Clan Above All, Honor Above Clan
Compared to the other Atlantean clans, Amaterasu is something of a rogue clan. Though not diabolically opposed to the Atlantean way of life, as Aerihman is, Clan Amaterasu has always been somewhat distant from the other clans, both socially and in culture.
Whereas the Bagh-Dach aided the people of Ireland, the Amaterasu headed far to the west of Atlantis, passing over the land of the Maya and the waters of the Pacific, to a small chain of forested islands off the Asian coast. The Amaterasu molded the newly-landed Asiatic invaders into their image, intermarrying with them and strengthening their ideals of honor. Close breeding assured that the Atlanteans began to look more and more like those they lived with, and careful control ensured that the Emperor was always at least partly Atlantean. Within three generations, the Amaterasu were almost indistinguishable from their "charges", and their now-absent founder was deemed the Goddess of the Sun and the Ancestor of the Emperor.
With the disaster of Old Atlantis, though, things began to change. Atlantean superiority was no longer assured by their control of mystic forces, as even the greatest magicians were stripped bare in the power vacuum left by the disappearance of Atlantis. The culture rapidly degenerated, and it was a long, painful climb from barbarism that developed a hybrid of Atlantean and Japanese culture. Centuries and millennia passed, and the Atlantean roots of the culture were almost lost to myth and legends. Then came Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
These two cities contained death on a scale not seen before, death wrought by power more primal than any but magic. Fat Man and Little Boy created cracks within reality, even as they unleashed the PPE of hundreds of thousands of people. These cracks, along with the surge of energy, allowed several Atlanteans of Clan Amaterasu (and a few of other clans, as well) to slip into the dying reality of Earth. Using what power they could muster, the Amaterasu slowly returned an interest in Japanese culture to the rest of the world, and a seemingly oxymoronic wave of traditionalism
and innovation into the Japanese. They revitalized the line of the Japanese Emperor with Atlantean blood, yet most remained on the periphery of Japanese society, hiding their long lives (as well as sparking urban legends and the popular imagination).
With the Coming of the Rifts, many of the surviving (and Earth born) Amaterasu were caught up in the dimensional Rift that hid Tokyo from the world. Those who were not (as well as those who came later) intermingled with the peoples of the New Empire, returning to them some of the magic and knowledge they had forgotten over millennia of modernization. When Tokyo returned, the Clan was reunited, and agreed to let the two powers remain separate, and to head off whatever hostilities may arise. As it stands now, much of Clan Amaterasu remains in Japan, with only a few members scattered across the rest of Asia, and only a handful in the rest of the Megaverse.
Alignments: 85% of Clan Amaterasu will be of an Honorable Alignment... Principled, Scrupulous, Unprincipled, or Aberrant. 13% of the Clan is Taoist, with the remaining two percent being of a completely dishonorable alignment. The Clan is only a few thousand members strong, and thus maintains a rather close-knit feel.
Clan Languages: The language of the Clan is Japanese. Given the Atlantean penchant for languages, many will also know (and be literate in) Chinese, Korean, Dragonese, American, or Demongogian.
Occupational Character Classes: Any, though more than 75% of them are of OCC's from Rifts: Japan (or appropriate to that setting).
Bonuses: Regardless of OCC, all members of Clan Amaterasu may cast Blinding Flash, Globe of Daylight, Sense Evil, and Turn Dead spells, with standard PPE costs.
Penalties: To Clan Amaterasu, honor is paramount. While Taoists are borderline acceptable, those of dishonorable alignments are not accepted. To be of a dishonorable alignment (and be detected) is to invite death.
Even Ninjas within the Clan walk the narrow line of Aberrant.
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