Hagakure
Hagakure (a.k.a. Haku)
Hagakure is a powerful warrior who has lost his memory and is slowly putting what happened to him back together. He is pursuing a man he never remembers knowing, who may have killed him.
Born at an unknown date, the man who calls himself Hagakure does not know who he is. In 752 SE he awoke on the floor of a temple deep in the Zashoan jungle with no memory of anything that had happened before then. He had a massive scar across his neck, shaped like forked lightning. In his hands were two blades that bore the markings: 葉隠. Without knowing how, he could remember that it meant Hagakure and that it was a name, so he concluded that it had to be his. The temple was silent and empty, and even after searching for hours, he could find no clue as to how he had got there. He wandered out into the jungle and started walking in a random direction, hoping to find some trace of civilisation, but it took what seemed like days before he finally found his way out of the jungle. He didn't think about it at the time, but looking back now, Hagakure could not remember drinking or eating during this time, but he also didn't remember being hungry, even though he slept several times, and must have spent days there in the jungle.
Eventually he found the edge of the jungle, and came upon a village of half-breeds and outcasts called Tutela. Half-orcs, demonkin, and other undesirables, most of them from Dunor, had made their home here, away from the judgement of bigots. In a sense, the village was a city state unto itself, found as it was here on the lawless prairie of Zashoana. The leader of the village was a half-orc druid named Miri, who took Hagakure in and nurtured his wounds. She told him that he spoke Zashoan like a native, and that her guess was that he came from the Corsair Coast. She could also tell him that some kind of magic had a hold of him, not a possesion, but something similar, that she couldn't quite place.
He spent a few months in Tutela, trying to heal and perhaps start to remember. He quickly started to get back on top, and in fact felt healthier than (he thought) he had ever felt, but nothing of his memory returned: all he had was the name Hagakure. So he decided to travel to the Corsair Coast, to see if he could find more information. He thanked Miri and the people of Tutela, who had been so kind to him, and set off west, towards the coast, with nothing but a brace of swords and the clothes on his back.
As he travelled, he began to understand his condition better: he had knowledge of a lifetime, but no memories of how he got that knowledge. He knew what Ronceauxien sounded like. He knew that Dunorian nobles were black, and he knew he didn't like them much, he just didn't know why. When he made it to the Corsair Coast he also knew, somehow, that to walk around asking: "I can't remember who I am, do you know me?" would not be a good idea. He knew the place, he had been there before, and people here would be more than happy to take advantage of someone who showed any kind of vulnerability. So instead he decided to slip into the bandit society on the coast and make himself some money, hoping someone might recognize him along the way. He arrived in Viñedo Negro, the biggest town on the coast, and set himself up gambling and occasionally acting as muscle for a barman or a bandit chief. He realized that he had a proclivity for swordsmanship, and could wield his two blades deftly, as though they were an extension of himself.
He also discovered something else. He was beginning to be able to shape the Aether, without knowing how he was doing it. It started small at first, like being able to warm or cool things, or push things around ever so slightly. But soon enough he could do things he had always thought only wizards and priests could do. He wasn't much for using this skill though, as he didn't know what it meant.
After about three months in Viñedo Negro he was finally recognized. An old dwarf beggar said: "Oh, is Sancha back in town?" as Hagakure walked by. Hagakure immediately fell on him, asking him what he meant. "I... I just meant you are part of Captain Sancha's crew, aren't you? I've seen you with her, although it's ages ago now. I heard she sailed out east and never came back!" He didn't know more, all he had done was see Hagakure, but he swore he was the same man who had sailed with Sancha.
So now that he had a name, he started asking around about Captain Sancha. Older people in the Viñedo knew of her: she was a half-orc sea captain who had had modest success as a trader and sometimes privateer on her ship "The Silver Osprey". One or two people could confirm that Hagakure had sailed with her, but none of them knew him by name. 28 years prior, in 724 SE, Sancha and her crew, presumably including Hagakure, had set sail east, initially towards the Bay of Splinters, but some had heard Sancha talk about how she wanted to sail to Gesha, and perhaps beyond.
This was the last anyone had seen of the "Osprey" and her crew, or at least that seemed to be the prevailing story in Viñedo Negro. For over a year Hagakure stayed in the city trying to find out more about Sancha or himself, but nothing new came forward. Eventually he gave up trying, and just resigned himself to living a life of gambling and partying, travelling up and down the Corsair Coast, but then, in 757 SE, when he lived for a while in Castillo Amiera, he heard the word "Osprey". It was a couple of kids who were talking about an old madman who lived down by the beach. One of them said he had said he sailed on a ship he called the Osprey. Hagakure asked the children, and they said his name was Mad Bill, and that he slept down under the pier, and would eat crabs and worms he found on the beach.
Hagakure went searching for this man, and found him sleeping where the children had said he would be. A very old human man with knotted hair and a long thin beard, he looked to be at least 60 years old. Hagakure moved to wake him up, but before he could, the man sprang up, as though awakened by a bad dream, and when he saw Hagakure he screamed in terror: "You! You are dead! He killed you, I saw!" Hagakure grapped him by the arm, and shook him: "Who?! Who killed me?" In that moment he felt a searing pain in his neck and jaw, and Mad Bill's eyes widened in abject horror: "NO! Don't take me! You are death come to take me, I knew it!" He fainted then, and Hagakure put his hand to his hurting jaw and felt bone where his flesh should be. He realized that he had been gripped by whatever foul magic was in him, and for a moment the wound that left his scar had returned, making his jaw, neck and upper chest stripped to the bone. But it vanished again as he calmed down, and he was back to normal.
He stayed by Mad Bill and tried again when he woke up. The old man fainted a couple more times, and tried to run away several times, but eventually Hagakure managed to get something out of him. He was quite mad, completely lost in his own mind, constantly rambling (in Sarkaran, which seemed to be his native language, and which Hagakure, to his surprise, understood), and most of the time he didn't even seem aware Hagakure was there. But after spending some time with Bill, Hagakure could gather that they had both been crew on the Silver Osprey, and that they had sailed east to Gesha. How far they ended up going, or how long they were out there was impossible to tell, but it seems at some point the crew had mutinied and marooned Captain Sasha somewhere in the Southern Sea ("She's gonna be so mad at me! I didn't want to, but he had them all convinced! Even you!!!" In that moment Mad Bill would recognize Hagakure for a second, only to return to his rambling).
It seemed the crew had all gone to the jungle temple together, but it was hard to tell, because this upset Mad Bill like nothing else. This "him" he kept referring to had led them there, and something had happened that was most likely the cause of Bill's madness, because he refused to talk about it. He would just cry and scream and wail. Finally, after hours of sifting through the ramblings of this madman, a lead: "They'll drop me off by Castle Amiera, they say. I have a sweetheart waiting for me there, and I don't want to be on the ship anymore anyway, not with him as captain. But not before I rename the Osprey. Poor old girl, I have to repaint her sign. Name it after him: The... Black... Monkey... Good riddance. They'll sail north, and I'll stay here with my sweetheart... Nana? Anna? Anita?"
So the Osprey was now "The Black Monkey" (named after him?) and it had gone north, which had to be to Mardoria at least, or even into the sea of Rigara. So in the autumn of 757 SE, Hagakure travelled north in pursuit of a ship called "The Black Monkey", hoping it held the answers to who he was, and just as importantly, who the man who had almost killed him was.
Background
Born at an unknown date, the man who calls himself Hagakure does not know who he is. In 752 SE he awoke on the floor of a temple deep in the Zashoan jungle with no memory of anything that had happened before then. He had a massive scar across his neck, shaped like forked lightning. In his hands were two blades that bore the markings: 葉隠. Without knowing how, he could remember that it meant Hagakure and that it was a name, so he concluded that it had to be his. The temple was silent and empty, and even after searching for hours, he could find no clue as to how he had got there. He wandered out into the jungle and started walking in a random direction, hoping to find some trace of civilisation, but it took what seemed like days before he finally found his way out of the jungle. He didn't think about it at the time, but looking back now, Hagakure could not remember drinking or eating during this time, but he also didn't remember being hungry, even though he slept several times, and must have spent days there in the jungle.
Eventually he found the edge of the jungle, and came upon a village of half-breeds and outcasts called Tutela. Half-orcs, demonkin, and other undesirables, most of them from Dunor, had made their home here, away from the judgement of bigots. In a sense, the village was a city state unto itself, found as it was here on the lawless prairie of Zashoana. The leader of the village was a half-orc druid named Miri, who took Hagakure in and nurtured his wounds. She told him that he spoke Zashoan like a native, and that her guess was that he came from the Corsair Coast. She could also tell him that some kind of magic had a hold of him, not a possesion, but something similar, that she couldn't quite place.
He spent a few months in Tutela, trying to heal and perhaps start to remember. He quickly started to get back on top, and in fact felt healthier than (he thought) he had ever felt, but nothing of his memory returned: all he had was the name Hagakure. So he decided to travel to the Corsair Coast, to see if he could find more information. He thanked Miri and the people of Tutela, who had been so kind to him, and set off west, towards the coast, with nothing but a brace of swords and the clothes on his back.
As he travelled, he began to understand his condition better: he had knowledge of a lifetime, but no memories of how he got that knowledge. He knew what Ronceauxien sounded like. He knew that Dunorian nobles were black, and he knew he didn't like them much, he just didn't know why. When he made it to the Corsair Coast he also knew, somehow, that to walk around asking: "I can't remember who I am, do you know me?" would not be a good idea. He knew the place, he had been there before, and people here would be more than happy to take advantage of someone who showed any kind of vulnerability. So instead he decided to slip into the bandit society on the coast and make himself some money, hoping someone might recognize him along the way. He arrived in Viñedo Negro, the biggest town on the coast, and set himself up gambling and occasionally acting as muscle for a barman or a bandit chief. He realized that he had a proclivity for swordsmanship, and could wield his two blades deftly, as though they were an extension of himself.
He also discovered something else. He was beginning to be able to shape the Aether, without knowing how he was doing it. It started small at first, like being able to warm or cool things, or push things around ever so slightly. But soon enough he could do things he had always thought only wizards and priests could do. He wasn't much for using this skill though, as he didn't know what it meant.
After about three months in Viñedo Negro he was finally recognized. An old dwarf beggar said: "Oh, is Sancha back in town?" as Hagakure walked by. Hagakure immediately fell on him, asking him what he meant. "I... I just meant you are part of Captain Sancha's crew, aren't you? I've seen you with her, although it's ages ago now. I heard she sailed out east and never came back!" He didn't know more, all he had done was see Hagakure, but he swore he was the same man who had sailed with Sancha.
So now that he had a name, he started asking around about Captain Sancha. Older people in the Viñedo knew of her: she was a half-orc sea captain who had had modest success as a trader and sometimes privateer on her ship "The Silver Osprey". One or two people could confirm that Hagakure had sailed with her, but none of them knew him by name. 28 years prior, in 724 SE, Sancha and her crew, presumably including Hagakure, had set sail east, initially towards the Bay of Splinters, but some had heard Sancha talk about how she wanted to sail to Gesha, and perhaps beyond.
This was the last anyone had seen of the "Osprey" and her crew, or at least that seemed to be the prevailing story in Viñedo Negro. For over a year Hagakure stayed in the city trying to find out more about Sancha or himself, but nothing new came forward. Eventually he gave up trying, and just resigned himself to living a life of gambling and partying, travelling up and down the Corsair Coast, but then, in 757 SE, when he lived for a while in Castillo Amiera, he heard the word "Osprey". It was a couple of kids who were talking about an old madman who lived down by the beach. One of them said he had said he sailed on a ship he called the Osprey. Hagakure asked the children, and they said his name was Mad Bill, and that he slept down under the pier, and would eat crabs and worms he found on the beach.
Hagakure went searching for this man, and found him sleeping where the children had said he would be. A very old human man with knotted hair and a long thin beard, he looked to be at least 60 years old. Hagakure moved to wake him up, but before he could, the man sprang up, as though awakened by a bad dream, and when he saw Hagakure he screamed in terror: "You! You are dead! He killed you, I saw!" Hagakure grapped him by the arm, and shook him: "Who?! Who killed me?" In that moment he felt a searing pain in his neck and jaw, and Mad Bill's eyes widened in abject horror: "NO! Don't take me! You are death come to take me, I knew it!" He fainted then, and Hagakure put his hand to his hurting jaw and felt bone where his flesh should be. He realized that he had been gripped by whatever foul magic was in him, and for a moment the wound that left his scar had returned, making his jaw, neck and upper chest stripped to the bone. But it vanished again as he calmed down, and he was back to normal.
He stayed by Mad Bill and tried again when he woke up. The old man fainted a couple more times, and tried to run away several times, but eventually Hagakure managed to get something out of him. He was quite mad, completely lost in his own mind, constantly rambling (in Sarkaran, which seemed to be his native language, and which Hagakure, to his surprise, understood), and most of the time he didn't even seem aware Hagakure was there. But after spending some time with Bill, Hagakure could gather that they had both been crew on the Silver Osprey, and that they had sailed east to Gesha. How far they ended up going, or how long they were out there was impossible to tell, but it seems at some point the crew had mutinied and marooned Captain Sasha somewhere in the Southern Sea ("She's gonna be so mad at me! I didn't want to, but he had them all convinced! Even you!!!" In that moment Mad Bill would recognize Hagakure for a second, only to return to his rambling).
It seemed the crew had all gone to the jungle temple together, but it was hard to tell, because this upset Mad Bill like nothing else. This "him" he kept referring to had led them there, and something had happened that was most likely the cause of Bill's madness, because he refused to talk about it. He would just cry and scream and wail. Finally, after hours of sifting through the ramblings of this madman, a lead: "They'll drop me off by Castle Amiera, they say. I have a sweetheart waiting for me there, and I don't want to be on the ship anymore anyway, not with him as captain. But not before I rename the Osprey. Poor old girl, I have to repaint her sign. Name it after him: The... Black... Monkey... Good riddance. They'll sail north, and I'll stay here with my sweetheart... Nana? Anna? Anita?"
So the Osprey was now "The Black Monkey" (named after him?) and it had gone north, which had to be to Mardoria at least, or even into the sea of Rigara. So in the autumn of 757 SE, Hagakure travelled north in pursuit of a ship called "The Black Monkey", hoping it held the answers to who he was, and just as importantly, who the man who had almost killed him was.
Amnesia Victim
You have no recollection of your former life. Some traumatic event caused all memories prior to that incident to vanish from your mind. Now you are slowly piecing together who you are and where you came from, by discovering your skills and abilities, and figuring out where they came from.
Skill Proficiencies Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies Thieves' tools
Languages None
Features
Mysterious Warior
You have a past as a warrior, even though you don't remember any of it. But you know you must have been something special, because you wield your weapon as though it were an extension of yourself. You may choose a feat from among the following: Crossbow Expert, Dual Wielder or Great Weapon Master.
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Species
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
752 SE
12 Years old
Birthplace
Unknown
Children
Pronouns
Him
Belief/Deity
None
Related Reports
Sarkaran (common)
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 16
Racial Feats:
Demonic Heritage: Resistance to lightning damage.
Demon's Fury: When you damage with an attack or a spell, you can deal extra lightning damage equal to your level. Uses equal to your proficiency modifier, regained after a long rest.
Demonic Charm: You know the Friends cantrip, using CHA.
Malicious Legacy - Baphomet's Terror: At 3rd level, you can transform as a bonus action, lasting for 1 minute. Use it once per long rest rest. Immediately upon transforming all creatures within 10 feet that can see you must sace CHA (DC 8 + prof + CHA) or become frightened of you. At the end of a frightened creature's turn they may try to save again, otherwise, the frightened condition ends when your transformation ends.
Tool Proficiencies:
Choose One: Navigator's tools, Cartographer's tools, Poisoner's kit, Woodcarver's tools
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