Crab - Earth
Crane - Air
Dragon - Fire
Lion - Water
Mantis - Earth
Phoenix - Void
Scorpion - Air
Spider - Fire
Unicorn - Water
and Dragon is Earth
Dueling
Crab - Earth
Crane - Air
Dragon - Fire
Lion - Water
Mantis - Earth
Phoenix - Void
Scorpion - Air
Spider - Fire
Unicorn - Water
and Dragon is Earth
No, no. Dragon have been very Fire based since the Dawn of the Empire when it comes to the Mirumoto.
When I think Mantis I usually think of Water or Thunder.
And Thunder is either Air or Fire or both.
Earth is by far that last element I think of when it comes to Mantis as a clan, even though the Kitsune are Earth Shugenja.
I would probably be better to assign more then one element to the specific clans.
Phoenix is more or less all Elemental.
Scorpion, Dragon and Spider I can see with Void. Either because of Ninjas and the close connection to the Nothing or because Dragon Enlightenment.
The Dragon are one with all things.
When I think Mantis I usually think of Water or Thunder.
And Thunder is either Air or Fire or both.
Earth is by far that last element I think of when it comes to Mantis as a clan, even though the Kitsune are Earth Shugenja.
I would probably be better to assign more then one element to the specific clans.
Phoenix is more or less all Elemental.
Scorpion, Dragon and Spider I can see with Void. Either because of Ninjas and the close connection to the Nothing or because Dragon Enlightenment.
Mantis a compendium of former minor clans knit into families.
Fire and Air is a traditional trait of the Centipede who originally hail from the Phoenix
Earth is a traditional trait of the Kitsune, who have traditional ties with the Unicorn who are mostly Water.
The Mantis as a minor clan had their own Shugenja school even before the culmination of the alliance and as a part of a Great Clan.
The Bat Clan that was created during the time of Great Clan status was given vassals from all over the Mantis Clan, mostly Yoritomo though are mainly Air attribute in nature.
There are have been a lot of instances where Moshi have been known to have Water element as well.
Thunder is a relatively new concept granted care of the Thunder Dragon who by some insane twist of fate considers all under the Mantis banner her children as well as many heroes from other clan under her patronage.
Void is the only trait that is extremely scarce if non-existent within the mantis.
Which makes me curious about the concept of the last wish, which of course is not void but does have a similar likeness to it if you look at it as a separate entity. The you have the prophet to consider as well.
For mantis I would settle for thunder as it is a shared attribute/blessing that covers all of the mantis, though it is only considered an elemental trait in definition and not in spirit.
I hate making long posts... Oh Doji-sama, you are so pretty !
I say Earth because Yoritomo take their roots from the Crab (both clans share common ancestors) and if the Mantis are anything, they are resilient with tenacious resolve. Tsuruchi defy social conventions, Kitsune and Moshi don't draw steel often, leaving the Yoritomo to do most of the dueling. So, Earth makes sense (to me at least).
In RPG, Earth also represents Willpower, and Willpower is definitely what Mantis is about.
Back to the duel thing: maybe instead of being a game action it could be somehow directly tied to a victory condition? Like: military dueling lets you avoid the battle (since your champion defeated the other army's champion) and thus advances directly your military victory (or denies it to your opponent). Or the honor dueling would let you win the court battle and advance your honor condition directly (or your dishonor if that's a thing). And maybe you could even have element balance duels which would directly advance the enlightenment condition. Duels would be much rarer in a game, but occur at a decisive/surprise moment.
Back to the duel thing: maybe instead of being a game action it could be somehow directly tied to a victory condition? Like: military dueling lets you avoid the battle (since your champion defeated the other army's champion) and thus advances directly your military victory (or denies it to your opponent). Or the honor dueling would let you win the court battle and advance your honor condition directly (or your dishonor if that's a thing). And maybe you could even have element balance duels which would directly advance the enlightenment condition. Duels would be much rarer in a game, but occur at a decisive/surprise moment.
The first two points about duels doing stuff should likely just be action cards like what we've seen.
Keep duels yes.
I like duels not using my hand. I also like being able to use 1 card from my hand for duels.
Element duels? That's a nice idea. How to implement it? I would put all multi element cards, since in RPG, characters are made of the five rings. Just put the 2 best of them in each personality. A duelist gets a special bonus for that.
Duel like Edge Battles (SW LCG reference)? I am not sure about that.
I like being cards and being rulebook mechanic. A Crane will always duel the General of another army. Wether the opposing General accepts the duel, is another thing.
I say every attacker or defender should have at least one duel chance per battle, or once per turn if you have multiple battles that turn.
I love focus effects.