The Onna-Musha of Shimakuni

"Welcome to our podcast, "Good Folk of Earth". In this episode, Folson Daryu, the show's host, travels with his crew to the southeastern island nation of Shimakuni, to study the experience of being an Onna-Musha. It's something none of you asked for, but Daryu, our host, insisted on the journey since we're approaching the festival week of "Gunrest", where the female samurai are out an about, freed from their military duties.
We think he just has a type."

*Daryu: Shimakuni... a land of beauty separated from the mainland by vast waters. A nation of rich culture and deep lore engraved into the very mountains, and anomalous beings found all throughout the skies. I've embarked on this journey to learn more about the culture our empire fell in love with, and joined in brotherly alliance. However, in this episode, we'll dive into something unique.
In our homeland, in a special ceremony hosted by our leaders, citizens would be presented with amazing feats of skill and tech from heroes spanning all throughout our empire's vast alliance. In last year's "ceremony of iron", some of Shimakuni's heroes were women, showcasing new psionic enhanced trickweapons and psychic abilities.
This got me wondering... how did such advances in women's rights come to be, where women received a place in the military? What is it like to be an Onna Musha? What experiences do they share?
I set in a departure from the port of Yosful to collect as much knowledge as possible, when these busy individuals would be in leisure time - the Shimakuni's yearly week-long festival, "Gunrest" - a celebration to praise the victories of Shimakuni, and honor their armed forces.

The beginning of my journey - the tavern

We came here quite early in the celebration week, arriving three days before the nation's parade. But I couldn't wait that long. Every moment was precious, if I wanted to soak as much knowledge as I could. These few days before the parade in this time of celebration, soldiers are likely to be at home with their families. I couldn't possibly intrude in anybody's family business, but fortunate for me, some soldiers would rather be spending time in one of their most prestigious military-only Taverns - the Daydreaming Monk.
At first glance at my foreign appearance, security sternly notified me that civilians weren't allowed, but he recognized me from my podcast, so he gave me a quick freebee.
But regardless of my getting in, I took out like a sore thumb. Everyone here, though they wore civilian clothing line me, all wore armbands signifying their rank in the military, ornated differently depending of they were Samurai or Onna Musha. I had no such thing on me, and that alone made me feel naked.
Wandering aimlessly in the gigantic tavern, I came across a lone woman sitting alone in one of the long bars on the second floor, curiously isolated from the chattering crowds of samurai and Onna Musha. with an Onna-Musha armband.
I moved in to shoot my shot - I mean, start my interview.
*Daryu: "So I know we just met, but um... I've been planning to see about this festival too. If there's a slim chance you have no one to go with, I'd be interested to chaperone you."
*Onna Musha: "Oh! Umm, thanks! But..."slim chance"? What's that supposed to mean?
*Daryu: "Didn't mean anything by it. It's just difficult for me to imagine someone such as yourself being alone during...
Daryu noticed the camera operator "Wait, are you recording? Turn it off!"

The podcast continues with the closeup of the off-duty Onna-musha
*Daryu talks behind the camera* "So you were in the armed forces for a good while, yes? How would you describe your time so far as an Onna Musha? Is the hype worth it? Is it as prestigious as it sounds? I'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject."
"Oh sure... Yea, it's... totally overrated. Most people think they can fill in a simple application and be drafted into the freight battle and earn their place in the pages of legend - as if it was that easy for the samurai before us. Honestly, I've met some girls who thought joining the ranks would automatically give them recognition. I could probably guess what kind of people they were in high school. But anyway... there's a lot of preparation.

Training for the Onna Musha and Samurai

...The beginner ranks go through a time called "Pilot Year", where you're taught the most crucial combat, thinking, and survival skills. Samurai and Onna - we're all on the same boat there. But as an Onna musha, I remember being taught combat a bit differently."
"Could you elaborate?"
"They stress more on the use of certain elements in our training, such as long-ranged weaponry, stealth, and pressure points, and less traditional hand-to-hand combat. Something I totally get because... women do have a disadvantage when it comes to strength, which sucks... admittedly... but the strategies we learn in camp do make up for that. I actually know how to kill a man with my bare hands! You don't need a whole lot of strength, you just got to trigger the right pressure points! Want me to give you a demonstration!?"
"Ummm-"
"Nah, I'm kidding! Anyway, the instructors go hard on tactics, critical thinking in the midst of chaos, and obedience to authority. But what I always thought was interesting is how they teach us to come up with new strategies with our companions in dire situations where our leader is deceased or if we become separated. Critical thinking like that, I believe, is something lacking in the training of... some militaries *Ahem - Altsania!*."
"What would you say was your worst subject?"

"Oh - etiquette. Out of all of em', I hated that the most! We're soldiers, yet we're forced to act like high society blokes! Gotta learn how to bow right, speak, and approach civilians like chivalric butlers - I'm actually breaking code by talking to you like this! If I was more... honorable to the pact (which no one is), I'd probably ramble on about how the army corps is a flawless organization - which is total stupidity! They teach us how to eat "properly", like..... huh?!"
"I take it that good manners are an important trait in Shimakuni military culture."
"Yeah, for some reason. But I guess it's... cool that we esteem the preservation of the humanity and decency of soldiers in times of brutality. Not many nations care for that. Other blokes - not talking about your people, of course! But those in the west - as long as their soldiers kill without remorse, they're content. That always disgusted me. It's this normalization of demoralization."
*Onna Musha is distracted by distant voices... She turns and waves excitedly*
"Guys, what took you so long?
*Unintelligible voices in the background* "What do you mean I'm early? I got here at 5:00 sharp! I was just about to leave!" *Onna turns briefly to the interviewer* "no offense to you of course."

*Narrator*
Our interview was shortened when the Onna Musha's companions joined her at the tavern bar to celebrate her friend's survival from a recall mission up in Omnibiru. We found it rude to continue with the interview amidst such a celebration. However, the Celebrated lady samurai also recognized my voice. So in her good graces, she allowed us to stay and celebrate with them. We had a few shots and laughs, and after a good night, they offered us to travel with them to their place of solace in nature where they intended to carry on our interview.

Singing songs into the night

We sang under the starry night sky, singing ancient songs from the time of their ancestors... as well as some Red Water Gospel.
The Shimakuni soldiers are rewarded with much off time - a fact that warmed my heart a bit. I recall when my father - a military man, would miss out on many holidays and birthdays because of his service. I couldn't help but wonder if the children of Shimakuni didn't have to suffer as much isolation from their loved ones.

We settled down a tad, and brought out the snacks, as one of the Onna Musha offered to let us continue our interview.
"Before we continue we'd like to thank you for allowing us to tag along with you -we're truly honored! Now I didn't get to dig in too much. What I've really been wondering is what makes the Onna Musha unique, asides from them being military women. Do they have a history that stands out from their male counterparts?
"A bit of a weird question... asides from our gender there's not much that differs from Samuria..."
*One Onna Musha from the friend group, after taking a bite of grilled pork from her assassin's needle she pulled from the bonfire, spoke* "No, there are a few things."
"W-what do you mean?
*Another Onna Musha commented* "...Gaia, we all know the story! Don't let us down now!"

Origins of the Onna Musha

"...Oh shoot, that story! Yea! Daryu, this is some good content for your show. Listen up. So back in the old day, say... two centuries ago, women weren't allowed in the army. No surprise. There were only samurai, which sounds utterly boring, but anyway - these lands were once ruled by a mega-dynasty turned dictatorship - the Tsuru-Shen family, that ransacked the old dynasties of today's eastern Shimakuni.
The Katsuni dynasty warred against the Tsuru-Shen in a war that could only be described as one-sided. The Katsuni were losing territory and were running low on soldiers and provisions after every raid and altercation they suffered by the Tsuru-Shen's hand. The military was stretched thin, leaving only small battalions to defend against entire legions, over cities that were a predetermined loss.
They had no chance. It was only a matter of time until the Tsuru-Shens reached the capital, and completely overthrew the Katsuni government and dethroned the Dynast.
Long story short, the Samurai of the Katsuni dynasty were entirely massacred off the face of Aldreyan. The children were taken from their families to be indoctrinated, while the ladies... well... Let's just say if you were ugly, you were a laborer. If you were hot, you were either a servant to the royals or an entertainer for them and their soldiers.
Now usually when your banner is wiped from existence, you'd give up. But not them.
They knew that their fallen Dynast back before he was blasted into smitherines by the blunderbuss, sent help to the northern Dynasty of Haru-Inu. And the Dynast got a letter back with a potisive response.
But the women knew how unrelenting the tyrrany was, so they decided to lend their allies a hand. During the night, the women would gather in secret to plot how they would dismantle the empire, afterward sneaking out, faces covered in black paint, to wreak chaos across the dynasty.
And they did so, by taking names - becoming assassins.
Assassins the Tsuru-Shen had no idea existed.
For every assassination, every tragedy and incident (that sometimes killed thousands!) was carefully altered to place blame on the leaders of controversial political powers.
People began distrusting one another, distrusting their representatives. The words of the powerful carried less and less meaning. The undercover women would go on poisoning food supplies, rivers, and medicine, killing off thousands of the Tsuru-Shen, pointing "evidence" to a totally false, but believable government conspiracy to control the population to cope with the emergency of a food shortage - a crisis caused by the assassins! A risk on their part, because you know... less food, but it bloody worked!
The people rebelled against the dynasty, lighting the streets ablaze, hanging members of the royal family and the high magistrates for public display!
By the time "help" came for an empire that no longer existed, the Tsuru-Shen dynasty was already in a weakened state. That only made things easy for the Haru-Inu to take over.
In the end, all that was left of Haru-Inu's allies, was their women. But once the Haru-Inu Dynast found out their contribution to the fall of Tsuru-Shen, the allies honored them as they would a fellow samurai. It wasn't long until they allowed some of those women into their ranks, bringing the first appearance of women soldiers in eastern Aldreyan's history."

*The group of Onna Musha burst into applaud*
"Wooo!"
"Thanks, Akemi. So that's about it! Happily ever after. And after that, a female inventor created the one-handed rifle to use alongside trick weapons, and then we befriended the empire of tribes, got giant birds with mounted machine guns, yada yada, you know the rest.
"Only from Fellmourn!"
"Yep, the lunatics of Aldreyan! And it was an uphill ride from there. But of course, everything changed when the west attacked."
"Thanks, Northal"
"We love em'"
"Anyway, Daryu, I hoped you and your friends enjoyed that bit of lore."
Daryu: We did, thank you!

Utilized Equipment

The Onna Musha and samurai make use of a vast arsenal. Some armaments include:

• Trick weapons, such as the saw hat, hidden dual swords, steam-boosted scythes, and others.

-Some trick weapons, to better suit the abilities of Affectors, use psionic enhancements that allow the weapon to alter into different, stranger formations a non-psionic weapon would have difficulty changing into.

• Rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols, machine guns, etc...
• Chemical gasses, bombs
• Beasts to help with travel, and warfare both on the ground and sky (The airforce consists of equestrians riding on giant birds who are mounted with cannons, bombs, and machine guns)

Onna Musha's Makeup

The first of the Onna Musha, that were a ragtag group of women rebelling against a tyrannical dynasty, wore black warpaint - a fashion choice that was supported for only so long until their adopted Dynasty became joined an empire that later took on a policy of courtesy and formality they enforced onto their soldiers. To keep some traits that hinted towards their origins, the war paint (which was once part of the Onna Musha's shared culture that served to celebrate their past), was replaced with black eyeliner.
No other makeup is worn, for a lack of makeup is seen as a trait of confidence, and transparency.