A Curse is Upon Us!

Otonashi,

Six years ago, we came together at the Topaz Tournament. Six years ago, we met the Fortune Megumi, where he set us on a path to achieve destiny. And a year ago, it seemed as if it was all making sense. The Tiger Clan, and the Renketsu family, was the pride of Toru and Ryu. The fallen remnants of the former Scorpion Clan say that the late Scorpion Clan Champion, Bayushi Shoju, found a glimpse into a future that he dutifully could not allow to occur. What the rest of the Great Clans saw, was an assassination of the Emperor from his most trusted retainer and daimyo.

The days that followed were long, bloody and filled with chaos as war was waged outside the walls of Otosan Uchi. Skirmishers crossed blades within the city walls, and courtiers played a subtle game within the Usurper’s court. After much petty dispute, the Great Clans united under the banner of Akodo Toturi, and the Blue Crane crossed over us once more, it seemed as if everything was once again falling in place. And for a moment, everything did. Until the return of Satori. The emperor’s son, believed dead by all in Rokugan, returned to the throne room just after Toturi slew Shoju and claimed the title of New Emperor. Outraged by the rumors of Toturi’s disappearance during his father’s assassination, and the Lion Champion’s audacity to sit on the throne while he still lived, removed Toturi from his position as the Clan Champion of the Lion. What’s worse, he stripped the Akodo family of their honor, removing their name from history and disbanding the family altogether. Toturi was refused the right of seppuku to save his family the shame of his actions. It was that day that Toturi became ronin.

Renketsu Toru was the first and only to speak on behalf of Toturi’s honor before the Emperor. It was this action that brought the Tiger clan a similar fate to that of the Scorpion Clan and the Akodo family. Toru was denied the right of seppuku as well. And yet somehow, in all these things there is something in the back of my mind that leads me to believe that Bayushi Shoju was not as mad as everyone believed him to be.

In the past year, a former Scorpion of the Yogo family who was entrusted with the secrets of the Black Scrolls, began to open them up. These are the Dark Scrolls once sealed with the blood of Isawa the Thunder, to banish Fu Leng from Rokugan. They say that Junzo is more like the dead than man now, and boldly uses the Yogo name, despite the emperor’s decree.

A deadly wasting disease has spread out over the land, killing commoners and samurai alike, claiming life in throngs and spreading quickly. The Lion and Crane clans have resorted to all out war, and the broken lands could not be in more disarray. The Crab clan speak of a terrible citadel that erupted from the ground deep within the heart of the Shadowlands that extends as tall as the clouds. Do I still believe in destiny after all this tragedy? I write this letter to you now, to tell you that I do. I have found my place with Toturi the Black, behind the shadows of the Great Climb. We fight for the simple things, personal honor and duty to the Emperor’s justice. In the wake of all that has occurred, bandits run rampant. I will leave you with an invitation that distance does not allow me to deliver in person.

-Toku