Hiryu Soukan

Character's Name: Hiryu Soukan
Species: Human
Nationality: Japanese
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Marital Status: single
Occupation: Hiryu Clan head, Samurai
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: hazel
Fur/Skin Color: Cream
Markings: N/A
Height: 5'8
Weight: 178lbs

Family: Hiryu clan

Weapon: Soukan's weaponry is the standard issue for one of his class: the daishou. The only thing of note about the katana-wakizashi pair is their hilts, which are made to resemble the skin of a dragon. The guard and even the navy blue saya are unremarkable at best. They aren't named and were acquired from a felled foe (possibly why Soukan feels the need to leave them unnamed).

Special Abilities: Soukan's tattoos are the source of his power, believed to be inked with the blood of a powerful dragon. This gives him enhanced control over his ki (furthered by his meditations). In essence, his body is a killing machine; the power t ocontrol the flow of his nternal energy translates to increased strength and resilience. He is noted for his ability to take damage, akin to the Shaolin monks of China. It has been said that when this ability isused, appendages affected take on a dragonic appearance. The ability to create claws of pure energy (varying in size and increasingly taxing with growth) is present, as well as the expulsion of jets of flame (albeit short ones, ranging 3-7 feet).

Souga no Ryuujin Nitou-Ryu, or "Twin Fangs of the Dragon King", is the Hiryu clan's form of kenjutsu passed down from generation to generation. Souga, as it's called, teaches to be like the river, ever flowing with no beginning or end and with one movement leading to another. Fighting with minimal exertion is also a key component, as Souga teaches that a sidestep is much quicker than a charge; thusly, it teaches the art of evasion and attack simultaneously. Finally, the sword style teaches one to strike from the spirit, or to use their natural instinct. Practitioners are taught that the spirit exists where there is nothing or where actions are unclouded by emotion or thought, then the idea of striking from the spirit means to do so without emotion or perception.

Weaknesses:

A reclusive nature makes for awkward occurances when interacting with other people. This, in turn, can make things difficult when trying to acquire information. He also tends to speak in riddles, which furthers his incomprehensibility with those lackin wit.

His fire-spewing requires much more effort than his others due to it's nature. With fire, he manipulates an external element. With his ki, he manipulates an internal element. Thusly, he burns out quickly with repeated use of flame-related abilities. At most, three jets is all he can fire in a day before becoming winded. His ki-manipulation otherwise, however, takes much longer to incapacitate him. The largest he can make his claws is equivalent to the size of a horse and this can be sustained for a good minute or so. The time required to recover afterward varies from half an hour to 3 hours, depending on current physical condition.

Although technically of samurai lineage, Soukan views himself more as a monk than anything. As such, he does not adhere as strongly to the code of bushido as most others would. This causes a bit of an uproar around others who view his actions as dishonorable or inappropriate for his class. His honor is important to him, of course, but not so much so in comparison to other samurai.

The armor he wears generally impedes his speed noticably. He is able to defend better against weaponry though. His skill with any weapon aside from his daishou and his body are...mediocre at best. He has no understanding of firearms whatsoever (as a result of living in the mountains for so long) and his devotion to the sword also takes away from other, more practical things. Playing music, for example, not something Soukan can or should do.

Physical Description: A muscular male in his mid-twenties. Soukan is noted for his long black hair, reaching to mid-back level. Facial hair includes a mustache and goatee. His eyes are hazel and change color with the seasons, darkening and lightening throughout the year. Typical attire is a jade keikogi, yellow kosode, and a dark green hakama, tied together by a gold sash. Tabi and waraji are his prefered footwear. Underneath his clothing is a number of tattoos, including one of a dragon, a crane, bamboo, and a few others. He can be seen wearing green dragon-inspired armor when the time warrants it.