User blog:Leolab/Ancient User Tourney, Round 12: Hirai Norio (Cfp) v Gaius Leopold (Wandering Skull)

No title cards, because fuck doing that with avs.

Hirai Norio: A wandering Ronin

versus

Gaius Leopold: THe bastard son of a king

Bio
Known as the Wandering Ronin, Hirai Norio is a masterless samurai roaming the countryside of Japan. Trained from birth as a fearless and just warrior, Hirai faithfully served his master for a decade. After his master was killed during one of many feuds between samurai clans, Hirai was forced to exile as a ronin. The origins of the feud has escaped Hirai's memory, but he does know he refuses the fall to the base levels of his fellow ronin.

When Hirai's master and his clan were under siege, Hirai became the master's personal bodyguard. As the advancing army slowly moved further into the sanctuary, Hirai and his master were cornered in temple. Although heavily outnumbered, Hirai's swordsmanship granted enough time for reinforcements to arrive and route the attackers.

That night, ninjas stealthily entered the dojo where Hirai and his charge were entrenched. With a swift cut, the master was killed before Hirai could protect him. Without a master, Hirai was ashamed- left abandoned by his samurai comrades.

Just before he could commit seppuku in isolation, he witnessed a robbing by fellow ronin. Unwilling to just stand by and let them take an innocent's life, Hirai took his sword and defended the peasant.

Realizing his new calling, Hirai choose to live not in disgrace or die by his own sword, but use his masterless status to protect those that could not protect themselves. He had become The Wandering Ronin- a hero to some and a bane to others.

Initial Weaponset (Short Range)


The Exiled's Companion- Hirai's iconic katana blade. With a tamagahane single-edged tempered curved blade approximately 2 and a half feet, weighing 2 and a half pounds, the Exiled's Companion has a circular hilt guard. The hilt itself is a traditional wood, but is wrapped in leather rather than the typical cloth to ensure a better grip. Hirai's fighting style with this blade relies on swift, short cuts rather than larger sweeping arcs typical of those with his training.

Other Weapons & Armor

 * -| Mid Range =



Kanabo- A 4-feet, 15 pound oak club with steel studs.


 * -| Long Range =



Broken Oath- Hirai's yumi bow, with simple steel arrows. Hirai, as is custom with samurai, is competently skilled with his bow


 * -| Special =



The Twins- Dual short wakizashi blades Hirai utilizes to allow him to pressure his opppnents wielding pole arms by utilizing his left sword to deflect attacks and his right sword to close the distance. The blades are typical wakizashi blades; One and a half feet steel single-edged blades.


 * -| Armor =



Dō-maru armor set- A set of steel and leather armor. The chestpiece consists of scales of steel, laced together into plates then lacquered. These plates are then laced together to form a solid steel cuirass over Hirai's vital organs. Due to the weight of the steel (10 lbs), the rest of Hirai's armor is simple thigh and shoulder guards of leather.

Bio
Born as the bastard son of a King Marcus Leopold and one of his servants, ruler of the Kingdom Of Illiyac, Gaius inherited the surname of all bastards in these lands, that name being Salts. As a child, Gaius was left to his own devices around the castle and often spent his days trying to earn his father's graces by studying, training in combat and understanding the functions of court. This continued until he was 10 years old, where the young Gaius would give up upon the dreams of being legitimized. Upon giving up, Gaius took to combat training, spending his time at the docks and adventuring with the garrisons of the city.

As he grew older, Gaius would often take his anger on others in drunken bar fights, training and generally having alot of anger. He'd also spend days with his half-brother, Magnus, as both trained alongside each other and confided their personal motivations. Gaius and Magnus would often take these sparring sessions as methods to improve the others skill in combat. It is also during this time that Gaius expressed genuine interest with mercenary work and exploring the world, which Magnus often encouraged in hopes that Gaius would find some kind of joy in a land beyond his. And at the age of 16, Gaius would indulge upon these fantasies and signed up with a band mercenaries loyal to his father and the crown as they set sail to serve him in attacking his foes and obtaining wealth and glory for the kingdom.

And so for the next few years, Gaius would work as mercenary, garnering a reputation and gathering enough coin to obtain his own ship and crew at the age of 25. He would continue to serve his kingdom as a mercenary, but also worked on the side as him as his crew attacked and raided the coastal towns of the kingdom's enemies. This is where he'd gain his title of "The Salt Eagle" for the banner he flew containing the old emblem of his Kingdom, with the eagle perched upon the salt rock. During one of these raids against garrisons of a rival kingdom, Gaius slew their champion, but losing his eye in the process due to his own arrogance, an event that would humble him greatly. Still, as the years passed, his reputation, wealth and experience allowed him to amass a large fleet. One that would rival that of a small kingdom as he began dabbling in trade.

His ultimate test would come as the Kingdom Of Illiyac was invaded, rival kingdoms growing tired of the privateers and mercenaries sent to attack their lands, their coasts and soldiers. Gaius set his sails once more and with his fleet seeked to destroy the menace that threatened his homeland. He would prove instrumental as he organized the naval fleets of his kingdom, organized ground forces and fought alongside Magnus, now King, in attempt to drive back the invaders. The final blow would come in a massive naval battle as his fleet of pirates, mercenaries and vikings boarded dozens of ships and captured and destroyed in name of his homeland. And upon securing the security of his homeland, Gaius would kneel before his brother and for his service, loyalty and dedication to his lands was legitimized as Gaius "The Salt Eagle" Leopold.

Initial Weaponset (Special)


Salt- Gaius' personal weapon that never leaves his side, Salt, is a sword of his own making and design and forged during his career. Salt is a bastard sword, making it roughly 48 inches long, the material being something similar to Damascus Steel as in was made centuries ago in real life as high quality method of making swords, and with a weight of 8 pounds. Can be held with one hand, but preferred with two hands.

Other Weapons & Armor

 * -| Short Range =



War Axe & Viking Shield- The axe is shortened and with weight reduced in order to be held with one hand to work in conjunction with his shield, while having a small spike on the other side, think 13th century German war axe, but without holes in the axe head. The shield is the typical Viking shield with a spiked steel boss in the center for use as a defensive and offensive tool. The combination is roughly 16 pounds,


 * -| Mid Range =



Halberd- The entirely of the spear is roughly six feet tall with its blade at the top of the weapon. The weapon is a classic using the spike, axe head and spear head for a variety of tasks that the weapon is required for. Weighs around around 7lbs and the axe head is made of steel


 * -| Long Range =



Composite Bow- Think your typical Mongol Composite Bow with the weapon weighing roughly 2.5 pounds. Carrying around 20 arrows in his quiver, consisting of broad head arrows made with steel material arrow heads. The arrows heads also have small 'claws' to them making the ripping out process all the more painful.


 * -| Armor =



Steel Armor (Chest Piece & Gauntlets & Boots)- If you want a basic idea of appearance the Steel Plate Armor in Skyrim should give you a good idea. As mentioned the armor is steel plates meant to offer strong protection from attacks, preferring to only wear the chest piece and gauntlets and boots to avoid having too much weight. Wears a black gambeson underneath the armor for a bit of added protection. The combination is roughly 45 pounds combined.

Battle Notes

 * Arena is a 20m diameter circle, grassy soil footing, no cover
 * All warriors will start out with their Initial Weaponset equipped, along with their armor.
 * Their other weapons are placed sheathed/unloaded/unset/etc. next to their point of entry into the arena.
 * The match is to the death.
 * Brackets and other tourney information may be found here.
 * Note that vote scores are doubled, since Challnonge doesn't accept half-points.
 * Note that the pictures are  not  meant to be exact representations of the equipment. They're just generic images I found on the wiki.

Voting Notes

 * Votes with good edges or at least 10 relevant sentences count as a full vote
 * Votes with meh edges or at least 5 relevant sentences count as a half vote
 * All others count as no vote
 * Well-reasoned rebuttals can lower the count of a vote by half.
 * Well-reasoned counter-rebuttals can restore the half-point.
 * The users whose characters are fighting may not vote for or against themselves, but may defend their warriors by giving rebuttals and counter-rebuttals
 * I have the final say in how much a vote counts for. If I feel a vote merits counting differently than these guidelines, I will do so.
 * Due to voter concerns regarding his rebuttal spree on a previous match, El Alamein is only allowed to defend his own vote.
 * Voting ends at some point on 08/16/2016