Zong Zhou

[Somnus Aeternam]

Capital of the Zhou Empire and residence of the Current Shogun, Toshiko Zhou.  

[Somnus Aeternam]

[Timeline]

xxxxxIt felt like a new beginning of sorts for Toshiko. Or was it simply a return to a world she had left behind her so many years and assumed to be behind her forever. It felt strange to walk the hallways of her childhood now as a grown woman. How long had it really been since she had run away from it all? How long since she had resolved to never come back to this place? Decades it seemed... She turned into a side room of the sprawling estate, stopping in the doorway. Emotion flooded into her as collapsed in the frame of the doorway. Images and flashbacks flicked across her mind, pulling her back to a time she had long since pushed from her memories.


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xxxxxA much younger Toshiko sat on a small pillow, wallowing in misery as her tutor drilled mindless dribble at her that she apparently needed to learn. It didn't help that her teacher was a an ancient hag who seemed like she would crumble if she sneezed to hard or if someone even touched her. Today's lesson was especially boring, some lesson on the other noble Dynasties. Some nonsense about how they all maintained a careful balance of power through the use of a village. But she couldn't concentrate on that knowledge. Toshiko found her eyes and attention drawn to what was happening just outside the room in the central courtyard. All the other children were running around playing with each other, having fun. But that was not for the eldest child. Her father had made that clear from an early age. Where her brothers would become warriors, she would become a politician. Where the others got to play, she would be locked away to study and learn. Daddy's perfect little girl, all prim and pampered, molded to rule a nation. There was never any room in her schedule for what she wanted to do, and no one ever bothered to ask what it was she wanted. No one ever cared.

xxxxxShe wanted more than anything to join one of the hidden villages. It was the only part of the history lessons she jumped at the chance to listen too. Stories of great and powerful warriors who could wipe away whole armies with a flick of their wrist. Who needed to be a ruler when they could be a warrior, fighting whenever you wanted, and taking whatever you liked. They were the real power behind every shogunate, and the true strength of each of the great nations. She could daydream for hours about what it would be like if she could have been born into one of those villages. Her dreams would be filled with her fighting bandits and summoning great powers from her own fingertips. But in the end, she knew it was just going to be that. Dreams. She was cursed to be born into a royal family as the first born child. A weight placed on her shoulders since birth, and one that she had no choice but to bear.


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xxxxxOr so she had thought long ago. She did become a ninja, and she did have her day in the sun, but there was no running from her fate, and it had finally caught up with her. Walking out of the palace, she set off for the Sand Village.



Zhou Shogun ✗
9 speed 7 strength ✗
550/550 CP ✗


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PASSIVE:

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• +1 to Doton Techniques (includes Jiton and Wu Xing)

• Can perform Jiton and doton with simple gestures.
• Blood of Iron: This allows the user to manipulate iron sand in the area around them that they unearth or create. This is heavier than sand techniques, and can be used to neutralize them with techniques. The amount manipulated varies by rank, and this amount is always with them, be it in a gold, in the ground below, or however. This amount cannot exceed the amount that is allowed to be manipulated at that rank. The speed of the sand is one higher than your speed if using hands to manipulate it, or your speed normally. It is as strong as you are as well.
Genin: about 50 gallons
Chuunin: 100 gallons
Jounin: 200 gallons
Sannin: 400 gallons

• The Control: Your own earth techniques can all instantaneously be converted into the metal element, which applies the one rank bonus (on metal) to them. Furthermore, all rock (excluding enemy-controlled earth) within ten feet of you can be converted into metal quite quickly.
• Sticks and Stones: All large clusters of metal can be manipulated by simple body motions. All smaller clusters can be manipulated with your mind.
• The Shift: A Wu Xing can manipulate the weight and size of metals. Because of this, they can change an outgoing projectile to be extremely large and heavy, or extremely light and only moderately sized. This can increase blunt damage, speed, strength, etc; it's up to your imagination. Obviously, smaller and lighter objects will be faster but will damage less upon impact.