Post by Charles Warren on Feb 16, 2013 13:43:58 GMT -5
BAYUSHI ARUNSA HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY NICK
"I could kill you a dozen ways before you could stand. The question is, are you more useful alive?"
Bayushi Arunsa is kind when he needs to be, but can change his attitude at a moment. A typical Scorpion, he intends to slyly try to turn the other contestants against one another. His childhood sweetheart is Kakita Akemi, the daughter of one of the tournament's judges. She has been betrothed to another Crane, but Arunsa will do whatever he can to impress Akemi and win her back.
Arunsa has been ordered by his daimyo to attend the tournament and has also told him that he believes that the tournament is just a ruse to conceal some other purpose. He has ordered Arunsa to find out what that true purpose is.
He is quick-tempered and unapologetic. But he will serve the Lion Clan well.
Ikoma Hagio is a promising young student from the Akodo dojo at Shiro sano Ken Hayai, the Castle of the Swift Sword. He mixes the Ikoma family's fascination with history with the Matsu Family's quickness of action. His sensei beleive that if he can learn to balance those two sides of his personality, that he will grow to become a great leader and hero. But, thus far his brashness and quickness to anger sometimes overshadows his potential.
Hagio's love of history cannot help but cause him to dwell upon Castle Kyotei's past. Only twenty years ago, the castle and its lands belonged to the Lion Clan, until Crane daimyo Tsume Retsu defeated Lord Damasu on the field of battle. Retsu claimed the castle and its lands. Lord Damasu was shamed into committing seppuku. Tsume Retsu had every member of the Damasu clan put to death in order to end the family line. Many of the Lion clan are still angered when they speak of Kyotei Castle and believe it should still be a part of Lion lands.
Hagio is travelling to Kyotei Castle as part of his daimyo Ikoma Ujiaki's retinue. His daimyo has orderd Hagio to find any weaknesses he can find in the castle or town's defenses in the event that the Lion Clan should decide to take back these lands. He also expects Hagio to soundly defeat any Crane or Unicorn opponents he faces.
ISAWA NAKI HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY SCOTT
"The elements align to show us the path."
Isawa Naki is a promising young shugenja and a darling of the courts. He has won over many people in the Imperial City with his eagerness to please and happy disposition. But he has not impressed his fiancee, Otomo Umakao. She knows Naki's weaknesses for sake, women, and the high life, and volunteered him to compete in the tournament so he could prove himself a worthy husband. Naki's plans, however, are to gamble, drink, and socialize with the youths of many clans, and to possibly compete in the tournament somewhere in between those activities.
Naki's daimyo has tasked him with working with daimyo Shiba Katsuda while at the tournament. Shiba Katsuda says that Tsume Retsu, the master of Castle Kyotei, has been moving his army closer and closer to Shiba's castle. He fears that he will try to take over the Phoenix portion of the Kintani Valley, just like he did the Lion portion twenty years ago. Katsuda has asked Naki to "informally" try to discover what Retsu's plans may be and to gather any information that would help to protect the Pheonix from a Crane attack.
"The courage of a Lion and the strength of a Crab? Perhaps the brashness of a Lion and the stubbornness of a Crab. Either way, we Mantis are not enemies to make."
Quiet and solemn, Kindari does not enjoy socializing. He feels like a fish out of water on land. But he is driven to prove that both himself and the Mantis (at this time still a minor clan ) are worthy of respect. He is willing to make friends, but they must meet his lofty standards before he considers them equals.
Clan Daimyo Yorimoto has chosen Kindari to represent the Mantis Clan in the tournament. He expects Kindari to excel and to prove to the Great Clans that the Mantis are now ready to take their place among them.
"The Shiba stand ready to die in the defense of the clan. That has been our glory since the days of our first ancestors."
Shiba Sansesuke is the nephew of Shiba Katsuda, the daimyo of the Phoenix holdings in Kintani Valley. Sansesuke has trained his entire life to be the model of virtue and to be a defender of his Clan. Although a skilled bushi, he embraces the pacifistic philosopy of the Phoenix, only wishing to draw his weapons as a last resort. Although he is perhaps overly idealistic and naive in the ways of Court, no one can question his virtue, his honor, and his compassion for others.
His daimyo has ordered him to compete in the tournament. Katsuda hopes that the Crane can be reminded of the high virtues of Bushido and peace by the example provided by this tournament. And it is Sansesuke's mission to be the example by illustrating the most virtuous aspects of the samurai.
Tsume Retsu's armies are being positioned closer and closer to your castle, and there are fears that the Crane will soon attack the Phoenix just as they did the Lion twenty years ago. It is up to Sansesuke to be an example of peace, honor, and virtue to show the Crane that perhaps there is another way.
SHINJO YAMAUCHI HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY JOEY
"My strategy? Shoot them in the eye. It is remarkably effective."
Shinjo Yamauchi has never before left Unicorn Lands. And although he's fascinated by the rest of the Emerald Empire, he understands little. His home is the open plains, a galloping steed, and the flight of an arrow towards it's mark. He is straghtforward. He is practical. He says what he means and is frustrated by the complicated manners and subtle conversations of the other Clans. But his father has told him that he has a great destiny ahead of him, although he knows not what it is. And in order to be ready to meet that destiny, Yamauchi must travel forth into the other Provinces and learn what he cannot in Unicorn Lands.
Yamauchi's father has instructed him to learn all that he can about the other Great Clans and about the Emerald Empire. And at all times to keep his eye out for his destiny, like a hunter tracking his prey.