Post by mugenginga on Jul 8, 2010 22:44:26 GMT -5
Full Name: Sayuri Shin
True Name: Izanami (she has several variations such as Izanami-no-Okami from Persona 4 or Izanami-no-Mikoto/Izanami-no-Kami from mythology)
Apparent Age: Late Teens/Young Adult (claims to be eighteen, looks more like twenty)
Age: Ageless/Unknown
Height: ? (Tall for ethnicity)
Weight: ? (Skinny bordering unhealthy)
Gender: Female
Race: Goddess
Alliance: Neutral
Home: Yomi/Shinto Underworld (technically)
Franchise: Persona 4 (by origin)
Physical Description (Human Form)
This is the form Izanami is known for adopting to interact with the human world. It is the form of her human avatar, but will never age without her consent. It is nothing like her true form(s), which are monstrous at best.
Izanami, or Sayuri given that she took her name from her avatar, appears to be a young Japanese woman despite her odd hair and eye colors. Her hair is grey bordering on silver and fairly long. In the rare case she keeps it down, it comes to the small of her back. Usually, however, Sayuri keeps it up in two braids. Her bangs have a slight natural curl to them, but if they were to hang straight own they'd get in her eyes just a bit. The two braids are short and tied with small black holders and often in front of her shoulders. Like this, the tips come about 1/3 down her chest.
She has very pale skin and steel blue eyes. They border on grey in all but bright light. Her appearance is rather feminine, although she has a small chest as is average with her ethnicity. She seems to have a rather submissive expression a lot of times, but her personality means that they can be angry or saddened. When she shows an expression other than submission, it tends to carry strongly due to her eyes.
Sayuri tends to dress fairly traditionally. If she feels the need to move, she can often be seen wearing a skirt with high cut sides and tight pants. She likes looser outfits, but she is good at picking clothes to hide or reveal her form (without showing much skin) as is needed. When at the Shinto Shrine at Bonsai Village, she is almost always seen in her miko uniform. Its fairly standard, being of the full sleeve variety seen in a lot of anime. For shoes, she often dresses practically, but she changes up based on situation and is generally wearing geta when in her miko uniform.
Physical Description (True Forms)
Her two "true" forms are a nightmare to describe, and as such you'll just be referenced to the image section. Her two true forms are extremely large, towering over any human with great ease. Since she's a goddess, she is not tied to a form as mortal beings are.
Weapons
Izanami carries no weapons on her regardless of form. In theory she could use a spear, but the only one she has ever owned was shared between herself and her husband (see History for why this is an issue)
Abilities/Powers
Izanami's full powers are nigh impossible to pin down. As the goddess and ruler of the Shinto underworld, she has powers in relation and connected to that. She can summon beings from Yomi and when irritated enough send people directly to Yomi. It is not within the ability of most mortals to fight such a fate, but it has happened before. In essence her powers are dynamic and vary on the situation, the only uniting factor being that they are divine and related to Yomi and/or her connection to Izanagi.
She does have a few predefined ones, including connected limitations. Her human form is an avatar from another world. Because Izanami is a goddess of the dead, said avatar is undead. Sayuri's body will never age unless Izanami allows it. It is harder to kill her than normal humans as she has an accelerated healing rate. Instant kill shots or ones that bleed a lot can kill her though. The very fact that her avatar is "alive" is a result of her powers.
She can not take either of her true forms in the mortal world. Only in worlds with a direct connection to Yomi can her true forms be taken. That is because her avatar is merely a projection of her mind and powers. Her body is trapped in Yomi.
Skills
Izanami/Sayuri is skilled in Shinto practices and very knowledgeable in both the "original" Shinto faith and the modern combination of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. She is well versed in strictly Buddhist beliefs for the same reason, that thinly veiled merging of belief systems. She is also knowledgeable on Japanese History and culture.
Sayuri is also an excellent cook. She can keep house and is surprisingly good with children. Traits that are often attributed to "good" housewives are ones she is good at. Related to her abilities as a potential "Yamato Nadeshiko". Her level of observance and subtle manipulation also relate to this. Worth note is sometimes her personality will get in the way.
Personality
Izanami is a firm and stubborn "young lady". When she decides she wants something, she has little qualms about manipulating things to her own end. She can be misinterpreted as cruel, and tends to fight via emotions more than physically. She is a fair bit bitter about her past, and it makes her seem a bit obsessive. She tends not to admit her fault in a situation.
She can be creepy with how persistent she is. She has some stalker tendencies and her berserk buttons hover around two things: Her brother/ex-husband Izanagi and his current avatar Souji. She despises the former, wanting nothing more for him to fade away. She loves the latter, but she comes across a "bit" strongly. To give an idea of this, the whole reason she returned to Dimension Island in her new avatar was to be with Souji.
Izanami/Sayuri is really a sweet person... when you don't piss her off. She's got some ideas that may seem funny to modern Westerners. She also doesn't pull off the Japanese archetype she is trying to go for as well as she would like. The "wild" part of her wildflower tendencies are a bit dominant.
History (MASSIVE PERSONA 4 TRUE ENDING SPOILERS)
Well, Izanami's history probably starts back when the Japanese Islands were forming. There is a lot of myths surrounding it to the point even she is unclear what is fact, but she knows she and her brother Izanagi were directly involved in the creation of the Japanese Islands and that the "Ame-nu-nuboku" or "Heavenly spear" was somehow involved. None of it is really important.
The major event that made her what she is today was set in motion at the birth of one of her many children, a god of fire. She died from the burns caused at his birth and came to reside in Yomi. The accounts vary, even in her own memory, but what it comes down to is Izanagi saw her before she could be restored to her original beauty, flipped out, and sealed her. To say she raged at the betrayal of her husband/brother would be to put it mildly.
Fast forward a helluva long time to modern day Japan. Positioning herself in a way that would allow her to meet those coming to the small country town of Inaba, she set into a plan to discern man's true desires. She granted a "gift" to several people of Persona to see how they would handle the power. She manipulated various aspects of the world and sent quite a few people through a figurative hell. She watched it all, content in the knowledge they would never catch her.
...at least until a teenager named Souji Seta used the power she had granted him to defy her. She lured Souji into her world within the mysterious TV World. He fought her with the friends he had made as an indirect result of the power she had granted him, and conceded to not interfere with humanity.
After Souji left, she retreated into a slight depression. Souji looked like he could be her brother, a painful and irritating thought. Not only that, but of those she had granted the power of Persona to, he was the only one that had brought his Persona to full potential. All that irritation lasted all of half a day when she felt Souji's presence (which she had locked onto in her obsession) vanish from the world. She locked onto it in another reality and continued to observe from the space between worlds she as a goddess had free access to.
When the Shinto Shrine surfaced in the world Souji had been sent to, Izanami went to that world and established herself as a shrine maiden named Mana Tadoru. To be precise, she began to run the place despite her supposed age and gender - It was an honor granted to her due to her obvious knowledge of the Shinto faith. From there she would run into Souji again, and her actions and inability to hold herself back would lead to Souji realizing he was Izanagi's avatar.
As a bit of time passed, she realized that Souji reminded her of all the reasons she loved her brother and none of the reasons she didn't. She began hanging around him more. When it became apparent that the end of the world may come, she offered to rescue him and his friends. Because he agreed, she was willing to rescue his friends as well. She let it be known she would have just saved (read as: kidnapped) him had he not consented. The Fall came, but to her surprise it was averted.
About a week after was Christmas. Izanami chose to visit Souji and helped him with the cake he was making. Souji got a taste for her powers when she gave herself third degree burns and refused healing on them. The day became just plain bad when Izanagi (possessing Adachi) ended up shooting her. Her avatar, the one named Mana Tadoru, was dead within minutes due to a bullet to the heart.
In another world, she created a new avatar. In the time of that Japan, twenty years passed. It was on Sayuri Shin's twentieth birthday that the "mask" was lost, and Izanami gained full control. "Sayuri" vanished from the city without so much as a note, and everyone who had known her would never know what had really happened. What had really happened was Izanami had left that world behind to return to Dimension Island. She would pose as Mana's cousin... and she had come back for Souji.
Other
While Sayuri is more or less a canon, she is simply the "reborn" version of an existing (sorta) canon of mine, and as such isn't really a "new" app. The History should make things clear, but in case it doesn't I figured I'd mention. Its more a revamp than anything else.
Her first name is written in hiragana, but only has one Japanese word that sounds like it. It is an orange lily, which means hatred/revenge in the Japanese flower language. Her surname uses the "shin" pronunciation, and in terms of kanji can mean new. Thus in proper order her name can mean "New Hatred/Revenge". To my knowledge the romaji "shin" can also mean truth, but not with the kanji her name uses. That has an interesting twist with the character as well, but one only Persona 4 fans would really get. Pointless trivia.
I'm aware she comes across as more than a bit creepy with her stalking of Souji. She's kinda supposed to... Also, due to the changes in her human form appearance, I don't have pictures of her in that form.
Pictures
True Form #1: i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Izanami%20P4%20DC%20App/Izanamitrueform1.png
True Form #2: i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Izanami%20P4%20DC%20App/Izanamitrueform2.png
True Name: Izanami (she has several variations such as Izanami-no-Okami from Persona 4 or Izanami-no-Mikoto/Izanami-no-Kami from mythology)
Apparent Age: Late Teens/Young Adult (claims to be eighteen, looks more like twenty)
Age: Ageless/Unknown
Height: ? (Tall for ethnicity)
Weight: ? (Skinny bordering unhealthy)
Gender: Female
Race: Goddess
Alliance: Neutral
Home: Yomi/Shinto Underworld (technically)
Franchise: Persona 4 (by origin)
Physical Description (Human Form)
This is the form Izanami is known for adopting to interact with the human world. It is the form of her human avatar, but will never age without her consent. It is nothing like her true form(s), which are monstrous at best.
Izanami, or Sayuri given that she took her name from her avatar, appears to be a young Japanese woman despite her odd hair and eye colors. Her hair is grey bordering on silver and fairly long. In the rare case she keeps it down, it comes to the small of her back. Usually, however, Sayuri keeps it up in two braids. Her bangs have a slight natural curl to them, but if they were to hang straight own they'd get in her eyes just a bit. The two braids are short and tied with small black holders and often in front of her shoulders. Like this, the tips come about 1/3 down her chest.
She has very pale skin and steel blue eyes. They border on grey in all but bright light. Her appearance is rather feminine, although she has a small chest as is average with her ethnicity. She seems to have a rather submissive expression a lot of times, but her personality means that they can be angry or saddened. When she shows an expression other than submission, it tends to carry strongly due to her eyes.
Sayuri tends to dress fairly traditionally. If she feels the need to move, she can often be seen wearing a skirt with high cut sides and tight pants. She likes looser outfits, but she is good at picking clothes to hide or reveal her form (without showing much skin) as is needed. When at the Shinto Shrine at Bonsai Village, she is almost always seen in her miko uniform. Its fairly standard, being of the full sleeve variety seen in a lot of anime. For shoes, she often dresses practically, but she changes up based on situation and is generally wearing geta when in her miko uniform.
Physical Description (True Forms)
Her two "true" forms are a nightmare to describe, and as such you'll just be referenced to the image section. Her two true forms are extremely large, towering over any human with great ease. Since she's a goddess, she is not tied to a form as mortal beings are.
Weapons
Izanami carries no weapons on her regardless of form. In theory she could use a spear, but the only one she has ever owned was shared between herself and her husband (see History for why this is an issue)
Abilities/Powers
Izanami's full powers are nigh impossible to pin down. As the goddess and ruler of the Shinto underworld, she has powers in relation and connected to that. She can summon beings from Yomi and when irritated enough send people directly to Yomi. It is not within the ability of most mortals to fight such a fate, but it has happened before. In essence her powers are dynamic and vary on the situation, the only uniting factor being that they are divine and related to Yomi and/or her connection to Izanagi.
She does have a few predefined ones, including connected limitations. Her human form is an avatar from another world. Because Izanami is a goddess of the dead, said avatar is undead. Sayuri's body will never age unless Izanami allows it. It is harder to kill her than normal humans as she has an accelerated healing rate. Instant kill shots or ones that bleed a lot can kill her though. The very fact that her avatar is "alive" is a result of her powers.
She can not take either of her true forms in the mortal world. Only in worlds with a direct connection to Yomi can her true forms be taken. That is because her avatar is merely a projection of her mind and powers. Her body is trapped in Yomi.
Skills
Izanami/Sayuri is skilled in Shinto practices and very knowledgeable in both the "original" Shinto faith and the modern combination of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. She is well versed in strictly Buddhist beliefs for the same reason, that thinly veiled merging of belief systems. She is also knowledgeable on Japanese History and culture.
Sayuri is also an excellent cook. She can keep house and is surprisingly good with children. Traits that are often attributed to "good" housewives are ones she is good at. Related to her abilities as a potential "Yamato Nadeshiko". Her level of observance and subtle manipulation also relate to this. Worth note is sometimes her personality will get in the way.
Personality
Izanami is a firm and stubborn "young lady". When she decides she wants something, she has little qualms about manipulating things to her own end. She can be misinterpreted as cruel, and tends to fight via emotions more than physically. She is a fair bit bitter about her past, and it makes her seem a bit obsessive. She tends not to admit her fault in a situation.
She can be creepy with how persistent she is. She has some stalker tendencies and her berserk buttons hover around two things: Her brother/ex-husband Izanagi and his current avatar Souji. She despises the former, wanting nothing more for him to fade away. She loves the latter, but she comes across a "bit" strongly. To give an idea of this, the whole reason she returned to Dimension Island in her new avatar was to be with Souji.
Izanami/Sayuri is really a sweet person... when you don't piss her off. She's got some ideas that may seem funny to modern Westerners. She also doesn't pull off the Japanese archetype she is trying to go for as well as she would like. The "wild" part of her wildflower tendencies are a bit dominant.
History (MASSIVE PERSONA 4 TRUE ENDING SPOILERS)
Well, Izanami's history probably starts back when the Japanese Islands were forming. There is a lot of myths surrounding it to the point even she is unclear what is fact, but she knows she and her brother Izanagi were directly involved in the creation of the Japanese Islands and that the "Ame-nu-nuboku" or "Heavenly spear" was somehow involved. None of it is really important.
The major event that made her what she is today was set in motion at the birth of one of her many children, a god of fire. She died from the burns caused at his birth and came to reside in Yomi. The accounts vary, even in her own memory, but what it comes down to is Izanagi saw her before she could be restored to her original beauty, flipped out, and sealed her. To say she raged at the betrayal of her husband/brother would be to put it mildly.
Fast forward a helluva long time to modern day Japan. Positioning herself in a way that would allow her to meet those coming to the small country town of Inaba, she set into a plan to discern man's true desires. She granted a "gift" to several people of Persona to see how they would handle the power. She manipulated various aspects of the world and sent quite a few people through a figurative hell. She watched it all, content in the knowledge they would never catch her.
...at least until a teenager named Souji Seta used the power she had granted him to defy her. She lured Souji into her world within the mysterious TV World. He fought her with the friends he had made as an indirect result of the power she had granted him, and conceded to not interfere with humanity.
After Souji left, she retreated into a slight depression. Souji looked like he could be her brother, a painful and irritating thought. Not only that, but of those she had granted the power of Persona to, he was the only one that had brought his Persona to full potential. All that irritation lasted all of half a day when she felt Souji's presence (which she had locked onto in her obsession) vanish from the world. She locked onto it in another reality and continued to observe from the space between worlds she as a goddess had free access to.
When the Shinto Shrine surfaced in the world Souji had been sent to, Izanami went to that world and established herself as a shrine maiden named Mana Tadoru. To be precise, she began to run the place despite her supposed age and gender - It was an honor granted to her due to her obvious knowledge of the Shinto faith. From there she would run into Souji again, and her actions and inability to hold herself back would lead to Souji realizing he was Izanagi's avatar.
As a bit of time passed, she realized that Souji reminded her of all the reasons she loved her brother and none of the reasons she didn't. She began hanging around him more. When it became apparent that the end of the world may come, she offered to rescue him and his friends. Because he agreed, she was willing to rescue his friends as well. She let it be known she would have just saved (read as: kidnapped) him had he not consented. The Fall came, but to her surprise it was averted.
About a week after was Christmas. Izanami chose to visit Souji and helped him with the cake he was making. Souji got a taste for her powers when she gave herself third degree burns and refused healing on them. The day became just plain bad when Izanagi (possessing Adachi) ended up shooting her. Her avatar, the one named Mana Tadoru, was dead within minutes due to a bullet to the heart.
In another world, she created a new avatar. In the time of that Japan, twenty years passed. It was on Sayuri Shin's twentieth birthday that the "mask" was lost, and Izanami gained full control. "Sayuri" vanished from the city without so much as a note, and everyone who had known her would never know what had really happened. What had really happened was Izanami had left that world behind to return to Dimension Island. She would pose as Mana's cousin... and she had come back for Souji.
Other
While Sayuri is more or less a canon, she is simply the "reborn" version of an existing (sorta) canon of mine, and as such isn't really a "new" app. The History should make things clear, but in case it doesn't I figured I'd mention. Its more a revamp than anything else.
Her first name is written in hiragana, but only has one Japanese word that sounds like it. It is an orange lily, which means hatred/revenge in the Japanese flower language. Her surname uses the "shin" pronunciation, and in terms of kanji can mean new. Thus in proper order her name can mean "New Hatred/Revenge". To my knowledge the romaji "shin" can also mean truth, but not with the kanji her name uses. That has an interesting twist with the character as well, but one only Persona 4 fans would really get. Pointless trivia.
I'm aware she comes across as more than a bit creepy with her stalking of Souji. She's kinda supposed to... Also, due to the changes in her human form appearance, I don't have pictures of her in that form.
Pictures
True Form #1: i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Izanami%20P4%20DC%20App/Izanamitrueform1.png
True Form #2: i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Izanami%20P4%20DC%20App/Izanamitrueform2.png
