| Shinjo-no-Kami | |
|---|---|
| Born: | Unknown |
| Died: | Unknown |
| Parents: | Amaterasu Onnotangu |
| Siblings: | Akodo Bayushi Doji Hantei Hida Shiba Togashi (Half) Fu Leng (Half) Ryoshun |
| Children: | Five unnamed children |
| Titles: | Kami Ki-Rin Clan Founder Khan of Khans |
| People | |
Shinjo was daughter of Lord Moon and Lady Sun, and one of the Kami who fell to the mortal realm from the Celestial Heavens, alongside her siblings. [1]
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 nine children: Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Shinjo, Fu Leng, Hantei, and Ryoshun. [2] 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. [3]
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. [4] 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. [2]
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. Hantei was the final victor, and after his coronation as Emperor, he charged each of his siblings with a different task. [1]
Ki-Rin Clan[]
Shinjo was the founder of the Ki-Rin Clan. [5] She carried within her a curiosity that could never be fully satisfied, and she ceaselessly sought out new places, new cultures, and new discoveries. Her passion would be carry on to her followers. [6]
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. [7] 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. [4]
Shinjo's Journey[]
In the years following the defeat of Fu Leng, Shinjo was troubled. She felt that she had failed her fallen brother, as well as the Empire. To protect Rokugan from any further unknown threats, she resolved to journey beyond its borders. In the year 45 she gathered to her the bravest and most faithful of her followers, such as Ide, Iuchi, and Utaku Shiko, the daughter of Utaku the Thunder. They carried with them a mirror, crafted by Isawa and blessed by Hantei-no-Kami, which allowed to speak with her siblings during the journey. [8] Lady Doji was very sad to see Shinjo leave, as the sisters had always been close, and she gave Shinjo a beautiful fan that she herself had painted to serve as reminder of their bond. [9] To survive in other lands, her head-priest Iuchi learned name magic from sahir, called meishōdō, to replace the Fortunes' blessing. [10]
Ujik's Encounter[]
In the desolate Plains of Wind and Stone was so little water and food that the Ki-Rin began to starve. They were soon attacked by horseback-riding nomads known as Ujik, who were eventually impressed when the Ki-Rin confronted them with their captured horses and using their own tactics. Both groups began to trade, and in time, many of the Ujik joined the clan, now called the Moto. [8] When the Ujik people swore fealty to Shinjo, they gave her Chuluunbold, the sword of a great Ujik khan as a sign of trust and friendship. In turn, Shinjo gave the Ujik khan her own sword, Kiro, to return the gesture. [11]
Demise of the Rempet Empire[]
The Ki-Rin Clan resumed their journey and marched west, where they encountered the Cradle of the World, ruled by the pharaoh Nephrentep of the Rempet. They adored the Sun God, Shem, and Shinjo was declared to be Shem's sister from afar. Nephrentep's hospitality was a ruse, and he snatched Shinjo spiriting her away to his temple-palace, expecting to use Shinjo's divine blood in a ritual to prolong his life. The sorcerer's king undying guard attacked the Ki-Rin and drove them into hiding. The Ki-Rin found allies among the al-Qamari, a secret organization devoted to opposing the Sun Kings. Together the Rempet enemies staged an attack doomed on failure on Nephrentep's temple-palace. Eventually the moon blotted out the sun, throwing day into night, and ruling supreme until Nephrentep was cast down and Shinjo liberated. The oppressed peoples of Rempet rallied under Shinjo's banner and destroyed the corrupt empire of the sorcerer-kings. [8]
Division of the Clan[]
Shinjo realized that the world was too big, so she divided the Ki-Rin Clan into five hordes and sent them each in a different direction. Shinjo took the Blue Horde west; Iuchi took the Green Horde south; Moto Chabi Khan took the White Horde north, continuing the journey across the Burning Sands; Utaku Shiko took the Purple Horde east, into the Ivory Kingdoms; and Ide's Golden Horde remained in place, exploring the coast of the Conqueror's Sea. Tragically, Iuchi's Green Horde never returned. [8]
Shinjo's Children[]
After the clan crossed a scorched land known as the Black Plain, they lacked food and water. When they found a oasis, Shinjo warned them to eat nothing, to harm no animal, and to drink no water before she went into that place to get the blessing of the spirit's place. After eight days, Utaku Chiaki, desperate for food and water to feed her people, killed a deer and drank water from the grove. Suddenly the oasis vanished with no sign of Shinjo. Then, a unicorn galloped to the west, and so the people followed it. They found another oasis and waited eight more days until Shinjo, who was with child, appeared to them. She told that the Unicorn spirit of the oasis requested another life for the deer they slew, one of Shinjo's children. They remained in the grove for some months until Shinjo delivered five children, and one of them would return to the oasis when they would be old enough to decide whom for themselves. [8]
Shinjo and the World-Devourer[]
On the shore of the Endless Sea Shinjo realized that they could go no further, for no lands lay ahead. There the World-Devourer rose in the water, menacing to consume all the world, so the great enemy beyond the borders of Rokugan was found at last. Shinjo told her followers to return to the Emerald Empire, and she did battle with the crature she named, Orochi, the Great Serepent. The Kami disappeared when the beast swallowed Shinjo and half the ocean, vanishing beneath the waves. Her people said that Shinjo lived on past that day, for the belly of such a great beast contained all the world that it had already swallowed, and perhaps she had killed the beast and rode to return to her people, following his promise: "I will always return." [8]
Return of the Unicorn[]
Her clan rode south of the Pillar of the Sky mountains into the Ivory Kingdoms, reaching its eastern edge, which bordered the twisted forest of the western of the Shadowlands. It took them forty years to cross from the Conqueror's Sea to the Kaiu Wall, an impressive defensive structure built by the Crab Clan to defend the Empire against the monster which came from the Shadowlands. [8]
Unicorn Clan[]
The Ki-Rin would be known as the Unicorn after their return to the Empire. [12]
| Preceded by: None |
Ki-Rin Clan Champion 5 [13] - ? |
Succeeded by: Unknown |
| Preceded by: None |
Shinjo Daimyō 5 - ? |
Succeeded by: Unknown |
| Preceded by: None |
Khan of Khans 5 - ? |
Succeeded by: Unknown |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 9
- ↑ Adventures in Rokugan, p. 139
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock
- ↑ The Great Clans (Learn to Play Rulebook)
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 222
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, pp. 4-5
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Across the Burning Sands, by Daniel Lovat Clark
- ↑ Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 11
- ↑ A Most Suitable Teacher, by Katrina Ostrander
- ↑ Celestial Realms, p. 103
- ↑ The Rising Wave, by Marie Brennan
- ↑ Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 10
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