Matsue the Gunsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anegetyourgun) wrote2013-08-28 06:23 pm
anegetyourgun) wrote2013-08-28 06:23 pm
Entry tags:
App for Demeleier
Player Name: Catie
Player DW: c_rowles.dreamwidth.org
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
c_rowles
Character Number: 3
Character: Matsue the Gunsmith
Source: original character
Appearance: Matsue, for all intents and purposes, is Japanese, with thick black hair, dark brown eyes, and beige skin with healthy, warm undertones. She stands at approximately 5’ tall, and is plump and apple-shaped. Her hands are calloused and pocked with burn scars from her work. Her short fingernails and hair barely long enough to pull into a ponytail speak to her sensible nature, and in keeping with her socioeconomic status and personal taste, she does not wear makeup, and dresses in muted, earthy colors, with the occasional touch of orange or red.
here is a drawing of her reading one of the like three books in her whole house. This one’s her favorite.
History: Matsue is from a fictional setting that approximately corresponds to real-world Japan in the mid 16th century. At the time of the story, the country has been embroiled in civil war for over one hundred years.
Approximately twenty-two years ago, Matsue’s father, the latest in a long line of swordsmiths, set his eye on a brand-new technology: the matchlock gun. Recently introduced by foreigners, it was quickly gaining popularity, despite being a far less practical investment than bows and arrows. Determined to refine the gun’s design and profit from an expanding market, the newly-styled gunsmith worked tirelessly, and by the time he and his wife Sugie had their only child, his guns were becoming known locally for remarkable craftsmanship and quality.
Thanks to brisk business and the local feudal lord for a loyal patron, the little family lived quite comfortably. It’s commonly thought that only children are invariably spoiled, but Matsue’s parents didn’t stand for none of that, and emphasized the importance of obedience and responsibility to their daughter from an early age. She had plenty of age-appropriate chores assigned to her: helping around the house and at mealtimes with her mom, and helping her dad in his workshop. Since he thought it would be best to keep his small daughter away from any activities directly involving fire and/or sharp things, which make up most of the activities one can do in a gunsmith’s workshop, she mostly shadowed him. Wanting their daughter to get her some more learnin’s, Matsue’s parents also taught her how to read and write, to the best of their ability.
Tragically, Sugie passed away of pneumonia when Matsue was nine years old, an event that left a deep mark on both father and daughter. Although he loved his daughter very much, the deep depression Matsumaru sank into after his wife’s death drove him to spend nearly all of his time working, leaving Matsue to take care of the house, the shopping, cooking, and more, in addition to her time spent learning her father’s trade. She did not make any friends in childhood—there was just no space in her schedule.
She was a bright and devoted apprentice, and determined to make her dad proud of her. By her early teens, Matsue was working alongside him carving, forging, engraving, and everything else. At fifteen, she was skilled enough to begin assembling guns by herself from scratch, and she routinely handled repair and maintenance jobs while he filled the more elaborate orders. As time went by, Matsue’s personal life began to improve along with her professional one: her dad’s good days were far outnumbering his bad ones, and she’d even made a few friends (including a couple friends with benefits, although nothing romantic that had yet lasted long-term).
However, this life, stable and mostly harmonious, was not to last. One day while hiking his favorite mountain, Matsue’s father vanished without a trace. Some say he was spirited away by gods who wanted such a skilled craftsman for themselves; most people say that he probably fell over a cliff or got shanked by bandits or something. But whatever happened to old Matsumaru, as a result of his disappearance, it was up to Matsue, now just nineteen, to run the smithy all on her own. One year later, she’s working harder than ever before, desperate to prove to some skeptical nobles that her work is of equal quality to her late father’s, lest she lose their patronage—and her main source of income.
Timeline: early in the story, right where her history leaves off. August.
Personality: Someone who met Matsue for the first time in an everyday kind of situation would likely come away with an impression of an even-tempered, polite young woman, rather serious but not cold or unfriendly. On the surface, she is calm and patient, and overall seems like a person who totally has her life together. Matsue puts a lot of effort into giving off that impression, and the truth of her is somewhat more complex.
That isn’t to say that this first impression is a lie. She really and truly enjoys being polite to others, especially strangers, and she is calm and even-tempered by nature. She smiles easily, although it takes a bit more to make her laugh. She doesn’t dislike being around people, and in fact, would make anyone a trustworthy and loyal friend. However, she is an introvert at heart, and while her people skills might be pretty decent, socializing drains her energy. She is much less comfortable among large groups of people than she is with smaller groups, especially if any kind of public speaking were to be involved, and crowds make her feel claustrophobic.
Any quiet, solitary leisure activity, such as reading or hiking, replenishes her energy, but the thing she enjoys the most is working. In addition to having been brought up to value a hard day’s work, she genuinely enjoys her job, and takes great pride in a job well done. Unfortunately, despite being well aware of the hazards of overworking herself, she, like most workaholics, still prioritizes her job over almost everything else. She can grow so committed to a project that she’ll forget to cook or go to bed at a decent hour, and is occasionally in danger of burning out and jeopardizing her own productivity. When she does inevitably burn herself out, she grits her teeth and tries to get back on track as quickly as possible rather than give herself proper time to recuperate, which consequently means that she too rarely gives herself a proper chance to release the stress that builds up inside her. She has had emotional breakdowns in the past, and struggles with self-doubt on a deep level. In this way, her greatest source of personal pride, and a source of peace and satisfaction in her life, is also her greatest source of stress.
Organization is something else very important to Matsue, but her obsessive nature towards it, like with her work, can sometimes backfire. She enjoys organizing not just her physical possessions, but also things like her daily routine and schedule. This is essential for running a business well, but the downside to this tendency is that when her schedule is disrupted, Matsue has a difficult time adjusting. She is exceptionally poor at impromptu anything, and has a hard time making snap decisions—although she will do these things, if the situation demands it. In addition, she cannot abide a messy room, and if left alone in someone’s disorganized home or office, she has to use all her willpower to keep from doing some unsolicited tidying up.
Matsue isn’t exactly a pious person, but she is from a highly spiritual society, and has a healthy respect for the supernatural and all things divine. The presence of magic is something taken for granted in her culture, so although she’s never had any personal dealings with magic, she accepts its existence unconditionally. However, being a person of routine and sensibility, she would likely not be very enthused by magic, especially in large quantities, if she were to encounter it. Anything too far outside her realm of personal reference makes her deeply uncomfortable, and while she isn’t cowardly by any means, she wouldn’t be the first person to head into a freaky situation.
She doesn’t like stepping out of her comfort zone, but she will do so for the sake of others, or if she believes she can accomplish some good. She believes strongly that people should help others when they can, and she can’t abide selfishness. Similarly, Matsue is also quite humble, and doesn’t brag about herself. Some people might think this is a reflection of poor self-esteem, but Matsue’s self esteem and self-confidence are actually very decent. Her humility is as much a result of the importance her culture places on being humble, and her own dislike of self-serving behavior in others.
Overall, Matsue is a down-to-earth, sensible individual with a strong work ethic and strong moral convictions, who tries—but not always succeeds—to keep a level head in all situations. She has some buried issues that are long-overdue for confronting, but that will come in time.
Abilities: Matsue is a skilled gunsmith, specializing exclusively in matchlocks. Because she’ll be lacking raw materials and the proper tools in Demeleier, she won’t be able to make guns, but she is a talented blacksmith and can forge and repair other weapons and objects, as well as embellish them with tasteful nature motifs. Although she is a good markswoman and very comfortable and competent with guns, as expected of someone who makes them for a living, she has never fired one at a person, and has no warrior training whatsoever. Similarly, despite intimate technical knowledge of various bladed weapons, she’s never had to wield one for its intended use.
Even before she was living alone, Matsue did most of the cooking in her house. Her specialty is millet porridge and rice, mostly because that was what her family could afford the most of, but she can cook a decent array of simple dishes, and knows how to pickle and preserve various foods. Aside from cooking, she also has a range of basic practical skills, such as sewing, that any medieval commoner worth her salt would know.
She can also read and write, a little. She’s extremely proud of that.
Inventory: Matsue was kidnapped in the middle of test-firing a gun, so she comes equipped with one strongly resembling a mid-16th-century tanegashima matchlock, along with a length of wick, a small box of bullets, and a lacquered bamboo container of gunpowder for the thing. She is wearing straw sandals, a striped green kosode kimono, a thin underkimono because it’s damn hot outside, and an obi bearing a tasteful and seasonally-appropriate pattern of dragonflies. She also has a small handtowel tucked in the front of her kimono, because you never know when you’ll need a handtowel.
Prose Sample: Matsue kept her eyes on the rain-drenched meadow outside the doorway, trusting her shaking hands to know what to do. Sure enough, she managed to reload her gun, and she lifted it up, setting the stock against her shoulder. She took a step back into the dark, echoing space of the temple, forcing herself to keep her breathing even, using the feel of cold metal against her cheek to keep her mind focused. So far, she saw nothing moving outside, and heard nothing but wind and mild rain. Behind her, inside, she couldn’t hear anything at all.
Where was she?
She wondered if this was all a hallucination—then discarded that idea. She had been the picture of health before opening her eyes in this new other world, and she didn’t feel feverish. A dream, perhaps? A dream sounded right. She’d never dreamed about—or seen—a building like this in all her life, but she supposed there was a first time for everything. That was a much more plausible explanation that having been actually spirited away, although that was also likely. Definitely likely.
She swallowed, and adjusted her hold on her gun. Dream or no, she wasn’t about to sit here defenseless.
Journal Sample: There’s a—a thing in the river—!
[the view on the mirror bounces around as Matsue runs, showing glimpses of her, the riverbank, and, most importantly, the huge kelpie rearing out of the water behind her. She abandons words, sparing only enough breath for a few thin shrieks, until she darts behind a tree some distance away and flattens herself against the trunk.]
[she cups the mirror with trembling hands, not bothering to properly align the frame to her face, and casts wide-eyed, panicked glances over her shoulder at the river. The kelpie roars and splashes, frustrated at being robbed of a delicious villager burrito.]
What is it!? I was fishing, and it—it lunged at me and—!
[she swallows, and takes off running again towards the village.]
Things in the forest, things in the river—gods’ sakes, I was only fishing! How does anyone get anything done around here!?
Player DW: c_rowles.dreamwidth.org
Contact:
Character Number: 3
Character: Matsue the Gunsmith
Source: original character
Appearance: Matsue, for all intents and purposes, is Japanese, with thick black hair, dark brown eyes, and beige skin with healthy, warm undertones. She stands at approximately 5’ tall, and is plump and apple-shaped. Her hands are calloused and pocked with burn scars from her work. Her short fingernails and hair barely long enough to pull into a ponytail speak to her sensible nature, and in keeping with her socioeconomic status and personal taste, she does not wear makeup, and dresses in muted, earthy colors, with the occasional touch of orange or red.
here is a drawing of her reading one of the like three books in her whole house. This one’s her favorite.
History: Matsue is from a fictional setting that approximately corresponds to real-world Japan in the mid 16th century. At the time of the story, the country has been embroiled in civil war for over one hundred years.
Approximately twenty-two years ago, Matsue’s father, the latest in a long line of swordsmiths, set his eye on a brand-new technology: the matchlock gun. Recently introduced by foreigners, it was quickly gaining popularity, despite being a far less practical investment than bows and arrows. Determined to refine the gun’s design and profit from an expanding market, the newly-styled gunsmith worked tirelessly, and by the time he and his wife Sugie had their only child, his guns were becoming known locally for remarkable craftsmanship and quality.
Thanks to brisk business and the local feudal lord for a loyal patron, the little family lived quite comfortably. It’s commonly thought that only children are invariably spoiled, but Matsue’s parents didn’t stand for none of that, and emphasized the importance of obedience and responsibility to their daughter from an early age. She had plenty of age-appropriate chores assigned to her: helping around the house and at mealtimes with her mom, and helping her dad in his workshop. Since he thought it would be best to keep his small daughter away from any activities directly involving fire and/or sharp things, which make up most of the activities one can do in a gunsmith’s workshop, she mostly shadowed him. Wanting their daughter to get her some more learnin’s, Matsue’s parents also taught her how to read and write, to the best of their ability.
Tragically, Sugie passed away of pneumonia when Matsue was nine years old, an event that left a deep mark on both father and daughter. Although he loved his daughter very much, the deep depression Matsumaru sank into after his wife’s death drove him to spend nearly all of his time working, leaving Matsue to take care of the house, the shopping, cooking, and more, in addition to her time spent learning her father’s trade. She did not make any friends in childhood—there was just no space in her schedule.
She was a bright and devoted apprentice, and determined to make her dad proud of her. By her early teens, Matsue was working alongside him carving, forging, engraving, and everything else. At fifteen, she was skilled enough to begin assembling guns by herself from scratch, and she routinely handled repair and maintenance jobs while he filled the more elaborate orders. As time went by, Matsue’s personal life began to improve along with her professional one: her dad’s good days were far outnumbering his bad ones, and she’d even made a few friends (including a couple friends with benefits, although nothing romantic that had yet lasted long-term).
However, this life, stable and mostly harmonious, was not to last. One day while hiking his favorite mountain, Matsue’s father vanished without a trace. Some say he was spirited away by gods who wanted such a skilled craftsman for themselves; most people say that he probably fell over a cliff or got shanked by bandits or something. But whatever happened to old Matsumaru, as a result of his disappearance, it was up to Matsue, now just nineteen, to run the smithy all on her own. One year later, she’s working harder than ever before, desperate to prove to some skeptical nobles that her work is of equal quality to her late father’s, lest she lose their patronage—and her main source of income.
Timeline: early in the story, right where her history leaves off. August.
Personality: Someone who met Matsue for the first time in an everyday kind of situation would likely come away with an impression of an even-tempered, polite young woman, rather serious but not cold or unfriendly. On the surface, she is calm and patient, and overall seems like a person who totally has her life together. Matsue puts a lot of effort into giving off that impression, and the truth of her is somewhat more complex.
That isn’t to say that this first impression is a lie. She really and truly enjoys being polite to others, especially strangers, and she is calm and even-tempered by nature. She smiles easily, although it takes a bit more to make her laugh. She doesn’t dislike being around people, and in fact, would make anyone a trustworthy and loyal friend. However, she is an introvert at heart, and while her people skills might be pretty decent, socializing drains her energy. She is much less comfortable among large groups of people than she is with smaller groups, especially if any kind of public speaking were to be involved, and crowds make her feel claustrophobic.
Any quiet, solitary leisure activity, such as reading or hiking, replenishes her energy, but the thing she enjoys the most is working. In addition to having been brought up to value a hard day’s work, she genuinely enjoys her job, and takes great pride in a job well done. Unfortunately, despite being well aware of the hazards of overworking herself, she, like most workaholics, still prioritizes her job over almost everything else. She can grow so committed to a project that she’ll forget to cook or go to bed at a decent hour, and is occasionally in danger of burning out and jeopardizing her own productivity. When she does inevitably burn herself out, she grits her teeth and tries to get back on track as quickly as possible rather than give herself proper time to recuperate, which consequently means that she too rarely gives herself a proper chance to release the stress that builds up inside her. She has had emotional breakdowns in the past, and struggles with self-doubt on a deep level. In this way, her greatest source of personal pride, and a source of peace and satisfaction in her life, is also her greatest source of stress.
Organization is something else very important to Matsue, but her obsessive nature towards it, like with her work, can sometimes backfire. She enjoys organizing not just her physical possessions, but also things like her daily routine and schedule. This is essential for running a business well, but the downside to this tendency is that when her schedule is disrupted, Matsue has a difficult time adjusting. She is exceptionally poor at impromptu anything, and has a hard time making snap decisions—although she will do these things, if the situation demands it. In addition, she cannot abide a messy room, and if left alone in someone’s disorganized home or office, she has to use all her willpower to keep from doing some unsolicited tidying up.
Matsue isn’t exactly a pious person, but she is from a highly spiritual society, and has a healthy respect for the supernatural and all things divine. The presence of magic is something taken for granted in her culture, so although she’s never had any personal dealings with magic, she accepts its existence unconditionally. However, being a person of routine and sensibility, she would likely not be very enthused by magic, especially in large quantities, if she were to encounter it. Anything too far outside her realm of personal reference makes her deeply uncomfortable, and while she isn’t cowardly by any means, she wouldn’t be the first person to head into a freaky situation.
She doesn’t like stepping out of her comfort zone, but she will do so for the sake of others, or if she believes she can accomplish some good. She believes strongly that people should help others when they can, and she can’t abide selfishness. Similarly, Matsue is also quite humble, and doesn’t brag about herself. Some people might think this is a reflection of poor self-esteem, but Matsue’s self esteem and self-confidence are actually very decent. Her humility is as much a result of the importance her culture places on being humble, and her own dislike of self-serving behavior in others.
Overall, Matsue is a down-to-earth, sensible individual with a strong work ethic and strong moral convictions, who tries—but not always succeeds—to keep a level head in all situations. She has some buried issues that are long-overdue for confronting, but that will come in time.
Abilities: Matsue is a skilled gunsmith, specializing exclusively in matchlocks. Because she’ll be lacking raw materials and the proper tools in Demeleier, she won’t be able to make guns, but she is a talented blacksmith and can forge and repair other weapons and objects, as well as embellish them with tasteful nature motifs. Although she is a good markswoman and very comfortable and competent with guns, as expected of someone who makes them for a living, she has never fired one at a person, and has no warrior training whatsoever. Similarly, despite intimate technical knowledge of various bladed weapons, she’s never had to wield one for its intended use.
Even before she was living alone, Matsue did most of the cooking in her house. Her specialty is millet porridge and rice, mostly because that was what her family could afford the most of, but she can cook a decent array of simple dishes, and knows how to pickle and preserve various foods. Aside from cooking, she also has a range of basic practical skills, such as sewing, that any medieval commoner worth her salt would know.
She can also read and write, a little. She’s extremely proud of that.
Inventory: Matsue was kidnapped in the middle of test-firing a gun, so she comes equipped with one strongly resembling a mid-16th-century tanegashima matchlock, along with a length of wick, a small box of bullets, and a lacquered bamboo container of gunpowder for the thing. She is wearing straw sandals, a striped green kosode kimono, a thin underkimono because it’s damn hot outside, and an obi bearing a tasteful and seasonally-appropriate pattern of dragonflies. She also has a small handtowel tucked in the front of her kimono, because you never know when you’ll need a handtowel.
Prose Sample: Matsue kept her eyes on the rain-drenched meadow outside the doorway, trusting her shaking hands to know what to do. Sure enough, she managed to reload her gun, and she lifted it up, setting the stock against her shoulder. She took a step back into the dark, echoing space of the temple, forcing herself to keep her breathing even, using the feel of cold metal against her cheek to keep her mind focused. So far, she saw nothing moving outside, and heard nothing but wind and mild rain. Behind her, inside, she couldn’t hear anything at all.
Where was she?
She wondered if this was all a hallucination—then discarded that idea. She had been the picture of health before opening her eyes in this new other world, and she didn’t feel feverish. A dream, perhaps? A dream sounded right. She’d never dreamed about—or seen—a building like this in all her life, but she supposed there was a first time for everything. That was a much more plausible explanation that having been actually spirited away, although that was also likely. Definitely likely.
She swallowed, and adjusted her hold on her gun. Dream or no, she wasn’t about to sit here defenseless.
Journal Sample: There’s a—a thing in the river—!
[the view on the mirror bounces around as Matsue runs, showing glimpses of her, the riverbank, and, most importantly, the huge kelpie rearing out of the water behind her. She abandons words, sparing only enough breath for a few thin shrieks, until she darts behind a tree some distance away and flattens herself against the trunk.]
[she cups the mirror with trembling hands, not bothering to properly align the frame to her face, and casts wide-eyed, panicked glances over her shoulder at the river. The kelpie roars and splashes, frustrated at being robbed of a delicious villager burrito.]
What is it!? I was fishing, and it—it lunged at me and—!
[she swallows, and takes off running again towards the village.]
Things in the forest, things in the river—gods’ sakes, I was only fishing! How does anyone get anything done around here!?