Shinjo Altansarnai

Shinjo Altansarnai was the Seeker of the Setting Sun, Khan of Khans, Mistress of the Five Winds, Daimyō of the Shinjo, and the Champion of the Unicorn Clan. Seal of the Unicorn (Meditations on the Ephemeral flavor)
== Name ==
Altansarnai was a name from the Ujik tongue. It meant golden rose. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 121
== Family ==
Altansarnai had three children, Shinjo Yasamura, Shinjo Haruko, and Shinjo Shono. After twenty years of companionship, she was not married with their father, the Iuchi Daimyō Iuchi Daiyu. Curved Blades, by Ree Soesbee
== Appearance ==
Altansarnai had grey eyes and used to wear her hair in a tight braid. Family Duty, by Robert Denton III
== Reign ==
=== Heir ===
Her eldest son Shinjo Yasamura was not happy with the idea of becoming the next Unicorn Champion, and Altansarnai knew of it, so she appointed her second son, Shinjo Shono, as the Unicorn heir. 
=== Lion-Unicorn Tensions ===
After the return of the Unicorn to Rokugan they were engaged with the Lion regarding the property of the southernmost ancestral lands of the Ki-Rin. After three years working toward a peace with the Lion Clan, Altansarnai had brokered a treaty. She had to marry Ikoma Anakazu, the Ikoma Daimyō, and the Unicorn had to gift a herd of steeds as a dowry. Altansarnai was surprised when learned that by Ikoma custom, the wife had to take the husband's name and join his lands. Utaku Kamoko considered it a Lion's trick and disliked the arrangement. Curved Blades, by Ree Soesbee In 1123 D.G. Laderoute confirmation in FFG forum she decided to break the treaty after a meeting with Asako Akari, who had been forced to dissolve her marriage with Anakazu in order he might marry again. The Unicorn would suffer a great loss of honor that might lead to war. Utaku Kamoko, leader of the Battle Maidens, was sent to Otosan Uchi to deliver the news to the Emperor if the Chrysanthemum Throne sided with the Lion, the Imperial Court could strip them of their lands, their status, making them truly outcast. Flying Chariot, Standing, by Gareth-Michael Skarka The Lion seized the Unicorn village of Hisu Mori Mura, which was among the named villages to be traded in the broken treaty, and the forces were led by Matsu Mitsuko, who was also part of the treaty, as betrothed to her son Shono. The Unicorn's heir led the counterattack. The Lion were overrun by the superior Unicorn forces, which gave the Lion ground to claim the Emperor his permission to wage full war against the Unicorn. A Swift End, by Lisa Farrell
=== Second Front ===
The war with the Lion complicated the relationship with Caliph Harun al-Hakim. Altansarnai sent her son Shono to the Qamarist Caliphate to ensure that the caliph remained their friend and did not seek advantage to claim Unicorn holdings in the Burning Sands. She also gave him this task because Shono needed time to grieve the loss of Mitsuko. The negotiations at al-Zawira went wrong, being Shono captured, wounded, and eventually he escaped from the Caliph's enforcers, wedding with Saadiyah al-Mozedu, daughter of a Bandar emir, as the way to honor an alliance of these gaijin people against their common enemy, the caliph. Across the Burning Sands, by Daniel Lovat Clark
=== Emperor's Death ===
The Scorpion Clan Champion Bayushi Shoju was proclaimed regent after the Emperor's death. The Lion and Unicorn were not officially at war, so Altansarnai's aggression against the Lion was ignored by the new regent. Cold Autumn Harvests, by Marie Brennan
=== Fighting the Usurpers ===
During a meeting with Doji Shizue Altansarnai brokered an alliance with the Crane Clan, which included arranging Haruko's marriage and that the Unicorn Champion would lead the Blue Horde into battle against the Lion coming to the aid of the Crane. The Art of Matchmaking, by Nancy M. Sauer In the 18th day of the Month of Hida an assembled army of Crane, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn samurai began the assault of the capital, and the Army of the Rising Waves joined them, quarreling the usurpers within the Forbidden City. In the fifth Day of the Month of Togashi they received word from the Crab that Hida Kisada had fallen, and Akuma no Oni's horde marched across their provinces with the discipline of a well-trained Shadowlands army. During the assault of the Forbidden City they also the ghosts that emerged from the ground, the souls bound to the Enchangted Wall, and oni who had bolstered the defenders. The soul of the late Lion Champion Akodo Arasou had been summoned, and he spoke the truth to the Lion, exhorting Lion and Imperial forces to put down arms. The Unicorn Champion cut down personally the traitor Ujiaki. Heroes of Legend: Chapter Four, by Josiah “Duke” Harrist Mirumoto Hitomi wielding Itsuwari, the ancestral sword of the Scorpion Clan, had crossed swords with the traitor Shoju and cut him down. In the Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow Lake the Oni Lord was forced to reveal himself on the battlefield, and he was killed by Shiba Tsukune. The Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow: Chapter Five, by Robert Denton III
=== Aftermath ===
With the Unicorn heir returned from the Burning Sands, Shinjo Altansarnai and Iuchi Daiyu began preparing to travel home to oversee spring planting and the foaling season. Their three children, Haruko, Yasamura, and Shono remained with Ide Tadaji in the capital to work out a new treaty with the Lion. Iuchi Shahai, who was last seen with Prince Daisetsu, was still missing. The Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow: Epilogue, by Robert Denton III and Marie Brennan with Katrina Ostrander
== External Links ==
* Shinjo Altansarnai (Core Set)
* Shinjo Altansarnai (As Honor Demands)
* Shinjo Altansarnai (Print and Play)
Category:Unicorn Clan Leaders (TCG)