A Brief History of the War of Two Suns
Excerpt From “A Brief History of The War of Two Suns”
Iwane Yuuki, later Emperor Iwane IV
Illustrious names, responsible for the lifting of the great curse on the Iwane line, but ultimately, only one of them is connected directly to the resolution of the War of Two Suns. Still, the war cannot be properly examined without considering the events that led to it, and those events can largely be attributed to these seven great people, however different their names may have been at the time.
Records of the time refer to Nagare of the Flaming Sake, and then Tsume Nagare, in obvious deference to the Iwane tradition of musha shugyo of sorts, which continues to this day. He began his journey as an Emerald Magistrate with the now customary four yoriki, though only two of them appear above. Agasha Yuugure and Tsi Yoshiharu were by his side for his entire service as a magistrate. Shiba Hakumi was recalled to her home, deep in the Isawa Forest, and records of the time place her as missing and presumed dead in the massacre of the so-called “Pale Shiba” that dwelled there. Shosuro Shinju determined to go on a proper musha shugyo during the infamous winter during which the empire determined the fate of both the Crab clan and the newly-joined Jinn, as well as the Mantis clan’s last great push to be acknowledged as a great clan. She never returned to her clan from her musha shugyo, but a careful search of the Emerald Archives shows that it’s likely she traveled under the name of Suna, a noted ronin scholar and duelist of the time, paying her way as a yojimbo for hire as she researched supernatural occurrences across the empire.
Though they served for less than five years as a group, they were involved in high profile incident after high profile incident, beginning by preventing a war between the Lion and Crane, marrying the daimyo of the Tsume, a line presumed ended over a hundred years earlier, to Minako of the Mantis Fleet, granting the Mantis the family name in lieu of the Crane who had allowed the Lion to simply declare the name dead. Events afterward show a disturbing predilection for fire, with a mission to escort Iwane Kawa, the first daughter of Empress Iwane III to the City of the Rich Frog, ending with an entire village being burned to the ground along the way, and several houses destroyed by fire and explosion in the city itself, not to mention the death of a prominent senior emerald magistrate and his eldest son, and Tsi Yoshiharu’s arrest for the murder.
It’s at this time that Shiba Hakumi was recalled to her home, but Isawa Koiyokan, then Jade Champion, intervened. A member of the Jade Legion, her orders read that she was to locate Tsume Nagare and remain by his side until further notice. Isawa Koiyokan, later dubbed the Hand of Fate for his now legendary divinatory abilities, was responsible for directing the group to a number of his ‘decision points’, perhaps even more than are officially recorded, given gaps in the record. The group proceeded north through Sorrow’s Pass, out into the Burning Sands, where they struck the legendary deal in which Lady Raniya and Lord Juzo turned the jinn human and adopted them into the empire, providing the impetus for the war.
A most eventful and legendary winter court followed, during which Shosuro Shinju departed on musha shugyo, but once again, fate or fortunes intervened, and Asako Hohoemi, then an orphan of unknown parentage, was taken in as a yoriki by Tsume Nagare after her emerald magistrate and fellow yoriki were killed while investigating piracy in Scorpion lands. After resolving the case and gaining vengeance for her lost team, she continued in Nagare’s service until the team was dissolved after Iwane Yuuki was declared heir to the throne.
Details of the curse on the Iwane were never provided, and in fact it wasn’t confirmed that a curse existed until it was announced that it had been lifted. The details behind removal of the curse are similarly not recorded, only that Empress Iwane III saw fit to reward the people involved, including the Mantis clan, most richly. Ultimately, the curse does seem to have been lifted, with all of Iwane IV’s siblings surviving to retirement, as well as three of his four children, allowing him to establish that there would be no branch family like the disgraced Otomo. Instead, those who do not inherit the throne marry into the clans, to this day.
The Mantis clan, barred eternally from being numbered among the great clans, was dissolved, and the Tsume, along with their allies the Maui and Maori, were instated as the Orochi clan.
Iwane Yuuki, of course, was declared heir to the throne.
Asako Hohoemi, having been revealed as the daughter of Isawa Nozomi, the Guardian of Ningen-do, was granted the family name Nozomi, to stand alongside the other families of the Phoenix as equals, as well as the hand of Iwane Tabi.
Agasha Yuugure became a senior Emerald Magistrate and was granted the hand of Iwane Kawa, and distinguished herself commanding the destruction of a serious threat to the empire, whose details are best discussed elsewhere. She is well known as the greatest researcher of blood offering since Doji Akikaze, being the force behind the establishment of the Kaeru school of blood offering and their subsequent joining of the Dragon as a great family.
Tsi Yoshiharu mostly faded into obscurity, as seemed his general desire, leaving his younger brother to inherit his father’s position as he married into the Scorpion, and there founded a new smithing tradition, without interference from his former clan.
Moto Yasemin is the focus of our attention here. Acting on information recovered from unstated sources noted as perfectly reliable, she was ultimately the force behind the success of the War of Two Suns. Appointed a senior Jade Magistrate, she was appointed the customary four magistrates, each with their own customary four yoriki, under her command. At her direction…
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With the war stalled by lack of supplies and the punishing conditions of two suns, Raniya and Shilah, at war in the sky, the armies of Rokugan were faced with having to retreat at last, lest they buckle under the pressure of environment and enemies that could not properly die. Mere days before the order was given, Yasemin’s team successfully discovered and destroyed the source of the seeming immortality of the Immortal Caliph and all her most powerful servants, slaying them, and in an instant, both the government and military of the Caliphate collapsed.
