Haru Shiba

Real Name: Haru Shiba
Villain Name: The Red Bandit
Nickname:
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Race: Human/Descendant
Hair: Silver
Eyes: Silver
Height: 5’4
Weight: 110 lbs
Blood type: -_-



The first impression Haru gives is definitely of one that doesn’t want to be forgotten or mistaken. His painted hair and nails, eccentric personality and multitudinous piercings and tattoos definitely mark him as memorable, and even the way he holds himself exaggerates his already demanding presence. When he walks in a room, he’ll do whatever is necessary to capture and contain the attention of all individuals in the room. Normally this involves doing something crazy like drugs or a triple backflip or the president’s daughter. And he manages to do this all while portraying an easy confidence that most people try to cultivate all their lives.

His style can best be described as “he has none.” He wears whatever suits him for the moment, and while most of the time this is a pair of jeans or short and a tee shirt, he can oft be found in suits, slacks and button ups, women dresses- whatever the situation requires. Admittedly, the suits he has barely seem to be worn and that’s because the only time he attends parties is to rip them off. The styles he wears his hair in are just as varied as his outfits and fit the outfit he’s in. Fancy jewelry adorns him, rings and his piercings being replaced with the frequency of morse code.



Haru is … a very unique individual. Smart and strong-willed, yet cowardly and deceiving, with a penchant for mischief and villainy, nobody who encounters Haru leaves with the same opinion of him. You either hate him or love him, no middle ground. He is very in your face, forcing his overbearing personality and confidence on nearly everyone he meets. There is no waste of confidence in him, overflowing at the seemed and bursting out his mouth in self-assured, almost nonsensical turns of phrase that either make people laugh or raise their hackles. He does tend to display the role of “class clown”, specifically an unintelligent one, but in reality, Haru is quite cunning and analytical. You don’t get to be a thief by being blind.

Haru is not a good person. He’s not, like, a serial murderer; in fact, his hands are clean from that particular sin. Everything else is fair game, though. He’s lied, stolen, cheated. He’s drugged girls to have sex with him and taken drunk girls home to do the same. He’s knocked up teenage girls and never talked to them again. He is the person every father warns their daughter about. And more than these crimes against women, he’s equally as much of an asshole to men. While most of his interactions with guys involve stealing from them, he also likes to pick fights with them. Not that he’ll ever finish them. He just finds it fun to piss them off.

On top of all of this, Haru is rather lazy, preferring to let his trio of paid assistants take care of everything. This includes fighting for him and even doing his laundry. It’s not that he’s incapable - he’s quite scrappy, as a matter of fact - he just can’t be assed to do it himself. While this would harbor some amount of resentment, Haru is generous enough with his paychecks to still that at the beginning. )



Born the first child of a pair of struggling newlyweds, the first few years of his life was spent alone in the small apartment, his father running his shop downstairs with his mother to assist. With no friends and very little interaction with other beings, and only his mother (her English background not exactly conducive to a traditional Japanese upbringing) and Father (who wasn’t any better than his mother) for company, he soon became ‘the weird kid’. He embraced the title to tell the truth; from the moment he started school, he would eat pennies, pants the teacher, or throw oranges at the principal in an attempt to get the attention of other kids. He was the typical “bad kid”. He did well on his tests, sure, but he never cared about school, much more interested in going outside and running around and doing things. These days, he’d be called ADHD. It only got worse the older he got; his father and mother were very much in love and, with their spontaneous bouts of love, he soon found himself with a house full; seven sisters, with Hana, the oldest girl, only ten months younger than him.

Magic wasn’t a common thing in Haru’s life, unless you count the illusions he used to entertain his siblings and classmates. In fact, he didn’t even believe in it. He was too focused on his jerk of a dad trying to change him and turn him into just another “sheep” of the system (he had serious authority issues). These only got worse as he hit puberty and, at the ripe age of eleven, he ran away. It came as a shock to his mother and father; many hours were lost crying over their eldest child and only son. And Haru? Haru was happy. He joined a circus, a traveling band of vagabonds and actors going from city to city, living on their wits and their skills. It was like something out of a fairy tail. It was here, in this world, he had his first taste of magic. A young Dragon, by the name of Daru, joined them then. His tremendous strength and fire breathing powers wowed crowds everywhere, but to Haru it signaled the start of a brand new will.

He was sixteen years old when he returned, hair painted, face pierced and with an attitude and arrogance only matched by his father. It was a rough transition, but he was focused now, he had a goal. Throwing himself into his studies, it wasn’t long before he got his Certificate for Excellence and went to University. Though by no means the top of his class in Archaeology, Haru had a secondary goal; it gave him access to a wide repertoire of research materials. Along with his rigorous studies for Archaeology, he took it upon himself to learn everything he could about the magical world, soon becoming unmatched by nearly any other human not embroiled in the world itself. At twenty one, the new graduate went to his first dig to unearth a lost King’s treasure. And among those he found his legendary Clip. It called to him, whispered it’s name in it’s ear and promised the world. And the power-hungry boy agreed.

It was during his junior year of university that his father passed onto him R.E.D. and The Spiders Claw, known then as The Rocket, and revealed his existence as the Red Bandit, a world-renowned criminal known for ripping off the most secure of places. It was an heirloom, his father said, passed on to Haru for safekeeping. He could be trusted, the call was too tempting … and, Aiko would soon find out, the call was too much for Haru as well. Three whole months passed before the Red Bandit ripped off a convenience store, and from there, the crime spree only continued. Aiko disapproved, of course … but he was also glad his son took after him. It was an uncomfortable few days in the Shiba household when this came to light, as Selena did not approve. She never liked her husband acting as thief and burglar, let alone her son! But Haru was determined and committed, and even his mother had to admit, he was better at it than Aiko ever was.

Absconding with his new treasure, Haru led a life of debauchery overseas for a while before returning to Japan. A horde of treasures were rusting in a warehouse of his, results of his endless adventures, and thus he opened The Spiders Web, a specialty store focusing on rare and unique artifacts … and in the back room, magical deals go down. Some of the most dangerous artifacts (and, on occasion, people) have passed through his and his associates hands. And he was well-paid in return. His empire grew; soon, he was the only dealer in all of Japan, and though he focused on magic, nothing was out of the question. Guns, drugs, flesh; he dabbled in everything. This, along with his life as the Red Bandit, made him very, very rich.


1. Agility
2. Reaction
3.Endurance
4. Strength




World-class Gymnastics: Haru is an incredible gymnast, capable of performing feats of acrobatics and gymnastics that would confound most people. He is incredibly flexible and agile, and he relies on this in combat for any advantage.



Haru is just a normal human, for the most part. He has no powers to speak of, only a trio of exceptional bodyguards to protect him from bodily harm.



The Red Armor - A suit of armor exceptionally designed for infiltration and stealth. Though primarily a dusky red color, dabbled grays and blacks form an effective nighttime camouflage. The chestplate is made of a combination of materials, mainly leather and silk, with bands of stolen kinetium running vertically on the chestplate. These bands of metal provide a stable support while at the same time, providing moderate defense, though remaining sub-bulletproof. Pants with plenty of pockets adorn his legs, while thick boots cover his feet. The most outstanding feature of this set of armor is the mask. A solid piece of metal and wood, this mask is frightening in itself, three vertical slits acting as a mouth and horizontal slits for eyes.

But the Red Armor is more than just fancy clothing. It’s outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment and is constantly updated to remain ahead of the curve. Within the gloves there is a highly advanced hacking module, capable of opening most electronic locks, while also doubling as a card skimmer. Top-of-the-line electronic locks can provide trouble for these gloves and require more mundane methods of opening.

Spider’s Club - At first glance, this item looks almost like a medieval mace. Six curled prongs extend from the tip of a black shaft. And Haru does indeed use it as a melee weapon if he needs to, though in its folded form, it’s much easier to transport. A push of a button, located about midway through the shaft, reveals its true form as a grappling hook. One hundred feet of coiled wire is contained within the shaft, the curled prongs popping upwards into place to grip even the smallest handhold. The wire contained within this device can stretch up to three times its maximum length. A switch on the side of the staff causes rapid expulsion of the hooks, allowing it to extend the full 100 feet in less than three seconds. By releasing the lock switch on the side of the staff, it rapidly retracts, allowing Haru to not only ascend buildings, but to fling himself over them. With practice, of which Haru has much of, he can use this as a method of traveling, requiring quick wits and impeccable timing to “swing and fling” himself across the city. This is quite a dangerous practice, a lapse in concentration or direction, for even a moment, can often result in a rather painful result for the thief. Obviously, he also needs an object that can bear his weight at an appropriate height and distance away to achieve the effects.

The Clasp of Anansi - A beautiful hair ornament shaped like a spider with eyes of varying gemstones; starting from the smallest nearest to the mandibles, the eyes are onyx, ruby, sapphire, and emerald. The body and legs are made of gold, with the mandibles seemingly plated in platinum. The Clasp is meant to be worn in the hair, with the eight legs retracting to grip into the roots of the hair. As if by some innate power, it never gets dirty and never needs polishing, shining and gleaming like the day it was first forged.

The Clasp of Anansi has several powers, most focused on identification. While wearing the Clasp, the individual can see any powerful magical artifacts, people, or locations within a 2-mile radius. On top of that, once within 100 feet, the individual can even divine the actual attributes of the magical object; he will, for example, know the exact capabilities of a sword that can shoot fire from the tip of the blade. For people, he can determine the general level of their magical ability, shown as a number next to them, as well as any spells he has currently seen them use. In addition to this ability to identify magic, the Clasp of Anansi gives Haru the ability to understand and be understood by spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids; he cannot control spiders, however, nor are these powers in any way exclusive to Haru. If the Clasp of Anansi is removed, he loses these abilities, and anyone else can gain them simply by wearing the clasp. The powers of the Clasp of Anansi can be cancelled out by drawing a python, hornet, or leopard in any medium on the back of the spider. All of these powers are permission based, if they belong to someone else.



Haru is a master thief, able to pick most mechanical locks in seconds, pickpocket the most secure of pockets, and steal the hearts of ladies everywhere.

Spoiler:

Haru is also a smooth talker and very quick-witted. His love of pissing people off, combined with his hatred of fighting, has instilled in him a quick mind to deter, or if necessary aggravate, any fights he may or may not have started.

Haru runs the Spider’s Web, a store of unique and rare artifacts from all around the world. It has two locations, one in the world-famous Fifth Avenue in New York City, the other in the popular Takeshita Street in Tokyo. He is the curator, owner, and proprietor, and as a result has a vast store of knowledge about historical and magical artifacts, more so than most anyone in the world. What he can’t identify off the top of his head, he has a wide network of informants and professionals he can rely on who can.