Sokenzan
The Void Dragons
Sokenzan Sho-Ou, Chief Kannushi of the clan.
Clan Status: Major, but waning
Totem Kami: The Void Dragon
Colours: Purples, violets & whites prominent, gold secondary; sensible fashions with a slight air of nobility
Chief Kannushi: Sokenzan Sho-ou
Vassal Clans: Hojou (City Nightstalker), Arara (Tortoise), Hina (Spire Owl), Meloku (Kingfisher)
Reputation: Bookish, learned, proud, arcane, nostalgic, distractable, old rulers that gave up hereditary power to create the Commonwealth
Preferred classes: Wizard, alchemist, investigator, courtier, samurai, cleric (Amaterasu O-Mikami, Reiza O-No-Mikoto)
Imagery: Sokenzan Fashion & Scenery Image Gallery (External)
A Sokenzan information broker.
The Sokenzan were the most powerful clan in Marai for many centuries (rivaled only by the Ashina at the height of their power) and were the longest-running occupants of the Empyreal Palace. That is, until the “Final Shōgun of the Shattered Age”, Sokenzan Shu-On "the Sage Emperor", forcibly introduced the Commonwealth, turning Maraian society upside-down in a single generation. Realizing the importance of sanity and inter-clan unity in the face of the territorial hysteria induced by the Deluge, the Sage Emperor carefully baked the Eight-Fold Path into a new constitution, got the priests of the O-Nao-En-Zan on his side, and ruthlessly enforced either cooperation or exile. Exhausted by more than two centuries of constant war, most clans chose the former. (Two now-unnamed clans did not: one migrated east beyond Asura's Wall to the Skylands, the other disappeared deep into the Emerald Expanse to the west.)
The Sokenzan are still elected to rule the Shogunate, albeit less and less often, and are now mostly associated with antiquity. They are known half-mockingly as the Librarians, holding their vast libraries and artifact collections with a possessive grip, spending their days in discussions of history, philosophy, alchemy and arcane magic, and daydreaming of a golden era long past.
That said, they are not to be underestimated. While considered distractable and slow to act, most clans still regard the Dragons’ decisions as unfalteringly wise. Disciplined, perfectionistic and still numerous, their samurai are not to be trifled with. Superb magicians, they count many wizards and kensai spellblades in these ranks.Geography
The Mythic Era
Kozue, mythical progenitor of the Sokenzan, sister to Ashura
of the Highlands and Iyō of the Lowlands.
Origin Myth
The Commonwealth of Marai began with three. Maraian folklore asserts the ancestors of these clans traced back directly to Amaterasu Omikami’s three children: the two elder twin brothers, Iyō and Ashura, and their younger sister Kozue. Fierce Ashura was given dominion of the steppes and mountains to the east: he and his yamabushi warpriests fought back the primordial hordes by incinerating them with holy fire and sealing them beneath honden shrines. Cunning Iyō was given dominion over the swamps and jungles of the south, and fought the alien yūrei through guile and eldritch manipulation. Pale Kozue, few of words and prone to sleeping much of the days away, was given the meadows and bays of the Heartlands, and saw none of ghost or yōkai. At this the brothers became furious, and confronted their sister to demand why she should be given such peace unearned. She replied: “These creatures you war with: I speak to them, in my dreams. My people are not enemies of their kind.”
And it was then the brothers saw her wisdom, for the most honourable war is one which spills the least blood.
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