Ishikawa Kendo II is a player character played by SirSkully.

Kendo is a relatively handsome-looking Nepleslian man with some heavy Yamataian heritage sharpening up his clean-shaven features, he is all but the spitting image of his father before him, with almond-shaped eyes, right eye a deep and sparkling blue while the other is a pale, milky representation of its more natural sibling – with a small horizontal scar sitting above it.

Fair, sharp features that make up Kendo’s face do a good job to hide the trauma inflicted upon him in his childhood, with high cheekbones, a thin nose that has been carefully reset after being broken a few times, and a triangular jaw making up his lightly tanned Caucasian complexion – Sculpted, dark eyebrows usually over-expressing when compared to the rest of his face. Just like his father’s, Kendo’s hair is naturally a very dark black-blue colour that seems to show through regardless of the current lighting situation – his hair is kept shaved short on the sides and shoulder-length on the top, usually tied up into a traditional Yamataian top-knot when he is in uniform.

Ken stands at a somewhat tall 6’1” with a visibly rather athletic build, while it is nothing record-breaking he is rather attractively toned and decently muscled – with shapely legs and a remarkably well-formed ass as well as a set of hard abs, broad shoulders and strong collarbones, it is clear he takes pride in his physique and likes to start off each day with a run whenever possible. Regardless of if he is in uniform or not Kendo seems to maintain a level of effortlessly looking his best, even when wearing just slim tracksuit-pants, a grey sweater and nothing else, often not too far from a group of onlookers whispering about whether they think he is in a relationship or not.

His left hand is usually covered by a simple, black utility glove to hide the burn-marks there – similarly a large scar runs across the front of Kendo’s right shoulder, with smaller ones dotting his forearms and surgical scars only faintly visible being located near the base of his spine, this charming aura extends to his somewhat deep voice, not overly so but enough to be noticeable and catch one’s attention.

A soldier with one non-functional would be no good, and while most of the time Kendo leaves his optical implants off, he does have the ability to work-around the fact his left eye is clouded and foggy from an incident in his past – the pupil glowing a distinctive blue when active, functioning as a perfectly good left eye that has some basic functions such as a low-level zoom and even the ability to pick-up infrared light, though the latter causes the blue glow to turn red.

Additionally the lower section of his spine is made from Durandium Alloy vertebrae with a section of synthetic spinal cord to replace the previously damaged section, similarly to the sections of synthetic nerve in his left hand - these have no added functionality over natural counterparts other than some small degree of increased resistance to injury and durability due to the materials used in their construction¹⁾.

Both implants are powered by bioelectricity and require no additional maintenance unless compromised.

On a surface-level Kendo can best be described as having an unbreakable air of calmness about his person, approaching most situations with one eyebrow cocked and a faint smirk lifting up the corner of his lips, words carrying a certain charm that comes off as appealing rather than cocky or sultry – though this comes at the cost of Kendo feeling like he would only burden others if he were to offload some of his emotional baggage, often waking up from nightmares induced from the painful memories of his upbringing, usually rubbing the scar above his eye when stressed even if his smile remains unbreaking.

He is very much one to keep up appearances and will usually pick someone up when they are feeling down, offering a gentle nudge in the ribs and that handsome smile he inherited from his father, though despite this heartthrob energy he radiates Kendo remains a virgin as of early YE 42 – something that is very rarely assumed to be the case.

Generally Ken is not a morning person, wanting nothing more than to shove his blue-haired head beneath the pillow for “five more minutes” though will more often than not drag his sleepy self out of bed and into something decent enough to go for a run in.

Final thing of note is that Ken loves animals and is always secretly hoping any animal that crosses his path will let him pat it, having a particular bias towards canids, animals generally having an easy time being able to trust him.

The lesser-known Ishikawa family has always had ties to Yamatai in some form or another, even a Fujiwara clan they purchased land from that would one day house the Ishikawa estate, though most of its notable members have found success in the private military sector before retiring back to the safety of Yamatai – Ishikawa Kendo was one of these success stories, being born in Yamatai though moved to Nepleslia in his late teens with a .45 pistol after deciding Bushido was not for him, spending a stint as a bail bonds agent before moving on to more para-militaristic pursuits. Fast forward a bit to early YE 19 and some fun Kendo was having on the side resulted in him knocking up some young thing who lived in downtown Doshington, though still being rather young himself Kendo wasn’t exactly ready for the responsibilities that came with parenthood – despite this, his son would be named Ishikawa Kendo II, and things were happy at first even if Kendo Sr wasn’t home raising his son as often as he should have been.

As Kendo Jr grew so too did the divide between his parents, his mother beginning to resent the fact her son looked so much like his barely-present father and eventually turning her frustration towards Kendo Sr’s constant absence onto Kendo Jr – small snarky remarks beneath her breath at first that turned into a backhand one night after she had been drinking, though Kendo got good at hiding how much it hurt, from an outside perspective things seemed hunky-dory.

In an attempt to find a productive excuse to stay away from home, he got an after-school job at one of the many gun-stores on the famous five-mile stretch his hometown was infamous for, his position as an apprentice gunsmith helping put some money in the adolescent lad’s pockets – with the eventual goal he’d have enough to move out from under his mother’s roof by the time he had finished school, an escape plan to help him get away from the steadily intensifying abuse.

Things hardly went according to that plan however, some time just before his 17th birthday Kendo Jr was home half an hour later later than he’d said he would be, young Nepleslian copping a particularly harsh backhand from his mother, whose ring cut a small gash into his eyebrow. They broke out into an argument but alcohol and spite had a particularly cruel grip on her that would end with her putting a cigarette butt out in his left eye, hating that they were the exact same blue beauties his father possessed.

Naturally, in response to the pain, he retaliated with an instinctual kick – one which would knock his intoxicated mother off-balance enough for her to fall as he went unconscious, cracking her skull on the edge of the table and breaking her neck, killing the woman as Kendo Jr fell unconscious. The exact details of what happened to Kendo Jr next is still very fuzzy even years later, though it’s not hard to make a vaguely educated guess that his mother’s loose cigarette slowly burnt into the carpet and that a groggy, heavily concussed Kendo Jr attempted to crawl out of the burning home.

The next thing he knew for sure though is the sensation of waking up in hospital a few days later, heavily sedated, wrapped in bandages and hooked up to various machines that were monitoring his vitals – though it would soon be explained to him that the reason he couldn’t move anything below the his chest was that a support beam had crushed his lower spine during the fire, though this information caused him to become distraught and lead to the medical staff needing to sedate him once more, for his own safety.

Kendo Sr had been in town in preparation for his son’s upcoming birthday, staying by his side during the healing process with a reassuring smile telling the lad everything would be okay – overseeing the process of moving Kendo Jr back to Yamatai and specifically the Ishikawa family estate where he would receive the best private medical care money could provide… needless to say this quite sudden series of events finally put into perspective how much his son needed a father, even if Kendo Sr was less than knowledgeable on such subjects, but damn if he wasn’t going to try.

The next few steps involved a good deal of surgeries, therapy both physical and mental, as well as a lot of downtime for the two Kendos to work through the pile of shit that had accumulated during their sparse interactions over the years – funnily enough, both men got on really well with each other once given an opportunity to do so, once they got over their initial phases of mourning and awkwardness. Kendo Jr decided to finish his last bit of schooling from home, after extensive talks with the psych that was assigned to him, spending spare time split between his dad’s workshop and the estate’s dojo – all this helping Kendo Jr recentre both his mind and his body after the incident, proving to be surprisingly resilient for the most part and slowly finding a way to move on from it.

After his schooling had finished Kendo Jr did a small bit of traveling around the Kikyo sector for a few years as he tried to figure out what to do with his life, deciding shortly after his 23rd birthday to enlist with the SAOY as a Star Army Technician – his first posting being the YSS Kanagawa (Plot), believing some further stability and established doctrine would do him good.

Ishikawa Kendo (Father)

Diana Browning (Mother, Deceased)

The Extended Ishikawa Family

Donvan Black (Friend)

Star Army Common Skills

Fighting: before his SAOY training Kendo was already a rather formidable close-quarters combatant, having trained under his father in the many forms of traditional Yamataian weaponry used by the Ishikawa family, many martial-arts disciplines, as well as intense firearms training also under the guidance of his father – even with all this underneath his repertoire Kendo favours his personal bo-staff and .45 pistol whenever possible.

Physical: While definitely not the fittest individual out there, Kendo’s own athleticism is not to be understated – his own personal regiment leaving him with slim, lean muscles with a lot of stamina and flexibility behind them, with Kendo able to easily drop into doing the splits when stretching before a run.

Languages: While Trade is his native tongue, Kendo did learn Yamataigo (邪馬台語) during the last few years, even a little bit of conversational Kuznyetski, though it could use some polish.

Repair and Maintenance: Being a Technician obviously Kendo is trained to ensure the various technologies employed by the SAOY remain at least functional if he has any say in the matter, though his skillset leans more towards the hardware side of things – especially when it comes to firearms, Kendo often found hunched over a workbench with his heavily-customized .45 pistol spread across its surface.

Medical: While a far-cry from anybody trained as a medical specialist Kendo can at least patch himself up as far as minor injuries are concerned, needing to look out for himself during his formative years have lead to the young man knowing how to suture himself up among other things, even if not the prettiest set of stitches it should hold him together long enough.

Culinary: Ken's deftness and skill with a blade extends well beyond his combat training, while by no means a master Kendo spends some of his spare time slowly building his skill as an Itamae. He specializes in mostly Yamataian meals and dishes though will happily whip up a delightful midnight dish if one is needed.

Ishikawa Kendo II has the following:

Star Army Standard Issue Items

General Service Pistol, Type 28²⁾

Spring-loaded, telescoping Durandium Alloy bo-staff

Hard-knuckled, black, Zylon-woven gloves

A heavily personalized Zen .45 Kendo Special³⁾

Leather armpit holster for his personal Zen .45 Kendo Special

A regular Zen .45 Kendo Special for spare parts

A collection of personal clothing including many pairs of cargo pants, sweaters, and a large, particularly comfortable leather jacket Kendo sometimes sleeps in.

Utility Combat Knife M01A

A plain, black eyepatch that hasn't been worn since his cybernetics finished healing

A pair of dark-tinted sunglasses with burnt-titanium frames

A small collection of personal tools used for the maintenance and modification of firearms, kept inside a weather-proof leather roll-up bag

Tamahagane Ta-W1-3a - Katana (Advanced)

Rokheus & Surma H36-1

3,000 KS

This article was created on 2020/04/23 22:34 using the namespace template.

In the case sirskully becomes inactive:

• Can this character be used as an NPC by a GM or FM? NO
• Can this character be adopted after I've been gone for a year? NO