[Magician] Kuro Akarui

FULL NAME: Kuro Akarui
OTHER ALIAS: Tempest
CURRENT AGE: 25
GENDER: Male
OCCUPATION:
SCHOOL: N/A
FACTION: Amakusa Style Remix of Church



APPEARANCE: Kuro is a tall thin man with long black hair.  He has long bangs that hang from both sides of his face, often in front of the right side.  His eyes are dark brown and are very thin and serious looking at a first glance.  Kuro’s skin is pale and he doesn’t have much of a muscular build.  His outfit doesn’t concern him much; he is willing to dress appropriately for the occasion.  But his normal attire consists of a black shirt and pants topped with a long black tailed coat and cape.  A small cowl of fur decorates the shoulders of his coat.  He likes this outfit for the sleek appearance, the black color for being inconspicuous, and the mystic flair it gives while remaining acceptable to public eyes.  
HEIGHT: 6’5”
WEIGHT:  151 pounds
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: The cream colored scarf he always wears, regardless of the weather, season, or temperature.



PERSONALITY:

Reserved
Kuro has a quiet and composed nature on the surface, especially in the company of others.  But this does not mean he doesn’t feel anything.  He loves to laugh and enjoy things, but puts effort to subdue such hyper behaviors unless he’s alone or only with close friends.

Calm under pressure  
All work and no panic in a serious situation, Kuro keeps a grip on the scene even when things look bad.  He consciously recognizes that freaking out over something does nothing to help the situation and may even cause him to overlook a way out.

Dedicated
Kuro can always be counted on to get the assigned job done to the best of his abilities – granted that the job is acceptable under his ideals.  He has a distinct hierarchy of priorities in his mind that must be upheld if he is willing to go through with something.  As he has a deep honor code and chivalrous streak, he will not hesitate to disobey orders if new evidence comes to light proving that his job is “wrong.”

Loyal
This goes hand in hand with Kuro’s dedication.  He had a very strict moral upbringing, leading him to live his life upholding his belief of righteousness.  Loyalty to one’s friends and allies is an important one of those morals, further strengthened by the team atmosphere of the Amakusa.  Kuro will never betray those he works with and feels incredibly guilty in the event that he even has to deceive an ally.



LIKES:
Heights, Nature, Respectful people, Music
DISLIKES:
Enclosed spaces, Dishonor, Rudeness, Boasting
STRENGTHS:
Analytical, Quick Reflexes, Excellent Eyesight, Disciplined
WEAKNESSES:
Weak Physique, Naïve, Too Trusting



HISTORY:  Kuro was born in Japan to a pretty decent life.  He was the only son to a family that owned a dojo dedicated to tessenjutsu: the art of the Japanese war fan.  Both of his parents were former operatives of the Amakusa Style church, who had settled down and retired from the front lines to run the dojo.  Many of their students were actually Amakusa members and trainees using the dojo's lessons to further their combat expertise.  Kuro spent the first years of his life living under the training and loving care of his parents, being raised on the beliefs of the Amakusa and their traditions of subtle worship.  Aside from the magic training, he was on his way to living a normal life.  But fate had far bigger plans for him.  Plans that began with a cruel robbing of his happiness.

When Kuro was 10 years old, a terrible typhoon was making its way towards his home.  His parents were out that day, but foolishly tried to rush home rather than leave their child alone in such a storm.  This was the cause of their undoing as the storm caught up with them, violently driving their car off the road and down a wooded hill.  The accident killed them both, their lives claimed by a force they could never hope to match despite their magic knowledge: nature.

Though he was now orphaned, Kuro still received care during his childhood.  He had no living relatives, and so was taken into the extended family of the Amakusa church.  The first years were rough, with Kuro grieving heavily, burdened with guilt that it had been his parents' attempt to get back to him that caused them to die.  He immersed himself in his martial and magic training as an outlet and a distraction.  These two things ended up helping him pull out of his depression, finding a peace of mind with the world and God's plan.  His training intensified as he strove to get stronger and serve the Amakusa with the same level of dedication his parents had.  He studied hard to master his martial arts while practicing magic that aligned with the wind.  This newfound affinity with this element traced back to the memory of his parents and Kuro's respect for it as well as his desire to master the force that had changed his life.


RANK:
(MAGIC NAME): Vinco220
(ABILITY NAME): Kuro primarily makes use of wind element magic.  With the lessons of idol theory at work, he fashioned his scarf making use of Shinto legends and depictions of the wind god Fujin to replicate the materials and designs all coinciding with the god's possession, being its bag of winds.  With this connection to the wind lord, Kuro's scarf allows him to cast spells that manipulate wind through use of simple rituals like waving and twirling the scarf around or holding it up in different simple arrays.  The scarf also gives Kuro passive defenses against other wind related magics, as it is replicating Fujin's bag.

Kuro can further his affinity with the wind and strengthen his wind spells when casting by using breathing techniques.  As explained by the Amakusa Style's method of idol theory, the daily routine of breathing to live replicates the air and wind on the earth, referred to by many mythos as the breath of life.  By focusing on this idea and deeply inhaling and exhaling in time with his spell, Kuro can increase the spell's power.

Another affinity Kuro can influence is an honoring of Fujin through the use of offerings.  By shedding his articles of clothing, Kuro puts himself closer to the portrayed image of the near naked Shinto god according to Amakusa idol theory.  As a result, with each piece of clothing stripped, Kuro's speed increases, becoming his fastest when he is down to just his underwear.


OTHER ABILITIES:

Tessenjutsu Master
As he was born in a tessenjutsu dojo, Kuro spent his childhood training in the use of the Japanese war fan.  This has helped him hone his reflexes and his discipline greatly over the course of his life.  It has also given him a variety of battle styles when using his magic, able to adapt to long and short range.

Tessen weapons
Kuro keeps a stock of two Tessen on him at all times.  One is the well known steel folding fan variety while the other is a solid, closed fan-shaped club.

Amakusa Specialties
Kuro focused most on his wind mastery, but took time to learn the magics that can be attributed to most Amakusa members as a whole.  These include:
- Healing magic
- Damage Transference Charm
- Insert-From-Behind Recovery Charm



CHARACTER THEME:
Main Theme
Battle Theme
Suspenseful Theme


PLAYER'S NAME:Kuro Akarui
RATING: M for mature (Violent or suggestive content such as 'Ecchi' or 'fanservice' scenes.)
FACE CLAIM: Wingul from Tales of Xillia
OTHER CHARACTERS: None
MISC. INFORMATION: chatbox name: Kurokonbaata

A warm sun shone down on the hilltop where a classic Japanese style building stood. This was the dojo that was the periodic home of Kuro Akarui. Though he normally stayed with his new considered family of the Amakusa, he still liked to return to this place of his birth for training or nostalgic reasons. He was thankful to the Amakusa for helping him maintain ownership of it after his parent's death. It would have been too sad to lose the home that held all his memories of them.

"But enough of that." Kuro declared aloud to the empty room around him as he broke out of his inner thoughts. It wasn't time to stand around and get lost on memory lane. He was here to practice.

Kuro had set up a simple straw dummy like a scarecrow in the center of the room, along with five spread out standing log targets. He prepared for the exercise, taking deep breaths as he unwrapped the white scarf from around his neck. With a flick of his wrist, a folded Japanese Tessen slid down from inside his sleeve into his right hand. "Here I come." Kuro muttered seriously to his targets.

He began his move by swinging his scarf in a wide arc. In response, a gust of air blew around the side and pushed from behind the scarecrow, drawing it closer to Kuro who timed a strike of his Tessen to slash across its throat area as it was pushed into him. He shoved the "defeated" dummy aside and whipped his scarf forward, aiming at one of the logs this time. A blade of condensed wind magic leapt forward from the scarf's tip and cleanly cut the wooden log in two, the top half clunking on the hard wood floor of the dojo.

Kuro next began dashing at the first of the remaining logs. As he ran, he undid the fastenings that kept his cape on. The cloth fluttered to the ground and Kuro's pace increased as if he'd dropped a large amount of weight by removing the clothing. He did this again in turn with every piece of his clothes until he was zipping around the room in just his boxers. He finished by performing a rapid spinning dance that swung his scarf around repeatedly. A violent wind gust was generated in the center of the room and roughly threw the logs against the walls. Kuro took a deep breath and relaxed, satisfied with his practice's results. Looking around the room, he let a smile come to his lips as he remembered the reactions he usually got from those who saw his stripping. It was another useful tool to him.

Kuro redressed and walked out of the training room. Once outside the building, he turned and faced the dojo and thought back over his life. He'd done a lot to get to this point. Gone through so much. But he didn't regret it. Not anymore. He couldn't imagine living his life any other way. With this satisfaction in mind, he turned and headed back home to his friends.

About his parents being Magic Blacksmiths. I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. True enough there are artists out there capable of creating something outrageous into a spiritual item like William Orwell's Ascalon, the giant dragon slaying sword but for them to be defenseless martial arts instructors is abit difficult to believe when they're creating some artifact that could be used to summon fairies of all things.

Aeolus' Bag, ignoring the fact that it's definitely not a Japanese myth/lore construction, how does it hold multiple wind lords? Doesn't it conflict with different myths and religion if it contains elementals from different lores? Also it seems very far fetched to say it's a bag that sealed up wind elementals from different myths.

You see, a spiritual item is usually based on an existing myths, history, prestige.

Take the nuns from Agnese's force for example.

Gold coin bags of St.Matthew
St.Catherine's Wheel
Lotus Wand

They're basis lies in existing ideas and they loosely tie it with idol theory to produce a specific ability/power to the magician. There are no weapons in To Aru that acts as a container for supernatural elementals. I think the closest is Curtana Original which allows the wielder to replicate the powers of Archangel Michael. My main problem with the concept as it is now, is that it doesn't really focus on a specific myth/legend as most spiritual items we see on To Aru does. I would say narrow it down to a specific lore and craft the spiritual item based on that one particular lore instead.

As he's Japanese and Amakusas are based in Japan it's possible for this to work which is fine, but his connection with Necessarius is a little shaky. Since in our RP the Amakusas have yet to join hands formally with the Anglican Church it's not possible for the Amakusas to introduce him to Necessarius.

It also seems very odd that Necessarius would be carrying out investigations concerning his parent's killer, the greedy magician. Necessarius specializes in the neutralization and destruction of magic in England, and to investigate, arrest, and punish its practitioners so them being sent all the way to Japan just to investigate a murder scene of a spiritual item crafters seems really out of place in my opinion.

I think rather than Necessarius you might be more interested in joining the Amakusa church instead. I suggest this mainly because your character seems to be a weapon specialist than a british magician.

About his arch-nemesis creating a cabal with the spiritual item. I think you have the wrong idea about what a cabal is. Cabal can be a huge organization or a small one that consists of 5 people. In case you meant a large organization on the same scale as Necessarius... how is he going to do that with a bag that contains wind elementals? If I may be blunt, he's not exactly going to impress people into joining his guild just by showing people he has some amazing spiritual item.
Moving on

His ability references nothing about where his magic has it's basis from. What lore or historic deeds is he recreating as magical spells that lets him harness mastery over wind? What kind of rituals are involved in him creating his winds? Just to give you an idea Stiyl has to rely on rune cards to summon Innocentius or he draws runes on the smoke he breathes out from smoking to draw runes to create fire. I would highly suggest first choosing which myths you want to focus on. Once you decided I'd than look at which one among the chosen myths has a creature or god that uses wind as a primary weapon to base an idea of his affinity and ritual for re-enacting the effects through spells.

Enchanted Tessen
This needs to contain some kind of myths introduced as well. I'm not opposed to the idea of summoning elementals but if it's going to be something of Innocentius's league then I'd expect a well written explanation on the mythos and rituals involved with the summoning ritual as well as what exactly you're summoning, does it have a name? what does it do? what are it's weaknesses and strengths etc etc etc.



About him summoning Sylphs and Fairies I'm going to have to say no this. Summoning fairies is possible for a Majin but not a Magician I think.

I had a feeling there'd be more work and research to put into this, and I have no problem with that. Getting all the kinks out in making a character is half the fun for me.

I think you misunderstood my intentions with the bag. Maybe I didn't word it good enough. The elementals aren't being summoned from inside it. I attempted to give it more of a basis by connecting the myths that influenced each other and mentioned such a bag. Aeolus was the original holder of the bag used to contain the winds and allow Odysseus safe sailing home. Some light research led me to believe that Greek culture might have been an influencing factor on Asian mythologies through trading and other such interaction and led to the depiction of the Shinto wind god Fujin also holding a bag that contained wind. That's what I meant by "held by multiple wind lords". I can change that if necessary. The bag was only meant as some symbol of authority that subjugated wind summons. Perhaps I'll redesign it as a Shinto magic tool rooted to the bag from the odyssey used for one particular summon like Styil's Innocentius.

I knew my history would need work. I was unaware of how the timeline of the story would play out, and I agree that associating Kuro with the Amakusa would make a more believable backstory. Realistically, that shouldn't take too much effort to change. It'll just make his travels a bit on a smaller scale as he learns and gains experience.

The magic blacksmith part was an idea I got from reading up on some of the magic groups when trying to design this. But honestly, I shouldn't have messed with something that I understood little of. It was just an attempt to tie his family in with the magic world somehow. But if we're going to work on aligning him more closely with the Amakusa, then maybe I can work things a bit differently. Blacksmithing: scratched.

His magical abilities could be the tough part. I'm probably ill equipped in terms of to aru canon knowledge to shape this up, but I'm willing to try. I've read enough myths in the past to perhaps try to give him the magic I want. Idol theory might be the way to go, which would probably work better since I believe the Amakusa specialize in that anyway. And one myth in particular is coming to me quite strongly, as it would work more with his magic name too.

As for his weapons, I might be able to give them their mystic status when I redo his magic theories. The summon thing might take a back burner, or even become something of a potential weakness for his bag summon.

I'll think over this during work today and do some more research when I get home. Hopefully, I can finish the edits before tomorrow. Thank you for the guidance.

Spiritual Items seems like items most Magicians seems to build themselves which makes them quite unique to that Magician and the authority he/she commands. The only known instance from my memory of having another person build their spiritual item for them is Acqua of the Back's Ascalon which was created by an unnamed artists who worked out just what kind of a sword it would take to kill a dragon and build it on the assumptions of his ideas and the other being Curtana Original which if memory serves me correctly was built the unification of great Britain.

I'll write more when I get back from seeing my doctor.

I'm sorry to keep acting like a noob, but I'm trying to minimize errors for my next attempt at getting this right. I have a base idea of how idol theory works, but how the Amakusa make use of it has raised a few questions I'd like help with before I mess up. When duplicating (borrowing, imitating, whatever the concept is) the power of an original source, how exact must the imitation be? Using the example of a magic weapon, does the imitative magic tool have to be the same kind of weapon in order to be a successful idol?

The second question lies in another theology followed by the Amakusa. I read that the teachings of Shintoism that talk about gods in every object help them to make spells and tools out of a variety of objects. I understand the limitation in that mythos, with a Shinto god item only being useful for a single type of spells, but how is that spell type decided in the first place? Do the Amakusa direct a type of spell or god into an item upon the first use or something?

PS: sorry to hear you had to see a doctor. Hope you feel better. And sorry for starting this discussion in this thread. I'll be willing to delete these posts when were finished.

Before we go into that discussion I want to mention that it's probably not something you can pick up on after a few years of training with the Amakusas. Unless you were born into the ancestry of hidden christians you're probably not going to pick up on Idol Theory on the same level as the canon Amakusas. That said...

No need to feel bad about opening discussions here, it's what I'm here for.

The Amakusa's practice of Idol Theory is abit more complex in that it's not really them trying to imitate a source of a myth, but it's the everyday practice they've lived with which happened to carry hidden meaning behind them which in turn happened to trigger Idol Theory effects. Consider everything you'd consider normal to what ordinary people do in their average day life. Things like the way they walk, breath, eat, wash, almost everything they do is in some form a practice of Idol Theory, a hidden practice of them worshipping Christianity without being detected at the same side those practices coincide with the way they honor other religions like buddhism and shintoism.

It probably differs from what you had envisioned abit.

Your question of a weapon's requirement to be a same type of weapon to imitate it's powers, the simple answer is no it doesn't require it to be but the closer the item fits into the replica category the more powers it will hold.

Imagine the difference in power between Curtana Original and Curtana Second. The latter carried 1/5th of the Original's Powers because it was the replica of an replica albeit it still carried the same appearance. We have no solid evidence that it has to contain the same image it was shaped out of. Interesting case is William's Ascalon where the myths kept mentioning Ascalon as a dragon slaying sword in the shape of a one handed sword but when an artist set out to create something that fits the description of what it could do in order to slay a dragon it turned out to become a massive sword. So in saying that no it doesn't strictly NEED to be the same weapon per say, but I think it'll be hard to prove a connection of Idol Theory when someone claims that a spoon made of silver carries the same Saint killing powers as the things that the Son of God was weak against such as the thorn crown, crucifixion and etc. Completely different objects so unless you can very well be creative and write it so that it has very solid link between your item and the artifact you're trying to siphon powers from in the form of Idol Theory, I think it'll be very difficult to do. Not impossible just very hard.

Not sure how to answer your second question. Selecting a spell type and creating that link of evidence through research is what you would have to do to try and explain the link between the object and the spell it's trying to cast. From memory there was this one time Itsuwa, one of the Amakusa girls, tried to cast a healing spell on Kamijou Touma by using her panties as a catalyst. I'm sure if I do some research into Shinto myths I'll be able to find some really vague hints of where this idea comes from. The author doesn't explain that in detail but I'm sure the explanation does exists since their practice of Idol Theory comes from existing ideas.

If you can tell me what exactly you have in mind for him right now as a Magician and the types of spells you want to cast I can try and narrow your search down to possible ideas you might want to use.

Here's an example Amakusa Magician I made some time ago.

https://academycity.forumotion.co.uk/t182-snpc-magician-kusaribe-yumeji

The theory I came up with at the time might shed some light on other ways Idol Theory could work as a form of offering to a specific deity in Japanese folklore. It's at the bottom under abilities.

Thank you for the explanation. It helped shed further light on how these things work than the basic description on the wiki.

As for his type of magician, I want him to use magic for a sort of mixed combat potential. Casting wind spells from a distance for long range like tornadoes, wind blades,etc. (think Kagura from Inuyasha) while also having some supportive wind spells like speed boost or defense.

I had originally intended the bag to be a catalyst for summoning any mythical spirit with a wind affinity, but I think I'll redesign it into a Shinto sort of idol like Fujin's bag to use for a single servant like Styil.

I have a better idea on the Amakusa idol theory now, and think have two possibilities on tying wind magic to him. First is based off of the concept of breathing, with wind being the breath of life in many mythos. The other idea is probably more concrete. I want to use his tessen fans as imitative versions of Japan's Kusanagi sword. I've read legends that that blade gave the power to control wind, directing it in the direction of the blade's swing. To make the imitation closer, perhaps the metal strips of the fans could be designed to imitate sword shape. Such weapons could probably also function as a reptilian slayer going off of the story of the Kusanagi being the blade that killed the orochi.

Just let me know if I'm being too greedy and trying to make him too versatile. I can cut back on things if I have to.

Fujin's Bag huh. I think personally it'll be more interesting to turn the bag into something else.



From the picture it looks like a shroud he's holding than a bag so maybe you can turn it into something you wear like a primitive Japanese style Loincloth. j/k

Maybe something like a scarf?



As explained by Idol Theory, the scarf symbolically takes the essential elements of Fujin's bag, as such since the bag is a enchanted artifact that contains the winds, the scarf will replicate some part of that myths for the user. For example, Kuro uses the cloth-weaving, line stitching, and embroidery to successfully recreate all essential elements of a Fujin's bag. Because of this, he can wave it around like Hiroomi does in Kyoukai no Kanata to release different types of wind related spells such as sharpened sonic wave, an explosion of gust, etc.

Coupled with the fact that Kuro's scarf specifically replicates the Fujin's Bag, it'll create the passive defensive ability that protects him with a charm against wind related spells cast by another Magician such as Jane Elves a Witch of Necessarius who uses magic related to wind channeled through her fan.



http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Elves

As for things like Speed Boost, I think this can work by wearing a specific type of eccentric clothing that somehow counts towards an offering or honoring the god Fujin in some form. In the novels Kamijou sometimes openly asks other Amakusas why their high priestess Kanzaki dresses in a provocative clothing which Itsuwa hurriedly denies that the high priestess doesn't dress slutty and that she dresses that way because it's Idol Theory related spells. Something about asymmetrical clothing enhances her abilities and that's why she wears her clothes in such manner as a passive spell. Maybe he can wear something that contains attributes to Fujin to gain a passive speed boost spell that makes him extra agile at all times.

My personal suggestion? I think the speed boost spell should be something interesting and extremely eccentric.

Fujin from the wiki pictures look like he's very much naked and is a demon who doesn't really like wearing clothes. So my opinion is that to honor the god and praise him with royal offerings, Kuro will strip off his clothes in the form of offerings to that god. The more clothes he strip off the faster he will become. So eventually he'll reach the fastest speed when he's almost naked down to his briefs. Amakusa's magic are strange and quirky like that at times.

I think breathing technique will work too but the tessen idea probably not as well.

If you study Amakusa members all of them wield a close range melee weapon of some sort and seems that none of them possess a weapon that's been imbued with a special spell like the one you're thinking of. While it isn't necessary I'd like to keep that characteristics of the Amakusa to remain canon and thus would like to ask you to leave your tessen as a melee weapon and nothing more than that.

Oh my god, I am dying right now. I love those ideas, and really look forward to the reactions Kuro would/will get from allies and enimies alike when stripping for an offering. Will make it even funnier when he doesn't give much reaction from it. Guess it's a perfect way to keep the comedy genre of To Aru alive with this character.

So it seems I have some work to do. Redesign the history, rewrite the magic with the idol theory explanations, nerf the weapons, etc. I think I'll have to give up on the summon idea, because I don't see much of a summon type practice that could be used by the Amakusa like rune magic. They don't rely on chants or the like either if I remember correctly. Aside from some ridiculous ritual of stripping down to underwear and waving his scarf around, I can't imagine how an idol theory magician would summon a wind elemental. But that's not the end of the world. This is only one character after all. He can't do everything. A nuker/magic swordsman style will suit him just fine.

Thanks again for the help. I'll try to get things changed tomorrow afternoon when I get back from work.

This came to mind when you mentioned a naked man wearing only a scarf waving it around for his spells to work at it's maximum potential.

I really think if you haven't watched Kyokai no Kanata you should since Hiroomi seems like a character you might want to study in terms of eccentricity and scarf magic.

Alright, I got the edits done. I think it should be much better now, though I might have worded some things weird in my attempt to write all the ideas you helped me with in my own words. Let me know if I have to change anything else.

On another note, I did start watching that anime now as you suggested. Haven't gotten to the introduction of the scarf boy yet, but it should be informative for this rp character when I do see him in action.

Sorry I knew I was forgetting something all this time. It's become quite hectic all of a sudden both on forums and RL. Anyways I loved the character as well as the unusual quirks implemented with the magic of undressing. Good job overall and welcome aboard!