Matsu Tsuko (TCG)

Matsu Tsuko (TCG)
Born:	Unknown
Died:	-
Parents:	Matsu Uniri Matsu Yunaki
Siblings:	Matsu Hiroru
Titles:	Topaz Champion Matsu Daimyō Lion Clan Champion
People

Matsu Tsuko was the Matsu Daimyō of the Lion Clan, Twice-Chosen, and victor of the Battle of Fate Gorge. She was the beloved of Akodo Arasou, the Lion Clan Champion.

Family

Tsuko was daughter of the Matsu Daimyō and Lion general Matsu Uniri, and Matsu Yunaki. Matsu Hiroru was her younger brother.

Uniri's Death

In the year 1100, a bitter dispute flared in the Imperial Winter Court between Uniri, a high-ranking general who also served in the Imperial Legions, and the Phoenix Clan's Master of Water, Isawa Kaiyoko, regarding the use of shugenja in the Imperial Legions. Uniri decided to march with his own Lion Clan forces into Phoenix lands to forcibly requisition the shugenja he believed the Imperial Legions were owed. Isawa Kaiyoko summoned the Tsunami Legion, but the Lion pressed until they imperiled the lives of the very students Kaiyoko was teaching at the Elemental Academies. Under the cover of torrential rain, Kaiyoko dispatched assassins who killed Uniri. Yunaki and Tsuko, who were in the same war tent, put up a fight of their own, dispatching several of the attackers. Despite Tsuko was only ten years old, she killed an assassin with a bokken. The next day, Matsu Yunaki assumed command and attacked the Phoenix in the Battle of Fate Gorge. It was Tsuko who proved the true rallying point for the Lion, when she cried for vengeance for her father. By the end of the day, the Phoenix had been driven from the field with heavy losses, and the Lion were victorious. Kaiyoko surrendered many shugenja from her Tsunami Legion to Yunaki, and the conflict ended.

Demeanor

After Tsuko's father was killed in a covert attack by the Phoenix, her gempuku had been rushed and early, and she was immediately elevated from student to daimyō. Tsuko was as renowned for her menacing fury as for her devotion to Bushidō and to the Empire. She took no insult lightly, and she had a broad definition of what constituted an insult. As daimyō, she insisted that each of her senior staff delivered briefings with exceptional detail, which she heared out with trademark intensity. Likewise, her commands to Shiro Matsu staff were exhaustively specific and must be carried out to the letter. She had been endorsed by the Lion's Pride, nad she had been the Topaz Champion.

Arasou's Death

In 1123 Tsuko was put under the command of Akodo Toturi, Arasou's older brother, and their army moved to reinforce the forces of Akodo Arasou, who been campaigning at the foot of Toshi Ranbo for several weeks, after the city had been seized by the Crane Clan. The command group also included Kitsu Motso, Matsu Gohei, and Matsu Agetoki. Tsuko regarded Toturi as a weak and fool commander, and she was disgusted by his way to approach battle. Eventually Tsuko joined the fray beside Arasou, and follow him in a frontal assault of the city's gate, only to see the Lion Champion to fall under the arrows thrown by Doji Hotaru, the Crane Clan Champion. Toturi became the new Lion Champion after his late brother, and sent Tsuko to Yōjin no Shiro for attending the funeral rites of her betrothed.

Raising Tensions with the Crane

A rōnin bringing a Crane appeared during Arasou's funeral. Tsuko recognized the prisoner as Doji Kuwanan, Hotaru's brother. Kujira, master of the Warriors of the Boar, had been manipulated to retake the contested village of Shirei Mura from the Crane, so he would offer it as a gift to the Lion, its former owners. Tsuko executed Kujira on the spot, because the capture was an act of trickery, a vile deception against the Crane. She decided to send Kuwanan to Hotaru, where he could confront his sister for her failure of Bushidō. She decided to set Kuwanan free to investigate the suspicious death of his father, the Crane champion Doji Satsume, and its ramifications upon all Crane.

Raising Tensions with the Unicorn

The Unicorn Clan broke a treaty with the Lion, which included the betrothal of the Unicorn Clan Champion Shinjo Altansarnai with the Ikoma Daimyō Ikoma Anakazu. In response Tsuko ordered Matsu Mitsuko to seize Hisu Mori Mura, which was among the named villages to be traded in the broken treaty. The Lion forces were overrun by superior Unicorn forces, giving the Lion ground to claim the Emperor his permission to wage war against the Unicorn.

Self-Proclaimed Champion

Lion Champion Matsu Tsuko

During war preparations on the contested Osari Plains, Tsuko decided to take control of the activities against the Crane Clan, self-proclaiming herself as the true Lion Clan Champion. She was quickly accepted by her generals, such as Kitsu Motso and Akodo Zentarō, who disavowed their Lord Toturi. Shortly after Tsuko's forces stormed Kyūden Kakita, where she took several prominent Crane dignataries as hostages. Tsuko was supposedly dead when the castle was destroyed by an explosion, and shortly after the new Imperial Regent Kakita Yoshi, lord of the castle, ordered the Lion to remove her troops from Crane and Unicorn territory, and to stop the Lion aggression. In the 11th day of the Month of Hida she reappeared at Toshi Ranbo leading a Lion army, the city where her betrothed's killer, Doji Hotaru, was present.

Usurper sat Upon the Emerald Throne

Tsuko was informed that Shoju had violently seized control of the Forbidden City with an army of Imperial Legionnaires led by Ambassador Ikoma Ujiaki and loyal Scorpions. The usurper sat upon the Emerald Throne and declared himself in league with the Shadowlands. In the 15th day of the Month of Hida she met with Ikoma Tsanuri, who told the loss of Commander Akodo Kyōsuke at Four Roads Village, their precarious hold on certain captured Unicorn villages, her soldiers' lack of supplies, and the cost of that supply shortage upon her army's ability to succeed. Tsanuri blamed Ujiaki had manipulated events to drive her armies toward further aggression toward the Unicorn, in order to advance his own agenda. Tsuko decided to cease hostilities with the Unicorn, to halt her seek of vengeance for her late betrothed, and to join the rest of the Great Clans in order to defeat the usurpers at Otosan Uchi. She sent Tsanuri to meet Shinjo Altarsanai to broker a cease of hostilities, requesting Unicorn to join the rest of the Great Clans against the usurper. Altansarnai was convinced to join Tsuko's forces, supporting the Lion assault upon the capital. In the 18th day of the Month of Hida an assembled army of Crane, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn samurai began the assault of Otosan Uchi. The Army of the Rising Waves joined them, quarreling the usurpers within the Forbidden City. In the fifth Day of the Month of Togashi they received word from the Crab that Hida Kisada had fallen, and Akuma no Oni's horde marched across their provinces with the discipline of a well-trained Shadowlands army. During the assault of the Forbidden City Tsuko fought against the ghosts that emerged from the ground, the souls bound to the Enchangted Wall. The soul of Arasou was summoned by Kitsu Chiemi, and he spoke the truth to the Lion, exhorting Lion and Imperial forces to put down arms, siding with Tsuko's forces. The treacherous Ikoma Ujiaki was cut down by Shinjo Altansarnai.

Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow

Tsuko's army approached the Cherry Blossom Snow Lake, near the Shinomen Forest, where the remmants of the Crab forces were awaiting the incoming attack of Akuma no Oni's horde. In the Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow she fought alongside Hida Yakamo, and also ashigaru like Katsuo. Tsuko was wounded in of her arms, but remained there, carrying a banner. Akuma no Oni took the field, confronting the defenders, and the demon killed the Dragon Clan Champion Togashi Yokuni himself. Tsuko knew that if the Oni Lord was slain in battle, he would be sent into Tōshigoku's embrace, where he could not escape. Forced to reveal himself on the battlefield, the Oni Lord was confronted and killed.

Aftermath

In addition to personally meeting with her generals to root out any trace of the corruption begotten by Ikoma Ujiaki's schemes, Matsu Tsuko began to work closely with the Kitsu daimyō to find paths to peace that honor the memory and sacrifice of the Lion Clan's ancestors.

Preceded by: Unknown	Topaz Champion ? - ?	Succeeded by: Unknown
Preceded by: Matsu Uniri	Matsu Daimyō 1100 - 1123	Succeeded by: Unknown
Preceded by: Akodo Toturi	Lion Clan Champion 1123 - 1123	Succeeded by: Unknown

External Links

• Matsu Tsuko (Children of the Empire)
• Matsu Tsuko (The Emperor's Legion)

References

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