Daidoji Unaju
| |
| Daidoji Unaju | |
| Asahina Shugenja | |
| Clan: | Crane Clan |
| Daimyo: | Daidoji Nayoko |
| Glory: | 10 |
| Honor: | 9.9 |
| Status: | 3.2 (Personal) 3.0 (Military) |
| Rank: | 4 |
| Notable: | Chosen by the Air Oracle |
Daidoji Unaju is the first son in a long line of Daidoji Iron Crane Yojimbos. His father was married to a Centipede (now Mantis clan) Moshi Shugenja as an attempt to bring the minor clan closer to the Crane. Their son was intended to be part of that bridge, and so extra attention was spent teaching him the courtly ways when he was young, in addition to the normal Daidoji training program. After he manifested the ability to commune with the spirits - quite rare for a Daidoji, but not perhaps surprising given his maternal lineage - his martial training was stopped and he was sent to Shinden Asahina to develop his abilities.
While at the Temple of the Morning Sun, he found himself in an internal conflict with his peers and instructors. While never objecting openly, he had trouble dealing with what he felt was the overly pacifistic nature of the Asahina training. Eventually he reconciled his Daidoji and Asahina teachings by focusing his studies on protective magic, and entreaties to the kami to weaken and slow his opponents. While he does engage in open warfare, he has never taken a human life, and does what he can to show honor to the Asahina path in battle.
Contents
General Information
- Player: Bill Kerney
Illustration
Recent Exploits
Daidoji Unaju was attached to the main table of archers at the Gencon 2012 battle interactive in a support role. Alongside an Isawa healer, he kept the archers alive through Tier 4 combats, including fights with two enemy generals.
Unaju joined the Phoenix Clan's assault on the Ivory Kingdoms at the Gencon 2013 battle interactive, helping to bring about the defeat of a high priest of Kali-Ma, while preserving the lives of his comrades in arms.
Unaju reunited with the Jade Wasp at the Gencon 2014 battle interactive. Their mixed squad of two archers, three shugenja, and two melee bushi led the attack on Mukui Toshi, quickly cutting through the Dragon-controlled stables, fending off an assault by crazed Phoenix inquisitors on our glorious leader, and then turning around and defending the walls from the ronin in the army of the Black Lion.
Founding the Daidoji Spiritual Guard
For centuries, the armies of the Crane have gathered in the mountainous valleys north of Shiro Daidoji, well away from the spying eyes of its foes.
Daidoji Uji, daimyo of the Daidoji family, sat on top of a raised platform with his closest advisors, watching the whirling ebb and flow of the battle lines on the valley floor beneath him. This day, as morning crept into afternoon, and then late afternoon, the armies practiced delaying tactics. The defending Iron Warriors, armed with blunt wooden spears and in their full armor, practiced holding off opposing armies four times their size, blocking mountain passes with adroitness, and even in field battles as long as they had room to constantly fall back from the flanking assaults led by countless squads of light infantry. But time and again, they would eventually be surrounded, and the Iron Warriors would collapse into a defensive circle that would inevitably be bludgeoned down by the masses surrounding them. They would be 'slaughtered' to a man, only rising after the shirekan conducting the exercise raised his fans, ending the fight.
Daidoji Uji nodded to the rikugunshokan of the Crane army seated next to him. "Chomei-san, the Iron Crane are fighting well... and the plan we developed shows some situations in which it could work... but I feel that today's exercises show that they will not be able to delay an army long enough to warrant the casualties that their units will take. We will have to find another strategy for dealing with a much larger army."
Doji Chomei tapped his fan on the railing overlooking the battlefield below and frowned. "As Sun Tao once wrote, the only way to defeat a superior foe is to divide their army and concentrate your forces in the areas where you outnumber them. But if we do this," he nodded at the valley floor below, "Even our best defensive troops will not be able to stop their armies long enough to keep our army from being outflanked. It should work in the mountains, if we can block a pass. But what if there is no convenient terrain nearby?"
Uji began speaking, "Well, we can use forests, if we have time to make deadfalls. And there are places where you can use rice fields to flood roads..." when he noticed one of his advisors quietly signalling for his attention. "Yes, Eizo-san?"
Daidoji Eizo well past retirement age. But as he was doing a capable job of administering Ichigun until Nayoko came of age, nobody in the family had any interest in seeing him retire. He slowly stood up and bowed. "Sama, if I could be given tonight to prepare with my men, I might have a solution for you tomorrow? We have been working on something that might be useful to these ends."
Early the next morning, the daimyo took their seats again on the raised platform. Sipping tea, they watched a small force of thirty Iron Warriors deploy in a triangular formation with two layers - six men on each side on the outer layer, five men on each side in the inner layer, and a single man standing in an open space in the middle.
"A bit unorthodox, Eizo-san," noted Daidoji Uji, "But formations never last long in war, and it appears you are just asking to be surrounded."
Eizo slowly inclined his head.
"...ah."
Turning back to the battlefield, Doji Chomei signaled for 90 light infantry to begin the attack. They quickly moved to encircle the Iron Warriors. Each time they would dart past a spear to attack, however, one yari would intercept the attack, and another would gently punch the infantryman in the face with a blunt spearhead. Within minutes the light infantry were all playing dead on the battlefield, and the shirekan signalled for them to clear the battlefield.
"Again. More this time," commanded Uji. Chomei signaled for 180 men to attack. Again, the Daidoji troops were surrounded, but as they could not be flanked in their formation, every attack could be spotted and countered by the net of spears the defenders wove. Though it took much longer this time, the result was the same, and the formation remained unbroken.
Eizo explained, "Uji-sama, the Daidoji train the most skilled yojimbo in the Empire. It is our humble belief that if we can set them to guard one another on the battlefield, we can form the ultimate defensive unit. With just a hundred men, we can stall a legion, even on open ground."
Uji looked dubious. "Well, at least they didn't break formation and go hunting for glory like most samurai would do. Their training serves them well. But they're merely holding off light infantry. How will they fare against cavalry? Archers? A squad of Matsu Berserkers?"
Chomei asked, "Shall we try to find out?" and ordered a hundred Daidoji Scouts to take to the hills on one side of the valley, supported by a hundred light infantry drawn up in front. With a shout, the Scouts all loosed arrows at the same time... and with a snap that set the banners in the valley flapping madly a small cyclone sprung up around the Daidoji Iron Warriors, scattering the arrows harmlessly around the valley.
Uji blinked. "There's an Asahina in that squad? How did you manage that, Eizo-san? The last time we tried to get them to join the army, they all threatened to seppuku together."
"Ah, he's one of us, sama. The Doji arranged a marriage for a Centipede priestess to marry his Daidoji father, back before they joined the Mantis. He's sworn the Asahina Oath to take no human lives, but he will still take to the field to protect the lives of our soldiers."
Suddenly, the formation darted forward. With a short prayer, the ranks of light infantry slowed, as if stuck in mud, and the triangular wedge of heavy infantry crashed right through them and into the archers behind. Before the archers could take more than a few steps away from the wedge, a sharp gust of wind knocked down half the archers, and then a second later the other half, scattering their arrows over the hillside. Moving quickly, the heavy infantry scattered the disarmed archers and then reformed their formation on the hill top before the light infantry finally caught up to them.
"Send in more, Chomei-san, if you will," Uji murmured.
With a few gestures from his war fan, Doji Chomei ordered an entire legion to begin marching on the formation, including elite Kakita duelists in front, followed by hundreds of heavy and light infantry behind, flanked by mounted archers.
The Asahina murmured prayers while the Iron Warriors dispatched the Kakita duelists. Right when the bulk of the army was about to engage, however, a massive fortification sprung up on the hill top, manned by apparently hundreds of Daidoji. The army hesitated for a second, and then charged. As their katana passed through the new Daidoji harmlessly, it became clear that they were illusions... but they couldn't tell which Daidoji were real, and their counterstrikes still hit home just as well. Even with the legion's overwhelming numbers, it was clear that the Iron Warriors were holding the day. The priest darted from man to man inside the formation, using the winds to protect his soldiers and rebuff his enemies.
But when the illusion finally cleared, the hilltop was empty.
Doji Chomei hesitated, still holding the war fans in the air for an attack, but unsure what or where to signal, exactly.
Uji looked at Eizo. "A retreat covered by illusion? That solves the problem of our squads being eliminated at the end of their delaying actions, I suppose. How many times per day can your shugenja pull off that trick?"
A voice from behind him spoke. "Three, Uji-sama."
Spinning around, Uji drew both of his blades. Encircling the observation platform stood the priest with the squad of Iron Warriors, who knelt and placed their yari into the ground, close on the right hand side.
The priest bowed very deeply and spoke again, "And, apologies, lord, but this was not a retreat. With the enemy leadership fixated on the illusion, and their entire legion committed, our bushi would be able to surround and destroy the enemy leadership and then retreat under invisibility before their troops realized they were just fighting phantoms."
Daidoji Uji slowly nodded. "Eizo-san, I think your plan has merit. How many more men can we train in these techniques?"
Daidoji Eizo scratched his chin. "The yojimbo? It takes a season to train them in our maneuvers, but they otherwise learn everything they need from our dojo, so we shouldn't have any problems on that end of things. It's finding the Asahina willing to participate, and training them that will present the biggest problem. Unaju-san here had to develop his own techniques to protect a squad."
"Very well." Uji turned his eyes to Unaju. "Let us talk about what you will need, Unaju-san. For we will need more shugenja."
