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Bayushi-no-Kami 
Born: Unknown 
Died: Unknown 
Parents: Amaterasu
Onnotangu 
Siblings: Akodo
Doji
Hantei
Hida
Shiba
Shinjo
Togashi (Half)
Fu Leng (Half)
Ryoshun 
Titles: Kami
Scorpion Clan Founder
People

Bayushi was son of Lord Moon and Lady Sun, and one of the Kami who fell to the mortal realm from the Celestial Heavens, alongside his siblings. [1] He was the twin of Shiba. [2]

Heavens[]

Since the beginning of time, Lord Moon chased Lady Sun about the world. One day, he caught her, and as her light faded, the curtain fell on the age of the ancient races. Over the course of countless seasons, Lady Sun gave birth [1] to ten children: Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Shinjo, Fu Leng, Hantei, and Ryoshun. [3] Fu Leng was openly despised by Lord Moon, and all their siblings did not know why. Unknown to them, Fu Leng and Togashi had a different father than the rest of their siblings, a Lord who Lady Sun met during her wanderings from an unknown land he called Tian Guo. [4]

Fall of the Kami[]

Legends told that the Moon, jealous over Lady Sun's love for their children, swallowed their Kami children. This day was the night with no light, when Amaterasu wept for her children. Amaterasu saved her final child, Hantei, from being swallowed to save his siblings. [5] Amaterasu trained Hantei in the martial arts. When Hantei and Lord Moon finally did battle, he sliced open his father's belly, and the rest of his siblings tumbled out. They fell from the sky to Seppun Hill, save for one. Lord Moon reached out at the last moment and grasped Fu Leng. Hantei swung his sword one last time and severed his father's very arm. Fu Leng tried to grab ahold of Hantei, and they both fell. Plummeting downward, Fu Leng plunged through the earth to Jigoku itself, where he was lost. [1] Ryoshun's name was lost to history. [3]

Founding Rokugan[]

The Creation of Mankind[]

In some places, the blood mixed with Lady Sun's tears, and from that mingling came the first men and women. [1]

Tournament of the Kami[]

No longer immortal, the Kami shared the mortal realm with human beings. They resolved to teach and guide these humans, and they held a great tournament to see who would lead those who lived in this land they dubbed Rokugan. Lady Shinjo outpaced Lord Hida, but she was outwitted by Lord Bayushi. Lord Shiba saw through his twin Bayushi's trickery and emerged victorious. Hantei was the final victor, and after his coronation as Emperor, he charged each of his siblings with a different task. [1]

Scorpion Clan[]

Upon Bayushi the Emperor placed a heavy burden: to do what Hantei could not dirty his hands with. [1] Bayushi was the founder of the Scorpion Clan, and swore to Hantei that his followers would protect the Empire by any means necessary. [6]

I will be your villain, Hantei.
-Bayushi [6]

Bayushi founded the Scorpion Clan with a simple purpose: dishonor themselves so that others could live honorably. Thus, it was not duplicity that was the surest sign of Bayushi's method, but pragmatism. [7]

Bayushi and Shosuro[]

When Bayushi first met Shosuro he thought she was a stable boy, the next day a peasant woman, but he found out she could change her appearance when she held a knife to his throat at a geisha house on the third day. Shosuro would be the first member of the Scorpion Clan, and his lover. [5]

War Against Fu Leng[]

But not long after the Kami had begun to order the world and formed clans with their earliest followers, Fu Leng emerged from his subterranean lair. He confronted Hantei because he had not been invited to the Tournament of the Kami, and challenged Hantei's right to rule Rokugan. Togashi was selected as the Emperor's Champion, who in turn selected all that lives in Rokugan as his weapon. [8] Fu Leng assaulted the Empire with his dark army from the place which would be known as the Shadowlands, but they were eventually repelled from Rokugan by the Seven Thunders on what became known as the Day of Thunder. The cost was heavy, as only the Scorpion Shosuro survived the fight. Shiba stayed the hordes of oni and the undead while Isawa sealed their eternal enemy into the Black Scrolls. Shosuro could escape the Shadowlands with the scrolls, pursued by the armies of the Shadowlands. But fatally wounded, the woman known as Shosuro did not return to see her beloved Bayushi again. [5]

Bayushi and Soshi[]

Few days after the Day of Thunder, Bayushi was wandering along a road in mourning, when rain surprised him and took shelter behind a muku tree. Once again Bayushi felt the prick of steel at his throat. This time was a male shugenja named Soshi, who was ever-changing and ethereal, creating shapes that had no body. Bayushi took him as a follower, tasked Soshi with the study of the secrets of reality, founding the Soshi family, shugenja dedicated to the power of shadow. [5]

Legacy[]

Bayushi wrote the treatise Lies, which greatly influenced the Rokugani with his teachings. [9]

After Death[]

Tales of the Scorpion said that the spirit of Bayushi could sometimes be seen floating above a glowing lake which lied somewhere deep within the tunnels below Kyūden Bayushi. [10]


Preceded by:
None
Scorpion Clan Champion
5 [11] - ?
Succeeded by:
Unknown
Preceded by:
None
Bayushi Daimyō
5 - ?
Succeeded by:
Unknown


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 4
  2. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 9
  3. 3.0 3.1 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 9
  4. Adventures in Rokugan, p. 139
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock
  6. 6.0 6.1 The Great Clans
  7. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 223
  8. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, pp. 4-5
  9. Blind Ambition, by D. G. Laderoute
  10. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 41
  11. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 10


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