Ikari Clan

The Ikari are one of many clans of kitsune, a race of multi-tailed fox demihumans rumored to live, depending on which set of legends you listen to, in an isolated compound somewhere on the continent of D'hennex or somewhere between dimensions where no one save the kitsune themselves can travel. The Ikari, in particular, are a clan of observers and scholars, seeking out and studying the mysteries of the world around them. Slow to change and firm in their embrace of tradition, the Ikari are steadfast in their ways to the point of being seen as stodgy or intolerant.

Government

The clan is ruled by the Clan Council, a circle of nine elder kitsune of the clan who have earned their positions through audacity and political manipulation. Though in all matters where the council deign to speak to the clan or its members, they speak in one voice, the truth of the matter is that the Council is in constant internal strife as those within constantly seek to gain some small advantage over one another, and those without constantly seek to supplant those within and bend the clan's future to their own whims. The only kitsune of the Council whose identity is shown publicly is the one who has been voted to the office of Spokesman. Ancient magics related to the assumption of the post of Council Member allow the nine to communicate with one another telepathically over any distance.

Membership

The clan is composed of many families, most of whom are distantly related by ties of blood or marriage to one known only as The Ikari. Kitsune of the clan are either born into it or marry into it - upon marriage between two kitsune, the one who posesses the lesser number of tails becomes a part of his/her spouse's clan, or at least so goes the Ikari tradition. Mating with those who are not kitsune is frowned upon by clan tradition, but the children resulting from such a union are often absorbed into the clan, if they bear enough foxlike features in their physical makeup. Halfbreeds are usually few and far between, and are frequently treated badly by their peers because they are considered lesser creatures until such time as they prove thair worth to the clan. Many fail to do this and either fade into obscurity, or desert the clan entirely only to be slain by clan assassins for their desertion.

Rank within the clan is displayed by the number of tails a kitsune posesses. Those with but one tail are lower even than halfbreeds and servants, considered little better than a powerless mortal. They have, as a rule, little power and even less influence. One with nine tails, on the other hand, is an exalted elder (for any nine-tails is likely to be many hundreds or even thousands of years old) whose word takes precedence over all save that of the council. Rank is determined in part by birth and in part by action. The higher one's parents are ranked, the higher a child will be ranked at birth. Tails can be gifted by consensus of the council for acts of exceptional bravery, audacity, or discovery, or taken away for acts of insubordination and dishonor. The line between the two is very fine, and very much subject to the whims of the council. The same action to earn one kitsune a tail might result in another kitsune losing one. Originality is rewarded, as are strength and cleverness, but paradoxically, those who can pull off such actions while managing to respect the Ikari tradition are the most highly valued of all. Thus it is that often, only the most devious of manipulators or the greatest of warriors are ever able to rise to great heights within the clan's structure.

Powers

Being, as they consider themselves, spiritual beings of nature and knowledge, most Ikari kitsune are ki wielders. Those of of simple physical prowess rank second in number. Both ki wielders and physical fighters are trained in the clan's dojo, usually in the sword, and the title of Blademaster or Blademistress is one that merits considerable respect within the clan. Some select few are trained as assassins, meant to carry out the council's darker missions for which a straightforward assault or defense would not suffice. Conversely, assassins are often chosen from the ranks and classes which are considered petty or expendable - one-tails and halfbreeds.

Mages are considerably less common than swordsmen, but are respected for their grasp of knowledges which the average mind cannot manipulate. Psions are so rare among the Ikari as to be nearly unheard of - most Ikari might glimpse a psion in the clan compound once in a century, and speak to one once in a millennium. Given the steady single-mindedness of the traditional Ikari mindset, Ikari who wield more than one power are even fewer and further between than psions, and these are often treated as a sort of freakish curiosity.

Resources

The primary resource of the Ikari is knowledge. The clan is composed of a vast network of scholars and Inquisitors - the name given to the agents sent out into the world to study new things not yet thoroughly known and explored by the clan. As a result, much of the clan compound is composed of vast, sprawling libraries filled with long-forgotten tomes and the field notes of millennia worth of Inquisitors. There are few subjects that cannot be researched in those libraries, but one must have both the time and the political influence to access them. Monetary security, of course, comes in the form of selling said knowledge to other clans and to the powerful and influential among the other races of the world.

As for supporting its Inquisitors in the field, this is simply not something the clan does unless circumstances demand. An Inquisitor is expected to be able to tend to his own affairs and support himself properly, no matter where he has been assigned to his studies.

Associated Characters

Hekishiro Ikari, Council Spokesman
Kenshiro Ikari, Blademaster / Inquisitor
Kimiko Ikari, Blademistress
Valis T'Sarran, Inquisitor
Tadashi Kazuya, Council Assassin