Honor, Etc...

HONOR:

Honor is a numeric equivalent of respect given to you throughout the empire by the general populace who know of your honorable status. Likewise, those of dishonorable status are given very little respect. You may gain honor through many means, including good deeds and heroic accomplishments in missions and personal role-playing. To follow the way of the samurai is to earn honor. To lose honor means you have done something shameful, perhaps even in mistake.

You unfortunately have little control over your own actual numeric honor score. The social staff is in charge of deciding whether or not a deed, action or lack-therefore of is deserving of gaining or losing honor points.

There are 100 ranks of positive honor and 100 ranks of negative honor. To be at -100 honor means you most likely. The lower your honor the harder it is to lose honor. The higher your honor, the harder it is to gain honor, and the easier it is to lose honor. The more honorable you are seen, the less likely people are to notice little deeds of kindness that may have been worth points in the past. And vice-versa for dishonorable persons.

100 Honor: The Emporer, the Kami, the Empress, etc...

75 Honor: Clan champions, daimyo and heros of clans, etc...

50 Honor: Great heroes, ambassadors, legends among men.

20 Honor: The starting honor for any courtier, samurai, shugenja or anyone else of the samurai caste.

10 Honor: The starting honor for anyone not listed above.

0 Honor: Monks, Gaijin, etc... who are removed from society have this score, however in the case of monks, it does not mean they are seen as lesser people.

-10 Honor: Someone who has fallen from standing. Usually relatively easy to get back to positive honor from here.

-20 Honor: Starting honor for those who deal in the dark arts just a little or forbidden trades (like gravediggers). Common thieves too.

-50 Honor: At this point you are probably an enemy of the state. A bandit of high reputation or murderer...

-75 Honor: By now you are a person who has all but rejected the code of bushido.

-100 Honor: Demons, those who have sold their souls to oni, etc...


CASTE:

Social Order is the order which society is ranked. Saiken is a feudal society, so people lower on the caste have less rights, but are given more security in the fact that if a clan, family or the nation fell, odds are they would be spared. Those higher up in the caste may legally kill anyone of lower rank (the ranks being separated into Samurai>Heimin>Eta), however doing so for no reason is severely frowned upon. Despite this law, people of lower caste are still seen as peoplve. Although difficult, it is possible to rise in the system beyond the status you attained at birth. Monks are those who have denied themselves status, so technically have 0 status. However, they are not shunned like many others of 0 status and are instead respected as wisemen who have sacrificed everything seeking a path to enlightenment.

Status:
Samurai:

10 - Emperor
9.9 - Empress
9.9 - Shogun
9.5 - Voice of the Emperor
9.4 - The Emperor's Children
9.3 - Imperial/Ki-Rin Daimyo
9 - Imperial Champions
9 - Imperial Chancellor
9 - Imperial Advisor
8 - Great Clan Daimyo
7.4 - Minor Clan Daimyo
7 - Imperial Herald
7 - Family Daimyo
7 - Rikugunshokan (General)
6 - Hatamoto (a daimyo's honored retainer)
6 - Provincial Governor
6 - Shireikan (Commander)
5 - City Governor
5.5 - Taisa (captain)
5 - Chui (Lieutenant)
5 - Vassal Family Daimyo
4.7 - Karo (advisor to a Daimyo)
4.5 - Imperial Magistrate
4 - Clan Magistrate
3 - Gunso (sergeant)
3 - Average Imperial Family Member
2 - Diplomat
2 - Gokenin (small estate manager)
2 - Shisha (Imperial Messenger)
1.5 - Nikutai (corporal)
1 - Average Great Clan/Minor Clan Samurai
.05 - Ji-Samurai (Vassal Families; this is where Bushi usually fall)
N/A - Ronin
N/A - Exile
-10 - Ninja

Heimin (Peasant) Status Ranks:
.4 - Ashigaru (professional peasant soldier)
.35 - Geisha
.3 - Doshin (peasant village officers)
.2 - Budoka (peasant warrior)
.2 - Farmers, Woodsmen, Fishermen
.1 - Craftsman, Entertainers
.1 - Akindo (merchant, peddler)
0 - Peasant Levy
0 - Monk
N/A - Exile

Hinin (Eta i.e. "non-people") Status Ranks
-4 - Leatherworker, Butcher
-5 - Torturer
-8 - Gravedigger
N/A - Exile


REPUTATION:

Your reputation is sort of like your honor, however it varies from faction to faction within the empire. You have a base reputation score from 20 to -20. You gain reputation much like one would honor, except it does not have to be from honorable deeds. It could in fact be from the exact opposite. You have an overall reputation, then a reputation within each clan. Some clans will choose people with a higher reputation in their faction to do jobs for them. Sometimes, you can lose reputation with one clan for just applying for a job with a rival clan, especially during times of war. Your reputation changes in accordance with the feat staff. Everyone starts with 1 reputation with all major factions.

At the, time major factions are:
Ki-Rin Clan
Crane Clan
Fox Clan
Rabbit Clan
Bear Clan
Wolf Clan
Dragonfly Clan
Sparrow Clan

When you interact with a minor faction, you immediately must begin to earn reputation with that faction. You are considered to have 5 reputation with all minor factions from where you learned your first style if you are a monk or another class that advances in a similiar fashion.

At the time, minor factions include:
All Monk Dojo/Styles

STATION:

As you advance, it is possible to earn station points with which to buy resources to perform specific duties in the empire, such as ambassador, commander, etc... You could even become a daimyo of a new family or minor clan within the empire and be given your own land to maintain if you find yourself in favor of the emporer...

This system will develop over time when it becomes needed. However, odds are no one will become a sensei, warlord, clan champion, etc... until much later in the RPG.