Isawa Chuda

Isawa Chuda was an Emerald Magistrate and the founder of the Snake Clan Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, pp. 78-80
== Youth ==
Isawa Chuda was a unassuming child who spent more time dreaming of becoming one of the Council of Five than working. While he was young, his father was killed by bandits. One day Chuda discovered some scrolls among the effects of his deceased father. The scrolls detailed his father's experiments with maho. Before his death, he believed Phoenix Inquisitors had discovered his experiments and prepared to fake his own death. The Inquisitors had slain Teruzumi to preserve the honor of the family and the clan. Horrified his father had been a user of the black arts, he vowed to destroy all maho and maho-tsukai. He became an Imperial Magistrate and an expert in the destruction of maho cults. Way of the Minor Clans, p. 122-123
== Fighting Maho ==
=== Naga Temple ===
In 335, while pursuing a maho-tsukai into the Shinomen, Chuda discovered an ancient naga temple hidden by overgrowth. While he was unable to decipher the writing on the walls there, he took note of the serpentine motifs and the overall feeling of peace and purity within the hidden temple. He never revealed the location of the temple. Creatures of Rokugan; Third Edition, p. 19
=== Saving the Emperor ===
In 339, while investigating a maho cult near the Shinomen Mori, he found evidence that another Emerald Magistrate had become corrupted by the cult and had planned to assassinate the Emperor. Chuda rushed back to court to foil the plot and was severely wounded in the resulting melee. The Emperor rewarded him for saving his life and for his years of service with a family name and the damiyo title over a new minor clan, which Chuda decided to name the Snake Clan. Chuda said he chose the Snake because he considered himself the Emperor's serpent, "creeping into the hidden places and striking down [his] enemies." In reality, he did so in hopes of emulating the purity of the naga ruins he had found years back. 
== Family ==
Chuda married Kuni Reiko who bore him a son, Chuda Yoharu. Way of the Minor Clans, p. 123
=== Cursed ===
Chuda left his son and students to his wife, to struck out again maho threats. In one of his quests he was nearly slain by a corrupt Kitsu who cursed Chuda, with the words "The darkness you forgive will lead to your family's destruction.". 
=== Beginning of the End ===
Once, when Chuda was hunting maho-tsukai, his son and wife were attacked by the maho cult. Reiko in desperation used maho to save them, horrified beyond measure upon seeing his wife's corruption, Chuda retired to a monastery instead, his mind shattered at his inability to raise his sword against her. Yoharu became daimyo upon the death of his father, and his reign was long and uneventful. The Snake Clan became known throughout the Empire as skilled shugenja and some Chuda served as yoriki to Imperial Magistrates. Secrets of the Phoenix, p. 56
Denied the strong guidance of Isawa Chuda, the Snake Clan slowly devolved until it finally sucumbed to the use of maho, eventually falling prey to a Shuten Doji, a weakness which caused their extermination by the Phoenix Clan in what became known as the Five Nights of Shame. 
Category:Snake Clan Leaders
Category:Phoenix Clan Members
Category:Emerald Magistrates