"
Yoritomo is the greatest mortal warrior ever. Not the best
duellist,
tactician, general, strategist or what not. He is simply, hand to
hand, in the thick of combat, with chaos all around, bodies falling,
armies clashing, and arrows flying, the greatest hands down out and
out master of combat in the history of
Rokugan.
He's unwashed, unmannered and often ill-prepared. He has no family
worth mentioning. His
lineage is unremarkable. His trainers unknown,
his history a mystery, and his desires unspoken.
He is the
Son of Storms.
Know fear."
Ryan Dancey, in an email to rec.games.trading-cards.misc dated 12 Sep 1997
Rising from obscurity as the
daimyo of the
Mantis Clan, Yoritomo is the glue that has secured the power of
Yoritomo's Alliance, an alliance of the minor clans of
Rokugan that achieved political recognition during the
Day of Thunder. Despite a promising start from a promising man, Yoritomo would not see his deepest desires fulfilled...
During the
Hidden Emperor story arc he lead his clan to seize the lands of
The Scorpion Clan-in-
exile, and was attacked from behind by
The Crane Clan; he then changed the target of his marches to
The Phoenix Clan, and was only turned back by the vicious defending armies of
samurai and
shugenja.
Yoritomo desired nothing less than the
Emerald Empire, but when the throne was offered to him on a
silver platter by
Shinjo,
The Unicorn Clan kami returned from the
Burning Sands, he refused her offer, knowing that
Shinjo would use his authority to guide
Rokugan in her vision.
At the
Battle of Volturnum, Yoritomo would eventually fall in battle with
The Living Darkness, and his heir
Yoritomo Aramasu would take his place as leader of the
Mantis Clan. However, without his strong leadership,
Yoritomo's Alliance would break apart shortly after. His
heir has sworn to restore his Clan to its former place of power, and in the
tumultuous times ahead, it is possible he may just do so...