In the years before the Seiva war, clan Minoru was ruled by a monarchy. The eldest male member of the leading family was, by default, the ruler of the clan; although he was assisted by numerous advisers, he was the sole person in charge of the clan. All legislation passed through him for approval, all diplomacy fell into his hands, and all military action was at his fingertips. As the single leader of one of the strongest clans in Toisian, he could potentially be the most powerful man on the continent if he played his cards well.

In the first years of the Feudal era, leadership of the clans had to be fought for viciously and swiftly secured, or it would be ripped away by another group. These fights were not always physical; often, it was the family who could triumph politically through negotiation and affluence that won control, and so it came to be with the Minoru family. Guaranteeing prosperity and shelter to those who allied with them, the Minoru house gained rapid support over a large area of land that, unless united, made potentially easy prey to invaders seeking use of the fertile soil. Versat City was where the family settled, and settlements both north and south for hundreds of miles gladly pledged their support. The capital city became a bustling center of trade, densely populated and rich with culture.

Acting wisely, the powerful and wealthy Minoru family did not seek to rule without assistance or protection. They were not the only group to seek dominance in the roiling times before the Feudal era, and in the interest of a more strongly united clan, they extended hands of alliance to several other families who had vied for leadership. These chosen factions did not have a direct say in the clan's affairs, but they were frequently sought out for advice, and this advice was rarely spurned. Among these was the Himitsu family, who had drawn many an eye with their unusual and exclusive kenjutsu technique; the Minoru family called upon them for military advice in times of hostility, and came to rely on them for protection. The Himitsu family, and other groups who so assisted the Minoru house, gained not only notoriety but a great deal of wealth and status. By the decades just before the Seiva war, many of these families had achieved nobility status through their own political negotiations and contributions.

The final years of the Seiva war brought an end to the Minoru family's dynasty. Not only was the body count so devastating - the clan's population, about one million at the beginning of the war, dropped by nearly a third, as so many able citizens had directly participated in the conflict - but Minoru Tadeki, the current ruler, fell at the hands of the Aizin leader, Aizin Suzume, in the year 301 of the Feudal era. His one surviving son was kidnapped and killed shortly after, ending the Minoru family line and leaving the clan much worse for wear.

However, Minoru was not a stable and prosperous clan for nothing. A council was soon brought together, made up predominantly of the families who had been chosen in the clan's early days to advise the first rulers. Some families had, of course, died out, while a good deal of new blood was introduced to leadership. The final year of the Seiva war was spent under martial law, the only efficient way that the new leaders had to quell the surges of panic and riot, but soon after the war's end, the citizens of Minoru found themselves living as they had been, under a government that was comfortably similar to that which they had known, but different enough to bring about improvements to the clan's way of life. Laws and changes passed more swiftly, and the council was able to nudge the clan in the direction of a republic.

As one of the foremost military powers in Toisian (before the Seiva war, that is), clan Minoru maintained a large, strictly-organized force of trained soldiers. Employment in this field was common; young men who were unlikely to see a position in their family's business often enlisted, as did those whose financial situations were less than desirable. The compensation for enlisted infantrymen was roughly equal to that of a journeyman rank in most popular trades, and a man with combat skills beyond the ordinary could hope for a quick promotion to commissioned officer status if an opening presented itself. Youths who desired combat training in kenjutsu (swordsmanship, usually with katana and wakizashi), kyujutsu (archery), or baijutsu (horsemanship), but did not have the financial resources or family connections to study privately, could enlist and receive training as well as pay. Each soldier was provided a weapon or horse if he did not have one, and the cost was subtracted from his salary, often over a long period of time.

During times of war when high casualties were expected, or when the overall number of soldiers fell short of what the clan leader deemed acceptable, a system of conscription was employed. Each household was expected to contribute one able-bodied male to the war effort; the order in which households were called upon was selected by a complex system involving location, previous wartime commitments, and the occupations and social class of the family members. Most conflicts were not long enough to require a soldier from every household, and families whose current generation had contributed to a previous war effort were exempt from conscription until all other families had contributed. The minimum age for conscription was seventeen years, and the minimum age for voluntary enlistment was fourteen with the household's permission and seventeen without.

The Minoru army is, like most military organizations, based on hierarchy for the sake of properly training and, during wartime, controlling and directing its vast numbers. Before the Seiva war, the equivalent of the "commander-in-chief" (or, for the samurai, the daimyo) was the leader of the clan itself; after the war, several members of the Minoru council were selected as the heads of military proceedings.

Next in the chain of command are the generals, known as shogun. Throughout the clan's history, almost all of the shogun have been samurai, simply because the amount of knowledge, skill, and loyalty required for the position demand the most elite and dedicated soldiers. Under the command of each shogun fall ten captains, or taichou, and under each taichou, ten lieutenants, or fukutaichou. Taichou, like shogun, are very frequently samurai, and for the same reasons, but fukutaichou are generally samurai and ordinary soldiers in equal proportions. Very few samurai can be found in the lowest ranks of the army, simply because by the time a soldier has undergone the necessary training and tests to become a samurai, he will almost certainly have garnered a promotion to a higher rank.

The group of soldiers that a shogun controls is called a division; the group that a taichou leads is a unit. Each unit may contain as many as five hundred men, divided into groups of around fifty, called companies, under each fukutaichou; thus, each division may contain up to five thousand capable soldiers. Within each company, individual soldiers are assigned seats or numerical positions based on their immediate superior's assessment of their skill. The company's fukutaichou is always the first seat of the company, aiding his taichou in addition to overseeing the soldiers under his command. The second seat is occupied by the second-best warrior in the company, the third seat by the third-best, and so on. If one company member should die or otherwise abandon their seat, all of the soldiers below him are moved upwards by one seat. The death of a lieutenant is slightly more complicated; in this case, the taichou and remaining fukutaichou hold a brief counsel to decide who should take the open position, potentially drawing from other units or even divisions if necessary. Seat assignments are usually reevaluated every several months when the next group of recruits is integrated.

Of the two hundred and fifty thousand or so soldiers who were enlisted at the beginning of the war, roughly half were infantry, one fourth were cavalry, and the remaining fourth were ranged troops. The Seiva war saw the near destruction of not only the Minoru military force, but that of nearly all clans who became involved. Minoru itself was reduced to about thirty thousand soldiers by the end of the war, many having lost their lives in the final battle on the Hidoi plains. Civilian casualties, though not as extreme as some other clans, were also significant. Although rebuilding the clan�fs immense military power of a decade ago would be next to impossible on a short term basis, the council does seem to have set the restoration of their armed forces as a high priority.

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