The last batch of schools, normally I'm done with schools now.

Rhumal follower (Rhumal, warrior, rogue ) : + 1 awareness.

The cult of Rhumal believed that Kali-Ma would destroy the world and rebirth it in its image and not the constant wheel of rebirth the world has known since its birth. The unbalance of the Trinity created this way would change the world in ways that not many people can imagine, but what is left of the Ruined Kingdoms give a scary outlook to what it could have been : a ravaged land controlled by demons. The cult is organized in cells, during the Awakening, Giya led one cell toward Medinah Al-Salaam while Kural Rafiq led another one to Rokugan during the Hidden Emperor period. They seems to be really independent, to avoid total extermination if any of them would be discovered, something that saved the cult many times over the centuries. Despite their defeat during the Destroyer War, they have started to rebuild and have hunted down and taken over many Spider holdings.

Skills : acting, knives, brawling, assassin’s weapons, stealth, sleight of hand, sincerity, any non-weapon skill.

Integrity : 1,5

Outfit : 4 rupee, dagger, light armor, travelling pack, sturdy outfit, ritual outfit.

Rank 1 : the way of the goddess.

At this rank, you are a shumsee, the trainee who are in charge of distracting the victims and holding them helpless while the ritual murder takes place. You learn the secret Rhumal language for free (or are refunded for the experience cost if you know it already). Whenever you spend a Ka point on a non-weapon school skill to increase it by 1k1 you increase it by 1k1 + your number of rogue school ranks.

Rank 2 : an eye for an eye, a hand for a hand.

You have now further progressed into the secrets of the cult, and are a trained assassin and devote follower of the cult. You are now able to use your fellow followers in coordinated attacks and operations in the glory of Kali-Ma. Whenever making cooperative skill rolls with characters with ranks in a [Rhumal] school, you get + 1k1. Characters with a [Rhumal] school can give you Ka points at an exchange rate of 2 for 1 (those extra Ka points can exceed your maximum but are lost when you recover your own) and vice-versa. They need to be able to see and talk to you and coordinate their actions with you, and such process requires a simple action from the person donating the points.

Rank 3 : a soul for a soul.

A master killer of the cult of Rhumal, you have mastered the stolen secrets of Sainika and killing techniques stolen from dozens of organizations and cultures. You can now make simple attacks action with small weapons and unarmed.

Rank 4 : the god of immortality.

Those who reach this rank are granted the secrets of the ritual tattoos of the order, made of the blood of those sacrificed to Kali-Ma. Those powerful mystical tattoos are a symbol of your allegiance and also reveal you as a follower of Rhumal so only those who are ready to shed all their previous existence and become only the arm of the goddess are granted this technique. You gain one tattoo from the list available to the Togashi tattooed order. You can activate it once per day per school rank for school rank rounds, it otherwise follow all the same rules.

Rank 5 : failure is not allowed.

Kali-Ma isn’t a forgiving goddess, those who are incompetent end as sacrifices or are the one dropping the body for her avatar to consume… and usually aren’t fast enough to flee her arrival. Those who reach the ultimate rank of this school are known for their devotion and their ability to use it in their actions. As a free action, after you have succeeded to a school skill roll, you can spend 2 wounds to gain one free raise on the roll. You can take one such raise for every + 10 by which you beat the TN of the roll.

Warrior of house Rafiq (new path, Rhumal) :

House Rafiq has long given to the cult of Rhumal, using its power and influence to increase their own standing at the Maharaja’s court. Nearly all the house is part of the conspiracy, and the Kshatriya are among Kali-Ma’s favored thanks to their advanced trainings, influence and resources. As such, the nobles of house Rafiq have access to the magical tattoos of the cult more than any other group in the sect, and hide those among traditional rituals tattoos of warriors.

Replaces : Kshatriya warrior 2 or Rhumal follower 2.

Requirements : member of house Rafiq and of the cult of Rhumal, knives 3, lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms 3.

Technique : when the god of immortality call your name.

An eye for an eye, a hand for a hand. When the god of immortality calls your name, you must give him a soul for a soul. That the ritual motto of the killers of the cult of Rhumal, often the last words their victims will ever hear. It ensures (or so they believe) that they increase their lifespan by sacrificing people to their goddess. You gain one tattoo from the list available to the Togashi tattooed order. You can activate it once per day per school rank for school rank rounds, it otherwise follow all the same rules.

Rafiq jakla (shugenja, Rhumal) : + 1 willpower.

House Rafiq has more Jakla than any other house among the Kshatriya, but they do not reveal this fact to outsiders. Most of their jaklas hides as normal Dalala or warriors, keeping their powers secrets so they can use them when the cult of Rhumal needs them to. For a jakla, they are vindictive and aggressive, devoted followers of the goddess and such trained killers from birth. They are the secret weapon of house Rafiq and the masters of maho behind the summoning of the Destroyer armies. Many folk’s tales of the Ivory Kingdoms featuring a powerful evil sorcerer are based on stories about Rafiq Jakla in disguise.

Skills : acting, knives, brawling, stealth, sincerity, meditation, lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms, etiquette Ivory Kingdoms .

Integrity : 1,5

Outfit : 10 rupee, dagger, scroll satchel, travelling pack, sturdy outfit, ritual outfit, ashigaru armor.

Affinity / deficiency : maho spells / earth spells.

Technique : the right to kill is the privilege of the strong.

The jakla of house Rafiq are taught how to fight using their powers. They forces the kami to bend to their will so they can call upon the power of the elements to serve the Goddess. But their most powerful tool in service of Kali-ma is their mastery of maho, which is likely unparalleled in the Ivory kingdoms. They are also responsible of many of the magical tattoos created using the blood rituals of the cult. You have a free raise for summoning weapon spells. You gain one tattoo from the list available to the Togashi tattooed order. You can activate it once per day per school rank for school rank rounds, it otherwise follow all the same rules. You are granted two free ranks of the perceived integrity advantage when you enter this school.

Spells : 3 maho spells, 1 fire spell, one air spell, scimitar of fire (Katana of fire spell), sense, commune, command.

Arm of the Goddess (new path, shugenja, Rhumal) :

The jakla of house Rafiq are trained killers, using all the weapons available to them to bring new victims to their goddess. And the most powerful of all those are the weapons they can force the kami and kansen to create for them in battle. As such, the most warrior-like of the jakla trains themselves with those weapons until they can match some of their warrior brothers.

Replaces : Rafiq Jakla 4.

Requirements : lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms 5, knives 4, stealth (spellcasting) 4, two rings at 3.

Technique : the multiple weapons of Kali-Ma.

The arms of the Goddess are all known for their efficiency in using magically summoned weapons in a fight. Their skills can match those of the warrior Kshatriya in battle. They also often use air spells to create illusions around them to intimidate their opponents while they are fighting. You can make simple action attacks with summoned weapons.

The temple of rebirth (Guru, Ivinda, Rhumal) :

There are many orders of Brahmin who forms the caste, and are forming an organization similar to Rokugan’s Brotherhood of Shinsei. While they are divided in three groups of devotion, the whole Trinity, there is dozens of orders and sometimes they share techniques while not sharing the same devotion. The temple of Rebirth is all about physical perfection of the human body, and the Guru of this order works tirelessly to push their limits.

Devotion : Shiva

Benefit : + 1 strength

Integrity : 3,0

Skills : calligraphy Ivinda , investigation, lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms, medicine, meditation, brawling, any craft, intimidation.

Technique : destruction and rebirth.

Those who follows the way of breaking the limits of the human body can do things like shattering wood bare-handed, jumps higher than any man and endure pain like a golem. This technique works like the Temple of Osano-Wo’s technique.

The temple of the Trinity (Guru, Ivinda) :

The followers of the philosophy of Vishnu are all about increasing your spirit, learning new skills and trying to help people reach their own limits through inspiration, exemplar attitude and demonstration of virtues. Of all the orders, the temple of the Trinity is the closest one to the materialist philosophies of the Emerald Empire.

Devotion : Vishnu

Benefit : + 1 intelligence

Integrity : 4,5

Skills : calligraphy Ivinda , investigation, lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms, medicine, meditation, brawling, any craft, etiquette Ivory Kingdoms .

Technique : your place in the universe.

Teaching in the main purpose of orders like the temple of the Trinity, helping people find their place in the universe, guiding them so they can harvest good kharma in this life and have a good dharma for the next one. This technique works like the Temple of the Order of Heroes

The Temple of the Spirits (Guru, Ivinda) :

While most of the followers of Vishnu are local equivalent of the materialists, the followers of the Mystic are the opposite. They stay in their temples, having the minimum contacts with the outside world, meditating on the nature of the universe and trying to reach illumination through studies of their past lives and the wheel of dharma.

Devotion : the Mystic

Benefit : + 1 perception

Integrity : 4,0

Skills : calligraphy Ivinda , investigation, lore : theology Ivory Kingdoms, medicine, meditation, brawling, any craft, lore : omens.

Technique : the universe is your dharma.

The Mystic is a little known or understood entity and as such the Brahmin devoted to him are distant and aloof, spending nearly full days, if not week, in meditation without ever talking to anyone. This technique works like the Temple of the Thousand Fortunes.

• Kshatriya warrior : second city the people page 104.
• The Guru Sainika fighter : second city the people page 105.
• Horse raider new path and unearthly child new path : unchanged from Guide to Gaijin part 1.

• Soldier of the City Guard : the Ivinda has city guards who are trained warriors, some of them being even members of Kshatriya caste. Under the general name of guardsmen, they protected temples, houses, cities and every other important buildings or people in the Kingdoms. The school remains unchanged except that they can add horsemanship as a school skill. See LBS 4 ^th edition update page 2

• Alley thug : while the Ivinda cities have a lower criminal rates than the jewel of the desert, there is still thugs and others alley rats. The path isn’t changed from LBS 4 ^th edition update page 11, but they now have athletics as 8 ^th school skill.

• Scholar : the Ivory Kingdoms are proud of their advanced civilization. Scholars are unchanged from LBS 4 ^th edition update page 11, but they now have commerce as 8 ^th school skill.

• Street rat : the underworld always prosper, everywhere, every time. The path isn’t changed from LBS 4 ^th edition update page 11, but they now have hunting as 8 ^th school skill.

Now, next step are the katas, then the big part : locations and map.

• Gada (heavy weapons : Gada) : those two handed mace were a giant metal ball (bigger than a man’s head) on a stick. They work like Dai-tsuchi.

- Colonist’s mark : those smalls pendants were crafted by the order of the Mantis clan expedition’s leader Moshi Kalani to avoid Rhumal cultist’s infiltration, giving one to every original member. While most were just nicely crafted netsuke, some were indeed enchanted by the Mantis clan shugenja. Those were linked to the bearer designed during the creation of the pendant, and if someone else wore it, he is highlighted with a glowing red aura. The thief can’t see the aura ever and it will stay as long as the pendant stays in his possession. Mantis shugenja knows how to re-attune an amulet but it’s a lengthy secret ritual.

- Ivory boxes : those are rumoured to hold the spirits of the dead. While most of those, crafted from elephant bones, have no particular powers, they are easy to enchant by jakla and sahir alike. Enchanted as such, they could nearly survive a nything and the best enchantments could seal them forever by the utterance of a single word. An usual enchanted Ivory boxes is considered to have 150 wounds, reduction 15, magic resistance (against everything) 3 ranks, and invulnerability.

• Magic carpet : book of air page 127.

- Kali-Ma’s idol : this small statue of the goddess of death and rebirth is always sinister in appearance but his uses can be dark or not depending who uses it. To activate it you have to shed the blood of a human, either you or someone else. Those devoted to the uncorrupted goddess shed their own, those who follow the champion of Jigoku shed someone else. Once 4 wounds have been shed (as a complex action), the idol cast one of the following spells as a rank 5 jakla with earth affinity and using your own earth ring : armor of earth (corebook page 173), be the mountain (corebook page 173), force of will (corebook page 176), earth become sky (corebook page 175), armor of obsidian (corebook page 271) and drain the soul (corebook page 270).

New spells :

Sea and Sky :

Ring/mastery : air and water 3 [travel]

Range : 1 mile.

Area of effect : school rank miles in every direction.

Duration : whirlpool effect last school rank minutes, weather is variable (See GM).

Raises : + 1 one degree (2), + 1 mile of area of effect (2)

This particular multi-elemental spell was for centuries only known to the Ningyo and the Nagah until a jakla was granted this knowledge by a ningyo he saved. It allows the user a control over the sea that few can match, allowing him to alter the weather, controlling the winds, weather and the sea itself. When casting this spell the jakla has an amount of degrees equal to the lowest of his water or air ring. For one degree, he can move the wind one degree (see Great clans page 169 for weather rules), for two degrees the weather move one degree and for 5 degrees it can create the effect of the water spell whirlpool (book of water page 184).

Face of the Pekkle

Ring/mastery : maho (air) 3

Range : self

Area of effect : self

Duration : one hour

Raises : duration (+1 hour), cast on someone else (3).

This spell grants the effects of the greater Shadowlands power “beside the darkness” for its duration or until someone cast a second face of the Pekkle on you. As you can imagine, this really rare Maho spell is really useful for infiltrators, but is requirements and duration make it uneasy to use for long term infiltration.

Ancient wisdom

Ring/mastery : water (maho) 2 [divination]

Range : touch

Area of effect : one full skull.

Duration : one year

Raises : duration (one month).

The skull targeted see his spirit coming back, allowing him to see what is in front of him, listen and talk. He needs to be convinced to talk, and he cannot suffer. The skull can be from a skeleton or a zombie, but the skull does not control the body unless the creator of the skeleton allows it. If the skull is destroyed, the spirit is freed. The spirit retains most of his knowledge and knowledge skills and personality (there is some possible limited amnesia like for any humans about distant memories), but it’s just an echo of the original human.

Red knife

Ring/mastery : earth (maho) [weapon][craft][battle] 2

Range : personal or 20’ (see below)

Area of effect : one created weapon

Duration : 5 minutes.

Raises : damage (+1k0), duration (+ 5 minutes), range (+5 feet), raise (change shape to another type of knives weapon).

This spell summons a dark red knife with a DR of 2k2, and that adds the honor rank of the strike victim to the damage. If the bearer doesn’t have the knives skill, he can use his insight rank as the skill. If he has it, he gets the emphasis for the weapon itself. The bearer and everybody within 10’ are protected from possession, getting + insight rank k0 to resist to any such attempt. The spell end at the next round if the caster let the weapon leaves his hand. The weapon can appear in the hands of an ally within 20 feet, who is considered the original caster for all purpose.

Sacrifice of masks :

Ring/mastery : earth (maho) 3[craft]

Range : touch

Area of effect : one human corpse dead for less than a week.

Duration : indefinite.

Raises : + 1 mask (3).

This really rare maho spell enchants a porcelain mask so if put on a dead corpse, it transforms it into a plague zombie (Enemies of the Empire page 273) under the control of the one who put the mask on.

Bind the shadows

Ring/mastery : fire 1 [illusion]

Range : 10’

Area of effect : one shadow

Duration : 1 hour per school rank (or 1 day per school rank, see description).

Raises : linking the shadow to a crystal (3).

The targeted shadow moves at the will of the caster. This spell has been created originally for entertainment, animating shadows at a campfire to create vivid stories. However, someone discovered that if cast on the shadow of the Mujina, the caster controlled the Mujina for shcool rank days. Only orders dangerous to the Mujina’s existence will be refused. It’s a secret spell that only a few handfuls jakla knows, and in Rokugan, only the Crab clan knows about it. The Kuni also discovered that they could trap the shadow in crystal to make the duration last years.

Tadaka’s gift / Jakla’s Gift

Ring/mastery : earth 2 [divination]

Range : touch

Area of effect : two small stones

Duration : 1 day

Raises : duration (+ 1 day for 2 raises).

Two stones touched when the spell is cast are now magically linked. The bearer of one knows the health state (ok, wounded, ill, poisoned, and dead) of the other by touching the stone. He also knows if the stone has been lost or if another creature bears it. The bearer of one stone can cast spells like Secrets of the Wind and Reflecting Pool on the other stone without restriction of range. This spell is cancelled if the shugenja tries to create a second pair of stone as there is already one active created by him or if one of the stone have been destroyed. While quite common in the Ivory Kingdoms, the shugenja version of it was created by Tadaka shortly before the Day of Thunder and was an Isawa earth tensai shugenja secret spell for years before spreading to all the Isawa shugenja.

Sanctuary of Ningen-do

Ring/mastery : earth 3 or air 3 [travel]

Range : self

Area of effect : a 40’ radius zone centered on the caster.

Duration : concentration.

Raises : none.

This spell protects of all climates related effects within the area. This spell exists as both an air and a earth spell, with the same name. In Rokugan, it’s a secret spell of the Moshi family.

Shield of Ikuyo’s love / Shield of Aishani’s love

Ring/mastery : earth 3 [craft]

Range : touch

Area of effect : one living target.

Duration : 1 day

Raises : duration (+ 1 day, 3 raises).

This spell summons a kami that follow the target, making her feel comfortable. The target roll on additional die for meditation rolls, 2 additional dice to resist to the taint. This spell is cancelled if the target call upon the darkness, cast a maho spell or use a Shadowland power. Secret spell of lady Ikuyo in Rokugan (she may even have died without sharing it with anyone), it’s a common spell among jakla in reference to a famous story.

Curse of the Jackal

Ring / mastery : water 6

Range : 35’

Area of effect : one target.

Target : 10 rounds.

Raises : duration (+1 round), target (+1 target, 2 raises), resistance (willpower TN + 5)

The target must make a willpower TN 20 or end with the mind of an animal (awareness, willpower and intelligence dropping to one, cannot use void or ka , cannot use most of his skills). Rumors says that taking a lot of raises for duration can make that spell permanent, but many uses of this spell cost integrity / honor. Once this spell was used by a few shugenja in Rokugan but it suddenly disappeared from use, but a jakla version has been used for centuries to punish the wicked.

Elementary ship

Ring / mastery : earth and water 4 [craft][travel]

Range : touch

Area of effect : one ship.

Target : none.

Duration : 2 days per school rank.

Raises : duration (+ 1 day).

This spell summons a kobune (in Rokugan) or its equivalent (based on cultural references) made of water and earth, which rise from the depths . The duration of the spell can be increased by 2 days per insight rank of the caster by casting the spell again on the ship. Only an handful of jakla actually know multi-elemental magic, usually those who studied a lot the ancient magic of mandalas, once used in Pahatan. So this spell is more the stuff of legends than anything else, but the Mantis clan discovered it (using the Agasha’s discoveries) during Aramasu’s war in the Kingdoms and as such jakla have rediscovered it from ancient scrolls.

Kitsune’s bane / Rakshasa’s bane :

Ring / mastery : air 5

Range : school rank x 10’

Area of effect : one target

Target : one target.

Duration : school rank years.

Raises : TN (+5 per raise), duration (+ 6 months).

The target must make an opposed air ring roll with shugenja, or be cursed. A cursed character is now forced to follow one shapeshifter penalties (Enemies of the Empire page 245) or make an earth roll TN 20. If the roll is failed, the target is sick (speed halved agility and strength – 2, natural healing is 10 times slower and the target cannot be healed magically). She then made a second roll of earth TN 20 or be considered as out until she respect the taboo again. To get rid of the curse before its end, the cursed must kill him the caster, convince the caster to stop the curse or be targeted by a mastery 4 + healing spell cast by a rank 4+ shugenja or jakla. If the caster is killed by any other way, the curse cannot be removed until the spell run its course, but only the most powerful divination spells can give the duration information. A secret spell of the Kitsune family in Rokugan, this spell had been teach to them by the Kitsune shapeshifters ; it’s ironic this spell was spread in the Ivory Kingdoms by the agents of their sworn enemies the Rakshasa.

Okuma-- out of curiosity, what is your native language?

A lot of these are written in improper English, the kind of improper English I would expect from someone who was translating their thoughts from another language.

If I correct for the incorrect grammar, everything seems like it would be relatively fine for in-game mechanics-- at least to the best of my understanding. So I am not meaning to disqualify your efforts, but simply making the observation that you seem to be working quite hard to express these ideas in a language that is foreign to you

Okuma is French.

Okuma-- out of curiosity, what is your native language?

A lot of these are written in improper English, the kind of improper English I would expect from someone who was translating their thoughts from another language.

If I correct for the incorrect grammar, everything seems like it would be relatively fine for in-game mechanics-- at least to the best of my understanding. So I am not meaning to disqualify your efforts, but simply making the observation that you seem to be working quite hard to express these ideas in a language that is foreign to you

Okuma doesn't have problem expressing ideas in english. The fact is english is too simple for us, french-speaking people. We are used to make long and beautiful sentences where everything makes sense as well as being poetic and full of imagery.

English doesn't work like that. Unless you are Shakespeare.

The above post was an attempt at comedy, and shouldn't be considered anything else, especially not a comment about how french is superior to english.

Katas are done, so all is left is the locations descriptions and maps.

Kata :

The Ivory Kingdoms are a country of art and science, but fear magic as the domains of gods and demons. Those who practice the mystic arts are either brave scholars, madmen or both, so the Ivinda have to rely more on the strength of their warriors than the powers of their rare jaklas. While the population considers violence « the last resort of a defeated man », they are prepared for it. Khastriya have battled people from seven different nations and train to master many martial arts, from unarmed combat to dueling. As such, they practice kata as much as any Rokugani samurai.

Practice of the guru.

Ring / mastery : fire 3

Requirements : jiujutsu (sainika)

Schools : Ebonite templar, Kshatriya and Guru schools.

Effect : you can use your agility instead of your strength for damage roll for unarmed attacks.

Knowledge of strength and weakness.

Ring / mastery : fire 4

Requirements : jiujutsu (sainika)

Schools : Ebonite templar, Kshatriya and Guru schools.

Effect : you can lower your initiative roll by 1k1 to add your fire ring rank to your attack rolls if you do an increased damage manoeuvre when using unarmed combat or knives.

Strike body and spirit

Ring / mastery : fire 4

Requirements : jiujutsu (sainika)

Schools : Ebonite templar, Kshatriya and Guru schools.

Effect : when you are unarmed, your TN cannot be reduced by any means as long as you are not being immobilised.

• Striking as air, striking as fire, striking as earth, striking as void and striking as water are unchanged and available for any warrior school.
• Balance the elements style : any Kshatriya schools.
• Breath of the wind style : Ivinda scout.
• Disappearing world style : Ivinda scout.
• Hidden blade style : Ivinda scout and Rhumal follower.
• Indomitable warrior style : Kshatriya warrior school.
• Iron forest style : Kshatriya warrior school.
• Iron in the mountains style : Kshatriya warrior school.
• Reckless abandon style : Kshatriya warrior school, Rhumal follower, Ivinda school.
• Strength in arms style : any warrior school.
• Strength of purity style : any Kshatriya school.
• Spinning blades style : Ivinda scout and Rhumal follower.
• Veiled menace style : Rhumal follower and Ivinda scout.
• Strength of the Crab : Kshatriya warrior school and Rhumal follower.
• Strength of the Lion : any Kshatriya and Rhumal schools.
• Son of storms : Rhumal follower.
• Strength of the Mantis : Ivinda scout.
• Dance of the winds : Kshatriya warrior.
• Strength of the Scorpion : Ivinda scout and Rhumal follower.
• Art of Ninjutsu : Ivinda scout.
• Strength of the spider : Rhumal follower.

Here is the first part of the touristic guide section :

• The Enigma’s retreat (known to the Rokugani as Zembu’s retreat) is a completely uninhabited temple found in as uninhabited area. Each wall of the temple, both interior and exterior, was covered in what appeared to be a careful rendering of pieces of a puzzle, like a child’s game writ large upon an entire structure. The temple also has the supernatural ability (linked to strong air kami residing here) of making those who walk inside her voices from people far away, sometimes maybe in other spirit realms. The temple was old before the Ivinda became the united nation known as the Ivory Kingdoms, and as such no-one knows really what this temple is. Some scholars have linked it to the Shapeless, a Ivinda version of Pan’ku, but it has never been proven.

• Sekawa’s last hope : the original name of this region is unknown to the Rokugani, but being a travelled region for caravans from Medinah Al-Salaam it may have a couple of names depending the origins of who you ask. It’s a region of low foothills that break a bit with the flatlands of the Empty Plains. It has been named from former Jade Champion Asahina Sekawa when a caravan from the Jewel of the desert was discovered here with crates bearing his seal.

• The Plain Glass village earned his name as a humorous reference to the fact it’s a village of glassblowers in an area known as the Plain of Glass. The quality of their work is unmatched in the Kingdoms, thanks to quality supplies available nearby. When the Colonies were created, a shrine to Kurohito, fortune of Perfection, was build here by the Colonists who came to trade with the locals for the Glass.

• The Tomb of Kokujin was built by Rokugani followers of the cult of the Dark lotus to preserve the body of their founders, the mad monk Kokujin. Before it was an abandoned creepy place that the locals avoided, rumours of creatures from spirit-realms hostile to men roaming this area kept the Ivinda far away of it.

• The Oasis of the Seven Eternals Rainbows is one of the most fabulous places of the whole Ivory Kingdoms. Geysers continually shoot in the air like clockwork, creating constantly seven rainbows as long as a ray of light touches the water. Like all oasis it’s a patch of green in the middle of a desert flatlands and served as a resting place for the caravans going to or coming from the Jewel of the Desert. In 1199, Matsu Koyama built a Shogunate outpost here to control such caravans’ roads.

• The Nexus of Boyoh, known for his camel stables, was a mercenary outpost of the cult of Boyoh, a cult that sold his services as mercenaries to the feuding houses of the Kingdoms and later to the Rokugani clans. They revere Boyoh, a khadi who was a former Kshatriya who left the Kingdoms during the 7 ^th century and returned during the 10 ^th . The Cult exists still to this day but Boyoh’s real fate is another matter.

• Shiva’s cliffs : renamed Ladi Doji’s cliffs by the Colonists, those cliffs are a natural beauty that has drawn many hermits Guru over the centuries.

• Summoner’s village is a remote village feared by the Ivindi because of the presence of sahirs who exiled themselves from the Caliphate to continue their studies of magic. The Raja let them be as they didn’t disturb anyone in their remote corner of the world, but even their magic and isolation didn’t save them from the Destroyers. The Lion clan built a shrine named Yasuko’s memorial here after having a vision.

• The den of Barah was a bandit outpost of the famous bandit Barah who plagued the Ivory Kingdoms before the Destroyers. His fate is unknown, but he likely fled up north since he seems to have contacts in the Burning Sands who warned him about caravans coming and going from the Kingdoms to the Sands.

• 1) The Plains of Glass or the Empty Plains : those plains are desolated and arid, making life difficult here because of the lack of resources. This lack of vegetations has for origins the numerous dust storms coming from the northern desolate wastes leading to the Burning Sands and the thunder storms that gave it is poetic name of Plains of Glass (the ground turn to glass where the lightning hit). There is little features when it come to landscapes outside of some hills. The Spider Clan built there one of their first strongholds of the Colonies, but even the remote location didn’t saved them from the clans when the colonization expeditions pushed toward this region.

• 3) The Ivory coast : a coastline marked south by small cliffs and east by dangerous jungles, the coast was for of its length a really welcoming and bountiful region. All of this made it a really populated area that had little troubles outside of the monsoon months creating sometimes flood and thunderstorms. Some incursions of the Sea of Shadows and their inhabitants had been recorded, but those were really rare : no more than once per generation.

• A welcome reprieve is a typical fishing village, really quiet and calm. It is said the spirit of Tamori Chieko had been spotted there.

• The Artist’s obsession, renamed Kakita Kamiko’s obsession, is a region of fertile lands bordering the coast and the jungle. It is named from its beautiful landscapes who had seen many artists coming here to find inspiration.

• The heaven’s fall or the Kami’s fall is a beautiful area but also a really dangerous one : the reefs around this area have seen more than one ship sinking trying to get to the Aerie’s faster by cutting alongside the coast.

• The Aerie was once a small commercial town and port of the Kingdom, named the Sea Wings port. The entire town was reduced to a small village by the Destroyers and entirely abandoned until the Crane clan’s expedition found it and used many favors to be allowed to build a new city and port here. The name came from the numerous and talented falcon trainers, but the main resource of the town is its port. Devised by Daidoji Senshi as the clan’s main base of operations in the Colonies, it also hidden for a long time the secret war fleet he was building to face the Mantis clan on the seas. An Iron Crane Dojo was opened here in 1200, and a small island off the coast offered to the Dragon clan.
  • Miryoku no Shima is the small island off the Aerie given to the Dragon clan, and home to a small estate useful for commercials and diplomatic relations with the Crane clan.
  • Tsukaeru Senchu Mura is a small but prosperous farming and fishing village in front of the Aerie. It held the Crane’s secret shipyard, protected by a big mercenary population.

• The fortress of Aramasu’s vigilance was given its name by the Mantis cartographer Moshi Higoro, since its job is to ensure no naval threats would come from the east to attack the Empire’s colonies. A massive “lake” of sort was inside the atoll on which the housing had been built, protecting the ships and the shipyard inside from the elements while the dangerous reefs (that requires an expert pilot) and the cliffs protected the buildings themselves from attacks. Magic has been used to improve the Mantis clan’s stronghold and a pact with the local Shojo help to prepare for any assaults.

• Crimson watchtower of the Vigilant : the Rokugani found there a small red watchtower dedicated to a hero named the Vigilant. It was the last stand of a group of kshatriya who had for sworn duty to protect the region. Some have said the building turned red from the blood of those who fought there against the Destroyers. There is a rich pearl bed in the waters nearby.

• The Fields of Sanfiorenzo would have been considered an abomination to Rokugani during the time of the Ivory Kingdoms. The villages around here had blood ties to the Merenae and Thrane, survivors of a shipwrecked expedition to their coasts. They built a colony and took local spouses and slowly melt into the population.

• Serpent’s rest : renamed Kage’s rest by Yoritomo Kanaye after he killed every wako living here, this hidden cove was a pirates’ lair who looted ship lanes for years.

• 2) The Heart of Narmada was named from the great river’s Ivinda name (known to the Rokugani as the Shinano river) but renamed as New Rokugan by the colonists. Most of its surface is used as farmlands during both the Ivory Kingdoms and the Colonies time periods, with wide bountiful flat space and wetlands. It is bordered by a jungle full of monsters, and as such a series of watchtowers guarded by the Kshatriya houses protected the population from those and the rare Shadowlands incursions. The first governor of the Colonies had those towers refitted and rearmed to serve the same purpose under his and his successors’ administration. Due to the location of Second City (a former important stronghold of house Yindû) within its borders, it was the first area of the Colonies open to all clans to colonize contrary to others areas during the Age of Exploration (all of the Colonies were opened to colonization by any clan during the Age of Conquest).

• Boyoh’s tower : protected by creatures made of sand, the Lion clan was never able to destroy what seems to be the Khadi Boyoh’s home. But contrary to others Boyoh outposts, they didn’t report any members of the cult of Boyoh there. They built the tower of Amaterasu’s vigilance around it to keep an eye on the structure and make sure no threats come out of the eastern jungle.

• Magnificent farmlands : colonized and renamed in the honor of the Fuzake family by the Monkey, who only control a really small surface of it (the rest belongs to the Crab clan), those farmlands have been blessed by powerful water and earth kami. Crops grow really faster than normal, allowing them to be harvested every couple of weeks. The counterpart is that they rot way faster too, but allows the entire region to lives off it with a really small surface of arable lands. Normal farmland that surrounds the area produces then food to be exported.

• The tiger’s lair : the Rokugani renamed the area Hasaiki’s lair, in reference to the terrible oni summoned by Shokansuru. The small jungles around here had been home to bandits and supernatural threats for centuries, no attempts by the higher castes ever being able to clear them permanently. Still, it’s a really prosperous region and one the Colonists cleared first of everything that wasn’t too their liking. It was later granted to the Unicorn by the Imperials.

• Spirits’ rage : a minor jade mine, it was held by the Yindû as a really valuable resource against the darkness. As such, it was one of the first place to fall to the Destroyers, unwilling to leave this weapon in their enemies’ hands. The Crab renamed Ikarukani’s pure rage as a reminder to never let your rage led you to darkness.

• Shiro Hebi, the castle of the snake, was 2 days away by the river from Second City and Journey’s end (triple that by foot) making it the center of governance for the whole region. They were many keys villages around it, since it was on many importantes trade routes passing through the region under its control. The village connected to the castle had only one inn, the Inn of the Brass Fan, which had some reputation. The castle once belonged to house Denaga, a minor house that oversaw the trade routes and was said to had ties to the Nagahs (which led to the dominance of snake related artwork on the ruins which gave the Rokugani inspiration for the castle’s name).

• Twin Forks city : the second largest settlement of New Rokugan, this Crane clan city was once home to house Ankhal and was a major trade point between the different districts of the Ivory Kingdoms thanks to its location on the Narmada river.

• Alijrapur (renamed Kalen’s sacrifice by the Dragon clan) was a small prosperous farming city that was under Twin Forks city’s rule. An Imperial explorer dojo was built there to train the future scouts that would lead the colonial expeditions.

• Lakeside estates : bordering lake Tamil, this village had been a housing for the rich and wealthy for centuries, housing many kshatriya houses and some brahmnins who believed in comfort. There beautiful houses were burned to the ground easily by the destroyers as they had no protection of any kind. In 1198 the Mantis took over the area (naming it the Red Lantern District) and started building housing to host again the most wealthy, creating new income.

• The weaponmaster’s test was once a center of teaching of the arts of duelling for the Kshatriya. Thousands of students over centuries have studied the philosophy and etiquette of duelling since its founding during the years of the warring Raja kingdoms. The students here fought with honor against the destroyers, but the oni didn’t care for etiquette or honourable combat and wiped them all with wanton destruction. The Dragon clan built there a dojo dedicated too to duelling named Jinn-Kuen’s dojo.

• The Mystic’s mine is a diamond mine that has been coveted and fought for by many Kshatriya’s houses until a minor house controlling it, about to be entirely wiped, gave it to the Brahmin caste. Since then it has been used to ensure the Brahmin’s lifestyle was supported. The Crab took it over when they colonized the area and renamed the plains nearby the Plains of the Pincer Alliance in reference to their alliance with the Scorpion.

• Araria was a trade town on the commercial roads to the Burning Sands. The Emerald Empire will build Shiro Chigiri there to oversee the same roads (under the rule of Shiro Hebi’s governor).

• The slaves pits of Boyoh is a gold mine mined by slaves Zokujins under the control of the far-reaching and powerful cult of Boyoh.

• The Raja’s stables : this area was famous for its lentils and the grasslands used to feed camels and horses. The Rokugani horses didn’t liked the plants there, but the first settler here, the ronin Tadatsugu, found a way to blend local and imperial grasses until finding a blend that benefited the colonists’ horses. The Unicorn took over the region after discovering this fact from the owners of the stables of Tadatsugu’s legacy.

• The Narmada is the most important river of the Ivory Kingdoms, which fork into the Red Narmada and the White Narmada (referencing an old legend) at Twin Forks city. Often called the blood of the kingdoms by the poets, for it was a major trade route, a resource and also a border that saw thousands of battles, the Narmada flows north to south from the great inner sea that borders Laramun.

• The temple of Vishnu was once an important site of worship, if reserved to only the highest Brahmins. It was sadly left abandoned after the wiping of the Ivory Kingdoms.

• Rakshasa’s falls : the legendary tomb of most of the tiger shapeshifters race, forever trapped under it by Vishnu the protector for over a millennia. It’s the start of the Yamuna river that goes to the Red Narmada (some says the Red Narmada’s name came from the blood of those who helped Vishu against the Rakshasa).

• The temple of Man’s path was built by exiled Fudoist centuries ago, maybe led her by members of the Mantis clan. The Ivinda followers of the Fudo cult were likely exterminated like their kinsmen by the Destroyers, for the Crab found the building abandoned. Carvings in the secret Fudo code testify of its link to Rokugan.

• The Magistrate’s path had been an outpost bordering many feuding houses for decades, but it was refitted as a magistrate outpost to prevent bandits’ attacks when the Kingdoms became united. After the fall of the Ruined Kingdoms, it ironically became the lair of a group of bandits until it was wiped away by Imperial Legionnaires, who restored the magistrate outpost to its former glory. Magnificent gardens, who had been tended by generations of artisans, were also restored and renamed the Tranquil Gardens of Kachiko.

The updated LBS map and the IK map are available here :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4Pd3r0rloClZXFVZ240dEdSWEE

So part 1 has been edited and proofreaded : http://www.kazenoshiro.com/fiction/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Okuma27s-guide-to-Gaijin.docx

And part 2 is available here (at least, until the Naga section, everything below the Naga mon isn't finished but it can give you insight on what is coming) : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4Pd3r0rloClc1ZDWU1yRDNBeDg

As Always Okuma your work is amazing and wildly appreciated. Am gearing up to send my players into the Ivory Kingdoms as part of the first invasion wave. The Schools will be incredibly helpful man. Keep up the good work.

As Always Okuma your work is amazing and wildly appreciated. Am gearing up to send my players into the Ivory Kingdoms as part of the first invasion wave. The Schools will be incredibly helpful man. Keep up the good work.

As far as comments go, I usually get about the same number of negative comments as positive ones, so widely appreciated may be a bit too much (unless you refer to your enthusiasm ;-) ) Thanks you for the comments and have fun with the material.

As Always Okuma your work is amazing and wildly appreciated. Am gearing up to send my players into the Ivory Kingdoms as part of the first invasion wave. The Schools will be incredibly helpful man. Keep up the good work.

As far as comments go, I usually get about the same number of negative comments as positive ones, so widely appreciated may be a bit too much (unless you refer to your enthusiasm ;-) ) Thanks you for the comments and have fun with the material.

Negative comments? Why should anyone give negative comments about that kind of awesome work. They may disagree with a few of your decisions, but I cannot see how they can have negative comments!

Some stuffs are really helpful, hard to not used them when the game turns around these topic! Great work!

The Firefly clan :

(NB : mon done by an unknown artist, please tell me the name if you know it)

The Empire built the Colonies over a few generations, starting with the Unicorn and Mantis clans during the Age of Exploration, followed by the Tortoise and the Phenix and later by all the others clans during the Age of Conquest. It wasn’t an easy task, between the savage and dangerous lands roamed by monsters and the surviving Ivinda that opposed the colonization.

But the Rokugani persevered and built a new civilization in the Ruined Kingdoms, shaped a lot by the work of one particular woman, Otomo Suikihime, the 2 ^nd Imperial Governor of the Colonies.

Iconoclast, thanks to an upbringing by a Spider clan member, she believed in creating an entirely new and complex power structure in the Colonies. Despite her mentor being a traitor to the Empire, she was still loyal to the throne and she didn’t helped the followers of Fu-leng at all when they were wiped out and hunted throughout the world. So she stayed in power for a long time, and even after being removed from her post, she had a lot of influence in the politics of the Colonies.

The Ivory Magistrates were her creation, and became the magistrates of the Colonies, replacing the Emerald Magistrates in the vast expanses of the former Ivory Kingdoms. They became a tampon between the local magistrates and the overtaxed and rare Emerald Magistrates under the rule of the Ivory Champion. The Pearl Champion rose later on, becoming the ambassador of Rokugan to the Naga and the expert on Nagah, Naga and Ivory magics, serving as advisor to the Jade and Ivory Champions regarding archeological finds in the Colonies. And in the middle of all this, the Firefly clan rose to existence.

The Firefly clan origins can be found in The Imperial Archives page 63 with two changes : instead of becoming a clan right away, the Hotaru became a named ronin family who took on their duties and the family was nearly wiped out by wako and Yobanjins after a few decades on existence. Little did they know that a few years later they would be a fully fledged minor clan and starting to grew into power.

The surviving families of the Hotaru hired themselves as sailors and mercenaries to their Tortoise clan allies, and as were part of the Minor clan Alliance expedition to the Colonies. They worked hard to protect their employers’ growing holdings there, and the family itself moved fully to the Colonies during the Age of Exploration except for a handful of caretakers for the crumbling Hotaru Torid-e. As time passed, the Hotaru’s fortune started to shine again.

From their Unicorn and ronin background, they had compassion and understanding for the lower castes, and quickly found friends among the Ivinda. From their lives as watchers they became good guards. And both things led to their elevation to minor clan. During P’an Ku’s madness the Hotaru family helped the lower castes survive the storm that clashed all over the Colonies, all those people many samurai totally forgot. They rose as heroes of the people, and it cost many of them their life. But the ultimate reward was theirs.

Empress Iweko learned of their efforts from her sons and representatives in the colonies, and granted the surviving Hotaru the status of minor clan, the minor clan of the Firefly as a beacon of hope and unity in the Colonies. Many ronins, some Tortoise clan members and many Ivinda flocked to the newborn clan and allowed it to be a faction in the political landscape of the Colonies.

The Firefly now :

The infusion of Ivinda blood sure changed many traditions of the clan, but it stays the same at its core. They are to keep vigil for anything coming out of the Haunted Jungles that serves as tampon between the Ivory Kingdoms and the Colonies, and plans to extend this duty to the Empty Wastes in the North and the unknown lands past the western border of the Ruined Kingdoms. They are welcomed among most of the surviving Ivinda villages and serves often as intermediaries between the two communities, and the fact most of the samurai of the clan have been granted Ivory magistrates status does help them patrolling the countryside and protecting the original inhabitants from oppression.

The clan has started building small watchtowers in the villages alongside the jungle, but they are young and lacking resources. Their home in Rokugan, Hotaru Torid-e, lies in ruins for now, the caretakers preserving what they can until the clan has the funds to fully rebuild it. They consider that their duty come first to everything else, and have aimed toward that. But this time they know about resources and the cost of survival, and are planning ahead to ensure they are never in a dire situation like the one that led to them making a bold move to the Colonies.

Techniques :

• Hotaru family : + 1 perception.

Hotaru family members can buy clear thinker and languages (Ivindi) for one less point and the disadvantage can’t lie is worth one more point for them.

• The Hotaru Vigilant school [bushi] : + 1 awareness.

The Hotaru bushi school is a mix of techniques coming from many paths, including Ivinda teachings. It was hard to fuse the lessons from their Shinjo founder with the ronins individual training, but the flexibility of the Hotaru family allowed them to do so and refine them around one defining trait, observation. Such methods were later used to mix some of the Ivinda magistrates’ techniques the survivors taught them to create the new school as it is today.

Skills : investigation, lore : law, kenjutsu, iaijutsu, horsemanship, hunting, commerce or sailing.

Honor : 5,5

Starting equipment : travelling pack, scroll satchel, daisho, one weapon, 1 koku, sturdy kimono.

Techniques :

• Rank 1 : the Firefly’s light.

The Hotaru are the shining beacon of civilization and protector of the weak in many remote rural areas, and the friends of the Ivinda. A Hotaru samurai studies his foes to discover their strengths and try to negate them. The Hotaru bushi gets + 1k0 for social rolls with Ivinda. As trained observers, they are skilled investigators : + 1k0 for investigation rolls and add their air rank to their TN to be hit in Air stance.

• Rank 2 : Prepared for the night.

Every opponent’s style is unique and Firefly samurai recognizes this. Learning how to spot the maneuvers of your opponents increase your chances of survival by allowing you to find holes in their style. The Hotaru bushi gets + 1k0 to the iaijutsu (assessment) / awareness roll of the assessment round of a duel. You can add your air rank to your TN to be hit in the Void stance and you get a free raise on called shots maneuvers.

• Rank 3 : Firefly in Flight.

The Firefly fly with grace and speed, and the Hotaru bushi learn to mimic this. They have a flowing style that is all about speed and precision. You can now make simple attacks with [samurai] weapons.

• Rank 4 : The Strength of duty.

A Firefly samurai is never caught unprepared. During the reaction stage of the turn, you can add + your air ring to your initiative as long as you are there is someone with a higher initiative score than you among your opponents. When you make investigation or hunting rolls, your 9 and 10 explodes.

• Rank 5 : Twilight’s strike.

The Firefly studies their foe, allowing you to use any weakness in your opponent’s defense at a moment’s notice. Whenever you are in full defense, after an opponent has declared an attack against you but before he made his attack roll, you can spend a void point to make an attack as a free action. You can do this only once per turn.

First off, digging up the Firefly clan... nice.

Second, have you thought of including any rules to reflect the Suta, the bard/chariot drivers born from brahmin-kshatriya pairings? They are incredibly important in Sanskrit epics, especially Samjaya (I know the wiki spells it Sanjaya, and I have no idea when that started happening--really it should be Samjaya with a little dot over the m, but that's hard for me to type quickly here; I studied Sanskrit so this bugs me, and it seems to be all over Wikipedia... grr...).

Samjaya is my favorite, so the Suta (perhaps as an Advantage for either Brahmin or Kshatriya) being included would be great. (I'd make it, but I'm busy working on my own game and don't really deal with L5R mechanics much nowadays).

On 24/09/2016 at 9:00 AM, Pale Horse said:

First off, digging up the Firefly clan... nice.

Second, have you thought of including any rules to reflect the Suta, the bard/chariot drivers born from brahmin-kshatriya pairings? They are incredibly important in Sanskrit epics, especially Samjaya (I know the wiki spells it Sanjaya, and I have no idea when that started happening--really it should be Samjaya with a little dot over the m, but that's hard for me to type quickly here; I studied Sanskrit so this bugs me, and it seems to be all over Wikipedia... grr...).

Samjaya is my favorite, so the Suta (perhaps as an Advantage for either Brahmin or Kshatriya) being included would be great. (I'd make it, but I'm busy working on my own game and don't really deal with L5R mechanics much nowadays).

I'm surprised I didn't reply to this message before, guess I must have skipped it. I wouldn't create such a thing because I worked hard to not introduce anything that wasn't at least hinted in the canon background. And they has never been any mention and any charioteers in the ivory Kingdoms. But mechanically, it wouldn't be hard to slightly modify the Senpet charioteer school and the Ikoma bard school to fit what you describe.

Anyway, I returned to this thread to tell those interested the Naga are nearly finished, and should be posted when I return from Germany in a week or so.

Hey Okuma it seems that the links are empty or broken. It could just be that I'm late, but have always loved your work and would like to get this.

10 hours ago, tenchi2a said:

Hey Okuma it seems that the links are empty or broken. It could just be that I'm late, but have always loved your work and would like to get this.

I'm travelling in germany right now, but I'll see to repost links when I come back to France this week-end.

cool ty have fun in germany lived there for a few years, great place.

http://www.kazenoshiro.com/fiction/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Okuma27s-guide-to-Gaijin.docx

That for part 1, part 2 is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4Pd3r0rloCla1hKazZMSF9yeTQ

Part 2 is unfinished. Only the first three sections, Ivory Kingdoms, Firefly clan and Nagahs are finished. The Yobanjin and Sand Moto section is for now just random notes.