Shadowy dangers always threatened the Boar lands, and the Heichi Bushi School formed to face them. The Boar were ready to defend themselves and developed techniques that would help them match that fervor. They learned to take the worst attacks their enemies might hold in store and simply keep going. The trained Heichi Bushi maintains a strong defense, but his furious assaults are chilling to see.
The founder of the Ichiro Bushi School was a Hida. It is no surprise, then, that the School remains similar to its Crab roots. The school's philosophy is simple: hit the enemy so hard that he has no time to engage in any fancy tactics.
The Ichiro Bushi School focuses on their love of wrestling and unarmed combat. It emphasizes the power of pure strength in defeating enemies. The Ichiro Bushi uses strength as the answer to almost any problems that may arise. Others may move faster or strike with more precision, but the Ichiro will answer with overwhelming damage.
Although the Unicorn Clan is known for its cavalry, the tactics of Shinjo’s children also require infantry to serve as a base of maneuver and to “fix” enemy infantry in place. The need for such tactics became clear during the clan’s years of wandering in gaijin lands, most notably during the 200 years after Shinjo disappeared in battle against the Lying Darkness. During those two centuries the clan fought a variety of opponents, many of whom could not be defeated with a simple cavalry charge.
The Utaku Battle Maidens, also known as the shiotome, are the finest and most respected cavalry in all the Empire, feared by reputation even more so than their kindsmen among the Moto and Shinjo families. While the remainder of the Clan trans on gaijin riding horses, a larger and sturdier breed than the simple Rokugani pony, the Utaku alone have the right to breed, raise, and ride into battle the legendary Utaku steeds, the finest horses in the world.
The Shinjo excel at mounted tactics, a trait common to all Unicorn bushi traditions. The family's fighting techniques incorporate a number of gaijin fighting methods encountered during the clan's centuries of travel outside the Empire, and as a result they employ a unique defensive style that depends on concepts such as the active parry, riposte, and other such oddities that most Rokugani are unfamiliar with.
The Moto family suffered a great blow to their morale and honor during the ninth century when their daimyo Moto Tsume, fueled by pride and arrogance, rode into the Shadowlands with the majority of his forces. He and his men fell to darkness and became some of Jigoku's greatest tools in the fight against Rokugan. These Moto who survived or remained behind were deeply shamed and swore to eradicate all those Tainted creatures who bore their name. This oath gave rise to both the elite White Guard and to the Moto Vindicator School.
The Moto Bushi are the living stereotype that many hold of the Unicorn Clan. More so than any other family, they are born of a union between the Rokugani people and the gaijin who were allowed to join the Unicorn during their travels abroad. Owing to their descent from the wild, nomadic, barbarian tribes of the northern steppes, the Moto practice an unfettered fighting style that makes them awe-inspiring opponents on the battlefield, even as it earns them the enmity of all those who despise deviation from the customs and nature of Rokugani warfare.
The so-called free ogres, once they begin to slip free of Jigoku’s direct control, quickly discover they remember an ancient set of techniques that can be put to tremendous use in a fight. While an average ogre is already a respectable opponent, those who know the techniques of their bushi school are much more dangerous. Muhomono, the legendary king of ogres and supposedly perfect ogre warrior, epitomized these techniques, so mastering them is a source of pride and glory for free ogres.
After the Dark Moto became a new force within the Shadowlands, they began to modify their traditional Moto fi ghting techniques to their new nature as creatures of the Shadowlands. Over time, a new school evolved, one known at first only to the Dark Moto themselves but later taught to other Lost who served alongside Tsume’s fearsome legions. After the destruction of the Dark Moto in the twelfth century, their school survived among a handful of Lost and eventually was passed down to Daigotsu’s forces. The later Spider Clan also employed some of the techniques of the Dark Moto.
The legions of warriors loyal to Daigotsu employ a fighting style cobbled together from the various techniques they possessed in their former lives. As a result, the Daigotsu Techniques are mildly eclectic, but can be brutally effective when used in conjunction with one another. Skilled bushi can use these secrets to devastate their foes and then harness their dying life essence to replenish themselves, an act that forever marks them as traitors and blasphemers in the eyes of the Empire.