| Spirit War http://spiritwar.fallenash.com/ |
|
| The Unicorn Clan http://spiritwar.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=51 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Mindshred [ Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:09 am ] |
| Post subject: | The Unicorn Clan |
The Unicorn Clan Current Population: 1,038,000 people, 45% of whom are samurai. The Recent Past Because of the oral tradition of the Unicorn, it is difficult to know just how much of their history is factual and how much has been embellished throughout the years. While the Ikoma (and indeed, most any samurai in any Clan) would consider any accusations of falsehood in their histories to be a grave insult, the Unicorn freely admit that much of their history may be embellished or even factually incorrect. The difference, in their mind, is that the stories still capture the heart and soul of the Unicorn Clan, which is more important than a dated account of true events. What is known beyond a doubt is that Shinjo left Rokugan with the Shinjo, Ide, Iuchi, and Otaku families in the year 45, shortly after the First War. The official explanation is that she left the Empire to secure its borders against foreign threats, but the Unicorn believe that her heart was heavy after being forced to raise arms against her brother Fu Leng, corrupted though he might have been. In any event, Shinjo's sister Doji gave her a blessed mirror by which the two could keep in contact during their travels. From this point onward, events become less certain and more open to interpretation. After a few months of travel, the Ki-Rin encountered the Ujik-hai, a race of nomadic warrior horsemen who lived on the steppes to the west of Rokugan. At first, the Ujik-hai attempted to conquer the Ki-Rin, but the fighting prowess of the samurai - not to mention the might of Shinjo herself - resulted in the defeat of the barbarians. After the disastrous ambush, the remaining Ujik-hai approached Shinjo and asked to join her "tribe," for she was the strongest warrior they had ever seen. After a night of consideration, Shinjo agreed to let the barbarians join the Ki-Rin, much as she had allowed the Rokugani to swear fealty to her in the years after her fall from the heavens. To bind these adopted samurai to her own divine blood - and thus, the blood of the Emperor - Iuchi developed a blood ritual that would, in essence, allow the Ujik-hai (and later, members of other races who swore fealty to the Ki-Rin) to become samurai (and thus, members of the Celestial Order). Desperation and sparse rations made for short tempers, and at some point during the exodus, Otaku's daughter, Otaku Shiko, and Iuchi drew weapons against each other over the need to kill the Clan's horses in order to survive. Shinjo stepped between them and decreed that no Ki-Rin was ever allowed to spill the blood of another. This edict became known as Shinjo's Law, and to this day, it remains unbroken; when a duel between two Ki-Rin (or two Unicorn) needs to be fought, it is done with boken or shinai, ensuring that no blood can be spilled. This edict, combined with countless other, smaller acts of bravery, kindness, and mercy, persuaded the former Ujik-hai that not only were the Ki-Rin honorable, they were far more honorable and worthy of fealty than their own death gods, the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang, whose corruption was becoming evident. Under the orders of the first Ujik-hai to swear fealty to Shinjo, a man named Moto, the converted barbarians traveled to find more of their kind, bringing each tribe back to swear fealty to Shinjo and grant her gifts of food and water. These gifts allowed the Ki-Rin to survive the first difficult decades of the exile, and upon Moto's death, Shinjo honored him by creating a family bearing his name. Midway through the second century, the wandering Ki-Rin encountered Laramun, the City of Sorcerers. The scouts who entered the city fled quickly, chased by demonic fires and hungry spirits. The Iuchi daimyo at the time (who some claim was still the original Iuchi, a point of confusion that would repeat itself multiple times throughout Ki-Rin oral tradition) stole into the city and escaped with gaijin books describing a new form of magic known as "meishodo," which drew upon the true names of objects and people to bring forth their power. This was an important discovery for the Ki-Rin, for while their blood magic was still potent, the strength of their elemental magic had been steadily dwindling ever since their departure from Rokugan. Over time, the practice of elemental magic was entirely abandoned, and the use of blood magic became a rarity among the family. One year later, Shinjo heard a quiet song singing in her ears and calling to her. She investigated and discovered the Oasis of Spirits, a magical realm that existed as a passage between the spirit realms. While she investigated, Otaku Shiko stood guard, but after hours of Shinjo examining the oasis and the surrounding area, the exhausted Shiko fell asleep. When she awoke, both Shinjo and the oasis had disappeared. Shinjo returned one week later, seemingly several months pregnant, but refused to disclose any details of her time in the oasis. The Ki-Rin were troubled, for Lady Shinjo had broken her vow never to leave her Clan. Shinjo apologized and created another vow, promising that although she might leave her people, she would always return. Shinjo soon gave birth to five children, all of whom were shapechangers. They could transform into any shape they wished, but the forms they felt most comfortable in were that of their parents: a human and a ki-rin. After one year, Iuchi foresaw that the children would lose their ability to change shape and informed Shinjo that they would have to choose a final form. Four children chose to live their lives as ki-rin, but the fifth, the strongest of all five, remained in human form and took the name of Shinjo Martera. In the early years of the third century, while returning over a stretch of mountains, the Ki-Rin were attacked by pale-skinned men and women riding gigantic birds called "rocs." The Battle with the Rocs lasted for several days and only ended when Iuchi (presumably the current family daimyo and not the original Iuchi) called down the mountainside to crush the attackers. The tactics worked, but it also destroyed the pass through which the Kirin had crossed, blocking their path back to the steppes, the Burning Sands, and Rokugan. Realizing that there was no way to return home, Shinjo split her mirror into four pieces and gave them to the leaders of the Ide, Iuchi, and Otaku families, keeping one for herself. The families split and went their own ways, each looking for a way home, with the Moto family accompanying the Ide. This broke the mirror's connection to Rokugan, but allowed messages to be sent between the divided groups. Over the next two centuries, each of the Ki-Rin families encountered friends and foes. The Ide and Moto met the Ashalan, a race of immortal beings that shared a finite number of souls. Though initially friendly, the Ide soon came to realize that the Ashalan were obsessed with an ancient prophecy involving Shinjo and her siblings. After a grueling battle, the Ki-Rin were able to fight their way out of the Ashalan's underground city, but the crystal weapons of the Ashalan took a heavy toll on their number and left both Ide and Moto heavy on injuries and light on supplies. They eventually found their way to the port city of Aqahba, where they encountered the nation of Merenae. A few of the Ki-Rin even traveled overseas, though they were never heard from again. The Otaku, meanwhile, re-encountered their enemies within the City of Sorcerers and discovered that the mystics there had learned how to remove their hearts from their bodies in order to become immortal. Over two-thirds of the Otaku were captured and pressed into service as slaves, while their brethren fled with whatever steeds escaped the fearsome magic of the sorcerers. Forty-two years later, Otaku Kunami returned with a new generation of Otaku warriors and devised a plan to free her kin from the heartless sorcerers. The most intelligent and beautiful Battle Maidens infiltrated the brotherhood as concubines and began manipulating the sorcerers into conflict with each other. When the tensions erupted into a battle, Kunami freed her kin and sent a signal to the rest of the Otaku, who were waiting just out of sight of the city. During their escape, Kunami stumbled across the great steed Vata, the leader of a herd of mystical horses that had been enslaved as the sorcerers' cavalry. She freed Vata and his herd, and together the two groups of prisoners escaped together. In thanks for their service, the mystical horses agreed to serve as mounts for the Otaku, but only on the condition that they only be ridden by women of their family. The Iuchi, meanwhile, fought against, and then made peace with, creatures of smokeless fire, which they came to know as the Jinn. The Jinn taught their mortal allies much about the secret ways of magic and the creation of the universe, much of what contradicted with what they had learned from their ancestors. Despite this, the Jinn proved to be considerate hosts, and the Iuchi learned much from their stories and libraries. Midway through the fifth century, the Ide, Iuchi, and Otaku each saw an image of Shinjo being assaulted by dark talons in their mirrors. They rushed to her aid, eventually finding her in the Lands of Darkness. There, the Shinjo family had been captured by tendrils of darkness, though the Kami and a small number of her greatest warriors still fought in an endless battle. The Iuchi drew upon their magic to hold the darkness at bay while the Otaku and Moto fought to free their trapped kin. Each samurai freed from the tendrils was given over to the Ide, who tended to their wounds. When her family was safe, Shinjo ordered her Clan to leave her, claiming that the moment she stopped fighting, the darkness would swallow them all. The Ki-Rin begrudgingly agreed and fled, leaving as Shinjo was swallowed up by living shadow. Her son, Martera, threw himself in front of the attack, saving his mother's life even as his own divine existence was unraveled like so much twine. In the wake of Shinjo's apparent death, her only living descendant, Shinjo Yonaru, declared that the Clan was no longer the Ki-Rin, but the Unicorn. Their Clan had been fundamentally changed by everything they had encountered beyond the borders of Rokugan, and now that Shinjo was gone (and with her, all but the Otaku portion of the magic mirror, the others having been lost in the fighting), their last link to that name had passed as well. The Unicorn continued to wander for many more years, until eventually, twenty years ago, they came to the great western sea, stretching out farther than any of them could have imagined. As the Clan Champion, Shinjo Sato, debated whether to cross the ocean or return to the east, the Iuchi shard of Shinjo's mirror activated. In its surface, Lady Shinjo appeared and warned of coming troubles to the Empire and how they must return in order for the Thunders to be ready. She commanded her family to return to Rokugan but disappeared before she could give any further information or directions. The Unicorn rode hard, traveling with all the speed they could muster during the day and pouring over the old stories at night, all in an attempt to navigate back to a land none of them had ever visited. Eventually, they passed into a land of darkness where the shadows breathed and the darkness was alive. This began the Dark Ride, a long, five year battle for survival in a land where the sun was weak and the shadows hungered. The faces of the bravest warriors and most cunning spellcasters would sometimes slide from their heads, leaving their features blank and smooth as the enveloping darkness corrupted the Unicorn and turned them against their kin. It was during this ride that the Unicorn learned that the crystal trinkets that had been seized by the Ide and Moto possessed some measure of power over the darkness. By drawing upon the true names of these trinkets, the Iuchi were able to protect the bulk of the riding army from the predations of the living shadows, slowing but not stopping the spread of the faceless corruption. Just when all seemed lost, a Dragon monk, Togashi Myo-en, appeared in the Otaku mirror, reestablishing contact between the Unicorn and their distant home. Even with the assistance of the Dragon Clan and the directions given to them by Togashi Motaro, it took the Unicorn a full two years to reach the western borders of the Empire. Though their numbers have been greatly reduced by the ravages of those dark lands, the Unicorn finally returned home, bloodied but unbroken. The Unicorn Today The Unicorn have only just returned to the Empire and are still trying to find their place in what is, in a very real sense, a foreign land. The Ide have taken it upon themselves to become the face of as much of the Clan's social interactions as possible, at least until the initial adjustment period has passed, and thus far, they have managed to smooth over most of the misunderstandings between the Unicorn and the other Clans without too much difficulty. Unfortunately, there are some tasks that only a Clan Champion can perform, and during one of these - the acceptance of a large portion of land which the Lion Clan was passing over to the Unicorn - Shinjo Wakumi committed a faux pas and accepted the gift without first refusing it twice. The insult annoyed the Lion and cast the rest of Wakumi's words of peace and friendship in a sour light, much to her surprise. Though the Lion understand that the Unicorn are somewhat "rough" around the edges, they have also been overheard mentioning that even a Crab can act civilized when the situation calls for it. Despite this, the Unicorn are not entirely without allies. The talks between Otaku Xiu and Togashi Myo-en (conducted at first through the magic mirror and later in person) have fostered good will between the Unicorn and the Dragon. A small number of Dragon returned with Otaku Xiu to her Clan to help them settle into place and become accustomed to a more sedentary life style, though whether they will be successful in this endeavor remains to be seen. Beyond this, the other Clans have yet to decide quite what to make of the Unicorn. One of the Unicorn scouts, Shinjo Zhi-Yin, became something of a celebrity last winter in Toshi Ranbo and was the first contact that most Clans had with their distant, long-lost cousins. Fortunately, she handled herself well, and the encounter has, at the very least, left the other Clans hopefully optimistic regarding the Unicorn and their potential place in the Empire. No sooner had the Unicorn began to settle down, however, than they found themselves faced with a difficult decision. The Onyx Champion, Kiyoshi, approached the Unicorn with an offer: in exchange for granting him the bodies of any fallen Unicorn for the next decade, he would reveal the location where Shinjo was being held prisoner. After a period of intense debate, the leaders of the Unicorn agreed to his proposal and began making preparation to leave their new home in search of their Kami. Wedding were rushed in order to provide enough samurai to man the lands recently returned to the Unicorn, and Shinjo Wakumi successfully petitioned the Emperor to allow the Unicorn to absorb their descendants in the Fox Clan. With the elderly, young, wounded, and infirm beside them, the Fox-turned-Unicorn were quickly moved to Unicorn lands and placed in charge of things as the vast majority of the Unicorn Clan rode out of the Empire, disappearing just as suddenly as they had arrived. Shinjo Daimyo & Unicorn Champion Shinjo Wakumi: The Champion of the Unicorn lost her eyesight when she was seventeen years old, the result of looking directly at one of the infused crystal trinkets of the Iuchi as it flared to life. Though her vision never recovered, Wakumi worked hard to overcome her disability, training with her fellow bushi whenever the Unicorn made camp. Though her swordsmanship never reached the level it had been prior to the accident, Wakumi eventually recovered enough of her skill to to ensure that she was still able to defend herself. When her father perished during the hard ride through the dark lands, Wakumi ascended to the position of Unicorn Champion. Despite her lack of sight (or perhaps because of it), Wakumi was able to lead the Unicorn out of those shadowed lands and back to the Empire. The directions given by the Dragon were of invaluable assistance in the Unicorn's return, but more than once, Wakumi led her people past illusions and deceptions that fooled the sight of her advisors. Upon returning to Rokugan, Wakumi met with the Emperor and many of the other Champions, including Akodo Misaki. The Lion Champion was slighted by Wakumi's lack of refusal when gifted a large stretch of Lion lands, and not understanding the slight, Wakumi quickly left the Lion lands before she could offer any further insult to her new neighbors. Upon arriving in her new lands, the young Champion set about learning all she could about the Empire's traditions and etiquette, lest she offer further unintentional insult and bring future hardship to her people. Otaku Daimyo Otaku Xiu: Otaku Xiu is an experienced warrior who has served as the leader of the Unicorn for over almost three decades. Despite her age, she remains in excellent shape, and her mind is as keen as any samurai's blade. She has been Shinjo Wakumi's closest friend and advisor for over a decade, and it's well known that, had their grandparents not been distant cousins, Xiu would have already pressured the Champion into marrying her son, Otaku Orus. Though perfectly capable of being diplomatic and polite, Otomo Xiu is, at her heart, a warrior. She was often at the front of the Unicorn legions alongside her battle maidens, leading the charge into the darkness while bathed in the pure light of the crystal trinkets. When the Clan returned to Rokugan, Xiu visited the Dragon to thank them for their assistance. Upon returning to Unicorn lands, she began touring the areas allocated to her Clan, taking stock of the terrain in order to best advise her Champion how to divide up their territory. Ide Daimyo Ide Zhen: Despite being over sixty years old, Ide Zhen continues to serve his Clan as the daimyo of the Ide family, The venerable diplomat has poor vision and difficulty riding, but his children refused to allow him to make his final ride in the middle of the dark lands, lest he return to plague them as something far worse. For their sake, Zhen endured the frailties of age, holding out for as long as possible while teaching them as much as he could remember about the people he met and lessons he learned during his life. Zhen had thought that he would die in Rokugan, but his Clan's need has been too great. Shinjo Wakumi's faux pas with the Lion Clan proved that the gulf between the children of Shinjo and their cousins in the Empire had grown too wide, and she asked Zhen to endure for the sake of their Clan, to live just a few years longer, so that he might shepherd them through the most difficult transition of the Unicorn's history. For her sake, he agreed, but it is clear at a glance that the Ide daimyo is living on borrowed time. Ide Zhen is the only family daimyo to remain behind while the rest of his Clan rode off to save Shinjo, making him the de facto leader of the Unicorn in Shinjo Wakumi's absence. Iuchi Daimyo Iuchi Ming: The daimyo of the Iuchi is a meticulous, detailed woman who assumed her position after her mother, Iuchi Lin-Yue, was corrupted by the shadows. The thing that had once been Lin-Yue escaped into the lingering night, though she claims it has returned multiple times since then, riding at the edges of her vision and disappearing when she turns toward it. Disturbed as she was by her mother's disappearance, Ming has approached the matter in an analytical fashion, placing wards around the Iuchi tents and working special herbs into the candles they burn at night to ward away evil spirits. Ming hasn't seen the shadow-creature since she arrived in Rokugan, but she remains wary of its presence. The shugenja of the Iuchi spend their nights standing watch over their daimyo and the other Unicorn, ensuring that none of the shadows the Clan outran in the dark lands have followed them to Rokugan. Moto Daimyo Moto Gantulga: Moto Gantulga is the large, violent warrior who commands the Moto family. During the flight through the darkness, Gantulga and his elite guard fought tirelessly, beating back the living shadows time and time again, eventually earning him the title of "Hammer of the Unicorn" from his Champion. He would remain awake for days at a time, pushing his body to the limit as the Iuchi called upon their meishido time and time again to banish his fatigue. When Gantulga and his family arrived in Rokugan, they found themselves in a strange new battlefield. Their features were closer to the barbarians that had recently attacked the northern lands of the Unicorn than those of "respectable" samurai, and during his first meeting with the Crane, Gantulga saw just how much they set him and his honor guard apart from his fellow Unicorn. When he returned to the lands of the Unicorn, he set about preparing his family for the dangers hidden behind the beautiful silks and pretty paper fans of the Empire. Moto Gantulga doesn't know when the fighting will begin, but his family has never been one to back down from a conflict. |
|
| Author: | Mindshred [ Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: The Unicorn Clan |
Vassal Families of the Unicorn This is a list of the vassal families that are currently in existence within the Unicorn Clan. Characters that hail from vassal families are treated exactly the same as normal members of the Unicorn, save that they begin the game with the Vassal Family disadvantage. Members of a vassal family receive the same Trait bonus at character creation as their parent Family.
* Note that this change to Status occurs before the +.5 Status awarded to Imperial characters. An Imperial character with the Vassal Family disadvantage will thus begin the game with a Status of 1.0, rather than 1.5. Within their family, parent Family, and among the other Unicorn, members of the vassal Families are called by their vassal family name. To non-Unicorn, however, vassal family samurai are simply identified by their parent Family's name. To use a vassal family's name with an outsider over that of a one's parent Family is considered to be an act of arrogance, for it implies that the lineage of one's vassal family is more important and well-known than that of the Family he serves An Example For example, Hyuga Miki is a member of the Hyuga family, vassals of the Otaku Family of the Imperial Families. To other Unicorn, she is known as Hyuga Miki, as all Unicorn are immediately aware of the relation between the Hyuga and Otaku families. To non-Unicorn, Miki is simply known as Otaku Miki. If she wishes to recognize her own family, particularly if she wishes to be formal, she might introduce herself as "Otaku Miki of House Hyuga" or as "Otaku Miki no Hyuga." If an outsider was visiting Imperial lands, these protocol would remain the same, unless that visitor was within the holdings of the Hyuga family. In such a case, Miki could refer to herself as "Hyuga Miki" without seeming arrogant, as it would be assumed that the visitor would know he was in the lands of the Otaku Family. Given the size of most vassal family holdings, however, this exception occurs only rarely, perhaps once or twice in a normal samurai's lifetime. Vassal Families Hyuga (Otaku): The Hyuga family was created in the third century, after Otaku Hyuga successfully tamed the wild horses that the Otaku stole during their escape from the City of Sorcerers. While the Otaku traveled the world, the Hyuga family was tasked with caring for their steeds, ensuring that they remained well fed and watered. The Hyuga also birthed the foals of the Otaku steeds, and within two generations, they were the only members of the family trusted with that responsibility. Upon settling in the Empire, the Otaku have turned to the Hyuga to build, maintain, and manage the family's stables and, with them, their steeds. Naoko (Otaku): The Naoko were founded by Otaku Naoko, the granddaughter of Otaku Shiko and great-granddaughter of the Thunder Otaku. Shiko created the family when she became impressed with Naoko's attitude about honoring both the ways of the Ki-Rin Clan and of her Ujik-hai ancestors. Several other Otaku who felt the same as Naoko joined her family, and they and their descendants lived with great respect for both bushido and their gaijin heritage. Those Unicorn who felt a strong affiliation for the Ujik-hai ways were allowed to take the Naoko name with the daimyo's permission, and many took exotic gaijin first names to honor their ancestors. The Naoko look upon their return to Rokugan as the greatest trial of their family's existence. They know that if they allow it, their gaijin heritage will gradually disappear, subsumed into the culture of the Empire. It is their goal to ensure that the Unicorn do not forget their gaijin past. Marta (Shinjo): The Marta are one of the oldest vassal families of the Ki-Rin (and Unicorn) Clan, having been created by Shinjo herself shortly after the Clan's exodus. As they traveled, it soon became clear that the Clan's supply of paper would not last very long and that they would have to fine some other way of keeping their records and remembering their traditions. The solution to this problem came in the form of Martazera, an old Ra'Shari woman whose tribe was met by the Ki-Rin. Martazera opened Shinjo's eyes to the differences between the Ki-Rin and other civilizations, and she traveled with Shinjo and taught the Ki-Rin how to transform their knowledge into epic poems and long stories, allowing them to endure throughout the generations. What Shinjo didn't realize was that Martazera was also a member of the Qolat conspiracy, the Burning Sands counterpart of the Kolat. After she gained Shinjo's trust, Martazera suggested taking the Clan's heirs apparent into the desert alone for "training." Her training also included subtle brain-washing techniques and instruction about the Kolat's greater purpose, and in time, those seeds took root and resulted in the successive generations having a philosophical predisposition toward Kolat philosophies. Today, the Marta exist as the storytellers and history keepers of the Unicorn, but not in the manner of the Ikoma. Instead, their stories are focused on teaching and imparting lessons, even if the factual accounts of the story are less than accurate. Since their return to the Empire, the Marta have been tasked with transcribing the history of their people into a more permanent medium, though many members of the family are resistant to the idea, believing that it somehow "lessens" the nature of their history. Suio (Ide): The Suio trace their lineage back to Ide Suio, who was granted her family by Ide in recognition for her efforts in learning gaijin languages to improve diplomatic relations with other nations. Many of them are polyglots, and those Ide who show an affinity for foreign languages were given the Suio family name more as a means of designation than out of any sort of familial organization. With their return to Rokugan, the Suio have begun to question the purpose of their family, though a few have dedicated themselves to learning and understanding the language of the Naga and all of its nonverbal intricacies. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 6 hours |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|