Ronin

[Tassu]

Ronin

The masterless samurai, better known as ronin, are nowadays a rare sight within the Empire. The clan samurai view them as unwanted trouble, while commoners fear these wanderers who could snap and lash out with deadly violence at any time. Ronin retain the privileges of samurai – they may carry two swords, wear armour, and demand respect from heimin, for example. But because they have no lord, they have no protector and no income. As far as samurai go, they are considered the lowest of the low. They may have the right to wear the daisho, but without clan backing they lack the financial wherewithal to keep this valuable equipment in good condition. This means that ronin weaponry is often in a shabby state of repair. The most desperate swallow their pride and sell their equipment, an action that bespeaks a true loss of hope for a samurai. The advances in technology have narrowed the fields of work available for the ronin. With the advent of modern communication technologies allowing the clans to exert unequivocal control over their retainers and serfs, no heimin village or merchant convoy is ever in need of protection it could not request from their superiors. This doesn’t mean that ronin are never hired for such duties, only that hiring external help has become the last resort as the clan organizations have been designed to run with the personnel readily available. Ronin are also practically never used as diplomats as sending a wave man to conduct business or negotiations in one’s stead could be considered a grave insult to the other party.

Becoming a ronin
There are several paths by which a samurai falls to the status of ronin. The first route opens when samurai’s lord dies the surviving samurai are
shamed by their failure to die with their lord, sometimes even turning down the offer of a position with a new lord, clinging fanatically to the oaths to a master who is now dead and gone. Sometimes samurai forsakes her oaths in protest of her lord’s behaviour, choosing to follow her own moral compass despite of the grave consequences of such an action. More commonly, a ronin is made when a lord dismisses a samurai from his service and does not even allow him the honourable option of ritual suicide. This punishment leaves the samurai, as the saying goes, “vegetating in shame”, as to commit seppuku without permission would only bring more dishonour. Where the survivors of a destroyed clan often have vengeance to cling to, no matter how misdirected, ronin who are cast out as punishment frequently become directionless nihilists, caring little for themselves or the consequences of their actions. With public healthcare extending all the way to the heimin and hinin, few are born ronin. The illegitimate children of samurai parentage are often adopted by the clan or sent to monasteries, a policy that even the most traditional clans uphold. Even the Crane and Lion see value of raising these undesirables as ji-samurai, allowing them to bolster their ranks while minimizing their negative impact on the society. More rarely, one might be a ronin due to having been born to ronin parents. Such occasions are few and far between as most ronin bands exist only for few scant years before their members die or are forced disband. Exceptions to this rule exist, especially on the holdings governed by multiple clans as the ronin bands can seek employment from multiple sources as long as they tread carefully. Scorpion governed World of Dreams with its continent wide-cities is an example of such a settlement and at least three more or less well established ronin groups exist on the world.

The ronin’s survival guide for the 32nd century
If you become a ronin, your options are limited. You no longer have a position in the clan, but your samurai status precludes you from taking on menial work of the kind befitting a commoner. Some of the honorable ronin have found employment among the merchant patrons, guarding their storehouses or working as bouncers in the worst hell holes of the entertainment districts. In return from the tedious and sometimes dangerous duties the wave men can expect a humble meal and a place to sleep, at best. Many are the unscrupulous patrons who would lure the desperate to work for them, only to cast them out when the time of payment comes. Most of ronin thus employed try to keep to the shadows and avoid attractingattention to themselves, even if the authorities tolerate their presence. Ronin also also employed as hired swords, though seen as eminently expendable and often called upon to perform near suicidal tasks. For the ronin who care little of honor, the future is filled with opportunities among the lowlife scattered across the Empire. Ronin employed by the gangs often work as hitmen and bodyguards and are expected to follow the orders of the oyabun to a letter.

While fraught with risks, such life is not without rewards and several former samurai have made themselves name among the underworld. And if the ronin picks their victims carefully, they can make a decent living – perhaps decent enough to set up as an independent merchant and get back to something like a normal life. Presence of the ronin at public occasions is tolerated, but by no means encouraged. Some of the nobles make certain that ronin no are turned away from their fetes or tournaments, whereas others make sure they are not seen in the presence of the clanless. The recently exiled often avoid all publicity for a fear of being recognized. Regardless of the opinions of their betters, the ronin are welcome to all mercantile establishments as long as they have the coin, though upper end inns and restaurants have been known to refuse ronin unaccompanied by a clansman. All of the temples however, are open to the ronin and the monks tending to the shrines often provide shelter and food for the ronin. This arrangement benefits both parties as while technically nothing is expected from the outcasts, many of the ronin assist the monks in their duties, for example by keeping order during charities and helping them with the necessary repairs. Sometimes this symbiotic existence leads to the ronin donning the robes of an initiate and many of the sohei, as the militant monks as known, serving in the temples are former ronin, having founds spiritual refuge in the arms of the Brotherhood.

Ronin born as shugenja have an easier time, with most Clans willing to allow them to swear loyalty as long as they have not erred on the wrong side of the law. While ronin turned clansman might have difficulties advancing on their career and securing a profitable marriage, they will find their basic needs met as long as they perform their duties. These duties often include becoming a caretaker of a minor shrine as well as marrying an another shugenja in hopes of producing progeny capable of hearing the whispers of the kami. Those ronin shugenja unwilling to swear loyalty can easily find employment among the lowlife and merchants seeking to bolster their fame by employing a priest of the kami. Such arrangements are often fraught with danger, even if ronin shugenja can usually expect a fair compensation in return for their efforts.