The Three Great Samurai Clans
The Arashiyama Clan.
The Akamine Clan.
The Suiren Clan.
Together, they were known as the Three Great Samurai Clans—the oldest and most powerful samurai lineages in Kastoria.
Their histories reached back to the kingdom's foundation.
Their founders had stood among the first samurai, warriors whose names had passed into legend long before the current royal family occupied the throne. Countless lesser clans claimed descent from them, tracing their bloodlines to younger sons, distant relatives, or branches established beneath their protection.
Whether every claim was true hardly mattered anymore.
For thousands of years, the three great clans had stood above the rest.
Their authority rested on more than ancestry. They possessed land, wealth, armies, and generations of sworn allegiance. Even samurai who owed them no direct service treated their names with respect.
Together, they held enough power to threaten the crown itself.
