Renjiro Katsun

Renjiro Katsun, with the bracers closed

Renjiro is a tall, broad-shouldered man with deep bronze skin and the dense, sharply cut musculature of someone who has trained every day for well over a century. His black hair is long and worn loose, swept back from his face and falling past his shoulders, and his features are hard and angular: heavy dark brows, a strong jaw, and a level, unsmiling stare that most people take for disapproval. He usually goes bare-chested and barefoot. He wears wide white trousers gathered at the ankle, a white half-wrap edged in gold embroidery that hangs at one hip, and a dark blue sash held by a round gold belt plate, with a long string of wooden prayer beads looped from it. Engraved silver bands laced with cord sit on both upper arms, he wears gold anklets set with red stones, and on each forearm is a heavy silver bracer studded with more of them. He is one hundred and sixty-eight years old and looks like a man in the prime of his life, which at his grade is exactly what he is.

Renjiro specializes in internal-force martial arts. He concentrates ki through precise muscle tension, breathing, and impact timing, so his strikes do not simply hit hard: he can send force through armor, shields, and thick hides to damage what lies beneath. The jeweled bracers regulate that power. By deliberately restricting the flow of his ki, they keep him from unconsciously striking with lethal force. When the restraints are opened, the red stones light one after another as progressively larger portions of his strength become available. Most opponents never see the final stone light. Away from a fight, the same restraint shows in small things. He moves without hurry, closes doors with two fingers, and sets a cup down as though it might break, because for a good part of his life it would have.