(This is Ryoko's altered history, based on the story that jigglypuff69 wrote)

I hail from the Phoenix lands... a village near the border shared with the Lion, simply called Black Stone Village was once my home. Well, 6 months ago it was home. Now it’s just place where the land holds my childhood, waiting patiently for my return. Where the earth once spilled forth the Empire’s sustenance.

People in my village spoke of the day my mother, Arisa, arrived. A statuesque, golden haired woman with a fierce beauty that froze men in their tracks. And lit the fire of lust in their hearts. Many went to great lengths to win this strange woman’s heart and all failed. In the end, it was a simple farmer named Tesuo that she chose as her husband. His quiet ways and gentle touch seemed to quell a bit of the ever present fury in her breast. To all they seemed to be the perfect opposites... but you know what they say of opposites.

7 months after Arisa had appeared in our village, I was born. Both my parents exclaimed that my golden eyes were a blessing from the Fortunes and a celebration ensued. During the celebration, a small group of village wives were discussing, a little too loudly, the possibilities of my parentage. Unfortunately for the women, Arisa overheard this. Several broken bones later, my mother made the point that it was none of their concern. They all agreed.

I grew up having two teachers. My father, with his infinite patience, would show me the way of the land. Seasons would pass by, each with their own secrets. He would describe each with an awe of wonder, helping me unravel the puzzles set before me by the earth. He could make anything grow... My mother crafted her own bow, then taught me to make my own. She would take me hunting with her, showing me how to stalk our quarry and pounce at the right moment. Always during the hunt, my mother eyes would smolder with excitement as she displayed her wicked grin. This all was to come to an abrupt end in the winter of my 9th year.

My father, the strongest man I ever knew, took ill one night. He fought the fevers that wracked his body like a samurai possessed. In the end, the Fortune’s took him from my mother and I. Ebisu watch over him... That night, in the dead of Winter, my mother washed Tesuo’s body, we built a funeral pyre, and then emblazoned the night sky in my father’s honor. That night, in the dead of Winter, something in my mother died...

With the calming effect of my father gone, Arisa became something else entirely. Something feral. We both did the farming in the patties, but she took to working as a doshin for the village yoriki. The few times I followed her into the village and saw the ease with which she subdued disorderly villagers and ronin alike scared me. Who was this woman? The day that I asked where she had learned to fight was the day my relationship with my mother changed forever. Never again was I called her son, but was referred to as her doshi. The next 6 years were to teach me the meaning of that word.

My mother began my training the next day. Harsh would be a kind word to describe the rigors. For months, the weight of field work and training with Arisa threatened to break me, but she was always there, teaching me to push myself to take that one last step. I was taught to use a bow to hunt men, fight with my hands and feet, to crush the will of an opponent before his body... I was becoming something that made my mother beam with pride. Gone was the love in her eyes, replaced by a kind of pride. The kind of pride that a horse breeder shows when displaying his best stallion. I realized, much later, that it was Arisa’s way to protect me from the world.

One day a group of ronin had made their way to Black Stone Village, thinking they may have found easy pickings. They had no way of knowing that Jigoku was waiting for them on that particular day. My mother was to teach them. Our neighbor’s house lay close enough to ours that my mother was first to hear the screams. The screams of a woman in pain. The scream of a woman meeting her ancestors. Arisa, for some reason that only the Kami know, raced to her bed room and produced a weapon I had never seen, an exquisite katana. With sword in hand she ran as fast as she could to the women's dwelling. As fast as I was, she was still faster. I arrived in time to see a vision laid before me, like that of a nightmare. Our neighbors lay in the street, dead or dying.

Four laughing ronin were exiting their house with what little belongings our friends had worked a lifetime to earn. A yell exploded from my mother’s throat, animalistic and terrible as she tore into the ronin. Time slowed as I ran towards her and the fray. Somehow, Arisa had disarmed one of ronin with her blade and used the weapon to remind him of what his insides looked like. The three remaining ronin fought as they never had before, keeping this lioness at bay. Blood soon ran freely from the bodies of all involved, with the upper hand soon going to my mother. The other ronin continued to fall, first one and then a second, until there was a lone man left. Even though she laughed with bloodthirsty abandon throughout the battle, her wounds were starting to slow Arisa. This is what the last man had been waiting for. In a flash, his yari darted forward, but with a single stroke Arisa cleft the yari shaft in two deflecting the blow with her razor sharp blade. The look of shock in his face lasted only a second. Raising the katana, she brought it down onto this one’s head with a sickening thud, the force of which snapped the blade in two. As I reached my mother and watched the ronin’s body slide to the ground, she lifted the broken blade from the group with reverance. I remember her smiling. Not the wicked grin I was used to, but for the first time a smile filled with joy and surrender. Her eyes once more held the love that I thought was lost to me for a moment while she mouthed the word son...

"It is done," she said, "The Kasuga assassins have played their hand, and have lost. It is time we leave this village, and it is time for you son, to learn your heritage..." From that point on things would change. We would leave Black Stone Village and return to the Lion lands where my mother, Matsu Arisa was welcomed back from her Musha Shugyo with open arms. I would begin my formal Lion training and learn my history and my place as a Lion Samurai. It was one of the proudest days of my life, but the Lion are warriors and peace rarely lives hand in hand with them.

There is more, but JP and I have to speak privately.

We have alot of changes here. JP and I will want to talk a bit but...

Ryoko's Armor is now Fine Light Armor
Ryoko's Tonfa are gone, no Lion Samurai would use these.
Ryoko's Staff Skill is gone, with no Tonfa, no skill.
Ryoko's Kenjutsu will replace his Staff skill: Gain Kenjutsu Rank 3
Ryoko's Daisho...Two blades

The Katana is an Exceptional Hattori Blade, however it remains broken. This was his mother's blade, given to him by his mother upon his Gempukku. You gain the Disadvantage: Broken Daisho for no points.

The Wakizashi is your own blade made for you from Lion smiths when you graduated from your dojo. It is an average quality Wakizashi.

Honor raises to a 3
Glory raises to a 2.5 (Remains a 5 in this timeline)
Status raises to a 2

You have 2 ranks of Ronin Warrior, these remains, but you are Rank 3 character. You have learned 1 Rank of a Lion school and we need to talk about which one you have now, please start looking.

Since MV has not fixed his profile, and won't connect as his son to his computer. I'm taking over Oniji until further notice.