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The Minor Clans
While a few of the Minor Clans of the Hollow Empire have forged alliances among each other or with one of the Great Clans, the majority of them are forced to fend for themselves in an Empire that is often apathetic to their concerns and hardships. With limited numbers and few resources at their disposal, the samurai of the Minor Clans are quite aware of their fragile place in the Empire and of just how much impact the actions of a single samurai can have upon their Clan.
A recent alliance between four of the Minor Clans - the Centipede, Fox, Hare, and Sparrow - saw the lessening of tariffs and a general agreement to work together to help ease their collective burdens, but with the Fox being absorbed back into the returned Unicorn and the Sparrow falling under the influence of Seppun Kato, the Hare and Centipede have started to distance themselves from each other.
Badger Clan
Current Population: 285,000 people, 12% of whom are samurai
Though the northern home of the Badger shielded them from the horrors of the Bloodspeaker War, the Badger have recently found themselves in a protracted war against gaijin barbarians. The tactics of the barbarians were far more advanced than those of the Yobanjin that sometimes attacked their walls, and the weapons they wielded were like nothing else the Rokugani have seen before. Even stranger were the large, horse-sized lizards which the gaijin rode into battle, each one large enough to snap an armored samurai in half with its jaws.
As the tide of battle shifted against them, the Badger sent their children to the Crane Clan, who had offered to protect the young Badger until the war was finished. The children and their escorts were ambushed a day outside of Badger lands, but were saved by a small group of Fairuz ronin who helped to drive the barbarians back, then healed the wounded Ichiro and traveled with them the rest of the way to Crane lands. The unexpected assistance came as a surprise to the Badger, and a friendship has since formed between the Ichiro and the family of the Jade Champion.
The Badger were forced to fall back from the battle, abandoning their homes and wounded to the gaijin invaders as they bought time for the armies of the Great Clans to arrive and reinforce their positions. The armies of the Lion did eventually arrive - albeit a month later than expected - but their presence was enough to turn the tide of the battle, pushing the gaijin barbarians back beyond the lands of the Empire.
Akodo Misaki remained in Badger lands for the rest of the year, and while relations between the Lion and the Badger were relatively civil, Misaki spend many of her meetings with Ichiro Gacho, the venerable Badger Champion, arguing with him over tactics and troop deployments. By the time she finally left, both Champions were quite fed up with the other. Gaijin have been sighted near the northern borders of the Empire multiple times since then, hinting that another surge might be in the near future.
In a rare moment of political success for the often forgotten Badger, one of their few courtiers, Ichiro Wattana, was recently appointed to the prestigious position of Imperial Chancellor. The appointment was almost immediately dismissed by the Great Clans as an attempt for a third party to seize power by weakening the position of Chancellor with an "unskilled' and "unimportant" courtier, though few seem able to agree on the identity of the mastermind benefiting from Wattana's suspicious appointment.
Perhaps mindful of these rumors, Ichiro Wattana has mostly kept a low profile while adjusting to her new duties and has thus far avoided showing favor to any of the Great or Minor Clans in court. She has recently found a friend in Doji Suiminko, the Imperial Advisor, and has begun to take the Advisor's suggestions quite seriously.
Centipede Clan
Current Population: 280,000 people, 12% of whom are samurai
Shortly after word of Iuchiban's release reached the Valley of the Centipede, a small cult of Bloodspeakers within the Moshi attempted to seize control of the Clan. Though the cultists numbered no more than half a dozen, their betrayal caught the loyal Moshi by surprise and plunged the Centipede into chaos. The failed coup took a heavy toll upon the small Minor Clan, and the Centipede Champion, Moshi Mikia, met her end at the hands of one of her undead kinsman. Her sister, Moshi Mao, assumed leadership of the Clan and managed to wrestle control of the Centipede back from the cultists shortly before the Battle of the Bloody Retreat.
Fearing what might happen should the rest of the Empire learn that some of the Moshi had betrayed the Empire and turned to blood magic, Mao declared that the secret must never leave the Valley of the Centipede. Those travelers who were unfortunate enough to find themselves within Moshi lands at the time of the chaos suffered a number of unfortunate "accidents" that preserved the honor of the Moshi in the eyes of the Empire.
The Otomo daimyo, Otomo Kiku, spent a great deal of time among the Moshi as part of her duties as an Imperial Cartographer. She did not suspect that the Moshi were being overly friendly with her in an attempt to conceal their history, but her visits still left her with a favorable impression of the Minor Clan. Following Kiku's unexpected rise to the position of daimyo, the Moshi were able to leverage this fondness into a favorable relationship with the Imperial Families, which has resulted in lower taxes for the Moshi and an increase in Imperial funding for Centipede projects.
The most important of these projects is likely the fledgling alliance of the Minor Clans that began this last winter. With their long history of honorable behavior and their favor from the Imperial Families, the Centipede have become something of an informal leader of the new alliance. Moshi Mao has taken this as a sign that it is no longer necessary for the Centipede to avoid attracting undue attention and has dispatched Centipede advisors to the other Minor Clans in order to help smooth over the various issues that will no doubt arise as the Minor Clans begin to work together more often.
While the Centipede did not directly participate in the War of Broken Fangs, one of their bushi - Moshi Makoto - embarked on a warrior pilgrimage, setting aside his name to protect the Empire against the attacking Naga. During the campaign, he rescued a ronin who claimed to be the last descendant of the legendary Sun family. Makoto convinced Sun Gang to travel to Moshi lands and swear fealty to the Centipede, but the Moshi were uncomfortable with the idea of allowing the Sun name to die out in such a manner without receiving approval from the Imperial Families. The Hantei considered the matter and chose instead to allow the Centipede to retain the Sun family name, essentially granting the Minor Clan its first vassal family.
Dragonfly Clan
Current Population: None (no longer a Minor Clan)
After losing nearly a fifth of her Clan to starvation over a single winter, Tonbo Mariko, the Dragonfly Champion, approached the Dragon Clan in the Month of the Dog, 756, and pleaded for their protection. The Dragon accepted and on the last day of the month, Mariko swore fealty to Togashi Motaro and allowed the Dragonfly to be absorbed into the Dragon Clan.
Fox Clan
Current Population: None (no longer a Minor Clan)
Though they succeeded in defeating the Oni that had taken up residence in the Kitsune Mori, the Fox Clan was defeated by a far more powerful force: Imperial Mandate. Upon her Clan's return to the Empire, Shinjo Wakumi petitioned the Emperor to allow her distant cousins, the Fox Clan, to return to the Unicorn, as was the plan laid out for the Minor Clan at their founding. The Emperor agreed, and in 758, Fox Champion Kitsune Jume and the rest of the Fox Clan swore fealty to the Unicorn and became Unicorn samurai, signalling the end of the Fox Clan.
Hare Clan
Current Population: 200,000 people, 13% of whom are samurai
The Hare Clan is still young, having come into existence only seven years ago. Composed mostly of former ronin, the Hare Clan has primarily spent its first years of existence attempting to bolster their numbers and make a place for themselves in the Empire. Through marriage arrangements and active recruitment, the Hare have quickly increased their Clan's numbers, and newly married samurai are actively encouraged to start producing the next generation of Hare samurai as quickly as possible. As a result, over a third of the small Minor Clan's samurai population is composed of infants and toddlers, a fact which often catches those visiting Hare lands by surprise.
The Hare have taken longer to develop their own fighting styles, but the Clan's founder Reichin was instrumental in creating the foundation of the Usagi Bushi school, much of which was based upon the techniques he developed while wandering the Empire as a ronin. These core techniques were then refined by ronin sensei who added their own improvements, until the techniques reached a place where they could truly be called unique to the Hare Clan. Now that Shiro Usagi has been completed, the first students of the Hare have begun to train in this new style in a proper dojo, rather than in open fields like ronin. It has only served to further increase the pride the Hare feel in their Clan, and many former ronin have remarked that they finally feel like they're in "a real Clan."
Unfortunately, that pride does not carry as far as their Champion, Usagi Yukana. The former Scorpion assumed leadership of her Clan after her husband, Usagi Reichin, was mortally wounded in the Shinomen Forest in the Hare and Lion Clans' shattering of the notorious Forest Killer bandit group. Though some were doubtful that Yukana would be able to fill the void left by Reichin, the young courtier soon proved her worth by approving construction of the Shinrin Kabe, a large wall that stretches across the western edge of Hare lands. With this barrier between them and the dangerous forest, the Hare would be able to much more easily defend themselves from the predations of the bandits and darker things that lurk within the Shinomen Forest.
Just as the Hare were beginning to believe that Yukana might well be able to live up to her fallen husband's memory, she fell into the clutches of the Emperor's older brother, Seppun Kato. Using blackmail he had obtained on the Hare Clan at Winter Court, Kato forced the young Hare Champion's hand, compelling her to command a number of her followers to give false testimony against his political rivals. Nobody questioned the accusations of blood magic from so many Hare samurai, and the resulting mass executions left Kato with unparalleled influence within the Imperial City. Though the act freed the Hare from being politically gutted by the ruthless Imperial, Yukana's orders had betrayed the spirit of the Hare, and robbed her of many skilled samurai as her top advisors either committed sepukku in protest or simply cast aside their new mons and left the Hare behind them in disillusionment.
While the full extent of just what happened and why is not something most Hare samurai know about, it is difficult to ignore the grumblings and looks of disrespect cast in the direction of their Champion. Even Yukana seems disappointed in herself, and it is rumored that she has taken to heavy drinking since she gave the orders that bought the Hare their freedom. The recent elevation of her fallen husband to the status of Fortune of Heroes has somewhat improved her mood, though the Hare have yet to entirely embrace their new Champion as one of their own, and her attempts to win her people back to her side have been disrupted by the reappearance of Forest Killer ronin along her borders.
Mantis Clan
Current Population: 325,000 people, 14% of whom are samurai
Though the Mantis lands were relatively safe during the Bloodspeaker War, many of their samurai still participated in the war as hired mercenaries. The tendency of Great Clan commanders to use ronin and mercenaries as front-line shock troopers resulted in a high rate of attrition among the Mantis and many of those who survived their battles returned to the Mantis Islands with a lingering sickness in their souls. Thus far the Mantis have not made a connection between the tainted condition of the survivors and the alarming rate of mutinies aboard their ships, though Isoshi, the current Mantis Champion, has noticed that many of those attempting to steal his ships have possessed unnaturally black and oily blood.
Seeing an easy way to combat this threat, Isoshi ordered his captains to cut the hands of anyone setting foot on a Mantis ship to ensure that their blood is red and pure. Though this practice has been effective at identifying tainted sailors before they can cause too much trouble, it has not been received well among Great Clan samurai attempting to procure passage on Mantis ships.
The Mantis recently found themselves at war with the Tortoise Clan following the actions of the former Tortoise Champion Kasuga Fang Hua at the 754 Topaz Championships. Battles between the two Minor Clans raged across the ocean, grinding Rokugan's shipping trade to a halt as both Minor Clans engaged in frequent acts of piracy, often blaming the other Clan for their own misdeeds. The war was officially brought to an end at least year's Winter Court, but word travels slowly in the winter months, and even as the Mantis and Tortoise were presenting their peace treaty to the Imperial Court the Tortoise Champion was raiding the Mantis Isles.
The Mantis were unable to defend their ports against the foreign cannons employed by the Tortoise, and Kasuga Fang Hua left a path of destruction all along the Mantis coastline as she sacked the City of Lightning, Beautiful Dawn Port, and Distant Turtle city. Many prominent and historical castles were destroyed and looted by the Tortoise, who fled back to the mainland with their holds filled with Mantis riches. Unfortunately, word of the peace treaty between the two Clans reached the Mantis just as they were preparing their counter-attack, leaving the Mantis quite upset and convinced that the Tortoise courtiers who worked on the peace treaty had planned for just such a thing.
Barred from attacking the Tortoise by their treaty, Isoshi ordered the Mantis to bide their time as they replenished their losses, turning much of their effort and the koku gained from the numerous trade arrangements they had established over the winter to increasing their military presence. The Mantis shipwrights worked throughout the year, replacing sleep and rest with rage and spite in order to double the size of their navy.
Now with two fleets of sturdy kobune - many of them armed with massive ballista gained from the Crab - Isoshi bides his time, looking to the mainland as he waits for the samurai of the Great Clans to become distracted with their own petty struggles and intrigues. When the time is right, the Great Wind will blow from the east, dashing the Tortoise upon the rocks of their own treachery and leaving the seas the sole domain of the Mantis.
Piranha Clan
Current Population: 50,000 people, 11% of whom are samurai
The Piranha Clan is the youngest of the Minor Clans, having come into existence only the year before last. It was created in response to the dilemma of which Clan should be given the duty of managing the Empire's assets in the Shinomen Forest and contact with Tausha's Legion, the Naga defectors which assisted the Empire in the recent War of Broken Fangs. The Scorpion had begun to suggest that the forest should fall under their stewardship, but the Emperor did not want to be seen as rewarding the bounties of the war to the one Clan that refused to participate in it. Giving stewardship of the Shinomen to either of the other Clans that shared its borders - the Lion or the Crab - would no doubt be seen as favoritism by the other and could threaten the Empire's fragile peace.
The Emperor considerd the problem for three days, at which point Otomo Ryuuta, his second cousin, suggested that perhaps the issue would be best solved with the creation of a Minor Clan to govern the Shinomen and serve as liasons to Tausha's Legion. The suggestion impressed the Emperor, and since Ryuuta had served with distinction in the Naga War, he gave his cousin leave to found the new Minor Clan, which Ryuuta dubbed the Piranha after a species of flesh-eating river fish that he became obsessed with during his time in the forest.
Ryuuta chose the Naga city of Nirukti as the seat of his new Minor Clan and arrived in the city with a contingent of Seppun architects and heimin laborers, intending to retrofit the grand Naga temple at the city's heart into a castle. The Naga soon learned of his plans and voiced their displeasure with such a course of action, which led to a minor diplomatic incident that was only resolved by Ryuuta agreeing to accept a handful of Naga advisors to ensure that their cultural heritage is preserved amidst the reconstruction efforts.
Construction in the city has begun, but it will be a long process, and most of the newly formed Piranha Clan have taken up residence in the various ruined structures until they have proper homes. Naga belonging to Tausha's Legion are a frequent sight in the city, though thus far, the Piranha have found them more annoying than helpful, as their claims about which buildings are important and which are not seem entirely random to the frustrated Seppun architects who had not realized that their duties would be hampered by the whims of giant snakes.
Sparrow Clan
Current Population: 280,000 people, 12% of whom are samurai
During the Bloodspeaker War, the Sparrow were set upon by a horde of undead released by Iuchiban's Bloodspeakers. The Sparrow were eventually able to defeat the undead, but not without significant losses. The clean up was almost as unpleasant as the battle itself and funeral pyres burned across their lands for days. The success of Suzume Wara at the Emerald Championship was a moment of great pride and hope for the samurai of the Sparrow, and for a time it seemed as if the Clan's fortune had taken a turn for the better.
Unfortunately, Wara's impotence as an Emerald Champion soon dashed these hopes to the rocks, leaving the Sparrow more demoralized than ever. Suzume Lang, the Sparrow Champion, attempted to assist Wara by having the Sparrow spread stories of his prowess and honor, but for the most part this support only came across as self-serving and desperate to the rest of the Empire. Much to his shame, Lang found himself praying to the Fortunes that Wara would meet his final end before he brought any further disgrace to the Sparrow.
In the end, the Fortunes seemed to grant Lang's request, for Suzume Wara perished earlier this year in a kharmic duel with the former Tortoise Champion, Kasuga Fang Hua. The news of the Emerald Champion's death was received with sorrow in Suzume lands, and the next week saw many Sparrow samurai step forward to tell their stories of Suzume Wara and how he had affected their lives, remembering him in their own unique way.
Though the Sparrow have since managed to patch up their damaged relations with the Crane Clan, some tensions still remain. The Crane seem to have forgiven the Sparrow for the many instances of Crane-trained Sparrow samurai speaking poorly of their instructors, but this forgiveness has not extended into friendship, and those Sparrow students who returned to study in their former dojo have found cold receptions and rampant bullying waiting for them.
During the Winter Court of 755, the Sparrow agreed to host a Seppun sensei and a small unit of Miharu in their lands to help them better train their magistrates. What might have been a stepping stone to increased relations between the Suzume and the Imperial Families was twisted by Seppun Kato, the Emperor's older brother, into an arrangement by which his vassals would be able to manipulate the Sparrow Clan at their master's whim.
Forced into compliance by the blackmail Kato had obtained on them over the winter, Suzume Lang and a number of other prominent Sparrow samurai found themselves unable to resist the "suggestions" made by Seppun Jento, the agent Kato has placed in charge of the Sparrow. Few Suzume understood to just what extent the quiet and unobtrusive Imperial controlled the policies of their Clan, or why Suzume Lang seemed so upset when he announced his granddaughter's engagement to the Seppun sensei. When Suzume Lang passed away in 757, Seppun Jento stepped forward and announced that he would be stepping up as the daimyo of the Sparrow, rather than his fiance. A few concerned Sparrow reached out to their fellow Minor Clan samurai following the announcement, claiming that Seppun Jento was trying to force Chou into the marriage in order to seize control of the Sparrow Clan for the Imperial Families, which ensured that the would-be Champion's wedding was better attended than anyone could have predicted. In the end, Jento defeated Chou's beloved in a duel and married into the Minor Clan, becoming the new Champion of the Sparrow.
On a happier note, the large influx of soil imported to Sparrow lands from the lands of the Crane and Phoenix, in combination with the creation of automatic harvesting machines and, unbeknowst to anyone, the removal of one of the Black Scrolls which had been hidden in the area, has resulted in a sharp increase in the prospects of the traditionally poor Clan. Combined with a new mechanical threshing machine, the soil has resulted in quite a robust harvest for the normally poor Sparrow, and their new Champion has already begun to speak of ending the constant rationing that the Minor Clan has endured for centuries.
Tortoise Clan
Current Population: 317,500 people, 11% of whom are samurai
The Tortoise have only just recently returned from a five year journey overseas, where they assisted a group of foreign rebels in their attempt to topple the leaders of the Thrane Empire. The coup was a failure, but the chaos it caused destabilized the nation and caused a brutal power struggle among the upper levels of the nation's leadership. With the threat of the Thrane Empire to Rokugan minimized for a few decades, the Tortoise returned home two years ago to find Rokugan recovering from a fearsome war against maho-tsukai and the undead.
The Tortoise Champion, Kasuga Yuma, died of an unknown disease while abroad, and when their ships returned to the Empire Kasuga Fang Hua was leading the Clan. Though the Kasuga had paperwork tracing the young woman's ancestry back for generations, none of those outside the Clan recalled hearing anything about Fang Hua prior to the Tortoise's departure for foreign lands. With her dusky skin and strangely shaped eyes, it was clear that Fang Hua has a strong gaijin heritage, but none of the Empire's samurai felt comfortable in accusing the Tortoise of forging documents to legitimize the ancestry of a woman who was clearly a foreign gaijin.
With little desire to find themselves caught up in the wars raging across the Empire, the Tortoise settled into the hub villages around Otosan Uchi in an attempt to set their holdings in order. They busied themselves with reviewing the ledgers and accounts of the heimin who had been left behind to manage their businesses and lands, until 754, when Fang Hua attended the Topaz Championship. After being insulted by a young Mantis participant, Fang Hua killed him and raided the docked Mantis ship in the harbor, sparking off a brutal war between Tortoise and Mantis that raged for two years, shutting down most of the Empire's trade along the coast.
A peace treaty was signed between the two Clans last winter, but while the courtiers were making promises of peace and cooperation to each other, Fang Hua was raiding the Mantis Isles, which were unprepared to defend themselves against the cannons of her flagship. A number of major cities were sacked, though Fang Hua's flagship, The Buccaneer's Whore, was destroyed in the fighting. The Tortoise loaded their ship up with as many riches as they could carry and returned to the mainland, only to have their peace treaty with the Mantis prevent the other Minor Clan from seeking retribution.
The peace treaty was not the only boon that was to come out of Winter Court that year, for the Tortoise representatives returned with enough koku to allow Fang Hua to equip the entirety of the Tortoise fleet with great cannons similar to those that had been on her fallen flagship. The new cannons were heavier and wider than the Merenae cannons of her homeland, and Fang Hua named them "Iron Dragons" after the intricate dragon designs worked into the barrels of the large weapons.
While the Mantis were understandably upset with Fang Hua for her actions, it was the Emerald Champion, Suzume Wara, who would eventually send her to whatever afterlife awaited her. Arriving alone at Kyuden Kasuga, the Emerald Champion confronted Fang Hua about her role in the attempted assassination of the Emperor, which Fang Hua laughed off, knowing that Wara could not risk accusing the Tortoise of such a crime in open court. Wara, however, took offense to her behavior and challenged her to a duel, intending to simply kill Fang Hua and in doing so remove a threat to the throne from the Empire. Fang Hua accepted, but as Wara fell into his dueling stance, she drew a pistol and shot him in the chest. It was a mortal wound, but Wara still found the strength to lunge forward and cut the surprised Tortoise Champion in half.
Faced with a dead Clan Champion and a dead Emerald Champion, the Tortoise had their eta deal with the bodies and a week later, after repeated inquiries from the Emerald Magistrates as to Suzume Wara's status, the Tortoise presented the ashes of the Emerald Champion and Tortoise Champion to the Emperor, claiming that both samurai were slain in a kharmic duel over a matter of honor. While few seemed to believe the scenario given by the Tortoise, none wished to speak out against them in court, leaving their lies as the official events recorded into the Imperial histories.
With no clear successor to the title of Tortoise Champion, the Emperor nominated Kasuga Shakuzai as the Tortoise Champion in his absence. The nomination was made at the suggestion of his fiance, Matsu Tokiyo, who had worked with the merchant patron during her time spent wandering the Empire as a ronin and remembered her as being both efficient and a firm supporter of the Hantei. What Tokiyo did not know was that Kasuga Shakuzai also happened to be notable figure in the criminal underworld, and that many of her businesses were merely fronts for an extensive smuggling network that operated in the area of the four Hub villages around the Imperial Capital.
The unexpected attention forced Shakuzai to cut all ties with a few of her riskier ventures, but she otherwise took eagerly to her new position. A few of the more prominent Tortoise were surprised to find themselves reassigned to lesser positions away from the capital, ostensibly to distance the leadership of the Tortoise from "the Fang Hua unpleasantness," but in reality Shakuzai was merely making room for her criminal associates in the upper ranks of the Clan. By the end of the summer, her criminal network was entirely subsumed by the Tortoise Clan, and the number of illicit goods seen in the Imperial City and the surrounding hub villages increased dramatically.
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Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
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