Aug 16, 2020 16:51:49 GMT -5
Post by Mori Masaru on Aug 16, 2020 16:51:49 GMT -5
Mori Masaru
OVERVIEW
ALIAS: N/A
AGE: 82
GENDER: Male
ROLE: Teacher
ALTER EGO: N/A
SCHOOL: Shiketsu
CLASS: 1-A
PERSONALITY
>Adaptable
>Disciplined
>Observant
>Practical
NEGATIVE TRAITS
>Ruthless
>Calculating
>Intolerant
>Nihilistic
LIKES
>Reading
>Family Members
>Keeping Busy
>Teaching
DISLIKES
>Yakuza
>Arrogant/Ignorant Upstarts
>Sloppy Technique
>Idiots talking during fights
"If you want a job done right, do it yourself. Don't ask for things."
Masaru is a complicated man - there is little point in claiming otherwise. After nearly seventy years spent witnessing both the best and and the worst that the world has had to throw at him, the man has attained a perspective that very, very few who follow the either the villain or hero career path ever expect to reach. Unlike a number of the other individuals his age or older, the fact that Masaru has fought for both sides also allows him to place it within a far different context, as well as the actions of those around him.
Having survived as long as he has, the one thing that Masaru has come to cherish above all else have been his immediate friends and family - having innumerable close calls and outlived most involved, the importance of such people has not been lost on the man, nor the impossibility of replacing them. It is around these individuals that Masaru is often at his friendliest, always up for a laugh and often more than willing to procrastinate in favor of spending time with his children and grand children - the man is well aware that he is beginning to enter his twilight years, and if combat doesn't take his life old age likely will soon with no way to tell if his Quirk has extended it or not.
On the flip side of that coin, however, is the rest of the people he will meet, and more to the point, those he is likely to be at odds with for whatever reason - unlike with his family and immediate friends, Masaru is not one to mince words with other people for the same reason he values his time with the first group above all else. To him, there's simply no point to it - he'd much rather get the job done and go back home, and it is often for this very reason that the man refuses to delegate tasks if he can avoid it. While the younger generations may have the time to waste in their youth, Masaru's advanced age and vast experience in comparison allows him to often simply get jobs done in a fraction of the time that other younger heroes may take to complete a task.
Finally, the other, most obvious difference that sets Masaru apart from the crowd, so to speak, is the fact that the man has frankly come to be largely disillusioned with the very concept of morality. In the process of fighting for both sides of the fence he has long since reasoned that the concepts of "good" and "evil" are, ultimately, subjective. It is nothing more than point of view, easily changeable from one person to the next and completely dependent on what the people in power say it is. Where one might view another person as a monster yet another group of individuals may see the same person as a role model, a paragon to be emulated and worshiped.
As a result this has frankly made Masaru possibly one of the most ruthless fighters within the Hero Association. With very few limits to his actions aside from his own preferences and those imposed upon him by the Association itself the man has become entirely indifferent to most acts of violence leading to no hesitation nor mercy in combat. While the man is well aware that this may and still does make many people wary of working with him as few are able to empathize with or understand the man's world views, Masaru still draws certain lines for himself. Most pointedly, he will never lie. He might leave out crucial information and mislead, but he will never tell a falsehood.
APPEARANCE
WEIGHT: 298 lbs
EYE COLOR: Turquiose
HAIR COLOR: Black
FACECLAIM NAME: King Bradley
FACECLAIM SERIES: Fullmetal Alchemist
While Masaru might have been able to pass himself off in his younger years where he looked fairly normal with an average build, fairly common black hair coloration and a fairly tall but normal height of 5' 10"... no more. Equal parts due to his Quirk and chosen professions life has left a very obvious mark on Masaru - his once slim build filled out with muscle expected of a practicing heavyweight martial artist, his age and experiences carved into his face. Quite literally, in fact, as Masaru typically wears an eyepatch over his left eye - while it was not lost his Quirk was unable to completely heal the damage done to it in his early 20s, leaving it pale and only able to see light and dark or vague shapes. While the Masaru clearly isn't young, however, he physically appears to be that of a man 20 to 30 years his junior, his hair still the same jet black it was in his 50s.
Clothing wise Masaru tends to favor the practical. Business casual when possible, so long as it doesn't restrict movement and doesn't distract from what he needs to be doing with discomfort or other concerns.
HISTORY
Between the increasing tensions of the different factions within the Yakuza, the increasing pressure from law enforcement and the ever more popular Heroes and the direct competition from the independent Quirk using villains that only continued to grow in strength - Masaru was no longer a mere heir to his father's role within the family. He was a potential weapon. A deterrent.
Mentorship that had originally been intended to mold him into a role of an enforcer would take on a more specialized bent, one that would intend to take as full advantage as it could of his Quirk without jeopardizing his health or ability to learn. Martial skills would shift more towards those that could best utilize his growing talents. Even prior to turning 17 Masaru would begin to be employed by the group as a debt collector and enforcer when messages needed to be sent and violence was seen as unavoidable, and even before turning 20 the boy would have made something of a name for himself among the loan sharks and other relatively low level criminals in the Tokyo underground. It wasn't until an altercation with during a deal with another family that had a similar idea that Masaru would catch the attention of the Hero Association - following the resulting damage of the mixed shootout and Quirk centric brawl in one of the city's industrial areas it was almost impossible not to notice the individuals involved. While no innocents were hurt in the conflict due to its remote nature it was enough to earn the family Masaru was serving some very unwanted attention and questioning by police.
The following incident nearly two years later, however, was another story entirely, Masaru coming to blows with a villain that had directly targeted the group's headquarters in response to a feud that had been building for months. The ensuing rampage and Masaru's response would cause a great deal of damage that would spread beyond the initial building and into the surrounding neighborhood before Hero response could get there - the police, while having been monitoring the location and waiting for such an incident as an excuse to arrest key individuals, were ill equipped to handle more than a simple shootout in a worst case scenario.
The unlikely twist to it all would be Masaru's success in subduing the villain before the heroes' arrival. Bloodied and severely injured but still breathing - a rather conscious choice on Masaru's part as he submitted to arrest without resistance once the situation was under control by law enforcement.
Frankly speaking, Masaru was tired of it. In all the years he had been part of the Yakuza he had not chosen it but been raised into it. Leaving had never been an option once his Quirk had been identified. The only way out that he could see was one that would have him looking over his shoulder one way or another his entire life - bar the option to tear it all down. On being arrested Masaru was quick to settle on a plea bargain, leveraging both the fact that he'd effectively been the one to halt the villain rather than the late heroes and the fact he had effectively submitted himself for arrest rather than resisting. The information he was able to offer came freely and without restraint - the more people he put behind bars with his testimony the fewer he would have to worry about once his own sentence was served.
What Masaru was not expecting was to put enough of his former brothers and superiors behind bars to earn mere months in prison, largely due to outstanding charges of assault and battery carried out while under their employment.
Freedom came with something of an unexpected obstacle, though. He knew no other life, had no other skills to market to potential employers or to live off of. Ironic as it might have been, Masaru would quickly go back to very similar work, albeit in a far more legal sense - as outdated as the Yakuza were, private security companies at least offered a few key advantages. Decent health plans, severance packages, backing to seek out Quirk Permits for their line of work and a near necessity given the nebulous nature of Masaru's own... and, most importantly, it was something he chose and could walk away from at any given time.
The following thirty years would see Masaru shifting from one company to the next every two or three, picking up additional skills and training that both served to enhance his Quirk's effectiveness and his general combat proficiency. Eventually Masaru would even undertake training to acquire a Hero certification as Japan's laws regarding the public usage of Quirks in combat roles became evermore strict - eventually enough that Masaru would effectively retire at the age of 53, having amassed a small fortune through what effectively amounted to legalized mercenary work. By that point long since married and with children, it was a life the man had not once considered when he was far younger. Not that Masaru was content to sit still. He couldn't, it just wasn't who he was. Following back on a few professional connections made while working the years previous, the man would eventually settle into the role of one instructor among many at a dojo Masaru had attended decades ago, finding it a comparatively relaxing hobby that kept him active and in shape. It wouldn't be until nearly thirty years later that his life would shift again, Shiketsu Academy approaching Masaru with a teaching offer - as it was effectively what he was already doing and the man liked the idea of mixing things up, he accepted.
ITEMS
Form fitting body glove, retained from his mercenary days - support gear capable of withstanding up to silver tier slashing damage.
Quirk Permit
Hero License
Quirk AND SKILLS
QUIRK TYPE: Mutation
QUIRK RANK: Diamond
QUIRK DESCRIPTION: While strengthening Quirks are not all that uncommon, Masaru's is somewhat unique in that it is effectively built on pain. Extremely passive compared to others of its kind, the Quirk itself doesn't directly strengthen Masaru but instead acts as a low level healing factor - and every time Masaru's body is broken it is rebuilt slightly stronger than before. While the Quirk cannot heal injuries that the human body would be incapable of mending on its own and the physical improvements made are as incremental as normal muscle building would be, the Quirk both prevents atrophy and allows Masaru to heal slightly faster and easier than most other humans - and years and years of constant combat and injury have rebuilt the man's body into something far stronger and more durable than it could naturally become.
The most immediate and apparent cumulative change to the man's body is what Hypertrophy has done to his muscles - after nearly seventy five years of constant use and abuse his body holds nearly four times the normal human muscle density. Aside from the obvious strength and speed increases (Masaru can effectively lift five times that of a Platinum ranked Strength specialist with little relative effort and match Platinum tier speed specialists), the sheer tissue density of the muscles - and to a lesser extent, Masaru's skin - has made them extremely resistant to external harm. Left to their own devices bludgeoning damage below Silver tier will be completely incapable of causing more than slight bruising, with slashing damage Bronze tier or below stopped almost immediately after cutting through the skin. While Masaru's bones have seen comparatively little abuse and have ironically benefitted the least from his Quirk they still remain strong enough to withstand respective damage types up to a full damage tier above that of his muscles, effectively making Masaru incredibly difficult to put down in a fight.
Not to be overlooked, however, is the base ability that enables Masaru's Quirk to work in the first place - a relatively low level healing factor when compared to others with dedicated regeneration Quirks, but there all the same. While severely limited in a number of respects the Quirk does enough to allow Masaru to heal minor cuts and scrapes within minutes, larger wounds to clot and halt bleeding in seconds and his body to process and recover from fatigue and exhaustion even in the midst of battle.
Exhaustion: That is not to say, however, that Masaru can go forever. His body will eventually succumb to fatigue and exhaustion if pushed hard enough, as represented by Exhaustion Points (EP). Masaru starts at 0 EP going into every thread, while high levels of physical exertion (such as fighting without the use of specialized techniques) will spent 2 EP each post. Techniques used that push his body to exert itself further will use additional EP on top of the 2 base points used in a post. Spending a post in which no action is taken will enable his Quirk's healing factor to begin clearing his system of metabolic waste and damage caused by it, restoring 8 EP per post spent in a "resting" state. Beyond 60 points accumulated in a thread Masaru's actions will begin to become comparatively sluggish and mistakes made as his body begins failing to obey his commands - beyond 80 points the physical exhaustion will become outwardly obvious. Passing the 120 point mark will cause Masaru's body to give out and collapse, although he may retain consciousness afterwards. Healing and Recovery type Quirks, however, will grant Masaru an additional bonus beyond merely healing his wounds, synergizing with his own Quirk to remove points from his accumulated EP total dependent on the rank of healing. Bronze will remove 10, Silver 20, Gold 40, Platinum 60, Titanium 80, Diamond 100 and Obsidian fully restoring Masaru to his prime fighting condition at the start of the thread with 0 accumulated EP.
World's Edge (25 EP): One of the most powerful techniques in Masaru's arsenal, and his go to finisher for opponents that he cannot catch or otherwise finish up close. Contrary to popular belief among the few who have seen it, the technique does not rely on any sort of support gear or hidden Emitter Quirk to perform - rather, it is a product of Masaru's sheer, inhuman strength and speed. While the basis of the technique is a simple swing, the physical action is performed with such speed and ferocity that it generates air pressure from the gasses trying to move out of the way of the blade's edge. The result is a razor thin line of wind capable of cutting through most physical substances, the momentum from the cut transferred to the moving air to slice targets from a distance. The truly terrifying aspect of the technique, however, is not the distance it can attack from (a rough 200 meters - 660 feet - before it fails to kill or wound opponents capable of withstanding Diamond tier slash damage), but rather its versatility and speed, able to cross its entire effective range in the blink of an eye. Done with a perfected, on edge swing, the technique can be whisper silent, slicing through anything in its range and the arc of the blade without touching objects mere inches off to the side, easing through armor, rock and other defenses without a sound. Should the blade be twisted mid swing, however, it turns the technique into a crude cudgel, the air pressure smashing anything and everything aside within its range, capable of leveling most any building in its way.
A Thousand Cuts (30 EP): A slight variation of World's Edge, but trading the parent technique's speed for sheer cutting power. Effectively the same technique in theory and with the same speed and strength requirements, Thousand Cuts instead uses an entirely different medium - rather than relying on the air around Masaru, it utilizes liquid on the blade, be it from Masaru himself, his opponents or something similar such as water around them. As liquid is by definition far denser than air, this dramatically increases the technique's cutting potential far beyond what World's Edge could ever achieve, allowing the technique to cut through virtually any defense placed in front of it. Additionally, due to the physics involved, the technique produces a spray from the liquid used, resulting in the technique being even harder to escape due to the spread as well as the liquid particles traveling at such speed that they "corrode" whatever surface they hit, the droplets impacting with such force that they burn or chip away at hard surfaces to the immediate sides of the technique's cut. Those who manage to escape the cut are therefor often subject to extreme, burning pain, often scoured by the liquid droplets with weapons, armor or support gear often significantly weakened by the pseudo-corrosive effect if not damaged beyond use.
Rejection (10 EP): A purely defensive technique, albeit a highly versatile one requiring inhuman speed and strength. On its own, the basic premise is to meet force with force - in the first motion, Masaru will swing his blade or blades to meet the incoming attack, blocking or stalling it for a split second. The second motion is an extension of the first, adding additional pressure to the swing to generate air pressure, with the third motion being to part the blades to either side or to shunt the single blade across the space in front of Masaru. The end result is a technique that stops incoming attacks before quickly forcing them off to the side and off target - rather than simply being used to block incoming weapons, however, the air pressure generated by the second motion of the technique is also extremely effective at dispelling attacks from many ranged Emitter type Quirks as well. Should it be used to block a hand held weapon, the blast of air is usually strong enough to send full grown adults tumbling back several feet. On its own the technique is only capable of blocking techniques Titanium rank or below that directly target the user (large, mountain and ground shifting techniques being immune) - when used in combination with the Iron Man technique, however, it can deflect even Diamond rank techniques, albeit not without a great degree of effort and difficulty.
Iron Man (5 EP): A risky technique, but not one without its benefits. Despite Masaru's focus on speed and technique, the man acknowledges that there is a time and a place for brute force. Iron Man is a technique that gives the user an incredible boost to durability by tightening the muscles in the user's entire body. Due to his already impressive muscle mass and density, tightening them to increase relative density and hardness does several things, first and foremost preventing any Platinum rank blunt trauma techniques or lower effectively useless, and damage from such techniques of a higher rank dulled significantly (save techniques that bypass muscles to directly attack inner organs). Additionally, weapons that are able to pierce the man's skin and muscle will routinely get stuck during the attack, with the attackers unable to quickly dislodge their weapons from the man's body - this, in turn, allows Masaru an open window to attack them with, or if the weapons are left in the wound by the attackers rethinking and retreating, tends to plug the hole and limit bleeding long enough for his Quirk to act. Techniques or Quirks that likewise do damage through cutting (Platinum rank or lower) likewise have their effectiveness drastically reduced, although cutting attacks Titanium rank or higher have their offensive capability unaffected.
QUIRK DRAWBACKS: Despite all of the benefits afforded by Masaru's Quirk it is not without significant downsides. As a Mutation type Quirk it faces significant problems whenever paired off against mind altering Quirks or those capable of altering the environment around the user, and unlike many Emitter type Quirks Masaru is still ultimately limited by physical limitations - he can only do what the human body can do, just to a heightened degree. By extension his fighting capabilities are heavily dependent on the gear he has on hand at the time, with most of the specialized applications of his Quirk becoming impossible to perform without the use of a weapon. On a more dangerous note, while Hypertrophy can and will heal damage done to his body it can only heal what the body naturally can on its own, and not instantaneously. Wounds damaging organs still remain potentially fatal, and his body cannot replace any that are lost. Environmental hazards similarly remain significant threats as his body still requires things such as oxygen to function - similarly, deep water can be problematic due to his muscle mass, Masaru sinking like a stone without active effort needed to keep him afloat and his head above water. His increased weight, likewise, can prove less than ideal under certain conditions. Finally, Masaru's Quirk has effectively hit the absolute ceiling of what can be accomplished with conventional Quirk training methodology. While it theoretically holds no upward limit the Quirk is limited in the same way that muscle building is - with improvements both incremental and requiring increasing effort the stronger one becomes.
Thousand Cuts: This technique is not without significant drawbacks of its own as well in addition to the high EP cost - it cannot be performed while moving or without the user's feet maintaining contact with a solid surface to act as an anchor and to provide appropriate leverage for the swing that forms the base of the technique. Additionally, the technique is a simple swing, and like any blade it will not discriminate against anything to cross its path - as such it is best used when outnumbered or when there are no allies present. The blade itself often tends to suffer damage from the technique as well, usually cracked or otherwise damaged from the strain of the swing and pull of the liquids thrown off it. Finally, due to the nature of the technique and all of its requirements it requires a full post to use during which no other techniques can be used.
SKILL NAME: Pain Tolerance
SKILL RANK: Platinum
SKILL DESCRIPTION: With his Quirk effectively built on pain it became something Masaru was able to ignore or tolerate a long, long time ago. Masaru can handle Platinum level injuries for up to 9 posts.
SKILL NAME: Weapon Training: Swords
SKILL RANK: Gold
SKILL DESCRIPTION: While rusty due to years of relative inactivity, Masaru remains incredibly proficient with such weapons. Favoring speed and precision over brute force, Masaru's skill with such normally lethal weapons has allowed him to employ them in a more legal fashion in keeping with the Association's guidelines following his change in career path - light stabs, cuts and flat-bladed blows intended to daze, injure, disable and incapacitate rather than kill, although more lethal methods remain viable should the situation call for it.
SKILL NAME: Martial Arts Training: Kenpo
SKILL RANK: Silver
SKILL DESCRIPTION: While not nearly as versed in unarmed combat as he is other forms, Masaru nevertheless spent several years studying and later helping instruct self defense classes following his retirement. While his raw strength and speed tends to render such techniques redundant they find some relevance in fighting other strength enhancing Quirks and disarming opponents.
PLAYED BY Spartan
