Hatamoto
From MoongatesWiki
Role
The hatamoto is a rank which is given to those samurai who have shown a great deal of strong honour and service for their daimyo, clan and its people. The hatamoto are those that fight in battles carrying the banners of the clan. Depending on how renowned these samurai are they would carry a alternate banner. Those most honourable would carry the banner of the clan, those below would carry the banner of the daimyo and finally those at the lowest of hatamoto would carry the banner of the gokenin. The hatamoto are granted exceptional responcibilty, they hold great importance in battle and that is to stay alive and to never let the banner fall. Should any banner drop to the ground it is a breaking point for all the clans dokoro. Samurai are rarely rewarded this oportunity to carry the banner of their superiors to refuse to accept this position will instantly result in death. Any man refusing to carry the banner of his lord is refusing to work for his lord.
Role
Once the men had returned to their home lands they explained of their recent sucsess to their daimyo. Their daimyo was extremely pleased to hear that two of his hardend samurai had managed to defeat a collective of ronin that had been wanted by his clan for so long due to their dishonourable ways. As pleased as he was of this he imediatly rewarded the pair with the position of hatamoto. Yoshi bowed low and thanked his lord for his generosity. Whilst Yoshi rose back to up standing straight, Takeda had stood with a stern frown across his face. Lord Honzu peering at the samurai looked on in confusion. Takeda then rudely spoke out to his daimyo and said his skills are beyond that of working for a mindless pig. Without thought Yoshi had drawn his sword and cut off Takeda's head in one clean swoop. After years of working for his daimyo and being rewarded so much for his efforts, Takeda had wanted more than hatamoto status. His greed for power had overcome him and so his freind took his life after swearing to kill anyone who offends his lord.
