Saito

Saito was once the captain of the guard of Shoji Bao, a great warlord from one of the easternmost of the Lost Isles. Zealous and diligent in his duties, Saito might have happily lived out his life as a warrior without peer among the peoples of the Isles were it not for Shoji’s jealousy towards Saito’s martial talents, and his mistaken belief that Saito had designs on his daughter. Shoji arranged to have Saito assassinated. While Shoji’s daughter had indeed fallen deeply in love with him, Saito had no intention of dishonoring his role as captain of the guard by eloping with his warlord’s daughter. Shoji lured him into the Forest of Razors before leaving him to face a dozen picked ninjatu killers, each one a ruthless and experienced fighter. Saito met the betrayal with fury. By the battle’s end, twelve decapitated ninjatu lay around him. Yet he himself had been grievously wounded, and knew he would not be leaving the Forest of Razors alive. With his dying breath, he sent up a plea, that he would not be left to die alone and unremembered, his name tarnished by whatever lies Shoji was at that moment telling about his disappearance. Something answered, though the outcome was perhaps not what Saito truly wished for. As the bitter chill of death gripped him, he felt himself able to stand, his strength returning. He found that it only threatened to leave him once more if he returned his twin katanas to their scabbards. As long as at least one of them was in his grip, though, it seemed that death itself now feared to claim him. Saito returned to Shoji’s clifftop castle, fully intending to take revenge on the treacherous warlord. When he made himself known, all were shocked by his appearance, none more so than Shoji. But despite her father’s duplicity being laid bare, Shoji’s daughter begged Saito not to slay him. Shoji’s guards refused to raise their weapons against their former captain and, after a long battle of emotions, Saito simply turned and stalked from Shoji’s stronghold, saying nothing more. The warlord’s reign soon ended, his authority unraveling as his treachery was exposed. By then, Saito was far away. The former captain of the guard wandered the Lost Isles for many years, the figure of the dire, armored warrior transmuting into a legend told by pirates and fishermen. For a long time he appeared neither benign nor malicious, but would intervene when it seemed as though betrayal or dishonor were about to run their course. Be it humble ports beset by piratical thieves, or merchant expeditions trapped in the sweltering jungle and beset by Lizardmen raiders, Saito would appear unannounced, slay the attackers, and disappear just as quickly, seeking neither favor nor boon. If indeed Saito merely wished to uphold his honor in Undeath, over time that noble intention warped. Burdened by immortality, exposed to the necromantic magics that kept his body from fully dying, Saito’s will hardened into something cold and unyielding. He began to associate weakness with dishonor, helplessness with cowardice. He came to not only slay the aggressor, but sometimes likewise those he might once have aided, regarding them as pathetic. He also grew less reclusive, even putting the necromantic powers that coursed through him to use on occasion, raising up a retinue of Undead warriors from the rain-swept jungles and lonely, shipwrecked coves. Saito is never seen without his ornate heavy armor and, of course, his twin katanas, which now appear to burn with the golden soul-fires of those he has slain. At his belt hangs the leering death mask that was once his badge of rank as captain of the guard, though he rarely dons it now, keeping it only as a memento of a past life while going into battle with his pallid features exposed. He fights with cold and fearless precision, a whirlwind of razor-edged death in which he can decapitate scores of foes in mere minutes or carve apart even the most fearsome beast or monster. Only when the killing is done does Saito lower his wicked blades, and even then, he never sheathes them. It is unknown if Saito will ever be able to rediscover a balance between mercy, justice, and cruelty. Perhaps his will shall remain forever cold and deadly, like the swords in his fists. The fact that he is never seen without them has led some to claim that he cannot relinquish his katanas even if he wished to, and so is doomed to forever wander Teleria, while others believe that he can only release the weapons once he has slain a worthy foe or attained some kind of inner peace. Whatever the truth, the legend of Saito will undoubtedly continue for many ages yet.