Kana Ametsuchi

Kana Ametsuchi was the reigning High King during the Seventh Epoch and early Eighth Epoch of Izana, Neo. She had four daughtersーAmaya, Hideko, Kazumi and Yumiーduring her life. Her royal epithetー"Terrible"ーis used in the archaic form, referring not to a lack of skill but rather a fearsome nature, as she notoriously ruled under the personal mantra of "better to be feared than loved". During her reign, she was absolutely feared by her subjects, but her inabilityーor unwillngnessーto prevent her elder daughters' bad behaviour caused her reputation to become a source of contempt and aggression for the lower classes.

### Early Life

Kana was the only child of her mother, Kamo, born in the middle of the Solshine season, towards the latter half of Simoth in the Sixth Epoch. Having singular children was not the norm, though when Kana questioned her mother about the fact she was the sole heir and carrier of the line, Hiroko merely comforted her by saying she had utmost faith in her. Kamo was a compassionate mother, but weak-willed and a poor disciplinarian, leaving Kana's discipline instead to her aunt and Oracle Taka. Taka was a far more harsh teacher than her mother, and first bestowed upon her the mantra "better to be feared, than loved", which was a phrase Kana took for granted.

### Surviving Assassination

The mantra "better to be feared than loved" became fully internalized once an assassination attempt was made on her own life, which, due to Taka's guidance and appropriate warning, she managed to survive. The Oracle predicted, having consulted the Ancestors based on concerning patterns, that an attempt would be made on the High King and her heir, and so warned both Kamo and Kana alike. However, Kamo, being soft and forgiving, could not foresee that anybody, subject or family, would ever do such a thing. Kana, however, felt closer to her aunt and trusted her word, allowing her to find sanctuary in the anonymous White Roomーwhich would later be used by her daughter to torture her granddaughterーwhile her mother was killed.

Despite not feeling overwhelmingly close with her mother, she still was struck by the blow of being orphaned, especially in such a brutal and unfair manner. She devoted much of her teen and twenties finding each of the assassins and collaborators involved, having been planned mostly by commoners but helped by some branch family members, and brutally executing all of them. She was coronated once she turned eighteen, before which Taka ruled briefly as Regent.

### Reign as High King

Early in her ruling, she was a puppet King for her aunt, who served as her primary advisor as Oracle. She often reminded her of her own mother's death due to her softness, how she had been rejected by those she sought to serve, and how that same fate would befall Kana should she make the same mistakes. As such, years later, upon growing into a much more severe, dominating and independent woman, she had Taka publicly executed for making a small mistake. This act of surprising cruelty and unforgiveness sowed the seeds for her people becoming fearful and subservient. Dismissive authorities and a decline in the market meant that the economy suffered, pushing many into crime, particularly organised (headed by the King herself) or black market.

Fights took out on the streets, criminals caught would be lucky to be publicly executed (lest be 'disappeared' in other means), and people struggled to feed. Under the weight of so much hunger, the very landscape dried and became brittle and unyielding, though gave enough sustenance that the people only *nearly* starved. This was tolerated, but aggression and resentment came to grow when Kana allowed her heir to become a fight-starting drunk who destroyed property, without any form of repercussion. Amaya, the heir, was heralded instead through marketing as a brash, charming Prince with a heroic nature and way of getting into trouble. Her second daughter was not taken well either, for she was prejudiced against class and highly demanding and spoiled.

Kazumi was better received, and this would have disastrous consequences. Yumi, too, was tolerated, but her birth and inheriting of Oracular sight meant the death of Taka, a respected and fearful ruler who kept them right, so she was always associated with the beginning of the end.

Eventually, Kana would take on the initiative to create her *own* interplanetary alliances, beyond the Allegiance that she served, and contacted Hive. Here, she spoke to the Hive Queen and negotiated a connection between the two planets. Trade routes would be established, a sharing of resources and land, and a loyalty between people. The Hive Queen had been intending to extend the Hivemind, and Kana was eager for control. She wanted to be *feared*. She wanted to be *notorious*. However, to hide suspicion in the Allegiance, it was largely underhand at first.

Her daughter, Hideko, would be married to a native of Hive, a Lord Pious Skor. This would mark the very *first* marital relation between natives of Neo and Hive. It was an opportunity neither could refuse.

However, she was unaware (or apathetic) that her daughter, Kazumi, had become attracted to Pious, and it had been reciprocated. Regardless, she would not have cared about any sort of secret affair, as long as it should not interfere with the alliance. What she was entirely ignorant to was the fact Pious and Kazumi had begun plotting a coup d'etat.

### Coup d'etat

It began with the assassination of her second daughter and ended with her head on a spike. She was the last Ametsuchi to be killed during the Massacre, but not the last Ametsuchi to fall at the hands of Kazumi. She did not face her death bravely, although she attempted to defend herself, and instead attempted to flee, having been resistant to the idea of finally being assassinated after all of that time. Having been mutilated into her True Body, Kana and Kazumi's battle moved into the public eye. As Kazumi delivered an excellently executed speech defending the rights of the people, the commoners who watched the event screamed for Kazumi's victory. Thus Kana was destroyed, immortalized as a villain, celebrated only in death.

### After Her Death

In a show of great disrespect, one that was not realized as such by anybody other than the remaining Ametsuchi, Kana's entire body was not returned back to the Living Sea, thus robbing her of her afterlife. Her skeletal head, that of her True Body, was instead turned into a statue memorial of sorts, labelled Kana the Terrible, in the middle of the capital.

### Trivia

* Kana is written using the characters かな in hiragana, meaning "wonder".
* Ametsuchi is written using 天地, which can also be read as Tenchi, and is derived from Ametsuchi no Uta, or Ametsuchi no Kotoba, a piece of work which is considered to be the earliest example of a "perfect" Japanese pangram. The word is comprised of two symbols meaning Heaven and Earth, though it can be interpreted as meaning the Universe, realm, nature, and top and bottom.
* In Western Astrology, she is a Leo sun.