Lore
The Jurai Cruciform
The Jurai logo is an important part of our history and has been seen in various forms since our inception in 1996.
The founders of our unit were big Anime fans and many of our founding points of culture were based around Anime especially Tenchi Muyo and Macross as well as battletech. The Cruciform was originally the sharon apple avatar from macross plus.
The unit changed over time though and much of the heavy anime influence was lost in favour of our own lore and more learning to the battletech universe - however the cruciform logo was kept and has gone through various iterations.
It has nothing to do with christianity, though we have people of all sorts of faiths and beliefs in Jurai as we value our freedom of speech and expression.
Macross Plus original Logo
Various iterations of the Juraian Cruciform.
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Jurai in the Battletech Universe
House Jurai was formed from a rebellion against the imposition of feudal Japanese culture on the Draconis Combine in 2650. A high ranking politician called Ryouko and a Tai-Shu (call sign ‘Lynxcat’) Jurai become lovers in this time and despite her Japanese heritage Ryoko she publically rebels against the enforced Japanese culture in the Rasalhague military district.
Events spiraled out of control and Lynxcat sided with his lover and resisted the Draconis Combine and humiliating them in a number of battles. Diplomacy after that failed though and the reels knew the might of the Kuritan forces would simply overpower them in time - a daring plan was hatched and Ryoko used her powers of persuasion to rally all of the cultural resistance movement to flee combine space with her and the fiercely loyal Juraian forces who stayed with Lynxcat. So - before the Star League exodus was the Juraian exodus, a fleet of mammoth proportions and as much equipment to start a new life on the periphery as they could muster.
Pursued into the periphery and hunted by Combine forces the fledgling nation grew weary and started to falter. Lack of supplies, constant harassment by Kurita strike teams, and internal dissent nearly destroyed the founding Juraians in the first year of exodus.
Knowing the coordinator would never give up as he saw the Jurian exodus as a stain on his personal honour Lynxcat took the extreme step of splitting his fleet to go into hiding and disappear off the map of the inner sphere for a few years until the Combine focused its efforts elsewhere as the drama of the star league’s implosion was beginning. 13 officers were chosen to lead parts of the fleet into the periphery and go to ground. 13 of the most fiercely loyal and incorruptible men Lynxcat could find.
However the recall beacons did not activate a few years later. They stayed silent for over 50 years in what should have been the demise of the shattered Juraian exodus … but Jurai survived …
50 years later the Jurai beacon activated. The call went out into the void on encrypted messages calling the officers home. By a miracle some did, or their descendants. Some were destroyed already, some had become turncoats, some simply refused to acknowledge Lynxcat Jurai as their lord.
A bloody civil war was fought on the periphery forging Jurai as we know it today. The victorious loyal officers and their descendants were given the honour of becoming samurai lords in service to the Juraian imperial family. A feudal system was established across the far flung holdings of the Jurian samurai hidden from the Inner Sphere powers, or even living amongst them controlling puppet governments to hide who they truly are.
Hundreds of years have past and Jurai and the noble samurai families still in the shadows, a periphery power forgotten by all except parts of the Draconis Combine who still remember their humiliating defeats and loss of honour
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Samurai families in fiction and practice
The samurai families are a core part of our lore and how we function as a gaming unit. There are seven samurai families that all play different roles in Jurai in practice and in lore and gaining entrance to any one of the families is seen as a huge honour for a Jurian warrior.
In fiction, the the families are the descendants of the officers who followed the Juraian rebellion into the periphery then into hiding. They are the remaining officers who followed the call back to Jurai despite all odds and fought against the traitor officers to establish the Juraian empire and prove their undying loyalty.
In practice a samurai family is a group of Juraian community members who have proven their loyalty, skill, and dedication to Jurai over a long period of time. Samurai families recruit those who most resemble their values in game and out of game so like minds tend to flock together. Each family has a Lord and a Seneschal (Previously called the Patriarch/Matriarch and Majordomo) who are the leader and second in command respectively.
Family leaders and samurai are expected to be pillars of our community and always striving to add value to Jurai in whatever way they can be it excellence in gaming, adding to our lore by writing and art, adding to our social events and more.
The families give colour to Jurai, something to strive for, and something to maintain that means much to each samurai. It brings friendly competition, and a place of belonging for some too.
There are eight Families
- Jurai: The Imperial Family of Jurai are the royal family, those who hold the name of Jurai are long standing members of the house who have been hand picked as leaders and high standing community members.
- Tokomi: Considered the best individual warriors in the house only taking the best of the best and following the code of bushido most closely. They form the royal guard and are some of the most decorated samurai in Jurai
- Heng: Mystics and daredevils convinced they can see the future - even their own death. Always striving to learn more and improve themselves and others before the appointed day of their death.
- Ozora: Technophiles who know the workings of a mech better than their own techs, and are just as comfortable delving into computer systems. The cyber shield of Jurai and masters of data
- Asagiri: Considered healers, entertainers, defenders and revolutionaries. A family who support Jurai in many ways on and off the battlefield - but often considered deviant and different.
- Nisshoko: A family of wealthy playboys, well versed in battle, art, and commerce. Many consider them pretty boys and too interested in their own wealth - but none who see them fight can deny they are some of the most fierce, tenacious and loyal warriors Jurai has ever produced.
- Satome: Masters of the art of battle not just in a battlemech but with any weapon they can master. Extreme discipline in the art of death makes them beautiful to watch in action, but this holds in check a blood curse of berserker rage that can turn them into wild and dangerous killers
- Kagato-Armitage: Two families merged long ago, one with a fetish for integrating technology with their own living flesh, the other with a history of piracy. Cyborgs some call them, or thieves and criminals, sometimes both. Their past lingers with them but their cyber enhanced warriors and unorthodox ways of waging war make them an essential asset for Jurai
More detail on each family soon
Edited by Asmudius Heng, 06 May 2015 - 02:15 AM.
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