5. Who is your lord and what is your character’s duty to them?
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Your samurai’s lord is a figure of utmost importance in their life—the individual to whom they have sworn their fealty directly. While your samurai’s lord might in turn have a lord of their own, your character’s oath is to their lord directly rather than the hierarchy in which they exist. Who is this individual, and how does your character serve them? Your lord might be a provincial daimyō, an official of some kind in the Imperial bureaucracy, a great general, or someone of humbler status (but still higher than your own). Ask your GM if they want you to invent this figure on your own, or if they intend to provide the identity of your character’s lord. Your character’s lord in intrinsically tied to your character’s giri, a motive that should play a major part in their dramatic arc.
After you decide who your character’s lord is, you should work with your GM to determine specifics: What is their name? What role do they serve in their clan? What sort of personality and history do they have? Depending on the type of campaign your GM is running, your character’s lord might be a clan magistrate, a city governor, a provincial daimyō, or even a Great Clan family daimyō. The GM should give players a large degree of leeway in their selection of a giri, as long as it is not disruptive to the story, as it should be something that the player is invested in seeing their character pursue during the campaign.
Your character might even have two lords, such as if they are an Emerald Magistrate. In this case, not only would your character be expected to serve the Emerald Champion on behalf of the Emperor, but their family daimyō would still expect them to work toward the clan’s interests at the same time. If your character possesses or acquires a title from, or a major obligation to, a different lord or bureaucracy, the GM might ask you to create another giri for them based on this other lord’s expectations. Again, the GM and player should collaborate to create something both are excited to explore in the story.
Once this is established, add in a few details about your character’s relationship with their lord, and then determine the most important aspect of their relationship: how does your character serve their lord on a day-to-day basis? In theory, samurai care only about serving their lord (in practice, however, they are human). What is the primary service that you render to your lord? How does your lord call upon your skills?
Write down your answer on your character sheet under “Giri.” Giri is how your character acquires esteem in the eyes of their lord, and thus is related to your character’s reputation within the Empire, their glory. See more under Giri, on page 39 of Chapter
1: Playing the Game.
Bushi characters might be given tasks suited to bodyguards (yōjimbō), guards, soldiers, magistrates, executioners, or generals.
Courtier and artisan characters might be given tasks suited to craftspeople, performers, guides, diplomats, magistrates, seneschals, or spymasters.
Shugenja characters might be given tasks suited to priests, researchers, librarians, warrior-priests, shrine keepers, or spiritual advisors to daimyō. Rarely, shugenja might be guards, artisans, or magistrates.
Monk characters who no longer belong to a clan generally serve the interests of their order instead of their lord. They might be given tasks suited to priests, temple caretakers, charity workers in their community, librarians, teachers, or pilgrims. Monks who still belong to a clan usually have duties similar to those of a shugenja.
Shinobi characters are hired assassins and infiltrators, but they usually have a cover guise. A shinobi’s giri is almost always a secret; the player of a shinobi should also decide what their character’s outwardly stated giri is when selecting their true objective.
Selecting One’s Giri Properly
Giri provides characters with the first of their two primary drives within the story. You should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative when considering your character’s giri and ninjō (personal feelings) together, and if you cannot, you should talk to your GM about selecting a different giri:
Is this giri something you want to see your character pursue or contend with during the story? This does not mean that your character should always enjoy the weight of their duty, but you, the player, should be excited by the prospect of getting to watch your character struggle with it.
Can your character make progress toward completing this giri no matter where the campaign takes your character? A good giri has clear paths you can explore with it even when it does not tie in with the main plot, and it should be something that can influence your character’s choices no matter what location they travel to or what obstacles they face.
Is this giri likely to conflict with your ninjō at least occasionally? Being pulled between duty and desires is a key part of many works of samurai fiction, and even if the two are not diametrically opposed, your character should sometimes have to make hard decisions about which is more important in the moment.
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Core Rulebook · Chapter 2: Creating a Character › Part III: Honor and Glory · p. 88 p. 89 p. 90
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Your samurai’s lord is a figure of utmost importance in their life—the individual to whom they have sworn their fealty directly. While your samurai’s lord might in turn have a lord of their own, your character’s oath is to their lord directly rather than the hierarchy in which they exist. Who is this individual, and how does your character serve them? Your lord might be a provincial daimyō, an official of some kind in the Imperial bureaucracy, a great general, or someone of humbler status (but still higher than your own). Ask your GM if they want you to invent this figure on your own, or if they intend to provide the identity of your character’s lord. Your character’s lord in intrinsically tied to your character’s giri, a motive that should play a major part in their dramatic arc.
After you decide who your character’s lord is, you should work with your GM to determine specifics: What is their name? What role do they serve in their clan? What sort of personality and history do they have? Depending on the type of campaign your GM is running, your character’s lord might be a clan magistrate, a city governor, a provincial daimyō, or even a Great Clan family daimyō. The GM should give players a large degree of leeway in their selection of a giri, as long as it is not disruptive to the story, as it should be something that the player is invested in seeing their character pursue during the campaign.
Your character might even have two lords, such as if they are an Emerald Magistrate. In this case, not only would your character be expected to serve the Emerald Champion on behalf of the Emperor, but their family daimyō would still expect them to work toward the clan’s interests at the same time. If your character possesses or acquires a title from, or a major obligation to, a different lord or bureaucracy, the GM might ask you to create another giri for them based on this other lord’s expectations. Again, the GM and player should collaborate to create something both are excited to explore in the story.
Once this is established, add in a few details about your character’s relationship with their lord, and then determine the most important aspect of their relationship: how does your character serve their lord on a day-to-day basis? In theory, samurai care only about serving their lord (in practice, however, they are human). What is the primary service that you render to your lord? How does your lord call upon your skills?
Write down your answer on your character sheet under “Giri.” Giri is how your character acquires esteem in the eyes of their lord, and thus is related to your character’s reputation within the Empire, their glory. See more under Giri, on page 39 of Chapter
1: Playing the Game.
Bushi characters might be given tasks suited to bodyguards (yōjimbō), guards, soldiers, magistrates, executioners, or generals.
Courtier and artisan characters might be given tasks suited to craftspeople, performers, guides, diplomats, magistrates, seneschals, or spymasters.
Shugenja characters might be given tasks suited to priests, researchers, librarians, warrior-priests, shrine keepers, or spiritual advisors to daimyō. Rarely, shugenja might be guards, artisans, or magistrates.
Monk characters who no longer belong to a clan generally serve the interests of their order instead of their lord. They might be given tasks suited to priests, temple caretakers, charity workers in their community, librarians, teachers, or pilgrims. Monks who still belong to a clan usually have duties similar to those of a shugenja.
Shinobi characters are hired assassins and infiltrators, but they usually have a cover guise. A shinobi’s giri is almost always a secret; the player of a shinobi should also decide what their character’s outwardly stated giri is when selecting their true objective.
Selecting One’s Giri Properly
Giri provides characters with the first of their two primary drives within the story. You should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative when considering your character’s giri and ninjō (personal feelings) together, and if you cannot, you should talk to your GM about selecting a different giri:
Is this giri something you want to see your character pursue or contend with during the story? This does not mean that your character should always enjoy the weight of their duty, but you, the player, should be excited by the prospect of getting to watch your character struggle with it.
Can your character make progress toward completing this giri no matter where the campaign takes your character? A good giri has clear paths you can explore with it even when it does not tie in with the main plot, and it should be something that can influence your character’s choices no matter what location they travel to or what obstacles they face.
Is this giri likely to conflict with your ninjō at least occasionally? Being pulled between duty and desires is a key part of many works of samurai fiction, and even if the two are not diametrically opposed, your character should sometimes have to make hard decisions about which is more important in the moment.