Shahai

Shahai was formerly Iuchi Shahai of the Unicorn Clan. Primarily due to her manipulations, Rokugan saw the third return of the dreaded maho-tsukai Iuchiban to his full power. Her high ranking within the Bloodspeakers led her to also become a important lieutenant under the Dark Lord of the Shadowlands, Daigotsu. She was also called the Lady of Blood.

Appearence
Shahai was an attractive woman. Her hair was drawn back in a fashionable style, held with an elaborate network of pins and strings of black pearls. A long braid spilled down her back, looping about her throat twice. Her skin was pale and smooth; her powerful blood magic had shaved the edge off her true age. She wore pale lavender robes, with a silver tanto tucked beneath her obi. A blood-red ruby was set upon the hilt, a symbol of her command of the Order of Bloodspeakers. A necklace of jade Witch Hunter amulets hung about her neck, both a trophy of her conquests and a protection against the Taint.

Family
Iuchi Shahai was daughter of the daimyo of the Iuchi family, Iuchi Daiyu, and cousin of Iuchi Katta.

Rise to Power


During the reign of Toturi I, she began to hear a voice that promised her great power. She listened to the voice and it lead her to the Forest of Dreamers, where she found a ruined house. Inside the house, she found a battered skeleton and a collection of scrolls. Painting a kanji on the skull's forehead with her own blood, she animated it, and the skull introduced itself as "Grandfather". Grandfather told Shahai how to become a Bloodspeaker. Under the instruction of Grandfather, she slew her father and ascended through the bloodspeaker ranks, offering her services to Daigotsu as an equal. She earned her place in the Shadowlands hierarchy by slaying the Dark Daughter of Fu Leng with a powerful ritual to assume her place. During her time with the forces of the Shadowlands, she fell in love with Daigotsu.

Grandfather
The spirit who spoke to Shahai was the yokai of Yogo Junzo, who had died twenty years before Shahai animated the skull. The ivory skull, with the kanji symbol of Void scrawled in blood upon its forehead, had a jagged crack that split the skull down the center, a bitter reminder of an encounter with the Unicorn Thunder two decades earlier.

Filled with Koku
In 1132 Seppun Kossori came to Shiro Iuchi with chests filled with Phoenix koku. She had been paid by Shiba Tsukune for hired ronin to the depopulated Phoenix Clan. Kossori gifted the koku to Shahai to get the Unicorn favor to her aspirations as the new Empress, being Toturi disappeared. Kossori did not know that Shahai secretely was a bloodspeaker and she would use the koku to her particular goals.

Manipulation of the Crane
Shahai commanded Doji Adoka to kill Kakita Ariteko. The bloodspeakers had placed a box filled with Phoenix koku and Ariteko's nephew, Daidoji Sembi and Daidoji Uji mistakenly believed the Phoenix had paid Adoka for his treachery. In return the Crane Clan did not support his Phoenix ally in the Mantis Invasion of the Phoenix lands.

Burning Words
Kuni Yori sensed the power of Shahai and met her in Unicorn lands. In 1132 Yori gave Shahai the Burning Words, a written account of a bargain between Fu Leng and the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang, gaijin Lords of the Dead. Inside the written account was a prophecy, which told of a True Moto who would strike down his bethren. The bloodspeaker willingly accepted the quest to find the Unicorn hero. This meeting had been watched by a hidden Kyoso no Oni.

Thunder
Otaku Kamoko distated the purge Shinjo had made after his return, cleansing the clan from kolat. Shahai sensed it and offered her the Burning Words, but she initially refused. Kamoko heard the voice of Kyoso in her mind promising to protect her against the taint. In return Kyoso would be hidden inside Kamoko's soul, to have an opportunity to be near her mutual enemy Moto Tsume. Kamoko accepted and struck down Shahai, without knowing the bloodspeaker anticipated this movement and raised fully healed by a ritual performed before the meeting.

Shahai Revealed
Shahai told his father the dark path she had willingly taken, and escaped.

Bloodspeaker Cultist Leader
Sahai raised in the Bloodspeakers ranks and became the leader of a cultist cell. She knew that the cell many years ago had exiled three individuals to Jigoku after an experimental ritual. Shahai returned them back to Ningen-do. They were Omoni, Goju Kyoden and the last Hantei over Rokugan, Daigotsu.

Death of Toturi
Kyoso no Oni was guessing who was behind the Toturi's death and the Tsuno arrival. She asked Shahai, but the bloodspeaker had not been involved.

Preparations of Winter Court
When the Four Winds issued invitations to the Emperor's Winter Court, the location of the court was left in the hands of the representatives of the Great Clans.

Shahai killed a Miya Herald who carried a message intended for Usagi Ozaki, daimyo of the Hare Clan. A Pekkle no Oni was summoned by the death and torture of the unfortunate herald, and Shahai sent the oni to Winter Court to kill one of the Winds, masked as the Hare courtier, Usagi Fuyuko.

Seeking Daigotsu


Shahai was seeking Daigotsu in the Teeth of the Serpent, beside the Black Finger River, when she met the Dark Daughter of Fu Leng, second of Daigotsu. Dark Daughter took Shahai to Daigotsu. Shahai met her cousin Iuchi Katta and Moto Yesugai, both lost to the Shadowlands, and entered in the Temple of the Ninth Kami. The dark monk Hanoshi introduced her to Daigotsu, who was with his yojimbo, Goju Kyoden.

Shahai refused to be anything but equal to the Dark Lord, and fought the Dark Daughter for her station among them. After a quick magic duel, Shahai subdued Dark Daughter absorbing her soul and power. Shahai received the name of Dark Daughter of Fu Leng from Daigotsu, and she Shahai claimed to be his equal.

The Tsuno and Domotai
Following the capture of Matsu Domotai by the Tsuno in 1158, Domotai was given to Shahai to torture. He was held for months until his rescue when Toturi Tsudao led an attack on where he was being held in Shinomen Mori.

Carpenter Wall Falls
Shahai fought in the Shadowlands' attack of the Kaiu Wall.

Fall of Otosan Uchi


In 1159 Shahai was supposed to participate in the Fall of Otosan Uchi, but she had to magically depart to Shinomen Mori to deal with Toturi Tsudao's legions fighting the Tsuno. Daigotsu gifted her a fan.

Preparing the Defence
In 1160 Daigotsu knew the Four Winds were gathering at Kyuden Seppun by the Oracle of the Void, to march against the City of the Lost, as the Dark Oracle of Void foresaw to the Dark Lord. The generals were prepared for the battle. Kyoden and Chuda Mishime were sent to increase the defences of Toguchi Shinden, the temple of the Tsuno, which was in fact unknown to the Empire. It was a manoeuver to take Kyoden away the City, because he would be instrumental in the resurrection of Daigotsu after his death in the upcoming battle, which also had been foresawn by the Dark Oracle. Daigotsu only revealed his plan to Shahai, and the Dark Lord thought they had come to love one another.

Death and Resurrection of the Dark Lord
Shortly after Daigotsu's death, Omoni mended the fatal wounds Toturi Tsudao had inflicted and left the Dark Lord's vessel whole again. Goju Kyoden, Shahai, Omoni and Chuda Mishime came to the House of Goju and the yojimbo committed seppuku to sacrifice his soul to the Shadow Dragon in order to resurrect Daigotsu. The vengeful Fortune of Death Emma-O still retained part of Daigotsu's soul, which purified Daigotsu of his Taint and left him unable to call upon Fu Leng's blessing. Other men would have leapt at this chance to escape the Shadowlands taint but Daigotsu's faith in Fu Leng was not diminished. Daigotsu chose instead to hide his "weakness" to all but his closest followers and resume leadership of The Lost.

Masquerade
Shahai believed Iuchiban would be a worthy ally of the Dark Lord, and she sought out the Bloodspeaker. In 1165 Shahai engineered a masquerade. She disguised as an Asako Inquisitor, Asako Genjiko, and allowed Iuchi Katamari, Kaiu Kuma, Kaiu Sui, and Seppun Saito, Emerald Magistrates of Kakita Bogu that were under the tracks of a bandit gang for months, to save her from the bandits. Sui, who had been trained in the Kitsu Tombs being able to sense and commune with any ancestor spirit, was told by the soul of one of the dead bandits that they had found the Fourth Mask of Iuchiban and delivered it to his master Mohai.

Luring Gineza's descendant
Kuma was the descendant of Kaiu Gineza, the legendary engineer who constructed the Tomb of Iuchiban. The location was well hidden, forgotten by all save a few - but Gineza remembered, even beyond the veil of death. When Sui called out Gineza's spirit, told him how serious the threat to the Empire was, Gineza suffused your being, joined his memories with yours, and Kuma knew where the Tomb was.

Tomb of Iuchiban
When they reached the Tomb, the Emerald Magistrates who guarded it were already dead, murdered by Mohai. Sui convinced the group to enter the Tomb to face Iuchiban with the aid of the spirits who dwelled there. Gineza's spirit guided the inside avoiding all the traps he built and set centuries ago. Inside the Tomb each of them were separated and tempted by the Bloodspeaker. When the images and voices disappeared they were all together.

Betrayal
Shahai revealed her ordering Mohai to kill Katamari, and the bloodspeaker appeared from shadows and struck him down. Saito, who was Seppun Jin, cut the throat of Sui, and was healed by Shahai after Kuma made a bargain with her. Shahai, who had been a servant of Iuchiban before she joined Daigotsu, offered the freedom to the Heartless if he accepted their terms. She would free Iuchiban, if the Heartless would help her make Daigotsu whole again.

Third Raising of Iuchiban
Iuchiban and Shahai played a game of deceit, who was won by the Heartless. Shahai saw the Ruby of Iuchiban and ordered to trap his soul there. She believed Iuchiban had entered in the Ruby, sensing a new soul of gran power inside, and broke the wards of the Tomb. She realized her mistake when Mohai seized her, being the bloodspeaker possesed by Iuchiban himself, who has introduced the soul of Yajinden into the Ruby. Kuma, Katamari and Sui rushed at that moment to escape from him. They found a Iuchiban's prisoner, Adisabah. He was a Rakshasa and had been talking to Katamari aiding him to overcome the powers of the bloodspeaker. Adisabah healed completely Sui and shortly after the Tomb began to collapse. Iuchiban faced the group, being the Kuma's soul out of his body, occupied now by Yajinden's soul. Kuma was death. Yajinden seized Katamari, to kill him. Sui used the Kuma's spirit to empower Katamari but died in the process. Katamari took Yajinden away, and with the magic of the Iuchiban's prisoner, Adisabah, departed magically with the Rakasha.

Iuchiban wishing to keep power for himself, obliged Shahai to serve him. Eventually, Daigotsu rescued Shahai and defeated Iuchiban, but her problems had not ended. Kyoso no Oni, an enemy of Daigotsu, decided to focus its attentions on destroying her.

Daigotsu's Child


Shahai and Daigotsu had a child together named Daigotsu Kanpeki.