The Truth of the Etokōun

The Legend of the Etokōun was a fictional story fabricated from threads of truth. Long before Kitsune became a Chaos Lord, the first emperor Seiwa stood alongside him. He knew Kitsune deeply distrusted outsiders. 

But when ships arrived on the Isles’ shores on the day the Great Yokai Spirit bestowed her blessings, both she and the Yokai Isles Emperor could not turn them away. 

The ships hailed from the Empire of Wuji from across the vast ocean. They had fled the immortal grip of the Emperor of Steel, starving and ill from such a long and arduous journey. 

Among them were six princes and six princesses, who were willing to pay the Great Yokai Spirit any price to save their people. If they were to return, their father would inflict pains worse than death on the innocent, and imprison his children for time eternal. 

The Empire of Wuji had steadily grown throughout the reigns of twenty Emperors and Empresses. Then, at the peak of the Planar Conflict between the Avatars, the Avatar of Metal manifested along with their Plane when Lord Tremblor’s power became too vast to contain. 

The Emperor of Steel was the Avatar of Metal’s Champion, born centuries ago and continues to rule in the prime of his life. 

Rumor has it that he performed malicious arts to attain immortality at the cost of his Empress’ and Consorts lives. All subjects of the Wuji Empire are immortal. The nobles live decadently, and the commoners are starved and exposed to the elements, forced to serve their rulers forever. 

Exhausted by their pointless immortal lives, mourning the treatment of the common people who tended and cared for them, and bitter at the deaths of their mothers, the twelve Princes and Princesses decided to flee. The Princes and Princesses happily renounced their royal titles. 

They and their people embraced new mortal lives. Each year was precious, brief yet filled with possibility and the freedom to choose their own fates. 

In no time at all, they fell in love with the Yokai Isles and their feelings were returned. 

The Great Yokai Spirit was enamored with the stories of their homeland, Wuji. Ones that told of a koi that ascended a waterfall to become a great dragon, and the ancestral magic of the Emperor of Steel’s family. 

To demonstrate, the Princes and Princesses raced to deliver blessings of fortune, peace and prosperity in the tradition of their people upon the Yokai Isles in secret. The intrepid Mouse Princess finished first and the thoughtful Boar Prince gave his final blessing at sunset. 

In turn, the Great Yokai Spirit gave her own blessings and combined her magic with her new companions to create the Etokōun. A Yokai that symbolised the spirit of competition and the meeting of Wuji and Yokai culture. One that would protect the descendants of her dear friends should they ever be threatened. 

A festival was born alongside the Etokōun at the turn of the new Lunar Cycle. 

Every new year, the descendants of the original twelve would secretly continue to bestow their blessings on the Yokai Isles with their ancestral magic. 

When the Great Yokai Spirit returned to the Yokai Realm to rest, the Emperor of the Isles created a cover story. It was meant to trick Kitsune into believing that the Great Yokai Spirit had created twelve zodiac spirits to give these blessings. 

The Emperor would do the same for any that required amnesty, no matter where they came from. Under the protection of legend and myth, the Yokai Isles became a mosaic of different cultures living side by side. 

Did these stories truly deceive Kitsune? The Emperor and his successors feared he would see through the myths. 

But much time and many rulers passed. Ai No Miko’s father was the first to openly welcome foreigners into Yokai, and Kitsune would eventually fall to Chaos. When he died, the next ruler of the Yokai Isles sent sailors on a long journey across the sea to turn their telescopes towards Wuji. 

The Empire had become an impenetrable fortress of crisscrossed iron and steel. No one can enter, and no one can escape. Surrounding their golden walls were the armies of the Taira Shogunate. The two powers beyond the ocean were embroiled in war. 

Ai No Miko asked the zodiac descendants to openly celebrate the Lunar New Year with all of Yokai. Finally, they were safe. Kitsune would no longer be a threat to their lives and surely, the Emperor of Steel had moved on. This decision was not made lightly. For, her mother was a descendant of the Snake Prince. 

Should a tide of mercury and lead encroach on the shores of the Isles, Empress Ai No Miko will be ready. 

“Who am I? Where did I come from? What will be my Law?”

“There are no answers. Only choices.”