Ginro the Stork

With the rise of the Mikage Autocracy, the feudal system that had governed Yakai for generations crumbled. The lords and nobles of the kingdom were all either executed or fled, and in its place a central regime was established. Though nothing ultimately prevented the Mikage from seizing power, there were some who resisted. In the western borderlands, Ginro the Stork was one such individual willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stand against the Mikage. The youngest child of a lesser house, Ginro seemed destined for a life of comfort and ease. Few among the nobility expected him to make much of his life outside of marriage, yet Ginro wanted to earn his status through his own achievements. Forgoing his family’s wishes of betrothal, he instead spent his time diligently training with the spear, honing his technique so that he could wield the weapon with deadly precision. When the newborn son and heir to one of Yakai’s major noble houses was abducted by bandits, Ginro saw the opportunity to prove the righteousness in his decisions. For five days he hunted with little food or sleep, tracking the bandits to their hideout in the Cloudspire Mountains. There Ginro waited until the dead of night, and when the moon was at its highest he slipped into their camp and slit their throats before they could even draw their weapons. He took the captive infant up in his arms and delivered the baby safely back to his family. For this deed, he was pronounced Ginro the Stork, and gifted the decorative mask and feathered armor that became his signature. In time, he married a daughter of that same house, and together they had a child, Sana. When the Mikage started their purge of Yakai’s nobles, Ginro managed to escape the initial slaughter with his wife and child, though the rest of his family were all massacred. In the verdant Tszua Hills, he took up his family’s crest as its last heir, marshaling his surviving loyal forces. There he refused the call to bow to his new ‘masters’, sending back their messengers without their heads, while planning his retaliation. Over the coming weeks, others who had escaped heard of Ginro's resistance, and his army swelled. As more exiles joined him, and the plan to fight back against the Mikage was vigorously debated, it became clear that one course of action was favored: all-out attack. One great effort to rid Yakai of the Mikage, or death in glory trying. Knowing that the Mikage would want to crush any nascent rebellion swiftly, the exiles decided they had to strike first and fast. The date was set for the ramshackle forces to march on Chezoa, the city the Mikage had chosen as their first seat of power, on the first morning of the new moon. The evening before their departure, after many sorrowful farewells, the soldiers’ families were sent away into the Cloudspire Mountains for their safety. Ginro sat down with his daughter Sana to wish her goodbye, the finality of the moment gripping both of them tight. Her tears glistening in the moonlight, she gifted him her doll, telling him to always keep it with him, so that they would never be apart. He kissed her and attached the precious gift to his belt, and later slept full of fear and uncertainty, but steadfast in his belief that he must stand against Siroth’s forces. Ginro awoke, gripping his spear tightly, when it was still dark. He lay in silence, waiting for dawn to arrive, until his waiting was interrupted by screams, and the clash of steel. His camp was being attacked. He burst out of his tent, launching himself into a storm of blades, screams, and blood. Whirring his spear in a frenzy, he cut down scores of rampaging Mikage Demonspawn, all the while attempting to rally his troops. As countless more Demonspawn joined the bloodshed, Ginro fought with all his might to resist the hopelessness and despair that was spreading. Even as his warriors around him dropped their weapons and begged for their lives he fought, knowing that as long as he stood the glorious kingdom of Yakai would never truly fall. It was this tenacity, this will to face down evil, that prompted the Arbiter’s intervention. Appearing before Ginro just as his opponents finally surrounded him, she offered to place his soul into a Shard, so that he may survive, and face down evil once again some day. Knowing that certain death awaited him should he refuse, and that this was the only chance to see his daughter again, Ginro accepted, vowing to help create a better world than the one she had to endure.