Shinjo

Shinjo was one of the Kami, the children of the Sun and the Moon. Onnotangu ate his own children, and when Hantei freed them all, they fell through a hole in the sky, out of Tengoku and into Ningen-do, the mortal realm.

The Ki-Rin
Once in Ningen-do, the Kami established the Empire of Rokugan. There, they decided upon a tournament to decide who amongst them should lead. Shinjo's speed and cleverness enabled her to defeat Hida, but the underhanded tactics of Bayushi then eliminated her. Shinjo went on to found a clan called the Ki-Rin. The Ki-Rin would later become the Unicorn Clan.

War Against Fu Leng


""It is my brother, Fu Leng. We thought he perished as Ryoshun did, but Fu Leng has returned. He has been driven mad somehow. He has pledged to undo everything Hantei has wrought and claim this land for his own. He commands an army of oni from the deepest pits of Jigoku.""

- Shinjo

During the War Against Fu Leng, Shinjo was the only one of her brothers and sister to try and reconcile with their fallen brother. She visited his citadel in the Shadowlands, but her efforts were rebuffed.

Attempted Alliances
At the beginning of the War with her brother, Shinjo sent her vassal Ide and his student Shinjo Bairezu with a message to the Yobanjin. Shinjo wished for the Yobanjin to join the Ki-Rin, to offer protection from the war with Fu Leng. The Yobanjin chieftain Battul would not accept and warned Bairezu to tell his master never to send messengers to them again.

Gathering Thunder
At the height of the war, the armies of Fu Leng were pushing the defending Crab back slowly. None of the Kami were willing to confront their mad brother, and defeat seemed inevitable when a wise man named Shinsei appeared. He revealed that a small group of individuals could infiltrate the Shadowlands and defeat Fu Leng, but they would have to be mortals. Hantei, grievously wounded from a recent battle, declared that one individual from each clan be sent to join in this endeavour. Shinjo sent her finest vassal Otaku to be the Ki-Rin Thunder. Shinsei assembled the remaining Seven Thunders personally, and joined them on the quest to defeat the Ninth Kami.

Day of Thunder
The Seven Thunders and Shinsei made their way deep into the Shadowlands, where they found Fu Leng and defeated him. The cost was heavy, as only Shinsei and Shosuro survived the fight. They fled north, with the First Oni and many other creatures pursuing. The timely intervention of Shiba allowed Shinsei and Shosuro to reach Rokugan, but at the expense of Shiba's life. Fu Leng had been defeated, but at a very high cost.

Burning Sands


""Fu Leng has been defeated, but I tak no joy in our victory. Perhaps there is a land where the Ki-Rin might find peace.""

- Shinjo

After the defeat of Fu Leng, Shinjo and her clan were tasked with ensuring there were no threats to Rokugan from outside its borders. Leaving only a small remnant of her clan behind (who went on to found the Fox Clan), Shinjo and the Ki-Rin rode north into the Burning Sands to explore the world.

First Encounter
One of the first groups the Ki-Rin encountered in the Burning Sands were the Ujik-hai, a warrior people who lived on the harsh steppes. The Ujik-hai had noticed the scouts of the Ki-Rin and their chieftain wished to take their equipment and horses for his people. Approaching the Ki-Rin with a banner of peace, the Ujik-hai lured out Shinjo, the heads of the Ki-Rin families and a small retinue to a meeting. Once they had the retinue surrounded the Ujik-hai attack, but the force of Shinjo, slaying fifty men, and the other family daimyo's slaying a dozen caused the attack to falter. The chieftain himself was beheaded by Shinjo, and the son of the chieftain managed only to see his father head cleaved in two before even hitting the ground, before he fled with the remaining Ujik-hai. Slowly several Ujik-hai came to join the Ki-Rin, and their numbers grew steadily with time. The addition of the Ujik-hai was fortunate, for they brought key knowledge such as how to find food, water and shelter in the very harsh environment. Shinjo would become very close with one of the Ujik-hai elders named Martazera, who would open Shinjo's eyes to the differences between the Ki-Rin and other lands. By the time the Ki-Rin exited the Ujik-hai steppes they had grown to over 1000 strong.

Shi-Tien Yen-Wang's Curse
The Ujik-hai came to the realization that the so-called heathens were not only worthy, they were honorable, more so than their own death gods, the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang Gods, whose corruption was becoming evident. The vast majority of the Ujik-hai, remembering true honor, led by a man named Moto, swore fealty to Shinjo. This became the Moto family of the Unicorn Clan.

No one was left to worship the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang and without worshippers, they began to die. The dark Gods cursed the Moto, and sought them with anger. It made the Moto the most nomadic family of all, as they attempted to escape the revenge of their former gods.

Shinjo's Promise
Shinjo made a promise to her followers that she would never leave them. During the Exodus of the Ki-Rin, she vanished when her clan happened upon a mysterious oasis.

Shinjo had been kidnapped by the Lying Darkness. For centuries she was held in the Black Earth, with dark jinn whispering in her ear. Nobody tried to find her but the Nothing did not corrupt her soul. The Lying Darkness, an ally of Fu Leng, was forbidden by the Dark Lord to twist her, and shinjo remained uncorrupted.

Utaku Shiko waited for her until she reappeared, and when she did, she was pregnant with five children, whom were ki-rin. Shiko decided she could not kill Shinjo for breaking her promise, and instead told Shinjo she could amend her promise that while she might leave her clan, she would always return to them.

The Return of Shinjo
After Bayushi Aramoro's victory in the Emperor's tournament the main Scorpion force arrives in Rokugan to reclaim their lands. The Kami Shinjo herself leads them after having been freed from imprisonment in the Burning Sands. Shinjo personally executes hundreds of members of her own clan, revealing them to be Kolat. With the help of the Scorpion, Shinjo learns of the Lying Darkness and its hold over Toturi. Shinjo assembles the combined force of all the clans to assault Otosan Uchi, which has become bleak since the return of Toturi.

Shinjo and Yoritomo
Shortly after the Mantis' defeat in Phoenix lands Yoritomo was approached by Lady Shinjo, who offered to put him on the throne. Yoritomo refused, saying he would never become a pawn of the Kami, even if it would make him Emperor.

The Departure of Shinjo
In anger at the death of her husband Onnotangu, Amaterasu commanded Shinjo to take all the Ancestral Swords of the Clans and throw them to the stars.

Shinjo left the mortal realm and ascended to the Celestial Heavens in 1133 placing Moto Gaheris in charge of the Unicorn Clan believing the Kolat influence of the Shinjo family not entirely gone. She set Otaku Kamoko among the stars to honor her sacrifice and commanded the Otaku family to change their name to Utaku so Kamoko would be the last Battle Maiden to bear the Otaku name.

Death
Shinjo was killed in 1160 after her brother Fu Leng, freed by Daigotsu and equipped with Emma-O's Spear, invaded the Celestial Heavens. Shinjo sought out Fu Leng to try and convince him to turn from his path, as she did long ago. The conversation between the brother and sister was brief, and so was the battle - Emma-O's spear proved too much for Shinjo and she was killed.

Reincarnation
The Kami found herself in the Realm of Waiting, Meido, where she found that the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang were trying to wrest control of the realm from Emma-O, claiming the Fortune could no longer discharge his duties properly. It was agreed that the Lords of Death and Emma-O would share control of Meido, and that Shinjo would go to Ningen-do, to await rebirth when the time was right.

However, it was believed that Shinjo reincarnated in Shinjo Shono and Moto Genki's daughter, Shinjo Min-Hee. Chochu and the Ninube wanted to steal the power from the reincarnated Shinjo, as well from the soul of Togashi. A Ninube killer tried to take Min-Hee, but Akasha fought the creature which fled.