In 996 T-K, Natsuko Kira, a noblewoman thought missing after her journey to Minatoshima, returned to Ikaiguchi. It had been 19 years, and the popular leader was celebrated upon her return.
It took only seven years to spread her influence throughout the imperial court and clans alike, until finally her plans for a coup were realized in a bloody uprising known as the Night of Black Petals. Natsuko Kira deposed the sitting Yoshito Dynasty and claimed power for herself. Every member of the Yoshito family was found dead in their beds, their flesh corpse-white and their faces locked in a rictus of agony. Each body was covered in black petals of a flower no herbalist was able to identify. Scattered, terrified, and without leadership, the garrison was defeated by Kira’s loyalists. Uncontested, the throne was hers.