Tomochika Ano is a blind fugitive who relies heavily on other sharpened senses to navigate and protect himself. Though he’s a skilled enough swordsman, some even arguing that his unorthodox methods grant him a snake like ability to sense and strike at his opponents with precise quickness, he prefers the company of hired swords to fight in his stead.
He travels the world by horseback, riding a stolen Akhal Teke stallion named Reiki, which translates to “cold air” after the northern lands from whence both escaped the year previous to his current time. The horse was stolen from Tomochika’s former lord Arata Hojo, who kept him as a concubine in the Hojo family estate among many other things and animals of great beauty. To ensure Tomochika could not run away, and to fully whiten the pinks of his irises, His eyes were burnt with oil of giant hogweed, causing him to go blind and glazing over his now signature quartzed eyes.
Training in secret for years, Tomochika developed a lethal swordplay style which allowed him to surprise and overcome Arata one night during a blizzard. Taking the Hojo family’s fortune, heirloom bone handled blade, and prized stallion, he vanished into the snowstorm with the family guard hot on his trail. Tomochika escaped, tracks covered by the storm, to hide out in an abandoned homestead in the mountains for the winter. When the snow thawed, he descended the mountain with his stolen fortune and made his way south, burying portions of gold near Kitsune shrines, cursed landmarks, and forbidden places all along the way to keep his deposits safe from accidental plundering. Given that he cannot actually see the places he ventures, Tomochika has developed a lack of fear for the supernatural and questions its existence.
Now twenty-two and wandering with very little gold on his person, Tomochika carries himself like a proper lord while searching for samurai, swordsmen, and anyone else willing to follow him in his quest to become a daimyo and build a village from the ground up. He collects favors and promises payment, refusing to dip into the fortune he hid along the road. Instead he accrues funds in various other ways (some less than legal, honorable, and self respecting) in order to finance the beginnings of a following which primarily will consist of warriors willing to earn their fame alongside him.
