A few words on the Drakaran Empire...
Essentially, I incorporated a LOT of the O.A. book's Rokugan Clan and Family material, modified somewhat, but did not keep the map of Rokugan nor all the tricky little details. (I also did not keep the Shadowlands or the various varieties of Maho.) I did not have the other Rokugan material, and in any case was interested in building my own Empire, and incorporating some of the old O.A. races, in particular hengeyokai and korobokuru for initial characters, with nezumi, vanara and spirit folk all potentially playable by anyone force to create a replacement character...
For a map, I used a rough transposed copy of a map of the Lake Baikal (Russia) region, but upped the scale considerably. The Drakaran Empire stretches along pretty much the entire western shores of the "Drakaran Sea" (i.e. the 'magnified' Lake Baikal), perhaps a thousand miles north to south. (It is worth looking at a map of Lake Baikal to envision the Empire...) The northern ends of the map are temperate in climate (approximately New England/Northern Europe) while the southern ends of the map are subtropical.
There is a strip of dense jungles along the southern shores, leading up into the "Mountains of Ice and Fire" which stretch east and west and are to all intents and purposes impassable, in those coastal and mountainous jungles live the semi-primitive Vanara.
Across the sea to the east, in the south, in a vast swampy river delta, live the exotic ratlings, the Nezumi, with their own ancient culture -- the Nezumi for the most part are civilized and not nomadic, though there are some tribes which do wander the swamps in a nomadic fashion, the bulk of the Nezumi live in towns and cities, and trade with the Drakaran Empire, they are excellent seafarers in fact.
The low coastal mountains not far west of the Empire's central and northern coastline are all pretty much within the borders of the Empire, but beyond those are some heavily forested areas infested with Bakemono, often led by Ogres, along with various other monstrousities... At one time, the Empire extended further west in some places, and thus there are old ruins to be found within this heavily forested region known simply as "The Wilderness".
West of "The Wilderness" are the mighty Skyreach Mountains -- also known as "The Realm of the Oni Lords". The Oni Lords are not the myriad Shadowlands Oni of Rokugan, but simply the Common Oni, Gozu Oni, Mezu Oni, and Wang Liang -- the Oni Lords have a feudal-type society, with the Gozu Oni and Mezu Oni generally being independent warlords with Common Oni for their feudal underlings, and with Wang Liang as somewhat independent sorts who may act as mercenaries or whatever. The Oni Lords have armies of Ogres as their minions; fortunately for the Empire, the Oni Lords continuously squabble amongst themselves, and have yet to be united as a threat, but sometimes they do involve themselves discretely in Imperial affairs -- the Empire is aware of their existence but thanks to the buffer zone provided by "The Wilderness", pay little attention to them.
Spirit Folk exist but are rare and honored -- it is obvious when a spirit folk child is being raised, as it may take a generation or two of the family's efforts to bring them to maturity -- very few Spirit Folk actually adventure.
Korobokuru within the Empire tend to live in small enclaves within the larger human communities, where they keep their own traditions alive; Korobokuru are also thought to be widespread along the eastern shores of the Drakaran Sea, north of the Nezumi Lands...
Hengeyokai abound, but are seldom discovered as such by humans -- they come and go, often playing little tricks here and there -- a few however become so interested in the doings of humans that they become heavily involved in a community (or a subset of such), or with an adventuring band, etc. It is not unheard of for a Hengeyokai to be adopted into a Noble Family, in fact, usually as a reward for a great deed, or as a favor...
The seven Great Clans have distinct provinces over which they rule. The Scorpion Clan holds the province furthest south, and makes exotic poisons from the plants and animals of the jungles nearby. North of the Scorpion, the Unicorn Clan holds lands on both banks of the Great River which tumbles from the Great Steppes down through the hills which run between the southernmost of the Skyreach Mountains and a spur of the Mountains of Ice and Fire -- long have the Unicorn held that region against various waves of Steppe Nomads, and much Nomad blood runs in the veins of their Clan. East of the Unicorn lies the land of the Phoenix, and east of the Phoenix lies the land of the Crane. The Imperial District, containing Drakara City, is surrounded on land by the Crane, but also contains significant coastline and is the center of trade. North of the Crane, with a small border facing the Phoenix, is the land of the Dragon -- both Phoenix and Dragon have suffered from skirmishes between them in the last several decades, which has ended up helping neither Clan as The Wilderness spread across their borders in the aftermath of battles... North of the Dragon lies the Lion, and north of the Lion stands the Crab, both of these Clans spending most of their efforts defending the border against the hordes of the Wilderness.
PCs can be of Imperial, Noble, Common, or Barbarian birth. Initial characters were limited as noted to Human, Hengeyokai, or Korobokuru. I started all the initial characters out with 1000 xp -- i.e. 1st level if hengeyokai (ECL +1), 2nd level otherwise. I indicated that multiclassing later on, except for prestige classes, would involve significant investment in game time, so that anyone who wished to multiclass should do so at the start.
Korobokuru by definition must take Barbarian as their class at 1st level, and for their second class may take another level as a Barbarian or else could take any of the 'common' classes except for the Lawful ones. NOTE -- Korobokuru as a race in Drakara are known to be incredibly fierce -- ALL adult korobokuru, not just PCs, have a level of Barbarian at 1st level! This is one reason they have been allowed to segregate themselves in enclaves, as first of all, they are uncouth and barbaric, and second of all, nobody wants to try to absorb them into the wider culture! But since Korobokuru will fight fiercely to defend their homes -- and those of the humans amongst which tthey live -- they are much appreciated in times of war... (When even the old korobokuru spinsters washing laundry or spinning wool have a d12 hp, learn how to use a variety of weapons, and can Rage, you don't see too many korobokuru being picked on...however if they are just random villagers etc., any who actually advance through age to be higher level often have standard NPC class levels on top of that 1st Barbarian level -- so for determining the breakdown of a Korobokuru enclave, I determine it normally based on the population of the enclave as though a human community -- then just substitute one level of Barbarian for the first level of whatever they have.) Barbarian is their favored class, of course.
Imperial characters must take Aristocrat (slightly improved -- +2 skill points per level, and a bonus feat at 2nd level and every 3 levels thereafter) at 1st level, and at 2nd level could take another level of Aristocrat OR one of four other classes -- monk, shaman, sohei or sorcerer -- the four classes for which the four Imperial vassal families are reknowned. (Miya are reknowned shamans, Hantei are reknowned sorcerers, the 'bureaucrat' and 'bodyguard' families (don't have the names handy) are reknowned monks and sohei respectively, fanatically loyal to the Empire and the divine Torturi Dynasty respectively.) A character could be from one vassal family but take one of the other family's typical class -- for example, Miya Hatori is a PC born into the Miya family but with a talent for sorcery and was thus trained by a Hantei tutor, if perhaps grudgingly... Aristocrat is the favored class of an Imperial character. (Note that the closest the Imperial families have to a warrior class is the sohei -- essentially the Imperial Guards are sohei dedicated to the Imperial Family itself rather than a temple per se. An Imperial character will not take any levels in a "full BAB" class, as those true warrior classes are fobidden them by tradition. As Aristocrats of course they do train with armor and weapons, and may if they wish bear either the katana or the wakizashi as befits their station and bearing, but not both, as they are most definitely NOT samurai, and they will not engage in the serious martial training required of a fighter or ranger either...)
Noble characters must take Aristocrat, Samurai, or Shugenja at 1st level. At 2nd level, a Samurai or Shugenja can take a 2nd level in that class OR a level in one of the (one or two) favored classes of their Clan, except that the three 'noble' classes are exclusive (no Ari/Sam, Ari/Shu or Sam/Shu allowed); an Aristocrat, with a less regimented upbringing, can take a 2nd level in that class (not too likely!) or a level in any common class.
I got rid of the 'extra class skill by Clan' and modified the favored class for each Clan such that every Clan had one or two, and all 11 non-Barbarian classes are represented. (In Drakara, the Unicorn are NOT barbarians, they just have some barbarian ancestry...) From south to north, the favored class for a noble character is:
Scorpion: Rogue or Wu Jen (They like to bend the rules...) Unicorn : Shaman or Sohei (They are closest to the Land's spirits) Phoenix: Shugenja (duh) Crane: Aristocrat (of course) Dragon: Monk or Sorcerer (most dragon-blooded Clan) Lion: Samurai (nothing else will serve as well) Crab: Fighter or Ranger (hey, we do what we gotta do)
Thus for a Crane, Phoenix or Lion character, only Aristocrats could start out multi-classed, since the three 'noble' classes are mutually exclusive, based on background.
Common characters can be Fighters, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Shamans, Sohei, Sorcerers or Wu Jen, and may be any multi-class combination of those classes which isn't prevented by alignment mismatches. Their favored class is their highest level class.
Barbarian humans have the same choices as Korobokuru, but are less accepted intially since as humans they are expected to be able to learn civilized manners...
Hengeyokai have a selection of common classes available to them, everything except Sorcerer -- sorry, dragon blood and animal blood turns out not to be interfertile...and in Drakara, it is a documented fact that dragon blood is indeed the source of sorcery... Wu Jen is their favored class, but many select other paths instead, and only pick up a little magic later on in their careers.
For each of the Great Clans, I also added in one or two additional Families which were Minor Clans in the book. The Mantis is actually part of the Dragon (they live on an island which is part of Dragon Lands and provide many of the best mariners of the Empire, matching the Nezumi for skills upon the Seas), the Wasp (Tsuruchi) are part of the Unicorn, and so on. I matched up mostly by philosophy, attitudes, types of magic preferred, or other similarities. And at least one family that had switched Clans in Rokugan was moved back to its original clan in my arrangement of the Families as well. (Don't have my materials handy, this is all from memory...)
Adepts are the most common (and Common) spellcasters in the Empire, but remain an NPC class -- nonetheless they are improved also, +2 skill points per level, a bonus feat at 2nd level and every 3 levels thereafter -- and one shaman domain (usually Divination, hence they are commonly called Diviners) with a "+1 domain spell" added to all their 1st level and higher spells per day once they get them. Shugenjas are the divine spellcasters of the nobles, but the Imperials have shamans, and consider themselves the emissaries to the greater spirits of the land, they have the support of the Common folk as a balance against the Great Clans gaining TOO much power... With four types of primary spellcasters -- two arcane and two divine, each having one spontaneous and one preparation -- and a large number of Adepts as the baseline, the Empire is fairly rich in magical power.
Okay, there ya go, some general world and character class info, or "how I borrowed most of the Clans and Families from Rokugan and not much else..."