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THE HISTORY OF ROKUGAN: PART ONE
MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Table of Contents
Lord Moon chased Lady Sun, for he loved her.
He chased her across the sky, for he loved her.
He chased her for many days, for he loved her.
And, when he caught her, they copulated, and had children, for they loved each other.
But Lord Moon knew that any bearing the blood of both Sun and Moon, night an dday, would be a threat to him. So he ate every child that his wife bore, and there were seven. Lady Sun acquiesced, but, in the cup of sake she brought Lord Moon, she put a drop of poison. Soon, he was so drunk and in such a stupor that he did not notice when he swallowed a rock instead of his ninth child, Hantei.
While Lord Moon slept, Lady Sun trained this, her last son, in how to free his siblings. Finally, when he was prepared, Hantei struck out and sliced open Lord Moon's belly, cut off his hand. His brothers and sisters, his fellow kami, fell out of the ragged gash of their father's stomach, fell to the earth, and Hantei prepared to follow them. Hantei and Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi...and little Fu Leng, who was last. Lord Moon's entrails followed them like clotted, maddened snakes. He was weak, now, humiliated, wounded. And he never loved Lady Sun again.
As they plummeted from heaven to earth, Hantei grappled with Fu Leng, who was coiled in Lord Moon's intestines, coiled and screaming in blind rage and pain, for the midnight blood burned and seared his fair skin, and his love for his father made it worse. At last, Hantei shoved him away, and, thus, Fu Leng, the smallest and kindest of the kami, struck the ground far away from the rest, leaving a gaping wound in the soil that festers and oozes to this day, and the impact blackened and wasted what would be known as the Shadowlands.
Hantei and the other seven ceased to be gods as soon as they touched limestone and loam. Now, they were something different. Not quite divine, not quite man. Confused and disoriented, they needed direction. A contest was proposed, a battle between them, to choose who would lead them in their new destiny.
It was a brawl unlike any other that had come before or would ever come since. In the end, six of the kami were eliminated, and the pot boiled down to only two: Hantei and Akodo. The duel echoed throughout the world, for they were evenly matched. But, in the end, Hantei had his sword at his brother's throat...and could not kill him. As he rose from the sweat- and blood-drenched plain, Akodo swore to ever protect and serve his lord and master, Hantei I.
Yet none of the eight that day thought of the other, Fu Leng who was imprisoned in rock and flame, bound with ropes of flesh.
RISE OF AN EMPIRE AND A STRANGE LITTLE MAN
Time passed. The kami founded Clans, the head families of which bear their names even now. Some had children. They brought enlightenment to men, and what was to be the Empire of Rokugan prospered and grew.
Yet, all was not peace. From the dark and twisted land of Fu Leng, wild and ferocious oni poured, assailing the villages, attacking the castles, burning crops to a crisp. They organized into armies, leading hateful, chittering hordes of unspeakable creatures, the dead walked the streets, and the warriors of the Empire were slaughtered by the hundreds.
Hantei and his siblings were at a loss. They knew who it was behind this wickedness: their forgotten brother, Fu Leng, and they knew why he was doing it: he was jealous of their success, they knew he must be stopped...but how could one of their own be destroyed, when they themselves could not?
As the hordes of Fu Leng swelled and massed, a strange little man presented himself before the beleaguered Emperor. "I am Shinsei," he said, "and I believe I can help you."
At first, Hantei did not believe him, for Shinsei looked small and weak, dressed in the clothes of a peasant, and he told him so. But he had not come to rule for being unwise, and the two talked long into the night. This conversation was recorded, and became the basis for Rokugan's great religous treatise, The Tao of Shinsei. When the council was complete, Shinsei stepped forth...and took a member of each Clan with him to the Shadowlands. For some, such as Hida and Bayushi, it was a child. For others, like the mysterious Togashi, it was a beloved friend or follower. But each was dear to them, and the kami were sorrowful and worried to see them go. Time passed. The war began to swing in Hantei's favor.
Finally, only one of the original eight returned: Shosuro, Bayushi's daughter. Horribly burned and reeking with the Shadowlands taint, she brought with her a tattered and searing black bag. Father and daughter whispered together for only a few moments. And then the Scorpion child died. With a heart filled with pain, Lord Bayushi lifted the foul bag in his hands and took it upon himself to protect what was within: the twelve Black Scrolls which had bound Fu Leng, the Scrolls which contained his essence. None contradicted him.
With their master bound and banished from the physical world, the Shadowlands monstrosities were beaten back, and Hida himself erected and guarded the Great Wall which protected the Empire from their gibbering legions, and which still stands. However, with all victory there comes a price. Sorrowful at the loss of their loved ones, and tired from their stay on earth, the kami...disappeared, drifting from mortal sight like ashes to the wind. Yet, they remain in the heavens, and look down upon what they have built, and smile.
All but one.
Despite the departure of its founders, the Empire flourished for hundreds upon hundreds of years. It was still a time of legends, and tales abound of Osano-Wo, the Thunderer, who rose from a simple Crab samurai to a mighty god, of Mirumoto and his invention of the Dragon two-handed technique, of the Scorpion quest for the great secret of the mountains, and many, many others, far too many to list here.
As the years passed, each of the seven Clans took on a purpose, and rivalries. Preconceptions rose like walls between families, but were broken down by the tides of war and friendship. There was plenty for all, and Rokugan grew and expanded. The Unicorn left for the Land Beyond the Mountains, and were slowly forgotten except in myth. People grew complacent and content with their lives.
It was a golden age.
And it had to end.