Nagamasa Azai

[gazake]

Character Biography:
Account: gazake
Name: Nagamasa Azai
Age: 28
Affiliation: Azai

Physical Imagery:


History:
Nagamasa was born at Odani Castle and was the son of Asai Hisamasa (1524-1573), the 2nd daimyô of the Asai family. According to the Azai Sandai-ki, Hisamasa, unlike his father Sukemasa (1495-1546) was a less then capable leader and lost a number of castles to the Asai's erstwhile overlords, the Rokkaku. When Fûto fell in 1560, Hisamasa was on the verge of submitting to the Rokkaku. When Nagamasa came of age, he was given the name Yoshimasa, the 'Yoshi-' coming from Rokkaku Yoshikata. He was sent to marry a girl from the Rokkaku clan but balked at the arrangement and returned to Odani. By this time, the Asai retainers had decided to remove Hisamasa and compelled him to step down in favor of Nagamasa. Hisamasa acquiesced to the elevation of his 15 year-old son and afterwards lived quietly in Odani.

He quickly proved himself a capable leader despite his young age and recaptured Fûto Castle in 1561 and soundly defeated a Rokkaku army at the Battle of Norada. After this success, his retainers are said to have commented that the young Nagamasa was his grandfather reincarnated. Perhaps to mark the occasion, he changed his name to Nagamasa, by which he is best known. He next attacked into Mino and clashed with the Saitô. The Rokkaku took advantage of Nagamasa's preoccupation to lay siege to his Sawayama Castle in Ômi, which he saved by promptly dispatching Isono Kazumasa with a relief force. Following a territorial dispute with Oda Nobunaga over Mino province, an alliance was arranged between the two warlords and sealed with the marriage of Nobunaga's sister Oichi (formerly Shibata Katsuie's wife) to Nagamasa (1564).

In 1570 Nobunaga, now master of Kyoto, made war against the Asakura of Echizen. Though related to Oda by marriage, Nagamasa was bound by a much longer standing pact of friendship with the Asakura. He consulted his retainer band and almost all of his most important followers advised going to the Asakura's aid. Among the few dissenters was Endo Naotsune, a capable soldier who had earlier opposed allying with Nobunaga and was destined to die in the upcoming battle at Anegawa. Nagamasa declared war on Nobunaga and threatened the Oda army from the rear even as it drove into the Asakura lands. Nobunaga, assisted by Tokugawa Ieyasu, was able to withdraw more or less without serious loss, but bore Nagamasa a bitter grudge afterwards. Nobunaga and Ieyasu took an army to reduce Odani in the summer of 1570, prompting Asakura Yoshikage to send an army to Nagamasa's aid. The Asai and Asakura lost the resulting Battle of Anegawa (July 1570), a contest in which the Asai lost Endo Naotsune and hundreds of soldiers. Nagamasa and his Asakura allies replied later that same year with a victory near Otsu that cost Nobunaga a younger brother.

Nagamasa found himself part of a loose anti-Oda confederation that included the unlikely alliance of Asai, Asakura, Rokkaku, and Enryakuji monks, possibly in cooperation with the shôgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Further attempts by Nobunaga to bring down Odani in 1571 and 1572 were either thwarted by the appearance of the Asakura army or crises elsewhere. Unfortunately, the death of Nobunaga's most formidable enemy, Takeda Shingen, meant that the full attentions of the Oda could be leveled on Ômi and Echizen. In 1573, Nobunaga laid siege to Sawayama Castle, which was held by Isono Kazumasa. Kazumasa managed to hold out for months but in the end was compelled to surrender. Nagamasa responded by putting Kazumasa's elderly mother, a hostage at Odani, to death. Nobunaga turned against Odani once again, drawing out the Asakura army, which was ambushed and routed before it could reach Nagamasa. Now isolated and seeing the end had come, Nagamasa returned O-ichi and his three daughters to Nobunaga, and committed seppuku. Nagamasa's son and only hier, Manpukumaru, was not allowed to live, and was put to the sword Nobunaga.

The Asai's army was considered an effective force and, in fact, at Anegawa, it came very close to defeating Nobunaga's larger force. The Asai relied on the support of their retainer clans, which included the Isono, Atsuji, Shinjo, Akao, Amemori, and Imai, and in total could muster some 10,000 men for battle. These troops were equipped with a somewhat higher number of rifles then one might find in a clan of the Asai's means since, during the 1560's, they and the Asakura collaborated on a gun-making workshop at Kunimoto (Ômi).

One of Asai's daughters would eventually become Toyotomi Hideyoshi's mistress (the famous Yodo-gimi) and would produce the unfortunate Toyotomi Hideyori, with whom she would die at Osaka Castle (1615). Ironically, another ended up married to Tokugawa Hidetada and was the mother of the 3rd Tokugawa shogun: Iemitsu.

Weaponry:
Nagamasa's weapon of choice is a dark blue lance body, with a golden lance head, a wide handle coloured in gold also.

Critical Strike:
Nagamasa holds his lance upwards and brings it down fiercely, beating the ground and creating a wide-radius shockwave. The downside is that generals/players aren't affected and it can't be used too often: 2 times per battle.





Image was too large, but I hope that's okay.

[Admin]

-Accepted

[gazake]

Character Biography:
Account: gazake
Name: Oichi
Age: 25
Affiliation: Azai

Physical Imagery:


History:
Few women in Japanese history have quite the pathos of Oichi, a sister of Oda Nobunaga renowned for her beauty. She was initially married to Shibata Katsuie after the latter begged pardon for an abortive rebellion in 1557. Following Nobunaga's conquest of Mino in 1567, Nobunaga made Shibata divorce Oichi so that she might be sent as wife to the young Asai Nagamasa, lord of North Ômi province. Through Nagamasa she bore one son (Manpukumaru)[1] and three daughters. Unfortunately, Nagamasa betrayed his alliance with Nobunaga in 1570 and went to war with him on behalf of the Asakura family. The fighting continued for three years until the Asakura were destroyed and Nagamasa's Odani Castle was surrounded. Nobunaga requested that his sister be returned to him, and this Nagamasa allowed, sending out Oichi and her three daughters, as well as Manpukumaru. Nagamasa then perished, and Manpukumaru was soon put to death by Nobunaga, leaving Oichi to be shuffled back to Katsuie (though when this happened seems to be a point of debate).
In 1583, following Nobunaga's death, Shibata Katsuie and Toyotomi Hideyoshi went to war over the issue of succession. Katsuie's army was crushed at Shizugatake in the hills of northern Ômi, and the old general himself (who had not been present at the battle) shut himself up in Ichi no tani with the intention of committing suicide. He begged Oichi to take her daughters and flee but to no avail. Oichi did send her daughters into Hideyoshi's care, but stayed herself to die with Katsuie as his castle was engulfed in flames.
One of her daughters, the future Yodogimi would add yet another element of tragedy to this tale, although another would marry Tokugawa Hidetada - the 2nd Tokugawa shôgun - and produce the 3rd shôgun, Iemitsu.

Weaponry:
Pink sakura hoops, with details in gold and blue and blades jutting from the circumference.


Critical Strike:
Oichi spins her hoops around in a beautiful fashion, knocking nearby soldiers out with her outstanding beauty and decreasing their morale. The downside is that, as with Nagamasa's CS, generals/players aren't affected, and Oichi is kinda busy dancing around, so she can't do much to the knocked out soldiers. Usable 2 times per battle.

[Fūma Kotarō [Andae]]

Okay, if you're planning to use Oichi as an NPC, you will have to start your own faction.

If she is to be a second main character, then all seems to be in order, however, I reccomend that you give her a Critical Strike, once this has been done, then everything seems to be okay, I'll allow Daimyo to make a comment before I accept her, just in case I've missed something.

(If she's an NPC helper... You will be unable to join my Faction.)

[kangasha]

Oda is still open~

(Ok, I really am going for my allocated time now. XD)

[Fūma Kotarō [Andae]]

Okay, an extra note, and not relevant at all, but, if anyone wishes to speak to me, please, PM me, as the Cbox isn't working for me at this current time, plus, I'm on my phone right nao.

But, to make some relevance, Kangasha, if Gazake is planning on having Oichi as Azai's NPC, then he'll have to start his own faction, or remain a Ronin, since only Ronin and faction leaders can have NPC's

[gazake]

Yes, she was supposed to be my second character, I just couldn't think of any critical strike, so I N/A'd for a time. But now I edited it, and everything's fine.

[Fūma Kotarō [Andae]]

Alrighty, everything appears in order, sorry if I seemed confrontational about her being an NPC, I was just referring to our agreement, either way, in my eyes, she's now accepted, since you edited in a Critical Strike before Daimyo reviewed her, she's now welcome approved officially, good luck in this feudal time, Oichi ^_^