Ryuji Komatsu

Ryuji Komatsu was a good-hearted Yetoman with a wide scope of skills and training. Though he was intelligent and had firm ideals and religious beliefs, he could be insecure and was prone to manipulation. A social man, Ryuji enjoyed simple pleasures and pursuits, often much more so than the highly formal situations his life tended to put him in.
A series of dark and unfortunate events left Ryuji cursed, turning him into a vampiric undead with a marked affinity for the cold. He struggled for years to come to terms with his undeath, hiding it from all but a scant few. Eventually, he made peace with his vampirism, but he never allowed it to prevent him from serving his faith, despite its unequivocal stance on undead as abominations, or from keeping hold of his empathy and ties to humanity.
Ryuji was a paladin of Taiyo; he had great skill with the katana but was exceptionally poor at spellcraft. Apparently, his god took pity on his inability to cast proper spells, gifting him with enhanced innate healing powers. Despite the fact that it could only harm him, Ryuji unfalteringly wielded positive energy. 
Ryuji always possessed an interest in a wide variety of pursuits, including theology, swordplay, law, sports, horsemanship, karaoke and travel. Upon becoming undead, he used his spare time to expand his interests, though it was mainly into domestic talents such as baking and crochet.
As years passed, Ryuji stayed decent friends with the immortals Malcolm Cohen and the Director, owing to their long history together. They kept in contact with a set of communication rings designed by the Director, and met occasionally for social visits.
=== Youth ===
Ryuji was born an only child, though he had a large and tight-knit family; he was very close to his seven cousins, and they were all like siblings to him. In his youth, he had many friends in both the church and the military, thanks to his years in service to them both. 
From birth, it was expected of Ryuji, as a son of the powerful Komatsu family, to become a well-rounded, capable man, worthy of taking up the role of a wealthy merchant and political figure. He was trained and tutored from a young age by the best. At the age of 8, Ryuji went into service to the church, where he was instilled with a strong sense of faith and charity, and honed some degree of holy magic, though it was obvious he had no real talent for it. At the age of 13, he left the church's employ to complete a term of service with the army, becoming an accomplished swordsman. At 19, he took a year to travel Yeto, experiencing the different sights and sounds of the various provinces, becoming familiar with the locations and customs of the country. The next step of his education was to travel to Asanon for further study. He had an interest, amongst other things, in law, and so worked through a university degree in Arlington. Because of his very straight-laced and dutiful demeanour, he didn't particularly make many friends in university, but he got along fine with his four roommates and didn't want for a social life. Upon graduation, he was hired at the firm Laid's Law, where he planned to work until he had enough experience to pass the bar exam to become a full lawyer, after which he would probably return to Yeto, or possibly see a bit more of the western country. At the age of 23, he was working in Asanon as a law graduate and preparing for the bar exam, when he met Caitlyn. After getting tangled into some strange events with her, which directly led to his undeath, he continued to see her and it quickly became a serious relationship and eventually marriage, much to his family's relief. He had a single son with her, Shintaro, through some oddity of his particular curse that still allowed him to sire living children. The pair lived in Yeto, though often traveled to Asanon as they worked as diplomats and representatives of the Komatsu interests.
Ryuji was one of the people selected by Harlequin to help save the world from the invasion of the All, along with his wife; his son got dragged along as well by coincidence. Though Caitlyn stayed in Engiadina with Shintaro rather than risk their lives with the questionable people the fey had collected, Ryuji could not turn from what he saw as his duty, and was forced to leave his family for a time. He was ascended at Yggdrasil Isle, tying him to Materia and its lawful ideals.
==== The Undead Nation and Sainthood ====
With the All banished, Ryuji returned to his family and life in Yeto, happy to devote himself to his wife and son for as long as they might live. However, after the poorly-thought out assassination of Xander only five years later, Ryuji was co-opted into becoming the governor of what would become the Undead Nation. Though extremely reluctant at first, he grew into the role with the assistance of Caitlyn, who utilized her significant talents at diplomacy to help solidify the region by coaching him on what to say and do; he was further aided in these transitional years by not only his attractive countenance and the fact that he had a living wife and son, but also by his demonstrable devotion to Taiyo, which did much to garner trust in him and his ability to contain his undead brethren. 
The tale of a vampire paladin spread wide with the news of the UN, reaching the ears of many Taiyoists across Akroum. A good deal of people began to pilgrimage to Tinoco for the purposes of meeting this creature, to prove his existence and faith, and those that came were neither turned away nor disappointed. Some devout began to herald him as a saint of those persecuted: a person who had defied all manner of hatred and had kept faith even when all others, the priests and scriptures, had turned him away. Though rather jarred by this development, Ryuji remained accepting and modest, and people began to settle in the UN around his home, to live, pray and practice with the saint. These people included Shintaro and his wife, and many of their descendants continued to live in the UN under Ryuji for generations, often as priests, ambassadors and disciples, giving the vampire much-appreciated company. 
Ryuji acted as the governor of the UN for as long as it existed in Tinoco, acting as a mediator and superintendent for its inhabitants and dealing with the vivan world so that the others didn't need to, keeping peace and order between all parties. Caitlyn lived with him there until her natural death after which he mourned her for many years. He eventually overcame his grief and moved on, but he always held his memories of his late wife dearly; though he entertained many throughout the years that followed, nothing was ever for very long and he never married or had children again. 
Category:Character