Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on May 10, 2008 18:54:01 GMT -5
The cherry blossoms danced through the air in the cool spring wind. It was a perfect day, fortune had smiled upon us. None could have anticipated what would happen only hours later.
Hiroto-san sat in front of the statues of the Buddha, the Boddhisatvas, and the Shinto Kami. He was reflecting upon the true balance of things. The incense wafted to his nostrils and the odors pleased him. He felt the warmth of the torch light upon his face. He was at peace.
The gongs sounded. The drums pounded. A young sohei student rushed into the shrine and called to Hiroto-san. "Sensei! We are under attack!" Hiroto-san rose to his feet and began making defensive preparations without a word. He knew this peace could not last.
For centuries the sohei had been persecuted by ronin samurai and corrupt feudal land owners. Even in this age of powerful shogunates, it was inevitable that the Mao Temple would have her enemies. Who would it be this time? More ronins looking to "volunteer" the sohei into their services? Village guards come to plunder the temple grounds under the auspices of newly levied taxes? A rogue group of shinobi desiring the secrets and relics of ancient Taoism and Buddhism? Alas, nothing would prepare Hiroto for what he would find outside of the doors of the shrine.
The young master of the temple called to the towers for reports. Armies had amassed around the gates to the temple grounds. At first, it was the standard groups of village guards seeking tribute. Then came something far worse. Westerners! Entire units of strange monsters and brigands in the guise of saintly knights. Mercenaries, there was no doubt about it. Hundreds of them, all under the banner of an unknown shogun. Hiroto-san examined the message which had been delivered at the end of an arrow:
To the honorless sohei of the Mao Temple, You have one hour to relinquish control of your grounds to the armies of the great Shogun Asuka Arata or it shall be declared an act of war. For the great new dawn which shines upon us on the morrow!
The message was sealed with the crest which hung from the banners of the men outside. Hiroto-san looked pensive and gathered the other sensei. "Today, we shall fight like Shinto. Today, we shall die like Buddhas."
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Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on May 10, 2008 19:26:13 GMT -5
Within the hour, the youngest sohei students had been evacuated along with the most precious of the Mao's relics. The sohei who remained had prepared themselves spiritually and armored themselves accordingly. They massed strategically along the walls and doors and prepared to give their very lives for the protection of their brotherhood.
The horns sounded in the distance, followed by the drums. Fire reigned down from the sky, barreling down toward the walls of the monastery, breaking them into bits of stone which flew in every direction injurring some of the tower archers. The Japanese longbows from the highest points of the Temple returned fire upon the dragon-like trebuchets which were hurling their flaming breath upon the sohei. Several rams and ladders began to mass around the walls. Hiroto-san gave order and cauldrons of boiling hot oil were tipped down scalding the forces beneath. It would only impede them though, effect their morale; it would not stop them from breaking through. The sohei were heavily outnumbered.
The siege continued for nearly half an hour. At least 5 of the invading force had died for each of the sohei who had fallen. But alas, then the gates broke open and the forces began to pour into the towers from their scaffolds. Archer after archer threw down their bow and drew forth their katana. The infantry forces within the walls charged the gates to meet the invaders with the naganatas. The battle was fierce, but the sohei were soon overtaken.
Hiroto-san and two of the other remaining sensei barracaded themselves into the sanctuary. Sensei Chiyoko turned to Hiroto. "You must take the secret passage and escape these horrors. You are the only remaining son of the Mao clan who founded this order. Though I know it pains you not to die with honor among us today in defense of this temple, you must carry on our line. Go and seek refuge with the young ones we have evacuated and rebuild our temple elsewhere. Seek out the Tou Fuu Shogunate, in the far off Land Between the Lands. Words cannot describe the honor they have. They will assist you, I know it. GO!"
Hiroto-san, tears in his eyes at the idea of abandoning his comrades turned to Sensei Haruko. He nodded in agreement with Chiyoko-san. Hiroto bowed to them and rushed off to the secret underground passage. He would take the young students and flee to the Land Between the Lands. He would contact the Tou Fuu. He would rebuild the sohei of the Mao Monastery there. Then he would return here one day and discover the true nature of this attack.
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Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on May 14, 2008 21:57:53 GMT -5
Hiroto and his young students made the long journey to the Land Between the Lands, traveling discretely and quietly through mountain and forest, preferring small and remote village outposts to anything resembling a large city. They traveled by small boats when sailing to avoid being seen by larger vessels, and used pack animals as opposed to horses. They disguised themselves as merchants, they traveled everywhere in groups. Eventually after the many long months passed, Hiroto-san sent out his messenger to Shogun Tatsamura-dono to request aid in his affairs. He awaited patiently the response of the Tou Fuu Shogun. Were the old masters right? He was but a young teacher, barely capable of the task ahead, he thought to himself. Perhaps this Shogun would have ministers capable of assisting him in resurrecting the ancient knowledge buried in the preserved scrolls they had hidden among their personal affects.
The response returned far quicker than Hiroto-san could have expected. Soon he was greeted by his messenger and a small man who was introduced as Daimyo of the Fuuma shinobi clan. Hiroto smiled and bowed with great respect and gratitude and presented Fuuma-dono with the gift of a horagai conch trumpet. "Truly Shogun Tatsamura is wise sending a band of shinobi to assist me! How did he know we were no ordinary band of sohei? Yes, it is true, we are Yamabushi, and his pledge of assistance shall grant him the great wealth of secret mystical knowledge we possess. And once our numbers are restored and we are properly re-trained and re-armed, we shall gladly fight alongside him against these Jovians you have informed me of! Let us celebrate tonight, and tomorrow, we shall set out!"
And so it came to pass that the Yamabushi Mao would join with the Fuuma shinobi and scout the lands of the Northern Steppes seeking a location deep in the mountains to reestablish the hidden Mao Temple.
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Rowan
NS Admin
NS Chieftan
Only by death of sword will I get into heaven!
Posts: 852
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Post by Rowan on May 14, 2008 22:44:15 GMT -5
((good stuff as always!))
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Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on Jul 18, 2008 12:29:22 GMT -5
A Brief History of the origins of the Mao clan and Brother Malek / Mao Hiroto
Po-yang village was a quiet place, a farming community of ancient China in the Imperial Luo-yang province. Quiet, that is, until the governmental abuses of Dynastic rule had made life unbearable. When Zhang Jiao and his religious sect The Way of Peace began their Yellow Turban Uprising, the Mao family of Po Yang, devout Taoists they were, were quickly swayed to give up their possessions and join the Yellow Turban Rebels in their fight against the corrupt Emperor Ling.
With the death of Ling, and the fall of the Han Dynasty into weak hands, the stage was set for a most turbulent period in ancient Chinese history. The Mao family remained true to the Way of Peace, even after the death of Jiao. They quietly picked up the mantle and created civil unrest within the various provinces of Wu and Wei for many years to come. However, eventually they were nearly exterminated and fled to the lands of Manchuria and Japan to seek refuge with the aboriginals.
There they made their homes in the mountains, adopting local customs and settling finally in a hidden location in Osaka, where they became greatly revered and honored as healers and seers. As time wore on, they, along with others like them, adopted Shinto, Buddhism, and other religious practices to become a distinctly refined religious sect. These strange adaptable warrior monks scattered across the mountains of Japan became known by the local people as the Yamabushi. Those who remained in China found their niche tens of centuries later in Tibet.
Many centuries passed, and the secret and reclusive Mao Temple flourished, unknown to virtually all. Until one day a young Mao nun by the name of Mao Ling, fled the monastery during an attack, in an effort to protect some valuable artifacts. However, she was captured by slave traders and taken to the West. It was there that she was forced into an affair by a wicked king, and gave birth in secret to a son, whom she hid among the local people of the Northern Steppes, giving him the name Malek.
Malek grew strong by his adopted kinsmen. As a young man, he fought alongside his tribe in the harsh Steppe lands. His tribe perished, however, to the hands of the Black Orcs, and he sought refuge with the tribe of Chieftan Rowan Proudoak, a mighty warrior of the Legion of Dragoons.
Eventually he found a plan to avenge his family's honor. He disguised himself as an informant and assassin-for-hire to penetrate the wicked kingdom of Llorac, who had given free reign to the evil Black Orc tribes who slew his kin. However, the shrewd Prince of Llorac saw through Malek's clever ruse and had him imprisoned. It was there that he met his mother, Mao Ling. She recognized him as a mother can only do, and told him of his horrible beginnings to the Prince's father. Malek, it seems, had been become the bastard son of a wicked King. Malek was crushed to learn this, but he vowed to crush his vile Llorac half-brother and restore peace to the land. Though dying, Ling imparted directions to the Mao Temple far to the East and passed to him the artifact she had preserved somehow all these years, and gave to him his true name: Hiroto.
Malek waited in the prison for weeks, until he finally concocted a successful escape plan. Fleeing to the Mao Temple, he hid there for 9 months, adopting the ways and training of the Mao. It was quick, and he wasn't refined, but he learned as much as he could. He was welcomed as a young sensei, and entrusted with the brotherhood's secrets. Shortly thereafter, the attack upon the monastery sent Brother Malek / Mao Hiroto back to the lands of the Northern Steppes to find solace, renew his vow to avenge his mother and his adopted kin, and to rebuild the Mao Temple.
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Satya
Scout
Savage
Posts: 14
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Post by Satya on Sept 3, 2008 14:36:20 GMT -5
(should i find my own story or can we work together to weave one from here?)
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Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on Sept 7, 2008 11:01:35 GMT -5
((You're more than welcome to add to this with your own bio/experiences))
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Mao Hiroto
Mercenary
=~= Mao Monks Dance Like Cherry Blossoms on the Wind
Posts: 62
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Post by Mao Hiroto on Oct 8, 2008 20:00:42 GMT -5
The Last Mao
Growing increasingly bold after their victorious expansion of territories under the banner of Llorac, the Black Orcs razed village after village in the their wake down the mountainous border regions of the lands. Time grew fleeting and Hiroto made preparations for a tactical flee from the still-to-be completed monastery.
Word was sent to the Kyuden Tatsamura through the Fuuma clan's shinobi. The monastery would be abandoned, left to the Orcs, and the Mao would seek refuge in Mittelmarch. All the plans were set, and the monks began to make their way to the mountain passes and hidden roads that had been uncovered during the last several months.
All appeared well, until the travelers met with an ambush from Llorac mercenaries. Steel clashed against steel, and blood flowed. Few escaped the horrible massacre, including Fuuma Kotaro and a handful of the young students with the most important of the monasteries' artifacts. Mao Hiroto, however, found himself prisoner. He was taken before the Prince of Llorac, on trial with trumped up charges of territorial infringements and treason against the Kingdom.
Hiroto stood valiant, refusing to bow before his wicked father. When confronted with the choice to either give up the locations of his hidden Shugendo artifacts and join the legions of Llorac, or be executed, Hiroto made his choice quite apparent.
Hiroto wriggled himself free of his bonds, disarmed one of his guards, waylaid the other, and then, when set upon by the full force of the Prince's personal bodyguards, uttering prayers and chants drew the sword across his own stomach. He spat blood toward the Prince in a final act of defiance to his wicked father, cursing him with his every last breath and informing him that he was indeed the bastard son of the Asian slave he raped. He then drew the sword once again across his own throat and impaled himself through the chest.
The Prince of Llorac, in his outrage, made orders that those who managed to flee the fray should be hunted down to the last man, woman, and child to be fed to his Black Orc allies. He vowed that none would rest until the Northern Steppes...nay the entire Land Between the Lands, were under his control.
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