Post by Date Maharo on Oct 26, 2023 20:01:46 GMT -5
Character Name: Date Maharo
Previous Real Age: ~250
Current/New Real Age: N/A
Previous Age of Appearance: 26
Current/New Age of Appearance: N/A
New Ideals/Personality: Maharo is someone defined by their contradictions. They are tall and imposing, yet gentle and soft-spoken. They're polite and afraid of conflict, though most of their talents relate to martial prowess. They're friendly and desire emotional connection despite being frightened of growing close to others.
While generally good-natured, Maharo can often struggle with controlling or even identifying their own emotions, let alone those of others. Implicit meanings are elusive to them, often leading them to incomplete or incorrect understandings of what others are talking about, unless everyone is speaking in plain terms. They additionally have a hard time expressing their thoughts and emotions consistently, usually “acting” their emotions out rather than letting them flow naturally. While some may mistake this as manipulative behavior, Maharo is genuinely trying their best to appear “normal.” As such, they will often mirror the energy of others around them, consequently leading to them appearing dull, inscrutible, or emotionless when they can’t identify the best way to act in a situation.
Maharo tends to stick to the Gotei 13’s view of things, but occasionally finds their views regarding non-Shinigami at odds with the Soul Society’s more essentialist stance. They tend to expect individual Quincy and Fullbringers to be more misguided than malicious, even if they are dangerous. This benefit of the doubt even extends to the odd Hollow once in a blue moon. That said, they still accept their duties as a Shinigami whole-heartedly. Their willingness to hear others out also does not mean that they will not readily answer hostility with violence.
While they see the world in shades of grey, they do possess a rigid sense of righteousness. They believe that while the strong rule, might does not make right. Rather, it is up to the strongest to make the world a kind and safe place for those below them. They know that their worldview is not impervious to scrutiny, but it is the code that they’ve chosen to follow. Maharo formed this belief while training to become a Shinigami, and it could be questioned whether they had naturally developed this guiding code or if they simply adopted it to try and justify actions they committed in their past.
Despite all of their apparent level-headedness and genuine empathy, Maharo is ruthless by nature. While they put on airs of honor and propriety, mostly to fool themselves, they were born at the bottom and know very well that flowery ideals of doing things the “right way” pave the road to nowhere. They want to be seen as an honorable swordsperson, but when push comes to shove, they’re just as likely to step on your toes and gouge your eyes as they are to match blades.
Because of their build, Maharo has been treated as a man or boy all their life, but always knew that it never quite fit. They don’t know for certain what exactly they are, but they are sure that being a man or a woman is simply not for them. Still, when referred to as a man, they do not often correct others, both to avoid any sort of conflict, and because of how they fear being ostracized by others for their already extensive list of peculiarities.
New Appearance: Tall and willowy, Maharo is pale in complexion with a complete absence of blemishes, their features are soft and delicate-looking, lending them a sense of porcelain beauty paired with icy blue eyes. They sport a messy mane of silvery-white hair which hang down to their midsection, they only cut it on rare occasion. All lean muscle and long limbs, Maharo is physically androgynous with a lean toward the masculine, while their voice leans toward the feminine despite being relatively low in pitch.
They wear a standard-issue Shihakusho modified to have a hood that they wear over their head regularly. Additionally, where most Shinigami wear simple straw sandals, Maharo wears wooden geta, causing their presence to be often accompanied by the sound of wooden clacking.
More notably, Maharo obsessively hides their face behind a long-nosed tengu mask bearing a fierce expression. Maharo clearly cares for it very regularly, the surface is smooth and painted cleanly, and the cord keeping it fastened to their head is replaced at the first sign of wear.
New History:
Current Residence: Squad 13 Barracks
History: Maharo died alone and arrived in the Rukongai with no memories outside of a vague sense of loneliness. Their isolation would only continue as they grew up in the 61st district of the Rukon. They ached for connection, but lacked the tools to seek it, so they only became more closed off from the world. They convinced themselves that there was something wrong with them, that they were simply too repulsive for anyone to actually care about them. This complex manifested most strongly as facial dysmorphia, a distorted perception of their own face.
As they grew into their adolescence, Maharo’s fear of others turned into a resentment, and resentment became anger. They had grown up taller and stronger than most and spent their days picking fights with the other street rats of the Rukongai, all the while wrapping their face with cloth. As is often the conclusion to such things, Maharo eventually picked a fight that proved to be too much for them.
Beaten, broken, and bleeding, Maharo managed to drag themselves to an abandoned shack to die in. They figured that it was the end, and still, all they felt was anger at the world that they believed had rejected them.
The next few weeks of their life they could only recall as flashes of memory as they had drifted in and out of consciousness. A masked figure, lashing out, hiding, helplessness, a mask on their own face, and finally a sense of calm entirely foreign to them.
They awakened from their fugue state aware that the masked man had saved their life, patching their injuries, and had given them the mask they now wore. The stocky man wore a black robe and a short blade at their hip in addition to a new mask on their face after having given Maharo the one they’d seen before. He claimed to be a Shinigami, something that Maharo had scarcely heard of before.
He spoke to Maharo, even and especially when they didn’t speak back. He told them stories, some mundane, others fantastical, but Maharo lacked the worldly knowledge to ever argue about their validity. Over what could only have been a month at most, the resentment that had festered in Maharo’s heart melted away without them ever noticing.
Once they were well once again, the Shinigami began to show them how to wield the wakizashi that he had carried with him. Maharo had wondered why he had the sword on him when he clearly struggled to use it properly, on account of missing both of his little fingers. Despite the handicap, he did well in teaching Maharo not only how to fight, but how to kill.
It didn’t surprise Maharo when the masked man handed them his sword and gave them instructions to take the life of a thug. With how much they owed the man, Maharo didn’t hesitate to act upon the request. The thug had been an agent of an organized crime ring, and was far from the last that Maharo would kill. With their natural strength and the brutal way of fighting the masked man had taught them, Maharo efficiently crippled the local yakuza, all while simply following the wishes of the man that saved their life.
Maharo was once more unsurprised when they found the masked man’s body in the middle of an alleyway. They found themselves not particularly angry or upset. Even if he had been the first person to connect with Maharo, they were happy to have been given a purpose after nearly dying without reason. Even with the masked man dead, they still knew what they wanted to do next. They left the wakizashi with their mentor’s body and set about figuring out how one becomes a Shinigami.
Once they had enrolled in the academy, it didn’t take long for the inconsistencies in the masked man’s stories to show themselves. To some degree or another, Maharo realized that their mentor had never been a shinigami of any sort, but they refused to accept it as fact. Even as they learned what being a shinigami meant and how one was actually expected to act, they held onto the delusion that the man that they owed their life to hadn’t lied to them.
Maharo softened as they grew into a proper adult, having convinced themselves that the killings their mentor had them commit were justified, that they were simply protecting those weaker than them. The men they had slain were violent criminals, nevermind the fact that the man giving them orders was likely one himself.
While they were wracked with internal conflic, Maharo excelled in their studies. Particularly shining in spars with other students. They took to the more refined style of swordplay almost as well as they took to the brutal streetfighting that had defined their youth. They struggled in the more spiritual aspects of study, but managed to show a functional ability to cast a few key Kido, enough to eventually graduate.
Even as Maharo graduated the academy, and was drafted by the Thirteenth Division, they held tightly to their delusion. They knew that it was a lie deep down, but refused to confront the facts, fearing what they may reveal about Maharo themselves.
New Powers:
Class: 6
SP: 525
Stats (Before/After Type):
Strength - 120/156
Speed - 145
Spiritual Pressure - 50/75
Reiatsu Strength - 60/42
Instinct - 70/40
Senses - 80
Energy sensory - 0
Healing Expertise - 0
Techniques - Ranks:
Shunpo - Learned
Hado #4: Byakurai - Proficient
Bakudo #8: Seki - Proficient
Fighting Style: At first blush, Maharo’s style of fighting may appear painfully milquetoast Basic Zanjutsu, slightly adapted to use the shorter blade of their Zanpakuto. While they are skilled on paper, their swordplay is rigid and struggles to adapt to unexpected circumstances.
As a fight becomes more desperate however, Maharo begins to show their true colors. They rely less and less on swordplay, instead using hand-to-hand techniques while their Zanpakuto is used to take cheap shots when their opponent is not expecting them. This style may seem to leave Maharo wide open at times, but if their opponent strikes without caution, they’ll find that Maharo is perfectly happy to trade blows. On occasion they’ll even leave these openings on purpose if they’re struggling to break an opponent’s defense through sheer force.
While they can be ruthless when fighting humanoid enemies, their approach to monstrous foes like most Hollow is downright brutal. While the specific method varies with each monster’s form, they’ve been known to tear open jaws, rip off arms, and even allow themselves to be partially swallowed to ensure a killing blow.
While their Kido skills leave a lot to be desired, the few that they have refined are kept as their aces to pull out when an opponent is least likely expect such.
Zanpakuto: Jōki Ken-Hōchō (蒸気拳包丁 Vapor Fist Cleaver)
Release Phrase: "Coalesce, Jōki Ken-Hōchō"
Inner World: A short stretch of land similar to what one would find in the outer Rukongai. A dirt road flanked by ramshackle buildings, all boarded up and seemingly abandoned, if not for the mysterious, unblinking eyes perpetually staring out onto the street. In the middle of the road, a pool of blood trailing off into the mist that permeates the inner world save for the street itself.
Zanpakuto Appearances:
Overall Ability: Jōki Ken-Hōchō is a weapon that is more dangerous than it seems. Its sealed form is ill-suited for Zanjutsu, and seemingly ineffective in the slaying of Hollows. However, it perfectly suits Maharo’s fighting style, capable of sudden, deadly blows in personal combat, while becoming the perfect tool to carve away at Hollow in close range, retaining these traits in Shikai. Similarly, its spiritual abilities manipulate moisture, clouds, and non-poisonous vapors, seemingly harmless things, into deadly weapons.
Shikai Ability: When released, Jōki Ken-Hōchō can coalesce moisture in the air to create a cloud-like white vapor, so densely packed to be as solid as the zanpakuto’s blade itself.
Shikai Techniques:
Previous Real Age: ~250
Current/New Real Age: N/A
Previous Age of Appearance: 26
Current/New Age of Appearance: N/A
New Ideals/Personality: Maharo is someone defined by their contradictions. They are tall and imposing, yet gentle and soft-spoken. They're polite and afraid of conflict, though most of their talents relate to martial prowess. They're friendly and desire emotional connection despite being frightened of growing close to others.
While generally good-natured, Maharo can often struggle with controlling or even identifying their own emotions, let alone those of others. Implicit meanings are elusive to them, often leading them to incomplete or incorrect understandings of what others are talking about, unless everyone is speaking in plain terms. They additionally have a hard time expressing their thoughts and emotions consistently, usually “acting” their emotions out rather than letting them flow naturally. While some may mistake this as manipulative behavior, Maharo is genuinely trying their best to appear “normal.” As such, they will often mirror the energy of others around them, consequently leading to them appearing dull, inscrutible, or emotionless when they can’t identify the best way to act in a situation.
Maharo tends to stick to the Gotei 13’s view of things, but occasionally finds their views regarding non-Shinigami at odds with the Soul Society’s more essentialist stance. They tend to expect individual Quincy and Fullbringers to be more misguided than malicious, even if they are dangerous. This benefit of the doubt even extends to the odd Hollow once in a blue moon. That said, they still accept their duties as a Shinigami whole-heartedly. Their willingness to hear others out also does not mean that they will not readily answer hostility with violence.
While they see the world in shades of grey, they do possess a rigid sense of righteousness. They believe that while the strong rule, might does not make right. Rather, it is up to the strongest to make the world a kind and safe place for those below them. They know that their worldview is not impervious to scrutiny, but it is the code that they’ve chosen to follow. Maharo formed this belief while training to become a Shinigami, and it could be questioned whether they had naturally developed this guiding code or if they simply adopted it to try and justify actions they committed in their past.
Despite all of their apparent level-headedness and genuine empathy, Maharo is ruthless by nature. While they put on airs of honor and propriety, mostly to fool themselves, they were born at the bottom and know very well that flowery ideals of doing things the “right way” pave the road to nowhere. They want to be seen as an honorable swordsperson, but when push comes to shove, they’re just as likely to step on your toes and gouge your eyes as they are to match blades.
Because of their build, Maharo has been treated as a man or boy all their life, but always knew that it never quite fit. They don’t know for certain what exactly they are, but they are sure that being a man or a woman is simply not for them. Still, when referred to as a man, they do not often correct others, both to avoid any sort of conflict, and because of how they fear being ostracized by others for their already extensive list of peculiarities.
New Appearance: Tall and willowy, Maharo is pale in complexion with a complete absence of blemishes, their features are soft and delicate-looking, lending them a sense of porcelain beauty paired with icy blue eyes. They sport a messy mane of silvery-white hair which hang down to their midsection, they only cut it on rare occasion. All lean muscle and long limbs, Maharo is physically androgynous with a lean toward the masculine, while their voice leans toward the feminine despite being relatively low in pitch.
They wear a standard-issue Shihakusho modified to have a hood that they wear over their head regularly. Additionally, where most Shinigami wear simple straw sandals, Maharo wears wooden geta, causing their presence to be often accompanied by the sound of wooden clacking.
More notably, Maharo obsessively hides their face behind a long-nosed tengu mask bearing a fierce expression. Maharo clearly cares for it very regularly, the surface is smooth and painted cleanly, and the cord keeping it fastened to their head is replaced at the first sign of wear.
New History:
Current Residence: Squad 13 Barracks
History: Maharo died alone and arrived in the Rukongai with no memories outside of a vague sense of loneliness. Their isolation would only continue as they grew up in the 61st district of the Rukon. They ached for connection, but lacked the tools to seek it, so they only became more closed off from the world. They convinced themselves that there was something wrong with them, that they were simply too repulsive for anyone to actually care about them. This complex manifested most strongly as facial dysmorphia, a distorted perception of their own face.
As they grew into their adolescence, Maharo’s fear of others turned into a resentment, and resentment became anger. They had grown up taller and stronger than most and spent their days picking fights with the other street rats of the Rukongai, all the while wrapping their face with cloth. As is often the conclusion to such things, Maharo eventually picked a fight that proved to be too much for them.
Beaten, broken, and bleeding, Maharo managed to drag themselves to an abandoned shack to die in. They figured that it was the end, and still, all they felt was anger at the world that they believed had rejected them.
The next few weeks of their life they could only recall as flashes of memory as they had drifted in and out of consciousness. A masked figure, lashing out, hiding, helplessness, a mask on their own face, and finally a sense of calm entirely foreign to them.
They awakened from their fugue state aware that the masked man had saved their life, patching their injuries, and had given them the mask they now wore. The stocky man wore a black robe and a short blade at their hip in addition to a new mask on their face after having given Maharo the one they’d seen before. He claimed to be a Shinigami, something that Maharo had scarcely heard of before.
He spoke to Maharo, even and especially when they didn’t speak back. He told them stories, some mundane, others fantastical, but Maharo lacked the worldly knowledge to ever argue about their validity. Over what could only have been a month at most, the resentment that had festered in Maharo’s heart melted away without them ever noticing.
Once they were well once again, the Shinigami began to show them how to wield the wakizashi that he had carried with him. Maharo had wondered why he had the sword on him when he clearly struggled to use it properly, on account of missing both of his little fingers. Despite the handicap, he did well in teaching Maharo not only how to fight, but how to kill.
It didn’t surprise Maharo when the masked man handed them his sword and gave them instructions to take the life of a thug. With how much they owed the man, Maharo didn’t hesitate to act upon the request. The thug had been an agent of an organized crime ring, and was far from the last that Maharo would kill. With their natural strength and the brutal way of fighting the masked man had taught them, Maharo efficiently crippled the local yakuza, all while simply following the wishes of the man that saved their life.
Maharo was once more unsurprised when they found the masked man’s body in the middle of an alleyway. They found themselves not particularly angry or upset. Even if he had been the first person to connect with Maharo, they were happy to have been given a purpose after nearly dying without reason. Even with the masked man dead, they still knew what they wanted to do next. They left the wakizashi with their mentor’s body and set about figuring out how one becomes a Shinigami.
Once they had enrolled in the academy, it didn’t take long for the inconsistencies in the masked man’s stories to show themselves. To some degree or another, Maharo realized that their mentor had never been a shinigami of any sort, but they refused to accept it as fact. Even as they learned what being a shinigami meant and how one was actually expected to act, they held onto the delusion that the man that they owed their life to hadn’t lied to them.
Maharo softened as they grew into a proper adult, having convinced themselves that the killings their mentor had them commit were justified, that they were simply protecting those weaker than them. The men they had slain were violent criminals, nevermind the fact that the man giving them orders was likely one himself.
While they were wracked with internal conflic, Maharo excelled in their studies. Particularly shining in spars with other students. They took to the more refined style of swordplay almost as well as they took to the brutal streetfighting that had defined their youth. They struggled in the more spiritual aspects of study, but managed to show a functional ability to cast a few key Kido, enough to eventually graduate.
Even as Maharo graduated the academy, and was drafted by the Thirteenth Division, they held tightly to their delusion. They knew that it was a lie deep down, but refused to confront the facts, fearing what they may reveal about Maharo themselves.
New Powers:
Class: 6
SP: 525
Stats (Before/After Type):
Strength - 120/156
Speed - 145
Spiritual Pressure - 50/75
Reiatsu Strength - 60/42
Instinct - 70/40
Senses - 80
Energy sensory - 0
Healing Expertise - 0
Techniques - Ranks:
Shunpo - Learned
Hado #4: Byakurai - Proficient
Bakudo #8: Seki - Proficient
Fighting Style: At first blush, Maharo’s style of fighting may appear painfully milquetoast Basic Zanjutsu, slightly adapted to use the shorter blade of their Zanpakuto. While they are skilled on paper, their swordplay is rigid and struggles to adapt to unexpected circumstances.
As a fight becomes more desperate however, Maharo begins to show their true colors. They rely less and less on swordplay, instead using hand-to-hand techniques while their Zanpakuto is used to take cheap shots when their opponent is not expecting them. This style may seem to leave Maharo wide open at times, but if their opponent strikes without caution, they’ll find that Maharo is perfectly happy to trade blows. On occasion they’ll even leave these openings on purpose if they’re struggling to break an opponent’s defense through sheer force.
While they can be ruthless when fighting humanoid enemies, their approach to monstrous foes like most Hollow is downright brutal. While the specific method varies with each monster’s form, they’ve been known to tear open jaws, rip off arms, and even allow themselves to be partially swallowed to ensure a killing blow.
While their Kido skills leave a lot to be desired, the few that they have refined are kept as their aces to pull out when an opponent is least likely expect such.
Zanpakuto: Jōki Ken-Hōchō (蒸気拳包丁 Vapor Fist Cleaver)
Release Phrase: "Coalesce, Jōki Ken-Hōchō"
Inner World: A short stretch of land similar to what one would find in the outer Rukongai. A dirt road flanked by ramshackle buildings, all boarded up and seemingly abandoned, if not for the mysterious, unblinking eyes perpetually staring out onto the street. In the middle of the road, a pool of blood trailing off into the mist that permeates the inner world save for the street itself.
Zanpakuto Appearances:
- Spirit: A towering spectre of white vapor wrapped in bloodied clothes, its head particularly well-hidden in its wrappings save for its eerily human-like blue eyes. Its eyes are forever locked in an uncaring, cold gaze that pierces right through anything it looks at.
- Sealed: A guard-less wakizashi with a wooden sheath and hilt, painted a cherry red to match Maharo’s mask. A white cord is wrapped around the lower end of the sheath. The blade itself is on the shorter end, closer to a tanto than a katana.
- Shikai: A small push dagger, the handle made of red-painted wood while the spade-shaped blade is silver, seemingly well-polished as it gleams in the light. A wisp of formless mist always seems to be trailing from the blade.
Overall Ability: Jōki Ken-Hōchō is a weapon that is more dangerous than it seems. Its sealed form is ill-suited for Zanjutsu, and seemingly ineffective in the slaying of Hollows. However, it perfectly suits Maharo’s fighting style, capable of sudden, deadly blows in personal combat, while becoming the perfect tool to carve away at Hollow in close range, retaining these traits in Shikai. Similarly, its spiritual abilities manipulate moisture, clouds, and non-poisonous vapors, seemingly harmless things, into deadly weapons.
Shikai Ability: When released, Jōki Ken-Hōchō can coalesce moisture in the air to create a cloud-like white vapor, so densely packed to be as solid as the zanpakuto’s blade itself.
Shikai Techniques:
{Jōki-Kō: Ken (蒸気鋼：剣 Vapor Steel: Sword)}
- Effect: The most simple of Jōki Ken-Hōchō’s techniques, vapor coalesces around the blade to greatly extend its cutting edge, essentially forming a massive sword around the Zanpakuto’s main body. The specific dimensions of this blade can vary and shift, but it most often mimics the spade-shaped blade of Jōki Ken-Hōchō’s released form. If the blade is shifted, this change happens at 600 Speed.
- Use: Maharo holds their Zanpakuto still for a moment, often off to their side, as the vaporous blade forms around it.
- Cost: 100 Reiatsu when activated, 75 Reiatsu for every turn it is maintained. An additional 50 Reiatsu to reshape on the fly.
- Drawback: Jōki Ken-Hōchō must be held still for a short moment as the blade forms around it, long enough that it cannot be used mid-swing.
{Jōki-Kō: Dangan (蒸気鋼: 弾丸 Vapor Steel: Bullet)}
What kind of update: General update, newer stats, an entirely different Zanpakuto, and a history overhaul, which doesn’t actually retcon too much, mostly just added repressed memories for some spice.- Effect: Despite its name, this technique is more versatile than most projectile techniques. It creates extremely dense, marble-sized orbs of mist. These Dangan can “trigger” in various ways, they can fire off like actual bullets, burst into a short-lived smokescreen, or extend into a blade similar to Jōki-Kō: Ken. The bullet or blade triggers travel at 800 Speed.
- Use: The Dangan manifest from open air anywhere within 1 meter of Maharo, remaining in place unless Maharo physically manipulates them or until they are triggered. This technique can create multiple Dangan at once, up to four.
- Cost: 50 Reiatsu per Dangan created, 25 every following turn for each Dangan not triggered on that turn. 50 Reiatsu to trigger the smokescreen effect, 100 to trigger the bullet or blade effects.
- Drawback: In exchange for their versatility, the Dangan themselves are fragile. If touched by anyone other than Maharo, they will dissipate in a harmless puff of mist. Additionally, they cannot be triggered on the same turn that they are created.
