Tsuruchi Nobumoto

Tsuruchi Nobumoto was a bushi skirmisher who was born as a Mantis, a child of a new generation of Tsuruchi who were no longer a minor clan. He was a cheerful, optimistic samurai who for the bulk of his career patroled the Scorpion Clan border. He had many friends and a good nature to all his dealings. Secret of the Mantis, p. 59
== Family ==
Nobumoto had a younger sister, Tsuruchi Fusako, Stray Arrow, by Rich Wulf and was cousin of Tsuruchi Arishia. The Destroyer War, Part 17, by Shawn Carman
== Way of the Samurai ==
Nobumoto, as many other young Tsuruchi, did not know the times when the Wasp Clan run the Rokugan lands. He refused to wear the colors of a defunct Minor Clan. The old school Tsuruchi Daimyo, Tsuruchi Ichiro, led to some harsh words with Nobumoto in Kyuden Ashinagabachi due to this philosophical differences, and exiled Nobumoto from the city. 
== Station ==
Nobumoto was stationed as Commander of the Guard at Gateway Village, among the Tsuruchi Wardens. The Atlas of Rokugan, p. 117
=== Kumiko was Revealed ===
Nobumoto was an open supporter of the Mantis Clan Champion Yoritomo Kitao when the opportunist Daughter of Storms, Yoritomo Kumiko was revealed seeing her as ruthless enough to end the Scorpion threat to the Tsuruchi lands. 
=== Ploy against Ichiro ===
In 1159 Nobumoto and his sister Fusako heared in Gateway Village a private conversation between Yoritomo Naizen, Kitao's General, and Tsuruchi Yutaka. Naizen confirmed the promised made by Kitao to Yutaka: he would be made Tsuruchi Daimyo if he would send the corpse of Kumiko. The current Tsuruchi Daimyo would be forced to step down or to commit seppuku. A scout in Yutaka employ had located the Daughter of Storms in Unicorn territory and tracked down her to a ronin village in the Crab lands, near the Twilight Mountains. Nobumoto came to see Ichiro and warned him about the ploy, and the Tsuruchi Daimyo commanded him to pursue with five Tsuruchi more, being Tsuruchi Heishiro and Yutaka's cousin, Tsuruchi Terao, between them. Fusako had remained in Yutaka's haunting party as spy. 
=== Death of Yutaka ===
Yutaka was reached near the strong defended Village of Broken Dreams, a secret village of the Otokodate the Unbroken. Yutaka hidden several archers to strike her down when Kumiko appeared. Fusako was taken as hostage, and used her to stop Nobumoto and his group until the Daughter of Storms was killed. Nobumoto fired Whistling Bulb Arrows, and with the sound produced alerted the ronin guards. Yutaka was killed by Terao when his cousin threatened the life of his hostage. 
=== Mantis Civil War ===
The death of Yutaka was widely considered the start of the Mantis Civil War. Nobumoto changed his favor to Kumiko, and his Daimyo openly supported her. Entrenchment (A Perfect Cut flavor)
== Bitter Flower ==
Nobumoto was assigned to the Bitter Flower, together with Tsuruchi Hiro, Ichiro's son. The kobune was the vessel of Kitao, who became the Kumiko's ambassador when she decided to serve the Mantis Champion rather than to spend her life at prison. Blood Dawn, Part VI: Treacherous Seas, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
=== Rain of Blood ===
Then in 1165 came the Rain of Blood, Nobumoto was onboard the Bitter Flower when the rain began. In horror he watched as Hiro succumbing to his darkest fears, and become Lost to the taint. Kitao, who also had been corrupted by the rain, knocked Nobumoto over the side of the deck. A wounded Nobumoto reached the coast of the Phoenix-Crane border, and endured the Rain. Since this day Nobumoto began to hunt Kitao to kill the abomination. Expert Archers (Hidden City flavor)
== Tsuruchi Daimyo ==
Three weeks after the rain Tsuruchi Ichiro, daimyo of the Tsuruchi family retired, (unable to bear the loss of his only son Hiro) and would name Nobumoto lord of the Tsuruchi. Nobumoto’s first act would be to dispatch hunters to bring in the lost Hiro to save his soul. Though he feels unworthy to leader, Nobumoto does his best to guide his family in the trying times they live in. He was fondly referred to as the Emerald Wasp. Tsuruchi Nobumoto (Lotus flavor) Nobumoto also sent hunters to the forest which touched on the southern border of the Agasha provinces in an attempt to locate any trace of Kitao, who had stormed the City of Remembrance. Two Maidens, by Shawn Carman He promised to deliver the traitors Kitao, Ichiro and Moshi Mogai. Tsuruchi Terao (Lotus flavor)
=== Chagatai's Ambition ===
Nobumoto knew of the real intentions of the Khan Moto Chagatai during the Khan's Defiance. He saw his family as the future law enforcers of a new Unicorn Emperor, Soul of the Winds (Khan's Defiance flavor) which finally did not happen.
=== Marriage ===
In 1169 Nobumoto married Kuni Jiyuna during the Spring Archery contest. His wife took the Tsuruchi name. The betrothal was arranged in the Winter Court at Kyuden Otomo in 1168. Excluding the firstborn of this marriage, all subsequent children who showed signs of the ability to speak with the kami would be offered for training in the Kuni Dojos, and to be trained there if the Kuni judged them acceptable. The other children would be trained in the Tsuruchi dojo. Winter Court Kyuden Otomo 1168, p. 13
=== Fox Absorption ===
In 1166 Kumiko sent Nobumoto to request the Fox Clan Champion Kitsune Ryukan to join the Mantis, but he refused. Three Man Alliance Plain (Lotus flavor) Following a period of trouble with an unknown enemy based in Kitsune Mori, the Fox Clan were forced to accept the aid of the Mantis Clan. In return Ryukan, reluctantly, allowed the Fox to join the Mantis Clan in 1169. Shadows, by Shawn Carman
=== Race for the Throne ===
Surprissingly Naizen endorsed Tsuruchi Etsui as another Mantis candidate for Emperor in the Race for the Throne. He had discarded Nobumoto's suggestion, Tanari, formerly known as Tsuruchi, for the young hero who stood at the side of Toturi III as his final defender before he breathed his last. He bore his final words back to the empire, so that we would know that he fell a hero. He also could have used those words to aggrandize himself, but he did not, thinking only of the Empire. The Mantis saw Etsui as an Emperor they could control. On Land and On Sea (The Race for the Throne Book), by Rusty Priske
=== Assassinations ===
Nobumoto was one of the targets of assassination during the rash of attacks throughout the Empire 1170. His life was saved thanks to the intervention of Isawa Tokiko, an Ishiken visiting Kyuden Ashinagabachi at the time. A New Empire, Part I, by Shawn Carman He recovered from the injuries he suffered. Letters and Bios I
== Destroyer War ==
Nobumoto commanded the Mukami's Legion during the Destroyer War. The Kotei 2010 MegaGame In 1171 Nobumoto and his elite legion destroyed a Destroyers unit with the aid of his advisor Yoritomo Tatsuhiko. State of the Empire, by Brian Yoon In 1172 he managed to disperse a peasant army without conflict. State of the Empire, Week 11 When the Crab lands were under the control of the gaijin demons they began to assault the Scorpion provinces. The Tsuruchi came to aid their neighbours. Tsuruchi Nobumoto (Empire at War flavor)
=== Silent Village ===
In 1173 Nobumoto was trapped in Silent Village, in the Scorpion lands. He knew his home state, Kyuden Ashinagabachi, was directly in the path of a major Destroyer offensive, and he could not aid in its defense. During the night he began to suffer nightmares, that foresaw the attackon the village of the forces of Kali-Ma, and his own death. He located a place where the dreams showed, and prepared a trap with lantern oil. Alongside an earth Kitsune Shugenja he uncovered a tunnel dug by the Destroyers, killed several of them firing arrows, and the Kitsune collapsed the tunnel. Several of the two-foot destroyers with animal heads managed to reach the surface, but the village guards took care of them. 
Nobumoto did not know that his cousin Tsuruchi Arishia, currently in the Ivory Kingdoms, had paid with sake to a shojo, En'you. The sea spirit was a prophet with the ability to plant dreams that foresaw what the shojo wanted to show. Arishia wished to protect the Mantis, so Nobumoto was warned in that way. 
== Death ==
During the Battle of Kyuden Ashinagabachi a group of Mantis had been overrun by a flanking force of Destroyers during an attempt to reach the castle. Aftermath, Part 2, by Shawn Carman Nobumoto was among those who died in the war. The Celestial Edition Dead List], by Shawn Carman
=== Guardian Spirit ===
Nobumoto became one of the known Guardian Spirits of the Shrine of the Three Dynasties. Renewal (Storyline result)
== External Links ==
* Tsuruchi Nobumoto (Dark Allies)
* Tsuruchi Nobumoto Exp (Hidden City)
* Tsuruchi Nobumoto Exp2 (Empire at War)
* Four Winds, p. 53
Category:Mantis Clan Leaders
Category:Characters with Pictures