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Commission: Princess Kai — Description

Princess Kai of the Taguchi Clan, the Tenebrese Shogunate's assassin. This is a piece commissioned by JustMark on discord, and the character is owned by both of us. The first image is just her holding a mask of a random woman, the second one is her revealing her true self.
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Here's a little backstory of this particular character:
Several decades ago, in the northern region of the Moonlit Empire of Tenebris, news spread that a certain sea demon family has been greeted with open arms by the Grand Boyar Radomir IV. They call themselves the Sakanoue, and over the years they produced some of the finest warriors, craftsmen and statesmen. Even with the northerners' awareness of the family's true nature being that of sea demons, those within the family still continue to wear synthetic skin disguises to appear more human. After all, the whole area is a trade haven, and nobody wants to scare any outsiders from doing business there. But the north has its own laws and customs, therefore the rest of the empire consider them social outsiders for allowing such sacrilege to take place... However, their mastery in trade, artistry, firearms and foreign weaponry as well as their undying loyalty to the imperial family meant that while they earned the ire of the shogunate, the region has proven itself far too useful to destroy.

But back in the main land, things were seen differently even up until this present day. Such was the story of the troubled Taguchi clan. This sea demon clan, thinking they could get the same privilege if they show loyalty to the Lunarch Emperor were given the chance to prove themselves. The Taguchi clan had already amassed wealth while in disguise, but their biggest mistake was revealing themselves as a gesture of unwavering loyalty, thinking this would allow the sea demons who cannot afford to disguise themselves as humans to be treated as true citizens. But this was one of their biggest mistakes, as the shoguness took this as an offense of deception, and just when their power came to great heights, the shogunate initiated an inquisition after coercing the Lunarch Emperor to back down from stopping her. The main reason for this disastrous tragedy was that the clan has been accused of rebellion and political takeover even with so little evidence. The shoguness asked her lords for aid, but the northern territories' nobility and the crusader orders stationed there expressed extreme disgust from these events, claiming the evidence brought against the Taguchi clan wasn't strong enough and so they ultimately chose not to intervene, furthering the animosity between them and the shogunate.

This attack caught the Taguchi clan by surprise, as several men-at-arms, raiders and paladins from different clans and groups pillaged every single one of their lands in order to reclaim it either for themselves or in the name of the shogunate. Though the Taguchi clan faced downfall, one of them survived: Princess Kai. The princess was once meek and shy, and rarely seen in public eye. But most claim that the political machinations her clan was involved in changed her into a more bitter and spiteful person even so far as to be ashamed of showing her real sea demon form. What's more confusing is how she came to be under the shogunate's command despite being the very creature they seek to eradicate. Whatever her reasons may be, not a single soul within the empire knows the answer to. But the Shogunate's inquisition raged on and thus, Princess Kai became one of the shoguness' favoured assassins. Secretly taking out any disguised sea demons and taking over their identities to cause trouble among the shogunate's enemies.

She once set out to sow chaos in the north as part of a false flag operation, by acting as a diplomat to steal the crowned helmet of the Grand Boyar. With it, the helmet would be given to rivals of the region's ruling family in the hopes of getting someone more sympathetic to the Shoguness' cause to rule that part of the empire, but the whole operation was uncovered by an inquisitor working for the Grand Boyar. Once word got out of what really happened, Princess Hilda of the Sakanoue along with her fellow northern paladins marched towards the ministry's building with a retinue of mercenary routiers and streltsy in an attempt to make her and the shogunate guard leave. But the situation escalated, and the ensuing fight resulted in the defeat of Princess Kai, forcing her to surrender. After the incident, the current Grand Boyar Dmitri held her for ransom. The shame of it led the shogunate to pay and make up for the whole blunder, claiming Princess Kai was merely ordered to conduct diplomatic activities and things simply got out of hand as an attempt to wipe a stain in their public image. But this did not stop the renegade princess from taking on what she's good at. Though the northern operation failed, her covert activities continued within the mainland.

The truth about the princess' identity is far more sinister. As the real Princess Kai died during the night of the inquisition's assault, killed by someone she trusts dearly with her life... and that someone turned out to be the very person who now wears her synthetic skin disguise: the clan's head maid, another sea demon just like her. This head maid was one of the several individuals paid off by the Shoguness to spy on the clan, easily bought since the head daimyo as well as the other nobles of the Taguchi clan would abuse her even for the smallest of infractions.
Now, she took over the princess' identity and ran a story with it. Styling herself as "Shinjya," after a vengeful snake-like woman of Tenebrese legend. She wields twin shashka sabres dipped in poison and a broom-handle pistol as the main tools for her job, all of which are considered exotic weapons obtained during her operation up north. As her name became more and more notorious, she would be feared among the criminal underworld as the princess who stopped her clan "from causing a huge rebellion and putting the empire at risk." Just as the shoguness planned, this story spread like wildfire and it put shame to the already dead clan's name, and placed fear into the hearts of any would be rebels.