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.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.Other Ninja-Type OrganizationsAs Chapter 3 indicates, the ninja character creation rules can be used to create spies and killers as well.Such characters are often grouped into organizations such as the two described below.Her Majesty's Ministry of IntelligenceNickname: The Peepers.Known For: Panache.Ruler: Sir Trevor Draken.Symbol: The black stone Ministry tower.Territory: The Ministry controls no specific territory; it is a subset of some imperial government in the DM's campaign world.History: Her Majesty's Ministry of Intelligence was created 30 years ago by Sir Larris Draken, father of the current minister.The elder Sir Draken, an old military intelligence officer of the army, argued persuasively before the Crown that the nation's rulers needed a small, highly trained, highly motivated unit of spies who were more adept at missions of intrusion and sabotage than the individual doers-of-deeds employed by each military leader.The Crown agreed and lavished an enormous budget on the Ministry.In the years since, some rulers have used the Ministry as a valuable tool for finding out crucial information about the nation's friends and enemies, while others have looked on it as merely a form of entertainment.(It is for this reason that all Ministry agents are chosen for and trained in dash and daring.The more entertained the king and queen are by their exploits, the more money the Ministry receives to perform its duties.)Goal: To protect the Crown through acquisition of secrets kept by foreign powers.Organization alignment: Neutral Good.Range of alignments: LG, LN, NG, N, CG.Races: Humans and half-elves.Size: Leaders: 1 (Sir Trevor Draken).Middlemen: 3 (divisional leaders: Foreign Division, Domestic Division, Court Division).Low-Ranking: 60.Others: 100.Resources: Wealth: Fantastically Rich.Available Resources by Mission Type: Major/Critical Missions: Lavish.Important/Profitable Missions: Lavish.Typical Missions: Good.Minor Missions: Good.Nonmission Activities: Good.Clan Status: Noble.Demands on members: No special demands.The Priests of Ya'ang-KeegorNickname: Those MadmenKnown For: Doing the impossible.Ruler: Balabath the Occluded.Symbol: The sun being quenched as it descends into the ocean.Territory: This organization, which can have branches in any civilized land infected by contact with its nation of origin (which can be any ancient land from the DM's campaign world), controls lands in many inaccessible regions.It prefers mountain plateaus and, if the terrain supports it, mesa summits.The regions controlled by the Priests of Ya'ang-Keegor are heavily agricultural areas.History: Centuries ago, a mad mage named Ya'ang-Keegor had relatives in two nations that were going to war.He tried to persuade the warring rulers that war was folly, but couldn't.Both rulers were so convinced that the war was necessary that they told him he could not prove something that was so patently untrue.He asked each of them to write down three impossible things and asked them to agree to a trial: If he could perform all six impossible tasks, they would concede that they were wrong and stop the war.According to legend, the war raged on for a year.Then Ya'ang-Keegor reappeared, seized both kings, spirited them away to a distant cave, and performed all six tasks.Only the three of them were present, so there were no witnesses to the tasks and the exact list of deeds has been lost.Scholars amuse themselves by assembling lists of likely events; playwrights concoct plays showing these events with different tasks.Popular beliefs have the wizard squeezing an elephant through the head of a pin without shrinking the elephant or enlarging the pin, winning the war for each ruler without bloodshed, turning off the sun or moon for a day, demonstrating mathematically that no number is equal to itself, and other deeds.The wizard ended the war and acquired many followers.He never taught them how to do impossible things; he just told them nothing was actually impossible if they figured out all the angles and approaches.He set himself his own impossible task, that of becoming a god, and kept about it for the rest of his life while being followed around by admirers.Over the years, those admirers did begin setting bigger and harder tasks for themselves, with no regard to morality or functionality.They stopped wars and broke up tightly bonded clans, stole carefully guarded treasures and found lost ruins, arranged for peasants to become kings and kings peasants, settled disputes that even the gods failed to resolve, sank unsinkable ships, and more.Today, centuries after the mage's disappearance or death, his memory is kept alive by this odd priesthood of men and women who exist mainly to cause trouble.Most members of the priesthood are spies (ninja), while a few are clerics, wizards, and members of other classes taking shinobi kits.Ironically, should the mage Ya'ang-Keegor have achieved apotheosis, he will never approach his priests.Before he died, or departed on the path to godhood, he told his followers that any god coming to them and calling himself by the name of Ya'ang-Keegor must be a fake.They have taken his words to heart and will show no particular interest in a god identifying himself as their god.Goal: To demonstrate man's worthlessness by showing as false every one of his claims; to demonstrate man's greatness by showing how he can accomplish everything he imagines.(The paradox is typical of the order's thinking.)Organization alignment: Chaotic Neutral.Range of alignments: NG, N, NE, CG, CN, CE.(Lawful types need not apply.)Races: Human
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