PC: Matsu Mogami
Clan: Lion
Sex: Female
Age: 16 (Born 743)
Height: 5'2
Build: Athletic
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Status: Single
Occupation: Gunso In Training
Physical Description:
Mogami is built like most of the women from the Matsu family, sturdy and muscular with sharp and intimidating features. Her hair is jet black, a trait she shares with her father, Akodo Takarada. Her Daisho is not noteworthy, a standard set of blades seen on most Samurai in the Lions armies. She can be seen in various outfits depending on her activity. A study pair of clothing good for working in on most days, donned in a gold and red set of armor when in battle or training, or an elegant kimono and courtiers fan when dealing with courtly business.
History:
Matsu Mogami broke a line stretching back to the start of time by being the first in her family to not train in a Matsu dojo. Her mother Matsu Kanae, who broke her families pureblood tradition of always marrying another Matsu, nearly lost all favor with Mogami's grandmother, Matsu Saena by marrying Mogami's father Akodo Takarada, a Chui for the Akodo armies. Things seemed to calm down between Mogami's mother and grandmother for a while, up until Akodo Takarada declared that Mogami would attend the Akodo Bushi school due to her impressive talents for tactical thinking, strict adherence to Bushido, and her demonstrated leadership. This was the last straw for Matsu Saena, now utterly disgusted. Her grandmother died in 754 in the slaughter the Lion armies faced against the Phoenix Firestorm Legion. After her death, Mogami's family felt a sense of calm and peace return to their household.
Despite the family internal affairs with her matriarchal grandmothers meddling initially, Mogami excelled in her schooling. She quickly rose to the top of the class, and routinely was learning things years in advance of the dojos curriculum. Soon it was clear that she was a prodigy, and one only seen rarely as her most impressive skill was that with a Yumi instead of the favored Akodo katana. On her gempukku, Takarada got permission from his superior to take Mogami into his command and immediately began her on the path to becoming a Gunso, a stepping stone to her eventually take a greater position of leadership and command. At first, he assigned her a single Budoka, a man named Tsuruga who had been part of the army for the past 7 years, but never stood out for anything more than living so long. The test was to see if Mogami could make him into a respectable archer, a test she passed with outstanding results as within a few months, Tsuruga could shoot better than some samurai. Shortly after, he entrusted another budoka to Mogami, a fresh recruit named Fuwa who had absolutely zero training at all.
Despite her great skill, since Mogami has devoted her battlefield prowess to mastering the art of Kyujutsu, she has not kept up with the lessons taught to her about Kenjutsu. Suffering numerous humiliating defeats and becoming the blunt of many jests, Mogami has to battle with herself to remain calm and ignore her failures any time she draws steel.
When the Steel Chrysanthemum returned, so did Mogami's Grandmother. Saena seemed to be almost repentant for her treatment of her family, and sought to live in the estate at Morikage Toshi and make peace while she walked the realm in the flesh. That however proved to be an elaborate ruse, as once the Emperor was slain, Saena murdered both Kanae and Takarada unceremoniously and then set her sights on Mogami, utterly disgusted that one of her heirs was so far gone into the pathetic ways of the Akodo.
Across Lion lands, peasants have heard tales of the bright new Samurai, and many dreamed of someday being assigned to Mogami's care due to her reputation of nearly treating her servants as equals, giving them excellent training, and generous accommodations. To think that an Ashigaru would be given a tent, let alone enough material supplies to have a comfortable life in the army was unheard of, and it made Mogami almost famous to the lower class. Of course, Mogami wouldn't have been able to do such a thing if she hadn't been given an incredibly generous stipend, making her richer than most Crane samurai.
Unbeknown to Mogami, she has another family member who has shown great care and kindness to peasants, the former Matsu and now Monk, Kayou. Having only seen Kayou when she was first entering her Akodo training, and then believing her to have died in battle, Mogami hasn't thought of the woman for years. However the heavens have seen to it that should the two ever come together again, they will be bound by karmic forces to further uplift the peasants of the world, Kayou being their spiritual leader, and Mogami being their commander.
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