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A Brief History of Lancer
Sep. 28th, 2012 06:09 pm(Partially for my own benefit, partially for anyone else who's curious, considering how many sources I am mangling combining for this particular incarnation of him! I'll try to use Western-style name order for everyone: given name followed by family/clan name. As far as the historical accuracy of this thing goes, let's just go with "good enough for Fateverse although I did make him ten years younger but you probably shouldn't use this to study for a history test.")
Once upon a time in feudal Japan, in what is now the Nagano prefecture (and right next to Shizuoka prefecture, where we're assuming that Fuyuki is located), the Sanada clan loyally served Shingen Takeda, the daimyo of Kai. The Takeda clan was effectively destroyed in 1582, though, when this version of Yukimura was five, and Yukimura's father Masayuki expanded the Sanada's holdings into an adjacent province to ensure that they wouldn't be destroyed. Unfortunately, the lands Masayuki took over initially belonged to an ally of Ieyasu Tokugawa's, and Ieyasu demanded that the Sanada give those lands back. Masayuki said "nuh-uh," Ieyasu marched on Ueda Castle, and Masayuki asked Kagekatsu Uesugi, Kenshin's successor, for a little bit of backup. To seal the deal, Masayuki sent eight-year-old Yukimura to Kagekatsu as a hostage. Yukimura put on a brave face, but secretly counted the days until he could go home again. After Ieyasu's attack on Ueda Castle failed, he thought he'd get to return for sure -- except Masayuki decided to make friendly overtures to Hideyoshi Toyotomi (then the shogun of Japan in all but name) in order to get Ieyasu to lay off for good. Yukimura was removed from the Uesugi's care and sent to serve Hideyoshi instead.
The poor kid had no idea what would happen to him when he got there. Hideyoshi was said to be a stunted, wizened man, more monkey than human; a ruthless schemer who rose from Nobunaga Oda's sandal-bearer to his second-in-command through carrying out his dirty work; a conqueror even more set on subjugating Japan than his predecessor had been. Yukimura wondered if his father had simply written him off as an expendable second son -- but much to his surprise, Hideyoshi stepped in to fill the role Masayuki had vacated.
( He's a Lancer. You know none of this is going to end well. )
.
Once upon a time in feudal Japan, in what is now the Nagano prefecture (and right next to Shizuoka prefecture, where we're assuming that Fuyuki is located), the Sanada clan loyally served Shingen Takeda, the daimyo of Kai. The Takeda clan was effectively destroyed in 1582, though, when this version of Yukimura was five, and Yukimura's father Masayuki expanded the Sanada's holdings into an adjacent province to ensure that they wouldn't be destroyed. Unfortunately, the lands Masayuki took over initially belonged to an ally of Ieyasu Tokugawa's, and Ieyasu demanded that the Sanada give those lands back. Masayuki said "nuh-uh," Ieyasu marched on Ueda Castle, and Masayuki asked Kagekatsu Uesugi, Kenshin's successor, for a little bit of backup. To seal the deal, Masayuki sent eight-year-old Yukimura to Kagekatsu as a hostage. Yukimura put on a brave face, but secretly counted the days until he could go home again. After Ieyasu's attack on Ueda Castle failed, he thought he'd get to return for sure -- except Masayuki decided to make friendly overtures to Hideyoshi Toyotomi (then the shogun of Japan in all but name) in order to get Ieyasu to lay off for good. Yukimura was removed from the Uesugi's care and sent to serve Hideyoshi instead.
The poor kid had no idea what would happen to him when he got there. Hideyoshi was said to be a stunted, wizened man, more monkey than human; a ruthless schemer who rose from Nobunaga Oda's sandal-bearer to his second-in-command through carrying out his dirty work; a conqueror even more set on subjugating Japan than his predecessor had been. Yukimura wondered if his father had simply written him off as an expendable second son -- but much to his surprise, Hideyoshi stepped in to fill the role Masayuki had vacated.
( He's a Lancer. You know none of this is going to end well. )
.
