Musk Dynasty

The Musk Dynasty is an ancient clan of Chinese martial artists who have existed for 1,400 years. They sought to perfect the arts of form mimicry, emulating the movements of wild animals in their fighting styles. They are residents of the Byankala Mountains and appear late in the manga. Herb is the current head of the dynasty.

History
An extremely old society, the Musk are the descendants of a fanatical group of male martial artists dedicated to mastering the various styles of kung fu inspired by animals such as the monkey, tiger, dragon, and wolf. Discovering the existence of Jusenkyo, this group settled on a plan in order to make themselves or at least their descendants the greatest masters in the world of those various styles.



It is unknown where they acquired the items in question, but somehow the Musk managed to obtain two mystical artifacts that could affect the magic of Jusenkyo: the Ladle of Locking would produce cold water that would trap a Jusenkyo victim in their cursed form, while the Kettle of Opening would produce hot water that could undo the effects of the Pail of Preservation. With these items, the Musk settled near Jusenkyo and began a generations-long breeding regime, capturing animals of the style they wanted their offspring to master, plunging them into the Spring of Drowned Woman (Nyanniichuan), locking them with the Pail, and then mating with the newly created "beastwomen" in order to produce sons who would inherit some of the traits of their mothers' original species. Though the practice would be discontinued by the modern day, it evidently went on for generations and seemed to have had success. The royal line tracks its lineage to transformed dragons, which is the source of Herb's thorough ki mastery as well as flight. Nyanniichuan cursed wolves and tigers produced Musk of extraordinary speed and strength, in the forms of Mint and Lime, respectively.

The Musk Dynasty was, and to an extent remains, a very misogynistic culture. Women were seen as weaklings fit only for producing children, and their sons were taken from their mothers after being weaned so that they would not be be made soft and weak. They are only allowed to be around women again after they are deemed old enough to marry, all in order to strive for the pinnacle of the mastery of martial arts. It is never said what happened to the mothers once they have "fulfilled their duty", or to daughters born into the Musk. Even in the modern era, though breeding with beasts turned into girls through Jusenkyo is no longer practiced and the Musk simply interview skilled female martial artists in the vicinity of their village, they still seperate their sons from their mothers after they are weaned.

Cologne believed that the Musk Dynasty had been long dead. While she was startled to discover that the Musk were still alive and had not gone extinct, she was not hostile towards Herb and he in turn, was not only respectful to her but deliberately sought her out for advice. At some point in their history, the Water Pot of Liberation changed hands many time and ended up in Japan where it was stored on the remote Horaizan (Treasure Mountain in English), though Cologne was able to point Herb towards its destination.

As he would soon be arranged to be married, Herb decided that he should see what a naked girl actually looked like first, taking the Pail of Preservation and a monkey to Jusenkyo. There, he threw the ape in the Nyanniichuan, where she emerged looking almost identical to Ranma's female form. While Herb was awestruck by his first sight of real, nude, female flesh, the newly transformed and furious monkey woman kicked him into the spring, cursing him in turn. Shocked by now having his own breasts, Herb was unable to dodge when the monkey woman grabbed the Pail and used it to splash Herb with water, locking him into cursed form. Herb learned that the Water Pot was now somewhere in Japan and, so, disguising her newfound gender from her people, she took two of her followers, Mint and Lime, and set out to retrieve it and be cured.

Herb met with Cologne at the Cat Café, learning that the Water Pot was now hidden at Horai Mountain. When he tried to leave despite Mint and Lime's protests, he grabbed and threw Akane Tendo, who Mint had brought in. This infuriated Ranma Saotome and provoked a fight. However Herb was able to defeat him with the Soaring Dragon Spirit and use the Pail to lock him in his female form when he noticed that Ranma too was cursed. Desperate to reclaim his true form, and looking for a rematch, Ranma chased after Herb, accompanied by Mousse and Ryoga Hibiki, who plotted to get rid of Ranma during the journey and use the Pail to lock themselves in their natural forms. They failed to realize that it made cold locking water but were restored by the Water Pot. After a climactic battle that tore Treasure Mountain, or Horaizan, apart both Herb and Ranma were unlocked from their curses. The latter was able to defeat Herb and even saved him from an avalache as Horaizan collapsed from all the accumulated ki absorbed by its rock. Herb returned to China with his followers, acknowledging that Ranma was quite a man himself. In the very last panel on the last page of this arc, Herb gets splashed by a wave and turns female in the sight of his two subordinates who are fixated on breast. They ask him if they can touch his breasts and he says, "Chichi wa mo-ii!" which, simply translated means "Don't talk to me about my breasts anymore!" He presumably used Nanniichuan to cure himself upon his arrival now that he was no longer locked in his female form.

Note on Curing Jusenkyo Curses
Takahashi is reputed to have claim that Ranma, and therefore anyone else, could cure their curse simly by jumping into an appropriate spring. In other words, Shampoo could cure her curse by jumping into the Spring-of-Drowned-Maiden and Ryoga could rid himself of his curse by jumping into the Spring-of-Drowned-Man, but this is contradicted by what Pantyhose Taro did to himself after his first and unsuccessful visit to Nerima. He added a curse to his already monstrous form by jumping into the Spring-of-Drowned-Octopus. This added tentacles to the back of his cursed form. There is also a Spring-of-Drowned-Akane, created by the Phoenix People in Volume 38. This suggests that the cursed springs are very specific and additive, not countering or overwriting.