The Minor Clans
The Great Clans are the most visible and esteemed powers in the Emerald Empire, but they are not alone. There are also minor clans, smaller samurai families who cannot equal the Great Clans in power or prestige but who nevertheless have a place in the Empire’s social order.
Minor clans are sometimes created through a schism from a larger clan, an accident of inheritance or geography that creates a new separate entity in need of Imperial recognition. They may also be created by the Imperial Court, sometimes as a reward for an individual samurai’s great honour or service, or to create a family to assume responsibility for a particular location, task, or secret.
Mighty as they are, the Great Clans are seldom foolish enough to dismiss the minor clans out of hand. Although they are smaller and seldom have more than one family or one formal school from which to draw their samurai, the minor clans often have unparalleled expertise in their particular area of study.
Culture
Cat Clan
The Nekoma family of the Cat Clan lives on a protected island off the Phoenix coast. While the family appears to be a playful association of acrobats, actors, and noted playwrights, in truth they are a successful clan of mercenary shinobi, selling their skills as spies and assassins to the other clans.Centipede Clan
Devoted to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, the matriarchal Centipede Clan preserves ancient traditions and mostly keeps to themselves. The Moshi family produces a large number of shugenja, whose fire magic keeps the clan safe.Dragonfly Clan
Sometimes called the “gatekeepers to the Dragon Clan,” the Dragonfly Clan’s Tonbo family act as intermediaries between the reclusive Dragon and the rest of Kiga.Falcon Clan
The keen-sighted bushi of the Toritaka family specialize in finding and, if necessary, defeating ghosts and other hostile spirits.Fox Clan
Once the followers of Shinjo who remained behind in the Empire, the Kitsune family of the Fox Clan is noted for its scholarship, its knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants, and the subtle magic of its shugenja. The Kitsune family also has an alliance of sorts with the kitsune fox-spirits of their homeland, and some say that the samurai have intermarried with the spirits many times over the generations.Sparrow Clan
The Suzume Hills, home to the Sparrow Clan and the Suzume family, are dry, unproductive, and devoid of any great resources. This makes the Sparrow lifestyle of honourable poverty extremely easy to achieve; the clan itself is one of the poorest in Kiga. An offshoot of the Crane Clan from the fifth century, the Sparrow are noted storytellers.Tortoise Clan
As magistrates of Slow Tide Harbor, the Tortoise Clan preside over one of the most notorious havens for smugglers, criminals, and gaijin in the Empire. This association taints them in the eyes of other samurai, but the Kasuga family has been permitted and instructed to treat with gaijin by Imperial decree for centuries, and they will not shirk their duties.Wasp Clan
Just recently founded by the famed bounty hunter Tsuruchi, the Wasp Clan boasts the finest archers in the Empire. Still establishing itself and on unfriendly terms with both the Scorpion and the Lion, the Wasp Clan is seeking allies…and may have found one in the form of the Mantis Clan.
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations