The Imperial Families have sworn fealty directly to the Imperial line, and every action they take is to guarantee a functioning Empire. The Miya travel across the land as the voice of the Emperor, ensuring his decrees are heard by every person in the land. The Seppun are the shields of the Empire, serving as bodyguards and as warriors in the Imperial Legions. The Otomo are the political masterminds of the courts, fiendishly manipulating the Great Clans to serve the higher good. With access to the best teachers, unlimited funding, and higher status, the Imperial Families are truly the elite nobles of Rokugan.
Miya
The first Miya tirelessly and selflessly spread the word of the Empire’s victory over Fu Leng, and also labored to rebuild the damage from the First War. So long as you are on the business of the Imperial house, Miya’s guidance allows you to ignore the effects of lack of rest/sleep for a number of days equal to your Honor Rank.
Seppun
The Lady Seppun was the first follower of the Kami and the first of the old religious order to fully and unreservedly embrace the ways of Shintao. Her guidance allows you to touch the harmony of the universe more easily. Once per session, you may gain the benefits of a Void Point without actually having to spend the Void Point.
Otomo
The clever and notoriously serpentine Otomo was often underestimated by his foes, but his smooth tongue and flexible mind seldom came out second-best. His guidance bestows similar blessings on his descendants. Otomo’s supervision grants you a +1k1 bonus when using the Courtier Skill with the Manipulation or Rhetoric Emphases.
Seppun Hidden Guard
Although all Seppun shugenja are tasked to help protect the Emperor and the Imperial City against magical and supernatural threats, but the elite order of the Hidden Guard receives special training for this purpose. The Hidden Guard are in charge of the direct magical and spiritual protection of the Emperor, his family, and the Imperial Palace. Many of them spend their entire lives doing nothing but endlessly watching, reinforcing, and maintaining the wards and other magical protections over their charges.
Seppun Astrologers
Astrology is very important to all of the Imperial families, with the Otomo employing it in court while the Seppun study it for its spiritual and divinatory purposes. The Seppun Astrologers watch the night skies constantly, seeking portents to better protect the Emperor and the Empire. Like the Kawaru Sages, the Seppun supplement their astrological knowledge whenever possible with divination magic (although they would be greatly insulted to be compared to the practitioners of kawaru).
Satoshi's Legacy
Miya Satoshi died in disgrace, but his effort to militarize the Miya family left a legacy of trained warriors who wished to continue serving their family and to cleanse the dishonor which Satoshi had brought on himself. Their warrior tradition is carried on by the Satoshi vassal family. Of course, GM’s may also use this Technique to represent the legacy of any Miya leader who tried to militarize his family.
The Rising Sun
After the Unicorn Clan’s return, the Seppun family began aggressively training cavalry forces of its own. Only the most elite members of the already legendary Imperial military are allowed to seek admission to the unit known as the Rising Sun. These men and women receive endless training from the finest mounted combatants to be found in the rest of the Empire - making them masters of tactics the Great Clans do not share with one another. While the Unicorn are the undisputed masters of cavalry warfare, even they hold the Rising Sun legion in extremely high regard.
Otomo Bureaucrat
The methods of the Imperial bureaucracy began in the time of Hantei Genji, but came to full flower in the years after the Reign of the Gozuku, when the Otomo family was tasked with obstructing and dividing the Great Clans, ensuring they would never again be able to subordinate the Emperor. Otomo bureaucrats specialize in delay, obfuscation, and subtle but persistent obstruction, using such indirect and seemingly passive methods to block and foil the goals of the Great Clans.
Imperial Observer
Observers are assigned by the Imperial Bureaucracy to oversee the honorable conduct of war. It is an Observer’s duty to monitor the strategies of each side, reporting both honorable and shameful activity back to the Imperial Court. (The Great Clans assign their own battlefield observers, of course, but only those with Imperial authority are empowered to deliver unquestioned reports to the Throne.) The Technique of the Observers is an Imperial secret and is taught in the Ruby Dojo (best known for training the Emerald Magistrates).