Zhao Shi QiPan

Kenski Heiatai

His ancestors built Heiatai Castle, one of the first well-known castles in Japanese Territory and History. The castle’s basement/dungeon ruins is what the palace in the capital city is built on today. His land stretched a bit farther than Riverbed to the South and coastal islands to the north; a rather large area for his time. He was able to build the great nation of this time because of his enormous amounts of charisma and his great prowess in battle. Because he too would fight in these battles, his men would have followed him into hell itself.

His beautiful wife Sarasuki was the most graceful and gifted woman in all of Japanese Territory. She was the envy of all the women and Kenski’s only female companion. Their love knew no bounds, and their three lovely children were showered with their love.

Sarasuki was a loving wife and would have done anything for her husband for love, not duty. Their world/time was a different place and her devotion was to be tested by Kiirin himself for reasons he intended.

Kenski had problems with his neibors to the south and as long as they remained divided, he was safe to ward off raids. But they joined forces and they had a trade agreement with the Mongols for more and better horses than Kenski. The battles were bloody and the joined enemies drove Kenski’s borders back until his castle was about to be sieged.

Kenski and Sarasuki passed Kiirin’s test with great cost but great reward. Their eldest son took over rule of the castle at Kenski’s death. His 2 children grew to be the strongest and most talented blooded of their time. They split Kenski’s domain, the eldest keeping Heiatai Castle where the younger moved farther north with his love for the sea building a castle in Asamizu. The younger changed his name to Tokagowa. Many generations later the ruler of Heiatai had born only daughters, while Asamizu’s ruler had only a single son. Both houses were as pure blooded as able to come so they arranged a marriage to unite the country again.

United they were then, and it still is today. The capital was called Heiatai until a great fire when all was destroyed. It was rumored to have been started by the Emperor’s youngest daughter trying to learn Pyromancy; leading to the phrase “silly girl, leave war to men.” She did however master Death and Pyromancy; never married; and her brother disguised her as a man to have her as a captain of his personal bodyguards.

Her brother rebuilt the capital during his reign and named it after his father, Kiyosani. The name Heiatai faded into history and lore.

Sakura

Little is widely known about Sakura, she seemed to appear out of nowhere to become known as one of Japan’s most powerful healer, well traveled, and mysterious woman.

Sakura was born to a single woman in the small village of Sarani; a fishing village near Asamizu. The village was infact the manor estate of Fujisan Tokagowa, the Emperor’s younger brother whom was exiled from the capital for a hushed over assassination attempt. Fujisan wasn’t forced to commit seppuku because the Emproer had yet to produce a legitimate heir. The Empress was having difficulty carrying to term, while his concubines bore only girls. Fujisan though had a problem remaining loyal to his wife, as was the conditions of his exile. Sakura was one of the three of his extramarital affairs that bore fruit. None of the women ever mentioned who the father of the children was because it would have caused Fujisan’s death. Luck has it the Emperor was able to conseve an heir, he just had to shoot his seed farther from the original branch. But at that point, Fujisan was dead, by the jealous wife’s hand.

So Sakura grew up knowing she was special, but knowing how. She never got to know how, because her mother died when she was at a very young age. That day she also discovered she had life magic. She saw the last bit of life leave her mother and vowed to use her new gift to help as many people as she could.

This ambition led her on adventures across the countryside until it caught the attention of the Emperor. He saw her potential when she snuck into the palace to help the Empress keep her child, and she bore him a male heir under Sakura’s care. The Emperor offered Sakura anything she wanted and she told him her ambition to see and help the world. So he funded her trips around the world.

She learned so much from her travels. But the pivotal moment was when she visited Persia and fell in love with the Prince. When he visited Orodes while she was there. He spirited her away to the capital in his father’s palace. The majority of the palace attempted to force her to conform to their culture, but she refused. That is why the Prince loved her, her spirit. Their love grew and he taught her Telekinesis. She was pregnant with their child when the dual-bloodline war broke out. She couldn’t leave her country to be leveled to waste by people pissed off that they were being hunted.

She waited until their son was born, kissed the love of the life, and left to save her homeland. She arrived at Asamizu right before the critical moment for the city. The city was going to be sieged by ‘pirates’ with dual-bloodline abilities, and Sakura was the only thing that could stop them.

There was what could have been described as an epic battle for the control of the city, and the pirates lost. The price of the city’s freedom was Sakura’s life. Her people honored her, and to this day, a shrine to her is in Asamizu facing the ocean and pointing to Nixsiph lands. There is a statue with her resemblance in the shrine, and people come to her to pray for fertility and protection.

Sakura’s love secreted her body away and buried her in Chinese territory to seclude her from grave robbers. He wished nothing more than to protect her from people wishing to desecrate her grave because she was a dual-bloodline wielder in a time when that was forbidden. The tales that are told of her tell nothing of her forbidden power, the people were respectful of the sacrifice that she made for the city and it’s people.

Zhao Shi

To first understand Zhao’s history one must understand her mother. Sanura QiPan is the second child, first daughter, of Samurai/Minor Noble Lord Zhu QiPan. A man of low nobility status, he has a strong voice in military movments because of his brilliance in military warfare and tactics. He is a respected man and his daughter Sanura was one of the most sought after women in Japanese territory. She is extremely beautiful, a perfect lady, a quick wit, and highly educated. She was everything a man dreamed of and more.

Sanura was traveling to Asamizu to visit one of her father’s military friends and to court his eldest son. Unfortunately for her, slave traders were posted outside the city to capture young female slaves for a banquet/ritual for Nixsiph that was being held at the capital of Egypt. She was captured, scakled in chains, and shipped to Khaba. The only luck she had besides the purity requirement for the banquet was her father knew very quickly that she was missing. His friend went searching for her after she was late to dinner and sent a bird to Zhu as soon as possible.

Sanura arrived in Khaba relatively unscaved and was rushed off to be prepared for the banquet. Daily she prayed to Kiirin to mercy from her captors, and she received it by not being chosen as a sacrifice to Nixsiph. But she was chosen by the Pharaoh’s Vizier for his personal entertainment. The Vizier had difficulty conceiving a legitimate heir as well as passing on his considerable amount of pure blood heritage. It seemed Nixsiph frowned upon him. Sanura was brave though, and never gave up hope that she would one day return home.

Her horror came when her father tracked her down two weeks after the loss of her honor. He bought her from the Vizier with no difficulty because she bore no signs of being pregnant, like most Kiirin women in their first trimester. But by the time that they returned home though, there was not question. Her father loved her and did not punish her for her misfortune. He knew it was not her fault.

He placed her in the family’s summer manor home in Riverbend with enough servants to live comfortably. She bore a healthy baby girl with prominent primal marks. Sanura was in complete shock; her family had not even a trace of blooded magic in all of their history. The only explanation that made sense to her was that Kiirin appealed to Nixsiph for the pains that she had suffered and Nixsiph blessed the child because she would never know her father’s cruelty. To ensure her daughter’s safety she kept her in Riverbend all her younger years. She made sure the servants and the villagers understood the need for secrecy, and they kept the secret safe.

Sanura even kept the knowledge of her blooded daughter from her father; she was afraid the knowledge would seep into the court and to the Nixsiph ambassador and from there to the cruel Vizier. She made sure her daughter knew the importance of hiding her primal marks and talent from everyone. But Zhao was not a normal child; she was blind and understood more than any child should ever know. As soon as she could walk, she would never run into anything even if it had been recently moved. She knew what things were and knew lore and other knowledge that she was never taught or even told of.

Zhao was five when she first met her Grandfather. He came to Riverbend to see his beloved daughter, and to tell her that she still had a suitor. He was a captain in the Emperor’s elite guard whom had wished to court her from the beginning. Sanura denied because of Zhao’s wellbeing. (Note: the man still is waiting)

When Zhu first saw his granddaughter, he knew that she would be just as beautiful as her mother. It broke his heart to see her blind, but she was a bastard child. She would never be able to marry above her station, and possibly even anyone with any noble blood. She would never be able to be on her own. He then knew why his daughter declined the suitor; her daughter would never have a home that loved her if Sanura married. While he loved his granddaughter, he was greatly angered by her holding back his beloved, beautiful daughter. Zhu only saw Zhao occasionally after that; and though he loved her, she was not his favorite grandchild.

Zhao continued to grow and with each passing day she proved to be queerer than her peers. When she was nine Sanura plainly asked her daughter how she knew things beyond her years. Zhao smiled, and asked what took her so long to ask? Zhao then explained the reincarnation cycle had come around for her again, and Sanura was floored by this information. Not only was her daughter blooded, but also she was a knowledgeable reincarnated soul! This explained so many things to Sanura about her daughter’s odd behavior and her wealth of knowledge, and also how she required no training in anything.

Sanura began to push her father to find a courtly husband for Zhao, because she believed that he would be able to protect her once she was gone. But her father refused because she had no dowry or station. But her father did not know what she did.

Zhao reveled to her mother about some of her past lives; nothing horribly important, and no one extremely important. She told her about Tao Hing, Sakura, and a few other unimportant others but she kept information about her original origins until much later.

Zhao dallied her time doing fortunetelling and making ‘love’ potions for villagers as she grew older. She fostered a kind image for her reputation, along with her knack for telling the future and the past. This encouraged local more powerful people to send their daughters to Riverbend for training of ladies and fortunetelling. This brought more of an income into the Riverbend Manor, allowing Sanura to save her father money, as well as grant the village with ‘tax’ breaks. Sanura is loved by the people of the village; she would do anything to help them, just as they would do anything to protect her and her daughter.

When Zhao was fourteen she secreted away a kendo stick and began training with it. She honed her skill at night, hoping not to get caught. But her mother knew how to hide from her; behind a sheer silk screen she watched her daughter train in usually nothing more than a loincloth for nearly two years in silence. On Zhao’s sixteenth birthday her mother gave her a package that she originally dismissed as something unimportant: a new kimono. But when she opened it later, it was a silken pair of flared pants and short kimono top with matching flared sleeves. The outfit was designed to disguise the body’s position and the inside colors distracted opponents.

Sanura only had one question for her daughter: Where did you learn to fight? She was curious because Zhao held the kendo stick like a katana, but did not fight entirely like her father. Zhao then told her of Kenski, the sword she must find, and the knowledge that all her skills would be important. Kiirin had chosen her long ago to be one of his champions, and she had a feeling he needed her once again to restore a balance.