How to explain the phenomena that occur to humanity has been a common issue worldwide, no matter the place or the era. Plagues, diseases, hurricanes, storms, wars, negative emotions, curses, self-destruction...

Who would lead humans to their salvation?

Performing rituals has been an activity that has existed since forever as well, and it's a way to thank or ask for forgiveness to those capricious Gods that look down at us with the teary eyes their laughter has provoked after playing with the nature they've created.

Those granted with the attention of these powerful beings were adored and followed, considered people a step ahead of humanity and closer to divinities. Not messengers, but a connection.

The first human to claim to possess this divine grace was Agatamori Geikidenka, the first known sorcerer who lived close to what could be the region of Saitama nowadays in Japan, during the Kofun Era (around year 600).

Agatamori, who was able to see curses and exorcise them, decided to share his knowledge and power with everyone in the village he lived in, after discovering by accident how he exorcised a cursed spirit with what could be his own cursed energy. However, with time, he could confirm that he was part of the low number of people who could see those strange and menacing beings that haunted humanity. At that moment, where he lived, he was the only one who was able to use his cursed energy to exorcise.

The origins of how Agatamori awakened his powers are unknown, but the people who knew him said that the reason must be the illness that carried his wife and son that took their life, believing it was a price to pay for connecting with Gods. Others said it had to be with his characteristic fuschia eyes somehow.

The Geikidenka never stopped helping the people in his village, and his name began to spread further across the territory, something that made people get interested in living close to a savior. This mindset contributed to the growth and prosperity of his home village, to the point that he was able to remarry again; precisely, to a woman who could see curses, but she couldn't use cursed energy. Both of them focused on helping their people until the very end.

Their offspring were granted their father's power, and so, they followed their parent's steps as more and more people followed them. Generation after generation, the Geikidenka's followed the wishes of their predecessors, becoming a well-known sorcerer family. At the same time, the number of sorcerers grew, and so, the Geikidenka family made sure to create bonds with those.

They believed that the more sorcerers gathered together, the better for humanity's salvation.

Cursed techniques became very valuable, as possessing one meant you were chosen by Gods to guide their human creations throughout their life and protect them from invisible monsters only those connected with Gods can see and kill; those people who could only see curses were considered a failed attempt to become a connection with deities.

And so, with more sorcerers coming up, one could start thinking and seeing that ones were more powerful than others, as well as the growing wide range of different cursed techniques these owned had their differences. This created a constant competition for power between the sorcerers who desired and believed that sorcery needed rules and a ruler, where, in the end, every sorcerer joined that war, claiming that those who possessed more cursed energy and those with the most powerful cursed techniques were the Gods' favorites and the ones who should rule over all sorcerers in the world.

This war was also the starting point of the discrepancies between the growing number of sorcerers, since not all of them shared anymore the same pure thoughts of their predecessors. Hierarchies seemed to grow in importance in the other sorcerer families, and a ranking system was in development.

Why serve humanity, when they were clearly superior to them?

But those valuable cursed techniques in the user lasted the same as their lifespan, so, when they died, the cursed technique died with them. Just in extremely rare cases, their direct descendants would be able to inherit the cursed technique of the parents or ancestors, this meaning also that when a sorcerer died, there were no guarantees for their offspring to awaken any power.

In the case of the Geikidenka family, it seemed appealing how Agatamori's cursed technique was passed down to younger generations without apparent issue or noticeable changes either. However, when a female member of the Geikidenka family gave birth to children whose father possessed a cursed technique, the child would inherit directly the exact cursed technique of the father. On the other hand, if the father was a normal human, the child would inherit the mother's technique, which was Agatamori's.

This is the reason why the Geikidenka's ended up being considered to some extent the sorcerers of fertility, but not in the sense of the ability to give birth to many children, but for the fact that they were capable of conceiving new sorcerers with almost no failure rate.

After many generations, the Geikidenka's concluded:

Male Geikidenka family members who possessed Agatamori's last name will originate an offspring who will inherit: 1. Agatamori's cursed technique, when the mother of the child doesn't possess a cursed technique. In case she possessed one, the chances are randomized.

Female Geikidenka family members who possessed Agatamori's last name will give birth to children who will inherit: 1. Agatamori's cursed technique, when the father of the child doesn't possess a cursed technique. 2. The father's cursed technique, when the father of the child possesses a cursed technique.

Plus, Agatamori's cursed technique can't merge with another cursed technique.

Said cursed technique didn't have a name until generations later, and they named it Flow; it lets their users gather their cursed energy outside their body and give shape to it thanks to the ability to play with its state. This means they had to master to an extent controlling the flow of their cursed energy if they wanted a decent usage of their technique.

Being the Geikidenka sorcerer clan fairly known due to their longevity regarding their existence, their cursed technique was known to many sorcerers, as well as these became acquainted with whatever strange ability Agatamori Geikidenka passed to his descendants, which soon would be named Heritage; a subtechnique originated from Flow.

These premises became the starting point of the growing interest of other sorcerers to engage a Geikidenka, preferably a female, mostly to keep their cursed technique and not let it die. If their offspring would be able to awaken the father's cursed technique, it'll be easier for him or his family to not make the same mistakes he did when he had to learn everything from scratch, alongside other positive traits that it could draw in.

Arranged marriages between female Flow users and sorcerers from outside the Geikidenka clan began to be requested, where a trade would be performed. The exchange included money, properties, special accessibilities to cursed objects or tools owned by the boyfriend...

Whatever the Geikidenka's deemed fair enough to accept the arranged marriage proposal.

These circumstances only made Agatamori's clan grow in political power and wealth, something that pleased the members, loving how their influence was something to be respected. The thought of believing they were the key to the progression of humanity and their salvation began to spread inside the Geikidenka's minds, flooding their mindset with egocentrism, greediness and a self imposed pressure of needing to be at the top of sorcery itself because they thought they were the real chosen ones by Gods, since they felt they were the only ones that could be something close to them.

On the other side, Amaterasu herself granted the people of Japan with a ruler born from her own blood, Jinmu Tennō, who would become the very first emperor of Japan. Fate decided that his descendants and Agatamori's had to meet at some point in history, and this just created the most favorable event for the Geikidenka family of the time.

Tennō's descendants understood that having the Geikidenka sorcerer clan by their side would be helpful for both, and the empire itself; the sorcerer's influence, followers, and ability to guide them alongside their administration, strategy, fighting, and diplomacy skills were exactly what the current emperor believed Japanese people needed to prosper.

And so, a vow was made between the emperor and the Geikidenka family, in which the latter would become the right hand of the ruler of Japan and would provide the empire with men for the army and women to serve them. In exchange, they will have the protection of the emperor and a say during important events that concern the people of Japan, apart from living a life full of luxuries.

In gratitude for such an enormous offer by the family that ruled Japan, the Geikidenka sorcerer clan changed their name to Shōgun, in which they demonstrated their total loyalty to the emperor to the point of changing the name of their ancestor to give rise to a new era for the empire.

While the emperor lived in what would be Tokyo in the future, Shōgun's lived in Saitama. Their estate became the main base for their family meetings and teachings, but continued to be a place to live if you chose to stay. However, if you were a female, that was going to be the place you'd live until you've learned how to be a proper wife.

Indeed, after arranged marriages started to gain importance in the Shōgun clan due to the benefit it produced to the family and even more after the offer from the emperor, a large role difference gap appeared between male and female members. When male Shōgun's took different zones from Japan to control, female members stayed at the estate where all were raised and educated in a subtly way with learned helplessness; their heads were bombed every day with ideas that were etched in their minds to the point where the subjugation was so normalized that none of them were capable of complaining or having their own thoughts.

They learned they were born to serve their husbands, and no one questioned if that was what they wanted to do with their lives or not.

Mothers, older sisters, and women who weren't married yet were the ones in charge of the younger female members' education, apart from trying to innovate in terms of the ability to serve their husbands or other male members. This is how female Shōgun's added to their duty being able to master the generation of reversed cursed energy with the only goal of healing; the women who exceeded at this, were capable of regenerating lost body parts and so, they were more expensive.

Slaves, a thing to buy. That's what they became.