Vamps and Ronins

Introduction: The Beginning of a New Era

By: Tiasha

Atarashii Ronins

1,000 years ago, when the demonic Emperor Talpa had entered this realm, one man had dared stand against him. He was known as the Ancient One, a monk who had vowed to protect the Mortal Realm, our realm. In a fight that would change the future of a few chosen individuals, the Ancient One conquered the demonic Emperor's soul.

After the evil soul had returned to its realm, the armor of the demon Emperor was left behind in ours, an empty shell of the evil that could have conquered this realm only moments before.

Sensing the danger of leaving the armor whole, the Ancient One split Talpa's armor into ten separate armors and cleansed them of all evil. With ten armors before him, he gave nine the values of human principle; virtue, trust, wisdom, life, justice, piety, serenity, loyalty, and obedience. Those nine armors of human principle were then given powers fueled by nature's elements: fire, water, light, air, earth, venom, illusion, ore, and darkness. It was decided that the armors would be neither good nor evil, but the wearer was to decide how the armor would be used.

With the tenth armor left before him, the Ancient One created the armor of Inferno, the only armor powerful enough to defeat the demonic soul Talpa forever. Knowing full well that a power of this magnitude would be a potential lure for evil, the Ancient created the armor in such a way that five of the nine armors of human principle must be present to summon the armor of Inferno.

With those armors created, they were sent to find wearers and begin the process of helping mankind, as well as bring their power to full capacity. For hundreds of years these armors passed from one wearer to another, saving lives and gaining more power.

The Ancient One was left to ponder over the possibility of defeat now that those armors had been given a purpose. Those armors had been a part of Talpa's evil, even though he (the Ancient One) had purged them of such things. Those armors still had been a part of Talpa, and had maintained the craving for battle.

After a hundred years, the Ancient One had devised a plan for success and thus began the process of creating the atarashii (new) armors. These armors, unlike those split from Talpa's, were stronger and made purely from nature's strength and love, her elements. These armors were born of nature's elements, from the wombs of her elements. However, like the orijinaru (original) armors, they were created to be neither good nor evil. The wearer of the armor guided the armor's power. The Ancient One knew that with armors made purely of nature's elements, the threat of chaos and danger to mankind would be present; for such reasons, the Ancient One gave each atarashii armor a soul. A soul of which gave each armor the knowledge of pure innocence, faithfulness, love, as well as pure cruelty, corruption, and hatred.

With this knowledge placed in every atarashii armor, the Ancient One had created an individual; each armor now had its own train of thought, its own emotions, its own urges and hungers and cravings. Each armor had become an individual, yet not; it had become a symbiont. The armor and its wearer become one; the wearer was able to detect the 'moods' of the armor and vice-versa.

With these armors created, the ancient sent all but one to rest, to slumber and awaken when Talpa reentered the Mortal Realm. One armor did not slumber and for nine hundred years it did not join its brothers/sisters in their slumbering wait; the Ancient One trained this armor until it had the knowledge to destroy Talpa should the orijinaru armors fail. For the armor was immortal, it could die, but it would always resurrect its own self. Though the armor had the knowledge to destroy Talpa, it had not yet reached full capacity of its power and therefore waited until a mortal's soul called its own. That day came and the Ancient One sent the armor to the Nether Realm, the realm where Talpa waited to reenter ours. That was seven years before Talpa staged is attack and plan to conquer our realm.

After a thousand years of waiting, Talpa regained entry to our realm and the slumbering atarashii armors awoke. Now awake the armors began their search for wearers. Once the wearers were found, they were to be trained to defeat Talpa should the orijinaru ronins fail. Fortunately for the Mortal Realm, the Ronin Warriors did not; they destroyed the evil emperor once and for all.

The downfall of Talpa left the atarashii armors forgotten while celebration took place, and the atarashii armors were left alone and confused. Their purpose for awakening had been destroyed and the Ancient was no longer able to give them their next purpose. So with Talpa gone, the atarashii armors continued their search for wearers and to train them.

Each armor helped its brother/sister armor in finding a wearer, and in the process, created Guardians. Guardians were individuals chosen to protect and transport an armor that was in the process of finding a wearer. Upon discovery of a wearer, the Guardian is then freed of all responsibilities that pertained to a guardian.

As of recent time, there have been only four atarashii armors made known; those four have the principles of hope, determination, creativity, and secrecy. Their elements are fire, earth, magic and air.

The four armors were given the names Phoenix, Gaea, Isis, and Dragon. While these four armors have found their wearers (some even before Talpa's demise) it is uncertain how many more armors exist or remain.

~Taken from the personal log of Mariko Ying~

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