Hindrún frá Ílse
oen Telum
Kammon Ishizue
関門 礎
*"Before me looms a mountainous task: My fingers fumble at the grief in my path; Upon my back drape failures, as iron chains, too heavy to bear; Grasping, malicious hands claw at my feet. But my duty is a feather weight, my oath a silken thread: I will neither fall, nor break. Thence I will ever carry onward." *
Keeper
"In the solitary moments; a brief tranquility."
寂 靜 - Sekisei
Ishizue goes about his duties at the household of the Muramasa clan reputably as a gardener, maintaining the lush grounds within the estate walls. Though he displays commendable earnestness in this task, his ineptitude belies his lack of expertise and experience.In truth, his talents - and what's more, his duties - lie elsewhere: The household of the Muramasa clan is kept safe by an ever present barrier maintained by the Tsuchikami, a selection of guardians specialized in barrier magic. The heart of the barrier is Ishizue himself, who maintains the barrier's strength with his own life.
Warder
"The spearhead directs my path to the field of graves."
率 壠 - Soutsurou
Ishizue was born among the Viera of the village of Ílse, given the forest name Hindrún. He grew up like any other Viera in the village and was close friends with another near his age named Fönn. Once he was 13, like all male Viera, he was taken out of the village to be trained as a Wood-Warder, a protector of their borders. He bade his goodbyes to his friend, as Fönn was female. He learned the bow, the knife, and the spear. Though the training was demanding, even of the life of some wards, he proved a capable Warder.Just weeks before he would return to the village for the first time after becoming a Warder, encroachers upon the peace of the wood drew too close to Ilse territory. Garleans in their machines proved too much a force to be reckoned with for Hindrún and his mentor. The master was killed, and the student enslaved. His name was stripped from him, and his captors called him aan Telum.His only recourse was to die in revolt or work as a slave soldier. After 20 years of combat in far off provinces as a spearman among the Garleans' forces, he was given citizenship - and the title oen instead of aan - and the freedom to retire. He did so, wandering the world without a destination. He met the Kammon clan in Hingashi during his visit there, and chose to remain with them.
Guardian
"A field of flowers, or of battle? Is my fate my own?"
併 場 花 戦 - Heikasenjo
The Kammon clan, once, was a large family of void hunters and white mages; warriors dedicated to battling voidsent wherever they appeared in the name of the Bakufu of Hingashi. It was during this peak that aan Telum joined the clan, and was given the name Ishizue. He learned the techniques and magics taught by the militaristic clan's leadership, becoming a skilled barrier practitioner and swordsman.However, the clan disappeared almost overnight with no explanation. All that remained were rumors of their destruction in a conflict against powerful voidsent, which were said to have decimated the clan, scattering what few members remained. In truth, the clan had hunted down a voidsent known as Maalikos, a powerful voidsent capable of summoning a legion of voidsent led by his 19 lieutenants; the clan was decimated by the void creatures whom relished in slaughter and torment. Ishizue was found by the Muramasa clan alone and ragged. His skill and ability gave him a position among the Muramasa's Tsuchikami, where he dedicated himself to the protection of his new master from the Void.Ishizue, stained by the void in a conflict during his service to the Muramasa clan, chose to seek out a fabled weapon of his old clan; Kyozanrei (虚斬霊), the void cutting blade. In his wandering, he was forced to face the last violent moments of his faded inheritance, and in so doing forge the weapon from the memories and grudges of his adopted kin.
Hierarch
"The path forward returns me to my family."
先 遡 源 族 - Sensakugenzoku
Ishizue, once he had recovered "The Spirit that Cuts Through Vanity", was met by none other than his old childhood friend, Fönn, who had left their village shortly after his enslavement. She'd spent all the time since searching for him.Together, they chose to gather the remnants of the Kammon clan. They succeeded, but found mostly children and Fuku, who were domestic servants, house spouses, craftsmen, gatherers, and caretakers. few of the Hei, warriors and guardians, remained, including the experienced men and women, known as Heicho.Already, Ishizue had known that his adopted father and mother, the Daimyo and Ryōsa, and the rest of the combatants and council had died during the massacre, but he did not predict the extent of the destruction of the rest of the clan. Despite this, he and Fönn gathered the remaining members together and he took his place at the clan's head, not as the Daimyo, but as the Kōgushō with Fönn, now Yuki, at his side as Ryōsa. He returned to the Muramasa clan and offered the title of Daimyo, instead, to Avakami, giving the Kammon clan to the Muramasa clan as a vassal family.
Fallen
The truth of the massacre of the Kammon clan was put to breath through the lips of Akagami Hazakura; a daughter of the Akagami clan that publicly studied the Void, and a longtime and bitter rival of the Kammon clan. Her repeated and sudden visits to the estate were accompanied by the pain of Ishizue's shattered barriers and the rising fury of the residents she toyed with, as a cat with mice. The residents were powerless to police her even in their own home.On her third visit, Ishizue revealed his identity as a member of the Kammon clan. With glee, Hazakura revealed to him that her family had orchestrated the massacre; that the voidsent, Maalikos, and his lieutenants were summoned and controlled by the Akagami clan; and that they had tortured captured family members - including his adopted mother - before feeding them to their voidsent. With a fury, he desperately tried to find a way to strengthen his barriers in preparation for war with the Akagami. He tried to reconnect with his Viera roots and their green magic, read through a book taken from a voidsent that had belonged to his adopted Kammon mother, and worked with Aria to develop a magitech device.But all his plans fell to dust as the Akagami assaulted to estate, shattering his barriers repeatedly in short succession. The toll on his aether was too much to bear, and he fell - all but dead - into unconsciousness. Though his aether would normally stabilize with time, the void corruption of his aether is feeding on what remains. It would have consumed him completely, killing him and turning his corpse into a voidsent creature, as had happened in the past, except for the sword, Kyozanrei. It feeds on the void corruption, preventing it from killing him.