After the Festering Pit of Fu Leng was closed, the Crab Clan endured a spiritual crisis of sorts, having lost the primary focus of its existence. Soon, however, the children of Hida proved as pragmatic as ever, reorganizing around two areas of focus. First, with the growing importance of science and technology, the Kaiu family became an important part of Rokugan’s development, and much greater resources were allocated to them in order to expand their operations, particularly in mining and engineering. Secondly, the opening of space exploration revealed many planets inhabited by strange and often hostile life-forms influenced by the more dangerous Spirit Realms, occasionally including Jigoku. This gave renewed purpose to the Crab, who took to the stars to fight against the most dangerous and inhuman species, as well as establishing gigantic mining and construction operations for weapons and defense development. Long used to hardship and difficult conditions, the Crab adapted very well to exploring strange new environments, and became a force to be reckoned with in the Empire of Emerald Stars.
The greatest number of systems controlled by the Crab are at the “southern” galactic border of the Empire, where resource-rich but largely-inhospitable worlds abound. The Crab have gotten around this problem both by selling their incomparably rich mineral haul to other clans, and by trading their services as hostile environment shock troops for food and other resources. The Crab are thus less likely to wage war on other clans during the Empire of Emerald Stars than they were during the Empire’s heyday, since the resource flow needed to keep them going depends on trade agreements with the other powers. Beyond the borders of Crab territory sits a vast sea of empty space known as the Black Reach. Though there have been discussions of venturing into the Reach to see what lays beyond it, the Crab have thus far been uninterested in the massive supply lines necessary for a full embrace of that endeavor.
The Crab have gotten around the issue of many of their planets being inhabited by the forces of pure evil (mainly creatures which draw from Toshigoku, Gaki-do, and Jigoku) by building massive orbital space stations (such as Kyuden Hida Prime and Hida Secundus) above these worlds. The Kuni have developed a process which allows them to launch orbital jade strikes from massive radiant cannons mounted on these stations, annihilating all traces of corrupted life within a radius of miles. The fact the creatures still keep fighting back is a testament to the danger they represent, but the surrounding moons are so rich with rare minerals, the Crab would never give them up. They do possess other worlds, however. Their most populous is Junji’s Hope, named after one of their greatest heroes, the gateway to their territory and one of only two garden worlds in their possession. The other is Dark Horizon, a burgeoning colony on an ironically-named garden world which only recently went dark.
Families: Hida, Hiruma, Kaiu, Kuni, Toritaka, Yasuki
Naval Philosophy: The Crab build their starships for one
purpose: toughness. Though they don’t lack for firepower, their craft possess little in the way of
maneuverability. Crab ships don’t dodge hits, they take them – and then keep taking them, long after it
seems
like they should have buckled. The Crab are feared in interstellar combat for their ability to just keep
coming;
more than once, they have won a space battle simply by outlasting their opponents. Their ships are also
uniquely
suited to dropship operations on hostile worlds; since their role in space is frequently to land shock
troops on
the harshest planets, their transports are likewise the best of any clan.
Ship Bonus: Gain +1k0 damage with Missiles, but suffer -1k0
damage to Grazers. Gain +15 HP from Armor Plating components instead of +10.