Courtier
From L5r: Legend of the Five Rings
Courtiers are the politicians of Rokugan. They are often diplomats, sent by a clan or a family to another clan, family or even the Emperors court. Some can be sent officially as ambassadors or to study a technique or an art within another part of the Empire, or to attempt to foster trade and commerce with others for the benefit of their Clan. Some are simply administrators, intendants, ministers or civil servants in one of the many courts.
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[edit] Honored Hostages
Some courtiers are used as hostages. A young samurai will be sent by his daimyo to an ally or even rival court as a sign of good faith. They are respected and treated as honored guests and even trained and raised as true members of the "hosting" family. There is honor in being an hostage, as one is then the living guaranty of the word given by his clan or family to another.
[edit] Demeanor
Courtiers are often refined people, with wide general knowledges, a high sense of Etiquette and of the various intrigues of court politics. They master various arts and always act with sophistication. In their daily work, courtiers tend to wear the shorter wakizashi, rather than the katana considered as too deadly to carry around important nobles.
[edit] Leading Courtiers
Some of the clans of Rokugan have mastered the work of the court as an artform. The Crane Clan foremost of these clans, particularly the Doji family, have even invented many of the various courtier techniques over the past centuries. The Scorpion Clan are the closest rivals to the Crane, in their own treacherous way, and of course the Otomo Imperial family have been the official regulators of the Emperor's court for many centuries.
[edit] Relations with other stations
Some bushi tend to despise the courtiers for appearing to seek a safer environment to "serve their clan" while bushi risk their lives. Courtiers however know better. The wrong word at the wrong time or even a sigh can cause great insult and cost a courtier their life. As the Crane courtier Kakita Kasukaru once said: "A winter court dinner in Toshi Ranbo can be just as deadly as a battlefield in front of the Kaiu Wall".
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