[C Bio] Kitsune Ryukan, Fox Clan Daimyo - Shawn Carman

[Goju Kaze]

Kitsune Ryukan, Fox Clan Champion

Ten years ago, few among the Fox would ever have believed that Kitsune Ryukan would ever amount to more than a young troublemaker, although Ryukan would have surely said that he was destined for greatness. Now, the entire Fox Clan supports their Champion and honors him in all things, but Ryukan believes he is a failure because his of cousin’s death, and longs for nothing so much as the simple joys he knew in his youth.

Ryukan was born without the ability to speak to the kami. This was most unexpected, as he was born to parents that both shared a tremendous bond not only with the elements, but also with the kitsune spirits that dwelled within Kitsune Mori. Ryukan could not hear the spirits’ whispers, but he knew they were there. Even as a youth, he spent most of his time deep within Kitsune Mori, exploring the darkest shadows and communing in his own ways with the spirits there. Gradually, his family realized that Ryukan followed his own path, and among the Fox such things were not a reason for condemnation. In time, the young man was fostered to the Crab to study alongside the spiritual Toritaka, who found a willing and eager student in the young Ryukan.

Among the Toritaka, Ryukan discovered the truths behind many things he had previously understood only on an instinctual basis. He learned of the spirits that he had known since childhood, and the spirit realms from which they came. When he returned to Kitsune Mori, Ryukan disappeared into the forest and remained gone for days on end, returning to his home to speak to his family and to accept any new responsibilities that awaited him. When those were completed, however, he returned to the forest. In a short period of time, the young man became the Fox Clan’s greatest hunter and tracker, and the greatest expert on the mysteries within Kitsune Mori. Not even Ryukan’s cousin, the Fox Champion and the clan’s greatest shugenja, Kitsune Ryosei, could match his knowledge.

When Ryosei disappeared into the Shadowlands seeking her father a few months before Daigotsu attacked Otosan Uchi, she left explicit instructions that Ryukan was to assume her position in her absence. Though none would speak out against Ryosei’s choice, many doubted the Ryukan would be capable of such a responsibility. Many, including Ryukan, believed that her parting orders were nothing more than a means to prevent the young man from chasing her into the Shadowlands. A command from his Champion was the only thing that Ryukan would never dare ignore. When Ryosei returned a few months later, the Fox Clan breathed a collective sigh of relief. The relief was short lived, however, as Ryosei adjourned to a temple and instructed Ryukan to administrate the clan’s affairs in her name. She remained Champion, but the burden of her responsibility fell upon Ryukan.

Responsibility has transformed Ryukan. His duties are to oversee the Kitsune Mori in the Emperor’s name, and to ensure the continued welfare of his clan. Before Ryosei even returned from the Shadowlands, Ryukan realized that these duties and his love for the forest were one in the same. Everything that is sacred about his beloved Kitsune Mori stems from his people and their connection to the kitsune spirits that dwell within it. Did the fox spirits encourage Ryosei to choose him as her successor? Ryukan does not know, but he knows that he must protect them with his life, and if necessary with the lives of his people. The kitsune and the Fox Clan are one in the same, and he will die before he allows anyone or anything to disturb them.

Only one specter haunts Ryukan: the death of his cousin Ryosei. She was found dead in the temple, seemingly of old age, but Ryukan knows better. Ryosei was too full of life, to close to the spirits, to simply pass away in some edifice of cold stone. If her time had come naturally, she would have walked into Kitsune Mori and none would ever have heard from her again. At night, as the sun dips below the horizon, Ryukan stares into the deepening shadows that the mountains cast around Kitsune Mori and wonders.

If there is a threat that he cannot see, how can he protect the Fox Clan from it?

Kitsune Ryukan, Fox Clan Champion
Air: 3
Earth: 3
Stamina 5
Fire: 4
Water: 2
Perception 4
Void: 4
School/Rank: Toritaka Bushi 3 / Woodland Tracker 1
Glory: 4.1
Status: 7.6
Honor: 3.3
Advantages: Multiple Schools, Social Position (Fox Clan Champion), Way of the Land (Kitsune Mori)
Disadvantages: Brash, Obligation (Fox Clan, 4 points)
Kata: Striking as Earth, Striking as Water, Victory of the Wind
Skills: Animal Handing (Falcons) 3, Athletics 4, Battle 2, Courtier 3, Defense 3, Etiquette 4, Hunting (Survival, Tracking, Wilderness Lore) 7, Kenjutsu 4, Kyujutsu 2, Lore: Spirit Realms 3, Meditation 3, Spears 2, Stealth 4, Theology (Fortunes, Shintao) 2


The Toritaka Bushi School will be updated on the L5R RPG website as part of the School Update Project. The Woodland Tracker Path appears in the forthcoming sourcebook, The Four Winds: The Toturi Dynasty from Gold to Lotus Edition. To tide you over, here’s a preview of the Woodland Tracker Path.

Technique: The Hidden Path – Many among the Minor Clans are intimately familiar with the wilderness throughout the Empire, and their experience within the wilderness serves them well in many capacities. The tracker rolls additional die equal to his Insight Rank on all Hunting and Stealth rolls.