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Player Information

Name: Eski
Contact: eskimo | eski
Age: 25
Other Characters: NA

Character Information

Name: Urashima Kotetsu
Canon: Touken Ranbu
Canon Point: 6-4
Age: ~545 but he has the physical appearance of a 14-15 year old boy.
History:

Urashima’s story begins around the year 1660 which is when he was forged. A swordsmith, later known as Nagasone Kotetsu, owned a no name scrap iron shop. The shop was unremarkable in practically every way and the only thing it really had going for it was its reputation to make things quickly. After thirty years of barely getting by, Kotetsu decided to dedicate himself to swordsmithing and he managed to get lucky. He created a sword that was “strong enough to cut through stone” (even if it was soft rock) and he became a famous swordsmith. Kotetsu became so famous, many people created forgeries of his swords. Many of the forgeries were so good, Kotetsu himself couldn’t even tell the difference.

Urashima was a sword that was forged back during Kotetsu’s more humble days. He’s a humble scrap iron sword that managed to get lucky and fall into the hands of the Ikeda clan in Tottori domain, becoming one of their family treasures for generations. Currently, he belongs in a private collection and it’s very difficult to get information about him as a result.

At some point in time, Urashima ends up “captured” by the kebiishi, an emotionless and neutral spirit army tasked with protecting time from all outsiders. Unlike other swords that can be forged or obtained by regular battles, this means you essentially have to fight a rare and powerful enemy to get Urashima and even then, he’s very difficult to obtain (for every 100 battles you fight, you have about a 1% chance of obtaining him). There’s no idea how long he was “captured” or when he was “taken” but it’s safe to say that everything changes in the year 2205 which is when Touken Ranbu takes place.

In the year 2205, a saniwa sage is tasked with summoning sword spirits to prevent an evil army from changing history. Along the ways, the saniwa can forge spirits or obtain them in battle. Urashima is one such spirit and upon obtaining him, he can fight too. Urashima is essentially won in a difficult battle, given a human form, and sent to fight in a war to protect history from those who may want to change it for selfish reasons. By summoning Urashima, you also have the chance to reunite him with his two brothers, Hachisuka and Nagasone Kotetsu, the latter which is also captured by the kebiishi and even more difficult to obtain than Urashima.

That said, unlike most swords in canon who have tragic notes in their history, Urashima is a very blessed sword. He has a humble but lucky origin story and was treasured and valued for centuries. His only trauma is maaaaybe being “captured” by the keibishii so you can obtain him as a rare drop so he’s essentially a war trophy of sorts in the game but it all works out for him in the end and its not something ever addressed in the game so I just kind of don’t mention it beyond him being grateful to be returned to his brothers.

Personality:

Personality wise, he's cheerful, friendly, loving, and pretty childish. Official twitter describes him as being, "naive, innocent, and able to befriend anyone." He loves families and remarks how nice it must be to have many brothers, even if you aren't related to blood. The last part alludes to the fact that one of his older brothers is a counterfeit sword and thus, not directly related to him, but he loves him all the same. His new year wish was for his brothers to get along. In the anthologies, he remarks that he’s jealous of those who are able to have large family dinners together because for him, it’s normally just him and one of his brothers. His greatest wish, according to the anthologies, is to have a family dinner with his whole family.

Being one of the younger sword spirits and a designated little brother sword in his current family, he's used to being treated as such. Combined with his status as a family treasure, he's fairly spoiled too. He's used to be treating well and wants to be taken care of. In practice fights, he asks his opponents to go easy on him and whines when they don't. He also complains when he's hurt. That said, he is actually a hard worker and tries his best at his chores and duties. He isn't completely lazy... he just wants to play first. Despite being on the spoiled side and definitely being proud of his status as an authentic Kotetsu (going so far as to make a point to remind the player he’s real), he’s not rotten or arrogant. He tries his best, treats others with respect, and looks out for others.

His spirit is shaped by his sword's story and history and since it's distinguished by the carving of Urashima Taro on the blade, some of his personality comes from the story. He has an animal companion-- a small turtle named Kamekichi (Lucky Turtle). He's super fond of it considering the two are connected... but not so connected he can't help losing track of it from time to time. He's also very imaginative and likes to playfully talk about visiting the dragon king's palace and finding treasure. Lastly and most importantly, since Urashima Taro saved a turtle from being bullied, Urashima hates bullies and being bullied and is quick to go on the defensive agains them.

Other things you can see about his character in the anthologies includes him being the type to get overwhelmed in complicated situations. When he’s taken to dinner at a very fancy and expensive place, he becomes so humble and overwhelmed, he expires. Also, he blindly loves his brothers to the point that he appreciates all of their gifts… even if Nagasone likes to give him knock offs of popular brands. Going back to him getting along with everyone, he hits it off well enough with Nagasone’s old comrades,the Shinsengumi swords, in one of the comics, teaming up with one of them to perform a powerful “dual attack” and getting excited at how effective it is (oblivious to the fact that his brother wanted to perform the attack with him instead). Overall, he’s a really good kid at heart and while not necessarily oblivious, he’s definitely on the naive side and can miss out on things due to being so happy in the moment.

Abilities:

He’s a tsukumogami! The spirit of a short sword and his well being is directly linked to his sword. If his sword is damaged, he’s hurt. If it breaks, he dies.

Being a spirit, he also comes with those generic things like not being able to age and a heightened sense for other spirits (especially evil ones; Urashima himself gets anxious when he senses a strong enemy ahead).

As a sword spirit, he’s a natural swordsman. He’s one of the best scouts in the army, able to make out enemy formations almost every time to give the player an advantage. He’s a “turtle” sword and the game makes fun of it by making him the slowest in his class but making him very hardy/defensive— he has high HP so he can take more hits and a high defense to protect [his troops]. He also has a very strong base attack which probably has something to do with the fact Kotetsu swords were famous for being able to pierce through armor and slice helmets in real life.

There's also this vaguely explained but heavily implied theory that the retrograding army (evil spirits) in the game are actually corrupt sword spirits so like... in theory, Urashima could potentially become a despairing evil spirit but how that works is never really explained beyond the fact that the enemy has intense despair and regrets.

Strengths: Innocent, sincere, friendly, loyal, just
Weaknesses: Naive, spoiled, childish, selfless, dependent

God/Shinki:Shinki
Why?: He’s literally a weapon to begin with and real talk I just want to play the mem loss part out.
Cause Of Death: Breaking in battle
Vessel: His true form, a wakizashi
Name Location: The front of his shoulder where his crest/armor would be.
Power: Shield Penetration, the ability to pierce through an enemy's defenses to make them vulnerable for attack.