Otomo Vede


“Wide-eyed little girl, Crushed by neglect and sorrow, Chaff in the grindstone.”

Appearance and Personality

An accomplished student of sword and scroll, Otomo Vede is a both a talented shugenja and duelist who utilizes both natures, martial and spiritual, to his advantage in the highest courts in Rokugan. Vede is broad shouldered and sharp faced, his eyes always cold and calculating. He wears plain clothing, without mons or pretentious displays of power, and simple prayer beads, dressing practically at all times, save during courtly affairs. His hair is kept in a traditonal top-knot, which is always kept flawlessly without even a strand of stray hair out of place. Possessing something of a reputation as unyielding and singularly devoted, Vede is powerful, though not particularly well-liked. Often when the Otomo must submit to a challenge at court, Otomo Vede acts as their champion, both in contests of iaijutsu and taryu-jiai. At official functions Vede is seldom far from his closest confidant, his twin sister Otomo Yasako, who shares his frigid demeanor and unforgiving personality.


Vede’s father was a relatively minor player in the Imperial Court before he retired to a monastery. Though he was a small player his influence was still vast in comparison to most samurai. In an incident during Iweko’s first winter as the divine Empress, the Otomo courtier came to be in the debt of a Toku lord who had attended the court. The Toku asked in payment for his first born son to be wedded to the Otomo’s first born daughter. Many years later, Otomo Vede’s twin sister, Otomo Yasako was wedded to the Toku’s son, Toku Renga. Yasako was a woman with a gentle temperament, much like her younger sister, Haoko. Despite the friendship between the fathers, son and daughter were a poor match, and the boorish and crude Toku abused the woman, and she was twisted into a cruel and spiteful remnant with little of the wide-eyed girl who Vede had grown up with. Filled with hatred and disgust, Vede has privately vowed not to allow his remaining sister to be wed to an unworthy suitor, no matter what the cost.

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Otomo Vede

Shadowed Autumn Leaves ohyoungmarriner