Kami and Fortunes

[Vutall]

Kami and Fortunes
The Ten Kami
Amaterasu, Lady Sun and Onnotangu, Lord Moon had ten children, but only eight were destined to help shape Rokugan at the dawn of the Empire. Fu Leng was lost to Jigoku, where he became lord of demons, while Ryoshun’s name was lost to history. The remaining eight Kami founded the Great Clans and the Imperial house:

Lord Akodo: Founder of the Lion Clan
Lord Bayushi: Founder of the Scorpion Clan
Lady Doji: Founder of the Crane Clan
Lord Hida: Founder of the Crab Clan
Lord Shiba: Founder of the Phoenix Clan
Lady Shinjo: Founder of the Unicorn Clan
Lord Togashi: Founder of the Dragon Clan
Emperor Hantei: Founder of the Imperial line

These eight are known to all rokugani, and the ninth, Fu Leng, known to most. Unbeknownst to the denizens of Rokugan, another of the Kami resides in Meido: Ryoshun, the first to be eaten by Onnotangu and the only one to perish before Hantei could free him. When Emma-Ō descended into the underworld to attempt to take back Jigoku from Fu Leng and the demons, he found Ryoshun, waiting. Now, Ryoshun oversees the defense of boundary between Jigoku and the other levels, but the oni who serve Fu Leng see in Ryoshun a potentially powerful ally, if only he can be turned against the Heavens.



The Fortunes of Rokugan
Many powerful Fortunes, or gods, exist. Emma-o reigns supreme over Meido in his role as Fortune of Death and Judge of the Dead, while Megumi, Fortune of Heroic Guidance, often appears to aid minor samurai throughout the Empire. In ages past, different tribes venerated different Fortunes depending on the needs and specializations of their villages. After the formation of the Empire, it became the sacred right of the Hantei to declare a new Fortune, elevating deceased former mortals to the ranks of divinity. Such was the fate of Osano-wo, son of Hida, Fortune of Fire and Thunder. Some theologians believe that all of the Fortunes were originally mortals whose deeds were cause for veneration, and that path can still be tread today. Whether through proving oneself a true paragon or treading other, secret paths, new gods can ascend to the Heavens.

In ages past, different tribes venerated different Fortunes depending on the needs and specializations of their villages. After the formation of the Empire, it became the sacred right of the Hantei to declare a new Fortune, elevating deceased former mortals to the ranks of divinity. Such was the fate of Osano-wo, son of Hida, Fortune of Fire and Thunder.

Some theologians believe that all of the Fortunes were originally mortals whose deeds were cause for veneration, and that path can still be tread today. Whether through proving oneself a true paragon or treading other, secret paths, new gods can ascend to the Heavens

A Fortune is a type of powerful kami that governs a concept rather than a place or natural feature: strength, cats, crafts, and the like. The appellation “Fortune” is a contraction of their full, proper title, which may be translated “God of Fortune” or “Lucky God.” Fortunes, like other kami, have watched over Rokugan and its people since the beginning of time.

Shinseism’s introduction has changed the way many people conceptualize the Fortunes, though. As per official Imperial edict, the Tao of Shinsei and the goal of Enlightenment are supreme laws over both kami and human. Fortunes remain important, but as paragons of Shinseist wisdom and practice. Nevertheless, the festivals, rituals, and other traditional practices that propitiate and honor them have changed relatively little over the course of thousands of years. Further, the Emerald Empire is a vast land, and edicts around Shinseism are more recognized in some regions than others. Fortunism, ancestor worship, and even more ancient or esoteric traditions are still the primary religions of many people in Rokugan

Fortunes divide their time between the Celestial Heavens and Ningen-dō. From their offices and mansions in Tengoku, they oversee Rokugan as a whole. They descend to Ningen-dō via places sacred to them—shrines, or regions that express their purviews, for example—when the time comes to get more personally involved in terrestrial affairs. Like other kami, Fortunes often make their earthly homes in natural, geographical, or human-built features called shintai, which are the focus of many shrines.

Folk tradition maintains that Fortunes can take human form as one of these shintai. The mythical prehistories of many Fortunes describe their lives as humans, either in Rokugan or some land to the west. Some act or expression of supreme excellence allowed these humans to ascend to become Fortunes, a blessing humans today may still receive through legendary effort or virtue. Currently, few Rokugani think much of these stories. The odds of running into a Fortune in human disguise are low indeed.


The Seven Great Fortunes
These are the most widely propitiated Fortunes in all of Rokugan.


Benten, Fortune of Arts and Romantic Love
Benten is the Fortune of Arts and Romantic Love, who appears as an elegant woman with dark-brown skin and wet, black hair. Her mount is the five-headed dragon, her symbol the biwa, and her sacred place the river. Benten is particularly popular with young samurai before gempuku, who are in the thick of their education and overwhelmed with poetry to memorize and calligraphy to practice—and who are also aflutter with romantic feelings for other youths. Playwrights, actors, puppeteers, and other entertainers venerate Benten as their patron.


Bishamon, Fortune of Strength
Bishamon, the Fortune of Strength, appears in archaic armor, carrying a massive halberd in one hand and a Shinseist temple packed with sutras in the other. While cynics sometimes debate how much Shinsei really means to the Fortunes and their dedicated servants, Bishamon is known for his honest and assiduous study of the doctrine of Shinseism. Although when common folk run into him, he is frequently dressed as an armored warrior, he also has been said to appear as a wandering Shinseist priest toting a backpack full of heavy scrolls and tomes. He is always depicted with a broad smile, representing the joy and satisfaction that come from a balance of physical fitness and contemplative wisdom.


Daikoku, Fortune of Wealth
Daikoku, the Fortune of Wealth, embodies contradiction. He is cheerful and jolly, with plump lucky earlobes, but his skin is smeared with the ash of the grave. His great wooden mallet showers gold coins with every strike, but his association with death and cemeteries reminds people that their wealth will not follow them into Meido. He sits atop several fat bales of rice to represent riches and plenty, but a mischief of ravenous rats gnaws at those bales eternally to remind us that wealth means nothing if not invested and defended. Merchants and farmers are his most devoted followers. Fortunist monks devoted to Daikoku frequently remind well-born samurai not to take their wealth for granted: while money cannot buy happiness, the lack of adequate money, food, or shelter can certainly place one in debt to sorrow.


Ebisu, Fortune of Honest Work
Ebisu, the Fortune of Honest Work, is a good friend of Daikoku, though far more mercurial. He teaches us that luck comes to the diligent most of all. He is a wandering fisherman by trade, representing the oldest job in all of Rokugan, which sustained humans before they learned to plant and harvest grain. He wears archaic clothes and carries a fishing rod and a big fish he has recently caught. Fisherfolk who find a stone among the fish in their nets venerate it with offerings of food and drink, since legend has it that such a stone is Ebisu in disguise.

Ebisu is the only major Fortune who does not have shintai in his shrines; there are icons of him, but he does not live therein, preferring to reside in the sea and take the form of a whale. While Ebisu has shugenja, he does not speak to them in his voice, and he is hard of hearing, so he is not beseeched with prayers spoken aloud, but with clapping and the ringing of bells. Ebisu’s monks, while they pay lip service to Shinseism, are the furthest from orthodox Shinseists in their practices and traditions


Fukurokujin, Fortune of Wisdom and Mercy
Fukurokujin is the Fortune of Wisdom. Popular legend—not to be confused with certain beliefs and practices in the Phoenix Clan—indicates that he was once a mortal who mastered the Way, learning to subsist on the breath of the universe instead of food and drink, and eventually ascending to his divine post. Martial artists often venerate him as representative of the wisdom they seek through combative practice.

He is an elderly bearded man, stout and diminutive but with a high cone-shaped forehead, leaning on a long staff with a book of lore. He is always accompanied by a turtle, a crane, a black deer, or some combination of these. His holy symbol is the needle, and his most devoted worshippers are tailors. It is said that Fukurokujin knows how to revive the dead but never uses or shares this knowledge for fear it would be misused.


Hotei, Fortune of Contentment
Hotei, the Fortune of Contentment, resembles Daikoku in that he is a jolly, rotund man with big earlobes, but he lacks Daikoku’s coating of graveyard ash. His holy symbol is a sack—known as a hōtei—full of toys and gifts that he hands out to deserving children. He is, unsurprisingly, one of the most popular and well-loved Fortunes. He is also the only Fortune believed to have met Shinsei in person.

Legend has it that before anyone knew who Shinsei was, an eccentric old monk arrived at the Imperial Palace, walked right into the throne room, sat down in a corner, and started meditating silently. The Emperor waved off the hesitant guards who went to apprehend him, and he personally brought him vegetables and tea every day but otherwise ignored him. When Shinsei finally arrived, the monk stood and walked to greet Shinsei, and the two smiled and bowed to one another as if they were old friends. They had a brief private conversation. The monk sat quietly and listened with a beatific expression on his face as Shinsei expounded the Way, and then he exited with Shinsei and Shiba.

As the three parted ways in front of the castle, the old monk noticed a little boy playing nearby. From the bag he carried, he pulled a kemari ball too large to have fit inside. He kicked it toward the boy, who caught it, thanked him, and ran away. It was at this point that onlookers realized it was Hotei in a human guise. When they asked Shinsei if the Little Teacher knew him, he replied: “I do not, but something about him seemed familiar. I have a feeling I will see him again.” Hotei’s was the very first order of Fortunist monks to be founded, well before the Emperor fused the religions of Fortunism and Shinseism.


Jurōjin, Fortune of Longevity
Jurōjin, the Fortune of Longevity, is a thin old man, as old as the stars, who lives in a certain constellation that looks like him in the southern sky. Like Fukurokujin, he is an old man leaning on a staff accompanied by a deer, turtle, or crane, but he is very thin where Fukurokujin is stout. Jurōjin is known to be a patron of the visual arts; all of the Fortunist monks sworn to him are diligent painters and sculptors, producing fine paintings, screens, and sculptures large and small whose sale to wealthy patrons sustains their monasteries comfortably.


Kisshōten: Fortune of Happiness, Fertility, and Beauty
Kisshōten is widely considered to be the Eighth Great Fortune, though some in Rokugan disagree. Information about Kisshōten is difficult to find, as there are many dissenters who do their best to remove all references about the Fortune.


Other Popular Fortunes
Though they do not garnish the same level of worship as the great fortunes, there are numerous other fortunes respected by Rokugani inhabitants.

Emma-Ō
It is said that Emma-Ō was the first human ever to die. Alone, he journeyed from the land of the living down to the underworld of Yomi (for Yomi, not Jigoku, was the underworld at that point in history). He became the Fortune of Death and Judge of the Dead, ruling fairly and justly. Some stories say that Emma-Ō built the facilities of the underworld himself; others say that he found the underworld already outfitted with buildings, dwellings, and palaces, even though he was the first one ever to arrive—how curious!

After Yomi and the sorei ascended to Heaven, Emma-Ō entrusted his charges to the gods of the sky and returned to reconquer Meido and Gaki-dō, reasoning that if someone didn’t stick around to administer the underworld, Fu Leng would win. He seems to have been right, but everyone who looks upon Emma-Ō recognizes that the ruler of the underworld is a very, very tired Fortune. His face is scowling and red, with tusks and fangs. He wears a hat with the character for “king” inscribed on the front, and he always carries an antique board to which he fastens the record of a soul’s karma before he judges its reincarnation (or delegates such judgment to one of his subordinate judges).

He has priests, but receives few prayers; prayers are generally considered to annoy Emma-Ō, since he is so overworked he will never have time to get to them, and they’d just pile up in his office. “Emma-Ō will get to your prayer eventually” is an idiom that means to a Rokugani “your efforts are earnest, but pointless.” Bureaucrats and administrators often place images of Emma-Ō in their offices; his fearsome visage is meant to be a bulwark against corruption and inefficiency.


Hachiman
Hachiman, the Fortune of Battle, is perhaps the most popular Fortune among the samurai class. As a human, he was born with an archery glove already on his hand. History honors him as the inventor of mounted archery; even today, many archers whisper a prayer to him as they loose their first arrow of the day. The monks of Hachiman keep in his greatest shrine a library of letters, poems, and texts that he reportedly penned himself. Read closely, many of them seem to predict the coming of Shinsei hundreds of years later. It is said that if an invading fleet from beyond Rokugan ever comes to its shores, Hachiman will descend from Tengoku in the form of a tornado to beat the invaders back.

Osano-Wo
The myths surrounding the life of the Fortune of Fire and Thunder, Osano-wo, are many. He was the second son of the Kami Hida, and his mother is said to have been the Thunder Dragon, a patron of heroes. Osano-wo him-self is a being of legend, reputed to have possessed the heroic qualities of strength, honor, and courage. While he was the Crab Clan Champion, he led his clan against the trolls and all but obliterated that ancient race.

Osano-wo had two sons by two mothers. He named one son, Kenzan, his heir, and through him, the Hida family can trace their bloodline back to the Kami. His other son, Kaimetsu-Uo, left to found the Mantis Clan in the Islands of Spice and Silk. Many Mantis sailors proudly claim to have descended from Osano-wo, not least the Mantis Clan Champion, Yoritomo. The Mantis built one of the two major temples to Osano-wo, Shinden Sandā in Inazuma Province, and this temple is famed for its treasures. The other major temple, Shinden Kasai, was later built by Crab architects on the Plains of Thunder.


Koshin, the Fortune of Roads

Suijin, a Fortune of the Sea

Suitengu, the Fortune of the Sea

Kaze-no-Kami, the Fortune of the Wind

Kan’o and Nagameru, the twin Fortunes of Sakura Trees

Haruhiko, the Fortune of Fisherpeople

Hamanari: The Fortune of Fish and Generous Meals

Hujokuko, the Fortune of Fertility

Kojin, the Fortune of Peaceful Homes

Musubi, the Fortune of Fated Bonds

Inari, the Fortune of Fertility and Rice

Tenjin, the Lesser Fortune of Stories and Secrets

Sadahako, the Lesser Fortune of Artists.

Isora, Fortune of the Shore

Tsugumu, Fortune of Secrets



Malicious Fortunes
All Fortunes have peaceful and wrathful aspects, but some strongly favor their unkind side. These are Fortunes whose attentions villagers would rather avoid, whose offerings are simply to appease the Fortune or hurry them on their way. Below is a partial list of such Fortunes.

Ekibyōgami, the Fortune of Pestilence:
A spiteful Fortune who spreads disease and blights, Ekibyōgami ultimately serves Jurōjin, the Fortune of Longevity, and maintains balance so that life never overtakes death.


Hofukushu, the Fortune of Vengeance:
Said to be older than the Fortune of Justice, Hofukushu is prayed to by the desperately wronged and avoided by the desperately guilty.


Kamashi-Okara, the Fortune of Sorrow:
Her role is to make mortals acutely aware that their time is limited in Ningen-Dō, so that they won’t waste the time they have


Kirako, the Fortune of Torture:
In life, Suzume Kirako protested the torture of a samurai before the Steel Chrysanthemum. As punishment, she was tortured to death and then elevated to become the Fortune of Torture, so that she would embody and witness the thing she most despised forevermore.


Onnotangu, Lord Moon:
Father of the Kami, husband to Amaterasu, Onnotangu believes he was betrayed by his family, and his hatred of the Realm of Mortals is well known.


The Land of Ten Thousand Fortuens
Faith is a real and tangible thing to Rokugan, and only the foolish choose not to believe. The kami are demonstrably real, the gods are easily angered, and signs of magic and wonder can be seen even in the distant corners of the Empire—if not by a samurai or peasant, then by someone whom they know and trust.

Merged by the second Emperor, Hantei Genji, Rokugan’s religious beliefs encompass three different forms of worship: ancestor worship, or the worship of a samurai’s blessed antecedents who have ascended beyond the wheel of reincarnation; Fortunism, the direct worship of the gods; and Shinseism, the study and practice of the Tao of Shinsei.

The most fundamental of religious observances revolves around the worship of a samurai’s own ancestors. From Yomi, the spirits of one’s forebears watch over their descendants, receiving prayer for guidance, aid, and good fortune. Nearly every house in Rokugan contains an ancestral shrine where family members offer prayer and dedication to stone statues of kin, asking for blessings, protection, and intercession.

Beyond the spirits of their own, the people of Rokugan revere and appease the elemental spirits of nature, agriculture, and other domains. This worship of the immortals who dwell in Tengoku and the myriad lesser spirits dwelling in Ningen-dō is known as Fortunism. Temples and shrines to the Lesser Fortunes exist in the hundreds, and the sanctuaries celebrating the Seven Great Fortunes dominate the skylines of the Empire’s greatest cities. Although they are usually invisible to the eye, the kami have a few servants who can hear and speak to the kami. These mortals are known as shugenja, and their invocations to the Fortunes and the elemental kami can produce miraculous effects

While Fortunism celebrates diversity, another line of philosophical thought emphasizes unity. Called “Shinseism” for the man who promulgated its core beliefs, the ideology focuses on a core of simplicity: all the universe comes from the Void, and all will eventually return to it. Embracing the oneness of the five elements, or rings, and living in accordance with the principles of an ordered society could, according to Shinseism, enable one to transcend the cycle of rebirth and attain Enlightenment. These teachings were recorded in full during Shinsei’s audience with the first Emperor and became recorded in the Tao of Shinsei.

Following the Tao means acting in accordance with virtue and the harmony of the universe, which itself leads to order and the furtherance of good over evil. The Tao is studied and debated by the Brotherhood of Shinsei, a vast collection of monastic orders, each with an individual approach to study and practice. This religious heterodoxy occasionally gives rise to potent heresies, and many divergent sects of Shinseism have appeared over the centuries.


Forbidden Beliefs
Shintao is not the only faith practiced in Rokugan. Cults to Lord Moon, who hates all mortals, seek to empower him and hasten his judgment upon his children. Bloodspeakers, organized users of blood magic, work to free Iuchiban from his bindings. The selfish who seek power turn to curses and bargains with oni. The world is filled with many dangers, and the Spirit Realms are no exception.


Mortal Intermediaries
The kami interact with Rokugan through natural phenomena, but they make their will manifest to devoted mortals. Spirits may accept sincere devotion by blessing a lay priest from the peasant caste. Such priests cannot compel obvious miracles from the kami, but they can bless fields, sanctify ritual spaces, perform weddings and funerals, practice auguries, and create good luck charms and talismans blessed by their favored deities.

When a samurai manifests the ability to communicate with the spirits, they are often given the specialized, secretive training to become a shugenja, a samurai priest who wields miraculous power. A common misconception exists that shugenja can speak directly to the spirits using human language, but in truth it is a delicate translation of emotions and instincts, which can be misinterpreted. Under the tutelage of other shugenja, the samurai learns prayers, offerings, devotions, and invocations designed to entreat the assistance of the kami, sometimes in spectacular ways. Titanic fireballs, weaving beautiful illusory displays, creating great fissures in rock, or washing away the despair of battle—with the proper prayers to the kami, all things are possible.


The Sacred Substances
There are three substances that are more sacred than any other, for they came from gods.

The first is jade, which was created when Amaterasu’s tears touched the earth. As a source of spiritual purity owing to its connection to both Ningen-dō and Tengoku, jade repels the denizens of other Spirit Realms and protects the soul from the Shadowlands Taint.

Because conviction is a key part of wielding the unyielding power of the sacred stone, a shugenja cannot simply hurl the holy power of jade at anyone they suspect to harbor the corruption of the Shadowlands. If a shugenja attempts the invocation and the target is not Tainted, their certainty might be shaken. Worse, the earth kami may even stop responding to their call for a short time, angry to have been roused without good reason.

The second was formed where Lady Sun’s tears solidified in air. This crystal, having captured the essence of the Sun herself, is capable of dispelling the dark and repelling corrupted beings.

The third is obsidian, which is formed from the blood of Onnotangu. It is the most powerful bane to denizens of other Spirit Realms, but it also carries with it a hint of Lord Moon’s madness, which, through prolonged exposure, it passes on to the carrier.

Obsidian did not always bear the corruption of Jigoku, but this mystical stone draws negative emotions and powers to it, absorbing and amplifying them. This includes the boundless hatred of Fu Leng and his countless dread servitors—so virtually all obsidian in the Emerald Empire now contains the essence of the Shadowlands.

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Manifested Kami

Air
Large:
When air kami abandon subtlety to act directly upon the world, they are terrifying to behold—their form is that of a many-armed whirlwind, flickering hands reaching out to toss about loose items

Tiny
Often found in areas known for gentle zephyrs, tiny air kami usually manifest themselves as small whirlwinds, lash-ing out at any who get too close. These spirits are often angered by smoke and other pollutants filling the air, and can be a painful surprise to any who disrespect them.

Earth
Large
When they take physical form, earth kami often shape bodies of stone for themselves, appearing as statues of warlike Fortunes or the sacred beasts that guard ancient shrines and tombs. These beings are powerful, wise, and slow to anger—but their wrath is that of an avalanche, and once started, it cannot be stopped

Tiny
Generally, tiny manifest earth kami make their homes in particularly notable rocks, in fertile patches of earth, or on the banks of rivers or the sea. The are drawn to action when people mistreat nature or disturb the rest-ing place of old earth.

Fire
Large
Energy given form, a manifest fire kami usually appears as a humanoid shape. Clothed in a robe of smoke and with blazing skin, it is the harbinger of destruction but also of renewal. While they are intelligent and knowledgeable, fire kami are notoriously single-minded once they have taken form, seeking only to consume everything within their reach before sputtering out.

Tiny
Found most often dwelling in forests recently struck by wildfires or in temple braziers, tiny manifest fire kami are the embodiment of passion. They are eas-ily provoked if they are not properly venerated and given gifts, and can be devastating harbingers of tiny destruction if angered.

Water
Large
Water kami usually take the form of a humanoid torso rising from a source of water; if they have legs, these are often obscured within the water or become visible only if the kami stride onto land. The forms of these kami shift and change as circumstances require, and they can even split themselves to act in multiple places at once and reabsorb damaged copies to restore their own vitality.

Tiny
Tiny water kami typically make their homes in the pud-dles of rainy forests, in small ponds, and in the snow drifts of mountain ranges. Usually easy-going creatures, they are often satisified with small and thoughtful gifts such as pure spring water and songs. Those that tread in a tiny manifest water kami’s territory should be wary, however, as these spirits are said to pull the very water from the soil if displeased, choking crops.


Ki-Rin
Tradition says that deer are the messengers of the kami, and thus are sacred. This may or may not be true for the average deer that roams the mountains. However, sometimes a chimerical beast with great antlers or horns, dragon scales, the tail of an ox, and a flaming mane is whispered to come out of the deepest forests to speak to lone travelers. Its form varies slightly with the telling, but the tales remain much the same: such creatures speak of the will of the kami, and are so benevolent and compassionate that, rather than trampling even a single blade of grass, they float above the ground