Family Lore

[Maevrys]

LEGEND OF SORAKO


The god of the skies, Tsukumoru made his children out of clouds as a reflection of the humans that lived on the surface. He made three children and gave each of them their own name. He said that it was important they keep their name forever, because it showed the honor he had bestowed upon them. His first child's name was Chi Haneki, a boy who could turn into a crane. The boy took his new form and thanked his god, filled with glee that he could fly high with the other birds. Over time Chi learned how to communicate with the birds he flew with and often talked to a little cygnet (young swan) who couldn't yet fly. He would tell her stories of his god and how he created him, that he could do anything! When the cygnet became a swan, Chi found her to be more beautiful than any he'd ever seen. He took her back to meet his god, to tell him that he wanted to be a swan too so he could be with the one he loved, but his god shook his head. Instead, Tsukumoru turned the swan into a human girl and told them to stay high in the clouds and grow their family together. 


During the time that Chi was off on his journey, Tsukumoru created another son named Ji Yosuzume. Ji could see fragments of the future, but did not always know what they meant. He spent a lot of time with his god to learn more about his power. When he had a vision, it would come to him in little glimpses. A smile, rain, and something shiny had led to a day they caught a pretty fish. The sun gleamed onto its scales, making a the colors of a rainbow, the same you could only see after rain. The discovery made his god smile. A vision of the clouds swirling, laughter, and tears turned out to be the day Tsukumoru created his sister, Shiro Tsumei, and how he cried by how much she looked like someone he knew. Ji's sister came into being laughing and wiping away her god's tears. One of Ji's favorite visions was of the day he met his wife. He remembered the vision being of a scream and the sea, nothing more. Worried that it would be a bad vision, he went down to the surface trying to stop it. As he went down, he saw a woman drowning in the sea and flew to save her. He brought her back up to his home in the clouds and tried to set her on a bed but she fell through, not blessed with the ability to live in the clouds. By this time, Chi had come back with his wife so Ji had an idea. He went to Tsukumoru and asked that the human be able to live with him, that he would stay by her to make sure she was okay. His god granted his wish and the woman was able to live in the clouds. Not being born one of them, she couldn't return to the surface below, but she was grateful and enamored with the one who saved her.


Shiro Tsumei, the youngest of the three, was Tsukumoru's favorite. He loved her and treated her like she were his daughter. He taught her how to spin the clouds into being out of air and even how to make animals out of the clouds. What she didn't know was that he placed a spell on her, that no matter who she grew up and found to love, she would always have a girl. It was the god's selfishness to have women who looked just like her. So when she found love in a human man and gave him children, they were all girls. The man needed a son, and left her to be with another. She took her children back into the sky and asked her god why he did this to her, but he couldn't give her an answer. Using all the power she had to make clouds, she turned a cloud into a woman just like her and named her Hoshi Tsumei. Hoshi looked very different from Shiro, and had no spell placed on her. Shiro told Tsukumoru that if she was to forgive him for what he'd done to her, that Hoshi should be allowed to have sons, for it was the only way their name could ever live on in this world. Because he loved his youngest creation so much, he agreed.


Today, the three families gather together in Tsurui, but most of the Tsumei family resides in Kitoba. Those of Tsumei blood are known to be strong women, some of the best flyers. The other families often ask for their single girls' hands in marriage, in hopes that the ability to bend the clouds could be passed on into their own family. Unfortunately, no one has had that ability for quite a while. Instead, some in Tsumei have the ability to call lightning and thunder across the skies. The Yosuzume are large family that serve as the sages for their tribe. They are weak flyers and aren't fond of the surface due to the difficulty of having to go back up. Some would compare them to the sea people that value wisdom, but Yosuzume would argue that they're very different from them. Haneki is a family of warriors, anything for the most honor. They study the ways of the Tochiko battle styles and perfect it into Sorako habits, always wanting to be one step ahead of the other families.

 

[Maevrys]

LEGEND OF UMIKO


The god of the sea, Suishio made his children out of the salt flakes mixed into the sand, trying to shape them into the image of a girl he once knew from the surface. In his first attempt, he created two twin girls, one named Sango Hisakawa and the other Kurage Shimizu. Sango had the power to control the water, and often teased her sister who seemed to have no special power of her own. Sometimes Kurage could weakly control the water, but her sister would always steal control from her. Convinced that the sea must hate her, Kurage ran away to the surface most days. During her time spent there, she met a sickly human boy who often came to the beach and hid from the villagers of his home. When she asked why he hid, he said that it was because they didn't like weak children, that he was a bad omen who would bring them misfortune. She told him that she was weak too, that the sea hated her and didn't want her to be special like her sister Sango. The boy shook his head stubbornly and told her that she was special just by being her. She was so happy from his words that she kissed the boy. From her kiss transferred strength, and when she came back the next time she saw he was a different person. The village no longer feared him, but instead rejoiced in his recovery and accepted him. Alone once again, she sank back down into the sea, refusing to ever go up to the surface again. 


Sango watched her sister suffer from a broken heart, and became twisted up in rage. She went up to the surface to show that human boy that only she could tease her sister, no one else. What she found instead was that the boy wept on the beach every night for the girl who never came back. She urged her sister to go up to the surface and be with him, but Kurage refused. The boy, in all his sorrow, saw Sango and thought her to be Kurage. Before she knew it, she fell in love with the boy too. Glad that Kurage would never come to the surface again, Sango embraced her love for the boy and stayed up there with him. Eventually their children found their way into the sea again, but by then, Kurage had moved on.


In the sea and alone, Kurage focused all her energy into the salt flakes at the bed of the ocean. Over time she was able to create sea slugs and fish for short periods of time. One day, she was even able to create someone else, a brother to keep her company. Unfortunately, her power had an expiration and every night, her brother would vanish and forget all the memories they made together. Kurage went to the sea god, Suishio, and begged him for the brother she couldn't fully create. Wanting to make the girl happy, he did as she wished with one small twist. He named the boy Ryuu Amemasu and told Kurage she would be his brother. Suishio made it so that Ryuu would never love Kurage the way she loved him, because their blood combined might make something even stronger than he. 


Ryuu had the ability to turn into the sea creatures and even learned to adapt their abilities. He loved to camouflage himself or squeeze through tight objects most couldn't. He enjoyed playing with the beasts of the sea as well as his sister, but she eventually left him, too saddened by something he didn't quite understand. For a time, Kurage had vanished and Ryuu found a new playmate who he made his mate and took to Suishio. Suishio made the jellyfish Ryuu brought home into a girl born of the sea, who resembled Kurage quite a bit... Down from the depths of the ocean, children floated out who could swim faster than any of them. The god understood that his child Kurage had disappeared, but left behind a powerful legacy...


Today, the three families work together to create a prosperous environment. Amemasu, with all their knowledge for the creatures of the sea, dominate the trade and handling of fish both in their homes and on land. Anyone associated with fishing works under them. The Hisakawa family migrated into a lake they themselves made with their abilities. In part it was to have their own private home, while also filling a land that was barren with the capabilities of becoming one filled with life. Finally, the Shimizu stayed in the birthplace Suishio had made for them, the curiosity for knowledge knowing no bounds. The tradition began in their family that they be leaders for their people, no matter how scattered they had become.

 

[Maevrys]

LEGEND OF TOCHIKO


Before the existence of Sorako or Umiko, there were only the Tochiko who lived on the land. The three main families were Kimura, Matsumoto, and Nakamura. They had people spread far out across the land. For generations, Nakamura served the Matsumoto family, working under them and learning their woodwork craft. If anything, the Nakamura were known as the servitude family, and were always very loyal to those who they served. Some of the Nakamura lived with Kimura, who studied the ways of martial arts, lived in trees, and pronounced their clan as ninjas. 


One day, a girl came through their villages and asked for nothing, but helped plenty. She healed the ill and made all feel at home by her side. On her journey, she met a boy from the Kimura family who swore his life to protecting her, and a Nakamura orphan girl with no place to go. She took them both with her as she swept past each village, seeming as though she was trying to find something but unable to figure out what that was. When calamity struck, they learned that she was their goddess, but too late. She sacrificed herself to save them all and fell into a deep slumber after. The boy from Kimura was asked before she fell asleep to keep the seal strong, so that she and the two gods could continue their restful sleep. He changed his family name for the season his master left him, Akiba. He found himself a good wife and together they started the village called Uratochi, gathering all the people together to acknowledge the goddess' sacrifice for them.


The little girl who was a grown woman by the time her goddess fell into a sleep sang of the journey her master went on and the people they met. She poured her anguish and hope together inside a never-ending pot of emotions, bringing out only the purest of tunes. To establish an identity for herself apart, she left the Nakamura family to start her own, and thus began the family of the Suzuki.


Today, little has changed about these ancient families that have survived long before the legends ever existed. Akiba is a family of leaders, serving as caretakers of Uratochi. The Suzuki are a family of singers, who tell song-tales of the journey their goddess made. Kimura serve as protectors of their people, working in the night to keep the peace and living in the trees to be one with the world. Matsumoto are the builders and woodworkers of the tribe, while Nakamura serve them all to ensure success and prosperity.