Yoritomo Naizen

Yoritomo Naizen was a bushi of the Mantis Clan. He was known as the Scourge of Storms.

Naizen became the Mantis Clan Champion in 1167.

Demeanor
Naizen was a blunt, intimidating man who met any threats with unnerving calm.

Bandit
Naizen began his adult life as an honorable bandit. Raiding Phoenix, Lion, Crane, Crab and Fox territories on land and sea, he was a successful bandit, but held himself and his men to high standards of behavior. He was known for not killing those who did not attack him, and even challenged, and slew, a follower that he found harassing a Kakita artisan during an attack.

General
Eventually, he found himself up against the new Champion of the Mantis, Yoritomo Kitao, who offered him an ultimatum, join or die. The truth was, he was actually relieved to do so, for he had tired of the constant bandit life and had sought a more honorable path. Recognizing his resourcefulness and abilities, Kitao made him one of her generals and he soon became one of her most trusted servants. In her service, he soon found himself troubled, though. Kitao ordered him to seek out and kill her newly arrived rival, Yoritomo Kumiko. Naizen was willing to commit the deed, but was troubled for he had thought that his days as a cutthroat were behind him. In addition, he had learned that the Daughter of Storms was an honorable, noble samurai that he might have chosen to serve. But, he was not willing to fail his daimyo.

Helm of Thunder
As part of his efforts, Naizen visited the Temple of Osano-Wo, and took possession of the Helm of the Thunder Dragon. It was his hope that this would guide him on his path.

Chasing Kumiko
Kitao commanded Naizen to chase and kill Yoritomo Kumiko, the heir of Yoritomo. He came to Gateway Village to met Tsuruchi Yutaka. The Tsuruchi had tracked down Kumiko, and Naized confirmed the reward promised by Kitao: Yutaka would become the Tsuruchi Daimyo if he could send Kitao Kumiko's corpse. The Tsuruchi Daimyo, Tsuruchi Ichiro, would be forced to step down or have to commit seppuku. The plot was foiled by Tsuruchi Nobumoto, the Commander of Gateway Village, and in the conflict Tsuruchi Terao killed his cousin Yutaka. This incident was considered the true beginning of the Mantis Civil War.

End of Mantis Civil War
In 1160 Naizen was onboard the Kitao's flagship, the Bitter Flower, sailing to retake Kyuden Gotei. Ishada summoned a typhoon who covered their approach, but a waterspout appeared toward the ship. Naizen used the Helm of Thunder to control the situation, but instead turned the balance to favor Kitao, he decided that the best Mantis would triumph, disappearing both the spout and typhoon. With the visibility recovered, Kumiko sailed to the Bitter Flower and boarded it. Kumiko faced off with Kitao and defeated her, but spared her live. At this point, the Onisu Settozai, who had been laying in wait and feeding on the clan's emotions during the conflict, was forced out of hiding, weakened with the sincere gift freely given by Kumiko. Tsuruchi Okame fired a Crystal Arrow to the Onisu, and Kumiko single-handedly slayed the Onisu.

Topaz Championship
In 1166 the Mantis retrieved a Crane nemuranai from a captured vessel of the Dark Wave Fleet. Naizen created a forge to missdirect whoever could try to steal it. Naizen observed how Yoritomo Satako, a bushi contender of the Topaz Championship of this year, had been brilliant aiding the Moshi contender, Moshi Kiyomori, in winning the Championship. He appointed Satako as gunso of the Mantis fleet in Tsuruchi lands as a guardian of the item, the forged one, or the real one, she did not know.

Yoritomo Kumiko
Under the Championship of Yoritomo Kumiko, Naizen continued his activities as before, but he no longer had the trust and respect from Kumiko that he had with Kitao.

Emperor's Wedding
In 1166 at Ryoko Owari the Emperor Toturi III married Akodo Kurako in a secret ceremony at the spur of the moment before the unveiling of the Toku's Shrine, in honor of the Fortune of Virtue. It was presided over by Seppun Kiharu, master of Toshi Ranbo's Ten Thousand Temples, witnessed by Yasuki Hachi, the Emerald Champion. It was not informed in advance to the Imperial Court and Naseru did it in the opening ceremony of the temple. Naizen publicy offered their forgiveness to the Scorpion Clan, ending the Blood feud began with the Yoritomo Aramasu's death. Bayushi Paneki, recently new Scorpion Clan Champion accepted it.

Revenge
Bayushi Sunetra, who recently stepped down as Scorpion Champion, had become the personal agent of the Emperor, the Underhand of the Emperor. In the wedding day she lured Bayushi Kamnan, Aramasu's assassin and member of the Gozoku, to the Mantis states at Ryoko Owari, where Naizen and his servants where waiting him. Kamnan was killed and his identity was replaced by Bayushi Baku, the Scorpion spirit, as a way to work against the Gozoku from inside. The Mantis Clan had taken the revenge they desired, and true forgiveness would begin.

War of Fire and Thunder
In 1166 the Phoenix Clan declared war over the Mantis, after a Black Scroll used to destroy a village was found in a Mantis vessel. The Mantis decided to quickly end the war with a bold movement. Two big armies landed north of Rokugan, crossed the Yobanjin area, and would strike the heart of the Phoenix, Kyuden Isawa. The first army was led by Yoritomo Yorikane, a veteran Imperial Legionnaire, and the second by Naizen. The armies in their way had to cross Fujita Mura, a slightly defended village. Yurikane's army was halted after his leader died in a duel against Kakita Tsuken, who had vowed to spare the city if he was defeated. Naizen marched only two days behind the first, and no vows had been made regarding the city. Kaiten's commander, Doji Jun'ai, had gathered forces from several clans and fortified the city. Naizen's army, while bigger, was discouraged by the opposition guarding what had been an easy target, and retreated.

Stalemate in the War
Kumiko ordered to raid all the Phoenix coast. In 1167 the War with Phoenix was in a stalemate. Kumiko ordered Naizen to attack the inland village of Nikesake. It was the center of the Crane-Phoenix Treaty, and they risked a Crane retaliation, but the Mantis needed a foothold in the Phoenix coast to be exploited as a logistic center for further attacks. Naizen first option would be to seize the City of Remembrance but she was aware of the power which laid there through the connection of the city with the Dragons of Tengoku.

Battle of Broken Waves
The Master sensei of the Storm Riders, Yoritomo Kaigen, noticed the orochi were moving sluggishly. He feared that it might be a result of the colder weather, which the serpents might not have experienced in their home realm Sakkaku. Kumiko assembled the entire Mantis fleet and sailed on the lands of the Phoenix in a winner-take-all assault, and both the Council of Five and the Shiba Army were awaiting for them when they would land. . Both sides were taking heavy losses in the Battle of Broken Waves, when the Dark Wave Fleet led by Kitao appeared attacking both sides. Naizen convinced the Phoenix Clan Champion, Shiba Mirabu, and turned against the true threat. Kaigen and the Master of Earth, Isawa Sachi, destroyed the corrupted fleet in a new created island, also sacrificing themshelves, and the Battle of Broken Waves was won.

Mantis Clan Champion
After the death of Kumiko and Kitao in the battle, Yoritomo Naizen became the new Mantis Clan Champion. His first major action as Champion was to refuse the Phoenix terms of surrender and demand that the Mantis retain the islands gained during war, including the new created one, Kaigen's Island. The Master of Air had took the leadership of his clan and assented, but the petition in the courts of Mantis dismissal as Great Clan was not be retracted. The Celestial Sword of the Mantis, Nobori Raiu, was recovered, and Naizen bore it. He ordered the construction of Kyuden Kumiko in the Kaigen's Island to honor his antecessor, founding the City of Broken Waves which surrounded the palace and occupied the entirety of the island.

Winter Court - 1168
Moshi Eihime told the full report of Yoritomo Yoyonagi, the Mantis attendant in Winter Court at Kyuden Otomo. The Phoenix seemed to have lost interest in their petition to remove Mantis status as a Great Clan. Moshi Kalani and Naizen would travel to Broken Wave City. Eihime informed were manipulating trade with the  in their favor, which the Crab had recently discovered. Phoenix were blaming the Mantis were manipulating prices to their disadvantage, a matter that Naizen had not given instruction to do so, and ordered Eihime to investigate who was behind.

Khan's Defiance
Naizen shared the secret plans of the Khan Moto Chagatai, the Khan's Defiance. Eihime in privacy confirmed the supplies traded with the Unicorn, a cargo of dried fish, best suited for military marches, had been delivered by Yoritomo Bunmei. The

Meeting the Protector of Toshi Ranbo
Naizen secretly travelled to the capital Toshi Ranbo in 1169 under the false name of Yoritomo Bakishi. He met with Yoritomo Utemaro, Utemaro's gunso Yoritomo Isoshi and the Protector of the Imperial City Bayushi Norachai. Norachai was not aware of who Bakishi truly was. Norachai wished to rearrange the defense of the capital, placing the Mantis on the east wall. Utemaro was outraged, but convinced by Norachai that it was necessary.

Khan's Assault on the Capital
The Unicorn arrived Toshi Ranbo from the west. During the Battle of Toshi Ranbo the defenders were stroken from the rear with magic. It cleared a massive path through the city's perimeter, giving the Unicorn an opening between the two largest concentrations of Lion forces. The spells were cast by shugenja over a city watchtower. The Akodo Daimyo Akodo Shigetoshi personally attacked and killed the traitor shugenja. Naizen faced Shigetoshi in personal combat. They stopped when a maddened Isawa Sezaru appeared hovering over the city exploding buildings and radomly killing defenders and attackers. Shigetoshi laid unconscious but Naizen spared his life. He did not wish to recall the entire Akodo line's wrath against him for eternity.

Arrival of the Phoenix
The Master of Fire Isawa Ochiai used the Egg of the Void to summon the Dragon of Fire above the Imperial City. The Phoenix moved in and stopped the fighting between the Unicorn forces and the defenders of the city, and maintained the peace in the city for months afterwards with the Dragon watching over them.

Khan defeated and shamed
Chagatai and Naizen were brought before the present heads of the Great Clans, though perhaps suprisingly was spared execution on his grounds that he was simply trying to ensure the Empire had a strong leader thanks to Naizen's words. It was decided that the knowledge that Chagatai had been defeated and would now be forced to go home in shame, along with the reputation of being an ambitious failure of a barbarian was punishment enough. The Akodo Daimyo Akodo Shigetoshi was ready to force another resolution but was restrained by the appearance of the Lion Clan Champion Matsu Yoshino. He swore before the court that the Khan would die, however - in a year's time, in honorable combat, when the Lion claimed Shiro Moto for themselves.

Strenghtening the Clan
Naizen despite his role during the Khan's Defiance was in a position that allowed the Mantis to expand their territory and influence. South of the ruins of Otosan Uchi they built in secret Houritsu Mura, which would became the headquarter of the Tsuruchi Magistrates in the northern Empire. To have a foothold in the southern Empire, they purchased more than three quarters of all merchant patronages in Teardrop Island in Ryoko Owari, and Mura Sabishii Toshi. Both villages de facto belonged to the Mantis. From these places Mantis magistrates and troops could marshal and deploy quickly. The magistrates would maintain order and law within an Empire with no Emperor, and their influence in the rokugani would increase. Naizen proclamated the Mantis Clan as the Defenders of the People. The Mantis began to be in competition to dominate several large ports with the Crane.

Imperial Court
The Mantis delegates, Yoritomo Yoyonagi and Yoritomo Sachina, were the most gifted the Mantis had ever had in court, but becoming too embroiled in their own petty bickering. Naizen appointed Yoritomo Singh at court to oversee them and to report the first time this in-fight jeopardized the Mantis agenda in court.

Hunting Pirates
Sometime this year, Naizen ordered that the pirate group known as the Serpents of Sanada were to be destroyed. The ship sent to deal with them, the Spoils of War, was destroyed by the Serpents. Sometime not long after the Serpents were destroyed by the Spider Clan.

Fox Absorbtion
In 1166 Kumiko had sent Nobumoto to request the Fox Clan Champion Kitsune Ryukan to join the Mantis, but he refused. In 1169 Naizen sailed upriver to met Ryukan, and gifted the Fox with the Candle of Shadows. It was used to conceal a prophet, Kitsune Narako from the assailants they were suffering. Following this period of trouble with an unknown enemy based in Kitsune Mori, where the Fox Clan had been forced to accept the aid of the Mantis Clan, in return Ryukan, reluctantly, allowed the Fox to join the Mantis Clan.

Emperor Candidate
The Lion Clan nominated Toturi Shigekawa for Emperor, and Yoritomo Yashinko met with Naizen to plan the Mantis response. Naizen thought Yoritomo Yoyonagi the most prominent Mantis candidate, but Yashiko suggested that the Dragon of Thunder's favor on Naizen may be a strong boon for his nomination.

Expelled from the City
In the Month of the Rooster in 1169 a fight broke out between a handful of Akodo and Mantis samurai. Naizen and his personal guard became involved in the fighting, which led to the Phoenix banishing both the Lion and Mantis from the Capital.

Test of Jade Championship
After the Emerald Championship was won by Shosuro Jimen Naizen was afraid that the Scorpion could take too much power if they seized the Jade Championship as well, even would not be long before they claimed the throne as well. He ordered the Moshi Daimyo Moshi Amika to ensure the Scorpion did not claim the position, and sent their best shugenja, Moshi Kiyomori, Moshi Sayoko and Amika herself.

Secret Aid to the Unicorn and Crab
Naizen ordered Tsuruchi Etsui to perform a plot to aid the Crab Clan against the Crane Clan and the Unicorn Clan against the Lion Clan. In both instances, they would undercharge one side and give them the highest quality of goods while they would overcharge the other side and give them vastly inferior goods. He acted against the Lion as revenge for their interference in the control of Mura Sabishii Toshi, which had reverted to Crane control after the Lion followed a duelist tactic there.

Emerald Champion
Naizen offered some measure of support to the new Emerald Champion Shosuro Jimen in hopes of deflecting his interest on these economic matters. He sent Tsuruchi Kazushi to hunt down and eradicate any pirates operating along the coast in the Emerald Champion's name. Jimen seemed the sort to appreciate such layered deception.

New Mantis candidate for Emperor
Surprissingly Naizen endorsed Tsuruchi Etsui as another Mantis candidate for Emperor in the Race for the Throne. He had discarded Tanari, formerly known as Tsuruchi, for the young hero who stood at the side of Toturi III as his final defender before he breathed his last. He bore his final words back to the empire, so that we would know that he fell a hero. He also could have used those words to aggrandize himself, but he did not, thinking only of the Empire. The Mantis saw Etsui as an Emperor they could control.

Spider Clan allies
The Mantis had been aided by the ronin who called themshelves as the Spider Clan against a particularly dangerous bandit gang. This relation would be considered by Naizen fully paid when they were safe. The Mantis escorted them from the Shinomen Mori as promised. The Mantis turned on the survived Spider allies and destroyed them.

Proclamation
Yoyonagi sent words that a Celestial Tournament would be held sponsored by the Celestial Heavens to select the new Emperor. The one who best exemplified the essential elements of the samurai, the Bushido, would prevail. Naizen was counseled to send another individual to the contest to avoid his name sullied if defeated.

Dragon of Thunder cast down to Ningen-do
During the Elemental Dragons' purge of all non-fortune, non-Emperor mortals in the Celestial Heavens, the Dragon of Thunder gave up a part of its own divinity to make Yoritomo a rightful resident of the heavens. Thunder was cast down to Ningen-do, and began to reside in its oceans. Thunder considered the possibility of physical danger, and death, so seeing its own vulnerability it called out Naizen, who immediately went to protect it with the Mantis Clan fleet. He departed with the majority of the Second and Third Storms, while his personal fleet, the First Storm was delegated to Kalani. While the fleets were in position to defend the dragon, they were joined by new defenders, the ningyo. They came to protect the Dragon of Thunder, which the mermaid race called it avatar of our Spawn-Father.

Marriage
Naizen was married to an un-named Kitsune niece of the Kitsune Daimyo, Kitsune Ryukan. Sometime in 1172 she gave birth to twins.