<<Moon Rises Over Plains Where Horses Run<<

For an age and a year, Barbarians from the Ten Thousand and One Shattered Islands had some foothold on the Northern Coast of the Golden Empire, and time and again Crane Clan honored their service to the Empire and pushed them back into the sea. Scorpion was not long in their power before striking back at their enemies, and during this time the movement and action of the Crane samurai was under the close scrutiny of the Scorpion Shogunate. It was this environment which allowed a sizable colony of barbarians to inhabit the coast between Crane and Wasp.

Even Phoenix could not have predicted the Day of Five Pale Bears Bowed Before the Full Moon, when ambassadors from the barbarian encampment arrived in the capital, swore fealty to the emperor, and asked for admittance to the empire as the Bear Clan. Crane ambassadors fumed and raged in the courts, looking for any excuse to fight the barbarian party, or any clan that would attract their ire. They petitioned the emperor to refuse the Bear Clan, but Scorpion saw the blossoming of their revenge. They whispered in the emperor’s ear, and he accepted the application of Bear, ushering them into Scorpion Clan as a Minor subjugate. The courts raged on about the decision, Crane gnashing their teeth at every available opportunity, until the two Crane regents came to the Imperial Capitol to personally speak to the Emperor. The Scorpion Clan saw their prey walk right into closing claws. After hearing the Crane speak on this matter, he forbade Crane to make any move against the Bear Clan from that day until the stars fell from the sky. To make his decree inescapably clear, he ordered the Crane regents to commit seppuku immediately in court. Scorpion knew that Crane did not use seppuku, even on their most dishonored soldiers. The Crane regents did so unflinchingly, knowing full well who’s hand held the blade.

But karma knows no master, nor any coin stacked so high as to tip it’s scales. The Bear Clan, after integrating into Scorpion Clan land and life, proved too wild and spirited for the Celestial Order. It would be their children and family heads who would start the War of Scorpion With Two Tails, tearing the Clan Apart, and emptying the Scorpion coffers. And thus ended the age of the Scorpion Shogunate.

>>Crane Stabs at Heaven and Earth Shakes>>