Baron Tohan Liu

Wu-sau Tohan was a remarkable individual; during his lifetime, the intense cold of the northern steppes magnified, and the nomadic barbarian tribes were forced farther and farther to the south as the herds they followed were driven out of their historic ranges. This brought them into conflict with T'chador. Whereas for hundreds of years previous, barbarians would raid the southern kingdoms to gain booty and prove their manhood, never before had they to depend on these raids for food and other provisions, and never before had they raided on such a scale.

The grandfather of the current emperor of T'chador was also a man of vision; he saw his northern borders come under nearly constant assault, and realized the cost that this constant war to maintain his border would bankrupt the empire, and bring about his downfall. He also saw the changes in the climate, driving his rice-growing peasants out of the now cooler northern lands. The land the barbarians invaded would soon be deserted anyways. Was a line on a map worth dying for?

Meanwhile, Wu-sau had come to a similar conclusion. The lands which his people had always lived in were no longer able to support their numbers. He gathered about him an unprecedented force of barbarian warriors, numbering some third of the total barbarians on the steppes. He succeeded in destroying the northern fortifications, and marched on the capital.

The emperor himself met Wu-sau outside the city. He offered Wu-sau the northern lands, and the right to an hereditary position in the empire. Wu-sau looked at his hungry people, and at the wealth of the city before him. He looked at the high walls, and the thousands of men waiting to die upon them. Finally, he knelt before the emperor, and kissed his hand. And stood, and began to list his demands...

Wu-sau settled his people into the lands granted him by the emperor. Those few of the previous inhabitants who had stayed were treated well by the new inhabitants, for they grew the food that the barbarians lived on that winter. New herds were brought down from the steppes, and the barbarians set out to drive and manage them as their ancestors had, here in this new land.

When Wu Sau died at a very advanced age, he was mourned both in the empire and across the steppes. He had won the respect of the imperial nobles, and a golden effigy was placed in the hall of nobles with the full ceremony accorded any of the traditional first families. But he had won the respect of his own people as well; not just the 12 clans which had settled with him, but also those still scattered across the froen north. When they had come to him for food, with their women and children starving, Wu Sau had given it to them. When they had come for combat, painted red and calling their ancestral cries, Wu Sau had fought them. And Wu Sau was buried in the hall of the clans, far north of his new home, in a land where the color green no longer came.

Wu Sau's sons fought among themselves for the right to succeed their father, in the traditional ways. Chu Jai Sau won the last of the combats, and became the second Lord Tohan. Chu Jai Sau was competent, capable - and barbarian to the core. He was easily manipulated by court politics, and after several embarrassing encounters, largely withdrew from the capital, and lived in his duchy. Though loyal to the emperor, and fearsome in combat, he played little part in the tumult of that era. He was invaluable to the emperor as a strong right arm who asked few questions - and the armies of the house Tohan quickly became the final threat offered to rebellious nobles.

Chu Jai Sau died on the steppes, and was taken to the hall of the clans without returning to the capitol. His succession also was decided through combat, and Liu Sau became the third lord Tohan. Liu is massively strong, and well respected in his clan for his even temper and good judgement. However, he has become increasingly embroiled in imperial politics, and it remains to be seen whether that is a sea he can swim in, or is better leaving to the bigger fish.