Crane Clan

The Crane clan has shaped the civilization of Rokugan from the beginning. Since the time of the first Hantei, a Crane has been the imperial Advisor, and until the last Hantei, a Doji has been every Emperor's bride. They are the masters of the political intrigue that surrounds the Imperial court-until very recently, the undisputed masters (the Scorpions now challenge that claim). They hold favors in store from nearly every family of every clan, and know how to call in favors at the right time and circumstance. The members of the Crane clan are noble in every sense of the word, refined, cultured, civilized, and graceful.

RECENT HISTORY

Were it not for their war with the Crabs over the Yasuki lands, the Cranes would be on top of the world. Their former clan champion, Doji Kuwanan, became immortal and watches over the city of Volturnum to keep it free of Taint. Despite the rather unorthodox marriage of their headstrong new champion, Kuwanan's son Kurohito, to a Phoenix spirit, life for the Crane clan appears to be going well. The Cranes have not invested too much effort into their war with the Crabs, knowing that the right is on their side and that the Crabs cannot afford to divert too many resources away from the defense of the Kaiu Wall. However, the Cranes do feel the loss of arable land after Oblivion's Gate, the Kumo, and the Spirit Wars when fields were flooded, salted, and burned.

When the Scorpions were blamed for Emperor Toturi's kidnapping and sent into exile some thirty-five years ago, the Cranes fostered their children, so the Scorpions and Cranes share some uncharacteristically close ties now that those children are grown. There are even some adult Cranes whose ancestry is Scorpion, whether they know it or not, since not all the exiled Scorpions returned alive.

CRANE LANDS

The lands of the Crane stretch the length of Rokugan's eastern coast, from the northern lands surrounding the imperial Capital to the far south, where they battle the Crab over the Yasuki lands. Their fields are the most prosperous in the empire, and thus often the most hotly disputed.

The Doji and the Kakitas dwell in the northern part of Crane territory, north of the Spine of the World Mountains and surrounding the imperial lands, where they can most easily make the presence felt in the court. The remaining families dwell on the other side of the mountains, down the coastline of Rokugan to the Tidal Landbridge where Daidoji Masashigi died defending Rokugan from the Shadowlands. The lands of the Kenkai Peninsula are fertile but occasionally swampy, and now hotly disputed between the Crane and the Crab.