Lately, I've been thinking about mentor characters, like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid, for example. I still haven't sat down to think what the major theme of the visual novel will be, so I decided to work on a concept for a supporting character that I think would be neat.
This character is named Azuma Muramasa and I'm being very shameless about my inspirations for her.
Beyond sharing her last name with a demon sword of legend, she's Amagi's former sword-fighting instructor. My visual novel is set in a similar world to ours, but 100 years from now. Projectile-based combat is the norm since guns are prevalent. Many androids can instantly learn combat skills through uploaded combat data and running simulations. However, there are some skills that cannot be learned because they have not been documented or they do not seem practical for combat or any other data that would be deemed useful for androids to learn.
Azuma originally married into a family that had a long-standing tradition of passing their swordsmanship style down each generation. Her husband was to inherit the title of "master" of his family's swordsmanship school, but he passed away before that was able to happen.
Traditionally, the title of "master" would be handed down to the oldest son of the previous master. Azuma's late husband was an only child and since the young couple did not have children of their own at the time of his dead, there was no successor available that would honor the tradition.
Azuma, wanting to honor her late husband, asked her father in-law if she could inherit the title instead. Her father in-law was hesitant, but agreed under the condition that she undergo the same training her husband had done. Her husband began to train when he was small boy until his early adulthood when he passed away. Azuma's training was condensed into 5 long years.
Much of her grief became apparent as she trained under her father in-law. She would strike violently with no regards to life whatsoever, as if she was taking out her grief onto the world. Her father in-law nicknamed her "Muramasa" because of the similarities she shared with the folktale that described the qualities of the Muramasa and Masamune blades. The most important lesson that Azuma learned from her father in-law was how to repurpose negative emotions into strength.
Eventually Azuma's father in-law passed away. With no heirs, the bloodline had come to an end. Azuma chose to wander the world and find a new purpose in life.
Her travels took her to North America, where she visited a country that was on the brink of civil war. It was here where she met Amagi, about 10 years prior to the beginning of the Visual Novel's story. Believing her to be a war orphan, Azuma gave Amagi the name she would use for the rest of her life. Amagi did not have the typical traits of a girl her age. It felt as if she was completely devoid of the curiosity and emotions that come with being human.
Azuma was a great help in allowing Amagi to establish her own pysche. After that, the girl began to open up more and was curious about the sheath that Azuma carried on her person. Azuma would begin to train Amagi in the style that she inherited for a little while, then leave to wander, and then come back and check on Amagi a few years later. She repeated this several times until the girl was grown up and left the orphanage. Azuma believes that if her pupil ever needs her, then their paths will eventually cross.
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I think that's most of the backstory I could come up for now. In terms of style, Azuma is very classy. I sketched her with a corset and a jacket. There's a character in Azur Lane that has the same name I really like that outfit, but I wanted something a little more modern. Less noblewoman and more aristocrat turned wandering ronin.
What kind of person is Azuma? Within the story, she's at peace with who she is and what happened to her husband. At this point, her husband has been dead for over 15 years and she's been wandering the world for 10 of those. She's definitely a "world warrior" type of person. Like, if Amagi would video call her, Azuma would be in a different country every time.
As an instructor, she's a bit relentless. She's easygoing with the people she meets, but when it comes to Amagi's training she's a real hardass. It's partly because this style of swordsmanship is very important to her. It's the only "memento" she has of her husband and it's natural that she wants to protect it. For Azuma, Amagi better learn her style perfectly or else it's not worth doing at all. In fact, anything less than perfect is a disgrace and an insult to her late husband, which she will take offense to.
An idea I just had ... since the story has to do with humanity, alchemy, and stuff, it'd be cool if her husband's soul was actually inside the sword or something, so she didn't have to lose him completely. I guess that kind of lessens the impact of everything that comes after, though.
Maybe something to keep in mind?