The samurai were more than men. Bound by honor, fueled by discipline, and conditioned by their code, Bushido, they were fighting machines.
Used by warlords and shogun in unending political games, they were not men, but pawns to be maneuvered and sacrificed. Their lives not their own, their honor not in living, their joy completely immaterial.
This game is about the human side of the Samurai. The humanity that they were to excise. The spark that they were to extinguish. The voice that they were to un-hear. The instinct that they were to unfollow. The frailty that they were to evict. The core that they were to grow out of. The weakness that they were to stifle. The strength that they were never to utilize. The joy that they were to un-live.
This is a game about humanity of the Samurai, and their struggle within their beliefs and their code to live and die with honor. Sometimes they succeeded to die a Samurai, but sometimes they failed to live as one, and they became Ronin. Masterless and honor-less, but a mere human again.