The Unicorn Clan
The Clan of the Wind spent hundreds of years outside the Empire, returning in a glorious cavalry charge that shook the other clans to their core. The barbaric ways they adopted in their exile continue to shock and disgust the other clans, yet the Unicorn remain fierce in their duty and unwavering in their honour. Of all the clans, they are best suited to uncovering foreign manipulation and infiltration, for they faced innumerable horrors and traitors in their wandering years.
History
Like all the Great Clans, the Unicorn Clan began with one of the Kami at the dawn of the Empire. In this case it was Shinjo, a woman with a compassionate heart and an insatiable thirst to explore the world and discover its wonders. These qualities formed the core of her clan’s philosophy and remain central to the Unicorn in modern times.
Soon after Hantei won the great tournament that made him Emperor, Shinjo began to travel the land, gathering like-minded men and women to her banner. The silent woman named Otaku, the well-spoken man called Ide, and the skilled and inquisitive sorcerer Iuchi were chief among these followers, and each gathered others to follow Shinjo’s banner. She named her new clan the Ki-Rin Clan in honour of the fabulous steeds of Tengoku she recalled from her childhood in the Celestial Heavens. Eventually, they settled in the vast plains in the northwest reaches of the new Empire, although she continued to explore widely beyond her people’s new home.
When Fu Leng emerged from the Shadowlands (Known to some Unicorn as the Kingdom of Nix) and launched the terrible First War, Shinjo reacted differently from her siblings. She still remembered Fu Leng as her brother from their childhood and sought to understand him, even to reason with him. Legend claims Shinjo visited Fu Leng in person, seeking peace.
At the time the Kami did not truly comprehend what the power of Jigoku had done to Fu Leng, and Shinjo hoped to restore the bonds of family with her tormented brother. It was not to be.
When she found Fu Leng in his fortress, he ranted at her, consumed by the wrath of Jigoku. “So many mysteries are mine now, sister,” he howled. “Secrets I learned in the depths of the earth, as my beloved family left me to rot! You all held your contest, but you never faced me. Come, little Shinjo, little sister. You were impulsive enough to visit me; now I give you the honour of being the first to fight me!”
The two fought, there atop Fu Leng’s fortress, and the Dark Kami’s magic blasted her again and again. But she did not submit, for her love for her brothers and sisters—even for Fu Leng himself, lost and monstrous—would not permit it. In the end Shinjo escaped her fallen brother’s clutches and returned to her siblings, rejoining the battle to save the Empire.
At last the First War ended with Fu Leng’s defeat by the Seven Thunders. The Empire set about the work of rebuilding and securing its borders, but Shinjo argued the Emperor needed to expand his knowledge of the outside world, to be better prepared in the event of future conflicts.
“We swore to protect the people from evil and we failed. In the end it was the people who saved themselves, for Shinsei and his Seven Thunders defeated Fu Leng, not we. You say we know what peril to expect, but we did not know what to expect when Fu Leng attacked even though he was our own brother. Should another evil arise from beyond the mountains, it would be a new threat of which we would know nothing. Who can say if our Empire could stand against it?”
Hantei agreed, and gave Shinjo one of a pair of magical mirrors created by Shiba and Isawa. She would be able to use it to maintain contact with her brother. Doji, for her part, offered her sister a precious sandalwood fan.
Thus did Shinjo and her vassals and followers leave the Empire to explore the world beyond. She did not
command her followers to accompany her; indeed, she released them from all obligation, but her vassals Ide, Iuchi, and Otaku Shiko (the daughter of Otaku) and their followers chose to accompany her nonetheless. Shinjo swore never to abandon them, and together they started their voyage west into the Burning Sands.
This journey, begun in the year 45 of the Isawa Calendar, would last for nearly 800 years.
“One cannot capture the wind.”
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Controlled Territories