Rise of the Ronin - Factions
The Bakumatsu was a three-sided argument, and Rise of the Ronin models it as three power blocs plus the shadow organisations that operate inside them. The player is not locked into a bloc at the start: allegiance is built mission by mission, and while the shogunate and the loyalist domains both offe...
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of 8 entries
· updated 2026-11-13
| Name | Type | Description | Region | Points Of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Veiled Edge | Shadow Organisation (Player Faction) | The secret order that raised the blade twins, trained them as assassins and sent them out to shape the new Japan from the shadows. | Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto | The burning of the Veiled Edge village in the prologue Hidden safe houses in each region Blade Twin training and skill trees Assassination contracts from anonymous clients |
| The Sabaku | Rival Assassin Order | The Veiled Edge's rival: another order of political assassins working the same contracts from the opposite direction. | Edo and Kyoto | Sabaku agent ambushes in story missions Rival assassin duels Contracts that overlap with the Veiled Edge's own The Sabaku leadership mystery |
| The Shinsengumi | Shogunate Sword Police | The shogunate's uniformed sword police in Kyoto, formed from the Roshigumi volunteer corps of masterless samurai. | Kyoto, with patrols in Edo | Shinsengumi barracks in Kyoto Isami Kondo, Toshizo Hijikata and Soji Okita Raids on loyalist inns and meeting houses Patrols that make Kyoto hostile to a loyalist hunter |
| Tokugawa Shogunate | Ruling Government | The military government that has run Japan for two and a half centuries and is now being asked to answer for the Black Ships. | Edo and the treaty ports | Edo Castle and the shogunate ministries Kaishu Katsu and the naval reform faction Shogunate checkpoints and magistrates Naval academy and shipyards |
| Choshu Domain | Imperial Loyalist Domain | The most radical of the loyalist domains and the engine of the sonno joi movement. | Kyoto and western Honshu | Choshu domain lodgings in Kyoto The Kiheitai militia Genzui Kusaka, Shinsaku Takasugi and Kogoro Katsura Anti-foreign raids on the treaty ports |
| Satsuma Domain | Imperial Loyalist Domain | The other great loyalist domain, and the pragmatic counterweight to Choshu's radicals. | Kyoto and southern Kyushu | Satsuma domain lodgings in Kyoto Takamori Saigo and the alliance negotiations Satsuma troops in the large battle missions Trade in imported weapons |
| Tosa Loyalist Party | Political Movement | The Tosa loyalist movement built by Hanpeita Takechi around the idea that the domain's lower samurai should have a voice in national politics. | Tosa, active in Kyoto and Edo | Ryoma Sakamoto and Hanpeita Takechi Political meetings in Kyoto teahouses Tosa domain politics and purges Coalition-building missions between domains |
| Western Powers and the Black Ships | Foreign Bloc | The American squadron that forced the treaty, and behind it the British, Dutch and French legations that followed. | The Bluff and the treaty ports | The Bluff foreign settlement in Yokohama Matthew Perry and the Uraga anchorage Ernest Satow and the British legation Imported firearms and cartridge trade |
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