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Tetsubo of Thunder 
Tetsubo of Thunder
Created by: Osano-Wo
First used by: Hida Kenzan
Currently in the possession of: Temple to Osano-Wo
Nemuranai

The Tetsubo of Thunder became the Ancestral Weapon of the Bat Clan when Moshi Iongi, its bearer, offered his service to its founder, Komori.

Appearance and Abilities[]

The tetsubo was made of strong metals and embedded with pieces of eternal jade. [1] It was marked with an image of the coiled Thunder Dragon. Some said the tetsubo was cursed, and that those who held it inevitably began to hear Osano-Wo's voice. The Fortune of Fire and Thunder was a powerful being, but he was an unforgiving master. [2] He punished the wielder if he did not act to the Fortune's exacting standards. [1]

Hida Kenzan[]

When Osano-Wo died, he ascended to the position of Fortune of Fire and Thunder. He sent a tetsubo infused with his power to his son Hida Kenzan. [1] Following his father's death, Kenzan went to mourn him on an island in the tainted Sea of Shadows. Kenzan left the tetsubo in a shrine as an offering to his father. The Kuni proclaimed the island sacred, and warded it so the Shadowlands would not take root there. It was believed that Osano-Wo favored the shrine so much that he kept the waters around the island pure, creating the Osaku Route[2]

Osaku Route Map[]

In 1165 Yasuki Tsukioka, a Crab Clan samurai who captained a koutetsukan patrolling the Sea of Shadows was eventually seduced by the Shadows and desired to take the Tetsubo of Thunder from its resting place on the island in the Osaku Route, an untainted passage in the Sea of Shadows only known by the Crab Clan. Being Tainted, however, Tsukioka could not set foot upon the island because it was warded against the Shadowlands by the Kuni family. Tsukioka sold a map of the Osaku Route to Yoritomo Rui. [2]

Retrieving the Tetsubo[]

Rui used the map to pilot her kobune into the Sea of Shadows in search of easier trade with the Ivory Kingdoms. While in the Osaku Route Rui came across an island with a shrine to Osano-Wo, and she removed the Tetsubo of Thunder from the shrine. Tsukioka then ambushed Rui's ship in an attempt to take the tetsubo from her. [2] Rui commanded her shugenja, Moshi Iongi, to destroy the Crab Ship. Iongi crippled their sail with a bolt of lightning and the resulting fire eventually sank the ship. Rui was then hunted by Hida Sadaharu's koutetsukan who had been charged with patroling the Oasku Route. [3]

Ancestral Weapon of the Bat Clan[]

Sadaharu caught Rui and gave her the Emerald Champion's edict that forbidden the Mantis presence in the Osaku Route, and also informed her about the Tetsubo's "abilities". Any who held it began to heard the unforgiving voice of Osano-Wo. Rui gaver it to Iongi and ordered him to take it away. Once on shore Iongi met the Bat Clan Champion, Komori, who offered to let him join the new clan. The shugenja offered the tetsubo to his new lord [2] in 1167[4] but Komori let Iongi to wield it. [5] The tetsubo was eventually housed in the Temple to Osano-Wo at Kyuden Komori. [6]

Know Wielders[]

External Links[]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fealty and Freedom, p. 32
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Dark Tide Rising, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
  3. Dark Tide Rising (Crab vs Mantis Clan Rivals)
  4. Fealty and Freedom, p. 25
  5. Fealty and Freedom, p. 28
  6. Secrets of the Empire, p. 29



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