Birth Name: Shako Khan
Character Alias (If applicable): N/A
Appearance: Written appearance: Shako is completely bald, though he maintains a small goatee which remains neatly trimmed at only a few millimetres length (though the keeping of some hair is not forbidden among the monks of Uirlin, it is not exactly smiled upon either). His clothing is the traditional navy blue robes, consisting of trousers which hang loose around his legs to enable full movement, and a soft cloth jacket which is also a light fit. The robes are finished by a white sash, which states his position as a full member of the temple. He may also be seen wearing a brown woollen cloak which covers these clothes and enables him to wander somewhat anonymously. His feet are always adorned with a simple pair of sandals, and he wears a small set of prayer beads around his left wrist. [Other than what is written here all other ornamentation seen in the picture is non-existent, and the upper body clothing is not just a pair of sleeves as in the picture.]
Sex: Male
Home Nation: Veilbrand
Current Location/Residence: The Great Temple of Uirlin
Age: 24
Height: 6â3â
Weight: 182 lbs
Hair Color: Sandy brown
Eye Color: olive green
Complexion: fair
Body Type: Heavily muscled, but still slight and agile looking.
Blood Type: O-
Fighting Style (Hard or Soft?): Shakoâs fighting style is completely soft. All of his training relates to blocking, countering, evading, and incapacitating rather than killing. Everything he knows is designed to be used defensively, not as the aggressor. His movements are fast and precise, and the force behind them perfectly measured for the desired effect so as to cause no more harm than necessary. The style is very much focused around mixed martial arts as well as simply letting your opponent tire themselves as you land many small blows to weaken them and cause them to act rashly. As with any martial art speed is crucial and can mean the edge between victory and defeat, and when properly concentrating Shako is capable of striking out quickly like a praying mantis. The style is not meant for fighting off hordes of people though, and thus the technique causes slight tunnel vision, limiting awareness of the surroundings.
Adaptability Ratio: 4-10
Personality: Like all natives of Veilbrand Shako is at heart a peaceful person. If he had his way then fighting would be settled honourably, and nobody in the world would need to experience the horrors of war. He is not foolish enough to think that this will ever be the case, however, and recognises that he is most likely going to die on the end of a blade at some point. Being removed from his mentor caused him enough mental trauma to become an even quieter and more withdrawn person than he was before, and though he does not have a problem talking to people it is very rare that he will be the one to initiate a conversation.
He also shares the common Veilbrand trait of being unintentionally rude or insulting, something that is an accepted part of the culture within the nation itself but which others are unlikely to be so understanding of. The fact that he has never left the temple grounds before makes him somewhat naĂŻve to the world around him, though the amount he has read has educated him sufficiently on most points. In particular Shako has no idea of social customs outside of the temple, nor has he ever had contact with members of another religion though he knows of their existence.
He is above all a reserved and patient person who likes to take the time to think things through rather than acting rashly. He highly values honesty and diplomatic skill over brute force and deception, and would much rather talk things through than get into a fight if possible. As soon as a fight begins Shako becomes machine like as all of his training kicks in until it is over. Afterwards he will revert back to his normal self and probably try to help the person he is likely to have knocked unconscious.
Quirks: Shako has a heavily scarred body from his years of live combat training, but his head remains strangely free of such marks. The scars range in size from little more than nicks to a huge one that runs diagonally down his back from left to right. As he moves his muscles cause the scars to ripple, creating strange shapes and patterns across his body like a living piece of art.
Likes: He enjoys simply being outside, to be able to hear the birds and the rustling of trees in the wind, to see the Sun reflecting from a body of water. This love of nature has created a joke within the temple that he shouldâve been a priest of Raggella, but it is not the worship that most of them mistake it for. Rather, it is the longing of a man who has spent most of his life locked inside like a prisoner. He also enjoys sparring with people, and likes to read whatever books he can get his hands on. When he isnât outside or fighting, he is bound to be reading.
Dislikes: Above all else, Shako dislikes unnecessary killing, especially when those being killed are innocent. He despises criminals in all their forms, though that does not mean he feels no sympathy for those who have no alternatives. Dishonesty and deception he feels are wrong, and he does not stand for insults to his God (largely because he is not used to hearing them).
Special Talents/Skills: Shako can read and write fluently, and has a very good knowledge of a broad range of subjects. His arithmetic is not the best, but it is probably better than your average citizen.
Weapon/s of Choice: Unarmed combat
Weapon/s of Last Resort: Blunt weapons
Weapons you avoid: Anything likely to kill someone. It is not in the teachings of the monks to use swords, spears etc. â that is what soldiers are for. It is their belief that the true worship of Uirlin does not lie in killing, but in the skill and spectacle of the fight itself.
Weapon/Training History (If applicable): Like all monks of Uirlin Shako has been trained from a young age in martial arts. This involves many challenges to both strength and endurance. Every day at the temple from as soon as he was old enough he was put through a rigorous exercise regime. This involves tasks such as running circuits of the temple, balancing atop wooden poles, various forms of weight training, holding poses designed to put stress on the muscles and of course practice of the martial arts themselves.
It also involves live combat exercises against city guards armed with real weapons and ordered to strike to kill. The guards of Veilbrand follow their orders, and the monks of Uirlin understand that if they die then Uirlin did not deem them worthy to live in his temple. This is where the many scars have come from, and where Shako became used to death. From this Shako has learnt how to disarm and incapacitate in even the most extreme of circumstances and emerge the victor without killing, and to push his emotions away and look at situations with some detachment.
The monks also go through mental training, spending large amounts of time meditating to focus their minds. They must also condition themselves to be the masters of their own bodies and are therefore expected to be able to withstand certain traumas. The monks are not immune to pain but they have learnt the hard way to be able to ignore all but the most severe of injuries, even if only temporarily, and Shako has developed an incredible amount of willpower in this particular facet of training.
Although he is also trained to use blunt weapons such as staffs, Shako has never been a fan of them and thinks that they have too much potential to kill. Though all the techniques they are taught with these weapons are still designed to incapacitate, all it takes is for one blow to have a little excess force and the recipient could easily die.
The martial arts forms used focus on speed rather than strength, and the use of positioning relative to the enemy dictating specific stances and fighting routines. Whilst learning the routines can prove a defence against them, the training of the monks allows them to weave several styles together almost seamlessly meaning that in a head to head fight only the most skilled of warriors are likely to walk away completely unharmed.
Biography:Like all monks of Uirlin Shako was handed over to train in the ways of the god of war at birth, his parents poor and deciding that it would be a better future for him. He has no memory of them, and has never seen them since nor does he even know their names. The people of the monastery are his surrogate family. The monks are celibate, but allow both males and females to join and train together in the same temple. Upon entering Shako was assigned a mentor to raise and guide him through the ordeals to come, and her name was Luella Cantu. Luella raised him as though he were her son, in a way which only a member of Uirlinâs faith could. The term âtough loveâ definitely applies here. Uirlin does not tolerate the weak, and so neither do his dedicated worshippers. All members must prove they are worthy or be cast out, or worse wind up dead during training.
This training has brought many hardships that few outside the religion will have been put through, but such is life when you serve the god of war. The methods may be harsh, but they do get the intended results. When Shako first began his training he was widely considered talentless and among the initial candidates for dismissal, either by excommunication or death. For several months he fell steadily behind, unable to match most of the other candidates whom had joined at the same time. Luella fought tooth and claw for him to be given extra time to develop, seeing a potential that others could not. The monk overseeing training reluctantly agreed, and then Luella took Shakoâs training to a notch above the rest. Rather than train him with the group she began to train him herself, and whereas the other recruits only trained for half of the day he trained all day for five days of the week.
Luella pushed him to the brink and further until he was able to complete the tasks she gave him perfectly every time. By the time he was finished he was on par with the best, if not better, in terms of martial skill. It was not until he was older that he would realise the great service she had done for him, and until he was ten he despised her because her method of training alienated him from the others. As soon as he turned ten he was removed from his mentor, as were all the others, and placed in group classes. After spending so much time with Luella this was a bigger blow to him than many of the other trainees and he became somewhat withdrawn. Now that they were considered old enough the children were taught to read and write, and taught the teachings of Uirlin.
Physical training was also stepped up during this time to live combat exercises against armed city guards, and several trainees were killed or maimed and consequently expelled from the temple. Here Shako learnt that by removing him from the group Luella had softened the blows that many others felt as their friends died, for Shako had no friends to lose. At age fifteen all of the trainees were formally initiated into the religion, making them official members at the bottom of the food chain. Though they still had to follow a rigorous training regime both mentally and physically time was now also given over to take on some of the more menial tasks needed to keep the temple running such as cleaning and carrying messages.
Whatever free time the monks had after this they were able to use as they wished and it was around the age of sixteen that Shako first entered the Great Library, picked out a book and fell in love with reading. Since that day he devoted as much of his time to reading as he did to meditation which earned him a little scorn â the monks of Uirlin were supposed to be warriors not scholars. Despite this he was allowed to continue unheeded, and he slowly gathered more and more knowledge about the outside world, and read more and more stories of adventures in far off lands. This is probably around the time his wanderlust began, and it wasnât long before he felt an all-consuming need to get out and experience the wider world.
The temple itself is a small city within a city: completely self-sufficient, and although officially ruled by the monarchy they do not interfere with the templeâs business, and in return the temple does not make demands of them. Due to this self-sufficiency the temple has no particular need for its disciples to venture into the outside world, but the higher ranking monks do go into the city on a daily basis to spread the word and collect donations from the faithful. Shako began to question why it was that only they should be allowed to go, but the only answer he received was that the High Priest did not want Uirlinâs teachings being spread in an improper or inaccurate fashion. But since all members of the temple knew the teachings and scriptures off by heart he felt this was highly unlikely to be the real reason.
Nevertheless he decided that if promotion was what it was going to take to be allowed into the city then that was what he was going to attain. Shako reluctantly became involved in the inner politics and power struggles of the temple, and quickly came to regret it. Whilst Uirlin taught honour and integrity, those with ambitions of ascending to the top acted with neither of these. They fought dirty, smearing and backstabbing all who opposed them. That world was not for Shako and he quickly gave up his pursuit of promotion, feeling disheartened. During that time however, he had begun to notice some suspicious activity in some members of the temple, particularly relating to their worshipping habits and decided to investigate a little further. The next two years were spent digging around and rooting out information, following up leads and tracing rumours. At their culmination, Shako was faced with a shocking revelation â some members of the temple of Uirlin were worshipping Teâi Sai as the instruments of Uirlin within the mortal realm. Disgusted by their behaviour, Shako set up an urgent meeting with the Arch Deacon, the right hand man of the High Priest himself to discuss this pressing matterâŠ