Well, one thing doesn't prevent the other. The student could just be a regular orphan, but how long till the bloodthirst of the masamune (and maybe her wish to grow up like her 'sisters') turns the kid into something else? I guess the more straightly 'esoterical' totems (shang, wendigo, lost love, hungering hippo) are reserved for the masters that know something more of Fate and how it works in Malifaux, while the more 'mundane' ones are for people who don't quite understand...yet.