The Imperial Explorers are the most recently created facet of the Imperial bureaucracy, one that is limited entirely to the Colonies. The Explorers were created to break the stranglehold on exploration by the Spider and Mantis clans, allowing the Imperial families to maintain control over the situation in the Colonies. They were initially founded based on the recommendation of the first Imperial Governor, who received the permission of the Divine Empress to create them. At the Governor’s command a group of sensei were assembled from multiple clans; they were housed in a training compound a day’s travel south of the Second City, and young and ambitious samurai from the various clan delegation were nominated for training.
Young samurai who join the Explorers endure a minimum of a year’s training before they are considered fit for active duty on the frontier, and typically operate in teams for greater safety. Anything they discover during that time becomes the property of the Imperial families. After the first year, Explorers are permitted to operate on their own and any resources they find are divided evenly between the Imperial families and the Explorer’s clan. For this reason, the clans tend to send only talented and loyal young samurai to join the Explorers, hoping thereby to eventually enhance their own prosperity.