Akodo Takaji's page

Given Name: Takaji
Clan: Lion
Family: Akodo
School Akodo Bushi School
Rank: 3
Insight: 191
Age: 21
Sex: Male
Height: 5'6"
Appearance: Dyed blonde hair, often disheveled. Clean shaven. Somewhat soft-spoken (mostly so that he can make people jump when he suddenly raises his voice)

Earth 3 (Stamina 3; Willpower 3)
Air 3 (Reflexes 3; Awareness 3)
Water 4 (Strength 4; Perception 4)
Fire 3 (Agility 4; Intelligence 3)
Void 3
Honor 6

Init: 6k3
TN to be hit: 20 (25 in armor)
Reduction: 3

Health/Wounds (x2)
Healthy (+0) 15
Nicked (+3) 21
Grazed (+5) 27
Hurt (+10) 33
Injured (+15) 39
Crippled (+20) 45
Down (+40) 51
Out 57

Skills
Etiquette 3
Lore (Hisotry) 1
Kenjutsu 6
Kyujutsu 2
Defense 5
Sincerity 3
Battle 5
Iaijutsu 3

Advantages
Balance (2pts): You possess an inherent calm and serenity that others have difficulty overcoming when attempting to antagonize or taunt you, and that strengthens you when your honor is tested. When adding your Honor Rank to the total of any roll made to resist Intimidation or Temptation, you add an additional +1k0 to the roll as well.

Wary (3pts): You are constantly on alert, al- ways looking out for the unexpected. When rolling Investigation (Notice) / Perception against Stealth (Ambush) / Agility to detect an ambush, you add +1k1 to your roll.

Kharmit Tie (2pts): Isawa Katsuko

Disadvantages
Idealistic (3pts): You adhere closely to the code of Bushido, perhaps too closely, and you have a hopelessly naïve view of the world and how things work. You have impossible standards that not even the most heroic individual could hope to meet, much less you. Whenever you lose Honor, the loss is in- creased by 1 point. This Disadvantage is worth 3 points to Lion characters.

Obligation [Matsu Kenichi] (3pts/minor): There is someone to whom you are indebted or for whom you must fulfill some significant duty. The nature of this debt can vary considerably, but when it comes due, nothing else matters. You must honor it, even if it leads to your ruination. The first level of this Disadvantage is a relatively minor matter that nevertheless demands your full attention. The second level represents a major, significant obligation that could potentially damage your family’s standing if you do not devote considerable time and resources to fulfilling it.

Techniques
The Way of the Lion: Bushi of the Akodo School hone their fury until it is as pre- cise as a blade. You may either ignore the portion of an opponent’s Armor TN derived from Armor, or gain a Free Raise when attacking. (You do not ignore Reduction from the Armor while choosing the first option.) Also, you gain a bonus of +1k0 to the total of all attack rolls on your first melee attack against an opponent in a skirmish, or against any opponent who has declared a Raise on an attack against you since your last turn. You add only a total of 1k0 for an enemy who Raised against you, no matter how many times they actually Raised.

Strength of Purity: Akodo-trained warriors are known for their dedication to bushido, and take a fierce satisfaction in defeating dishonor- able foes. During a skirmish you may add your Honor Rank to the total of any single roll during your Turn. You may not increase damage rolls in this fashion, nor can you do this while assuming the Center Stance.

Strength of my Ancestors: The Akodo bushi attacks twice, once for himself and once for his ancestors. You may make attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action while using weapons with the Samurai keyword.

Gear:
- Daisho
- Han-kyu
- Backpack
- Blanket
- Bottle of dye
- Chopsticks
- Daisho stand
- Flint and tinder
- Parchment and charcoal
- Rope
- Vial of paint
- Tatami mat
- Rope

Family
Takaji is the second son of Yoshiro and Akiko. His elder brother Katsuro is a bushi of the Matsu school. Katsuro is loud and brash, falling into the stereotype of both his Clan and his school, and due to the similarity in their appearance, many often assume the less well known younger brother is as well. As such, it's not unusual for Takaji to find himself part of what he's heard a few Crane refer to as "Lion Baiting," where they attempt to anger him into behaving in a shameful manner. Unfortunately for the Cranes, Takaji is not as easy to anger as his brother and takes great pleasure in frustrating them. He sometimes wishes he were good enough with words to turn the tables, but that seems to be a talent best left to his younger sister.
Takaji's parents have started looking into an arranged marriage for him, a process that Takaji seems mostly indifferent to. He seems far more interested in practicing his swordsmanship and tactics. However, occassionaly when he sees the Lion's Pride practicing, he daydreams about what it'd be like to marry another bushi who shares his interests. He dismisses these as idle fancies though, figuring he'll wind up married to some fairly low level courtier. But he thinks as long as she can take care of his household, he'll be happy enough.
Dream
Takaji wishes to be part of a truly great war. Although he finds it unfortunate that most likely this will take place with the Crane, not because he likes them, but because he wishes to be part of something all clans will talk about for centuries to come, and he thinks this is most likely with some outside threat (probably from the Shadowlands). He wishes to see all* the clans united under the tactical brilliance of the Lion to defeat a great foe.
*The Crane, Scorpion, and Dragon are left out of this vision because Takaji believes they have nothing to offer to this fight. The Crane are expert duelists, but duels aren't going to happen in the midst of a war. Politics are certainly unnecessary, further excluding both the Crane and Scorpion. And the Dragon never really leave their mountains.
Even though he doesn't realistically think there's likely to be an incursion from outside of Rokugan, Takaji still lept at the chance to visit Crab lands. He figures the best he's going to get is the (probably exaggerated) stories of the samurai who have served on the wall, but you never really know. And really, he's spent far too much time recently in Lion lands. Whatever's to be found at Winter Court has got to be more interesting (or at least different) than sitting at home in meeting with one potential suitor or another or prowling along the Lion-Crane border to growl at those on the other side.
Current Motivation
Takaji is frustrated by his lack of true battle experience. Thus far he has only managed to be in a few very minor skirmishes and a lot of fairly uneventful patrols and escorts. The generals constantly speak of war with the Crane, but the longer the near-peace stretches, the further away it seems. Takaji keeps his frustration fairly well hidden though. At least compared to many of the other young Lions around him. His frustrations are exacerbated by the stories he hears of his brother getting into "real" skirmishes. A small part of him fears that war will break out while he's away in Crab lands. But a larger part worries that he'll soon go mad if he doesn't get away for a while. Or that the war will last long enough that he'll never see anything of the Shadowlands of legend.

Weapons
Kiba ("Fang"): Takaji's katana. His brother received the family's main daisho leaving Takaji with the secondary pair. Too young to have any real history behind it in their current time of peace, the sword has a beautiful pearl engraving of a roaring lion on its hilt with a relatively simple golden tsuba.
Tsume ("Claw"): Takaji's wakizashi. Very similar in appearance to its partner, this sword instead depicts a rampant lion.

Obligation
After several years prowling the border between Lion-Crane lands without much incident, a frustrated Takaji began looking for some kind of a transfer. Initially it was suggested by him family that he ask the honorable Matsu Yokumu if he could join his personal guard. However that had been the position his brother Katsuro had been serving in until recently. Takaji was a bit torn by the idea. On the one hand, Katsuro had managed to fair quite well in the position, conducting himself honorable through several relatively notable encursions. This made Takaji hope that he too would find glory and gain experience in such a position. However, this would put him even further in his brother's shadow. While Takaji loves his brother dearly, he is keenly aware that far too often, he is viewed as nothing more than Katsuro's brother. It is one thing never to be known the way Akodo Arasou was known. It is quite another not to be known by your own name and deeds.
With that in mind, Takaji dismissed the notion of serving Yokumu and instead petitioned Matsu Bushime for a position as one of her guards, hoping that her time as commander might lead him to be a part of any future wars she might wage. His request, however, was denied; Bushime already had a full retinue of guards at her disposal. With the bitter taste of rejection on his lips, Takaji started to leave only to be stopped by Matsu Kenichi. Knowing something about Takaji's struggle to step out from under his brother's name, Kenichi took pity on him and offered him a position as his yojimbo. It wasn't exactly what Takaji had hoped for, but he believed--or at least hoped-- that it would keep him relatively close to Bushime and therefore any future conflicts, so he accepted.