About Yoritomo HeizoNAME: Yoritomo Heizo
AIR 2 (Awareness 3; Reflexes 2)
INITIATIVE 3k2
Health/Wounds x2 Healthy (+0) 15
TECHNIQUES Duty Before Honor - Like the Yasuki, the Mantis courtiers are merchants as well as diplomats, and they cultivate a personal style built around intimidation rather than friendship. Furthermore, they spend much of their lives outside of the courts dealing with some of the more unsavory characters in Rokugan. You do not lose Glory or Honor for using the Commerce skill in public, and you do not lose Honor for using the Intimidation (Control) skill. Any time you are making Social Skill Rolls against ronin, bandits, gang members, mercenaries, pirates, and other lawless types, you gain a number of Free Raises equal to your School Rank. ADVANTAGES Balance, Languages (Rhuumal), Seven Fortunes' Blessing: Daikoku's Blessing, Wealthy (1) DISADVANTAGES Bitter Betrothal, Compulsion: Gambling (TN 15), Driven (Establish the Mantis as the dominant commercial power in the Empire), Greedy SKILLS Calligraphy 1
EQUIPMENT Extravagant Clothing, Wakizashi, Machi-kanshisha, Tanto, Calligraphy Set, Chopsticks, Dice and Dice Cup, Courtier's Fan, Kiseru, Netsuke, Obi Pouch, Small Statue of Fortune (Daikoku), Traveling Pack (Bottle of Sake, Candles [6], Coin Purse, Flint and Tinder, Lantern, Parchment and Charcoal [10], Personal Seal, Sake Cup, Spices, Small Hand Mirror), Wide-brimmed Straw Hat, 7 koku, 4 bu, 5 zeni Bad luck and bad winds! Why do I play this game? ...Ah, hand me the dice, and let me roll again...
HISTORY A Future Bright as Gold From an early age, Yoritomo Heizo was taught the power of money. Yes, his father told him, it was seen as distasteful for a samurai to dirty his hands with commerce, but it was a necessity. Money paid for wages, opened avenues of trade and political power, put food in bellies, afforded great luxuries, and insulated men from hardship. And when it was denied to even those who claimed to disdain it, did they not suffer for it just the same? Therefore, if commerce is a necessity, why should it not be made a strength? This was the way of the Mantis. Young Heizo took these words to heart. Even before he trained as a courtier, he followed the merchant fleets of his clan across the Empire and beyond, even to the Ivory Kingdoms, and saw first hand the power of trade. "This," he said to himself, "will be how the Mantis shall rise to greatness." From then on it was as if a divine mandate had been revealed to the young Mantis, and he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of wealth in the name of the Clan. Day and night Heizo dedicated himself to mastering the art of making money, by means both fair and questionable, and it soon became clear that he that he seemed blessed by Daikoku himself. The Fortune of Wealth appeared to make everything he touched turn to gold, and on several notable occasions he got the better deal of gaijin traders, Yasuki merchants, and even the Daidoji Trading Council. Only his responsibilities at court pulled him away from business, and even there he was able to wield trade as a mallet, opening new political avenues where none had existed before. His star seemed to be on the rise. Trouble at Home Ever occupied by matters of court and his own commercial ambitions, Heizo reached age 22 without marrying, and Yoritomo tradition dictated that he consult the matchmaker. He consented, provided that his marriage was politically advantageous for the Mantis. So it was that he was formally introduced to Akodo Akemi. In retrospect, it was the worst day of his life. At first the match seemed harmonious. The marriage stood to improve relations with the Lion (slightly, anyway) and Akemi was attractive enough and obedient, although she didn't say much, which was fine by Heizo; he was never a very sentimental man and preferred to concentrate on court and the market. But bit by bit, trouble began. It was always small things; his meals would always include something he detested, his letters would be misplaced, a servant would be given an instruction contrary to one he just gave, and unattended items kept being misplaced far more often than they ever had before. Irritation after irritation began to wear on the courtier, and most nagging of all he was unsure why. One night while away at court he happened to obtain a copy of Akodo's "Leadership". Although he was not a man of war, thumbing through it he found the tactics it described strangely familiar. Then it finally clicked: his wife had been adapting 1,000 years of Lion strategy to drive him insane. When he eventually confronted her about it, it led to their first shouting match: she found him little more than a repugnant merchant with no real concept of honor, and only consented with the marriage to obey the will of the Lion. It was a distasteful duty for her, nothing more. For his part, Heizo was far too proud and self-absorbed to understand why she would act this way, and blamed the matchmaker for failing in her duty. Relations between the two of them went even further downhill from there. Although neither can afford make public their grievances due to the loss of face they would endure from their respective Clans, the temperature noticeably drops by several degrees whenever they're in the same room together. 18 years and two children later, the situation has yet to improve. Heizo now takes any opportunity he can to avoid returning to his household, and he nurses a sleight prejudice against the Lion Clan for bringing this woman into his life. A Life of Resignation With a troubled home life waiting for him whenever he returned to the Isles of Silk and Spice, Heizo sought any excuse he could get to remain abroad, even passing over choice assignments for more remote postings. Although he was still a beastly negotiator, the inner fire that had propelled him to early greatness had largely burned out, and he found himself more and more content to while away his time in gambling parlors and geisha houses that to travel where money was to be made. Now nearing middle age, he's told himself that his time in the sun had passed, but deep down he knows that he'd just given up, and is disgusted with himself for it. Especially now, with the Mantis achieving Great Clan status and with more opportunities to put his skills to use than ever before, he remains idle, looking for something--anything--to rekindle his passion for service to his Clan. Attending Tsuma for the Topaz Championship, Heizo has been spending his downtime conversing with Yoritomo Ayano on her own leisure time, usually over a cup of sake and a game of dice. Currently he's been losing his shirt to her at Fortunes & Winds, a fact that both raises his esteem of his kinswoman in his eyes as well as annoys him to no end. |
