Anko Tiaan, Jin’s mother, hailed from the mountainous city Yin Shan. Part of an ancient clan of sword maidens, she was raised in the temple to carry on their traditions and art. Her mother, Ajiin, had grown severely ill in her later years. Around the same time, stories of a mysterious island where one’s soul could not only be saved, but imbued into armor compelled Anko to seek it out. However, her father Mateo was against the idea of keeping his beloved wife’s memory alive in such a foreign and seemingly blasphemous manner. The ways of life of outsiders befuddled the traditional man and despite this, his own wife was fascinated by the idea of helping their daughter not only become more powerful, but also believed in the prospect of helping others.

While Anko had disguised her reasoning from the perspective of ‘for the sake of adventure and glory’, her mother saw through her daughter’s bravado to keep her spirit close even after death. Eventually when the time grew close that it was clear Ajiin did not have much longer to live, Mateo could do nothing but accept his wife’s dying wish. After saying their heartfelt good-byes, Anko journeyed alone with her mother to Phorasmos to find the coveted spiritsmiths.

Eventually when she found a willing spiritsmith named Yulic Lolthous, they waited in the days to come for Ajiin’s final breath. After completing the Ritual of Consecration with the sword Ajiin had passed on to Anko, Yulic forged for her the ghost mail. After long overstaying her welcome on Phorasmos, it became clear that something special had blossomed between her and the spiritsmith. They soon married and had a daughter, Jin. But the honeymoon phase of marriage and raising their daughter were short lived. It became acutely apparent that the two had very differing ideas on how to raise their child, and discord was inevitable.

Separating when Jin was seven, Anko decided to stay on Phorasmos simply so her daughter could still have a relationship with her father. But that relationship proved difficult and strained. Training Jin in the sword maiden ways and the traditions of her own home, Anko was the ideal mother and their own relationship flourished.

However, when Anko lost her life unexpectedly in a freak accident, Jin was forced to acknowledge her father again in hopes that he would forge for her a set of ghost mail. For a time they were reconciled in their loss and found some modicum of solace with each other, but as Jin’s desires became adamantly clear, her father was resistant. He did not want to support his daughter in a pursuit he didn’t approve, but when she threatened to find another willing spiritsmith, he relented. Not willing to trust his own flesh and blood in the hands of another, he built for his daughter his best work. And so, armored with her own ghost mail and her mother’s Requiem blade, Jin became a Mourner.