Hana
Les mains de Hana ont été repliées poliment devant son estomac blindé, les épaules dos et droit contre le poids de soutien de la naginata attaché à son dos. C'était une posture de guerrier, mélangée à la soumission attendue d'une femme au foyer; une tête inclinée et une frange sombre couvrant les yeux foncés.
Breeze Parmi les arbres dans la chute de Cherry pourrait fonctionner; un certain tuer si oui – mais simplement frapper la naginata sur le côté après avoir esquivé... Eh bien. En aucun cas un invité parfait, ou même décent, Hana a tout simplement suivi avec des traces engourdies le groupe de guerriers dans la maison pour voir cet ancien Naginari, regardant à blanc rien avec un sourire doux et girly sur son visage. L'entraînement ne s'est jamais terminé en tant qu'onna-bugeisha, et même si elle ne se balançait pas autour d'une arme pour scier un mannequin de paille, des plans et des tactiques ont couru à travers sa tête comme les courants d'une rivière qui coule rapidement.
Il y avait une ronine parmi eux. Il était plus âgé qu'elle, selon elle, mais pas moins humain. C'est une menace qui pèse sur tous ceux qui ont l'honneur, d'être laissés sans ressources sans daimyo à suivre, sans avenir. Si l'un des nombreux assassins qui a inondé de l'est a pris la vie de son mari, ce serait probablement elle.
Mais elle avait un tantō pour un tel événement, donc sa pitié n'allait que si loin.
Hana s'inclina simplement à la taille car il était dans sa nature (et dans ses coutumes) d'être le second à parler. Elle ne s'est pas présentée car il importe peu, en fin de compte, qu'ils veulent qu'elle soit l'épouse d'un daimyo ou d'un guerrier.
Hana


Age:
31
Gender:
Female
Eye Colour:
Black
Hair Colour:
Black
Physical Description:
Hana is of a fairly intimidating height at 5'7", possessing a lean, willowy build with little softness to be seen anywhere on her. Any signs of aging are near invisible to the naked eye, save for light worry-lines on her forehead when she frowns (which is often); she looks just about as young as a woman in her early twenties.
Her appearance is marked by the juxtaposition of her jet black hair and eyes with unusually pale, papery skin that seems at first glance to be free from any scrapes or scars; however, other than her face, the rest of her body is a patchwork of long-healed stab wounds and cuts. She walks and stands with an almost-masculine, military posture that oozes confidence and yet her eyes are often focused on the ground to avoid contact with anyone else.

Personality:
Hana is stoic and tends to speak only when spoken to, but rather than stemming from perfect subservience in the army or the like, her silence is instead because she is shy. She has gentle, demure mannerisms that would not be out of place on a noblewoman that contrast with a desire to take a more active role in conflicts. Still, she is characterised by her fading loyalty to her family name and her reputation as a good housewife, as well as her morbid preoccupation with the concept of an honourable death.
She is particularly motherly (perhaps because she is one) and is prone to fuss and worry about everyone who is close to her, except herself. Hana is unlikely to notice when she is wounded, even grievously, as it is not her place to worry about that... unless it has scarred her face as she is almost narcissistic when it comes to her "aging beauty".
Biography:
Trained from her early teens to become an onna-bugeisha – a female samurai – Hana has had a lifetime of helping to defend Izami from banditry and rebellion as a faithful servant of the daimyo. Later, during a more peaceful time, she was called to serve as the right arm to the daimyo's himself following the death of his father... until suddenly it was gone in a flash as she fell in love, married said royal and had two children – a son and a daughter.
It never did stop her from heading up the protective detail on her husband, however, or from training as a samurai. If anything, it allowed her to develop her patience, hone her skills without constant injury and, of course, develop her chi.
History:
"We need all able-bodied soldiers, regardless of gender." Those words, placed into effect in Izami only three years before Hana's birth irreparably changed her childhood (and, indeed adulthood) from what it would have been otherwise: learning feminine skills, marrying a respectable man, having children and managing an estate. That is not what happened, not when she trained to become an onna-bugeisha.
Born in Akakyūai – one of the six hastily-built villages on the twisting road that led from the unforgiving crags to the mountaintop – Hana was always destined for hardship either way. Her home was small and easily replaced, her family's farms compact and a decent walk away from the main path if only to protect it from being trampled on by the daimyo's warbands, and, of course, there were no fit men in her village. Her family had exclusively daughters, as did many of the others, and all of the young, male adults had been sent off to quell a rebellion and had... just never returned. To make ends meet, Hana learned quickly to forage, to help out on the farm with her mother while her father was on mandatory guard duty, and most of all to run and hide when the bandits came screeching down the road, ready to pillage.
That happened a few times, and with each recurrence, her surviving family dwindled further.
It was at age eleven when Hana was given her family's work horse and told to "run, run, and don't return", setting off along the treacherous back roads to the city, Birakanai, nestled between the harsh rocky terrain and the desert. There, she petitioned the daimyo at the time – a benevolent man who was distantly related to her through an ancestral marriage – with what little reputation her family name had to clear out the bandits using her village.
There was nothing he could do, not when he was stamping down on a rebellion with the soldiers he had. Instead, he offered her training in a recently revived elite unit of onna-bugeisha (as apparently the shortage of men was not a problem limited to just her home village) and if she completed it, he would see what he could do. Naturally, by the time her first master had deemed her an 'acceptable' samurai at sixteen, the bandits had long since disappeared, riding off into some other Shogunate by the best estimates. At first, she was given leave by the daimyo after training to stretch her wings and experience life; however, Hana found something more useful to do with her time that required her to stretch her absence up to four years. She found an empty school in the countryside devoted to schooling female warriors like herself; one specialising in the use of a naginata, which she thought she hated during basic training. The teacher there, her Master, had already been closing up the dojo due to rent payment issues and he took her own a wandering path through the provinces, teaching in a more natural environment against the dregs society had to offer.
Hana killed for the first time only weeks after starting.
When she returned to Birakanai at twenty, it was enlightened, talented, and determined to follow the code of honour laid out by her master's teachings: join the daimyo's unit of onna-bugeisha and repay her debt to him in full. By the time this happened however, the previous daimyo had stepped down through old age and his youngest son (the only one who was willing to take the position as family head) taken over.
While not impressed with a man who ruled with a council of his war-like brothers giving him advice, she was even more irritated with the use of the onna-bugeisha as simple palatial guards for the daimyo. Code of honour dictated, however... and she founded herself thinking that more and more often, until she realised after three assassination attempts on the daimyo in as many weeks that yes, such a large unit of bodyguards really was required. Quickly, she rose to the top of her unit and was directly responsible for the daimyo's safety...
And then she realised that he wasn't all bad, that a man who couldn't tell the hilt of a katana from its blade was almost endearing, that it was better to have him in power than his brothers who liked playing armies and objectifying women... In a whirlwind romance subverting all expectations of the daimyo's sycophantic following (many of whom had daughters as prospective brides for him), Hana married into the family and quickly had children – twins. One healthy, and one... not.
Shoshi were then required due to Hana's following infertility, more as an insurance policy, which put something of a dampener on their relationship.
It was a miracle that her daughter Aya survived childhood, with her weakened body and frailty. Still, life had to go on, and Hana spent her time organising new recruits, protecting her husband's life and returning to training with her original Master, as there's no such thing as too old to learn. This time, it had a particular focus on chi – something that she knew she could do, just not consciously.
Seven years down the line, and faced with the death of her beloved daughter, Hana decided to take a last-ditch effort to seek the good health associated with the cherry blossoms in the village of Hang Yi.
Place of Birth:
The Izami Shogunate – a village called Akakyūai in an arid mountain range in the far west.

Weapon(s) of Choice:
Naginata – Hana's favoured weapon is that of a typical onna-bugeisha: a naginata with a blade of above-average length at 58cm. Because of its length, she can compensate for her relative lack of physical strength as well as tease and taunt short-range weapon users. She hears it is fairly effective against cavalry; however, Hana is fond of animals and is unlikely to ever have to use it in such a way.
Tantō – While not Hana's favourite weapon anymore, she also carries a tantō with her – if only for emergencies. As she has gotten older, the prospect of facing up against so much danger by going in to extreme close range has gradually become more daunting to her, especially since that was how she was most often wounded.
Personal Effects: Suitcase of Festival Clothing – Since Hana has no real ulterior motives in visiting the festival, she has brought her kimono and other formal clothing to wear in addition to her ceremonial armour.
 Master's Sash – A black cloth Hana wears wrapped around her upper arm, covering the traditional tattoo of her master's name she received years ago when she first entered her apprenticeship.
 The Blooming Naginata – A relic of her husband's family, gifted to her during their courtship. It is a strong symbol of a female warrior, at least in Izami. She does not carry it with her when everything appears to be safe.
 Tantō – For emergency combat, as well as... emergency ritual suicide, should it ever be required.
 Money – Surely enough to order any treatment that might help Aya up at the festival.

Other:

Hana has limited use and flexibility in her right hand due to irreparable damage after having it stabbed through with a sword. Her grip is weaker on her naginata when most of the strain is placed on this hand. She also cannot write particularly well now, forced to use her left hand, to the point where it is obvious.



Daimyo Name:
Shimazu
Shogunate of Residence:
The Izami Shogunate
Status: Well-loved by many, particularly the commoners who live under the Daimyo's protection.
 Known for surprisingly defensive and tactical warfare, as well as pacifism.
 Disliked by many noble families who seek to depose the current Daimyo for said pacifism and ruining the profitability of their private armies.
 Under the threat of rebellion – an unusual number of assassination attempts in recent years.

Family Tree:
The Family Head

Shimazu Naoki – A charismatic man of good humour and excessive kindness. Devoted to his role as daimyo despite his utter lack of military experience of skill, as he is a sheltered younger son. It was agreed that his older brothers, who had no talent nor desire for the position, would abdicate to form his council. His survival to his current age of 26 was never expected.

The Heir and the Spare

Shimazu Akira – The male twin of Hana's children, aged seven. A loud, boistrous child more like his father's side of the family than his mother. Already training swordsmanship and calligraphy.
Shimazu Aya – Hana's daughter, also seven years old. A meek child of a weak immune system and frail body. Quiet, conscientious, and fairly astute, she was unable to make the trip to see the festival. Unlikely to survive the winter.

Mistresses, Concubines and Illegitimate Children

As a result of high infant mortality rate and the ill-health of his spare heir, Naoki was forced to continue on in the traditional way of his family and produce illegitimate children – shoshi – to adopt into the household for the off-chance that both of his wife's children died. To Mari, his favoured mistress, he has three children aged 5, 3, and 1... all sons.

The Council of Brothers

 Shimazu Hidan, Shimazu Hitoshi and Shimazu Junichi – They are all of Naoki's tight-knit older brothers who survived to adulthood and willingly rejected the title of Daimyo so that the youngest could take it... though, it was decided beforehand that he would subject himself to their wishes when it came to military and political maneuvering.


History:
The formation of the Shimazu family is a bitter, rags-to-riches legend passed down through the years, often the answer to a child's question of, "Why do we live in the desert?" How much of it is fact and how much is fiction, however, is unknown even to the daimyo – it might simply be an allegory for the consequences of favouritism and greed.
Due to the expansion of a long-dead shogun's empire in Izami, many outlying, lightly-populated regions were suffering from a lack of protection and were rising up against anyone who had even the slightest monetary advantage over anyone else. The answer, of course, was to strategically instate two of his spare sons as daimyos in this area. Unfortunately, he had only two of illegitimate birth left: the oldest child of his first mistress and the youngest child of his last mistress.
And, between them, he had to decide who to give the northern province to – a temperate climate where the worst of the problems faced were light rebellions – and who to give the desertified, barren reaches of the south-western part of his kingdom. It did not take much deciding, in all honesty, but it was only helped along by the whispers and pleading of the oldest son.
The youngest, Shimazu Kenji, was given the tiny desert city of Birakanai to rule over, and was expected to fail. He did not. The people found him sympathetic to their plight – no food, little watter, bandits and murderers and corruption – and they in turn pledged their loyalty to him easier than they would have his older brother, whose presence merely incited more rebellions in the region. Birakanai grew, over the course of a generation, into a bustling trading hub for silks and finery (as well as a smuggling post, but all trade is good trade).
Still, Kenji was not alive to see it. He had been assassinated only five years after taking his post, leaving it to his infant son, who became an even more deified ruler than his father ever was with extensive military campaigns against neighbouring shogunates. So it goes. Members of the Shimazu bloodline are known for finicky health and short lifespans, as the illness that plagues the current heir's daughter is by no means unique to her.
Character Relation to Daimyo:
The wife of Shimazu Naoki and mother of the two main heirs. Furthermore, a former onna-bugeisha bodyguard for the family.