Ramblings on Character: Kitsu Hotaru

It is a curious thing, those tropes you gravitate towards in roleplaying. I often feel like a sidekick in my friend groups, so I try to make adept social powerhouses to get a glimpse of what the spotlight feels like. For Hotaru, I decided to go against my usual instincts. Hotaru is a fighter. He yearns for the glory of battle and fights against the desires of his more spiritually inclined family. But, as I built Hotaru, these incredible through-lines started to develop. 

Everything about a character is important. Every choice becomes a symbol of something bigger than itself. Take his saffron scarf, for instance. To many, it would just be a marker of identity. The visual of it blowing in the wind is representative of him as a protagonist. However, it is the implication behind the scarf that becomes significant to me. Silk implies wealth. The saffron color becomes indicative of a journey to exotic locales which leads to new knowledge and ideally, character development.

I realized in his creation that he cannot escape the spirit of his family; he instead cuts a new path on a well-traveled road. Tea, both the preparation and consumption of it, becomes a symbol of this. Amid his desires for glory and battle, the passion for tea and what it represents remains. Tea becomes the physical anchorage to his heritage and how he is not as different from them as he believes.

Even names hold meaning. Look at his hunting cat, Kogū. My research indicated that the name means incense - specifically an incense used in a tea ceremony -  as well as empress. I wanted his heart to be wrapped up in her; much like a subject would love their empress. It was a pleasant surprise when I found out that the name also connected to tea. 

Hotaru means firefly. Fireflies are magical creatures. They are a light in the dark and fuel imaginations the world over. I want Hotaru to be a hero, a beacon of what it means to stand on your own. The name seemed fitting to me. 

Here you will find his character sheet. A minor note: in the creation of Hotaru I missed that a ring could not go above three, in the effort to maintain full transparency I’ve left it as I created it. Should you play him, I would recommend putting that point into Void instead.