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PLAYER INFORMATION-
Name/Nickname: Sanada.

CHARACTER INFORMATION-
Canon Character and Series: Ishida Mitsunari from "Saihai no Yukue" (Nintendo DS)
In-Game Name: Mitsunari Ishida.
Age: 36.
Gender: Male.
Position & Ship: Victoria II, passenger. He's a member of Ivona's Parliament on a civilian tour of inspection.

Appearance:
Although the nickname "Ishida the Fox", refers more to his devious, temperamental nature than to his appearance, Mitsunari's vulpine face and ginger hair are in keeping with his namesake. He moves like a fox, too, with quick, evasive steps that make his coat billow behind him. Mitsunari is short in stature, but seems determined to make up for the physical bulk he lacks by pomading his hair into a bushy mane that invariably wrests its way free from any string or elastic that attempts to tame it. His features are very youthful for his age, much to his chagrin. Mitsunari normally dresses in a military-style white dress coat even though he's technically a civilian, perhaps hoping it will garner a little extra respect from naval personnel (being a Parliament member on the Defense Committee does not grant him actual command over troops, although he often acts like he's forgotten this little detail). He's usually seen carrying a folding fan that he uses to make sweeping, expressive gestures as he speaks, but in a pinch, any small item that can be madly waved about will do.

Personality:
Mitsunari's personal motto could very well be "anything worth saying is worth shouting." Like many politicians, he voices his opinion (loudly) regardless of his experience and he considers "compromise" to be a polite euphemism for "failure." Hot-headed and easily flustered, he quickly grows frustrated with people who don't share his views... but he's so intent on talking above others that he often fails to communicate clearly. Despite the buffoonish impression he makes with his overblown speeches and constant complaining, it is unwise to underestimate Mitsunari Ishida - he was adept enough at the political game to win one of Melior's seats in Parliament, and he has an uncanny talent for knowing when others are plotting against him. (Of course, since he's almost unanimously disliked by the rest of Parliament, he has a tendency towards paranoia.)

Mitsunari proudly declares himself to be a man of culture and is as snobbish as his position among Melior's intellectual elite would suggest, but he does genuinely care for the welfare of the people he represents. He is a pacifist who feels that the Ivonian military is trying to impose its regulations on free-spirited, academic Melior under the pretense of "improving" the city's defenses. Of course, Mitsunari's aversion to the military might also have something to do with the fact that he was weeded out of the Academy before he had a chance to become an officer... but he doesn't like to talk about that.

Still, while he openly disagrees with many government policies, Mitsunari is very loyal to Ivona. Personal honor is very important to him and he sincerely wants to do the right thing, but he believes so strongly that a divine will guides his actions that he often second-guesses his own intuition. He's suspicious and has a hard time forming close relationships with people, but once he's made a friend, he's a friend for life. Mitsunari is conscious enough of his own shortcomings that he values highly those who can look past those flaws and see the passionate idealism that truly motives him.

Abilities/Weapons:
Gifted with a natural talent for bookkeeping and budget-balancing but lacking the wealth or family connections necessary to make a name for himself in politics, Mitsunari was a surprise election to Parliamentthree years ago. Most attribute his victory to bribery, but Mitsunari isn't that unscrupulous. He owes his political acumen to a limited form of clairvoyance he calls "Heaven's Eye," which gives him the ability to perceive events unfolding in real time at a distance - provided that he knows exactly where and when to look, which is the tricky part. He also has very vague visions of past and future events, just enough for him to seemingly "read" the flow of an election or "sense" when someone is lying to him. This skill is extremely useful to him as a politician (it's helped him avoid more than a few bombings and assassination attempts), but being able to glimpse into the hearts of others makes it almost impossible for him to trust anyone. He has conscious control over the remote viewing and can use it for bursts of roughly 10-30 seconds every five minutes - long enough to see troop formations in a battle halfway across the country, but not long enough to follow a conversation in the next room. Besides the caveat of having to know precisely what he's looking for, using Heaven's Eye more than one or twice in a day leaves Mitsunari physically exhausted and even grouchier than usual. During the stress of a life-and-death emergency situation, he can use his power continuously (once every few minutes) for several hours... but for everyday snooping, it's easier and more effective to bribe an informant or hire a spy.

Mitsunari's ability to see the past and future is sporadic and almost entirely involuntary, most often occurring while he's asleep or daydreaming. If visions intrude into his waking hours, there's usually a good reason - such as an immediate danger to his life, an plot brewing against him, or an opportunity that must urgently be seized. The visions tend to be vague and subject to interpretation. Mitsunari believes his power to be a divine gift (or a curse, depending on whether it's aiding or inconveniencing his plans). However, his Confucian-esque philosophy is that Heaven's foremost concern is the formation and maintenance of just governments, sowhatever Heaven indirectly commands him to do is ultimately for the good of Ivona and Melior. His visions intensify in frequency and specificity during crises that affect either his own well-being, his political position, or the stability of the Ivonian government. Otherwise, his precognition is of limited usefulness.

While Mitsunari possesses somewhat more physical agility than the average government bureaucrat, he's still not much of a fighter. An aversion to the military makes it unlikely that he will carry weapons. His favorite fan is reinforced with sharpened steel ribs, though, so it can be used to inflict minor wounds by stabbing/scratching or to break fingers as a bludgeon.

How well can your character hack?:
Easy-Medium. He's no expert, but you don't get far in politics without being able to dig up dirt on opponents.

Weaknesses:
As mentioned above, Mitsunari's power to sense the intentions of his rivals makes him suspicious towards everyone. While he isn't incapable of forming deep friendships, few people are willing to trust "The Fox" long enough to see past his prickly pretense. This self-imposed separation from others means that Mitsunari rarely has anyone to act as his voice of reason or temper his moods, so he tends to make decisions without thoroughly considering the consequences.

Despite his position on the Defense Committee, he is woefully out of his league on a military ship. Mitsunari is used to having people listen when he makes demands, but as a pompous bureaucrat who feels nauseous on airships, gets winded running across the deck of the ship and can't even hold a sword correctly, he's little more than a laughingstock among real soldiers. Of course, rather than remedy this by spending more time among the troops, he writes long-winded reports detailing every shortcoming of the people around him. And he really does have a weak stomach.

History:
Mitsunari was born in Melior to a middle-class military family (his father served as a seaman aboard an airship for many years), so despite his inclination towards economics and the arts, he was enrolled in a naval preparatory academy intended to transform him from a bookish and brooding youth into a proud officer of the Ivonian Fleet. He grumbled his way through two years of military education, annoying superiors with his belligerent attitude and constantly bemoaning the lack of "culture" in warfare, until he was discharged from the Academy for "medical reasons." His service record claims a persistent case of airsickness, but in reality, the Navy was as glad to be rid of Mitsunari Ishida as Mitsunari was to be free from the Navy. He was too demanding to work as part of a team, too headstrong to follow orders, and too surly to make the kind of connections needed to advance within the military. The one martial skill that Mitsunari did manage to acquire was the ability to yell very, very loudly.

After his brief stint in the Academy, Mitsunari had no trouble securing admission to a national university in Melior, where he studied economics. Academia was a much better fit for the opinionated but fiercely intelligent young man. He graduated with top honors and found employment as a campaign accountant for a local member of Parliament who shared his views. Mitsunari, like many among Melior's intellectual elite, felt pressured by the naval and economic superiority of Bellcius and objected to the continued military buildup in his home city. After a few years of successfully managing the representative's financial affairs, Mitsunari was promoted to Chief of Staff and moved to the seat of Parliament in Bellcius. It was then that "Heaven's Eye" began to manifest in the form of strange and disorienting visions. He saw his employer embroiled in a scandal that would shake the government and damage Melior's political standing... and he saw what information he would have to destroy to prevent the scandal from ever coming to light. While Mitsunari's sour personality often masked his principles, the revelation that the Parliament member he served and respected was a traitor came as a great shock to him. His loyalty to his city and its people came first, though, and he successfully engineered a cover-up. Of course, with the information he now possessed, Mitsunari was able to blackmail his employer into retirement, which left an open Parliamentary seat in Melior. With the guidance of Heaven's Eye, he was able to attack the weaknesses of his opponents and stage a masterful election campaign.

The abrasive scholar and military drop-out became a member of Parliament, but Heaven's Eye was not satisfied. Mitsunari caught enough snatches of incriminating conversations to expose the indiscretions of his rivals and head off scandals before they began - all for the sake of maintaining the stability of the Ivonian government. He quickly gained influence if not respect by intimidating his peers. This didn't make Mitsunari a very popular politician, of course, but in his mind, an enemy was as good as a friend if they could be used for the same goals. In the halls of Parliament, he passionately argued that Ivona should challenge the military traditions that filled the Navy with uncultured incompetents, but it was the threat of blackmail, not Mitsunari's idealistic rhetoric, that made his "supporters" side with him.

Recently, Mitsunari's visions grew more and more difficult to interpret until they were replaced almost entirely by a vague sense of foreboding. The one constant point in his premonitions was Ivona's flagship, the Victoria II. Now, clairvoyance had been all fine and good when Mitsunari got to keep his feet firmly on the ground, but flying was another matter entirely. Airships were right up there with hypocrites and filibusters on the (admittedly long) list of things Mitsunari Ishida hated. Heaven's Eye grew more insistent, though, and soon his waking hours were so regularly interrupted by visions of the Victoria II that he already felt airsick. Fed up, he canceled his appointments and arranged for a leave of absence from Parliament to conduct an inspection tour on behalf of the Defense Committee.


INFORMATION PERMISSIONS-
Public Knowledge: Mitsunari is one of Melior's representatives in the Ivonian Parliament. He's opinionated, obnoxious, and a vocal opponent of government corruption. He believes Ivona is crippled by military nepotism, and thinks Bellcius imposes too heavily upon Melior because the latter is dependent on the former for defense. He seems to have a grudge against the Navy, but a little extra digging in public records will reveal that he was dismissed from the Military Academy twenty years ago. Unfortunately, the press has already circulated this information. He holds a master's degree in economics from a prestigious university and spent several years on the staff of Melior's previous member of Parliament.
Special Knowledge:
He has limited clairvoyant abilities that include remote viewing and very weak precognition, so for the past few years he's been blackmailing fellow MPs (including his own predecessor) with information gained via this method. People who are very well connected politically might know about or suspect the blackmail, but so far he's kept the source of his knowledge a secret.
Pop Culture Phenomenon?: As an outspoken government figure who is regularly mocked by the press, Mitsunari would be fairly well known in Ivona. He's often referred to as "Ishida The Fox." But come on, how many average people can actually name their member of Parliament?