Jubei Himura

Personality
Jubei is a gruff warrior-poet and has a strong sense of personal honour. To Jubei, honour and integrity are one and the same: something that is earned through deed and action, not given through heritage or status. His often crass and direct manner puts him at odds with the established Imperial aristocracy, much to the embarrassment of the more sophisticated members of the Chapterhouse.

Unfortunately, to say that Jubei has an ‘anger issue’ is a severe understatement. He reacts very negatively to anyone who expresses arrogance, and often challenges them to provide valid reasons on why they act better than others. If Jubei witnesses an act that causes direct harm to children, women, or innocents without remorse, he enters a rage state that increases his strength and speed as he seems to act on pure instinct. The rage state ends when either a close friend snaps him out of it or the offender/threat is dealt with (read: dead, or incapacitated).

However, under the gruff exterior, a warm-hearted man still manages to survive. Jubei has a soft spot for children, always being kind and gentle whenever he deals with kids, often referring to himself as ‘Uncle Jub-Jub’. His kindness also extends to Imperial slaves as he treats them with the same respect as any full Imperial citizen (this is due to the structure and laws of the Hattori Clan, who count the vast number of Imperial slaves they have as full citizens).

Speaking of the Hattori Clan, Jubei was a former Imperial slave to Patron Seijuro Hattori (leader and grand master of the Hattori Clan). Under Patron Hattori’s guidance Jubei learned the Tensatsuken martial arts and his philosophy on truth, honour, and respect for all people. To this day, Jubei not only has a deep sense of respect for Patron Hattori, but also thinks of him as a second father.

Jubei is driven by the need to eliminate corruption and often follows the philosophy of Aku Soku Zan or Slay Evil Immediately. He will go to great lengths to make sure his target truly deserves this retribution, often stalking the target and gathering evidence before acting. This need to investigate and research is a large reason he joined the Chapterhouse of Inquisition. Jubei does not move without being sure of what is the truth.

It should be noted that when Jubei speaks to others he often uses the uses the term “bub” or “bud” to the person he is speaking with.

Jubei is predominantly a combat pilot, having been involved in multiple wars around the bubble. However, he is admittedly not the greatest pilot, having to rely on the escape pod system more times than he wants to admit. His skill is primarily in ground fighting, espionage, intel gathering, guerilla combat, and (surprisingly) diplomacy. Jubei’s skill in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat is among the best in the bubble. His diplomacy is rather uncouth but effective, he has an uncanny knack to bring people together through direct blunt words that would otherwise be seen as insulting.

Biography
Early Life:

Jubei Himura was born to parents Tatsumaru and Evelyn Himura on the outlying colony of Ma Mordella, in the Heget system. His father was a member of the Imperial Navy who held the rank of Squire, and his mother was an administration assistant at the local mining company. Jubei grew up under normal circumstances, was educated at a known Imperial school and had no known ailments or records of bad behavior. It is known that Jubei's father instilled a sense of honour into the boy while his mother taught him compassion. As well, Jubei seemed to regularly play and excel at games of hide & seek, capture the flag, and hunter-vs-hunted.

In early 3275 a large squadron of pirates attacked the colony. Jubei's father was killed defending the inhabitants while they fled to safety. His mother was killed on cold blood while fleeing from the raiding pirates. Jubei witnessed both deaths, his mother's being more traumatic as his father was doing his duty. It is believed this is why he has a general hatred of pirates.

There are no official records of the next two years. However, Jubei has gone on record saying that he spent those years on the street learning to survive by stealing what he needed and hunting in the forests of the planet.

In 3277 the colony's Overseer was arrested for conspiracy, murder, corruption, and accessory to piracy. The arrest was made by Earl Seijuro Hattori (who is the head or Master of the Hattori can, more on that later), who was also the Overseer's executioner. It is known that Jubei had some contact with the Earl and decided to become an Imperial slave to pay of his debt to society. Earl Hattori quickly bought Jubei's contract and brought the boy to his home planet where Jubei served the Earl's clan for many years. During this time Jubei was personally trained by Master Hattori in martial arts and became friends with Master Hattori's son, Katsu.

After completing secondary school Jubei joined the Pilot's Federation and attended flight school one year after Katsu enlisted. Records indicated that Jubei was involved in many student confrontations, usually in defense of other students. It should be noted that he did not seem to care about power affiliation as he was seen to be friendly toward any student he deemed to "not be an asshole". He passed with average grades but was recognised for his potential combat ability.

Military Career:

Jubei joined the Imperial Army in early 3287. In his BMQ, his sergeant-major noted Jubei's exceptional CQC skills, but poor acceptance of orders. During his SQ, Jubei was transferred into a special class involving reconnaissance and excelled quickly, even taking down an outpost of veteran recon personnel single handedly.

When he completed the specialisation course, Jubei was assigned to Imperial army recon unit 404: Panther Unit. After completing ten successful missions, Jubei was awarded the codename 'Onyx Panther'. His success came to the attention of Colonel Rick Campbell, Commanding Officer of the Imperial Special Forces. In 3288 Colonel Campbell offered Jubei the chance to make a difference within the Empire by carrying out the Emperor's will to eliminate corruption on the frontier and deep within the Empire.

It was during this time that Jubei had first engaged Lieutenant Commander Steven Summers of the Federal Navy. The two had a fierce rivalry that exploded each time the two met. While they were enemies due to missions and orders, both have gone on record stating that there was a level of respect that is not often found between enemy combatants. They both shared the same "deep sense of honour".

''The rest of this section has been locked and will be revealed in a future Thing... at some point.''

Disappearance: 

After the incident, Jubei simply disappeared. It is not known where he went, but rumors started circulating that he travelled to the Pegisi sector, others said he went to Utopia. There were even reports of Jubei's appearance in Alliance and Federation space. Imperial brass were worried that he had defected and sent 'retrieval' teams out into the bubble to get him back, and of that failed, silence him.

Unfortunately, any team that found him came back badly maimed. Through their near incoherent reports, Imperial intelligence learned that Jubei changed his appearence but it was never clear on how he altered it. Eventually the search was called off by Sejiro Hattori who had just achieved the rank of Prince. The reasoning behind Price Hattori's decision was that "Jubei needed time, and we can't afford to continually put good soldiers into the infirmary".

It was reported that Jubei contacted HeathenJester at the time of his disappearance. However, Heathen did not divulge any information, saying only that speaking to anyone would have been "a grave dishonour between warriors".

Reappearance and Lavigny's Legion:

After a brief visit with Heathen, Jubei spent some time at Prince Hattori's residence. Prince Hattori has commented that "it was a brief stay.  He needed to centre himself and recover." However, many fellow clan members reported that Jubei had travelled up Mt. Ogamichi to face off against a very skilled warrior who was rumoured to be a rival of Prince Hattori’s.

Shortly afterward, Jubei was recruited to Lavigny's Legion while out bounty hunting in HIP 20377. He then participated in many small wars along the borders with the Federation, fighting many of the battles at the helm of a military-green Vulture. Again, Jubei was a part of the Imperial military as a specialized soldier.

However, although Jubei felt camaraderie with his fellow legionnaires and formed many bonds in the Legion, he was unsatisfied with the endless proxy wars. He started missing drills and meetings but still showed up to support efforts in undermining border systems. Instead, he was off fighting in system civil wars, always opposing brutal dictatorships or corrupt corporations. This eventually caught the eye of the Legion’s Praetor and he suggested to Jubei that he follow the guidance of  The Chapterhouse Lantern, a publication that reports wars that directly help the Empire and it’s people.

Becoming an Inquisitor:

After following the  The Lantern  for a couple of months, Jubei ended up in the Vish system looking for information on the local factions when he received a burst transmission through the comms. The transmission instructed to find a man with a flight patch that showed the Imperial eagle on a silver shield in front of a sword and scales, at an officer’s bar on D’Arrest Orbital. The sender identified himself as ‘a scribe for the Empire’. Thus, Jubei cleaned himself up and went to meet this ‘scribe’.

At the high-class bar, Jubei met with the ‘scribe’ right at the bar counter wearing exactly what he had said. Of course, Jubei was the only imperial there who openly wore a pacific-styled sword so he was rather easy to pick out in the crowd. The ‘scribe’ turned out to be Endincite, one of the three Inquisitorial Scribes of the Chapterhouse at the time. Endincite had heard about Jubei’s efforts in the missions that  The Lantern  had laid out for fellow imperials and was there to test his resolve in the upcoming conflict in Vish.

Jubei followed Endincite to one of the moons after uncovering the location of a criminal base. Unfortunately, the enemy was tipped off and a dogfight ensued in the orbit of the rocky moon. With each commander taking down their half of the enemy fighters, they took the fight directly to the base itself on foot. Jubei had demonstrated his battle experience by taking down no less than twenty-five enemies and capturing the leader of the criminal organization.

Satisfied with the man’s resolve to help the people of the Empire, Endincite invited Jubei to Shajin Market to officially declare himself an Inquisitor.

Bio-organic Eyes enhancement
Jubei replaced his eyes after one got damaged while on a mission with a fellow Inquisitor. Replacing only one eye did not work well for Jubei as he struggled to adapt to the enhancements on just the one side of his face. Master Hattori made the decision that Jubei will have both eyes replace to help mitigate the loss of balance he experienced. With both eyes enhanced, Jubei adapted well and trained hard to utilise the enhancements in all situations.

The eyes are made from Jubei's own eye cells and utilises the latest in organic processing that originates from the Alliance and Utopia. However, the eyes use the nutrients and oxygen in his blood to feed processing power of the enhancements. Thus, if used too much, Jubei will become winded and weak, similar to the effects of blood loss.

Current Ships

 * Fer-De-Lance - Shin-Tenchu
 * Python - Samurai
 * Vulture - Tenken
 * Imperial Courier - Raijin
 * Imperial Eagle - Yūdaina Taka

Sold/Destroyed Ships

 * Fer-De-Lance - Tenchu (Destroyed)

Notes and Trivia

 * Jubei is taken from the anime movie Ninja Scroll whose main character is Jubei Kimagabi. The reason that the author did this is because in the movie Jubei refuses to just sleep with the kunoichi (female ninja) to save his own life, choosing instead to treat her as an actual woman as opposed to a slave, and simply taking a kiss.
 * Himura is taken from the anime and manga series Rurouni Kenshin 's main character Kenshin Himura. Kenshin was a ruthless assassin during Japan's civil war but came to regret all the killing afterwards. He chose to live a life of peace and vowed to never kill again. The author was instantly impressed by the character's gentle and peaceful demeanor that hid a skilled swordsman underneath.
 * Jubei's fighting style Tensatsuken (Heaven's Instant Fist/Sword) is taken from the Ansatsuken (Assassination Fist) style of the Street Fighter game series. However in this universe it is developed into an actual assassination style that is a mix of Ninjutsu, Karate, and Kenjutsu.