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Tombs of Knowledge
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Original Character - Alvara Okami
Name:Alvara Okami
Age: 24
Race: Chi Shaper (see below)
Category:
Choose from: Warrior
Sex: Female
Appearance:Tall and slender, Alvara is fleet footed. She has long black hair and dark green eyes. She is of oriental descent, with pale skin and bright features. She often wears her black hair in a ponytail, with two locks framing her long, thin face. Straightened and kept down, her hair reaches above her lower back and below her shoulder blades. She was built more for fast reflexes and flexible acrobatics rather than brute strength. The lack of any distinguishing marks, such as scars or tattoos, betrays her lack of real experience with life threatening situations or honorable battles. A dark blue and black hakama, traditional oriental attire. This is her typical attire when she has the time to look formal or when she knows she is going to be in a battle. When traveling she wears a more rugged set of light leathers for long distance traveling over mountains and forests.

Weaponry:
Nemusama; her father's blade. It is an enchanted katana, which will cut through any non living material, slicing through steel and armor like a red hot rod in the snow. Also, the blade is virtually unbreakable by any normal means, and the blade has a gap in the middle, a kind of oval hole in the steel. However, it cannot cut living flesh of any kind, unless it is to commit an honorable suicide by the sword's wielder.
Tsume: The only kind of lethal weapon she has in her arsenal is a long, thin blade. It is hidden in Nemusama's hilt, the butt of the hilt fitting into her palm, and the razor thin blade extending the length of it. Unlike Nemusama, which could cut only non-living material, this small dagger, named Tsume, can pierce into any living being. If she presses the blade all the way in, up to the round piece of hilt that served as its handle, the enchantments on the blade would almost guarantee that the victim would be killed.

Weakness: Arrogant and headstrong, Alvara is over confident and heavily reliant on her weapons and abilities. Her inexperience is her greatest downfall. She is also completely helpless at long range, since she has no ranged weapons, and without her sword and sheath she has no real advantage.

Strength: Nemusama, as mentioned, is practically indestructible and can cut through nearly any material, but cannot ever injure living tissue, except in the one exception of seppuku. Alvara herself can channel her chi into manifestations of energy. These can take the form of energy barriers, that can block either a physical or magical blow (only one, not both, decided at the shield's creation), or can enhance a movement. For instance, she can channel her chi into her legs and jump extraordinary height. Or she can channel it through her arms and accent a punch, making it more powerful. She can only use her chi in one "method" at a time. So, she can either make a punch more powerful or use it to create a barrier. She is currently too inexperienced to split her concentration into multiple chi uses.

Personality: Arrogant and headstrong, Alvara is constantly trying to prove herself to others. She feels that her father scorned their family name, and that she must bring back its honor. (Read history, it tells more about her personality)

History: Alvara is the daughter of Miyagi Okami, a master samurai and Guardian. Her clan were born and raised as Guardians, a small tribe of warriors who were taught to protect life. They were trained in defensive arts as well as medicine. Her father was the Guardian for a fuedal lord, a selfish and power hungry person. In defending this man, Miyagi was killed. Alvara never understood why he would have given himself for someone else, choosing instead to live and fight only to protect herself, never others. Now she travels the country, seeking an answer to her questions, with her father's sword lashed at her side.

Alvara was born to a clan of Mystics, who were known throughout time for their ability to shape their Chi into outward manifestations. Over the years, the clan has spawned some of the greatest doctors, warriors, and politicians alike, each using unique aspects of their abilities to bet suit their position. The Okami bloodline is a very small one, each generation usually only having two children at the most, who do humble work in the clan. They are the unspoken miracle workers, often the unsung heroes. Specifically, the Okami bloodline were most famed for their Guardians. Guardians were trained in the defensive arts, and taught the ways of honor and wisdom. Then, they would choose an individual to protect, and they would swear their life to that person, whom they called their Charge, To protect them to their last breath. Sometimes the Guardians would choose high profile individuals, such as Emperors or High Priests, but other times they would simply watch over the leader of a smaller group of individuals, and protect the smaller cities from attack or corruption. The Guardians were often the unsung heroes because they were always subtle. They often did not appear threatening or violent, and they would usually place themselves in a low social position, posing as servants or maids, doing the housework as well as keeping an eye on the family. A Guardian would usually choose to protect the entire lineage or family clan of the Charge they chose. However, in the end their loyalty was only to the Charge and the Charge's command, so if the Charge should die of age or sickness without leaving instruction, the Guardian could choose a new Charge.

A Guardian will always protect life first.
A Guardian's word is his soul bond. It is sacred.
If a task is assigned to a Guardian by his Charge,
it will be done unto death.

These are just some of the values of the Guardians.

Alvara's father, Miyagi, was a Guardian. His charge was a feudal lord. The two of them had grown up together, but as time went on, it slowly ate away at the soul of the Lord. He became a wicked and greedy man, yet Miyagi still saw, on occasion, the glimpse of the good man inside him. Attempting to steer him back to the path of truth, while protecting him from the enemies he had made, Miyagi offered his services as a Guardian. The Lord had treated his subjects poorly, raising taxes during hard times and prosecuting even the most innocent of crimes. He was a corrupt man, and there was a riot. His subjects stormed his mansion, blood thirsty and seeking his death. Miyagi protected the Lord, but did so without permanently hurting any of the citizens. However, there were too many, and Miyagi would not be able to stop them all without killing some of them, which he did not want to do. He discussed with the Lord while barricaded into a room. The only way to keep both the Lord alive and the citizens at bay was to insist that Miyagi, a man of great reputation but of mysterious agenda, had been coercing the Lord into these evil acts. Miyagi knew that, seeing the citizens at his door and thirsting for his blood, the Lord would see at least some of the errors of his way, and his best friend giving himself was no small sacrifice. Miyagi had to hope that it would work. The citizens wanted blood, and they demanded Miyagi's life when they found out he was behind all this. The only solace they gave him was the offer to take his own life in honorable seppuku, an offer which Miyagi accepted. On that day, at sunrise, Miyagi's sword Nemusama, tasted blood.

Years later, Nemusama has been handed down to his daughter, Alvara. The Okami name has been stained by Miyagi's betrayal, and Alvara's training as Guardian was tainted by the knowledge that her father was wrongfully portrayed as a sinister and evil man. She was trained in the arts of the Guardians, but she never took a Charge. She could not imagine why anyone, especially a great man like her father, would give their own life for a coward like the land Lord. She swore that she would never give her own life away so foolishly, and shielded this conviction with layers of bravado and headstrong foolishness.

The truth of the matter is that Alvara is upset, because she never got to learn who her father really was, she never got to spend much time with him as a child because of his sacrifice. Her father was dead, and all that remained of him was a memory, and a false one at that. That thought scares Alvara to this very day, and she decided that she would make a name for herself, carve out a place in history and make sure that she would be remembered for her greatness. When she was a young girl she convinced a drunken old mystic to create Tsume, a lethal dagger hidden within Nemusama's hilt. With this and her own skills, she struck out in the wild world, taking on dangerous escort missions for high profile targets, or participating in various arenas and tournaments, where her defensive skills have so far been more than adequate. However, she has never faced real challenge, and her inexperience is her downfall. Her pride is her sin. She is afraid of what other people think of her, and thus she always struggles to keep up a tough face, appear fearless and strong and mighty.

In recent weeks, Alvara met a man who knew her father. He had heard of her activities. He told the woman that she was a disgrace to the Okami name, and that Miyagi did what he had to do as a Guardian. Reputation means nothing to a Guardian. Words and rumors mean nothing. Only the act has meaning. It was not Miyagi that smeared their name, nor their memory, but it was Alvara who had betrayed her father.

Stricken by this accusation, Alvara now finds herself lost in a world where she confuses the importance of appearance and lies, truth and meaning.





 
 
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