The Legacy of the Forge were spirits from Toshigoku, faceless warriors who had been neglected or forgotten by their descendants after honorable death upon the field of the battle, stripped of their identity and purpose. [1] This powerful force corrupted and destroyed samurai, dragging them into the Realm of Slaughter to join the armies of the murderous dead in an endless cycle of death and destruction. [2]
Creation[]
After the Return of the Ki-Rin the Lion Clan was in shock, as a barbarian force had defeated the armies of two Great Clans, the Scorpion and the Lion itself. The Lion believed that falling to such scum was unconscionable and ordered the names of the samurai who had died in battle against the Unicorn to be stricken from the Ikoma Histories. The Legacy of the forge was created this day. [3] They could be divided into three parts: the rank and file, the commanders, and the new recruits. [4]
Kitsu[]
The Kitsu called them toshi, which meant "Fighting Warriors". Early Kitsu forayed into Jigoku discovered them and freed many of them, who returned to their proper course in the Celestial Heavens. The rest were sealed off within a distant part of the underworld by the Sodan Senzo and forgotten. [5] Only few of the Kitsu sent to Toshigoku returned. Those that did all became bushi in service to the Kitsu, convinced that only as warriors could they properly protect their clan from the horrors they had seen. [6]
Ritual to Control the Legacy[]
Another Sodan Senzo, Kitsu Jikai, researched about the Legacy, theorizing they could be controlled, and moved to Jigoku where they belonged, through Ningen-do and Meido. He even devised the ritual that would allow it, but at the same time advised of the great risk of it. Unless the ritual to lead them home was performed quickly, a Legacy unleashed upon the Empire would rapidly grow out of any kami's control, destroying everything it touched. The scrolls were considered heretic, and exiled within the family's archives in the Castle of the Swift Sword. The accounts would be found in the 12th century by a Scorpion infiltrator, Bayushi Sozui. [7]
Bayushi Sozui[]
In 1120 Bayushi Sozui enraged by the loss of Kenson Gakka to the Lion provoked a rift between Lion and Crane. Along with the traitor Kitsu Goden, Sozui manipulated the tensions between both Clans using the Legacy of the Forge. At the Battle of the Forgotten Tide [8] in 1123 [9] Goden unleashed the Legacy to possess Lion and Crane samurai to push them into madness fight. Bayushi Sozui and Kitsu Goden escaped, and released the Legacy again in the Battle for Shiro no Yojin and the Battle on the Plains of Gaiju Shindai. Goden was exposed but the conflit led to the Lion-Crane War. [10] [8]
Tsuno[]
During the Tsuno attacks to the Lion these beasts slaughtered villages to a man, taking the corpses with them, and moved to Toshigoku, in an attempt to add more ranks to the Legacy. [6]
References
- ↑ Strike at Midnight: Everything Dies
- ↑ Secrets of the Lion, p. 93
- ↑ Secrets of the Lion, pp. 93-94
- ↑ Secrets of the Empire, p. 214
- ↑ Legacy of the Forge, p. 10
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Secrets of the Lion, p. 94
- ↑ Legacy of the Forge, pp. 10-11
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Legacy of the Forge
- ↑ The Atlas of Rokugan, p. 283
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 19
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