紫の ゆかり姫
Yukari Murasaki (319 AC-384 AC), often called Princess Yukari or Lady Yukari, was a Mikashiman socialite and diplomat who lived during the Age of Storms. Born a heiress of the wealthy and powerful Murasaki clan, Yukari disowned her family at age 12 to escape her arranged marriage. She subsequently joined the Sea Ronin flotilla Umiari-no-Me and become one of the Sea Ronin’s most famous and celebrated figures.
“Princess of the Sea Ronin”
As a figure of noble birth affiliated with the Sea Ronin movement, Yukari lent it legitimacy and respectability. In her tours of the Thirteen Lands, she worked on behalf of the Sea Ronin to establish cordial relations with the Domenican Empire, the Kanaui Confederacy, and other governments. In Mikashima, Yukari’s high status forced warlords to negotiate with the Sea Ronin flotillas as peers, rather than as peasant rebellions as they had in the decades before.
Yukari was not immune to criticism. In her lifetime, she was suspected to be spying for the Murasaki clan, and she was often at odds with established Sea Ronin community leaders. Nonetheless, she gained a reputation for patience and kindness to all regardless of social standing. This earned her the respect of contemporary flotilla captains and has cemented her modern legacy as a cultural hero of the Sea Ronin.
The Tale of Yukari
An often told anecdote about Yukari concerns the time between her abdication from the Murasaki clan and her initiation into the Sea Ronin. According to this story, her ship was caught in Titan’s Wall, forcing her to seek shelter in a mysterious land to the east. There, she went on many fantastic adventures before returning home through the providence of Umiari-no-Mikoto.
In her early years, Yukari herself spread this story, but her accounts were subject to disbelief and ridicule. By 334 AC, she had publicly retracted them, saying she had experienced a fever dream and believed it to be real.
In modern times, with the parting of Titan’s Wall, the existence of a New World to the east has been confirmed, leading some scholars to suggest that a young Yukari did in fact travel beyond Titan’s Wall and return. This viewpoint is most famously encapsulated in the poem Glory the Trailblazers, which casts her as a legendary historical explorer.
The Heron’s Curse
Another folk tale about Yukari concerns the dangerous straits in the center of the Mikashiman Archipelago. It is said that the rock outcropping called the Heron’s White Castle was once the stronghold of a sorcerer-king called the Heron. When Yukari bargained with the Heron on behalf of the Sea Ronin, his cruelty led him to curse Yukari and all the Sea Ronin in perpetuity. Since then, the shallows around the Heron’s former home have claimed the lives of many sailors, and the Sea Ronin avoid them so as not to run afoul of the curse.