Iron Hearts: Kameyama Jima
http://ironhearts2.fallenash.com/

Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1
http://ironhearts2.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=951
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Author:  Kannon [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:03 am ]
Post subject:  Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

An old man was dying. His enfeebled body, festered by fever was finally giving up. He couldn't walk since last winter, and he couldn't rise from his bed since autumn set in. Even though his doctor was good, practically the best available, there was little that could be done. Some suggested unconventional methods but the old man never trusted charlatans.

Those who were coming to him hid the grim news, but he knew. His body was failing, but his mind never gave up, and his eyes saw it in their faces. But he didn't ask either for he knew telling him would only bring them pain and he didn't want to depart from this world by causing more suffering to those he cared for.

It was the time when acers in his garden began to truly shed foliage when malign claimed him and carried him to his final death throes. As it often is, on his last day his strengths returned for a moment and he began to call loud.

"Bring my sons to me, where are my sons!"

And soon, one young man would come, with his wife and a toddler, his grandson, to bid him farewell. The dying man was saddened that he saw relief in his elder son's eyes that that day it was finally over. He didn't blame him, he also felt that his passing was long overdue.

"Jorge, where is Jaime? Why is he not here?"

The elder son replied stiffly, marks from pox twisting on his face as he spoke. Brothers never liked each other.

"Jaime is gone, padre. He has deserted you. He has deserted us all. He won't be coming back."

The old man's eyes welled with tears. Not because he mourned his son, but because he saw how he failed them both. He knew the elder was hiding something from him, that he was lying to bolster himself and diminish his brother so that that would be the last memory his father would take with himself. He cried because he loved them both and witnessing them estranged was unbearable to him.

"He will return, Jorge, I know it. Be good to him."

The son shook his head. The old man closed his eyes as he could not take it any more. His lips moved gently without sound in a silent prayer to Kharsis as he wondered whose story of the thereafter was correct. Where would he go now?

The last face he saw before the light was of a port girl that had given him his first taste of love right before he had left his own father's homeland, never to return.


* * *

"Oborozukiyo-san." Hohiro raised hand to stop the Otomo daimyo rushing through a crossing in the Imperial Palace. "We need to talk about the extent of mourning. I want it short, and the Sacred Treasures be brought from the Four Temples as soon as possible. It is vital for the Empire that my ascension should not be delayed."

While startled, the older woman didn't really stop but fluidly turned toward the prince and bowed. "I am afraid this is not how we shall proceed, Hantei-no-kimi."

Hohiro's dotted face tensed. In his mind, ever since he had fallen ill the elder dignitaries got used to condescending him. Once primogeniture had been questioned, it never fully recovered. He was the victim of Yugozohime's assertion against Soujiro. After her, any firstborn could not really been safe as he could always be accused of being dependent on this or another faction. And Hohiro knew he was not particularly good in iaijutsu. While Retushime had managed to quash the hopes of her sisters quickly, Jama had been a tumor on his ascendency ever since two years before all had entertained the thought he would be the next Emperor. Jama had managed for all the right moves Hohiro had made to have bad consequences. He thought that the defiance would finally end, and he could set the score with all those who had wronged him, as Emperor. As Yugozohime's example taught him, one cannot establish a strong Imperial regime without retribution against those who had been opposing it. The Otomo daimyo's defiant attitude hurt him, but anger came quickly after the wound.

"I do not understand, Imperial Chancellor. Who can stop to be one soon enough for I do not appreciate a Chancellor that cannot speak clearly."

The woman's face expressed little. "We shall not proceed with your enthronement, Hantei-no-kimi..."

"How so?" He interceded, clenching fists.

The woman remained impassive. "...because you were not designated as heir by the late Son of Heaven."

"This is nonsense." He seethed. "Jama cannot..."

"Your esteemed brother was not designated either."

"Ex-plain."

"Before his passing into Tengoku, the Son of Heaven issued an Edict onto my hands to be revealed posthumously. It establishes my Regency..."

"Yours!?"

"Mine, Hantei-no-kimi. I shall be the Imperial Regent until such time I can name the future Emperor."

"This is absolutely unlawful!"

"It is the Emperor's Will. Let me remind you, esteemed prince, that Emperor's Will cannot be unlawful by definition."

Hohiro could not contain anger any more he crossed the distance and caught Oborozukiyo by her throat.

"Listen to me now, listen carefully. I shall not be denied my birthright by an intrigue over my father's body. How did he get this out of him? The same way as with the Explorers? I will unmake all of this, all those mistaken policies drafted on a deathbed that have perverted my Empire. I will smite those who have supported and endorsed them. I will restore this Empire to its proper shape. And your ambitions, old woman, won't stand in the way. So you will give me this piece of paper that you think entitles you to something and forget about it, and I'll let you keep your post until your legitimised bastard can replace you. Or shall I deprive your progeny of their birthright as well? You seem to be forgetting that the Otomo are as purgeable as any other family if they try to fudge succession. So fetch the paper and I'll go summon Yukitada to announce the date of ascension so that all can turn out here in the Forbidden City to bow before their rightful Emperor, Hantei the Tenth."

Oborozukiyo pressed a finger against a vital spot on Hohito's body, and the man immediately released her as his muscles limped. He fell back, wreathing in a flash pain.

"No, you listen to me, unworthy princeling. This is not ambition, and you cannot threaten me by blackmailing my motherly instincts. Just like my father, I am nothing but an executor of the Emperor's Will and by the time it is over whoever ascends, you or your brother, you will have my jigai, for I will follow my father's example in this too. I have no deep affection for the Emerald Empire to be ruled by half-breeds, but I don't question it, for this was Retsuhime-heika's Will that her son ascended. This is Reikado-heika's Will and I will act on it to the last letter. And before anything regrettable could happen, let me inform you it is too late to 'fudge succession' as you elegantly put it. I've known you since you were little and I knew I had to act quickly. The Heralds are out, and Yukitada-san is reading the Edict in Ekihokei as we speak. So you will stay put and be patient until such time when I decide who of you has a greater chance to not fracture this Empire in this crucial moment of its history. But for this to happen, your brother must return first."

Hohiro began to laugh as if he had snapped. His loud, unhinged laugh reverberated along the long corridors, reaching distant empty rooms and startled guards. He find support against one of the walls before he seethed out his angst. "Even if you know me, you don't know my brother. You want to prevent a civil war? You have just enabled it. You will go down into history as a traitor that caused a calamity, worse than Tohojatsu and the whole of Gozoku."

Oborozukiyo's brow twitched. "We'll see about that."


---

New OOC Chat!

Author:  Muhaki Ran [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Claimed.

Author:  Gusai Susumu [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Stolen

Author:  Muhaki Ran [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Pesky Mantis. I see how it is.

Author:  Agasha Utsusemi [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*gives it back to Ran*

Play nice, kids.

Author:  Muhaki Ran [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Thanks, mama!
*sticks out tongue at Susu*

Author:  Gusai Susumu [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*steals it again*

Author:  Agasha Utsusemi [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

:|

*gives it back to Ran*

*puts Susumu in time-out*

Author:  Gusai Susumu [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 2:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*escapes!*

Author:  Muhaki Berena [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 2:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Poor Jaime, poor Jorge.

Author:  Matsu Yasuhiro [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*claims the thread from the hands of the minor clanners*

It's better left in the hands of a Lion.

Author:  Hida Ringo [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*sets up a ballista*

What?

Author:  Gusai Wataru [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Teppodoka Regiment takes the Forum back to the hands of the Minor Clans.

Author:  Miya Suihime [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

*steals, gives back to Ran, places under Imperial protection*

Author:  Gusai Wataru [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Ran would had co-owned with Wataru anyway :(

Author:  Miya Suihime [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

What's yours is hers, and what's hers is hers

Author:  Matsu Yasuhiro [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

I see Suihime likes the Matsu idea of a marriage.

Author:  Muhaki Ran [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

Miya Suihime wrote:
What's yours is hers, and what's hers is hers

She's got it.

Author:  Kannon [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

So, I revealed some interior locations to give you a better idea what to poke at. Ask if you want to try to find/brave one of them. Some remain hidden still.

Also, maybe to make Coffee Ceremony more useful, I'll be giving out Fatigue like candy. Get used to the fact that exploring is tiresome. XD

Author:  Gusai Susumu [ Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Iron Hearts 2: OOC 1

:|

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