Thought I'd punt this out there and see what folks think and if anyone has any other elements they'd suggest adding.
So my group just started Hungry Storm and I think have enjoyed the first two books. Coming to Katyiana I felt it was not really connected to the AP storyline so my first thought was to change her up a bit. The general idea was that as the Five Storms had also been corrupting the royal families maybe they had had some success with one of the Amatatsu. So I have thought that perhaps Rokuro had a sister, Kaori. Kaori a young woman had impetuosly fallen for a charming samurai who was in truth one of the Five Storms. Over time Kaori became corrupted by the oni or at least made into an unwitting pawn. Kaori was whisked away with her family but on the journey had been attempting to use divination magic to send a message to her lover. On the Crown of the World Rokuro stumbled on her in the midst of this. Assuming the worst Rokuro using Suishen cut her down where she fell into a glacial crevasse. She survived though her body broken and her mind frayed. In the deep ice her pain and anguish attracted the attention of Sithud his presence lingering in the area. Over the decades she has grown in power and been transformed into essentially the same creature and role as Katiyana. But now instead of facing an unrelated evil they are dealing with an insane, vengeful and demonic relative eager to wreak her revenge on the family that abandoned her.
The other thought I had is if Kaori back in Minkai had concealed a pregnancy and that the child of her union with this oni was in fact the Jade Regent (his oni heritage providing him with longevity) providing him with some claim to the throne by blood (though superseded by Ameiko due to the unnatural and baseborn union).
Thought I'd put that out there and see if anyone else had any thoughts about adding to this backstory, I thought it might work to strengthen/unify some of the elements of the campaign's background.
I ditched Katiyana as well, wanting instead something tied to the overall plot In her place I've created NOBUYUKI THE PRINCE OF FROZEN DEATH! A unique oni who in his normal form resembles an anthropomorphic white tiger. He has the abilities of a 10th level Boreal bloodline sorcerer, with some good old fashioned Lord of The Uttercold assault necromancer fun thrown in. Most of his servants are undead of some sort or another, frost wight ninjas, and frostfallen creatures mostly, with his lieutenant being a samurai graveknight who was one of the Amatatsu's retainers on their way across the high ice the first time, decades ago.
In my telling, Noboyuki was the leader of the Five Storms raiders that chased them across the crown of the world, as well as the original master of the Frozen Shadows. He is also responsible for leading the attack on Brinewall and animating Andril Kotun (who I made a frost wight as well) and Rokuro Kaijutsu as undead.
He became interested in the storm tower on the trip to Avistan originally, and after the purging of Brinewall he left Kimandatsu in charge of the Frozen Shadows and returned north to study it.
