Kami (clan founders)

Please note: Kami redirects here. For other uses of the term, please see Kami (disambiguation).
After the Lord Moon Onnotangu chased and caught up to Amaterasu, the Lady Sun, the pair's union produced ten divine children, whom they named the Kami. Because of the constant stream of doubts and fears whispered into his ear by the Nothing, Onnotangu began to fear that his children might present a threat to his own power. The two Kami Shiba and Bayushi were concerned about Onnotangu's growing fear of them, but their brother Hantei forbade his siblings to plot against their father. The Kami's other brother, the sly Fu Leng, hoped to curry favor with his father and so told Lord Moon that several of his children had been plotting against him. Confronted with his worst fears, Onnotangu's wrath upon all of his children proved terrible.
==Fall of the Kami==
Onnotangu devoured all of his children, including Fu Leng. With each of the children he ate, his wife Amaterasu fed him a cup of poisoned sake. When the time came for Onnotangu to eat his tenth child, Hantei, he mistakenly ate a stone that the Lady Sun gave him instead, never realizing that it was not his son. Hantei was hidden away by his mother Amaterasu who taught him the truth of honor, the way of the warrior and about the noble man Onnotangu had once been before his mind had been poisoned by the Nothing. Hantei trained with the Celestial Dragons to defeat his father and they gave him a powerful sword with which to battle the moon god. In time, Hantei rose up and challenged his father's place in the Celestial Heavens. During their terrible combat across the heavens, Hantei heard the voices of his divine siblings calling out to him from within his father's body, still alive. He cut open Onnotangu's belly and his divine siblings all fell out -- except for Ryoshun, who had been the first of the Kami to be devoured and was truly dead. In his rage at the grievous wound, Onnotangu managed to grab his son Fu Leng before he fell, determined to prevent all of his children from escaping his wrath. But Hantei struck again and severed his father's arm, allowing Fu Leng to fall free through the Hole in the Sky. In his panic, Fu Leng reached out for anything that might arrest his terrifying fall and he grabbed Hantei, pulling the divine avenger after him. Thus the ten kami who were the children of the Lord Moon and the Lady Sun fell to earth, where they would soon meet a portion of humanity and lead them, founding the Empire of Rokugan. Yet not all of the Kami had fallen to the mortal world. Fu Leng had fallen far from his siblings, and his body had crashed into the very center of the capital city of the Nezumi's ancient empire, Heaven's Fall, scattering their population and ending their empire's golden age. Fu Leng punched through the mortal realm and ultimately came to rest in the infernal realm of Jigoku. His descent transformed the Ratlings' ruined city into the Festering Pit that devastated the lands around the Nezumi's destroyed city and created the Shadowlands when Jigoku's taint spread outwards from the pit into the mortal world.
== The Tournament ==
After their fall to earth, the Kami decided to choose one amongst their number to rule their new realm of Rokugan. Having fallen into Ningen-do, the Realm of Mortals, they themselves were no longer divine immortals, but they were still far more powerful than ordinary men. They held a tournament at the very spot where they had arrived in the mortal world to select the most worthy among them to become the first Rokugani Emperor. Hida, the strongest of the Kami, was defeated by the quick and agile Shinjo. Bayushi was no stranger to tricking others and he used Shinjo's qualities against her. He in turn was defeated by calm and intelligent Shiba. Lady Doji, who observed the way Shiba had fought, then defeated him. She, however, was no match for mighty Akodo, a strong warrior and skilled tactician. Akodo had to fall on his knees before Hantei, who thus became the first Emperor of Rokugan. Enigmatic Togashi had foreseen the contest's outcome and so refused participation in the tournament. Fu Leng had been lost to Jigoku, and Ryoshun was dead, devoured by Onnotangu.Dawn of the Empire, by Rich Wulf
== Kami and Their Clans ==
After the tournament ended, at the command of the new Emperor each of the Kami gathered followers to themselves from among the people of Rokugan and to pacify their new Empire in the name of Hantei I. Fu Leng, now infused with the power of Jigoku, and convinced by the dark, demonic whisperings of that place that his siblings had intentionally abandoned him after his fall from the Heavens, gathered a great army of oni, goblins and other creatures of the Shadowlands with the intent of invading his hated siblings' lands and claiming them for his own. Ryoshun, the only Kami who had died in Lord Moon's stomach, became the divine protector of the Spirit Realms. Hantei became the first Emperor of Rokugan and the founder of its long-ruling Hantei dynasty, and his seven surviving divine siblings became the founders of the seven Great Clans of Rokugan. These Kami were:
* Akodo - Founder of the Lion Clan
* Bayushi - Founder of the Scorpion Clan
* Doji - Founder of the Crane Clan
* Fu Leng - Master of the Shadowlands and patron of the Spider Clan
* Hantei - The first Emperor of Rokugan and first ancestor of the Imperial Families
* Hida - Founder of the Crab Clan
* Ryoshun - Protector of the Spirit Realms
* Shiba - Founder of the Phoenix Clan
* Shinjo - Founder of the Unicorn Clan
* Togashi- Founder of the Dragon Clan
== Kami of the Mantis Clan ==
Yoritomo, the Kami who became the divine patron of the Mantis Clan, was born a mortal, but through his actions he elevated the Mantis Clan to Great Clan status in 1128.Mantis Clan Letter #3 He died a hero's death in 1133 at the Battle of Oblivion's Gate, and was later granted access to the Celestial Heavens of Tengoku for aiding Otaku Kamoko.Sailing the Heavens, by Shawn Carman In 1170, Yoritomo would have been cast out of Tengoku were it not for the intervention of the Thunder Dragon. The Thunder Dragon chose to give up a portion of its divinity to allow Yoritomo to remain in Tengoku as the patron Kami of the Mantis.Preparations, Part I, by Rusty Priske and Shawn Carman
* Yoritomo - Patron of the Mantis Clan
== Taboo ==
Like Amaterasu, their mother, it was forbidden to portray them in paintings or sculpture. Each clan used the sword of their founder to decorate the shrine. Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, p. 136
== References ==
Category:History
Category:Rokugan
Category:Articles with Pictures