Mnemon Yoyaku
Basic Info
Full Name: Mnemon Harasa Shenmue Yoyaku
Rank: Archon
Player: Dan H
Aspect: Water
Concept: Enterprising archon
Political Affiliation: Loyalist (Supports an Emperor/Empress, not necessarily the Empress)
Anima: Yak
Motivation: Seat a member of House Mnemon on the throne (His great grandmother would be just fine, if she and several others were to be greeted with unfortunate accidents and he were forced to step up in their place, just as well...)
Weapon of Choice: Black Jade Daiklave ('Ragnarok')
Armor of Choice: Green Jade Lamellar ('Shogun's Scales')
Fighting Style: A mixture of standard Daiklave fighting techniques taught to Legion officers and a few tricks picked up from the Magistrates
Background
Unusual for the children of House Mnemon, particularly of Harasa's line, Yoyaku took very little interest in spirituality or sorcery as a child. Though this disappointed his parents, his sharp wit and knack for clever reasoning enforced their hope that the blood of the Dragons ran within him yet. His performance in primary school ranged from poor to average, much to the chagrin of his family -- Yoyaku's work ethic was notoriously poor, and his marks in school reflected this. Though his family, as nobility, was wealthy enough to buy his way into a decent education, they worried about his chances at one of the four major Academies -- though he was excellent physical specimen, he had not yet Exalted at age 15, and was far below the cutoff for mortal students at even second-best level schools. He impressed his parents yet again, however, when he engineered his own admission into the Spiral Academy -- circumventing both the institutions private security measures and agents of the All-Seeing-Eye, Yoyaku managed to secure proof of an important faculty member's private treason and heresy. He spread word of the information among his closest friends and their allies, ensuring that the information would surface if Yoyaku came to any harm. Then, he effectively blackmailed his way into a spot at the academy, angering many more qualified students and their families above whom Yoyaku was admitted. These people would be the first in a very long line of enemies Yoyaku was to make in the coming years.
Contrary to his performance in primary school, Yoyaku actually did fairly well at the Spiral Academy. Though he still did poorly on most written tests, caring very little to study, he excelled at oral exams and projects -- Yoyaku, for as lackadaisical as he was, got very excited about circumventing the rules. In order circumvent the rules, one had to learn them. As a result, Yoyaku became intimately familiar with Imperial Law, and, more importantly, its loopholes. He was lauded by his instructors for continually coming up with creative and unorthodox solutions to problems, often more efficient and, usually by some exception or nuance, still legal. He was watched closely by members of House Mnemon who would hope to appoint him a Senator in coming years -- his penchant for finding a way to make almost anything legal within some interpretation of Law would serve them well if they ever hoped to ascend to the throne, given the sort of tactics they were prepared to put into use.
In his upperclass years at the academy, Yoyaku began to develop an interest in the divisions of military in the Realm, seeing it as a serious setback -- He cared little for the complex web of Legion forces, private house armies, house funded legions, and mercenary/merchant forces. For the first time becoming passionate about a subject, his final research project was the design of a system by which all militaries in the Realm could be aggregated into one force, controlled by a Council of representatives from each House, the weight of whose votes was measured by their contribution to the military force and the productivity of any merchants that needed protection. It was considered a successful, if not idealistic project, and Yoyaku graduated from the Spiral Academy with an emphasis in Military Law.
This suited his elders in House Mnemon just fine. They hoped to get him appointed as Senator serving on a Military Committee. Given that any move they made for the throne would be largely political and sorcerous, Yoyaku's presence in a militarily influential body would serve to protect against what would almost certainly be a military opposition from the Roseblack. At their urging (a man with military experience would be a more credible candidate for a military advisory seat within the Senate), Yoyaku joined a threshold Legion and served as an officer during one of their tours. Yoyaku, though he never cared much for a regimented lifestyle, had developed a strong respect for the necessity of rules, and was loathe to tolerate some of the gross violations of Law and indulgences in blatant House intrigue he witnessed, largely the doing of the Legion's general. Acting rashly, he arranged for a coup among other sympathetic troops in his unit, a disastrous effort that resulted both in the defeat of the Legion in battle and the death of its general. Upon his return to the Blessed Isle, his elders were fed up with his continued passive-aggressive streak, alternately demanding respect for the Laws and ideals of the Realm, and then flaunting them in the name of alleged heroism. Up for Court Martial, and subsequent exile or worse, the elders of House Mnemon decided Yoyaku was too much effort to be worth wasting money and favors on, and had essentially abandoned him to the sharks circling in the sea, clamoring for his exposed flesh.
At the last minute, Yoyaku's rebellious streak went unpunished yet again. A magistrate saw his talent for manipulating the law and his underlying passion for a Realm not so lacking in integrity, and saved him from court martial by appointing him an archon. The magistrate trained Yoyaku in the ways of the magistracy, often utilizing his knowledge of the internal workings of the military by making him a liason in relevant cases. The disappearance of the Empress dealt a harsh blow to the laws of the Realm, and, in particular, the magistracy. Today, Yoyaku fancies himself a wandering beacon of justice, fighting to restore order to a Realm on the verge of descent into chaos.