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Jagdwolf [2010-12-08 16:01:13 +0000 UTC]

Oh wow this great. excellent line work, emotion and feeling. great!

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SaKagewolf [2010-12-08 02:04:01 +0000 UTC]

freaking awsome :')

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Peterhoff3 [2010-12-08 00:19:44 +0000 UTC]

Early on in his life, Hirohito proved to be a quick learner. By the age of five his parents began his cultivation as an aristocrat. His father, the Reizei emperor, taught him the Chinese classics and to speak the Chinese language. He also taught him games such as Go Shogi, and Kemari. He also taught him how to play the biwa (a lute), the Koto (A zither), the guqin, (A Chinese zither), the Nohkan and the Ryūteki (both traverse flutes). By his tenth birthday he received all these instruments and named each one. He named the lute Toba, the Koto Musashi, the guqin Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, and the flutes Yamato and Ikeda. Showa learned from his mother the art of calligraphy, poetry (which he never cared for) and painting in the Onna-e style. So by the time that he reached adulthood at the age of twenty Prince Showa became well known for his hand and made a partial income by illustrating picture scrolls. Showa, at the age of seven began to show signs of his Diver powers manifesting. Even before this time, the crown prince began training for his eventual introduction into the Diving Arts. When that day came he was taken under the tutelage of one of his father’s spiritual advisors, the Abbot Honan, who introduced him to the Diving Arts. Diver magic works on the concept that all living beings have the sum total of all the energy in the universe. This energy, called chi, or aura, flows through the spine and radiates throughout the body, following the path of the circulatory system. Unfortunately, the energy is yoked into positive and negative energies. To release this energy, one must unyoke it by opening the chakras, which are pockets of stored energy. Once the chakras are released one can harness this energy into a desire and perform magic which usually flows out of the fingertips in the forms of sigils or glyphs. There are limitations to the Diver brand of magic, however. Once you have spent all the energies stored in the chakras, they instantly yoke, thus preventing more magic for a time to allow the chakras to refill. If one tries to force any more energy out of themselves while they are empty, they will die. Before a Diver uses any of his or her own Qi, they saturate themselves with Earth or energy which flows through ley lines which are absorbed through the feet. How much a Diver can absorb varies from individual to individual, but the average is between one and three levels of chakra. Another factor that affects magic in the Diving Realm is the magic itself. Certain spells require more power than others. A skilled Diver using only medium grade spells can perform magic for about seven hours. Another factor that can limit magic is the ability to balance the positive and negative energies within the body. This can be achieved through yoga, meditation, and acupuncture. To use magic properly it takes a great deal of mental conditioning, predominately overcoming fear. This ultimately results in having a greater deal of control over their own bodies than do normal humans.

By the time Showa reached the age of seven, his Diver powers began to manifest . He is taken under the tutelage of the Monk Honan where he learns the Diving arts and its predominant concept that all living beings have the sum total of all the energy in the universe. This energy, called chi, or aura, flows through the spine and radiates throughout the body, following the path of the circulatory system. Unfortunately, the energy is yoked into positive and negative energies. To release this energy, one must unyoke it by opening the chakras, which are pockets of stored energy. Once the chakras are released one can harness this energy into a desire and perform magic which usually flows out of the fingertips in the forms of sigils or glyphs. There are limitations to the Diver brand of magic, however. Once you have spent all the energies stored in the chakras, they instantly yoke, thus preventing more magic for a time to allow the chakras to refill. If one tries to force any more energy out of themselves while they are empty, they will die. Before a Diver uses any of his or her own Qi, they saturate themselves with Earth or energy which flows through ley lines which are absorbed through the feet. How much a Diver can absorb varies from individual to individual, but the average is between one and three levels of chakra. Another factor that affects magic in the Diving Realm is the magic itself. Certain spells require more power than others. A skilled Diver using only medium grade spells can perform magic for about seven hours. Another factor that can limit magic is the ability to balance the positive and negative energies within the body. This can be achieved through yoga, meditation, and acupuncture. To use magic properly it takes a great deal of mental conditioning, predominately overcoming fear. This ultimately results in having a greater deal of control over their own bodies than do normal humans.

Hirohito learns from Honan history, mathematics, the Diving arts (including the ability to fly), government, and data-analysis. He also learned about the Buddhist religion as well as its liturgical language of Sanskrit. When Prince Showa reached his 20th birthday in which he became a man and a full member of the court. Honan noticing the Crown Prince's tendency to wander the countryside around the capital decides to take him on a pilgrimage to the provincial town of Kamakura in the distant province of Sagami in the North which is a major center of Buddhism. This marks the first time in which the Prince journeys beyond the home provinces.

The journey to Kamakura took the crown prince and Honan over a month. The pair arrived at Kamakura and became residents at the home of the Lord of the city Minamoto no Yoritomo, head of the Minamoto clan. Taking the advice of his father-in-law Hojo Tokimasa, Yoritomo makes every effort to befriend the Crown Prince in the hopes that their friendship might give him an advantage over his rival, the Taira patriarch, Taira no Kiyomori (Kiyomori is a ambitious man who envisions the Taira clan eclipsing the Fujiwaras as regents. For this reason, he is unpopular in court, where Hirohito meets both men). He takes him on a tour of the city showing the Crown Prince points of interest such as the 23 foot tall bronze statue of Amida Buddha which Yoritomo commissioned himself as a show of his own piety as well as a symbol of his power over the area. But what really fascinated the Crown Prince was the "informality" of the city's residents who were not bound by the complex rules and protocols the aristocracy that applied to the capital.

During his stay at Kamakura, he comes in contact with the daughter of the Silver Guild, Nagako, the future Lady Kojun, who he had heard of as far away as the capital, and found that most of the rumors were true. She was indeed beautiful, but also intelligent, and the two had a long affair lasting three years which ultimately resulted in marriage a year after he returned from Kamakura.
Towards the end of his stay in Kamakura, Hirohito gets invited by Lord Yoritomo, to watch the masked drama called Noh. He finds out through his host that almost all the major gentry patronize the Noh guild. In exchange for their entertainment they are given clothes and gold. Intrigued, the Crown Prince leaves and visits the Noh Guild, who is based in the province of Matsu, in an old pine forest to see if they will come to the capital. He finds that the Guild consists of five families and their followers. The most important of the five are Kanze Family who, because of their wealth, are the de facto leaders of the guild. Eager to gain the patronage of the imperial court, Kanze no Zeami agrees. Later, the Crown Prince found out from Yoritomo’s retainers that they were more than just actors. They were, in fact, information dealers and skilled at the art of espionage, and had a network of spies and informants watching all the courtiers and gentry.
With his stay at Kamakura now complete, Prince Showa began to reflect on what he had experienced there. He concludes that the aristocracy’s had become weak and isolated, and if the military gentry are not included in the franchise of government, the aristocracy would be eclipsed by the gentry by force. He begins to resent his own peers, who he views as extremely petty, concerned with their self-interest and obtaining insignificant titles over of the interests of the country. To remedy that, he decides to build a secondary residence out on the bank of the river Katsura while keeping a primary residence in the capital.

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Peterhoff3 [2010-12-07 23:49:11 +0000 UTC]

Divers (female Diverin) were humans that developed the capability to perform magic. Their name derives from the tendency to dive deep into the mysteries of nature. These not only include what we would call magicians, but also people with Extrasensory Perception. Divers appear frequently in the myths and legends of Earth, the most famous of them being Merlin. Why these individuals possess the capability to perform magic is unknown, but amongst the Divers it is theorized that they are simply the next step in the evolution of humanity. But by the second half of the 20th century, the Divers began to appear more frequently, to the point where Diver and non-Diver competed for supremacy on Earth. The outcome of this war led to the expulsion of non-Diving humans from the solar system. Those who did not leave were turned into synthetic Divers. This process involved placing hair-thin metal tubes directly into the brain, to be filled with a salt-solution. The salt solution is then electrified, causing a genetic chain reaction that would turn them from normal humans into Divers. With the non-Divers out of the way, the Divers began colonizing other worlds beyond the solar system. They amassed an empire spanning twenty five worlds. By the middle of the third millennium of the Common Era, the Divers reached the zenith of their civilization. (The Divers often call this golden age “The autumn of their civilization”) Their magic reached its height through alchemy: a sub-discipline of the diving arts, which allowed the Divers to create new matter, and in its most complex form, even other creatures. Experiments into alchemy also led to the realization that synthetic nerves could replace silicon transistors, allowing their various computer constructs and robots collectively known as “thinking machines”, to gain full sentience.

Before long the Kells: a race of elf-like humanoids who also possessed Diving-like abilities waged war against the Divers for the knowledge they had accumulated. After a century of conflict the Divers realized that they were going to lose. Also, they were becoming aware that their magic had detrimental effects on how the universe worked. Caught between a rock and a hard place, what was left of the Diver Civilization (The descendents of today’s Japanese, Chinese, Iranians, Turks, Italians, Austrians, Swiss, Germans, French, Dutch, and Belgian peoples amongst others.) decided to cheat their fate by creating a micro-universe, in which the Divers could continue their existence without being harassed from the Kells or hastening the end of the universe.

The micro-universe known to its residents as the Diver Realm, occupied an area of three solar systems, roughly ten billion miles. It was divided into three sections. The Western, inhabited by the Europeans. The Central, inhabited by the Turks and the Iranians. And the Eastern, inhabited by the Chinese and the Japanese. Each section is composed of a sphere which occupies the land on a flat plane the goes horizontally through the center of the sphere, Excluding the Western Diver Realm. Most of the other residences have their own private realms. After the creation of the Diver Realm, the Diver Civilization entered the “winter” of civilization. Shortly before the war with the Kells, the Divers, like all mature civilizations do, were struck by pains of nostalgia bordering on romanticism. The proponents for this Romantic Movement became harsh critics of the culture and politics of the day. Predominately, they rejected the idea of empire and replaced it individual Diver states. Another point they argued was that they felt that the Diving arts had become corrupted with too much hard science. They felt that the arts should pure sorcery, rather than a mixture of science and magic. The idea was that this mixture of the two corrupted society as a whole, which had become prone to excess. This desire to return to a simpler way of life gained a mass following after the Divers were defeated. This movement would not gain widespread acceptance until after the Divers were “defeated” by the Kells. Apart from this return to a historical past, as well as a decline in technological abilities, the Divers themselves declined in their own magical abilities, as a result of being too interbred with one-another (Particularly the local aristocracy).

Our story takes place in the Heian Realm (it derives its name from its capital which is called Heian-kyō but to most of the residents of Heian the capital city is referred to as Miyako or Kyoto) which is part of the Eastern Diver realm which, by the time of the story's protagonist and narrator Hirohito (otherwise known by his Princely name of Showa) is born the realm is in turmoil after nearly 300 years of peace and stability. Heians traditional aristocracy is losing ground to an up-and-coming class of warrior gentry from the outlying provinces who, wish to be inducted into the ranks of the aristocracy. The origin of this conflict stems from the ownership of land; more particularly the tax-free estates called shoen. These are owned by the Imperial household, court nobles, monasteries and shrines which exist throughout the provinces and provide revenue for these groups.

Unfortunately, the shoen system is having negative effects on the aristocracy and the government they run. Because these estates are tax-free, there is no longer any money returning to the government. As a consequence, the government which was at its best inefficient and overcrowded , has dwindled to insignificance. Because of the overstaffed conditions of the government, many of the courtiers have diverted their mental energies from government to the fine arts. Because the capital is in an oasis of culture and they view everywhere beyond the home provinces as uncivilized, they do not manage their extensive estates. Instead they appoint estate stewards called jito whose job is to manage and police estates in their name. These estate stewards are recruited from a variety of groups from within the provinces ranging from members of the aristocracy who decided to seek their fortunes outside of the capital to unruly bands of provincial warrior bands (Bushidan). Because of the lack of aristocratic presence in the provinces their authority has naturally eroded over time allowing the jito to slowly take over the shoen and turning them into their own fiefdoms ergo, depriving the aristocracy of resources. Some of these provincial families have become quite powerful even going so far as challenging the authority of the Imperial Government. The most prominent of these jito clans are the Minamotos who control the Kanto plane in the northern part of the country and the Taira control the south end of the country.

The two clans have successfully obtained aristocratic status due to clans pedigrees (both houses of descended from Emperors). The Tairas and Minamotos pose a threat to the ruling Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwaras are an ancient aristocratic clan who over the centuries has married into the Imperial family. They achieve this through marrying off one of the many daughters to an Emperor. Usually, after a few years of rule, the Emperor would abdicate. He usually left the post to an infant child who naturally is unable to rule on his own. The Imperial household agency appoints a Regent (kampaku) to rule on behalf of the young Emperor. The Regent was none other than a Fujiwara who may have been his grandfather or uncle. Through the title of Regent, Fujiwaras were able to control the country from behind the scenes through a complex network of retainers. The most powerful of the Fujiwara regents was Fujiwara no Michinaga who was the father of four non-reigning empresses, uncle to two emperors and grandfather to another three. One of his grandchildren the Reizai Emperor decides to break the Fujiwara's grip on power by marrying a non-Fujiwara wife. He is able to put his plan into action while performing his official duties at the Grand Shrine at Ise, he hears talk amongst his courtiers of a beautiful young lady hailing from a rich provincial family. The emperor decides one night to visit the young lady’s house, disguised as one of his courtiers. He finds the lady, hence there forth known as lady Ise to be charming and invites her back to the capital of Heian. Once there at the capital, he reveals himself to be none other than the Emperor. By this time, she had fallen in love with him, and she agreed to marry him. This Lady, who became known as Lady Ise (thus becoming his principle wife despite opposition from court due to her low social status), bore him ten years later, a son, who they named Hirohito, and given the princely name of Showa. Three years later she gave birth to another son Showa’s younger brother and future Emperor, Prince Suzaku, given the princely name of Prince Taisho.

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Peterhoff3 [2010-12-07 23:47:19 +0000 UTC]

hear we go.

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Crazychivez [2010-12-07 23:27:36 +0000 UTC]

Lol..eieden..sounds a like Eden alot..lol btw that's one of my OCs names nice pic though

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Peterhoff3 [2010-12-07 23:25:27 +0000 UTC]

another fav for you^^

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