did decide to have some fun, and have him be a deaf swordsman.
...Well, sort-of. His weapon of choice is a simple staff...or so it seems. Within the staff, on each end, he can extend a blade fine-tuned to his ki, as to give him a bladed staff. This is part of his success in attack: a favored move of his is to swing his staff just in front of the person's defenses, have it pass through, in that split second extent the blade out (thus, impaling them), slice, and retract a split second later, as to the naked eye appear like a plain staff cut through the target without having touched them.
A further trick? These blades are spring-loaded, so with a blast of ki, he can shoot them forward with enough force to impale a target. Only works twice (once for each side), of course, but an incredibly fast, effective, and deceptive way to instantly dispatch a target.
The final thing he can do is, with his bladed staff, is break it in half at the center. This creates two short-swords: the blades at the end of his staff are long enough that, when divided in half, they are not merely daggers with long handles; they are proper swords, albeit shortswords. (All straight-bladed, of course.)
An interesting fact about him is that he trained as--and thus, will fake--being a blind swordsman...while still being deaf. So, a sign he has begun to take the fight seriously is him opening his eyes. He's so good at perceptive ki that he can still fight while both blind and deaf, and even interact with others in conversations. He legitimately can't hear things, so sometimes if he's having trouble with perceiving something he may need to open his eyes in order to lip-read, but otherwise he's able to fake having a sense he doesn't, while simultaneously faking not having one he does.
He does have a major drawback, though: he's fast, and he's got excellent attacks. His innate perception means he can read his opponent's moves before they have even been made, even. However, while his speed is good, and his perception is godly, and his attack strength is very high, if he doesn't overwhelm his opponent, if he gives them an opening to counter-attack, only his fast reflexes keep him alive.
In short? Fragile Speedster Glass Cannon. He's good at getting in, then getting out. He's good at deceiving opponents, in spite of not particularly being skilled at masking ki and having nothing that's actually true trick-ki. If he doesn't think he can land a blow, he also is an archer, and he has the personality to match: the level-headed, cool, professional, aside from the thrill of combat he desires.
The actual Lancer also has a similar, but contrasting, moveset to the Whirlwind. In his case, he's got basically no ability to mask his ki whatsoever, but he's built his fighting style off of it, including some minor aspects of trick ki, while mostly focusing on raw attack and defense ki. (He does have some skill at perception ki, but only rudimentary level.)
His weapon is basically a straight-bladed longsword. Not necessarily European, but it has that basic aesthetic to it: straight rather than curved as we stereotypically envision all Japanese swords to be (or even, all Asian swords to be), and on his back rather than waist.
What he does, is that he wields it in his right hand but holds it with the handle near his ear, and his left hand extended outward. In other words...a very, very, very defensive stance. And, in a rarity, his ki is actually visible to others, deliberately so. His left hand is used to attack, and his right to defend, but in a moment's notice, this can suddenly and unexpectedly change: the left hand will ensnare an attack, and the right blade will slash.
He's very strong, a bit large, and fights in fairly unconventional ways, with a decent amount of speed behind his attacks. It's simple, but effective, as he can hold his own against some of the best fighters in the series, just like the others, in spite of this being known from the get-go.
The fourth character I thought of, either a girl or a young boy (haven't decided which yet), I made a decision: they wouldn't be able to use ki at all, but they would be an inventor, creating things and using them on the battlefield, fighting with the best ki users, and being so skilled that they don't need ki in order to win.
The fifth character, also underdeveloped like the fourth, would use two whips.
So, we've got a team going.
It's just a matter of what I'd actually do with them.
Don't have that now, and knowing me, probably never will.
Oh well. It's a fun idea at the least.
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