The Lion are the Emperor's Right Hand, defending the Emperor and the Imperial holdings. They maintain the world's greatest armies, and their prowess is feared as much as their unflinching honor is respected.
The Akodo are the Empire's battlemasters, its foremosts strategists and tacticians. The boast that no army led by an Akodo has ever known defeat is an exaggeration, but it is not too far from the truth. While most Lion are known to be fiery, the Akodo are calm and analytical.
The Ikoma are the speakers and annalists of the Lion, and are famed storytellers. Rather than ferocity, their passion comes out as sincere emotion.
The Kitsu are reserved traditionalists, and train the family's shugenja. They are reputed to have inherited a connection to the spirit world, as well as other strange abilities, from non-human kitsu ancestors.
The Matsu are the Empire's largest samurai family, and provide the manpower of the Lion Clan's great legions. They are considered fierce and tempestuous, quick to anger and always eager for battle. Their founder Matsu was a samurai-ko—a woman warrior—and the family still maintains the all-women Lion's Pride unit.
The Akodo Bushi School focuses on the arts of war and on the perfection of basic swordsmanship. Their approach is sometimes derided as simplistic, but its efficiency is undeniable.
When attacking, you can either gain a Free Raise or ignore your opponent's armor bonus to their Armor TN. You gain +1k0 on your first melee attack against an opponent in any combat, and against any opponent who has declared a Raise on an attack against you since your last Turn.
In combat, you may add your Honor Rank to the total of any single Roll (except damage rolls) during your Turn. You cannot do this while in the Center Stance.
You may make attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when using Samurai keyword weapons.
Once per combat, you may designate an opponent during the Reactions Stage. During the next Round, you may ignore bonuses to Armor TN they receive from their Stance.
When you make Raises on any Bugei Skill Roll, if you meet or exceed the original TN but fail to meet the Raised TN, you succeed, but without the benefits of the Raises.
The omoidasu (bards) trained by this school are not just courtiers, but storytellers. Rather than manipulating the truth to their advantage, they cite historical precedent and the stories of kami and heroes to advance their claims. They can place their counterparts in a difficult position by citing their own ancestors' words and deeds.
You gain the Precise Memory Advantage (if you already have it, you get XP points equal to its cost). You may publicly brag on behalf of another person, citing their heroic or noble actions: if you make a Perform: Storytelling/AWA (TN 20) test, the subject gains Glory Points equal to your School Rank. You may do this a number of times per month equal to your School Rank.
You do not lose Honor or Glory for public displays of emotion, so long as they are on behalf of another Lion or for a honorable greater cause (clan, Empire, or Bushido itself). Anyone attempting to sway your emotions through the Intimidation or Temptation skills must add +5 × your School Rank to their TN.
Prior to battle or combat, you may inspire your allies by speaking for a few minutes and making a Perform: Oratory/AWA roll at TN 15 + 5 per person you are inspiring. Each non-Lion target increases by TN by another +5. On a successful roll, the inspired persons may add their Honor Rank to the total of any one Skill Roll during that battle or skirmish.
A number of times per session equal to your School Rank, as a Simple Action, you may verbally encourage an ally, making a Perform: Storytelling/AWA (TN 25). On a success, the next time that same day the subject fails a roll, they may re-roll it, rolling extra dice qual to your Honor Rank. If this re-roll fails, you lose 2 Honor Points.
Five times per session, when making a Contested Social Roll against an opponent, you may cite historical precedent to support your side and roll additional unkept dice equal to your Perform: Storytelling Skill Rank. (The GM may rule that historical precedent does not apply in some circumstances.)
The Kitsu Shugenja School have capitalized on the otherworldly heritage of the Kitsu family, and are extremely in touch with the spirit world. They also focus on large-scale magics that can be used in battle to support the Lion Clan's armies.
The Lion Clan do not like to recall this, and many have forgotten, but Ikoma was not a honorable man: the ways in which he faithfully served Akodo are often omitted in history. The Lion's Shadow are a small, secretive group among the family who recall Ikoma's ruthless pragmatism, and are ready to sacrifice their personal honor in service of the clan.
You do not lose Honor for using Low skills in pursuit of the goals or glory of the Lion Clan (GM's judgement). As a Free Action you can target a number of opponents equal to your School Rank, and gain +1k0 to all attack rolls and Contested Rolls against them. This can be done a number of times per day equal to your School Rank, and lasts until the end of the day.
You get +1k0 to all School Skill Rolls.
Once per Round, as a Free Action, you can lose 3 Honor Points and add +2k1 to your attack, damage, and Contested Social Skill Rolls until the end of the Round.
You may make melee weapon attacks as a Simple Action isntead of a Complex Action.
You can take a Free Action to spend a Void Point and make a Contested roll of your Courtier/AWA against an opponent's Etiquette (Courtesy)/AWA. If you win, you remind them of their past failings, and suffers a penalty equal to (your AWA) + (their Honor Rank) to their attack and Contested Social Skill Rolls against you for a number of hours equal to your School Rank. This Technique does not work on those with no Honor Rank.
The Matsu family maintain this old, traditionalist school of spearmen. Once a core part of the Lion military, they are now few in number.
You get +1k0 to Skill Rolls using Spears and Polearms. When wielding a spear or polearm in the Center, Defense, or Full Defense Stance, you get Reduction equal to half your Skill Rank (round up).
When wielding a spear or polearm (in melee or throwing), you can ignore enemy Reduction equal to half your Honor Rank (round up).
You can ready/draw a nage-yari as a Free Action any number of times per Round, and your ranged attacks with nage-yari are Simple Actions.
You may make melee attacks as a Simple Action when wielding a spear or a polearm.
When fighting in melee with a spear or polearm, you can perform the Extra Attack Maneuver for only 3 Raises. When throwing spears, you can make one attack as a Free Action.
The Matsu Beastmasters train and bond with lion warcats, forming emotional and spiritual bonds—a pride—with them. This intense empathy makes the warcats extremely useful in battle, but hinders the Beastmaster's social abilities with humans.
Generally, warcats can be replaced with a few months of training and bonding, and several Animal Handling Rolls.
You have forged a bond with a Lion warcat, which will accompany you and follow basic commands without question. No lion will ever attack you unless somehow compelled. As a Complex Action, you can direct one of your warcats to Attack; any warcat that is not attacking will use the Guard Action to protect you.
An additional lion younrs your pride. You and your companion lions gain the Swift 2 creature trait, and all of your lions gain an additional Wound Rank that changes the end of their progression to: 36: +15, 60: Dead.
You can make melee attacks as a Simple Action when fighting with a katana, wakizashi, magari-yari, nage-yari, any knife, or unarmed. You can direct one of your warcats to Attack as a Simple Action.
Warcats of your pride can make two claw attacks per Round instead of one. You and the warcats of your pride get +2k1 to all damage rolls when fighting alongside one another. When you direct a warcat to Attack (a Complex Action for lions), it may also make a Simple Move Action during the same Round.
An additional lion joins your pride. All of your warcats get +10 Armor TN, +2 Reduction, and +2 Fear.
Most Matsu hold other schools as too conservative and reserved, whereas true Matsu have no fear of death. This school embraces victory in death, making its students terrible opponents.
The school makes use of all weapons of war, including the katana and wakizashi, bows, heavy weapons, and polearms and spears.
You add your Honor Rank to all damage rolls. When you take the Full Attack Stance, you may move an additional 5 feet per Turn in addition to the bonus from the Stance. (This does not allow you to exceed your maximum movement per Turn.)
When you take the Full Attack Stance, pick an opponent within 30 feet. If you successfully attack them this Turn, they are frozen in fear and cannot move from their current position. During the Reactions Stage, they can make a WIL roll (TN equal to the damage dealt by your latest attack; no penalties for their Wound Rank) to negate the effect. If this roll fails, the effect ends during the second Reactions Stage after they were struck. Enemies immune to Fear cannot be affected.
You may make melee attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action.
You ignore TN penalties from Wound Ranks equal to your Honor Rank, or double your Honor Rank while in the Full Attack Stance.
Once per encounter, after you roll damage for an attack, you may spend a Void Point as a Free Action to activate this technique: all of the dice you chose to keep explode, re-rolling and adding the results to the total damage.
The Akodo are famed for their mastery of war. The Akodo Tactical Masters are their greatest commanders, students of the art of war and of history—not hidebound traditionalists, but constantly adapting and reacting to the enemy.
You can reroll any one of your dice in each Battle Turn of Mass Combat. You can also reroll any one of your dice during an attack roll in which you called at least one Raise.
You can spend a Void Point to choose any one Heroic Opportunity to perform during a Mass Battle Turn. (Subject to GM approval.)
You can spend a Void Point to get +5k1 to any Battle Skill Roll or +2k2 to any other Bugei Skill Roll (rather than the usual +1k1).
The Sodan-Senzo are Kitsu shugenja who maintain a connection with their inhuman kitsu ancestors through their pure lineage. They have the ability to project into the spirit realms, and the responsibility to deal with the spirits.
Your previous School Rank increases by 1 for the purpose of casting spells. Any time a spirit portal exists within School Rank ×10 miles, the GM may make a secret Spellcraft/PER (TN 25) roll to determine if you detect it. If within School Rank ×1 miles, you automatically detect the portal.
You get +0k1 to unarmed damage. You can make a Meditation/Void Skill Roll (TN 30) to project your soul into Meido or Yomi, to interact with ancestral spirits.
Your previous School Rank increases by 1 for the purpose of casting spells. When you project your soul into Meido or Yomi, you can bring another person with you if they succeed at the Meditation/Void Skill Roll (TN 30). The passenger can see and hear, but not speak. Ancestral spirits you interact with can sense the passenger.
The Lion's Pride is one of the Empire's most feared and respect military units. Only Matsu samurai-ko may join it. They live, train, and fight together. On the battlefield, they seek out enemy generals to destroy the enemy's cohesion.
You add +10 to your Armor TN in the Full Attack Stance.
Opponents with lower Honor Rank within 30' may not reroll 10s. They may ignore this for the encounter by spending 2 Void Points in the Reaction Stage of any Combat Round.
When an opponent declares a melee attack against you, if you have not taken your Turn this Round, you may immediately spend a Void Point to take a Simple Action to make an attack against that opponent, resolving before your opponent's attack. You may then only perform one Simple Action during your Turn that Round. You may use this Technique in the Full Attack Stance.
The swordsmanship of the Akodo may not be as famed and distinctive as that of the Kakita and the Mirumoto, as it lacks their specific focus, but Lion bushi are masters of the traditional arts of the katana. The Akodo Kensai are well-rounded masters of kenjutsu and iaijutsu.
The tactician, Akodo Keiichi, founded the Akodo Siege Strategist school. They focus on defeating enemy castles quickly and efficiently, exemplified by the capture of Kenson Gakka.
Kitsu shugenja do not shirk their duty as warriors. Bishamon's Chosen train with weapons and march into battle beside the Lion bushi, their fervor and dedication to the Celestial Order pure.
When a Lion bushi shames their ancestors by dishonoring their name, they must cleanse their dishonor. Seppuku is the usual path, but some join the Deathseekers, a unit of lightly-armored warriors who seek death in the front lines of battle. Most do not survive a full year.
Founded by Kitsu Sonosuke, the Disciples recruit Kitsu Shugenja who lack the bloodlines to be Sodan-Senzo and the nature to become Bishamon's Chosen. They venerate the kami of the Empire's rivers, and perform duties ranging from irrigating fields to moving troops and supplies to defending the Lion's northern border.
Ikoma Historians recruit from both omoidasu and the Lion's Shadow. These elites have the sacred trust of recording the Empire's official histories, and use this access to secrets to protect Imperial and Lion interests.
Since the time of Ikoma Tasuki, whose speeches on behalf of Empress Yugozohime helped establish her power and drove many of the Gozoku to retirement or seppuku. Tasuki founded the Ikoma Orator school, and his oratory has been passed down the generations.
It is often purposefully overlooked that Ikoma was a vicious hand-to-hand fighter. While the Lion's Shadow school carries on most of Ikoma's darker legacy, a public school also teaches hand-to-hand combat in his name.
The Ikoma Wardens are cavalry who serve to patrol the lands of the Lion Clan, ensuring their peace and security. They serve as magistrates, but their duties and authority are limited to borders and well-travelled routes.
Founded by Kitsu Koichi, the Kitsu Spirit Legion is a tiny elite unit. Its members must be born with the talent to draw back the veil between Ningen-do and Yomi, the realm of Blessed Ancestors.
Akodo's Leadership stresses the importance of knowing your enemy. Scouts are a necessity in war, and even the Lion must swallow their pride and do what is necessary in warfare. The Akodo and Ikoma train Lion Scouts who use stealth and terrain to survey the enemy without being detected.
The Lion War College is famous for training the Akodo Tactical Masters, the brilliant generals and shireikan who lead the armies of the Lion. Promising gunso and chui also receive instruction to improve their abilities. These Lion commanders and officers are famous for their war fans.
Matsu Yuriko created the Lioness Legion in the 10th century, during a siege of Shiro no Yojin, when she hand-picked 50 women and trained them to assault the castle. The Lioness Legion are superb athletes who carry nothing but minimal armor and weapons to move and strike with terrible speed.