Ronin

Ronins are a type of infantry unit, on the eventual path to becoming Ronin Heroes.

Overview
They are analogous to Manhunters in native, and will travel in small to medium bands hunting down bandits. Like Manhunters, there are limited ways to recruit them, as you cannot attack them unless you have a bad reputation, and they do not appear as recruitable mercenaries in taverns. Therefore, the only way to recruit them is either taking them as prisoners and convincing them, or find them as prisoners in bandit parties and hire them after you defeat the bandits.

Trivia

 * The word rōnin literally means "wave man". It is an idiomatic expression for "vagrant" or "wandering man", someone who is without a home. The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's land. It then came to be used for a samurai who had no master. (Hence, the term "wave man" illustrating one who is socially adrift.)


 * According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the Code of the Samurai) written by Daidouji Yuuzan in the Edo period, a samurai was supposed to commit seppuku (also "hara kiri" — ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master. One who chose not to honor the code was "on his own" and was meant to suffer great shame. The undesirability of rōnin status was mainly a discrimination imposed by other samurai and by daimyo, the feudal lords.