The Legendary Age
Ancient Japan was a barbaric place, in fact, all of Asia was plagued with violence, hatred, and war. It wasn't until the acts of one ambitious man, that all this would come to an end. As a boy, his work consisted of landscaping with large groups to build grand structures. During adolescence, he left landscaping to learn from some of the most prestigious teachers of his time. His studies led him to become one of the great ancient scholars, leading to breakthroughs in forging weapons and armor. Eventually, his reputation caught the attention of a warlord. He was trained and given a military position that creates new formations and tactics for the soldiers to employ on the battlefield. Soon he would command troops directly, fighting side-by-side with his allies. He, himself, was greatly determined for success— fiercely training from dawn to dusk everyday with great warriors from across the lands.
Once the ancient warlord died, the young commander became the new warlord. Immediately, he started removing bandits and thieves from his empire. He then proceeded to conquer many of the neighboring villages. Although his army was small, his confidence, pride, and strength seemed to pass on to the rest of his allies. With this power, he was able to overthrow much larger and wealthier dominions. Along his path of conquest, he set up many religious capitals to honor the Gods of war and victory. He had the finest swordsmith forge him two swords that could hold the strength of the gods. Thus, The Blades of Wind and Lightning were forged— one, a katana of fierce clashing power, the smaller, a shōtō of swift and maneuverable strength. His power came directly from the gods of the celestial plane. As the empire grew, so did the army; hundreds upon thousands of more joined the empire as nations were assimilated. Indeed, one man united all of the nations of Asia— The Legendary Samurai.
A New Era
There existed no more controversial and perhaps feared entity, than the ninja. What was originally believed to never exist, eventually turned into symbol of fear. Events where tribal leaders, soldiers, even whole villages, were killed with no-one to blame. Talk of demons spread rapidly across the land, and many people believed that the victims died due to their sins. Ninjas utilized highly potent and mysterious fighting capabilities by tapping into the Astral plain, otherwise known to many as demonic magic. Eventually, the existence of the ninja were discovered when their corpses were recovered from an imperial city after a battle. However, it was unknown were they came from- for a good ninja always remains elusive, even in death. The ninja had burned their faces and wore common clothes to disguise themselves before attempting a suicide mission. The ninja were always deceptive, most lived as farmers. They usually lived in poverty, thus, teachings were generally passed down by family.
Ninjas tested themselves their entire lives, ever since birth. As a child, every ninja undergoes a live test with more experienced ninja. The test of one child was different from the rest. Upon reaching the assassination target, the worst possible issue occurred— they were discovered. The mentor was quickly overwhelmed and killed. The apprentice had no choice but to flee. The novice ran aimlessly across the land. Deep in the heart of enemy territory, the child had to do everything he learned in order to survive. He eventually stumbled upon a village under enemy occupation, it was then when he made his first "live" kills. He became a rogue ninja that traveled across the lands to eliminate enemy leaders. Many important figures were executed before anyone else could even make a move- he always stayed two steps ahead the other ninja. Meanwhile, his enemy conquered more territory than could be relinquished. The samurai forced the conquered people to convert their religion as well as work to support their greedy empire.
This increasing threat needed to be put to a halt, the ninja needed to remove the leader, The Legendary Samurai. The ninja pursued the samurai until they finally met at the final destination- the ninja's home village. The village was in complete disarray, overwhelming numbers of samurai overtook the village. When suddenly, a rippling vortex opened, and out poured thousands, maybe millions, of knives, piercing and slashing through the samurais' armor, effectively killing them.
There remained only one opponent left— it would be the ninja's greatest test of skill, knowledge, and power.
As the ninja approached the Legendary Samurai, a lightning bolt struck, setting the fortress a blaze with fire. There was no escape. A fierce battle ensued- the clash of swords echoed through the night. After an hour, the battle came to a halt. The ninja proved himself to be the better warrior, for he had slain the samurai.
Even though the ninja had rid the world of a tyrant, and became a hero to many, he was still not safe— Cursed from the battle, his own village began to fear him.
In the end, it was his own people that had killed him.
I changed the story so that the ninja died from Tiamat Wing instead.
) and the players can decide which ones fit the best if the authors make a commitment to actually make the changes needed. I'll edit of course.
. You gotta admit, though, his death was pretty epic.
