Deerington App

[tenthousandmiles]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Ginko
Canon: Mushishi
Canon Point: Post-series/after “Drops of Bells”

In-Game Tattoo Placement: On his back, across his shoulderblades
Current Health/Status: Alive/healthy
Apparent Age: 30-ish
Actual Age: Unknown, but probably somewhere in the vicinity of 28-32
Species: Human (+ mushi living in his eye)

History:
Little is known about Ginko’s early life. We know that his original name was Yoki, and that he was injured in a landslide that killed his mother. A mushishi by the name of Nui took him in until he could recover, and taught him about mushi. Unfortunately, however, she was significantly affected by the ginko mushi living in the lake nearby, which causes living things to turn into a mushi known as tokoyami, or “perpetual darkness.” In an effort to save her, Yoki too is enveloped by the tokoyami, and only escapes by sacrificing one eye and the entirety of his memories up to that point, except for the name “Ginko”, which he then gives to himself, perhaps in a subconscious recollection of Nui’s former advice to find a name--any name--should he ever find himself forgetting who he is.

Due to his condition of constantly attracting mushi, he’s unable to linger very long in one place, nor spend extended amounts of time near the path of the Light Vein, a river of embryonic mushi stated to be the source of all life. A nomadic group known as the Watari is able to take him in for a time, but as they follow the Light Vein wherever it goes, they had to leave him with a mushishi eventually. This begins a pattern of unscrupulous mushishi who take advantage of his condition by taking him in long enough for him to attract mushi and thus bring work for them, then chase him away when things inevitably get out of hand, leading to the young Ginko gaining a reputation as the strange-looking boy who brings disaster in his wake everywhere he goes. This continues until he meets a mushishi named Suguro, who teaches him properly about mushi and how to manage his condition somewhat via mushi-smoke, as well as explaining to him that he likely lost his memories due to a tokoyami, which left behind the darkness in his eye.

During his time with Suguro, his desperation to belong somewhere leads to nearly accidentally killing the new God of the mountain. Although Suguro feels he can no longer allow Ginko to stay with him afterward, he leaves him with something incredibly important--pointing out the fact that Nature itself had allowed Ginko to come back despite what had happened, a sign that he was meant to exist in the world.

With these poignant parting words and the skills and knowledge he gained from Suguro, Ginko goes out into the world, managing to survive well into adulthood as a mushishi, continuing his work and his endless wandering. The series follows him in his travels, though there is no set plot and each episode is a self-contained story of some mushi-related incident or another.

Hometown/World:
Mushishi takes place in a fantasy alternate version of Japan, at some point between the Edo and Meiji era. In this universe, in addition to all flora and fauna known to exist, the world is also populated by creatures known as mushi, described as “close to life itself”, which inhabit the border between our plane of existence and their own. Mushi are said to exist wherever life exists, and maintain a very delicate balance in nature--too few mushi in an area, and it will be barren and lifeless; too many, and there will be disasters and chaos. Due to the ambiguous nature of their existence, most humans are unable to perceive them in any way, though despite this, they can still be affected by the presence of mushi.

A river of embryonic mushi, the Light Vein, flows beneath the earth, said to be the source of all life, and where it’s heavily concentrated the ground is particularly fertile and draws many mushi, etc. Such places tend to require a guardian (also referred to in the show as lords and gods) chosen by nature to keep the ecosystem in that area in balance so everything that lives there continues to thrive. It’s worthy of note that “chosen by nature” is not a figure of speech in this context; in the universe of Mushishi, the “natural order” is an actual literal entity that has a will of its own and sometimes talks to humans. It’s implied basically to be the essence of the entire world, given that when it does speak, it uses the collective “we.”

Ginko makes his living as a mushishi, or “mushi master.” He wanders around the country, using his knowledge of mushi to investigate strange occurrences or mysterious illnesses, either based on rumors that catch his interest, direct requests for assistance, or simply being in the right place at the right time.

Personality:

What does one call a man who cannot live among other men? First and foremost, Ginko is a drifter, but by necessity rather than choice. Possessing the rare characteristic of attracting mushi, his very existence is a threat to the balance of nature, wherever he goes. Too many mushi in one place bring only disaster in their wake, and so he must always keep moving, never allowing the mushi enough time to gather and cause problems--a condition that has come to shape everything else about his life.

He's a human who in some ways might be said not to be human at all, lacking many of those things that define a person--that tie them down to an origin, a group, an affiliation. Ginko has none of those things, save for the title of "mushi-shi"; he lives life akin to that of a tumbleweed, allowing the wind to take him as it pleases when he hasn't received a direct call for assistance. He floats in and out of people's lives, an ephemeral presence that shares in the human experience for stretches, adopting the struggles and joys and miseries of those lives he touches for a moment before he inevitably moves on again.

In one sense, this way of living can be said to have offered him an exceptional clarity about the nature of life and existence -- his inability to partake in most kinds of ordinary relationships has not led him to discredit their value. On the contrary, he frequently values his own life less than that of others, especially those who have a home or a family, seeing them to some extent as more “needed” than him. He often can see the truths in people's lives that become buried in the minutiae of day-to-day living, having the advantage of an outsider's perspective in most situations, and often uses this insight to help the people he meets find happiness, or at least peace in their lives.

Nonetheless, he's also able to recognize the transience of all such things. He finds value in life precisely because of how finite and limited it is, and doesn't begrudge mortality simply because it is an ending. The essence of nature is cyclical, he realizes--all beginnings are tied up in endings and vice versa. He’s shown to have a somewhat rare mentality even among mushishi on this subject; in contrast to those who see the mushi as nothing more than nuisances and pests to be exterminated, he values them as fellow living things, simply trying to survive like anything else in the world. He’s shown to try to avoid killing mushi whenever possible, despite how easy it would be to fear and hate them because of the harm they can cause. His detachment from the trappings of society offers him the serenity to accept things as they are, rather than bemoan things that can’t be changed or rail uselessly against the impossible. He even manages to turn his circumstances into a career, often exchanging his services for simply a meal or a temporary shelter so that he can survive despite his vagabond lifestyle.

But this clarity and serenity comes at a cost. Due to being unable to settle down and have a stable home, Ginko holds himself apart emotionally for his own survival. He’s built up layers and layers of walls that prevent him from building attachments to the people he meets, burying and trampling his own loneliness under his heel because to do otherwise would only bring misery and suffering to others, not to mention risk his own health. He does not really know how to rely on others, and rarely if ever allows himself to act on his emotions, much less share them--even with those few he sees often enough to consider his friends.

He can come off insensitive or outright callous because he often puts practicality above sentiment, especially when it comes to the lives and safety of others. He doesn’t shy away from unpleasant truths or harsh realities, and he’s willing to bear the weight of others’ anger as long as he gets done what needs to be done, which sometimes only furthers his isolation.

Ginko thus becomes a complicated contradiction of a man; one who values--perhaps even envies--normalcy and stability in others’ lives, yet has been moving for so long he would not know what to do with himself if he were to be able to stop. Someone that does not crave human interaction but needs it nonetheless, whose heart is too soft and kind to hold himself entirely apart from their suffering, yet finds himself uncomfortable with vulnerability regardless. He is a person who has had to live his life cut off from what might be considered key aspects of humanity, yet is profoundly human all the same: celebrating life in all its forms even as his livelihood is often steeped in suffering and misfortune and pain. Life has taught him dignity and resilience, and it is this that he strives to impart to all those whose destinies entangle with his own, even if only for a moment.

Personal Moral Codes:

- Preserve life whenever and wherever possible
- Do not treat people like objects for one’s own convenience
- Respect nature, and one’s place within it
- It’s okay to lie to protect someone
- Minor scams are acceptable if they aren’t abusing nature or targeting the sick or the needy or desperate
- Respect others’ choices and wishes, as long as they don’t conflict with the above
- Having a home or loved ones should not be taken for granted

Insecurities/Personal Demons:

At this stage of his life, Ginko is largely at peace with himself and his place in the world. He doesn’t bemoan his fate of being unable to settle down in one place, nor is he particularly haunted by his missing memories. He no longer seems to resent himself for his condition of attracting mushi, like he did as a child, and he seems to bear no ill will toward the mushi, either.

There are a few points of note, however:

- Ginko seems to automatically value himself less than those who have families or lovers. While he definitely doesn’t have a death wish or anything, he’s hypocritically quick to offer up his own life to protect those who he sees as more “needed” than himself

- While he’s overall at peace with his situation, he’s not immune to loneliness, and it’s implied he sometimes feels it acutely enough that he might take a foolish risk if he wasn’t careful with himself.

- It’s also suggested sometimes he himself gets weary with his endless travels, and needs to find himself a side project in between mushi-shi incidents (such as searching for a backward rainbow with someone) to keep him going.

- On that note, it’ll be strange and uncomfortable for him to find himself remaining in one place, with one group of people for any significant stretch. He has never belonged anywhere in particular, instead, as Suguro said, he belonged to the entire earth -- everywhere and nowhere. It’ll be disorienting for that to suddenly change.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses:
Due to the remnant of the Tokoyami in his eye, Ginko can see and navigate effectively in the dark. He still seems to need light to read, though that’s not specifically confirmed one way or the other by canon.

In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of mushi, he also seems to have generalized knowledge about nature such as the water cycle, food webs/ecosystems, seasonal variations in flora/fauna, weather patterns etc. He is also generally familiar with medicinal herbs and the like, and has a basic (era appropriate, essentially) knowledge of the human body.

He also apparently has pretty good aim, since we see him on several occasions able to hit small mushi from a decent distance with his mushi pins.

As for weaknesses he’s 100% squishy human so. Regular human weaknesses like getting stabbed, etc.

Ability/Power/Magic Warping: N/A

Inventory:

Large wooden box with several sets of drawers, and straps to carry it on his back. Contains supplies such as:

-Medicinal herbs/bowls/mortar and pestle for grinding
-Several packs of Mushi tobacco cigarettes
-His uro cocoon *note: due to the potentially game-breaking nature of the uro mushi (which is constantly tunnelling through space using an ‘uro passageway’) and the fact that the other half of the cocoon is left behind in his own world, the uro will be dormant in the game and not usable as a means for sending letters, as in canon)
-Various maps of Japan and the path of the Light Vein
-A container with a small amount of Kouki. It’s fairly vague what kouki is used for in canon; it’s a portion of the Light Vein itself, which is the source of all life in canon. It’s considered a highly precious resource and mushishi try to conserve it as much as they can, but has been used variously in canon to attract or pacify mushi, cure certain mushi-related illnesses, call the god/guardian of a particular area, etc. One episode centered around the Narazu Seed, in which a piece of the Light Vein was sealed, allowing its user to create bountiful harvests, at the cost of one life per harvest; later, swallowing the Narazu Seed revived a man from the dead and granted them immortality. However, such things are both deeply taboo among mushishi and impossible with the small quantity Ginko will have. In game I’d like to use it as something that can keep a person alive in an emergency where they’d otherwise die, such as preventing someone from going into shock etc.
Scrolls with information on various kinds of mushi
-Empty jars
-Mushi pins
-Money (e.g. ancient Japanese coins such as mon)
-A spare set of clothes
-Some dried food
-A rock whistle that manipulates certain kinds of mushi. *useless in game, but he’d have it.
-Various odds and ends (like shells, rocks, clippings of herbs, harmless byproducts of mushi) that he sells to suckers when he needs money :F

Let me know if it’s not okay for him to have all that! He really does carry around a box with his whole life in it, so I think it falls under the inventory rules, but I totally understand if it’s too much!

Writing Samples:
Ginko and Rey

Ginko and Nill

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Batty
Player Age: 26
Player Contact: goodluckmodes

Other Characters In Game: n/a
In-Game Tag If Accepted: ginko: batty
Permissions for Character: Here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: y

What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: My favorite tropes are always the more psychological ones, like when the real danger is the character’s own building paranoia. I also love things like fear gas/hallucinations/heightened aggression sort of things, as well as shared dream/nightmarescapes

Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Pictures of snakes, rotting flesh, bugs crawling around under the surface of skin
Additional Information: N/A