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Trait Bonus: +1 Awareness
Current Daimyo: Ohtori, though functionally the clan is ruled by Ohtori Akio
Schools: Ohtori Sensei, Ohtori Student // Other Schools in the Mouse Clan: Himemiya Duelist, Himemiya Witch
In 1165, fires ravaged through Toshi Ranbo wo Shien Shite Reigisaho (Violence Behind Courtliness City), which had been capitol of the Emerald Empire for only five years at the time. Explosions preceded the conflagration, and the chaos scattered the samurai, monks, shugenja, and lower castes throughout the burning buildings.
The henshin monk Asako Nani Kunihiko risked much in the midst of this catastrophe to rescue as many scrolls and scholarly treasures as she could, scurrying here and there with trailing washi behind her like a kitsune's many tails. Meanwhile, Doji Midoru investigated their cause at the side of the Daidoji daimyo, one Daidoji Kikaze. Scrolls and written annals are quite useful in the pursuit of truth, and so their paths crossed, and in that crossing of paths a moment of love, perhaps, or if not love, of passion, or if not love, of the simple sating of bodily hungers.
Midoru soon found himself hastening to a secret Crane prison outside of the city and then further off still from that. Time passed, and the Asako henshin are not known for the looseness of their lips. The son of Emma-O, Fortune of Death, never knew of his Phoenix son, struck down as he was in the Destroyer War before the boy, named Asako Nani Ohtori, began his studies in the Tower of Henshin at Kyuden Asako.
Throughout his studies, Ohtori spent much time at the newest shrine in the area, Oyo Seido. Dedicated to the mad hermit who taught himself the final steps along the Path of Man, its idyllic, peaceful, and by rumor haunted grove proved a quite powerful backdrop to the thoughts which consumed Ohtori. His mind turned upon the nature of death and also upon mortal apotheosis and the universality of the Path of Man. Meido awaits everyone, he knew, though it is in itself only a waystation, a place to wait before taking the next step. But if death was universal, did that not mean the possibility of immortality must also be universal? And if that was so, and humans were meant to be a race of Fortunes, then this hateful practice of seclusion and secrecy that plagued his family must be a False Path pretending to be true.
Asako Nani Ohtori underwent the secrecy-shrouded gempukku ceremony of his family when he was fourteen years of age. It's the timing that's completely expected, incredibly average. The Second City was four years old by then, and it was the year of the very first Summer Court, presided over by Ide Toshiro. Ohtori undertook the journey to witness the spectacle, an adaptation of Rokugani ways to a foreign land. Becoming quite enamored of the Ruined Kingdoms, Ohtori chose to stay and help his clanmates scour through what was left of Ivinda civilization. Long days were spent, searching for lost treasures, hidden magics, that proved a danger to anyone unfamiliar with them. In the process, he mixed with the Spider and Dragon Clans, learning much of how these two most alien of Clans thought.
The appointment of Ikoma Katsuru as Imperial Governor of the Colonies three years later put an early end to this idyllic life of archaeological investigation and study. He and Ohtori quarreled endlessly over the direction of the Second City, the disposition of the Phoenix Clan's finds, lovers, whether the weather was going to be pleasant or unpleasant, and almost every other subject imaginable. Courtiers throughout the Second City whispered gigglingly of "the War in the Library." Just about the only good thing about Katsuru in Ohtori's mind was that he hosted the second Summer Court and continued the practice forward from there.
Three more years were about all Ohtori could take. He took up passage on a Mantis Clan kobune, sailing back to Rokugan in 1185. After reacquainting himself with his homeland for a couple of years, Ohtori was approached by Asako Bairei, the Master of Water with an assignment. The kami had told Bairei of Ohtori, and so Bairei told Ohtori that he must travel to the Scorpion Wall and take up a station there.
A dutiful Nani Ohtori obeyed and so found himself well settled in there by 1190. It was his recommendation that the Jade Champion send Asako Moeru to investigate the defenses of the Second Wall. Ohtori never forgave himself for what he saw as directly causing the magistrate's death at the hands of what he thought was Haruno no Oni. Nor did he forgive himself for not seeing Bayushi Nitoshi's hand in the gore Moeru's corpse was found among.
Full of Regret ~ one of the Three Sins ~ Ohtori fought the Scorpion Clan in the War of the Twins and, indeed, his connections with the Dragon from his time in the Colonies were quite useful in acquiring the aid of the other clan of monks. He heard about the Battle of Nikesake and fled from the ninja-laid explosions that brought Kyuden Agasha to the ground. Possessed of a cruel vengeance, Ohtori found himself exulting in the brutal flames that butchered the vice-ridden Scorpion city Shutai, full of bandits. The very next year, Bayushi Nitoshi blinded Shiba Tsukimi while Ohtori and others watched.
Ohtori was known to say on occasion that seeing the spray of blood and the defeat it represented taught him more about the Path of Man than any other moment in his life.
Academic pursuits consumed Ohtori's life for some years afterwards, including joining the Crab Clan's Kuni family and the Dragon Clan's Tamori family in studying older members of the Spider Clan. Their Taint seemed unstable, in contravention to the deal struck between Daigotsu and Iweko I. In pursuit of this endeavour, Ohtori arranged to meet with the Air shugenja Isawa Koizumi, the future Oracle of the Air. Conversation wandered far from the subject of the Taint, and Ohtori mentioned off-handedly that his mother had always claimed him to be a by-blow of Doji Midoru. A quick prayer to the kami of the air brought a soft smile to Koizumi's face, who revealed himself to be Ohtori's half-uncle. His father was Ohtori's grandfather: Emma-O, the Fortune of Death.
This revelation of their familial connection led to an ongoing collaboration in which shugenja and henshin alike shared both wisdom and knowledge. Many kiho were learned by each, these techniques being one of the key points of contact between the way of the kami and the monastic way. In Ohtori's 34th year, the subject of their conversations turned to Ohtori's time in the Colonies, and the Asako took the opportunity to show off some of the divinatory techniques he picked up in the ruins and shattered peoples of that land. Both were horrified at what they seemed to say ~ a resurgent Destroyer in a new mask, striking in an unexpected place to gain a second foothold in the Heavens.
After a moment of discussion, they decided that Koisumi would investigate this fortune with his father, while Ohtori would go further afield. A lengthy prayer by Koisumi followed, and the kami took Koisumi to a tense, but uneventful brief stay in Meido. Ohtori, on the other hand, discovered that Maigo no Musha where the kami had taken him was busier than even he had expected. Legions of spectral Yodotai legionnaires, serving their god Conquest, were bursting through the Realm of Thwarted Destiny's ever-present fog. Both disciplined battalions and berserkers consumed with mindless bloodlust marched through the realm, engaging the spirits who lived there in combat.
The Asako seek to become Fortunes, and have worked out much of how. Ohtori swept to the aid of the kharma-denied spirits, even rescuing Sanzo himself from a ghostly pilum and fighting back-to-back with Xing Guo, the Fortune of Steel. As the battle ebbed, and the spectral warriors faded from Maigo no Musha leaving only the ever-present mists, Ohtori watched as the two legendary samurai met each other's eyes, holding the gaze for a long minute before Xing Guo finally nodded. Sanzo swung up onto Musha's saddle and extended a hand to Ohtori. "Well, come on, then, living one. Your duty is fulfilled, and you have our thanks. Time to return to Ningen-do." Once the henshin was settled in the saddle, Sanzo spurred his horse to ride, quite shockingly, directly at the form of the Fortune of Steel.
They seemed to ride through Xing Guo's form, as if he was a torii, and Ohtori was amazed to find that they were clattering to a stop in the throne room of the Empress Iweko I herself. He dismounted as soon as such an act was possible, aghast at the unseemliness of the action. The shadowplay form of the Empress could not be seen behind the screen at one end of the room, but a Dragon courtier nonetheless stood in front of it. There was no doubt that this was Togashi Satsu, the Voice of the Emperor, his head bowed as he rested in waiting to be needed.
He didn't even lift that head when he spoke. "She already knows, and agrees, former clanmate." Ohtori heard a grunt from behind him, but when he turned to see Sanzo, he found he could not. The celestial ronin was gone from the chamber. He looked back at Satsu in wonder. Now, the Voice raised his head to look at the henshin. "It has been decreed, young Nani, that your service to the Steel Throne has been invaluable in rebuffing the Yodotai threat." Satsu spoke over Ohtori's questions; Ohtori hadn't known that the attack on Maigo no Musha was part of a larger invasion. "In return, you have been honored with the opportunity to forge a new destiny for you and those you choose to follow you. You shall be daimyo of a new minor clan, which the Empress has decided to name the Mouse Clan. As such, you are due Shiro sano Chujitsu and Shinpu, the Castle of the Faithful Bride, and the surrounding lands as your holding."
Asako Nani Ohtori, now named simply Ohtori, found himself unable to speak, only nod in acceptance. He soon retreated to his new holdings and invested in them heavily. The town Houou City grew up beside Shiro sano Chuijitsu and Simpu, and atop a hill above Houou City, Ohtori built a school. Simply called Ohtori Gakuen, he announced that it would be a place for the sharing of wisdom and skill among the members of all clans, citing the influence the breadth of his own studies had in furthering his knowledge of the Mysteries and Riddles.
Thankfully before the Spider Clan conquered the Emerald Empire in 1200, sending Emperor Iweko II and most of the surviving Rokugani to form a realm-in-exile in the Colonies, Ohtori found himself a bride, a kitsune foxwife by the name of Asahina Ikuhara (now Ohtori Ikuhara). Trained as a shugenja and able to muster the power of Chikushudo as well, she saw what was coming after the Battle of the First Seal and enchanted the grounds of Ohtori Gakuen to protect it from the Spider's armies. Her prayers entreated the kami to convince those who come within the school to stay there, making it hard for them to leave and quickly clouding the memories of those who did leave from the minds of those who remained. The spirits also manipulated the flow of time within the school, leaving it warped and varied. One might almost call it fey.
These preparations did indeed keep Ohtori Gakuen free from the Tainted influence of the Spider Clan as Kanpeki's rule has stretched on for decades. Houou City remained, too, soon eclipsing either the school or the Castle of the Faithful Bride in fame throughout the Obsidian Empire. Ohtori and Ikuhara gave birth early in Kanpeki's reign, whom they named Kanae; when Kanae grew of age, she married the strange, foreign Himemiya Vishaan. Vishaan not only took Kanae's family name, but translated his own from Ivinda to Rokugani, becoming Ohtori Akio. As he and his sister Himemiya Anthy integrated into the Mouse Clan, they developed the Himemiya family and its twin schools.
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