Exploration is what the Unicorn have always done, and after the Empire of Rokugan extended to cover the whole planet, they eagerly awaited some new frontier to seek. The idea of exploring entire star systems could not help but attract them, especially coupled with their love for speed and travel, and the Unicorn were among the first in the race to the stars. At the dawn of the fourth millennium, they maintain only a token presence on Rokugan Prime, the vast majority of the clan having resettled on other planets or being permanently on the move. The Unicorn are one of the few clans (along with the Phoenix) who first try to communicate with alien cultures, resorting to violence only when that fails. They conceived of and sponsored the relocation of the last gaijin nations from Rokugan to their own worlds, and maintain extensive contact with most of them (the Thrane are a bit less forgiving than the others). Much like when they first returned to the Empire in the early ninth century, their culture in the fourth millennium is a mix of the domestic and the foreign; where once a traditionalist might have been disgusted at a Unicorn samurai wearing fur, now he must also wonder what kind of creatures the fur could have come from. This love of the new and interesting extends to customers, as the Unicorn frequently pick up small peccadilloes from the new alien races with whom they seem to continuously come into contact.
Though their love of horses has not abated, most modern Unicorn have also come to embrace almost any kind of vehicle, the faster the better; the Tolui family created the hoverbike, and are still considered its finest manufacturers. The more daring Unicorn samurai will also attempt to ride anything they can capture and (hopefully) tame on new planets, regardless of size or ferocity. Sometimes this gets them eaten, but more often it leads to the sort of mounts that could provide a surprise tactical advantage in the event of conflict with the other clans.
Many modern Unicorn samurai have returned to their ancient nomadic traditions, and the massive Moto dreadnought known as the Chomchog is a perfect example of this. Fitted to be self-sustainable seemingly indefinitely, the ship often orbits newly-discovered planets, serving as a temporary station. It is less armed than most vessels of its size, and as such is often allowed in other clans’ systems, giving the Unicorn a considerable advantage for their commercial and diplomatic efforts. The clan also dominates in shipping and transport (only the minor clan Tortoise come close); anyone who needs to get themselves or a cargo load somewhere quickly uses Unicorn transportation. The clan also has contracts in place with the Imperial Exploration Corps to explore and pacify new planets before relinquishing them to other clans – taking on a hefty fee in the process from both the Imperial coffers and the clans themselves. Many Unicorn samurai are part of the Corps itself, of course.
Though the Unicorn generally prefer to maintain free-moving ships (their fleet is absolutely massive, although it’s rarely ever in the same place at one time) rather than permanent settlements, they do have a few permanent worlds. Primary among them is First Landing, the first planet colonized by Rokugan when it took to the stars. In addition to being one of the Empire’s more populous worlds, First Landing’s main attraction is its jungle-covered wildlands, full of exotic animals and plants – all carefully studied, bred, and harvested by the Unicorn.
Families: Iuchi, Shinjo, Moto, Utaku, Ide
Naval Philosophy: The Unicorn don’t have the most powerful
navy, but they might have the most interesting one. The Unicorn do two things better than any other clan
when it comes to ship design. The first is range: Unicorn ships have made incredible strides when it comes
to fuel capacity and efficiency, and can operate at greater distances than those of any clan, even the
Mantis. The second is originality: any time a strange, idiosyncratic ship design makes an appearance,
there’s a high likelihood it came from the Iuchi shipyards. This uniqueness has often allowed them to
compete in large-scale conflicts with ostensibly more advantaged clans – if you don’t know what an enemy
ship can do, you’re inherently at a disadvantage.
Ship Bonus: Engines can never be destroyed, only damaged.
Opening the Way is a Rank 1 spell while aboard a Unicorn ship.
New Family: Tolui
Tolui Family Bonus: +1 Strength
The age of space exploration was a bit of a divisive time for the Unicorn. On the one hand, their wanderlust
was sated by exploring new worlds, and the Unicorn pushed the bounds of that era farther than any but the
Mantis. On the other hand, it became clear that horses, while still used where possible, were simply
unsuited to many newly-discovered planets. Strangely, it was the Moto who solved this problem, when a young
engineer named Moto Tolui who had studied in the Kaiu school designed the first all-terrain hoverbike.
Tolui’s breakthroughs led to his elevation as the head of a new Great Clan family specializing in all sorts
of mechanized ground transport.