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Kurtiss Frost
Kurtiss Frost

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Day 01: Miniature Backstory

Total Word Count - 938

So, one of my many hobbies is miniature painting and tabletop gaming. Something I love is coming up with back stories and try to add my own flair. Here recently I haven't really been painting as much as I used to but, I still find myself looking at miniatures that I would one day like to paint. While I was browsing around, I re-discovered a miniature company called Zenit Miniatures. I was drawn in by the cool samurai aesthetic and the creative juices started flowing and I had a cool Idea for one of the miniatures.

mini
miniature painted by Zenit Miniatures


Hisame the Death Onmyojin:

Hisame was an Onmyoji for Nakatomi, a prominent Daimyo in the nation. She was very highly regarded for her understanding of the spirit world, her divination skills, and her uncanny ability to predict the current political scene and give advice to Nakatomi so he could get a leg up on other Daimyo.

When war broke out, Nakatomi relied on Hisame even more. She became his right hand and military advisor, something that several of his top generals protested. One fateful day, after a huge battle to gain control of a key farming village, Hisame's life changed forever. In one of the shacks, she stumbled upon an occult library, and in the library was a book about shinigami and the world of the dead. Afraid that Nakatomi would burn the book, she took it and hid it. Upon returning home, she further examined the book and found that it was a very special book: bound in human flesh and inked in blood.

It was full of dark magic and spells. One spell in particular caught Hisame's attention: Consecration of Death (Wake the Dead in the rulebook). Hisame became obsessed with the spell and how she could use it to serve her Daimyo. She had a plan. Little did she know her plan would be her downfall.

In secret she practiced the spell, first on birds and cats, and then moving to bigger subjects. After months of practicing the arts in secret, she was ready to show Nakatomi. She decided she would hold a meeting with the Daimyo and his court. Before they arrived, she had a table set up in the middle of the room with a dirty, nasty looking burlap bag thrown over a lump of something that smelled as bad as the burlap bag looked. The Daimyo entered the chambers and Hisame began her presentation.

She told the Daimyo that there was a way for him to conquer the whole country. The Daimyo perked up. He trusted Hisame's judgment. She continued and explained that the world of death could be tapped into to unleash an army of un-killable soldiers. She cast the spell on the smelling lump under the sack and it began to move. The sack fell from the "head" and the Daimyo was horrified. What he saw before him was a decayed and rotting human body, and it repulsed him. He looked at Hisame and asked her what was the meaning of the abomination that stood before him. She explained that she had found the book and that she had been practicing to be able to raise a human from beyond death. Before the Daimyo could protest, the shambling mound of decaying flesh lunged onto one of the Daimyo's court guards and began to rip into the squishy flesh meat of his neck. The Daimyo drew his sword and stabbed the foul thing in the back. It was unfazed. It looked up from it's meal and began to advance towards the Daimyo. The emperor, in fear, tripped over his own feet and hit the ground. The mound seized the opportunity and jumped at the Daimyo. He fought it off as best he could but, the horror was too strong. It tried to grab him and take a bite out of the daimyo.

As it was about to close it's jaws on his neck, Hisame dismissed the spell and the mound fell on top of the Daimyo. After he regained his composure, he ordered the guards to take Hisame to the dungeon and lock her up. Hisame was confused and enraged. Why was she being punished for only wanting to help her lord? It didn't make sense. Was he so blind by his own morality that he was unable to see the gift she had given him? Could he not wrap his head around what, in her mind, was a logical plan? Clearly he was a bigger fool than she thought. The Daimyo ordered Hisame to be publicly executed for her crimes against him.

She was executed in the middle of the town square in front of the whole town. The Daimyo's execution style of choice: beheading. Nakatomi ordered one of his most elite guards to carry out the deed. Hisame was furious at her ex-lord. She still couldn't fathom why he couldn't understand her genius. After all she had done for him and helped him accomplish, how could he do this to her? As the executioner was bringing down his blade, she remembered back to the book. A chant, an incantation really. She began to mutter the words and a feeling of darkness and dread began to swell inside her. She finished the incantation with enough time to scornfully meet eyes with the Daimyo and then….nothing. Normally this would be the end of Hisame's story but it was only the beginning.

I got this in under the wire. I had a lot to do after work and I didn't have a chance to work on this today.

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