BLUE KAMUY
Full Name: Nakayama Akio
Super Hero/Villain Name: Blue Kamuy
Gender: Male
Age: 137 (physically 27)
Occupation: Warrior of Anui, Adventurer
Team Affiliation: (none)
General Appearance:Akio is a muscular man with spiky dark brown hair, tanned skin, brown eyes, and multiple scars on his face. Akio wears a kimono with the sleeves tied up by a tasuki and the back hem tucked in shirihashori style over a mandarin collar shirt. He also wears the military cap, trousers, and high boots that were part of his uniform during the Russo-Japanese War. Finally, he wears a dark blue trench coat and a yellow scarf with red stripes imported from Europe.
In addition, his entire body is covered with battle wound scars he'd received from throughout the war.
In his spirit bear form, Akio transforms into a large imposing bear-like creature covered in thick blue fur. His body more than doubles in size and the bottom part of his face transforms into a snout while his teeth and nails grows and morphs into fangs and claws the each resembling daggers and claws respectively. His eyes turn red and glows bright and his ears grow more than 5 times its original size twitching at the slightest of sounds.
Akio has the physique of a highly trained adult male, having above average height (197 cm) and above average weight (147 kgs). In his spirit bear form Akio grows to 4.5 meters tall and weighs about 600 kgs.
Personality:A product of his time, Nakayama Akio holds many of the ideas and beliefs adopted by the people of Japan during the early 20th Century. He regards "Westerners" as inferior oppressors trying to suppress the potential of other nations while at the same time being fascinated by their culture and technological advancements. While initially viewing Japan as the liberator of all Asia, Akio's experience with the Ainu people has led him to renounce this belief, seeing the Japanese government as no better than Western colonizers.
Akio regards the Russian army as the second strongest army in the world (Japanese being the first) after being exposed to them during the Russo-Japanese War. While he has no significant affection for Russians, he recognizes their martial and combat prowess and treats them with relative respect.
Akio is honorable by nature, he views women as the weaker sex and will attempt to protect and shield them from enemies and other dangers even despite protests. He retains this attitude when dealing with children and those he views as helpless though he will criticize men who are unable to stand up for themselves. Although his views are outdated, Akio means well in the end even if his words and actions get a lot of criticism in modern society.
Spirit Bear Form: After receiving the favor of the Ainu tribe's Bear God, Akio gains the power to transform into a massive bear-like beast with blue fur and glowing red eyes. In addition to his change in appearance, Akio also gains access to a few other powers post-transformation:
Super Strength: Perhaps the most notable change in his Spirit Bear form is Akio's exponential increase in strength. Akio's already impressive strength is far greater in his Spirit Bear form, being able to lift up to 8 tons overhead. One of the other ways this strength could be used is by striking the ground, producing a shockwave and causing the ground to crumble up to 30 m in front of him.
Claws and Fangs: In his Spirit Bear form, Akio grows large claws in his limbs and fangs to replace his teeth. They are about as powerful as steel and can be used to cause piercing and/or slashing damage.
Enhanced Senses: Akio's Spirit Bear form gives him greater hearing and smelling. While transformed, Akio can hear low frequency and low volume sounds imperceptible to most humans as well as utilize his smell to recognize changes in the environment or to track a person or object based on its smell. A side effect of this is his compromised sight post-transformation (more in Weaknesses).
Roar: In his Spirit Bear form, Akio gains the ability to emit a loud roar which is mostly utilized for distraction or intimidation purposes. Akio's roar also qualifies and a sonic and sensory attack, damaging those with a weakness to sound-based assault or overloading those with enhanced hearing.
Weaknesses:Technological Incompetence: Being from the 20th Century, Akio experiences problems using most modern systems and appliances, especially anything digital such as phones and computers. Without guidance, it is highly unlikely for Akio to be able to utilize any device invented past the early 20th Century.
Red-Green Color Blindness: When transformed to his Spirit Bear form, Akio loses the ability to discern the color red, seeing it as shades of yellow and green. He does not have this weakness in his human form.
Sensory Overload: A side effect of his enhanced senses in Spirit Bear form, Akio is vulnerable to having his smelling and hearing overwhelmed by extremely potent scents or loud sounds respectively. The effects can range from mild discomfort to momentary stagger depending on intensity and Akio's proximity to the source.
Divine Connection: Akio's ability to transform is gained through his connection to the Bear God of Ainu. If he travels to a place outside the Bear God's influence, Akio will lose his ability to transform. Alternatively, Akio's ability to transform can be taken away if he goes against the Bear God's wishes.
Power Gained By: Divine Blessing
Abilities:Great Strength: Even without his transformation, Akio already possesses great strength as a human, being able to lift up to 1 ton.
Firearms: As a war veteran, Akio is an expert at firearm handling and maintenance, though he is still unfamiliar with the design of most modern weaponry. As a war veteran, Akio feels more comfortable carrying a firearm with him at all times and usually sleeps in near proximity to a rifle.
Knowledge of All Languages: Aside from his Spirit Bear form, Akio's connection with the Bear God grants him knowledge of all languages, past and present. This ability allows Akio to communicate with people from different times and places with little issue.
Born near the end of the 19th Century, Nakayama Akio was born during Japan's first industrial push, in response to being exposed to the west's vastly superior technological prowess. Throughout his early childhood Akio was fervently thought about Japan's limitless potential and the concrete threat of European colonization as experienced by their neighboring Asian countries. As a result, Akio personalizes Japanese nationalism bordering on fanaticism to protect Japan from foreign powers.
The first time said threat reared its head was in the form of Russia, during the early 20th Century. Its rabid expansionism had become a source of concern for the Japanese people as Russia conquered territories closer and closer to the Japanese sphere of influence. After attempts at negotiation fell through, the two nations engaged in a war while the rest of the world watches the new Oriental power with little expectations.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese army triumphed over their Russian rivals in every single battle, land or sea. While still a young man at the time, Akio was one of the largest soldiers in the Japanese army's employ, dwarfing his contemporaries. Among his battalion, he was known as Akio the Bear for his massive size and ferociousness in battle, his alias even spreading to the Russian soldiers who calls him the Orient's Bear. Despite his favorable reputation however, Akio did not enjoy his time in the war. He felt helpless as he was unable to prevent the deaths of his comrades in the battalion and restless marches and skirmishes kept him on edge for what could be weeks at a time. Part of his reputation had come from his thunderous battle cry, which Akio later admits to be his attempt at drowning out the other, horrific sounds of war.
Following the end of the war, Akio resigned from his position in the army and started travelling the country. His travels brought him to Hokkaido, specifically the Nibutani Village where he met the Ainu tribe and its people. Compared to the riots and rapid industrialization going on in the rest of the country which reminded him of the war, Akio finds the tribal life far more relaxed change of pace and opted to stay in the village.
One night, after having finished watching the tribe's Iomante ceremony, Akio was visited by one who claims to be the tribe's god in his dreams. He explained that rapid industrialization continued to be a threat to nature and the old way of life, the event not being isolated in Japan alone. He concluded that while it has its benefits, humanity's current path would lead it to its own destruction and suffering, citing the Russo-Japanese war as an example of what's to come. Akio asked the being why he called him here, which the being responded by requesting the former soldier's help in protecting the tribe and its old way of life, offering to grant Akio his power for that purpose.
Akio initially refused, but after witnessing firsthand how the Japanese army treated the Ainu people, Akio changed his mind and accepted the being's offer, becoming the Blue Kamuy: Protector of Nibutani. After several altercations with Japanese officials, the annoyed local government began concocting a plan to get rid of the Blue Kamuy. They stationed a battalion of troops near the village and "leaked" a plan of attacking Nibutani, prompting Blue Kamuy to strike first. While the battalion was prepared for the assault, Blue Kamuy's strength exceeded their expectations, Akio thrashing through the battalion in his Spirit Bear form. They had a back up plan, however, revealing an Ainu child they had taken hostage.
Akio was even more shocked to find that the soldier holding the child hostage had been part of his battalion in the war. As he stood in despair, the soldier riddled him with bullets and charged at him with bayonets, finally bringing the Blue Kamuy down. After the soldiers left, Blue Kamuy's lifeless body was visited by a mysterious figure, and the Ainu people found it the next day covered in an unknown, mysterious crystal-like material. Said crystal was at first used by the Ainu as a sacred relic, before later being sold and transported to an American museum. More than a century later, an Ainu shaman visited the museum and recognized the latent energy inside the crystal. One ritual later, the crystal was finally broken and Nakayama Akio opened his eyes to a 21st Century United States of America.
Other Information:Even in a different time, his fight yet continued. The long-forgotten obscure myth of the Blue Kamuy, protector of Nibutani had returned more than a century later in the forests of North America.
But what most didn't know was the human half of the historic protector, 137 year old Japanese veteran Nakayama Akio was by all accounts a young man not even in his 30s. As he walked around an appliance store in modern Colorado, Akio found himself fascinated by everything he saw.
"And what does this thing do?" He asked.
"It's a toaster, it.... cooks bread." The bewildered attendant answered.
"Interesting."Indeed, while the confused Japanese man might not look like a fierce protector of nature, Nakayama Akio could and would turn into a very different being should he be provoked. For now though, Akio found himself perplexed and amazed by various household appliances, to the displeasure of the store attendant serving him.
--------------------
This power is meant to protect.
Are you a returning member?
Depends on the definition of "returning".
Other Claimed Characters:
Sabretooth (Victor Creed)
Bombshell (Lana Baumgartner)
Mystique (Raven Darkholme)
Shelly Blues <OC>
Seth Deering <OC>
Blink (Clarice Ferguson)
Arachne (Julia Carpenter)
Rachel Carpenter - support
Nancy Whitehead - support
Adeline Deering (Aisha Qandisha) <OC>
Valkyrie (Brunnhilde)
Electro (Maxwell Dillon)
Professor X (Charles Xavier)
Ironheart (Riri Williams)
Prosecutor (Cerallius Bernadita Rustevia) <OC>
