The Yōtei Six are a group of six masked outlaws led by Lord Saito, consisting of the Spider, the Dragon, the Kitsune, the Oni, and the Snake, serving as the main antagonistic group of the game Ghost of Yōtei.
History[]
Long ago, the members of what would soon become the Yōtei Six were all simply men; Lord Saito was a samurai lord and the leader of Clan Saito, while the Oni was a samurai known as Lord Hyozo who faced humiliation at the Battle of Nagashino after being shot by a peasant and trapped under his own horse, the Snake was a regular at the opium dens in Osaka who was not expected to survive past six months of age, the Spider and the Dragon were Saito's unruly second-born and favored firstborn sons, and the Kitsune was a woman named Oyuki.
Following the Battle of Nagashino, Clan Saito all but disintegrated, with members constantly deserting. Things became so chaotic that the survivors were willing to raid villages for food, becoming desperate for control. One such member of the clan was Kengo, a talented swordsmith who abandoned Clan Saito when they were at their lowest, and who was the husband of Yone and the father of Atsu and Jubei. Although a retainer for the clan, Saito considered him a friend, but Kengo denied this.
In 1587, during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period, Saito found himself in the woods outside the family's home and saved Atsu and Jubei from a wolf. The siblings thought he was a samurai who needed his sword fixed, so they led him to their parents, who immediately recognized him upon hearing his voice; Yone ushered the children away while Kengo confronted Saito, who revealed his "friendship" with the man and explained his betrayal to the swordsmith's children. After a long conversation, Saito decided that he would have to make an example out of the family, who he considered traitors to his clan, and so called for the Yōtei Six to join him, much to Kengo's distress. And so began the Night of the Burning Tree.
One by one, Atsu's family was murdered by the Yōtei Six in different ways and at different parts of their home; the Oni viciously beat Kengo with his fists and attempted to strangle Jubei when the boy tried to save his father, but Atsu came to his rescue and injured the Oni's face with Kengo's katana, although the Oni succeeded in killing Kengo by stabbing him through the back with his katana when he attempted to escape with his children; as for Yone, Saito had a stool placed under her feet and put a rope around her neck while Oyuki restrained Atsu and tied her hands up. As Yone sang a song with her daughter to comfort her while telling her she could do anything, Saito kicked the stool out from under her feet, hanging the woman from the family's sacred ginkgo tree in front of her own daughter. Oyuki, however, was disgusted by her lord's cruelty, freeing Atsu and telling her to run, much to Saito's disappointment.
Oyuki's comfort wouldn't last long, however, as although Atsu reunited with her brother and told him about their mother's death, the siblings were cornered by the Spider and the Dragon and held at gunpoint by the brothers with their pistols, who eventually shot Jubei in the chest and off a cliff before dragging Atsu away with them.
Sometime later, the Yōtei Six would corner Atsu against her family's sacred tree, which was now ablaze. The Snake wondered what they would do with the girl, and Saito told them to make an example out of her; crouching to her level, he apologized for the situation having come to this, addressing her as "little wolf" just as her father had, before using Kengo's katana to impale her through the left shoulder and pin her to the tree. He then ordered the Oni to burn the child alive with the torch he was carrying, and soon left the area with the Dragon, Oyuki and the Spider as the Oni discarded the torch at the foot of the tree before leaving as well; the Snake stayed behind for a brief moment to sadistically laugh at the child's suffering, before also leaving. Atsu, overcome with grief over losing her family, screamed in rage and frustration before finally freeing herself before she could be burned alive, burying her parents under the tree and searching for her brother; what she didn't know, however, was they Jubei had actually survived and was found by a samurai from the Matsumae clan, who saved him and nursed him back to health, with Jubei eventually becoming a samurai himself and taking on the name Lord Kitamori.
Sometime after this, Saito privately punished Oyuki for letting Atsu escape by branding her with his clan symbol; he forced her not to scream during this, implying that the rest of the Yōtei Six would sexually assault her if they found out she was a woman. She eventually abandoned the group and went her own way, though the Six recruited another Kitsune: an old friend of hers named Dojun, who Atsu would eventually discover was actually an imposter and not the real Kitsune. The Oni, on the other hand, eventually acquired a set of samurai armor and an odachi, taking on Ishikari Castle as his base of operations and becoming the leader of a group of arsonists and thugs known as the Oni Raiders, while Dojun replaced Oyuki as the leader of the Nine Tails, a group of shinobi created by Oyuki herself, and made his headquarters in the frigid northern mountains of Teshio Ridge, and the Dragon and the Spider would come to lead a group of gunners at Oshima Coast while attempting to gain their father's favor.
Atsu, meanwhile, spent the next sixteen years in the south of Japan, where she would learn to fight and kill while working for samurai lords as part of the peasant infantry and even participated in the Battle of Sekigahara, all the while becoming consumed by revenge and desiring to kill the Yōtei Six for the murder of her family, creating a list with their names on it with Saito at the top.
Members[]
Former Members[]
- Oyuki (Defected)