Soji Nahara

Soji Nahara is a man from a very long line of wealthy inazuma traders who live and work half in their home country and half in Liyue. Soji is the heir of the family business and so has a lot to live up to. He has an hydro vision and a electro delusion that he came into possession of in a high risk trade.

Soji is a very wistful and almost delusionally out of touch to an outsider. One of his main strategies is keeping other’s perception of him low so he can expose corrupt diplomats and greedy traders. His specialty is knowledge, being such a people person, Soji comes into contact with a lot of information. He hates the use of blackmail but having inside knowledge on how best to conduct a deal is worth more than the mora he makes. Keeping a low profile also allows him more lax freedom to do his side hobby; crushing the abyss order.

Soji is a very tall man, towering over many in the area. He has fluffy white ears and a tail as well as a large hat with hanging bells and glass beads. His arms are covered in tattoos of Shachihoko, fish spirits with the head of a tiger. He keeps his hydro vision on belt while his electro delusion sits on his non-dominate right hand in the form of a glove. His hydro vision is in the style of inazuma while his delusion was taken from someone from Mondstadt. His outfit is very light in color and open for movement, when he is at work however, he chooses to cover himself and has a much more modest outfit. 

Soji Nahara was born to a wealthy family of traders with shops in both Inazuma and Liyue. He was the eldest child, brother to a younger brother and sister. The family was wealthy and powerful but before the two sons, the family had been without visions for generations. To the upset of Soji, his younger brother received his vision first, pyro. While close to his siblings, Soji was constantly jealous of them. As the heir, his life was predetermined to one of business and diplomacy, carrying his family name higher up the economic ladder. Playing warrior with his brother was his favorite, learning of battle techniques and sparring together. But when his brother Akio got his vision, playing warrior got more real. His parents were so proud and joyful of their strong son, focusing on his fighting capabilities and enlisting him into the Millelith while Soji remained in school and attending gatherings with his parents. His sister Risa lived the life of freedom, often running off to explore their nation’s national beauty for artistic inspiration. Soji understood his place and his role in the family but his hobbies hung true to his brotherly sparring with Akio. When he received his hydro vision, Soji had hoped his family would allow him to join his brother in the Millelith, but unfortunately for him, his life had already been picked out.

When Soji was in his teenage years, he still longed to be free from his duties. He had the utmost respect for his family but his own goals shone before him in the prime of his life. His brother encouraged him, both escaping into the night several times in order to take on enemy camps of hilichurls and treasure hunters. They would wear disguises in order to hide their identities, taking bets with each other on who could defeat more enemies. One night however, more than just a normal hilichurl guarded the camp they attacked.

A pyro abyss mage was by far the most powerful adversary they had ever faced and the battle was long and brutal. During the fight, Akio was gravely injured and Soji’s skin was burned heavily. The brothers narrowly escaped, Akio clinging to life as Soji ran him back home as fast as he could. Akio would survive but not without great loss, his injuries were extensive. Akio would never be able to fight again. A personal vendetta against the abyss order grew within Soji, seeing the situation as his fault since he was the older brother. He came into possession of an electro delusion, a trump card he would use to wipe out the abyss order. 

His brother begged to him, do not fight, that was my role to play in life. Yours is to our family, to our livelihood. 

Soji relented, agreeing to stay by his family’s side. If this was what he must do to serve his family, he would do it.

When the Traveler first meets The Gaikokan, his stature is very aloof. He celebrates the stories he has heard of the Traveler’s accomplishments and asks if there is anything he can do for them. When they meet, the Traveler is looking for a rare item, one that has been said is sold by the Nahara family. Soji says he’s willing to help him acquire the item if he will do him a favor. Soji asks if the strong and brave Traveler will help him feel like an adventurer to better connect with some clients he has. Traveler agrees and the quest “Adventure is Rising” begins.

The following are the events of the “Adventure is Rising” quest:

When you meet Soji Nahara for the first time he only goes by Gaikokan and is dressed in his fancy outfit. You continue to encounter him only in this outfit for a majority of your time in the quest.

He tells you he wants to go out and adventure for a day to better connect with his new clients who are adventurers. You find out while doing this he is exceptionally bad at fighting and almost refuses to fight or use his vision. He lets the Traveler do all the work and just politely smiles whenever Paimon and the Traveler complain about him doing anything in an almost spacey way. He keeps talking about how much fun he’s having going out in the real world and doing adventure things. While out they find a large camp of hilicurls that Gaikokan insists they try and fight but the Traveler and Paimon refuse since he won’t help.

Gaikokan bids the player goodnight after the day of adventuring and Paimon and the Traveler complain in their inn about how he was so unreasonable. They hear a noise outside and watch a strange figure run off with gentle bell noises as he moves. The Traveler and Paimon follow him, going back to the hilicurl camp and watch the man completely destroy the camp. A cutscene plays of the mystery man laying waste to the camp with hydro moves but they’re surprised when they watch him use a massive electro attack with his right hand.

They go home afterwards and wake up in the morning and go back to visit the Gaikokan. When they arrive his arm is injured and bandaged. The Traveler asks him about it but Gaikokan refuses saying he had a fun time adventuring but they made it quite clear he wasn’t good at it yesterday. Gaikokan then says he’s heading to an important meeting but that he wants to meet with The Traveler and Paimon tomorrow to hopefully discuss a business deal for the item The Traveler and Paimon need.

The traveler and Paimon then decide to search around Gaikokan’s room for proof that he was the mystery man they saw at night. They find a few items like a small bell matching the ones they saw on the stranger’s hat as well as bandages and a tuft of loose fur in the closet by a polearm.

After finding their proof the duo decide they’ll wait until tomorrow at the dinner to confront the Gaikokan and talk about their findings in their room. Once again they hear a noise and watch the stranger leave and follow him again. They watch the stranger search around in the wilderness for a while. They leave again and wake up again in the morning. Upon seeing The Gaikokan, the traveler notices he looks rather tired today as if he didn’t sleep the night before.

At the dinner that night The Traveler and Paimon confront the Gaikokan while they’re alone and show him the proof that they have that he was the stranger they saw turn the camp into ruins. Finally he admits that he was indeed the stranger they saw. He lets them know he was following a lead of several abyss mages that are attacking traders in the area and he just found their main location. He invites the Traveler and Paimon to go with him to clear it out. He introduces himself by his real name, Soji Nahara and asks that they refer to him in a more friendly way.

Trial dungeon ensues with Soji and they beat the Abyss Mage that was controlling the hilicurl and Soji thanks the traveler for their help. He says the rare item they were looking for is theirs and if they ever need help crushing the abyss order or trading assistance, he’ll be there.