the box; application

[sogekitai]

Player Information
Player name: Ri
Contact: takesushi
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already: N/A

Character Information
Character Name: Sakamoto Tatsuma
Canon: Golden Balls Gintama
Canon Point: Pre-canon, ten years before the main events of the series, during the Anti-Foreigner war. Directly after he's voiced his desire to leave.
Is your character Dead, Undead or Alive: Alive

History:

"The land of the samurai". There was a time, long ago, when our country was called by that name. Those cloudless blue skies upon which the samurai once gazed are now filled with ships from strange worlds. The towns where the samurai once proudly walked are now filled with swaggering, arrogant aliens. This is our world today. This is our city.
Twenty years ago, aliens called the Amanto suddenly came to Edo. The rise of the Amanto lead to the decline of the samurai. We were stripped of our swords and our status, and we abandoned our honour alongside everything else. No, it wasn't only the samurai. It was everyone in this country.

The introduction to Gintama stands as a mini-history lesson to the series itself with the fall of the samurai and the rise of the Amanto, and it's in this history that we turn our focus to.

Twenty years before the events of the series, aliens invaded feudal-era Japan. (I'm not kidding.) Dubbed 'Amanto', they descended on Edo, eyes set on the rich resources of Earth. Through intimidation and force, thanks largely in part to their sheer numbers and technological advantage, they bent the Tokugawa regime into signing treaties that were (to no surprise to anyone involved) utterly to the benefit of the invaders. It stripped the country of its powers, reducing the warrior class and armies to little more than deteriorating titles.

Unsurprisingly, the samurai didn't like this idea. In retaliation, they rose up in opposition, waging war and generally causing a ruckus. Considering the advantage the Amanto held with their fancy weaponry and superior numbers, you can guess how that turned out. A greater part of the samurai forces were wiped out, but they sure did leave a lasting impression on their way down. They became infamous among the Amanto due to their spirit, bringing awe, fear, and intimidation with kamikaze charges. They just kept coming, even despite the insurmountable odds against them. Frankly, the Amanto were pretty taken aback. Why do you think the war lasted near on ten years?

Fast-forward a bit to the tail-end of the Anti-Foreigner war. By now, the Anti-Foreigner Factions have adopted guerrilla warfare tactics, avoiding direct battles as much as possible. Also by this time, they were labeled as traitors to the country, and very much frowned upon by the populace at large. (Not that it stopped them any.) Around this time, a certain group of youths began making names for themselves in the ranks. The Jouishishi, four young men who rallied the Faction forces around them, regaining the army its morale with their bravery and abilities. Other youths and seasoned warriors alike assembled behind their lead.

Where does Sakamoto Tatsuma come into this, you ask? He was one of those four crazy young men. Hailed as a master swordsman, he fought alongside such figures as Katsura Kotarou, Sakata Gintoki, and Takasugi Shinsuke. Great times. So war. Much bloodshed. Being the last to join the merry band, Sakamoto nevertheless considered the bunch as friends and close comrades. It was all very romantic.

Of course, war is no playground and definitely no walk in the park, and it was inevitable that the weight of it would crush some of them. Sakamoto was the first to go of the four. Weary of the constant battles and the bleak odds of total victory, he announced his intention to leave. Rather than stay and bury more of his friends and comrades, he would leave and make his way to the stars. Loaded up with the dream of uniting two races (through the one factor common among them all: greed), Sakamoto packed up and left, a traitor of a traitor's cause.

Goddamn.

It wasn't all bad, though. In time, he'd become a successful businessman, head of his own inter-galactic merchant fleet and a step closer to that big dream of unity. Not too bad a trade-off, right? Totally.

Personality:

First impressions set a man's character in stone, and the one Sakamoto Tatsuma sets on any given day is of an astounding idiot. This doesn't seem to be a particularly difficult feat to manage, as right off the bat, one is almost certainly assured that this is just what this man is: a naturally empty-headed lackwit. Some room for doubt could be set aside, if one were feeling particularly generous enough, but that doubt would be swept aside before long. One is much better off not thinking about it, but seeing as how difficult it really is to ignore a man such as Sakamoto, one may as well buck up and deal with it.

To start, Sakamoto Tatsuma is an idiot, a point that's brought up often and consistently as can be. That's not to say he isn't of a good-nature. He's a very cheerful man to start, hardly ever found without a smile or something equally silly on his face and an ill-thought joke at hand. He's actually very easy-going, an amiable guy that most would have no trouble in getting along with were it not for his frequent displays of aforementioned stupidity.(Which earn him more than his fair share of fists and crippling blows to the more intimate parts of his anatomy.) See, he's also the type to laugh a matter off, whether it be big or small or potentially life-threatening, tacking each incident and encounter up to luck, imagination, or as the result of a particularly nasty hangover. (Which, may it be noted, seem to be an all too frequent thing.) He was once hailed as optimistic, and perhaps a little too much so; there's a limit to such things, oi. It could be the drink, of which he partakes in frequently, and perhaps enjoys a little too much a little too often. One could call it a way of life for him, as it's never really clear when he's sober and when he's not, thus leaving one to simply assume that the alcohol has had little chance to file out of his system. He could just be high on life, for all anyone knows. (The more terrifying affliction, for which there are few cures.)

Surprises never cease. Who'd have thought this guy to be someone respectable? Future pilot, captain, and head of the intergalactic commerce fleet, the Kaientai, Sakamoto has all the makings of a shrewd businessman. As a pilot, there are few who will adept as he or as enthused; his love for ships will be nothing short of infamous, remarked upon by acquaintances and old comrades alike.

"For Sakamoto Tatsuma, moving a ship is as natural as moving his own body."

No truer word said, and one couldn't expect anything less from the man who's set to leave his own planet behind for his dream. Of course, there is a side to every thing, and even something as illustrious as a space business fleet captain is no exception. Devoted as Sakamoto may become to his ships and the grandeur of space travel, it doesn't save him from the near-crippling grip of motion sickness. As one former comrade once said: "His head is empty, but there is no one who loves ships more than he does."

Through all this, Sakamoto may seem the height of laughable incompetence, but this assumption couldn't be further from the truth. There stands good reasoning for why those in his company will remain steadfast and loyal, even in the face of all his eccentricities. Despite his [frequent] displays of frivolous idiocy and incompetency, Sakamoto is a clever man. He'll build the Kaientai from the ground up in a relatively short span of time, and not only will he manage to get his trade off the ground, he'll keep it running. Above all, he'll keep it successful. He's an organizer, a coordinator, and above all, a leader. Before him he places everyone and everything else, willing to risk his own life if it means saving another in the process, something he'll teach and instill into his very own employees and followers: "Don't lose sight of the greater cause."

Beneath and behind the ridiculous antics and foolishness is a man who, since his youth, works toward that ideology: the greater good. He was, and still is, the revolutionary of the Joui four, the visionary of the group and of the Kaientai. See, the thing about Sakamoto is that, not only does he look ahead of a situation, he's always doing so, even if it doesn't always seem like he is. Since the beginning, he's dreamed of the future, his possibilities, and, above all, the best path to take through them all. He makes the decisions of greatest benefit and return profit, the ones that make the most difference in that future, no matter how close or far off it is. Sakamoto is the one who looks ahead, far beyond everyone else, and he's the one, of them all, who looks to and sees the bigger picture. No matter how difficult the path may seem.

In the past, in the wars against the Amanto, the Anti-Foreigner wars, Sakamoto Tatsuma was a partisan, and one of those few men to be feared. Reputed to be one of the greatest swordsmen on the war-front, even alongside vaunted names like Shiroyasha, Sakamoto was once dubbed 'monster', one of those unstoppable forces that claimed his fair share of Amanto lives in his time. Had he perhaps been a different man, he may not have left when he did and how he did. Breaking his ties with the Jouishishi, abandoning the war, his companions, and his friends, he left the battlefield to flee to space. It's why he was able to do the things he did. It was for his cause, because in the midst of it all, he saw that something beyond the fighting and the warfare. He saw a way through, a way to help his country, not in the short-term, but in the long run.

"I've decided! I'm going to go to space!
Just wandering around on Earth and fighting the Amanto, I can't see anything ahead. As we're doing this, more and more Amanto are coming to Earth... I just can't go against the wave of ever-changing time. All I've done this war is sit by and watch my friends die. I don't want to watch my friends die anymore. From now on, I need to start looking at life from a higher point.I need a place where I can see people, Amanto, even the stars.
So I'm going to space. I'll go to space and be a pilot in a really big ship. I'll start up a fishing business where I can even catch the stars!"

So, turning his back on the Anti-Foreigner wars, Sakamoto turned to business, looking to the ties of commerce and profit to draw the conflicting societies of humanity and Amanto together.

"It's not war or ideology that moves people. It's profit. I plan to bring that to humanity and to the Amanto alike, and bring them closer together. I think I am protecting the country in my own way."

Commerce is his chosen way, mutual profit and benefit, and as such, a dream for which he has and will sacrifice much. The acquisition and maintaining of a neutral stance will be essential; striking deals with varying factions, some on opposing ends of the spectrum of each other, can be tricky business at best and downright dangerous at worse. He'll have to learn to keep a balance, maintain peace between all these while still keeping his business up and afloat. Mediator, peacekeeper, businessman, and each role carried out with the detachment required for his place. Another such necessity, keeping his attachments to an absolute minimum, not only for his own sake but for that of his company and it's employees. For his position, he'll not be a man who can afford liabilities.

Disarming idiot by day, a deep thinker and visionary by night, that's Sakamoto Tatsuma of the Jouishishi.

Items on your character at canon point: Clothing, armour (helm, breastplate, bracers essentially), katana, pistol (smith & wesson model 2 army)

Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses:

ABILITIES
As a samurai, Sakamoto possesses the swordsmanship expected of such a warrior. His skill with the blade is high enough to be remarked upon, earning him the title of 'master swordsman' by many around him. It's not all talk, either; he is a veritable whirlwind in a fight. He's even been stated as being 'monstrously strong' in canon.

While he may not be an infamous merchant captain at this point in his canon, it has been stated that he has a Thing for ships and technology. Considering that he once takes apart and fits together a gun in the span of minutes, it can be guessed that he has a fine knack for the complicated and the puzzling aspects of technology and tools.

STRENGTHS
How about that optimism? For a guy who's spent the best years of his youth embroiled in a bloody war, it's nothing short of a miracle (or a complete anomaly of nature) that he's managed to hold onto an optimistic perspective. He's got charisma, he's got a good measure of how to appeal to the best sides (or the best interests) of people, something that helps him out later on in life. He's resourceful; he'd need to be, in current war conditions, for tactical advantage alongside survival. Moreover, he possesses a strong will to carry on, the very kind that allows him to make difficult decisions and follow through. (Deserting? Leaving behind friends and honour? Yep.)

He makes for a good leader, besides all that, with his ability to empathize with his soldiers and genuinely care for their well-being. He trusts easily, too, all too willing to invite and embrace the new.

WEAKNESSES
Well, let's see. Why don't we start with the fact that Tatsuma is, plain and simple, just a normal human being? Sure, he's a samurai who fought against hordes of inhuman and hostile Amanto, but he's still bound by human limitations. To the supernatural and the otherworldly, he's just a kid waving a particularly sharp stick. Besides that, he's also afflicted with purely human shortcomings. How about that alcoholism? He's only in his teens when he alludes to indulging in wine and women, and who can really blame him? War's a hard burden to bear for someone barely into his adult years.

Speaking of the war, let's touch on its effects, and how someone like Sakamoto eventually turned tail and left. Unlike certain members of the Jouishishi, he couldn't handle burying comrade after comrade; loss hits hard on this end. Let's not forget the trust thing, as previously mentioned. For as willing as Sakamoto is to let in the new, it's inevitable that this openness can and will bite him square in the ass in a place such as the Box.

Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample:

[ VIDEO; japanese ]
[ of all the useful and essential things he could be doing with this neat piece of technology, this is what sakamoto tatsuma chooses to do.

that, ladies and gentlemen, is the smile of an idiot staring straight at your screen. ]

Looking for a good time? Want a little something to spice up your night? Or a good way to pass the time during lunch-break? Well, stay in your seats, for help has arrived!

[ his laugh is bright, loud, and frankly horrifying to anyone who isn't him. behold, the wild call of the idiot in his natural habitat. ]

I'm year of the Rooster. I enjoy long walks in the fields, and dinner by firelight. I'm a very hard-worker-- [ cue: brow wiggle ] and very, very open to learning new things.

So give me a call, if you're looking for a good, hard--

[ second cue: wink ]

--part-time worker. Need a field-hand? Roof-repair? I'm your man.

[ ahahahahahaha--

click. ]

Prose Log Sample:

Of all the seasons, Sakamoto likes Spring the best. With the snow-melt comes warmth, the renewal of life. Green buds on the trees, little green shoots poking up out of the dead brown crunch of last year's grass. Ice and slush gives way to mud and dirt, and while it's no easier to travel in, at least it's warmer. Alongside longer days comes, most important of all, hope; for it, he'll endure entire fields of mud and muck for that brightly-shining glimmer on the horizon.

It's a nice thought, he thinks, slogging through such a field, he could almost believe anything is worth this much mud. Almost.

Behind him, he can hear the grumbling of the men in his company, shouts and mutters and curses with each sloppy step and each cart-wheel stuck. It's a welcome change from winter, he finds, from deathly silence and wan faces drawn in hunger. Tension's eased considerably since the worry for supplies was alleviated, morale boosted with the rise in wild game. He can almost see the light rekindling in dark eyes with each successful hunt and foray. Men standing straight again where before they slouched, hunched beneath the cold and the gnawing of empty bellies and clouded minds. A welcome change indeed.

As Sakamoto slogs onward, a snatch of song drifts his way on the wind, some fisherman's ditty. Lifting his face to the sky, he takes a breath, and he laughs. It's his first real bout of laughter since the heavy snows first set in, the first one not given out of desperation and need. (His men need it most, he knows, reminders of what a light heart looks and feels like, spirit where there is none to be found.) This, he thinks, this is worth all the trouble of a mile-long march in a quagmire, before his feet slide out from under him and his life becomes narrowed down to wet mud soaking into his backside and his helm tipped haphazardly over his face.

The wave of laughter that erupts from his fall neatly drowns out his curses, too strong and blistering for the ears of the media. It's worth it, though, he knows it the moment he pulls himself out of the puddle he's become so intimately acquainted with. Mouths creased in smiles, voices raised in merriment. It's not much, muted as it is (this is war they've a battle, an excursion coming in only days), but it's enough, it'll always be enough to him. It has to be. If he doesn't remind them what hope looks like, who would? Who could?