Why are the Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu enemies?

The man who started the Shirai Ryu was originally a member of the Lin Kuei, he defected from it (I don't remember why) and based his clan's color on yellow, as a way of mocking the Lin Kuei's blue garbs, somehow.



I'm pretty sure this is from Deception's Konquest.
 
The Lin Kuei Warrior's name was Takeda. He got fed up with the Lin Kuei, left China and went back to Japan. His influence grew down there with modified Lin Kuei arts and developed a following which became known as the Shirai Ryu clan of Ninjas.

Source: mortalkombat.wikia.com
 
back said:
The man who started the Shirai Ryu was originally a member of the Lin Kuei, he defected from it (I don't remember why) and based his clan's color on yellow, as a way of mocking the Lin Kuei's blue garbs, somehow.



I'm pretty sure this is from Deception's Konquest.
Click to expand...

I can explain further.

Takeda was a Japanese-born assassin of the Lin Kuei who left the clan and returned to his homeland of Japan, where he developed the art of Ninjutsu. He taught the art to Japan's military generals and feudal lords. Instead of using an individual warrior's mutated power (such as Sub-Zero's ability to freeze), the art of Ninjutsu's skills were based on the their use of weapons and magical abilities that any ordinary person could master with enough practice.

The Ninja had never existed as a single clan, but instead was a loosely connected spy network comprising of many different clans. One of those clans is the Shirai Ryu, which was founded by Takeda, himself. As their founder and leader was a deserter of the Lin Kuei, this made the Shirai Ryu instant enemies of the Lin Kuei, and Takeda in particular was marked for death by his former clan as a result. Takeda managed to evade his attackers until his elder years, when he died not in the heat of kombat, but in his sleep, a victim of poison slipped into his tea.

Despite Takeda's death, the rivalry between the two clans persisted for the next few centuries, and lasted until two years before the events of MK1, when the Netherrealm sorcerer Quan Chi slaughtered the Shirai Ryu, on behalf of the Lin Kuei as payment for the services of a member of the latter, in its entirety (with the exception of Hanzo "Scorpion" Hasashi, who met his demise at the hands of Bi Han (codenamed "Sub-Zero") while his family and clan were being slaughtered). Quan Chi then framed Bi Han and his brother, Kuai Liang (at the time code-named "Tundra") in the event that he was betrayed by either of them, and personally resurrected Scorpion to do his bidding (and thus sicked the undead ninja on the two brothers once he was betrayed, using their framed role in the Shirai Ryu massacre against them, and even resurrected the elder one as Noob Saibot to do his bidding in ironically similar fashion to how he resurrected Scorpion). Scorpion's subsequent vendetta with both incarnations of Sub-Zero has continued the war between clans in spirit.

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/19980709023043/http://mythologies.dragondata.com/SCORP01.html (the long-defunct official website of Mortal Kombat Mythologies)

*Side note: To this day, Takeda's reasons for leaving the Lin Kuei, as well as the exact circumstances behind his demise, remain subject to speculation, as they have yet to be fully addressed in canon. While Tobias and Vogel still remain silent about the circumstances regarding Takeda's defection from the Lin Kuei, it is speculated that the Lin Kuei themselves are responsible for his death, as evidenced by the fact that we know from Sub-Zero's MK3 bio that desertion is considered tantamount to treason by the Lin Kuei, and therefore punishable by death. I believe this speculation is strengthened by the fact that the war between the two clans persisted for centuries beyond Takeda's death (my take on this is that the Shirai Ryu swore to avenge their founder's death).
 
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My take on the Lin Kuei is that as a clan they tend to be pragmatists rather than traditionalists given that:

1. They’re not a monastic order like the Shaolin monks, instead they are very much involved in the world they live in (for better or worse).

2. They’re not fussy on who they recruit e.g., they have native Chinese, Eurasians (implied with both Sub-Zeros), Africans (Cyrax) , europeans (Smoke) and even those from other realms who choose to change sides (Sareena)

3. Something like the Cyber-Initiative would realistically require millions of dollars just to get a single working prototype up and running, much less for Sektor to consider transforming the entire clan. Also, they would require medical engineers and surgeons with the right know-how. Where did their wealth and resources come from?

These three points may explain why the LK look down upon the Shirai-Ryu as being “inferior”.
Contrary to the Hollywood portrayal of Ninja - and let's be honest, the majority of ninja-centred martial arts movies fit into the "so bad it's good" category - if you’re familiar with the historical Ninja of Japan (c. 17th century), they weren’t exactly well-off, being no more than skilled peasants at the mercies of the samurai class unless there was someone willing to use their unique skillset as was the case with the Tokugawa Shogunate.
 
Tarkatan Trash said:
*Side note: To this day, Takeda's reasons for leaving the Lin Kuei, as well as the exact circumstances behind his demise, remain subject to speculation, as they have yet to be fully addressed in canon. While Tobias and Vogel still remain silent about the circumstances regarding Takeda's defection from the Lin Kuei, it is speculated that the Lin Kuei themselves are responsible for his death, as evidenced by the fact that we know from Sub-Zero's MK3 bio that desertion is considered tantamount to treason by the Lin Kuei, and therefore punishable by death. I believe this speculation is strengthened by the fact that the war between the two clans persisted for centuries beyond Takeda's death (my take on this is that the Shirai Ryu swore to avenge their founder's death).
Click to expand...

I bet Quan Chi had a hand in Takeda's death according to MK Mythologies
 
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