Reiken Dairu
Reiken Dairu
Reiken Dairu (霊剣 大瑠) was born in the year 867 in the city of Magawa to the Kawaguchi (川口) Clan. Reiken Dairu was the son of Reiken Gusai and the last member of the Kawaguchi Family Kawaguchi Kohaki. For generations the Kwaguchi family had been in decline, and their loyal vassals the Reiken family had been slowly filling the positions. When the lord of the Kawaguchi, Kawaguchi Iwarou, had a daughter and died in battle shortly after it was known that the Kawaguchi family would soon end. His wife Kawaguchi Kichi arranged the marriage between Kohaki and Gusai, the head of the Reiken family, ensuring that leadership of the clan would be passed onto a worthy samurai. With the marriage secured and Gusai became the Daimyo of the Kawaguchi clan.
Dairu was born six years into the marriage, and the battles had seen the destruction of several smaller clans and the foundation of a Kawaguchi Kingdom. Gusai sought out the greatest teachers throughout the realm to train his son, going so far as to send him to the small island stronghold of the Umiken and train in the ways of sailing and ship fighting. Little did Gusai know but he was setting his son up for a great future, and securing a future for his clan across the waves. Gusai ended the Alliance with the Green Coalition, seeing them as a threat to the greatly weakened clan, and hoping to strike them when they were not expecting it.
At the age of ten Dairu was already showing signs of being both an adept fighter, and sailor. He preferred to fight with two Kama instead of the traditional Katana. The weapons were often used by the Umiken family as well as the Yumi bow. Dairu had little intertest in politics, instead leaving that to his younger sister Reiken Merihiko.
When Dairu completed his Gempakku at the age of sixteen he was granted command over the first fleet of the Kawaguchi Clan, a position he utilized to strike terror into those who entered Kawaguchi waters. Dairu led many raids, and won dozens of naval battles, as well as capturing several island strongholds. During his daring victories at sea his father was losing the land war, and Kawaguchi territory was slowly shrinking.
Dairu arrived at the Kawaguchi capital of Magawa to find a massive fleet being loaded with people and goods. Several of the ships were designed as massive shrines, others to carry peasants and merchants. Dairu rushed through the city and confronted his father regarding the massive fleet only to find out that the war was essentially lost, and the Green Coallition controlled all but the city, and the few islands that Dairu had captured. Gusai would stay behind with a small garrison of loyal troops to buy the fleet time to escape to a new land.
