I have a battle maiden that grew up in a remote province of the Unicorn lands. She has been a paragon of bushido on the field of battle, and has saved many more lives than she has taken. Word of her has spread throughout Rokugan, as her fame has proceeded her. This would be her first time at court at Shiro Shinjo, and during the festival to honor Seiken. There will also be representatives of other clans there as well. I feel many might have an interest in her, either to exploit her, corrupt her, or use her. Now I think others may just have an honorable interest in her as well. My question is as a courtroom innocent does she really have any protection from those who would be her courtroom predators?

Her best bet would be help from someone with experience in the courts. There's no courtier equivalent to not wearing a katana to avoid duels, there's not a lot you can do to stop people of equal or higher rank from just talking to you. Luckily, if she's renowned enough to have drawn attention from other clans, there's bound to be a Unircorn courtier or two looking to take a hand in things and even if they'll almost certainly be putting the interests of the clan above one samurai, it's better than standing there trying to avoid Cranes bearing gifts all on her own.

Not sure whether this relates to what you're asking, but I'll just note here that according to a brief passage in the 4E sourcebook, The Great Clans, a battle maiden must literally remain maiden so long as she wishes to retain her position.

Yeah, she has had a long career in a long running campaign. She passed gempukku at age 15, and just recently celebrated her 25th birthday. She has faced bandits, qolat, ogres, goblins, dark naga, rogue samurai, and even a giant harrassing a yobanjin village that trades with her own village. That was a fun battle. She has Battle Maiden School rank 3, and Shinjo Bushi school rank 2. She is a beast in battle, but could possibly be a lamb in court. Awareness 4, Perception 3, Willpower 3, Intelligence 2, Void 3, with Etiquette 2, being her only social skill other than her singing, and lute playing that was more or less roleplay fluff. She has no Iaijutsu, but her kenjutsu is 7, her kyujutsu is 5, her horse archery is 7, and her battle is 6. Like I said she is a beast on the battlefield. Advantages Luck 2, Strength of Earth 2, Benten's Blessing.

Thus I sort of think this being her first summons to court it is to be her farewell to play. I am nervous the clan will present her as a gift to some other clan. That or death is the usual farewells to characters in the campaigns. I thought the giant was going to be her death, but I pulled that one off.

She sounds like an interesting character.

Awareness 4 helps a lot, though.

From my personal experience I can tell you that if you are really afraid of court then you can withdraw from it completely, and remain short-spoken and aloof for the whole session. Never initiate discussion, and answer only with 'Yes', 'No', or 'Thank you' - and only if it is absolutely necessary (like when you are addressed by a superior). If you really have to elaborate then give the audience single-sentence descriptions. Otherwise, just stay silent and ignore everyone. You can't lose a game you don't play.

Really, the only problem with the character is the lack of Iaijutsu. Awareness 4 is actually pretty darn solid, even with no Social Skills to back it up.

From my personal experience I can tell you that if you are really afraid of court then you can withdraw from it completely, and remain short-spoken and aloof for the whole session. Never initiate discussion, and answer only with 'Yes', 'No', or 'Thank you' - and only if it is absolutely necessary (like when you are addressed by a superior). If you really have to elaborate then give the audience single-sentence descriptions. Otherwise, just stay silent and ignore everyone. You can't lose a game you don't play.

But that doesn't sound like much fun to play, from an OOC perspective.

Does she have any friends who are more experienced at court, with whom she could call on some favors to help her out?

Think about what she would want to get out of being at court. Then, if the answer is "to hang back as much as possible and not engage anybody" -- well, if she's a paragon of bushido, she'll probably realize that such a reaction is a failure of Courage; she's afraid of what will happen if she opens her mouth. If she has some more active goal (find a husband she likes before one she doesn't like gets found for her; resolve some conflict that's likely to flare up while she's there; gain appointment as an Emerald Magistrate; whatever), then she can, under the guise of asking for assistance with that, get someone to be her social wingman.

My feeling is that high-Glory characters are an asset to their clan, because their fame makes them hot social commodities. The Unicorn should be wanting to make use of her, and to prevent faux pas that will make the clan look bad (because if their golden hero embarrasses herself, EVERYBODY will talk about it). So figure out what kind of story you might want to play, and see what your GM thinks about it.

Yeah, 6k4 on Etiquette rolls, not to mention a handful of performance skills with good pools, is... really really not shabby. Maybe throw a point on Courtier and a couple on Investigation for reading people and social situations if you want to commit some more XP. Does she have PC friends who are even more socially apt? Then they can watch her back. With the biography you describe, your character ought to have Glory coming out of her ears, which should buy her some NPC friends and additional leeway in courtly situations as well.

The other mistake I sometimes see people making when they're afraid of their characters' being outclassed in social situations (though this can be worse in large games than a small tabletop group among friends) is treating every potential "loss" like it's the end of the world. So somebody maneuvered the character into doing something they shouldn't, admitting fault, accepting an insult, losing a little face, whatever--they made a social screwup and there might be social consequences. If it's not going to kill you , you don't have to keep flailing around and digging the hole deeper on the slim chance that you might still pull out a "win." The story will still be interesting if the PCs fail at small stuff sometimes--arguably more so, in fact. Build on that piece of the story and keep going!

Yeah, 6k4 on Etiquette rolls, not to mention a handful of performance skills with good pools, is... really really not shabby. Maybe throw a point on Courtier and a couple on Investigation for reading people and social situations if you want to commit some more XP. Does she have PC friends who are even more socially apt? Then they can watch her back. With the biography you describe, your character ought to have Glory coming out of her ears, which should buy her some NPC friends and additional leeway in courtly situations as well.

The other mistake I sometimes see people making when they're afraid of their characters' being outclassed in social situations (though this can be worse in large games than a small tabletop group among friends) is treating every potential "loss" like it's the end of the world. So somebody maneuvered the character into doing something they shouldn't, admitting fault, accepting an insult, losing a little face, whatever--they made a social screwup and there might be social consequences. If it's not going to kill you , you don't have to keep flailing around and digging the hole deeper on the slim chance that you might still pull out a "win." The story will still be interesting if the PCs fail at small stuff sometimes--arguably more so, in fact. Build on that piece of the story and keep going!

You know, a lot of these dicussions about court situations make it sound like every little failure IS the end of the world, like characters routinely face situations in which one bad roll or mispoken word instantly means that sepuku is the least-bad outcome...

It shouldn't not matter if you fail in a social situation. (In many RPGs, by contrast, social skill challenges are by design pretty inconsequential--often enough, if you put your foot in your mouth it's just an excuse to wipe the slate clean by murdering your interlocutors, just like you kinda already wanted to anyway...) But it should, I hope, be obvious that doesn't mean all verbal duels ought to end in seppuku, any more than all duels with swords are to the death.

Yeah, 6k4 on Etiquette rolls, not to mention a handful of performance skills with good pools, is... really really not shabby. Maybe throw a point on Courtier and a couple on Investigation for reading people and social situations if you want to commit some more XP. Does she have PC friends who are even more socially apt? Then they can watch her back. With the biography you describe, your character ought to have Glory coming out of her ears, which should buy her some NPC friends and additional leeway in courtly situations as well.

The other mistake I sometimes see people making when they're afraid of their characters' being outclassed in social situations (though this can be worse in large games than a small tabletop group among friends) is treating every potential "loss" like it's the end of the world. So somebody maneuvered the character into doing something they shouldn't, admitting fault, accepting an insult, losing a little face, whatever--they made a social screwup and there might be social consequences. If it's not going to kill you , you don't have to keep flailing around and digging the hole deeper on the slim chance that you might still pull out a "win." The story will still be interesting if the PCs fail at small stuff sometimes--arguably more so, in fact. Build on that piece of the story and keep going!

You know, a lot of these dicussions about court situations make it sound like every little failure IS the end of the world, like characters routinely face situations in which one bad roll or mispoken word instantly means that sepuku is the least-bad outcome...

Whereas I play with the sort of people who will freely suggest ways for their characters to screw up in court, because it makes for great story. :-D

It shouldn't not matter if you fail in a social situation. (In many RPGs, by contrast, social skill challenges are by design pretty inconsequential--often enough, if you put your foot in your mouth it's just an excuse to wipe the slate clean by murdering your interlocutors, just like you kinda already wanted to anyway...) But it should, I hope, be obvious that doesn't mean all verbal duels ought to end in seppuku, any more than all duels with swords are to the death.

I agree that it shouldn't not matter... but it shouldn't be a matter of life and death every single time the character opens (or doesn't open) their mouth, either. The latter just ends up making players gunshy about doing anything in court.

Thanks all, I have some ideas now. I am not as worried about the outcome anymore.

Awareness 4 helps a lot, though.

Void 3 isn't too shabby either. Also she'll be in a friendly court. Now if she was going to a Scorp or Crane Court, you might worry, but I doubt the Unicorn will let a famed battlemaiden go it alone against skilled courtiers in their own court. The Ide courtiers will be all over this to try and protect her. And a combat asset like that will very probably not simply get married off to another clan, that would be a waste of valuable military resources.

I am nervous the clan will present her as a gift to some other clan.

She's an Utaku Battle Maiden? The Utaku traditionally never marry their women out. It's just not done. I don't know how your GM will play it, of course, but traditionally Utaku always require men to marry into their family. Like, I cannot think of a stated exception, and personally wouldn't be sure that they'd even marry a shiotome out to an Imperial short of the Imperial family daimyos or the Emperor.

The court session has come and gone. She has a chance to retire from play as a sensei at the Battle Maiden School. We are getting ready to start a new game with the children of these characters. I have the option to have my character marry, and play her child, or to play one of her students. She also now has contacts within the court. All in all was not too bad, thanks all for the replies, and ideas.