White Cloud City OOC

[tonberryking]

Kotetsu

"She will be speaking with this stormy dark slate gray." This 'silver' color instead.

Spoiler: The Murakumo Clan and the Stormbringers

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The Great status may come and go for some clans but the Murakumo (lit. Gathering Clouds) have maintained a solid standing for decades, even centuries as a powerful clan in the city. Mostly because they are disciplined to a staggering degree, and of course there has never been a shortage of monsters for their ranks to fight. Without cause nor care to political allegiances other clans have they can and will come to the city's aide any time there is a siege or invasion of monsters, maintaining a just as strict stance of neutrality for politics. Their warriors are often referred to as Stormbringers; though they may not have created it, they have perfected a combo of the Lightless Divine Wind and their own Leaping Gail Disciplines no other clan implements, creating an associated visual of leaping, thunderous warriors. A true Master Stormbringer is recognized by their ability to fly short distances, but far enough for them to be deployed with rapid ease.

Personally, they are regarded as humorless but many are often still helpful, a rare few are heroic and all of them are to some degree able fighters. Many of are teetotalers and eschew most pleasures (or regulate/mitigate them) and bloodlines have disposed them towards having gray eyes and silver hair of varying shades. Every member of the clan, even those who do not fight, are all taught that they are part of the fight against monsters. Those Stormbringers who survive into old age rarely retire unless they are crippled or need to manage their families; some even become instructors of the Phoenix Academy.

However, dark clouds gather over the clan presently. For over seven decades the sole Patriarch of the clan is one Ogami Murakumo. Old Ogamaru (his academy name) had little choice; his first three adult children one after another fell to demon beasts over the years, postponing his retirement each time. Nephews and nieces too fell in battle before he could groom a warrior successor; by tradition he cannot surrender clan leadership to his oldest remaining son (the clan Steward, who is not a warrior) or any minor clan members, and for years he has waited for his grand children, nieces, and nephews, simply refusing to die until one of them can graduate the academy and be deemed a worthy successor....


Currently his granddaughter, two grand nephews and the son of a cousin are due to enter the academy; their parents went behind his back and had a 'gentlemen's agreement' that no child would be given a head start...

...However...

There is the matter of the clan's illegitimate heir...

Spoiler: The Turbulence of youth and secrets

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Before he was the responsible, if weary steward of his father's Clan, Takeru Murakumo was a capricious youth. The youngest of Ogami's original children allowed him some small measure of freedom while his older brothers and sisters were alive and he took that freedom to the city's arts: painting sculpture but in particular the theater scene. It was somewhat frowned upon but he wasn't getting into gambling nor drinking nor anything untoward and so Ogami, who had recently lost his first born son was busy grooming his second born as an heir let it go. Life was short. Let the lad become cultured. But with young Takeru came his bodyguard Tsugumo, an older but very distant cousin whose job was to regulate the boy and keep him out of trouble.

Tsugumo failed.

Over the years, Takeru became smitten with a minor actress who worked in both the Noh and Kabuki traditions. In total secrecy, an astounding feat for a Murakumo, he courted the girl. Even gave her his signet ring in a moment of passion. Tsugumo, having lost his own young wife to illness didn't have the heart to put a stop to this, but kept it under wraps and chaperoned his cousin away from too much rashness. Or so he thought. It may have gone another way, but then one after another Ogami lost his second and third born children to the same monster. The clouds burst, just as the faintest of rumors spread that a Murakumo boy was spending an awful lot of time behind the curtains of theaters. By some miracle Takeru and Tsugumo kept the the affair hidden, making Takeru out as a would be playright, but Ogami's lenience was gone forever. Takeru would become clan steward whether he liked it or not, his thunderous father squashing any complaints or arguments. To drive the point home, Tsugumo was kicked out; Ogami blaming him for his son's "follies" when he should have been preparing him to help the clan, a move that devastated Takeru almost as much as being separated from his first love. But he dared not admit to anything...

Tsugumo became a ronin and for a time was lost in the cups of alcohol, until by chance, he encountered Takeru's former lover. To his horror, she was pregnant.

To his even greater horror, as he gained her confidence, he would eventually discover she wasn't human.

Spoiler: Of Heirs and Hares

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The first of Ogami's grandchildren was born on a rainy day 16 years ago, to a hengeyokai mother, her true form that of a hare.

Superstitions and negative press surround these beings. Many hengeyokai flocked to White Cloud, if gradually, over a century ago, assimilating to human culture, but eventually some of them were exposed. Some were even killed for claims of deception but others took note of their powers and thought they could be of use. Outlying clans have many, especially cranes and hares as scouts who can pass relatively without harassment through monster strewn lands. Other hengeyokai took to theater and entertainment, delighting crowds they were desperate to win over. But in spite of any progress there remains issues. Paranoia of their duplicitous natures still runs rampant. As not everyone is aware of how their powers work it has been a common frame job for a human accused of misconduct to say they were being impersonated in the past by hengeyokai. But because many of the original immigrant hengeyokai were the elderly and children, there has been a longstanding assumption that they aren't fighters and worse, that they are cowardly by nature. Obviously this notion has been squashed in the outskirts of White Cloud, but further inward, old associations die hard.

Tsugumo nearly died from the shock of realization that Takeru had a child with one. Time after time after time he tried to get word--any word-- to Takeru but his expulsion from the clan only led to failure. To say that the child's maternal family was scared would be an understatement; they feared reprisal from the Murakumo clan and had little reason to trust the man who 'helped' this happen... but even they didn't have the heart to abandon the baby or her mother. Cooler heads, eventually, ultimately prevailed. It was agreed upon that Tsugumo would marry the child's mother and claim her as his own; he became a bodyguard for the theater troupe and sent about providing for "his" daughter. As he was disgraced, hopefully, no one would be the wiser.

Spoiler: The Silver Lining

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"Kotetsu" was the name she gave upon joining the Phoenix Academy--it can mean either Little Iron or Tiger Iron but as she wrote it in 'basic' script, no one is quite sure which she meant and she won't elaborate.

She is and was a tomboy through and through, but a congenial one. Raised by other hengeyokai and welcoming humans left her comfortable in her hare form; Kotetsu quickly developed a strong sense of familial duty because of it, always eager to help even if she didn't quite know what she was doing. But while she was too honest to make for a decent actress, Stepfather Tsugumo found in her a natural aptitude for the sword. After begrudging consent from Kotetsu's maternal family he openly taught her basic sword drills that looked impressive, but in secret bequeathed to her Murakumo clan disciplines. Ironically this would have gotten him expelled from the Clan if he were still there. Kotetsu, to the delight of her family, was deemed a fine stage fencer; during masked performances she would swap places with young actors for stage fights with the audience little the wiser. Kotetsu didn't mind giving away credit for her performances; the aplomb of the audience and knowing it made her co-actors more of a success was reward for her; even offstage she often did others' chores and covered for them. She found them to be her responsibility, more than the other way around and ironically she grew up to be more of Tsugumo's daughter than her real father's.

But like her surrogate father, she may have made a mistake that could lead to unimaginable consequences...


The Hengeyokai had by this point begun to dominate the theater scene, and after a recent, popular series of plays featuring heroic thieves and corrupt officials, there were those in power who took offense at the success of either. Complaints and attempts to shut down theaters followed, but a riot occurred following a rare monster attack inside the city near the theater district that the local clan was rather, suspiciously slow in halting. The theater guildsmen tried to levy a counter complaint but were met by clan warriors, someone threw a rock and the latter used this excuse to attack the "rebels." No one would have stopped them and risk the political fallout of the clan cleaning house...

No one, except, of course, for the Murakumo.

Kotetsu and her father were at the scene, as guards for the actors, and Tsugumo was hurt badly in the resulting riots. As Murakumo rained down trying to break up the fight some warrior from the aggravated clan tried to finish off her father and without thinking, Kotetsu grabbed her parent's weapon and struck his attacker with two, far-too fast blows. A Murakumo noticed, and came to their aide, saving their lives.

He also seemed to note that for a "human" commoner, she had awfully familiar silver hair, and recognized Tsugumo. He also didn't fully believe she was his child as he claimed; only the main family had hair that light.

Kotetsu's would later have two reasons for joining the academy. One, her family didn't have any other idea of where to safely send her, and Tsugumo felt that she would end up there sooner than later anyway... The other, more personal reason is that she is tired of her kind being thought of as lesser, tired of seeing people hurting commoners and subtle corruption hurt people who can't fight back. Tired of being thought of as a monster, she is determined to put her sword skills to use for the benefit of others, but even now she is woefully unaware of the powder keg she now represents....

Spoiler: Complications

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Illegitimate Heir/Inheritance Conflict/Discord's Pawn She's been told that she's the daughter of a disgraced ronin, and believes it. But she has the silver hair of Murakumo clan nobles, she's been trained in arts that only the Murakumo combine, and her sword has a Murakumo signet ring in the pommel. It's not going to take a master detective to figure out she's really the bastard of someone important, and it might only be a matter of narrowing down potential fathers to realize she's the bastard of the Clan's steward. Who just sent his other child and potential clan heirs into the school.

Open Secret Identity Kotetsu hasn't admitted that she's a hengeyokai and entered the school as a human, but she's hardly an actress. Hengeyokai already have reputation problems, but even for a warrior academy that excepts all entries, this very well may create trust issues with others if /when the mask comes off.

Monster Among Monster Hunters/The Good Monster The Murakumo are monster fighters. They have steadfastly remained out of politics or acted without care towards them, and nobody is quite sure what they would make of hengeyokai, let alone that one is the illegitimate granddaughter of the patriarch. The Hengeyokai are considered cowards, tricksters, and even inhuman by many. Kotetsu firmly believes she isn't a monster, and is determined to prove it, but will she even be allowed to when all is said and done?