"The honour of knighthood came first among the civilised people among the Latins of the Middle Kingdom. The art of sword and lance was birthed in the iron years when the kingship was abroad with the barbarians. The Frankomen of the great kingdom have forgotten them, since - though we remember." - The Chronicle of San-Koryu Abbey, The Writings of St. Go-Apsimar the Bladesman

You drink from a laquerwood cup and hold your chest tight to keep from coughing. The conversation around you has dulled - your fellow gentlemen knelt at the low table have emptied their cups and plates both, and look around muttering as if not one has any further tale to tell - at last a young northerner, fellow with the Emishi look about him, looks to you, and asks if you've any tale for the company - from whence do you come?

>You are of noble blood, for certain, but from where did your family come?
>The northern marches of Kyumar, the great-isle, an aristocrat settled among the knights there when the shoguns first marched north.
>The Isle of Pearls, in the distant south - you are of foreign stock, merchants of tea and lacquer with the burghers of Baek and Sildon
>The Curia itself! You are descended from a distant offshoot of the consecrated line of Christ's daughter, from whence the Saint-emperors spring. Certainly you are poorer now.