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[morgrim]

PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Redd
18+?: Yes!
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CHARACTERS IN GAME: Yeager (Jaeger) | Tales of Vesperia | scythegun
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CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Shigure Rangetsu
AGE: 31
CANON: Tales of Berseria

CANON HISTORY:

Shigure @ Tales Wiki | Tales of Berseria | Excerpts from "A Witch's Tale" | In-depth summary

Unfortunately, the wiki doesn't have a full summary of Shigure's role in Tales of Berseria, and the prequel novel A Witch's Tale: A World Full of Daemons is scarcely mentioned at all. The prequel novel is considered canon and I've included a link to the sections relevant to Shigure above. The in-depth summary should cover everything else, but if you have any questions just let me know! I'm so sorry for how long this is!

CANON PERSONALITY:

The most important thing to know about Shigure is that he really likes to fight. Okay, so putting it like that is a horrible understatement, it's more that Shigure lives to fight. The stronger the opponent and the more he can put into the fight, the more alive he feels, and he lives and dies by the sword he carries. He's a swordsman at heart, and he makes it clear repeatedly that all he wants is to fight the strongest opponents he can find, regardless of what else may happen.

The second most important thing to know about Shigure is that he's a Rangetsu. Those in the family live by a code of honor and family rules that are so different from what most people in the world are used to, it often looks like the entire family is completely crazy. (They are, but that's not the point.) This code was brought over by their ancestor from a far-off land long ago. The code is both that of the swordsman and of loyalty and always repaying one's debts. To say that Shigure follows this to the letter would definitely not be the truth, however. Shigure lives life the way he wants to, but in order to do that, he needed to claim both control of the family and the family sword, Stormhowl. With these, Shigure was able to decide how he wanted to live, no longer shackled to serving a lord he didn't care about because of the family creed.

That isn't to say he's completely thrown his family's ideals out the window. He is still a swordsman, which in this case means that he respects those that fight and he acknowledges that someday someone strong enough will defeat him. He understands that his younger brother repeatedly throwing himself at him to try to kill him is just a part of life in the Rangetsu clan, and he took his own mother's life to take the family name in the first place. None of these actions are considered bad or upsetting; this is how the Rangetsu family lives and dies.

Given that he was willing to kill his mom and his lord to pursue his own passions, Shigure's a pretty selfish individual. He pursues his own interests, doing whatever he feels like at any given moment with little regard to anyone else or anything else. He's a legate within the Abbey, helping Artorius revive Innominat and cause the Suppression (an event that will seal the emotions and free will in people throughout the world), even though such a thing would make it difficult for Shigure to find strong opponents. (Assuming his own will wasn't sealed, of course.) That doesn't really matter to him though, because he's the sort of man who lives in the moment. He does what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants, and he refuses to let anyone else tell him how to live his life.

That isn't to say Shigure's rash and incapable of thinking things through, however. It's more that he doesn't particularly care what happens in the long run and focuses more on what he immediately wants. He certainly can be patient when it comes to waiting for the perfect opportunity to fight - he wants to fight against Artorius again, but only when Artorius is able to armatize with Innominat. It would be the greatest challenge of his life, and he doesn't mind biding his time until that potential is realized. Likewise, he's willing to wait to confront the party in any meaningful capacity until they call him out directly. This patience isn't exactly something he shows often, but when it comes down to it he certainly can wait, for years even.

Which brings us to another facet of Shigure's personality; he is completely fearless. He holds no fears about dying, because he's living his life the way he wants and he'll have no regrets when he does go. As long as he's cut down by a capable fighter, he doesn't mind dying, because the challenge is what motivates him and gives his life meaning. As such, of course he holds no fear in the potential of fighting one of the best swordsmen fused with a literal god. Even if he dies, it'll be the best fight of his life.

It's this sort of philosophy and sideways thinking that actually prevents Shigure from becoming a daemon. When humans foster inner contradictions or have entirely too much of certain emotions, they are overcome with malevolence and become daemons, but Shigure's soul is free of malevolence. Normally such selfish behavior coupled with a complete lack of caring about what happens to the rest of the world could be problematic, but because Shigure harbors no doubts or concerns about himself or his own behavior, he's surprisingly free of malevolence.

It also helps that while he's confident - very confident - he's not overconfident. Part of this is due to the fact that he's genuinely just that good, but part of this is also due to his desire to find someone better and more skilled. He acknowledges his own skills and that of his opponents, and he encourages them. He isn't egotistical or full of himself despite his power, though that's not to say he's humble or modest either, because he's definitely not. That's how Shigure has managed to remain free of malevolence, however; by finding the middle ground that works for him and is natural for him.

And speaking of natural... Shigure's a natural with fighting. He can use weapons he rarely (if ever) uses and is still able to defeat a skilled swordsmen. Which leads us to Rokurou, Shigure's younger brother. Shigure's relationship with his family is complicated at best, given the fact that he killed his mother to take his family name and weapon and all of that, but his interactions with Rokurou are where we see a different side of Shigure.

Shigure enjoys fighting Rokurou just like he would any strong opponent, but unlike the others, it's obvious that Shigure is attempting to both rile Rokurou up and encourage him to be a better swordsman. That isn't to say that what Shigure is doing is loving and caring or supportive, because it really isn't. His taunting and often outright dismissal of Rokurou have angered his brother so badly that he became a daemon. Rokurou now lives with the goal of killing Shigure. Which, you know, fair. Even Shigure accepts that this is totally fair (primarily because of that code mentioned earlier), but he sees this as a new challenge. As a daemon, Rokurou has an entirely different way of thinking and comes up with different ways of fighting for Shigure to fend off, so he's perfectly fine with this development.

What's really strange is that Shigure keeps letting Rokurou live. Rokurou attempted to kill him three years prior to the start of Tales of Berseria, and Shigure defeated him but didn't kill him. Rokurou also tried to kill Shigure twice during the course of the game (before finally succeeding the third time) and Shigure let him live both times there as well. This is noteworthy because if Shigure is going to fight someone, he (usually) fights to kill. Killing itself isn't what he's looking for, but rather a good fight, but he usually doesn't leave his opponents alive. There's only one daemon Shigure did not manage to kill... and fittingly, it was his mom. He killed her once to take the family name and sword, and when confronted with her again, he chose to let her live instead of kill her. While his exact reasons for this aren't stated (as this isn't a scene shown in the game but rather told to us) it's most likely because he didn't want to have to kill her again.

Despite how he comes off, Shigure does care about people - and that's not just limited to his family. Admittedly there is only one other person he cares about, but she's definitely worth mentioning. Morgrim is Shigure's malak companion, a being who takes the form of a chubby white cat who follows him around. Morgrim has a pact with Shigure, and at one point she was like the other malakhim serving the exorcists; she was stripped of her free will and served them faithfully without much awareness of what was going on. Shigure restored her free will to her and keeps her close as both a companion and a secret weapon. She says he hates to be alone, and given how he killed his mom and the lord the family served and his brothers eventually all died (except Rokurou, who was in jail), it's really no surprise that he ended up close to Morgrim. She was really the only person he had left. He does rely on her for companionship, and even asks that the party let her go as one of his dying wishes.

That's not to say Shigure relies on Morgrim for combat, however. He's actually deeply insulted by such an accusation. And when I say "deeply insulted" I mean he whined about it like a bratty teenager, but that's about as close to anger as Shigure ever gets in the game, so I guess it counts. Anyway, Shigure refuses to rely on anyone's power but his own, and his pact with Morgrim is one born out of friendship and companionship rather than one for power. Morgrim's secret weapon is that she has the ability to bind Shigure's power, restricting him severely and making even movement difficult. With this, Shigure planned to remove his bindings to fight Artorius at a strength greater than Artorius would expect, but ultimately that didn't happen. Shigure refuses to accept help from anyone else - and most of the time he really doesn't need it, because he is incredibly strong for a human.

It's worth noting that Shigure does not like using tricks or even tactics to win. He relies on raw strength, and while he's got plenty of that, it's ultimately his downfall. He doesn't usually have a problem with other people using such things in battle (in the final battle against the party he encourages it, because otherwise they won't win), and he goes along with all of the Abbey's schemes. He has a perfect opportunity to set up an ambush for the party, but refuses to take it. Shigure fights fair, even if his opponent doesn't. This is not part of the Rangetsu code, but rather something Shigure himself insists on.

While he may seem like the sort of person who never takes anything seriously and only cares about himself and what he can accomplish, there is more depth to Shigure. Sure, it's mostly "he likes cats" and "his brother's kind of cool sometimes", but there is more to Shigure than one might first expect. Still, at the end of the day, he's a fighter and he lives for strong opponents and dangerous duels, and when he's ultimately killed by Rokurou's newest technique, he dies with a smile on his face because he was able to live exactly the way he wanted, and his death only proves there will always be someone stronger.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:

Shigure's artes | Rangetsu Eagle (Shigure's Mystic Arte) | Morgrim | Stormhowl
(These links are provided for extra information, but everything is covered below!)

Shigure is a legate within the Abbey, which means he is one of the highest-ranking members, just after Artorius. He shares this rank with Melchior, and while Melchior handles all the actual plotting, Shigure serves as Artorius' bodyguard. While this is a very questionable decision given Shigure's desire to kill Artorius, there's no denying that Shigure is exceptionally strong. He's proficient in the use of a massive sword known as Stormhowl. Stormhowl is also called the God Blade, and on its own is an incredibly powerful weapon. Its size makes it difficult to use, but Shigure can swing it around one-handed if necessary.

That isn't to say Shigure would be weak without Stormhowl; he's clearly an accomplished swordsman in his own right and he's repeatedly able to stand against the party (four powerful opponents at any given time). At one point, Rokurou manages to get close enough to land an attack on Shigure, but Shigure's quick enough to draw the sword on Rokurou's back and use it to block the attack. Ultimately the only way Rokurou is able to defeat Shigure is to disarm him, leaving him without a weapon. Rokurou says that he still has a long way to go before he's as good as Shigure even after Shigure's defeat.

It's said that within the Abbey's ranks Shigure is unmatched in swordsmanship, even supposedly being more powerful than Artorius. Shigure's power is so immense, the party wonders if humans can even be this strong. As it turns out, the early battles with Shigure are when he was keeping his power in check. Shigure's companion is a malak named Morgrim; she looks like a chubby white cat, and unlike most tethered malakhim, she has her free will and personality intact. While the details of her pact with Shigure aren't known (supposedly he grooms and defleas her, but this may not be the truth), she serves to limit Shigure's power. He says that initially he could barely move a finger while under her bindings, but considering how strong he is for the fights prior to his final battle, he's clearly gotten used to it. The bindings Morgrim placed on him were going to be his secret weapon in his fight against Artorius once Artorius had mastered the armatization with Innominat; instead he used this against Rokurou and the party, and while he certainly did put up a good fight, Rokurou ultimately defeated and killed him. In order to do this, Rokurou specifically created a technique of disarming his opponent and then using a third blade, which caught Shigure off-guard for long enough to land the killing blow.

Technically speaking, having a tethered malak means that Shigure has access to Malak Artes (magic), but he refuses to use them and relies on his own skills. Since we never see what he'd be capable of, he won't be regaining that. That brings us to Shigure's artes! Like all Tales of Berseria characters, Shigure has special moves he can use in battle, known as artes. Shigure can use two types of artes: Martial Artes and Hidden Artes. In Tales of Berseria, the three types of artes are strong against one other type and weak against the last. So Martial Artes interrupt the casting of Malak Artes but are weak against Hidden Artes. Hidden Artes speed up the casting of Malak Artes when used against them but can stagger Martial Artes. And Malak Artes are more powerful against Hidden Artes but are staggered easily by Martial Artes. Shigure's artes are either non-elemental or they're Wind- or Earth-aligned (or sometimes both). Obviously this doesn't translate well to roleplay, so his artes will act just as powerful physical attacks in game.

Like most Tales bosses, Shigure also has a Mystic Arte. His is called Rangetsu Eagle, and it does a massive amount of damage to a single target. Rangetsu Eagle can be blocked, but only by an equally powerful sword and a skilled swordsman. Rokurou is able to effectively block Rangetsu Eagle whenever Shigure uses it in their final battle, though it deals damage to both Rokurou and Shigure whenever this happens (and Shigure really likes to spam this move). Rangetsu Eagle is a Wind elemental attack. Prior to the final battle, not even Rokurou can block it.

It's also worth noting that while Shigure is only ever shown using Stormhowl, he is capable of using short swords like Rokurou. The Rangetsu family teaches both the great sword and the dual short swords, and while Shigure is not known for using the short swords, he's shown using them in the prequel novel. He obviously prefers the great sword, and even with a weapon he's not as familiar with he's still incredibly powerful. It's also stated that Shigure is both something of a natural when it comes to fighting, and that he trains a lot. Shigure is said to be able to see a technique and not only learn how to perform it but improve on it within a matter of moments - though obviously this only applies to the styles of fighting he already knows. He's gifted with swords, but has little interest in anything else.

Finally, Shigure is able to see a sword and recognize the material it is made of, whether that material is something found in the world naturally (albeit rarely, like orichalcum) or something previously unseen (like Kurogane's body). He presumably has all the same knowledge Rokurou does when it comes to taking care of swords, but aside from this Shigure doesn't really have any other useful abilities. (He knows how to take care of cats, kind of?? But the scratches on his chin are from Morgrim, so...) Fighting is the only thing he cares about, after all.

CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Shigure Rangetsu (unlike canon, Shigure is his birth name instead of Ichirou)
AU AGE: 31
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: There are quite a few differences for this version of Shigure. His build is different; he's physically active and he hits the gym, but he's not nearly as muscular as his canon self. His hair is much shorter too, though it's still dark and wild. His eyes are no longer yellow, instead they're a dark brown. Shigure also actually wears shirts! And normal clothes! Perhaps the most important difference is that he no longer has the cat scratches on his chin, but he does have quite a few other scars from cats, they're just under his clothes, or on his arms and hands.

AU HISTORY:

✦ Born in Japan to a young couple, Shigure was raised in a loving household with his parents, his grandparents, and quite a few other family members. The Rangetsu family was exceptionally close at this point, and Shigure was never lonely.
✦ Unfortunately, this didn't last long. Shortly after Shigure's third birthday, his parents and grandparents got into a massive fight and Shigure's family left. They spent a little while moving from place to place before Shigure's parents were able to get jobs abroad, and they moved to Recollé.
✦ While his parents didn't have a particularly difficult time settling in, Shigure did. He no longer had a large family to look after him and his parents were so busy getting settled that they often had nannies look after Shigure. He had a very hard time learning English, and expressing himself in ways his caretakers would understand was very difficult. Shigure started acting out, something that he'd continue to do for a long time.
✦ Once things were more settled, his parents decided to get a pet, so Shigure could have some companionship besides his nannies. They decided a cat was the best option, and let Shigure pick one out. The cat was older, but good with children, and Shigure loved her dearly.
✦ Shigure did eventually learn English, though he struggled a lot throughout his early school years. He was teased and picked on for it occasionally, at least until he learned that he could fight back and most kids did not want to get punched in the face.
✦ Needless to say, Shigure got in trouble at school a lot. Thankfully, his parents were able to curb the physical lashing out and they did their best to be around more often so Shigure wasn't as lonely or upset at home.
✦ Things continued like this for awhile, and Shigure took to acting out in other ways. He wasn't necessarily unhappy, but he didn't care for school at all and preferred to cause trouble or be a distraction. He was clever enough to realize just how much he could do before he'd get in too much trouble, and he left many teachers exasperated.
✦ Somewhere during this time, Shigure's parents welcomed a second son into the family. This didn't exactly help; Shigure felt like he was being ignored for his baby brother, and he was old enough to feel resentment about that, and know that he shouldn't feel resentful of his baby brother.
✦ Despite this, he and his brother would eventually come to be on pretty good terms. When they fought it was absolutely vicious, but usually they'd get along fine and Shigure did grow to love his baby brother despite his initial resentment. The two were usually very competitive, and Shigure wasn't exactly a great older brother.
✦ School continued to be a complete bore to Shigure, and while he was never getting the highest grades in the class, he never really had to work very hard in order to get decent grades. His parents did what they could to try to help, but the only things that really held Shigure's interest were sports and cats. He pursued all kinds of extracurriculars throughout middle and high school, but usually he didn't stick to one sport for very long before getting bored. He was actually very good at all of them, and it was the lack of challenge in them that killed his interest.
✦ Cats, on the other hand, did not require a challenge to keep him interested. While his childhood cat did pass away, he ended up adopting another one during high school, by way of finding an abandoned kitten and bringing her home and keeping her a secret from his parents. This lasted maybe a week, but by then nothing his parents said could get him to part with her, so they gave in and let him look after her. It was during this time he started volunteering at local shelters to look after the animals there (even though he was there for the cats).
✦ Shigure finished high school and was accepted into Recollé University. He didn't really care much about getting a degree and he didn't know what he wanted to pursue. He spent two semesters in school taking various classes to try to find something that would stick, but in the end nothing did and he dropped out.
✦ His parents were disappointed, but Shigure told them he had other plans. His other plans were to head back to Japan and crash with his grandparents at the Rangetsu family home while he worked odd jobs making money and more or less sorting himself out.
✦ His grandparents were perfectly fine with this arrangement, though they did take any opportunity they had to hint at whatever fight they'd had with his parents and try to encourage him to stay with them and be less like his mom and dad. Shigure did not care at all about the family feud, and instead worked whatever jobs he could find.
✦ The Rangetsu family owns a large chain of fairly upscale restaurants, and his grandparents got him a job working in one of them. He didn't do any of the cooking and just took care of odd jobs and the like, but he did learn a lot there. He also learned that he had no interest in staying and dealing with family drama or the hectic environment in a kitchen.
✦ Shigure returned to Recollé when he was twenty-two, and with the money he'd made he was able to get an apartment. He ended up with a job working at the Recollé Animal Shelter. While he greatly prefers cats, he's gotten pretty good at handling almost anything that comes through their doors, and he's very content with his job.
✦ Shigure also runs Purrfect Pals, a cat rescue and adoption service. (It's a terrible name. Everyone thinks it is. He just really likes terrible cat puns.) The people who work with him are volunteers, and they usually house cats that are injured or sick or otherwise need more attention than the shelter can offer. They also host cat adoptions at local pet supply stores to try to drum up business for the shelter, as well as get some adorable cats loving homes. Shigure also personally helps people who need help with their cats. He's kind of a cat whisperer.
✦ And of course, Shigure has three cats of his own. They (usually) play nice with the other cats he fosters!
✦ He's not exactly rich or anything, but he's comfortably making ends meet and doing what he loves which is ultimately the important thing, right?
✦ While his life does mostly revolve around cats (and other animals), Shigure is also really big into partying. He can usually be found at bars at night, and he is definitely the sort to get into fights. He's been thrown out of quite a few places for his rowdy behavior, but it usually isn't his temper that gets him in trouble so much as it is wanting to throw down over... well, anything. That's part of the fun for him!
✦ He's also got a lot of ex-girlfriends and boyfriends, though he's not really on bad terms with any of them. (At least, not on his end.) He's not afraid of commitment or anything, he's just here to have a good time and not looking for anything serious. He's also got plenty of one night stands and even some friends with benefits too. He's absolutely having fun.

Shigure's AU workshop comment is here, and the following has been worked out with permission of the other players:
✦ Shigure and Arthur Crowe (armati) were in the same school, but they weren't in the same class. They knew of each other (with Shigure attempting to befriend him), but ultimately they lost touch after high school.
✦ He met Eren Jaeger (usurpers) while working at the shelter. Eren is not exactly here for Shigure most of the time, but Shigure still likes him well enough.
✦ Mariko Kawaguchi (megatechbody) is an ex-girlfriend, though they're both pretty laid-back about it. They also partied together, though Mariko hasn't been doing that for awhile.
✦ Rose Geteilt (blacksong) is someone else Shigure knows from partying, this time they're friends with benefits and also they fight sometimes, as you do.
✦ Tatsuo Kihara (thisloveisjustice) is someone Shigure met while working at the adoption center, where Tatsuo adopted a dog. They're also related! His mom's cousin was Tatsuo's mom, so they didn't know each other at all. They're also not aware they're related.
✦ James Barnes (frostythehitman) and Shigure know each other from bars, though they don't know each other that well.

AU PERSONALITY:

In Tales of Berseria, Shigure lives to fight. That's obviously not the case in Recollé, although that's not to say that this Shigure doesn't enjoy a good brawl as well. He doesn't use swords, but he will absolutely throw down if given the chance, and maybe were the setting different, he would have turned out more like his canon counterpart.

Instead, he's a different man with a different set of priorities.

In this life, Shigure's had a few more hurdles to overcome than his last. He hasn't always been able to live life the way he wanted to, and he hasn't always known what he's wanted to do with himself either. While he has found what he wants to do with his life now, that wasn't always the case, and due in part to that, he grew up angry and resentful. His little brother's presence didn't help much with that, and while eventually Shigure did chill out, he spent a lot of time being mad.

That anger often boiled over into a really nasty temper, and Shigure would take it out on others. He's since gotten to a point where it doesn't happen all that often anymore, but Shigure's still way more likely to get genuinely mad and upset than his canon counterpart. He also has a stronger sense of morals... at least when it comes to animals. He doesn't really care much about what people decide to do with themselves, but if they're hurting animals (especially cats), then that's where he draws the line. He would absolutely pick a fight over a cat's honor.

Cats, after all, are Shigure's favorite things and his passion. He's traded the sword for fluffy companions, and now he never has to worry about being lonely. (Unfortunately, these kitties cannot talk to him like Morgrim could.) Shigure's passion for cats is what drives him, and he'll go out of his way to be kind to cats. He is absolutely the sort to baby-talk at cats and has zero shame about it whatsoever (mostly because he doesn't really have any shame to begin with). He will always get very passionate about cats and will always do what he can to help them and their owners out.

His whole life doesn't revolve around cats, however, and this Shigure actually does have a life outside of work and taking care of his own feline friends. That life is one of parties and bars and enjoying himself, living his life to the fullest in a way he has fun with, regardless of what anyone else thinks. He's found like-minded friends and while he can certainly be a pain in the ass when he's getting himself thrown out of bars for picking fights, it's usually just all in good fun for him. Like his canon counterpart, he tends to take things as they come instead of looking at the big picture, but he's at least in a place where he wouldn't look at suppressing all of humanity's will and see that as Totally Fine, as long as he gets to fight the guy responsible for it.

At his core, Shigure is a very lonely individual. He's extroverted and needs to be around others, whether they're cats or people. He tends to seek companionship out from just about anyone - and he's outgoing enough to reach out to others who look like they could use someone to talk to. He's pretty relaxed about this in general though, and he knows when to back off. While Shigure doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, he usually does have the common sense and social awareness to handle people in a halfway sane manner.

Shigure is still a pretty simple guy. He's more prone to getting angry or genuinely emotional, but at the end of the day he's still pretty relaxed most of the time. He gets worked up over the things he's passionate about, and he does enjoy a good fight. He's lacking the environment and family dynamics that ultimately shaped his canon self into such a strange individual, and he would be way less fine with being stabbed in Recollé, which is probably the biggest change of all. On the surface both Shigures seem remarkably similar, it's once you start to look beneath that where you can see how a completely different environment can really shape a person. Shigure may not necessarily be a good person in Recollé, but he's definitely a lot kinder and more caring than his canon counterpart ever was. Also he really wouldn't be okay with sealing everyone's emotions and free wills, what the hell, past life.

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