Samurai no Shoujo

Samurai no Shoujo (侍の少女) meaning "Samurai Girl" or "Girl of Samurai" was the second Basho-focused spinoff from the main Court series, started on March 2, 2018. It is notably the first spinoff to use the style of a Court game from the main series, although with Basho as the setting rather than Xuyan. It is the third game to feature an entirely female cast of main characters, after Court of the Courted King and Court of the Foreign King.

This game is still in progress.

## Background

Development for Samurai no Shoujo began in mid-December 2018, as it became clear that Court of the Foreign King would be ending soon. The game began in March of 2018 and was played on a bi-weekly basis, on Fridays at 7 pm EDT. After running into some scheduling problems, the game's start time was moved up to 5 pm EDT starting on March 31st and it continues at this time today.

Samurai no Shoujo has been the most successful and longest running of all of the Court spinoffs, perhaps due to its long development period.

Shortly after the game began, in early April, Fat Cat left the game. His character, Taira, was written out and her plot points given to the other characters.

On June 15th in 2018, after several weeks in a row of attendance issues, the game was switched from a weekly to bi-weekly basis in order to possibly ensure better attendance. Before then, it had been played each week. It changed back to a weekly basis again on July 13th, 2018.

## Main Characters

The three main characters, as suggested by the title of the game, were all female.

Konishi Akita was played by Quin, who also played Cai Ju in Court of the Foreign King, and will Prince Zi Lian Jun in Court of the Dragon King. Unlike the other two characters, she was not an onna-bugeisha, a female samurai, but a female ninja, known as a kunoichi. She started off on her coming-of-age Quest, in search of Sen Munemori for him to make her a special sword.

Azuma Kyo was played by Murtox, who also played as Magistrate Gao in Court of the Chosen King and as one of the Zovlol in Horse Lords. She was an onna-bugeisha in name, as she was a skilled swordswoman but focused more on diplomacy and solving problems through her leadership skills. She sought help for her home, Seiyo Village, which had been under constant bandit raids.

Kitagawa Taira was originally played by Fat Cat, who had also previously played a warlord in Horse Lords. He ended up dropping out of the game early on, causing the entire Kitagawa plot line to be shelved and details therein were shifted to other characters.

## Plot

The stories for the two character can both evenly be divided into two separate acts. More will be written here as more is revealed.

#### **Act 1**

Akita began her quest to find Sen Munemori. On this quest she met Aka Fuuko, and later Saionji Atsushi. She was also given the Eye of Wraiths by Fuuko. Meanwhile, she and Atsushi developed feelings for one another and shared a kiss. After many weeks of searching, she finally found Sen Munemori and had him make her sword for her. She also learned of an imposter set on killing Sen and disguising himself as Atsushi. Even so, her quest completed, she parted ways with a wounded Atsushi and headed home.

Kyo, meanwhile, set out to the capital to get help for her village. She found none after she ended up caught up in a criminal trial as a result of the mysterious silent samurai, who she called Bushi Sei, meaning mysterious samurai. She then had to call upon the only person she could for help with the trial; a con artist named Gou Tatsume. She then traveled to Daisan Village for help from Clan Minami, with Sei and Gou in tow. Through Lord Oku, she was able to meet the western Daimyo, Fujii Atsuaki and learn that her village had been destroyed. She also got to say goodbye to her uncle, Ryuuzouji Oda, who had been mortally wounded escaping the village. In his dying breaths, he revealed to Kyo a secret he had sworn his life upon keeping: that her father, Azuma Kai, was alive. He also directed her to find Masuda Oda, daughter of her father's secret lover, Matsuda Oei.

#### **Act 2**

Akita, having returned home to Mura Village, has become the Master of her clan and has must soon pick a suitor to marry.

Kyo, meanwhile, has spent the last few weeks searching for Matsuda, whom she was told she could find somewhere in the east.