Iseiaisha [ready]

[DerpRavener]

Name: Iseiaisha

Sex: Female

Age: Middle aged

Species: Earth Pony

Eye colour: Cyan

Coat: Navy Blue

Mane and tail: Dark Grey

Physique: Stocky

Residence: She has an official office in Kyoma, although she is only there intermittently, and she has an apartment in the same city.  She also has several safehouses spread across Neighpon, and a few in other regions.

Occupation: Karasu of the Shogunate

 

Cutie Mark:  A spear piercing through a tree, representing Iseiaisha’s drive to accomplish her goal.

 

It was harvest time.  Among other things, for farmers this meant trips to market to sell off surplus, and make sure they had enough to purchase what they might not be able to make themselves.  Too young at the time to do the bulk of the carrying, Hidzume did what she could to help all the same, largely at her own insistence.  She was put to work in smaller ways generally, clearing the way for the cart, making sure things didn’t fall off of it, or helping setup and run the stall.

 

This particular season however saw the family suffer an unfortunate occurrence, the father fell ill.  Thankfully it was not life-threatening, but it would leave him bedridden, and that would set back their schedule.  As the family debated what to do, Hidzume stated that she would replace him, so they would not fall behind.  The idea was shot down immediately, as such a task would be far too much for her young self to do.

 

Although she made as though she’d listened, Hidzume had other plans.  She went to bed early that night, specifically for the purpose of getting up early the following morning.  She knew she couldn’t tackle the task alone, but she had accounted for this.  She coerced her older brother to help, although admittedly he only did so because he worried she might try even if he didn’t, and if it was going to happen it would be better for someone responsible to be present.

 

The journey into town was several gruelling hours, while the nearby wilderness was relatively tame the route was long and bumpy enough to cause problems, but the pair emerged triumphant!  Sure, Hidzume would be bedridden for several days herself afterwards, and she’d be chewed out by her parents after that.  But she had proven that when she set her mind to achieving something, she would not be denied it.

 

Unique Traits:

 

Iseiaisha began her combat schooling as a soldier, and the skills and understanding that come with that are something that never left her.  Through her training, and the subsequent years on active duty, she gained a familiarity with tactics, logitstics and combat with a number of basic weapons.  The training also gave her new techniques for handling pain, which combined with her natural traits makes her a very resilient combatant.

 

The shift from soldiery to espionage brought with it whole new sets of skills.  Iseiaisha recieved intesive training ninjitsu, which included both a form of direct combat with a basis in misdirection, and techniques for avoiding combat in the first place.  She knows how to remain concealed, discreetly gather information, and stealthily approach a target.

 

History:

 

Iseiaisha, then known by her birth name Shitto No Hidzume, grew up in a farming community on Dosanko.  Her village itself was fairly secluded from the attacks which plague the region, but she nonetheless heard much about them.  Though much diminished from the raids of old, they were still a constant source of gossip and thus concern.  Hidzume however took what many would call exactly the wrong things from these stories.  She took away only the tales of the mighty heroes who’d defended Dosanko in ages past, and while the stories their modern day soldiers who guarded the island weren’t as dramatic they were more real, which made them just as interesting.

 

Those stories inspired Hidzume, but also proved to be a source of frustration.  As much as her family insisted that role of a farmer was a noble and vital undertaking, it never felt very heroic.  It was too much based in routine, how could one prove their bravery or tenacity if one could not take any risks?  She found glory where she could, initially by trying to take on the more dangerous tasks, around the farm, and eventually going beyond that.  Whenever she got wind of some critter that might threaten the farm, she made it her mission to ward it off.  It was one thing when that was merely pests, but when she moved up to predators, her parents had enough.

 

Fortunately, there was a military academy relatively close by, and Hidzume was of age my then to be sent to it.  Though done with a heavy heart, it was thought to be the right choice by all involved.  The filly was excited to follow in her heroes’ hoofsteps, and learn their ways.  The rest of her family hoped her natural energy could be tempered by discipline.  She did well, her own enthusiasm for the subjects carrying her through those aspects she would have otherwise struggled with.

 

Naturally, on completing her pass through the academy, Hidzume went on to join the service proper as many of her classmates did.  The capabilities she demonstrated in training earned her a junior officer’s position.  It wasn’t actually a command position of any sort, but it was a fast track to it.  In peacetime it is more difficult to find opportunities to advance or find glory, and at times it was a challenge for Hidzume to retain her poise, but she persevered.  Her battlegroup was called to action every so often, but most of her early career was essentially guard duty.  It was not what she’d been hoping for, but her role models would not quit in the face of unexpected challenges, and neither would she.  While she had limited opportunities to show her valor, over her early years she was able to demonstrate her dedication to her position.

 

In time, Hidzume earned a small squad of her own, and her first command brought with it a task.  Several villages in a rural area had reported bandit attacks.  The problem was deemed too small for a full sacle military response, but the damage could not be ignored either.  It was thought that the task would be a perfect fit for a fresh commander looking to get a taste of leadership in a combat situation, being just serious to merit a response, while minor enough that the danger would be minimal.

 

These assumptions proved perhaps too correct.  After taking a few days to speak with the townsfolk, and get both the details of the recent attacks and the lay of the land, Hidzume began her hunt, and it only took a few days before bandits were baited into a trap and their band routed.  They were never particularly skilled, having been driven to raiding towns out of a famine in their own home villages, rather than greed or challenge, and Hidzume mused on this even as she rounded up the stragglers.  She found herself conflicted, being proud of a job well done, yet at the same time not being sure the bandits really deserved what came to them.  She began to wonder if there had been another way to resolve the situation.

 

Hidzume continued on as a soldier for several months, but during that time her doubts weighed on her.  The life of a soldier seemed less and less appealing, if one would be forced to choose between doing her duty and finding the best outcome, as she had.  After a few months of competent but increasingly distracted service as a soldier, she took an extended leave of absence.

 

Hidzume had grown dissatisfied with her situation as a soldier, yet the mindset, and her drive to protect remained.  She still wanted to fight, and she was determined to continue, but that was no longer enough.  She was sure that, if she just knew the right approach, she could have found a better outcome and could do so reliably in future.  As with many soldiers, she had until this time viewed the more subversive schools of warfare disdain, but now she saw them in a new light.  She realized that with the right intelligence, or a blade in just the right place, one could change the course of of a battle or even prevent it entirely.

 

Of course, there were no academies available to learn spycraft or ninjitsu, or at least none that could be publicly accessed.  It was however, possible to find a mentor, if one knew where to look or had the will to track one down.  Hidzume had both, and she demonstrated them in her search for someone who could teach her the skills she sought to learn.  After a month of this, she caught the attention of one of the few ponies staffing the office of the Karasu.  This pony found Hidzume’s efforts sloppy, but saw potential in the attempt and the mare who made it all the same.  She had found her mentor.

 

Hidzume underwent a period of intensive training, to bring her up to speed on the tools of the trade, which included both more direct means by which a ninja would reach a target or gather information, as well as the more roundabout methods of espionage.  And this did not stop at mere demonstration and practice, Hidzume was called on to do work in the field long before her training was complete, evidently her teacher thought that a live environment was vital to the learning process.  It was during the first of these that Hidzume picked up the name Iseiaisha, adopting a new name while in public to make her and particularly who her family and friends were more difficult to track down.

 

Though finding the methods unintuitive at first, Iseiaisha persevered, and came to appreciate the means to control a situation that such methods offered.  Once again her dedication proved to be her greatest asset, and after many years of service she rose through the ranks, first to achieve a position in the office of the karasu, and finally to relatively recently be selected to be the Karasu herself when the time came.

 

Personality/Summary:

 

Iseiaisha is something of a paradox.  As the Karasu she is valued for her ability to act subtly, and yet at the same time it was her direct, driven approach that garnered her attention that allowed her to achieve her current station.  It’s not that she can’t scheme, it’s just that when she has an objection she puts intense focus on it.  Unless otherwise required, she prefers to strike her foes harder and faster than they can react over intricate plans, and she’s willing to put herself in harm’s way to achieve her goals.  She’s less willing to put her subordinates in similar danger, although at a certain points she sees that as a hazard of the job and a risk one must have realized when entering the field in the first place.  She sees espionage as the most brutal and underhoofed means to solve a crisis while putting the least number of ponies in harm’s way, and she embodies that interpretation in her tactics.

 

She’s only had to change this mindset recently, as she’s begun to control the Karasu’s intelligence network.  Now managing so many who each have their own modus operandi, Iseiaisha has taken up a hooves-off approach.  She allows her agents to choose their own methods, provided they find success and avoid too much attention, as a disguise, a concealed vantage point and a spy golem all accomplish the same thing in the end.

 

In person, Iseiaisha tends to be laid back.  She’s a pony who’s seen much over the course of her life, and was so often called upon to make split second decisions in critical situations, such that little truly fazes her anymore.  Which isn’t to say she can’t be surprised but rather that surprise isn’t enough to stop her from taking action.  She takes her responsibilities very seriously, both being a career soldier and now holding a position of importance in the shogunate.  Beyond that however she’s very easy to talk to, having cultivated conversation as both something useful to a spy and an alternative to combat as a soldier.

 

 

Additional Notes: As this character is going to be the karasu, I'm going to want to get it approved by @Zeig as well as the usual process before I'd consider it truly complete.

[Zeig]

Such Karasu, much approval!

[Bellosh]