The Rikai Clan

Rikai Clan
General Information, Relationships, Traditions and History
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- Overview -

A clan of subterfuge, stealth and thievery.
Being based on an almost Mafia-like structure, the clan goads new members with promises of a good life and little to no work, but the harsh truth is, that most of them never really get anywhere, stuck on the lowest ranks. The clan lives mostly on stealing from others, a necessity as their own land is not the most suitable to feed a Pokémon, much less an entire clan. The leader and a few trusted higher-ups essentially exploit the rest of the clan to ensure their good lives while others rob, steal, set up ambushes and do all kinds of underhanded business to feed everyone. Technically leaving the clan is possible, although it is not advisable. Those, who have attempted it, have often ended up...missing.

- Relationships with Other Clans -

-Fubuki Clan-
The Rikai Clan tends to look down on the Fubuki, seeing them as idealistic morons, who can not grasp the cold, harsh reality of life. The Rikai don't believe for friendship to be of any significant use, although they do admire the strategy the Fubuki tend to put behind their fighting. While the two territories are not very close to each other, the Rikai occasionally steal from the more southern parts of the Fubuki territory, thinking of their unwillingness to enter a conflict as a weakness.

-Kusa Clan-
??? (Need information on Kusa)

-Mizu Clan-
These two clans are connected by a rather tense relationship. Due to a river on the border between the two territories being one of the few places to access water for the Rikai clan, frequent conflicts occur in the area. This conflict is further supported by sand from the deserts of the Rikai territory being blown into the land of the Mizu Clan and the frequent raids carried out into their tropical regions. Despite this tension however, the Rikai grudgingly respect their neighbour, valuing their adaptability to the various situations.

-Kasai Clan-
The Rikai clan sees the Kasai as a sort of rival. While both clans employ a rigid hierarchy, the Rikai believe for the Kasai to be mindless brutes, who fail to employ reason and tactics, instead just charging forward into whichever conflict they can find. An even worse opinion they have of the newest leader whom they view as a child unable to do his job properly. Raids into their territory are rare, not just because of the mountainous landscape, which wouldn't allow for much food to grow, but also because quite a few Rikai members didn't really take the direct confrontation with a Kasai member too well.

- History -

Originally the Rikai Clan was not much of a clan at all, only consisting out of a few rogues trying to survive in the harsh environment of the Okane City. Fighting and stealing were common, each Pokémon doing what they had to to survive. Finally however a Bisharp managed to unite the majority of the thugs with promises of wealth and luxury, then integrating the other residents into his group by liberal application of extortion and general violence. He then organized them strategically, stealing from other clans instead of stealing from each other. His cunning methods really did bring more food for each member so by the time the clan had realized that the Bisharp had been taking a larger and larger share of the profits for himself while barely doing any work, the system he had created had already grown far too large to allow any protests. Thus the clan's members either grudgingly follow the Don's orders or do their best hoping to some day reach a higher rank.
Over the years this hierarchy has been refined, now structuring an entire crime syndicate.
Each and every Don, who replaced the last one after their death continued the tradition of ruthlessly taking as much food as they wanted, giving little to nothing in return while those under them live in constant hunger but do nothing out of fear of retaliation. Only very, very rarely it had happened, that the Don had done something nice for their subordinates and even less often those things were done without a selfish purpose in mind.
Only the 23rd Don, a Houndoom, genuinely treated her underlings well. However her reign was quickly cut short as those below her rose up, intending to take her place for themselves. Now her horns are mounted on a wall in the Don's belltower, reminding the current Don of the constant danger of an uprising from below.

- Traditions -

The Rikai Clan sees little value in traditions, although the higher-ups often force new members to take part in some humiliating or dangerous "initiation rituals" for their own amusement.