Shosuro-Ikoma Alliance

Not only did the Iuchiban incident bring together the Kuni and Yogo families, it also created one of the strangest - and most subdued - relatonships in Rokugani history. In fact the event changed Rokugan history in more ways than are generally known.

When Iuchiban was captured and his identity revealed, a conference was held between the Emperor and the daimyos of the Bayushi and Ikoma families. For reasons no longer recorded, the Emperor demanded that the identity of Iuchiban be hidden forever and the details of the event be changed. Not just obscured, but directly altered so that future generations would never know the identity of the sorcerer.

The Bayushi daimyo immediately called the daimyo of the Shosuro and related the Emperor's orders. The Shosuro daimyo nodded and joined the Ikoma to make certain the Emperor's orders were carried out.

Since that day, the Ikoma and Shosuro have worked together for one reason: to protect the Emperor. Together they have made certain official Rokugani history has protected the Emperor from both dangers visible and invisible.

The Lion histories make no mention of a foreign navy being invited into the docks of Otosan Uchi for trade and commerce. However a foreign navy did attack the capital and was driven off. Of course, no record of the Mantis Clan involvement is mentioned.

There is no mention of Hantei XVII's insatiable appetite for young samurai-ko, nor is there discussion of the Crab maiden who raised her hand in Imperial presence thus sparking a Lion crusade which only Crane and Scorpion diplomacy averted. Nor is there record of the nineteenth Hantei's peculiar nocturnal habits, or the twenty-third Hantei's refusal ever to bathe.

Or of the Lion-Phoenix war nearly brought about by the malicious political meddling of Hantei XXV.

In fact the Shosuro and Ikoma have made certain that any event that could compromise the honor or integrity of the Hantei line is erased from the Empire's memory, for everyone knows if the Ikoma do not record it, it never happened. (Way of the Scorpion p.30)