Hanzo/半蔵
When he chose his name, at the age of sixteen in the tenth year of Heisei*, there were a few chuckles among the adults present for the genpuku, for it had become unfashionable for members of the Shadow School to name themselves after legendary practitioners of their arts by then -- not insulting or forbidden, just
trite. But the other students of his age, whether in the audience or on the stage behind him, did not laugh. They had all been carefully taught how unwise it was to mock, or seem to mock, this most gifted student who was also most aware of his giftedness.
Such was the pattern of the life of Morioka Hanzo -- well-regarded by his superiors for his talent and willingness to put that talent to good use, and feared by those who were nominally his peers. He attached himself to Hidenori Koike early in the rise of the latter, and enthusiastically embraced using his training and talents for criminal purposes. Where most students of the School viewed these activities as necessary evils needed to preserve their traditions, Hanzo considered them an extension of those traditions, cutting the weaknesses out of the modern world that the School rejected so that a better, purer world would emerge from its eventual collapse.
It seems likely that this view might have arisen from the effects of his wild talent on his mind. While most of the abilities that he developed through training were fairly typical, such as enhanced hand-eye coordination and reaction speed, he was also able to focus his internal energies to perform a strange psychic attack. Dubbing this "Memai Hossa", or "Vertigo Attack", he inflicted the illusion that the world had turned upside down on all those around him, confusing and even rendering them unconscious. From this arose a desire to turn the entire world upside down.
Hidenori himself, while agreeing with those ideas in principle, eventually came to see Hanzo as a potential personal threat. For that reason, in 2009, he eventually entrusted Hanzo with a mission that took him overseas, to San Francisco, with the unvoiced expectation that he would be apprehended by a superhero of some sort. Despite that, he completed the mission and could have gotten away clean, had he not had the misfortune to stumble across a certain group of actors who were giving a demonstration of what they claimed to be the true arts of the ninja. Outraged, he attacked them, inflicting serious injuries on several, before Rainbow arrived to even the odds.
As a result, Hanzo found himself identified as the perpetrator of a different felony committed on the night of his arrest, and was sentenced to a lengthy stay in prison. Unperturbed, he had every intention of using his skills to escape once the heat had died down, and every certainty that the master of the School would send agents to assist in that escape. However, his escape attempts were repeatedly thwarted, and the assistance he was expecting never materialized. He sometimes puzzles over this as he waits in his cell in the Big Rock, but believes that he is being tested. While unable to use his psychic abilities under the null field, his skills remain potent, and he believes that he is more than a match for any technological toys that the guards might use against him.
He is unaware -- and would not believe if he learned -- that Hidenori has fallen from power and that the School is trying to avoid the sort of criminality that he embraced. And that many of the fellow students that he terrorized, now risen to positions of authority, would let out sighs of relief if they knew he was imprisoned.
Hanzo -- PL 10
Abilities:
STR 2 |
STA 3 |
AGL 5 |
DEX 5 |
FGT 7 |
INT 1 |
AWE 4 |
PRE 2
Powers:
Memai Hossa: Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Will; Impaired & Hindered, Immobile & Prone, Incapacitated), Activation (Standard Action, -2 points), Concentration, Extra Condition - 48 points
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 1 point
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Close Attack 5, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2**, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Second Chance (disbelieving illusions).
Equipment:
Nunchaku (Strength-based Damage 2, Impressive, Improved Disarm, Reach, Split Attack), Shuriken (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1), Sword (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), and 3 points of equipment as needed.
Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12), Athletics 8 (+10), Close Combat: Sword 1 (+8), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: History 7 (+8), Intimidation 7 (+9), Perception 5 (+9), Ranged Combat: Throwing 8 (+13), Sleight of Hand 6 (+11), Stealth 9 (+14), Vehicles 4 (+9).
Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 4)
Sword +13 (Close Damage 5, Crit 19-20)
Nunchaku +12 (Close Damage 4)
Shuriken +13 (Ranged, Multiattack Damage 1)
Defense:
Dodge 11, Parry 13, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5/3, Will 9
Totals:
Abilities 58 + Powers 50 + Advantages 16 + Skills 35 + Defenses 19 = 178 points
Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 9
Complications:
Mercenary--Motivation. Delusional. Hatred ("pretenders" to ninjutsu.)
Power Loss (Memai Hossa, if unable to see.)
Vanity.
* 1999.
** Obviously, he does not have this while incarcerated, but will seek to change that quickly if freed.