Ikoma Ujiaki

Ikoma Ujiaki is the foremost diplomat of the Lion Clan, though he is trained as a bushi as well. His father was the last son of a long line in the Ikoma family, and the largest of the three most prominent families within the Ikoma.

Ujiaki fought against the Pheonix Clan as a banner bearer, serving the cause of the Emperor when the Isawa family would not. After reciving a near fatal wound, he was transferred to the diplomatic corps, and performs his diplomatic tasks with a ferocity that rivals the Lion battle-fury.

As the controller of the Lion's political strength, Ujiaki uses his contacts and allies to make the best of any situation, and handsomely rewards those that serve him. Ujiaki's sharp mind and physical strength gives him an advantage in the courts - he has been in battles, and knows the advantages. When the Crane come to have the Lion armies withdrawn, Ujiaki instead moves them to a stronger position.

Ujiaki is not a plesant person, as he takes defeat as a personal insult. What he cannot gain through politiking, he gains instead through threats and brute force, and he hates the Crane Clan fiercly. A clever man, but not a brilliant one, Ujiaki uses threats and violence to force people to aknowledge his as one of the foremost minds in the Empire.