POMPADORK

CANON HISTORY:
Ichirou is from a world where magic and some non-humans exist; technology varies but is generally around the level of the early 1900s and is supplemented by magic. Magic is focused through clockwork devices and other trinkets that are called ‘focuses’. Personal ones allow the user to perform small spells, both offensive and restorative, and larger ones are present in appliances and vehicles that would otherwise be beyond the scope of 1900s technology, such as refrigerators, telephones, and airships.

Ichirou is from the Republic of Haima, on the continent of Arios. Haima was previously two separate nations; Emia and Haiyoko. The two had a stable peace but could not be called ‘allies’ - cultural and racial tensions between the two precluded any real cooperation, although were not severe enough to cause military conflict.

However, the expansionist Valetian Empire changed this; launching an attack on not just those nations, but the others on the continent in an attempt to seize control of the entire landmass, Valetia forced the two nations to enter a military alliance to defend their borders. After a long and bloody war that wreaked havoc on most of the continent, the war ended in a surprising way; beaten too badly to further invade, Valetia could not win the war. However, their victims were also too decimated to invade Valetia. The result was an incredibly shaky peace treaty, which Valetia signed all but saying “only until I’m ready again.”

In the aftermath, the two nations formed the Republic of Haima to aid each other in rebuilding and to combine their militaries in case of more foreign aggression from Valetia. Although 20 years prior it would have been unthinkable, the war had lasted more than a decade, and integration between both populations and the culture of both states over the course of the conflict had made it possible. Indeed, had it not happened, both nations would have ended up with huge non-native populations anyway, as many soldiers stations in their neighboring country married during their long tours.

Although the two had joined into one nation and many of the current generation had found love across national borders, the cultural and racial differences between the two were not to be resolved overnight. Decades passed and although the tensions eased as populations and cultures merged more and more, issues still remained, with large portions of the both groups harboring resentment and taking it out on the other where they could, especially in the areas furthest from the borders that had maintained the ‘purest’ populations.

The new government was not immune to this.

Although elected officials themselves were a mix of the people of both nations, other government organizations that survived through the forming of the new state remained firmly in the hands of one side or the other.

One of them, Haima’s Magical Research Division remained in the hands of the Emians.

Resentment of Haiyokans remained high in this section of government, resulting in the division illegally experimenting on them multiple times over the decades. The logic was simple; they were going to do it anyway, and Haiyokans were considered to be lesser than Emians. It generally stuck to minor incidents that were easy to cover up, with large amounts the researchers totally unaware. Things explained as fires, or freak accidents. Lightning strikes. Sudden psychotic breaks leading to murder. The typical affairs, when covering things up. Over time, the illegal experimentation became a sort of ‘black ops’ group only known to a select few as the division assimilated more and more over the years and the senior most members died and were replaced.

Ichirou was born to Haiyokan parents who had recently relocated to the former capital of Emia, which had lost it’s status with the formation of the new state. Despite over 50 years having passed since the formation of the new Republic, mistreatment of relocating Haiyokans was still high in this area of the country, and as a result they found themselves living in a boarding house full of people like themselves in what amounted to a slum.

The boarding house was the latest target for the illegal research. An experiment in using humans as a focus for demon summoning led to most of the inhabitants dying, either outright or at the hands of one of the failures who made it past the initiation of the process, turning into horrid beasts that slaughtered the other residents before dying horribly themselves, unable to sustain the demon forced into them.

The only survivor, and only successful subject (although not known at the time) was Ichirou himself, who as an infant had been affected differently by the experiment and was thankfully overlooked by the monsters that had resulted.

Although officially the disaster was reported as a fire, such a massive event was impossible to conceal,and led to an internal investigation of the division, resulting in a mass cleansing of it and related branches of government as the responsible parties fled or disappeared entirely.

One of the researchers whose work had been used to enable the experiment adopted Ichirou after discovering his work had been part of such an abomination. He knew it was partially guilt, but he wanted to try and help atone for what his work had helped cause, even if he hadn’t known it was happening.

Ichirou’s adoptive parents had been facing difficulty conceiving a child, and as a result lavished their new son with love and affection, and he grew up happy and healthy. He was even blessed with a younger sister after a few years, his new parents finally having success in conceiving a child. However, the happiness ended when his father perished on a business trip, the ship he was travelling on sinking in a storm. He took the loss of his new father hard, but even as a child promised to take care of his mother and new sister, forming a strong sense of responsibility, and a habit of pushing himself too hard.

As he got older, he joined the martial arts school of an old Haiyokan master who taught an old and obscure Haiyokan martial art, seeking to be able to protect his mother and sister. Ichirou was not especially talented, but was more than willing to grind himself against the training to make up for it. While a student there, he met an Emian boy named David, and the two became best friends and rivals.

The two remained friends even as they completed school together, both intending to become police to help protect people. As time went on and the two entered training to join the police force however, David began to become increasingly disgruntled by their Master’s refusal to give them more advanced, master-level training. Ichirou himself remained trusting of their teacher, but David eventually lashed out. The Master and David dueled, with David winning due to the Master’s illness and old age.

When it seemed David had killed their teacher, Ichirou intervened, but was grievously injured by David in his attempt, unprepared for David to seriously attempt to injure him. Ichirou would have died, if the demonic presence inside him hadn’t chosen that moment to surface, desperate to help it’s host cling to life, hardening his skin and muscle a shiny, metallic black and absorbing the brunt of the assault.

David fled, and Ichirou rushed to his master’s side. Although he had survived the duel, the Master passed days later, his illness exacerbated by the fight. Before he died, he asked Ichirou to retrieve David, and to stop him before he actually killed someone.

Ichirou promised, and abandoned his idea of joining the police to instead join the Guardian’s Guild.

The Guardian’s Guild was an international organization similar to mercenaries, who took bounties and monster extermination contracts, although they had a central leadership organization and strict rankings and codes of conduct members had to abide by. He joined them as a means to fund his search for David, as well as giving him a chance to travel to many places and fight many opponents, knowing he’d have to be stronger the next time he encountered his friend.

He rose through the rankings quickly, soon becoming the first Guardian from his district of the city to reach Silver ranking, the third highest, netting him the nickname ‘Silver’ from the clerks at the local office.

Although he took many missions, most ended peacefully or with only minor alterations (other than exterminating monsters, that is.) That was, until he was sent to the Valetian Empire (which accepted Guardian activity in their borders grudgingly, at best; although the Guardians were meant to be neutral to international affairs, everyone knew they’d oppose Valeria should they start another war.) to apprehend a gang of bandits.

The bandits had taken over the mansion of a minor noble and were keeping their family and servants hostage. The provincial army and local guard were hesitant to move in because of the hostages, so Ichirou was called in to make sure the hostages got through alright.

Entering the mansion through a second story window he secured the hostages and began incapacitating the bandits one by one. However, one of the bandits got the brilliant idea of setting the mansion on fire. Ichirou managed to extinguish the flames (by...punching them) but the damage done to the house by the combination of flames and Ichirou’s solution led to it collapsing shortly after everyone evacuated.

With the noble’s home destroyed, most of the family’s servants were suddenly and abruptly out of work, so Ichirou did his best to find most of them jobs through the Guild. Most found employment locally, but one, the family’s butler Marcell, was out of luck. Feeling responsible, Ichirou pulled strings and got them a job as clerk in his home office.. Which meant dragging the pretty man across the entire continent.

The other clerks welcomed their new co-worker by immediately insinuating the two were married. A jab the two were both annoyed by, even as they moved in together as a temporary arrangement that quickly became permanent, and eventually blossomed into them becoming a couple officially (much to the amusement of the same clerks.)

The two have lived together since.
CANON PERSONALITY:
Ichirou is, upon first meeting, open and friendly has a calm, cheerful demeanor. He has a tendency to exaggerate parts of his own personality and play the fool, appearing more simple-minded than he really is. While it’s partially simply who he is, part of it is deliberately manufactured to avoid conflict in the course of his job. By appearing non-threatening and quite frankly, dim, he at times is able to end confrontations peacefully as well as pull information from others. He has a candor one might expect from a particularly young uncle, or maybe an older brother; helpful, cheerful, and prone to making incredibly stupid jokes. He likes to weedle, as well. To prod and poke at people affectionately until they bristle up or get a bit frustrated (he has been the victim of retaliatory cheek-pullings many a time, and laughed each time.) and when caught off guard or thoroughly undone at his own game, will always meekly concede, a deep blush on his face. Despite his background and goals he doesn’t actually like to fight; he considers it a last resort and regards any fight as an opportunity for someone to die, be it himself or the person he’s fighting. This... is actually not solely philosophy, but also a wee bit of a hang-up.

Although he didn't have the issue growing up, nearly being killed by his friend (and his demonic-based powers emerging) hammered in the reality of death being a very real possibility, not only for himself, but for whoever he's fighting, even if he takes care not to kill them. The thought of erasing a life, and the grief and misery that erasure would cause, sometimes gives him pause and causes him to hesitate. At times it can even cause him to back down or make mistakes, if he's too worried about what the resulting fight might end in. What makes it worse is that while he doesn't have a temper problem, he does have a temper, as much as anyone does. And after he discovered his power, he has become hyper-aware and worried about said temper. It's all in his head, of course, but he doesn't know that. So he's always worried that any bit of anger might lead to an explosion and him taking a life, leading to a bit of repression.

He strives to assist others, taught to do so by his adoptive father, and often has difficulty saying no to requests to help, which has gotten him into troublesome situations on more than one occasion. He has a strong sense of personal justice and has difficulty watching people suffer if he can do something about it, even if acting gets him in trouble with local authorities. As well, he loves teaching people things and trading stories and jokes. However he... isn't exactly the best teacher in the world. While he does his best, he tends to be a little condescending, especially if the person he's teaching is capable of picking things up quickly. It's actually one of his most persistent flaws; he has a tendency to assume everyone is, to a degree, like himself. So when teaching someone something, he tends to take things very slowly, like he himself needed when he was younger. But he does it, because he likes the idea of leaving each person he meets with at least one good memory of him, but at the same time he tries not to become too close with anyone on a personal level.

This is because, in the back of his head, he has more or less resigned himself to dying in the course of stopping David. It’s a belief he has never told anyone (even his boyfriend, it's a serious honesty problem), but informs most of his behavior; he loves to make people smile and laugh and to teach people things, because he almost considers himself dead already, and would rather leave people with good memories or things he taught them. And he would like to avoid forming too many personal connections, lest he cause too much grief when he does die. It's actually an incredibly bad habit, as it results in him lying quite a lot, not only to acquaintances but the people closest to him. There's just an aura of awkwardness around him whenever someone talks about the future. A nod and agreement even as inside his head he expects to be dead. It's dishonest and almost defeatist, and betrays a very deep lack of self-worth. Ichirou, although not consciously aware of it, has always had a small amount of survivor's guilt, and that combined with his already low self-esteem is what caused the stubborn "no, I know I'm going to die" idea to stick in his head.

However at the same time, he...often fails, at scrubbing closer connections with people, which leads to more than a bit of strife within himself. He can’t help it, really. Having lost his father and then being betrayed by his closest friend, Ichirou ended up a bit..well, lonely. So even as he scolds himself, he can’t help but try and form connections. So he tries to help people and leave them with good memories of him, and then curses at himself for doing so. What's worse is that, while he couldn't be considered a 'flirt', he does have a nasty habit of saying particularly affectionate or intimate things to people, which often exacerbates his own habit of forming bonds and then fretting over doing so.

Through all his acting and stubborn attempts to remain detached, Ichirou is a compassionate, fun-loving person who can’t help but try and make other people happy, whether it be with a joke or a story, or by helping them with their problems. Although he has worries and some hang-ups regarding his past, and a whole bundle of self-worth (and at times honesty) issues, he tries his best not to let them affect him and to do his best to help other people.


SKILLS/ABILITIES:

Enhanced Strength: While not an inherently magical power, in his world Ichirou is capable of far greater feats of strength than a normal person, able to, with strenuous effort, lift a small car above his head, or jump distances of 10-15 feet.

Martial Arts Proficiency: Ichirou is proficient in hand to hand combat, most closely resembling Karate.

Hardening: Due to the experiment performed as a child, Ichirou can 'harden' his body or things he is making skin contact with, causing them to turn a shiny, metallic black and become hard and extremely durable. How durable is dependant upon what is hardened (Wood is harder than flesh, steel is harder than wood, etc.)