Tabby: Toa of Cats

Just in case anyone from the clan is wondering, finally finished my profiles. I have one more in the works, but I will try to get to my first two soon. I believe I only rolled for two characters, so I think I can roll again for the third, giving me another shot for Antroku.

EDIT:Finished the third profile, just need to talk to Lorax before I start posting.

Thanks!

Alright. I will cook up two or three more profiles soon. Antroku may remain as next in line for a male credit, if another person doesn't want to compete for it.

Kughii, as expected, is difficult to compete with.

Any descision yet? Note I'll be gone this weekend due to lack of Internet, by the way.

Ishi would also miss his arm, no doubt.

Without further ado, I present to you my finished male. I do think the written piece only shows the side his youngest students will see, however, so keep that in mind. As students progress, they do earn more respect. It also doesn't quite reflect his personal interactions, which tend to be more reflective of his wisdom as a master martial artist.

Antroku

Male Dasaka(Soulsword, Mindarm)

Kanohi Kakama

Weapons

Energy Saber:Created courtesy of his Menti training, this blade glows blue-green in color. Antroku is extremely skilled in the use of the blade, and able to fight with a degree of expertise matched by few other Menti. His blade is rumored to melt through solid rock, due to Antroku’s intense focus.

Crystal Longsword-With a handle painted blue, but a blade translucent as glass, it is hard for the eye to follow even in the best of light. Intended mostly for use as a backup blade, Antroku uses it when he feels it is a better option than his Soulsword.

Crystal Darts-small, translucent projectiles which Antroku uses his Mindarm powers to hurl with deadly accuracy. Don’t underestimate how much damage they can do. Kept in a leather bag on his waist.

Sapphire Armor-Antroku requested this armor himself, and a skilled Ringti made it for him. It is chosen to stand out against the other armor common to Dasaka, which is often a translucent blue in color. His mask is painted to match this hue.

Skills

Swordsmanship- Due to his extensive training as a Soulsword, Antroku can compete with the best of them in swordplay. Antroku is skilled in both melee swordwork and the use of his energy blade, so it doesn’t matter which he competes with-he knows the advantages of both, and will use them to their fullest advantage.

Melee Combat-As the head instructor on melee combat, Antroku of course knows this topic best. He is a martial artist by nature-his sword skills are an extension of this. He knows how to use both fist and foot to his complete advantage. He views the martial arts as the sixth discipline amongst the Menti-among most important the inner focus and calming of the mind that enable the clear thought of combat, and the will to make one’s body strong against all attack and offense.

Kakama Usage-Due to his physical style of fighting, Antroku chose the mask he felt would suit his powers best, enhancing the condition of his body. It allows him to best foes quickly-important due to the taxing styles of both his mental disciplines. If necessary, he could use it to flee, though that would be a dishonor and not fitting of his status as a master of physical combat.

Mindarm-Antroku is an above average telekinetic. His skill is not unmatched in this area, however. He can fight well with telekinesis, and is able to lift twice his weight without trouble. At three to five times his weight, tasks become somewhat to very taxing, and at six, they are quite exhausting. Antroku does seem to enjoy chucking heavy rocks at enemies, and also uses crystalline darts to great effect, shooting them at high velocity to damage his foes. He can lift himself, and generally throws himself upward where applicable, or hovers across a particularly dangerous obstacle.

Manuscript Translation-In order to take full advantage of past martial arts knowledge, Antroku has acquired some degree of skill in translating ancient manuscripts to acquire old techniques and philosophies. Due to this ability, he can read and write archaic forms of Vulgar Taa, and talk with somewhat broken speech.. This is his only intellectual discipline.

Appearance: Antroku is unique among the Dasaka because he chose to wear armor made of sapphires rather than the typical blue crystal. His Kanohi Kakama is painted a brown tone to match. His belt buckle bears a crest of Clan Diakura, the most outward sign of his loyalty. On his right, a small leather bag, with a crest of the same kind.

Overall, Antroku is well muscled and physically fit, matching his status as an expert martial artist. His physical condition is overall excellent, but his mental disciplines of choice mean he tires much more easily than he would like, and somewhat unexpectedly.

Antroku has sapphire colored eyes-his armor only further highlights this, making him seem quite handsome. His expression and demeanor seem to reflect a calm, meditative state of being.

Personality: Antroku is calm at all times, as befitting a master of the martial arts, and disciplined, as holds with the Virtue of Order. He thinks things through, and does not often act on impulse. He serves as an instructor on the arts of melee combat, and teaches his students unconventionally, often dolling out physical attacks for lack of skill, disrespect or improper practice-he views this as form of battle conditioning, because a battle deals physical punishment, not just mental, and he often found students unprepared to handle pain and damage in the heat of battle.

He also forces students in his most basic classes to remove Kanohi and not use powers in his classes expect some basic telepathy. It forces his students to fight in a weakened state, making them stronger and developing endurance, and teaches them what to expect in battle. Antroku’s students don’t generally look forward to his class, but many who have graduated are thankful for it, realizing just how physically strenuous battle can be, especially for some Dasaka disciplines.

Antroku holds the Three Dasaka Values more equally than others of Clan Diakura, for each is important to him as a martial artist. Power is vital to the way of the warrior, but cannot be attained without the discipline of Order, and is worthless without the Honor to use that responsibly.

While the tightly controlled social status of males has prevented some Diakura from teaching in the past, Antroku was permitted to do so for a very simple reason-

No one is better at melee combat than he is.

Antroku sought to learn melee combat at a young age because he saw an edge in it, something that few other Dasaka had mastered. His love of this technique results in him having far greater respect for the Taajar Culture than some might ever show, thanks to their focus on physical combat. They are perhaps among the few individuals who would be able to compete with him. However, his respect for them must be kept hidden due to his status. Through manuscript translation, he has learned to read and write an archaic form of Vulgar Taa, necessary to access some of the best information on old styles of martial arts.

Because of his status as a male, and his unique respect for the Taajar, Antroku sympathizes with some of the lesser classes, feeling how confined they are to their roles. He hopes that there might someday come a change in order, but knows not how to bring it about. While he sees some potential for dishonor among the merchants, his private desire is to see the boundaries between the castes lessened. Overall, this discontention is one of the few things that could inspire his disloyalty to Toroshu or Rora.

Weakeness:As a Soulsword and Mindarm, Antroku is prone to some lack of awareness as to his energy levels, and more prone to tiring due to the strenuous nature of his tasks. He is more reluctant to turn against those of weaker castes. He is not skilled at resisting Sighteyes, but his martial arts training has improved his sense of self and willpower, making him more resistant to Willhammers.

IC:Antroku turned to a set of twelve students-this was their first day at the School of the Mind on Sado. As they filtered through the door, he turned to them, “Welcome to Melee Combat I, otherwise known as Bruises 101. Please place your masks and weapons in the pile. Note that you will not use powers for the duration of this class-you, yes, you, get your brain out of the plane.” He pointed at one student in particular.

Another student spoke up,”Sir, if-“The second she said it, she knew she had made a mistake. Her speech was abruptly cut off as Antroku flexed a finger. She slammed into the padded wall behind her-no doubt it had been padded for a reason named Antroku. The student in question fell face-first to the floor, letting out a load groan of pain that made the whole class uneasy. One nearly moved to check on her fellow Menti, but a warning stopped them all.

Don’t.

“Lesson One:The battlefield deals physical punishments for no reason whatsoever. In order to prepare you for this, so do I. Past students nicknamed this class Bruises 101 because they leave with about that many bruises every day.”

“Now, I know what you’re all thinking-how will we fight if we can’t use our powers? I hear students wine about that every semester. The answer is that you will use your fists and feet, nothing more.”

“There are many good reasons for practices like these on the battlefield-for one, taking our Kanohi off replicates exhaustion. Thus, you will learn how to keep fighting even when you are tired beyond belief-trust me, this will happen. Battle offers no rest for the weary. If you ever run out of energy, if your powers prove ineffective, the tactics you will learn here are your last resort. Use them wisely.”

“Pick a partner-and don’t pick someone you’ll hold back with. Because if you hold back, you'll fight me, at fully masked mental might.”

I should really get back to work on this. I'll do some PMs to see if I can't track down some Expanded Multiverse tech stuff to use.

I certainly hope it doesn't die. (Though I should mention that I will be on if needed tomorrow, but will be gone till at least Thursday next week.)

Who gets this role is basically irrelevant to me. No need to vote here.

Mild correction:Xian weapons has 150 weapons, not a hundred pages, according to the archive weapons topic. Still impressive, mind you, if we can get Bonesii to get the file up and running.

Note that Krakua and Takanuva did not exist as Toa until at least five years prior to the Mata, or after the Nuva, respectively.

Also note that I would consider Nynrah ghost tech to be equal or superior to Xian, and thus take mild issue with the Vortixx profile, seeing as even Xian weapon designers sometimes have assistance from the Nynrah.

In fact, speaking of weapons, the old Expanded Multiverse Xian weapons contest might be worth looking into-they definitely have some interesting weapons that could be useful for our universe, and I believe these can be used freely. The old forum links to a PDF, I think, with over a hundred pages of weapons. It might require multiple people to hunt through. Such a free source of technological inspiration would be rather handy.

This is also the last day I will be here for a couple of days. I will return to brainstorming ASAP afterwards.

I should sign off for the night soon. I may not be on for some time, til near mid-week, so if Kal could send me a daily PM regarding important descisions, greatly appriciated.

You are correct their, Kal. I'll have to come up with a Matoran to fill that role, and am thinking a Toa of the Green for Nynrah's protector.

Since people are talking about their NPCs, the only ones I might note needing are Phantom and Gaardus, pending further research about their creation time. Other than that, Nynrah mostly has no developed characters, so I can work my other characters in to fill that role if need be. The Voice's characters will probably fill in a portion of that gap.

I am fine with the Voice working on Nynrah, depending upon it's exact goals, which are mutual peace, correct? This would be a tactical advantage for Nynrah, which has limited military defense beyond a few Toa and advanced tech, as well as whatever mutant biology projects they cook up this time. (Mental note: Nynrah ghosts are not good bio-engineers.) It provides advantages for the voice as well, like advanced tech provided with ease.

Also, what exactly are the plans for what happened to Nekktan during our story? Perhaps he is the one who organized the peace and Dark Hunter allience.

We should also determine where Toa have strong presence and where they do not.

Alright on the airships and ships, of course. That brings up the question if people should be allowed to own their own ships/airships, much like the airships in pre-reboot BZPRPG, though I think we should limit vessel size mostly to small cargo ships.

Well, I already mentioned programming materials and the Cordakis. I'll try and keep thinking. Nuparu wanted to make a vehicle for Toa, didn't he? What if the Nynrah beat him to it?

Also, I think I ought to note that our current teleporter system may cancel much of the need for Toa Canisters, airships etc. Larger pads may also exist that move vehicles, cargo, etc. Also, should we make the Red Star an accessible play environment?

If you would like some help, Belthnor, I do have an old custom robot species called Cordakis, the "bringers of desolation" They could be worked into the storyline somehow, but their power levels need to be defined.

As long as Belthnor is asking for a role, may I ask percisely what I should do? I already volunteered for Nynrah, of course, and have some ideas for it, but is there anything else I can do during the planning phases tonight?

Keep in mind that we may have some people not in this topic who might consider being henchman. So we should keep some slots open.

If I have time, I can perhaps consider being a part-time "henchman." Nynrah in paticular is of interest to me. Keep in mind that I have a very busy schedule sometimes, being on a robotics team and speech during certain portions of the winter school year. For the next two weeks, I will be pretty busy as well.

I am indeed lurking, and if you don't mind would like to join in this brainstorming session before I disappear for half a week, as it sounds interesting. The number of players required for a universe-wide RPG is huge, so something like this could wind up very large. I have at least one idea for tech, based on the Mask of Conjuring, which could be related to how the Nynrah ghosts make things.

Essentially, the idea is that the earliest craftsmen on Nynrah created an altered version of the Conjuring mask material, which could "connect" with any material, reveal it's programming and permanently change it. There obviously need to be some limiters on this, such as how powerful something can be made, and time consumption of this process could obviously be another.

Also, a question you should consider- are you planning to allow common custom elements, such as Acid, Crystal, and Kinetics, and if so, which ones?