Asahina San

Asahina San
also known as “San-san”

Died for the Toturi Dynasty

IN LIFE

San was a young woman, with a very timid demeanor, and very little experience at life. In fact her readiness for the tasks given by her daimyo is highly debatable. A woman who never spoke above a whisper, San appeared weak and fragile to the world. In truth, that assumption is not far off in most cases. San was not breathtakingly beautiful or socially adept as a courtier would be. She was not martially inclined or athletic like a duelist. She was not shrewd like a merchant, skilled at any craft like an artisan, or assertive like a magistrate. Even in her area of training, healing, San was surely no expert. But what she lacked in skill or natural ability she made up for in strength of heart and sense of purpose.

Compassion was San’s greatest virtue. To her honor, glory, and status meant nothing if you earned it on the backs of others. She understood that honor, glory, and status where not constant, but a pure heart and gentle spirit were eternal. Her immense compassion (even for those of the peasant class) gained her notoriety. One particular instance, during her one of her journeys, where she interposed herself between a well known Kakita duelist and a young peasant boy (upon whom the duelist was ready to swiftly execute justice) left her reputation sullied. It did not matter to San, however, in her heart she knew that she had done the right thing. Though it brought her no honor or glory, in fact it was potentially detrimental to her position, it was yet another lesson that the road to she walked was full of hard choices, but at the end of the day she only needed to be able to look at her own reflection, and know that she had made the right choices.

Honor was also very important to San, but she believed honor was closely linked to compassion. To San true honor came from putting others before yourself, especially those that can not help themselves, and from pureness of heart and rightness of action. San never engaged in the vices like drinking, gambling, lechery, lying, etc... Though she involved her self in a romantic relationship San was what most would consider a model of chaste and innocent love. San tended to downplay her attractiveness and attempted to obscure her feminine features as much as possible. In fact San shied away from most men to avoid any accusation of impropriety.

San was also a quiet champion of true love. In fact San had begged her daimyo to allow her to journey forth on errands, with the intent to serve her family and search for her true love, Hiuri, the Ronin son of her father’s yojimbo.

Dubbed wise beyond her youth by Miya Shikan, for her monologue on the importance of peace (from both a sociological standpoint and a spiritual standpoint) San embodied the spirit of Asahina pacifism.

DARK TIMES

Despite her gentle heart and good intentions San was not optimistic in the least. A dark cloud seemed to hover over her. She was aware that dark times were in store. Through a combination of luck, spiritual connection, and divination San was able to interpret a vision she saw at a shrine in the Seikitsu Pass, which explained the feeling of foreboding. Unfortunately, her skills at communicating exactly what her vision meant were lacking, and her skills at persuasion non existent; she was unable to prevent a horrible tragedy from occurring. A tragedy that caused the death of many samurai, and was responsible for the death of two young men. After that a feeling of helplessness and doubt settled over San, and the guilt from this haunted her until the time she died.

AS AN ANCESTOR

San appears as a young woman in a pristine, but simple, blue and white kimono. Now that her features are no longer obscured she does appear to be quite beautiful. Her features are soft and delicate. Her expression is gentle, her eyes a mesmerizing shade of blue. Her hair is worn completely down, falling to just above her ankles. It is, however, colored in its natural state of black, not the usual Crane white. Her voice is still soft and gentle.

San is generally a quiet ancestor spirit. She tends to give gentle guidance through engendering feelings, rather than appearing as an apparition or speaking directly. Occasionally, under the most extreme circumstances (or the densest of characters), she will speak directly or appear before a character.

Also San is more interested in promoting True Peace in Rokugan, obtained through pure motives, rather than Clan or Family objectives. She is also committed to helping others find peace within themselves, characters who are searching for inner peace or have souls in great turmoil may possibly receive guidance from San-San.