Ryou Bakura

Ryou Bakura is the Consul of the Autokratoria of Sirradra, as well as an Imperial Advisor in the Holy States of Viesten. He is the former Archduke of Adytum and Count of Bodur, within the provinces of Adytum and Silvay respectively. He also at one point ran a bookstore called "Bakura's Books" where he sold his own works, but now his books are sold elsewhere as he no longer has the time to manage a shop.

Appearance
Youthful, elegant, and well-dressed, Ryou's appearance is most easily summarised as 'pretty', though somewhat feminine and occasionally mistaken as a woman until he speaks. He distinctly has long white hair often styled into a variety of elaborate updos with hairpins and combs, with two longer strands framing his face, as well as distinctive "bat wing" locks on either side. Ryou's eyelashes are also white, but he darkens them with kohl. He has unnaturally pale skin, and could be considered albino with the exception of having dark brown eyes. However, when the Son of Heaven controls the body, his eyes do become pinkish-red. His smile is described as charming, though somewhat unsettling due to the fact that his upper canine teeth take the form of small fangs.

Ryou's normal clothing consists of several layers of fine fabrics, with even the hidden inner layers being only of the finest quality. The outer layers are often elaborately embroidered and dyed, particularly heavily decorated silks and brocades. Most commonly he is seen in elegant robes with long sleeves decorated with all manners of patterns, though primarily in the colours of the Bakura Clan; black, blue and white. Gold accents are common, and much of his jewlery is gold inlaid with a variety of precious gems and stones such as jade, coral, pearls, and others. In formal occasions his outfits become even more elaborate, with more layers and more jewelery. He will often wear a mianguan as well, with the beads partially hiding his face. Some distinctive accesories he wears are a golden eye inlaid into a ring, a jade and gold wedding ring, and hairpins with the lotus and wave motif of House Volaerys, a gift from his ex-husband.

When speaking he has a soft accent, and his laugh is rather unsettling.

Personality
Ryou is often described to be a snarky, straight-forward person. He often makes sarcastic remarks and is not afraid to tell somebody the truth. He likes to think of nicknames of people, often with the purpose of mocking the person in a subtle way. Along with that, Ryou is seen as a competent, cool-headed yet cold-blooded person. It is said that Ryou has a thirst for blood, aswell.

The Son of Heaven
Ryou has always been possessed by a spirit called the "Son of Heaven". Despite sounding friendly, the Son of Heaven is infact a creature of pure darkness. Cunning, manipulative with a lust for grandeur. He is infact the dark part of Ryou's personality.

Usually, it seemed as if the Son of Heaven was kept in-check. As soon as the Second Purple Insurrection started, Ryou started showing harsher behaviour. He became more reckless and ruthless. When Ryou eventually lost his position in Adytum and migrated to Silvay, the Son of Heaven finally took control. He renamed Findara to "Ryoujing", ordered people, regardless of rank to adress him as "The Son of Heaven", instead of "Ryou". He still claims to be the one and only Ryou Bakura, despite aforementioned demonic behaviour already showing.

Birth
Ryou is an incubus, who was born out of two sinful people. These people had broken two out of Han Feizi's "Ten Faults" which had led to Ryou being born as a demon. Ryou's supposed mother had treated a local nobleman with disrespect, by spitting into their face for not marrying her. Along with that, she was greedy and only wanted money. She had thus failed to behave in a base and willful manner towards a feudal lord, which caused her downfall.

As soon as Ryou was born, the Son of Heaven had taken over his host's body and murdered Ryou's parents by using snakes to poison them. He then was taken in by another family, and met his new brothers Dausnd and Pelagius. This was only brief, for Ryou would soon run away and live in the slums.

Early life
Ryou had lived in an orphanage for most of his childhood, till he was eightteen years old and moved into the slums of Viodoxa City. He later met Dausnd and Pelagius again, whose parents died through food poisoning, as they had eaten raw fish that was sold to them by the Von Nachtig Clan.

Career in the Second Archonate
Ryou spent most of his time, gathering knowledge. He read books about history, but also about characters that are unknown to the world of Rathnir. As such, he himself started thinking: "should I start writing books, myself?" He did this, and set up his book store, named "Bakura's Books".

Due to his enthousiasm, he was able to exceed expectations and sell a few books to the local populace. This caught the attention of the organiser of Viodoxa City at the time, CPaulos. He noticed Ryou's intelligence and way with words, that he had granted him a position on Viodoxa City's new City Council. During the weekly council meetings, Ryou would often take the charge during meetings and at one point become the council's unofficial "Speaker".

As Viodoxa City had returned from its recent inactivity, CPaulos felt as if his job was done, and wanted to focus on his job as "National Economist". The current Archduchess of Adytum, Blanc McSpiegel then appointed Ryou to become the new Baron of Viodoxa. Ryou had gone from an orphan, to a nobleman.

As Baron, Ryou worked had to solidify Viodoxa's guilds and the connection between the citizens and the local government. All new members were required to become a part of a guild. Those that had shown their willingness to achieve and had proven to be hard workers, would be promoted by Ryou to the head of their respective guild.

After some time, Ryou would be promoted to the position of "Count of Hanu". This meant that he now was responsible for Viodoxa City and the neighbouring city, Barbatlas. It is during his time as Count of Hanu, that he re-united with his two brothers and that he adopted a son, Delta von Nachtig.

During the end of Viodoxa's existence, Ryou was made Captain of the Viodoxan Army, after he had successfully defended the fortress of Sun's Gate during the first battle of the War for Sun's Gate.

Establishing of the family
During his time as Count of Hanu, Ryou had re-united with his two siblings. He also adopted a son, Delta von Nachtig. Given that Delta's clan had "murdered" Ryou's parents, Ryou spanked Delta one-hundred times, before accepting Delta as his legitimate son. Delta cried throughout the torture, but did eventually survive. Delta's new name was now Delta Bakura.

The three brothers talked for hours about how their lives went since they had seperated. Dausnd had become the Baron of Kalai-Bali, a town with unique Oriental architecture. Pelagius had become Archbishop within the Church of Guhen, while also being the Lead Architect of the O.P.T.C.

After having caught up, the family decided to construct their family estate in Dausnd's Kalai-Bali. They built a Chinese-style palace named "The Palace of Longlasting Joy".

Later on, when Ryou became Marquis, he adopted Cassiath Potentia. Cassiath had lost his family long ago, so Ryou felt as if he should take care of him. As time went on, he grew fond of Cassiath and this resulted in Ryou adopting Cassiath. Cassiath thus became known as Cassiath Bakura.

Cassiath went on to marry Sardina Dem Spheniscidae, thus establishing a link between the Bakura Dynasty and the Dem Spheniscidae Family. This led to the Bakura Family replacing the Karlpfen Family as one of the Cymrian Families.

Career in the Seratovian State
As the Second Archonate of Viodoxa collapsed, the mainland of Cymru had split up. Ryou remained in Viodoxa City, which had then become a part of the short-lived Kingdom of Adytum. While the continent was in chaos, Viodoxa City seemed to be peaceful and stable. Soon enough, the Kingdom of Adytum joined the Seratovian State. In the Seratovian State, Ryou started out with the same ranks as in Viodoxa, but with different names. He now was the Mayor of Viodoxa City and Lord of Hanu.

Tasked by the government, who was aware of Ryou's writing skills, he was commissioned to write a piece on the founding of Seratovia (it's literally the wiki of Seratovia). He was paid handsomely, and he was satisfied by the recognition he had gotten.

Since Ryou had become the most prominent and most recognised administrator in Adytum, he was promoted to the title of "Marquis of Adytum", which put him only second to the Archduchess of Adytum, Hazel McSpiegel. This also led to Ryou resigning from the Barony of Viodoxa and being Count of Hanu. As Baron, Ryou centralised the power of the Baron, made the Viodoxan Council an advisory organ. He also organised the guilds so that they would be able to function. The population rose and Viodoxa City expanded its area to border BarbAtlas in the South and is set to expand to the Mainland. Ryou resigned in favour of Cassiath, who was not adopted yet.

Career in the Third Archonate
Cymru was once more being invaded by "Lying Loic the Divider" as Ryou called him. Thus, the Imperial Archonate was reformed. Due to Hazel McSpiegel once again ascending to become Archon, she promoted Ryou to the rank of "Archduke of Adytum". In reality, this meant nothing other than him now having the title of "Archduke".

The war had dragged out for a long time, with the Viodoxan side losing twice. Ryou had put hours upon hours on grinding, to make sure his citizens would be able to fight during the war. However despite his efforts, blunders by the Viodoxa High Command during both battles had led Ryou to believe that the war was a lost cause. Ryou had thus decided to lay down arms, to force Archon Augustine Salvay to surrender. Some days later, it happened.

Meanwhile, Ryou had told both sides how he believed would resolve the conflict. A "Government of National Unity" had to be formed, according to him. This would be a government with people from both sides, while also sparing the people that were in charge of most towns. This had happened, most of the Barons in Adytum kept their position, with only Ryou being demoted. He had given up his position, so that the rest of Adytum was able to continue life as if nothing happened.

During the war, Ryou gave contradicting orders. Ryou giving orders to gather resources, whereas the Son of Heaven gave orders to execute suspected traitors.

Career in the Archonal Union
The fall of the Third Archonate made Ryou fall into depression, allowing the Son of Heaven to take full control of the body. People, such as Hazel McSpiegel had noticed a change in personality and thus decided to jail Ryou in Winterstone Prison in Aurora and tried to free Ryou from the Son of Heaven. This attempt failed, and only made sure that the Son of Heaven would strengthen his grip onto Ryou.

After the second battle of Viodoxa City, Ryou doubted the ability of the government to continue fighting the war. He wanted to save the people in Adytum and thus decided to lay down arms, aiming to force the new Archon, Augustine Salvay to surrender by founding Checkpoint Charlie and mending bonds between both sides. This worked. Along with this, Ryou wrote letters to Hiiro Dem Spheniscidae and Archon Augustine, with his ideal future for Viodoxa. "A government of National Unity, with people from both sides in government as to not alienate either side". His wish was granted, and most people in Adytum held their position.

In the aftershock of the surrender, the Bakura family had internal squabbles, due to the emerging J Horde managing to recruit a few of the Adytans into their ranks, including Ryou's own son Cassiath. This however, would soon fall apart with the Bakuras being reunited and Cassiath apologising to Ryou for his past actions. This would not last, however. Cassiath tried to establish an independent Shaloma, but he was exiled out of the IAU before this could happen. Ryou hired an assassin to murder Cassiath, who failed. But while Cassiath was distracted, Ryou shot Cassiath with a bow, thus killing him.

While Ryou was building up Ryoujing, his city grew to become the second-largest in all of Silvay. He was even promoted by Hanzerouenn Hávi Asagrim, to become Silvay's new Minister of Humanities. A title that would be ridiculed by practically everybody that heard of it. Ryou also went on to marry Llyre es vel Volaerys, Loic's Minister of Communications, who took on the name Llyre ke sel Bakura.

After some time, Regent Archon Hiiro wanted to have a legislature in the IAU, to help him govern. And as such, Ryou found his way back into high government, as he was appointed by Hiiro to the Regents Council.

Regent Archon Bakura
Having served for a while as a member of the Regents Council, now renamed to the Archonal Council, and having managed the by now largest city in the IAU, Ryou seemed to be a candidate in becoming Regent Archon. His opponent was Ryan vom Dirkson, a prominent politician from Eisenland. Ryan was the choice of the Tovarishan Khadirs, since he Ryan was not from mainland Cymru, which was still associated with the Imperial Archonates, which had betrayed the Tovarishans in the past. However, Eisenland seemed to become unstable and Ryan had then resigned, this paved the way for Ryou to become Regent Archon of the Imperial Archonal Union.

As Regent Archon, Ryou's first act was to mend the ties amongst provinces within the Union. He held a speech in Voskovy, with a high turnout and positive reception. He had set up a system of ministries, with an extended bureaucracy in which citizens could take a part of, to be able to rise up the ranks and earn money.

Spouse(s)

 * Llyre es vel Volaerys (foolscrow) - Ryou's relationship with his (now-ex) husband is complicated. The main driving factor of their relationship was physical attraction, and Llyre's fragile mental state when they first met immediately following the March of the Exiles. For most of their marriage Ryou (really the Son of Heaven) psychologically and emotionally abused Llyre. Following the Winterstone Incident in Aurora, Ryou and Llyre's relationship was established, while the Son of Heaven's own with the other took a violent downturn. Despite Llyre's newfound lack of tolerance for the manipation and their complicated divorce, the Son of Heaven still seems to try to control Llyre, as he and Ryou attempt to maintain their romantic relationship.



Children

 * Delta Bakura (_ImDelta) - Delta was made Marquis by Ryou during the Purple Insurrection. He was once seen as Ryou's best child, but has now fallen a bit. He is still seen as Ryou's best child since he has been greatly helping him in the far away nation of Aldovir. Ryou still looks down upon Delta.
 * Xeno Bakura (Maniacc_) - Ryou sees Xeno as his most useless child and Ryou regrets making Xeno the Baron of Ryoujing and Count of Bodur. Ryou looks down upon Xeno, and has no respect left for a useless member of the Dynasty. He sees Xeno as uncapable and goofy.
 * Schuyler Bakura - Ryou and Schuyler did not spend much time together, so when he heard of Schuyler's death, he did not even hold a ceremony on his death.
 * Kuba Bakura - Kuba had infact tried to become Ryou's son right after the Purple Insurrection. Ryou agreed, but he wanted Kuba to fix his mental problems first. Kuba did this, so Ryou sees him as disciplined, competent and loyal.
 * Seth Bakura - Ryou looks down upon Seth, as he never did anything and thus he was infact joyful as soon as he heard of his death.



Family

 * Dausnd Bakura (Dausnd) - Ryou sees Dausnd as a useless drunkard who is not worthy being Ryou's brother.
 * Pelagius Bacueara - Ryou saw Pelagius as a competent brother, who deviated from the right path and wasted his time, associating with Guhenist extremists. Due to this, Ryou simply shrugged his shoulders when he heard of Pelagius' death.
 * Niki Bakura (nikiiu_)- Since Niki usually spends time with the Dynasty's extended family, Ryou does not care for her.
 * Chusi Kunnimal-Bakura (peachesxoxo) - Ryou never liked Chusi, seeing her as a child and a weakling.
 * Chihiro Bakura (BongoCat) - Ryou has a neutral attitude towards Chihiro. They are seen as passive and chill.
 * Liu Bakura (NoBlue_) - Ryou sees Liu as an annoying little child and thus waits every day for Liu to die.
 * Sardina Bakura (Sardinen) - Once married to Cassiath, now married to Dausnd. Ryou does not see Sardina as somebody with standards, having first married an idiot followed by a drunkard in Ryou's eyes.
 * Chang Bakura (LePaul) - Chang is seen as competent and loyal by Ryou. As such, Ryou respect Chang, but does not see him as worthy enough as he does not hold a high rank.



Friends

 * Ryou has no friends, as he looks down on basically everybody.

Enemies

 * Ryou does not take people serious enough to consider them enemies.





Other Relations

 * Hazel McSpiegel (Hazel238) - The Big-eared Villain, as Ryou calls her. He has a burning hatred for all elves, with Hazel being the personification of all of his hate for them. Having once been jailed by Hazel on a visit to Aurora, Ryou and especially the Son of Heaven spirit despises Hazel.
 * Loic dem Spheniscidae (Loic_) - Ryou calls Loic "the Divider" and does not think much of him, besides that he is at least better at leading armies than Hazel. Ryou dislikes Loic for the fact that he is in his eyes a horrible administrator.
 * Danzig dem Spheniscidae (DerLuftangriff) - Danzig is seen as the epitome of incompetence by Ryou, after having failed several military campaigns.
 * Hávi Asagrim (HáviAsagrim) - Ryou, but especially the Son of Heaven sees Hávi as a weak-willed leader without a vision. (Ryou and Hávi are buds ooc tho <333)
 * Augustine Salvay (OldFaithful) - Ryou never took Augustine seriously, as such Ryou did not bother fighting on at the end of the Purple Insurrection. Instead, he surrendered as soon as Augustine took charge. Ryou also never attended the funeral ceremony after Augustine's passing.
 * Uni/The Chancellor (Unicornboy) - Perhaps being the only person Ryou respects. During the Battle of New Dorrasterrock when Ryou was a soldier, he entered the Chancellor's palace and commented "This is how great man should be..." Ryou still sees himself as superior to Uni, since Uni failed his world conquest in the end.
 * Cassius/Cassiath - Cassiath was Ryou's adopted son who turned out to be a traitor to the IAU. Ryou elisted Greg Gregingson to kill Cassiath. Ryou gave the penultimate blow to Cassiath allowing Greg the chance to slay him. Ryou ignores any mention of Cassius as he sees him as lower than himself in every aspect.



Works
Ryou has written five books:

- The Stability of a Nation

A book, as the title suggests, about the stability of a nation. This book discusses how stability is maintained, lost and what the effects are of the loss of stability.

- Bakura's Guide to Warfare

This book outlines Ryou's view on warfare and focuses on the psychological and theoretical part of warfare.

- Power and its Tributaries

A book that discusses power dynamics and how these theories can be applied to any given situation.

- The Basis of Sociology

This book discusses human behaviour and what shapes oneself.

Trivia & Meta

 * Both portraits done by foolscrow (who's also helping with this wiki :P)
 * The quote from Ryou in the Chancellor's Palace is inspired by the IRL warlord and Emperor, Liu Bang. When Liu Bang saw Qin Shi Huangdi's carriage, he famously said "This is how great man should be..."