In feudal Japan, a Ronin was known to be a Samurai with no lord or master. The master may have been lost to self ruin, or having fallen in combat. The latter scenario would indicate a loss of honor for the Ronin for being unable to protect his lord. The first of those two scenarios was out of his control and no dishonor befell the Samurai.
Picture two highly respected, important, feuding rival masters. Ruling their respected lands by total domination and mastery of the combat arts. Both masters harbor the services of the most feared of Samurai in the land to guard their territories. Many warriors, warriors of known skill of a superior nature, warriors known throughout the land by all.
At times the masters would send one of their Samurai to invade the land of his rival, to test the skill level of both their own, and the other’s Samurai. This would prove to intensify the rivalries between the lords of their lands, and their warriors, and especially the peasants they ruled. The lords battled profusely to gain the upper hand, to rule the entire land.
Over time the more cunning of the two masters would gain the upper hand in the rivarly. The loser failing to keep his footing and stronghold due to corruption, and the overall invasion by the superior clan. This was not utter superiority, only tactical superiority.
After a long battle, the lesser lord fell, bestowing no dishonor to the Samurai hired to protect him, but leaving many warriors without a home, or land to protect. Creating master less Ronin, destined to be executed, become nomads, or be absorbed by the new leader if he so permits it.
When the invasion came, many of the Samurai once loyal to the loser bent their knee, accepting the leadership, and the mastery of their new ruler. Reluctantly, they vowed thier honor and their swords to fight for their new leader. They were welcomed with open arms. They protected this new leader well, they fought hard. His land was different, but he provided a home, an opportunity to fight.
Some of the Samurai left behind did not see fit to bow to a new master. In a sense they were their own masters, and would never bow under another banner. They are too proud to accept the demands required of them by their potential new leader.
These Ronin are destined to walk the land. They are trained for combat, trained to fight. It is all they know. Yet with no master to serve, some are reduced to searching out worthy opponants to test their skills against, all on their own.
Traveling from village to village search of a worthy opponent. A rival whom can take them to the limit of their skill. A man to test the boundaries of the Samurai’s meddle. A like Samurai who can provide an honorable death. For a master less Samurai can not gain honor dying in defense of his leader, he has none to die for. He must now find honor in pure combat, and die a worthy death.
Such a Samurai roams the fields of these lands. He is known as the Last Emperor. He is walking from town to town, with only his sword in his hand, and the fire burning in his heart to fight and compete. He is desperately searching for a worthy foe. In his search he has become a legend. His very name strikes fear in the heart of potential opponents.
He has toppled mountains, he has bested giants in his quest. Not one can challenge him. The fear must grip the Samurai, is there no one, no one who can bring the challenge necessary to defeat him? Where will he find the honorable death he so desperately seeks?
Alas, no man can challenge him, no man can stop him. He has challenged the opponants available to him but to no avail. He has conquered every one who stood before him. They all fell at his feet, he has never tasted true defeat. Will he ever find the honor he seeks at the hands of a worthy opponant? Does that opponant exist?
Both the Samurai and the peasants must be dubious by now.
Most of the higher ranked warriors have been acquired by the victorious master, who prevailed in the war of the land mentioned before. The best Samurai serve a new master and will not be allowed to stray from their posts to challenge this man.
Their master knows the risks of allowing his soldiers to challenge the Ronin. He can not afford to risk his fighters, and he himself fears what the Ronin would do if he permitted such battles. He knows in his soul the challenge the Ronin presents. He is not willing to meet it. Therefor he resorts to the development of hybrid warriors to rule the highest parts of his lands. Such a warrior has emerged, he is dangerous, but no match for the Ronin.
The Ronin has been left with the scraps. No more opponants truly worthy of his skill are left, none that have not already tasted the steel of his blade.
His honorable choice to shun the man who bested his previous master has left him without a flag. Recently though He has found shelter under the banner of a rising lord, but this lord dares not challenge or threaten the true leader of the land just yet. Perhaps both the Ronin and his new found up and coming lord are biding their time. Planning their attack.
The peasants wonder though, how long will this lord contend with such warlords ruling the land? Can this new lord even withstand the utter domination of the current leadership? The Ronin may very well find himself once again without a home if history repeats itself.
Perhaps, he will find his honorable death someday. The worthy opponent he so desperately seeks. The man many thought would challenge the Last Emperor has just fallen to the blade of a hybrid Samurai. An unknown talent that has just breached the land and is striking fear in the hearts of the villagers.
Perhaps the Ronin can find a way to breach the walls of the fortress. If only for one battle. Perhaps the current master will allow his new found warrior to stray from the gates and challenge the Ronin. This is highly unlikely though. The master knows he can not risk his prize warrior to a superior legend such as the Last Emperor.
The Ronin must be salivating at the idea that he can dishonor the man who bested his one true master so long ago. He must relish the idea of utterly destroying this new head warrior in front of the current lord. To hand the head of the new warrior to his master would bring honor indeed.
The notion that the warrior even deserves the whispers of greatness must burn in his heart, knowing all the while had he bent his knee, the new warrior never would have emerged victorious in the first place.
Nothing would make the Samurai more proud than felling the man that the new master spent so much time and effort creating. Dishonoring the lord who defeated his master would surely bring him the honor he so deserves.
The Ronin must decide. Does he rush the gates of the fortress? Could he find honor in toppling the best this lord has to offer? Could he dishonor the lord in the process?
The Ronin must choose. One thing is for sure, honor is something he exemplifies, he need not seek it out, he just is honorable without effort. Honorable in definition. He may never meet his challenge, but that is not to his detriment.
He will always be remembered, not as a Ronin, but as the greatest Samurai to ever walk the land. The stories of his battles will be heard for generations. His original master would be proud indeed.
The current master should live in fear. This Samurai poses a threat to all who guard his gates. He should live in fear indeed.
