Yuno was born into a samurai-soldier family. Three generations before him have served in Godo’s imperial army, achieving a high status and a known family name. As a child, Yuno trained constantly, looking forward to honoring this name- until his father came home abruptly. It was winter, and the ash was settling in his home village of Moetsukiru. The ricepaper wall nearly caved in as his father stumbled through his home. Behind his father were two samurai. He heard his mother ask what was going on, and her husband laid his hands on her and told her it was her fault. The samurai pulled him off of her and threw him to the ground, asking where his armor was. He meekly showed them, and they took it. He gambled away his honor. In some sort of twisted sense of justice, the man took his katana and pointed at the samurai, unable to keep steady. The men in their red plates laughed at this feeble, insignificant man and told him that was a legal death sentence and cut him down where he stood. They took his sword, as well as his armor, and left without a word.
Since that day, Yuno swore he would not serve Godo and would never become samurai filth. He became a rebel in his teens and was often thrown down and out by those authoritarian samurai- he was trained but knew what it meant if he held a weapon against them. Still, in private he became a guard for hire, plainclothes and a wakizashi were his uniform. He handled petty fights between civilians and made enough money to support his mother. One day a note came to him, a letter of hire. He followed the instructions to find his employer that promised a suspiciously large sum of zenit, and was deceived. It was a samurai investigation. Being a sword-for-hire was illegal under Godo’s rule. They beat him near death but could not kill him because Yuno refused to draw his blade- so they staged his death. They threw him over a bridge into a river. When he awoke, a samurai of great stature stood over him.
General Serizawa was a well-kept man, hardened by years of service, and was one of Godo’s closest advisors. The general gave young Yuno food, medicine, and shelter. And as soon as Yuno was healed, he was put to work. Yuno was made a slave under Serizawa’s personal rule. Cleaning, massaging, cooking, sharpening his blades and carrying his pack. This was the cost of being alive. Yuno served silently, being called a dog, a cur, a mutt- and being treated worse. Serizawa regularly beat Yuno with his paper fan for even the smallest misstep- an unclean dish, massaging a wrong spot, falling behind in line. After two years, he realized that he could not keep on this way. But he didn’t have to- his last straw wouldn’t be at his own expense. In a drunken rage, Serizawa set fire to the home of a woman that rejected his advances. In this chaos, Yuno fled.
Yuno found a village, Chrace, who had many capable warriors trained in the way of the axe that wanted separation from imperial rule. The Lions of Chrace would fight for their freedom to the end. They openly accepted Yuno and his knowledge of the inner-workings of Godo’s army and offered him a home. He stayed with them for three months and they trained him to be a Lion. When a red army of Godo was seen coming from a hill towards them, the Lions stood firm and ready to fight. Yuno stood with them, still clad only in his kimono as he refused to wear the enemy's armor. As the army approached, however, something sank within him- the army was led by General Serizawa. It was a slaughter. Despite their best efforts, the Lions were losing handily, and Yuno fled. He watched from the treeline as he lost another home to the samurai. He watched them all die. And he ran away.
He began to live like an animal, stealing rations in the night from the army camps and sleeping in the woodlands. It was through this meager method of survival that he met Mugen, a stranger who wasn’t from Tet’oa at all, that survived the same way he did. They struck up a silent partnership, and eventually became friends of sorts- they never discussed this openly, simply let it be that they had common goals and a shared enemy. He fought recklessly with a blade while Yuno always had his back with his Lion's axe. Then everything changed for the both of them when one day while traveling together, the ground split open and a massive construct barreled through the earth before fizzling out. Out of that contraption stepped a strange, hairy woman- Mercy- and her “son”, Kazuma...
From here, he adventures with this group- including a mysterious, edgy figured named Fukushu that wields a massive blade- in a bid to get away from Godo's army. And Serizawa. However, his ideas of escape are futile, as Serizawa continues to cross his path alongside slavemaster Muchi Uchi. These encounters formed a deep rivalry that his party could not shake and the group endeavored to defeat and kill Yuno's former master. This came to a head in the city of Ambrosia, set atop of the Great Beetle Kepri where the party was given the task to find a rare volcanic Scorch Flower to heal the insect's injuries. Unfortunately, Serizawa was there and was determined to find the Scorch Flower first to gain a military alliance with the people of Ambrosia. Having no other choice, Yuno followed the party as they raced Serizawa across a mountain to a fateful duel. Despite the rising heat, scaling the mountain was surprisingly simple as the group befriended a troll named Trevor who wears a cool and stylish haircut. This mountaintop housed a fire animus named Afiya, which took the form of a dragon and threated to obliterate the battlefield. Yuno fell into a battle-trance parrying and blocking Serizawa with precision while Mugen landed blow after blow, each being healed by the magic of Kazuma. While this prolonged fight took place, Fukushu successfully stole the Scorch Flower from Muchi Uchi and Mercy trapped the fire animus within herself- falling off a cliffside in the process. With the immense heat wearing down and Kazuma being fatigued by use of white magic, Yuno and Mugen knew they had to end this fight now. Working in tandem, they threw themselves at Serizawa who lashed out with magic-infused runes across his body. He launched Yuno into the air with one attack, ready to impale and drive him back into the dirt- but Yuno had been studying his former master's moves and in one fluid motion, Yuno redirected Serizawa's Wakizashi with the hilt of his axe, sending it straight into the master's stomach. As Serizawa stared in bloody disbelief while they both free-fell, Yuno smirked and said "I learned from the best". Both Serizawa and Yuno plummeted down to the scorched and ruined battlefield, but only one lived as the ground came up to meet them.
Back on Ambrosia, Yuno recovers slowly while the party presents the Scorch Flower to the city council and their high priestess. The party go their separate ways to spend downtime on their way south to the achipelago of Pilat. Yuno begins writing a journal- maybe a book, to tell his story, with the title "A Dog with no Master." While the writing begins hopeful, Yuno starts to realize that he has served his purpose, and now lacks direction. He has no goal now that revenge has been sated against Serizawa, as Godo's reign doesn't weigh heavily on him after seeing the other options of rule. On top of this, he still has no deep bonds to his party aside from Mugen who is reluctantly acting as the group's leader. Yuno is unsure of what will come when the group reaches Pilat, but for now he will stick with them as he finds his way...
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