Name:
Shinji Kintaro
18 yrs.
Roughly 6 ft.
Light brown, a little long. It tends to naturally fall across his face, and there's enough of it in the back to warrant a small tail, tied off with some old chord he found. Frequently wild and unkept, though not of Shinji's volition; his hair, though long now, used to be kept shorter and spiked, and has yet to "unlearn" it's former style.
Blue, flecked red, but the red is only visible in direct light and under careful scrutiny.
Lean, toned. He's wiry, but decently built. Muscles are decently defined from a lifetime of training in hand-to-hand combat.
Fair; slightly tanned.
Shinji has several visible scars on his body, most of which appear the result of horrible trauma. The two largest ones start just behind the base of his neck, on either side of his shoulders, and carve downwards to just beneath his shoulder blades.
His old armor doesn't fit as well as it used to, so he decided to go without it. Instead he wears a sleeveless white shirt and black pants he found in an old storage chest in the Temple of Fire. His old gauntlets, frayed and ruined by the months of use, were similarly discarded. His hands are instead wrapped in cloth torn from his old shirt, and tied off just past his wrists. An old, but well-fitting, black and red silk belt finishes his new wardrobe.
Shinji retains his memories of his training under Tohou Fuhai in the Monastary of the Silver Fang, and remains one of the few living practitioners of the Kurai Shiten style of martial arts. However, since the Joining, he has lost the power to create magical fire from his right hand, and his elemental affinity to Fire has temporarily been negated. An aura scan would display something similar to Void; he has no specific affinity, but neither does he lack one. If anything, his affinity seems to be growing closer and closer to that of the Celestial sphere.
His physical strength is greater than a person of his size would be realistically able to demonstrate, as is his speed and relfexes, but they have not yet reached the point of superhuman levels. Speaking in actual terms, he can heft heavy melee weapons one-handed for moderate periods of time, and can, if given warning, catch an arrow out of the air more often than not.
Though he has not had formal weapons training, Shinji can, if given enough time, formulate a basic combat technique for most close-range weapons. Long range weapons are not his style, thus he focuses no attention there whatsoever.
The only other ability Shinji possesses, if it can be called that, is the knowledge he inherited from Azazel during the Joining. Locked in Shinji's mind is nearly a millenia of experience and information, but that information is not readily available to him. Because his mind is mortal, it could not survive having all that knowledge revealed at once. Shinji must re-encounter the things in his mind, and only then does he "remember" them, but even this isn't complete recollection. He's still prone to human forgetfulness, and some of the details concerning the memory might be lost.
((A small list of some of the things Shinji might "remember" can be found at the end of this bio. -Ian))
Much prefers the outdoors to any civilized city. He likes the open spaces and the fresh air, and quickly becomes clautrophobic in big cities. He enjoys bird song a great deal, and almost always feels a great swelling inside him when he hears a particularly lovely call, or feels a great gust of wind, as if some part of him still yearns to fly.
He's inherited Shinji's cast-iron stomach, and can survive on things most normal people would balk at. Shinji also has poor taste in anything cultural (like art or music), and would be very uncomfortable in any form of formal social situation.
Has a great love for children, as he considers them innocent beyond the evils of the world.
At one point in Narada's history, a Celestial named Azazel was sent to investigate an anomaly in the passage of souls from the physical world to the spirit plane. He arrived on Narada, and met with a horrible fate at the hands of a golem army led by a mad king. After being freed by a second contingent of Celestials, Azazel, driven partly mad by his experience, slew the king and took upon himself the mantle of an eradicator of evil; unfortunately, his mindset had been that the greatest single source of evil in Narada were in evil men. He was brought into indirect conflict with otherwise good and peaceful factions in Narada as a result of his quest, and it was during an attack on the city of Reiki, wherein Azazel attempted to destroy the ruling figure because of his "neglect" (the ruler had refused to send troops to quell a nearby military struggle, and as a result several innocent villages were pillaged and destroyed), that he came battle the protectors of Reiki, the Chosen and Guardian of Fire. Azazel slew the Guardian, but fell before the power of the enraged Chosen. He was captured, and a strange fate was placed upon him: because he had killed the Guardian, he would replace him. A series of powerful rituals managed to bind Azazel to the Chosen, and to divide his otherwise untouchable Self. His humanity was seperated from his powers, so that, with his powers available only at the behest of the Chosen, he was forced to serve.
During the later struggle with Chaos, Azazel was affected by the imbalance just as the rest of Narada was. His power became erratic, and the side of his personality linked to that power was given free reign for a short time. However, when the Fire Chosen died, another tragic twist would befall Azazel. The Bind the Chosen created did not dissolve in death. Azazel was forever bound to serve Fire until he was released. When she died, he too ceased to physically exist, passing down through the years in the minds of the people who became the incarnations of his humanity. All the while Azazel's Power side was awake, alone in the impenetrable darkness of his host's mind, until finally the isolation drove him to homicidal madness. He wanted revenge for his imprisonment, freedom, and the erradication of the "weaker" Humanity. He finally came to be again when Teri entered Narada, when the boy Shinji tapped into that forbidden power unwittingly for the first time. Azazel's prison was weakened, and he began to plot.
What followed was months of inner conflict within Shinji as he and Azazel fought for dominance, culminating in their final struggle inside Shinji's dying mind. There, fighting beside Azazel's prison itself, they both perished at the others hands, impaled upon identical halves of the javelin of the Fire God, Resireghl.
At the edge of the physical world and the realm of the dead, the two halves were asked to make a decision seperately, whether or not they wanted to go back. The nature of this "second chance" is still mysterious; whoever (or whatever) changed things, it was done for a reason that he/she has yet to divulge.
During the Joining, as Shinji now recalls it, the halves were asked to make a decision whether or not they wanted to be returned to life, not as seperate entities but as a whole. Shinji Kintaro, after some time, agreed to be reborn. Azazel's decision was slightly different, which is why Shinji was returned as a human and not as a Celestial. Azazel was asked the same question, but he refused to be made mortal, instead agreeing that his power, and his knowledge, should endure in some other form. Thus, Shinji was recreated as a mortal, with the power and knowledge of Azazel passed on to him. Azazel, the being, endures in no other way.
"Shinji" is the name adopted by the being created through the joining of the human boy Shinji Kintaro and the fallen Celestial, Azazel the Watcher. He is a combination of the two beings, bearing the most definitive characteristics of both. The physical form he adopted when he was sent back was also something of a hybrid. His physical form is that of an 18 year old human male bearing much of Shinji Kintaro's own physical characteristics, but bearing upon it the scars that were inflicted upon Azazel before he was divided into his two halves. He has scars where Azazel's wings had at one point been ripped away, but lacks the power to regenerate them as the Celestial once had. He has memories of the wings, and still sometimes gets "phantom" sensations of their pressence, much the same way people who've endured amputation report still having feeling in their lost limbs. The identity of Shinji Kintaro was chosen simply because he already has a place in this society, and memories of that.
Though still maintaining his former hot-headedness, Shinji's general demeanor is a little different after the Joining. Still quick to taunt during combat, he's become more reserved, more controlled, in day to day activities. He has found his temper easier to manage, though it still gets the better of him more than he'd like to admit; he recognizes the value of a stayed tongue (or fist, or foot, or...), and has found a cunning he didn't know he possessed. He's still adapting though, and until he's perfectly comfortable with his new mindset he'll be prone to frustration and brash action.
Shinji has inherited a sense of justice that will frequently send him headlong into the most absurd situation, if he believes there is a grevious wrong that needs to be set right. He can't abide evil in any form, and will readily voice his sentiment about a situation he deems unjust (no matter if the injustice is, say, in the way a king conducts his court). Though he can be compassionate, Shinji has little time for forgiveness, especially if the offense is great. He believes forgiveness is earned, not given.
His sense of honor has likewise been tempered, and he'll go to pains to ensure that his, or anyone else's honor, is not compromised. He's loyal to a fault, idealistic, and too quick to chastize himself for the smallest flaw. He also has an air about him that can be misconstrued as arrogance. Shinji doesn't mean to be, but his straightforward nature and disregard for the civilized manner of glossing over facts leads most people to perceive him as proud and rude.
The truth is though, he is quite proud, and would probably put himself in unneccessary danger if his pride, or courage, is brought into question.
Soon after waking, after discovering the details of the events that transpired by the Temple, Shinji decided that the first thing he must do is take back the power of Fire that was stolen by the servant of the Ghanril, Lieh. No longer bound to Fire, Shinji has lost the power to command it, and is thus no longer a real Guardian at all. Despite this, he feels that he must take the power back, if only to prevent it from being used against Narada. He does, however, also have personal stake in it, for it used to be the power possessed by his departed friend, Teri. Shinji refuses to let Lieh get away with what she did.
Long term, Shinji sees this as his second chance to do the right thing and make ammends for the things he did wrong both as a human and as a Celestial. There is much evil in Narada, and Shinji would see it purged.
Information regarding the Chosen, the Elements, and their struggle against Chaos, though not of the final battle itself; that was too traumatizing even for Azazel to fully remember.
Knowledge of the lands of Narada and some of their ancient history up to the final battle; Shinji would, for example, recognize the names of ancient rulers, customs, banners, and castles.
Limited knowledge of some of Naradas ancient creatures and their habits, and how to combat them.
Shinji would recognize a technique only if it had its roots before or during the Rending, and even then would only remember what it USED to be. However, given enough exposure and time, Shinji might be able to guess how it evolved over the years, and the way the current style functions.
This character is ©2002 by
Ian Chongson.