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History

The Shrike are descended from Shiba Mozu, a bushi who once served as yoriki for a prominent Emerald Magistrate. While investigating a plot against the throne, the Magistrate was attacked in the night by assassins wielding poisoned daggers; roused by his superior’s cries, Mozu rushed to the magistrate’s defense, killing three of the assassins and causing the others to flee—but not before the Magistrate was successfully poisoned.

Thinking quickly, the yoriki was able to stop the spread of the poison by using acupuncture to insert his hair pins into the Magistrate’s arm where he had been cut, in order to halt the flow of blood until a shugenja could arrive. Though his actions caused the Magistrate to ultimately lose his arm, his life was saved, and he went on to foil the plot he had been investigating. In reward for his service, Shiba Mozu was allowed to found his own minor clan, the Shrike.

Customs

The Shrike are a clan of contemplative samurai who devote their time to serving as yojimbo for those who uphold the law, and to refining the practice of acupuncture, the better to preserve the lives of their charges.

Shrike revere Duty and Compassion above the other tenets of Bushido, and when not serving as yojimbo-for-hire for-- mostly for magistrates or Phoenix samruai, though occasionally for the odd Crane or Dragon-- they spend a great deal of time watching over their peasants, who are few in number.

Though the risk is sometimes high, the Shrike make it a point to offer aid to any nearby village that suffers an outbreak of disease, and in times of plague, they work tirelessly alongside the monks of the Brotherhood of Shinsei to do whatever can be done, guarding and transporting medical supplies and even working directly with the sick to alleviate what suffering they can.

Though the shugenja gift is rare in the small clan, those who have it almost always study with the Agasha of the Shrike's parent clan, and these samurai are typically at the forefront of such endeavors, doing with their alchemy what cannot be done with mundane medicine.

Shrike abhor the use of poison beyond even the normal distaste of any honest samurai, and almost universally have a deep well of anger for poisoners, and as a result they tend to be extremely antipathetic towards Scorpions. The second Mozu Daimyo, Mozu Gozoken, was famous for having turned down a highly advantageous marriage offer from a Scorpion vassal family, and to this day no Shrike has ever wed a Scorpion.
Families

Mozu Family: +1 Intelligence

Mozu Bushi [Bushi]
Benefit: +1 Agility

Honor: 4.5

Skills: Spears (Yari), Kenjutsu, Medicine (Acupuncture), Meditation, Etiquette, Defense, any Lore

Outfit: Light Armour, Sturdy Clothing, Daisho, Spear, Medicine Kit, Travelling Pack, 3 Koku

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Rank 1: Way of the Shrike
Shrike samurai take up the spear in defense of their charges, bending their intellect towards protecting those they serve and neutralizing all threats. While wielding a spear, add +1k0 to damage rolls, and add your Intelligence to your ATN. Also, the yari is a samurai weapon for you.

Rank 2: Insert the Thorn
Samurai of the Shrike Clan practice acupuncture both on and off the battlefield; one who inserts a needle to heal may also insert a spear to harm. You may add your ranks in Medicine (Acupuncture) to the total of spear attack rolls. You also gain a free raise on any use of the Medicine skill, and Medicine Kits have 15 uses for you instead of 10.

Rank 3: Beak and Barb
The weapon of a Mozu Bushi strikes like a darting beak and pierces like a cruel thorn. You may make attacks with samurai weapons as a simple action.

Rank 4: Prey, Transfixed
A Shrike samurai knows how pierce an opponent through, inflicting great wounds and hampering movement. As a complex action you may spend a void point to make a spear attack against a single target. Add +2k0 to your damage roll, and make a contested roll of your Fire vs. the target's Earth. If they fail, they must call two raises to no effect on their next trait or skill roll.

Rank 5: The Shrike's Warning
Those impaled by the Shrike serve as a gruesome warning against further assault. After you reduce an enemy to the Down wound rank or you use your Rank 4 Technique, all opponents who can see you must roll to resist a Fear 2 effect.