(RC) Ryujin Chronicles Prologue

From the Diary of Nakamura
Date: Year of Showa 33

They are coming now, during the Hour of the Ox. They climb the hills of Chawan-zaka – past the ancient Kiyomizu-yaki stalls. They will be here very soon and I must make a record of these events.

How could the Goddess allow the Kansai Consilium to choose such drastic measures to ensure their own survival? Still, they will not listen to the counsel of an old monk who has yet to achieve mastery of any Arcana. They have made up their minds and nothing can staunch the flow of blood that is to come. I thought even Murasaki-sama, venerable Shogun of the Kodoshigisha, wisest of all cabal leaders, and Hierarch of the Consilium would see the truth and listen to me. It turns out he is the most foolish of all.

Since time immemorial it has been our duty to guard that which must be kept secret. That which is the repository of Truth about Japan and its history – the Shinwa Taizen. The knowledge contained within these scrolls would rock the foundations of our nation. Use of the knowledge could destroy that nation, if not the whole of civilization.

I hear the troops at the door, demanding to be let in. No doubt troops backed by guns, bayonets and perhaps even Rotes, wait outside these sacred walls which have stood for a thousand years under the watchful eye of the Brotherhood. They know not what they do.

Our Brotherhood would never have allowed this a hundred years ago. Fools who mock the True History would have been put to death for their insolence. It was the damnable Black Ships that forced open our borders and let in a flood of foreign ideas – ideas we tried hard to keep out by that our magic could no longer defend against – especially since the Black Ships came armed with magic of their own.

But we adapted as we always have. Some cabals tried to rebel. Saigo Takamori was the most prominent of the rebels, and he failed. I would have committed honourable seppuku for my Emperor had he not stayed my hand. Instead, we became part of the system and part of the problem. Like the rest of the nation, we rode the wave of Nationalism as we hoped to use our newfound technological marvels that the Westerners had given to us to achieve the Empire we so richly deserved.

It was in that arrogance that we failed. Failed to defend that which we swore to defend over a millennia ago. Failed to live up to our ages old ideals and embraced new ones in defiance.
I am hoping anyone reading my journals would be able to forgive our arrogance, but perhaps it will be too late by then.

I hear them coming down the hall. They are almost at the shoji. I can beg them not to take these scrolls and the other Imperial Regalia. I can warn them of the consequences of removing them, but I know they will not listen. They will simply push away the foolish old monk who has yet to achieve Mastery of any Arcana and take what they came to take. They will not listen and they will not believe that Kyoto has not and will not be destroyed by the enemy. There is too much arcane knowledge here to be preserved. But they believe in the inevitable.

And they are the men with the guns after all.



From the Diary of Nakamura
Addendum, Year of Showa 33

The caravan transporting the Shinwa Taisen was last seen journeying south near Hiroshima. Yesterday, on August 6th, the United States dropped the atomic bomb. No one has seen the caravan since.

Next: Influx - Ch 1