Fu Leng

Fu Leng, also called the Ninth Kami and the Dark Kami, was the lost brother of the eight Kami who fell into Ningen-do, the Realm of Mortals, and founded the Empire of Rokugan, but his true name was lost to time. It was Fu Leng who initially caused the fall of the Kami from the Celestial Heavens, and Fu Leng who fell past Ningen-do and into Jigoku, the Realm of Evil. Corrupted by the malign influence of Jigoku but still possessed of the divinity that his siblings had lost when they fell into the Mortal Realm, Fu Leng attempted multiple times to conquer and destroy the Emerald Empire that his siblings built. This desire for conquest was driven by his misguided and deeply vengeful belief that his siblings had intentionally allowed him to remain trapped in Jigoku after he had fallen from the Heavens. Amongst the Kami he was regarded as the second-best at nearly everything, excluding patience and bravery.

Like his brother the Kami Togashi, founder of the Dragon Clan, Fu Leng was able to take on the form of a dragon.

Appearance
Fu Leng appeared to be a small man, dressed in fine robes of black velvet, with a white porcelain mask covering his face. Despite his short stature, he always radiated power and command.

True Name
Fu Leng's true name has been lost to time. It was believed that the First Oni, the first Oni that Fu Leng created from the demonic spirits of Jigoku, carried Fu Leng's true name. The mad monk Kokujin became so obsessed with learning Fu Leng's true name that he released the First Oni from its prison beneath Shiro Heichi in 1159.

Onnotangu's Wrath
In the Celestial Heavens, the Lord Moon Onnotangu and the Lady Sun Amaterasu had ten children but Onnotangu, whose insecurities were being preyed upon by the Nothing, grew fearful of his children. The twin Kami Shiba and Bayushi sensed the danger implicit in their father's growing paranoia and approached their brother Hantei seeking to do something about it. Hantei was outraged that the two would scheme against their father and forbade them to do anything, but did not tell Onnotangu about their scheming. Fu Leng knew what his brothers had discussed and thought he to gain in his father's favor by telling the Moon god that his children were conspiring against him. After his worst fears were confirmed by his own son, Onnotangu's wrath proved terrible, and he sought out each of his children and ate them, including Fu Leng. But with each child, the sun goddess Amaterasu, disgusted at her husband's actions and desiring to free her children, fed Onnotangu a poisoned cup of sake, and by the time the Lord Moon came to eat Hantei he ate a stone by mistake. Hearing the cries of his divine siblings from within Onnotangu's body, Hantei became determined to face his father one day and free his fellow Kami.

Fall of the Kami
Hantei hid in the Realm of Dreams training until the time came when he was ready to face his father. This cosmic battle proved to be a mighty struggle, and when Hantei heard the sound of his siblings once more he cut open his father's belly. Onnotangu struck out in pain, tearing open a hole in the sky. Through it fell seven of the Kami liberated from the Moon god's stomach, except for Fu Leng who reached out and was seized in his father's hand. Rather than help his son, Onnotangu began to crush Fu Leng. Seeing the pain that his brother was in, Hantei cut off his father's hand, but not before Fu Leng reached out and grabbed Hantei in his panic, causing them both to fall through the hole in the sky. The Moon god's hand, Hantei and Fu Leng fell from the Celestial Heavens of Tengoku into the Mortal Realm of Ningen-do. Only Ryoshun, the Tenth Kami, did not fall, for as the first of the Kami eaten, he had already died and passed into Meido, the Realm of Waiting.

Nezumi Empire destroyed
Whereas the other eight Kami who had fallen from the Celestial Heavens landed in the Mortal Realm at Seppun Hill, Fu Leng fell along a different trajectory, passed through the Mortal Realm and ripped a hole into Jigoku, the Realm of Evil. This dimensional hole became the Festering Pit, the central point and source of the Shadowlands' Taint. The dark power of Jigoku enslaved Fu Leng, but he had mastered its power as well, which allowed him to remain an immensely powerful divine being while his siblings in the Mortal Realms were stripped of their divinity and became mortals, albeit mortals with far more power and knowledge than any others. The point in the Mortal Realm where Fu Leng had fallen through into Jigoku had been capital city of an advanced Nezumi empire, Heaven's Fall, but it was destroyed when the Ninth Kami passed through it and released the demonic forces of Jigoku upon the land. The rest of the Nezumi Empire's cities were destroyed as well in the chaos that followed.

Nonhuman Followers
The Bakemono and Trolls, two races of the mortal world subdued by the Nezumi, then offered their strength to the Dark Lord in return for a chance to restore their own dominance in the world. The Trolls were given the power of the Sea, while the goblins were given the power of Night and the darkness. The Ogres were cursed, losing most of their former intelligence and they soon fell into savagery.

Demons
In the depths of Jigoku, the demons of that realm became Fu Leng's only companions, as there were no mortals there to become his followers. The powers of Jigoku concealed his presence in the Realm of Evil from the other Kami, who Fu Leng came to believe had deliberately abandoned him to that terrible place, a misconception deliberately fostered by the demons. The demons encouraged his growing anger towards his siblings and led him to vow to destroy everything that his siblings had built in the Mortal Realm, including the Emerald Empire of Rokugan, their greatest achievement. The demons molded Fu Leng to become the embodiment of their retribution against the children of the Sun and Moon. Their interference and brainwashing of the Ninth Kami was responsible for the start of a thousand-year war between the Shadowlands and Rokugan, and the culmination of Fu Leng's true destiny, to form a Great Clan as his brothers and sisters had done, remained denied to him.

War Against Fu Leng
As Fu Leng grew in power within Jigoku and the Shadowlands grew in size as the Taint became stronger, more followers came to him, armies of dark creatures, twisted by the evil of the Dark Kami and Jigoku, that would ultimately wage a war for supremacy over Rokugan that became known as the War Against Fu Leng or the First War.

Human followers
Some time after the Fall of the Kami, a tribe of human bandits known as the Tribe of Noriaki came to swear fealty to Fu Leng. The tribe had been defeated by the forces of the Seppun family and the other Kami led by Hantei at Seppun Hill, and fled south into the Shadowlands under the leadership of the bandit lord Mutsuhito. After three months in the Shadowlands, the few Noriaki remaining reached the Festering Pit, where they met Fu Leng. Fu Leng questioned why he should accept the fealties of these men, but Mutsuhito convinced the Dark Lord of their use.

""Yet I am Fu Leng, the greatest of the Kami. What need have I for sheep such as yourselves? Why should I not destroy you as I destroyed the Nezumi?""

- Fu Leng

Confronted by their Brothers
Shinjo was the only one of the Kami to try and reconcile with their fallen brother. She visited his citadel in the Shadowlands, but her efforts were rebuffed. The Kami Akodo wounded Fu Leng in battle, but refused to finish him as he believed that a child of Heaven should not murder his brother, no matter what crimes he had committed.

Gathering of Thunder
Fu Leng was winning his war against his siblings' Empire, until Shinsei, a simple monk, but a very wise man, convinced the other Kami to give him one hero from each of their Great Clans to take the war to Fu Leng himself within the Shadowlands. These heroes became known as the Seven Thunders. Fu Leng attempted to defeat the Thunders before they even faced him, by having the Crane Clan's chosen Thunder, Doji Yasurugi, assassinated. The plot failed however, as Yasurugi's twin sister Doji Konishiko shared his soul and stepped forward to replace her brother among the seven.

Day of Thunder
Deep inside the Shadowlands, in Fu Leng's keep, the Thunders came face to face with the Dark Kami, who covered his face with a procelain mask. While the other Thunders distracted the evil god and his minions, Isawa bound Fu Leng in 12 magical scrolls, later called the Black Scrolls, never again to touch Rokugan, unless someone were to read the dark magics all of the scrolls contained and free his spirit. As the only surviving Thunder, the Scorpion Thunder Shosuro brought the scrolls out of the Shadowlands. Shosuro passed on the final words of Isawa to the Kami, warning them that the scrolls contained the doom of Fu Leng. The scrolls were then taken by Bayushi to be guarded by the Scorpion Clan. The events surrounding Fu Leng's defeat became known to later Rokugani as the Day of Thunder.

The Burning Words
The original gods of the Ujik-hai nomadic tribes, the Lords of Death known as the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang, came to an agreement with Fu Leng. The deal was that the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang would drive the Moto family of the Unicorn Clan into the Shadowlands on the condition that once Fu Leng was finished Tainting their bodies, the Lords of Death would gain control of their souls. This contract was named the Burning Words, and led to the rise of the Dark Moto. The Burning Words were nullified when the Otaku family decimated the Dark Moto in the War Against Shadow. The Shi-Tien Yen-Wang condemned Fu Leng for his incompetence, and have since vowed never to enter into an alliance with the Dark Kami ever again.

The Second Day of Thunder
As prophecy had foretold, the Black Scrolls were reopened 1000 years after they were created, and with their opening, Fu Leng once again crept back into Rokugan. Due to the weakness of the Emperor Hantei XXXIX from the poison of Bayushi Kachiko, Fu Leng was able to possess the young emperor. Piece by piece as each scroll was opened, Fu Leng's control of the last Hantei became more complete. With the opening of the twelfth Black Scroll, Fu Leng fully entered into the Mortal Realm of Ningen-do once more and became a mortal. It was then that Toturi and Doji Hoturi struck simultaneously and cut down Fu Leng, sending his spirit to the eternal wastes of Meido, the Realm of Waiting, where he was imprisoned by the Fortune of Death, Emma-O. The head of the corpse of the Ninth Kami, the artifact known as Fu Leng's Skull,was recovered by one of his minions.

Invasion of the Celestial Heavens
Many years after the death of Fu Leng, the Dark Lord of the Shadowlands, Daigotsu, hatched a plan to destroy the Imperial capital city of Otosan Uchi and release Fu Leng from Meido. Daigotsu travelled to Meido from a portal in the Imperial Palace's Throne Room and ensnared Emma-O by placing the Porcelain Mask of Fu Leng upon his face. The only being that could remove the mask was Fu Leng. When Emma-O summoned Fu Leng to remove the mask, the Fortune of Death was struck down by his own spear, a weapon capable of smiting a god, and Fu Leng was free to ascend to Tengoku, the Celestial Heavens, starting the Invasion of the Celestial Heavens, with the aid of his old allies, the Oni known as Akuma no Oni, The Maw and Yakamo no Oni.

A Fallen Kami
Once restored to the Heavens, Fu Leng and his Oni horde waged a bloody war with the Kami, Fortunes and Dragons. His sister the Kami Shinjo attempted to stop him, and surrendered herself to The Maw who came with her to see Fu Leng. Shinjo sought out Fu Leng to try and convince him to turn from his path, as she had done once before, long ago. The conversation between the brother and sister was brief. The Dark Lord swore that all beings that once walked as a mortal would be expelled, cast into the gloomy realms of the dead. When Shinjo reminded him that he to had once been a mortal, Emma-O's Spear proved too much for Shinjo and she was killed.

Temple of the Ninth Kami
Like all gods, the power of Fu Leng was increased through worship, and the Temple of the Ninth Kami offered te best way to channel to the Dark Kami every twisted prayer the minions of the Shadowlands uttered in his name.

The invasion of the Heavens was halted when the words of Hantei Naseru tricked Fu Leng into distrusting Daigotsu, whose unbreakable faith in the Ninth Kami was the source of Fu Leng's power. Taking advantage of this moment of weakness, Bishamon deprived Fu Leng of Emma-O's spear, and Hoshi pushed him back to Tengoku's Gates. Fu Leng was once again confronted by the Seven Thunders and decided to retreat to the Realm of Evil.

Upon his return to Jigoku, Fu Leng spoke with Tsukuro and pondered his defeat.

Communion with Daigotsu halted
In 1169 the divine communion between Fu Leng and his most devoted and favored follower, Daigotsu, the Dark Lord of the Shadowlands, was halted. The Dark Lord did not know if it was because of his own love for his consort Shahai and hisn newbron son Daigotsu Kanpeki. The true reason behind the loss of his link with his divne patron was foreseen by the prophet Kitsune Narako, for Fu Leng had once more become a mortal.

""A god made mortal held parlay with the fallen.""

- Kitsune Narako's prophecy

Fu Leng, found by the Spider Clan
In 1171 Daigotsu sent on a special mission the Onyx Champion Isawa Fosuta, and the Obsidian Champion, Daigotsu Hotako. Chuda Genkei and Daigotsu Minoko, who served them, found a man with long matted hair and sallow skin pulled too-tight over high cheekbones in a village. They sent word to Daigotsu that Fu Leng, currently a mortal man, had been found.

Furumaro
Fu Leng had lost his divinity at the hands of the avatar of the Ivory Kingdoms' goddess of destruction Shiva the Destroyer, who was named Kali-Ma. In turn, Kali-Ma lost a part of her own divine power, which was bound to a Black Scroll called the Essence of Jigoku. The goddess began to seek the scroll during the Destroyer War, while Fu Leng also searched for it, disguised as the monk named Furumaro.

Meeting with a special group
Fu Leng began to meet those Rokugani who would be instrumental in the near future. He arrived to Toshi Ranbo and met in a rocky garden with Yoritomo Saburo, he later talked with Utaku Kohana, and followed with a conversation with Mirumoto Ichizo. They believed he was a monk who gave them focus for their next steps.

The Scroll is opened
He was with a party of Rokugani who were charged with protecting the scroll, and eventually Yoritomo Saburo opened it in 1173. At that time, Fu Leng recovered his divinity and exposed his true identity to Hiruma Akio.

Death
Following the release of his power by Yoritomo Saburo from the Essence of Jigoku, Fu Leng was ready to reclaim his place as the Lord of the Realm of Evil and began to fight with Kali-Ma near a temple of the Scorpion Clan. Fu Leng chose to use his Dragon form and confronted the goddess, but he was killed by the gaijin demon.

After Daigotsu died committing seppuku as part of a deal with the new Empress Iweko I to transform the Spider Clan into a recognized minor clan of the Empire with his son Daigotsu Kanpeki as its daimyo, the Dark Lord's soul crossed over into Jigoku and replaced Fu Leng as the Master of the Realm of Evil. After Kali-Ma killed Fu Leng, Daigotsu appeared in the Mortal Realm and cradled the dead god in his arms and took revenge for the death of the Ninth Kami, ripping Kali-Ma's heart out of her chest in the process. Then Daigotsu ruled the Realm of Evil and possessed the power to create dark reflections of the gods and spirts of Rokugan known as the Dark Fortunes. The first of the Dark Fortunes was Daigotsu Susumu who became the Dark Fortune of Deception and the second was Daigotsu's consort Shahai who became the Dark Fortune of Blood.