The Scorpion Clan

Current Population: 2,800,000 people, 11% of whom are samurai.


The Recent Past

Though Bayushi Asuka was widely regarded throughout the Empire for her stunning fashion sense and sharp wit, her own Clan remembers her as one of the most ineffectual Scorpion Clan Champions to have held the position in recent memory. The daughter of Bayushi Riozu, Asuka ascended to the Championship after her father's death in the year 716, only to find her southern borders contested by a legion of Crab Clan samurai within the month.

Asuka's generals were hampered from the beginning by her constant meddling, which turned what might have been a simple border conflict became a grueling war of attrition between the two Clans. The Battle of the Thundering Shrine was the bloodiest of the battles fought between the two Clans, and to this day, Scorpion instructors use the battle as a lesson in the dangers of fighting on unfavorable terrain. Attempts at resolving the conflict over the winter months seemed successful until the very last day of negotiations, when Asuka made a casual comment about the cut of a Yasuki courtier's kimono and its similarity to that of a well-known courtesan, undoing the entire winter's work and condemning the Scorpion Clan to another year of war as the Crab Clan slowly but steadily advanced upon their borders, claiming the lands of the Scorpion one inch at a time.

By this time, many of Asuka's advisors and daimyo had grown disgusted with their Champion and her incompetence, though none of them seemed able to convince her to step away from the war. Asuka eventually grew so upset with her generals that she had them stripped of their ranks, an act which prompted many of them to take their own lives in protest. To all appearances, it seemed as if Asuka intended to command the entire military campaign by herself, an idea that caused no end of unease among her Clan's bushi. Fortunately for the Clan, Asuka met an untimely death that winter, and though the exact details are not found in any written record, it is rumored that she was poisoned by an unknown party.

The next day, Bayushi Tenburo, a taisa among the Scorpion legions, appeared in the Imperial Court with the head of Asuka's murderer, a local ronin known for his underworld dealings. Pleased with Tenburo's efficiency, Hantei XXI appointed him the new Scorpion Clan Champion, much to the shock and amazement of Asuka's son Kenta, her chosen successor. Kenta quickly realized that his mother's actions had destroyed all faith in his family line, however, and rather than contest Tenburo's appointment he instead announced that he would be retiring to a monastery to study the Tao. His early retirement cemented Tenburo's legitimacy with the rest of the Scorpion, preventing what could have been a very nasty internal war.

Over the next few decades, Tenburo fought to repel the Crab Clan from his lands, a task made more difficult in 724 when Doji Hanako took over the Crane Clan Championship. Hanako maneuvered her Clan out of conflict with the Crab, allowing the sons of Hida to focus their full strength upon claiming the lands of the Scorpion. Tenburo struggled to repel the invaders for ten years, only to have the war come to an abrupt and sudden end in 736 as nearly every member of Crab Champion Hida Haru's extended family was assassinated in a single night. Broken and defeated, Haru pulled his armies out of Scorpion lands and retreated into the depths of depression.

With no enemies on his borders, Tenburo began the awkward task of trying to lead his Clan in a time of peace. The next fourteen years were years of political manipulation and courtly intrigue for the Scorpion as they rebuilt their strength, and while the Clan of Secrets prospered in these years of relative peace, Tenburo himself grew detached and bored. The subtle undertones of conversation held little joy for him, and his heart grew heavy as he looked out upon the armor that he believed would never again see the chaos of battle.

Then came the second uprising of Iuchiban, and Tenburo was once again back upon his horse, leading his warriors into battle against undead monsters and vile blood sorcerers. Battles against the undead offered little in the way of tactics, but Tenburo's men could not fail to notice that their daimyo seemed alive for the first time in years, and his very presence on the battlefield inspired his men to hold firm in the face of untold horrors.

Though Iuchiban was technically defeated at the Battle of the Sleeping River, the Bloodspeaker War essentially ended for the Scorpion with the Battle of the Bloody Retreat. The Scorpion successfully held Beiden Pass long enough for the Lion to arrive and rout the Bloodspeaker army, but the casualties of the delaying tactic were such that the Scorpion army was all but destroyed. Not wanting to endure another period of peaceful recovery, Bayushi Tenburo handed the Championship off to his nephew, Bayushi Yuuto, a young courtier whom he believed would be able to better lead the Scorpion through the political chaos that was sure to come.

Bayushi Yuuto successfully turned his Clan's sacrifice for the Empire into a point of pride for the Scorpion and earned the previously elusive respect of the Lion Clan in the process. His marriage to Ikoma Yuri, the daughter of the Ikoma daimyo, was intended to improve relations between the Clans, but Yuri's frequent liaisons with her many lovers eventually led to her mysterious death in the winter of 755. The leaders of the Lion suspected that she had been assassinated by her husband, but chose to ignore the incident in order to preserve the alliance between their two Clans.

When the political strength of the Crane Clan collapsed beneath the weight of conspiracy and scandal, Yuuto was ready to step into the place they had once held, taking the reigns of the Empire's courts and ensuring the complacency of the Crane by becoming engaged to a Doji woman. His machinations have brought the Scorpion to the height of power, and now that their military has begun to recover its strength, incidents such as the recent riots which nearly tore Ryoko Owari apart are becoming fewer and farther between.



The Scorpion Today

The Scorpion are currently enjoying an upward swing in their fortunes. Through underhanded deceit and blackmail, they have managed to expand their borders and take advantage of the Imperials' Gozoku purge to place themselves in positions of power all throughout the courts of the Empire. They have even managed to seize a sizable portion of the western Crane lands through the altering of the official Imperial Maps, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone in the Empire.

These actions have left the Scorpion looking unpleasant and opportunistic in the eyes of the Crab, Crane, and Dragon Clans, whose courtiers had been working together in an attempt to shatter the strength of the alliance between Lion and Scorpion. A recent agreement with the Crane, however, saw them ceding their position in the courts to the Scorpion for five years in exchange for burying any prospective blackmail the Scorpion might have on Crane courtiers. The agreement came about as a result of the Emperor's wish for his Clans to set aside their wars and conflict to strengthen the Empire and was bolstered with the knowledge of the true nature of the Black Scrolls.

The Imperial Families have been less than pleased to see the Scorpion take control of the courts in such a manner, but have thus far been too preoccupied with reclaiming their own power to interfere with the plans of the Scorpion. The refusal of the Scorpion to participate in the Emperor's war against the Naga has only served to drive a further wedge between their Clan and the throne, but the Scorpion are confident that, when the time comes and the Emperor has need of them, they will be in a place to once again prove their value to the Empire. The Imperial Families, meanwhile, see the alliance between the Scorpion and the Lion as a threat to their safety and have begun taking steps to weaken the alliance between the two Clans.

The Crab are also concerned about the strength of the Lion-Scorpion alliance, and their opinion of the Scorpion Clan is generally only somewhat better than their opinion of goblins. The Scorpion still carry a grudge against the Crab for the War of Crossed Pincers, where the Crab invaded Scorpion lands to expand their borders and seize farmlands, and they have gone out of their way to ensure that the taxes paid by the Crab to the Emperor are steadily increased every year... which makes up for the deficit caused by their steadily lowering tax rates.

The Scorpion recovered much of the land lost to the Crab in the War of Crossed Pincers, and taken with the acquisition of a large portion of the western Crane lands that were given to the Scorpion when the Imperial maps were redrawn in 755, the Scorpion found themselves with a great deal of land... and a military that was stretched too thin to guard their own borders. Banditry and rebellion broke out across their lands, and while things have gradually began to improve, there are still many rural areas in their lands that Scorpion samurai avoid at all costs.

The Lion have been a strong influence upon the latest generation of Scorpion bushi, many of whom seem to be holding themselves to a higher standard than their seniors. Many are considered to be "junshin" - honest Scorpions who cannot be fully trusted by the Clan, due to their honor - but the Scorpion military is too hard-pressed to judge its bushi too harshly, and with each passing year, the Scorpion military gradually becomes more honorable. The Lion have noticed this change and remarked positively upon it, opening up many of their dojo to the Scorpion in order to properly train this new breed of Scorpion, and while the Scorpion are grateful for the assistance, some of the older bushi have begun to wonder whether their Clan is losing more from the alliance with the Lion than they realized.

The Dragon and the Scorpion are not particularly fond of one another, but neither are they acting against one another. The Scorpion simply have more important things to worry about, while the Dragon do not seem to have the capability to become too involved in Scorpion politics.

The Phoenix, however, have made it a point to be helpful and friendly toward the Scorpion, a gesture that would no doubt draw suspicion, had the spies of the Scorpion not reported that the Phoenix were attempting to do the same with each of the other Clans. For the moment, the Scorpion have chalked this new friendship up to Phoenix idealism and have decided to take advantage of it whenever possible, but there are a few courtiers who remain suspicious as to the motives of the Phoenix. The Elemental Council is notoriously difficult to predict, and some of their recent actions have left the Scorpion confused as to just what sort of dark secret the Phoenix are trying to protect.

The Scorpion are fond of the Hare Clan and typically treat its members of such Clans a bit better than most other Minor Clans. The Hare, in turn, are looked upon as being something akin to a younger sibling, primarily due to the high number of former Scorpion among their upper ranks, up to and including their current Clan Champion, Usagi (formerly Soshi) Yukana. The Mantis, however, have been blamed for riots and insurgency among Scorpion lands and have earned the ire of the Scorpion, whenever they can bother to be upset at a Minor Clan.



Bayushi Daimyo & Scorpion Champion

Bayushi Yuuto: The young Scorpion Clan Champion has proven himself to be a man of great patience and deliberation. While his first years as Champion saw many matters that were brought to his attention languishing on his desk as he attempted to work out the best way to approach the problem, his deliberation has managed to slowly rebuild the Scorpion from a shattered Clan into one of the strongest political Clans within the Empire.

Bayushi Yuuto's marriage to Ikoma Yuri, the daughter of the Ikoma daimyo, was intended to improve relations between the two Clans, but Yuri found her husband to be boring and soon strayed from marriage, creating scandal in the courts and shaming Yuuto's name. The embarrassment came to a quiet end in the winter of 755 when Bayushi Yuri was poisoned within her room at Kyuden Ikoma while entertaining company. Rather than investigate the murder, the Lion chose to ignore the matter, freeing Yuuto from an embarrassing marriage and allowing the Lion to quietly deal with the problem within their own stronghold. That Yuuto's second wife, Doji Juko, hailed from the Crane was a gesture with a great deal of significance for the Lion.

Those who have met with Bayushi Yuuto have described him as polite but quiet, more willing to listen to the opinions of others than to make his own known. Recently, he has begun to take action to limit the power of Seppun Kato, the Emperor's brother. His actions have thus far remained in the shadows, giving him (and the Scorpion) deniability, but those who pay attention to such things have noticed that the Scorpions attending Seppun Kato's court in Toshi Ranbo are among the most experienced and loyal samurai the Clan has to offer.



Shosuro Daimyo

Shosuro Uruwashii: Shosuro Tsai disappeared midway through the Winter Court of 755, but such an event was not entirely unusual for a Shosuro, even one of such high standing as Tsai. When the daimyo did not reappear, however, Tsai's retainers and vassals grew nervous and were eventually forced to report their lord's absence to Bayushi Yuuto.

With no sign of the wayward daimyo, Yuuto was forced to appoint a replacement to the position of Shosuro daimyo, though few expected him to choose Shosuro Uruwashii. A former courtier, Uruwashii had been forced to retire from the courts after an unfortunate accident claimed the life of her husband, the former Yogo Jiroto.

The exact details of the accident are a matter of public rumor - some say that Jiroto attempted to murder his wife and then follow her into the next life, while others claim that a jealous ex-lover sought revenge for having his advanced scorned by Uruwashii. Whatever the truth of the matter, Jiroto was found in his quarters, dead from a terrible poison, while Uruwashii yet clung to life despite the convulsions of her body. The Shosuro healers used all of their skills and knowledge to save the young courtier's life, and succeeded...after a fashion.

When Shosuro Uruwashii next appeared in court, she was more pale than most remembered, but this was seen as something of a fashion coup, rather than a sign of sickness, and her popularity grew as other women flocked to her side, seeking to learn the secrets of her transformation. Uruwashii dismissed the change as an unfortunate side effect of her brush with death, but when two of her servants were found dead the next day, apparent victims of poisoning, Uruwashii abruptly announced her formal retirement from the courts and retired to a quiet life in the gardens of Shiro no Shosuro, where she penned a number of modest but educational treatises on poisons and their antidotes.

With the return of the Uruwashii to the public eye and her ascension to the position of family daimyo, the rumors surrounding her sudden withdrawal from the courts twelve years ago have once again resurfaced. Some whisper that she poisoned her husband to escape a loveless marriage, while others claim that she was involved in some underhanded Scorpion plot that went terribly wrong.

The most practical courtiers, however, just want to know what sort of makeup Uruwashii uses to appear no older than when she retired from the courts thirteen years ago, and where they can get some for themselves.



Soshi Daimyo

Soshi Daichi: Following the suicide of Soshi Kokonoe after the opening of the third Black Scroll in 757, Bayushi Yuuto appointed her primary advisor, Soshi Daichi, to the position of daimyo. Where is former superior was sullen and withdrawn, Soshi Daichi tends to be fairly optimistic about the future and the Empire in general. While this might be seen as a drawback by many Scorpion, Daichi has proven himself to be quite capable of his duties. His marriage to a Sparrow woman was seen as career suicide at the time, but somehow, Daichi continued to slowly rise in rank, gaining favors and allies in a manner more akin to a Crane than a Scorpion.

Unlike a Crane, however, Daichi is still willing to do whatever must be done in order to ensure the safety of his Clan and Empire. Those who are aware of the organization know that he has been involved with the Kuroiban since their inception a few years prior, though he was more concerned with ensuring that its agents had believable cover stories and forged travel papers than in hunting the darkness himself.

Daichi has shown a great respect for the "honorable poverty" of the Sparrow Clan, even before his marriage, and he and his wife have made it a point to attend their Winter Court whenever possible. His daughter is even being trained by a Sparrow sensei, though since his promotion, she and her sensei have been moved to Shiro Soshi out of concerns for her safety.



Yogo Daimyo

Yogo Hikari: In contrast to many members of her family, Yogo Hikari is a rather upbeat and pleasant woman. Placed in charge of the Yogo shortly after Bayushi Yuuto's marriage to Ikoma Yuri, Hikari's ascendance to the position of daimyo was one of the first issues upon which the new lady of the Scorpion made her influence known. Many expected Yuuto to consider the matter for months before finally selecting a shugenja to take over the position, but instead, a decision came back within hours.

The decision to place Hikari - a young courtier barely out of her gempukku - in charge of the Yogo family was strange enough that one of Yuuto's advisors quietly suggested that he might have allowed his new wife to influence his judgment a bit too much; Hikari's mother had been a Kitsu, after all. By the end of the day, the advisor's head was on a pike outside Kyuden Bayushi, Hikari was the daimyo of the Yogo, and every one of the samurai and heimin within Kyuden Bayushi knew that they were not to question the influence of their lord's new wife. Such was the impression made that, even years after Bayushi Yuri's death, few Scorpion are willing to speak ill of the Yogo daimyo, even in private.

Though she often gives others the impression of a young woman completely unsuited for such an important position, Hikari has managed to adapt to the duties of her position much better than many of her family had expected. She was close to Soshi Kokonoe, the former Soshi daimyo, and her suicide saw Hikari don the white robes of mourning in respect for her friend.

Hikari is married to Doji Daisuke, a slightly touched courtier who scandalized the Winter Court at Kyuden Otomo a few years ago by claiming that he had been taken from his bedroom by the spirit of his ancestors and shown a future where the Mantis were a Great Clan, the Emperor was a Lion, and the Kirin had returned to the Empire. Rather than deal with his obvious madness, the Crane Clan quite quickly dumped Daisuke onto Hikari, who seemed pleased enough to take him off the Crane's hands. When asked what she thought of her husband shortly after their marriage, Hikari was heard to remark that he was "a bit of an idiot, but cute enough to make up for it."

Plays based upon Yogo Daisuke's strange dream-vision were circulated among Scorpion lands to some modest praise, but were quickly pulled following the Emperor's attempted assassination, lest anyone claim that the Scorpion were attempting to encourage their Lion allies to take the throne. The decision apparently did not sit well with Daisuke, who has been overheard muttering to himself about how "it's all wrong" and "it wasn't supposed to be like this." The announced return of the Unicorn Clan is rumored to have sent him into a deep spat of depression, much to the annoyance of his frustrated (and somewhat baby-crazy) wife.

_________________
Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men

Vassal Families of the Scorpion

This is a list of the vassal families that are currently in existence within the Scorpion Clan. Characters that hail from vassal families are treated exactly the same as normal members of the Clan, save that they begin the game with the Vassal Family disadvantage. Members of a vassal family receive the same Trait bonus at character creation as their parent Family.

Vassal Family [Social] (1 point)

You are a member of a vassal family, and as a result your word carries less weight than samurai of your patron family. You begin the game with a Status of 0.5, rather than 1.0.

Within their family, parent Family, and Clan, members of the vassal Families are called by their vassal family name. To those outside of their Clan, however, vassal family samurai are simply identified by their parent Family's name. To use a vassal family's name with an outsider over that of a one's parent Family is considered to be an act of arrogance, for it implies that the lineage of one's vassal family is more important and well-known than that of the Family he serves


An Example
For example, Nanbu Miki is a member of the Nanbu family, vassals of the Soshi Family of the Scorpion Clan. To those within the Scorpion, she is known as Nanbu Miki, as all Scorpion are immediately aware of the relation of the Nanbu and Soshi families. To those outside the Scorpion Clan, Miki is simply known as Soshi Miki. If she wishes to recognize her own family, particularly if she wishes to be formal, she might introduce herself as "Soshi Miki of House Nanbu" or as "Soshi Miki no Nanbu."

If an outsider was visiting the lands of the Scorpion, these protocol would remain the same, unless that visitor was within the holdings of the Nanbu family. In such a case, Miki could refer to herself as "Nanbu Miki" without seeming arrogant, as it would be assumed that the visitor would know he was in the lands of the Soshi Family. Given the size of most vassal family holdings, however, this exception occurs only rarely, perhaps once or twice in a normal samurai's lifetime.



Vassal Families

Kochako (Shosuro): The Kochako were created in response to the reign of the Gozoku Alliance. In the wake of the Gozoku's downfall, the Scorpion decided they must police their own ranks against any future disloyalty and appointed special agents to watch over the Scorpion Clan. Chief among these watchmen was Shosuro Kochako, whose service was so exemplary the Shosuro daimyo named him as the head of his own vassal family. The Kochako family is tasked with rooting out traitors within the Scorpion Clan - traitors to the Clan and traitors to the Empire. They operate in secret and only the lord of the Shosuro knows how to contact them. The recent reemergence of the Gozoku conspiracy among the Crane Clan has seen a sudden spike in Kochaku activity among the Scorpion, who wish to ensure that no such treachery has spread to their own Clan.


Tokagure (Shosuro): The Tokagure are descended from Shosuro Tokagure, the first official keeper of the poisonous gardens at Shiro no Shosuro. He was elevated to his position and permitted to enlist others (including commoners) into his family's ranks in order to free the rest of the Shosuro for more important duties such as spying and assassination. The Tokagure ensure the Shosuro have access to all the ingredients they need for their deadly poisons.


Nanbu (Soshi): The Nanbu are descended from a peasant budoka who saved the life of the judge Soshi Saibankan, the founder of the Imperial magistrate system. Saibankan rewarded the selfless peasant warrior by enlisting him as a personal guard, and within two generations Nanbu's descendants were an official vassal family in service to the Soshi. The Nanbu have quietly served the Soshi as warriors and bodyguards ever since.


Tansaku (Yogo): The Tansaku are descended from a second century shugenja, Yogo Tansaku, who undertook a quest on behalf of his daimyo to find a cure to the infamous Yogo Curse. After decades of research, Tansaku concluded that the curse could not be lifted, but did achieve some insight into how it functioned. When he predicted the family daimyo would succumb to the Curse unless she listened to his warnings, she wrathfully exiled him to a monastery. Two years later the Curse came upon her when she secretly fell in love with Tansaku himself, disgracing her reputation and leading to her forced retirement. Her son and heir appointed Tansaku's family as vassals, tasking them with continuing to study the Curse and seek an end to it - a duty they have pursued loyally and fruitlessly into modern times.

_________________
Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men