Harima

Harima grew up laboring in the mines the Mikage were carving into Yakai. Despite the hardships she faced, she steadfastly endured while so many around her broke, refusing to give up on the hope of freedom. While the excavation of iron ore was the primary purpose of the mine where Harima toiled, it was also the location of a portal to the infernal realm of Anathraad, and its overseer, a brutal Demonspawn named Zeomani the Delver, had a taste for other diversions, especially pit-fighting and gladiatorial challenges staged between workers and slaves brought from other mines. These were indulged by the Mikage’s other leaders as the most successful combatants could be conscripted into the Mikage’s armies, and the presence of the portal in Zeomani’s mines made him an important member of the Autocracy. Despite her young age, Harima soon proved herself a capable fighter in Zeomani’s combat bouts. Still, the Demonspawn required even the best potential warriors to continue laboring in the mines until the next recruiters from the Mikage’s armies visited. In a way this was fortunate for Harima, for one day the section she had been assigned to excavate yielded an unexpected discovery. A long-buried, dirt-encrusted bag proved to contain a dao, a weapon with a spear-like shaft and a long, curving blade. Its style was akin to that of the ancient weapons of Yakai, but it was still wickedly sharp and showed no signs of rust or decay. Harima concealed the weapon back in the cut she was excavating, covering it with rubble. She kept it a secret, for she knew Zeomani would not only seize it from her, but might well also use it to execute her. Harima continued her labors, covertly moving the weapon with her the further into the mine she progressed. Her star continued to rise within the fighting pits, but all the while she worked to secretly foment rebellion, laying plans that would see Zeomani banished and the mine’s slaves freed. Eventually, the day came when Harima felt confident enough to strike. Smuggling the dao to the edge of the arena in one of the rubble carts used in the mines, she waited until Zeomani was seated on his throne before the pulsing portal to Anathraad before claiming she had a gift for him, recovered from the mines. In his vanity, Zeomani permitted her to approach carrying the dirty bag, only for her to whip the dao free. The blade proved as keen as she had hoped, and lent its razor edge to her strength. With a single fell blow, Harima cut Zeomani’s head from his shoulders. Uproar gripped the mine as the workers Harima had hatched her schemes with seized the opportunity to rise up. The uprising would likely have been crushed, but the guards had not accounted for Harima’s ferocity, or the weapon that she seemed to wield as though she had trained with it all her life. She blocked the entrance to the portal, its magical energies suffusing her as she slew all who sought to escape. After the last of the Demonspawn attempting to cross through were slain, the miners collapsed a section of the cavern upon the doorway between dimensions, burying it in a cave-in. In the bloody aftermath of the uprising Harima, though touched by the darkness of Siroth’s realm, stood victorious. She took Zeomani’s head as a trophy, and bound it to her belt. After gaining her freedom, Harima decided to continue her resistance against the Autocracy’s rule. She carried on hunting Mikage autocrats and their followers. Zeomani’s death and the closing of the portal had given her a purpose, and her renown rapidly grew as she added more of Siroth’s minions to her tally. The famous Helm of the Dawnlands, which had belonged to the chief of one of the clans of old, she retook from the Demonic Marshal Ru, while the Cloak of Jade Feathers, a symbol of ancient Yakai kingship, she liberated from the Black Citadel of Akoda. Soon she was known as the Knight of the Dawnlands and the Arch Demonslayer, a modern Yakai fable that struck fear into even the most arrogant of Demonkind. Although the Mikage were eventually overthrown by the forces of rebellion, Harima found that her work was still far from done. She continued to hound down Mikage Demonspawn who evaded the purge, severing their heads and sealing shut the portals they used to attempt to bring more of their kind to Yakai. Her destruction was soon eagerly sought by the Demons of Anathraad, and yet she continued to prove to be the bane of every spawn of Siroth sent against her.