Otemi

Ikoma Otemi was Captain of the Deathless, Protector of Kyuden Ikoma, husband of Ikoma Yasuko, and nephew of Ikoma Sume.

Beginnings
Before his Gempukku Otemi was named Ichiro. He defeated Matsu Nimuro when he was 12 years old in a kenjutsu trainee. He studied history, was a prepared swordman, expert horseman and even become quite accomplished at the art of taiko. Otemi entered in the Lion elite cavalry unit, the Lion Wardens.

Preparations of the Winter Court
His uncle, Ikoma Sume, proposed to Otemi should vie for the favour of the Four Winds to gain the Winter Court in Lion lands. If successful, Otemi would then apply for a title that had been vacant for many years, the Protector of the Imperial City.

Failed Winter Court
The Winter Court was a disaster, when a Pekkle no Oni was unmasked at Court, and the Four Winds ended it unresolved. Otemi was at hand afterwards to rescue Akodo Kaneka from an assessination attempt by bandits, when the bastard was traveling to Lion lands alone.

Bandits in the Ikoma land
Otemi took care of bandit brigades of Lord Hayato, clearing them out from Ikoma lands. From the saddlebag of a dead bandit's horse, his chief shugenja, Ikoma Tashiro found the map which shown the location of a lost island holding, the Island in the Mist.

Island in the Mist
"Otemi returned from his voyage with a jade-studded warship, a Nezumi crew, and a hold full of gold, and was rewarded with a Scorpion wife. Look upon him, and see what it means to be a Lion."

- Matsu Nimuro

Alongside Matsu Kenji, Otemi discovered the headquarters of the notorious pirate Yasuki Fumoki, the Island in the Mist, alongside with his vessel, the Deathless. The island was inhabited by nezumi of the Chipped Tooth Tribe, like K'chee, the Nameseeker H-Tach'kir, and the nezumi chieftain N'tuk, who was possessed by the ghost of the dead pirate Fumoki. Fumoki had been borrowing bodies to attempt to fulfill his destiny. Kenji was possessed by the dead pirate after she defeated N'tuk in combat.

Kenji and Otemi boarded the Deathless, and Otemi used his taiko knowledge alongside nezumi drummers to stun the gaki of the Sea of Shadows, defeating the giant beast living there, King Orochi, and claimed the vast riches in the name of the Lion Clan.

Betrothal to Shosuro Yasuko
In 1159 the Imperial Chancellor, Bayushi Kaukatsu, and his uncle, Ikoma Sume, decided Otemi would marry Kaukatsu's protegee, Shosuro Yasuko. Otemi was quite disgusted about the choice of his betrothed.

Protector of Otosan Uchi
Otemi became the Protector of the Imperial City, and guarded Otosan Uchi by captaining of the Deathless stationed nearby.

Matsu Domotai Kidnapped
Otemi also served as the protector of the Hall of Ancestors and Governor of Shiranai Toshi until Matsu Domotai's released from Tsuno captivity.

Wedding
The Protector of the Imperial City married Shosuro Yasuko in Otosan Uchi. After the wedding Otemi returned to the Deathless and to the sea; making it clear he did not love his new bride.

Fall of Otosan Uchi
During the Fall of Otosan Uchi, Otemi defeated the Shadowlands ships commanded by the undead Garen from his own ship, the Deathless, sinking Garen's flahgship the Revenant. Otemi landed and faced Garen in a duel in the streets of the city, being able to wound him and when he was ready to strike the final blow, the undead was rescued by the Shadow Dragon and disappeared. The position of Protector became defunct when the Lion Clan burned Otosan Uchi, until the title was resurrected by Toturi Kurako in 1168 and gave it to Bayushi Norachai.

Battle in the Ruined City
This year Otemi got words that a Lion expedition in the Ruins of Otosan Uchi had been cornered by Shadowlands and Bloodspeaker forces. Matsu Hyun had ridden to the Kitsu Tombs and had reported to the Kitsu Daimyo, Kitsu Juri. The Iuchiban's followers had opened a gate to Jigoku and the Lion boarded the Deathless to sail toward Otosan Uchi's beaches. They prepared a counterattack that released their brethren and Juri closed the portal in the Battle in the Ruined City. It looked the last time the ship remained in Lion hands. It was passed to the nezumi and I-m'jek became his captain.

Assassination Attempt
Otemi was hunted by assassins, but he saved his life.

Nimuro's Orders
Otemi was at Kyuden Ikoma when he was ordered by Matsu Nimuro to take command of the Lion forces at Kaeru Toshi. The War of the Rich Frog against the Unicorn had been at a standstill for months, and the arrival of the Dragon had only made things more difficult. His wife Yasuko decided to be with him despite Otemi wished her safe at home. Otemi begged his uncle Sume to use his connections between the Kaeru to protect his wife.

Relieving Hasaku's Command
During the War of the Rich Frog, the city had changed hands several times during the course of the conflict, but currently was under Lion control. Otemi took the place of Ikoma Hasaku, and the record of orders received by Hasaku from Nimuro were somewhat erratic. The same weakness that Nimuro denounced Hasaku for appeared to stem directly from the Champion's change in orders. In the Hasaku's seppuku Otemi was his second. His first action was to dismish the gunso Ikoma Korin, who had not had success in discovering the traitor who was informing the Unicorn about the Lion movements.

Kaeru family
Otemi met the Kaeru Daimyo, Kaeru Tomaru, and his son Kaeru Meiji. Both were warned of the leaking information, and that the traitor could be a Kaeru. Shortly after his visit Otemi knew that Tomaru had died poisoned.

Matsu Nimuro
He saved the situation, but the strange orders of Nimuro complicated his task. Driven by Bayushi Kaukatsu, Nimuro then came himself to lead the conflict, and died against Moto Chagatai, the Unicorn Clan Champion, in a violent duel; Otemi picked up the Celestial Sword of the Lion Clan, ordered retreat and put an end to the war, thus losing the town of Sukoshi Zutsu but saving the property of the City of the Rich Frog.

Yasuko during the War
Otemi noticed his wife had a strange behaviour before while they were at home, but did not know that she intercepted the reports that passed through Kyuden Ikoma and passed to her former Clan. Ikoma Korin had discovered it but decided to not inform because deep in his heart Korin knew that Yasuko was good for the Lion, and became a ronin. Yasuko informed Korin it was her last act of treason to the Lion Clan. She came to respect Otemi, to love him, though she knew Otemi's heart was elsewhere. Yasuko aided Korin and his Clan since then. Yasuko engineered the dead of Kaeru Meiji, for his treason to the Lion.

Lion Clan Champion
When Matsu Ketsui believed her son, the Lion Clan Champion Matsu Nimuro to be dead, she named Otemi as his successor until Nimuro's eldest son, Matsu Yoshino, came of age to assume the Lion Clan Championship. She had no real authority to act so, but her declaration was well received by the Clan, and Otemi himself accepted the championship in this way.

Ikoma Masote's death
Yasuko convinced Ikoma Masote's supporters that his failure to neutralize Doji Domotai, Doji Kurohito's daughter and Crane heir, when he engineered the death of Doji Akiko was a sign of weakness. Ikoma Korin and Otemi ordered him to die a coward's death for this treachery, and Domotai herself dealt the killing blow. Masote had not asked for a yojimbo to stand in for him and accepted his own death with courage. In this way Yasuko had answered the request for help her husband made, and the ancient wounds Kurohito's death had opened were bound again.

Proving leadership
The Lion had been lost a war, and its leader Otemi believed the Lion needed a leader who would inspire them, a hero. In 1167 the leaders of a broken peasant uprising had been fleed to Dragon lands. Otemi ordered Akodo Natsu to pursue them, and to request free pass to the Dragon. The expected refusal would be used to begin the conflict. The Empire would learn to respect the Lion once more, even if the cost would be measured in Dragon lives. It led in the begin of the War of Silk and Steel, which quickly would evolve in a war between the Dragon and the Lion's allies, the Crane Clan.

Matsu Yoshino
Matsu Yoshino, Nimuro's son and future Lion Clan Champion, was appointed by Otemi under the command of Ikoma Fujimaro shortly after his gempukku.

The Wanderer
In 1168 the Kitsu Daimyo and Lion representative at the Court, Kitsu Katsuko, sent words to Otemi that the Emperor Toturi III was not in seclusion as they had been lead to believe. He had spent the past few months traveling the Empire as a disguised wanderer in search of enlightenment and lately entered the Shadowlands. The Emerald Champion Yasuki Hachi had requested all clans send a small force of warriors at Crab lands to join him in finding and protecting the Emperor. Otemi sent the young and untested Beastmaster Matsu Benika at the command of their fleetest unit, the Lion Wardens. The experienced Matsu Takuya would hold command until the border to the Shadowlands was crossed. After that point, Benika would make decisions regarding battle and tactics, best suited to an adaptable commander not bound by the conventions of traditional tactics as Benika.

Two-War Front
The Khan Moto Chagatai was seeking a covert path to Toshi Ranbo and sent an expeditionary force that was crushed by Yoshino and Ikoma Fujimaro's forces. Otemi sent Matsu and Ikoma forces to strengthen their western border and Akodo Shigetoshi aided by Akodo Kobi would lead the Akodo joining the Crane against the Dragon. Yoshino did not believe that the Khan would falter until he found a safe passage to Toshi Ranbo.

Otemi steps down
After Matsu Yoshino, tutored by Otemi and Ikoma Fujimaro, proved himself worthy and became the Lion Clan Champion, Otemi remained on as the young champion's advisor, and gained the nickname "The General".

Toturi III's death
After the death of the Emperor Toturi III he and his wife were summoned by Matsu Yoshino. Yasuko lobbied to give the Lion support to the Empress Toturi Kurako, who was specifically left in charge of the Imperial Court while the Emperor withdrew, until a new heir was officially crowned. Otemi had arranged the marriage of Yoshino who accepted it as a part of a Champion's fate. After the meeting Otemi let his wife to investigate if Tsuruchi Etsui, a young who also had returned from the Tomb of the Seven Thunders knew more than he said about who Naseru wished as the Emperor's heir.

Khan's Defiance
In the winter of 1168 the Unicorn Clan Champion Moto Chagatai began a campaign to seize the Imperial Throne, the Khan's Defiance. The attack was sudden and captured Shiranai Toshi before the Lion could mount a decent defense. Words arrived Otemi at Kenson Gakka, and as the Khan marched upon Kyuden Ikoma, Yoshino and Otemi laid out a plan that would strike at the command post of the Khan, attempting to cut the head off the beast.

Otemi Wounded
Otemi lay in wait in a small village, and when the Khan's banner became visible Otemi and his men charged, taking the Unicorn by surprise. The advantage lasted only for a short time, and Chagatai shot Otemi twice with arrows. Otemi's life was just barely saved thanks to Yoshino's forces collapsing the castle gate and striking out at the command unit. Otemi was whisked away to safety but was severely wounded. The Khan torched the castle in the Fall of Kyuden Ikoma and took all the supplies his army could carry from the castle stockpiles.

The Khan's Assault on the Capital
Otemi's wound prevented him from aiding Matsu Yoshino in the defense of Lion lands and the Capital in 1169.

Recovering
From his wounds Otemi had a limp he was unable to overcome. He trained to be ready when one year's time Yoshino would march to Shiro Moto.