Despite their history as one of the oldest minor clans in the empire, the Sparrow never really had much of a reason to exist. They owed their formation to an ill-timed comment at court and became consummate storytellers to while away the hours in a barren, poor land with not much else to do to pass the time. Much about the Sparrow was largely unchanged over the millennia -- until the Rokugani took to space. When the Minor Clans were handed out planets, finally the Sparrow would get a new lease on life, a new opportunity to find their destiny with a planet that could provide them with economic opportunities. When the Minor Clan World Lottery was conducted, the Sparrow even got first pick, and chose a world they named Suzume’s Rest, a verdant garden planet with ample natural mineral deposits.
But the Celestial Wheel has always had a dark sense of humor where the Sparrow are concerned, and Suzume’s Rest was no exception. The natural flora and fauna of the planet turned out to be inedible to Rokugani, inducing severe stomach illness and vomiting. Some quirk of the soil meant that even the crops they could import only grew at 1/3 of the rates they should. And those mineral deposits? Turns out the surveyors had made a mistake -- a lot of mistakes, actually -- and the only abundant mineral on the planet was Thulium, an element for which there is no practical purpose. The Sparrow had enough to get by, but only enough for limited space travel.
They may have starved to death slowly over centuries were it not for the Alliance War. In the wake of that terrible conflict, the Sparrow, with long experience having to make do with whatever shoddy materials could be found at hand, began salvaging the forgotten debris fields. They turned out to be extremely gifted at it, and the clan’s salvage operations are what has kept it afloat over the last couple centuries. Though they’re still the poorest of the Minor Clans, their place -- and purpose -- is at least now secure; the saying in the empire is that if a Sparrow can’t jury-rig your ship, no one can.
Sahara Family Bonus: +1 Perception
Suzume Family Bonus: +1 Awareness