Post by Nephallim on May 21, 2006 0:45:30 GMT -5
The years before the fall of the Kirin clan were the golden days of the Lion. Those were the days when three loose alliances ruled the Fallen Star: the Crane alliance with the Dragon and Pheonix clans, the Scorpion alliance with the Crab and Unicorn clans, and the alliance of the Kirin and Lion clans.
When the Kirin clan broke the most sacred laws of the Fallen Star, the Lions made a grievous mistake. Instead of opposing the crime, as the other clans did, the Lion clan arrogantly sided with their longtime allies.
Not even the most clever of the Lion generals could outmaneuver the combined forces opposing the Kirin. Not even the bravest of Lion soldiers could stand against the onslaught of the righteous. The clan was decimated, losing over two-thirds of its military power along with its daimyo and heirs.
At the end of the war, the new Emperor sat in judgement over the remnants of the Lion clan. The survivors of the Lion's leading family, as well as the vast majority of landed samurai that survived the war, asked to be allowed to end their lives to attone for their sins. The Emperor granted the members of the old leading family this priviledge, but denied it to the others. Instead, he raised a minor branch of the Lion clan to leadership and banished the clan from ever participating in the succession. The Lion would never be allowed to marry outside their clan, and thus would never again rise to the throne. The Lion's old lands were divided among the great clans who's fiefs lay closest, and the new Emperor charged the remnants of the Lion clan with the protection of Sirius, and the new Imperial family.
The disgraced Lion clan took this new responsibility rather seriously. To this day, not a single member of the Imperial family has been assassinated while in Sirius, and only one member of the Imperial household has been killed while outside Sirius, but even then, every last member of her Lion escort was slain first, taking near three times their number of assassins.
When the Kirin clan broke the most sacred laws of the Fallen Star, the Lions made a grievous mistake. Instead of opposing the crime, as the other clans did, the Lion clan arrogantly sided with their longtime allies.
Not even the most clever of the Lion generals could outmaneuver the combined forces opposing the Kirin. Not even the bravest of Lion soldiers could stand against the onslaught of the righteous. The clan was decimated, losing over two-thirds of its military power along with its daimyo and heirs.
At the end of the war, the new Emperor sat in judgement over the remnants of the Lion clan. The survivors of the Lion's leading family, as well as the vast majority of landed samurai that survived the war, asked to be allowed to end their lives to attone for their sins. The Emperor granted the members of the old leading family this priviledge, but denied it to the others. Instead, he raised a minor branch of the Lion clan to leadership and banished the clan from ever participating in the succession. The Lion would never be allowed to marry outside their clan, and thus would never again rise to the throne. The Lion's old lands were divided among the great clans who's fiefs lay closest, and the new Emperor charged the remnants of the Lion clan with the protection of Sirius, and the new Imperial family.
The disgraced Lion clan took this new responsibility rather seriously. To this day, not a single member of the Imperial family has been assassinated while in Sirius, and only one member of the Imperial household has been killed while outside Sirius, but even then, every last member of her Lion escort was slain first, taking near three times their number of assassins.