Masatane Saiga

Masatane Saiga is a Yamataian serving in the Star Army of Yamatai. He is a power armor officer played by raz.

Family / Creators: Saiga Gempachi (Father); Saiga Rena (Mother)

Build and Skin Color: Tall and intimidating, Masatane has a toned, muscular build and a dark complexion indicative of outdoor activity and active military training.

Facial Features and Eye Color: Masatane has sharp, chiseled facial features. He is handsome, but always maintains a mask of discipline. He has small, light brown eyes that always glimmer with a strange ferocity.

Hair Color and Style: Masatane's black hair is close cropped, and he makes sure that it stays that way.

Distinguishing Features: The infantry officer's intense demeanor suggests the potential for violence, even when he is calm. Like most members of the Saiga family who have been recognized as adults, he possesses a traditional daisho. However, he only wears the wakizashi with any regularity as a symbol of his status; the need for a long sword has become ceremonial, and Masatane's katana usually remains in a place of honor in his home.

Personality: Loud and bombastic, Masatane Saiga is the frontline infantry officer incarnate. The charismatic young man takes the ideals practiced by all members of his extended family to an extreme, living up to their honorable tenants in every action. His roaring voice inspires a sense of pride within even the most timid person. Masatane delights in nothing more than proving himself gloriously on the field of battle, and relishes celebrating victory and a good defeat with equal fervor. He always has a story to recount, which usually consists of extraordinary and exaggerated feats in battle, sometimes his own. He eagerly waits the day that he will be able to join his ancestors in the afterlife, but does not race to that inevitable fate.

Masatane’s interests in other things always seem to come secondary to his service to the Empire. Unlike many members of the Saiga family, he is not prejudiced against the Nekovalkyrja majority. Masatane respects their usefulness as weapons in the war against the Empire's enemies, and living and working closely on the frontlines with the catgirls has even allowed him to gain a respect for some of them as more than simple tools of war.

Likes: Serving his lord, storytelling, duty.

Dislikes: Disloyalty, idleness, wastefulness.

Goals: Masatane has no goals other than to continue his service in the Star Army, how ever that service directed by his superiors. His ambition for promotion within the ranks is only sated by his belief that those above him know what is best for the war effort.

Masatane is a member of the extended Saiga family. He and his immediate relatives are part of the lower, rank-and-file tier of the family, but recognize their important place in its social order and strive to fulfill their duties to the letter. Although the station of his birth holds little political clout, his father and his father’s father before him and so on have always served as the captain of the Saiga House Guard, a position that he will one day inherit. They also have a heritage of service in the Star Army and its predecessor forces stretching back to antiquated ages past, and Masatane was indoctrinated into their military tradition at an early age.

After his basic studies during adolescence, Masatane was granted admission into the Kyoto War College. There he found that he excelled at atmospheric infantry tactics and strategies, graduating in the top of his class. Because of his ability, he was commissioned as a power armor officer in early YE 27, and despite the fact he was a Geshrin, was sent to a frontline posting.

With the war against the Mishhuvurthyar escalating with every passing moment, it wasn’t long before Masatane received his baptism of fire on one of the war-torn contested worlds to the galactic southwest of Yamatai. Almost overnight, the personal nature of atmospheric combat quickly hardened the young officer into a veteran. By YE 29, he had risen to the rank of Chui. Following the species restrictions imposed by Taisho Yui, he was urged by the majority of his family to resign his commission, but instead followed the order and transferred into a Yamataian body. Today, he continues to dutifully fight the Empire’s enemies, wherever that may be.

Masatane went on to serve with the 17th Kasairyuu Power Armor Wing for a brief amount of time. His service with the 17th was uneventful, as he participated in no significant actions during his tenure with that unit. When the United Outer Colonies betrayed Yamatai, Masatane immediately returned to the Empire. Upon his return, he was promoted to Taii for his loyalty to the Empire and given command of a new ship in the First Expeditionary Fleet, the YSS Adventure.

Communication: Masatane knows how to operate the communications equipment required of his position, but leaves the more complex duties to the communications engineers and technicians. He can easily dictate orders clearly under fire as well as in non-combat situations. The Yamataian can speak both English and Japanese fluently, and write both well.

Fighting: Masatane has received the Star Army's standard personal combat, power armor, and weapons training, as well as several other supplementary courses. His specialized training in atmospheric power armor operations focuses on land-based power armors, the most recent of which he is familiar with being the Harpy M5 and the Daisy M6 power armors. Weapons he is trained in include energy pistols, energy rifles, grenades, knives, infantry support weapons, and power armors. Although the paired katana and wakizashi he wears are a purely ornamental piece of equipment in the modern universe, Masatane feels that the knowledge on how to use them is spiritually important

Technology Operation: Masatane is capable of operating any computer system that uses the Kessaku OS, found on all Star Army starships. He is proficient in entering and searching for information.

Mathematics: Masatane is proficient with the mathematical skills required of his rank and position. He is able to manually triangulate firing solutions and perform other fire support calculations without electronic assistance.

Knowledge (Yamataian/Star Army History) (Laws of the Yamatai Star Empire) (Tactics): As all officers, Masatane is learned in the laws that regulate the Empire, as well as the history of the Star Army and the Empire itself. The Yamataian graduated at the top of his class from the Infantry Tactics Course at the Kyoto War College, and is among the vanguard of a new generation of atmospheric operations tacticians.

Leadership (Public Speaking): Masatane is an effective leader in the field and prefers to lead from the front rather than rely on another to spearhead a critical task.

Survival and Military: Masatane has the abilities to survive on an extended operation without direct contact or resupply from a Star Army installation. He is capable of camouflaging a fixed position as well as an individual, set ambushes, navigate without technological assistance, as well as other skills expected of his post.