Name: Taka
Age: 44
Race: Human
Appearance: Taka was of an average height for his planet's population- which is to say he's kind of short, standing only five feet and four inches tall. His gaze is sharp, and his eyes piercing and intent, his features would generally be identified as Japanese by earthlings, for all that his home was not even earth. Black hair worn in a warrior's topknot, carefully groomed beard kept short, but immaculate. On the battlefield, he wears bamboo armor, in formal situations and in down time, a kimono or perhaps a training gi, should he be training. He is strong, but lithe- he is not, as a rule, visibly bulging with muscle, but those experienced in combat would recognize that he is, in fact, quite physically conditioned.
Combat Style: The world Taka hails from possesses many combat styles, many branches and lost techniques. He, personally, is trained in two, both passed down from his sensei, Yoshimoto.
Divine Wind Style: A style held to 'seek divine perfection', or so his sensei insisted, the Divine Wind Style is one of many in his world. It is, first and foremost, a bow style, and in reflection of that contains no punches, no grabs, no throws- the hands exist only to hold the bow. As a style, the bow is meant to deliver single, perfect shots- which, by expedient of long practice in ki infusion, will shoot out at truly disproportionate levels of power and speed. These arrows are to be released only for a kill, and strike with the strength of one perhaps ten times as strong as the practitioner. This is not without drawbacks, however. Otherwise, the style is fundamentally an aerial style, meant to fight from the air, high up, and revolves around dodging and assorted defensively oriented leg moves. The style is ultimately meant to be used to take down single elites, and was never really intended for situations in which more than perhaps five foes are assailing the user uncontested. Specific techniques that Taka knows within the style include...
Flight: of course. It's an aerial style, after all.
Divine Arrows: Not literally, but it's the name of the technique. By spending a subjective five minutes channeling ki into a held arrow, he prepares for a truly devastating- and devastatingly fast- bowshot. The strain on his body is nontrivial, and it taxes a significant percentage of his ki.
Springboard Evasion: This oddly named technique is a defensive technique by nature by striking with both legs, the warrior seeks to bounce themselves away from their foe and vice versa, meant to make distance more than to harm. And to gain an abrupt increase in flight speed and/or shift momentum, potentially dodging other foes strikes.
Kamikaze Arrow: a long lost technique, invented by the original inventor of the style, Taka found it through his past sight and sought to learn it- successfully- to prepare for the 'ape demon'. Apparently named both for the restraining violent winds unleashed upon a struck foe, and for the massive cost in physical strain and exhaustion to the user. Taka struggled to keep consciousness each time he used it, most of which were in controlled practice conditions. More than being damaging, the technique is seriously debilitating for a surprisingly long period, for any struck by it, with violent winds battering and resisting the movements attempted by the one struck.
Impure Earth Style: A style held to 'reflect the imperfection of the mortal realm', or so his sensei Yoshimoto often said, and one of many in his world. It, apparently, was invented as a complement to the Divine Wind style. It is a close quarters style, possessing no truly long ranged techniques, and exists to cover situations where, from the perspective of the Divine Wind style, things have gone wrong. A combination of a fully lethal sword style and a defensive hand to hand style, in one, the Impure Earth Style is used when one is disarmed, pressed in melee, outnumbered, or, ironically for a style with lethal sword blows, when one wishes to take a weaker foe alive. Specific techniques Taka knows in the style include...
Iaido: As a style meant as a back up when the bow fails, the art of quickly drawing the katana straight into an attempted deathblow having stowed the bow upon one's back if possible or simply dropped it in a dire emergency, is a central technique of the style.
Sakura Strike: Cherry blossoms are held to be beautiful but are also a symbol of death. This straightforward, one handed ki blast is ultimately not meant to harm peer opponents significantly. It is fast and weak, accurate and can be launched from either or even both hands fluidly. Against peer strength opponents it's more a way to slowly grind them down while keeping at range or to distract them. In truth, it's primarily to allow one to strike down weaker but still dangerous foes opportunistically from range.
Blade Catch: This humbly named technique is rarely mastered and indeed those without knowledge of ki would likely call it impossible. Taka is a rare master of the technique, as was his master before him, and so can reasonably expect to stop a sword with his bare hands by expedient of a simple looking clapping motion except against foes significantly stronger (or, perhaps more importantly, faster) than him. The technique is ideally followed up with a swift disarming and subsequent claiming of the blade for himself, though of course being able to catch a foes sword does not actually guarantee being able to take it. Taka figures his status as a Seer gives him an edge, given the rarity of true masters of the art.
Ki Blocking: Not a traditional technique of the style, Yoshimoto nevertheless instructed Taka in this Seer based ability. He's not good enough for much battlefield use of it, but it's been very handy for him on more than one occasion when trying to take strong foes alive for any reason.
Skills: Taka is a Seer, possessing the gift of sight. He is most talented at Past Sight, having trawled history for facts and new techniques alike, in his days as a samurai. He is least trained at Present Sight- seeing the future was often of use in navigating the rapid shifts in alliances and the like that came with such a volatile and un-unified environment as he came from, and he spent many an hour trying to hone his Sight to warn him of imminent death, to uncertain results. Meanwhile, his Past Sight, as noted, was a tool he regularly employed to secure facts and resolve mystery and confusion.
Bio: Upon a planet with neither contact with nor recollection of the wider galaxy existed many a warring clan and many an ambitious shogun. Into this world of war and strife was born a boy, named Taka, for his sharp, hawklike gaze. Taka spent the first several years of his life a clanless orphan, until one day he was approached by a strange white eyed man.
"I See much potential in you, boy. Tell me, lad, what is your name?" The man asked. Taka was wary of answering, for the man was garbed in the armor of a samurai, and thus was a soldier, who knew the martial arts and could likely kill him if he was displeased. The bow and sword he openly carried also attested to his status, and, well, the eyes were just unsettling.
Still, those same facts prompted him to answer, for if the man wanted a response enough staying silent would likely anger him, too. "My name, sir? It's Taka. But..." He trailed off, hesitant.
The man stroked his beard, nodding. "Taka? I see. But from what family, boy? And don't be shy, curiosity will take you far, and I am not one easily offended."
Taka, of course, a youth of a mere thirteen summers, and an orphan who often had to resort to theft to eat his fill, was not so easily set at ease as to drop his guard from a few words of reassurance. Not entirely, at least. But with the man coaxing him to speak, he responded, carefully "I come from no family, I have never known a home aside the orphanage, sir. But... If it pleases you to answer... Uh, what's with your eyes?"
The man blinked, and his eyes became a normal brown color. "Oh, how silly of me. Yes, that does look rather strange, doesn't it? Tell me, Taka of no family, would you be interested in learning the arts of the samurai, and a few tricks only one like myself could teach another like him?" The man asked, cryptically. "I wish to warn you that the path will be full of blood and sweat, and likely no few tears. But with the way of the sword comes strength, discipline, and courage, and perhaps if you don't die too swiftly you shall even be important in the future."
Taka hesitated, before asking "May I have a day to think on it, sir?"
The man laughed heartily but agreed.
The next day, Taka accepted, and under the man, who insisted he call him sensei but who he eventually learned was named Yoshimoto, spent many a year teaching him, in the ways of ki, in the arts of war, and, starting after the first year, began teaching him of the Sight, which, apparently, Taka possessed a rare gift for, which the man, who possessed the same gift, foresaw before he ever met Taka. By the age of fifteen, Taka began fighting on the battlefield alongside his sensei, under the great shogun who Yoshimoto served.
Many years of war awaited him, but it was not, all told a bad life. Many an adventure, travelling lands, honing his skills, fighting foes, some honorable and worthy of respect, true rivals, others cowardly and ruthless, with no honor and no sense of shame, and sometimes stranger things, monstrous animals, wizards, and more, as many a martial artist has experienced in their days.
One such foe, a dishonorable and fell foe, albeit not unskilled in the ways of war, ultimately slew his mentor in a cowardly trap. This man, was called by many Karasu, as he was held to be as clever as the crows... And as murderous. With his teacher's death, Taka sought to hone his sight, particularly his pastsight, to find just why and how his teacher was slain. In his thirty first year of life, he himself clashed with Karasu on the battlefield, and he, ultimately, triumphed, slaying his foe, for the man was unrepentant and honorless. Even going so far to employ the foul and forbidden arts of magic, the very underhanded method by which he slew Yoshimoto and many other Samurai of renown and skill.
While a terrible foe, Karasu was, ultimately, just one of many, and Taka spent the next eleven years fighting in the environment of ever shifting alliances and battle lines, only to See a vision of a comet striking the land and releasing a terrible gorilla like demon , who then devastated the whole world (though he lacked the context, of course, this was in truth a Saiyan, coming to conquer the planet). When the vision ended, he threw himself into research of long lost techniques using his past Sight, seeking something to put down the beast, and gathered many an ally, some new, some old.
Among these allies were the legendary ronin Yajirobe, who was said to be a true master of the sword itself, a bear of a man known simply as Kuma, who unusually practiced an unarmed style and was a long time ally under the shogun who was Taka's lord, but quiet and perhaps overly professional, and many others.
Ultimately, he foresaw that in all futures he went to face the beast he never returned from battle... But the world was always devastated if he shied from the fight.
He went, resigned to his presumable death. And that, friends, is where his story truly begins...
