Shosuro Aroru

Shosuro Aroru was a ninja duelist who became the Master sensei of the Brother's Gift Dojo. He became the Shosuro Daimyo and wore a trademark cat-faced mask.
== Demeanor ==
Aroru was a quiet man, who spoke very rarely and only to those who worked directly under him or to his superiors. Way of the Ninja, p. 31 However he had acomplished several important missions for the clan as assassin and spy, and was a member of the group that went to protect the Emperor Toturi III in his travel to the Tomb of the Seven Thunders in the Shadowlands. To Defend the Emperor, Part 3, by Shawn Carman
== Early Life ==
Aroru's mother was taken by the Lying Darkness when he was a child. He screamed and cried in her funeral, and was considered weak by his father. When his father was also taken by the Darkness, few believed that the Shosuro would allow Aroru to enter the ninja dojo. He was raised by his Bayushi uncle, who understood the boy's talent early on and used his influence to get the young Scorpion into the Shosuro dojo. 
== Ninja training ==
Aroru was one of the most loyal students of Shosuro Yudoka. He was an expert in venoms. Poisoned (Gold flavor) He put emphasis on speed over strength and guile over confrontation. He was a fierce combatant and had no mercy when he had to kill someone. 
=== Assassin ===
Aroru considered himself a murderer. He had been trained for that purpose and he was unmatched on assassination missions. For reasons unknown Shosuro Yudoka removed Aroru from such duties for several years. His duties at that time were mostly espionage and courier missions. Specters: Unfinished Business III, by Shawn Carman
== Wife ==
Aroru married Yogo Teiriko in late 1154. He would be gone for long amounts of time and would rarely see her. Six months later, in 1155, Aroru was tasked again as a murderer, to assassinate Akodo Kaneka in Ryoko Owari Toshi. He was given a vial of venom from the Islands of Spice and Silk by Shosuro Toson and planted the venom on a needle in the glove of Kaneka's armor. The attempt failed however and the venom did not work. Toson and Aroru deduced that the venom had been replaced, which could only have been done by Teiriko. Aroru was tasked with killing his wife, the first step on his path to attone for his failure. Aroru pondered that Kaneka's continued survival would weaken the Emperor's power, the known main target of the Gozoku conspiracy hundred years ago. 
=== Prefered Mask ===
His favorite mask was a blank white mask depicting a single tear falling from his left eye. His wife had made it before her death. Blackened Claws, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
== Sensei of the Brother's Gift Dojo ==
Aroru never doubted he would one day become the leader of the Shosuro dojo. His skills, traits, abilities and feats all reflected a man who was trained to perform only one task: get close to an enemy by any means and kill him with precision and skill. He simply saw himself as the most experienced and able among them all, to a point that he would serve the clan better in training others, although sometimes he was called to participate in very delicate missions in which almost no other than him could do them better. Very few of his students ever met him, as he worked almost exclusively with his subordinate sensei. 
== The Four Winds' Conflict ==
During the Four Winds Conlict for the Steel Throne, Hantei Naseru, because of his personal underhand, Bayushi Sunetra, engaged Aroru for his secret and delicate missions. Aroru played an important role in the conflict between Naseru and his half-brother Akodo Kaneka, and made some spy and sabotage actions to Kaneka's basecamps and supply lines. Bane of the Bastard (Heaven and Earth flavor)
== Bayushi Yojiro ==
In 1164 he was the assassin of the Master of Secrets, Bayushi Yojiro, who had became a monk tending the shrine of Tengen, the Fortune of Writing. Yojiro was officially murdered when he was praying in the temple. The truth is that Aroru's brother, who bore more than a passing resemblance to the Master of Secrets, died in the place of Yojiro, to allow the former Scorpion Clan Champion to continue hunting Maho-tsukai. Blood Dawn, Part VIII: Shadows of Yesterday, by Shawn Carman and Rich Wulf
== Rain of Blood ==
In 1165 Aroru was with Shosuro Yudoka and Masatoyo fighting a group of Bloodspeakers, when they were surprised by the Rain of Blood. Initially the rain caused doubts to from in Aroru's mind, but he eventually resisted the influence of the rain and his tormented past and stood alongside Yudoka and Masatoyo. 
== City of Remembrance ==
Sometime shortly after the Rain of Blood Aroru is approached by Yudoka once more for a mission in the City of Remembrance. 
== Blood Hunt ==
In 1166 Aroru was assigned by Bayushi Paneki to be under the command of Kakita Totani, commander of the Third Legion, while the Legions were in the Scorpion lands. He also had to inform Paneki about the officer movements, her decision, and mannerism. Totani was hunting the bloodspeakers that had been revealed when Iuchiban ordered then to make self-destructive acts of chaos. Totani led a dangerous mission, with Aroru and only ten more men, sneaking into the Beiden Pass to reach a cultist camp. Aroru was surprised the Crane exposed her to such risks. Blood Hunt (Region 36alt - Konopiska, Poland)
== Hida Kisada ==
After the return to life of Hida Kisada, the Fortune of Persistence, the Scorpion Clan watched him closely. They saw the Great Bear as traitor who turned against the Scorpion Champion Bayushi Shoju during the Scorpion Coup and later sought to betray the Emperor Hantei himself. In 1167 Paneki and Yudoka tasked Aroru with the mission to follow him and know if he was a hero or a villain. 
=== Lost Ambassador ===
This year near the Kaiu Wall Aroru saw Daigotsu Soetsu, a Lost, to enter Crab territory and surrender himself without fight. He was kept prisoner until Kisada met him. Soetsu told the Shadowlands were in a civil war, Lost followers of Bushido against demons. He requested Kisada military aid, the Damned, and in return Daigotsu would show Kisada a way to restore his grandson, Hida Kuroda, from the abomination Kyofu he currently was. Aroru reported his masters what had been said. When Soetsu was made a guest of the Scorpion after his reception at the Imperial Court, Aroru was assigned the duty of shadowing and eventually disposing of the Lost should the need arrise. 
== Defending the Emperor ==
In 1168 the Empire knew Toturi III had disappeared seeking Enlightenment, seemingly going to find the Tomb of the Seven Thunders in the Shadowlands. Bayushi Paneki sent Aroru to join the group that was searching for the Emperor to protect him. 
=== Battle of the Tomb ===
Aroru fought in the Battle of the Tomb. When the Emperor commanded all the defenders to live they were chased by oni. Shiba Aikune alongside Mirumoto Rosanjin and Yoritomo Katoa decided to make their last stand to delay the pursuers. Before they were engaged rosanjin passed the artifact he had recovered from the Tomb of the Seven Thunders, a jade mirror, to Aroru. Rosanjin asked Aroru to go to the Dragon Clan and bring it to the Clan Champion, Togashi Satsu. After Aikune died the Wish provoked a great explosion that destroy all around Aikune's resting place. Their sacrifice allowed the remaining survivors of the battle to reach Kyuden Hida. The Battle at the Tomb, Part 4, by Shawn Carman
=== Essence of Jigoku ===
Aroru had retrieved a scroll from the Tomb, and brought it to Bayushi Paneki. The sensei of the Dojo of the Closed Eye, Soshi Yukimi examined it, discovering it was a Black Scroll. She also deduced that the scroll had never been opened, meaning it was not one of the original twelve scrolls created by Isawa on the Day of Thunder. Paneki ordered that it be placed in the custody of the Kuroiban. Dark Knowledge, by Brian Yoon The scroll was later identified to be the Essence of Jigoku. Essence of Jigoku (Tomorrow Title)
=== Jade Mirror ===
Yukimi wished to steal the mirror for the Scorpion and have Aroru meet with an "unfortunate accident", but Paneki over-ruled her. Aroru travelled to Dragon lands and presented the mirror to Togashi Satsu and Mirumoto Mareshi honoring the Dragon-Scorpion Alliance. Satsu explained that the Jade Mirror showed the person looking at it their true essence. Satsu seemed to believe that his grandfather Togashi had some knowledge of the mirror. Satsu ordered it taken to the High House of Light to be studied by the Togashi. The Balance of Power, by Shawn Carman
== Winter Court -1168 ==
At the end of the Winter Court at Kyuden Otomo in the winter 1168-1169, Soetsu tried to escape. In his attempt Moto Rumiko was wounded, and several guards killed. The Scorpion shugenja Soshi Ukyo finally gave his own life to delay Soetsu, stabling him through the eye with a crystal hairpin. This gave time enough to Aroru to catch up and slay him. Winter Court Kyuden Otomo 1168, p. 6
== Hunting a Traitor ==
Aroru, alongside Bayushi Muhito, aided the Shosuro Daimyo Shosuro Toson in hunting and capturing the traitor Bayushi Shinzo. The Mad Dragon, by Shawn Carman
== Spider Clan ==
In 1171 during the siege of Shiro Shiba the Shiba Yojimbo were gathered to defend their ancestral home, and replaced by sohei of the Order of the Spider. Paneki and Toson plotted to discredit them, and the Emerald Champion Shosuro Jimen passed to Seppun Tashime information about their true nature, members of the Spider Clan. Shosuro Aroru was tasked to find who was the monk leader. The War of Dark Fire, Part 13, by Shawn Carman
== The Destroyer War ==
In the month of the Serpent of 1173, Imperial Histories 2, p. 253 during the Destroyer War, Aroru fought against the Destroyers, at the Second Battle of Three Man Alliance Plain. Aroru helped Daidoji Kikaze to take out a special unit of elephant shaped demons, controlled by the Senpet Kheth-tet. Kikaze was grievously wounded but this left enough time to Aroru to disable Khet-tet. Aroru then fled the place but carried Kikaze on his back, saving his life. Aroru believed Khet-tet would be worthy as a living hero than a dead enemy who could be replaced. The Destroyer War, Part 10, by Shawn Carman
== Shosuro Daimyo ==
The Destroyer War diminished the ranks of the Shosuro family. In 1174 its strength was fourty percent of what it was prior to the war, and they did not have Daimyo since Shosuro Toson had committed seppuku to clean the Scorpion failure during the war. Some counseled the family's dissolution and absorption into the Bayushi. The Scorpion Clan Champion Bayushi Miyako appointed Aroru as new Shosuro Daimyo and allowed him to recruite some members from among the other families, except Bayushi Muhito, who was needed for other tasks. Fulfillment, by Shawn Carman
=== Remote Village ===
The first order to Aroru was to raze to the ground all the remains of the Remote Village. Miyako did not risk any kind of contamination with a mysterious creature had been seen by Shosuro Nishu there during its destruction in the war. 
=== Recruiting ===
Aroru came to the Spine of the World Mountains. There Bayushi Keirei had been spent months checking the countless hidden recesses to find Paneki's Disgrace, but he had lost its track. Keirei would join the Shosuro family and reassigned to the construction site of the Scorpion Wall. The death of Kali-Ma had created a portal to Jigoku, the Second Festering Pit, within the Scorpion lands. Goddesses, Part 4, by Shawn Carman The Crab were aiding the Scorpion and the Kaiu Daimyo Kaiu Iemasa had begun the construction of a wall which would defend the heart of the Empire of the demons that appeared there. The Life of the Warrior, by Brian Yoon
== War of Serpents ==
In 1198 Aroru appointed Shosuro Nitsu as the bodyguard to Bayushi Himaru, a tactician and scholar of Naga matters. They entered into a Naga temple in the Shinomen Mori to learn about the incidents involving every person within Rokugan who had a direct connection with the Naga, who had vanished or died. Himaru found scrolls which told a Black Pearl had been sent away by the Qatol before the second Great Sleep of the Naga race because he feared it. They were attacked by Naga and run for their lives, but Himaru had been mortally wounded and died. Nitsu requested seppuku for his failure, but Aroru tasked him to find the lost scrolls. Rulebook story (Forgotten Legacy), by Shawn Carman and Rusty Priske
=== Black Pearl ===
The scrolls were found and passed to the Phoenix. They found that a black pearl was somewhere within the sea that could have been the source of these events related to the Naga. The Phoenix discreetly deployed a fleet of vessels to begin searching it. Aroru disliked the idea to allow them the control of such nemuranai and countered their efforts. He moved to Broken Wave City and spread in the Mantis ears that the purpose of the fleet could harm their interests. 
== Hunting the Disgrace ==
After two decades hunting Paneki's Disgrace Aroru and Keirei decided to use an Egg of P'an Ku to create a duplicate of the monster. They expected the doppleganger could lead them to the true Disgrace, and it was known the duplicates and those whom were duplicated had some degree of instinctive hatred for one another. Face the Madness, Part 3, by Shawn Carman & Seth Mason Bayushi Jinn-ja found one of these eggs and copied the Disgrace. GenCon 2013: Face the Madness, by Shawn Carman & Seth Mason
== Retirement==
Aroru stepped down but remained prominent while his successor Shosuro Keiichi acclimated to authority. Aroru became a sensei who passed his knowledge to the next generations. Aroru Sensei (Twenty Festivals Title)
== External Links ==
* Shosuro Aroru (Gold)
* Shosuro Aroru Exp (Khan's Defiance)
* Shosuro Aroru Exp2 (Forgotten Legacy)
* Aroru Sensei (Twenty Festivals)
Category:Scorpion Clan Leaders