Shosuro-Ikoma Alliance

The Shosuro-Ikoma Alliance was a covert alliance formed between the leaders of the Otomo, the Shosuro, and Ikoma families following the Battle of Stolen Graves. They had decided that some facts could damage the reputation of the Emperor, and it was the duty of samurai to protect the Emperor from such facts. Both families started to re-write history, in a more honorable way. Book of Fire, p. 76
== First contacts ==
During winter of 442, following the Battle of White Stag, an informal alliance between the Imperial families, the Ikoma, and the Shosuro began systematically working to protect the dignity of the Imperial Throne in the historical record. Imperial Histories, p. 77
== Creation of the Alliance ==
Not only did the rise of Iuchiban bring together the Kuni and Yogo families, it also created one of the strangest - and most subdued - relatonships in Rokugani history. In fact the event changed Rokugan history in more ways than were generally known. Way of the Scorpion, p. 30
When Iuchiban was captured and his identity revealed, a conference was held between the Emperor and the daimyo of the Bayushi and Ikoma families. For reasons no longer recorded, the Emperor demanded that the identity of Iuchiban be hidden forever and the details of the event be changed. Not just obscured, but directly altered so that future generations would never know the true identity of the sorcerer. The Bayushi Daimyo immediately called the daimyo of the Shosuro family and related the Emperor's orders. The Shosuro daimyo nodded and joined forces with the Ikoma to make certain the Emperor's orders were carried out. Since that day, the Ikoma and Shosuro worked together for one reason: to protect the Emperor. Together they made certain official Rokugani history had protected the Emperor from both dangers visible and invisible. 
== Hidden truths ==
The Ikoma and Shosuro jointly maintained a secret library where all the suppressed truths of Rokugan's history were kept. 
=== Battle of the White Stag ===
The Lion histories made no mention of a foreign navy being invited into the docks of Otosan Uchi for trade and commerce. However a foreign navy did attack the capital and was driven off. Of course, no record of the Mantis Clan involvement was mentioned either. 
=== Hidden Secrets of the Hantei ===
* The narrow margin by which the Emperor Hantei XIII] was diverted from ordering the merging of the Crane and Scorpion Clans as the Hawk Clan under the Heresy of the Five Rings. Book of Fire, p. 77
* Hantei XVI's slaughters and crimes. 
* Hantei XVII's insatiable appetite for young samurai-ko was kept secret. A Crab maiden who raised her hand in Imperial presence almost caused a Lion crusade had it not been for the diplomacy of the Crane and Scorpion. 
* Hantei XIX's peculiar nocturnal habits were kept secret. 
* The terrible scourge of the Great Famine during the reign of Hantei XX. 
* Hantei XXIII's refusal ever to bathe was kept secret. 
* The malicious political meddling of Hantei XXV almost brought about a Lion-Phoenix war. 
In fact the Shosuro and Ikoma had made certain that any event that could compromise the honor or integrity of the Hantei line was erased from the Empire's memory, for everyone knows if the Ikoma did not record it, it never happened. 
=== Hidden Secrets of the Iweko ===
* The struggle between the supporters of Iweko Seiken and Iweko Shibatsu as Imperial Heir to Iweko I. Otomo Bureaucrat (The New Order flavor)
Category:Scorpion Clan
Category:Lion Clan