Kiku - Minstrel and Mercenary

Character Name: Kiku Honda

Age: 20

Appearance: Standing at 5’5” and built slim (and slightly feminine), Kiku has short black hair that reaches to the middle of the back of his neck and neatly frames his face. He has dreamer’s brown eyes and pale skin. When performing for royalty, Kiku wears various solid colored robes embroidered with nature patterns (such as vines and flowers on the cuff of the sleeve). When traveling, he typically carries a cither, flute, scroll, pen, and ink in a pack on his back. When working as a mercenary, he changes to commoner’s clothing, consisting of a dark green tunic over deep brown breeches. A hooded cloak that is the brown-green of the forest hides a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a pair of knives he keeps in a leather belt at his waist. He wears leather gloves and a leather armguard on his left arm.

Class (thieve, lord/lady, royalty, merchant, prostitute, things like that): Traveling minstrel and poet/composer, mercenary

Sexuality: straight/closet homosexual.

Personality: A quiet man who often travels across the kingdom, playing music or composing poetry for the wealthy. When not traveling, he spends his time alone in his home on the outskirts of the city, where messengers (both royal and from the underground) can find him to ‘hire’ him. Although he prefers solitude, he longs to find someone who shares both his love of quiet traditions and his conflicting lust for danger. He outwardly prefers women, but inwardly men also attract him.

Background: Born the son of a rich family of traveling minstrels, Kiku was supposed to take the family cither and carry on the traditions of the Honda family. However, on an outing with his parents, Kiku was kidnapped and held for ransom by a wandering group of mercenaries. He spent his time with them learning how to defend himself and entertaining the mercenaries with his music. He learned to hunt and became skilled with the bow and hand-to-hand combat (both armed and unarmed). Eventually, he earned enough money and respect to leave the mercenaries. However, once he settled down in his current home, he began to miss the danger of being a mercenary. Using the few remaining resources he had, Kiku spread his name as both a traveling poet/musician and a mercenary for hire.