Tianxia:Kushinadahime

Background
Unlike many of the more notable kami that serve the Celestial Bureaucracy, Inadahime was born as an earthy deity to the earthly deities Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi. She had seven sisters at one point, Inadahime being the youngest. As their father was an earth god, each of them inherited control over something that had to do with the earth, or more in Inadahime’s case. Her parents saw that she had great skill in cultivating the land around her, growing plants-- mostly rice-- with relative ease. Thus she was given her name. However, a terrible tragedy befell this family when Inadahime was still very young. A massive 8-forked serpent, the god-eater Yamata no Orochi, had come and eaten up Inadahime’s eldest sister.

Inadahime, who had always been rather close with all of her sisters, was devastated, though her other sisters were probably hurt just as much. The following year, Yamata no Orochi appeared once more to eat up one of Inadahime’s sisters. Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi did their best to ward off the serpent, but they simply lacked the power to do so, and thus the second sister was devoured. This continued year after year until Inadahime was the only one left. By this time, her sadness had turned to disgust and hatred of serpents, and she almost hoped Yamata no Orochi would show up so she could try her hand at slaying the monster, despite still being a very young kami and lacking any significant amount of power.

Her parents were quite upset, understandably so, as they had no way of stopping the god-eating serpent. However, a heavenly deity came upon them that day, wishing to know why they seemed so upset. Inadahime’s father explained the situation, which gave the other, Susanowo a moment of pause. After a brief bit of consideration, he nodded in understanding before offering a sort of deal. In exchange for saving Inadahime’s life, Susanowo asked for Inadahime’s hand in marriage. There was no real choice here, since Ashi-nadzuchi wished for his daughter to live, and so he agreed to Susanowo’s proposition. Inadahime herself, being quite young at the time, did not really understand what was going on, but if she was to be saved, then it didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Susanowo then took Inadahime’s hand and turned her into a comb, which he stuck in his hair for safekeeping. Then, he instructed Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi to brew eight-fold distilled sake, build eight cupboards, and set a tub of the sake in each. And so the couple worked over the remaining months until Yamata no Orochi’s arrival getting everything prepared. During this time, Susanowo set about entertaining his bride to be, generally by answering her many questions and teaching her about various things he figured a child might find interesting.

Eventually, the time came that Inadahime, whom Susanowo had taken to calling Kushinadahime after the shape she had taken after they first met, was sought out by Yamata no Orochi. However, it came upon the sake that had been laid out and each head drank its fill of the sake before promptly falling asleep. With the trap being a success, Susanowo drew his sword and slew the god-eating serpent, obtaining Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi in the process (which he later used to regain entry to heaven once more). Ashi-nadzuchi thanked Susanowo for his help and kept his part of the bargain, allowing Susanowo to marry his daughter, though he was sad to see her go. The storm god did not miss this and rested a hand on the other’s shoulder. He had no intention of keeping them apart and made Ashi-nadzuchi the head of Kushinadahime’s palace, which he built soon after in Suga.

Kushinadahime did indeed marry the storm god, and ascended to heaven with him. As she grew and became more aware of both herself and her own abilities, she came into the position of administration of the ranks and jurisdiction of the other kami. With this position, she managed the realms of influence and rights of the others, often being contacted when the more regional kami wished to move to another location or when Mes needed to be distributed for one reason or another. She had a natural talent for this job and soon became at least known by many of the other kami.

It wasn’t too long after she gained this position that she met the Autumnal deity who was still known simply as Aki while she was out growing a field of rice to relax. They made idle conversation for a while, although Aki was very quiet and reserved. It still seemed that she was a fairly new deity, and Kushinadahime set about teaching the fledgling spirit. She would meet Aki every so often when she came down from heaven to be closer to nature, filling the role as a sort of mentor. One day, there was another spirit with Aki, who seemed to be Aki’s ‘sister’. And, in fact, little Aki had become Aki Shizuha, and the other was called Aki Minoriko. This certainly was an interesting development, and it seemed that Minoriko was a deity very similar to herself when she was still very young. As she had with Shizuha, she sought to teach this deity as well. Eventually, they both became full fledged gods, much to the delight of Kushinadahime. Although, as time went by, Shizuha became more and more distant, which only served to confuse her somewhat.

Personality
Kushinadahime is a kindly and gentle goddess with semi-modest beginnings when compared to the position she now holds. While nowadays she has been rather spoiled by her husband, she always takes the time to descend from heaven to be closer to nature and relax, it is when she is in contact with the Earth that she feels the most at home.

She has a habit of sheltering and coddling some of the younger kami, perhaps feeling sympathetic towards those that are not in an advantageous position like she is. As such, she can often be found counselling some of the lesser experienced Kami. When in the company of the more established and higher-up kami, Kushinadahime is sure to maintain a regal and professional countenance, but she can easily turn back to her rather relaxed, carefree manner when no one is looking.

Power/Combat
Manipulation of rank and jurisdiction, the ability to grow and maintain plants-- especially rice. With her power over rank and jurisdiction, she could easily change the realm of someone’s authority, and she often uses this ability to aid with her position within the Celestial Bureaucracy.

Jurisdiction: By setting a certain condition of authority on danmaku, she could make it so that they cannot pass beyond a certain point. Another use might be silencing someone by removing their authority to speak.

Rank: One such use would be to down-grade things by stripping them of rank and power, making them less effective than they had been before. Using danmaku as an example again, it would be able to convert a very large orb of danmaku to a tiny danmaku the size of a pebble.

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Major
-Shizuha Aki: She met the Autumnal goddess when she was still a nature spirit referred to simply as Aki. She has a student-mentor relationship with her, but Shizuha has grown more distant and quiet over time, much to the worry of Kushinadahime.

-Minoriko Aki: Although she met Minoriko after she met Shizuha, Minoriko is the rice kami’s main student due to her being involved with the harvest and being more responsive in general than her sister. Minoriko might be grown now, but she is still almost like a daughter.

-Susanowo-no-Mikoto: Kushinadahime’s husband. Although it was more or less an arranged marriage, she still holds him in high regards; he did save her from being eaten, after all.