Legend of the Burning Sands RPG - Kaze no Shiro

Legend of the Burning Sands RPG Campaign SettingThunder, as seven heroes made their way into thedark lands of Fu-leng to destroy his power. Theundead, demons and fell things of theShadowlands attacked the White Guard of theMoto with ferocity matched only by the WhiteGuard's own tenacity and combat skill. Days ofcat and mouse games in the deserts and mountainpasses eventually saw the retreat of theShadowlands forces. Shinjo herself thenreappeared with the Unicorn, the descendants ofthe Ki-Rin. They fought alongside the WhiteGuard Moto in the final battle, a battle in whichShinjo lost her weapon and then vanished, sayingthat she would return.The Khan of the Moto took up the sword and hascarried it since then, passing it to his son and soforth through the ages.The Birth of the TyrantThe child that would grow up to rule the city ofMedinaat al-Salaam with an iron fist wasinitially quite benign, her worst traits a touch ofthe dangerously curious and a healthy fear ofdeath. These two pre-eminent facets of herpersonality would dominate her actionsthroughout her adolescence, and would - throughthe malignant warping of the Senpet Book of theDead - form the foundation for her mindset intothe present day.Soon after her discovery of the Book, her fatherwas murdered in the Residential Quarter of thecity, left to bleed to death. The girl was"adopted" by the Merchant King that hademployed her father, the estate she had lived inher whole life absorbed into his holdings. Herworks of art were sold off at auction, and she issaid to have wept a week for each lost memory.The King was a stern guardian, protective andsheltering. He refused to allow her the time shehad always enjoyed alone, forcing her to studythe arts of refinement and courtship instead.He told her that she would make a fine wife oneday, and that she would fetch a handsome priceat market.She hated him. She despised him for every harshword he said about her dead father, for everyloose comment he made about her, and for theone time he ever mentioned her mother.She was eighteen, and had been secretly learningthe language of the Senpet from one of theservants that had raised her as a child. He hadcome to her room every night to tutor her, oftenuntil well after dawn. Soon, they wereconversing, and soon after that, she was readingfrom the Book, the only item she had managed tohide form the vile Merchant King's greed.It contained many discourses on the nature ofwhat comes after the end of life. Where you go,what you do, who you meet, and how your finalfate is determined. She feverishly read everyword as if it had come from the mouth of LadySun Herself, though she knew that statementsthis true could never have come from Her. No,Lady Sun did not cherish truth. She knew thatnow. Lady Sun valued deception, drenched in thejuice of sweet olives.More revelations followed. She found that deathwas not such an honourable, or even desirable,thing. Those that died passed on into a dark landof judgement and arbitrary punishment by tenthousand gods that warred with one anotherendlessly, needlessly. There, you were only onesmall soul, a tool to be used by other, terrifyingbeings of immense power and angrydispositions.As she read, she found herself immersed in theworld of Enala, the dark afterlife that she hadbeen taught to believe was where evil people goafter death. But it was twisted by the foreigncosmology of the Book of the Dead, recreated asan alien hell where nothing human matteredanymore.Yet there was something she could do about it.And on a night only days before she would havebeen auctioned, she struck. The Merchant wasberating her in her chambers after she had"impudently" referred to one of his associates asa "revolting, boil-ridden ghul"."How dare you!" he screamed. "What role doyou think you play here?" His face loomed tooclosely to hers, sweat gleaming from his browand in-between the rolls of fat on his neck."You... are property. To be sold like so muchmeat."She fingered a knife her servant-friend had givenher one night after the Merchant had beaten her.Hidden behind the curtain she was pressedagainst, she could draw it with only a singlemoment's regard."In one week," the fat Merchant continued, "youwill belong to someone else. Why, I'm halfinclined to *give* you to our mutual friend, the'ghul'. Perhaps he would be motivated to teachyou some manners...8Legend of the Five Rings Fan Book