They are an unpredictable and erratic people, seemingly incapable of forming lasting political or personal bonds. Their shifting natures ignited the Foundling War and brought about their crushing defeat at the hands of the Oni hordes. The reason for their defeat, despite acts of incredible courage and moments of tactical genius has long since been a favored debate in the Grove of Scholars and such could not hoped to be solved in such a epigrammatic dissertation . But a clue to their defeat may lie in their biology. Smaller and weaker than the Oni, and possessed of less grace and of weaker intellect than the Sennyo, the humans seem an awkward mix of both. Their very features illustrating their inherent inferiority. Ungraceful, rounded ears with thick, ungainly lobes seem ill suited to processing the full spectrum of sound. The inability of their rounded pupils to see in the dark is well known. Of all the races within the Tsukiakari Teikoku they seem most susceptible to exhibiting signs of the corruption. Their skin colour, which seems to range naturally from the palest white to the deepest, darkest brown, can be painted by the Corruption into any number of shades or patterns. More commonly, the signs of the Corruption appear in their hair with an impressive rainbow of colours. Due to their frequency, and relative harmlessness (bringing into question exactly what colours could be called ‘natural') such minor stains have been acceptable by the Sennyo. But their pigmentations are not the only aspects of their physiology that the Corruption has touched. Of all the races none exhibit quite the range of abilities that are express within the human populations. All human children are born under the eye of a Hoan Monk who watches over the birth to test the child to see if the Corruption has crawled under the newborn skin. Those found with the Corruption oozing through their blood are taken, bloody and screaming from their mothers womb and left to die on the hillside under the moon. Of all the powers unbound by the Corruption, Magic has come to play
the largest role, and here too, humans inexplicably excel. The Wizard City
of Jidai teems with their like, studious, capable and competent on the
arcane arts. Perhaps because in the arcane realm humans are equal, or simply
perhaps because their of their inflated population, more humans are touched
with Magic then any other in the Tsukiakari Teikoku.
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Though no longer part of the Tsukiakari Teikoku, the Kobito are one of the foundling races who lived in these lands before the arrival of Sennyo. During the Foundling war they fled north into the barren Ghimm Peninsula to escape the chaos. Entrenched in the rocky fjords, they declared themselves a free people and the Sennyo, unwilling to risk a war so soon after the first, negotiated a lengthy treaty that has proven sound throughout the years. The Kobito are a short, powerfully built people with broad shoulders and a thick torso that gives them an compact, immovable stance. Their ears are lobbed but pointed, and their round pupils stare out from between round eyes. The years of living on or near the open sea has made their eyes thick and resistant to the sea and the brine, their bodies made naturally buoyant and given the ability to drink sea-water. Their feet spread flat and wide with webbed toes. Even before the Sennyo came to the lands of the Foundlings, the Kobito where a people of the sea. Living along the northen coast and traveling great distances in the primitive forerunners to the mighty Longboats that rule the waves today. As all the foundlings, they prospered under the Sennyo rule, making great strides in navigation, and shipbuilding. Until the chaotic Foundling War. At first the Kobito remained neutral, fortifying their towns as the armies drew near, repelling any invaders. But as the war dragged on the resources of the Human and Oni armies dwindled and the Kobito towns and lands where raided with greater frequency. One day a great cloud of crimson and black draped the northern shore. Black soot and blood red flames rose like a flight of dragons from every village, wood and field of the Kobito lands. Through the smoke, outlined on the horizon rode a thousand filled sails as the Kobito abandoned their homes to the war and the fire. They settled north in the Ghimm peninsula where they live in small towns on the long stony beaches between that lay between the frozen cliffs of the coasts. Daily life of the Kobito revolves around the Clan, town and Longboat. The men spend most of their days out to sea in their powerful Longboats, raiding the coasts of the lands beyond the Empire's borders and trading their booty in the coastal towns of the TT. Their travels bring much needed news, goods and rare pieces of technology from the Corrupted lands to the Empire. The Sennyo approve of sending these lost foundlings out into the dangers of the Corrupted world to bring back rare treasures without taking any of the risks for themselves and for that reason have allowed the Kobito to remain autonomous instead of reclaiming them into the empire. In the village, it is the women who rein. While the men are away, it is the women who build the houses and workshops, defend their homes from rival clans and tend to the daily activities of village life. These villages are ruled by the clan Matriarch whose word is law and even Captains (often her husband) must head her voice while in town. Young men are raised the village until they are old enough to pull
an oar when they join their fathers and uncles aboard ship. There they
work until they can find a wife from another village and once married they
give up their old clan names to join the clan and crew of the their wife's
village.
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Masters of the stonewinds of Kamakura, the Oni have proven the most dedicated and worthy of the foundling races. Physically they resemble tall, powerfully built humans with heights averaging seven feet. Their heads are rimmed with a black shaggy mane, the males often wearing an equally shaggy beard. Their nobles faces have a heavy lower jaw that protrudes from under a thick brow and broad nose, to accommodate the two small tusks that grow from the lower teeth and out over the upper lip. Most seem to possess odd vanity about their fangs and spend an inordinate amount of their free time brushing, polishing, or decorating the enlarged canines. The arraignment gives the Oni a fierce appearance and their speech an unrefined, gruff quality but has no other noticeable effect. Almond- shaped eyes, slit pupils and thin, pointed ears testify to the fact, that despite their size, that the Oni are the foundling race that most closely related to the Sennyo. A factor that no doubt attributed to their victory in the Foundlings War and their subsequent favor with the Empire. Their victory of the last of the human armies on the shores of the River of Dawn won them the favor of the Sennyo and the tiles of Daimyo and Shogun over the provincial lands. The privilege to carry the sword of Samurai rank is also the right of the Oni, though the records hold that there have been a few notable exceptions. From the Eleven thrones of the Daimyo, and the land granted the Samurai lords, they rule the Empire with a military efficiency, an accountant's eye and the grounded perspectives of a rice farmer. Indeed, their military and martial prowess is unmatched within the Empire and all the known lands beyond the Twilight Wall. The Samurai nobles and Zentai warriors that protect the Empire are ever vigilant and ever ready for signs of the Corruption's foul infection. Their vigilance in this regard exceed the standard set by most races. A newly born showing the slightest touch of the corruption culled from the mewling litter and left to the lethal winds. Mothers who's offspring repeatedly fail to meet their exacting standards soon join their children tied down under the open ski and screaming winds. As a race, they seem to have a disappointing inaptitude for
magic, and Oni spellmakers are rare. The young are watched carefully and
those thought blessed with the gift of magic are taken to Jidai where they
train with the fabled and mysterious Samurai-Mages
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