I've put together a Blinded Blade Style character! The build I have for him right now is working on the assumption that Master of Many Styles is a valid archetype for Unchained Monk, but since I know that it technically shouldn't be by RAW, I can pretty easily adjust him to be an original flavor monk instead, because that archetype is the only way to make the build work. What do you think?
Very little is expected from the bastard son of a minor Mendevian lord and his cousin's maid. Still, his mother expected that Walter would make a passable soldier one day. He was a hardy child, and his mind was sharp enough. He spent his days playing with a toy sword, smiting imaginary demons, and proving himself with feats of agility and strength that the other children his age couldn't hope to match. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save the poor boy from tragedy.
A lone demon, far past the wardstones, set fire to the manor house where Walter's mother worked and lived, killing almost everyone inside. Young Walter had nearly escaped the fire when an explosion on the upper story of the house sent a wooden beam and a shower of glass shards heading towards him. That was the last thing he ever saw.
When he next awoke, weeks had passed, and the doctors had determined that, while he had recovered more thoroughly than they had ever expected, his sight was lost forever. Over the next few days, he learned that he had been moved to Kenabres proper, as a ward of the estate of his birth father, who had paid a great sum of money to summon a small army of doctors and nurses to care for him. A great many questions ran through Walter's head that day, but only one escaped his lips when his father finally introduced himself:
"How will I be a soldier now?"
---
That moment rang in Lord Hadrian Voss' ears, and the next year of his life was dedicated to making this right. Magic was an option, yes, but not within his reach. Instead, after months of fruitless searching, he turned his gaze from solution to adaptation. He sought out stories of blind warriors, and learned about a Tien tradition of blindfolded swordsmen. That was the answer, it had to be.
For the sake of the boy he had once abandoned, Lord Voss made the journey across the Crown of the World and back. He found the perfect tutor in the form of a long-nosed bird man named Aaliji. He paid him a handsome sum, and brought him back to live in Kenabres and educate Walter. Aaliji was not blind, but he had learned swordplay blindfolded, and knew a great deal of the mysterious force called ki.
Over the next decade, Aaliji would teach Walter a great many things. Swordsmanship, yes, but also history and culture, and the language of his homeland. As the boy grew into a man, Aaliji grew old. In time, he desired to return to his homeland. They had hoped to go together, so that the old tengu could show his student the wonders of the far side of the world. Sadly, it was not to be.
---
Demons came to Kenabres, and master and pupil took up their swords to fight. Walt with a longsword, the symbol of his country and his goddess, and Aaliji with a katana, which held the same significance to him. They did what they could, but there was no stopping the endless tide of the abyss from overrunning the city. At the end of the first day of the attack, they found a place to hole up and rest along with a few other soldiers who'd joined forces with them.
It was not as secure as they had hoped. With Aaliji tired from a day of fighting, he was caught off guard when the cultists attacked. Still, he pushed through and got the other soldiers to safety before he succumbed to his injuries. Walt rushed to his side, but before he could save him, a tall man with a hoarse voice ended the old man's life with a spear, and ran off with the rest of his men.
Walt took the sword that had once meant so much to his master, and strapped it to his back next to his own. Since then, he's been on his own, keeping hidden and picking his battles carefully, in the hopes of finding the man with the hoarse voice and avenging his beloved teacher.
I wanted to include something about what became of Lord Voss, and maybe to throw in something about a legitimate heir for him, but it was getting a bit long and I wanted to get it out there.