A vassal family is a specific family line within one of the esteemed and honorable families of the Clans. These families generally serve a specific purpose within their parent family, though in the modern times such roles are hardly enforced, with each samurai serving their lord according to their talents.

For example, Naniwa Ken is a member of the Naniwa family, vassals of the Asahina family of the Crane Clan. To those within the Crane, he is known 'Naniwa Ken' as they were immediately aware of the relation of the Naniwa and Asahina families. To those outside the Crane clan, Ken would be known most simply as Asahina Ken. If he wished to recognize his own family, particularly if he wished to be formal, he might introduce himself as "Asahina Ken of Naniwa".

In game terms character can claim to belong to a vassal family of his or her choice, indicating so at the character creation. Notably character cannot claim to belong to Eiser or Akatsuki families as the former are all undead and the latter are all maho tsukai of sorts. Claiming a membership to a vassal family carries no benefits or penalties.


Vassal Families

Crab

Fundai (Kaiu): The Fundai are the shipwrights of the modern Kaiu, overseeing the vast shipyards orbiting Kaiu Prime. Fundai samurai are also found serving in the Crab navy as dutiful technical and gunnery officers.

Kakeguchi (Hida): The Kakeguchi serve primarily as magistrates, continuing their historic role among the clan. Additionally, most of the Crab’s highest-ranking customs officials hail from this, their largest vassal family.

Meishozo (Kuni): The Meishozo are priests and monks serving as Family archivists, maintaining and keeping records of Kuni face paint patterns, materials, and methods back to the Family’s founding. As a result, some Meishozo dabble in other careers that involve face paints, including traditional theatrical arts. Behind the facade of monkish archivists and frivolous artists the family hides their clandestine operations aimed against suspected and known tsukai.

Moshibaru (Hida): The Family consists of "new" Moshibaru--heimin that have been raised to samurai status--and "old" Moshibaru--veteran samurai who train these adoptees in the ways of the Crab. Once the newly made samurai have proven their worth and honor, they may be promoted out of the vassal family, or they may choose to remain to help train other new Moshibaru.

Raikuto (Hiruma): The Raikuto serve as the diplomats of the Hiruma, often training among the Yasuki. The small Family also operates Raikuto Entertainment Network which produces serial plays and news for the Yasuki operated Silver Fin Productions.

Ugawari (Kuni): The iron shell of the Kuni, Ugawari bushi still stand alongside their enigmatic masters. Most of the Kuni security forces are Ugawari by birth. The Family also maintains specialized Demon Hunter units that support Crab forces that expect to face creatures of Jigoku.

Crane

Ashidaka (Kakita): The Ashidaka are the weaponsmiths and weapons engineers of the Crane, responsible for most of the clan’s forge-factories. Ashidaka crafted small arms have a reputation for being reliable and easy to maintain even in harsh conditions, while maintaining sleekly beautiful designs.

Morimichi (Daidoji): Created by political marriages in the 19th century, the Morimichi are direct descendants of the Hiramori and Hiramichi Families. Practically unknown outside the Daidojji, they are the spiritual successors of the Harriers and responsible for the Daidoji department of unorthodox warfare.

Iwasaki (Kakita): A small but influential vassal family responsible for administering many of the tourist locations of the Crane. Known for their superb understanding of customer services, Iwasaki trained servants and heimin entertainers are in demand across the galaxy.

Katogama (Doji): Inspectors and magistrates, the Katogama keep order within Crane settlements and production facilities. Known for their meticulous attention to detail and safety protocols, the Kotagama are the Crane’s foremost defense against infiltration and espionage.

Naniwa (Asahina): Arcanobotanists and healers, the Naniwa are charged with tending the floating gardens on Kanon no Namida, cultivating and breeding an enormous variety of exotic plants to produce some of the complex chemicals used by the Asahina Biotechnologies.

Dragon

Zurui (Mirumoto): Devout and humble, the small Zurui family is known for their yojimbo. Modern Zurui martial traditions are based on the heavily revised texts of Mirumoto Sasugo that emphasize action over reaction. Zealous and utterly devoted to their duties, most Mirumoto regard Zurui as exceedingly one-dimensional in nature.

Chiyu (Tamori): The Chiyu are the finest healers among the Dragon and operate many of the Dragon’s public hospitals. Most Tamori healers spend a year or two studying in the Chiyu Academy of Medicine on the Pyre.

Remiki (Tamori): Engineer-priests and forgemasters, the Remiki serve the Dragon as military engineers, maintaining spaceships and fortifications. Secretive and eccentric, the Remiki are rumored to possess a unique connection with the kami bound to the modern spirit machinery.

Koshei (Tonbo): Traditionally protectors of the Tonbo, the Age of Stars has seen the duties of the Koshei expand to include logistics and commerce. Lacking a shugenja bloodline, the Koshei are commonly trained in Kitsuki and Mirumoto schools.

Hokezu (Kitsuki): The Hokezu were created to manage the unsavory task of training the etaa and skilled heimin workers used so extensively in Kitsuki investigations. They produce the most effective interrogators and servants with the perception to spot and preserve clues as they clean up the messes nobody else will touch. Of necessity, they are also now well trained in hazardous waste cleanup and investigations as well.

Lion

Katai (Akodo): The Katai serve as civil servants and officials among the Lion, often training among the Ikoma. They tend to apply strategy to the shaping of bureaucracy much as their military counterparts shape the arena of battle.

Itagawa (Akodo): Sometimes compared to the Watanabe, the Itagawa are the Lion’ shipwrights, constructing and crewing the massive capital ships that form the backbone of the Lion navy.

Hosokawa (Ikoma): Statisticians and tax officers, the Hosokawa maintain the extensive financial records of the Lion. They serve the Lion Clan in this task with such single-minded devotion that even their fellow Lion often describe them as “utterly uninteresting.” Their apparent dullness doesn’t seem to hurt their use as marriage material, with commerce-minded clans happy to acquire a Hosokawa-trained spouse as part of a trade agreement or treaty.

Murame (Ikoma): Murame are a proud warrior Family with martial traditions that can be traced back to the 13th century. Eschewing the methods of the Lion’s Shadow, Murame attend to Matsu and Akodo schools, proudly serving in both in the legions and the navy of the Lion.

Ise (Kitsu): Battle-priests and masters of the arcane, the Ise agents protect Lion holdings and vessels against the malignant spirits. Due to their superstitious and esoteric customs, the Ise are considered enigmatic by their fellow Lions.

Ikeda (Matsu): The Ikeda are masters of mobile warfare. They train and maintain most of the Lion’s armored forces, including the fabled 2nd ‘Ironsides’ Legion. The Ikeda Armor School on Kiyomizu no Tama is considered as an essential part of the modern Akodo War College.

Mantis

Goraiku (Moshi): A small but proud warrior Family, the Goraiku have close ties to the Yoritomo. Known for their piety and zeal, the members of the Family often serve as Yojimbo to the ranking Moshi shugenja and diplomats.

Chirichi (Yoritomo): Nearly all the Chirichi serve the Mantis as civil servants, though the Family has some mercantile operations of its own. The cautious and conservative Chirichi are often considered meek by the majority of the Mantis; which probably explains why so few Mantis seem to be held back by their own bureaucracy.

Watanabe (Yoritomo): One of the largest vassal families within the Empire, the Watanabe are responsible for operating the massive shipyards that produce vessels for Mantis navy and merchant fleets. While best known for their ships, the Family is also runs the massive Watanabe Properties conglomerate that produces everything from office supplies to submarines.

Hogosha (Yoritomo): Some of the finest Yoritomo diplomats hail from the Hogosha family tasked with maintaining schools of etiquette across the Mantis holdings. Among the Mantis, doing something the Hogosha way means doing it carefully and painstakingly, according to tradition.

Suguru (Tsurichi): Magistrates and security officers, the Suguru are responsible for Mantis Internal Affairs. In particular, investigations regarding the misconduct of Yoritomo personnel are carried out by the ‘neutral’ Suguru.

Iongi (Komori): Engineers and civil servants, the Komori serve as a bureaucratic backbone for their more eccentric Komori masters. Iongi Pharmaceuticals, however, is better known for its sake than its remedies.

Phoenix

Atsumaru (Agasha): Once known for its herbalists, the modern Atsumaru train some of the finest healers and priest-doctors of the Phoenix. Their majority stake in Agasha pharmaceuticals reflects their historical roots and ongoing research activities. The Atsumaru also control several agricultural settlements on Ujimitsu, making them a significant food producer.

Chukan (Asako): Librarians and data-archivists, the Chukan are tasked with continually updating and organizing the vast stores of knowledge that accumulate in the Asako libraries; a monumental and endless duty that is seldom even noticed by outsiders.

Shirakawa (Asako): Founded by Earth shugenja who saved the Phoenix from starvation in the early 20th century, the modern Shirakawa are known for their known for their cloth fiber production as well as their agricultural colonies. The Family business is operated under the auspices of Shirakawa Biohermetics.

Sodona (Shiba): The small Sodona family trains the yojimbo tasked with guarding the upper echelons of the Shiba family. Sodona bushi are known for carefully balancing the practicalities of their protective duties with an idealistic vision of Bushido.

Shingon (Isawa): Masters of nemuranai and arcane construction, the modern Shingon study the methods of infusing mundane materials with spirits. Shiro Shingon, home of the Family and its arcane engineering academy, is located on Joudo.

Kaito (Isawa): Best known as traditional temple keepers, the Kaito family is famous for their meditative archery practice. The small and remote Sacred Flame dojo on Ujimitsu trains the finest shugenja marksmen of the Phoenix, though the average Kaito is more likely to serve the Phoenix as a bureaucrat or an engineer.

Kongashi (Shiba): The Kongashi are the builders and bureaucrats that support the Phoenix in a less martial fashion than the Family bushi. While their duties earn them little glory, the Kongashi serve the Phoenix with single-minded determination.

Scorpion

Kochako (Soshi): The Kochako train and maintain the Scorpion Department of Internal Affairs. Infamous for their black operations, the Kochako are still the feared underhand of the Soshi daimyo.

Ugawa (Bayushi): Ugawa civil engineers and civil servants are the backbone of Scorpion administration. Diligent as the bee in their Family emblem, the Ugawa are content serving their clan as they best can, caring little of honor and glory.

Rokugo (Bayushi): The Rokugo maintain many of the Scorpion's numerous geisha and gambling houses as well as a sizeable amount of the Family’s trade in spirits and chemicals. Unsurprisingly some of the Rokugo’s mercantile operations flirt with the wrong side of Imperial law.

Tokagure (Shosuro): Botanists and healers, the Tokagure are officially tasked with supplying and maintaining the public hospitals of the Scorpion. Besides their public duties, the Tokagure are quietly involved in weaponizing the flora discovered on alien worlds.

Nanbu (Soshi): Ever since their creation the Nanbu bushi have quietly served the Soshi as warriors and bodyguards. Most of the modern Nanbu hail from World of Mirrors where the Family maintains several holdings.

Aotora (Bayushi): Once herbalists and toxicologists, the modern Aotora are better known for their agricultural knowledge. Aotora are officially tasked with supporting agricultural colonies on Scorpion worlds, though many of the best Aotora scholars are often reassigned or married to Tokgure where they inevitably work on Scorpion bioweapons programs.

Spider

Eisei (Daigotsu): More an organizational measure than an actual family, the Eisei is composed of undead shugenja serving as the officers of Undead Legion. As the dead are officially struck from the Family Records and moved to the Records of Ancestors, they are allowed to take the honorary name ‘Eisei’ - Everliving.

Akatsuki (Daigotsu): Blood-sorcerers of the Daigotsu, the Akatsuki follow the traditions of blood sacrifice, drawing power from the charnel flames of Jigoku. Considered an essential part of the Spider scientific efforts, the Akatsuki are never allowed to travel from their settlements on Dark Forge.

Kaitaku (Daigotsu): Kaitaku are the explorers of the Daigotsu, supporting the clan’s advance into unknown territories. Composed of people from various fields, the main duty of Kaitaku is to assist the other Families to set up colonies on newly captured worlds.
Kagetsume (Susumu): The Kagetsume are officially the historians of the Spider. Besides maintaining the Susumu libraries, the Kagetsume also school proficient hackers who often serve as aids to Susumu diplomats.

Mangetsu (Kuchiki): A small Family of priests devoted to the Obsidian Moon. Extending their worship to visual arts and dance, the Mangetsu are some of the Spider’s most prolific artists.

Unicorn

Marta (Shinjo): The Marta are the storytellers and historians of the Unicorn Clan, preserving the clan’s history through stories and plays. The Family also runs Marta Broadcasts which serves as part of the Shinjo News Network.

Hyuga (Utaku): Traditionally, the Utaku’s stablemasters and horse breeders, the modern Hyuga mostly train as mechanical and aviation engineers, maintaining the steel beasts of the Utaku Family. A small group still maintain the herds on Rokugan.

Battue (Iuchi): Battue priests are responsible for maintaining the spiritual integrity of the Iuchi and the Unicorn. Battue shugenja can be found on all Unicorn exploration missions where their arcane knowledge of the spirit realms and aliens is used to safeguard the crew's spirits and bodies.

Kenshin (Iuchi): Ever since their creation the Kenshin bushi family has been tasked with protecting the priests of the Iuchi. Among the Unicorn, the Kenshin have a reputation of being modest and diligent.

Shiko (Ide): Once armorsmiths, the modern Shiko serve their clan as civil engineers, guiding the heimin tasked with maintaining Unicorn ships and cities. Shiko Ironworks produces weaponry and non-military objects for both domestic markets and export.

Suio (Ide): Suio serve the Ide as merchant patrons and diplomats. Suio Consumables is one of the largest Ide operated companies that produces foodstuffs, spirits and cosmetics.

Hangan (Moto): Law keepers and historians, Hangan have served the Unicorn as magistrates and yoriki ever since their creation during the turbulous 23rd century. Many of the Hangan are born shugenja, which the Family deems as a sign of Heaven’s favor.

Imperial

Hanako (Seppun): The archaic and venerable Hanako study classic etiquette and modern laws of the Empire, often serving the Seppun as magistrates and diplomats.

Kasuga (Otomo): Once a Minor Clan, the Kasuga were absorbed by the Otomo during the 24th century. The modern Kasuga serve the Otomo as civil servants, often performing the tasks that are seen too demeaning for the ‘real’ Otomo.

Anou (Miya): Often schooled among the Kaiu and Kakita, the Anou are the engineers and civil servants of the Imperial Families. Practical and carefree, the Anou tend to stick to their own, avoiding the company of the haughtier Otomo and Seppun. A common adage among the family states that ‘Otomo decree, Seppun protect, Anou make it happen’.

Satoshi (Miya): Also known as the Defenders of the Miya, the Satoshi bolster the ranks of Seppun legions as well as providing yojimbo to high ranking Miya.

Minor Clans

Shudo (Kitsune): Following their ancestral traditions, the Shudo serve as the wardens of the Kitsune. Most of the Kitsune rangers and yojimbo hail from the Shudo Family. Ever since Kitsune’s secession from the Mantis, Shudo have formed loose ties with the Lion and gaining access to Akodo academies.

Byako (Kitsune): Small family of esoteric shugenja with strong ties to the Chikushudo. Many of the ascetic Byako live as hermits in jungles surrounding Kitsune holdings on Inari’s Cradle preferring the company of animals to that of their kin.

Edagumi (Sparrow): Edagumi train artisans of the Sparrow and have been tasked with maintaining the old traditional arts such as origami and ikebana. Much of their knowledge draws from a large digital library containing tens of thousands of old treatises and
manuscripts detailing old arts and crafts.

Ogawa (Nakauchi): Founded by a scholastic bushi, the Ogawa are perhaps best known for their occult tattoos which track an individual’s earthly journey. Following their founders example, the Ogawa almost always trained as bushi, even if they serve the Osprey in myriad roles.