Ikeda Ryusuke is an exiled Seigun who acted as the last heir of Clan Ikeda, a Seigun house that was disbanded shortly after the war of Yamamura and before the abolition of Seigun Law in 3100 RH. It is unknown to the public what Ryusuke did during Yamamura that caused Akamine Shinji, the Shogun of Clan Seigun, to disband Clan Ikeda. Ryusuke did not carry out his own harakiri and instead wandered Tekkan as one of the most disgraced samurai in Seigun history.

 

Like all Seigun, Ryusuke was a fierce swordsman and tactician known for his cunning and sacrificial efforts to serve the shogun. However, he was also known to tread beyond Seigun Law and tactics such as espionage, misdirection, firearms, and other exploits that would be considered ‘cowardly’ to the average Seigun. These actions would see a significant spike in frequency after his exile and even more so after all the Seigun who had shamed him met their fates in the Battle of Azuhanto in 3124 RH.

 

As one of the last living Seigun after Azuhanto, he scoured the vast battlefield among the crows as a scavenger, collecting artifacts such as banners, helmets, swords, and other personal items off the bodies of fallen samurai as the crows picked at their rotting flesh. During his salvaging, he made connections whilst selling these artifacts to third-party buyers, such as the Red Crow Ministry, where he hired the young kunoichi, Kasamatsu, as a private servant to help expand his collection of Seigun artifacts. While Ryusuke personally profited from these endeavors, the cause and true purpose of looting the corpses of old friends and family alike was to find and preserve the remains of one. Takagi Kenji was a retainer under Clan Ikeda, who showed absolute loyalty to Ryusuke during Yamamura. He was tragically killed while retreating through Otsuhama due to injuries, where he was ambushed, and his remains were scattered and never to be seen or recovered. Blaming himself for not accompanying Kenji through the mountains, Ryusuke made a vow to find any pieces of his existence to ensure his memory is immortalized far longer than the failure of his own clan.

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