Soshi Soshimitsu
Soshi Soshimitsu
Soshi Magistrate's School
Honour: 2.5
Glory: 1.0
Status: 1.0
Appearance
Soshimitsu is an unassuming Samurai, save for a crescent shaped scar under his left eye. His most eye-catching feature is the wickedly barbed sodegarami her carries with him. Soshimitsu's mask (which he rarely wears at present) is a simple band of black cotton tied around his eyes like a blindfold, with two almond-shaped holes to permit vision. He favours clothing in Scorpion red and black, always impeccably clean regardless of the circumstances. He displays no clan, family or school mon on his person.
Personality
Soshimitsu quite literally walks quietly and carries a big stick. Despite a lack of clan markings, his mask, clan colours and sodegarami announce his Scorpion magistrate training for all with eyes to see. Soshimitsu rarely opens his mouth, but speaks with authority and convinction when he does. He long ago realised that he can learn more secrets with his mouth closed and ears opened than the other way around. He continues this habit when undertaking interrogations, allowing prolonged silences and his intense stare to ask his questions for him.
Background
Soshimitsu is the youngest of four brothers, all of whom (save the eldest) have attended the Soshi Magistrate school. His eldest brother, Toritaka, inherited their mother's affinity with the Kami and attended the Yogo Shugenja school.
During his childhood, Soshimitsu witnessed his father Takashi's murder at the hands of a faceless woman dressed as a geisha. His fathers death was not a good one: murdered by a poisoned hair-pin stabbed into his throat, Soshimitsu's father writhed and thrashed as he died, smearing blood all over the walls and floor of their house. No-one, least of all the other magistrates, believed the youngster's terrified story about a “faceless” woman at the time. Even now, years after the defeat of the lying darkness, Soshimitsu continues to feel intense discomfort in the presence of geisha.
After his father's death, Soshimitsu and his mother returned to Beiden province, where they lived with Soshimitsu's maternal uncle, a famed Scorpion bushi and general named Yogo 0-Eda. The childless Uncle 0-Edo regaled young Soshimitsu with tales of his successful battles during the Scorpion Clan Coup and the Clan Wars. Often, O-Eda expressed regret that Soshimitsu would not be able to follow him into the Bayushi school. Despite her son's entusiasm for the idea, Soshimitsu's mother would have none of it. Her husband's ancestors had attended the Soshi Magistrates school for tens of generations. Already, she had angered her husband's ancestors once by allowing her eldest son to attend the Yogo school. Surely Takishi would haunt her as a gaki if she defied his wishes for the youngest child as well?
When the Scorpion were exiled to the Burning Sands, O-Edo shaved his head and became a monk so that he could continue to raise eleven-year old Soshimitsu himself, rather than see him fostered to the Crane.
Yet the Scorpion Clan was restored for the second time following the defeat of the Lying Darkness, and so, at the somewhat late age of 14 Soshimitsu first entered the dojo of his ancestors. Though fully committed to the teachings of his school, he would often admit in his letters to home that he found himself wishing he could serve his clan on the battlefield. Soshimitsu completed his gempakku ceremony honourably, despite his doubts and entered the service of his Yogo Daimyo, Yogo Tobusa. He served as a yoriki to a Yogo family magistrate guarding Beiden Pass until word reached him of his uncle's death while visiting the temple of Daikoku in Ryoko-Owari.
Soshimitsu attended the funeral, managing to keep his on despite knowing he had ultimately been a disappointment to the old man. Following the ceremony, a wizened old monk approached Soshimitsu and presented him with his Uncle's War Fan, a battered old Tensen which O-Eda had always claimed to bring luck in battle. O-Eda politely refused the gift three times, knowing that he could not honourably accept the gift due to it's subtle meaning. Soshimitsu regretfully explained that as a magistrate, he would have no need for a war fan. The old monk sneered and thrust the fan at him, snarling “No, you are a bushi!” and stormed off. Soshimitsu has felt the disfavour of Daikoku since that day, although he has been careful not to voice any un-samurai-like concern regarding his financial misfortunes.
A month after the funeral of his uncle, Soshimitsu asked for, and was granted, leave to pursue a musha shugyo, a warriors-pilgrimage. to “find his path”. He hopes that by wondering Rokuhan for a year as a master-less warrior, he might be able to find a path that will allow him to satisfy his twin callings of magistrate and warrior.,
