Description

Personality

Xerxes has a very proud and strong-willed personality, as well as very centered and focused on the task at hand. By no means is she shy, but outside of the immediate people she is familiar with, she tends to be more reserved towards others until having gotten to know them better. If something interests her greatly, she will take to it with a surprising amount of passion and intensity, and is usually quick and thorough in learning things for that reason. Though she may endeavor in other matters that are not as appealing, she may not stick with them for very long, trying them out just long enough to decide if it’s worth continued pursuit. It is imperative that she tries new things though, because monotony most certainly doesn’t suit her. She loves the art of fighting and the thrill of the hunt.

Equipment

Xerxes wears light armor that consists of leather greaves, leather vambraces, a leather belt, a metal chest-piece comprised of overlapping lightweight but extremely durable metal plates, and a metal shoulder pauldron comprised of the same material on the left shoulder. The metal portions of the armor appear to have a golden hue, while the leather portions are black or dark brown. A black, hooded travelling cloak also accompanies her armor, though she typically only wears it during times of travel and prefers to leave the hood down unless it is important for her to remain discreet. Her clothing was specially crafted to provide as much maneuverability as possible without drastically hindering its defensive capabilities. She also wears a leather choker carved with intricate inscriptions around her neck, a family heirloom that holds great sentimental value to her.

Xerxes' main weapon of choice is a pair of double-bladed kusarigama connected by an extremely long chain. She keeps her weapon in a specially crafted harness around her waist, the actual holster portion of it situated at her lower back. Once sheathed, the wickedly curved scythe-like blades of the dual kursarigama cross over each other, forming an X. (X is for Xerxes XD). Xerxes also carries a medium sized ruck sack filled with what one might called your standard adventurer's kit - a bedroll, flint and steel, a week’s worth of dried rations, rope, waterskin, a map of the land, coin satchel and a few other mundane odds and ends.

History

Age: 19

Fighting Style: Isshin Ryuu Kusarigamajutsu

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Xerxes, formerly Miyamoto Namiko, led a mostly normal life during her early childhood. Her mother was something of an extraordinary artist. Though not well known at the time, she was in progress of gathering a steady group of followers, and word of mouth was working wonders in spreading tales of her innate talents. Xerxes’ father spent the majority of his days running the family dojo with his father, her grandfather. It was there that Xerxes, as well as her twin brother, learned to wield a sword.

Her grandfather was a master swordsman unlike any other in the craft. At times it skipped many generations, but occasionally there would be someone within the Miyamoto line that inherited the legendary double katana-wielding style of THE Miyamoto Musashi. Xerxes's grandfather happened to be one of very few in the line, and it was believed that Xerxes’ brother would be another, as would be proved later on in their life. In order to keep up with her brother, Xerxes trained extremely hard at a young age to work towards harnessing and perfecting her own innate talent with the sword. She thoroughly enjoyed the challenge to become as good as her beloved grandfather, and would never complain about anything she was asked to do.

At the age of nine, her grandfather passed away.

Xerxes was devasted, becoming more aloof and withdrawn, and remaining that way well after her grandfather had been laid to rest. In the months following his funeral, she took to training in solitude, having come across a large, but well secluded, clearing in the forest that lay just behind her family's manor. It was as she was on her way back to her home one day that she realized something was amiss. She sprinted the remaining distance to her house, sliding open the door with a force that surprised her, before freezing at the threshhold. The metalic scent of blood invaded her senses, though at the time she was not aware of what it was.

She called out for her family, becoming even more frightened when she'd received no response as she ran up and down the halls of the manor. Eventually she made her way to her parent’s room, the scent of blood becoming nearly overwhelming the closer she moved to quarters. With shaking hands, she opened their door. And then she screamed. She was so caught up in the sight of her parents' mutilated bodies that she'd failed to sense the presence of the one who killed them sneak up behind her.

By the time she'd realized she wasn't alone it was too late, and the world went black. When she later regained consciousness, she found that she'd been taken to a region located far away from her home, shackled in a cell with a bunch of other people of varying ages, though most of them seemed to be children like her. She soon found out that she had been taken to a place that hosted gladiator-esque tournaments for money, and was placed into a position to where she either had to fight for her life or die. Though she was by this time skilled enough to handle a blade, raw luck was what kept her alive the majority of the time. It was thanks to these forced fights that she was able to further hone her skills and develop a unique style of her own that was still reminiscent of her grandfather's teachings. She had no clue what became of her brother, and that alone was nearly enough to fuel her desire to survive. If there was any chance that he might still be alive, Xerxes would not hesitate to find him by any means necessary, but she needed to get free of that hellhole before she could do anything else.

At the age of thirteen, she'd managed to escape, and immediately sought out the local authorities. However, she did not expect the corruption to have run so deep amongst them, and barely escaped another capture. Fueled by an uncontrollable rage due to the loss of her family, her life, and the authorities unwillingness to do what they were SUPPOSED to do, Xerxes went back to that hellhole and killed as many of the ones that ran that operation as she could. The ferocity of her vengeance scared a few of them off, and she spent the course of the following years tracking them down and killing them at the same time as searching for her missing twin.

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**During her travels, Xerxes acquired a unique ability that allows her to "feel" even the most minute vibrations in the earth, be it the presence of trees and buildings or the march of ants several meters away. Through this heightened seismic sense, she can visualize where people are, their relative distance to her, and their physical build. Because of her fighting style, this sense provides her with a distinct advantage in tracking and knowing when she is being followed, as the majority characteristically requires contact with the ground. With this sense, Xerxes can detect any presence within a 10 meter radius to the extent of being able to tell what manner of being the presence is (i.e. human, animal, cyborg). The further away from that radius the presence is, the harder it is to pinpoint the exact location and nature of the being. She is still working to better enhance this ability, as there are many things that still interfere with her ‘readings’ such as the rushing waters of a nearby river.