Examples of Ninja Clans (CNH)

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Here are several types of ninja clans the DM can use in the campaign.
Players, take note: DMs who plan to use the following clans in their campaigns are free to change names and other details about them. Don't choose a clan from those listed here for your character and expect that the clan in your DM's campaign will be identical.
In the descriptions that follow, no enemies or allies are listed for the clans. The determination of enemies and allies must be based on the clans existing in the DM's campaign.
==Isobe Clan==
Nickname: Black Mountain Ninja.
Known For: Smuggling skills.
Ruler: Isobe Jotaro.
Symbol: Falcon.
Territory: A difficult-to-scale mountain in the darkest, nastiest corner of the empire, and one defensible valley below; includes a few viable rice paddies and a village.
History: Ten years ago, the Isobe clan was a samurai clan that supplied many skilled warriors and military advisors to the army of the shogun. Secretly, it was also a ninja clan of great antiquity. Its leaders intended eventually to topple the shogunate and seize control of the empire.
However, enemies of the Isobe clan discovered that the clan leader was a ninja lord. They assembled evidence against him and presented it to the shogun, who responded by stripping the Isobes of all lands and titles, then sending a large army to destroy them.
The Isobes who survived the attack fled to the distant reaches of the empire, land surveyed by a long-dead clan lord and never claimed or developed. They used their ninja skills to build a fortification at the top of an inaccessible mountain. Allied mages and illusionists improved the citadel, making it dangerous for the shogun's wizards to approach.
In the years since, the Isobes have acted overtly as a ninja organization. They sell their services to whomever will pay for them. They have become adept at smuggling agents out past the loose cordon of shogunate spies and guards and smuggling food in through the same lines. Many of these techniques involve the use of clan wizards. There is a disproportionately high number of spellcasters among the Isobes, and many of their spells and magical items are geared toward smuggling.
Naturally, all Isobe ninja traveling in the outer world must adopt cover identities that do not associate them with the Isobe name.
Goal: The Isobes are slowly trying to create a new "cover" clan with samurai status. This involves forging an alliance with a now-impoverished samurai clan, intermarrying and merging with it, and covertly using ninja techniques to make it rich and powerful. The clan leader expects this process to take decades.
Clan alignment: Neutral.
Range of alignments: LN, NG, N, NE, CN.
Races: Human only (so far).
Size: Jonin/Leaders: 2 (Jotaro and his brother Toyo). Chunin/Middlemen: 12. Genin/LowRanking: 208. Others/Shinobi: 364.
Resources: Wealth: Average (once Fantastically Wealthy, now still possessing substantial cash reserves but with a much reduced income). Available Resources by Mission Type: Major/Critical Missions: Lavish. Important/Profitable Missions: Good. Typical Missions: Adequate. Minor Missions: Inadequate. Nonmission Activities: Inadequate.
Clan Status: Nonperson.
Demands on members: Delivery of treasures, cost-accounting. The Isobes do not insist on choice of spouse. In fact, the clan actively promotes the forging of links with clans and heroes all over the empire.
==Nishi Clan==
Nickname: Serpent Ninja.
Known For: Poisons.
Ruler: Nishi Saburo.
Symbol: A stream of water cutting through rock.
Territory: A large, wealthy holding, rich in rice production, belonging to an allied samurai daimyo who knows the secret of the clan.
History: The Nishi clan got its start a century ago, when a band of samurai decided to strike out on their own after their treacherous lord turned against the shogun and was defeated. These samurai fled the aftermath of that defeat and turned ronin. After due consideration, they decided that wealth and greed were far more agreeable than the blind devotion that had resulted in their exile.
They tallied the skills available to them—including one that proved to be of immense help, the skill with herbs and poisons possessed by the wife of one of the men—and began offering all these skills, not just their swords, for sale. They pooled their earnings and brought in a specialist, a drow spy who could teach them even more salable skills, and eventually persuaded him and his immediate relatives to ally with the ninja clan.
These men were crude and greedy but smart; they continued to plow some of their profits back into training and acquisition of favors and knowledge. Over a period of several decades, they acquired all the skills of older and better-established ninja clans.
Over time, they became the favorite doers-of-deeds of one noble clan, the family they are still associated with. This clan gave them farmland to support the stable identities they needed for security. They do not work solely for this daimyo, but do offer him their services at a courteously reduced rate.
Goal: Accumulation of wealth; expansion; domination of sake brewing.
Clan alignment: Lawful Evil.
Range of alignments: LN, LE, N, NE, CN, CE.
Races: Humans and half-elves (of drow descent).
Size: Jonin/Leaders: 3 (Nishi Saburo and subordinate family heads Igarashi Junzo and Shimada Eiichi). Chunin/Middlemen: 23. Genin/Low-Ranking: 468. Others/Shinobi: 712.
Resources: Wealth: Wealthy. Available Resources by Mission Type: Major/Critical Missions: Good. Important/Profitable Missions: Good. Typical Missions: Adequate. Minor Missions: Adequate. Nonmission Activities: Inadequate.
Clan Status: Farmer.
Demands on members: Choice of spouse, delivery of treasures, cost-accounting (the last two being very important to these money-conscious ninja).
==Motoyoshi Clan==
Nickname: Need-No-Doors Ninja.
Known For: Intrusion skill.
Ruler: Motoyoshi Haruhiko.
Symbol: A calligraphic brush with an oversized cherry leaf as its paper.
Territory: The Motoyoshi clan rules no territory, operating out of the shogun's capital.
History: Forty years ago, a military advisor to the old shogun had a vision—or perhaps it was a hallucination. He saw himself visited by the god of truth, who announced that henceforth the man's allegiance would be to the god instead of the shogun, and that the man must use the tools of deception so as to be on guard against those same dangers. The man retired from military service and became a priest of the god, but brought up his grandchildren as ninja, the better to accomplish the goals of the clan.
Goal: The Motoyoshi clan is devoted to truth for its own sake. Its members exist as gadflies constantly stinging the shogunate bureaucracy. Their tactic is to ferret out all secrets and expose them for the other lords of the land to learn. This makes it more difficult for the shogun to keep the lords at one another's throats. The more secretive the shogun and his government become, the more offended the Motoyoshi presume the god to be, and the more strenuously they perform their missions.
Clan alignment: Neutral Good.
Range of alignments: LG, LN, NG, N, CG.
Races: Human only (so far).
Size: Jonin/Leaders: 1 (Motoyoshi Haruhiko). Chunin/Middlemen: 5 (Haruhiko's sons and a promising grandson). Genin/Low-Ranking: 10. Others/Shinobi: 23.
Resources: Wealth: Average. Available Resources by Mission Type: Major/Critical Missions: Good. Important/Profitable Missions: Adequate. Typical Missions: Adequate. Minor Missions: Adequate. Nonmission Activities: Inadequate.
Clan Status: Samurai.
Demands on members: No special demands.