Author Notes 02: Nagase Clan
When I originally created the character of Shizune Mai for the Midgar roleplay in Second Life, I found that I went through an unintended extended period of character background/lineage writing on the wiki pages for that community regarding Shizune's complicated heritage. Racially, as a Wutaian, Shizune would have to naturally endure some fundamental skepticism and prejudice from those around her. This would likely only be exacerbated by the fact that she had wilfilly joined the ranks of the Shinra Paramilitary Corps as a Military Police officer.
Although this caused the potential for quite a lot of inherent conflict, I really wanted to retain Shizune's race, so I gained some inspiration from the real life history of the United States 442nd Infantry Regiment from World War II, which was comprised of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Not only did these soldiers prove through valor and bravery that they were loyal to their country, but they did so very meritoriously. I thought that if I was going to learn anything about being a foreigner, specifically from the country that my country had fought against in a war that was freshly over, I should take a meaningful look at the 442nd. And like the members of the 442nd, Shizune fights that much harder than other Midgar citizens to prove her loyalty. Things are just that much more serious with her, especially when it comes to issues of race, and many in her past have found her difficult to work with because of this base-level of intensity which carries over into everything she is involved with. I also believe that this is a big reason why Shizune finds it difficult to assume cover identites, as most normal people are never that intense to begin with.
As child adopted by two Shinra employees, Shizune internally recognizes both her Wutaian genetic lineage as well as her actual upbringing as a citizen of Midgar. Her adoptive parents, both former academics who became consultants for Shinra, tried their best to provide Shizune with a good education as well as teaching her about all the cultural aspects of her native land. It was a precarious balancing act, but one that was aided along by Shizune's inherent inquisitive nature.
It came as a huge surprise then to her adoptive parents when Shizune opted to join the PM as opposed to pursuing a career in academia as her adoptive parents had hoped. They had always been somehwat perplexed at Shizune's pugnacious nature (despite her penchant for studies), but in the end, like many parents, had no choice but to accept their willful daughter's intentions. Shizune and her parents never had a chance to resolve this rift, as her adoptive parents disappeared on an expedition west of Fort Condor shortly after Shizune began as a cadet in the PM academy.
Unbenownst to everyone, including Shizune herself, her fighting spirit and inability to refrain from tinkering with all things mechanical both come from her DNA.
As a member of the Wutaian Nagase clan, she hails from a long line of blacksmiths, armorers, and warlords. Her father, Junichiro Nagase, was the last in a long line of blacksmiths who were in service to the Shogunate of Banshu in southern Wutai, in the time before Wutai lost the war with Shinra and the Shogunate system was still in use. Furthermore, Shizune's great-great-grandmother is none other than Naotora Nagase, a warlord who is still regarded highly in southern Wutai for her exploits during Wutai's warring states period.
Shizune's tactical acumen, apparent to PM Commander General Zedrick LaVend from her academy days, likely comes from this military genetic heritage, that which truly confounded her academic adoptive parents. Additionally, the blood of the Nagase blacksmiths runs through Shizune's veins, allowing her to intuitively gain insights into mechanical and metallurgical items.
Shizune only really links these two worlds in File 03: Shrine of the Blacksmith, where she finally visits the grave/shrine of her biological father and learns the truth about her ancestry. In a sense, this settles some aspects of Shizune's soul, but in several others, she is still very much in turmoil about what to do with any of these new revelations, which I hope to explore further (yet peripherally) in subsequent chapters.
