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Tōshigoku

Tōshigoku

Tōshigoku was the Realm of Slaughter. Rokugani souls who died in senseless battle or thinking of revenge were sent here after death, compelled to fight for all the eternity. [1] In Dragon lands, the Agasha tended shrines to Tōshigoku and Gaki-dō in order to balance the benevolent shrines honoring Meido and Tengoku. [2]

Creation[]

Emma-Ō originally created Tōshigoku as a special division dedicated to rehabilitating the overabundance of Rokugani dead who fell in unjust and unproductive war. He cleared out a particularly miserable neighborhood in Gaki-dō, built a castle there, and appointed an especially competent mazoku, Mujōki, the Ghost of Impermanence, as warden of its legion, whose ranks swelled swiftly with souls who died engaging in pointless violence. [3] The Eternal Battlefield was the largest of Tōshigoku's provinces, and the real was bordered by the Blood River. [4]

Fu Leng and Day of Thunder[]

Yomi's impregnable borders had kept Jigoku's evils in check, but Fu Leng's fall into the underworld ruptured those borders. As Fu Leng, saturated in Jigoku's evil, increased his power and influence, Jigoku encroached further on Yomi, even capturing several unlucky sorei, who suffered there to this day. Then came the Day of Thunder. Because the Kami so loved the Thunders, they petitioned Heaven that the fallen Thunders might ultimately live alongside them in Heaven instead of risking corruption in Yomi. The stewards of the Heavens went further, transporting the entirety of Yomi and all its sorei into the sky, where Jigoku's defilements could not reach them. Yomi was safe, but the underworld was lost to Jigoku, save for Meido. Emma-Ō, his Kings of Hell, and their loyal mazoku descended from on high to reconquer the world below. They seized the levels now known as Meido, Gaki-dō, and Tōshigoku from the forces of Jigoku, but keeping control of Gaki-dō and Tōshigoku proved vexing even for one of the greatest gods. [5]

Imposter[]

Tōshigoku’s proximity to Jigoku had led many of Jigoku's horrors to infiltrate the realm. [6] Unbeknownst to Emma-Ō, treachery had befallen Mujōki. Fu Leng deployed crafty oni to squeeze through Gaki-dō's fraying edges, infiltrate Tōshigoku Castle, and kidnapped Mujōki. An impostor ruled in his place, taking his shape and sending false reports to Emma-Ō. The false Mujōki was a sadistic oni who enjoyed violence for its own sake, training Tōshigoku's denizens in increasingly brutal martial arts and tactics. Meanwhile, Fu Leng's minions sought out Ningen-dō's most ruthless warriors, manipulating them into bloodthirst and carnage in hopes that they would find themselves in Tōshigoku. [3]

Known Portals to Tōshigoku[]

The sites of ancient battlefields overlapped with spaces in Tōshigoku, as do places where willful souls died in reat rage such as the Well of the Ateru. [7]

References

  1. The Sword and the Spirits, by Robert Denton III
  2. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 162
  3. 3.0 3.1 Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 138
  4. Celestial Realms, p. 29
  5. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 134
  6. Celestial Realms, p. 31
  7. Celestial Realms, p. 24


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