The Great Clans

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The story of the Lion clan in the 5th century is one of great accomplishments, heroic deeds, steadfast loyalty, and sudden and cruel betrayal.

The Lion began the century dutifully following Emperor Kusada to aid the Crab against the Shadowlands, were instrumental in preserving the Hantei dynasty through the evils of the Gozoku, fought and died alongside Empress Yugozohime during White Stag, saved Hantei Muhaki from assassination, and for a brief moment dominated Imperial politics during the remainder of his reign and the beginning of that of Hantei Retsuhime. That arc of glory came to an end through two troublesome sequences of events. First, their long-time alliance with the Dragon clan came to a tragic end following the Mirumoto Daimyo’s betrayal of Matsu Hitomi, who had won a war on behalf of the Dragon clan. Then, the rise of Otomo Keihime led to the rapid eclipse of the Lion clan in Imperial politics by the Otomo and the Phoenix.

Isolated, the Lion have also begun to divide on their vision for the future. While the Akodo and portions of the Ikoma family have adapted to the change in circumstances and have begun to produce art—especially literature—and focus on internal industrial development and research, the Matsu have honed themselves to a razor’s edge of military efficiency. Unfortunately, a debacle of an invasion of northern Crane lands by the Matsu family has shaken some of the confidence the houses have in the leadership of the great families. These fractures are growing wider as Lion houses denied the opportunity to struggle with other clans begin to struggle with each other for opportunities and territory. While these issues may have escaped the notice of much of the Empire, and perhaps the Matsu daimyo as well, they are felt acutely by the Champion of the Lion and the Ikoma Daimyo. Akodo Sanae may be able to steer the Lion through the conflagration sure to erupt as the potential heirs to the Empress are named and begin to maneuver, but the widening divisions in her clan will not make that a simple task.

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Akodo Sanae has been leading the Lion clan since the retirement of Matsu Hana seven years ago. While not a descendant of Akodo Kurojin, Sanae was recognized at the time as a candidate that the other principal houses of the Lion families could respect. She stood—and stands—out for her social acumen, her brilliance in mathematics and the natural sciences, her diminutive size (4’8) and her willingness to think outside the box of political orthodoxy. She understands more than most the melange of resentments that have built up in her clan over the past few generations, and has done much to channel them toward her ends. What those are precisely, there are only a few who are permitted to know, but astute observers will remember the inclusion of a character in her latest novel (her fifth) that betrays her lady precisely by being the perfect servant to her, leaving the lady entirely dependent on her and unable to effectively govern without her. Clearly a full-bore attack against someone in high station, everyone has a theory as to whether it was a callback to the Gozoku and the perfidy of the Crane and Scorpion, a warning about the rise of Shiba Higashime, or a denouncement of the control Otomo Keihime seems to exert over the Empress.

Sanae knows that the Lion clan has been sliding out of Imperial favor over the course of the past few years, and while she knows in her bones that Matsu Tsuruyo is correct and that the Lion clan could sweep aside its principal competitors without much difficulty, were its hands free, she also knows that so long as the Otomo remain between her and the Empress’ ear, she will never be permitted to draw her sword against the Phoenix. She shares in the resentment her samurai feel at not being able to exercise their war machine, but she also, unlike most, knows that the primary danger in the Empire isn’t the difficulties between the clans, but rather the simmering conflicts between houses within clans and families that make this a particularly challenging time for a succession crisis. This time, she knows, there will be no benevolent uncle to step in and keep the throne warm. Decisions will have to be made, and she is determined that when she makes her choice, she will have the final word.

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Standing a mighty 5’10 and bearing a reputation almost as fearsome as that of Matsu herself, it surprised no one that Matsu Tsuruyo was forced to concede the Championship of the Lion clan to the politician and polymath Akodo Sanae. Hantei Retsuhime’s policies have made this era rather unsuited to warfare, and Tsuruyo embraces warfare like a lover, the foremost among many. She has only been able to indulge in her love of mass violence once, in a short, bloody foray against the Crane in which the Matsu were surprised, out-maneuvered, and forced to withdraw with stiff losses. Tsuruyo still has not completely come to terms with the loss, though explicit instructions from the Imperial Advisor have prevented her from raising another army and smashing the Crane properly, as she wishes. Instead, she has been forced to simmer in her resentments against her Champion, against the weakness of her samurai, and against the Imperial Families, who frustrate the natural order by preventing samurai from fighting and dying as they ought. Curiously, the only people she does not resent for her defeat are the Crane themselves, as to her mind they proved they were strong enough to be worthy of respect. That doesn’t mean she isn’t determined to kill them all, though. No, far from it. It’s just that maybe she’ll write a poem after she takes Doji Minehime’s head, rather than spitting on her corpse.

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Ikoma Ryota came to the Daimyoship three years ago, and in that time has aged about twenty years. Prematurely graying and developing stress-related back pain that at times keeps him contorted and stooped, he labors under the cares that will soon explode on the rest of the empire, as well as some issues of his own making. Ryota was personally commanded last year to chart the lines of descent from the Hantei family, in order to find that person most closely related to the childless Hantei Retsuhime. Ryota and his hand-picked assistants conducted painstaking research while doing their utmost to fend off interference from nearly every conceivable quarter, a process requiring nearly all of his energies. He feels confident that he has seen off all attempts to coerce or unduly influence his team. All save one, that is. It is, after all, impossible to undo one's own influence.

Ryota holds himself responsible for the unresolved nature of the succession. For, though he feels deeply the anguish that a murky succession may cause, he knows that it is better than no answer at all, and the nearest relatives of the Empress were, in the opinion of his team, not a complete accounting of the Empress' options. The line of Hantei cannot be permitted to fail. He remains firmly neutral on the subject of who would be the proper successor to the Empress. He feels it is right not to cloud the objectivity of his work with his personal inclinations, but the lack of a firm Ikoma policy has meant that the political might of the Lion clan may well fragment as individual houses pursue opportunities in the camps that are sure to form unless the Empress names her successor immediately. That prospect has only contributed to Ryota’s stress. Mostly, he feels like the man who was asked to carry a candle into a storeroom of gaijin pepper. He is waiting for his world to explode.

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Cursed from a young age by the falling sickness, Kitsu Shintaro grew up coddled, but committed to the narratives of the Kitsu family. That is, he takes care of his body and of the spirits he encounters at seemingly every turn. What differentiates Kitsu Shintaro from other Kitsu, however, is the way he interacts with the ancestors. Sure, he pays the necessary homage, but far more interesting to him are the wells of memories that the spirits possess--and the careful, at times amusing, but always meaningful ways in which they embroider them. You see, Kitsu Shintaro is no credulous fool. He knows the spirits lie, but their humanity, their pettiness, their faults and foibles are why he loves them. And he has dedicated himself to helping them overcome these imperfections, all the while recording them for posterity in hundreds of notebooks.

Still relatively youthful at 39, Shintaro is a man of mental action. He doesn't like to sit back and let a problem fester, preferring to tackle things head-on. Occasionally, this has gotten him into trouble. More often, it has fed his ego. He sees himself as an effective operator. And occasionally he is. He is brilliant at what lies within his skillset, but he remains a bit of a political dilettante, acting more on instinct than on strategy.

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The Phoenix of this era are entering into an age of political ascendancy created for them by the powerful personality of Shiba Higashime, and stage managed by the Otomo family. In fact, so powerful a figure is Higashime in the Phoenix clan that she has been able to effectively sideline the Elemental Council and lead the clan outright. The Elemental Council is, in fact, far too busy squabbling among themselves and pursuing their individual passion projects to counteract her efforts. As a result, the Phoenix are rapidly being remade in her image, and it is one of youth, vigor, and rigid adherence to the spirit of the law and the social order. While the clan has by no means abandoned their reputation for learning and erudition, Higashime's edge has meant that the efforts of the clan are increasingly turned toward preparation for their moment in the sun. She is determined to make it last a generation.

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Externally, the Phoenix clan has not held as much authority in the Empire since the deaths of Isawa and Shiba. Though the Phoenix suffered some political difficulties related to their involvement in the Gozoku, the Daimyo of the clan had had no part in it, and the lead Phoenix conspirator had been instrumental in the defeat of the plot. When compared with the intransigence of the Scorpion and the commitment of the Crane to their program, the Phoenix seemed less worthy of political annihilation. As a result, the Phoenix were the most equipped to take advantage of the power vacuum on the Imperial level these past few years. Where the Crab bargain for advantage and the Lion bluster, the Phoenix, led by a dynamic young Champion and a cagey lord of the Asako family, simply presented themselves as the most responsible of the Empress’ servants. The rewards have been manifold, and many Phoenix now enjoy Imperial positions that might once have belonged to Crane or Scorpion functionaries. To be sure, these are often not the prime sinecures sought after by the Otomo, but being tasked with the hard work has put the Phoenix in a number of positions of responsibility, especially in the Chancellery and the Treasury. While this does not mean that the Phoenix’s position is unassailable, for their rivals are well aware that responsibility for money and the government has led many before these Phoenix to corruption and sticky ends, it does mean that they enjoy a warm relationship with the center of power in the Empire and an interest in preserving the status quo in inter-clan relations.

Internally, the Phoenix are a somewhat different story. Their Champion is young, dynamic, and capable, but also pitiless and strict. In other eras this might be bearable, but the traditional leaders of the Phoenix among the Council of Five are a fractious, distracted, and often painfully individualistic bunch, utterly incapable of generating deference from the charismatic and independent Lady Shiba. Efforts among the more junior Isawa and Asako to restore the balance between the families have not found much purchase. For his part, Lord Asako seems content to follow Shiba Higashime’s lead. As a result, many Phoenix families that are wary of overreach find that working on personal projects is a more worthwhile enterprise than trying to work their way into an impatient Higashime’s good graces.

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Shiba Higashime’s childhood was in many ways idyllic. There is no question that her father’s skill in deflecting the larger part of the wrath of the Imperial Families from the Phoenix clan played a part in her ability to grow up peacefully and largely without the need to perform the roles that Doji Minehime and Bayushi Honoka have. Instead, Higashime devoted herself to her studies in order to pursue her greatest ambition: to make the Phoenix clan the pre-eminent power in the Empire. While she is aware that other clans outclass the Shiba in their ability to put armies in the field, her studies of Imperial Law and the writings of prominent Otomo and Seppun political theorists have allowed her to see that at no other time have the clans been simultaneously so divided and so powerless to act on their division.

The Otomo have done their best to consolidate power in their own hands, but their tremendous success in so doing has made it difficult for any of the Hands-Right, Left, or Under-to use their primary tools. The Phoenix have not suffered a similar restraint, and are on good terms with most of the clans. It is time, therefore, to make use of their talents and set the course of the Empire in the future—cleanly, legally, and with confidence that theirs is the leadership that the Empire needs right now. Higashime knows how it can be done. It is simply a matter of seizing the correct moment and applying the Law to its effect. Accordingly, her personal sympathies are with an Emperor who will preserve the status quo: one of the Otomo who intend to maintain the policy of political exclusion of the Crane and tight control of military campaigns for the foreseeable future would be best. Of these, Tomaru or Gorobei would be the more biddable, and if Otomo Gorobei felt as though he owed his position to her, then Shiba Higashime might well be able to be the helpful guide at his side, keeping the Empire prosperous and spiritually hale as he funnels her armies to the support of the Crab.

On a more personal level, Higashime has gained a reputation as being somewhat ruthless in her devotion to the application of the law. Famously loath to bend judgments to suit the status or esteem of the accused, Higashime’s name has been held up as a byword for justice by some, and as a cold-hearted conspirator and abuser of power by others, usually depending on one’s kinship to an executed criminal, or one subjected to a tremendous fine. Her decision to execute the scion of the wealthy Oshima house of the Shiba family when he defied the Governor of Morikage Toshi’s injunction against dueling within the city limits cemented her reputation and earned her esteem in powerful places. Perhaps uniquely among the Great Clan Champions, she is equally welcome in the chambers of each of the Imperial Officers—and not just for her winning personality. This is not to say that she is a cold fish—but her willingness to do what must be done sometimes overshadows her encouragement and development of promising subordinates in the public imagination, not to mention the imagination of her future husband, Miya Hirono, the second son of the Daimyo of the Miya family. His opinion of his future bride has been colored by the stories of her cold pursuit of justice and advantage, and his palpable dread has rather soured their few meetings. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to end the betrothal without causing someone to lose face, so both sides remain well and truly stuck with one another.

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Asako Ainojo took over the Daimyoship of the Asako five years ago after his grandmother’s passing at an advanced age, having outlived his father by some eight years. He is a slight man with a fair voice and a certain flair for the dramatic. For all his love of conflict and scandal, however, Ainojo is nothing if not flexible. When Shiba Higashime’s commitment to her principles and highly active leadership style naturally began to attract influence away from the Elemental Masters, Ainojo followed the trend with ease. His political efforts have been bent to making sure that the influence of the Phoenix is felt throughout the Imperial Bureaucracy, and many of his vassals have found high position as part of his and Higashime’s plans.

Of course, his flexibility has its down side. Higashime does not fully place her trust in him, and he is not privy to the details of her ambitions. Also, his pull with the Isawa was very much harmed by his decision to take his orders from the Shiba. Some of his most prominent vassals have been struggling manfully to bridge the gulf between Champion and Masters as the Asako have ever been wont to do. Their having to struggle without the help of their Daimyo has led to a modicum of resentment building up against Ainojo among his more traditionally-minded kinsmen.

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Isawa Akihiro is a major scholar, famous for his exegesis on Isawa’s 700 precepts and a comprehensive model of the night sky over Seppun Hill on the night of the Fall of the Kami which twinkles in perpetual splendor on the ceiling of the third chamber of the Isawa Libraries. He is regularly sought out for advice by all manner of people, but unfortunately he is also renowned as a curmudgeon. Decidedly unhelpful and famously intolerant of other people’s errors, Akihiro has an explosive relationship with Isawa Takao and not much better ones with the other masters. His students generally finish their studies with great mastery in their dealings with the air kami and either social anxiety or a deep distrust of authority.

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Tall, bookish, and somewhat fussy, Isawa Orimitsu had two careers prior to assuming the post of Master of Earth. For some twenty years a member of the Avalanche Legion of the Phoenix Army, Orimitsu made a name for himself as a capable officer, if a bit reliant on theory, in several engagements with Yobanjin in the north. A curious incident involving a Yogo maiden at a Winter Court hosted by the Asako led to a decision to transfer Orimitsu from his prestigious, outward-facing role to an internal one in the Isawa Libraries. He shone there as well, rising to Head Librarian. Finally, having outlived many of his former rivals in spiritual power, Orimitsu found that he simply slid into the role of Master of Earth.

Unfortunately, Orimitsu was not quite the leader that his predecessor had been, and under the more collaborative style he had developed during his tenure at the academy, the Council has found itself increasingly rudderless. Orimitsu finds several of his colleagues nearly unbearable. Enju and Sorami’s lack of ambition and (in his view) fatalistic approach to life have been rather effective at stifling the Council’s ability to govern the clan, and Takao is just…he’s just Takao. Like Akihiro, Orimitsu resents the slide in prestige and authority his family has been experiencing, but he has not yet abandoned hope that his colleagues’ strengths can be harnessed toward the common goal of restoring their authority as leaders of the Phoenix clan. He is beginning to feel, however, that he might not be equal to the task.

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Young and impetuous, Isawa Takao is a major component of the current friction between the Emerald Masters. The fact is, you cannot tell this young man anything, and there is only one thing that he truly cares about: his own power over the fire kami. What is more galling, his power over them is truly immense, particularly in one so young. Thus far into his tenure, there are almost no authority figures within the Isawa family that Takao has not angered with his selfishness. He neglects his students and belittles his opposition. But the fact remains that Takao is an artist of fire, capable of workings of enormous power, scintillating beauty, and profound subtlety. Admittedly, that last type doesn’t occur to Takao as often as one might hope, but the skill to execute finesse is there when he has a mind to use it.

As a result of his trying personality, Takao has been banned from diplomatic missions. His correspondence, however, has managed to alienate several important figures in the Agasha and Moshi families. Increasingly isolated, Takao has begun to invest himself entirely in maximizing his power. His avowed ambition is to become the greatest Master of Fire in the history of the Empire, a distinction earned, in his view, by the exercise of power. He longs for the opportunity to demonstrate the power he has already attained, and looks forward to the inevitable conflict the succession crisis will bring as the best chance to find it.

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Isawa Sorami’s grandmother and namesake buried a Lion legion in a twenty-foot snowdrift. But where her namesake was a raging tsunami, this Isawa Sorami is a pristine, clear mountain lake. There seems to be nothing in this world that can rattle or upset her, not even Takao at his most overweening. She simply acknowledges the new situation and moves along, eternally flexible and serene. This tranquility has led to some issues in the council, as she has reacted to Shiba Higashime’s ascendance with the same grace that she has any other setback in her life, and there have been more than a few. Her marriage to Asahina Fumihiro was predicated on careful political maneuvering and seen as essential for the Crane and Phoenix alliance. For that reason, the Four Temples, tied as deeply as they have been with the revanchist strain in the Imperial Families, denounced the marriage and banned the couple from entering their monastery or its affiliated monasteries. The political blow was a sore one for both Isawa and Crane and did much to discourage other nobles of the generation from seeking Crane marriages. However, Sorami has never mentioned the issue to anyone, and has politely ignored any mention of it or the Four Temples in correspondence or conversation. It is simply as though it never happened.

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The other prodigy of the Council of Five is Isawa Enju. When the previous Master of Void encountered 12-year-old Enju in a run-down village in the mountains of north-western Phoenix territory, she chose to devote the next three years of her life to preparing the way for his accession to her position at his majority. Aside from a period of wide-eyed overindulgence as the hungry child adjusted to his new life of luxury and scholarship, Enju has not disappointed. His connection to the Void is strong, and his commitment to the religious and teaching aspects of his office is steadfast. He has been a force for modesty and caution among the Elemental Masters. That this has done little but give the ambitious Shiba Higashime latitude seems not to bother him overmuch. Whether that is a result of profound wisdom or provincial naivete is a matter for debate. But whichever is the case, the Phoenix clan as a whole seems to have prospered by it.

He has a warm personal relationship with Daidoji Irumi. Though they were not students at the same time, they shared a Master in the recently retired Isawa Genki and consequently have struck up a friendship sustained by correspondence and prayer.

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The Scorpion of the 5th century are both the weakest and the most powerful they have been in some time. Their recent failures have been spectacular: The Gozoku debacle, defeat (though not a crushing one) at the side of the Crab army in the Crab-Dragon war, the sale of three of the Black Scrolls to the Phoenix. And yet there is a second side to everything. While loathed and reviled for the perfidy of the Gozoku especially, the vast majority of samurai rather expect these schemes and betrayal from the Scorpion. It was not so shocking, and therefore not so detestable, as the betrayal that the Crane engaged in. Unlike the Crane, who rely on a mixture of positive relations and obligations to generate political capital, the Scorpion need only for others to make mistakes and try to keep them secret in order to thrive. And while an irate Lion may decide that he owes no obligations to any traitor to the throne, or any traitor’s kin for that matter, he is unlikely to want his secrets spilled by anyone, and will not deny anyone a service to keep them quiet.

This begs the question: why doesn’t a Lion general simply wipe the Scorpion off the map? The answer: the Emperor has never permitted a clan to march against the Scorpion, and likely never will. They are simply too valuable to the throne, for the Scorpion in this era are truly the Emperor’s Spymasters. Hantei Retsuhime would no more permit an army to wage war against them than she would pluck out her own eyes or cut off her own ears. The Empress may dislike them for their role in the Gozoku, but she needs them to counterbalance the ambitions that run high in her own kin. Therefore, to keep the clan strong, the Scorpion need only keep the Empress happy. To keep the Empress happy, the clan need only amass secrets and deploy them judiciously. Therefore, to keep the clan strong, every Scorpion must devote themselves to the great work: accruing secrets for the use of the clan in the defense of the Empire from the people who live in it.

The Scorpion do not lack the means to accomplish this aim. While the public purge of the Gozoku conspirators was costly, the Scorpion have been careful to maintain their institutional memory through all manner of crises. And while their participation on the losing side in the Crab-Dragon war was a blow to Scorpion prestige, their losses were not unbearable. The Scorpion have an army that is considered effective, if not overly large, and unorthodox in its approach to warfare. Their courtiers are exquisite masters of sincerity, using its power to ensnare their victims with their own vices and flaws. But perhaps the greatest asset of the Scorpion clan is their network of spies. Called sometimes “the grass” by high-ranking Scorpion for their ubiquity and the quiet way they bend under the feet of the great and powerful, the spies of the Scorpion, some of them samurai, some of them heimin, some of them trained agents and handlers, some of them coerced third parties, all share a purpose that the Scorpion understand to be divine. Their commitment to it is equal to that of any warrior, their devotion to that of any shugenja. And what is more, they are good at it.

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The Scorpion have no firm allies at the moment. The Crane and Phoenix turned cold after the Gozoku were dismantled, and the Crab have cooled slightly in the aftermath of the Crab-Dragon war. On the other hand, as long as they have a friend in the Empress, they need no others. What is troublesome is that they have an enemy: the Imperial Families, having seen the Empress clip the wings of the Crane, have been striving to maneuver the Scorpion into a disadvantageous position. It is the private belief of several notables among the Scorpion that the Imperials are doing this out of professional jealousy. Their own spy networks cannot equal that of the Scorpion, and they cannot bear that the Master of Secrets retains the Ear of the Empress when so much else has fallen into their hands. The Scorpion are not terribly worried about the efficacy of any individual Otomo or Miya, but there are some among them who are beginning to wonder whether striking back at their maneuvering, or at least being ready to, might not be wise, particularly since two of those who have agitated against them, Otomo Keihime and Seppun Tomaru, are now in open consideration as possible heirs of Hantei Retsuhime. Something will need to be done about them, for Keihime’s vendetta against the Gozoku burns brighter than that of the Empress, and she will not brook rivals to her kinsmen in her esteem. And Tomaru…well, Tomaru’s fondness, his virtue, his naivete are simply unbecoming of an Emperor. What would such a man do with a spy ring, particularly one so sophisticated as that of the Scorpion clan? Would his sense of honor perhaps smile on a clan maneuvering against the clan the first Hantei commanded to set honor aside?

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At 40 years of age, Bayushi Kaguya is just beginning to settle into middle age. She came to the Championship of the Bayushi just five years ago. Her father was the second son of Bayushi Junzen, who famously dismantled the Scorpion Gozoku faction and instituted Traitor’s Grove to repay the betrayal of his eldest son, Bayushi Tesaguri. Her father’s reign was long, and so Kaguya is far more familiar with the role her considerable talents earned her: that of a shinobi. The sudden shift from silent pursuit of the secrets of the Empire to the lynchpin of the Clan of Secrets’ military, diplomatic, and clandestine operations was jarring. There are few who could say that her first Winter Court appearance in twenty years went smoothly and maintain a straight face. Fortunately, she has rapidly mastered the art of delegation, and much of the political affairs of the clan are now managed by her eldest son, Bayushi Touya, while internal clan politics she manages primarily through fear. The lesson of Traitor’s Grove is seared into the memories of every member of the clan, and while she has not had to repeat her Grandfather’s object lesson in Loyalty thus far into her reign, she has invited Shosuro Ryusei to tour it after she discovered his rather active independent politicking.

Bayushi Kaguya sees her duty first and foremost to be Hantei Retsuhime’s spymistress. She understands what that role requires and what to expect of her operatives. She is, unfortunately, not personally equipped to handle the Scorpion clan’s political difficulties, and two generations of embarrassment and failed schemes have done much to harm their standing. Kaguya has no interest in repairing their public standing, however, so long as the Scorpion are able to perform their duties and defend their land. To her mind, the less Rokugan considers the Scorpion an overt threat, the more free their hands will be to exercise their true stock in trade: the secrets other clans struggle so hard to keep. Unlike in future centuries, the Scorpion have a very real chance to maintain their security so long as they stay in the Empress’ graces. After all, even the Lion cannot march without her approval, and why should she approve the erasure of her primary means of controlling the biggest threat to her rule: her own kin? This policy has stood the Scorpion in good stead for some time, and looks likely to continue to do so, as Retsuhime’s illness has only made it more imperative to gather information on the contenders for the throne. The Winds will need to be careful when they seek to maneuver, for the Master of Secrets’ loyalty to the throne is absolute, and her ability to defend it from the unworthy is second to none.

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Shosuro Ryusei has had to adjust to having a Champion who knows how his operatives conduct their trade intimately, having been one herself until recently. The role reversal has been difficult to navigate, but Ryusei feels that Kaguya now believes him to have submitted to her leadership. All according to plan.

In reality, Ryusei has been the architect of Scorpion espionage operations for much of his tenure, completely dominating the direction of Scorpion strategy as a result. He has been loath to cede control to this new leader, and he is determined to keep the Shosuro family on top, as it were, in fact if not in name. While Kaguya might be the principal difficulty standing in the way, Ryusei’s need to micro-manage operations has its own way of hampering his efficacy, and things like rogue operations or end-runs around his office have occurred from time to time. He does his best to keep knowledge of this from his Champion, while quietly and decisively punishing those who are willing to sacrifice procedure for the sake of initiative.

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Soshi Michiko is a fierce 70-year-old woman. The eldest of eight children, she was raised by her half-mad father to struggle and fight with her siblings to preserve her inheritance. She lost it twice, and tore it back with bloody hands. She led the Soshi to war against the Lion during the Crab-Dragon war, the only official non-logistical assistance the Scorpion provided their allies. They lost the war, but young Michiko discovered a taste for battle that she found difficult to slake. To this day, she personally leads expeditions against bandits and tax evaders in her and neighboring territories, reveling in the thrill of battle and the proof that she cannot be overcome. Of course, her advanced age has begun to create problems of its own, but she has made it clear that she will not surrender her leadership of the family to anyone who cannot pry her hands off it. A time of struggle within the Soshi family is surely coming.

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There had been some hope that after the massacre of the original ruling house and the execution of the perpetrator, who had been the last living paternal descendant of Yogo, that the Curse had culminated. It manifestly had not. The Ushijima Yogo have, like their predecessors, labored under Fu Leng's wrathful bond without hope of recovery, and their latest scion, Yogo Tenka, is no exception. Tenka had the misfortune of triggering his curse early. As a boy of seven, he inadvertently betrayed his mother's infidelity to his father, causing significant turmoil in the household. To most Yogo, this was a clear-cut example of the Curse taking effect. They arranged for him to be married to a well-placed Seppun, the early triggering of the curse having vastly improved his marital prospects. Tenka, however, was not so certain. After all, how can one be sure that one's love is meaningful enough to trigger a Curse laid by Jigoku's Champion? He loved his mother, sure, but so deep as to satisfy an angry kami? In the end, one cannot know. So he has devoted himself to tests. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of betrayals large and small. The result: utter chaos, disaffection in the wider Family, and increasing resentment from his wife and children, to say nothing of his fellow Daimyo. So far, the oaths of loyalty his retainers have sworn to him have kept him safe; they must not love him enough for their own curses to trigger.