:-::The Ryuu Clan::-:
"Where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valor to dare to live."
Overview:
The Ryuu are a Lightning Country clan made up mostly of multiple farming families, but a handful of them live within Kumogakure and are mostly members who can trace their bloodline back to the last Elder Bloodline. The entire clan itself, farmer or shinobi, tends towards being a naturally curious people, and have a natural talent for at least one thing. Rather that be the most exceptional green thumb, or perfecting a ninjutsu that had been long extinct in practice, the Ryuu are a clan full of talent in every aspect. However, this talent also seems to be their downfall as a lingering curse continues to effect them multiple generations after the persecution by one of their own. This curse appears randomly and doesn’t seem to follow any specific bloodline but, rather anyone talented who takes up the Ryuu surname. This ruination is a madness that drives one to to their death; usually through obsession.
History:
The Ryuu Clan is a tribe that once could be traced back to mankind’s earliest days. Legends of their deeds and travels that once delighted the ears of many have long since been lost. They were a nomadic people who traveled the world with a purpose of finding and sealing away weapons that could prove potentially world ending. Ruled by three Elder Bloodlines, the Clan Heads were all chosen by lineage and rotation, meaning each of the three Elder lines ruled one after another and rotated through a specific order. The last of these heads, a man by the name of Ryuu Tengokai, was a person who many of the clan considered at one time to be the perfect leader. Aside from being just, yet stern, Tengokai had complete control over his own chakra and could master anything set before him to a point that it became an obsession to master the many arts of his clan until he had perfected every last one; many of which are still taught by the Keepers of the Tongue. However, his curiosity was insatiable, and once he became the Clan Head the man began to study the ancient lore that was only to be passed down to each new leader, before deciding to seek out the weapons his clan had long ago sealed away from the hands of those such as himself.
Inevitably, this was the clan’s downfall. The first sealed relic Teng went to seek out was a sword of darkness and destruction that housed an ancient being who wanted nothing more than for the world to fall into sheer chaos. The trek towards the weapon itself took the nomads through the harshest regions of the northern world, and that alone saw a majority of the Ryuu Clan either die or break off. Once the Head found the weapon and unsealed it, the madness the cursed sword held overwhelmed him. He killed everyone who had followed his mad trek except a total of twenty people who managed to get away; two of them being his wife and newborn son. Over the course of many decades, Tengokai searched the world out to hunt down his remaining family and uncover the locations of several other cursed weapons. He managed to kill all but five of the original twenty that had escaped him before finally being stopped in Sunagakure by his own sons and the warriors of Suna.
The Ryuu Clan of Kumogakure was one of the three Elder Bloodlines that saw where Teng’s madness was heading, and broke off long before they began to travel north as they dissented against the trek to start with. With them came the Keepers of the Tongue, a sect of historians who tracked the collection of cursed weapons and jutsu the clan picked up from their lifetimes of travels. Yet despite removing themselves from the clan, it wasn’t long before they too were all hunted by the Clan Breaker. After just barely evading the madman for another two decades, the clan finally found safety within the borders of Lightning. Posing as farmers with extensive crop knowledge gathered from across the world, the clan settled down as close to the shinobi village as they could and stayed quiet for another twenty years before the youngest child began to exhibit signs of genius that Kumogakure quickly scooped up; the daughter of Sukang, Ryuu Rei.
The current status of the Ryuus and the home to the rare few who wish to become shinobi from their extensive family of farmers, is all due to the current Main Branch Sennin and her tireless efforts to revive her once proud clan.
:-:Branches:-:
:Main Branch:
Headed by: Ryuu Rei
To be Succeeded by: TBD
Members: Ryuu Rei
While most of the clan lives outside of Kumogakure as farmers, a small part of them lives inside of the shinobi city in their own estate settled closely to the Ancient Forest. The members who live here are the current head’s immediate family, the Keepers of the Tongue, and any member from the farm lands who wishes to live the life of a shinobi.
:-:Extended Branches:-:
While the Ryuu Clan has settled in Lightning after the clan’s original shattering, their roots are in nomadic culture. Despite that a great deal of the Elder Bloodlines were completely destroyed by Tengokai, there survives a handful of families who can trace their linage back to the Ryuus of Kumo.
:-:Membership and Attributes:-:
:Birth:
Highly Intelligent/Insane: No matter what field or talent that shows in a Ryuu, even if their potential doesn’t quite match up, every last member exhibits an increased intelligence. This higher intellect comes with a curse, though, as the more talented an individual, the more likely they’ll become insane. This curse always begins to exhibit itself when a Ryuu’s hair turns white either over night, or during a horrifyingly stressful event. Ever increasingly the transformed Ryuu begins to become obsessed with their research and slowly but surely, enters realms of complete madness that tends to see the end of them. The rare few that reach this edge of death and come back always become legends within the clan itself.
Elongated Ears: While not a dominate trait, a lot of the Ryuu clan have extended ear tips that vary in extremes. Some are just slightly less rounded, and some are extendedly pointed. It is joked that their ancestors are the reason people created elves in fantasy literature.
Birthmark:
A Ryuu born of the Elder Bloodline will always have a birthmark somewhere on them in the shape of a dragon’s head. This symbol holds a special power that can only be accessed by consuming a human soul; a taboo so terrible that only the Keepers know of it. The awakened mark unlocks the Ryuu’s entire potential on the spot but with a terrible backlash that could potentially kill them faster than their own cursed madness. (Cursed Seal Variant)
:Adoption:
Due to the clan’s orientation as a nomadic tribe, there seems to be no limits on what constitutes a “Ryuu.” Anyone, from any background, has the opportunity to be adopted, marry into, or swear an allegiance with the clan. After all, they were once a giant family that boasted all kinds of people who once traveled the entire world.
Build Notes:
Preferred CA/Bloodline:
As the clan is mostly made up of a mixture of many bloodlines, it isn’t unusual to see a random kekkei genkai appear in any child of the Ryuu clan. However, many of them that become full fledged shinobi are usually not of any specific ability and just incredible masters over their own chakra. As such most Ryuus in the shinobi corps tend to favor the Chakra Attuned core ability.
