Shin Katsume Backstory
Shin had a relatively normal life. Born in the eastern Kitsune village of Izanagi to two loving yet fairly poor and low-class parents. Most of the village was wealthy, but with the wealth came a large poverty sector. Growing up in this environment, an area of wealth and decadence that was constantly flaunted gave him a grasp on how precious money was, and a deep seeded distain for those who took money for granted or flaunted what their wealth afforded them. The annoyance grew until he couldn’t take it any longer and decided to teach these people a lesson by stealing their possessions from them, sometimes keeping what he stole from himself, but other times, simply hiding the item he stole. It didn’t matter to him really if he had the item, he wasn’t envious of the item itself, it was the wealth that it represented, and the annoyance that brought with it. All that really mattered is that the other person didn’t have whatever it was either. He got caught several times in the beginning, forcing him to run from authorities quite often. Because of this he eventually developed his change shape form to not only be human, half fox, and fox, but to that of a natural fox as well, increasing his running speed. Natural fox shape is a form that is rare in kitsune culture, not often developed even though all kitsune are technically capable of it. Sometimes he would steal things from people and hide them in places just to fuck with them. He found a kind of satisfaction in mischief, earning himself an unfavorable reputation within the village as he began to fill out the kitsune stereotype.
Aside from his kleptomania, Katsume had a passion for the alchemical science. He would wonder the forests of his home collecting reagents and combining them together in rudimentary alchemy labs to see what they did his curiosity driving him. He developed his skills as an alchemist over years of trial and error with little to no guidance from anyone. His low status meant that the merchants and alchemists of his hometown wouldn’t take him as an apprentice. That didn’t much matter though because he would steal books from them and teach himself.
When he came to the age of 18, his household was struggling more than it had before for money. There wasn’t much he could do to get a job to earn any kind of money. He either didn’t have the skills for work, or he had ruined relations with the people he could have worked for by stealing from them. His only option was to enlist in the local military. Like any other general infantry in the kitsune army, he was taught the katana. Honor and discipline, beauty in every strike. That’s the pretentious style that was taught. The only techniques that Katsume took from that was the beauty in every strike thing. Using dexterity instead of strength to manipulate the weapon effectively. There was no “honor” in his fighting style, however. He would use any means necessary to win a fight. Consequently, that approach wasn’t outright rejected, many kitsune had been known to use such a style, but it wasn’t the drill instructor’s way. While Katsume was in training the conflict between the elves and the rats was ramping up. The humans eventually got involved and the elves called in the kitsune as their allies.
What started as a way for Katsume with the hope that he wouldn’t have do anything became him being an active combatant in a war. Katsume’s sister, Mizuko Katsume had been away from the village for a few years, confiding privately to Shin that she was pursuing a relationship with a human as ill advised as that was. After the humans and kitsune joined the war, the wearabouts and wellbeing of his sister was constantly in the back of his mind. It wasn’t long before Katsume saw his first battle, one against a mixture of rats and humans. The experience was overwhelming. Sight and scent of blood from either side, the shock of war, it all triggered something in him, something primal. It made him unable to keep his transformation completely under control. It made him giddy, eager to cause violence. He won this battle with the rest of his platoon and observed something that intrigued him. The rats were using alchemy in combat. This made him think of ways to use his alchemy in combat situation.
He spent the next few years in the military, winning some battle and losing some others. He eventually ended up getting promoted to the rank of corporal put in charge of a small fireteam of three other people. After several successive victories, he was transferred to the elven capitol and his team assigned as personal guard for the king. Setting sale across the sea, he developed a crippling fear of the water, suddenly realizing he never learned how to swim. Spending a year in the kingdom, he had personally stopped an assassination attempt on the king’s life in spectacular fashion. This lead the king to rewarding him with a custom upgrade to his military uniform as well as a set of muleback chords to help him with his ever prevalent strength issue.