[Neus]

MIASHIMA

Sigil: A bird with rainbow feathers perched beneath the roof of a Torii.
The sigil of the Miashima clan is often called the Bird of Paradise, a bird of legend which has rainbow colored feathers. Traditionally, it sits beneath the roof of a Torii, large wooden gates that lead to Onigan shrines and sacred places, referencing the Miashima history as priests and spirit communers.

Colors: White with thick, different-colored trace lines serving as patterns, usually on cloaks.
The Miashima do not have a specific set of colors associated with them so much as the recognizable pattern they decorate themselves with. The colors come from the sigil, while the thick trace lines symbolize the similar looking tattoos that almost all Miashima have on their hands.

Heirloom: Mystic Surrender
A declaration of surrender, written in an arcane language on a thick obsidian tablet. This artifact comes from the early days of Heaven's Contention, when magical beings serving gods, such as the youkai, terrorized Gold. The Miashima clan fought back against them, and with their background as spiritualists, crushed them on many fronts.

As the Gods that summoned the youkai were felled or fled, they banded together and peacefully surrendered to the Miashima in exchange for their lives. Such is where the Mystic Surrender was created, binding those youkai to exile back in the mysterious realms they originated, only returning if they are in servitude to a native of reality.

While some in the arcane world speculate that this is why youkai are only found inside of summoning houses, many detractors of that theory site inconsistencies that contradict the idea, including the Miashima clan.

Size: Small
The Miashima clan is relatively small, in part due to Gold's Curse causing many of their members to instead take up service in the Geistritter of Karaten, but also due to the elitism within. Children of members will often be given up for adoption if they possess low aptitude towards spirits and summoning. But on the flip side, orphaned children, or children of other houses, who show great promise in the field are often adopted or traded for. As such, the Miashima are more often than not bound by ability, not blood.

Stronghold: Shadowless Spire
While the Miashima clan originally preferred the tranquility of a shrine in the high hills outside of Oniga, Gold's Curse forced them to relocate to a large western tower built by House Cyre. The origin of the name is due to its position; in the morning, the shadow of the tower is consumed by the shadow of the Royal Palace, while at sunset, a large hill's shadow covers it. The tower of the shadow itself is rarely seen in natural conditions.

While the tower is tall enough to house the members, it also has a large underground area, complete with tunnels that connect to various other points of interest in Oniga, namely underneath of certain statues in the main city. This is for ease of access to the city's oddly located summoning house. However, many outside of the Miashima family are unaware that these tunnels exist.

The tower itself also holds the greatest library on Gold, with many books about many subjects, including the arcane. Although its practice may be forbidden in Oniga, reading and learning about it is not in any way. Many mages visit the Miashima to study niche topics, and in return the Miashima make a fair bit of coin.

Values:
The Miashima clan values two things above all else; ability and contracts. When they deal with other clans and houses, from near or far, they often put their business into writing, to be signed in mutual agreement. And for the clan, what is in the contract should never be broken by either side, with least of all incompetence sited as the reason.

This makes people uneasy to deal with them, because the Miashima often respond to breaks of contract very negatively if they are dissatisfied with the other party's response. Whether this means a violent reprisal, or a careful, drawn out plot to make the offender miserable, they always extract the resolution promised in the contract, one way or another.

Conversely, they hold themselves and their members to even higher standards, often going above and beyond to make amends in the case that they are the ones who break the contract for some reason (although their wisdom often prevents this outcome from occuring). For the Miashima, ability is everything, and most important is the ability to follow through with your agreements.

The combination of these attributes have made them a well respected, and feared, Onigan house. Even though they are fewer in number, the output of those few often stands exponentially higher when compared to other houses and clans, even if the effects average out eventually.

History:
Originally a clan of priests, they served many different Gods during the time before Heaven's Contention, preaching their greatness. After Heaven's Contention began, many of those Gods lost faith in the eyes of the Miashima for their inability or unwillingness to protect Gold from the other Gods, as well as their servants. Scorned, they used their knowledge of higher powers to systematically hunt down magical followers that the common people had no idea how to deal with.

They eventually entered into an alliance with the Yut and Azanbe clans, with the Miashima liberating Gold on the magical front, eventually forcing the youkai into a state of submission and surrender, and became one of the three great clans of Oniga. The clan's numbers, over time, began to dwindle, as they became pickier and more focused on controlling youkai, which has lead them to who they are today.

The Miashima clan do not see youkai as allies in the same sense as another summoner might. They respect their intelligence and will, acknowledging them as living beings, but it is clear that the Miashima summoner is the one in command and they rarely show a strong rapport with the youkai contracted with them.

The red tattoos on the hands of the Miashima are similar to arcane tattoos that are found on certain Karaten mages and share a similar function, boosting the feared evocation abilities that the Miashima utilize, wielding a youkai's power as if it were their own, and often to greater effect. As such, most Miashima look at youkai as tools, first and foremost.

In light of Tennou Myoga's assassination, suspected to be at the hands of the arcane, the Miashima try their best to keep the clan's purpose and origin to themselves. While a wise decision, many of the Onigan citizenry who are aware of who they are and what they do think of them more as priests and shrine keepers than as the oh-so-reviled magicians.

Important Members:
Alianada Miashima - Head
Neron Miashima - Heir