The Great Families of Komaru During Setsuna's Age
By Minamei Yozo
This book is obviously old, but shows a sophistication of typesetting and binding far exceeding that of modern-day Komaru. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to it. Its binding is torn, and its pages are fragile and stained. Only the quality of its materials has allowed it to survive.
Possession of this tome is worth **** Research Points per session. If delivered to the Church, this tome is worth **** Church Prestige Points. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of Setsuna's Age.
Throughout the history of Komaru, few groups have better characterized the condition of the kingdom than the Great Families of Komaru. While the families themselves may change, even this serves as a way to better understand Komaru as a whole. The rise of one family to replace another is a sign of transformation within the kingdom as outdated principles fall before new philosophies. In this ebb and flow of great names, the history of the past two hundred years can truly be understood.
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Every proper history of Komaru must begin and end with the Royal Family itself, of course. Setsuna's Age is no exception, beginning with the Great Queen's sacrifice to preserve the land. As every noble child knows the story of Setsuna's life, this tome will simply state that the age itself could not have had a worthier mother than the Orphan Queen.
For the first several years of Setsuna's Age, the Komaru seemed poised to emulate Setsuna. The regency for Setsuna's cousins proceeded smoothly at first. But by the time Sushun and Suiko reached maturity, it became apparent that the two young Komaru were more interest in indulging their hedonistic impulses that in ruling the kingdom. Their regents quickly consolidated their power, and effectively continued to control the kingdom for the next twenty years.
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Ultimately, the weakness of the reigning Komaru dynasty during this time period led to the beginnings of the series of internal disputes between the Great Families that came to be known as the Blood Wars. Most of these conflicts were anything but formally declared wars. Brutal raids, scorched earth tactics, and other desperate tactics were the norm. But there were, as always, exceptions, and one of those began the Blood Wars.
As do so many things, the Blood Wars began out of a conflict between the Yuasa and the Minamei.
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Of all the families of Komaru, the Minamei have shown the greatest ability to withstand the effects of time. Their traditionalism has granted them an exceptional family memory, far outreaching that of any other family. Even the Komaru do not remember the dawn of the kingdom as clearly as the Minamei. Their memory comes at a great price, however: for a Minamei, the offenses of a thousand years ago are no different than those of an hour past. The Minamei remember nobility and honor, but more than that they remember hate. For more than a thousand years, the Minamei have guarded the Eastern Furnace against the desert serpents. Not once during that time have they forgotten how the Yuasa slipped past them into Komaru.
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Whether it is an advantage or a flaw to constantly test one's limitations is a question this scholar cannot answer. What is clear is that the Yuasa did so in the early years of Setsuna's Age, even as the continue to do so now. When the Yuasa chose to test the strength of the Reinne holdings that lay between themselves and the Minamei, the Minamei were only too happy to respond to the Reinne plea for assistance. Stating a refusal to she the Reinne share the fate of the Asawa, the Minamei escalated the Yuasa probing raid into a pitched battle followed by an invasion.
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The Blood Wars ended when a proper heir to Setsuna Komaru finally came to the Royal Throne. Tsuruki Komaru, nothing at all like the Orphan Queen, nevertheless possessed the courage to break the power of the Regency and replace it with the Royal Council. Appeased by the power the gained in the process, the Great Families were at last ready to seek peace.
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Of all the families involved in the Blood Wars, it is safe to say that the Touraine gained the most. At the time of Setsuna's Vision, many doubted her wisdom in allowing one of the newcomers into her Circle. But when Tsuruki Komaru at last rode forth to end the Blood Wars, the Touraine were his most loyal of allies. That Tsuruki proceeded to grant the Touraine much of the Yuasa coastal lands only further attests to the acceptance the Touraine had earned: in less than a hundred years, the Touraine held the trust of the Komaru.
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While the Yuasa lost land in the Blood Wars to the Touraine, it was truly the Asawa that paid for their loss. On the decline since the Yuasa invasion, the phlegmatic Asawa were pushed even further into the Shielder Mountains by new Yuasa expansion. It has been seventy years since the last Asawa sat upon the Royal Council.
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King Tsuruki's actions ended the Blood Wars, but another drama remained to be played out. The ancient rivalry between the Jitani and Issora families produced several fierce engagements during the Blood Wars as the prideful Jitani sought the arcane secrets of the Issora. Despite the Jitani alliance with the Touraine, the Issora were able to win the majority of the engagements between the two families. When Tsuruki created the Royal Council, the Jitani alone of all the families were dissatisfied with the power they had gained. None of their line could forget their humiliation at the hands of the Issora.
The horror of the events that ended the Jitani line are such that many histories have chosen to blot them out entirely. It is known that the Jitani captured several Issora researchers during the Blood Wars, and continued to explore a number of dubious lines of research even after Tsuruki's Compact. One of these subjects provided the Jitani with a new geomantic ritual: a summoning rite of unparalleled power. Its result was unmitigated disaster.
The Jitani rite succeeded in summoning Mourn's bones forth, but to a greater degree than ever seen before. The resonance of the rite perpetuated the summoning, and within less than an hour stony excrescences were rising throughout Jitani lands. Within two hours, it was clear that the effect of the spell was still spreading. Jitani in the affected areas died almost immediately, their bodies drained of life and blood by the power of the ritual. The Kodacha and Issora who shared borders with the Jitani were more fortunate: while their land died underneath the Jitani rite, the spell could not consume their flesh. Eight hours after its beginning, the Excrescence finally came to an end.
The few Jitani that survived immediately renounced their nobility, vowing to wander forever in penance for their actions. Since that day, the Jitani have been pariahs within Komaru: while many have forgotten their crimes, none can forget the stain of shame on their name.
The Issora were not much more fortunate. With three quarters of their land consumed by the Excrescence, many Issora nobles suddenly found themselves penniless. The few that attempted to reclaim land in the Excrescence soon discovered that the land itself was infertile, and seemed to lash out at them as they traveled it. Worse, though geomancers' crystals lay in great clusters across the earth, the Issora soon discovered that any stone born in the Excrescence reacted fatally to further geomancy. Clustered together in a tiny domain on the edge of the Excrescence, the Issora are only a fragile shadow of their past selves.
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Of all the families, the Kodacha have experienced the strangest of fates. Never the most populous or public of families, the Kodacha appear to have simply uprooted themselves and vanished after the Blood Wars. The Kodacha lands that survived the Excrescence are now largely empty, administered by the occasional Komaru magistrate or greedy neighbor of another family. The Kodacha still retain their seats on the Royal Council, yet rarely are seen to attend its meetings. When Kodacha are seen, they seem to flit like black bats among the halls of the Royal Palace. If they yet have a role to play within Komaru, this scholar does not know it.