NAME: Tezuka Sayo, The Viper
FACTION: The Sith Order
RANK: Societally she is Onna-bugeisha, a female of the warrior class. Among Force Users she is an apprentice.
SPECIES: Human, variant based on her lineage. Her eyes turn solid black when she uses the darkside of the Force.
AGE: 33
SEX: Female
HEIGHT: 5'2"
WEIGHT: 130lbs
EYES: Normally brown, but black when using the darkside.
HAIR: Dark brown
SKIN: White
FORCE SENSITIVE: Yes
- Integrity: Regardless of whether something she did was right or wrong, she will always take responsibility for her actions, and always uphold her vows and promises, unless she encounters a situation in which she is honor bound not to.
- Bravery: It speaks for itself, but she will face any threat, no matter how great, even if she knows she will likely die doing so.
- Modesty: Though she has an extensive track record of victories on her homeworld, it has not gone to her head. She accepts praise with grace, but does not boast of her own skills, choosing to let her actions speak for themselves.
- Honor Bound: Might not seem like a weakness but it can be. If she encounters someone who is an operative of an enemy shogun, she is obligated to face them in single combat regardless of what she is doing. Even if she is on a sensitive mission where stealth is key, she must abandon that mission to engage in an honor duel.
- Cruelty: Sayo is beyond cruel. She cares nothing for most anyone, and even children cannot avoid her wrath if they get on her bad side. It is suggested not to cross her.
- Anti-Technological Weaponry: Her people have a distinct hatred for all forms of technological weaponry, including lightsabers and blasters. To them they are dishonorable weapons, and she will gladly die rather than be forced to use one.
As a slightly younger girl, Sayo was the ever energetic one, sporting a long braid of hair, flexing her lithe form in shows of skill that made the men of her society jealous. She presented herself with poise and grace that would have made her a powerful geisha were she not born of the warrior caste. Though she certainly could have changed station, being an attractive young woman, she felt that it would be dishonorable to her Yomida to do so. So instead she moved through the ranks. As she aged, she came to favor the long handled polearm called the naginata. Its usage required speed more than strength, and so she developed a taste for wearing loose garments that weren't baggy enough to hinder movement, but could disguise her actions. Light armor was the most she would choose to wear. Her braid became shorter, a liability reduced to the point where she no longer braided it, but eventually wore it up in a bun with pins instead, leaving it loose and harder to grab. In addition, in honor of her family and her Yomida, she has chosen to tattoo her face with red markings to show which Yomida she swears fealty to.
Sayo was born on the world of Azuchi in the village of Hissho as a member of her people's warrior caste. Her parents had sworn fealty to the Yomida Watari Shoji, who was one of the nobles under the Dynasi Suga Kinzo. Their Dyansi was the Iron Snake, so named for his ability to strike quickly and with such force as to end a life in a single blow. He was the most powerful Dynasi on the planet. There were several others, and all were vying for the same position as Emperor, as they had not had one for several hundred years, as nobody was able to claim the role and live long enough to assume it. Suga Kinzo was the closest to doing so when she was born, and remained as such for as long as she lived on the world, though she had little doubt that he would never take up the mantle of Emperor unless he crushed the other Dynasi first.
From a very early age she learned her people's martial arts system. Her father, a warrior himself, taught her Jujutsu, or the art of throwing and joint locking an opponent, from a very early age. This type of learning was low intensity and would not severely hurt her, meaning she could learn it early on without causing harm, and it would protect her from being bullied by other children of the warrior caste as well. As she grew older, he gave her a wakisashi and began to teach her Kenjutsu. At the age of seven she was showing clear signs of being a prodigy, and her Yomida began to take an interest in her, even elevating her father in position. By the age of twelve she had been given her first katana and wielded it with fluidity and grace until the age of sixteen, when she demonstrated her mastery of it and moved on from it to the naginata.
Naginatajutsu was not something her mother or father were familiar in. Despite being widely used by both genders, his father had stuck with the Katana, and her mother was not a warrior, but tended the home for her and her siblings. She had to travel away to the village of Mimmpo to find someone to teach her. Another of the Yomida's familiars, she was a hard master, Komori Aira. She took no pity on Sayo, and treated her as if she were nothing, despite her previous mastery of herself, and the swords. Sayo spent many days scrubbing floors, cleaning dishes, and cooking while the older students practiced. Though she resented the woman for it, she did what she was told to do, unwilling to dishonor her family. And eventually it paid off, as she began her training, and took to it with ease, outpacing some of the much older students, and quickly besting battle-tested warriors.
But her training was never completed. Their Dynasi ordered their Yomida to mount his forces into battle against the forces of a rival Yomida from the Jade Dragon Dynasi. Sayo herself, along with her father, the other students, and her teacher, were sent into battle. Sayo survived, but her father and Komori Aira were both slain in combat. During the battle, she felt a power course through her that was unlike anything she'd felt before. Having never been faced with the probability of death before, the power had not manifested itself. But there, on the battlefield, it coursed through her and her double-bladed naginata, and gave the weapon a course sheen of red. This had drawn the attention of a Jade Dragon warrior whose blade glowed white, and they'd fought, but she'd gained the upper hand through her long range and speed. Cutting the warrior down and scattering the nearby mercenaries back from her and those around her. The battle was a victory, but it left a stinging, bitter taste in her mouth.
She'd pleased her Yomida, however, and she was elevated to full warrior, taking her father's place as the family member of the warrior caste. Her siblings had already begun their training, but she was numerous years ahead of them. In more and more battles she gained renown, striking down some of the best warrior other Dynasi had to offer, even slaying a Yomida who'd wandered too close to the battle. Because of her prowess, her ambitious Yomida had convinced the Dynasi to send her into the reaches of space to the elusive Sith Order to see if they could draw more power out of her other than just her martial skill, and the ability to imbue her blade with the Force to increase its deadliness. It was for this reason that she was sent away from her homeworld of Azuchi, and to the reaches of the Caldera to seek the Sith, learn from them, and one day return to complete her Dynasi's conquest of the other Shogun.
