The Tests

The first test was simple. Attend Jujukoro's training and show your potential. The scond test came long after. Chirikun's family was attacked by Zunshu who had appeared at her home in Chuoushuu. She called in a favor from Rin and the Grass Dragon, speeding towards her home in her family's defense. Finding most of them safe, she fought Zunshu until the others arrived and interrupted her duel. The group defeated Zunshu and watched as the Black Hand left the scene.

Tachine Natsuyumi returned from a mission to slay the old imperial High Monk, who was corrupted so deeply that he was taining monasteries simply by visitig them. He came back and attacked Chirikun, but why? The High Monk had told him that Chirikun was unwittingly following the will of his master, the one who leaves flaming nightmares in his wake.

The third test was to defeat Natsuyumi, the Blade of Heaven. After a brief duel between Natsuyumi and Jinji, Natsuyumi attacked Chirikun. Chirikun defeated him using skills learned in her intense training.

In a fit of rage, glowing with undirected hatred, Jinji's sins finally broke his will and he went insane. He attacked Chirikun and she managed to dodge his first sword swing with warning from Takaeda. After a few moments of fierce combat, Chirikun went from defensive to offensive, stepping through the Spirit World to flank Jinji, and brought the Blade of Hell low.

Jujukoro made his presence known, telling Chirikun of her success in the Tests. She had completed the first four tests, the Dojo, the Family, the Blade of Heaven, and the Blade of Hell. There was only one test left. The Defense of the Empire. Jujukoro gave Chirikun an electrum crown forged by a Dwarflord, the father of the dwarf travelling with them. The Empire lived again.

Several days later, they returned to the Imperial City to find the Akako Army dispersed and crushed by the might of the Kanshuu School of Midnight Shadows. Jinji and Natsuyumi's swords were the keys to the Grand Gates. Inside, Chirikun found the Royal Guard, in all its legions waiting for her. From down the long walk to the Main Hall came two familar faces, Jinji and Natsuyumi reincarnated. While exploring the massive City, Jinji professed his love for Chirikun, saying he should have told her long before. He revealed that the Blade of Heaven and the Blade of Hell are tools of the true Empress, that he was here to serve.

Dark clouds filled the horizon and the sky shuddered with the rumble of a thousand evils. The Daiyungbe were back. The Second War was about to begin, as was the fifth and final Test.

All eyes looked to the city, and the people inside.

The Akako Reformation

Having swept aside all major resistance, President Noya of the Akako set his sights on the Imperial City. As it stood, he had about a million men behind him. He was certain that the traditionalists had less than six hundred thousand at the Imperial City. With his superior firepower and numbers, he would crush those last hangers on and take the City for himself. Then would come a new era of peace in which the people could finally rest.

The govenment of the Red Islands took a drastic new turn with the rise of the Akako Reformation, the new regime of rulership. The President's armies had certainly defeated the Traditionalists, but now the world was at an uneasy footing. Many still did not accept his reign, and some were still rebelling. His spirit warriors were running thin.

He ordered the Sword ban in place again, and only those with the appropriate papers would be allowed to train in the martial arts or carry weapons.

meanwhile bandits preyed on the weak and those who had given up their swords. Pirates plied the waters openly attacking any target they could. Crime became rampant. Fear was in the air.

Return to the Kanshuu Shadow Dojo

At the suggestion of Hikitsujkeru Jinji and Kankyo An'ya, the group began the long journye back to the Kanshuu Shadow Dojo. On their way, Jujukoro returned to them and appeared before them as a spirit. He advised them and spoke of Mugen and Raijin. Shortly after that, Mugen dissapeared. The group found themselves releived from the feeling of intense evil that had seemed to follow Rajin. It turned out that Mugen was actually the one bent on destroying them. He was trying to find and kill anyone who might try to claim the Throne of Akashima.

When they reached the Dojo on Kanshuu, they found that Jinji and An'ya's master had fallen out of favor with the dojo for siding with Mugen. He was cast out and the two lost their place as high ranking students. But soon after, Jinji defended his honor against a young student and earned the group the right to train at the dojo.

Mugen showed up again, this time with Jinji's sister Hikitsukeru Sei'shin in tow. She was immensly powerful now, and after Jinji had thought she'd been killed, she returned and continued her training. Now, she was apparently siding with Mugen. A battle ensued and the fighting was fierce. Mugen was so strong he could take on the most of them at the same time...

Until Sei'shin joined the fray. She approached from behind and suddenly, in a whirlwind of destruction, she engulfed Mugen in flying shards of spirit stuff, causing him to flee once again.


Chirikun and the others trained fiercely after that, driving themselves to be able to finally defeat Mugen and Zunshu once and for all. But meanwhile, the armies of the Akako were ammassing and preparing an assault on the Imperial City.

The Pirate City

A Storm and a strange spiritual disturbance caused the eventual landing of the ship the travellers had been using. The group eventually found themselves at a Pirate City that was still operating in spite of strict blockades imposed by the Akako, who were gaining more and more power by the day.

Things happened fast as the Pirate City was assaulted by the Akako. The group took over control of a restaurant and rebuilt it as a sword shop and tea house, and eventually sold swords to the Pirates, the Akako, and even a group of mysterious warriors following an old Kuieh Yosei officer called Ookami, or the Wolf. They also collided with Shinden who was wounded saving An'ya from a gruesome death at the hands of magical giants somehow employed by the Akako to crush the town. In their time in the Pirate City, they also met Fortune, a mystic who told fortunes in the tea house to bring in money. They also attracted several spirits, and a few people from the boat they had come in on were still with them.

At one point, Jinji was kidnapped while in recovery and taken to an island far away where he was tortured by a fallen monk. Chirikun led the group and Takusen directed them using his sway with the spirits to find Jinji. They arrived on the island and were attacked while getting Jinji out of the mansion by the monk. He kept insulting Jinji and kept magical sheilds so that the others had dificulty fighting him. The others attacked again and Jinji's willpower returned for a moment and he snapped, allowing himself to use his most powerful sword skill to kill his tormentor in a single thunderous blow. They returned with him in terrible shape and Chirikun spent hours by his side, taking care of him.

Some time later, they watched a ninja fight a monk outside of town. Both were incredibly powerful but eventually the Ninja won out. Shinden had been dueling the Wolf at the time over some issues they had with each other from the Period of the Warring States but upon seeing the monk beaten, they turned and the ninja fled. The group took in the monk who revealed his name to be Mugen and the ninja was his sister Raijin. She had a powerful evil aura about her. Many battles were fought with her and as the Akako prepared to destroy the city, her evil minions came to the tea house and began wreaking havoc.

During their escape from the Pirate City, Jinji and Kojiro (Shinden's real name) fought side by side as An'ya used bombs and grenades to take on the giants who had wounded him so badly. The group also encountered Jisuru in their chase across the town to their waiting ship. He was surrounded by Akako and told them to flee, after which he removed four swords from the Akako belts and began a rampage that allowed the group of the Michiko Tea House and Sword Shop to escape safely.

Jujukoro's Dojo

A master of martial arts called Jujukoro had been travelling the Islands for some two millenia. A rare elf, he spent fifteen hundred years perfecting his ultimate art, Tenken Chouhou Koryu. It was a system of mastering ones self and taught the student to be ready for any situation and able to adapt to it just as fast. He had only taught one student thus far, a promising young man known as Jisuru.

Three years after the end battle of the Period of the Warring States, Master Jujukoro and his student Jisuru founded a martial arts dojo on the Southern Island of Futagoshuu. It drew fighters and monks and warriors from dozens of prefectures, all across the Islands. Any who could spare the money to make it to the dojo did. Legends and rumors about the mighty powers of the Tenken Chouhou Koryu school abounded.

Among those attending the Dojo were Hikitsukeru Jinji and Kankyo An'ya. Things at the dojo became increasingly dificult and the the students dropped out rapidly. The town below was booming with business, taking care and feeding the students.

Jinji and An'ya didn't at first choose to acknowledge each other because of how painful the memories were. Eventually, they became aquainted with a young shaman named Shintaku Takusen, a young Spirit Clan girl named Chirikun, A blade dancer named Miko Homikaido, A Crab Clan man named Ishikengo, and a Lion Clanmen named Tenkirai.

Intreguies between the powerful students in the town became more frequent and dangerous. Jinji became embroiled in a fight between his fellow Crane Clanmen and the Crab Clan after some of his fellows had murdered them in their sleep. More students dropped out.

During a sparing match, a man appeared, and slayed his sparing partner before the eyes of the entire dojo. Jinji and An'ya recognized him from the Period of the Warring States. Zunshu was sent away from the dojo and before anyone could catch him, he had gone.

Not long after that, Jujukoro dissapeared. His student erected a monument to him and the dojo closed as the ships of the new Akako Rebellion appeared and landed on the other side of the island.

Jinji and An'ya, Chirikun, Takusen, Miko and many others fled on boats and left for safer lands, their training in Tenken Chouhou Koryu unfinished.

The Period of the Warring States

Many battles and skirmishes were fought after the Fourth Age. This period was so called because society existed in a fractured, unstable, and dangerous way. People were divided by clan, prefecture, their status as Bushi or Kisou, race, and creed. Temples and monasteries and forts clashed regularly and the world tumbled to its knees, shaken to the core with decades of fighting.

All the while, the legendary Shadow Clan strove to reemplace an Emperor and restore order to their fallen kingdom. However, those of imperial heritage were very difficult to find and convince; the Kuieh Yosei were still about and the Lotus Clan was still unsafe. To make matters worse, several of the old provinces were host to governors with massive land ownership and gargantuan armies, and many of these men were positioning to take the throne for themselves.

The Period of the Warring States was a dangerous time. However, approxamately four years ago, a member of the Lotus Clan approached the Shadow Clan about rulership. They accepted the soon to be Emperor and made plans to attack the Imperial City and install the Emperor once again. The Kuieh Yosie spies were immediately aware and counter tactics began.

In preperation, the Kuieh Yosei went to the Kanshuu Shadow Dojo, a place where for hundreds of years the best fighters of the Red Islands had been trained, to recruit powerful allies. They picked the most dangerous young man they could find, a 16 year old martial artist by the name of Hikitsukeru Jinji, heir to the legendary Kage Ryu school of Battojutsu. To protect his identity, he was given a name by the Kuieh Yosei, the name Kyuuden.

In response, the Shadow Clan hired Kyuuden's extremely tallented training partner, also a Shadow Clansmen, named Kankyo An'ya. Shadow Clan planned to have them duel to make sure that Kyuuden would not obliterate their forces during the attack.

When the day came, it was chaos. The Shadow attacked hard and fast, but the Kuieh Yosei had superior fighters, though fewer in number. The Battle was hard fought and Kankyo was stationed with the Emperor to make sure that no one would slay him. Kyuuden approached them and was preparing to fight, when he heard from his compatriots that Kuieh Yosei member Shinden was ordered to kill his lover, who was going to be captured by the Shadow Clanin order to protect the Kuieh Yosei. Kyuuden raced across the entire Imperial City to save her from his own allies.

At the same time, a warrior called Zunshu was called upon to execute the Emperor in Kyuuden's stead. He called upon his allies and laid an ambush for the Emperor. As the Kankyo led the emperor into the throne room, they were attacked en masse by the Kuieh Yosei and seperated in the melee.

Both Kankyo An'ya and Hikistukeru Jinji were made to watch that night as their respective charges were slain. They both disbanded, the Kuieh Yosei having won this battle. Hikitsukeru found his sister missing as well and fled south on a pilgrimage to find another life. Kankyo slipped into depression for a time and vowed to one day find and slay the Kuieh Yosei Zunshu.

And with that, the world turned, the Period of the Warring States over.

The Fourth Age

The Fourth Age is what most people think of when they think of the golden years of the Red Islands. The Fourth Age was a time mostly of peace, infrequently marred by clan wars and small skirmishes. The High Emperor of the Lotus Clan ruled from the Imperial City on Kanshuu, a place of gargantuan scale and mystical wonders. From here, he ruled the three Provinces, North, South and East, and all the prefectures in them. There was little pressure from the lands outside of the Red Islands, and civilization thrived in the wake of the Third Age, a time of opression, war, and suffering.

Fourty years ago, the Fourth Age ended, as a widening gap between warriors and wielders of magic engulfed the Imperial Throne. The rift formed in society by the hand of a group called the Kuieh Yosei, a group of political anarchists and revolutionaries working against the government.

The wake of the Fourth Age was called the Period of the Warring States.

Welcome to Akashima

Well, for those of you who happen to be viewing this page without knowledge of what it is, Akashima is a roleplaying game based off of the Oriental Adventures book (NOT rokugan) and the Ghostwalk campaign setting. It's immensely popular with the group and enjoys some noteriety amongst our college gaming club. Here, you will find posts about the weekly games and information about the setting. Eventually. The game only runs in the school year, so it'll be a month or so before this blog starts hopping.

In the mean time, I'll work on getting up story and background info on Akashima on here.