Ryusugi "Kaze" Nagoya
Magickal Style & Paradigm
Like all Go Kamisori Gama, Kaze's style is a mixture of religious devotion and the martial arts. Kaze believes he is a chosen agent of the Heavens and the kami and goes about all duties and sorceries with a religious devotion. But Kaze knows he is not a priest, but a warrior -- a warrior of stealth. He operates from the shadows in all things, and the shadows conceal those operations in kind.
And Kaze operates quite a bit. He's found his niche in the world of professional driving, and that doesn't mean chauffeuring. Like the Transporter, Kaze's skill with handling modern vehicles is nearly unmatched. Merging with ancient techniques of mental focus and plenty of pure gut instinct, Kaze can get anywhere, anytime, and be there punctually. Modern chemicals and technology assist him more than the average ninja, although he employs the techniques and ancient devices and secrets with which he was trained. He just modernized a bit. Regardless, Kaze's soul has been opened to the breath of the gods, a channel of divine power and awareness.
Understanding of the worldly elements, devotion to the kami, honoring the ancestors, and martial prowess are all extensions of this true awareness. Kaze extends his will through such mediums, for he was chosen to do so for the gods. To that end, Kaze developed many techniques to further that willful extension to many different aspects of the universe, illusory as it may be. Ki is the force underlying the shadows of the universe, and control of it brings so-called "magick" to life through mastery of the body and esoteric techniques. Those esoteric skills command a foundation in proven science that modern laboratories ignore because they can't figure out how to duplicate them with their own sterile techniques. Nor are they as adaptive as Kaze is when it comes to blending old ways with new. But regardless of what style of magick is right or wrong, Kaze knows that Paradox descends when the mage fails to fulfill the desires of the gods appropriately -- it is divine wrath.
To enact the Art of Mado ("Windows" -- Correspondence), Kaze must study, meditate upon, and understand the nature of the Yin-Yang trigrams discussed in the Book of Changes. When he understands how the trigrams interface with the world around him, he can shift himself to one of the other positions. There are only eight trigrams and each one depicts a distinct level of being in the world. He knows seven out of the eight trigrams to date. Once a trigram is understood, it can be effected through specialized, channeling positions. Traditionally, hand movements enacted those positions. But Kaze has found that he can weave a motorcycle or even a car (or any other vehicle he can handle) to enact those positions on the ground and thereby cancel the illusion of space -- teleporting one thing from one place to another. Kaze's confidence is such, however, that he need only imagine the position and his Window through space is slipped through. He does not need to actually form the positions, though may as it creates a better visual for himself and it's good practice for his driving approach to this Sphere.
Genso ("Elements" -- Matter) is an elemental Sphere. It includes three elements: Water, Metal, and Earth. Kaze's methodology of enacting Genso includes accepting the Taoist beliefs of Chinese alchemy as well as basic chemistry. Together, he can concoct nearly any effect required so long as he has the proper chemicals, herbs, and any other components (many of which may be odd and unusual). He often employs his alchemy to create more effective poisons, weapons, and the like. Alchemy can easily double as poisons and chemical weapons, after all. Indeed, Kaze tends to employ his knowledge of Genso especially for breeding a variety of virulent effects, some of which can be spewed out of his car's exhaust pipe! However, he isn't confident enough with all the countless formulae to abandon the actual alchemical components to make Genso work, even though it's a facet of worldly illusions. He just needs to study more; until then, the alchemy is necessary.
The specialty of the Go Kamisori Gama, Iko ("Designs" -- Mind) calls upon the illusions of the universe. The Go Kamisori Gama take advantage of their recognition of reality as illusion when most others do not to conceal and summon the shadows of the mind around themselves. Mirrors, holy symbols as well as practical references, bear the reflections of whatever they see, and provide a means to warp and twist the reflection until it cannot be told different from the "real" thing. Of course, there is no "real" thing, and that fact alone empowers Kaze's use of Iko. Those who don't realize and accept the material as immaterial are easily fooled. Even a hot rod sports car zooming by over 100 miles per hour can be ignored by those whose minds are too busy perceiving other false illusions of the world. Luckily for Kaze, mirrors (rear view, side view) are common aspects of any vehicle. He always has one handy for reference of the world around him (or himself), although he's so familiar with himself and the falsehoods of the universe that a mirror is not needed.
Ki no Nagarette ("The Flow of Life-Force" -- Prime) is the great connector between the five elements of reality. All things flow with ki. Knowing this Art permits the mystick to directly affect that flow instead of touching the form of its elements. (This is just as well, considering that Kaze lacks knowledge of some elemental Arts still.) However, seeing past the form of physical reality to the base energy that lies behind requires a great deal of insight. That insight is inherent to the Awakening Kaze already experienced, but without further development, it always remains vague. To help him understand the intrinsic value of ki and its flow, he must meditate on the secret motion of the chemical reality of fire. Watching flames dance illustrates the animated motion of ki, enhancing his inherent awareness. Without this focus, Kaze cannot employ his knowledge of Prime.
Last but not least, Kaze's skill with Shunkan ("The Moment" -- Time) is heralded by the spiritual rhythm of specialized chants. The rhythm, intonation, and lyrics (chanted in his clan tongue) all mark the perceived flow of one's reality, of one's Destiny. When a climatic point of Destiny comes to bear, he grows excited, and his breath comes more rapidly. He concentrates and focuses the rhythm of those emotional perceptions into a repetitive and eager chant, like a hopeful prayer. When his Destiny requires caution, he remains calm and breathes more slowly. His chant is slower as well, and more haunting and melodious. At times, Kaze can even reweave someone's perceptions of how their Destiny should flow, should the need warrant it. It should not be said that Time is the Art that defines Destiny. On the contrary, it merely regulates and grants awareness as to how the events of a Destiny are being experienced by himself or another. Visions and divinations as well as actual, temporal activity are all possible. Kaze is quite skilled with Time, nearly as much as Correspondence. So his chanting is not required.
Avatar
Kaze has a particularly terrifying inner essence. His Tamashi embodies negative reality, Yin energies. In his dreams at night and during his rare sagashite, Kaze envisions a great, deep, and black hole. This hole pulses with a growing hunger for life, to consume everything -- anti-life. It is not evil; it is simply nothingness and death. But to a living being, that's terrifying. It inspires Kaze to kill, feeding this pit to stave off its hunger before it draws Kaze into its velvet-soft promise of oblivion. When he can't kill, Kaze loses himself in animation -- that is, speed. Kaze breathes in the mind-blowing sensation of the wind in his face and the blood pulsing in his veins. It reminds him he's still alive and somehow subconsciously helps him escape the icy grip of his inevitable fate. Kaze has learned much from close encounters with that dark pit, but he still has much to comprehend and wisdom to earn before he can accept the reality of death and be at peace with himself and his Avatar.
Resonance
Dynamic (Expeditious)
Kaze commands a definite no-nonsense attitude. Clearly, he despises wasting time, and doesn't wait around for anyone. Socially, this offers a -3 difficulty to all rolls where he must be succinct but clear. On the other hand, trying to take the time to speak at length always inflicts a penalty of +3 difficulty to relevant Social checks. He even gets impatient with himself.
Magickally, this especially affects his Time rotes. He gains a -1 difficulty penalty on any "haste" type spells, but suffers a +1 difficulty penalty on the rolls for any "slow" type rotes.
Entropic (Collisive)
Kaze's inevitable tragic irony is to race away from death so intently that he crashes head-on and dies anyway. The real tragedy is that he might take a lot of other people with him. And this is perfectly clear about Kaze in the way he walks, talks, and even breathes. Kaze has a hard time establishing trust when he attempts to lead a group. Nobody wants him "behind the wheel" (unless they know the merit of his skill, but even then...); he suffers a +3 penalty on all Leadership rolls. But his wild abandon for speed and direct racing can be inspiring to those who wish to rally behind him, whether it's out of fear or courage. Anytime he wants to inspire a "banzai!" charge, he receives a -3 difficulty bonus to relevant Social rolls.
Nowhere is this collisive essence more evident than in Kaze's Arts. The blend of traditional and modern techniques and sciences that he employs weren't simply merged, they were tossed into a mental blender and he hit "frappe"! Kaze now suffers a +1 difficulty on all Arete rolls whenever he enacts a rote by traditional Reiryu means. Conversely, Kaze reaps the benefits of his personalized style, gaining a -1 difficulty on all "modernized" versions of his rotes. For example, a Correspondence rote where he effects hand positions to illustrate the secret trigrams would suffer the penalty. Riding a motorcycle and depicting the symbol with his path on the road gains the benefit.
Sanctum (The Empty Garage)
~The Midori Estate in Little Asia houses many shinta and hosts a multiple-car garage for communal use. Attached to the same driveway is a smaller garage, fit for only one vehicle (although that could be a small truck). This garage stands aloof from the main building though nearby, and only one side door of steel leads into the brick structure. The garage door is typical for its kind, though actually more supple and sturdy than one might think thanks to its Awakened designer. The asphalt drive gives way to poured concrete floor inside the garage. Somehow the floor always remains quite clean. No oil leaks or metal filings or stray dead leaves are found on this garage floor. There are plenty of well-organized shelves, however, all of which contain a number of metal drawers and toolboxes. There are wooden tables against the far wall, designed for construction and the like. Lighting is limited to one broad overhead halogen and a spartan table lamp at both tables. All in all, the garage seems like a normal car port. But something seems...off. Perhaps it is the way that the shelves and toolboxes and drawers are organized. To the unschooled eye, it means nothing. In fact, they are arranged to form the eight trigrams depicted in the Book of Changes. This seals the garage off from magickal detection and intrusion. The garage's utter neatness also feeds that sentiment of strangeness. But that's all part of his ritual habit for fastidious cleanliness: a religious compulsion for perfection and orderly beauty.~
OOC: Arcane 3
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