Liang Jian Min

Provincial Governor of the Western Frontier in ancient Xsia, though much to his chagrin--and the Empire's--he was truly Governor in name only. Jian Min was a formidable commander in the vanguard of the Empire's seemingly invincible army of samurai; he led Imperial forces to brutal efficiency against the Oni in Lo-Xsia, winning great esteem for the distinguished Liang clan. For his efforts, Jian Min was "rewarded" with the Provincial Governorship of what came to be known as the Western Frontier, the worst hot spot in the Empire. It was widely believed the highly popular Jian Min was banished to the troubled hinterlands (as far from the Imperial City as one could get) by the Emperor's advisers, seeking to neutralize a potential threat to the Celestial Throne. Nonetheless, as a loyal son of the Empire, Jian Min took on the sacred duty appointed to him with little protest.

Though the Xsians naturally claimed the territories including the Forests of Tro and the plains beyond the mountains which bordered the woods, the Tro Amazons and their Spirit-Folk allies, as well as the Beorn barbarians, proved a constant thorn in Jian Min's side. Though he fortified Kunlao Fortress, seat of Imperial power in the West, to the point of impregnability, Jian Min's samurai were badly routed by the barbarians' guerilla tactics for years.

Jian Min's wife, Li Mei, remained in the Imperial City away from the danger of the distant frontier. She and an army of servants cared for the couple's two children, fraternal twins Xiao Tian and Shu Zhen. Shu Zhen, Jian Min's daughter, was married off to a prominent family in Fa-Bul, and his son Xiao Tian trained as a samurai, following in his father's footsteps.