[Zuko is adorable, and definitely reminds him of Ranmaru and Ieyasu!]
[Nobunaga just waves a hand to the first part.] It was better for her that way. She was already in mourning, and better not to see the politics and chaos that came after if she could avoid it.
[He listens attentively, curiously, and mentally does his best to piece it out in his head with the other pieces he's gathered so far.]
That does sound lonely. [To the last part though--] But you didn't kill each other.
[A beat. Most siblings don't. Uh. BUT Rather than figure that out--] Or did you try to?
[A head tilt. HOW TO EXPLAIN.]
[Nobunaga has never learned to guard his emotions or his face, on account of being brought up by royalty, mocked and teased through his childhood, and then just using his reputation for his temper and exposed emotions to his advantage. So in Camelot, he really is an open book more than most!]
[He rests his hand above his eyes.] Perhaps you saw the recent post requesting assassination of other heirs to a demon's fortunes? Such things cease in the future, but in my time they're taken for granted.
[Another head tilt.] I don't know that our father had favorites. Which I suppose means it must be me, right? Nubuhiro was older than me, but born to a woman before our father was married, so he wasn't legally entitled to the Oda domain. [Nobunaga just sort of-- flatlines. Weird to explain ancient history, but important, especially since it explains the more important part: why he wanted to break the castes system so desperately!]
He was given a castle and some political and war control --
[A beat.] Ah, perhaps I should explain my father's role first. [A smile, and he's actually proud! He's a totally Daddy's boy. IRONICALLY.] As I mentioned, Japan was split into 300 factions in my father's time. That many lords, and controlling royalty with different villages and terrain. Oda Nubuhide, my father, was a general. He was actually quite soft-hearted and believed in giving everyone second chances, that's what got him killed.
[Think think think.] When I was very young, even as the heir to Oda domain, it was... [A small squint.] Not a fortunate position. Through several war campaigns, Nobuhide helped alliances, and tried to keep his territory from burning, but Owari, our province, was surrounded on all sides by bigger, wealthier, and stronger factions.
[Back to resting his chin in his hand.] Whenever he wasn't at war, I spent all my time with my father, he was training me to be a general like him, but this also meant I was taken into battles even when I was young.
I mentioned Ieyasu a couple of times, yes? Our families were warring for generations. No reason other than that they didn't know how to stop anymore, I think. When Ieyasu was six, his father sent him to one of our enemies, one of his allies to prove his sincerity in their war efforts. My father had him kidnapped and threatened to kill him if his father didn't withdraw his alliance, to try to pressure him not to fight us. Nevertheless, as I said, my father was notoriously soft-hearted, so Ieyasu's father called his bluff. My father took Ieyasu in instead, and I spent more time with Ieyasu than Nobuhiro. Ieyasu's father died from an illness soon after, so maybe it was for the best? Our world's time is like that.
When Nobuhiro's castle was besieged I must have only been a child still but... [Squints in thought, and shakes his head.] Nobuhide traded Ieyasu for Nobuhiro's release when Nobuhiro was kidnapped. The next time I saw Ieyasu, I was already a general myself, just barely holding control of the Oda forces together, but I was able to free him and he's been on my side ever since.
When my father died, my younger brother Nobuyuki tried to have me killed. [A headshake.] I could have ignored that, but he kept fomenting rebellion, using my reputation as reckless and an idiot who disrespected traditions, and hung out with commoners and embraced foreign ideas and new things for the sake of it being new, which made it harder for everyone else. The first few times, our mother begged me to forgive him, so I did. But he pulled our Uncle into it -- and then I had no choice politically. [A sigh.] That's the kind of world I wanted to force Japan to move beyond. And they did. [Leans his chin into fist again.] But not for centuries, I suppose.
Nobukane is a samurai. He would often train with swords with me in our youth, but he was given to the Nagano clan, again, to try to achieve a temporary peace. When I freed him too, he's religious now, and doesn't bother trying to convert me, but he certainly tries to temper some of my demonic ways. He shaves his head though, and sometimes messes it up still. [SMIRK!] Ah, that's a thing the monks do. They believe keeping hair is a worldly attachment that must be ~transcended.~ [Sips his tea and snorts.]
Nagamasu is also religious. I should explain there are 5 major religions fighting for control in Japan. [Ticks them off his fingers.] Buddhism is from India, and is the most bothersome of them. They believe in strict caste regiments, they don't allow for candy or worldly desires, like hair, fun clothes, actually fun in general, and that is where I am considered the Demon King from. Confucianism is Chinese, and not too annoying, but it also believes strongly in a hierarchy of bloodlines and fate. That if you are born royalty, it's divine. But usually believes that a land is only as prosperous as its poorest citizen -- so most of the lords didn't allow it wherever they had control. [Another derisive snort.] Taoism believes that [Holds up both hands.] Yin & Yang. Two halves of the same whole. Black and white always keep each other in balance, ebb and flow. Any attempts to disrupt the balance could cause catastrophe. It's also Chinese, but doesn't conflict with Buddhism, because they believe in upholding the status quo.
Shintoism is the belief in -- [He furrows his brow. It really IS weird to explain it to an offworlder. With Luis Frois when he was explaining the religions, and indeed, why Nobunaga despised them, the European missionary still had a lot of first-hand experience with seeing it, and would usually just have specific questions about specific traditions or quirks.] Spirits. [He closes both eyes in thought. Trying to put the words from his faithful brothers to use.] Animism. It's generally a little superstitious. Things like, snowstorms are caused by mountain gods, or snow witches. Or typhoons are god's way of protecting us from other countries, or punishing the wicked on our own islands. Admittedly... This one I have the most trouble proving impossible. Dragons in rivers, could be true. Oni are Buddhist and I know aren't, but most of the familiars from anyone from Japan have been part of this, Shintoism. Youkai, demons, or just things like that. Our founding goddess was called Amaterasu, a great white wolf. It's believed she mothered the Emperor, and that the descending line is still holding some of that divinity. That's whom my father was the General for, but the only bloodline left of the Emperor had no political or military power. My father was protecting him just out of loyalty, but then I did it out of ambition.
[A headshake.] I wouldn't even try to disprove the heritage thing. It holds too much emotion, and cultural pride among the people.
Kitsune are from there as well. [Tilts his head the other way, thinking even harder.] Foxes with more than one tail, tricksters who enjoy pranks, but can be benevolent should they so choose. We used to joke on a regular basis that Mitsuhide is a kitsune, and now he actually has one here. And Kitsuno... at minimum in her realm, was a kitsune princess. [And Nobunaga was always the Demon King. Weird.]
[A shrug.] It's uniquely Japanese, and with no real intention to spread it, unlike all the other religious philosophies. All the other religions believe they should be everywhere. Spread through the whole world. Most of Shintoism is just superstitions though. Traditions for the sake of traditions, or things that people forget the original reasons behind. A few truly religious things, stories, holidays, shrines, but I get the impression by the 2000s, even that is mostly considered just for fun, nothing serious. And they stopped the sacrifices, that was a big thing I hated.
The fifth religion is Christianity. It's completely new to Japan. It's from Europe. A lot of warlords had banned it when they could, but a few saw the opportunities it presented, and I specifically -- Their god is against the castes. A king born in a farm shed. [Snorts and shakes his head, and laughs.] I don't believe it much either, but politically... [Shrugs.]
[And chin hands.] Nagamasu does though. He's very taken with it. All my brothers and I like trying new and foreign things, especially from Europe. The one advantage we had as Owari Province was shipping. Because we were in the center and surrounded by everyone, we were where everyone wanted to be for trading.
[A distant thought.] Not unlike Celliwig, as a matter of fact. Even with the trials; that was much like my father & my policy of not letting anyone simply pass through on the way to other things. We weren't a stopover, we were a destination. No major resources of our own, and being surrounded made it more difficult, so the least we could do was play it to our advantage and make the most of it.
Nobutoki was Nobuhiro's full younger brother, same mother, but he died fighting in the war on my Uncle's side. [Did he mention that much. SIGH.] The larger time my brothers tried to have me killed, they said it was to get my Uncle as Lord. Nobuhiro backed down, I think he didn't really want to be in power, just felt cornered. But Nobuyuki had been trying to have me assassinated since he was 8. Some of the others tried off and on. The other clans or provinces would try to bribe them or promise stupid things, the monks kept trying, but usually until I was an adult they would just call me an idiot and stay out of the family war, but even after I made it clear to Nobuyuki I wouldn't be killed, he kept trying. So that was when I sent our mother away. [And yanno, killed a bunch of his brothers.]
Oichi is the last one worth mentioning, because I'd move mountains for her. [Soft sad smile.] She's brilliant, stubborn as anything, and only barely less reckless than I am. She's the youngest, she was only four or five when our father died, and if it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd have any humanity in me at all. I certainly wouldn't have lived this long. She saved my life, despite being something of a princess, she would have been a good warrior, heart of steel, fangs like a tiger. I had arranged for her to marry Azai Nagamasa to cement an alliance with his clan, but he opted to betray me... Politics. [Just hand over his eyes again.] She warned me though. Sent me a coded message. When she was little I used to use the same kind of metaphors and analogies to explain the fighting to her as best as I could, and again, if it wasn't for that, I don't think I'd have ever figured out how to explain anything to Hideyoshi and the others either. And that's how she warned me. She remembered all the metaphors and used that.
Ah, she's one of the ones I refuse to look up other timelines of. I don't need to know. Although now I wonder if Kitsuno's realm has another version of her. Kitsuno's Demon King is -- [Wait. Should he explain about the Kitsuno of his own world?] Very literal. As opposed to mine being a grandiose despicable title from religions I don't even follow. If I believed in reincarnation and the rest... I might wonder a lot more. Kitsuno was the name of -- [No, but seriously... that's so weird and embarrassing...]
[He glances away, actually blushing!] my lover. Um. She doesn't have much in common with the Kitsuno here, beyond names, but... [Shrugs.] It's weird, right? [Nod!]
It kind of makes me want to kill the other Demon Kings though. I'm not good at sharing. [Nobunaga FFS.]
[But yes, Nobunaga is like inverted Flame Emperor. Ish. Except with the burning monks staying same.]
no subject
[Nobunaga just waves a hand to the first part.] It was better for her that way. She was already in mourning, and better not to see the politics and chaos that came after if she could avoid it.
[He listens attentively, curiously, and mentally does his best to piece it out in his head with the other pieces he's gathered so far.]
That does sound lonely. [To the last part though--] But you didn't kill each other.
[A beat. Most siblings don't. Uh. BUT Rather than figure that out--] Or did you try to?
[A head tilt. HOW TO EXPLAIN.]
[Nobunaga has never learned to guard his emotions or his face, on account of being brought up by royalty, mocked and teased through his childhood, and then just using his reputation for his temper and exposed emotions to his advantage. So in Camelot, he really is an open book more than most!]
[He rests his hand above his eyes.] Perhaps you saw the recent post requesting assassination of other heirs to a demon's fortunes? Such things cease in the future, but in my time they're taken for granted.
[Another head tilt.] I don't know that our father had favorites. Which I suppose means it must be me, right? Nubuhiro was older than me, but born to a woman before our father was married, so he wasn't legally entitled to the Oda domain. [Nobunaga just sort of-- flatlines. Weird to explain ancient history, but important, especially since it explains the more important part: why he wanted to break the castes system so desperately!]
He was given a castle and some political and war control --
[A beat.] Ah, perhaps I should explain my father's role first. [A smile, and he's actually proud! He's a totally Daddy's boy. IRONICALLY.] As I mentioned, Japan was split into 300 factions in my father's time. That many lords, and controlling royalty with different villages and terrain. Oda Nubuhide, my father, was a general. He was actually quite soft-hearted and believed in giving everyone second chances, that's what got him killed.
[Think think think.] When I was very young, even as the heir to Oda domain, it was... [A small squint.] Not a fortunate position. Through several war campaigns, Nobuhide helped alliances, and tried to keep his territory from burning, but Owari, our province, was surrounded on all sides by bigger, wealthier, and stronger factions.
[Back to resting his chin in his hand.] Whenever he wasn't at war, I spent all my time with my father, he was training me to be a general like him, but this also meant I was taken into battles even when I was young.
I mentioned Ieyasu a couple of times, yes? Our families were warring for generations. No reason other than that they didn't know how to stop anymore, I think. When Ieyasu was six, his father sent him to one of our enemies, one of his allies to prove his sincerity in their war efforts. My father had him kidnapped and threatened to kill him if his father didn't withdraw his alliance, to try to pressure him not to fight us. Nevertheless, as I said, my father was notoriously soft-hearted, so Ieyasu's father called his bluff. My father took Ieyasu in instead, and I spent more time with Ieyasu than Nobuhiro. Ieyasu's father died from an illness soon after, so maybe it was for the best? Our world's time is like that.
When Nobuhiro's castle was besieged I must have only been a child still but... [Squints in thought, and shakes his head.] Nobuhide traded Ieyasu for Nobuhiro's release when Nobuhiro was kidnapped. The next time I saw Ieyasu, I was already a general myself, just barely holding control of the Oda forces together, but I was able to free him and he's been on my side ever since.
When my father died, my younger brother Nobuyuki tried to have me killed. [A headshake.] I could have ignored that, but he kept fomenting rebellion, using my reputation as reckless and an idiot who disrespected traditions, and hung out with commoners and embraced foreign ideas and new things for the sake of it being new, which made it harder for everyone else. The first few times, our mother begged me to forgive him, so I did. But he pulled our Uncle into it -- and then I had no choice politically. [A sigh.] That's the kind of world I wanted to force Japan to move beyond. And they did. [Leans his chin into fist again.] But not for centuries, I suppose.
Nobukane is a samurai. He would often train with swords with me in our youth, but he was given to the Nagano clan, again, to try to achieve a temporary peace. When I freed him too, he's religious now, and doesn't bother trying to convert me, but he certainly tries to temper some of my demonic ways. He shaves his head though, and sometimes messes it up still. [SMIRK!] Ah, that's a thing the monks do. They believe keeping hair is a worldly attachment that must be ~transcended.~ [Sips his tea and snorts.]
Nagamasu is also religious. I should explain there are 5 major religions fighting for control in Japan. [Ticks them off his fingers.] Buddhism is from India, and is the most bothersome of them. They believe in strict caste regiments, they don't allow for candy or worldly desires, like hair, fun clothes, actually fun in general, and that is where I am considered the Demon King from. Confucianism is Chinese, and not too annoying, but it also believes strongly in a hierarchy of bloodlines and fate. That if you are born royalty, it's divine. But usually believes that a land is only as prosperous as its poorest citizen -- so most of the lords didn't allow it wherever they had control. [Another derisive snort.] Taoism believes that [Holds up both hands.] Yin & Yang. Two halves of the same whole. Black and white always keep each other in balance, ebb and flow. Any attempts to disrupt the balance could cause catastrophe. It's also Chinese, but doesn't conflict with Buddhism, because they believe in upholding the status quo.
Shintoism is the belief in -- [He furrows his brow. It really IS weird to explain it to an offworlder. With Luis Frois when he was explaining the religions, and indeed, why Nobunaga despised them, the European missionary still had a lot of first-hand experience with seeing it, and would usually just have specific questions about specific traditions or quirks.] Spirits. [He closes both eyes in thought. Trying to put the words from his faithful brothers to use.] Animism. It's generally a little superstitious. Things like, snowstorms are caused by mountain gods, or snow witches. Or typhoons are god's way of protecting us from other countries, or punishing the wicked on our own islands. Admittedly... This one I have the most trouble proving impossible. Dragons in rivers, could be true. Oni are Buddhist and I know aren't, but most of the familiars from anyone from Japan have been part of this, Shintoism. Youkai, demons, or just things like that. Our founding goddess was called Amaterasu, a great white wolf. It's believed she mothered the Emperor, and that the descending line is still holding some of that divinity. That's whom my father was the General for, but the only bloodline left of the Emperor had no political or military power. My father was protecting him just out of loyalty, but then I did it out of ambition.
[A headshake.] I wouldn't even try to disprove the heritage thing. It holds too much emotion, and cultural pride among the people.
Kitsune are from there as well. [Tilts his head the other way, thinking even harder.] Foxes with more than one tail, tricksters who enjoy pranks, but can be benevolent should they so choose. We used to joke on a regular basis that Mitsuhide is a kitsune, and now he actually has one here. And Kitsuno... at minimum in her realm, was a kitsune princess. [And Nobunaga was always the Demon King. Weird.]
[A shrug.] It's uniquely Japanese, and with no real intention to spread it, unlike all the other religious philosophies. All the other religions believe they should be everywhere. Spread through the whole world. Most of Shintoism is just superstitions though. Traditions for the sake of traditions, or things that people forget the original reasons behind. A few truly religious things, stories, holidays, shrines, but I get the impression by the 2000s, even that is mostly considered just for fun, nothing serious. And they stopped the sacrifices, that was a big thing I hated.
The fifth religion is Christianity. It's completely new to Japan. It's from Europe. A lot of warlords had banned it when they could, but a few saw the opportunities it presented, and I specifically -- Their god is against the castes. A king born in a farm shed. [Snorts and shakes his head, and laughs.] I don't believe it much either, but politically... [Shrugs.]
[And chin hands.] Nagamasu does though. He's very taken with it. All my brothers and I like trying new and foreign things, especially from Europe. The one advantage we had as Owari Province was shipping. Because we were in the center and surrounded by everyone, we were where everyone wanted to be for trading.
[A distant thought.] Not unlike Celliwig, as a matter of fact. Even with the trials; that was much like my father & my policy of not letting anyone simply pass through on the way to other things. We weren't a stopover, we were a destination. No major resources of our own, and being surrounded made it more difficult, so the least we could do was play it to our advantage and make the most of it.
Nobutoki was Nobuhiro's full younger brother, same mother, but he died fighting in the war on my Uncle's side. [Did he mention that much. SIGH.] The larger time my brothers tried to have me killed, they said it was to get my Uncle as Lord. Nobuhiro backed down, I think he didn't really want to be in power, just felt cornered. But Nobuyuki had been trying to have me assassinated since he was 8. Some of the others tried off and on. The other clans or provinces would try to bribe them or promise stupid things, the monks kept trying, but usually until I was an adult they would just call me an idiot and stay out of the family war, but even after I made it clear to Nobuyuki I wouldn't be killed, he kept trying. So that was when I sent our mother away. [And yanno, killed a bunch of his brothers.]
Oichi is the last one worth mentioning, because I'd move mountains for her. [Soft sad smile.] She's brilliant, stubborn as anything, and only barely less reckless than I am. She's the youngest, she was only four or five when our father died, and if it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd have any humanity in me at all. I certainly wouldn't have lived this long. She saved my life, despite being something of a princess, she would have been a good warrior, heart of steel, fangs like a tiger. I had arranged for her to marry Azai Nagamasa to cement an alliance with his clan, but he opted to betray me... Politics. [Just hand over his eyes again.] She warned me though. Sent me a coded message. When she was little I used to use the same kind of metaphors and analogies to explain the fighting to her as best as I could, and again, if it wasn't for that, I don't think I'd have ever figured out how to explain anything to Hideyoshi and the others either. And that's how she warned me. She remembered all the metaphors and used that.
Ah, she's one of the ones I refuse to look up other timelines of. I don't need to know. Although now I wonder if Kitsuno's realm has another version of her. Kitsuno's Demon King is -- [Wait. Should he explain about the Kitsuno of his own world?] Very literal. As opposed to mine being a grandiose despicable title from religions I don't even follow. If I believed in reincarnation and the rest... I might wonder a lot more. Kitsuno was the name of -- [No, but seriously... that's so weird and embarrassing...]
[He glances away, actually blushing!] my lover. Um. She doesn't have much in common with the Kitsuno here, beyond names, but... [Shrugs.] It's weird, right? [Nod!]
It kind of makes me want to kill the other Demon Kings though. I'm not good at sharing. [Nobunaga FFS.]
[But yes, Nobunaga is like inverted Flame Emperor. Ish. Except with the burning monks staying same.]