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 Post subject: Gusai Ryoshida, the Mantis Champion
PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:40 am 
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Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2017 4:38 pm
Posts: 51
General Profile
The current leader of the Mantis Clan is the sole scion of an unlikely union of the line of Gusai and the Imperial House. His pedigree is a byproduct of an era when political convenience of an assertive Empress met with deeper issues of balance of power and post-Gozoku legacies. His mother Renhime is as un-Mantis-like as one can imagine but her obiesaseru attitude to politics and supremacist sensibilities have created a man with a uniquely exorbitant level of ambition and sense of entitlement in good synch with his position within the Empire. His connection to the Imperials, the Crane and the Phoenix his dowager mother supplies as well as meaningful ties with the Crab, the Scorpion and the Sparrow his predecessors have established make him a stakeholder.

And yet, even though his young age is long gone, he has yet to accomplish something truly spectacular like his grandfather or his-great-grandfather to secure his legacy. He is demanding of both his vassals and himself, and good is never good enough for him, it has to be at least 20% better. Hence while his Clan, in reality an economic powerhouse, has increased its prosperity under his rule, his captains and merchant patrons don't have a easy life with him, constantly 'motivated' by the existence of a tier of young sharks right behind them who could replace the least performing during the annual moot of captains in Shiro Gotei. Net loss, deficit or unforeseen expenses are not the vocabulary you are safe to use in his presence. He is known for being a shrewd businessman himself, having a strategic outlook and a penchant to detect rare trade opportunities. The only way to get him more incensed is to start talking about the privileges the Tortoise have long enjoyed in gaijin trade under Imperial mandate.

Looks
In his late thirties he remains a man of strong constitution and regal posture even as years on the sea have turned his skin darker, dried and a bit saggy. His hair have already grizzled visibly, especially the facial ones, though the iron in his gaze has only hardened and sharpened over the years. A pity he has just one eye left but he has a heroic story of wrestling a tiger to back it up. It is just the most irreparable of many injuries he's suffered, his physique being laced with scars. He excudes affluence but not flamboyance in the way he carries himself, being a purposeful megalomaniac for more than a showy narcisse. His golden embroideries, like his disk-shaped eyepatch, communicate power.

Juicy Bits
Many mention that the failure he has never truly got over from was being rejected in marriage by Moshi Aizu, for in his younger days his pet dream was to claim the booming maritime capacity and the respectability of the Moshi for the benefit of the Mantis, and making a Moshi matriarch his wife would stroke his ego and become his crown accomplishment. What he got was a Yasuki wife he never liked and did not mourn her when she died on second childbirth, leaving him with a perfunctory female heir Anjari he doesn't particularly like either but has groomed and nurtured her nonetheless in his own harsh way. People close to him say that recently he has become more moody and restless, not unlike suffering a midlife crisis. He seems to be of the mindset that there is more to life for him than what he already has. Still, bringing the Mantis into the era of truly transoceanic trade (and preferably displace the Tortoise) remains his greatest goal.



_________________
Mantis Clan Champion | Bushi | Hantei Retsuhime's Nephew | Missing Eye | Very Ambitious | Bad Motherfucker
Status: 8 | Glory: 6 | Infamy: 4 | Honour: Untrustworthy
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