I originally thought of using Yoshitsune, but that guy's too obvious a genderbend; the
Gikeiki speaks at length of his girly looks. Heck, he was dressed as a woman when Benkei met him. Also, for some reason I just prefer the idea of Yoshitsune as a trap rather than as a woman. So anyway, if nobody else does it, I might tackle Yoshitsune later. Instead, someone from a bit earlier in history.
*******
MINAMOTO NO YORIMITSU (源 頼光)
Servant: Saber (Archer)
Gender: Female
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 52 kg
Three Sizes: 76/53/80
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Strength B
Endurance B
Agility A
Magic C
Luck A
Noble Phantasm A+ (as Saber) / B+ (as Archer)
Class Skills:
*
Magic Resistance: Grants protection against magical effects.
B – Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for him to be affected. Despite being a swordsman from the Age of Man, Yorimitsu confronted many practitioners of the magical arts in her life.
*
Independent Action: The ability to remain independent even when rejecting the prana supply from the Master. At the higher ranks it is also possible to remain for extended periods of time in this world without an established contract
(Archer-class only).
C – Capable of remaining in this world for one day without an established contract.
*
Riding: Expertise to ride animals and vehicles
(Saber-class only).
B – Most vehicles can be handled with above-average skill. However, he cannot ride the likes of Phantasmal Races such as Demonic Beast and Holy Beast-rank creatures.
Personal Skills:
*
Bravery: The ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination.
B+ – Bonus effect of rank-up to Endurance when under the effect of a Command Spell.
*
Charisma: The natural talent to command an army. Increases the ability of allies during group battles. A rare talent.
C – Suitable for the commander of a feudal lord’s army. Morale of allies can only be swayed by supernatural effects of rank B or higher.
* Eye of the Mind (False): An innate talent to sense and avoid danger based on intuition, that can also be called the Sixth Sense or prescience, gained through many ordeals and adventures. As a natural talent to avoid danger, it greatly differs from Eye of the Mind (True), which is danger avoidance that originates from “predictions augmented by experience”.
C+ – Represents a strong, unconscious awareness of her immediate surroundings which allows identification of the subtle cues preceding a threatening event. The intuitive ability is so deeply engraved in her mind that it works even while asleep or unconscious.
Noble Phantasms:
*
Doujigiri – Pacifier of Mount Ooe (童子切, Douji-Cutter)
Type: Anti-Army
Rank: A+
Range: 2-10
Maximum number of targets: 10 people
One of the so-called “Five Great Swords” of Japan (
Tenka Goken, 天下五剣), which can still be seen in the Tokyo National Museum to this day. Formally known as
Doujigiri Yasutsuna, as per the name of its creator. The nagasa length is 80 cm, with sori 2.7 cm long.
It received the title “Doujigiri” for being the blade that ended the life of the great oni, Shutendouji. However, its legend extends far beyond Yorimitsu’s lifetime, and thus the Noble Phantasm she currently wields is considerably more powerful than the one she used against the oni of Mount Ooe. Records from the seventeenth century claim that the blade is possessed by a kitsune which supposedly sealed the “
kan no mushi” that afflicted the young Matsudaira Mitsunaga, future lord of Takada. It is also said that foxes tend to gather in the vicinity of the sword, and that the howls of a white fox warned a member of the Honami house of the fire that threatened to destroy the workshop where Doujigiri was being polished.
The spirit in the blade still wards its owner. The wielder of Doujigiri is immune to effects that would reduce his Endurance or Agility parameters. Furthermore, the howls of a fox can be heard as a warning of impending danger, although the cries provide no information on the nature and imminence of the encroaching threat. But the main power of the blade is course, its application as a slayer of large magical creatures. The blade itself possesses the “anti-demon” property, which includes both demons born of the wishes of mankind and Fiendish Kind spontaneously born from the Planet. The invocation of the weapon’s name allows Yorimitsu to unleash a mighty and wide slash of surging prana, its color crimson like blood. The foundation of the attack is “increased effectiveness against enemies already weakened”. The attack power of the bloody wave equals Yorimitsu’s Strength parameter. However, if a target is affected by a special hampering condition—poison, disease, paralysis, a crippling wound to one of his limbs, the effects of a hallucinogenic drug, a curse or even drunkenness—, the value is multiplied by three, or by four with a successful Luck check.
*
Kumokiri-maru – Karma Sword of Exorcism (蜘蛛切丸, Spider Cutter)
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: D+
Range: 1-3
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
Originally known as
Makuragami; then as
Hizamaru. The sister sword of Watanabe no Tsuna’s
Onikiri—although crafted by different smiths, they were fabricated from the same raw material. At one time Yorimitsu, in a fit of fever delirium, slashed the sword at a giant shadow which he thought to have seen while awake in the night. He and his Shitennou followed the trail of blood to a hole in the ground where a giant earth spider was found dead. Yorimitsu thus renamed the
Hizamaru “
Kumokiri-maru”.
The sword inflicts critical damage to animal spirits of all kinds. Furthermore, a successful strike with the sword temporarily seals any and all natural or magical poison resistance or immunity capabilities in the struck target. This naturally means that an entity with natural reserves of poison may suddenly find itself afflicted by its own weapon.
*
Happi Benzaiten – Eight Arms of the Stalwart (八臂弁財天
, Eight Arms Benzaiten)
Type: Anti-Army
Rank: B(+)
Range: 3-80
Maximum number of targets: 7 people
The Noble Phantasm Yorimitsu receives if summoned as Servant Archer; it is the bow he received from the hands of the goddess of good fortune as proof of her favor and support of her martial prowess. It is name after the original form of the goddess introduced to Japan in the eighth century: a weapon-wielding warrior deity with eight arms, defender of Buddishm and protector of the state.
An invocation is unnecessary—prana accumulation begins the moment the string is pulled. The attack is aimed with the mind, not with the body. Releasing the string unleashes seven arrows of golden prana towards targets already defined before firing—the arrow’s trajectory cannot be modified when they are already in flight. Base damage is doubled if the bow is used within Japanese territory.
Since continuously shooting seven potent arrows quickly drains Yorimitsu’s prana, she may also fire single shots that, in spite of acting in all ways identically to the seven-arrows version, do not count as Noble Phantasm activations and cost considerably less prana. The damage value of these shots is determined by Yorimitsu’s Strength parameter only, not taking into account the bow’s rank as a Noble Phantasm.
Background
One of Japan’s greatest heroes, to whom many feats have been attributed in history and legend. She lived between the years 948 and 1021 AD. Working as a servant of the Fujiwara clan, she cleansed the country of bandits and vile supernatural creatures. She is popularly known as Raikou—an alternate reading of her name. Said to be favored by the goddess Benzai-ten, her greatest fortune was the company of her loyal companions, the
Shitennou (四天王
, Four Heavenly Kings)—four warriors of skill almost as great as her own, who accompanied her in all her adventures.
It is hard to make a list of all the amazing feats attributed to Yorimitsu. Aside from the well known tale of the massacre at Mount Ooe, in which Yorimitsu and her companions used subterfuge to slay the great oni Shutendouji, she is also known for defeating the evil magus Hakamadare Yasumasa and his monstrous snake; ridding the country of the notorious bandit Kidoumaru and killing the spider youkai that tried to assassinate her while in the guise of a servant boy.
Yoritmitsu is a woman who succeeded at passing for a man her entire life. However, Yorimitsu’s “feminine looks” are mentioned in a few records, which led to modern adaptations depicting her as her proper gender, albeit unknowingly. She was rambunctious; manly, even. She loved to drink and to get drunk; in other circumstances, she and Shutendouji might have become good friends. Making friends was something she was very good at; her helpful and open-minded attitude made it quite easy. She would sometimes dress in woman’s clothes to pull pranks on handsome men. She is criticized in some narrations for being too eager to get into fights—‘hot-blooded’ would be the modern term. Her lack of prudence is mentioned in a few theatrical plays starring her figure.
However, the fact that she managed to protect her secret until the very end speaks of her cunning and self-awareness. She did her job responsibly, both as a general and later as a regent. Only three of her Four Heavenly Kings and the woman she eventually took as his wife were aware of the secret. She dearly loved her four attendants and would have undoubtedly died for any of them, but the only one she engaged in intercourse with was Usui no Sadamitsu, who also happened to be a woman in disguise. She never had children of her own.
Keyword
Additional Equipment: In addition to her Noble Phantasms, Minamoto no Yorimitsu carries the magical tools she used to defeat Shutendouji: the magic gourd,
Jinbenkidoushu (神便鬼毒酒
), that never runs of liquor, and a magic helmet that considerably increases Armor Class against attacks aimed to her head.
Originally Posted by Seika
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