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| | ====Story So Far==== | | ====Story So Far==== |
| − | It started with her great grandfather, Robert Hamilton, during WWII (now deceased). He was an American who'd volunteered after Pearl Harbor, and went into the Marine Corps. His family had the money and political clout to have swung him into virtually any job in the war, but instead, he was island hopping and going through the meat grinder as a "Devil Dog" in the Pacific. His previous experience and knowledge of Japanese proved to be more valuable for interrogating POW's than his skill with a rifle, so in time, he was eventually reassigned to working at one of the POW camps. He was well liked, even by the prisoners, and eventually made lifelong friends with some of them.
| + | An American great grandfather that served in WWII running a POW camp, and post-war working to transform Japan. Becomes close friends with the head of a ninja clan. The two of them agree that moving forward, it would be best if both cultures understood each other better, so an agreement is made to pick a child from each generation to be raised by the other family. The Japanese kids learn about American culture, business practices, and so forth. The American kids learn about Japanese culture (modern and traditional), and get trained as ninjas. My character would be the first girl sent over to study in Japan - but although female ninjas aren't common, they aren't unheard of either, so she's accepted. Mostly (still kind of has to push through some misogynistic crap now and again). And she's a lesbian. Not a slut, not by any means, but she likes girls. |
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| − | During the Battle of Okinawa, Robert was running a POW on the island itself. One night, he was taken captive by a Japanese man who'd expertly snuck into the camp. The man, who identified himself as something called a shinobi (but whom Robert suspected was actually a ninja), believed the Imperial propaganda that the Japanese prisoners were treated horribly, tortured, and executed. The "shinobi" was there to try to save as many of the prisoners as he could. It was when they refused to escape, citing that they were treated honorably, and that Robert was a friend that the mysterious warrior realized how he'd been misled. He surrendered. And he was treated honorably.
| + | Upon reaching Master status in her late 20's, she comes back home to the US, which she's visited from time to time, but doesn't know terribly well. She makes the mistake of coming out to her (very rich, very conservative) family as a lesbian, and immediately gets disowned. Strapped to pay the bills, few marketable skills you can actually put on a resume, no capital to set up a dojo (teaching a... sanitized... version of the art), she eventually becomes a stripper to pay the bills. It's unsavory work, especially when you don't like guys (and have to pretend otherwise), but it pays very well, and she can work a stripper pole like you wouldn't believe. There's also the advantage that with a phone call, you can disappear from work for days or weeks on end, with a quick audition you can get immediate work in almost any city, the hours are flexible... and everyone just naturally assumes you have a substance abuse problem, so no one bats an eye when you're flaky in your social life... it's almost ideal for supporting a super-heroine. |
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| − | Ishitani Masato (now deceased), the shinobi (ninja) who'd surrendered instead of continuing to fight a lost cause, and Robert became friends in the camp. After the war was over, and Japan surrendered, Robert was asked if he'd volunteer to stay over and help with the post war transition. He was happier to do that work than the work he'd done before, and worked closely with both governments, military and civilian. He remained friends with many of the former POW's that had been in his charge, and made a lifelong friend when he returned the Ishitani's katana after the war. It was the shinobi family's honor sword. In thanks, and hoping to foster greater understanding between the Japanese and Americans, Masato offered an exchange for each generation going forward: that the two families choose one person from each generation to be raised and taught by the other. The two men agreed. The Japanese kids learn about American culture, business practices, and so forth. The American kids learn about Japanese culture (modern and traditional), and get trained as ninjas.
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| − | 1955 was the year of the first exchange. John Hamilton, Robert's second eldest son, was sent to be raised by the Ishitani family. Masato became the boy's legal guardian and raised him much as a son (truth be told, he was a little easier on the little blonde gaijin boy than on his own son). John stayed in Japan from the age of ten until he was eighteen, and then went back home. He understood the Japanese far better, but didn't have much appreciation for what he'd learned until later. He eventually became the head of security for the family's corporate holdings (which is true... but his real worth is that he's the head of corporate espionage and insider trading).
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| − | 1975 was the year of the second exchange. Jacob Monroe was the cousin sent to Japan. He was also ten years old when he departed, and came home shortly before his 20th birthday. He spent a few years bumming around the country and world, on the family's dime, until he got "a talking to" by the family's patriarch. He was given a choice: either work hard for the family, or have his trust fund cut off. He did try to work for the family, but didn't care for the work. He ended up taking some sort of government job shortly afterwards, probably after the family pulled some strings for him. He's still hard at work, doing whatever it is he does for the government. He keeps a packed bag, and sometimes gets phone calls in the middle of the night, and then has to leave for periods of time. He's been shuffled from one alphabet soup agency to another from time to time. His longest stint was with The State Department. He doesn't talk about his work, or say much about the countries he visits. The family figures that he's some sort of spy.
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| − | In 1995, at the age of nine (she's a Scorpio and a Tiger), Maia Hamilton (my character), was sent to Japan. Sending her was a last minute decision. The primary choice through a temper tantrum and refused to go "without being tied up first" at the last minute, and his backup had just been in a serious car accident that had left him facing years of physical therapy to be able to walk. There wasn't another back-up. Maia was sent, with little preparation, and without knowing the language. It was a rough transition for her, getting used to a new culture, a new family, a new language, being a minority (gaijin, and having to take remedial courses in school to try to catch up to the more advanced learning pace of her new school. And then there was the ninja training. Nearly every spare moment, more ninja training. It was exhausting. But Maia adapted.
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| − | Her adopted "father", Ishitani Hikaru, saw that Maia had a lot of strength in her. And the girl refused to be treated "special" because she was a girl or gaijin. She wanted to prove that she was just as good as everyone else. And so he gave her that opportunity. She did not disappoint him. And unlike her cousins, when her eight years were up, and she was eighteen, she asked to remain, so she could master the arts. Hikaru was happy to have her stay on. She remained for another ten years.
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| − | Maia fully adopted Japanese culture, and even received dual citizenship. In Japan, she goes by the name Ishitani Maya (Kanji: 真夜, true night). She has been formally adopted by Ishitani Hikaru. In a sense, she truly has two homelands and two families.
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| − | In Japan, she was raised in the mountainous Iga provence, one of the traditional homelands of shinobi. Across the valley is Kōga, the traditional homeland of the other most famous shinobi clan. Each clan is organized into a number of guilds, and the guilds into dozens of families. It was in this way that it frequently happened that outsiders would hire ninja from one family, their enemies from another, but in truth, both families were members of the same clan. Even in conflicts with many different participants, frequently a single clan would unknowingly be hired by all sides. The Ishitani family is one of the branches of the Iga Clan.
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| − | The shinobi lifestyle seems to be slowly coming to an end. People seem to be leaving the lifestyle. There's fewer calls for hiring shinobi and other sorts of mercenaries. The government has tried to suppress the shinobi and samurai for quite some time, and especially under the watchful eye of the US in the post-war period. Appearances can be deceiving. Especially when dealing with people whose stock and trade are deception and misdirection.
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| − | Only the two clans ever gained any kind of notoriety, the Iga and Kōga (often rivals, sometimes allies, such as when they worked together to defend the Iga Republic in feudal Japan. There are three more clans that date back hundreds of years, each associated with one of the classic Buddhist elements. The Iga are associated with Void, while the Kōga are associated with Water. All five of the classic clans are doing well. Additionally, there are a number of other, smaller clans. Some have been established by Japanese ex-pats in other countries, escaping persecution (and some of these are centuries old). Furthermore, Japan is far from the only land that has a tradition of mystical mercenary assassins.
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| − | There's work to be had. It's often unsavory or dangerous. But the world has never ran out of a need for mercenaries, spies, or assassins. If anything, the modern world, with it's masked vigilantes, and others outside of the reach of traditional law enforcement, is in greater demand for ninja and their ilk then the medieval world was. The shinobi just keep a relatively low profile.
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| − | As said above, Maya stayed on to finish her training in the ways of the shinobi. This includes the mystical training (which her cousins missed out on), which she showed a talent in. She also eventually came to accept that she was a lesbian. Marrying a man was just never in the cards for her. She was worried that her adoptive father wouldn't accept it, but she did eventually come out to her. It was awkward for a few months afterwards, as he poked and prodded at her, hoping that she was just going through a phase (in her early 20's). But he did, in time, accept it.
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| − | Upon reaching Master status in her late 20's, she came back home to the US, which she's visited from time to time, but didn't know terribly well. She made the mistake of coming out to her (very rich, very conservative) family as a lesbian, and immediately got disowned. There's are "immorality" and "tarnishing the family name" clauses in her trust that were used as an excuse to cut her out of the family fortune. Some of the family do accept her, especially the younger generations, but no one was willing to overtly help her for fear that they too would be cut out. Strapped to pay the bills, few marketable skills you can actually put on a resume, no capital to set up a dojo (teaching a... sanitized... version of the art), she eventually became a stripper to pay the bills. It's unsavory work, especially when you don't like guys (and have to pretend otherwise), but it pays very well, and she can work a stripper pole like you wouldn't believe. There was also the advantage that with a phone call, you could disappear from work for days or weeks on end, with a quick audition you could get immediate work in almost any city, the hours are flexible... and everyone just naturally assumes you have a substance abuse problem, so no one bats an eye when you're flaky in your social life... it was almost ideal for supporting a super-heroine. (Her adoptive father did offer to "send a plane" for her, so she could return home to Japan if she wanted to. But ever being headstrong, she refused. She's mastered the physical and mystical arts of the shinobi. She's now intent to take her eventual place in the family, and to earn at least a master's degree in business, as is the way of her people... but it's a little disheartening to be facing a master's at 28 years old without a college credit to her name. Hikaru did send her around $20,000 to help her get established in her new life. It was enough to get a car, apartment, furniture, and other basics... She paid him back in less than six months.) | |
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| − | Really, she's just a ninja that happens to be a lesbian and a stripper (for now, until something better comes along - and she is working on that degree... her first semester starts in June). The three really don't have anything at all to do with each other. Would be a fun character to play, once you deconstruct it, with an eye toward breaking away from the bad lesbian stripper ninja stereotypes.
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| | ===Crucible=== | | ===Crucible=== |
