Hayashi no Uragirimono

For the Scorpion Clan, there is no virtue higher then loyalty. Though it's enemies might claim that it is their only virtue, few can deny that the expectations the Scorpion put on the loyalty of their clan mates are great indeed. In a typically Scorpion manor, the clan has developed a means of punishing the treacherous and disloyal, who occasionally appear in their ranks, that boggles the mind and put fear even into those who are stout of heart.

It is called Traitor's Grove.

When a traitor is discovered and caught, he is taken to a small copse of trees just South of Kyuden Bayushi. There, he is bound to a tree. After a lengthy and intense ritual, the traitor in question, who is now is a great deal of pain, has a long, sharp knife put to his or her chest. Their crimes against the Scorpion are read aloud. With each crime read, the knife is thrust in a little deeper. Only the magic of the shugenja performing keeps the accused from dieing in the middle of the ceremony. Once the accounting of the crimes is finished, the knife is fully plunged into both traitor, then tree. Not only does this kill the betrayer, but it also binds his soul within the tree. Personal effects and treasures are hung off the boughs of the condemned soul's new prison, so that each tree can easily be identified.

While it not known for an absolute certainty, the Scorpion do not seem to believe that such a fate is anything but eternal agony. Listening to the unearthly creaking and moaning of the trees in the dead of night, one would be inclined to agree.

Traitor's Grove was first created to the actions of one Bayushi Tesaguri, son of then Scorpion Champion, Bayushi Junzen. In the year 545, Junzen's faith with the Yogo family had waned considerably. Believing them untrustworthy, he took the forth, fifth, and sixth Black Scrolls from them, and trusted them with his son, Tesaguri. Tesaguri was both an able general and capable shugenja, who had proven his value to the clan time and time again.

Unfortunately, Tesaguri was not nearly as trustable as his father believed him to be. Seeing and opportunity for a quick profit, he sold the original scrolls to the Phoenix Clan, created forgeries to put in the place, and went about his business suspecting that no one would be any the wiser for it.

Yogo Ichinore, daimyo of the Yogo, was not so easily fooled. He quickly deduced the scrolls to be fakes, and brought the matter to the attention of Junzen. When Junzen called his son forth to explain himself, the Champion's son wasted no time in fleeing or damning himself. He didn't get very far.

He was hastily bound to a tree, and an impromptu ritual was enacted. In time, and with some modification, it would become the standard procedure for the punishment of those who betray the Scorpion Clan.

As the first to enter into the tortured place that is Traitor's Grove, Tesaguri has the dubious honor of being considered it's founder. As such, on the day of his birth (the third day of the Monkey), any Scorpion within a reasonable distance comes to Traitor's Grove to throw stones at the trees of those who dared to put even the slightest stain upon the loyalty and brotherhood of the Scorpion Clan.