"The splendor of the Seventh Age to come is right around the corner. It lingers right under your noses, just before your eyes, and STILL you quibble. Behave like children, and it's no wonder that the gods treat you as such."
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History
Life
In life, Sachi Shinwa was a girl of service to the nobles of Kyoto (known then as Heiankyo) in the early Heian Period. Her name then was Yorokobi Cho, and she was born into this business that would one day be known as the geisha. She served the duties faithfully. There was no shame in her life. The geisha were a part of society; sometimes, geisha were known to elevate to status rivaling lesser lords. They were treated with respect and those samurai who treated them like dogs could be expected to be punished by their superiors. Cho was one of the most beloved of serving girls in Heiankyo during her life. Even then, she possessed an air of gentle firmness that bespoke the true spirit of the Japanese woman. She attended all of the ceremonies and celebrations of Shinto with immense devotion. And she was a smart girl, wise even. Cho conversed with the priests, obtaining a deep understanding of the kami and the world around them. Yorokobi Cho was a great woman, so many said. So it was considered only just that a drunken samurai who strangled her one night be crucified like a common criminal instead of given the option of ritual suicide. Though Cho was not the head of the geisha household, she was given the funeral of such, and even Fujiwara Yoshifusa attended.
Rebirth
Yorokobi Cho remembers little of her time in this first death. Her body was cremated and the ashes buried. She remembers images. There was a sensation of great pain, and then great dullness, where nothing was felt. And then there was a sense of shame, for the first time in her life, because she was dead. Cho had died before her life was fulfilled, and the death was unclean. She felt as if she had been raped. But then she remembers a feeling of great warmth on her face, as if the Sun Goddess were smiling upon her once again. The darkness became light and she found herself in a heavenly place, the radiance of the sun all around. Amaterasu Omikami enlisted the gentle woman into the ranks of the Sai-So-Hi-Shinin, alongside such notables like Reiko and Oh-Kuni-Nushi himself. Her body reformed from even ashes like the phoenix and she rose from her grave, now one of the most prized shen on all the islands of Nippon -- the Reborn Sundead.
Early Years
Her name was changed to Mitsune Akako. And since that spring day in 860 ACE, Akako served the will of Amaterasu and all the great kami with the profound faith she possessed in life. She devoted her life to the laws of the Sai-So-Hi-Shinin and to the studies of the magics given to her by which she might affect the course of history: the Kami-Roko-Komichi. To this end, she studied under her elder, Juji Arakon. In proper time, she became a diligent worker for the cause of her people. Always the diplomat, Akako engaged in many friendly visits to the Beast-Courts, Clans of the Sun, shinta temples, and the gardens of the Shinma. She helped mend relations between the shen and often between the shen and mankind. She helped the Restless Dead on occasion, though only individuals. She purposefully avoided the conflict between Japan Restless and the Yellow Springs dynasty. She would help the spirits find peace or protect them from mortals or other shen. In short, Mitsune Akako was a well-loved and admired individual once again.
Later Years
But even the wisest and most beloved Sai-So-Hi-Shinin were not without their curse. She lived and died dozens and dozens of times. With each death, she forgot much of what she learned and did in the previous life. With each death, she descended into the spirit world, the Yin World, and encounters ghosts of great misery, and that misery is all too often infectious. A great sorrow began to cling to the young-seeming woman. She saw the quickening of the world towards a dark point. But she was never the pessimist. Like many shen, she believed the Sixth Age was not the end of the world, but merely the nadir on a Cycle of Changes. Once the world hit rock bottom, there was only way to go, and that was back up.
But it didn't make the pain and death that happens all around her, felt by this true immortal like no other, any easier to bear. She did what she can in her service as Sai-So-Hi-Shinin to heal the wounds between the shen Courts. The Kuei-jin, the Beast-Courts, the Shinma -- they all had to quite frankly pull their heads out of their rear ends if the transition from the Fifth to the Sixth Age, and then the Sixth to the Seventh, was to be wrought without greater than necessary suffering. After all, in one aspect or another, that was the purpose for which the shen were created in the first place. Not to bicker over "rights" to this Dragon Nest or another.
Recent Years
Sadly, the celestial servant returned from another death in 1999 to find her memory more efficiently wiped clean than ever. Truly, she remembered much, and was a formidable individual. Amaterasu blessed her Reborn servants with potent magics that nearly rivaled the Chi'n Ta. But she knew she forgot many important things about those magics and more important, about the world around her. The rapid advancements in technology and science further threw a wrench in her plans.
Recently renamed Sachi Shinwa, she awakened from that long, 110-year rest. She began her studies all over again under the same sensei, who now called himself Kode Zen. Oh-Kuni-Nushi heard of the rise of a solidifying Little Asia community in Kansas City. Intent to make sure that things did not get out of hand there, he sent Sachi to Kansas City to help the shen out. Through Sachi's aid, the plotting Mikaboshi was thwarted. The effort cost Sachi much of her strength and she was forced to return to Nippon. There her diplomatic relations took one last turn. Her guidance allowed a small city-based Beast-Court in Kyoto to avoid certain tragedy had they gone along with some crooked deal that House Genji offered. As a result, the local Genji-myo were outraged that their plots were offended just because some upstart Sai-So-Hi-Shinin felt that maintaining relations with the Sabbat Kin-jin was a great mistake. Assassins were dispatched but by the time they arrived, she had already passed. The young woman had apparently died from some natural cause, a congenital defect the doctor reports read. But a year later, Sachi was reborn and ready again for her appointed duties in America. Off she went, and soon joined forces with the Court of Infinite Ages. She believed this Court's endeavors were truly remarkable and hopes to aid its success in every way she can.
Sachi was desperate to remember the old lores and learn the new sciences, as she knew the Fifth Age rushed to the end, and she was not yet prepared to do her part. Upon suggestion of her sensei, Sachi chose to come to America, to Kansas City, where a new Little Asia grew. And with a new Little Asia came new shen Courts. Although the Court of Infinite Ages deteriorated, the Coalition of Little Asia could still propagate the harmony between races that Sachi seeked. Her two years of diplomacy namely towards the Court of the Ebon Flame were not in vain. She was determined to help bridge the gaps of hate and remember what she can...before it's too late.
Artifacts
Although Sachi has a great deal of "magic item-creating" sorceries at her disposal, she does not create or own many. This is because, like her fellow Sai-So-Hi-Shinin, she dislikes greedy, possessive natures. She creates potions and crafts talismans on a needed basis, not to horde great power.
Earrings of the Shielded Spirit
Level: 1
Origin: Sachi crafted and empowered this jewelry through the path of Omamori. They were created to help protect a diplomat's visit to less savory shen, such as Kin-jin or the Sunset People.
Description: These hand-crafted (green) jade earrings are attractive but innocuous decor.
Effects: 1) minor ward against direct mind-control magics (such as Dominate or the Gift, Obedience)
Activation: Both earrings must be worn, but they will benefit anyone who does
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Significant Other
Threats to her (current) life forced Sachi Shinwa to step down from her professional career and take up a lower profile. Never one to merely hide, however, the Sai-So-Hi-Shinin decided to seek out the source of danger to her existence. Suspecting it was an old gaki enemy, Sachi naturally turned to the Court of the Ebon Flame for possible assistance. And that was how she acquainted the Thrashing Dragon, Raiu, in spring of 2006. The two undead found one another both elegant, wise, artistic, intellectual, and seeking companionship. Their friendship soon blossomed into an admittedly lusty relationship. For now, the two are content to share pleasure and wisdom. But Sachi hopes Raiu might assist her in the future against her distant foe.
Raiu
Weakness
Death Becomes Her
Sachi has died so many times that her perspective is skewed. She is desperate in her hope. Sachi has not given up, but she is lost as to how she can go forward. There is so much to learn about the modern era and so little time. Were it not for her faith in the heavens, she would give up hope. Faith is all she has left.
Likelihood of Corruption
Low.
Sachi is a woman of great virtue. But she is Reborn Sundead, and memories of the past haunt her daily. She is sometimes overwhelmed by those feelings. Those feelings threaten to drive her to the edge of sanity and may one day push her over.
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Sai-So-Hi-Shinin
Coalition of Little Asia
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