Post by Date Masamune on Nov 17, 2012 0:29:40 GMT -5
Out of Character:
Name: C!
Other characters: None at the moment.
In Character:
Name: Date Masamune
Aliases: The One Eyed Dragon
Race: Yōkai
Age: 735
Gender: Male
Occupation/Class: Daimyo of Rikuzen
Orientation: Human girls sure are pretty!
Physical Description:
Yōkai: A short, squat brown eyeball in a suit of fine o-yoroi armor. Standing barely four feet tall and just as wide, his arms and legs lead to tiny hands and feet and he moves in a comical side-to-side waddle due to his unfortunate build. He wears an especially splendid helmet, decorated with a crescent moon on the front and a dragon resting on top, both carved of gold.
Human Form: A young man of slightly taller than average height with a handsome face. Shoulder length brown hair falls down around his face, his right eye concealed with a silk eyepatch bearing an ornate design. His body his lithe and slightly muscular, only partly covered with an expensive looking kimono. A large dragon bracelet made of gold wraps around his left hand up to his elbow.
Personality Description:
To Masamune, the chaos of the Sengoku era is a game. He is not malicious in thinking this, but simply ignorant of the implications of an all-out war among the humans of Japan. He just wants to play like everyone else and doesn't see why humans should get to have all the fun. He is often childish and has yet to learn how to be serious, and it seems he can only act like an adult when disguised as a human in an effort to trick human girls.
Likes:
Human girls.
Fun and games.
Gifts, compliments and general flattery.
Not being taken seriously.
Dislikes:
Overly serious people.
Being told what to do.
Being told that he is mistaken or wrong.
Being called cute, adorable, or any such name while in yōkai form.
History: Please see the RP sample.
Strengths:
Bold: Owing either to childish stupidity or genuine bravado, Masamune's fighting spirit is strong. He strides headlong into even the most daunting of tasks with a courage many would find praise worthy.
Dumb Luck: His plans are often so childishly simple minded or outrageously ridiculous that, through miraculous circumstance, they often work! This leads some to believe that he is a tactical genius when the reality is quite the opposite.
Weaknesses
Oblivious: Masamune is very childish, and as such he is prone to his own foolishness and the trickery and flattery of others. This is especially obvious in his views on human affairs, many of which he believes are just games. He also fancies himself an expert on human culture and custom. In fact, he fancies himself an expert on basically anything and everything, though nothing could be farther from the truth.
Physically Limited: Owing to his size and the short length of his limbs, Masamune in his yōkai form is not physically gifted. He is able to run at a decent clip, but only in short bursts, and is at a disadvantage in most combat and athletic situations.
Weapons/Armor:
Magical Wakizashi: His favorite weapon is a magical wakizashi, which is the perfect size for his small body. The blade can be extended at will into that of a katana, which he often does when he transforms into a human. Apart from this it has no particularly special qualities.
Special O-yoroi: Masamune's signature armor. It is essentially mundane, save for the sold gold decorations and the unique shape meant specifically to fit his one-of-a-kind build.
Tessen: A fancy tessen, used mostly to punish his underlings with whacks to the head.
Magic:
** Denotes it can only be used in yōkai form
Summon Yōkai: Masamune is able to draw out the spirits of inanimate objects, allowing them to become lesser yōkai. This does not work on items being held or worn by someone, unless they have particularly low willpower. So he could, for example, animate an empty suit of armor, or a suit of armor with a dead body in it, but he could not animate a suit of armor worn by a currently living being other than perhaps a lowly peasant or a terrified foot soldier.
*Eye Beam*: Masamune can fire a powerful beam of magical energy from his eye. However, it sucks all the moisture out and he has to take his special eyedrops before he can try to do it again. He also risks blowing himself backward if the blast is too strong.
*Time Freeze*: By squeezing his eye shut tightly, Masamune can stop time for everyone but himself. This would be helpful for getting him out of dangerous situations if not for the fact that it's impossible for him to see anything and he usually just ends up running into walls or other obstacles.
*Item Materialization*: He can materialize items instantly, though the usefulness of the items he chooses to materialize is frequently questionable at best.
Transformation: Masamune can transform into the shape of a dashing human male. While in this form his swordsmanship increases greatly and he takes on a more mature air, but he is unable to use some of his magic until he reverts back into his yōkai form. He generally uses this form to trick human women rather than for any practical purpose.
RP Sample:
On any other day birds would have chirped quietly on the woodland path, singing their songs to whatever travelers happened by. The rest of the animals might have stopped to listen or continued on with business of their own, but today the birdsong was silenced by several rowdy voices, singing together in unison with chipper tones.
"Tan-tan-tanuki no kintama wa
Kaze mo nai no ni
Bura bura!"
A group of yōkai marched happily along the path. At the front of the group was a short, squat thing who's entire body was comprised of a single eyeball, with two short arms and legs. He was dressed in a green kimono with a white cloud pattern and, for reasons known only to him, wore a fake beard, held onto his frame with a string tied in the back. His walk was a jovial waddle, tiny arms swinging to and fro as he hobbled his body side to side while moving forward. Directly behind him were three oni, each wielding a large spiked club and wearing a tiger loincloth, the only distinction among the three of them being their skin tones of red, blue and black. Taking up the rear were several tanuki, who appeared to be leading the group in song, happily playing their bellies like drums and dancing as the crew continued their march.
This was Masamune's band, and today they were playing bandits. They loved to play human games, and they'd been playing this one for the last fifty years or so, ever since the group had been attacked by a band of thieves. At that time they had been playing merchant, traveling Japan and trying to sell their questionable wares to people who only ever bought them for fear of upsetting yōkai. That was before the oni had joined them, of course. After they became part of the group nobody tried to attack them, nor would anyone buy from them, so they had to play a game that the oni could be included in as well. They had played many games, but so far this one had been the most fun.
"Sore o mite ita oya danuki
Onaka o kakaete
Wah ha ha!"
Their jolly song continued, with some of the tanuki opting to hoot excitedly rather than sing along. That was fine with Masamune. As long as they got to have fun, everything was alright. Two of them ran up in front of him, dancing and skipping in circles while they pounded their belly drums. As they moved up the path their song eventually came to a halt, a new sound taking over. The sound of men shouting, and of steel against steel. "Hide!" Masamune gave the command and they all leaped behind some bushes, peeking out carefully from behind. "Here come some humans. It sounds like a lot of them. And I think they're playing the fighting game!" His statement was met with a hushed and excited "Ooooooh!" from his cohorts. Masamune loved the fighting game. It was always the most exciting. He'd gotten pretty good at the fighting game himself a long time ago, but sometimes it was fun to just watch others play it.
This time it was a bit different. He had seen men in kimonos fight one on one, and a few minor gang scuffles here and there, but now he watched as two large groups came down the path, their shouts growing louder as they came to a stop in a clearing up ahead. Masamune signaled for his band to follow and they crept through the woods, coming near the edge of the clearing where they hid behind boulders. There were about a hundred men on each side, all of them wearing ashigaru armor. Some wielded spears, others swords, and they fought with ferocious intensity.
"What game is that, Big Brother Masamune?" One of the tanuki asked the question in a hushed tone as they all looked on. "It looks like the fighting game, only bigger." They watched as men cut one another down, slashing and stabbing as the numbers dropped and dropped until there were only about fifteen on each side. The yōkai watched, amazed that it had gone on so long. For a moment, the sounds of battle diminished as the survivors stared at one another. They pondered the situation. Of course they were loyal to their lords, but they were all Japanese. They were all people. What good would it do for them to fight until none remained?
"Hey, this game looks fun! We should play too!" His band cheered, getting the attention of the remaining soldiers. They all turned to look at the boulders just in time to see the three oni leaping out from behind them. The red one was first, landing on a single foot, his hands raised in the air as he shouted in a loud voice. "We can't let this end too soon, eh?" The blue one was next, landing several feet away from him. He leaned his body forward and spread his arms out, shouting in a similarly loud voice. "Save some fun for Masamune!" The black oni was the last, leaping out from behind his rock with a series of forward flips, landing on one knee. He clutched his hands together and looked up with shimmering bright eyes, pink sakura petals falling all around him out of nowhere when he spoke. "Big Brother Masamune is the coolest!"
The tanuki leaped out from behind the rocks, cheering and playing their belly drums as Masamune climbed on top of the largest boulder. Well, he tried anyway. His tiny hands weren't very helpful, and he found himself stuck two feet off the ground, his legs wiggling helplessly. "H-hey! Help me!" Two of the tanuki ran behind the rock and stood one on top of the other, boosting Masamune to the top before scrambling back to their positions. The leader of the yōkai bandits stood atop the rock, hands at his sides in a proud pose. His kimono was slightly dirty and the fake beard had been tilted askew during his climb, hanging at a strange angle. Nobody seemed to notice.
"Y-yōkai!" One of the men shouted and pointed as they all backed away, their allegiances to their lords temporarily taking a back seat to the threat before them. "We have them out numbered! We can chase them away!" Another of the men, slightly tall and with a dark beard, spoke as he leveled his spear toward the group. "Go on! Get out of here!"
Some of the tanuki began to make a commotion, running in circles and letting out frightened shrieks. "We're out numbered, Big Brother Masamune!" The yōkai leader raised a single stubby arm upward, his pointer finger extending as a ball of pinkish-purple light began to form on it. "You're right, Little Brother Tanuki. Let's make it fair!" The little ball of light started to expand, then floated up in the air and shot forward, breaking off into even smaller globes. Each one settled on a corpse and seemed to spread, forming odd colored flames on the armor and weapons. The bodies began to stir and rise, much to the horror of the surviving humans. It was clear from their movements that the bodies had not been returned to life. Rather, their armor had taken on lives of their own, and the bodies within simply remained where they were. The flames were the same color as the balls of energy, but gave off no heat or light. It was terrifying to behold. "The yōkai is raising the dead!" Another fearful shout came from one of the men as they scrambled to defend themselves.
"Ho ho ho! Now we'll see who's outnumbered!" Masamune boasted proudly from atop his boulder as the awakened armors advanced on the shivering humans. "Leave one alive! I want to ask him what this game is called so we can play it again!" What was simple entertainment for the yōkai was a waking nightmare for the remaining soldiers. They did their best to fight off the living armor which housed their fallen friends and comrades, but they were outnumbered by the relentless foes. Just as Masamune had ordered, one was left alive. The yōkai possessed soldiers moved away from the lone survivor, lining up on either side and closing off at the end, both to form a path for Masamune and to keep the last remaining human from attempting to flee.
The eyeball leaped down from the boulder and waddled over to the man, pointing a finger at him. "The Great Bandit Masamune demands to know what game this is!" The survivor was stunned. He had come here to fight the enemies of his lord, Date Teramune, and he had expected it to be unpleasant, but this was beyond his wildest imagination. "A game? You think this is a game? That was a battle, you foolish creature! It was not a game. There is no fun in battle" Masamune lifted a hand to stroke his beard, only then realizing it was out of place. He took a moment to readjust it, then began to stroke it as he had seen many human sages do. "It looked like a game! If it's not a game and it's not fun, why do you do it?" The man shook his head and sighed. He knew his fate was a grim one. The least he could do now was try to make the yōkai understand that taking lives was not a game.
"Because we are soldiers and our daimyo commands it. It is the duty of a soldier to fight and die for his lord." Masamune continued to stroke his beard. "Soldiers? Daimyo? Hmm..." The man spoke again, trying to further explain things to the childish yōkai. "A soldier's job is to carry out his daimyo's will on the battlefield. In happy times we need only defend the land from bandits, but times are changing. What you just saw was a mere skirmish. The winds of chaos are blowing. Soon whole armies will clash, and the dead will be stacked in mountains." Masamune nodded, or made a motion which seemed like a nod. "So a daimyo makes the soldiers go play the battle game?"
The man shook his head again. "I told you, it's no game. There is no fun to be had in war. Only loss and sadness. And the daimyo does much more than that. He bears many heavy burdens. He must govern his land and his people. He must be fair but strict, and above all else he must be just. He cannot wage frivolous wars and collect unfair taxes from his people. It is the duty of a daimyo to care for his territory, for the good of the country."
"That's it!" The man looked at the yōkai, certain the outburst meant his doom. "That's the game I want to play. Listen up, gang. From now on I want to play daimyo, and you're all going to play soldiers!" The proclamation was met with cheers from the oni and tanuki. The living armors simply stood, maintaining their silent vigil. "No! You don't understand. You cannot simply declare yourself a daimyo, and even if you could you're clearly not..." Masamune reached out and clamped one of his tiny hands to the man's mouth. "Take me to your daimyo. I have to tell him that I'm the new boss now." The soldier could take no more. "Never! You think I'm foolish enough to lead group of yōkai to lord Date? No. I will die here. If you wish to find him so badly do it yourself, but know that he has even more soldiers. Go if you must. You only march toward death."
And march they did. Sort of. Masamune decided their days of roaming the land were over and it was time to settle down. That they just happened to be in the Date lands was little more than a coincidence. Masamune heeded the words of the soldier and decided the best way to deal with a big army was an even bigger army. He recruited any yōkai in the area he could, and when he ran out of interested parties he began to create his own soldiers, releasing the spirits of all sorts of things until his ragtag army was large enough to match Teremune Date's own. Of course, it was impossible for yōkai to do such things in a daimyo's territory without him catching wind of it, and a battle would soon bring the two armies together. It would be their first and last battle against one another.
The armies clashed in heated battle. There were heavy casualties on both sides, but Masamune continued creating yōkai from the weapons and armors of the fallen until the Date clan was forced to retreat. Masamune followed them back to their castle, which he surrounded until supplies ran low and they were forced to surrender. The entirety of the Date clan were captured and imprisoned while Masamune contemplated his next move. He decided to take the Date name as his own. It was part of the game, after all.
In front of his army of yōkai, Masamune tore off his fake beard and his kimono in one swipe, instantly replacing them with a fancy o-yoroi seemingly out of nowhere. "I am Date Masamune, Lord of Rikuzen. Henceforth, Japan is mine!"
And so began the story of Date Masamune, yōkai daimyo of Rikuzen.
Name: C!
Other characters: None at the moment.
In Character:
Name: Date Masamune
Aliases: The One Eyed Dragon
Race: Yōkai
Age: 735
Gender: Male
Occupation/Class: Daimyo of Rikuzen
Orientation: Human girls sure are pretty!
Physical Description:
Yōkai: A short, squat brown eyeball in a suit of fine o-yoroi armor. Standing barely four feet tall and just as wide, his arms and legs lead to tiny hands and feet and he moves in a comical side-to-side waddle due to his unfortunate build. He wears an especially splendid helmet, decorated with a crescent moon on the front and a dragon resting on top, both carved of gold.
Human Form: A young man of slightly taller than average height with a handsome face. Shoulder length brown hair falls down around his face, his right eye concealed with a silk eyepatch bearing an ornate design. His body his lithe and slightly muscular, only partly covered with an expensive looking kimono. A large dragon bracelet made of gold wraps around his left hand up to his elbow.
Personality Description:
To Masamune, the chaos of the Sengoku era is a game. He is not malicious in thinking this, but simply ignorant of the implications of an all-out war among the humans of Japan. He just wants to play like everyone else and doesn't see why humans should get to have all the fun. He is often childish and has yet to learn how to be serious, and it seems he can only act like an adult when disguised as a human in an effort to trick human girls.
Likes:
Human girls.
Fun and games.
Gifts, compliments and general flattery.
Not being taken seriously.
Dislikes:
Overly serious people.
Being told what to do.
Being told that he is mistaken or wrong.
Being called cute, adorable, or any such name while in yōkai form.
History: Please see the RP sample.
Strengths:
Bold: Owing either to childish stupidity or genuine bravado, Masamune's fighting spirit is strong. He strides headlong into even the most daunting of tasks with a courage many would find praise worthy.
Dumb Luck: His plans are often so childishly simple minded or outrageously ridiculous that, through miraculous circumstance, they often work! This leads some to believe that he is a tactical genius when the reality is quite the opposite.
Weaknesses
Oblivious: Masamune is very childish, and as such he is prone to his own foolishness and the trickery and flattery of others. This is especially obvious in his views on human affairs, many of which he believes are just games. He also fancies himself an expert on human culture and custom. In fact, he fancies himself an expert on basically anything and everything, though nothing could be farther from the truth.
Physically Limited: Owing to his size and the short length of his limbs, Masamune in his yōkai form is not physically gifted. He is able to run at a decent clip, but only in short bursts, and is at a disadvantage in most combat and athletic situations.
Weapons/Armor:
Magical Wakizashi: His favorite weapon is a magical wakizashi, which is the perfect size for his small body. The blade can be extended at will into that of a katana, which he often does when he transforms into a human. Apart from this it has no particularly special qualities.
Special O-yoroi: Masamune's signature armor. It is essentially mundane, save for the sold gold decorations and the unique shape meant specifically to fit his one-of-a-kind build.
Tessen: A fancy tessen, used mostly to punish his underlings with whacks to the head.
Magic:
** Denotes it can only be used in yōkai form
Summon Yōkai: Masamune is able to draw out the spirits of inanimate objects, allowing them to become lesser yōkai. This does not work on items being held or worn by someone, unless they have particularly low willpower. So he could, for example, animate an empty suit of armor, or a suit of armor with a dead body in it, but he could not animate a suit of armor worn by a currently living being other than perhaps a lowly peasant or a terrified foot soldier.
*Eye Beam*: Masamune can fire a powerful beam of magical energy from his eye. However, it sucks all the moisture out and he has to take his special eyedrops before he can try to do it again. He also risks blowing himself backward if the blast is too strong.
*Time Freeze*: By squeezing his eye shut tightly, Masamune can stop time for everyone but himself. This would be helpful for getting him out of dangerous situations if not for the fact that it's impossible for him to see anything and he usually just ends up running into walls or other obstacles.
*Item Materialization*: He can materialize items instantly, though the usefulness of the items he chooses to materialize is frequently questionable at best.
Transformation: Masamune can transform into the shape of a dashing human male. While in this form his swordsmanship increases greatly and he takes on a more mature air, but he is unable to use some of his magic until he reverts back into his yōkai form. He generally uses this form to trick human women rather than for any practical purpose.
RP Sample:
On any other day birds would have chirped quietly on the woodland path, singing their songs to whatever travelers happened by. The rest of the animals might have stopped to listen or continued on with business of their own, but today the birdsong was silenced by several rowdy voices, singing together in unison with chipper tones.
"Tan-tan-tanuki no kintama wa
Kaze mo nai no ni
Bura bura!"
A group of yōkai marched happily along the path. At the front of the group was a short, squat thing who's entire body was comprised of a single eyeball, with two short arms and legs. He was dressed in a green kimono with a white cloud pattern and, for reasons known only to him, wore a fake beard, held onto his frame with a string tied in the back. His walk was a jovial waddle, tiny arms swinging to and fro as he hobbled his body side to side while moving forward. Directly behind him were three oni, each wielding a large spiked club and wearing a tiger loincloth, the only distinction among the three of them being their skin tones of red, blue and black. Taking up the rear were several tanuki, who appeared to be leading the group in song, happily playing their bellies like drums and dancing as the crew continued their march.
This was Masamune's band, and today they were playing bandits. They loved to play human games, and they'd been playing this one for the last fifty years or so, ever since the group had been attacked by a band of thieves. At that time they had been playing merchant, traveling Japan and trying to sell their questionable wares to people who only ever bought them for fear of upsetting yōkai. That was before the oni had joined them, of course. After they became part of the group nobody tried to attack them, nor would anyone buy from them, so they had to play a game that the oni could be included in as well. They had played many games, but so far this one had been the most fun.
"Sore o mite ita oya danuki
Onaka o kakaete
Wah ha ha!"
Their jolly song continued, with some of the tanuki opting to hoot excitedly rather than sing along. That was fine with Masamune. As long as they got to have fun, everything was alright. Two of them ran up in front of him, dancing and skipping in circles while they pounded their belly drums. As they moved up the path their song eventually came to a halt, a new sound taking over. The sound of men shouting, and of steel against steel. "Hide!" Masamune gave the command and they all leaped behind some bushes, peeking out carefully from behind. "Here come some humans. It sounds like a lot of them. And I think they're playing the fighting game!" His statement was met with a hushed and excited "Ooooooh!" from his cohorts. Masamune loved the fighting game. It was always the most exciting. He'd gotten pretty good at the fighting game himself a long time ago, but sometimes it was fun to just watch others play it.
This time it was a bit different. He had seen men in kimonos fight one on one, and a few minor gang scuffles here and there, but now he watched as two large groups came down the path, their shouts growing louder as they came to a stop in a clearing up ahead. Masamune signaled for his band to follow and they crept through the woods, coming near the edge of the clearing where they hid behind boulders. There were about a hundred men on each side, all of them wearing ashigaru armor. Some wielded spears, others swords, and they fought with ferocious intensity.
"What game is that, Big Brother Masamune?" One of the tanuki asked the question in a hushed tone as they all looked on. "It looks like the fighting game, only bigger." They watched as men cut one another down, slashing and stabbing as the numbers dropped and dropped until there were only about fifteen on each side. The yōkai watched, amazed that it had gone on so long. For a moment, the sounds of battle diminished as the survivors stared at one another. They pondered the situation. Of course they were loyal to their lords, but they were all Japanese. They were all people. What good would it do for them to fight until none remained?
"Hey, this game looks fun! We should play too!" His band cheered, getting the attention of the remaining soldiers. They all turned to look at the boulders just in time to see the three oni leaping out from behind them. The red one was first, landing on a single foot, his hands raised in the air as he shouted in a loud voice. "We can't let this end too soon, eh?" The blue one was next, landing several feet away from him. He leaned his body forward and spread his arms out, shouting in a similarly loud voice. "Save some fun for Masamune!" The black oni was the last, leaping out from behind his rock with a series of forward flips, landing on one knee. He clutched his hands together and looked up with shimmering bright eyes, pink sakura petals falling all around him out of nowhere when he spoke. "Big Brother Masamune is the coolest!"
The tanuki leaped out from behind the rocks, cheering and playing their belly drums as Masamune climbed on top of the largest boulder. Well, he tried anyway. His tiny hands weren't very helpful, and he found himself stuck two feet off the ground, his legs wiggling helplessly. "H-hey! Help me!" Two of the tanuki ran behind the rock and stood one on top of the other, boosting Masamune to the top before scrambling back to their positions. The leader of the yōkai bandits stood atop the rock, hands at his sides in a proud pose. His kimono was slightly dirty and the fake beard had been tilted askew during his climb, hanging at a strange angle. Nobody seemed to notice.
"Y-yōkai!" One of the men shouted and pointed as they all backed away, their allegiances to their lords temporarily taking a back seat to the threat before them. "We have them out numbered! We can chase them away!" Another of the men, slightly tall and with a dark beard, spoke as he leveled his spear toward the group. "Go on! Get out of here!"
Some of the tanuki began to make a commotion, running in circles and letting out frightened shrieks. "We're out numbered, Big Brother Masamune!" The yōkai leader raised a single stubby arm upward, his pointer finger extending as a ball of pinkish-purple light began to form on it. "You're right, Little Brother Tanuki. Let's make it fair!" The little ball of light started to expand, then floated up in the air and shot forward, breaking off into even smaller globes. Each one settled on a corpse and seemed to spread, forming odd colored flames on the armor and weapons. The bodies began to stir and rise, much to the horror of the surviving humans. It was clear from their movements that the bodies had not been returned to life. Rather, their armor had taken on lives of their own, and the bodies within simply remained where they were. The flames were the same color as the balls of energy, but gave off no heat or light. It was terrifying to behold. "The yōkai is raising the dead!" Another fearful shout came from one of the men as they scrambled to defend themselves.
"Ho ho ho! Now we'll see who's outnumbered!" Masamune boasted proudly from atop his boulder as the awakened armors advanced on the shivering humans. "Leave one alive! I want to ask him what this game is called so we can play it again!" What was simple entertainment for the yōkai was a waking nightmare for the remaining soldiers. They did their best to fight off the living armor which housed their fallen friends and comrades, but they were outnumbered by the relentless foes. Just as Masamune had ordered, one was left alive. The yōkai possessed soldiers moved away from the lone survivor, lining up on either side and closing off at the end, both to form a path for Masamune and to keep the last remaining human from attempting to flee.
The eyeball leaped down from the boulder and waddled over to the man, pointing a finger at him. "The Great Bandit Masamune demands to know what game this is!" The survivor was stunned. He had come here to fight the enemies of his lord, Date Teramune, and he had expected it to be unpleasant, but this was beyond his wildest imagination. "A game? You think this is a game? That was a battle, you foolish creature! It was not a game. There is no fun in battle" Masamune lifted a hand to stroke his beard, only then realizing it was out of place. He took a moment to readjust it, then began to stroke it as he had seen many human sages do. "It looked like a game! If it's not a game and it's not fun, why do you do it?" The man shook his head and sighed. He knew his fate was a grim one. The least he could do now was try to make the yōkai understand that taking lives was not a game.
"Because we are soldiers and our daimyo commands it. It is the duty of a soldier to fight and die for his lord." Masamune continued to stroke his beard. "Soldiers? Daimyo? Hmm..." The man spoke again, trying to further explain things to the childish yōkai. "A soldier's job is to carry out his daimyo's will on the battlefield. In happy times we need only defend the land from bandits, but times are changing. What you just saw was a mere skirmish. The winds of chaos are blowing. Soon whole armies will clash, and the dead will be stacked in mountains." Masamune nodded, or made a motion which seemed like a nod. "So a daimyo makes the soldiers go play the battle game?"
The man shook his head again. "I told you, it's no game. There is no fun to be had in war. Only loss and sadness. And the daimyo does much more than that. He bears many heavy burdens. He must govern his land and his people. He must be fair but strict, and above all else he must be just. He cannot wage frivolous wars and collect unfair taxes from his people. It is the duty of a daimyo to care for his territory, for the good of the country."
"That's it!" The man looked at the yōkai, certain the outburst meant his doom. "That's the game I want to play. Listen up, gang. From now on I want to play daimyo, and you're all going to play soldiers!" The proclamation was met with cheers from the oni and tanuki. The living armors simply stood, maintaining their silent vigil. "No! You don't understand. You cannot simply declare yourself a daimyo, and even if you could you're clearly not..." Masamune reached out and clamped one of his tiny hands to the man's mouth. "Take me to your daimyo. I have to tell him that I'm the new boss now." The soldier could take no more. "Never! You think I'm foolish enough to lead group of yōkai to lord Date? No. I will die here. If you wish to find him so badly do it yourself, but know that he has even more soldiers. Go if you must. You only march toward death."
And march they did. Sort of. Masamune decided their days of roaming the land were over and it was time to settle down. That they just happened to be in the Date lands was little more than a coincidence. Masamune heeded the words of the soldier and decided the best way to deal with a big army was an even bigger army. He recruited any yōkai in the area he could, and when he ran out of interested parties he began to create his own soldiers, releasing the spirits of all sorts of things until his ragtag army was large enough to match Teremune Date's own. Of course, it was impossible for yōkai to do such things in a daimyo's territory without him catching wind of it, and a battle would soon bring the two armies together. It would be their first and last battle against one another.
The armies clashed in heated battle. There were heavy casualties on both sides, but Masamune continued creating yōkai from the weapons and armors of the fallen until the Date clan was forced to retreat. Masamune followed them back to their castle, which he surrounded until supplies ran low and they were forced to surrender. The entirety of the Date clan were captured and imprisoned while Masamune contemplated his next move. He decided to take the Date name as his own. It was part of the game, after all.
In front of his army of yōkai, Masamune tore off his fake beard and his kimono in one swipe, instantly replacing them with a fancy o-yoroi seemingly out of nowhere. "I am Date Masamune, Lord of Rikuzen. Henceforth, Japan is mine!"
And so began the story of Date Masamune, yōkai daimyo of Rikuzen.