Redwind Hokaru

## Overview

Redwind Hokaru is one of the original founding members of the city of Shelter, the first High Captain of the Farwatch Company, and the first Count of Shelter.

Redwind was born in on the 3rd day of the month of Arodus (the equivalent to August), in the city of Absalom. He is the son of Hokaru Hitashi, a member of the Goka embassy there, and Lin Dian, a semi-prominent painter. He has one sister (Hokaru Sumiye) and is cousin to Tiemo Makagi, on his mother's side.

## History

### Childhood

In Redwind's early years, his time was split between time with his paternal grandfather and grandmother, both retired adventurers themselves, and visits to his father's workplace at the embassy. At the embassy, Redwind would become steeped in his Tien heritage, while at his grandparents, he and his sister would be entertained for hours by their grandfather's stories of both his own adventures, and those of the Hokaru family.

When he was 8, Redwind began to show signs of his own magical talents, and Redwind's grandfather Daosheng insisted that the boy begin training in *Ken no Maho,* the Hokaru legacy of Sword Magic. Rejecting the idea, Redwind's father instead began the rigorous process of applying to Absalom's premier arcane school, The Arcanamirium. Despite the difficult and lengthy process, Redwind earned a spot at the school for the following Autumn semester.

That summer, Redwind would celebrate his birthday in Goka, as his father arranged to bring his family with him for his annual visit to the city. This would be the first of eight visits Redwind would take with his family to the distant metropolis, and these early visits were treasured times with his father. His time in the city would result in him having a somewhat romanticized view of Tien Xia, and would only serve to enhance the mystery and wonder the land held for Redwind.

Shortly after returning home, Redwind announced he no longer wished to attend the Arcanamirium, and instead wished to attend the Grand Lodge of the Pathfinder Society in Absalom instead. Despite his father's disapproval, he eventually relented, and enrolled Redwind in the Society instead, with the sole caveat that the boy focus on his academic and arcane training at the lodge, and give up the notions of adventuring he had been entertaining.

Redwind's time at the Pathfinder Society was initially marked by his very clear aptitude for both magic and academics and while he was very clearly a remarkably clever and intuitive learner, as he progressed into his teenage years, his academic record at the Lodge would suffer sharply. By the time he was 15, Redwind was skipping many of his classes to secretly train with his grandfather, practicing *Ken no Maho*. By the time he finished with the Pathfinder Society, his grades had slipped to barely passing levels, however his skill with a sword had become remarkable.

That year, when the family visited Goka, Redwind's father discovered that Redwind had been training in *Ken no Maho*, and this discovery would darken the entire visit, resulting in feuds behind closed doors between Hitashi and Daosheng. This would be Redwind's final visit to Goka with his family, and would mark the serious decline in the relationship between Redwind and his father.

With Redwind's training no longer a secret, he began taking fewer and fewer courses at the Lodge, and spent more and more time with his grandfather. On Redwind's 18th birthday, Daosheng passed the family blade, Sleeping Spirit (also known as The Black Promise) on to his grandson. The following spring, Redwind left Absalom to begin his career as an adventurer.

## Description

### Kitsune Form:

This is the form Redwind is most commonly found in. It is an anthropomorphic fox form, with a fox head and fur. While his hands include an opposable thumbs, they also have paw-like pads on the palms, insides of the fingers, and bottoms of his feet. While he does not have claws, his fingers and toes have pointed nails reminiscent of foxes. He has a large bushy tail that is usually upright. He has deep red fur, just bordering on crimson, over most of his body, with a bright white streak along his belly and chest, extending up to just above his collar bone. He also has a single, small tuft of white on his left ear. He is just over 5'3" in height, with a dense, wirey muscle to him, though in his kitsune form this is harder to distinguish because of the fur. During his time on the island, the fur on his head has grown, much as human hair does, and is now kept neatly tied back with a leather cord connected to the new phoenix feather he has recently received. He has green eyes that tend to shift in hue between bright almost emerald-like tones, to darker jade tones. His forehead also sports white tufts above the eyes that appear to be eyebrows, enabling him to be particularly expressive.

### Human Form:

In Human form, Redwind appears ethnically Tien, with a round face and slightly pointed ears, that tend to stick out slightly. His hair is black and straight, as is common for most Tien, and similar to his Kitsune form, is now long enough that it can be tied back into a small pony tail. His skin is heavily tanned, a result of the past few years adventuring, and in this form his wiry, dense muscle can be more easily discerned. His hands exhibit strong callusing from the constant sword practice, and his feet are likewise callused from many hours of walking in rough boots. In human form he maintains his shifting green yes, and while his eyebrows darken to a deep brown, they remain equally expressive.

### Clothing:

Typically, Redwind is found in his travel attire, which consists of a well-tailored, but very well worn black leather long coat, brown cloth pants, a gray or green tunic with gray shirt, and knee-high traveling boots. He sports a leather belt that has both his magical katana (Black Promise) and his Farwatcher Blade attached, in addition to several spell component pouches. He also typically has on a pair of cherry-red elbow-length gloves, which are magical (*Spellstrike Gloves*). For those who have seen him with his gloves off, he bears two rings, one on either hand. The left one, worn on his middle finger, is crafted of silver, with pieces of jade inlaid to form the characters for Hokaru. The ring itself is an ancient family heirloom, gifted by one of the emperors to the Hokaru family who served as loyal guards to the Imperial family for several generations. The other ring, worn on his left middle finger, appears to be a simple silver band. Redwind is not known to take either of the rings off. Around his neck, Redwind sports a long, green silk scarf, a gift to him from his mother when he first left to adventure. It has since been enchanted by Tiemo (+2 Scarf of Intellect, constant *Know Direction* on wearer). In addition to this, when adventuring, Redwind also carries a *Handy Haversack* to carry his belongings and gear. As previously mentioned, Redwind has started wearing an enchanted Phoenix feather (+2 Feather of Charisma) attached to a leather strap, and used to tie back his hair.