The Rise and Fall of the Tanada

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The Tanada clan arose, as far as we can tell, no more than 500 years ago in the midst of a minor territorial war between the warlords Fansin Hanu and Kosu Jainan. The Fansin clan had contracted the services of a house of Nanjou Shou-Jen whose name has since been lost to time. With the support of this unnamed assassin clan, the Fansin won victory after victory and began to rapidly conquer the forts and villages of the Kosu clan. All of this changed when, under cover of night, the Fansin's assassins murdered an entire village in the heart of the Kosu lands and razed the village.

It was meant as a show of strength, to crush the morale of the flagging Fansin forces with an unprecedented show of atrocity. They even went so far as to desecrate the corpses of the murdered villagers before burning them. In the Tanada clan's beliefs, the spirits of the slain of the village were so outraged by this barbarism that they appeared before the last survivor of the village, who was a simple gardener tending the plum trees at the Kosu palace. Born by a black wind blowing from the west, they descended upon young Tanada Hano while he was tearfully praying at a makeshift shrine for his murdered kin.

The vengeful spirits possessed Hano and transformed him into a creature of legend. That night, he went forth from the shrine, wreathed in the black energies of vengeful spirits, his hands transformed into the claws of demons. He stalked into the hidden base of the clan that had wiped out his village and killed every assassin he found there. After that, he somehow managed to move a hundred leagues to the palace of the Fansins and slaughtered every adult of the family, sparing only children too young to fight and one pregnant woman.

The next morning, Hano was found asleep among the plum trees. He was naked and disoriented, with the white jade pendant of Fansin Hanu clutched in his blood-caked hands. He had no memories of the previous night, except recollections of a transforming rage, and the screams of dying men. He claimed he could not possibly be responsible for the slaughter of the Fansins and their assassins, as he had been in the Kosu orchard so far from the Fansin estate. A few days later, however, he was identified by the survivors of the Fansin massacre, who fearfully renounced all claims of vengeance against him or the Kosu.

Hano found that he'd somehow become almost supernaturally adept at hiding in the shadows and fighting with blade, bow, and sorcery. It was a very easy decision for Kosu Jainan to offer to make Hano a head of his own family of Nanjou Shou-Jen. By this point other clans of the Nanjou Shou-Jen had existed for thousands of years, and did not take kindly to this sudden and indiscreet appearance of a rival family. One by one they sent their most skilled killers after him, and one by one each killer's head was returned with a polite, almost regretful note from Tanada Hano.

Finally, Tanada Hano was grudgingly accepted as a head of family, or at least became no longer subject to assassination by the other clans. He married, raised three strong sons and three strong daughters, and trained them all in the mysterious gift of bloodshed that still seemed to confuse his gentle nature. In addition, he took up acolytes from the most low and humble farming families in the area, adopting them as full members of the Tanada family. The Tanadas grew in power along with their patrons, the Kosu, who had become quite powerful after the sudden destruction of the house of Fansin.

The Tanada acquired a reputation as the "kind killers." They steadfastly refused to murder children or innocents, and were known to exact vengeance upon the wicked and the corrupt without orders from their patrons. The warlords of the Kosu have lived in a sort of superstitious dread of the Tanada ever since the days of the demonic rampage of the quiet and gentle Tanada Hano. Since the independent killings never conflicted with Kosu interests, and seemed to bless the Kosu themselves with a patina of bloody righteousness by association, they were content to let the Tanada operate as they saw fit.

The fortunes of the Tanada family changed just a few years ago. The warlord of the Kosu family at the time, Kosu Tokou, was a man of prodigious and illicit appetites. He took a concubine with a fearful reputation. She was whispered to be a sorceress trained in the dark arts of Milantos. Not long after he took up this concubine the lord began to change. Tokou had always been dishonest and prone to heavy drinking, but he soon developed a taste for torture and cruelty. A crucial moment came when Tokou and his concubine ordered a young Tanada assassin to demonstrate a rare and closely guarded killing technique upon a child that Tokou had taken from one of his own farming villages.

Tanada Shii was the young assassin at the Kosu palace that night. He refused to lay a hand upon the child. The warlord, enraged, killed the child himself and demanded that Shii commit suicide for his disobedience. The young assassin struck out instead at the warlord and his mistress. He killed the concubine, but pulled back his blade before he landed the strike to kill his master. He incapacitated the warlord with a swift blow to the temple and fled the palace.

Shii took refuge with his family, who sent him into hiding and refused to divulge the location of their wayward son. Outraged and humiliated, Kosu Tokou demanded the mass suicide of the Tanada clan. He had all of his army, armed with crossbows and siege weapons, gathered outside of the Tanada temple. Almost the entire clan chose to comply with the suicide that their warlord demanded. A handful of proud and defiant Tanada, however, fled the temple and managed to evade the soldiers of the Kosu.

The Tanada remnants went into hiding and eventually began to discreetly offer themselves for simple assassination contracts. They seemed to lose their qualms about killing innocents and children, but they still seemed to take particular interest in punishing the cruel and iniquitous. Three years after the death of his concubine, Kosu Tokou died as well. He was found dead in his bed, with an expression of abject terror on his face. His body was unmarked, but his organs, when his surgeons cut him open to divine the nature of his death, were black and rotten.

This is what we know occurred on Ispar. We have reason to believe that the Tanada who have appeared in Dereth are the remnants who refused to kill themselves and fled. We do not know what to make of these Tanada. Proceed with caution, because the Tanada seem to have lost their way. They have cut themselves off from the principles and loyalties that kept them disciplined. Treat them as a band of superbly trained murderers. We do not know yet what role they will make for themselves here on Dereth.

-- Sayuji Jina

Notes Edit

Obtained by giving the Enlightened Master's Medallion to the Sayuji Jina:

You allow Sayuji Jina to examine your Enlightened Master's Medallion.

You hand over all of your Enlightened Master's Medallions.

Sayuji Jina tells you, "Well done. This confirms some of my fears. I cannot tell you very much now, as I feel that most of what I know will be lost on you."

Sayuji Jina tells you, "But here, I should reward you... I will give you some gems that I think you will find useful... And a book, to help you learn something of the nature of the Tanada clan and their deadly mission."

You've earned 25,500,000 experience.

Sayuji Jina gives you 3 Gems of Balance.

Sayuji Jina gives you The Rise and Fall of the Tanada.

Sayuji Jina tells you, "If you do not find these Gems of Balance to be useful, you can return them to me for practical knowledge."

Sayuji Jina looks at you speculatively.

Sayuji Jina tells you, "If you would aid me again in dealing with this matter, speak to me again."