Shuten Doji
From L5r: Legend of the Five Rings
A Shuten Doji is manipulative spirit of pure taint and the teacher of maho. There are three Shuten Dojis, Fear, Desire, and Regret. Regret was the Shuten Doji responsible for the destruction of the Snake Clan. The other two's whereabouts are unknown.
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[edit] Creation
When Fu Leng was still trapped within Jigoku, three men traveled into the Festering Pit with mercy in their hearts. Fu Leng destroyed them, but then dripped his blood on their skulls and said a prayer to the sins of Fear, Desire, and Regret. These skulls then became the Shuten Doji of their respective sins, and became the true sensei of maho. [1]
[edit] Summoning
Fu Leng first summoned a Shuten Doji by a blood sacrifice and a prayer to the three sins. To summon a Shuten Doji, first a prayer motivated by one of the sins must be said, and a mortal wound must be inflicted. To gain the powers of the monster, a noble must be sacrificed. If a member of the Hantei line is sacrificed, all three Shuten Doji are released. [1]
[edit] Possession
The three Shuten Doji can possess a large number of people and see through the eyes of all that they are spread to. Fear is spread by sight, Desire by touch, and Regret by sound. Once possessed, the victim unwilling becomes a prisoner in his own body, helpless to resist the Shuten Doji's commands. Fear and Desire's physical forms must be destroyed to return them to Fu Leng but every one of Regret's victims must be killed to dispel it, explaining the total destruction of the Snake Clan. [1]
[edit] The Destruction of the Snake Clan
When the Chuda family settled in the lands given to them they found them haunted. The ancient spirit would appear at their castle the first evening of every month screaming and begging the family to hear its pleas. For generations the Chuda ignored its screams. That was until the great grandson of the family founder and son of the Chuda Choro, Chuda Tamihei succumbed to the temptation of the spirit. Shortly after Tamihei became the Champion, he concieved of a plot to gain immortality and save his father with the help of the the Shuten Doji of Regret. The Shuten Doji began possessing every living thing in the Snake Clan lands by sound and within a month was in control of the entire Snake Clan.
Only through the intervention of the Fortune Jizo, the Phoenix Clan Elemental Masters discovered the plot and the evil brewing among the family on their border. The Elemental Masters were outraged at the young daimyo's actions, and terrified at the implications. They mobilized the armies of the Phoenix and marched upon Snake lands in what became known as the Five Nights of Shame, killing every living thing within the Dragon Heart Plain. Once finished, not a soul of the Snake Clan remained living. [1]
[edit] The Near Destruction of the Falcon Clan
In 1129, an unknown maho ritual opened a rift to the spirit world releasing the Shuten Doji. Many of the Falcon were possessed and even though the ritual was reversed, many Falcon and peasants had been killed. With the clan's lands in disarray the Emperor gives the Crab authorization to absorb the minor clan. With the blessing of the Falcon Daimyo, the Falcon Clan became the Toritaka family. It is unknown which Shuten Doji was released. [2]
