History Characters / LegendOfTheFiveRings

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The Yasuki stand out among the rest of the Clan as being graceful, slight of frame, and socially devious, owing to their origins as a family of the Crane Clan.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: Insulting someone's mother is considered the gravest insult of all to a Crab, as mothers make the greatest sacrifice of all by giving their sons and daughters to the Empire. Crabs will leap to the defense of anyone who receives such an insult, even those from other Clans.

* OutsideContextMagic: Nezumi magic is connected to the realm of dreams, and centers around the concept of "Name", which is very different to the elemental magics used by humanity.

* GreatDetective: The Kitsuki family are famous for producing these.

** The trope is also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the most ''hilarious'' manner possible. The Scorpion actually ''do'' employ the black-pajama-wearing, shuriken-throwing, ninjato-wielding cliché ninja, in rather large numbers... ''as a distraction''. Often, when assassinating someone, the Scorps will send several of these guys to engage in Crazy Ninja Hijinks while the ''actual'' shinobi (who has quite possibly been spending months as a geisha/courtesan/etc) performs the actual necessary wetwork. Having to do the whole "black pajama ninja" thing is actually called The Gauntlet by the Scorpions, and it's basically considered shinobi gempukku - if you can survive having to be sneaky while using the ''dumbest'' gear possible for a year, then you're ready to learn how to do it ''properly''.

* TrophyWife: It's considered an extraordinary honor to have a Crane wife (or husband), so much so that it used to be a given that the Emperor would marry a Crane. Part of it has to do with their wealth and connections, but the Crane are also just generally [[TheBeautifulElite very attractive.]]

* TheMole: How the Spider Clan, Shadowlands-corrupted humans and followers of Daigotsu, infiltrated the Empire and established their power base. Also a tactic of the Kolat (who actually despise maho and Taint, leading to some [[EvilVsEvil interesting shadow politicking]]).

! Scorpion Clan

! Unicorn Clan

! Shadowlands/Spider Clan

! Nezumi

! Crab Clan

! Crane Clan

! Dragon Clan

! Lion Clan
* AmazonBrigade: the Matsu family's Lion's Pride.

! Mantis Clan

! Phoenix Clan

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Humanity and the nezumi aren't ''officially'' at war with each other, but due to CrossCulturalKerfuffle, most of Rokugan is quite hostile towards them. Only the Crab, Dragon and Scorpion Clans are on anything approaching universally good terms with them, and the Crab are definitely the closest thing they have to dedicated human allies.

* VillainousRescue: The conclusion of the Destroyer arc has Kali-ma's forces being stopped mainly by Spiders, lead by [[spoiler:Fu Leng himself]]. In fact, since Spider decks won much in the Celestial Edition tournaments, this basically resulted in them being the only competent clan in the storyline.

** On a more literal note, Kaiu engineers like to take a break from building weapons to craft [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming mechanical toys for children.]] While relatively common in the Crab lands, they are also fairly popular among the other Clans, particularly as gifts.

* UndyingLoyalty - The Scorpion believe that loyalty is more important than [[PunctuatedForEmphasis any. Thing. Else!]] In fact, we are presented with the story of the [[MagnificentBastard Scorpion Clan Champion]] Bayushi Ujiro and his bodyguard Shunsen. Ujiro issued a challenge to the other Clan champions to determine which clan best understood the concept of loyalty. The challenge involved all the champions and their bodyguards performing an action to be set by Ujiro. If the bodyguards do not follow through with the command, that clan is disqualified. So, Ujiro gives Shunsen the command, [[ThanatosGambit "Kill me."]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He did, then commited suicide.]] The gathered Clan champions and bodyguards, shocked, conceded defeat. And then the Crane go and adapt the event for [[TheMovie Winter,]] because that's just how the Crane are!

* {{Greed}}: The weakness of the Mantis Clan. Because they're so likely to succumb, the 3rd and 4th edition RPGs give an extra Character Point if you take the disadvantage of the same name.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The big standouts along with the Crab. The Lion Clan, naturally, thinks itself superior in this regard -- they have respect for the Crab, but consider them neither dangerous nor admirable. The difference between them boils down to the Crab's thinking (being a warrior is about fighting and winning) vs the Lion's (it's about a ''lot'' more than that).

** The Yoritomo family was founded by the man who made the Mantis a Great Clan, who responded to the Dragon of Water requesting the aid of his twenty strongest men in the aftermath of the Mantis losing a war with the Phoenix with [[BadassBoast "I am my twenty strongest men."]] His adoptive son Yoritomo Aramasu stood by his side and said he was Yoritomo's twenty-first strongest man. His daughter, Yoritomo Kumiko [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge staged a rebellion against Mantis Champion Yoritomo Kitao in revenge for her brother's murder]] and won the title of Mantis Champion for herself.

* DualWielding: The Mirumoto of the Dragon Clan and the Yoritomo of the Mantis Clan both train with two weapons, but the Mantis specialize in DualWielding "peasant" weapons such as kama. In fact, in the 4th edition RPG, Yoritomo Bushi can choose to start with two knives (a category that includes kama) to encourage dual wielding.

* DareToBeBadass: The Mantis are renowned for their reckless daredevil tendencies, valuing the Virtue of Courage above all others. It's also actually how the Mantis earned their Great Clan status- their founder fought alongside the other Clan Champions during a Shadowlands invasion, and was sufficiently badass to be allowed to stand with them when their victory was officially recognized.

* DualWielding: The Mirumoto of the Dragon Clan and the Yoritomo of the Mantis Clan both train with two weapons, but the Mantis specialize in DualWielding "peasant" weapons such as tonfa and sai.
* {{Greed}}: The weakness of the Mantis Clan. Because they're so likely to succumb, it gives an extra Character Point if you take the disadvantage of the same name.

* ImprovisedWeapon: Befitting their swashbuckling nature the Yoritomo bushi school is pretty much dedicated to this.

* {{Pirate}}: The Mantis Clan, complete with lust for booty.

** Similarly, in the AEG fiction, the Mantis are seen by most of the other Great Clans as a Minor Clan who lucked out and don't truly deserve recognition as a Great Clan. Like the Crab, their closest allies are the Unicorn, largely because both clans are seen as outsiders.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: For much of their history, the Crane was one of the wealthiest Clans in Rokugan. However, their wealth was depleted in the Clan Wars, greatly reducing their influence. Strongly related to...
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: The Crane have an extraordinary amount of clout in the courts, even with their recent troubles.

* AppealToForce: A version that doesn't rely on armies. The Crane are very good at winning arguments through the use of duels, because the Kakita family are the finest duelists in Rokugan. It's not unknown for Crane to abuse this.

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: The Crane have an extraordinary amount of clout in the courts, even with their recent troubles. More than a few Crane have abused this clout for their own ends.

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: The Crane will often dye their hair white in honor of Doji Hayaku, founder of the Daidoji family, whose journey into the Shadowlands to recover the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Shukujo]] left his hair completely white. Whether or not the "Black Heart" part of the trope comes into play is dependent on the individual Crane.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Women from the Doji family are legendary for being them, since their family (and Clan) founder is the supreme example of this trope. As a result, a majority of the Emperors, including the first one, took brides from this family, and having a Doji bride is a mark of high status. However, be warned that not a few turn out to be [[BitchInSheepsClothing taking advantage of their family's reputation]].

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Only the Crab clan and, to a lesser extent, the Dragon clan actually ''like'' the Unicorn; the others all view them as barbarians and interlopers, especially the Crane, the Phoenix, and the Scorpion.

* OddFriendship: Despite their unconventional ways, the Unicorn have almost no real enemies among the Great Clans as of the Fourth Edition. Guess that's the benefit of not being around to build up grudges.

* HonestJohnsDealership: The Yasuki Family of the Crab Clan are ''very'' pushy salespeople.

* TheHunter: The Kuni Witch-hunters specially train in hunting down blood mages, while the Toritaka rangers are the only school devoted to fighting ghosts.

* LightningBruiser: the warriors of Bayushi school roll and keep two dice for Initiative, which means that they're nigh-inhumanly fast. And if an opponent misses them, they can strike back ForMassiveDamage or AttackItsWeakPoint easily.