Lion Clan Letter - #15

Samurai of the Akodo, warriors of the Matsu, the Kitsu, the Ikoma: hear me now. These are the lessons of history.

Great Akodo was the child of Lord Moon and Lady Sun. He served as Hantei's strong right hand, the general who could not be defeated, who guides us still through the teachings of the book of Leadership. Lord Moon and Lady Sun are gone now, replaced by new divinities, and even the true Hantei line is no more. Even yet, the Akodo remain, strong and true.

Matsu was Akodo's strongest warrior, the samurai-ko who chose to keep her own name instead of becoming Akodo's wife. Her power and untamed spirit, tempered by devout loyalty to her clan, still inspire our legions.

Ikoma was the truth-teller, the watcher and sage who understood hearts as well as words, and joined Akodo to record the exploits of the Empire. I am proud to bear Ikoma's blood, and record the great deeds of the Lion as he would have wished.

The Kitsu are the children of the unknowable realms, the descendants of the spirits who used to hunt this land, brought into our clan by the power and mercy of great Akodo.

The history of our clan is of nobility, of force of will that can found a dynasty: great Toturi himself was once the Champion of our clan. Though he was a monk, and ronin, the blood of the Lion drove him to set aside these lesser roles and return to the glory that was his destiny. With the courage of a Lion, he smote down the Dark Lord and became the Splendid Emperor. He returned from death to destroy the Shadow and to teach us that we must never assume defeat. If honor demands that you die, so be it. Even still, even after, you must fight on.

We serve as the strong Right Hand of the Emperor. We served every Hantei loyally and with unsurpassed skill. We served Toturi, marching beside him against the Shadow, against the Shadowlands, and against the Steel Chrysanthemum.

Now we stand alongside the new heirs, the Four Winds. We trained Toturi's brave daughter, Tsudao, alongside our finest generals. In the courts, we have proven to Hantei Naseru that honor and loyalty count for more than Scorpion tricks and Crane flattery. We have raised Kaneka as one of our own, as part of the Akodo, the family whose name was strong enough to shape the Shadow, to turn Nothingness into the greatest family of the Empire. We have watched over Sezaru, the ancient masters of the Kitsu revealing unto him the mysteries of the spirit realms. All of them are worthy, but only one of them may be Emperor.

Let us go forth and make history again, so that our children's grandchildren will hear the stories of how we helped unite the throne. Let the omoidasu recite bold tales of how we defeated the lunatic monks of the Dragon, beating them back to their mountains. If there is one lesson of history, it is this: the cycle turns anew as long as courage and honor and loyalty guide our every step.

The Lion always triumph! This time it shall be no different.

Ikoma Sume
Omoidasu and Historian of the Lion



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