To combat the growing influence of the Gozoku conspiracy, Emperor Hantei VI turned to a completely unexpected source to assist him: the Brotherhood of Shinsei. Although the monks of the Brotherhood were of course willing to obey their Emperor without question, they had never been involved with anything like this, and were more accustomed to changing the perceptions of small local tyrants rather than facing a nationwide organized movement stripping power from the Emperor in the name of progress. Some were so horrified by the suggestion that they were simply incapable of providing useful assistance. Others did help but with great reluctance, and a few rose to the occasion in truly spectacular style. Unfortunately, the Brotherhood’s leadership was completely inexperienced in this sort of endeavor and was either unwilling or unable to differentiate between these three different groups, leading to the exposure and downfall of the whole effort-and ironically, contributing directly to the downfall of the Gozoku as well. Some later historians speculated this was the plan of the Emperor all along, but in truth, if he had possessed that level of manipulative cunning it seems unlikely the Gozoku could so easily have co-opted his rule in the first place.
The monks who succeeded as spies were predominantly (but by no means exclusively) former Scorpion samurai who had retired for a life of quiet contemplation. Many were delighted by the chance to be active once again, and they were not entirely alone. Sadly, the failures of the more numerous monks ill-suited to espionage led to the capture of all.
Although the Brotherhood Spies officially only existed during the reign of the Gozoku, they could have appeared in almost any era where the Brotherhood of Shinsei found itself drawn into the Empire’s political affairs. The technique created by the retired Scorpion-turned-monks could well have been preserved in the Brotherhood’s ranks and brought out again in later eras when the monks of Shinsei had need of it. In the twelfth century a perverted form of the technique could even have found its way into the ranks of the Spider Clan by way of the heretical Order of the Spider and Order of Venom.