Ren

• MBTI: ISTP (The Virtuoso / The Craftsman)

Born on the coast of Echigo, a child destined for salt and nets. But the year he turned fifteen, a cruel tax from the Shogunate pushed him towards violence. The death of his mother, Amaya (雨夜), marked the end of his innocence.

LINEAGE AND ROOTS
Father: Kaito (海斗 ). A rugged fisherman who taught him that the sea has no mercy for the weak. Died in a storm when Ren was a child.
Mother: Amaya (雨夜 ). A woman of infinite patience who taught him to read the stars and understand silence. Died of a respiratory illness during a harsh winter.
Master: Munenori (宗則 ). A disgraced samurai who lived as a hermit.

ARSENAL AND MARTIAL ARTS
Ren does not wield a pure "school" but an amalgamation of survival:
Iaijutsu (Unsheathing Technique): He wields a variant called the Black Lightning Style, focused on ending the fight before the blade is fully drawn from its scabbard.
Koppojutsu (Bone Breaking): A hand-to-hand combat art used when space is too confined for a sword.
Bojutsu: Mastery in the use of the long staff and improvised weapons.
His Swords:
"Kogarashi" : A 75 cm katana. The blade has a grayish hue due to experimental forging with meteoric iron. It is heavy and capable of cleaving leather armor in a single strike.
"Doku-no-Ha" : A tanto hidden in his back. It doesn't carry real poison, but its name comes from how "sneaky" and fast its use is in tavern brawls.

HISTORY:

Ren was not born to be a warrior. On the coast of Echigo, his destiny was to die with hands smelling of fish and skin weathered by salt. However, the year he turned fifteen, the local clan decided to levy taxes that left the villagers without grain for the winter. When the tax collectors struck his mother, Ren, possessed by animalistic fury, broke one of the soldiers' necks with an oar.
That night he fled to the Nagano mountains. There he was found by Munenori, a man who had renounced seppuku to live in the mountains. Munenori saw in Ren an "empty vessel of technique, but full of instinct." For five years, training was hell.
Ren's path took a definitive turn when his master was located by assassins from the Shogunate. Munenori, in his dying breath, handed him Kogarashi and told him: "Steel is a burden, not an honor. Use it so others don't have to." Ren massacred the ten assassins in a narrow gorge near Hakone, but lost his purpose. He became a ronin without a cause.
He has traveled the Tokaido and Nakasendo three times. He has seen the opulence of Edo and the misery of Kyushu's rice paddies. In each place, he has left a legend; the warrior who drank sake with a beggar while nobles offered him gold for his sword.
He ended up as a 40-year-old man who belongs nowhere. His story is that of a man who chose the path of the sword not to conquer, but to exist outside a system he considered unjust. Currently, he is seen lurking in the taverns of Kanazawa, waiting for a contract worth his while
.

He has traveled all over Japan, from Edo to Kyoto. At 40 years old, he is still searching for a purpose that doesn't dissolve into blood and cheap alcohol.

"Don't call me a samurai. A samurai has a master to lick his boots. I only have this sword and tomorrow's hunger."

— Ren, The Fang.