Mon of the Badger Clan
The Badger Clan was one of the Minor Clans of Rokugan. Created in the distant past to guard Rokugan's northern border, the Badger Clan dwelled in a series of rough valleys and caves in the Great Wall of the North mountains. As tough and stubborn as their mountain home, the Ichiro family had never once failed in its duty. [1] The Castle of the Badger was their ancestral seat of power. [2] Badger Clan villagers were suspicious and secretive. [3]
Details[]
Duty[]
The duty of the Badger Clan was Clan to protect the Empire from threats coming from the hordes of gaijin on horseback beyond the Great Wall of the North mountains. They protected the few passable mountain trails, acting as sentries and lookouts. [4]
Mon[]
The colors of the Badger mon were black and white. [5]
Tradition[]
From childhood, Badger were taught to be watchful and ready at all times to warn the rest of the clan, and the Empire, of outsiders in the mountains. This wariness, combined with the inhospitable terrain of their home and the hardships it brings, necessitated the toughness for which the Badger were renowned. This isolate clan wase known to have samurai twice as large as normal bushi, children who run up and down mountains like goats, and terrible table manners. The ratio of samurai to peasants among the Badger was unusually balanced, and the Badger samurai did not shy away from hard labor. However, they boasted a jovial attitude. Most bushi worked at patrol duty, and the Badger built their fortresses in particularly vulnerable areas. Many of the Badger were naturally well built and physically strong. The fastest samurai were trained as scouts. The rare Badger who were sensitive to the kami trained as shugenja, while those with inquisitive and creative minds became inventors and smiths. When truth and honesty are forgotten, there was little to separate samurai from foreigners when truth and honesty were forgotten. For this reason, Righteousness held a special place for the Badger. [4]
Allies[]
The Badger had an uneasy alliance with the Lion, whose scorn of Badger manners and customs was thinly veiled by the courtesy necessary to trade with them. Badger forges could produce plain weapons and armor in large numbers, making them appealing to the Lion to equip their vast armies of ashigaru. The Badger's more complicated items were really prized by the Lion, such as mechanical limbs with fully articulated digits, designed to replace those lost in battle. Badger did not share the design of their traps, devices which gave them an element of security in their mountain home but could be devastating if used to destroy a castle or camp within the Empire. [4]
Drums[]
Badger Bushi
Badger shugenja and wrestlers both used drums during rituals, messages could be sent from one Badger fortress to another using these instruments, and each patrol included a drummer who could signal a warning. These messages could convey a great deal of information, and most Badger samurai could interpret the messages hidden in the rhythms. Within the Castle of the Badger and some of the larger homes, drums were used to accompany dances and other entertainments. Drummers knew how to create rockfalls to destroy passes and trap enemies within the mountains. [6]
Sumai[]
Badger bushi competed in sumai matches as part of their training. The Badger held sumai matches before important ceremonies. The reigning Badger sumai champion was treated as the Badger Clan Champion's equal, though the sumai champion's powers and duties were limited to the spiritual sphere. The Badger held the Great Games in the Castle of the Badger each year. [6]
Commerce[]
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Badger silk
The Badger cultivated rough grains such as millet and buckwheat, a variety of native fungi and catch fish in mountain rivers. They grew plum and mulberry trees in areas warmed by volcanic activity and exposed to enough sun. From these, the clan produced plum wine and silk, and the late was particularly fine and delicate. Painted silk depicting the jagged beauty of the mountains and volcanoes was sent to the Emperor as part of the rice tax and were considered splendid curiosities in the Imperial Court. The Badger were quite protective of their silk farm since since visiting “monk” was found trying to smuggle silkworms north out of Badger lands. [2]
Schools[]
History[]
Founding[]
In the second century, a young Crab named Hida Domogu enjoyed sumai. He excelled at the art and gained glory within his clan. Trying to curb his pride, his family sent him on his musha shugyō, with instructions to travel as much of Rokugan as he could in his year away. He took the name Ichirō for his warrior's pilgrimage, already seeking humility in selecting such a common child's name. Ichirō sought competitions to prove himself. Sadly, he found that in the rest of Rokugan, sumai was not as popular as other arts. Ichirō traveled as widely as he could, reaching a village in the northwestern edge of Rokugan, in what was Lion territory. He made his way into the mountains, and there he fell into a concealed pit trap in the pass, where villagers captured him. The villagers had rōnin among them, and bandits, and a large-statured gaijin woman. Ichirō learned from them their ways of defending their lands from outsiders. In turn, he taught them sumai, and soon a thriving school grew in the mountains. One day, scouts reported a force of mounted gaijin descending from a mountain pass. Ichirō organized multiple squads to slow the invaders and force them into narrow pathways, employing drums to communicate with each other. The invaders became to panic and Ichirō led his sumai warriors into final battle, pulling the invaders from their horses in crushing attacks. Ichirō was hailed for his efforts and named the new village leader. The final path where they had routed the gaijin would be known as the Path of Woe. The Emperor elevated the villagers to the status of Minor Clan, and Ichirō was made their daimyō and the new clan was entrusted with defending Rokugan's border in those mountains. The new Badger Clan built fortresses and set traps. [7]
Lands of the Badger[]
The entirety of Badger territory laid within the Great Wall of the North mountains, to the west of Dragon lands, and the Path of Woe was the only known access to Rokugan, which passed all the way through the mountains and out of the Empire. The Badger's lands were mainly mountainous, cold and unforgiving. Mining and agriculture specialized in intensive farming of the clan's rich volcanic soil were their main commercial resources. Smiths and engineers used ore from the mines to create weapons and tools for trade, as well as traps and other inventions. [8]
Notable Locations[]
Politics[]
Badger Champion[]
The following is a listing of the known Badger Champion and daimyō of the Ichiro family:
| Ichirō Domogu | Second Century |
Vassal of the Ichirō[]
The following were the known vassal families of the Ichirō family:
See also[]
References
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