Ancestry/Heritage: Dragonblood Lizardfolk

Background: Northridge Scholar

Class: Monk

Birthday: Thawingtide

Age: 30

Height: 6'6"

Residence

• North Bank

Employment

• Warrior Scholar

Memberships:

Family

Allies

Character Arc:

• TBD

[potential quote or saying]

At first glance, Shunra might be mistaken for another of the Makari Iruxi from which he was hatched, yet even a moment's inspection quickly dispels the illusion. He does bear the trunklike muzzle of all his kin, overdeveloped muscles at his jaw perfect for ripping and tearing, but that is where the similarities end. The antlers at his brow are identical to those found on a River Dragon, and one look at his rain-gray scales makes his Imperial blood obvious.

Tall for one so young, it is clear that he will be truly gargantuan some day, for all Iruxi grow larger as they age. Heavy set and broad shouldered, he moves with a remarkable grace for one so built.

Within Shenyun, names can practically be works of poetry, a reflection of the burgeoning emotions and expectations of the parents. They can also be entirely practical matters, blunt descriptors bereft of sentimentality. Shunra of the Kawashima is of the latter, his name literally translating to "river island," denominating the island of the Ryūmyaku that was the place of his hatching. It was not the name he was supposed to have received, save that from the moment he hatched, it was clear that Shunra was special. All of the Yaksha were born of Mizuchi's bloodline, but few enough indeed could claim to themselves be of true Dragon's blood. There was no question of such in Shunra, whose rain-grey scales and antlered crown proclaimed him instantly as a chosen of the Lord of the Long Rains. There was no question of his purpose or station in life, no sooner could he walk and swim then he was taken from his clutchmates via riverboat to the Ryūmyaku Shrine.

Though the Coiled River is a patient and benevolent member of the Celestial Harmony, Ryūmyaku Shrine was not and is not a place solely intended for quite contemplation and study. Dedicated to the protection of a holy relic, a treatise written by Mizuchi on the nature of detachment from suffering, the order of monks who tended its grounds were beholden to a fierce warrior tradition. Informed by the scrolls, they worked tirelessly to strengthen body and spirit through the practice of pain inducing martial techniques, and mind and soul through the pursuit of higher learning.

While in some ways he was brought up in a manner more befitting of one of the Imperial Bloodline than a simple monk, that did not mean he grew up pampered and spoiled. His stomach was never empty, his clothes were always of fine woven silk, and even even had servants to tend to his needs, yet the burden of expectation placed upon him was substantial. Considered a divine reincarnation of one of Mizuchi's own children, he was thus expected to train harder and perform better than any of his peers. Perfection was expected of him at all times, and correction of any errors was instant and sharp. The clawed fingers of his instructors were quickest to find him in the training yard when he forgot a stance or misplaced a step. While he might of had servants, they frequently were tasked with watching over him from the shade while he was was assigned to cleaning out the carp ponds, often for mistakes in his lessons so minor that his instructors would not have even noted them if they had come from others. Through it all, his patience was expected to be infinite, and so his elders founds new and ingenious ways to test it time and time again. The end result for the young Dragonblood is that he grew up acutely aware of his divine heritage, and the weight it of expectation and responsibility it placed on him. He does not lord his birthright over those he considers his lessers, his is a humble nobility, though he frequently does consider those he meets so.

Two years ago, as the chaos of the Severing was still fully being realized, he was assigned to Yanagihama to aide in the construction of a small temple library on the North Bank. A backwater in the extreme, he considers the assignment another lesson to be learned, and in the footsteps of his divine father is content to patiently wait for the moral of the lesson to someday present itself.

• Taken as a hatchling, Shunra knows nothing of what it means to be Makari Iruxi. He is frequently awkward around others of his kind. 

• Not every one of his peers was impressed by his supposedly Divine Imperial heritage, and bore him a grudge for the treatment he received at the Ryūmyaku Shrine. One such, Yamada Takaha, still goes to great lengths to disparage, discredit and (hopefully) dishonor Shunra. 

• Though he is expected to exhibit patience in all things to honor the great River Kami whose blood flows in his veins, Shunra has found that Dragon blood is filled with fire. His temper is a furious thing, despite a lifetime of effort to control it.

• While traveling to Yanagihama, Shunra was set upon by a trio of bandits. He killed one, driving the other two off. In the two years since, those two bandits have become minor constabulary of dubious honor. 

Character Sheet