"Riptide" Private Military Company (離岸流民間軍事会 - "Riganryu mikangunji gaisha" in Kusarian) is a new PMC operating under the auspices of Shimamori Clan. Created in 830 A.S., it was a further development of the clan's security forces and an attempt of the clan to step up in the power dynamics in the Empire. Appointment of Marquess Shimamori as the Lord Speaker of the Imperial Diet in 828 A.S. entailed greater responsibility for the Clan, as well as greater opportunities. To promote its image and position within the Empire, Marquess decided to expand the duty of an imperial vassal of protecting the safety of the Empire beyond its borders. To that end, significant resources were put into the clan's security branch, re-establishing it as a private military company. While some branded this move as a power play to deter the clan's political opponents, the official reasons presented by the Shimamori press service are three-fold:

1. To expand the scope of professional and comprehensive security to the increasing number of the clan's partners;
   
2. To augment state interests and security exterritorially in the border regions where the imperial jurisdiction is limited;
   
3. To assist law enforcement domestically whenever needed.
   

The modus operandi of "Riptide" is rather vague and flexible. The official documentation of "Riptide" lists the following suggestions regarding the modus operandi:

• You are on your own beyond the imperial borders. Kill first or be killed. Be ruthless to the enemies of the Clan and the Empire, because they will not offer you more should you lose.
  
• Do not shun running if outgunned or outmanned. Survival favours the fittest and the smartest, not the most honourable.
  
• In situations with ambiguous parties, talk less and listen more. Informed means armed. Even a seeming hostile might turn out to be an unexpected partner.
  
• You are private mercenaries, not imperial soldiers. Prioritise the clan's needs and goals, thinking of the Empire after that. Mind, however, that serving the Empire often promotes the Clan's goals.
  
• Offer help to third parties when it is not detrimental to your goals and/or clan's assets.
  
• (Not for public disclosure) Outside of Kusari space, use any advantage up your sleeve or method, however questionable, to achieve your goal if the benefits of achieving this goal outweigh the negative consequences of reputational fallout if discovered.
  

The critics of the system of feudal retinues and PMCs in Kusari bash this vagueness, claiming that entities like this serve the egoistic goals of the nobility under the facade of assisting the authorities. The Hogosha and various Samura and Kishiro affiliated groups are often quoted as examples. Nonetheless, the Empire of Kusari, which has existed with such neo-feudal practices for centuries, closes its eyes on such autonomy for the sake of stability, and even often colludes with such entities, exploiting them to pursue state interests exterritorially in exchange for leniency regarding their status and activities at home.

The main purpose of "Riptide" is to protect the Clan's interests wherever they might need protection. While at home the Clan can rely on the imperial authorities and law enforcement, there are no guarantees of protection beyond the imperial borders. This is especially dire in the independent worlds, where unlike the House space there are no authorities whatsoever. To this end, the modus operandi of "Riptide" is broadly formulated as "to do what law enforcement cannot do in the places the law enforcement does not show". And with no oversight of authorities in such a space, any methods go, end justifying the means. Pre-emptive strikes, biased inquisition, questionable methods of obtaining information - despite being seen at times brutal back home, few would object to such practices directed at such villainry as the outcasts, if those few even learn of this at all. Whether this implies that such actions imply the authorities would do the same back home remains a contentious speculation.

"Riptide" adopts the typical hierarchy of a military unit of a similar scale. Most of the activities of the PMC take place in space and therefore the bulk of the force is organised akin to House military navies. A smaller part operates planetside or as spaceborne marines and is organised similarly to House ground forces. The administrative and financial management of "Riptide" is excluded from the chain of command.