Manjushage



MANJUSHAGE (曼珠沙華, Red Spider Lily) is the leader and headmistress of the Kinudorei branch of Jorōgumo and is the founder of the Silk Forest of Submission, otherwise known as the Silk Servant's Forest. As a Jorōgumo, Manjushage is a half-human/half-spider female who has the ability to shapeshift into a young, extremely beautiful, human, woman. She's the master and forbearer of the second branch's notorious Spider Senjutsu: The Silk Forest of Submission Spider Sage Art. With over 300 years to her name, Manjushage has had centuries to indulge in the arts of medicine and poison, possessing both great healing and toxicant abilities.

She is rumored to be exceptionally beautiful, enchanting even, but to all who know her name, be warned:

To become enthralled or enslaved by Manjushage, the seductive matron of the Kinudorei Jorōgumo, is a harrowing fate far worse than death.

Personality
Manjushage is a vile and twisted creature of wicked personification; her soul: the apotheosis of a corrupted joie de vivre, the carefree enjoyment of living. She cares not for the trivial concerns of others and seeks only to indulge in the stimulating and sensual gratifications of life; a slave to her own fantasies of eternal aphrodisiac and carnal desire. Yet, it would seem that in her many years, she's had to entertain the needs of her clan, the Kinudorei, so they might never grow discontent, overthrow her from her lofty seat of power, and subjugate her to an eternity of humiliation and molestation. Perhaps in secret, Manjushage lives in fear.

Manjushage admires herself to be a parasite of the world, a leech that feeds on the existence of lesser beings in order to afford her own eternity of ecstasy. Everything exists to establish her dominance and to fuel her lust for pleasure. Of all creatures, she sees humans as the weakest of prey, yet also the most thrilling to toy with. In her eyes, humanity is pitiful and pathetic; they whine and complain about the things they can't have and the things they haven't earned. She believes humans are selfish, cowardly, and almost worthless; they drag each other down in order to elevate themselves to equivalent, or superior, status. However, Manjushage herself knows right from wrong; what is good and what is evil: The thing that truly separates her from humans is that she simply doesn't care about the morality or ethicality of her actions. While a human might lie to herself and seek selfish gain under the false pretense of justice, Manjushage does not entertain such delusions, and walks the path of malevolence in order to achieve her heart's desires. She and the Jorōgumo, even her good-for-nothing older sister, are all superior to other creatures and she herself is the proprietor of sin.

There are times for battle and there are times for words, but to Manjushage, a matron who is gifted in the dark arts of speech carries with her the power to both unify war-torn lands and conquer the strongest of the militant nations. To turn allies against one another can be a far more powerful action than to brandish one's sword in open confrontation. Even more influential when in her human form, she uses her feminine assets to further her own goals and to get what she wants without exception. Her voice: Soothing and soft; a poison to the ears of the intellectual fool. Her body: Pale, tight, and smooth; a stimulant to the perverse thoughts of those easily bewitched by the pleasures of a woman's gentle caress. Her scent: So faint, yet sweet; a plague to the nose which spells hypnosis. Whether it be through language, extortion, or more fleshly practices, Manjushage maintains order from behind the scenes. She breaks the convictions of the headstrong and perverts the innocence of the chaste. It's said that one night alone with Manjushage, and even a woman of the strongest fortitude will kneel in lust-driven submission to the will of her matron.

Though she speaks softly and gracefully, there is a great deal of power and authority behind Manjushage's eloquent words. She has certain expectations of those who serve her and to fail to meet such expectations is truly a great disappointment. One would do well to never cross their mistress, for a single look into her bloodcurdling eyes is enough to convey a Killing Intent (殺気, Sakki) powerful enough to paralyze them with fear as they witness a vision of their own gruesome death.

A lady of regal disposition, Manjushage walks and sits with elegance and refinement. Her gentle step is soundless and discreet, whether she's wearing sandals or not. She sits with perfect posture and has an astounding knowledge of the many ways to sit cross-legged, making sure to alternate legs and positions in intervals of exactly 5 minutes and 3 quarters. She has trained herself to endure hours of seiza position without any signs of fatigue or indications of discomfort. She minds her manners and her speech, always making sure to include formalities with sincerity. Even for one as powerful as herself, to simply disregard proper behavior would only bring shame to her own self. Out of personal preference, Manjushage typically maintains her human form, as she finds it much more comfortable and appealing to the senses.

Though she tends to keep a cool composure, Manjushage is still a Jorōgumo who feels a wide variety of emotions. Her rage is typically passive, a threat to the one whom she is displeased with. Her joy is shown through her small, seductive, smile. Her grief and sorrow she keeps to herself and she cries alone in the presence of no other; such would be a display of weakness amongst the Kinudorei. With regards to the consequences of such weakness, Manjushage fears the loss of her power. She grows uncomfortable when challenged, for should she fail, she fears she wouldn't be killed or banished, but rather, she'd be enslaved for her remaining centuries and used as an object of sexual gratification and example.

To those who fail or disobey Manjushage, there's no telling what fate awaits them. Men are killed on site; they're not worth her time. Aside from that, she's known to be cruel and sinister, often breaking someone's mentality into pieces as a form of punishment. She may feel lenient in their punishment and personally torment them for only a few hours, or, if she's deeply displeased with her underlings, she may sentence them to an eternity of servitude in the farm, alongside the human cattle. Under the leadership of Manjushage, a cruel "cattle" system was implemented in order to sustain the Kinudorei population and to punish the enslaved Jorōgumo and humans. Under this wretched system of abuse, the imprisoned are, for the remainder of their lives, pumped full of hormones in order to produce milk for harvest. An idea proposed by Manjushage herself, it's become an integral part of Kinudorei culture, yet ironicly, she too fears this punishment.

Manjushage has been hinted to have Sexual Sadism Disorder, as she finds the suffering and humiliation of others to be erotic and sexually arousing. To stimulate both mental or physical pain, or unwilling pleasure on her victim is truly wonderful in her eyes. To publicly embarrass her victim, to deprive them of all dignity, such is a desire of Manjushage. The feeling of gripping someone's throat, as her victim chokes and struggles to breathe is... exhilarating. The sharp "crack" of a whip as it encounters tender flesh is enough to put her in heat. The excited moans of her victims sustain her animalistic frenzies as she relentlessly punishes them for insubordination or failure. It's one of the reasons why she is feared by all who know her.

Along with the other Kinudorei Jorōgumo, Manjushage is incredibly sexist towards men. She believes that both the female sex and the female gender are completely superior to the likes of males and masculinity. Men are fools, inconsequential fools; the world could do without them. Even in the Silk Servant's Forest, the Jorōgumo can reproduce asexually by using nature energy chakra to fertilize a lady's egg: The only use the male sex ever had, and it's simply redundant. Females are more quick-witted, smarter, emotionally tougher from Manjushage's perspective. For instance, outside of her forest, look at all of the needless shinobi wars. Wrought by men, fought by men, villages burned and women raped by men. The cowardly Daimyō, all men; and what has it brought? Only suffering. Any male that so much as sets foot in the Silk Servant's Forest will be executed or eaten immediately.

Just as she views the female sex to be the superior sex, Manjushage also finds other races and species to be inferior to her own: The Jorōgumo. In fact, one of the reasons she and the Kinudorei left the Bewitching Silk Forest and made the Silk Servant's Forest their new home was because of the increasing number of outsiders that they felt plagued their old woodland. Manjushage and the Kinudorei despise all that is not of their kin and they hold an especially strong distaste for humans in particular. Perhaps it's because the Jorōgumo themselves are half-human and they see themselves as absolutely superior to the mere humans in every way, especially considering they can shapeshift into humans at will.

With regards to her sexuality and her romantic and sexual preferences, Manjushage is a lesbian, only finding attraction to her fellow females, particularly those who are Jorōgumo. She, like many of her kin, discovered her love for females at a relatively young age and has since lived out her years engaging in monogamous, polyamorous, and polygamic relationships. While she does find romantic attraction in her partners, her main focus is the sexual aspect of the relationship and thus, she's never been married and has asexually reproduced only one daughter named Shibara.

Concerning sex, Manjushage often engages in instances involving one or more females. She finds sexual arousal in the company of someone who shares her passions, but she also enjoys seducing the defiant and unwilling, particularly her female prisoners. As a sadist, she derives pleasure from inflicting pain or humiliating others; the element of control gives her a special high that she has yet to experience elsewhere. Additionally, she also has a more submissive, masochistic side and enjoys the occasional absence of control; she wants to be punished. To shamefully be at the mercy of her tormenter; to be outrageously subservient and embarrassed, promiscuous and lewd. The attainment of such hedonistic hysteria is the sole purpose of her existence. She's a slave to the release of the body's tensions and forever seeks higher stimulations. If an impossible world of enduring heatedness, inexhaustible love-making, ceaseless erotic agony, boundless pleasures, and relentless climaxes existed, Manjushage would gladly spend an eternity in such a passionate and perverted purgatory.

Appearance
Unlike many of her fellow Jorōgumo, Manjushage prefers her human appearance over her half-spider form, because she finds it much more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to the senses. As an added bonus, it also consumes less energy to maintain due to the smaller size of the body in comparison to the added weight, height, and limbs of the half-spider form, not to mention the fact that the assets of a young and tender lady are much more exploitable than those of a menacing spider. It also serves to convey a simple message to her fellow Kinudorei: Manjushage, the Silk Thread Empress, does not require the superior body of the Jorōgumo in order to crush the treasonable.

In her human form, Manjushage is an absolutely stunning woman to behold, especially since her age of appearance is forever reflective of her prime years. Jorōgumo, such as her, never appear older than their most beautiful in life, similar to vampires. Standing at a respective height of 5'4" and weighing around 105 pounds, she maintains the size of a young and alluring woman. Renown for her physical beauty, Manushage possesses balanced proportions concerning her torso and legs; she has little hands and dainty feet smaller than that of the average woman, accentuating her femininity. Her legs and arms are thin and well-toned, but aren't unhealthy or boney. While her hips are womanly, they are proportionate to her body size and help to define her figure's natural curves. She has a tight, flat, stomach and a slender waist which contrasts heavily to the perverse size of her voluptuous bust: Manjushage is said to have large, perky, and firm, yet tender breasts that rival even the legendary kunoichi Tsunade. They are incredibly sensitive erogenous zones for her, so nurturing her daughter, Shibara, was often quite the unintentionally erotic—and sometimes—breathtaking or climatic experience.

Manjushage's smooth, soft, skin is very pale, yet beautiful and almost porcelain-white in color. If one were to caress her shoulder, kiss the crest of her dainty breast, glide their fingers over her navel and down her stomach, or slither down even further to her womanhood, they'd find her skin to be of silky and delicate texture. In the moonlight, it seems to glow and glimmer with radiance, appearing as a mesmerizing source of tranquil light not unlike the moon itself. Her skin is cool to the touch, because spiders are cold-blooded creatures, but a comforting warmth can be found near her heart. There's not a single blemish or mark on her body; no scars, birthmarks, moles, or even freckles: This can possibly be attributed to the strong presence of her nature energy and enormous vitality.

Often worn in a bun with lengthy strands that frame her face, Manjushage's thick-fine hair is voluminous, yet silky-smooth in texture. Black like a raven's beak, her hair shines in the starlight and smells faintly of lavender with a touch of honey. Her fine and feminine eyebrows are also black in color, and while they can appear thin at times, it's nothing a little makeup can't fix. Matching her hair and eyebrows, her long and delicate eyelashes are a bold black color that brings out the definition in her eyes and accentuates its natural colors.

Under normal circumstances, Manjushage's relaxed-looking eyes appear a bluish-purple color with a silver web pattern in her irises: That web pattern is probably the closest thing she has to a real "birthmark." They are typically calm and serene, and seem almost disinterested in the trivial affairs of others. However, when Manjushage is angered, sexually aroused, or uses her sage chakra to perform ninjutsu or senjutsu, her seductive eyes turn a piercing crimson-blood color and glow a vibrant rose-red in the dark.

Infamously known for her Kiss of Vampiric Restoration, Manjushage's lips are lush and tender. She wears dark-red lipstick that contrasts with her pale skin and dark hair, and her small, pretty, lips usually rest in a faint, yet apparent, smile. She has a little nose with a slight turned-up shape and tiny ears which sometimes bear earrings. On her hands and feet, she typically doesn't wear any nail polish, but occasionally she may paint them black or dark-red, depending on the situation. Her nails aren't that long, and she keeps them at short length and in good condition.

With regards to apparel, Manjushage only wears the finest of garments and accessories. Made almost entirely of dry and unsticky spider silk, her long and sleeveless dress is most often black in color, although sometimes it appears blackish-green instead. It is unnaturally soft and almost cool to the touch and is incredibly comfortable to wear. It barely contains her tremendous cleavage, yet provides the best support she's ever felt; a spiderweb net pattern attached to her black choker holds up the dress for even more comfort and support. The dress hugs her body tightly, especially around her waist and bosom, and trails down to the floor where it usually hides her feet. While she's sometimes barefooted—especially when indoors—she usually wears a pair of black, heeled, sandals. They tend to make a thin click-clacking noise, but Manjushage herself walks very softly and ladylike. Finally, she wears a black, formal, glove on each arm, that which extends up past her elbows. The glove itself is more akin to a sleeve, as her entire hand is exposed, but Manjushage prefers the ability to feel what she's touching.

When she chooses to enter her spider form, Manjushage undergoes a physical transformation similar to that of her fellow Jorōgumo. While her older sister, Emica was born with the ability to manifest 8 spider legs (4 on each side) and to change her normal legs into pedipalp, Manjushage's body isn't as large or as strong as her sister's. She can still change her normal legs into pedipalp, but can only form 6 additional spider legs (3 on each side). Each leg is made of a hardened exoskeleton and is quite durable, with various accounts of steel blades being broken on them. If in the event one is injured or cut off, Manjushage can use the Kiss of Vampiric Restoration technique to regenerate herself. Additionally, out of her pelvis, she grows a black widow's abdomen marked with a red insignia on her hump. Her upper body stays mostly the same, but in order to preserve her clothes, she either wears something more akin to a crop top, or forgoes clothing entirely. When transforming, her usual dress dissipates and her new apparel forms in it's place, though it's still made of the same material and matter.

Though she doesn't use it often for fighting, Manjushage uses a black, spiderweb pattern, folding fan to cool herself and partially conceal her face. She also keeps vials of various Poisons and Antidotes strapped to her leg under her dress should she need to use them.

Youth
Within the oldest and most revered tree in the Bewitching Silk Forest was a large egg sac that contained hundreds of baby spiders. Each spider was the daughter of the ancient Jorōgumo Sage at the time, who was nearing the end of her life after a millennium and a half. It was the everlasting hope of this Sage mother that through her offspring, a new leader would emerge to continue the noble lineage of the Jorōgumo.

In the final months before the spider hatchlings were released from their egg, the long awaited ritual commenced: The sisters began to eat one another. They fed on and consumed their sisters to survive, with only the strongest remaining and growing in size and intelligence. From the egg sac emerged only 2 fully developed Jorōgumo infants. Out of the 2, the older sister was named Emica and the younger sister was named Manjushage. It's said that Manjushage only received her infamous name after she was noted to have been attracted to a pretty, yet ominous, cluster of red spider lily plants.

In her adolescent years, Manjushage was a rather timid and shy girl; she had difficulty speaking to those older than her and she was afraid of her mother. She loved her older sister, Emica, but had difficulty enjoying the same things she did. If Emica wanted to play, Manju was afraid of getting hurt; if Emica wanted to prank the elders, Manju was afraid of getting in trouble; if Emica wanted to go exploring, Manju was afraid of getting lost. She preferred to stay at home and practice her web spinning instead.

Despite their differences, the two sisters got along well enough to the point that their teamwork was heavily influenced. They were able to master their silk thread jutsu quickly together, refining their skills to the point where they were dubbed the "Strongest Tag-Team" (最強タッグ, Saikyō Taggu). Though they had just barely turned 11, they demonstrated the skills of a 100 year old Jorōgumo Sage and thus, were considered to be the most powerful younglings in Jorōgumo history. To Manjushage, the power and glory felt good, really good, and she could feel her self-confidence grow stronger.

As Manjushage got older, so did her awareness with regards to her sexuality. She always found her fellow women to be more attractive than any male creature she'd ever seen. There was something about it, the female sex; it felt so... safe. It was kind and gentle, yet deceivingly strong and courageous. She found that when she laid eyes on a pretty girl, her heart skipped a beat and she felt a warm fuzziness spread throughout her body; a tingling sensation of sorts. Though she found shame in doing so, she couldn't resist the urge to explore her body and upon by coincidence, discovered the pleasurable ecstasies of womanhood. Only later would she truly come to terms with her sexuality and the fact that she was a lesbian.

At the age of 21, Manjushage's physical appearance stopped evolving. Like all Jorōgumo, when one reaches her most beautiful in life, that is how she forever looks until the day she dies. It just so happened that Manjushage's most beautiful occurred at 21 years of age, probably due to the fact that her breasts had finally stopped growing at that point in time. Her older sister seemed happy for her, but Manjushage could detect a slight hint of jealousy, something she found amusing.

Conquest
With time, Manjushage's relationship with her sister continued to ascend to greater heights: She felt great love towards her older sister and looked up to her strength and leadership; never had she ever seen a woman of such courage and charisma. Eventually, when Emica wanted to explore the world outside of their home, Manjushage followed her sister to the Land of Blood where the siblings wrecked havoc for several decades, laying waste to many villages, communities, and clans.

During this period of time, Manjushage became well-acquainted with the workings of the world. She had always envisioned it to be spectacular and full of wonderful, truly amazing things, but all she ever found was enough suffering to last her a lifetime... a Jorōgumo lifetime. Often travelling in her human form, she passed through many towns and villages, all the same. Sick children orphaned by human wars left starving on the streets begging for money and stealing to survive as drunken and intoxicated men beat them for their crimes. Exhausted young women and adolescent girls forced to sell themselves around the clock just to feed the children they birthed as a consequence of working the streets to originally feed themselves. Young men who should've studied to become scholars or trained to become honorable warriors instead joined gangs and organizations that fed on the weak and leeched off of the honest worker's coin.

Humans—men and women alike—and their Daimyo leaders, cared not for the sufferings of their kin, nor did they care for the preservation of life at the cost of leisure. It was for this reason, that Manjushage aided her sister in her conquest. Not for prestige or distinction, or even the exhilaration brought on by battle, but simply to destroy the abusive and to unshackle the abused... through the liberation from suffering by means of execution. Those who were set free would find peace in the afterlife away from hurt and pain. She was sure that, had the abused been given the chance to abuse, they too would succumb to the weakness of humanity; they too would betray their kin: They all deserved eradication.

When Manjushage made her victims suffer, she felt a sense of arousal and adrenaline she'd never felt before. The more and more she tormented her foes, the greater the high she received. The occasional one night stand with a needy, human, woman brought her great pleasure and erotic fulfillment. Then, the feeling of suffocating that ungrateful whore to death was all she needed in order to feel that she had saved the street urchins from the asphyxiated woman who'd use her body to tool others for personal gain at their expense, because their disgusting fathers were too busy squandering away their money on women instead of feeding them. Surely, such was simple murder? Surely, such was forbidden? All the more exciting. A corrupt female noblewoman starving her townsfolk to the brink of famine? To break such a character and enslave the "poor wench" was all Manjushage needed to please her raging hormones. To desecrate and break the once-immoral, young, noblewoman and then to sell her to the slave-traders off the coast of the Land of Fruit where the wench would serve her masters until she unhappily bore children. Such was what those detestable humans deserved.

When Manjushage and Emica eventually returned to the Bewitching Silk Forest on their 46th birthday (which is young for a Jorōgumo), they were shrouded in glory and honor, gaining the respect of the village elders and the support of the whole forest and most of the Jorōgumo populace. However, though she was happy to finally be home, things just didn't seem the same for Manjushage. The world felt a lot darker; a lot crueler; much colder. She had the blood of the innocents on her hands. She kept trying to justify her actions as being "expected of her," "honorable," and "merciful to the unfortunate," but there was one thing that she had difficulty admitting:

Trampling on the weak and the suffering-innocent was... fun. It really was exhilarating.

Political Presence
Not long after Manjushage and Emica returned from their conquest, their mother, who was already nearing the end of her long life, fell deathly ill. After much discussion pertaining to the right of succession, it was unanimously decided that Emica was to be the next successor: The next "Spider Heiress" (クモ相続人, Kumo sōzokujin). Though she was upset at her mother's passing, Manjushage was happy for her sister, who she believed truly deserved the honorary title of Spider Heiress, as well as the power and responsibility accompanied by it.

The cannabalistic ritual involving her sister's succession left Manjushage as the temporary, stand-in leader: The stewardess who would run the Bewitching Silk Forest in her sister's absence. There was so much responsibility that she wasn't prepared for and her rule wasn't the paragon of success, but despite her inexperience, through diligence and the support of her fellow Jorōgumo, Manjushage was able to maintain balance within the forest until the moment her sister was able to return to her duties. Upon Emica's return, Manjushage took on the role of advisor, and continued to assist her elder sister in the forest's political affairs.

During her long tenure as her sister's most trusted and valuable advisor, Manjushage saw to the maintenance of stability and peace within the Bewitching Silk Forest. She helped organize better and more efficient methods of taxation, so the forest could sustain itself through programs that benefitted every Jorōgumo citizen. She was the sole founder of the forest's contemporary legal and political system, implementing a legislative organization that comprised of a council of nobles, as well as a judiciary whose magistrates were directly appointed by Emica herself to maintain law and order. Jorōgumo citizens couldn't elect officials or participate in legal affairs, but were given the right to petition and protest. This was the most political voice they'd ever been allocated and thus, Manjushage was seen as a hero and a symbol of progress and change: A revolutionary. She gained considerable support, both from the common folk and the noble clans, increasing her and her sister's already vast influence and perpetual supply of connections. Of course, Emica still held absolute power as the Spider Heiress and her word was law; she could overrule and override any proclamation or designation on a whim if she so chose too. Manjushage, however, did advise her sister out of necessity, not to abuse her power, or else her subjects would grow discontent and violent. Once again, the sisters proved to be the "Strongest Tag-Team" (最強タッグ, Saikyō Taggu), though this time, it was in regards to their leadership capabilities and political effectiveness.

Due to the success of her policies and the prosperity she brought to her sister's growing empire, Manjushage considered territorial expansion necessary in order to sustain the increasing Jorōgumo population. She presented 3 plausible options to her elder sister:

The first option: Do not expand their territory and risk overpopulation.

The second option: Conquer land and expand their territory, committing genocide and completely wiping out the inhabitants of the new land. This would require more bloodshed and possible loss of Jorōgumo life, but also firmly secure the new land for the Bewitching Silk Forest and maintain Jorōgumo homogeneity.

The third and final option: Conquer land and expand their territory, but subjugate the inhabitants of the new land and force them to become part of Jorōgumo society. Not only would this result in less overall bloodshed, but the conquered inhabitants would serve the Jorōgumo as serfs and pay taxes which would benefit the economy and prosperity of the society. Vile creatures could be harnessed as tools and weapons of war to fight in the stead of Jorōgumo, while humans could be enslaved and used as free labor to cut labor costs.

Through Manjushage preferred the second option, her sister chose the third; it's arguable as to who's decision would be considered the more "merciful." Manjushage believed that to kill the conquered peoples immediately would save them and their future generations from greater suffering later on down the road, but her sister believed in mercy through sparing their lives on the condition that the outsiders serve the forest. Trusting in the wisdom of her older sister, Manjushage supported Emica's decision to conquer and expand while also integrating the new peoples into Jorōgumo society.

Territorial Expansion
Under the leadership of Emica and the careful advisement of Manjushage, the Jorōgumo expanded their territory, conquering the smaller, neighboring lands. Each town, community, and village they came across provided little resistance against the might of the Jorōgumo. Every force of opposition, defiance, or armed militia was decimated and utterly defeated, especially considering the fact the both Manjushage and Emica participated on the battlefield and led their forces, personally seeing to the command of the Jorōgumo.

The assaults led directly by Manjushage were tactical and swift, decisive victories. The aftermath of every skirmish: Blood spattered on the ground and spider silk threads floating gently in the breeze. Every small village became a ghost town; every shop appeared rundown and abandoned; the plazas where communities would gather were completely deserted; irrigation systems went unused; moss-infected infrastructure crumbled and algae-plagued waters turned green.

As per orders from her elder sister, Manjushage was to spare anyone who surrendered and enslave those who ran away; those who fought back were to be executed and made an example to the rest of the herd. As Manjushage swept across the eastern front, she acquired many valuable goods and resources: The spoils of war from ransacking the neighboring countries. With such fortunes, the Bewitching Silk Forest prospered like never before.

Northeastern Empire Assimilation
Over on the northeastern front, Manjushage organized her prisoners of war into a strict caste system. Humans were seen as the weakest, most pitiful of creatures, and thus were placed at the lowest, most inferior level of the caste. They became a slave race who had no rights under Jorōgumo law and were expected to obey their master or mistress's every command. They could never gain their freedom and it was declared illegal to free a slave or treat them with equal status. Human male slaves, though Manjushage would've preferred to execute them, were sentenced mostly to hard, manual labor. They were given the tasks of building infrastructure, raising domesticated animals, and harvesting crops such as wheat, rice, and sugar. Human female slaves, whom Manjushage saw as the superior human sex, were given more refined, yet sometimes more gruesome, duties. They worked as household servants, taking care of the cooking, cleaning, sewing, and sometimes even childcare. If a woman was well-educated, or even better, came from a house of human nobility, she was often employed as a servant to Jorōgumo aristocrats and upper-echelon folk. These women were usually harder to subjugate, as they were used to their spoiled lifestyles, but in time, they came to know their place. They served as pages, secretaries, concubines, courtesans, teachers, and, depending on the business of their master or mistress, were employed in brothels and houses of ill repute. No slave was ever to be paid a cent.

The next level of Manjushage's caste, dangerous beasts, demons, or yokai were often regarded as immensely powerful tools of warfare. They held higher status than the humans, because of the great amount of respect that they earned for their battle prowess, however, because they were so strong, they were given even less freedoms than the humans and were often treated like caged animals. This enraged many of them, but that only fueled their anger and bloodlust which was harnessed and used by the Jorōgumo against their foes.

A level above the weapons of war, creatures or humanoid animals such as the Nekozoku, who were a cat-like people from the Land of Fruit, held a relatively stable role in Jorōgumo society. They were treated as indentured servants and serfs. If they were indentured servants, they were treated like slaves, but could slowly pay their way out of servitude until they were free. They wouldn't possess equal status to the Jorōgumo, but were otherwise considered "citizens." Serfs on the other hand, possessed the same fundamental freedoms of an freed indentured servant, but could never pay their out of servitude to their master. Serfs paid taxes to their lord in a feudal-like system, but could never truly leave the system, whereas indentured servants eventually could, but were essentially slaves until that point where serfs were not. Sometimes, these humanoids were given the choice between these two options. Other times, they were simply assigned one. Families wishing to stick together often chose serfdom, as did folk who preferred the more homogenous lifestyle.

The rest of the caste system went as follows from the lowest rank to the highest: ❧ Jorōgumo citizens (Lower) ❧ Jorōgumo nobles ❧ Jorōgumo aristocrats ❧ Advisor: Manjushage ❧ Spider Heiress: Emica (Highest)

This caste of assimilation occurred in the territories that Manjushage conquered in the northeast.

Growing Discontent
These are just potential ideas for plot. Nothing is final.
 * Political role after sister takes throne
 * Cause of discontent/fear of assimilation
 * Growing discontent
 * Great Schism
 * Exile
 * Founding of silk servants forest
 * Dedication to "lust"
 * Political role
 * Policies
 * Human cattle farm, human girl survives juinjutsu and is granted title of Kinudorei equal
 * Time as Ruler/love practices
 * Daughter shibara
 * Raising Shibara
 * Shichi Shizuken Arrives and Shibara and her leave together
 * Manjushage is heartbroken with her daughter's absence/crys
 * Her ability to rule is shaken by her sorrow, the spiders begin to question her worthiness.
 * Juinjutsu survivor girl challenges Manjushage for the right to rule.
 * Hat harm 4 yehrz (many?)
 * Shibara or Emica returns

Trivia
❧ Manjushage is pronounced: (Mahn-Ju-Sha-Geh)

❧ "Manjushage" is the name given to the Japanese Red Spider Lily plant (AKA. Lycoris radiata)

❧ The main character used to portray Manjushage is Arachne Gorgon from: Soul Eater

❧ Manjushage's main theme: Wa -cycle- (環-cycle-)

❧ Manjushage's despair theme: Isabella's Lullaby

❧ The choice to include "Human Cattle" in the Silk Forest of Submission was heavily inspired by the manga/anime: The Promised Neverland

Quotes
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Reference

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