Ashina
The Tiam-Anzu
Clan Status: Minor; once Major
Totem Kami: The Tiam-Anzu (feathered dragon)
Colours: Bright reds, yellows and golds primary, white and black highlights; old-fashioned folky styles
Chief Kannushi: Ashina Tsuyu
Vassal Clans: Kamo (Great Auk)
Reputation: Archaic, eccentric, spooky, isolationist, unpredictable, powerful
Preferred classes: Monk, sorcerer, evoker, samurai, druid, cleric (Ajna, Koume & Koushei, Raijin & Fujin, Aum)
Imagery: Ashina Fashion & Scenery Image Gallery (External)
In times long past, the Ashina were one of the three great ruling clans of Marai, overseeing the eastern Highlands while the Sokenzan ruled the Heartlands and the Chiyō ruled the Emerald West. They are masters of destructive magic, cultivating these Arts both to manage the harsh weather of their territory and incinerate their enemies. Worship of the Twin Hags of Calamity, Koumei & Koushei, is common. Their warrior-priest yamabushi are masters of both Senjutsu and Shaolin Style kung fu, and scholars of a variety of others. As a result the Ashina thrived during wartime, but they now struggle with the dance of Commonwealth politics. Aside from the enthusiastic defence of their shores from Shiomi pirate-necromancers and eastern territories by the power-hungry Shan, the relative peace and complicated drama of modern Marai have left their fire, lightning and earthquakes obsolete. Nonetheless they stick stubbornly to the old ways, unheedful of snickering dilletantes.
The Ashina occupy a shrinking territory in the arid crags to the Voideast of the Heartlands. In antiquity, the largest mountain of this range, Imanotsurugi, is said to have housed the largest population of mighty Tiam-Anzu, the largest and most dragon-like of the feathered apex predators, now thought to be extinct save for their much smaller cousins, the nightstalkers. The caldera of the volcanic mountain is especially sacred to the Ashina, ringed all around with fine honden shrines enshrining holy kami. They believe Imanotsurugi is the heart of Marai: while the Commonwealth is a valid way to keep her heart defended, they are her last line of defense, and their overwhelming power will ensure victory.
The Ashina’s Chief Kannushi, Tsuyu, is one of only three female clan heads in the Commonwealth, alongside the Drow Matriarch Oronaga Sachiko and the famed iaijutsu genius Kyoketsu Kaede. A mere nine years old, Tsuyu is believed by the Ashina elders to be an incarnation of Ajna, Goddess of Fire and Justice, from whom the clan claims distant ancestry.
Some of the techniques used by the Ashina are so ancient they come from offplane: their first Emperor, Ashina Shuyin, was a student of Galadnock mac-Kenzie in the methods of the Flamespeakers of Tong Deum, an ancient monastic order rooted in the faraway plane of Pitravat.Geography
The Mythic Era
The Ashina believe themselves the direct descendents of one Marai's three founding demigods: the great Ashura. The other two, Iyō and Kozue, are said to be progenitors of the Chiyō and the Sokenzan, respectively.Origin Myth
The Commonwealth of Marai began with three. Maraian folklore asserts the ancestors of these clans traced back directly to Amaterasu Omikami’s three children: the two elder twin brothers, Iyō and Ashura, and their younger sister Kozue. Fierce Ashura was given dominion of the steppes and mountains to the east: he and his yamabushi warpriests fought back the primordial hordes by incinerating them with holy fire and sealing them beneath honden shrines. Cunning Iyō was given dominion over the swamps and jungles of the west, and fought the alien yūrei through guile and eldritch manipulation. Pale Kozue, few of words and prone to sleeping much of the days away, was given the meadows and bays of the Heartlands, and saw none of ghost or yōkai. At this the brothers were furious, and confronted their sister to demand why she should be given such peace unearned. She replied: “These creatures you war with: I speak to them, in my dreams. My people are not enemies of their kind.”
And it was then the brothers saw her wisdom, for the most honourable conflict is one which spills the least blood.
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