When the Empire was first formed, the Scorpion were tasked with two sacred duties: one was to safeguard the Black Scrolls in which was bound the power of the fallen dark god Fu Leng, and the second was to serve as a villain against which the Great Clans could unite so they would never unite against the Emperor. It is the latter duty at which the Scorpion have excelled, and in which they revel.
The Scorpion Clan often approaches court, like war, as a domain where misdirection and confusion are its most potent allies. Although the Bayushi Courtier School focuses primarily on blackmail as its favored weapon, the school’s sensei also teach specialized techniques in spreading false information. The more rumors and confused gossip suffuse a court, the easier it is for the Masters of Secrets to prevail.
The saboteurs are the military elite of the Scorpion shinobi forces. While the clan's other shinobi focus on spying and assassination, the saboteurs undertake the military defense of the Scorpion lands, using every sort of tactic defense of the Scorpion lands, using every sort of tactic (including the forbidden gaijin pepper) to weaken, distract, and cripple enemy armies. Although they prefer to operate by stealth, they are more than capable of defending themselves should the need arise.
The Scorpion Clan is the Clan of Secrets, and the Scorpion Instigator strives to maintain mastery over that domain. These courtiers are given access to rigorous training designed to exploit their own weaknesses until they become strengths. The Instigator learns to control the flow of conversation so that his falsehoods can pass undetected even against the most trained investigators. His ability to mask the truth keeps his opponents unsettled and unable to perform at their best.
The school founded by Yogo is known for an unusual style of magic that focuses on special protective charms known as wards. These are similar to the exorcism wards used by the Toritaka, but are significantly more flexible in their use and application. The Yogo guard their methods carefully and seldom allow others to study in their dojo; even their shugenja cousins in the Soshi family know little about the secrets of ward magic.
Although it is admittedly rare, there are times when the prodigious physical abilities of the Bayushi and Shosuro are inadequate to accomplish a task requiring stealth and subtlety. When this happens, a student of the Soshi Shugenja School is brought in to deal with the matter. The Soshi understand better than most that the kami are not honorable beings as many envision them, but rather completely alien creatures with no firm concept of human behavior or even of honor itself.
The Soshi magistrate school is descended from a set of techniques taught to the yoriki of Soshi Saibankan during his many years as a judge, and some rumors claim the first three techniques were invented by Saibankan himself. Whether this is true or not, the school remains the principle method the Scorpion use to educate those who must maintain order within their lands - magistrates, yoriki, city guards, and border patrols.
Few outside the Scorpion Clan are aware of the existence of the Shosuro Infiltrator School, and those few who do are either so inextricably bound to the Clan that they dare not reveal its existence, or have been so thoroughly discredited that no one takes their wild accusations seriously. The Shosuro are that which most believe all Scorpion to be, but without the arrogance and cruelty that such villains are commonly ascribed in plays and poems. The Infiltrators are silent, merciless killers who take no pleasure or satisfaction from their role.
The Shosuro Butei (Acting) Academy is a famous acting school, rivaling the actors of the Kakita Artisan Academy, but its students are also taught methods of infiltration and impersonation. The most promising students receive instruction in poison, stealth, and assassination, and are given contracts within the Scorpion spy network to help them to build up the false personas which they use in their later espionage careers.
The reputation of the Scorpion in court is nearly equal to that of the Crane, and certainly more fearsome. This is a direct result of the malevolent machinations of Bayushi courtiers over the course of centuries. The much vaunted information network of the Scorpion is largely a product of their masterful courtiers, ferreting out even minute bits of information that can be used as a whole to bring ruin to individuals, families, or even Clans.
The greatest villains in Rokugan's most successful plays are always Scorpions, because it is so easy for most samurai to believe. It is the actions of students from the Bayushi Bushi School that have brought this stereotype to life and reinforced it over and over again. Every student in the Bayushi dojo is trained to be the perfect weapon of discord, capable of turning the Clans against one another with minimal effort.