NPCs

[Bayushi Kaguya]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Champion of the Scorpion, Bushi.
Age: 40
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 4"
Build: Slender
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

At 40 years of age, Bayushi Kaguya is just beginning to settle into middle age. She came to the Championship of the Bayushi just five years ago. Her father was the second son of Bayushi Junzen, who famously dismantled the Scorpion Gozoku faction and instituted Traitor's Grove to repay the betrayal of his eldest son, Bayushi Tesaguri. Her father's reign was long, and so Kaguya is far more familiar with the role her considerable talents earned her: that of a shinobi. The sudden shift from silent pursuit of the secrets of the Empire to the linchpin of the Clan of Secrets' military, diplomatic, and clandestine operations was jarring. There are few who could say that her first Winter Court appearance in twenty years went smoothly and maintain a straight face. Fortunately, she has rapidly mastered the art of delegation, and much of the political affairs of the clan are now managed by her eldest son, Bayushi Touya, while internal clan politics she manages primarily through fear. The lesson of Traitor's Grove is seared into the memories of every member of the clan, and while she has not had to repeat her Grandfather's object lesson in Loyalty thus far into her reign, she has invited Shosuro Ryusei to tour it after she discovered his rather active independent politicking.

Bayushi Kaguya sees her duty first and foremost to be Hantei Retsuhime's spymistress. She understands what that role requires and what to expect of her operatives. She is, unfortunately, not personally equipped to handle the Scorpion clan's political difficulties, and two generations of embarrassment and failed schemes have done much to harm their standing. Kaguya has no interest in repairing their public standing, however, so long as the Scorpion are able to perform their duties and defend their land. To her mind, the less Rokugan considers the Scorpion an overt threat, the more free their hands will be to exercise their true stock in trade: the secrets other clans struggle so hard to keep. Unlike in future centuries, the Scorpion have a very real chance to maintain their security so long as they stay in the Empress' graces. After all, even the Lion cannot march without her approval, and why should she approve the erasure of her primary means of controlling the biggest threat to her rule: her own kin? This policy has stood the Scorpion in good stead for some time, and looks likely to continue to do so, as Retsuhime's illness has only made it more imperative to gather information on the contenders for the throne. The Winds will need to be careful when they seek to maneuver, for the Master of Secrets' loyalty to the throne is absolute, and her ability to defend it from the unworthy is second to none.

[Shiba Higashime]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Champion of the Phoenix, Bushi
Age: 20
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 7"
Build: Athletic
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

skill in deflecting the larger part of the wrath of the Imperial Families from the Phoenix clan played a part in her ability to grow up peacefully and largely without the need to perform the roles that Doji Minehime and Bayushi Honoka have. Instead, Higashime devoted herself to her studies in order to pursue her greatest ambition: to make the Phoenix clan the pre-eminent power in the Empire. While she is aware that other clans outclass the Shiba in their ability to put armies in the field, her studies of Imperial Law and the writings of prominent Otomo and Seppun political theorists have allowed her to see that at no other time have the clans been simultaneously so divided and so powerless to act on their division. The Otomo have done their best to consolidate power in their own hands, but their tremendous success in so doing has made it difficult for any of the Hands-Right, Left, or Under-to use their primary tools. The Phoenix have not suffered a similar restraint, and are on good terms with most of the clans. It is time, therefore, to make use of their talents and set the course of the Empire in the future--cleanly, legally, and with confidence that theirs is the leadership that the Empire needs right now. Higashime knows how it can be done. It is simply a matter of seizing the correct moment and applying the Law to its effect. Accordingly, her personal sympathies are with an Emperor who will preserve the status quo: one of the Otomo who intend to maintain the policy of political exclusion of the Crane and tight control of military campaigns for the foreseeable future would be best. Of these, Tomaru or Gorobei would be the more biddable, and if Otomo Gorobei felt as though he owed his position to her, then Shiba Higashime might well be able to be the helpful guide at his side, keeping the Empire prosperous and spiritually hale as he funnels her armies to the support of the Crab.

On a more personal level, Higashime has gained a reputation as being somewhat ruthless in her devotion to the application of the law. Famously loath to bend judgments to suit the status or esteem of the accused, Higashime's name has been held up as a byword for justice by some, and as a cold-hearted conspirator and abuser of power by others, usually depending on one's kinship to an executed criminal, or one subjected to a tremendous fine. Her decision to execute the scion of the wealthy Oshima house of the Shiba family when he defied the Governor of Morikage Toshi's injunction against dueling cemented her reputation and earned her esteem in powerful places. Perhaps uniquely among the Great Clan Champions, she is equally welcome in the chambers of each of the Imperial Officers--and not just for her winning personality. This is not to say that she is a cold fish--but her willingness to do what must be done sometimes overshadows her encouragement and development of promising subordinates in the public imagination, not to mention the imagination of her future husband, Miya Hirono, the second son of the Daimyo of the Miya family. His opinion of his future bride has been colored by the stories of her cold pursuit of justice and advantage, and his palpable dread has rather soured their few meetings. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to end the betrothal without causing someone to lose face, so both sides remain well and truly stuck with one another.

[Ichiro Himari]

Gender: Male
Occupation: Ambassador of the Badger, Courtier
Age: 32
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 9"
Build: Powerful
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

A Badger of the new school, Ichiro Himari may have the famous build of the Ichiro, but he is very much an intellectual. A staple of the salons of Shiro Akodo and Otosan Uchi, Himari has done much to change the perception of the Badger as a backward, countrified people. His first book, a treatise on developments in the tea ceremony since the Yasuki War has been very well received in most courts, although not so much among certain Yasuki-descended houses in the Daidoji family, who have taken offense at the implications of Himari's book. As a result, Himari is always accompanied by an Ichiro yojimbo trained in the sublime art of the duel. That the man is also built like a mountain has gone a good distance in ensuring Himari's security.

[Heichi Batsuda]

Gender: Male
Occupation: Daimyo of the Boar, Bushi
Age: 26
Marital Status: Single
Height: 5' 8"
Build: Athletic
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

Heichi Batsuda has only recently inherited the mantle of Champion after the death of his grandfather, the original Heichi, at an advanced age. His people are behind him, but the clan's remoteness and his grandfather's frontier mannerisms and ethos have left the Boar politically isolated, though houses in the Crab and Scorpion clans maintain low-level trade contacts. The Boar may have need of some more material support soon, however, as pressure on the northern Twilight Mountains from gaijin interlopers has picked up in recent years. The Boar see them off time and again, but the raiders are nothing if not persistent. Such a raid cost Batsuda his father about seven years ago.

Batusda himself was raised in Boar lands, but spent a large part of his youth touring the courts of the Empire. During that time, he became romantically involved with several young men and women among high-born samurai. For most, he was an exotic dalliance and their post-winter contacts have been infrequent and cordial at best. Batsuda is as yet uncertain in his role as Daimyo; he is determined to see his grandfather's promise to the Shakoki Dogu through, but unwilling to sacrifice his people's humanity and commitment to the Empire in the process. These gaijin raiders will just have to be sent packing, and then, when they have a little breathing space, the Boar can begin to rebuild their contacts with the wider Empire.

[Moshi Akane]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Daimyo of the Centipede, Shugenja
Age: 37
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 4"
Build: Average
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

A stern, humorless sort of woman, Moshi Akane has led the Centipede into their first flowering of political relevance. She sees to it that Great Clan samurai and Imperials alike always take her meetings, and seldom takes no for an answer. As a result, the Centipede have enjoyed an age of prosperity and steady economic success, though few can say that they find their hearts warming at the mention of the Moshi name.

[Kitsune Aiko]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Ambassador and Unofficial Regent of the Fox, Shugenja
Age: 39
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 2"
Build: Slender
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

The head of delegation for the Fox Clan is Kitsune Daimyo Fumihito's sister Aiko. While not de jure the daimyo of the Fox, the leading houses of the clan are all agreed that requiring Fumihito to head the delegation would be doing a great disservice to both the man and the clan. Aiko has been more or less running the clan for most of her brother's reign, so the delegation has adopted a bit of shorthand and started referring to her as the Daimyo. Officially, however, she has assumed a sort of caretaker regency while Fumihito was encouraged to go on one of his long patrols in the forest.

As a person, Aiko makes an effort to be the sort of person who she thinks would do well at Winter Court, taking a number of cues from Suzume Ryobu. She is frightfully clever, but is very much a country girl, and perhaps not as in tune with the spirits as one might expect for a leader of the Fox. She loves numbers and data, and is beginning to develop a taste for the power she has begun to exercise.

[Gusai Rioshida]

Gender: Male
Occupation: Daimyo of the Mantis, Adventurer
Age: 37
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 8"
Build: Athletic
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

Gusai Rioshida's father was accounted a hero of the Empire for his actions in the Battle of White Stag, but the jury is still very much out on Rioshida himself. A well-traveled soul and a famous sailor, Rioshida has always been a man of action. There are stories of him wrestling bears in the Isawa Mori, out-drinking the sensei of the Sunda Mizu Mura, and successfully retrieving the a peerless pearl from the maw of an orochi--which he strangled with his bare hands. He is a clever man, but his constant activity often takes him far away from the Isles of Silk and Spice for months at a time. As a consequence, a clique of administrators has begun to form around his illegitimate son Yohihotsu. None of these samurai are disloyal to Rioshida, of course, but they have rather stepped up to cover for his many absences. Initially, it was thought that Yohihotsu would lead the delegation to Winter Court, but Rioshida has insisted on claiming this adventure for himself.

[Suzume Ryobu]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Ambassador of the Sparrow, Courtier
Age: 36
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 4"
Build: Slender
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

While the Sparrow clan has gained a reputation as a collection of rustics, it is mostly people who have never met actual Sparrow clan members that claim that. Their founder was an idealist, and certainly there are members of the family who have, almost as an act of defiance of an Emperor's cruelty, embraced his ideas and their new way of life. However, there is a large component of the family that resents their founder for throwing away prosperity. These are the people, determined to live the lives of cultivated samurai, that tend to make up the Sparrow diplomatic corps. Their leader, Suzume Ryobu, is unfailingly formal and polite, the picture of what a courtier ought to be. So much so, in fact, that several junior courtiers of other delegations learn their etiquette lessons by challenging each other to watch and see if Suzume Ryobu makes a mistake.

[Kasuga Izumi]

Gender: Female
Occupation: Ambassador of the Tortoise, ...Courtier, sure.
Age: 29
Marital Status: Married
Height: 5' 2"
Build: Slender
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

Kasuga Izumi is Kasuga Genjiko's niece. Like her auntie, Izumi has a somewhat mixed reputation. On the one hand, she is unfailingly polite, even kind while conducting court business. But on the other hand, as any veteran Imperial Courtier can tell you, she is absolutely ruthless outside of court. She is not cruel, but she simply feels that no action is unacceptable when conducted on her clan's behalf. And she refuses to compromise her ability to deliver success for her clan. As a result, there are more than a few junior courtiers who understand her as a villain whom it is best to avoid. The fact that she commands access to the Tortoise's economic engine, however ill-gotten the goods might be, rather obviates their concerns. The Trotoise simply have to be engaged if the Empire is going to run well, and Izumi knows it.

[Chou-sin]

Gender: Male
Occupation: Abbot of the Four Temples
Age: 59
Marital Status: Monk
Height: 5' 6"
Build: Thin
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Nope

Chou-sin has been Abbot of the Four Temples for about 15 years, having been recognized for his acumen at a relatively youthful age. During that time, he has steadily increased the Four Temples' association with the Imperial Families. He has made the Four Temples, along with the shrine of Amaterasu in Otosan Uchi, the primary focus of religious donations from the Otomo and Seppun families for the past decade, vastly enriching the monastery and increasing the impact of its charitable endeavors. In doing so, however, he has been eager to demonstrate the clout that the Four Temples can wield on behalf of its friends, famously banning Isawa Sorami, the Master of Water, from entering any Four Temples-affiliated monastery because of her marriage to Asahina Fumihiro in contravention of the Imperial policy of blacklisting of Crane inter-clan marriages.

If some within the wider Brotherhood have become upset with the Four Temples' political maneuvering, Chou-sin reasons that they are simply jealous that he has led his temple to such a position of influence and wealth. He does not see a contradiction between his political activity and the Brotherhood's teaching mission, and he has no intention of disturbing his careful arrangements. This has led to some friction with abbots of other sects.

[Abbot Do]

Gender: Male
Occupation: Abbot of the Plains of Thunder Monastery of the Order of Osano-wo
Age: 60
Marital Status: Monk
Height: 6' 6"
Build: Solid
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White

Almost absurdly tall and powerful in his youth, Do, actually an inkyo rather than a monk from childhood, has become a little paunchy and stooped with age, but has lost little of the vigor that once made him legendary in the armies of the Crab. He has taken over management of the Plains of Thunder monastery only last year, and Do, quite frankly, has opinions.

You see, Do has spent quite a bit of time adjusting to retirement and trying to get into the swing of this whole "monk" thing. And then here comes a highfalutin bigwig from some fancy-pants temple trying to get all involved in the world. A world which, Do is given to understand, is mostly illusion. To his mind, anyone who claims to represent a system of thought had better get to backing up that system of thought in word and in deed. Do has no time for hypocrites or the misguided. Nope, he's come to Winter Court for one reason only: to represent the true teachings of that there Prophet Shinsei and demonstrate that Chou-sin, for all his money and all his friends, don't speak for the Brotherhood. Just himself.