Chiyō
The Cicadas
Chiyo-o-Goemaru, Chief Kannushi of the clan
Clan Status: Minor, once Major
Totem Kami: The Cicada
Colours: Greens, blues, browns and greys; tattoos are popular; traditional Chiyō armours are made of tightly-woven reeds; traditional Iyōan masks are popular among collectors
First Kannushi: Chiyō-O-Goemaru
Vassal Clans: Aya (Binturong), Umeki (Foxfire Beetle)
Reputation: Swamp shamans & bumpkins, untalkative, rustic, hardy, odd, laid-back fishermen, a “living fossil” clan
Preferred classes: Ranger, ninja, samurai, corsair, witch (swamp, sea, bamboo forest)
Imagery: Chiyō Fashion & Scenery Image Gallery (External)
A cidada decoration adorning a doorway,
common in Chiyō territory.
In centuries long past, the geopolitics of the continent of Marai looked very different: the imperious Sokenzan ruled the Heartlands from their diviner-towers, the powerful Ashina defended the Highlands from the Arakh clans of the Skylands, and the hardy Chiyō defended the Verdant West from the feral, masked Iyō Peoples of the Emerald Expanse. The way these jungle skirmishes are described by historians, they may have been an early flourishing of Green Path ninjutsu, similar to the modern kamaitachi ninja of the Kyoketsu, the Shan and the Nikata.
Nowadays, the Chiyō have no such concerns. The (somewhat) peaceful Oronaga now rule the Emerald Expanse (though it is their eastward expansion that has bled all but two of the Cicadas’ vassal clans) and the Chiyō have little to trade on aside from rice, fish, eels and some spices. They are experts at catching rarer fish species with trained cormorants; a dozen such birds perched on a Chiyō boat is an iconic sight, and the Cicadas’ seafood taverns are arguably the best in the Commonwealth. Their stilted, platform towns, dense bamboo forests and quaint coastal island-shrines also draw some tourism. Their tattoo artists are top-notch but the practice is considered antiquated and increasingly associated with Shiomi pirate-necromancers.
At any rate, if the Cicadas miss the glory days, they don’t go on about it, and are generally seen as a laid-back, eccentric but likeable people.Geography
A modern Chiyō samurai with standard reed-woven armour.
The Mythic Era
The Chiyō are the most direct descendents of the Iyō (followed by the Oronaga, Dolaghan and Izuka), who were a diaspora ruled by the ancient Lichlord Io'a, who defected from the great Kelpeater civilization of Alanthan'aravaut. This is reflected, with some differences, in their mythology.The Three Progenitor Gods of Marai
The Chiyō believe themselves the direct descendents of one Marai's three founding demigods and children of the Starmother Amaterasu-O-Mikami: the great Lord Iyō. The other two, Ashura and Kozue, are said to be progenitors of the Ashina and the Sokenzan, respectively.
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 sōhei 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 yuurei 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.
An ancient Iyōan samurai.
The Iyōan Wars
The ancient Naru and Umeki clans were the first mortal warriors to successfully resist the march of the mighty armies of the Kelpeater Lichlord Io'a. Due to a string of defeats against the ancient Maraians, Io'a was disowned by his God-Emperor and forced to go renegade, representing one of the great political victories of the Insurgent Gods. The culture that grew under Io'a's leadership became known as the Iyō, which at its height became the third most powerful nation in the world after the First and Second Empires.
The Naru still exist to the far east, across Marai and beyond Asura's Wall. The Umeki are now a vassal clan of the modern Chiyō. Some small, independent neo-Iyōan tribes remain in the far corners of the Emerald Expanse, avoiding forcible assimilation by the Oronaga.The Martyr & The Betrayer
Defences against the Iyōan hordes were, however, challenged mightily at times. Things nearly turned around for the Lichlord Io'a due to a timely betrayal by a popwerful young Umeki warrior who turned on and killed the Naru hero and commander, Hanavira-no-Kishiki ("The Knight of Petals"), thus assimilating some fraction of the resistance into his own, personal army. It is said his only reason for doing this was to test his strength, by being on the losing side. This split may have proven fatal for the early Maraians, were it not for the direct intervention by Insurgent God Reis and her Wardens.
Both the Betrayer and the Knight of Petals would eventually ascend, becoming the the Crimson Serenity and the Field Marshal respectively.
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