Midori Clan
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Of the Sushi Schoolgirl Squad
Clan Overview
Being of the earth, born with stone grit under their nails and a stoic demeanor, the Midori are a family filled with love, fertility and very little internal strife. It is a very large family, numbering at modern day into the hundreds with each generation bringing forth their cluster of Midori daughters to serve the family cause. As each wave comes forward and graduates into the cause, the previous retires to raise the next generation and bring on prosperity.
The daughters of the Midori family are left to their own devices and interests so much that they are often mistaken for being totally undisciplined until their 13th birthday. They are nurtured and kept safe until the time of 'The Awakening', an event in which each chosen Midori of a generation awake in their beds and retrace the footsteps of the blood ancestor first gifted. It is on this night where the secrets of the family gifts are truly handed down by the current Patron or Matron of the family. The true secret of the Midori family is summed up in the words of their first gifted daughter before the first Great Sushi Battle.
"It is my duty, with my father's strength and power that I stand before all of the Sushi and take the hate others would pour on them! I will take the wave that comes and the pain it brings. I will stand unmoved by the tide and the fires of the afterworld! I will protect my sisters in all things where I can, and prevent any hurt I see so that life might grow from fertile soil. My gift is to weather the storm, the derision this demon would show for our traditions, the aggressions of those that would fear us... and most of all, the strongest of dangers and one I may regret... this most horrific beating I am about to receive. What? What are you looking at me like that for?!... I said it's my duty, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!"
That was the first time she died and the daughter of Sakiko was forced to raise her from the grave. A tradition that would continue with many of the other clans picking up the weight when it became too much and the rites too many... until under duress, some Midori daughters were forced to learn Empathy toward humanity to make up for all of the lost time resurrecting them.
Over time and training to become a true Sushi, Earth is surged like water and stone dusted into the wind. It is a tradition focusing hard on working with the other gifted daughters of each Clan in efforts to best achieve the mutual goals of love, life, happiness and destruction of every demon on the Earth. The training begins with years of meditation, coming into balance with the world everywhere and learning to understand the need of earth for all of the other elements to thrive-- for life itself to thrive --because without it none would be able to stand strong against the threats ahead. Trees would not grow, rain would drown the Earth and everyone would die of starvation.
After 4 years the Meditation continues but is intermixed with hours of martial training every day. Many would suggest the family is obsessed with the temple-like atmosphere of their training grounds and the enormous amount of ritual in their every living day. Many young Midori would say some very unpleasant things about the ritual if you were allowed to get close enough to ask. In time, a Midori learns to hug the sunrise like a friend, to greet the sunset as a welcome respite and treat the night as a time of solitude... and the only time to sneak out of the temple.
Understandably, many daughters among the Midori become slightly crazed by all of the focus on them, causing some to act out and become complete harridans in an attempt to rebel. It is for this reason that until their 18th birthday, many but the most provenly virtuous Midori daughters are forced to live at the Midori Temple an hour outside of Tokyo... As far away as possible from the distractions of civilization and the near cult-like status that years of loose-living daughters have brought on them from the male half of Tokyo night life. In some of the soap bars by the harbor, they still tell stories of the night Sakion Midori bathed in rice wine, lit herself on fire by virtue of her stone skin and ran naked through the streets screaming about the incoming attack of flying tentacle monsters. This was followed by a dip in the harbor and attempts to ravish every man in sight to "save them from the horror of the monsteru!" until knocked unconscious and dragged home by a Midori Matron. Suffice to say, that was the last time a Midori was allowed to lead the Cherry Blossom Celebratory parade.
In this time, it is Grandfather Midori, once a Shinto Priest and oldest scion of the Midori clan that ensures family discipline... A stern bamboo cane and a kind word assure the daughters listen to him. It is rumored his only interest in the girls is a deep seated and satisfying need to bring grief down on the young men of Tokyo that often come around seeking to know the true nature of their virtue.
To this day not one young man has stepped foot through the front arches of Midori temple!
...Mainly because the girls let them in the back.
Noticeable Clan Habits & Characteristics
The Midori Clan is an old and very respected family, rich in tradition but in most cases, still very fertile in outlook. They see the world much as a chunk of granite might watch the passage of time. For this reason it is not uncommon to see Midori girls that never flinch, never react until they need to, and rarely if ever over-react. Their schooling takes place at temple until they are 18, unless ungifted in which case they continue in standard Japanese public schools. Such time in solitude but among family, lends many of them an educated view despite ingrained naivety. Often shocked by the outlandishness of others even if occasionally prone to acting out themselves, many would blush as soon as get a ripe joke, while a few may even chide the joker for their efforts.
Stoic, hard working, and dedicated, the Midori Clan is well known for it's unflagging endurance in the face of its enemies. The are as strong as stone, but yet easily moved like sand when their hearts require it.
Clan Duties
- Maintaining the Midori Temple in Mitaka, Japan.
- Protecting other Sushi from dangerous situations whenever possible.
- Patrolling wooded areas, and protecting the Earth from profiteers that would mis-use the gifts it gives. Companies such as the Cage Consortium and groups like the Devouring Earth take tremendous losses when even a single Midori finds them perverting nature's bounty.
