NPCs

[Ender]

Kakita Toshimoko - The Grey Crane, Head of the Kakita Duelist Academy, and brother-in-law to the deceased Crane and Emerald Champion, Doji Satsume. A serious man, though known to grow warm to those that impress him. Famed for being Hantei XXXVIII's sensei in iaijutsu. Arguably The Duelist of the Empire. He is responsible for all of the invited to participate.

Two years ago, he acknowledged his Bastard son, a Mantis Storm Fleet Sailor, who went on to become the Topaz Champion, as if the Heavens themselves blessed his acknowledgement.

Utaku Enkhtuya - Topaz Champion of 1122. A Shiotome who has the grace of Lady Doji, and the cunning mind of Lord Bayushi. She dominated the tournament last year, yet displayed remarkable humility throughout the tests. She returns, as is tradition, to crown the next champion, and award the winner their set of armor.

She is known to have a fondness for mochi, and sensational theater.

Hida Hikaru - Judge - Even for the Crab, she is tall. An imminently serious woman, she is a woman of few words, but great deeds. Competitive Kemari Player.

Doji Shingo - Judge - A bureaucrats bureaucrat, they are a picture of Courtly Perfection in action. No word is misspoken, no action without double intention. A beacon of courtesy and poise.

Mirumoto Shosuke - Judge - A fierce firebrand from the Dragon, he is considered one of the Empire's finest Go players, though all within the Lion would disagree with that assessment. Despite his relative youth, he has famously been given command of the Dragon's Nataku Legion.

Ikoma Ryuko - Judge - A wisened woman known for her mastery of the Lion courts, she is a masterful, and entertaining storyteller, who can draw out the emotions from the most stoic of samurai. It is said that whatever she commits to memory, will only be forgotten at her death. And even then, it may not be forgotten.

Isawa Kanbei - Judge - When one thinks of engineers, they do not traditionally think of the Phoenix. Yet he is one of the finest mathematical minds in the Empire, as well as being a great organizer and healer.

Yogo Kou - Judge - A pious and deliberate priest, they do not seem to have the same fatalistic viewpoint as their fellow Yogo. Prickly to a fault, they are distant and reserved, a Scorpion of few words.

Shinjo Batzorig - Judge - One of the finest hunters in the Clan of the Wind, he is always accompanied by their pet Falcon, Chinggis. He is quick to adapt to new strategies and enjoys a good drink or four.

Seppun Hitomi - Judge - One of the finest warriors in the Imperial Legion, she is unpredictable, in that she is famously impossible to read. A few years ago, she wrote a novel, The Wind Princess, about a lone woman out for revenge that was received and regarded for the depth of emotion and pain that it was initially believed to have been written by the cold woman. Until the reader got to her descriptions of swordplay and duels. The novel is now required reading at both the Kakita Dueling Academy and the Akodo war college.

Shou of the Winter Wind - Judge - Judge of a new addition to the Topaz Championship, part of Yoritomo's masterful display at last year's Imperial Winter Court. A dare devil and known brawler, he is the outsider to the other judges, and wouldn't want to have it any other way.

Rumors persist, though, about him and Ikoma Ryuko, despite the Fall-Spring nature of their relationship.

Saito - Abbot of the local Temple of the Fortunes. A quiet, charming, and genuinely humorous man in his mid sixties. Any time he is seen in town, recently it has been commented that he seems to bear the burden of the world upon his shoulders. Yet he always has time to lend his ear to those in need.

Kasuga Touji - Proprietor of the Merchant House of the Exotic in Little Khanbulak. A reputation of a scoundrel and a cheat, yet if there is something that can be acquired, he is the man to do it.

[Asahina Tenshin]

Name: Asahina Tenshin
Clan: Crane
School: Doji Bureaucrat
Age: 28
Height: 5'9"
Hair: Black, cut close
Eyes: Brown
Build: Lanky
Occupation: Magistrate
Marital Status: Married

Tenshin is the Emerald Magistrate assigned to Tsuma. A relatively cushy position, he is affable, if serious. A poet with a sharp mind that knows the law as well as anyone. His office is always orderly.

The man is usually accompanied by his yojimbo, a fortress of a man named Daidoji Yuusuke, a man of few words.