Tsuruchi Magistrate

The Tsuruchu family was created less than a century ago. Before they joined the Mantis, they were the Minor Clan known as the Wasp, skilled archers and vassals of Tsuruchi. They gained their Minor Clan status through a unique arrangement with the Emerald Champion. The Champion Doji Satsume, a Crane with decidedly anti-Scorpion leanings, happily advocated Tsuruchi's case against the Scorpion army that was threatening to destroy his home of Kyuden Ashinabagachi. He persuaded the Emperor to recognize their status as a Minor Clan on the condition that they would serve the Emerald Champion.

The Wasp earned a reputation as peerless archers and ruthless bounty hunters, chasing criminals and fugitives across the Empire. For the most part, these bounty hunters relied on their reputation, archery skills, and experience with tracking. As time progressed, the Wasp began to develop more specific means of tracking their prey, often working alongside Doji and Kitsuki magistrates. Some went so far as to eschew studying the bow to instead focus on developing reliable, consistent techniques of detection that could better match those of their colleagues in other Clans.

Since the Wasp were absorbed by the Mantis, the Tsuruchi family has devoted more resources to developing these abilities into a formal School, complete with a new dojo constructed alongside Kyuden Ashinabagachi. The Tsuruchi are now the principal magistrates for the clan, and still maintain their decades-old arrangement with the Emerald Champion. (4W, p.166)