Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia Avatar: [Mods will do this.]
Gaia Name: NPC

Name: Dr. Rokuro Mogami
Shadow Name: The Pitiful God of Undeath
Nicknames: Dr. Mogami
Age: 40
Appearance:
Shadow Appearance (Human): Pitiful Undead God Mogami
Profession: Chief of Staff and Lead Researcher at the Tokyo Metro Hospital in Shibuya
Love Interest: Chiharu Katsuoka (Fiancee)
Personality: As the Chief of Staff and Lead Researcher at his hospital in Shibuya, he is often seen as an even-tempered leader and someone of exceptional composure and talent. However many of the nurses and staffers have reported in the past that he has exhibited an unusual nihilistic viewpoint, a carefree attitude at times when working, and often lashes out at those who encourage, question, or try to bring it up to him. These are just the ways that people see him, however. In truth, he was once a man of great ambition and conviction within the medical world, driven almost tirelessly towards researching cures for disease, treating those in need, and striving in his own words to 'cheat death as much and as often as possible'. But shortly after he published a thesis on a procedure to potentially extend the life of men using a few lifestyle tips (That would make your doctor enraged!), he was approached with something that changed his demeanor entirely. He became distant, less driven, but no less skilled when motivated. Dispassionate has become a word to describe him at times, though he refutes that description. His long engagement to his girlfriend, without marriage, however speaks otherwise...
Bio: Rokuro Mogami was a young man in Medical School with a singular drive and a belief that in his own talent lay the cure for many things that ailed mankind...he was talented, brilliant, and just the right amount of cocky that there was a real chance, many of his instructors said, that the young man could change the landscape of the medical field in Japan. And it was this confidence that drove him when he graduated and continued the research he began in medical school on ways to, in his own repeated words, 'To cheat death as much and as often as possible.' He was named the youngest Resident in Tokyo Metro's illustrious history in his early 20s, and his research seemed to becoming to a critical tipping point...

...When suddenly, his unquenchable fire was, without warning, quenched. Someone had approached him in the dark with an offer, and indeed, a solution to many of the issues that he had early on dedicated his entire life and youth to solving. Someone had beaten him to the punch on his greatest dream, and surpassed it using a method that made sport of his own intentions. His life's work, was in essence, useless...and in his 20s he was confronted with two options that left him with little else but to choose a path without passion. Would he join hands with this man who had crushed his dream and yet in the same breath, acknowledged his potential by entrusting this procedure to his care (for a purpose, he would learn, that he carried out long ago)? Even though that same man had destroyed him? Or would he slink into the shadows and do nothing, live out his life in shame and ignominy, knowing that everything he had sought to accomplish in his life had already come to pass and in greater scope than his own imagination had wrought?

The debate within him cooled his passion, and so too did it cool his drive...though he began to work with the mysterious politician in earnest, he was driven by that man to keep up his public face at work and continue to rise. And rise he did, from Resident to Head Researcher to Chief of Staff of the entirety of Tokyo Metro. And somewhere along the line he even found himself a fiancee who admired him for his work and for work he had done to save her life, though in six years they had not yet been married despite five of those years were spent in engagement. Indeed, though he lived and his life went on, he seemed slowed...as if he counted himself among the walking dead already. A body with talent and intelligence, but unremarkable all the same...in a world without meaning. Where only the truly exceptional could thrive...

Palace Data

Shadow Appearance (Berserk):
Palace Name: The Workshop of the Damned
Palace Description: An abandoned and suspiciously high-tech laboratory that absolutely stinks with the sterile smells of cleaners, bleach, and the medicinal scents familiar to anyone with an extended stay in a hospital under their belts, the Workshop of the Damned is a medical research facility, a laboratory, without staff save for those who are dead, tending only to the dead...and ever do the dead wander the halls within. With wings connected by a special elevator, each wing houses a variety of undead things that swarm to and fro, the scent of which can reveal the wings in which the team are most and least likely to encounter heavy resistance...making collection of the ID cards easier or harder as they go. To obtain the cards, it is likely that not every battle can be avoided...and to reach the Operating Table of the Mad Researcher, one must clear each wing in-turn...or else perish amid the labyrinthine halls of the dead like all the others...
Distortion Representation: Scent/Smell
Treasure Identity: Mogami's Residency ID

Has This Heart Been Stolen?: No

Items Owned::
N/A

Gaia Avatar: [Mods will do this.]
Gaia Name: NPC

Name: Yuudai "Yu" Honma
Shadow Name: The Weary Soldier
Nicknames: "Yu", "The Future of Japanese Cuisine", "Hell's Kitchener"
Age: 19
Appearance:
Shadow Appearance (Human): The Weary Soldier
Profession: Celebrity Chef, Host of 'The Future of Food' on J-Cook Network
Love Interest: ???
Personality: Solemn, polite, and intensely knowledgeable when it comes to food, this is the humble and skilled persona that the people who watch his new show and come to see him at his restaurants are familiar with. However his true personality in the kitchen is ruthless, driven, and exceptionally harsh. Many of his sous chefs, aids, and waiters have been harshly berated and dismissed for the slightest of errors, as he seeks absolute perfection in the kitchen...a battlefield, as he refers to it, upon which he alone will never lose. The truth behind his terrifyingly-intense motivation, however, may not be quite as self-centered as his burning personality might imply...
Bio: Yuudai Honma is the son of Iwao Honma, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Japanese Government, and Hisako Honma, a distant relation of the late Emperor Hirohito, making him twice nobility within the current Japanese political landscape. With such a pedigree that should have hinted at a predilection towards politics, it must have come as something of a disappointment to his father when Yu's interests and intense competitive spirit turned instead to the culinary arts, even as a boy. Though nobody knows exactly what the incident or moment was that started him down the culinary path, even as a young boy his interest in foods and how they were made was the sort of thing that made it impossible to manage him. Though his father tried to steer him in different directions, and though his mother supported him as much as she was allowed, nothing could change his mind, it seemed. His father's disappointment in him as a youth was evident, and they barely spoke during his elementary years. And it is entirely possible that the treatment of the boy is one of the straws that finally broke the back of their long-strained marriage...but as his father's heir, Iwao would not give up on finding some use for the boy, and when they became estranged he was, without choice, told he would be remaining with his father.

And in the years to come, times were hard...until one night, a chance occurred that would change everything for both father and son. A sit-down dinner with a certain politician, and on the menu were entirely dishes conceived and made by Yu. It was a smashing success. The politician raved about the skill of the son, but the praise was not given to Yu, rather the skillful and competent father who had raised a boy in this modern age who was actually useful, obedient...things he said were lacking in the current society. His father soaked in the praise and made quick work to leverage this impression to his advantage. And it was this door that his son had surprisingly opened, which allowed Iwao Honma his first advancement up the political ranks beyond the point at which he had been previously stymied. This was the beginning of his interest in his son...not as a son, however, but as a tool. But the praise and attention that his father had suddenly begun to lavish upon him, Yu took as a sign that he had chosen the right path after all, despite the hardships. And ever since he has sought the day that he could meet his expectations, to stand atop the culinary world, and make his father speak those words of praise to him again...

...In the years that followed, Iwao began to take his son under his wing a bit more and ensured through his connections that he had all the tools he needed in order to rise up in the culinary world. The best teachers, schools, materials and ingredients, and most importantly, exposure...articles in magazines, features and contests on television, and once he had graduated High School and become eligible to work full-time, his very own cooking show which debuted only six months ago entitled 'The Future of Food' on the J-Cook Network. The path was laid out before him...but seeking greater heights and knowing he could never win praise by simply following a grand design, he continued to cook with a ferocious appetite for competition and victory...and his heart began to twist, and become distorted, the longer he fought and struggled without the validation that he so desperately wished for.

Of recent note, his culinary skills opened the eyes of someone much more influential even than the first politician...and his father's current position and involvement with that man are likely the result of that. However there is a greater design at work, perhaps, for Yu in the eyes of that man. Greater than even he, or his father, might realize...if they stay on the path and listen.

Palace Data

Shadow Appearance (Berserk):
Palace Name: The Citadel of Flavor
Palace Description: A decrepit and crumbling, small fortress surrounded by walls that are constantly under barrage by unseen enemies beyond the gates on each of the four walls of the fort. At the center is a tall, stone citadel in which the Fortress's Protector awaits all challengers who manage to pass the 'Trial of Four Flavors'; a test which forces challengers to steal four keys stolen by an enemy raid and taken to the encampments just beyond the four gates of the four walls of the fortress. Doing this, you may obtain the Sweet Key, Salty Key, Bitter Key, and Sour Key needed to enter the citadel. At the heart of the Citadel is the Throne of Victory, upon which the Protector sits. When one enters into the room, he will receive their challenge. But for the duration of one's time within the lands of the Protector, however, one must adhere to his Laws utterly or be expelled from the 'siege'...that is, none may consume any food, items, or otherwise save those provided by the vendor's stalls inside the gates...the scent of which fills the air with the delightful scent of meals to come, tempting those in need to eat of their goods and be refreshed.
Distortion Representation: Taste
Treasure Identity: Old Fishing Pole
Has This Heart Been Stolen?: No

Items Owned::
N/A

Gaia Avatar: [Mods will do this.]
Gaia Name: NPC

Name: Tanba Tanahashi
Shadow Name: The Conductor of the Festival of War
Nicknames: General Tanahashi, 'Steelheart Tanba'
Age: 45
Appearance:
Shadow Appearance (Human): Conductor of War Tanahashi
Profession: OF-9, Full General in the JSSDF Ground Self-Defense Force and Military Adviser to the Shogun
Love Interest: ???
Personality: Cunning and decisive, intelligent and strong. He stands firm when others flinch, he laughs when others quail. He is an ideal military man, clear-minded and with a firm plan for the future and a plethora of experience in his 45 years that have allowed him to rise to the very highest of peaks within the general military JSSDF. He does not reveal his true mind to those around him, and plans long in advance for his next move. Views the children and youth of society unfavorably, as he believes most are incapable even of following orders, and he prizes those who step up and prove they can do just that. He admires others who are as clever and quick to action as he can be in a pinch, but views them with the most suspicion of all...as he has no intention of losing what he believes to be the greatest game of all...
Bio: Born into a relatively unimportant family, there was a moment in Tanba's youth when he discovered an interest in the game of war...moving pieces, sacrificing for a more complete victory, always thinking ahead of his opponents by so many moves they didn't know what he would do next. He loved that sort of thing, and would constantly challenge his unimpressive father and mother to games at which they had no hope of defeating him. He was, in a word, exceptional, and with a mind for strategy that made him the apple of the eye of the officers in the military school to which he requested he be enrolled fairly early in his youth...and where he remained in the ascending programs until he graduated with top honors at age 17 and moved on to the Officer's School for training towards leadership within the JSSDF. But shortly after he began at Officer's School, he left for a while...opting instead to volunteer for active service in skirmishes outside of the country for the United Nations and anywhere that his willing participation was welcome. He gained a reputation in such service, and became hardened by his experience, more convinced than ever of his interest and talent at war itself. And when he returned to Japan again at Age 25, more well-rounded and renowned than many of the military's most experienced and highest ranking servants, he knew he was on the fast track to power and greatness.

He achieved the rank of General at age 37, and became a fully-outfitted General just two years later at age 39, ascending to the very highest ranks of the military with his outstanding service and tireless devotion to keeping the peace within Japan against any and every threat of terror, sabotage, and the ever-present overtures of war from the Northern half of that country just across the waters...by age 43, he was the lead military adviser to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but in spite of his service and his record, he was considered by the late Emperor to be a bit too eager for war...and often his more aggressive counsels were ignored. But his record in directing security and in handling the policing of the Imperial Estate in Tokyo was beyond reproach, and he was charismatic when he needed to be, so people loved him regardless...and they admired him. But in two years of service to the Emperor, something began to shift within him...a great unease, a dissatisfaction despite having achieved the highest rank that he could manage within the service of the regular officer corps of the Ground Self-Defense Force. And in secret, for many years, an alliance was slowly forged...inner-workings were covered up of a plan set by one other than he deemed to be his equal in nearly all things...and together, a great evil was woven within the fabric of the government.

And under his own watchful eye, the greatest crime in the history of their nation...perhaps in the world, in some time...was allowed to happen, unhindered. So the Emperor was murdered...and power shifted hands to his ally and himself...a great project near completion to begin the next stage of Japan's rise among the powers of the world.

Yet the intrigue cannot be finished...for a nation with two men who stand on equal footing at the helm of leadership...has no leader, whatsoever. And soon, the two men most responsible for the plan and the future of this country will surely come to a head.

...Unless someone, or something else, should come between them first.

Palace Data

Shadow Appearance (Berserk): ???
Palace Name: Nippon Futureland Memorial Amusement Park of Victory!
Palace Description: Instantly set apart from any Palace that has come before it, entry into the world of General Tanahashi reveals a visual spectacle beyond imagination...it is his very own twisted 'Destinyland', entitled instead as 'Nippon Futureland'! A sprawling, garishly designed and obscenely bright and colorful park filled with shadows, human figures both Japanese and foreign, and filled with rides commemorating the steps in Tanahashi's rise to power. Some of these include the: 'Fall of the Emperor' Roller Coaster, the 'Dark Days of Uncertainty' Haunted House, the 'One-Step Forward Together' Tunnel of Love, and the 'Final Move' Amphitheater commemorating his final step towards gaining control over the country. It is ambitious, bright, and loud, filled with searchlights and mascots that greet you before changing into hideous shadows and engaging in combat...and the park itself is circumnavigated by a parade headed up by none other than the park's very own Conductor, Tanahashi himself riding his 'Ride of the Valkyrie' Float loaded with loud music and searching lights to spot out any intruders entering into the park without a proper Pass. It seems that nobody is having more fun, or directing the action in Nippon Futureland other than Tanahashi himself...truly reveling in the magic of the game and the amusement that he himself has made.
Distortion Representation: Sight
Treasure Identity: Worn 'Risk' Game Set

Has This Heart Been Stolen?: No

Items Owned::
N/A