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austice APP
PLAYER
CHARACTER
Name: Seiji Matoba
Canon: Natsume's Book of Friends
Canon point: End of chapter 104- epilogue of the Homura arc, after meeting with Ban.
Age: 22
Summary: A Shinto exorcist who loathes youkai (or ayakashi, as they call them- I'll use these interchangeably), Matoba was born as the heir to a clan which passes down a curse on the right eye of all their leaders, the result of an ancestor who broke a contract with a youkai, resulting in it chasing after them to gain the eye ever since. Because of this, the Matoba were branded a clan of oathbreakers and liars, and that reputation was formative in creating Matoba's warped sense of distance from others. Despite their reputation, the need to survive the curse also forced the Matoba to adopt a close-knit and protective stance towards those in their care, and Matoba's role as protector of both his clan and of humanity from the threat of violent ayakashi are his driving forces. He seeks to correct the protagonist of the series, Natsume, from going down the path of befriending ayakashi- a stance which he considers dangerous to the boy and all those around him- by any means, including blackmail or coersion. At the same time, he wishes to make use of Natsume's strong spiritual power to the benefit of the Matoba; as he said to him once: "You should make use of those who can be useful to you". Despite his position and clan philosophy forcing him to distance himself from others, Matoba cannot help but be drawn in to forming relationships, whether it is a detached sense of jealousy towards Natsume, who can easily form friendships with humans and youkai alike, or with other exorcists such as his former(? #it's complicated) friend, Natori, who unlike Matoba was born with the freedom to walk his own path.
Powers/abilities:
Spiritual Perception/"Sight": First and foremost, the main ability of most exorcists is to see the supernatural, and to harness their own spiritual power in order to use spells to exorcise or create contracts with ayakashi. Generally in their series, this is referred to as the ability to 'see', and is considered a separate ability than the ability to harness spiritual power or low-level perception (such as the spiritual power a monk might achieve through prayer and practice). Matoba's sight is said to be some of the best known to be currently living, meaning he can see most ayakashi as solid beings and perceive detail in enchanted objects and spaces to a high degree.
The Right Eye of the Matoba: As the head of the Matoba, he has inherited the curse passed down through every leader of the Matoba clan. Once every month, the ayakashi- a great black, formless monster that is missing its right eye- will attack Matoba, either directly or transformed in the shape of someone he knows. The Matoba clan tend to distract the monster using eye-patterned objects, other ayakashi, and weak spells in order to ward it off. Each time its attack is avoided, its hatred and focus on them grows, and so too does the spiritual power of the Matoba clan who are targeted by it. It is implied that this is the source for much of their spiritual power, hence why they have not simply exorcised it. In order to protect himself, Matoba wears an eyepatch in the form of a paper spelltag with a protective ward written over it; normal humans can't see the paper the eyepatch is made from, and only see a normal medical eyepatch underneath it.
Archery: The Matoba began as an archer clan, and this skill continues through their teachings to the present, using purified arrows or arrows carrying spelltags to exorcise targets. Matoba is an extremely skilled archer who can strike erratically moving targets with ease; he's been shown to be capable of this both before gaining the eyepatch as a teenager, and even after as an adult, with his depth perception compromised. It can be assumed that he has trained a lot to readjust his skills with only one usable eye.
Exorcist spells: Having been raised in the clan with the intention to inherit, he has had access to books, scrolls, and other stores of information that give him a wide variety of spells and information of exorcist techniques. Exorcist spells include the ability to purify physical spaces with wards, protect others from malignant aura or intent, and kill or contain ayakashi within sealed objects with magic circles, written spelltags or spell-infused arrows.
Summoned Shiki Servants: Matoba's main personal servants are mindless, shadow-like ayakashi seemingly formed from his own spiritual power who can only understand simple tasks such as 'attack' or 'capture'. Despite this, they are powerful enough to ensnare and trap spiritually weak humans and ayakashi as well as use weapons; he frequently uses them to attack weak ayakashi or capture prisoners. They have also been seen acting as household servants, serving tea or other menial tasks in the Matoba household. (I am assuming these will be nerfed on account of the no living beings rule, but figured I'd mention them anyway!)
Inventory: Matoba will arrive wearing his clan's typical dark kimono/haori; in his sleeves he normally keeps a handful of different paper spelltags (ofuda), a brush and inkbottle, a tantou dagger, and salts for purification.
Canon: Natsume's Book of Friends
Canon point: End of chapter 104- epilogue of the Homura arc, after meeting with Ban.
Age: 22
Summary: A Shinto exorcist who loathes youkai (or ayakashi, as they call them- I'll use these interchangeably), Matoba was born as the heir to a clan which passes down a curse on the right eye of all their leaders, the result of an ancestor who broke a contract with a youkai, resulting in it chasing after them to gain the eye ever since. Because of this, the Matoba were branded a clan of oathbreakers and liars, and that reputation was formative in creating Matoba's warped sense of distance from others. Despite their reputation, the need to survive the curse also forced the Matoba to adopt a close-knit and protective stance towards those in their care, and Matoba's role as protector of both his clan and of humanity from the threat of violent ayakashi are his driving forces. He seeks to correct the protagonist of the series, Natsume, from going down the path of befriending ayakashi- a stance which he considers dangerous to the boy and all those around him- by any means, including blackmail or coersion. At the same time, he wishes to make use of Natsume's strong spiritual power to the benefit of the Matoba; as he said to him once: "You should make use of those who can be useful to you". Despite his position and clan philosophy forcing him to distance himself from others, Matoba cannot help but be drawn in to forming relationships, whether it is a detached sense of jealousy towards Natsume, who can easily form friendships with humans and youkai alike, or with other exorcists such as his former(? #it's complicated) friend, Natori, who unlike Matoba was born with the freedom to walk his own path.
Powers/abilities:
Spiritual Perception/"Sight": First and foremost, the main ability of most exorcists is to see the supernatural, and to harness their own spiritual power in order to use spells to exorcise or create contracts with ayakashi. Generally in their series, this is referred to as the ability to 'see', and is considered a separate ability than the ability to harness spiritual power or low-level perception (such as the spiritual power a monk might achieve through prayer and practice). Matoba's sight is said to be some of the best known to be currently living, meaning he can see most ayakashi as solid beings and perceive detail in enchanted objects and spaces to a high degree.
The Right Eye of the Matoba: As the head of the Matoba, he has inherited the curse passed down through every leader of the Matoba clan. Once every month, the ayakashi- a great black, formless monster that is missing its right eye- will attack Matoba, either directly or transformed in the shape of someone he knows. The Matoba clan tend to distract the monster using eye-patterned objects, other ayakashi, and weak spells in order to ward it off. Each time its attack is avoided, its hatred and focus on them grows, and so too does the spiritual power of the Matoba clan who are targeted by it. It is implied that this is the source for much of their spiritual power, hence why they have not simply exorcised it. In order to protect himself, Matoba wears an eyepatch in the form of a paper spelltag with a protective ward written over it; normal humans can't see the paper the eyepatch is made from, and only see a normal medical eyepatch underneath it.
Archery: The Matoba began as an archer clan, and this skill continues through their teachings to the present, using purified arrows or arrows carrying spelltags to exorcise targets. Matoba is an extremely skilled archer who can strike erratically moving targets with ease; he's been shown to be capable of this both before gaining the eyepatch as a teenager, and even after as an adult, with his depth perception compromised. It can be assumed that he has trained a lot to readjust his skills with only one usable eye.
Exorcist spells: Having been raised in the clan with the intention to inherit, he has had access to books, scrolls, and other stores of information that give him a wide variety of spells and information of exorcist techniques. Exorcist spells include the ability to purify physical spaces with wards, protect others from malignant aura or intent, and kill or contain ayakashi within sealed objects with magic circles, written spelltags or spell-infused arrows.
Summoned Shiki Servants: Matoba's main personal servants are mindless, shadow-like ayakashi seemingly formed from his own spiritual power who can only understand simple tasks such as 'attack' or 'capture'. Despite this, they are powerful enough to ensnare and trap spiritually weak humans and ayakashi as well as use weapons; he frequently uses them to attack weak ayakashi or capture prisoners. They have also been seen acting as household servants, serving tea or other menial tasks in the Matoba household. (I am assuming these will be nerfed on account of the no living beings rule, but figured I'd mention them anyway!)
Inventory: Matoba will arrive wearing his clan's typical dark kimono/haori; in his sleeves he normally keeps a handful of different paper spelltags (ofuda), a brush and inkbottle, a tantou dagger, and salts for purification.
OTHER
Sentimental item: Natori Shuichi's eyeglasses. Natori doesn't actually need these to see; looking through glass allows one to perceive spirits a little easier, so when they were teens he adopted them as a way to give himself a leg up when compared to the child genius Matoba. To Matoba, they represent Natori trying to use cheap tricks to catch up to him rather than valuing his own ability, and his frustrating, self-critical tendency to only compare himself to others.
Gemstone: Matoba's gemstone will be a small piece of raw garnet in a deep red about the size of an American quarter, clustered in a dark, almost black piece of rock. It is only semi-polished, still mostly rough and bumpy on the outside. Like so!
Lost memory #1: How his right eye was nearly stolen/how he got the scars over his right eye. We don't actually know exactly how it happened, but Matoba seems to imply it was because the curse transformed into someone he knows in order to trick him, and almost succeeded. This attack was likely one of the major experiences that caused Matoba to distance himself from others so thoroughly.
Lost memory #2: The reason for the ayakashi being after his right eye. He'll still remember he has the curse, but he won't be able to recall that it was due to a betrayal on the part of the Matoba.
Altered memory: The events of the Mihashira ceremony take place without the presence of Natori or Natsume. The Mihashira is enshrined by the Matoba clan alone, the saboteur one-eyed youkai is instead exorcised by them, and Matoba never has the conversation with Natori about his doubts in being an exorcist or not handling tough things alone, nor the conversation with Natsume about life not always going as you hoped.
Sample:
Here!
Gemstone: Matoba's gemstone will be a small piece of raw garnet in a deep red about the size of an American quarter, clustered in a dark, almost black piece of rock. It is only semi-polished, still mostly rough and bumpy on the outside. Like so!
Lost memory #1: How his right eye was nearly stolen/how he got the scars over his right eye. We don't actually know exactly how it happened, but Matoba seems to imply it was because the curse transformed into someone he knows in order to trick him, and almost succeeded. This attack was likely one of the major experiences that caused Matoba to distance himself from others so thoroughly.
Lost memory #2: The reason for the ayakashi being after his right eye. He'll still remember he has the curse, but he won't be able to recall that it was due to a betrayal on the part of the Matoba.
Altered memory: The events of the Mihashira ceremony take place without the presence of Natori or Natsume. The Mihashira is enshrined by the Matoba clan alone, the saboteur one-eyed youkai is instead exorcised by them, and Matoba never has the conversation with Natori about his doubts in being an exorcist or not handling tough things alone, nor the conversation with Natsume about life not always going as you hoped.
Sample:
Here!