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Sazaname Ryo

Madness and Genius, Life and Death- Two Sides of the Same Coin

0 · 354 views · located in Japan- Sengoki era

a character in “Ways of the Samurai: Journey”, as played by Eskay

Description

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"Curse whatever deity you hold dear, worms! The Mask Demon Sazaname is hear to rend flesh and bone- abandon all hope and yield, lest you incur my most fearsome wrath!"



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Nobody has ever seen the person behind the mask and lived to talk about it- not since a very long time ago, that is. Ryo is garbed in multiple layers of silk cloaks, with a harder leather exterior to act as additional padding. Ryo is never seen without its mask, or its trademark companion Okashii (a crude, unadorned hand puppet that somewhat resembles a dragon. The puppet rests on Ryo’s left hand, and is never removed.) When conversing, Ryo stands tall and has very few idiosyncrasies, at least as far as physical mannerisms go. When Ryo is engaged in combat, however, its posture becomes far more bizarre, adopting an almost “Drunken Monkey” style of movement.


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Ryo has no recollection of happier times- all he knows now is obeying the madness that Okashii instills in him.


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Okashii


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Erratic, unpredictable, and downright unstable are adequate descriptors of Ryo. It actually becomes difficult to describe the characteristics of Ryo due to the fact that it seems to believe that Okashii, the hand puppet it constantly wears on its left hand, is in fact a living being (the puppet is actually a Tsukumogami Yokai of the same name. Okashii does not manipulate the puppet itself- rather, the puppet is merely the channeling medium by which it infects Ryo’s mind with its madness.) Anytime Ryo is addressed, Okashii will ‘speak’ on Ryo’s behalf.

As far as Ryo itself goes (Ryo’s gender is anyone’s guess, as it never removes its mask or has any indicative physical features,) it is very docile and obedient- though further investigation would reveal it is out of intimidation and not loyalty. The puppet Okashii, conversely, has a very commanding, abrasive, and condescending personality, constantly bossing Ryo around. Okashii only feels obligated to obey the strong- as long as he has been a part of Ryo’s life, he has only taken orders from Warlord Yosuke. Interestingly enough, Okashii will answer to ‘his’ name as well as Ryo’s name.

No living person knows who the man (or woman) behind the mask really is, nor what he or she has been through to become what it is today. Should one find a way to cleanse Ryo of its madness, one may find a truly different person…




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Okashii- Ryo despises Okashii beyond comprehension, though it is powerless to resist the youkai's influence.

Warlord Yousuke- Ryo's current employer, very much against its will. Its forced loyalty has earned it the trust of the bloodthirsty warlord.


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Straight Yari- Ryo's primary weapon of choice, it uses the yari to pierce and bludgeon. Ryo is also quite adept at martial arts, and will use the yari in conjunction with its own body.

Kusarigama- Used in the event that range is a necessity, Ryo handles the Kusarigama with a relative degree of competency.

Katana- Though Ryo would much rather use its yari to dispose of an opponent, the katana has proven to be a much more balanced weapon in the event that Ryo is facing a more skilled opponent.

Mask- Mostly used simply to conceal Ryo's face, though the mask is made out of harder material than most, and has proven unintentionally useful in preventing attacks from damaging Ryo's head.

Okashii- A puppet enchanted by the youkai Okashii. Ryo is unable to remove it willingly, and is the source of its madness.


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Veteran Killer- Since early childhood, Ryo has known nothing but killing. Though having received no formal training, it has perfected a very bizarre technique imprinted upon it by Okashii, fighting more like a demon than a man.

Unpredictability- Having its will bent to the whims of an unstable youkai, Ryo does not operate under the principles of human logic and reason, making it very unpredictable both on and off the battlefield.

Bouts of Sanity- Very infrequently (and usually very briefly,) Ryo has been known to push away Okashii's influence, temporarily regaining control of its own mind. What triggers these bouts is still a mystery to Ryo, however, and could very well be the answer to removing the youkai from its mind once and for all...


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Slave to Madness- Ryo's actions are dictated by Okashii, and therefore lacks any ability to exert its own will.

Limited Memory- Ryo lacks many memories of its own past- it can't even remember what its real name is (Ryo was a name given to it by Okashii.


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Before it became under Okashii's influence, Ryo was heir to a vast fortune under a noble family living in Osaka.


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Ryo has very few memories prior to his reign under the youkai Okashii. Being the heir to a vast fortune, Ryo vaguely remembers a happy childhood, with loving parents and plenty of friends. It was when it turned six years of age that Ryo's life began to take a drastically sinister turn.

This is Ryo's most vivid memory of its damned childhood. It remembers a party thrown in its honor, and as a present, it received a dragon puppet. It was a gift from its best friend, and as such, it became Ryo's most valued possession. However, after a few months, severe changes began to well up from young Ryo. It began to mutter very strange things, and become far more mischievous than it typically acted. These acts of simple mischief, however, soon turne far more sinister, and Ryo became gradually more and more violent, going so far as to brutally injure her nanny one fateful evening. Ryo was put into the care of an exorcist, her parents convinced she was haunted. At the behest of the chaotic puppet, however, Ryo killed the exorcist and fled Osaka, never to return again.

Ryo's memory about its own life get fuzzy from there- all of its memories are washed in bloodshed and fear, of its own and the hundreds of thousands of people it has slaughtered over the years. Ryo doesn't recall studying under any teacher- instead, Okashii imprinted its own variance of fighting unto Ryo's psyche, which causes it to move and strike like a crazed demon- fearless and unpredictable. It struck homes, villages, even small towns, expressing its unwanted madness by means of mass slaughter. This campaign across Japan ensued for fifteen years, until Ryo finally met its match- a Warlord by the name of Yousuke Haru. Realizing its potential, he spared the bizarre murderer's life in exchange for its loyalty and servitude. Fearing for his vessel's life, Okashii ordered Ryo to accept the warlord's terms, and Ryo has since acted under the banner of Warlord Yousuke, most recently taking a flagship role in the raid on House Kobayashi.

Though it has very few memories of its own life, a consequence of Okashii's imprinting was the viewing of Okashii's own memories. Okashii was a youkai outcast, infamous for bringing children into the youkai realm and performing twisted experiments on them, oftentimes at the expense of their lives. His experiments earned him a death sentence, but before it could be carried out, he fled to the human realm, disguising himself as a puppet. He spent a few years on the shelf of a puppet store, before being purchased by a young girl as a birthday present for her best friend. Once obtained by Ryo, Okashii's old habits got the better of him, and once again, he could resume his research that had been cut short. Unlike his previous endeavors, however, Okashii is very much bound to Ryo's well-being- he sealed his entire being into the puppet in order to conceal his youkai prowess, and consequently can only interact with the world by speaking through Ryo.

So begins...

Sazaname Ryo's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Sazaname Ryo Character Portrait: Kurosawa Tsubaki Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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#, as written by Eskay
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"Ah, there she is. We will approach her now, if you please." Okashii whispered into Ryo's ear.

Though it was very much against Ryo's will, it felt a refreshing sense of ease whenever it was in Kurasawa-san's presence. Like itself, she was held captive against her will- a marionette forced to dance to the whims of a power-hungry puppeteer. As it stalked towards the now-relaxing Tsubaki, Ryo could feel the torment welling up inside of it. Okashii and Tsubaki recognized each other as youkai within seconds of meeting each other, and Okashii made it a point to readily taunt her for her forced servitude.

"No..." Ryo pondered, "It is I who am the tormentor..."

There was no solace for Ryo, not even in its mind. Ryo's will was Okashii's will- the youkai had done nothing but ignite dormant flames of insanity within the hapless puppet. The inner turmoil extinguished about as quickly as it began, however, as Ryo had approached Tsubaki, looming over her in her meditative state.

"Kurasawa-san..." Ryo began, before promptly bashing itself in the head with its puppet.

"You must never, never, EVER utter a word without my leave, worm!" Okashii tormented in a hoarse, gravelly belt, "Pay no heed to my vassal, Kurasawa-kun; your time need only be spent with one of your own. I trust the day finds you as indentured as ever, Puppet?"

It was a rather ironic nickname, given that Okashii himself was indeed sealed inside of a puppet, further accentuated by the fact that it was indeed the puppet itself that took advantage of the hapless Ryo. Okashii's only goal is to incite fervor and madness, something he tended to do quite well with Lady Kurasawa.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Sazaname Ryo Character Portrait: Korin Baisotei Character Portrait: Kurosawa Tsubaki Character Portrait: Kurosawa Ryuunosuke Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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#, as written by Ion


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Three days’ leisurely walk after leaving the village he’d called home for the last ten years, Ryuunosuke came at last to Edo, his temporary destination. The leaving had been rather simple—though he grew to care deeply for the people at each new place he lived, he was simply a transient being by necessity. When one lived as long as he had, one learned not to put down too many roots, not to place too much value in the bonds one formed—never get too close to tear yourself away. It was a sad thing, and lonely, but born from need and inescapable.

The day was dawning warm and sunny, the scents of summer pungent on the light breeze. It teased gently at the ends of his hair and the edges of his dark clothing, creating a picture of serenity that was somewhat at odds with the permanent disquiet in his heart. Across his back, he carried only the barest necessities of life, plus two scrolls, sealed in waterproof containers, upon which he had painted his latest pair of works. He had been meaning to make a trip into the city to sell them, anyway, so it had seemed the most natural destination upon his departure. The ronin’s geta made only the softest of scuffling sounds on the dirt road before him, for he knew that to pass in silence was utterly suspicious, and had no wish to draw such unwelcome feelings upon himself. It was better to be thought humble and left be than to be thought mighty and constantly forced to prove it one more time.

Gradually, the road led into the city itself, the cultivated landscapes of rice paddies transitioning into the wooden buildings of residences, and then of a large marketplace. Edo was as bustling as ever, and he supposed it would never be otherwise, unless it met with some great calamity that even he could not foresee. He found himself hoping that it would not—for all their imperfections and cruelties, humans were generally worthy beings. Fragile, yes, and ephemeral, but for all that worthy.

His steps carried him eventually to his art dealer, a middle-aged man who seemed to be perpetually smoking a pipe, and after a few moments of admiring the scrolls and bargaining over the price they would fetch, Ryuunosuke left rather enriched, tucking the new purse of ryo into the space between his gi and his kosode. It was at this point that something caught his attention: affixed to the front wall of a tavern was a notice. Diverting from his arrow-straight course, the violet-eyed fellow approached it, tilting his head slightly to one side as he read the script thereupon. A contest for ronin? Apparently with the ultimate aim of selecting them for a dangerous job.

It was the family name of the requestor that drew his attention, however. Kobayashi. It was a name he’d heard before, on a few sparse occasions. More than that, however, he had known a Kobayashi, several centuries ago now. To suppose that this Kobayashi might be a descendant of his was a bit improbable, but he owed the name enough to check and see if the cause for which they were assembling so many men was something he could stand behind.

Acquiring directions to the dojo from a passerby, he walked for another twenty or so minutes, finding himself at last where he sought to be. The locale was not one he knew, and he surmised it probably belonged to the Kobayashi in question, as he was aware of the family having attained the status necessary to procure such a homestead. But perhaps they were yet vassals to some noble house, and this property belonged to such as was their lord or lady.

Between twenty and twenty-five other people were assembled, some already engaging in practice bouts under the eye of the one he assumed must be Kobayashi, an older man of regal disposition and bearing—though he looked little like his predecessor if so. Perhaps he was a relative from another family or something of that nature. Casting his glance about the room, Ryuunosuke occupied himself with feeling out the ki signatures in the room with his magic. There were a few of considerable strength, which he supposed would be heartening to the assessor, but from the looks of things the majority were poorly-suited, and nothing was yet properly underway regardless.

Folding his arms into his sleeves, he approached the man nearest him—a fellow in a purple kimono with what appeared to be quite the assortment of weapons on his person. Inclining himself somewhat at the waist, as one should upon meeting a stranger, he inquired. “It appears as though the trials are yet to begin in earnest. Is it clear for what we wait?”




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At the approach of the puppet-creature, Tsubaki’s eyes slanted sideways, to glance at it disdainfully from the corners. Despite the fact that she was sitting and it was not, she still managed to convey a very deliberate sense of looking down upon it, the particular brand of haughtiness that only a noblewoman or a very high-class oiran could even manage fitting as smoothly to her delicate face as a second skin would.

The vessel addressed her first, which was most irregular, earning itself a vaguely-disturbing retribution from the puppet-who-was youkai. Low-class, base youkai hardly worthy of her time, but youkai nonetheless. “Do not presume to address me so,” She said, the words so soft and cold one could almost feel a thin layer of ice forming upon their surface. “You, maggot, are not the one that holds my strings.” she had not thus far moved to look at the creature she was addressing at all, and indeed after the first glance, her eyes had shifted dismissively back to the front.

Now, though, she turned, just a tiny bit, causing a little waver in thin chains of silver flowers that hung from the ends of her hair ornaments, and the softest whisper of silk fabric. “You seem to have enough trouble holding a maddened human in your sway. You could not master a creature such as I.” And he shall not, either. Her eyes narrowed to obsidian slits, but then she turned away again, clearly a gesture of dismissal.

She was not here to entertain fools, and she did not have to indulge this thing that believed it held some form of sway over her. If so, it was sorely misguided. It took more than a few stray words, spoken of the obvious, to stir her passions, of any sort. Not that she knew any of them but anger, these days.

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