Appearance

Physical Description

Ayame is a slender, short woman with a modest figure.

Facial Features

Ayame is a classical beauty, with a high bridged nose, double eyelids, and curly lashes.

Identifying Characteristics

Ayame has striking purple eyes much like her Clan Champion.

Apparel & Accessories

It's a rare day that Ayame does not have some sort of gemstone accessory. She owns an incredibly wide array of jewelry, most being hair pins, kanzashi, and netsuke, but also an assortment of rings, necklaces, and earrings. Ayame's clothing choices tend to feature striking reds and oranges, as well as earthen tones. Her kimonos have simple but elegant patterns, usually the shippo pattern.

Mentality

Personal history

Isawa Ayame is the daughter of the late Isawa Nagato, a shugenja who spent a time as the former Master of Earth's Isawa Rujo's apprentice. When Ayame was 8, however, her father disappeared under mysterious circumstances and in accordance with his last directives, she was placed under the care of his yojimbo, Shiba Tokisada. She spent but a year in his care before Master of Void Isawa Ujina invited her to study at Starry Heaven Academy to control her steadily manifesting ishiken powers.
 
For years she frustrated teachers with her headstrong attitude and deliberately contrarian personality. Ayame's talent was prodigious and she increasingly took reckless risks. She bonded with a student adopted from the Soshi family who was similarly unhappy with her move to Starry Heaven Academy. It wasn't until Ayame purposefully got herself captured by the King in Crimson Bloodspeaker cult with the intention of finding clues about her father's disappearance that she began to reevaluate her decision making, as while her Sight Beyond Existence allowed her see possible consequences this was the first time what she saw was only a possibility. Her attendance at Kyuden Gotei's Imperial Winter Court in 1123, her first return to courtly life since she visited court with her father as a child only served to convince her to adjust her public persona.
 
It turned out that it would not be a difficult task for her, as she quickly became known in the Kanjo District as the model of courtesy and intelligence. She joined Ujina at the Phoenix Embassy as his assistant after Isawa Kaede became Akodo Kaede and departed for Lion Lands, and has been the rising star of the district court ever since, her reputation as a fool far behind her. Following the disappearance of Ujina, Ayame has been doing her best to take on the duties of Ambassador while Kaede has returned temporarily to help her transition into the role.

Education

Ayame studied under her father as a child, having shown herself a natural in the unique shugendou tradition her great great grandfather developed. Then, once her talents as an ishiken manifested, she moved to Starry Heaven Academy and studied under Isawa Atsuko and Isawa Kaede.

Employment

Ayame is currently in training to assume the position of Phoenix Ambassador to Otosan Uchi.

Accomplishments & Achievements

While Ayame has yet to perform any one great accomplishment outside of the young age she achieved gempuku, she has garnered a reputation for success and competency through her actions and efforts enacting Phoenix policy within the Kanjo District.

Personality

Likes & Dislikes

Ayame enjoys the art of research - the smell of scrolls and candlelight, but also more active research. Cataloging her observations, testing hypotheses, and making new discoveries.

Social

Birthplace

Otosan Uchi

Current Residence

Shiranami Embassy

Contacts & Relations

The one black mark on Ayame's public persona is the revolving door of yojimbo who've served as her bodyguards. The most recent is Shiba Ayumu, who is a disagreeable, snarky, and bizarrely popular young man. The quiet feud between the two of them is a subject of much gossip in the Kanjo District.
Her first yojimbo, Shiba Tokisada, like many after him, retired to join the Brotherhood of Shinsei. Now known as Kugyou, the monk serves as the shinpu of the Temple of Eternal Redemption in the Kanjo District. The two are rarely seen together at public events, but Ayame does occasionally visit the Temple.
 
During her time at Starry Heaven Academy and in the months shortly after her gempuku, Ayame developed a friendly relationship with the Master of Void's daughter, the recently married Akodo Kaede. Kaede has been helping Ayame train to take over Ujina's duties as the Phoenix Ambassador.
 
Over the past two years, Ayame has become a trusted collaborator of Isawa Tenjaku, the Phoenix's representative on the Sentaku Tribunal. Tenjaku's quiet assistance has been vital to many of Ayame's ventures in advancing Phoenix interests in the city.

Wealth & Financial state

Ayame's ancestors were quite wealthy, with her great great great grandfather having been a provincial daimyo of a region in Isawa lands rich in gemstones and precious metals. In more recent years though, the family fortune has dwindled. While the exact details of the family finances aren't public, many believe Isawa Nagato spent most of the fortune on his esoteric research.