Rangakure Strike Force

Senran Kagura OCs — Multi-Verse RP

The Rangakure Strike Force is an independent shinobi group consisting of the former evil shinobi elite of Kyoto's Kirigakure Private Academy—Yōko, Mitsuyo, Ishikawa, Shiranui and Himiko—under the auspices of the Crown Princess of Japan and their benefactor, Eiko. Residing in their repurposed former school building, they keep a watchful eye over all of Kansai and Japan, training however they can to, one day, fulfill their destiny and become Kagura.These girls have chosen to be shinobi on their own terms, protecting what they cherish and following no such distinction as good or evil. With Princess Mikoto's help, they have brokered a truce, albeit uneasy, with the shinobi world, and found protection as well as newfound liberty. Even so, a shinobi's life is not without its hardship: will their wild dance of freedom bloom in the storm, or shall they be swept away in the rain like so many before them?

*Please refer to the Glossary for more information about their home verse.

— The girls —

• Yōko
• Mitsuyo
• Ishikawa
• Shiranui
• Himiko
• Eiko

— Other Info —

• The story so far
• Glossary

Personality

Outwardly headstrong, imposing and charismatic, in a thuggish kind of way: it is small wonder that Yōko's personality commands the respect of her teammates and then some. Such a loud presence—with an apparent distaste for seriousness and prone to overemotional bursts, all in an exaggerated Kansai dialect—can also prove quite narmy... but that's a side-effect of her character which she embraces with open arms.Yōko thrives in the picture-perfect, almost stereotypical image of a 'bad girl' she's built all around herself, halfway between an 80s sukeban and a modern gyaru, and proudly lets people assume the worst of her—unconcerned by whether others might see her as a criminal, a bad influence or just a pompous idiot. Her being of mixed descent, by way of an absent white American father, also helps her play on common stereotypes.That being said, it doesn't take much to realize it's all a front, and even though describing a renegade shinobi as a law-abiding citizen might be pushing it, she's well above mere delinquency. Deep down, beneath a 'heel' public persona and a fabricated accent, lies a joyful, sensitive and well-meaning young woman whom she deems "too frail for the real world"—hence the need to conceal her true self from others under a façade.Even so, especially when she must get serious, facets of her real personality shine through her uncharitable exterior. Yōko is resourceful and as academically knowledgeable as she's got street smarts, even quite geeky behind closed doors; she's also sincerely affable, simply considering it much, much easier to make friends as the bombastic leader of the Rangakure Strike Force than her mild-mannered self.On the other hand, the purposefully hyperbolic reactions of her delinquent façade might not always completely correspond to theatrics, and beneath appearances there really is a mean temperament known for acting up when pushing her buttons. Quite touchy on some issues such as her family or her sense of justice, you'll know when you have truly angered Yōko when her loud reactions is replaced by a cold, killer glance.

Fighting Style

Brutally powerful, fierce and savage—words such as these already paint a good picture of how Yōko fights, but are ultimately insufficient. While she may swing a kanabo with beastly might, the leader of Rangakure is no mere brute: there's a lot of underlying skill and creativity that goes into her strikes, mixing proper form like that of a club-brandishing samurai with street pragmatism and elements borrowed from baseball.Yōko has complete mastery over her weapon, every strike as light or heavy as it needs to be; even though she may be seen abandoning herself to its momentum, she still retains control and can ultimately cancel even the most reckless of swings into a defensive pose. What her kanabo does regrettably lack in agility, she compensates through basic grappling skills and shinobi tools: never underestimate her free hand.To turn her wild thrashing utterly chaotic, the onna-banchō lets the power of a storm surge through her weaponry and even her body to great effect: while this is mostly used to empower herself and extend her range through searing electric bolts, Yōko has a working knowledge of its properties and might occasionally employ electromagnetic fields and pulses, or even turn her hands and tools into tasers and defibrillators.Lastly, planning around outlasting this monster is pure folly: not only is Yōko frighteningly determined, but what little energy she loses is more than countervailed by the blood-absorbing properties of her weapon. Through the same principles as a lesser Blood Riot, the kanabo grows stronger with every blow, to seemingly no end... though a mortal can only wield so much before suffering hellish pain.

Background

Saki Yoarashi was born in Tokyo from the transient love between a young Japanese woman, Mei Yoarashi, and an American man visiting Japan at the time. As is tragically often the case in these situations, the father vanished not long after Saki's birth—leaving a lone mother to raise her child with little help. In spite of this abandonment haunting her for the rest of her life, Mei would never stop loving her daughter and working multiple jobs to give her a good life.Unfortunately, in a society where harmony and uniformity are everything, mother and child both would be faced with discrimination over Saki's biracial heritage and precarious familial status. Although Mei would patiently bear the burden, her daughter's sense of justice was too strong to take it lying down: as as the years went by and Saki grew into a teen, she would start picking fights and rebelling against authority—eventually finding her way into a delinquent gang.It was at her lowest, on the verge of dropping out of school before having even finished junior high, that a fateful meeting occurred. Even among fellow young outcasts, Saki could scarcely stand for more major crimes than the vandalism and shoplifting she was usually up to, and beat up other bullies when they tried to mug a girl their age from another school. That was Eiko—and despite Saki's insistence that she just "felt like it", the two would become fast friends.From the day after the shakedown on, Eiko would always seek out Saki after school, to hang out in the afternoon. The young thug initially shunned the other's attempts at connection, but day after day, she started to mellow down. Despite being too coy to ask about her, it was soon clear that her new friend came from a wealthy family: even so, the unlikely duo went well together, with Eiko's open-mindedness and acceptance towards the hardships that led her new friend into a gang. They would even study together, helping Saki fix her disastrous academic performance.As the end of their last year in junior high approached, Eiko came to her best friend with a proposal: her family would help her and her mother financially, with only a couple of caveats—Saki would quit delinquency and come with her at the same, prestigious prep school. Eiko would also be the one to cut her wild mane. Saki was touched and immediately went to put her affairs in order... but the leader of her gang and his cronies didn't take well to one of them wanting to quit.That evening, Eiko was accosted by hooligans who intended to teach her a lesson for getting "wrong ideas" into Saki's head. When Saki found out, she was furious: she was on her doorstep, about to tell mom the good news, when she ran back. Armed with a bat and blinded by wrath, she fought against her former comrades, killing twelve in what would become known as the Roppongi Back-Alley Massacre. A thirteenth was about to overpower and even kill her, but the freed Eiko would take her bat and finish the job. Shock would then claim her, causing her to pass out.Saki was immediately arrested. Eiko would never come to court: she would only find later that the experience caused her a bout of short-term amnesia, and her family pulled strings so that she wouldn't be involved—but wanting to protect her anyway, she pleaded guilty and made no mention of her friend, to keep her record stainless. Saki would be sentenced guilty and sent to juvenile for rehabilitation, but she had no expectations of ever returning to a normal life.A second chance would however come her way, when an elderly man by the name of Gennai came during visiting hours. He expressed how impressed he was at the way she dealt with those thugs, and revealed that he was looking for those with potential like her, to train as shinobi under his wing. Although bemused at the idea of ninja in this day and age, Saki saw that a life in the shadows was the only way she could be free without compromising her best friend's future.Giving herself a new identity as Yōko, she would evade under the cover of night with her new master's help, and move to Kyoto—where her new school and life as a shinobi awaited. She decided to capitalize on her delinquent image to dissociate herself from the chance at a honest life at Eiko's life she had lost—adopting a fake Kansai accent, bleaching her hair... and refusing to let anyone cut them ever again, in order to keep what part of that old promise she still could.

Personality

A world-class beauty queen, a confident big sister-like figure and a brilliant tactical mind to boot, Mitsuyo might seem like she has it all—making anyone wonder how come she isn't the first among her peers. Quite possibly the most mature and reliable in her group, she makes for a voice of reason who's not afraid to tell things the way they are. The truth is, for every blemish her stunning looks lack, she is plagued by deep insecurities.Mitsuyo always carries herself with class and elegance, quite like a socialite, and is prone to being quite the casual flirt with nearly everyone, never in a crass manner. A diligent student throughout all of her life, she'll entertain lengthy and varied discussions all night long, though law, tactics and fashion are what she truly shines at. A pleasant person to be around overall... though one is often left wondering how much of that is genuine.Indeed, Mitsuyo's very jaded beneath it all. She won't stop striving for that apparent perfection—but fatigued by it, in the absence of others she'll drop that pretense. A burgeoning sense of emptiness overtakes her when that happens, and she'll desperately seek to recharge herself through pleasures: selfishly playing into her hobbies for a while might do the job, but other times such stress can only be relieved through pure hedonism.Ideally a pacifist, even though violence is hard to avoid for a functional assassin, she will hardly ever claim a life herself and focus on restraining. That being said, her moral standards are not entirely infallible, and while she'd rather work alongside the law than outside of it, strong personal feelings might have her resort to dirty tricks and even torture. For her agenda, she might even lie to her own allies, if they won't be hurt by it.

Fighting Style

Mitsuyo's fighting style embodies the beauty of versatility and functionality, perhaps lacking the conceptual flashiness of her peers—but trading that for the most adequate tools when it comes to all forms of non-lethal combat. Both her jitte and her elemental affinity towards the earth are fine-tuned towards efficiently subduing the enemy and halting their every action, ensuring they live long enough to be interrogated.Her weapon, even though its seven feet in length may suggest otherwise, is held with her right hand only under most occasions, so that from her left hand she may always be free to grow a plant to aid her. Her most recurring option is a highly adaptable bramble whip for mobility, but depending on the situation she may sprout different kinds of poisonous flowers to induce effects such as paralysis, lethargy or high suggestibility in her target.Against particularly strong opponents, where otherwise lethal amounts of force may be required just to harm them, she can give rise to greater vegetation, like such as trees with sturdy, earth-breaking roots or even plant the seeds of invasive species upon her very opponent. In this case, the jutte becomes primarily a defensive tool meant to parry incoming attacks while favoring her elemental ninjutsu and its rapid growth.Mitsuyo is also a seductress with an in-depth knowledge of the human body, which she uses to great effect: do not expect her to sloppily coil a plant around her opponent's waist when she can create the most durable of harnesses through strategic knots. Likewise, any poison subministered by her will be perfectly dosed to achieve the desired effect, and even all takedowns performed with the jitte will unfailingly aim at vitals and weak spots.

Background

Tomoe Tsunemori was born in Sapporo, second child of a middle class family after her older brother Shinjiro. Her father was a police officer, while her mother was a housewife. She enjoyed a happy childhood—spending her early years in the capital of Hokkaido until her mother's worsening health caused them to transfer Tokyo, to get more advanced treatment. Tomoe and Shinjiro would soon learn to look after themselves, with a busy father and a hospitalized mother.Tragedy struck when her mother succumbed to her illness in murky circumstances. Rumor had it that the head doctor there was corrupt, and used his influence to conceal various acts of malpractice. Vowing to his grief-stricken children get to the bottom of the issue one way or another and find out what happened to their mother, Tomoe and Shinjiro's father began investigating around the hospital and the chief physician, even outside of his authority as officer.The investigation took a turn for the unexpected when the doctor confessed to massive tax evasion and medical malpractice in great detail, only to later recant and deny all accusations. Though his confession was investigated, and the details found highly credible, the circumstances in which he confessed would cause the case to prolong for years, and ultimately end in a pyrrhic victory as none of the victims of malpractice could receive due compensation for their loss.This included the Tsunemori family—hitting Tomoe's father especially hard. Having lost his faith in the law and unable to face his childen, now a teenager and a young adult, he quit his post and abandoned them. Little did he know, though they didn't hold a grudge against him, Tomoe and Shinjiro were deeply shaken by what transpired: this would fester in an obsessive desire for retribution, and lead to a blood pact between the siblings to uncover the truth.The first step of this journey was to reveal what happened with the doctor that killed their mother. Though a difficult errand with their increasingly limited means and connections, they stopped before nothing: Tomoe would learn to use her beauty to seduce the heirs of corporations to slip into high society and learn all that the average person could never know. She would soon discover shinobi—specifically, the use of ninja puppeteering techniques to force a confession.Brother and sister came to blame shinobi for all their misfortune, for ruining their family, and for toying with the lives of civilians as they pleased. But how could they possibly do anything about it? Shinjiro came up with a plan: to have Tomoe enroll into a shinobi school and infiltrate their ranks, while he would take the long way around—rising to power to paint himself as a prospective client for ninja. Together, they would bring down the shinobi system from the inside.Even though she couldn't locate a shinobi school on her own terms, her skills were sure to draw attention eventually. Her brilliant nature and feminine wiles were vital tools in infiltration and sabotage—and by continuing to investigate around the upper echelons of society, she caught the attention of one elder shinobi master, Gennai. When he asked if she wanted to train under him, she feigned surprise at the existence of shinobi but otherwise jumped to the call.It was then that she assumed the ninja name Mitsuyo, and moved to Kyoto where she could refine her espionage even further. For a time, she sealed her wishes of vengeance deep within her conscience and wholly dedicated herself to training, so that she wouldn't be found out. Somewhere along the road to become an excellent kunoichi, however, she became her own mask. Would she be able to reconcile her blood pact with newfound kinship towards her comrades?

Personality

Sometimes what you see is what you get, and there should be no doubt that Ishikawa fits the stereotype of the Kansai girl. A pint-sized concentrated bundle of energy, braggardly and outgoing—a go-getter through and through. No matter what happens, she maintains at almost all times a smug, exuberant mood like a bratty, hellion princess's, that might prove to be obnoxious at its worst... but quite contagious at its best.Being blind isn't easy, but she tries to keep its hardship under wraps. While clarifications of easy-to-miss details around her are appreciated, she's perfectly able to find her way around and even fight with no help. She always insists she needs no help whatsoever, and people acting otherwise get on her nerves real easy: she'd even prefer someone taking a jab at her handicap. This usually leads to a lot of bickering, even with her comrades.As a combination of her hearty nature, her upbringing on the streets and her handicap, she's book dumb and technologically illiterate, lacking the patience to sit down and find ways to work around her issues like she has done for moving around. Ishikawa would much rather go out and get physical, through sports and especially fighting: sometimes she comes across as though she's got so much vitality she must routinely vent it.That being said, unsurprisingly, she's actually deeply resentful and complexed over her lack of sight and the traumatic circumstances behind it. She often feels like she must prove herself, and often overcompensates by way of acting like a queen bee and trash-talking everyone else. This can lead her to becoming the offender, especially around sensitive people—though she mellows down once she realizes she's gone too far.

Fighting Style

The girl with the energy of an impetuous river gets a fighting style to match: Ishikawa, though the baby of the group in a fashion, is probably one of the strongest fighters Rangakure has to offer! Don't let her blindness fool you: should you underestimate her, you'll be dead where you stand in little time at all—and she means to let you know that. Her skill, strength and sheer adrenaline more than make up for all her shortcomings.Ishikawa is a master of martial arts, with a style that builds off of the highly dynamic and acrobatic Chang Quan style, but eschews choreographic flourishes in exchange for high-impact strikes and grabs, sometimes borrowed from other martial arts school. Coming in against her expecting pure kung fu will not protect you from a judo grab or gritty street brawling techniques that only aim to pry victory from your hands!She supports this with heightened senses such as hearing and touch—but her true skill only comes against worthy, shinobi-level foes. Ishikawa can extend her senses through her elemental powers, allowing her to feel everything the water touches. After she scatters bubbles around the field, popping so much as a single one will let her know where her opponent is and what they're doing where others could not.While unarmed combat might lack range, she's so blindingly fast as to close in to her target in a flash—or storm them with water cannons and shuriken. Once she reaches them, her flurries of fists and kicks pile up hard and fast. Her biggest weakness, at the end of the day, is simply how exhausting such a style is, risking to running her dry in minutes... but does it matter, if few enemies can even survive such an onslaught?

Background

The Soryuin family used to be one of Japan's finest shinobi clans and most powerful criminal syndicates. Once upon a time good shinobi at the behest of the government, after the end of World War II they couldn't accept bending the knee to the occupying American forces and went into hiding: finding refuge in Kansai, they would then rebrand themselves evil shinobi and assume control of the local underworld through clever usage of the yakuza as their intermediary.Hayase Soryuin was born in Osaka to the current patriarch and matriarch of the clan: she trained hard as a shinobi since she was a child, while also getting pampered like a princess with all of her family's wealth. In spite of being the prospective heiress to a larger-than-life criminal empire, her young years were serene and not remarkably different from those of any other spoiled girl, living as a regular civilian until she could enroll at a proper academy for evil shinobi.One day, though, it would all be torn away from her: Kurokage, a good shinobi who went rogue in his crusade to fight evil, had set his sights on her family next. Coming day from school to an eerie silence, she would be witness to the very moment the renegade plunged his fist through his father's chest, killing him and landing his body near to that of her mother's. The traumatic sight would be burned into her eyes until the moment she passed out from the shock.Coming to in a hospital, Hayase would immediately have to deal with a second bitter truth: the already scarring event, alongside the blood that sprayed on her eyes, had rendered her legally blind. Her mother and father were gone just like that, and she was all but unable to pick up the pieces to make them proud due to young age and now a career-ending disability for any wannabe ninja. The girl let out a roaring scream as she realized how rapidly she'd lost it all.Although some of her parents' most trusted subordinates took her in, she could only observe helplessly as the vast majority of the former Soryuin clan was ripping itself apart in a bid for control over Osaka's criminal scene. Furthermore, the man who took her in, though well-meaning, had little in the way of resources or influence, and he and his men were forced to resort to theft, pickpocketing and other such crimes that were considered below a yakuza's honor.Hayase hated this, not just because of how low everyone had stooped to give her a crude mockery of her spoiled old life, but also because she couldn't stomach the idea of leeching off of others' good will, just because she couldn't see. Burning with conviction akin to anger, she resumed training with even greater determination and effort than before, seeking a way to overcome her disability, stand up on her own two feet and provide for herself in any way she could.Witnessing her grit, her caretaker contacted an old shinobi who was rumored to be looking for apprentices and arranged a meeting to test her mettle and skills. Gennai came to Osaka and wound up being a blind pickpocket's first and only target: having studied the lay of the city, she could flee through the streets with ease and force the shinobi to give chase. Though Gennai obviously retrieved his wallet with ease, he was impressed by Hayase's skills and took her in.As a way to honor her wardens and celebrate the start of an ascent from rock-bottom, she chose Ishikawa as her new name—like the legendary bandit—and redoubled her training under one of the shinobi world's best masters. Osaka isn't far from Kyoto, and she occasionally visits her old home. One day she intends to return there as an unstoppable ninja, who will pick up from where her parents left off, and rebuild the Soryuin clan to repay everyone's trust in her.

Personality

Shiranui is the nicest and most patient member of her group, a kind individual who would much rather stay in the background over her more eye-catching peers, and quietly take care of the boring housework—figuratively and literally—they are too busy to think about. This has led her to assume a maid-like role to her companions... even though neither she nor her friends consider her less than an equal and a valuable companion.Her subservient behavior is not to be mistaken as weakness or emotional dependency on anyone of her friends, and is simply a result of her humble and charitable inclination, partly due but not limited to how deeply religious she is. She must not, however, be mistaken as utterly martyr-like: a recurring lack of gratitude on anyone's part will set her off, and appreciates it when someone repays the favor and serves her for a change.Even though being a shinobi doesn't truly allow her to practice her faith, Shiranui will often be seen quietly praying and politely refraining from excessive luxury like the latest fashion or high cuisine. She's a fervent believer in Christianity, but is unlikely to ever get preachy, nor is overly saintly. If anything, she likes having fun her own way... even if her idea of fun is quite simplistic, along the lines of old board games and literal child's play.This is also due to her upbringing, or rather a partial lack thereof: she spent a noticeable portion of her life regressed to a wild child, grown up hunting for survivals and taken care of by animals. This feral side of her, much to her chagrin, can overtake her at times, turning her into an apex predator with the resourcefulness of a markswoman and the aggression of a beast. Expect her to profusely apologize after that happens.

Fighting Style

A consummate professional in everything she does, with the mentality that any task she's ordered to do must be completed to the best of her abilities, Shiranui is a surprisingly no-nonsense fighter—something derived from her past as a lone huntress. Going into combat, her kind and caring behavior takes a backseat to efficiency: she will have the courtesy to not make you suffer... because you won't be feeling a thing.A fiery warning shot will always be issued so that her opponent might choose to surrender and repent, but past that there will be no mercy. If she can help it, Shiranui will not even show herself, staying hidden in the vegetation or any such hiding spot, flinging inhumanly quick and precise bolts from her trusted crossbow—or ordering her pet hawk Honōka to soar above all challengers and drop an incendiary bomb upon them.Should it come to it, however, Shiranui will not shy away from an open battle: sniping from afar is her forte, but after a prayer to have God on her side she will descend upon you like a blazing angel of death. Her bolts are often flash-heated to empower them, or shot in barrages to make up for the lack of precision. She's quick to reload, but she'll take no chances and have Honōka distract the enemy with claws and beak to gain time.She's exceedingly mobile, allowing her to soar and glide with a combination of her puffy skirt, air currents rising from her flaming shots and a ninpō that can oversize her familiar, turning it into a ride. Her usage of fire is quite temperate, limited to her very target... but with the assurance that no innocent will be harmed she will have no qualms about smiting the most unrepentant enemies in scorching, all-consuming holy fire.

Background

One rainy night, a kindly old pastor in Okinawa discovered a worn-down box at the entrance of his humble church. What should he find inside, if not a sleeping baby girl tucked away into a makeshift cot? Unable to locate her parents in the nearby town, few others wanted to look after a child of dubious origins, and so the priest took it upon himself to raise her as if she was the daughter he never had. Baptized as Maria Amakusa, she would never want for affection.The life the priest lead beyond prayer and preaching was a very humble one—sustaining himself and now Maria off of traditional activities such as hunting and fishing, as best as his aging body could avail him. Even though he was content taking care of it on his own, Maria was ever a kind, caring child: around the age of eight, she was already helping around the house and an altar server, and before long she would join him on his hunting expeditions to learn the trade.Despite her young age, she would prove herself to be quite responsible: as the pastor grew older and weaker with every passing year, Maria affirmed herself as a competent housekeeper and—to an even greater extent—a peerless trapper that could singlehandedly provide for herself and her caretaker. With a crossbow and the hawk she tamed, Honōka, she would go hunt every day in the morning, returning with venison in tow that she would personally cook for the pastor.All good things are fated to end one day, however, and old age would eventually claim the priest's life. Despite the peaceful circumstances around his passing, Maria wasn't ready to accept it. Not the people's condolences, nor faith itself could put her mind at ease—and in the midst of the pastor's funeral rites, the anguished redhead ran away, too agile and fast for anyone to follow. Retrieving her hunting paraphernalia from her hut, she retreated into the Okinawan wilds.Maria was determined to never bond with anyone again, tormented by the thought of experiencing loss again, and went native, as far away from civilization as she could. She almost regressed to the state of a wild child, living off the land like a feral animal, and feeding herself and her pet hawk through stalking, just like she was taught by her sole father figure. Though embittered by the experience, it refined the girl's abilities, allowing her to survive on her own.Though attempts were made at giving her a new home and an education, she refused with increasing vehemence—using force to remove anyone who went after her from the forest she called home. Rumors of a feral girl who inhabited the woods spread around the island, though ones that media could never confirm due to Maria's unmatched talent in eluding capture.It wasn't too long before word of her existence came even to the Japanese mainland, immediately capturing a shinobi master's attention and curiosity. Travelling to Okinawa on a whim, he sought to encounter the savage Maria. Unable kick a trained shinobi out, she would soon pour out years of festered sorrow and feelings of abandonment upon him. Gennai insisted in conversing with her, calmly trying to reason with her and help her cope with all that pain. The stakeout ended with the girl agreeing to lower her crossbow and listen to the elder's offer to start anew...Just like that, reports of Okinawa's fiery-maned feral child slowly faded into mere folklore. Having accepted her adopted uncle's death, the newly rechristened Shiranui moved on from Okinawa and followed Gennai to Kyoto, to a shinobi school. All her talent as a trapper made her a fine shinobi from the very first day; even more than that, though, she sought to return to a life of charity and learn to care for friends and family alike once more—come what may in the morrow.

Personality

Growing up in a hidden shinobi village, isolated from the rest of modern Japan, Himiko is demure, old-fashioned and highly sheltered... perhaps too much so. She reads much like a byproduct of a different era and its traditions, the result of which is quite frankly odd and highly off-putting to all but the most patient of people. She bears no ill intent... but good luck getting that from a creepy girl with a morbid fascination for the horrifying.While passingly aware of social norms, they are entirely lost on her: this is especially noticeable in a place such as Japan, whose extreme politeness falls flat on someone who sees little reason to speak without objective reason, and only through candid truths. It takes particularly draconian teachings for someone to be so shy that they cross the line twice, and aren't afraid of rejection so much as they just won't even consider talking at all.Her education comes solely through a wealth of musty old tomes from the oldest eras of Japan to pre-World War II books. What little sentences she's inclined to say, she's prone to pronounce in poetic and flowery language, solemn, clear and unambiguous... but only if you know your thou's and thine's. On the bright side of things, her knowledge of literature is, resultingly, almost unmatched and one of few things she appears to enjoy.She isn't so cold as she is utterly inscrutable: no one can ever tell what she truly thinks, and even her partners are just content with a vague idea of what she's really like. Attempts to get through to her are made, but with hardly ever any hints at her true feelings the sensible choice is just to be content if she stands up and follows someone's lead, given that the alternative is her completely ignoring someone and staying put in her old chair.

Fighting Style

Detached from reality and modernity ever since she was a child, Himiko is a product of myths, histories and traditions she has paradoxically never lived through. While fated to be a shinobi from birth, as a descendant of the famed Kirigakure clan, her powers reach beyond ninja arts alone and encompass the millenial history of Japanese spiritualism and divination: she is not "just" a ninja, but a bonafide pratictioner of onmyōdō.When it comes to battle in particular, Himiko is not keen on fighting directly. As a master of the shikigami, otherwordly beings conjured from her spiritual energy, she will usually conserve her stamina for dodging and stay still while these familiars do all the dirty work. Though incorporeal and invisible to most people, she can render them tangible presences by binding them to artfully cut pieces of paper torn from her grimoire.These single, lesser shiki can, at her beck and call, unite and form into mighty misshapen beasts, simulacra of animals and yōkai altered by their summoner's grim fantasies. She may create believable copies of humans or normal beasts, but they are wont to degenerate into horrors before long. Himiko may also use external sources of energies, like Secret Ninja Art Scrolls, as foci to make supremely powerful creatures.While these familiars are usually employed as physical tools, from swarming an enemy as thousand of razors to fusing into terrible beasts to rend and maul, their influence is not limited to the worldly plane: as pure spirits, they can possess living beings, create illusions and influence the forces of fate. With Himiko's gloomy mindset locking her out of the more positive effects, she turns into a dangerous magnet for calamity and misfortune.Her spiritual energy, if sufficiently concentrated, can manifest as dense, pitch-black darkness. She usually manipulates it in more artful ways, but in a pinch she can release almighty, cursed bursts of darkness that are as harmful on impact as they are in the long term, like a metaphysical poison that alters the emotions and luck of anyone affected—for the worse. Sufficiently powerful summons may exude this ill-fated aura too.

Background

The Kirigakure family is a highly reclusive clan, hidden away from society in the foggy mountains of central Japan and descended from the legendary ninja of the Sengoku period, Kirigakure Saizō. Much like their most distinguished ancestor, they are masters of magic and illusion—renowned by the few who know of their existence for their borderline mystical control over the elements and cursed powers. Their shinobi are often also spirit mediums and diviners.Even with little prior training as a child, the young Himiko always had a remarkable aptitude for the Ninja Arts: her first shinobi barriers were so large and powerful they could draw yōma and act innately as blood barriers. She was gifted, to a fault: for the sake of everyone's safety, including her own, her grandfather Gennai, one of the finest shinobi alive, elected to train her personally and in complete seclusion until she would be better able to control her powers.Further isolated in an already remote place, Himiko would spend her days surrounded by books and scrolls as part of her upbringing and training alike. Although her grandfather raised her lovingly, his stern teachings and the segregation from the rest of her family and prospective friends took a toll on Himiko's development. She grew up to be socially stunted and arguably antisocial, almost detached from reality in favor of immersing herself in literature and her own musings.With a heavy heart, Gennai accepted this as an inevitability, and ultimately a non-issue that would fix itself in due time. So long as he ensured that Himiko would one day control her calamitous powers, she would later be able to make up for the lost time, reconnect with her beloved ones and do everything that was formerly denied to her. As such, entire years would pass with few to no visits for the sheltered girl, who kept improving at the expense of her social growth.It seemed as though she would soon be able to rein her powers under control and master the Ninja Arts to a degree that would no longer require supervision—but little did grandfather and granddaughter know, time was about to run short. The Kirigakure village was built over a yōma gate, a natural gateway into the yōma world warded through constant rituals. No one, however, was prepared for an interloper to summon a powerful yōma from this side of the gate...An eldritch monster was beckoned forth in the night, hungering for blood. Caught unprepared, even the shinobi of Kirigakure could barely resist the onslaught. Having heard the bloodcurdling shriek and sensed the wicked aura, Gennai would eventually arrive to slay the beast, but by the time he reached the village there was little left to save. Many had perished in the desperate clash against the rampaging yōma—and among them were Himiko's parents and all of her siblings.An untimely death is to be expected for ninja. Even so, Gennai couldn't help but blame himself for the tragedy. Not only he hadn't been able to protect the Kirigakure village from being ravaged, but now the sacrifices he put Himiko through were senseless: her time away from her family to better master her own powers would not be repaid, now that her family no longer lived. Though he considered taking his own life as a form of atonement, he couldn't very well leave Himiko.He was still mourning his failure when a missive would arrive from Kyoto: a school was going to open in the old capital, as a cover for a new academy for evil shinobi—and Gennai was considered as a prospective teacher. Therein, the sorrowful shinobi master saw his only chance at redemption: by taking the job, he could train a new generation of shinobi and turn them into a new family for Himiko and himself, to replace what they lost and give her the friendship she deserved.It was without a doubt a highly irregular situation. Himiko was about to enroll at a shinobi school, not as a girl seeking to become a shinobi, but as an already adept shinobi who was to relearn what it means to be human. Over the following two years, her grandfather would travel across Japan on the trail of mere rumors, and take in four new students—all so they could fill the void in Himiko's heart. Old wounds can never truly fade completely, but only she knows if this worked...

Personality

Few would gather as much from her scant public appearances as Princess Mikoto, but Eiko is a sunny, charismatic and forward-thinking royal. In spite of the solely symbolic value of her role as heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne, which she humbly and graciously accepts as a matter of fact in a democratic country, she wishes the best for the people of Japan and openly advocates for values such as morality, justice, truth and unity.Her idealism is not to be mistaken for naïveté, however: while she lacks political power and is prohibited from participating in politics, she's not afraid to push the limits of what she's allowed to say for the sake of what she deems as the greater good, much to the disapproval of her father, the ruling Emperor. She knows how such actions might be frowned upon, but begrudgingly takes them all the same in the conviction that they are necessary.Beneficiary to a very eclectic education, the princess is a multifaceted individual who can pick up almost everything, from sports to scholarly pursuits to the fine arts, and achieve outstanding results in each—though by no means perfect—should she put her mind to it. While talented to a degree, and seen as a prodigy by some for good reason, it is truly only thanks to hard work and perseverance that she stands out as such a paragon.Both her greatest virtue and her worst flaw are her self-sacrificing unwillingness to step back and trust others to do good while completely unchecked. Even though Mikoto sincerely wishes to see the best in everyone, leading to respect and kindness towards everyone but rare exceptions, she suffers from a subtle form of paranoia, an implied desire for control—a tenuous but ever-present belief that ungoverned freedom begets ruin and evil.In her personal sphere, Eiko is a very affable and accepting person, willing to maintain amiable relations even with those who might not share her personal convictions: if others disagree on her idea of good, she encourages them to seek their own alternative and do their best to uphold it as she would do herself. A little spoiled sweet, she knows how privileged her life is but wishes her friends could all partake in the luxuries she regularly enjoys.

Fighting Style

Every princess needs her own shining knight, every shogun their loyal samurai—but the strong-willed Mikoto, refusing to send anyone to fight battles she would not take part in herself, may very well be her own protector. Armed with a sacred weapons, she stands to embody the radiance of the rising sun to end the cold of the night: she will protect the cherished people of her nation and inspire their best virtues, no matter what.Her weapons of choice are a mirror and a sword, creating—alongside the magatama she holds in lieu of a scroll—an ensemble fashioned after the Three Sacred Treasures. While highly proficient with the katana, which she can use to dispatch most foes through swift, elegant strikes, her main arm is actually the divine mirror, doubling as a shining chakram to fling at her foes with graceful, dance-like movements, and as a shield.As a reflection of her benevolent personality, she battles in a passive fashion, rarely taking the initiative and letting the enemy try and draw first blood on her. Masterfully executed counters await anyone who dares proceed: her mirror can be thrown to interject most hits, pummeling the foe into submission—and anyone who makes it past that is met with dashing parries, reversals and techniques to match a shinobi's.A warm, refulgent light like the sun's bathes her and her weapons whencesoever she wields them. Not only can this energy smite yōma like a Kagura, but as an elemental force it matches all other affinities with no weaknesses: it is said to be a divine power, a trace of the goddess Amaterasu's power. Yet the princess is, by all intents and purposes, human and mortal, and she can ill afford to abuse it without great strain...

Background

Eiko was born into the Imperial House of Japan—first, so far and likely henceforth only daughter and heir to the current Emperor. Her birth and the lack of any male siblings soon cast a shadow of doubt over the agnatic succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne: the lack of prospective male heirs forced the Japanese government to reconsider the laws surrounding the system of imperial succession, to take into account the very possibility of having an Empress.Most of Eiko's childhood years would be marked by a noticeable lack of friends among her peers and boredom towards palace antics, compared with a fascination for anything happening outside of the highly guarded walls of her home or the other residences of her family. In an arguable show of maturity for her age, she argued with her father that "what good is a princess that doesn't know what's happening to her people?"—though regrettably, to little actual avail.Despite her parents' best attempts at reigning her in and teaching her how a member of the family should carry herself, Eiko's spiritedness proved to be hard to control, and this habit of hers continued well into her junior high school years. This led to her being accosted by a gang of bullies from another school, who wanted to take her money. That, however, never came to pass: another girl, from the same gang, rushed to her defense and beat them up. That was Saki.This fateful meeting opened up Eiko's world. This girl she met, a tall and scary-looking thug—in many ways her opposite—must've had a heart of gold to help her. The princess was grateful for the rescue, of course, but also innocently fascinated by the similarities and differences between the two: before she even realized it, her heart was set on making friends with Saki. The next day, immediately after school, she would run to the delinquent's school to thank her and hang out.Even though Saki attempted to push her away, Eiko's insistence eventually allowed them to grow into fast friends. Even though the time they could spend together each day was limited, they never skipped a single day if they could help it—and routinely had such enlightening discussions to satisfy the princess's undying curiosity for a world so much unlike her own. Just because Saki was poor, she wasn't undignified; just because she was in a gang, she wasn't bad.Sadly, the noble's desire to help lift her friend and her family out of her slump would never come to pass: when Saki attempted to quit her gang and get her act together, Eiko was caught unaware and kidnapped in retaliation. She would be rescued once more, but in a far bloodier affair that forced Saki and even herself to commit murder—and the traumatic experience left a gaping hole in her memories. Of Eiko's past year or so, only a hazy, confusing blur remained.To avoid being caught in a scandal by implicating one of their own in a crime, the Imperial House pulled some strings to ensure that Eiko wouldn't be called as a witness in Saki's trial. Because of this, the princess would remain unaware of all that happened for years... but the discussions they had and the convictions she drew from their time together were intact. Even though she was once again without true friends, Eiko's forward-thinking nature was only reinforced.This would tie nicely into the government's approval of a law to change the succession system at last: with it in place, a fifteen-year old Eiko was crowned as Crown Princess Mikoto and bequeathed the traditional sword of crown princes. Her desire to train with it for self-defense—to avoid a repeat of her kidnapping by those delinquents—would initially met the Emperor's refusal, but he would eventually give in to her demands and appoint a shinobi as her teacher.Little did he know, this would be Eiko's gateway into the world of shinobi. As heir to the Crysanthemum Throne, the crown princess was also by right a member of the Kagura Imperial Council, the utmost authority of the shinobi world. Being able to oversee their operations while also training as one of them would give her greater insight into all shinobi matters than any Emperor or Empress had ever enjoyed before... and what she found perturbed her.The callousness of shinobi, their status as a shadow army of sorts, how they stood above all consequences by virtue of their hidden nature... all of it clashed with the convictions matured by Eiko while growing up. Even though she kept silent about it, a burning desire for reform, insofar as she could carry it out in her role, began swelling in her heart. She would bring this with her throughout her high school days, until the chance to make a difference would come.

Shinobi (忍び)

Shinobi were once servants of the feudal lords that ruled Japan in the past, specializing in espionage, subversion and assassination. Although they are commonly believed to have faded into myth after the Meiji Restoration and the collapse of the feudal system, the truth is that there will always be need for those who fight in the shadows and carry out the dirty work beneath the honor of most people. As such, their legacy continues unabated to this very day.Nowadays, their employers are primarily politicians and corporations—mostly men of power seeking to line their own pockets without getting blood on their hands. Shinobi have always thus been responsible for crimes throughout Japan, and eventually the government moved to confront them. This spawned the creation of state-sanctioned good shinobi to combat outlaw evil shinobi. Shinobi of either faction who fail their missions are exiled and branded as renegades.Even fewer know that shinobi actually predate Japan's feudal era, their history stretching as far back as the Heian period and possibly further beyond. Their work as covert agents is merely a front for their true mission, shared by good, evil and renegades alike, as slayers of yōma. Shinobi who are powerful enough to fight these devils on the front lines are granted the title of Kagura, and attaining this rank is the ultimate goal of all ninja who are aware of their existence.Shinobi have noticeably higher physical capabilities than the average person, able to execute inhuman feats with relatively little training. They are capable of nimbly leaping many times their own height, keep up with moving trains over long distances and lift metric tons worth of mass. This power, manifested through Ninja Arts, comes from a shinobi's mental ability. The body is merely a tool to execute them, so long as it is powerful enough to keep up with the mind.

Ninja Arts (秘伝忍法, Hiden Ninpō)

Also known as Secret Ninja Arts, these are secret shinobi techniques that exhibit a paranormal powers by calling upon the energies of nature: this is commonly done by imagining a special creature, known as a Guardian, or Secret Animal, within the mind. Said creature can be real or imaginary, and solely depends on the shinobi's innate characteristics. Bloodlines with multiple generations of shinobi often pass on their Guardian to their descendants.Ninja Arts all require a Ninja Art Scroll to execute—a shinobi's most important tool, through which the powers of nature are borrowed in order to exceed one's own limits. Each shinobi keeps their scroll hidden on them in different places to prevent it from being stolen by their enemies. Losing the scroll means losing the ability to access any Ninja Arts whatsoever.Beyond basic forms of Ninja Arts, there also exist special, more powerful categories of techniques: Ultimate Secret Ninja Arts, for example, are high-level Ninja Arts that manifest a shinobi's full potential and can only be mastered by doing battle against opposing shinobi forces. Anathematic Ninja Arts are arguably even more powerful, but largely forbidden due to the toll they can take on a shinobi's mind and body, and their surroundings. Two shinobi in perfect sync with each other can also launch combined Ninja Arts known as Secret Fusion Ninja Arts.How Ninja Arts manifest is entirely up to the individual, their level of training and their latent potential. They can be employed through a shinobi's weapon of choice, a burst of raw elemental energy, summoning and calling upon their Guardian's abilities, through their own body, or various combinations of the above. However, there are also some mainstays in shinobi history that are utilized by all, such as Shinobi Transformation, Frantic and Shinobi Barriers.

Yōma (妖魔)

A yōma is a type of parasitic demon hailing from an alternate dimension. They are naturally drawn to blood and malice, which act as beacons for them: though naturally confined to their own dimension, a sufficient amount of bloodshed might allow these creatures to break the barriers between worlds and emerge in the human world. Under shinobi law, barring special circumstances, only ninja who have graduated are allowed to be told about their existence.Their elimination is a shinobi's true and most important objective. Throughout all of history, yōma have been to blame for untold suffering: the most ancient of all, Shin, is an eldritch being existing outside time and space, origin of all yōma and the root of countless large-scale calamities, who has already laid waste to entire other worlds. To become Kagura means having a stake in destroying Shin one and for all, to end the disasters that plague the world's population.There appears to be no standard to yōma biology: some of them appear to resemble creatures of folklore such as yōkai, others are unsightly, warped abominations that cannot be described, and others yet are incorporeal specters seeking to possess physical bodies—known as Ayakashi. Their sole commonality is a crystalized soul in the form of a red orb: these odd jewels, when consumed by a human, appear to shrink their bodies until they assume "chibi" proportions.The most powerful of them all, however, seem to consistently take the form of sentient yōma—humanoid to such a degree they are biologically compatible with humans and capable of speech—or giant yōma—hideous, fell beasts of colossal proportions and destructive tendencies who cannot manifest in the human world without a blood sacrifice. Both can usually only cross into the human world through fissures between the dimensions, such as shinobi blood barriers.

Disclaimers

Senran Kagura belongs to Marvelous Inc., Honey∞Parade Games and their creators. The characters on this site belong to me, @RangakureGirls, but the universe they are a part of does not—and as such, all representations of it are to be taken simply as parody.The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed on this page and its related roleplaying account are purely fictitious. No identification with actual persons (be they living or dead), places, buildings, and products is intended or should ever be inferred.Credit goes to @frankace_art for the character art used on this page. Further credit goes to @sunnybriart for the Twitter profile picture, @fanamine1 for the picture used in the pinned post, and @AuCrowne for the visual novel-styled sprites used in posts.