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Character Information (wip)
 Hey. Stop staring at me. So, who do I have to kill? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"It's not like I want to kill." Hah! Like anyone would believe that. BACKGROUNDHizen Tadahiro was forged sometime between the years 1648 and 1651 by the second generation of Tadahiro school in Hizen domain (now Saga and Nagasaki prefectures). Eventually, the sword was purchased by the Sakamoto family in Tosa domain (now Kochi prefecture). The Sakamoto family was a merchant family that accumulated great wealth from brewing sake to the point they were able to buy their title as goshi (merchant samurai). While this certainly afforded them a level of privilege, the goshi were considered a very low class and in Tosa, a highly conservative prefecture, social class defined you. Your social class awarded you certain privileges (or lack of). The lowest classes were forbidden to even carry umbrellas or wear rain shoes. According to canon, as Ryouma was preparing to flee Tosa, his oldest brother, Gonpei, took all of the family swords and refused to give them to Ryouma in a desperate attempt to get him to stay. Instead, Ryouma's sister, Otome, took one of the swords, Hizen Tadahiro, and gave it to him for protection. Ryouma deserted Tosa. Though Hizen was precious, the sword Ryouma truly desired was the heirloom sword, Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki. Ryouma did not keep Hizen for long. According to some records (and the particular version canon chooses to use), he gave Hizen to his childhood friend, Okada Izou, sometime before October 1862. Izou had been born into the lowest rank in Tosa. Looked down on his entire life, he joined the Tosa Imperial Party under Takechi Hanpeita. Ryouma had also been in the Tosa Imperial Party but they soon drifted apart due to differing philosophies. Ryouma and his friend, Nakaoka Shintarou, preferred a more pacifist approach while Takechi and Izou preferred a more violent one. Takechi had a profound influence on Izou, formally teaching him swordsmanship and helping him move up through the ranks. However, Takechi, took advantage of Izou's desperation, lack of education, and sword skills. He employed Izou to become an assassin to kill their enemies and push their agenda. Okada was involved in multiple assassinations. Most notably, he assassinated Seiichiro Honma on October 13th, 1862. According to some records, when Izou slashed at Honma, the sword he used broke. This is the version of events canon works with because according to Hizen, "I am Hizen Tadahiro. I am a first-rate and well-known sword, but because of my former master, I've been branded a killer's sword. He kept using me even when I broke, but who knows if he was the type to hang on to stuff or was just frugal…" Izou continued to use the broken Hizen to refine his sword style and kill. Some say he even practiced killing mice and cats. Takechi continued to hire Izou to kill. Eventually, Izou was able to afford fixing the sword. However, since the sword itself could not be prepared, he instead opted to have it shortened. At originally 68.6cm (the average length of an uchigatana), Izou had it shortened by several centimeters to the length of a wakizashi— a short sword better suited for assassination. No one really knows when he got it repaired and to what extent because… a killer doesn't keep careful records of their weapons! Eventually, Takechi hired Izou to kill Yoshido Toyo, the regent of Tosa. He was killed at Harimaya bridge but Izou was caught and arrested along with his associates. Given his low rank, Izou was tortured. Takechi, hearing about Izou's arrest, wrote to Izou's family and said, "It is better for such a fool to die soon, don't you think?" And remarked Izou could never return home without disgracing his family. Izou's arrest caused some of his associates to worry that he would confess. They conspired to poison him. In some versions of events, Izou learned he was poisoned by Takechi and angrily confessed everything. In other versions, Izou, severely weakened by the poison, relented under torture and confessed. Regardless, Takechi was arrested but due to his rank, he was allowed to commit honorable suicide. However, Izou, who was of low rank, was denied an honorable death and beheaded. His death poem read, "My mind that served for you came to nothing, and will only clear up after you've gone." Izou had been loyal to Takechi until his final moments when the confession was forced from him. Despite Takechi regarding Izou as nothing more than a tool, Izou had felt indebted to Takechi. In canon, Izou cries, "I was born into the lowest class. Here in Tosa, social status is everything I was little less than a beast! All I had was my sword. However! No matter how skilled I was, I could not escape my social status. Master Takechi gave my life meaning. I inflict just punishment! Inflicting just punishment is all I know. It's what I live for. I kill and kill! " Hizen Tadahiro was confiscated and lost to history. Upon hearing about the deaths of his old friends, Ryouma mourned. Fast forward to the year 2205, Hizen Tadahiro is specifically summoned by the Time Government instead of a free citadel. As a government sword, he becomes a special investigator and is tasked with overseeing a special mission in an alternate timeline. He teams up with a squad from a certain citadel and leads them through a twisted version of Tosa to correct the flow of time and set history on its correct course. Upon successful completion of the mission, Hizen is assigned to the citadel's army to observe. PERSONALITYHizen Tadahiro first appears as the government-assigned inspector for Special Investigation: Bunkyuu Tosahan. Initially masked and unnamed, he eventually reveals himself as an assassin's sword. He is direct and blunt, preferring to get right to the point when it comes to his missions. He kills without hesitation. Perhaps because his former master was so poor, Hizen enjoys and is easily won over by food and sake. Due to the way their paths diverged, he is bitter and jealous of Ryouma's favorite sword, Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, a sword so peaceful he was nicknamed, "the sword that never cut." Hizen is cynical and has no time for fancy words or dreams. He describes himself as a hollow person and dislikes himself. ABILITIES❀ SPIRIT SENSE: Being a spirit, he's naturally sensitive to other spirits and spirit shenanigans. It manifests him as being able to sense something is "wrong" in the air which usually suggests there are either evil spirits or some sort of time/space distortion. It isn't a perfect ability! He can easily be fooled and/or overlook things, especially if he doesn't know what he's looking for. ❀ TRUE FORM: As a sword tsukumogami, his true form is his sword, Hizen Tadahiro. His physical well-being is directly linked to his sword. If it's in good condition, his mood is better, his appearance is nicer, and he is stronger. If it's damaged, he's hurt. If it breaks, he dies. ❀ HUMAN FORM: His human form is his secondary form. It's not particularly special-- it still needs to rest and eat and it's implied he can still get sick so he needs to take care of it. But his body is stronger than the average human, physical injuries (not correlating with damage to his sword) will heal quicker, his stamina is higher, his endurance is greater, and he can generally do some anime physics nonsense like leaping high and doing extraordinary moves. In Hizen's case, he also gets a little bonus where he has a higher alcohol tolerance than a regular human. ❀ COMBAT: He's naturally skilled with a sword. As a wakizashi and the sword of an assassin, his specialty is night battles and fighting in closed spaces. His fighting style is fast, skillful, and violent with Hizen being one of the heavier hitting swords in his class. His weakest areas are stamina and leadership which I usually translate in RP as him being prone to exhaustion/getting beat up faster if he's caught and not fighting well with others/being more of a follower which can result in some poor decisions in a fight. ❀ SAKURA FUBUKI: When his condition is at its best, cherry blossoms appear around him. This also means he can fight much better. Typically this happens when he fights just the right amount or if he's feeling some sort of strong, positive emotion. I'm gonna be real… I mostly just use this in RP to doxx his feelings on things because he tries to not show his emotions too much. This doesn't enhance his abilities or anything! It just signifies that he's in a better condition/feeling a thing. INVENTORYHizen Tadahiro. His sword and true form! It was originally the length of an uchigatana and recorded at being about 68.6cm. However, after he broke, Izo had the sword repaired. The new length is unknown (because assassins don't keep detailed records of their murder weapons) but it was said he had it shortened to the length of a wakizashi (somewhere between 30-60cm.) It looks like Hizen could count as an o-wakizashi, or a wakizashi that is comparable to an uchigatana. Comparing Hizen to Nikkari who is also a wakizashi and the same height as Hizen, his sword is probably around ~60cm range, too? Maybe.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||