Moto Achmed

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Moto Achmed
Daidoji Iron Warrior
Clan: Unicorn Clan
Daimyo: Moto Su-Tai
Glory: • • • • • •
Honor: • • • • • • • • • •
Status:
Rank: • •

Moto Achmed is a samurai of opposites. Although born into the Unicorn while they travelled outside the Empire, he was trained by the Crane. Although he braids a long fu manchu mustache, he wears the traditional topknot. Although he repairs his armor with chainmail and leather lamellar, his armor is the traditional heavy armor of the Daidoji.

"Look into my eyes, Lion, and tell me what you see! Do you see an honorless barbarian, or do you see a true samurai?" ~ Moto Achmed

General Information

History

The First Life of Moto Achmed

Moto Achmed was born ten years before the Unicorn returned to the Empire. Raised in gaijin lands and by a clan which had all been born in gaijin lands, he was not a typical samurai. But his parents had drilled into him the concept of bushido over their gaijin culture. Over his furs and skins, he wore his duty. Belted with the knife on his hip was courage. Housed within his yurt was compassion. In the beef stew on the fire, he had his sincerity. In the raucous songs of his people, he sang his honesty. In the footsteps through the desert, he marched with his honor. And in the smiles he reserved for his enemies, he showed his courtesy. He was a gaijin barbarian, but he was also a samurai.

When the Unicorn returned to Rokugan through the Shadowlands, Moto Achmed’s story began. It was in those travels that his parents were struck down and his nemesis made. During the journey, there were many attacks by goblins and oni. During one of these attacks, the oni called “the Cold One” killed both of his parents. Young Moto Achmed, in a desperate attempt at vengeance, picked up a torch and began beating the oni with it. In his fury, Achmed yelled, “You will die, not by the blade or by the hammer, but by fire. Not only do I beat your life from you, I strip your name from you. The Cold One has been purged by heat and is no more!”

In that moment, the Cold One was no more, but a more sinister oni was created from its ashes. This oni had no name and could only receive fulfillment by consuming the names of others. It started with the names of Achmed’s parents. Moto Achmed could remember them and their love for him, but he could not remember their names at all. Nor could anyone else who knew them. Their names were gone, consumed by this “name-eater.”

The Name-Eater pursued the Unicorn throughout the Shadowlands and, as people fell in battle with the forces of Jigoku, their names were taken as well, preventing their comrades from mourning or honoring them properly. The Name-Eater seemed especially intent on taking the names of those closest to his creator, Moto Achmed. It came to Achmed in his dreams, promising that his name would be last and given to the Name-Eater freely. “Only when you fully embrace the power of Jigoku will I let you perish, and only after you have unreservedly given your name to me.”

The Unicorn eventually made it back to Rokugan, but not without penalty. The Moto Curse had fallen upon the Moto family, and Moto Achmed was not spared from it. He would have to try doubly hard to avoid the taint, especially with the Name-Eater always at his back. Achmed took a habit of not learning people’s names, but instead assigning them a title. “I am clumsy, you see. If you give me your name, I may lose it in the gutter. But your eyes are true and see that which many miss. Please, allow me to call you Shinjo-san of the Eagle Eye.”

As an orphan, Achmed’s lord assigned him as one of the many swaps in that time period to the Crane, through marriage and schooling. Moto Achmed was chosen to attend the Daidoji Iron Warrior dojo. Although his strange accent never left, he learned much about Rokugan culture in his time with the Crane and became an excellent samurai.

Moto Achmed’s life ended where his story began, in the Shadowlands. As part of his duty as an Iron Crane, Moto Achmed was assigned time on the Carpenter’s Wall. Although wary this close to the Name-Eater’s birthplace, Moto Achmed did not fear. Indeed, he had no reason to. He was killed by an Oni Lord in the first few minutes of fighting, and was spared from the machinations of the Name-Eater. Dying with good kharma and in battle against the world’s foes, Emma-O granted him an afterlife in Yomi.

Return Through Oblivion's Gate

Normally, such would be a fitting end to a samurai’s tale, but though Moto Achmed’s life had ended, his story had not. When Oblivion’s Gate was opened, the barriers between the realms came down. The Name-Eater had not forgotten Moto Achmed in this time. Indeed, the Name-Eater had been obsessed that his destiny was denied him. However, Moto Achmed was safe from the Name-Eater in Yomi, at least until Oblivion’s Gate opened.

In truth, the returned spirit Moto Achmed didn’t want to return to Ningen-do. He was instead there because he was running from the Name-Eater. However, he found himself caught up in the battle at Oblivion’s Gate and was able to evade the Name-Eater in all the chaos that followed.

After the battle, Moto Achmed did some research on the Name-Eater and discovered that his presence had been missed by the scholars of Rokugan. However, Achmed did find evidence of his handiwork; unnamed Crab who had gone missing in the Shadowlands and unnamed Moto who became members of the Lost. All were evidence that the Name-Eater continued to do evil on the world.

As much as Moto Achmed wanted to return to Yomi, he decided he could not. The Name-Eater and he had unfinished business, a destiny bound together. Either he would end its life or it would end his. Destiny had been thwarted for too long. This time, the confrontation between the two would occur.

Recent Exploits

Since his return, Achmed has continued his search for the Name-Eater.