Roleplaying game

8
Introduction
Introduction
Funeral
The last act of a samurai—death with dignity—is a solemn affair. While 
many samurai seek an honorable death in battle, this isn’t always possible. 
When a samurai dies, their deeds are read before a group of dignitaries 
and loved ones gathered around an ornate pyre built to represent the ele-
ments that make up a samurai’s soul. The body is cremated and the so-
lidified, burnt bones picked out of the ashes with specialized chopsticks, 
for the dead must never be touched. 
Seppuku is another possible end for a samurai—ritual suicide to 
cleanse the family and the individual of the samurai’s dishonor. Successful 
performance of seppuku generally redeems the samurai’s shame, allowing 
them to try to seek honor and dharma again in a different life.
Losing One’s Lord or Honor
The exception to the samurai way of life is the lifestyle of a rōnin, literally 
“wave-man,” one tossed by the vicissitudes of fate. A samurai need not 
accept seppuku to cleanse their honor—they may choose to forsake their 
duty and leave. Though many rōnin do not conform to the stereotype of 
honorless, masterless samurai—some are simply the children of rōnin 
born to their station, acting with greater honor than many samurai of the 
Great Clans—enough do that they are automatically assumed to be un-
trustworthy and without decency. 
Many samurai voluntarily become rōnin for a single year, typically 
in the year or the second following their gempuku. Considered to be a 
healthy outlet for a young samurai’s desire to prove themself, this allows 
them to sharpen their skills and temper their attitudes with experience. 
Having experienced hardship in the outer Empire, many return and 
swear fealty to the clan anew with true loyalty rather than an inculcated 
sense of duty.
While a rōnin is technically still samurai, they have no lord, no clan, 
and no family—and thus, no purpose. Rōnin are forced to find work as 
mercenaries or bodyguards, eating dumplings bought from foul heimin 
merchants and earning their straw bedding with the skill of their blade. 
Some resort to banditry or crime to gather the coin they need to live, but 
at least this is still an earning wrought by skill at arms. 
Even the lowest rōnin is higher than the bonge.
The Land of Ten Thousand Fortunes
Faith is a real and tangible thing to Rokugan, and only the foolish choose 
not to believe. The kami are demonstrably real, the gods are easily an-
gered, and signs of magic and wonder can be seen even in the distant 
corners of the Empire—if not by a samurai or peasant, then by someone 
whom they know and trust.
Merged by the second Emperor, Hantei Genji, Rokugan’s religious be-
liefs encompass three different forms of worship: ancestor worship, or the 
worship of a samurai’s blessed antecedents who have ascended beyond 
the wheel of reincarnation; Fortunism, the direct worship of the gods; 
and Shinseism, the study and practice of the Tao of Shinsei. 
The most fundamental of religious observances revolves around the 
worship of a samurai’s own ancestors. From Yomi, the spirits of one’s fore-
bears watch over their descendants, receiving prayer for guidance, aid, 
and good fortune. Nearly every house in Rokugan contains an ancestral 
shrine where family members offer prayer and dedication to stone statues 
of kin, asking for blessings, protection, and intercession. 
Beyond the spirits of their own, the people of Rokugan revere and ap-
pease the elemental spirits of nature, agriculture, and other domains. This 
worship of the spirits and gods who dwell in Tengoku and the myriad 
lesser spirits dwelling in Ningen-dō is known as Fortunism. Temples and 
shrines to the Lesser Fortunes exist in the hundreds, and the sanctuar-
ies celebrating the Seven Great Fortunes dominate the skylines of the 
Empire’s greatest cities. Although they are usually invisible to the eye, 
the kami have a few servants who can hear and speak to the kami. These 
mortals are known as shugenja, and their invocations to the Fortunes and 
the elemental kami can produce miraculous effects.
While Fortunism celebrates diversity, another line of philosophical 
thought emphasizes unity. Called “Shinseism” for the man who promul-
gated its core beliefs, the ideology focuses on a core of simplicity: all the 
universe comes from the Void, and all will eventually return to it. Embrac-
ing the oneness of the five elements, or Rings, and living in accordance 
with the principles of an ordered society could, according to Shinseism, 
enable one to transcend the cycle of rebirth and attain Enlightenment. 
These teachings were recorded in full during Shinsei’s audience with the 
first Emperor and became known as the Tao of Shinsei. Following the Tao 
means acting in accordance with virtue and the harmony of the universe, 
which itself leads to order and the furtherance of good over evil. The Tao 
is studied and debated by the Brotherhood of Shinsei, a vast collection of 
monastic orders, each with an individual approach to study and practice. 
This religious heterodoxy occasionally gives rise to potent heresies, and 
many divergent sects of Shinseism have appeared over the centuries. 
Mortal Intermediaries
The kami interact with Rokugan through natural phenomena, but they make 
their will manifest to devoted mortals. Spirits may accept sincere devotion 
by blessing a lay priest from the peasant caste with their frequent attention. 
Such priests cannot compel miracles from the kami, but they can bless fields, 
sanctify ritual spaces, perform weddings and funerals, practice auguries, and 
create good luck charms and talismans blessed by their favored deities. 
When a samurai is chosen by the kami and manifests the ability to 
communicate with the spirits, they are called shugenja and given special-
ized training. Under the tutelage of other shugenja, the samurai learns 
prayers, offerings, devotions, and invocations designed to entreat the as-
sistance of the kami, sometimes in spectacular and miraculous ways. Ti-
tanic fireballs, stealing the thoughts out of another’s head, creating great 
fissures in rock, or washing away the despair of battle—with the proper 
prayers to the kami, all things are possible. 
The Seven Great Fortunes
Many powerful Fortunes exist. Emma-o reigns supreme over Meido 
in his role as Fortune of Death and Judge of the Dead, while Megumi, 
Fortune of Heroic Guidance, often appears to aid minor samurai 
throughout the Empire. It is the sacred right of the Hantei to declare 
a new Fortune, elevating deceased former mortals to the ranks of 
divinity. Such was the fate of Osano-wo, son of Hida and Fortune of 
Fire and Thunder. Still, seven Fortunes rank above all others:
Benten, Fortune of Romantic Love
Bishamon, Fortune of Strength
Daikoku, Fortune of Wealth
Ebisu, Fortune of Honest Work
Fukurokujin, Fortune of Wisdom and Mercy
Hotei, Fortune of Contentment
Jurōjin, Fortune of Longevity
In some regions, Fukurokujin is replaced by Kisshōten, the For-
tune of Happiness, Fertility, and Beauty. The Seven receive a dispro-
portionate amount of worship and obeisance, but their purviews 
are treasured above all others in Rokugan.

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