The age of space exploration is, in many ways, the age of the Mantis. The clan’s audacity, resourcefulness, and economic acumen ensured it was among the first to explore the galaxy and reap the profits of doing so. The richest of the Great Clans by far, the Mantis are also now the second-largest clan, eclipsed in numbers only by the countless soldiers of the Lion.
The Mantis Clan’s initial strategy was simple: race to a new system, establish a base regardless of initial appeal, then defend it tooth and nail. This proved effective, if costly – the Mantis control more systems than any other Great Clan, many of them of little value but others with numerous planets and resources to be exploited. And with the engine of the Mantis economic juggernaut behind them, their initial push was affordable in a way it would not have been to anyone else. The Mantis economy reaches into almost every market, but is most famous for rare and exotic materials and goods.
The samurai of the Mantis are an extremely varied lot, and one would be hard-pressed to judge an individual Mantis by his family name. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast expanses of the galaxy and the corresponding distance from Imperial authority has given the Mantis a splendid opportunity to once more practice their oldest pastime: piracy. Although anything from a technical mistake to crossing of economic borders can be used to justify or conceal piracy, the other clans are not dupes and most see the Mantis Clan as a bully they must try to keep appeased. They are not wrong in this assessment.
Many systems, planets, and locations bear the mark of the Mantis, and it is hard to find a real center of their activity, but Kaimetsu-Uo Sekai is often considered a favorite of theirs. Though 80% of the planet is covered with water, this isn’t a problem for the Clan of Yoritomo, and numerous massive island cities dot its surface. In orbit around the planet sits Onnotangu’s Heart, the fearsome moon-prison where the Mantis send their worst criminals (or at least those they claim are the worst). The Watanabe Shipyards occupy a good part of a system with an ample supple of metals, and they house not only a fair share of the Mantis fleet but also sell ships of all sizes and designs, as well as various components for those ships; if you need starship work done, the Watanabe are the people to talk to. Their greatest tourist attraction and financial center, meanwhile, might be the massive worldship known as Daikoku’s Dice – one part casino, one part entertainment district, one part financial center, and all parts a gaudy, ostentatious, yet strangely-compelling monstrosity. Other notable Mantis worlds include the Nest, home to perhaps the most deadly jungles in the known galaxy, and the Toripuru system, a unique place where three planets sit locked in geosynchronous orbit with each other.
Families: Date, Yoritomo, Tsuruchi, Moshi, Kitsune, Komori
Naval Philosophy: It’s an open debate which clan has the more
powerful navy: the Mantis or the Lion. Certainly, the Mantis hold the edge in both raw numbers and
maneuverability. Mantis combat philosophy is based on one thing: speed, speed, and more speed, as Mantis
ships can typically run circles around their opponents. That’s good, because they need to; while Mantis
ships have an average level of toughness, their need to reserve power for engine systems means they tend to
have weaker cannons than other clans. In fleet actions, they have made up for this in a typically
idiosyncratic way: no clan boasts more powerful or plentiful fighter craft than the Mantis, whose doctrine
revolves around large-scale carrier operations, particularly those utilizing the unique abilities of the
Tsuruchi family.
Ship Bonus: Gain double the usual number of fighters per
Hangar component. TN for attacks against Mantis ships is calculated as if they were one ship class smaller.
New Family: Watanabe
Watanabe Family Bonus: +1 Stamina
It’s no surprise that the Watanabe family, long the shipwright vassals of the Yoritomo, gained prominence in
the wake of the dawn of galactic exploration. But they only became a Great Clan family to break a tie. The
Mantis’s millennia-long experiment in multi-family representation (with each family casting a vote for the
new champion) led to an unresolvable deadlock shortly after the advent of space travel. The Watanabe were
elevated not only to break the tie and for their long centuries of service, but to ensure such gridlock
would never again threaten the clan of Yoritomo (since now there were seven votes). In the age since,
they’ve become the designers of the sleekest and fastest ships in the galaxy, giving the Mantis the ability
to compete with the more heavily-armed Lion among the stars.