Provincial Guard

Once known as the Sapphire Legion, the Provincial Guard is a unit of distinction among the Phoenix Clan, well known for its defense of the sacred City of Treaties, Nikesake. The legion was founded hundreds of years ago, and named for the accord reached between the Phoenix and Crane clans, an accord further reinforced in later years by the marriage of Isawa Asahina to the daughter of the Crane Champion, resulting in the creation of the Asahina family. The legion’s name is taken from the color of the gemstone in question, a tribute to the colors of their allies among the Crane. In recent generations, however, the creation of an elite unit called the Legion of the Sapphire Chrysanthemum within the hierarchy of the Imperial families, who were ignorant of the Phoenix unit’s existence, has created something of a predicament for the Phoenix clan. They cannot continue to refer to their unit as the Sapphire Legion for fear of confusing them with the Imperial group of a similar name, and so the group has become known simply as the Provincial Guard, an admittedly somewhat bland name that manages to preserve both the unit’s intent as well as its integrity. Members of the Provincial Guard are well known for their courtly tendencies, and are trained in matters of etiquette in addition to their normal duties as sentries and yojimbo. Perhaps Ironically, the Shiba who train within Nikesake have found that the two aspects of their training are actually quite similar, and mutually beneficial.