NationStates Jolt Archive

It's the 11th century, Japan. The power of the central government and the Fujiwara clan is eroding fast. Shoguns make war on each other. The countryside is not safe. Bandits are everywhere.
This is a ancient history RPG. It's fairly free-form, you can be any number of things.
-Civilian (Why do I bother, nobody ever takes this option anywhay)
-Samurai
-Ninja
-Foreign Mercenary
-rōnin (Wandering Samurai)
-Foreign Wanderer
-Bandit
-Pirate
-Shogun (limited)
Anything you can think of
The tech, of course, is Japanese. Swords, javalins, bow and arrow, ect. No guns, no cannons, no fireworks. I will allow two RPers to become the main Shoguns. These people have all the power. Money, land, their own private army. These will be constently fighting each other in an attempt to control the reigon, gaining more land, money, and thus more power. I will be RPing the third Shogun, a man named Yamada Katō.
Your typical Samurai carries two swords: the Katana (main sword), and either the wakizashi (side arm), tantō (knife) or shōtō(between the waskizashi and the tantō. You can RP up to three people at a time, more if you are a Shogun. Please TG me if you want to be one of the Shoguns.
Template:
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Weapons:
Physical Appearence: (please provide a picture if possible)
Mental abilities:
Occupation:
Status: (i.e., samurai, civilian, ninja, ect.)
History:

Name: Ichigo Kurosaki
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Weapons: Katana and Wakizashi
Physical Appearance: http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z107/Kain1235/ichigo-1.gif
Mental abilities: Clever, scheming.
Occupation: Wanderer, Mercanary
Status: Ronin
History: Ichigo and his sister, Rukia, were both born in Kyoto to a samurai serving the 2nd shogun. Their father died in battle. While Rukia went on to serve the 3rd Shogunate, Ichigo refused to have anything to do with the shogun that he deemed responsible for his father's demise. He now wanders the country, occasionally accompanying Rukia.

Name: Rukia Kurosaki
Age: 18
Weapons: Sai, Wakizashi, Shurikens, sometimes a shortbow.
Physical Appearance: http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z107/Kain1235/200px-TenchuRFD_Ayame_3.jpg
Mental Abilites: Trusting, trustworthy, loyal.
Occupation: Assassin and Spy for the Katō shogunate.
Status: Ninja
History: History: Ichigo and his sister, Rukia, were both born in Kyoto to a samurai serving the 2nd shogun. Their father died in battle. While Rukia went on to serve the 3rd Shogun, Ichigo refused to have anything to do with the shogun that he deemed responsible for his father's demise. She is sometime accompanied by Ichigo.

Name: Blade Spartan / Rose
Age:24 /23
Occupation:Foreign Mercenary/Civilian
Status:Foreign Mercenary/Civilian
Gender:Male/Female
Height: 196cm/168cm
Weight: 84.3kg/52.4kg
Eye Color: Blue green/ Blue
Hair Color:Brown/ Long Black
Physical Appearence:
Blade Spartan
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t69/zxc_047/Soldier_by_eidolonhawk.jpg

Rose
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t69/zxc_047/Rose.jpg

History: Blade Spartan was born in Cyrodiil ,growing up there most his life till he join the Imperial Legion at sixteen and end up fighting in Skyrim fighting in the Five year war and rising to the rank of Knight of the Imperial Dragon

Armor
http://www.morrowind.pl/pancerz/morrowind/imperial_armor_mini.jpg

Weapons
Sword
http://www.mwart.com/images/p/Fantasy_Swords_Elexorien__Sword_of__UC1240_701.jpg

close up
http://www.blacksword.com/shop/images/UC1240%20handle%20detail%20LH.jpg (http://www.blacksword.com/shop/images/UC1240%20handle%20detail%20LH.jpg)

crossbow/Repeating crossbow
Yumi (Japanese longbow)

Name: Kaita Tanaka
Age: 24
Occupation: rōnin
Status: In exile
Gender:Male
Height: 6'2''
Weight: 81kg
Eye Color: Blue green/ Blue
Hair Color:Brown/ Long Brown
Physical Appearence:
History:

Kaita was once one of the most respected Samarai in the armies of the Taira no Gaiate (With Nova Grippon's position) and often served during the various wars of the shogunites before he was targeted for assasination by his lord, who feared the respect and the loyalty he had within the army. However, his assasin decided to spare his life and so condemned them both to exile. Since that time he was wandered the lands on Japan doing oddjob for various different peoples and villages before deciding to form his own army. At this stage the soldiers who formally fought under the Tanaka banner continue to fight for the shogun as they believe their master dead. However, Kaita plans to reveal himself soon and maybe create a small shogunite of his own amongst the chaos.


Name: Riri Kanegi
Age: 21
Occupation: Ninja
Status: In exile
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 70kg
Eye Color: fill in later
Hair Color: fill in later
Physical Appearence:
History:

Riri was recruited from a young age to be trained as an elite assasin for her local shogunite. Inititally she showed a great potential and, allied with anintense ruthlessness, she became one of the high standing Ninjas in the Shogun's elite unite. However, her biggest mission to date was to kill high ranking Samurai Tanaka in a way that would not alienate the troops under his banner. She almost succeed in her task but was overcome with an uncharacteristic change of heart and so she spared his life.

She was exiled along with Kaita and now she travels the country with him as a stealth specialist and almost acts like his little sister. The two have a great relationship based on trust and a desire to see the shogun pay for his backstabbing.

Name: Itoh Daichi
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Weapons: Bow and Arrow
Physical Appearence: Hight: 5'8"; Weight: 145 lbs; Eye color: Green; Hair color: Black
Mental abilities: Intelligent, loves riddles and puzzles
Occupation: civilian
Status: civilian
History: Was the son of a farmer. Farm was pillaged by bandits, also killed parents. Out to avenge father's death. Will fill in more later.

All accepted.

Name:Taira no Gaiate (http://www.atddm.com/GaiateT.jpg)
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Weapons: Tachi &, koshigatana*, tanto, Dai-kyu ( Great Bow ), yumi ( reguilar bow), Yari (spear)
Physical Appearence: He is unusually tall for the time period, standing at 6'2", weighing about 210 pounds, he is perfectly proportioned so he does not look as tall as he is. See link in name for appearance.
Mental abilities: Smart, Charismatic, Honorable, inwardly calm and collected
Occupation:Samurai
Status: Shogun ( with Xiscapia's permission)
History: Second son of Taira no Tadamori** - he is well educated, very sophisticated in the ways of the Imperial Court and as complete a Samurai as one could idealise.

His signature attack has earned the title of Mumyo-ken or Sandanzuki (which translates as "Three Piece Thrust"), a technique that could attack one's neck, left shoulder, and right shoulder with one strike. His moves are so fast that it is said that the Mumyo-ken hits all three points simultaneously.

He is a renown horseman, it is said that he has never lost his seat no mater what terrain. His favorite mount is a reddish gold hued horse with a silvery mane and tail and his saddle and tack are black laquered with a gold-edged. His horse bardings fringe color is shaded green and bronze

Armor - Butterfly-embroidered nerinuki silk hitatare, with shaded green lacing, and a horned helmet. At his waist, Gaiate wears a tachi with dark gilt bronze fittings, the sheath is laquered a dark wine hue; on his back, there rides a matching quiver containing arrows fledged with black-banded white eagle feathers. His favorite mount is a reddish gold hued horse with a silvery mane and tail and his saddle and tack are black laquered with a gold-edged. His horse bardings fringe color is shaded green and bronze

*The tachi (http://www.atddm.com/tachi1.jpg) (太刀, tachi is a sword which is generally larger than a katana, and is worn suspended with the cutting edge down. This style is called jindachi-zukuri, and was the standard form of carrying the sword for centuries, and would eventually be displaced by the katana style where the blade was worn thrust through the belt, edge up. The tachi was worn slung across the left hip. The signature on the nakago of the blade was inscribed in such a way that it would always be on the outside of the sword when worn. This characteristic is important in recognising the development, function and different styles of wearing swords from this time onwards.

When worn with full armour, the tachi is accompanied by a shorter blade in the form known as koshigatana ("waist sword"); a type of short sword with no hand-guard (tsuba) and where the hilt and scabbard meet to form the style of mounting called an aikuchi ("meeting mouth"). Daggers (tantō), were also carried for close combat fighting as well as carried generally for personal protection.

** Taira no Tadamori - General of member of the Kebiishi (Imperial police force). He was also governor of the provinces of Harima, Ise, Bizen, and Tajima. He consolidated the influence of the Taira clan at the Imperial Court, and is said to have been the first samurai to serve the Emperor directly, at Court. As a servant of the Court, Tadamori waged campaigns, beginning in 1129, against pirates on the coasts of San'yōdō and Nankaidō (two of the Gokishichidō, large administrative divisions of Japan). He also served his own clan in battling the warrior monks of Nara and of Mount Hiei. Tadamori is also credited with the construction of the Rengeō-in, a major and now-famous temple in Kyoto, which includes the longest wooden building in the world, the Sanjusangen-dō. Tadamori was granted the governorship of Tajima province as a reward for completing this project.

Wiki Info:

In reference to Japanese history, along with Minamoto, Taira was a hereditary clan name bestowed by the emperors of the Heian Period to certain ex-members of the imperial family when they became subjects. Kabane: This Taira clan is often referred to as Heishi (平氏) or Heike (平家), using the character's Chinese reading hei. (Clan is "Shi".Family is "ke".)

Offshoots of the imperial dynasty, some grandsons of Emperor Kammu were first given the name Taira in 825 or later. Afterwards, descendants of Emperor Nimmyō, Emperor Montoku, and Emperor Kōkō were also given the surname. The specific hereditary lines from these emperors are referred to by the emperor's posthumous name followed by Heishi. i.e. Kammu Heishi.

The Taira were one of the four important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period (794-1185) - the others were the Fujiwara, the Tachibana and the Minamoto.

The Kammu Heishi line, founded in 889 by Taira no Takamochi (a great-grandson of the 50th Kammu tenno, reigned 781-806), proved to be the most strong and dominant line during the late Heian period with Taira no Kiyomori eventually forming the first samurai dominated government in the history of Japan. A great-grandson of Heishi Takamochi, Taira no Korihira, moved to Ise Province (now part of Mie Prefecture) and established a major daimyo dynasty. Masamori, his grandson; and Tadamori, great-grandson, became loyal supporters of the cloistered tennos Shirakawa and Toba, respectively.

Thank you Nova Nippon, very informative. Accepted. If anyone knows anyone else who may be interested in this, please TG them with a link for me.

mind if i base my two from the Imperials from the elder scolls

Not at all, but remember: No magic

cool and think i keep her blue hair

Public Notice - When I play historical Japan, I try to play as true to my understanding of the culture, philosophy, etc as possible.

By that reason some, if not all, of the views expressed, and probably a good many of my character's actions - will in all likelyhood be offensive to modern sensibilities. These are not my opinions, etc, but those of the character in a society that is very different from even western viewpoints & mores of the time.

Just to let Isa know- blue hair is not nauiral, and might easily be taken as a indication of demonic heritage or status, and will not get your character much inter action from any pc's or npc's that I control.

Also, Void Templar, Rukia wouldn't get much shrift if she went about openly wearing such as that image does. Ninjas wore the clothing of the class their cover story had them as. also just fyi a female ninja is called a miko, and most were reputed to be sorceresses.

I am not an authenticity nazi, I am just trying to mention some general societal views that would have been the norm for Japan of the 11th century..

But then again the Japanese of that time was home to such non human races as Oni, tengu, kami, kitusne, and much more and majick worked, it was a given - though it mostly was the clerical style majick of the shinto priest and buddhist monk., or that of the non humn races. Human sorcerers were rare and generally relegated to being either evil Taoists come over from China or hedge wizzards that made vain glorious samurai's lives miserable...

However we are very lucky as this is set in one of the more interesting and forgiving time periods. The edicts confining one to one particular caste had not yet been issued. A farmer could become a samurai, and a samurai could give it all up to be an artisan - things that a couple of centuries later would be impossible.

well rose is going to be a concubine or a handmaiden don't know which one fits yet

IC thread will be up on either Thursday morning or Sunday night. I'm waiting to see if we can get a couple more members, I also still need a third Shogun, congrats to Nova Nippon on becoming the second one.

I can hardly wait!

Is the new picture any better? The other one was a bit... un...stealthy.

Ic thread is up!
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=541107

can i be a westerner?

OOC: I'm waitng for Void Templar to show up, the gift can be for Nova,
if Nova don't want it can i give it to a NCP Shogun

my Shogun has no use for such things. He already has plenty of knives.
Knife don't know it could be a Sword but i had a line drop out (which is one my problems i having) when i went back to have a look

can i be a westerner?
Dosen't really fit with the time period, but, in the interest of creativity of the thread, I suppose so.

Name:(shi'hing) musishiay hope(real name unknown)
Age:20
Gender:female
Weapons:longbow, long sword, shirukan, bare hands and anything remotly dangeros really.
Physical Appearence:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/The_Elder_Scrolls_IV_-_Shivering_Isles_promotional_screenshot.jpg/250px-The_Elder_Scrolls_IV_-_Shivering_Isles_promotional_screenshot.jpg
Mental abilities:calm,strongwilled, fight to the end mindset
Occupation:aiding people, for a fee
Status:foreign wanderer
History:After killing some one in a bar fight one night 'mushishiay' fled the city of beijing and has been on the run from the chinese imperial forces ever since.
Jurneying around the land she will help people who need it and, for the right price will help almost anyone.
WEAPONS:
http://www.armsofvalour.com/miva/graphics/00000001/arya.jpg (but longer)
http://www.wle.com/media/FM-410.jpg
http://www.stonewurks.com/02_10.jpg

Btw i have started mentioning how she is the child of an aurial and a rapist, how she has seen shivering isles once and how she thinks men are lesser people, the oposite to japanese belife of the time. Shivering isle/ the isles are from oblivion too, i should have mentioned it but meh. It will have no bearing on her in the present, she doesnt have super long life or anything.

Name:itachi
Age:20
Gender:male
Weapon:katana, repeting crossbow, short sword.
Physical Appearence: (please provide a picture if possible)
Mental abilities:superier intelect, calm and colected,not easily provoced.
Occupation:wandering the land
Status:mercenery
History:Rised on a small island off the coast of china, itachi left on a pirate ship pasing by the island. iatachi left the pirates a year later as they passed japan and began to hire himself out to the highest bidder, fighting for them with his formidable skills whilst doing this he encountered Rukia and Ichigo. Now 3 years later, he is looking for them once more, for reasons unknown...

Name:itachi
Age:20
Gender:male
Weapon:katana, repeting crossbow, short sword.
Physical Appearence: (please provide a picture if possible)
Mental abilities:superier intelect, calm and colected,not easily provoced.
Occupation:wandering the land
Status:mercenery
History:Rised on a small island off the coast of japan, itachi left on a pirate ship pasing by the island. iatachi left the pirates a year later and began to hire himself out to the highest bidder, fighting for them with his formidable skills whilst doing this he encountered Rukia and Ichigo. Now 3 years later, he is looking for them once more, for reasons unknown...

if your person Japanese they would not have a Repeating crossbow as it Chinese

He could have bought it, stolen it, or killed a Chinaman and taken it off him. Welcome to the thread.

Name: Jade
Age: 23
Status: Civilian
Height: 164cm
Weight: 52.4kg
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: it what ever it is in the pic which could be Copper i think
Physical Appearence:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa14/ShioriYuri/Shadow%20Hearts%20-%20Covenant/KarinKoenig-1.jpg
History: Jade like Rose is a concubine to Blade

Name: Machmud al-Abbas
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Weapons: Simitar
Physical Appearence: (please provide a picture if possible) Machmud's appearence is rather old for his age, as his life at sea gave him heavy stress. He has a very slight grey beard, his grey hair is slightly covered by his smallturban. Despite his age, he is still a strong, tall , imposing man (his height is 6'3").
Mental abilities: Barter
Occupation: Merchant
Status: (i.e., samurai, civilian, ninja, ect.) Taider
History: His father's fathers have long been prominent traiders aroungd the Persian Gulf. However, just as the Abbasid Caliphate expanded so did the traiding buisness. While leaving from China, a storm knocked his ship past several metres away and he soon made it to Japan where he discovered another opprutunity to make money.

Name: Imam Abu Hussain
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Weapons: None
Physical Appearence: (please provide a picture if possible): Abu is rather young, and has slight stubble on his face. He is short.
Mental abilities: Zealous
Occupation: Imam (Islamic priest)
Status: (i.e., samurai, civilian, ninja, ect.)
History: Rather young, after leving madaras (Islamic school) Imam Husayn went to support the dawa (conversion) effort abroad. While meeting Abbas in China, he decided to go with him to South East Asia to gain more converts. However, his ship went off course and went to Japan.

The Chinese Repeating Crossbow - the Chu-ko-nu- is so old a technology that and was not any sort of a state secret that it easily could have crossed to Japan. There wsa tremendous trade back and forth between the two and Japan and Korea as well. Though the attempted invasions of Japan by China don't take place untill the late 1200's it's silly too assume that ONLY those from China will have them or have knowledge of them.

The Japanese didn't use them in mass warfare as far as I can - I have seen passages of scholarly works that mention that there was a ban on crossbows in the 8th - 10thy centuries and that there seemed little interest among the bushi in them - though not as tio why the lack of interest

and there is also mention - in later times of a Teppo Yumi, a light crossbow used for amusement

Taking Up the Bow: Polity, Culture and the Technology of War

Karl Friday, University of Georgia

The technology that produced and defined the samurai was mounted archery. While early modern warriors would revere the sword as "the soul of the samurai," the professional fighting men of the ninth to fourteenth centuries styled themselves "men of the way of horse and bow."

Using a bow and arrow from horseback is a difficult art to master, and reliance on cavalry severely limits a commander’s ability to direct and control his troops. The Japanese were, moreover, already acquainted with more sophisticated technologies, such as crossbows, drilled infantry, and coordinated mixed forces tactics. And yet horse-borne archers became the premier military technology of the classical and early medieval era. In sieges, skirmishes in the capital, and other situations that circumscribed the arena of combat, fighting men on foot played a major part. When, however, battles were fought on open ground, they were decided mainly by encounters between mounted samurai. Foot soldiers present on this sort of battlefield were not just attendants and lackeys (as has often been suggested), but they were also of far less consequence than the cavalry. Indeed, armed forces were often counted in numbers of horsemen alone.

This paper will focus on why mounted archery dominated the battlefields of the Heian, Kamakura and Nanbokuchô periods, arguing that this form of fighting best served the needs of both the state and the warrior order that defended it. It will also briefly examine why bow-wielding cavalry was supplanted by pike-bearing infantry during the Muromachi age.

and here is an excellent link to give some solid background on the origins of the samurai (http://www.judoinfo.com/samurai.htm)

All right, all characters accepted.

lol blade seems a little bit horny doesnt he?
insidently i left shi'fu mushishiay up because i might use him as an informant for itachi, i dont know, i will ponder this further *plays twilight zone music and vanishes in a puff of smoke* buwahhaahahahahaa!

hack no way he near King Solomon who had 700 official wives and 300 concubines

Barry Winters
Age:40
Gender Male
Height 186cm (roughly 6' 1")
Weight 89.3kg (roughly 197 lbs.)
Physical Appearence:
http://residentevil.planets.gamespy.com/images/pages/sketchbooks/re1/final/thumbs/barryburton.jpg
Occupation: engineer
Status: civilian
History
hired by the Japanese government to build (what ever one you picked from) the two ideas i sent you

Note
when Barry Winters hears Blade full name he going to be shock that the Emperor nephew is in Japan and not where they say he is

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13205249&posted=1#post13205249
That is a new thread im starting and im extending an invitation to you all to join it. It is FT and iv already set up a template for you to post importannt RP details.

Btw isnt there a maximum of 3 RPable charicters at a time?
P.S. sorry 4 advertising on ur thread Xipia

did you read the part i said 'what ever one you picked from the two ideas i sent you'

I8U: Yes, 3 char max, it's okay to advertise BTW, God knows I've done plenty of it.
Isa: I never got the TG listing my choices as to what job the engineer is doing, try sending it to me again please. Keep in mind the time period, and the fact that I cannot actually RP until Blade, Rose, and Jade arrive.

I8U: Yes, 3 char max, it's okay to advertise BTW, God knows I've done plenty of it.
Isa: I never got the TG listing my choices as to what job the engineer is doing, try sending it to me again please. Keep in mind the time period, and the fact that I cannot actually RP until Blade, Rose, and Jade arrive.

dam i must of sent it sec's before a line drop if it never got to you :headbang: :mad:

bridge
some kind of building that Japanese don't have
water canal

thats all i can recall

Name: Tetsuo Yamaga

Age: 30

Gender: Male

Weapons: Naginata, katana, Japanese longbow.

Physical Appearence: http://www.nihonto.ca/taima/sohei2.jpg

Mental abilities: Clever, passionate, determined. Easily angered.

Occupation,Status&History: "An abbot without a monastery" - Tetsuo is a wandering Sōhei leader, who was banished from the Mount Hiei's famous warrior monastery with his followers, when the old abbot came to conclusion he was becoming a too much of a threat for his power and position. His opinions about Buddhism were also rather different than those of the majority of the monks.
He now leads a group of some 30 monks, with whom he travels around Honshu, working as bodyguards and mercenaries. He is determined to somehow gather an army and make a comeback some day, conquering Mount Hiei and punishing those who insulted and destroyed his "career".

Accepted, glad to have you aboard.