Moto Gaheris

Please note: This article is about the Khan of the Burning Sands who returned the Desert Moto to Rokugan beside Lady [[Shinjo]. For other uses of the term, please see Puja (disambiguation).

Moto Gaheris
Born:	Unknown
Died:	1159, Month of the Dragon
Siblings:	Moto Khaidu
Spouse:	Moto Kara
Children:	Moto Gaheris
Titles:	Tar-Khan, Unicorn Clan Champion
People

Moto Gaheris was appointed by Shinjo herself to lead the Unicorn Clan after the previous Champion Shinjo Yokatsu was exposed as a Kolat and the Shinjo family was removed from power. Gaheris, disgusted with the Shinjo family, commissioned the construction of a new castle to be the base of power for the Unicorn. Shiro Moto was the resulting structure. His gaijin scimitar hung on the wall of Shiro Moto.

Ujik-hai

Gaheris was descendant of the Ujik-hai, a nomadic tribe of murderers who did not know the grace of the Fortunes and the protection of the kami, worshipping the Lords of the Dead, the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang. They knew of the Rakshasa of the Ivory Kingdoms in the East, and the worshippers of the dead, the Senpet Empire from the West.

Arrival of Shinjo

When Lady Shinjo first appeared, the dark Gods ordered the Ujik-hai to attack the Kami, but they were defeated. Those who swore to follow Shinjo got protection from the demons they once served and took a new name, becoming the Moto.

Cursed by the Lords of Death

The dark gods withered without worshippers, surviving only by the power of their anger and drive for vengeance. They went to Toshigoku, the Realm of Eternal Slaughter, a place of eternal death. There they took root in the soul of a Moto who lingered in one place for too long, Moto Tsume. The Lords took his soul, made a bargain with Fallen Kami and gave Tsume's body to him, setting a trap for the Moto.

Khan of the Moto Clan

Gaheris

Gaheris deposed the Khan Moto Kiyoshi and became the new leader of the Moto Clan.

Rokugani in the Burning Sands

In 1130 Kiyoshi told Gaheris that the Senpet had enslaved the Scorpion Clan. The former Khan saw it as an opportunity to take revenge on the Senpet, easy prey after the combat. Gaheris refused, believing it would be challenging prophecy, and would only cause problems for the Moto. Kiyoshi, alongside Moto Marik, took half of the Clan to fight the Scarab Empire warriors. When Gaheris realized Kiyoshi's rash move, it took intervention by the rest of the clan to avoid the total demise of Kiyoshi's supporters. His wife, the Ashalan Moto Kara, saw a storm in the distance, a bad omen.

Defeated by the Senpet

The Moto-Senpet War began when the Senpet were returning from their victory over the Scorpion Clan and the Moto descended upon them. But a sudden sandstorm swept up around them, and the will of the Lady washed them away into the sand. As they charged the Senpet army, the sand beneath them opened and Ghul's twisted fingers reached up at their horses' legs. Kara watched Khan Gaheris slip into the sand, followed by the screaming Senpet. Senpet riders came from the west and chariots charged from the east. They turned the horde about, but there was nowhere left to run. Gaheris and Kiyoshi were gone.

The Prophecy

Gaheris meets Ryoshun in the Rift

Gaheris was supposed to be dead and Kiyoshi got the khanate. Gaheris began a journey to fullfill an ancient prophecy, the Awakening. ^{[citation needed]}

Black Earth

In 1132 Gaheris underwent a divine experience and traveled to Black Earth. Gaheris focused on the swirling darkness, and saw a figure in the rift, Ryoshun. The Tenth Kami, the Guardian of the Rift, had guided him there, but then suddenly disappeared. Gaheris did not know that Ryoshun had been retrieved by a maho ritual and was shortly after killed by the Bloodspeaker Jama Suru.

Awakening

The screaming voice of the Kami Shinjo was sharp, hollow, and filled with remorse as she soared out of the barren realm. The great goddess Shinjo had awakened from her slumber beyond the rift and flew forth into the Black Earth where Moto Gaheris was waiting. They eventually escaped the barren realm of Black Earth, and Shinjo's freedom was complete. Gaheris' wife Kara was one of the four mystical avatars who sacrificed themselves to free Shinjo from her long sleep.

Releasing the Hanif

Gaheris aids the Hanif

During the Awakening the enslaved Hanif had escaped from their Senpet captors. They tried to elude the pursuing Senpet, but it appeared that they would nearly all be recaptured. Then, without warning, Gaheris arose from the Burning Sands to aid them.

Clan Champion

Khan Gaheris

After Gaheris had walked alongside a living god and had seen the impossible fate of the future, he decided to follow Shinjo. He knew the time had come for him to lead his people back to Rokugan. Only a handful of tribes remained in the Sands, under the leadership of Moto Ambaghai, son of Gaheris' younger brother Moto Khaidu.

Rokugan

Gaheris accompanied Shinjo on her return to Rokugan alongside a vast Scorpion army. Shinjo personally executed hundreds of members of her own clan, revealing them to be Kolat, and appointed the Moto family as leaders of the Unicorn, making Khan Gaheris the new Unicorn Clan Champion. He insisted his followers call him by his traditional title, Khan. Gaheris advised to kill Yokatsu's son, Shinjo Shono, who had vowed to serve Shinjo loyally and promised to atone for the sins of his family. Shinjo spared his life, accepting his vow.

March to Otosan Uchi

Shinjo and the Unicorn prepared to march against the maddened Emperor Toturi I. Gaheris rode at her side alongside with the White Guard and the Otaku Battle Maidens, leaving the Unicorn lands under the care of Shono. At the Imperial City the Unicorn fought the Imperial armies. The battle stopped when they realized Toturi had disappeared again, and Shinjo offered the throne to Yoritomo, who rejected it. Gaheris, the only other Champion Shinjo trusted, was a stranger to Rokugan and, uneducated in the ways of Rokugan, was unsuitable to occupy the throne.

Shiro Moto

The same year Gaheris built Shiro Moto, ending the nomadic life of the Moto, but the dark Gods knew where to find the betrayers. Gaheris placed the future of the clan before the safety of his own soul. After the death of the Clan Champion the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang would harvest his spirit.

War against the Dark Moto

Otaku Kamoko, who was leading the Dark Moto to their doom, informed the Unicorn clan of their forces' numbers and location. In 1133 Gaheris led the Shinjo, Iuchi and Ide against the Dark Moto deep in the Twilight Mountains beneath the Akui Cliffs in the Battle of Twilight Mountains. He defeated the lost Unicorn, uniting and bringing the Moto family back into the Clan. During the battle he skewered Moto Notu with Kiro, the Ancestral Sword of the Ki-Rin, and when Notu retreated the blade remained impaled in the undead, lost when he retreated to the Shadowlands.

Defeated

Eager to both expand his holdings and test the powerful Lion Clan, Gaheris commanded his army to strike across Firefly River in 1136. The returned Akodo family smashed a Moto and Iuchi offensive in the Ikoma provinces. Akodo Ginawa's victory in the Battle of Firefly River was unexpected.

War of Spirits

Gaheris fighting Tsuneo's legions

In 1138 Gaheris backed the right to rule of Toturi I against the wishes of the returned spirit Hantei XVI, which eventually led to the War of Spirits. Internal conflict wracked the Unicorn as the spirit faction sought to usurp power, keeping the Unicorn effectively out of the war during its early years. In 1145 Gaheris gained the upper hand and the Clan fully joined the ranks of the mortal armies. Hantei XVI struck back by sending an army, and the Unicorn saw the Fall of Shiro Iuchi, but the next year the stronghold was retaken in the Battle of Shiro Iuchi. The clan was free to assist the mortal forces until the end of the War in 1150.

Son's Death

His son Moto Gaheris bore his father's name, and was believed to have been killed by Hida Tsuneo during the War of Spirits; however, there is speculation that his death may have been an assassination ordered by Yogo Kitagi.

Legacy of the Naga

The Naga gave Gaheris a golden pearl known as the Legacy of the Naga just prior to re-entering the Great Sleep. Akasha was hatched from the pearl after several years.

Death

Weakened by age and illness, Gaheris was largely confined to Shiro Moto. He was gifted by Lord Sun with Enginoshi, the Celestial Sword of the Unicorn. Gaheris spent his last days in a monastery near Shiro Moto. While hunting alone he was attacked by an Ogre. Gaheris managed to kill it but was severely wounded in the fight. In the Month of the Dragon of 1159 Gaheris died in his sleep.

After Death

Gaheris no Shiryo

Gaheris went to Toshigoku to face the curse of the Dark Gods. His grandson Moto Chagatai alongside Moto Chen traveled to this realm, fought the endless armies of the dead Ujik-hai led by Moto Tsume to reach a safe path to the Lords of the Dead. Chagatai killed Moto Tsume, and made a deal with the Dark Gods: the Unicorn would again worship the Lords of Death and they would in exchange forget their revenge. In return Gaheris would be allowed to rest in peace.

Legion of the Dead

In 1166 Gaheris joined the Legion of the Dead. He had stepped forward to answer Matsu Goemon's call.

See also

• Moto Gaheris/Meta

External Links

• Gaheris (LBS - Shadow of the Tyrant)
• Moto Gaheris Exp (Soul of the Empire)
• Gaheris no Shiryo (Broken Blades)

Preceded by: Kiyoshi	Tar-Khan ? - ?	Succeeded by: Kiyoshi
Preceded by: Moto Soro	Moto Daimyo 1132 - 1159	Succeeded by: Moto Chagatai
Preceded by: Shinjo Yokatsu	Unicorn Clan Khan 1132 - 1159	Succeeded by: Moto Chagatai

References

This Unicorn Clan related article is a stub. That means that it has been started, but is incomplete. You can help by adding to the information here.