Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the property of Rumiko Takahashi
and her publishers. I am merely using the characters for
the purpose of profit-free entertainment and make no claim
on them.
Vincent Seifert has kindly provided webspace for most of my
fanfics and links to the rest at the following address:
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/kagami/
You can contact me at: kagami@jeack.com.au
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AN AWAKENING OF DEMONS
Cardinal Points - An Integral Concept:
Each of the four Demon Lords represents one of the
cardinal points: the principal points of the compass -
East, South, West, North. In turn, each Demon Lord has four
cardinal servitors directly below them, again representing
the four cardinal points. These servitors are usually the
Lord's most powerful demonic servants and in many cases,
they represent ancient beings that sometimes seem vastly
more powerful than the Demon Lord himself. In these cases,
a new Lord must overcome his servitor in some form of
contest before that being will agree to serve him, though
precisely why such an ancient being would agree to serve a
Demon Lord remains a mystery.
The four cardinal servitors represent an extra source of
power that the Demon Lord can call upon, with each servitor
usually granting a ruling Lord some type of increase in
power or new ability. This makes direct command over his
cardinal servitors the very first action that a new Demon
Lord has to achieve in order to secure his position. (Note
that while I have consistently used the masculine
possessive above, the new Demon Lord might very well be
female or neuter, rather than male).
A Character List:
CHIKUMO, also CHIGUMO
Position: A spider demon. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Unknown.
Powers/Attack:
(1) Mental attack.
(2) Dream invasion.
Notes:
(1) Chikumo (also written as Chigumo) means 'earth spider'.
(2) Perished in a dream assault on Ranma.
Brief History and Description:
One of four elemental spider brothers, Chikumo commanded
the element of earth in Shukumaru's service. He and his
brothers sought revenge for the loss of their fourth
brother to the South. Chikumo survived the final battle
against Yami-no-Tsume eighteen years ago only to perish as
he invaded Ranma's dreams in order to control him. A mental
voice, apparently that of Yami-no-Tsume, appeared in
Ranma's mind and destroyed him.
Chikumo appears as a large clear crystalline spider with
a facetted surface.
HEIZEN-TO-NO-KAMAITACHI
Position: A cardinal servitor of the Demon Lord of the
South. He represents the North.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Psychotic.
Powers/Attack:
(1) Sickle Tail: As a sickle weasel, Heizen-To's tail has
developed into a massive curved blade of metal. Called the
'Cutting Wind', his tail can strike with blinding speed and
slice through anything it hits.
Notes:
(1) Heizen-To can be translated as 'without compunction'.
(2) Kamaitachi can be translated as 'sickle weasel'.
Brief History and Description:
As one of three brother sickle weasels, Heizen-To desired
to grow his tail-blade with the deaths of his victims.
However, they always worked as a team, with his elder
brother knocking down a victim, Heizen-To cutting, and his
younger brother healing the wound. As a result, his tail
never increased in size. Eventually, Heizen-To's mania
overcame his sanity and he slew his brothers. He embarked
on a spree of savage murders, killing many humans and
demons, and growing his tail and gathering great personal
power. Finally, he became a cardinal servitor to the Demon
Lord of the South and serves as an assassin.
Heizen-To attempts to assassinate Ranma and Shukumaru
during their confrontation at the Tokyo harbour piers but
Ranma manages to detect him and hurls both himself and
Shukumaru away from the killing blow of the 'Cutting Wind'.
The mission having failed, Heizen-To retreats but declares
that they will meet him again.
Eighteen years ago, he killed Shukumaru's human lover,
Hikaru, at the behest of the Demon Lord of the East after
bringing word of her indiscretions to his attention. He was
acting as Ambassador to the Eastern Court then.
Heizen-To appears as a molten silver wolf of enormous
size with a massive metallic sickle at the end of his tail.
HIKUMO, also HIGUMO
Position: A spider demon. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Unknown.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Flame Ghosts: Hikumo can summon up spirits of flame
to attack opponents.
Notes:
(1) Hikumo (also written as Higumo) means 'fire spider'.
(2) Perished in Shukumaru's rebellion.
Brief History and Description:
One of four elemental spider brothers, Hikumo commanded
the element of fire in Shukumaru's service. He was
destroyed in the final battle eighteen years ago, frozen
and shattered by Kori-Otome's attack.
Hikumo appears as a large flame-red spider, about three
feet across.
HIWAI OUSHI
Position: An oni. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Three hundred years old.
Character: Arrogant, lustful, perverted.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) As a demon of some age, Hiwai protects his soul in an
unusual location, within his male member, keeping his body
invulnerable to most weapons.
Notes:
(1) Hiwai Oushi can be translated as 'obscene bull'.
Brief History and Description:
A bull-ogre of three hundred years, Hiwai Oushi attempted
to capture Ryoga while the latter was trapped in his cursed
form. The 106th Devil Hunter of the Kuno Clan, Kodachi
Kuno, appeared in time to save P-chan. After a desperate
battle, Kodachi managed to discover and destroy Hiwai's
soul, thus slaying the oni permanently.
Eighteen years ago, Hiwai Oushi commanded Shukumaru's
lesser oni in an attack on Yami-no-Tsume's headquarters. He
survives the battles then, only to fall to Kodachi in the
present.
Hiwai Oushi stands over eight feet tall, with a
impressively muscled figure and an imposing bull's head.
His black horns are streaked with gore from his past kills.
Obviously male, Hiwai has a large male member that he
proudly displays.
HONESHI THE BONE LORD
Position: An oni. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Enjoys converting the living to undead.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Animation of bones.
Notes:
(1) Honeshi translates as 'bone death'.
Brief History and Description:
A powerful oni whose main passion is slaying the living
and animating their bones for his own amusement, Honeshi
has little use for other beings. Shukumaru commands his
interest and temporary loyalty by offering him the chance
to kill many demons during her rebellion. He disappears
after she is imprisoned.
Honeshi is a near-skeletal figure, almost six feet in
height.
JAKUTEN
Position: Shukumaru's demonic servitor.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Servile and unctuous.
Powers/Attacks:
Unknown currently.
Notes:
(1) Jakuten can be translated as 'weakness'.
Brief History and Description:
Jakuten seems to be Shukumaru's relay to her oni
servants, launching the army of ogres at the Ranma and
friends at the Tokyo harbour pier before leaving with two
kitsune-tsuki (fox-demons) to abduct Nodoka Saotome. In
other words, he's Shukumaru's general dogsbody.
Jakuten is a short (about four feet tall) demon with
large bulging eyes and a lizard-like face. His ears stick
out prominently from the sides of his head. He carries a
wooden, metal-shod staff.
KORI-OTOME, also SHIMOYAKE
Position: A cardinal servitor to the Demon Lord of the
East. She represents the North.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Frigid.
Powers/Attacks:
Unknown currently - freezing attacks.
Notes:
(1) Kori-Otome translates as 'ice maiden'.
(2) Shimoyake translates as 'frostbite'.
Brief History and Description:
Kori-Otome is the sister to Yuki-Onna and is one of the
four cardinal servitors to the Demon Lord of the East. She
represents the Northern cardinal point. Her personality can
be best described as frigid and she has once rebuffed the
advances of Raiha the Thunderbeast.
Eighteen years ago, Shimoyake was instrumental in
surprising and defeating Shukumaru's sudden assault on Yami-
no-Tsume. She destroyed Niwatori and Hikumo by freezing
solid their bodies.
Kori-Otome appears as a six-foot tall albino woman with
pale blue hair and blue eyes.
MAKIZOKU ANSOU, also YAMI-NO-TSUME
Position: Demon Lord of the East. Father of Ranma and
Shukumaru. Lover of Nodoka.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Arrogant, desires a son to inherit.
Powers/Attacks:
Unknown currently.
Notes:
(1) Makizoku Ansou can be translated as 'demon noble dark
claw'.
(2) Yami-no-Tsume can be translated as 'claw of darkness'.
Brief History and Description:
Nineteen years ago, Yami-no-Tsume was the Demon Lord of
the East. He fell in love with a mortal woman, and took
human form and the name of Makizoku Ansou to woo her. The
woman, one Nodoka Saotome, reciprocated his ardent desires
and became pregnant with a child. Unfortunately, once
Nodoka told him she was pregnant he vanished from her life.
Despairing, bereft of honour, and certain that she had been
abandoned, she attempted to kill herself. However, a human
suitor of hers discovered her in the act and convinced her
to live. He married her and took her name, promising to
treat her child as his. This was Genma Saotome.
One month after Ranma's birth, Ansou appeared at the
Saotomes' doorstep, bleeding from grievous wounds suffered
in a desperate battle against his full demon daughter,
Shukumaru. He explained the story behind her betrayal and
his forced disappearance, begging Nodoka's forgiveness.
Ansou bequeathed his power to Ranma before dying.
Apparently Yami-no-Tsume sought out Nodoka Saotome after
learning that she was destined to give him a son. A male
heir was the one thing the Demon Lord of the East desired
more than any other, and his fascination and obsession with
Nodoka to the point of neglecting his realm led to
Shukumaru's rebellion.
Ansou was apparently very handsome as a human but little
is known about his true form.
MASAKADO
Position: Demon Lord of the South.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Self-indulgent, power-hungry.
Powers/Attacks:
Unknown currently.
Notes:
None.
Brief History and Description:
Located in Okinawa, Masakado intends to kill the
offspring of Ansou and lay claim to the position of Demon
Lord of the East. To this end, he has dispatched Heizen-To-
no-Kamaitachi, one of his cardinal servitors, to slay both
Ranma and Shukumaru.
Eighteen years ago, Masakado was due to marry Shukumaru
to seal the East and South in an alliance. Shukumaru had
other ideas and began a war between the South and West to
mask her own plans to acquire the Eastern Throne. The war
has lasted almost to the present, only simmering down two
years ago. It is still unknown whether Masakado realizes
the role Shukumaru played in starting the war. His actions
show he intends to conquer the East directly now, rather
than seek to wed Shukumaru again.
A self-indulgent Epicurean of questionable tastes,
Masakado sees the present conflict as a game of enjoyable
proportions. Apart from this, little is known about him.
MIZUKUMO, also MIZUGUMO
Position: A spider demon. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Unknown.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Poison Attack: Mizukumo injects a virulent toxin into
the bloodstream of anyone he bites.
Notes:
(1) Mizukumo (also written as Mizugumo) means 'water
spider'.
Brief History and Description:
One of four elemental spider brothers, Mizukumo commands
the element of water in Shukumaru's service. He is the only
surviving spider demon of the four brothers in the present.
He played an important role eighteen years ago, distracting
Yami-no-Tsume in the very last stages of the battle. He was
also vital at Kaminari-jinja when he bit and poisoned Akane
Tendo.
Mizukumo appears as a large bluish-white spider.
MUKETSU THE FLESHLESS
Position: A gaki. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: ~500 years old.
Character: Loyal, bloodthirsty, likes to kill.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Souldrain.
Notes:
(1) Muketsu translates as 'without blood/killing'.
(2) Perished in Shukumaru's rebellion.
Brief History and Description:
Muketsu is a gaki, a lost human soul reborn as an
endlessly hungry and soulless being. He was originally a
bloodthirsty warlord in the Muromachi period and when he
died, he was punished by transformation into a gaki.
Suffering eternal hunger in Jigoku, Muketsu managed to
escape into the world of the living where Shukumaru rescued
him after he attracted the attention of a Devil Hunter. He
bound himself over to her and served her loyally.
In her rebellion eighteen years ago, Muketsu sacrified
himself to permit Shukumaru to land a near-fatal blow on
Yami-no-Tsume and was banished back to Jigoku as a result.
Muketsu appears as a thin human being with glowing black
eyes, emanciated to the point of starvation.
NIWATORI
Position: An oni. Follower of Shukumaru.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Gloryseeker, insecure about his name.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Kazekiri the Windcutter: A large dual-bladed weapon
joined by a single haft. Niwatori can hurl this a
considerable distance and it returns to him like a boomerang.
Notes:
(1) Niwatori means 'chicken'.
(2) Perished in Shukumaru's revolt.
Brief History and Description:
Niwatori is a powerful oni lord with a hawk's head. He
always seeks to cover himself in glory in order to wash
away the stain of his humiliating name given to him by a
sadistic parent. Thus, he joined Shukumaru's rebellion and
fought well in one of the diversionary attacks, killing
many Gokuraku-Cho in battle.
He dies in Shukumaru's assault on Yami-no-Tsume, falling
to Kori-Otome's freezing attack.
Niwatori appears as a powerfully-built demon with a near
human body. He has a hawk's head with feathers, curved beak
and radial eyes. His feet are large talons.
RAIHA THE THUNDERBEAST
Position: A cardinal servitor to the Demon Lord of the
East. He represents the West.
Age: Unknown.
Character: Somber and humourless.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Raiha (Lightning Attack): Raiha can emit a blast of
lightning from his jaws and can permit a Demon Lord who
commands him to also use this power.
Notes:
(1) Raiha means 'lightning attack'.
Brief History and Description:
Raiha is one of the four cardinal servitors of the Demon
Lord of the East. He represents the Western cardinal point.
He served Yami-no-Tsume eighteen years ago as Chancellor of
the Eastern Court and a personal advisor. Today he grants
his powers to Shukumaru.
He acted as Shukumaru's secret weapon at Kaminari-jinja,
the Shrine of Thunder, and his sudden appearance nearly
spelled the defeat of Ranma and his friends.
Raiha appears as a huge wolf composed of crackling blue
lightning. He can also changed himself into a normal-sized
blue-furred wolf.
SHUKUMARU
Position: Ranma's half-sister.
Age: ~50 years old (still young for a demon).
Character: Arrogant, hates Ranma and Nodoka, seeks power.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Raiha (Lightning Attack): Shukumaru can breath a
blast of lightning at her victim(s).
(2) Dokkasou (Toxic Flower Claw): Vitriol drips from
Shukumaru's claw to corrode anything she touches or attacks.
(3) Sendokutsume (Thousand Poison Claws).
Notes:
(1) Shukumaru can be translated as 'perfect destiny'.
Brief History and Description:
Shukumaru is Ranma's half-sister, the daughter of Yami-no-
Tsume, the Demon Lord of the East and Ranma's actual demon
father, and an as yet unnamed demoness. Nineteen years ago,
Yami-no-Tsume assumed human guise and discarded Shukumaru's
mother to court a human woman: Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother.
He sought to beget a male heir to inherit the Eastern Throne
after him. This is the root of Shukumaru's hatred for the
Saotomes.
She also lost her only love at that time, a human boy
called Hikaru Gosunkugi, due to the machinations of her
father, who wanted her to marry Masakado and seal an
alliance with the South in order to safeguard his heirless
position.
Shukumaru slew her father in a savage battle, hoping to
claim both revenge and his position as Demon Lord of the
East. Unfortunately for her, Ansou sealed her away in a
magical prison as his last action and the seal has only
deteriorated recently. Now she has returned and her lust
for vengeance is even greater with eighteen years of
bitterness behind it. She intends to kill Ranma and Nodoka,
and claim the position of Demon Lord of the East.
Shukumaru stands nearly six feet tall, with white skin,
long white hair, piercing blue eyes, and pointed ears. Her
cheeks are traced with black markings and her fingers end
in sharp claws, denoting her demon heritage.
UMIBOUZU
Position: A cardinal servitor to the Demon Lord of the
East. He represents the South.
Age: Over five thousand years old.
Character: Very arrogant and bored.
Powers/Attacks:
(1) Fuuin (Power of Sealing): Granted to Umibouzu by
Susanoo-oh, his power permits him to go unnoticed in modern
times; there are other applications as well.
(2) Ankoku Shizumaru (Black Suppression): This seal
imprisons anyone captured by it and locks them away in a
pocket dimension of utter darkness. Also usable by the
Demon Lord.
Notes:
(1) Umibouzu can be translated as 'sea monster' or 'sea
monk'.
Brief History and Description:
Umibouzu is one of the four cardinal servitors of the
Demon Lord of the East. He represents the Southern cardinal
point. With the death of Yami-no-Tsume, he has finally
shown up in Tokyo Bay to find out why the successor to the
title has yet to contact him - the eighteen year interval
is but a blink of an eye to such an ancient beast.
His appearance sets up a challenge match between Ranma
and Shukumaru. Ranma inadvertently saves his revenge-hungry
half-sister from an assassination attempt by an agent of
the Demon Lord of the South and Shukumaru withdraws from
the challenge. Umibouzu agrees to grant his power to Ranma
in future battles - but not to serve him.
Eighteen years ago, Yami-no-Tsume draws on his power to
seal Shukumaru away.
Umibouzu appears as a classical Western sea serpent:
black scaled and fluked with a huge serpentine head. His
vast body stretches over a kilometer in length. Called the
Great Devourer, Umibouzu has long been the bane of many
ships and sailing vessels throughout the ages.