Characters: Kiasu:TTU

Characters: Kiasu

Ownership

Creator: BaxilDragon
Availability: Limited - See character notes

TTU's mages tell wild stories of a mysterous anthro-unicorn who wanders the earth like a modern-day ronin -- complete with samurai clothing and swords. He appears unexpectedly to willworkers, introduces himself, challenges them to a duel, beats the snot out of them without breaking a sweat, and vanishes again. Who is he? Why does he do this, and how did he get such power? A lot of mages would love to know.

Basic Biography

Character Art

Insert drawings or link to drawings here.

Birth Name: Unknown
Born: Unknown date/location
Gender: Technically unknown, but almost certainly male
Species: Unicorn

TheriType: Furry
First change: Unknown
Openly theri?: Only uses theri form

Physical Description

"Directly in the center of the wide wooden bridge ... was a pure white were-unicorn -- two-legged, standing upright, leaning on the railing, staring at the rushing water below him contemplatively through deep black eyes. He was, as the others had said, dressed in samurai garb -- baggy black coat covering a white kimono and heavy light
grey skirt that didn't quite cover the digitigrade legs' raised ankles. A sturdy, pearled horn spiraled above his head through a fine, silky mane that spilled down over his back. The scabbards of a pair of swords poked at the coat from inside, mounted at his belt." - StoryRandomEncounter

Public Backstory

Reports of Kiasu doing anything other than winning magical duels are next to unknown. His history is similarly elusive. He never talks about himself, other than providing his name as he starts the duel.

Hundreds of people have tried to research this odd samurai and find out who he was pre-Changes. These leads inevitably turn into dead ends: Both magical and conventional investigation turns up a blank slate. One of the most notable conspiracy theories points out Kiasu's similarity to a role-playing character named Bao Jian from a pre-Changes online forum, but: a) this similarity is mostly of the "they're both anthro-unicorn samurais" variety, and b) Bao Jian's player, Jay Jones, at first tried to claim he'd changed into Bao; finally publically admitted Bao Jian wasn't real about a week after the Changes; and then promptly committed suicide. Police reports (and positive identification of the corpse) back this up.

Some mages swear that Kiasu's the gatekeeper for a cabal of Secret Masters who rule the world; others insist he's just a very strange and powerful mage looking for his equal. Dozens of other theories abound, and evidence for any of them is tenuous at best.

Magic Use

Magical skill: Unearthly

Magical tradition: Unknown
Group/circle/coven: None known
Personal spellcasting style: Raw and direct; almost subconscious. Has never been seen to perform an actual ritual.

Magical History

Completely unknown. Mages generally find it inconceivable that Kiasu could have achieved such power on his own, but any group that trained him would have other mages of equal skill and similar method, and these people don't seem to exist. This is one of the biggest factors feeding the theories of ancient artifacts, dark bargains, or sweeping conspiracies.

Magic Use Notes

Besides having unearthly raw power, Kiasu also seems to have unearthly control. Almost every mage that has fought him reports the following: They prepare their defenses; he raises an arm; his attack rips through their wards like a sledgehammer through paper; their world goes white; and they wake up on the ground alone, with no damage to themselves or the surrounding area. If his opponent immediately goes on the offensive, he shrugs it off casually and then takes them down as above.

A very few highly trained and well-prepared mages have managed to deflect his first attack, but no matter what they try in the few seconds they've earned, he never shows signs of fatigue and his defenses never waver.

He has displayed chilling mastery of raw energy shaping (this is how he wins fights, after all); teleportation, even after the 1997 accidents (there are well-established sightings where he couldn't have gotten between the locations in any other way); and some sort of second sight that gives him almost omniscient awareness of his immediate surroundings. He seems to have intimate knowledge of the mage community's gossip despite his isolation. Perhaps this explains why he seems to know at a glance whether people are mages (which is supposed to be flatly impossible, and would earn him untold fortunes if he shared the secret).

Any of these alone would make him formidable and give him a solid reputation among other mages. Their cumulative effect would make his existence an obvious fabrication if it weren't for the fact that so many mages swear up and down to have been on the receiving end of his power.

Fame and Visibility

Level of fame: Legendary among magic-users worldwide; only slight exposure in the broader media, who don't really appreciate the implications of what he can do and think of him as just another theri mage. Many willworkers (only half-jokingly) see a smackdown from Kiasu as a rite of passage or a sign they're "arrived."

Reputation: A hot topic of debate among mages. Is he a man? A god? A force of nature? The only thing most mages agree on is that nobody has beaten him in a duel -- or that those who are able to do so have other reasons to stay quiet.
Well-known quotes: One of the only thing he ever says -- "I am Kiasu. I challenge you to a magical duel."

Group affiliation: None known, though plenty of conspiracy theories.
Locations: Unknown - can show up anywhere and everywhere. About the only reliable method that mages have found to attract him is to start bragging about having beaten him in a duel. If you keep that up, he will show up when you least expect it and prove you wrong. Painfully.

TTU Events

Pivotal role in: None
Minor role in: None

Story Appearances

The following 6 page(s) belong to CharacterKiasu

AvailabilityCategories ["Availability" Categories]	CharacterRandall [Characters: Randall]	MagicalSkillCategories [Categories for Magical Skill]	StoriesInProgress [Upcoming Works]
StoryOnTheEdge [Stories: On The Edge]	StoryRandomEncounter [Stories: Random Encounter]

Notes

Once he's beaten a mage, he will generally ignore them, unless they start claiming they won the duel. In which case the second beating is either public or painful. One mage who ignored this warning and kept insisting he won subsequently disappeared in what appeared to be a teleportation accident. There's no evidence this is anything beyond coincidence, but it did put a chill on others' false claims.

Mages who have refused his duel request have been met with an unsheathed wakizashi, a monotone reply along the lines of "I'm sorry, I must insist," and a quick, gentle defeat. One mage swears he pulled a gun on Kiasu and fired, only to have the unicorn deflect the bullet with a quickly-drawn sword; he doesn't remember anything else until waking up defeated.

Meta-Knowledge

If you use this character in your story, it should be as a force of nature. He barely interacts with his targets beyond his formal introduction, ignores questions, and doesn't even seem to notice non-mages unless they pose an immediate threat. While he is quite capable of taking on whole groups at once, his usual method is to target mages one by one.

BaxilDragon is writing stories that offer more insight into Kiasu's history, powers, and goals.

Trivia

The word "Kiasu" is Singlish (Singaporean slang): WikiPedia:Kiasu.

Feedback

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TTU : CharacterKiasu