Yama

## Biology

### AKA

Tenger, Khar Tsarai, Ukhel, Dalain Khaan, O-Yama-Kami, Mori-no-Kami, Shi-no-Ryoshu, Kaalee, Dhundh ka Svaamee, Gunes, Shams, Wang Siwang, Shengyan, Dedushka

**Yama**, also known as Tenger in the Khun faith and O-Yama-Kami to Basho, is the god of death, the sky, and creator of the universe.

## Domains

Yama is the god-king of death, sky, wind, birds, wisdom, war, justice, archery, gambling, art, theatre, music, masks, thieves, secrets, assassins, and crowns. He is believed to personally choose who will become khaans or kings, and will choose if they are to be assassinated or not.

As Tenger to the Khun, he is primarily revered as the khaan (king) of the gods and creator of the universe, with his domain of the sky and wind taking the ultimate preference.

Basho and Xuyan primarily regard Yama as the king of death and reaper of souls. Basho considers him the progenitor or creator of all yokai, while Xuyanese yaogaui are believed to be corrupted animal spirits and thus under the domains of Gazar.

## Relationships

### **Gazar**

Yama's main and only true relationship is with his daughter-wife, who is also known as a O-Tochi-Kami. Their relationship is complex. Gazar's mother is unknown, suggested to have been a theorized goddess of fire.

Their marriage was one of necessity, being the only two beings in existence, despite such a relationship between parent and child being taboo even in ancient times among the Khun. Its possible that Gazar was never his daughter and this part of the myth was introduced in later times to explain Gazar's rebelliousness and desire to flee from her husband.

At times, Yama seems to regard her more as a nuisance and is annoyed with her presence. Even so, it is apparent that he loves her greatly. The Khun believe thunder to be a sign of Tenger's anger and regard the time of frequent thunderstorms in early summer as the anniversary of when Gazar left him thus explaining his frequent rage at that time of year. His only true goal when wandering the world is to recapture his wife and return to the sky, although his fickle nature and role as reaper of souls distract him from achieving this goal.

### **Ariun**

Though she is ignored to Basho and Xuyan, Ariun is very real to the Khun who consider her messenger of the gods. According to the oldest Khun myths, Ariun was a human Khun priestess who froze to death in a snowstorm. The cold caused the woman to turn blue so when her true mortal name was lost, she began to be called Tsenkher Tsetseg or "Blue Rose" in the Khun tongue. Legend says Tenger saw the woman and was captivated by her beauty, as she looked like the sky, and so he made her an immortal demigod to serve as his messenger. Anti-Khun sentiment from foreigners made her into Tenger and Gazar's daughter for a time before her presence was erased entirely from the pantheon to foreign adherents to Triadism, who renamed the altered version of the faith as Duotheism.

## Important Events

Yama plays an important role in various religions as well as historical myths.

### Creation Myth

According to the oldest known versions of the world creation myth, Tenger and Gazar were happily married in the kingdom of the sky. Gazar, however, mischievously snuck away to look below the clouds. This caused her to fall down to the mortal world below the sky. Some later versions say she intentionally left, fleeing her husband, and escaping to the 'peak of the world' at the highest point of Mt. Uulyn. Upon touching the mortal world, Gazar brought the beauty, life, and vibrance of the gods to the world. She quickly became captivated with the world around her and wandered off to explore. Tenger noticed his wife's absence and searched the sky for her, soon finding the hole she descended to the land below with. Annoyed, he followed to retrieve her and bring her back home.

Though not in the oldest stories, it is canonized in Triadism that Gazar turned her true body into the physical world. Despite this, it is said her husband still seeks a way to bring her back to the sky.

### The Cult of Yama

As shown in Court of the Blind King, a massive cult of Yama arose within Xuyan due to the desperation of the people during a lengthy famine which was followed by a widespread plague. Some of the cultists believed worshipping Yama would help to protect them from his gaze and thus avoid death, while others turned to Yama out of angry defiance to Gazar for forsaking them to plague and famine; both in her domain. The situation simmered, out of sight and out of mind to the crown, until it reached a boiling point. Once the Zhu Siege of the Xuyanese imperial palace was underway, both the rebel and loyalist forces were suddenly blindsided by the arrival of the Cult of Yama. The cultists mercilessly butchered all that they came across, including each other, in a savage and gruesome offering to Yama as the god of death. When the crown loyalists began to turn the tide back against the rebels, the cultists saw things would quickly turn sour and made their escape.

The fallout of the attack led to the execution of the entirety of House Zhu and the legal banishment of worshipping Yama, who was now widely seen as a wicked and bloodthirsty monster due to the cult. The dissent and dissatisfaction following the religious ban paved the way for the rise of a new faith. It has no deities with a focus on self-reflection and meditation, rather than worship.

Understandably, Yama was outraged by the cult once they took to murdering innocents against his will, including infants, children, and animals. Contrary to common misconception, Yama greatly dislikes slaughter that doesn't take place on the field of battle or at the hands of one of his true servants, such as the Konishi Kunoichi. In general, he is very unhappy with death that occurs without his approval. According to the private journals of Xuyanese playwright Huo Xei, he personally met Yama while imprisoned and said he took the guise of a prison guard adorned in golden armor. Yama expressed his vehement hatred for the cult, for besmirching his name, and made it his personal mission to hunt down every last cultist. Xei later wrote a play about the god, which while banned from view in his homeland, was extremely popular with the Khun.

### The Eyes of Yama

The Eyes of Yama refer specifically to the artifacts which were, literally, the eyeballs of Yama. Dried, they took on a gemlike appearance. They were heavily involved in the main plot of Samurai no Shoujo.

**The Left Eye**, also known as the Eye of the Dragon, was stolen sometime back during Basho's War of the Five Clans. The leader of the Kitagawa clan, Mamoru, induced in himself a state of semi-death by killing himself in the healing snows of the north. He came face-to-face with Yama, who prepared to reap his soul. Before Yama could finish his judgement of Mamoru's soul, the young samurai lord struggled against the god and, in the fighting, plucked out Yama's left eye. His spirit was returned to his body before Yama could retaliate, and the eye returned with him.

Mamoru quickly found that taking Death's Eye had quite literally blinded him from death while in possession of the Eye. It granted him the power of immortality, impervious to all weapons and manners of death including fire, falling, drowning, and disease. It also had the unique power to allow Mamoru to change his physical form, as Yama would, in order to take different guises. Mamoru had the Eye, which had taken a gemlike appearance, built into his personal armor. Instead of allowing to be damaged or taken, he had it placed on the inside of his breastplate, set in the eye of a dragon carved into the metal so that it would always press against his heart. He used the shapeshifting powers of the Eye to take the form of Sho Sai, leader of the strongest clan in Basho. He quickly dispatched of the real Sai and took his place, eventually becoming king and founder of Basho.

The Left Eye was later located by Atsushi but its heavy security made obtaining it difficult. He was forced to flee Shihon in order to dodge the attempts on his life, taking up a camp in

**The Right Eye**, also known as theRing of Wraiths, was Yama's last eye. He managed to keep it for many centuries until it was stolen, in a similar manner to Mamoru, by Konishi Aki. Furious, Yama ordered Ariun to take the guise of a mortal and retrieve both eyes. Ariun agreed and took the form of a male ninja. Her disguise quickly caught the attention of a clan of male ninjas, who suspiciously demanded to take her back to their clan's Master, Saionji Atsushi. Ariun introduced herself to him as Kuro Kari, meaning 'black spider' in Basho, and explained her quest. Atsushi, as a devout follower of Yama, was deeply distraught by this news and offered to help Kari on his quest. Ariun, as Kari, was annoyed by his desire to interfere and refused, hostilely warning Atsushi that it was none of his business before hastily leaving his village.

Atsushi, suspicious and intrigued, decided to pray to Yama about the situation. Yama, taken aback by Atsushi's sincere desire to aid him, decided to use Atsushi's devotion to his advantage and ordered him to find both Eyes. Atsushi began his quest, running into Kari several times along the way and offering to join forces, only for Ariun to arrogantly refuse the help of a mortal each time. Atsushi began to suspect Kari's motives were less than pure and suspected he wanted to use the Eyes for his own ends, becoming determined to find the Eyes first. The two quickly began to see each other as rivals, much to Yama's annoyance for he only wanted his sight back. Yama went to Ariun and demanded she suck it up and work with mortals, reminding her how she once was one. Ariun agreed but requested to find her own human to work with, having grown to hate Atsushi due to their rivalry.

Ariun, as Kuro Kari, soon recruited the assistance of Karasu Gin, a wicked and corrupt ex-general in Basho's army who had managed to steal the Heart of Gazar from the Khun during the Basho occupation of Uulyn. Despite his questions ethics, he was cunning and strong, having already proven his usefulness in finding similar relics. Ariun came to calling Karasu as 'Crow' because of the meaning of his surname. Due to Crow's influence, Ariun quickly became obsessed with beating Atsushi to obtaining the Eyes, to the point of violence against him and his friends.

Yama, meanwhile, could only wait blindly, unaware of what went on, and bide his time until at last his eyes were both brought to him, in person, by Atsushi.