House Tachibana
Tachibana
house-tachibana-metal_s.png
Even in darkest times, there is light.
Head of House Kaneshiro Tachibana
Established 350+ Years Ago
Class Noble
Ujalin
Vassals None
Location Calveras, Jihon

An older lineage of formerly mercantile wealth, that later clawed its way into the warlord class, and from there, into ujalin, House Tachibana are a name well-known, but not always well-loved. The family can claim ancient roots, if they trace their line back far enough, and are just ruthless enough to get what they want, much of the time, however the lineage has suffered a recent blow to their standing, and may or may not recover from it.

Origins

As far as the Tachibanas are aware, their lineage have always been Jihonese, and have not ever been tainted by blood from other nations. They claim this, but forget to mention varying instances in which the lineage have crossed blood with lines from Dalmasca and Macenia, and in truth, House Tachibana are a very mixed and muddle-blooded family. They often use their apparent pure Jihonese ancestry and origins as a platform upon which they operate, and for some, it works; with certain other Houses, it fails miserably, but it does win favor with certain commoners.

In any case, House Tachibana never really did one thing particularly well, as was typical for most other major noble Houses, but rather they tended to do several things somewhat mediocrely. They had some measure of military skill, some measure of mercantile skill, and have almost always had some hand in the trade of valuable goods, some measure of tactical ability… in some sense, House Tachibana is a many branched tree, and each branch has a different lean.

It was, perhaps, their grand fortune that, one of their sons eventually was born that excelled in both tactical reasoning, and military endeavors. The young Haku showed a penchant for strategic thought at a very early age, merely ten years old, when he mastered, and repeatedly bested top players in, a game popular in Jihon that is quite similar to chess. The family soon enough hatched the idea that, through Haku, they just might be able to claim a ujal position for themselves, and finally rise higher than they'd been at for the previous hundred or so years.

Claim a ujal position did Haku do indeed, but he was never quite happy there, albeit the House always were. He led with grace and intelligence, at least as much of it as he could spare. His sister was married to a supporting House, one that promised to back Haku's ujalin tenure, but their family line is not as pure as they pretend. Xiaodan, both an empath and a mage, accidentally killed her husband with magic, and then fled Jihon entirely. Her husband's house withdrew their support from House Tachibana and Haku, and demanded Haku renounce his position as ujal in penance for their son's demise. After much debate and arguing, Haku simply abdicated, and he, too, left Jihon.

As of now, House Tachibana are scrambling to save face and regain what small influence hit the House took. But with both Haku and Xiaodan missing, an obvious sorcery-caused death on their hands, and a rapid release of territory control, the House's influence is, perhaps, doomed to take even more of a hit, especially if the formerly backing house decides to spread tale of how, exactly, their son died. Nothing can be proven, of course, perhaps one of the slaves was a mage and did it, and Xiaodan just happens to be missing, too, but the fingers are already pointing, the whispers have already started, and Kaneshiro Tachibana faces, perhaps, an avalanche he does not know how to stop.

Haku could. But it's debatable, whether he will or not.

Reputation

The House primarily are known for having their hands in almost everything, possessing influence in a wide range of areas and regions, and with a seemingly nonsensical set of other Houses.

Known For

First and foremost, House Tachibana has and always has had, quite the amount of merchant skill, and a large number of merchants in Jihon are from, or have ties to, House Tachibana.

Members

Kaneshiro Tachibana (current head of house)
Haku Tachibana (technically next in line for head of house, former ujal, currently in Dalmasca)
Xiaodan Tachibana (empath-mage, currently in Dalmasca)

Joining

Honestly, I am not fussed about one simply creating a Tachibana. Haku is 29, Xiaodan is 25, Haku should remain the oldest, but beyond that, the doors are open for siblings. Someone's welcome to take Kaneshiro up, but he is a hard-ass, not terribly fond of Xiaodan, or Haku's habit of defying him on occasion, and may well have quite a bit to say about Haku's future relationship with a Dalmascan noble. Let's just say it doesn't stay aloof, and Haku is not straight.

So, yeah, one kid is gay, and the other is a fucking empath-mage, go them.

Kaneshiro does have siblings, too, however, and I'm sure the House continues to retain at least a few of their vassals.

Relations With Other Lineages

Generally, House Tachibana butts heads with House Tran and House Zhu, or did, merely because they're all ujalin, and all essentially enemies. House Tran are also a bit too progressively minded for Tachibana to like them (they are, perhaps, stiflingly traditional). House Munemoro do not dislike them, and House Kanesuke used to be on friendly terms with them. Eventually, however, they started disagreeing about how Kaneshiro handled his children, the Kanesukes making it fairly clear they found his strictness to be unfair.

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