The Tora Clan

Currently the Tora are regarded as the most influential of all the Great Clans. The current Shogun came from their ranks and enjoys the Clan's support. In return for backing him, the Tora have used the Shogun's patronage to extend their influence far and wide throughout the Shogunate.

Most people see the Tora as little more than an extension of the Shogun's will. This is not the case. While it is true the Tora often move at the Shogun's behest and act with his blessing, the Clan has its own agenda. The Overlord Tora Hehachi is the father of the present Shogun, and is older by many incarnations. It was his wise and cunning counsel that helped place, his son on the throne.

Despite this, there is little love lost between the two, although both recognize that they need each other. The Shogun needs the Tora's resolute support to ensure his power base is secure. The Tora need the cloak of the Shogun's approval to shield them from the hostility and envy that their long period of ascendancy has caused.

However, as the Shogun has become more and more erratic, the Tora have moved to distance themselves from some of his excesses, and have forged alliances with the other Clans against the inevitable outbreak of the next civil war.

As the Shogun descends into final madness, it may be that the long period of Tora ascendancy will end. If this happens the Clan will suffer greatly, for it was not slow to use its political power to its own advantage, and its leaders have made many enemies over the past few hundred years.

The Tora People

Physically, most of the Tora are tall, dark and lithely muscular. They have tawny, glittering eyes and thick, curly, black hair. The Tora are harsh, violent folk and in their view of things, the world is divided into predators and prey. They are predators. The Tora exist to cull the weak, and battle the strong. The Clan's culture emphasizes the martial virtues of speed, cunning and boldness. Everything about the Clan, from its military organization to its business philosophy, reflects this.

Their business interests stretch from munitions and vehicle manufacture to the rights over many of the great Drakonium fields. Slowly, over the past centuries, the Clan has consolidated holdings that are now almost as substantial as those of the Tatsu.

The Tora have not hesitated to use their wealth. They have provided their warriors with the best weapons and war gear money can buy, and their sand fleets use the newest and most powerful vehicles. While the Tora Clanfolk live lives of luxury, their lifestyle has not softened them. By order of their overlord, every Tora must spend part of his day practicing with his weapons, and part of his year engaged in military service. There are no exceptions to this, save for those who are beyond the Shogunate on Clan business, or operating under cover elsewhere.

Rivals

The Tora and the Kobara are traditional rivals. Over the past few centuries the Kobara have moved slowly and carefully indeed. They have given the Shogun no reason to doubt their loyalty, but the Tora Clan Leaders do not doubt that behind the scenes the subtle and stealthy Kobara have been preparing for the day when the Shogun's reign will be ended.

A quiet and secret war has been fought between the two clans using ninja and lightning raids by disguised troops, and by proxies. Not even with the Shogun's backing would the Tora risk war with the Kobara, for all the other Great Clans dread the concept of being destroyed one by one by the Shogun and his allies. Therefore, even those Clans who have proven most loyal to the Tora Alliance, the Kitsune and the Higuma, would most likely turn on the Tora if such an all-out attack was contemplated.

Warfare

The Tora possess a large standing army. While not as large as those of the Tatsu or the I, it still numbers several hundred thousand samurai. These are divided into 25 legions of approximately 10,000 men each. All of the Tora samurai are superlatively equipped and trained. Their morale is high and they are confident of their ability to defeat any foe.

The Tora military philosophy stresses swift, mobile strikes using overwhelming force against an unprepared enemy. The Clan has invested heavily in skimmerbikes, skimmertanks and other fast moving forces to ensure that they can achieve this. For all its wealth, the Tora possess relatively few wastewalkers which some see as a weakness.

The most famous of the Tora fighting forces is the Dragon Tiger Regiment. This is an elite unit. A warrior can only be promoted into it with the permission of Overlord Hehachi. This permission is only granted as a reward for services above and beyond the call of duty, to those warriors who have proven themselves time and time again in battle.

Dragon Tigers

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of their training is that each Tora samurai is bonded at birth with a dragon tiger that will become his companion throughout his life. When that dragon tiger dies, one of its cubs will be chosen and handraised by the warrior to be its successor. These formidable cats are huge, swift and strong. They are adept at spotting Steelclaw Ninja and other hidden threats and will die to protect the lives of their masters. In battle, they often fight alongside their owners. They protect their apartments like great watchdogs while their owners sleep. Of course there are situations where it is not always appropriate for a tiger to accompany its master. In such cases, the samurai will reluctantly allow himself to parted from his companion.

By the edict of the first Tora Shogun, the Tora are the only Clan allowed to breed the fabled dragon tigers. These ferocious predatory cats grow to enormous size and have their already fearsome natural armaments enhanced by the use of bionic systems. Some of these tigers are mutants of greatly enhanced intelligence who enjoy a telepathic link with their partners.