Rouran-Jin

The Rouran-Jin were once a strong people, the Yazhou from the North. The Yazhou were unified clans
that held unbreakable bonds with each other, brought together by the Fa brothers; Ren, Kai, and Jing.
For a long time, there was peace, and their country flourished. But all good things came to an end with
the Great Flood.

Their land was swallowed by the seas, and the remaining clans were forced to take ship to seek refuge
in the neighboring land of Kanum Kotan. Both countries had suffered great losses to the Flood, but the
Yazhou were nearing extinction. The Three Lords pleaded refuge from the Khanum, and offered their
services as long as their people did not starve.

For 250 years, the remaining Yazhou clans lived as nomads in Kanum Kotan. They were known as the
Rouran-Jin, the wandering people. The Fa clan upheld its status among her old people, frequently
stepping in to protect the few clans who were mistreated in this foreign land of barbarians and demons.

Then, the Great War broke out. The Khanum called out for all of her forces, and recalled the promise
made by the Fa clan many years ago. Among the scattered clans of Rouran-Jin that populated the
remote areas of Kanum Kotan, the Fa clan was the only one who could call upon her lost land’s tribes
and unite them under her banner, and thus the Khanum planned to use the Rouran-Jin as one of her
many pawns in war.

Angered by this, the clan leader Chu-Ko sought the help of the Alukhai enemy, the Norsemen. The Fa
clan agreed to become spies for the Norse army in exchange for land for her people once the battle
was won. Once the war ended, the Norsemen upheld their promise and granted the Northern border
to the Rouran-Jin, and even funded the construction of a monastery where orphaned children would be
trained to serve the jarls.

Many years later, Butang, the son of Chu-Ko, inherited the title of the Fa clan’s lordship, and had many
wives. Ying was born to his second wife; Lang. Things did not end well for the Fa clan.

Informed by a reliable source, the Norsemen labeled Butang and the Fa clan as traitors. This was,
of course, misinformation, but the Norsemen did not care for proof. On a fateful night, the Fa clan
was raided and executed. Save for Lang’s maidservant and her three-year-old daughter, Ying. The
maidservant took Ying to the monastery, and begged them to hide her. The old master Weifung, who
had been an old friend of Chu-Ko’s, masked her sex and trained her as a boy. When Ying was six years
old, the maidservant passed away.

At the monastery, Ying got along with Weifung’s adopted twins, Saki and Sayo. Saki took fighting lessons
with her, and Sayo was under the women’s care training to become a maidservant. Saki had been
secretly training his twin sister the martial arts they took during lessons, and when Ying found out, she
had agreed to keep their secret…if they could keep hers. And thus, the three became inseparable.

As per the traditions of the monastery, at age 14, the young monks were eligible to travel to an assigned
house to serve under a jarl. Ying was dispatched to Kroptuvirki and Saki was sent to Morkholm. They set
out together and separated along the way.