| Pipe | |
|---|---|
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| Details | |
| Race | Kami (Kirin Spirit) |
| Birthplace | Kamigawa |
Pipe, also known as the Skyfire Kirin, is one of the five legendary kirin kami from Kamigawa that are known to meet with each other every 1,000 years.
History[ | ]
Pipe is one of the five legendary kirin kami of Kamigawa representing red. He can appear both as a flaming kirin with red, purple, and green scales along his skin and as an old human man. When appearing as a human he often uses a pipe and his eyes reflect the ruby glow of the embers in his pipe bowl. The acrid smell of sulfur and brimstone also emanate from him.
As the Kami War began, the five kirin met up as they do every 1,000 years. They met in a small teahouse inside a painting in Minamo. Pipe was one of the first to show up along with Silverbeard both playing a strange chess-like game while awaiting the others. As the other kirin discussed mortals and the ongoing Kami War, Pipe argued for non-interference while some of the others argued to either help or kill them. He believed they should just leave them to their own devices and said that if the mortals cannot exist in harmony with the kami, they may find a way to reconcile the rift as they are usually resourceful. When Scale retorted wondering why he believes they are resourceful, Pipe merely said he takes no side in the debate, be it kami or mortal. In his opinion he is merely a tool, a lens--like the hammer that takes the strength of the blacksmith's arm and focuses it to a point, or the sword that takes the skill of the swordsman and focuses it to a thin blade-line.
At this point, he began to explain how he spent the previous 1,000 years. Pipe spent most of the time since their last meeting in his true kirin form as it is up high where the fire of twilight burns along the clouds that he feels most at home. During this time he descended once or twice, and on one of those occasions he decided to take the form of a sword - not a normal sword but a work of art made of metal folded thousands of times by the hand of a true master. He made the handle wrapped in leather made of a dragon's hide and the pommel a single circlet of the purest ruby, hardened by incantations long lost to mortal knowledge. Throughout this time, many possessed him as a sword, but only one found greatness.
Once while in this sword form, he was dropped in a snowbank in the high mountains of the Sokenzan range after a bloody fight between two rival factions of bandits when a scout from another tribe found him. This scout first thought to bring the sword back as a great prize for his warchief but when he passed a roving pack of oni in a ravine and had a better idea. Hurrying back to camp, he showed the sword to the warchief and told him of a great cache of similar arms to be found nearby. Driven to haste by their greed, the warchief and three of his closest men rushed out at once with the scout to guide them. He brought them to the ravine, and pointed down it, saying the cache was in there, and that he would watch the entrance so that no other roaming bands might interfere. His four tribesmen rushed down into the ravine where the wild oni awaited--fierce, feral beasts, with barbed tails and tusks of iron. The scout waited until the echoes of their screams died, and when he saw that the oni had moved on, he crept back into the ravine and reclaimed the sword, and he took also the pendant of the warchief, the symbol of his rank and power. Returning to his bandit tribe, the scout claimed that the warchief had perished in combat with oni and that he had appointed the scout to take up the mantle of leadership after him. Some challenged him, but when the scout drew the sword, it flared with an unearthly flame, and the superstitions in the tribe saw it as the will of the kami. Some still dissented but one by one they met their end at the end of the blade, gripped tightly in the scout's hand. After this many winters passed, and before long, the scout had risen higher than any chief before him, bringing several tribes together in an alliance. They had many great victories over the samurai forts in the lowlands along with rich spoils. The scout fathered many children to many wives and was blessed with good fortune until one day when he was riding in the hills alone in the morning, as was his custom, and he was set upon by a band of akki. He cut five of their shells clean in two, but when he struck the sixth the blood on his gauntlet made his grip slip, and the sword fell from his hand. The Akki smashed his head with a rock moments later and he fell to his death. The bandit's descendants, however, still found great success with his great-grandson Godo being highly thought of by the bandit tribes.
Scale believed the man to just be a greedy fool who died a fool's death by a fool's hands saying that if his antics are what impressed Pipe then his standards are far too low. Pipe countered that a lowly scout becoming warlord was a great thing and wondered if they could name a single one of their kind that has advanced in so grand a fashion. Scale countered, however, that Pipe's interference led to the bandit's great fortune and that Pipe always seeks to manipulate humans and Kami. After the others spoke some more, Scale rushed off, Silverbeard left, and Dew vanished leaving just him and Thorn in the teahouse in the end. Pipe then disappeared in a blistering hot wave of flame and smoke that turned two of the stools to ash and left half the table smoking.[1]
In-game references[ | ]
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