Project: TOXIC LADY

During the Phoenix Scorpion War of 1413, when the Scorpion Clan was sent to slaughter an entire village in their territory for providing aid to the Phoenix Clan, an unusual event took place. One that has mystified the Rokugani Empire to this day. This was dubbed the curse of Hirotoro Village due to it only taking place in that village and nowhere else as of now.

It started when the first villager was cut down by the Scorpion bushi. A group of female warriors wielding naginatas, hearing the screams, emerged from an inn in the center of the village and confronted the bushi head on. It was a difficult fight as the Scorpion bushi were not expecting a group of armed people to be stationed there, especially women skilled in the art of fighting with spears. The one thing that suggested something was off was the fact that these female warriors had eyes completely black as the void itself.

Not thinking anything of this, the Scorpion bushi fought on and eventually managed to defeat the warriors. However, the blood of these women was blue rather then the usual crimson red. Curious as to what was going on, the bushi got closer to the bodies to get a closer look. Another thing that became apparent after a few seconds was very unusual odor that smelled unlike anything encountered before. This unsettled them enough and they backed away and ran off to the camp set up nearby.

When their commander asked them what they were doing and why they smelled so strange after noticing the blue blood on the returning warriors. They reported the unusual female warriors they encountered. The commander send another group of bushi to investigate this strange encounter. This new group arrived at the village and were surprised to find signs that the entire place was abandoned. Walking towards the center where the bodies of the strange female warriors were found, sure enough, the blood was indeed sapphire blue and there was a very strong odor in the area.

Back the camp, the bushi who first got exposed to the blue blood started to fall ill and began to convulse in a seizure. Their commander rushed over to help but it was too late. They all died within seconds. Then the commander started to get sick as well. He died 30 seconds later. Back at the village, the bushi who were sent to investigate the bodies fell sick and died too. Everyone who has gotten a whiff of that odor succumbed to this mysterious illness. The ones that were lucky enough to have avoided it fled the camp and headed back to their castle.

Most of the Scorpion Clan assumed it was some kind of curse while others suspected a poison was responsible for the deaths that the surviving bushi reported. The latter were correct in guessing that this was a poison. This was the result of a special group of warriors that the Tankado Clan assigned to guard this village as it was a critical supply point for the Phoenix Clan soldiers. The villagers were given very specific instructions to flee the village if those warriors started fighting and to not return until at least one hour has passed.

Those female warriors were part of a secret Tankado Clan experiment codenamed Project: TOXIC LADY. A project whos goal was to create a warrior that could continue to kill even after it died. This was accomplished using an advanced method of creating custom biological organisms and years of attempting to create this specific one. This project took place inside Special Research Facility No. 731 due to its highly questionable nature. The primary mechanism for the postmortem killing was in the blood of the organism which when exposed to oxygen would start a chemical reaction that produced a deadly neurotoxin.

It took months to get the correct metabolic mechanisms perfected in this experimental organism so that it could live without dying from the usual make up of the blood. Then a few years to shape the body so that it resembled a standard human when born. Under normal conditions, the blood would be crimson red and the eyes would look normal. When this is the case, the body will not produce the nerve gas. It is only when a special chemical is taken that the eyes will turn black and the blood turns blue. This is the indicator that the body is primed to produce the gas for the next 4 hours.

Once 4 hours has passed, the body will return to normal until the chemical is taken again. This is why it is only taken before a battle to prevent accidental release. Once released into the air, the gas will take on average, one hour to safely dissipate. Naturally, these walking and talking chemical weapons are unaffected by this gas. Project: TOXIC LADY is a secret to all but a few people outside of Facility 731. Although it is currently unknown exactly how many of these warriors are out in the empire, it is estimated that there are at least 25,000 of them.