Mirumoto Mareshi

Mirumoto Mareshi was a bushi of the Dragon Clan.

Family
Mareshi was the son of The Daini and Mara, making him Half-Naga. His mother trained the swordmastery with a Naga Blade which was the prefered weapon of Mareshi. His father's humanity meant he sometimes had difficulty in controlling his emotions, especially at his relatively young age. Through the Akasha, every Naga could sense the emotions of other Naga, especially those in close proximity. While Mareshi could not fully access the Akasha, it was enough to make him mildly uncomfortable around large numbers of his mother's people, and vice versa.

Demeanor
His strength of character was as great as his reputation with a blade.

Seeing the Kami spirits
Mareshi alwasy had a special ability, to sense and see the kami spirits.

Joining the Dragon Clan
Mareshi came to swear fealty to the Dragon Clan, being admitted by Mirumoto Uso.

Nemuranai Hunter
Mareshi was bein trained at Shiro Mirumoto when Mirumoto Kenzo put an eye on him. Mareshi was allowed by Mirumoto Rosanjin to be conscripted in the Nemuranai Hunters unit created by Mirumoto Temoru and led by Kenzo.

A shard of Ambition
Mareshi had followed a powerful nemuranai, the bloodsword Ambition. He went to Phoenix lands and was intercepted by Phoenix magistrates near the Shiba border, and went to the Shogun's camp. Mareshi waited there for a week before Kaneka summoned him. The Shogun gave him travel papers to reach the Village in the Valley. There a townsfolk told him that in 1132 a mad ronin gifted him with a scrap of steel. The man buried it, wrapped in cloth, because he was afraid of the voices he heard every time he touched the blade. Mareshi dug and found one of the remaining shards of Ambition, being the mad ronin Sanzo indeed.

Rain of Blood
After the Rain of Blood covered the Empire in 1165 Mareshi halted his hunting of nemuranai and began to hunt bloodspeakers. He and Kenzo joined the General Toku in the Phoenix lands, where cultists had been seen.

Hidden City
The enemies they found were animated dead. Doji Midoru, who was part of the army, took an amulet who was in a small shrine. It was the Emma-O's Amulet, and the Crane told it belonged to Akodo Tadenori, tainted in the Rain. The army received a dove with a message from the Master of Air, Isawa Nakamuro. He requested their aid to protect the secretive city of Gisei Toshi, unknown for the Empire until that moment. A Bloodspeaker army was marching to assault the City, led by Yajinden and Iuchiban. The battle had fared badly for the Phoenix during three days until the arrival of Dragon and Monkey forces. The defenders were able to open the gates time enough to permit their entrance. Toku's son, Toturi Kyoji, had sent a messenger to Toshi Ranbo informing that the Bloodspeakers marched on the Phoenix lands, but he asked for no reinforcements. They were all trapped there, outnumbered, with little hope of aid, in a city that did not exist. Five days later Nakamuro vanished and shortly after the north wall shone red, and tore itself apart from within. Kenzo rallied the defenders to fill the breach. The undead and bloodspeakers caming into the city and began to loot the temples. Kenzo ordered the defenders to do the same, denying part of the powerful artifacts to the enemy. Kenzo and Maershi went into the temple of Benten, and they were attacked by a creature of six legs, boar face with four long upturned tusks. The fight ended when the City was magically transported to another place, and the remnants of the samurai and Bloodspeaker armies retreating into the Mountains of the Phoenix.

Nezumi Alliance
In 1166 Mareshi was sent by the Kitsuki Iweko to the Northern Towers of Flame in the northern Dragon border. He met the commander of the Fifth Tower, Mirumoto Hirohisa, and the shugenja assigned in the Fires of Purity, Tamori Shinko. She told about the fire advised that Chosai's minions were incoming, but no attack or yobanjin presence was ever seen. Mareshi scouted the area and foun a warren of the Broken Shinbone Tribe, who killed any barbarian sent by the Dark Oracle of Fire that passed nearby. Mareshi and Set'tch'chet, Chieftain of the tribe, agreed to make an alliance Dragon-Broken Shinbone, in return for food.

Blood Hunt
After his tenure with the nemuranai hunters had come to an end, Mareshi had been selected to serve a brief duty on the Kaiu Wall, stationed at Razor of the Dawn Castle. Just as he walked through the town beyond the Castle on his journey back to Dragon lands, that Mareshi sensed something unusual in the village. A naga patrol of the Shinomen Forest contacted him through the Akasha. Moto Chen had sent them to hunt bloodspeakers. Mareshi and the naga came to village to destroy the Maho-tsukais.

Gaijin Pepper
In 1167 a group of Dragon Nemuranai Hunters, operating in Crane provinces without authorization, inadvertently discovered a secret cache of weapons and gaijin pepper hidden by Daidoji Harriers in case of conflict with the Lion. A group of harriers who were in the area attacked the Dragon to conceal their secret. During the fighting, the gaijin pepper detonated, leaving only a single combatant on each side alive but seriously wounded. Rosanjin sent Mareshi and the Emerald Magistrate Mirumoto Narumi with a party of magistrates to investigate the posesion of gaijin pepper at Kosaten Shiro. The bold Dragon movement was an attempt to threaten to expose the Crane in order to force them to withdraw their support of the Lion attack in the War of Silk and Steel. They were unlawfully detained by the acting lord of the castle, Asahina Keitaro. He did it to keep the secrecy that the Crane had captive the former Daidoji Daimyo and currently Lost, Daigotsu Rekai, who had been held captive in the dungeons. Mareshi and Narumi used a vial of Liquid Smoke to escape from the Crane guardians, while a small force of Dragon samurai began to assault the castle.

Kosaten Shiro is destroyed
Kosaten Shiro was sacked by the Dragon, who struck and fled. Rekai exploited the Dragon attack to escape and set fire to a significant quantity of gaijin pepper that the Daidoji Harriers had concealed within the castle for storage. The resulting explosions inflicted a severe damage in the castle structure. It led in the total involvement of the Crane Clan in the war. Mareshi claimed that the burning of the city was inevitable considering the task upon which he was sent. Mareshi explained all of this to General Mirumoto Kei on a road outside Kosaten Shiro, unaware that his words were being overheard by the farmer Ichizo. Because of this breach of security, Ichizo was able to warn the nearby villages while Kei was returning to Dragon lands for reinforcements. Mareshi then pulled his forces back to the southern Dragon Heart Plain to await further orders.

Lion joins the Crane
Word of the siege at Kosaten Shiro reached the lands. Angered at the attack on their allies, the Akodo Daimyo Akodo Shigetoshi took personal command of the northern border, with Ikoma Otemi's blessing, and began moving his forces north, cutting Mareshi and his forces off from the Dragon lands. Shigetoshi halted re-supply attempts, but the Dragon allies in Nanashi Mura kept the Dragon supplied for the time being.

Unicorn distracts the Lion
Another Unicorn incursion into the Northern Lion lands, prompting the Akodo forces to be relocated. It eliminated a blockade that separated Nanashi Mura from the Dragon homeland. The Dragon forces there moved to Kitsuki provinces. The Dragon armies pushed the Crane back across Dragonfly River, but could not maintain the lands south of Shiro Kitsuki when Akodo Shigetoshi arrived to reinforce the Crane. The Dragon were unable to withstand the two-pronged attack and fell back to Shiro Kitsuki.

Ascension to Mirumoto Family Daimyo
After the death of Mirumoto family daimyo Mirumoto Rosanjin and the end of his line, Togashi Satsu declared Mareshi the next lord of the Mirumoto family. Mareshi immediately requested the right to marry Mirumoto Kei, and Satsu granted his request. Since their marriage Mareshi ceeded most of his duties as daimyo to his wife, believing her to be more suited to the position. When both Mareshi and Kei were away from the castle the administration of the castle fell to either Mirumoto Hojatsu or Mirumoto Bokkai. In addition to his station as Daimyo, Mareshi was the Chief Shireikan in the Dragon Clan Army second only to his wife Kei.

Naga Visit
The same day of his wedding the naga Constrictor Qolsa accompanied by Zamalash arrived to Shiro Mirumoto guided by Mirumoto Taikishi. The Naga requested to Mareshi to guard the Shinomen Mori with his Dragon warriors, but Mareshi was obliged to refuse. He had new duties to fulfill as Daimyo and the war against the Lion and Crane. The Unicorn had refused to increase their numbers to keep safe the naga sleep, and it was seen by Kei as an omen of a new conflict with the Khan.

The Dark Oracles
When the Elemental Council decided to march an army out to engage the Dark Oracles, Mareshi was one of three Dragon Clan leaders who met with Togashi Satsu to decide whether to provide assistance to the Phoenix Clan or not. Mareshi argued against attacking the Dark Oracles and Satsu ended up agreeing with that position.

The New Dragon Champion
Since Kei's ascension to Dragon Clan Champion in 1170, the duties as Mirumoto Daimyo rested fully with Mareshi once more.