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Onnotangu 
Onnotangu 
Born: Pre-calendar 
Died: 1132 
Parents: The Three Gods Whose Names Cannot Be Spoken 
Siblings: None 
Spouse: Amaterasu 
Children: Akodo, Bayushi, Doji, Fu Leng, Hantei, Hida, Ryoshun, Shiba, Shinjo, Togashi 
Titles: Lord Moon
People

Onnotangu was Lord Moon. He was the husband of Amaterasu (the first sun), the father of the Kami, and the father of all of humanity.

Creation[]

The first man and woman came after the Three Gods Whose Names Cannot Be Spoken, and the two were a perfect match. They were tasked with creating the world and naming everything in it. [1]

Moon and Sun[]

Amaterasu and Onnotangu

Onnotangu with Amaterasu

They descended on a rainbow from the Heavens to Ningen-do to give form to the shapeless earth. Together they brought order to the world by naming all things. They gave a name to the world, and as the name was spoken, so were their own names, becoming Onnotangu and Amaterasu, the Moon and Sun. [1]

Creation of the World[]

In this moment the earth separated from the sea, and life was created. In the Heavens the Fortunes began to take form, born from the dreams of the Creatures who slept far below. [1] Together the Sun and the Moon walked the Celestial Heavens, at peace with their realms. They loved, and they laughed, and all was well with Onnotangu and his bride, Amaterasu. They spoke of immortality, and of creation, and Onnotangu built a wonderland for his bridal bower, filled with trees and plants, and all the beautiful things of the world.

The Lady Sun, enchanted with his gift, begged him to let her populate it with children, but Onnotangu was jealous of his bride's love, and would not hear of such a thing. Yet, as he loved her, they created the animals, and the beasts of the sea, and spread them across the world. But still the Sun was not satisfied. They created man, and still, she wanted more. [2] [3]

Necklace of Amaterasu[]

Amaterasu wished to be gifted with a necklace by her husband. She invited him to a feast, giving him great quantities of wine and bread, which allowed Amaterasu to feed him a stone. The next morning when Onnotangu followed his wife in the sky the weight of the stone made him slow, the Goddess sailed across the sky away from him, and then night came, and he was alone in the sky. Amaterasu promised to return if he gifted her a necklace, which he did taking the stars. In return for the gift she took her wakizashi, slitting him across the gullet, and the stone fell free. In his pain, the God let go the necklace of jewels and they scattered across the sky, forming the River of Stars. The God never recovered from his wound and he chased her slowly across the sky, creating the night while she created the day, and so the moon contiuned to chase the sun. [4]

The Naga[]

The stone that Amaterasu fed to Onnotangu had been under the mud of the earth before it was eaten, and inside that piece of obsidian laid a small Greensnake, sleeping inside, which grew within the body of the God. The power of the God changed the snake, and it began to think beyond the chaos of animals. When the stone was freed from the God's belly, it fell upon the earth and shattered into a thousand pieces; each piece became a Naga. The snake trapped inside the stone became their first Champion, and he named himself Qamar. [4]

These creatures began to build, and the Age of the Naga began. They were able to change their shape into many forms, practiced art and war, and worshiped the Thousand Fortunes, and over them was the Sun. They knew that a time would come when the Sun Goddess would fall to sleep, but they cared little. The Naga lapsed into quiet contemplation, and they did not expect that when Lord Moon would catch the Sun they would enter in the Great Sleep, and the Age of Man would ushered out the Age of the Naga. [5]

The Kami[]

Children of Moon and Sun

Children of Moon and Sun

Since the beginning of time, Lord Moon has chased Lady Sun about the world. When the Naga fell to sleep he caught her, [6] and many months later, there were ten children, who they named the Kami.

At last, Onnotangu's love for Amaterasu broke through his fear, and they created the Children, the sons and daughters of the Heavens: the immortal Kami. Their babies became the light of Amaterasu's world, and she adored them. So much, that she forgot her love for Onnotangu, and turned her face from him. As the Moon and the Sun gave names to the world, she forgot to hide her love for the children, and she spoke of each thing as another gift for her children. She no longer needed the Moon. [2] [3]

The Nothing[]

Onnotangu grew bitter. He began to hate his wife, their children, and the world they had made, seeing each as a reflection of the Sun's false love. So, as he gave Amaterasu the names for each beast and tree, he held one name for himself, and did not tell it to her. One thing escaped naming, Nothing, and it hid in Onnotangu's shadow. He kept that one name, the last of all names. [3]

Naga Tale about the Nothing[]

Once, the People stood beneath the Bright Eye's radiant gaze, and felt her warmth. She was our lover, a mother to the creatures of the world and the beloved Lady of the People. Her eye was that of kindness. Her mate, the Pale Eye, Onnotangu, was jealous of the things of the world, and he caused her to weep for his hatred of her beloved people. The Pale Eye, cold from anger and envy, watched as the People sang praises to the Bright, and so he hid his face in the Shadow. He gave no warmth to the People, no friendship or hope, and to his mate the Bright Eye, he gave pain.

As they walked across the land, prepared to give names to all, the Pale Eye lagged jealously behind. Alone, his eye was caught by a small slip of Shadow which hid beneath a rock and did not want a name. "Let us make a deal," the Pale Eye said to the Bright. "I will provide the names, and you will choose which creature to give them to." The Bright agreed and it seemed a fair agreement, and so they spread the Names among the world. Jealous of the love that the People had for the Bright Eye, the Pale chose not to show the hiding Shadow to his mate, to let it stay as it wished and be free. And when the Bright had used all the names he had given her, the Pale did not offer more and the thing within the Shadow remained as it was, unnamed and unmade. After the Bright and the Pale stepped again into the Sky, the Shadow greedily used its power to feed upon the People. Pleased to avenge its father, the Pale Eye, it devoured the bodies of the People, twisted them beyond bone and scale.

Yet among the people rose a hero. His name, at the time was Qatol. He was a warrior, a dread-mind-hunter, bringer of food. The Qatol fought the darkness with weapons of steel and jade, but nothing drove it away. More died. More vanished into the Shadow, never to be seen again, their souls lost forever. The Bright Eye, weeping as her People died, could do nothing. She could not break the bargain with the Pale, and she had no other names to give. Angered, she sent her youngest son to steal a name from the Pale, but he fell to the earth with his brothers and sisters, defeated.

No name was ever given, and the Darkness that Walks remained free. [7]

Onnotangu and the Kami[]

Onnotangu 3

Onnotangu

Because of doubts and fears whispered in his ear by Nothing, Onnotangu began to fear his children's powers. Shiba and Bayushi were concerned about Onnotangu, but Hantei forbade them to plot against him. Fu Leng, hoping to curry favor with his father, told him what they had been planning. Onnotangu's wrath was terrible. [2] [3]

Eating his children[]

Onnotangu devoured all of his children. The first to be eaten was Ryoshun then Bayushi and Akodo fell. Hida, Doji, and Shiba were likewise found and consumed. Fu Leng's was hiding in a clever refuge, but Togashi led Shinjo near it and exposed them all to his father. Lord Moon consumed them all. [8] With each child he ate his wife Amaterasu fed him a cup of poisoned sake. When he came to eating the tenth child, Hantei, he mistakenly ate a stone instead. Hantei was hidden away by Amaterasu who taught him about honor, the way of the warrior and the noble man Onnotangu had once been. [2]

Fighting Hantei[]

Hantei rose up and challenged his father. During their fight, Hantei heard the voices of his siblings. During the fight between Hantei and Onnotangu, Hantei realized he could not kill his father and as Onnotangu made a killing stroke Hantei rolled aside and his father's blade made a Hole in the Sky. Hantei then cut open his stomach, and his siblings fell out into the opened hole, they fell past Tengoku and down to Earth. [2]

Fu Leng and the Obsidian Hand[]

Only Fu Leng remained, clinging to his father. Hantei sliced his father's hand, breaking his grip, and causing Fu Leng (and Lord Moon's severed hand) to follow his brothers and sisters to the Earth below. But, at the last moment, he reached out and Hantei, dragging his brother down with him. Hantei and Fu Leng fought as they fell. [6]

Fall of the Kami[]

When the Children of the Sun fell from the sky, screaming their mother's name, Onnotangu cursed them all. He watched the Sun weep as her children were cast down, and he cried, "My wife has betrayed me, and for her crime, I will chase her through the heavens. She will have no rest, no peace, and she will forever be alone, apart from her children. As she took her love from me, so will she be forever without love."

"My children, too, deserve no mercy. One by one, I shall hunt them and their people, until the world is as red as blood, and as black as night. I shall destroy them, for daring to steal what is my own."

"But I shall have one child," said Onnotangu, gnashing his teeth with fury, "a son of my own choosing, who has never betrayed me. A child who has never known the Sun." And he went to the last of the world's creatures, the unnamed Shadow. The Moon spoke to it as a father, and he lifted it up from that place, and carried it to become the blackness between the stars. [3]

As soon as the Children of Sun and Moon touched the Earth, they ceased being divine. While they were still not mortal men, they were also no longer gods. [6] The mortal realm was a jealous realm, and Onnotangu knew his children would never return. That would be punishment enough for their treachery. [9]

The Creation of Rokugani Mankind[]

While Onnotangu was eating their children, Amaterasu cried, her many tears fell to the Earth, and where each tear fell Jade was created. When Hantei cut open Onnotangu's belly Lord Moon's blood dripped down to the Earth and where each drop landed Obsidian as created. Wherever a drop of his blood found one of Amaterasu's tears the two combined to form a human man and woman [10] in the lands that later would be known as Rokugan. [2]

Onnotangu's Artifacts[]

With Hantei's cut, Onnotangu's blood fell to the Earth ech drop becoming Obsidian, but In the places his drops of blood mixed with Amaterasu's Jade tears, they created the first human beings. The severed Hand of Onnotangu, which fell to the Earth, was later discovered by the Scorpion Thunder Shosuro. Shosuro also crafted a mirror from Onnotangu's Blood, known as the Obsidian Mirror. [citation needed]

In addition to these there was a katana made from what was believed to have been Lord Moon's Bones.[citation needed]

Champion of the Moon[]

Onnotangu 2

Onnotangu

In 1132 the Kami Shinjo and the Empire forces marched to the Assault on Otosan Uchi. Shinjo learned of the Lying Darkness and its hold over Toturi I. Shinjo assembled the combined forces of all the clans in the Assault on Otosan Uchi, [3] which had become dark and bleak since the return of Toturi. [11] Empowered by the web of shadows the Great Sea Spider weaved over the Imperial City Onnotangu manifested a mortal avatar known as the Champion of the Moon. He would strike down those who would challenge the mad Emperor. His forces would be the Minions of the Darkness, who infested the city slaughtering the mortals. [12]

Hitomi and Onnotangu[]

Once Hitomi's mind was clear of dark influences, she could see how to undo the damage she had wrought. She could see the entire existance of the Lying Darkness laid out before her, how Onnotangu had hidden its existence from Amaterasu. How its subtle influences had caused all of the Kami's downfall (one way or another) and its slow growth of power over the course of the Empires history. And she knew that only an enemy with equal power could defeat it. Hitomi challenged Lord Moon, collecting up powerful artifacts born of the power of the moon, making Onnotangu answer for his alliance with the Darkness. If she succeeded, she would gain the power to defeat the shadow itself. Calling Onnotangu down from the heavens she challenged him to personal combat. Togashi incarnated in Hitomi accused Lord Moon to destroy Akodo, when he crashed the mountain down, to use lies and treachery to drown Doji in the sea, and when his envy and hatred stole away Bayushi's only love, Shosuro. Onnotangu's eagerness to crush her and reclaim the Obsidian Hand caused him to accept. When Takao became enlightned and defeated the Champion of the Moon at Otosan Uchi Onnotangu weakened. With the powerful artifacts and wisdom of Togashi on her side, Hitomi slew Lord Moon. [13] [14] beheading him. [3]

Onnotangu's Final Rest[]

Death of Onnotangu

Onnotangu killed by Hitomi

Onnotangu fell to earth in the Scorpion lands, and the place has became haunted since that day. [15] Hitomi had placed his essence within a hidden grave in the place which would become known as the Howling Fields. [16]

Cult of the Dead Moon[]

The Cult of the Dead Moon was dedicated to bring Lord Moon back to Ningen-do. After the events in 1159 with the return of a new last Hantei embodied by the lost son Daigotsu, and the return of Fu Leng released from Meido, this cult, led by Bunrakuken, began the preparations to bring Onnotangu back. [17] Mere hours before they were to resurrect Onnotangu their plans were uncovered and foiled. [18] [19]


Preceded by:
None
Lord Moon
Pre-calendar - 1132
Succeeded by:
Hitomi


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, p. 17
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Dawn of the Empire, by Rich Wulf
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 War in the Heavens, by Ree Soesbee Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "warintheheavens" defined multiple times with different content
  4. 4.0 4.1 Way of the Naga, p. 18
  5. Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, pp. 17-18
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Gaijin's Guide to Rokugan, Part I
  7. The Storming of Morikage Castle, Part 3, by Ree Soesbee
  8. Way of the Unicorn, pp. 21-22
  9. Fall From the Heavens (Dawn of the Empire flavor)
  10. Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, pp. 18-19
  11. Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game, Third Edition, p. 23
  12. Hidden Emperor, p. 54
  13. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 23
  14. Rulebook Story (Ambition's Debt), by Ree Soesbee
  15. Imperial Histories, p. 206
  16. Secrets of the Scorpion, p. 37
  17. Shadow of the Dead Moon
  18. First Enlightenment, by Shawn Carman
  19. Rising from the Ashes, by Shawn Carman


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