[RPG] The Spider Clan Now

By Sebastian Traitor, in Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game

Who left the empire?

Who remain?

Order of Spider? It seems still loyal to the Empire.

Order of Venom? It seems still in the Empire but by its own.

Now that the deal with empress is broken, the taint is again a problem, right?

As of what fiction we have regarding the shake out of how Kanpeki's rebellion started, and some preview fiction revealed at GenCon 2015...

The Daigotsu family is in full rebellion. The Chuda family has been accepted back into the ranks of the Spider Clan, and are in full rebellion. The Undead legions and evil monsters have joined with the Spider.

Several members of the Susumu family were arrested / captured by Imperial forces. Susumu Kuroko and her immediate retainers (no confirmation on her husband) remain at large, reached their only real holding in Rokugan, only to have the Daigotsu bar the doors and set the place on fire, because Kanpeki felt they were not loyal to his rebellion. Kuroko survived, as did several others, but several of them are now in Daigotsu captivity, awaiting execution. No word on Kuroko herself, but considering her loyalty to the Clan? She is probably at Kanpeki's right hand.

The Order of the Spider and the Order of Venom have openly rebelled against Kanpeki, and reject his bargain with Jigoku as embracing slavery and weakness. As a result, the Kokujin family has sacked their monasteries and forcibly converted many of their number to their Tainted ranks. While some were strong enough to fight and escape, the majority of the Spider monks are now dead or Tainted and Kokujin.

So, in short, the Spider Clan has embraced the darkness. Those who might have chosen to walk in the light, or hold Shourido above all else have been purged from their Clan in blood and violence, but they were not able to get them all.

Regarding the new Taint? Based on several cards in Evil Portents, the protection of the Empress remains, but only for those "worthy of Heaven's protection". Essentially, if you do not have a high enough Honor, you have no protection. And several less than honorable samurai who were exposed to the Taint are discovering to their dismay that they have been Tainted for quite some time latently.

Thanks.

The protection from the heaven is silly to me, only Daigotsu can prevent someone to become tainted.

Who cares, the important thing is that what I like of the Spider is still an available option for a character of the empire: the monks!

Weren't the words of the agreement that only those "in the service of the Empress" were protected from the Taint? Given that the one who presented those terms was by his own admission at the time the Dark Fortune of Deception, I have to assume that that's to be taken literally: anyone who turns their back on the Empress, or should a male ruler of Rokugan ever arise again, the agreement becomes null and void.

Weren't the words of the agreement that only those "in the service of the Empress" were protected from the Taint? Given that the one who presented those terms was by his own admission at the time the Dark Fortune of Deception, I have to assume that that's to be taken literally: anyone who turns their back on the Empress, or should a male ruler of Rokugan ever arise again, the agreement becomes null and void.

This is literally the huge quibble that exploded the community.

Daigotsu: "I will withhold the Blessings of Jigoku from any in the service of the Empress."

Empress: "I will interpret that as I see fit."

Daigotsu: "Your interpretations mean nothing to me."

In short, Daigotsu just made the Taint into a latent effect, while the Empress used Tengoku's blessing to remove the Taint from the innocent and honorable (like she did with Daigotsu Kanpeki when he was a child). This all came to a head during the crowning of Seiken, and the subsequent demotion of Kanpeki, leading to the entire Spider Clan secession, etc. Pretty much, the Empress agreed to a devil's deal, with a plan to cheat the devil his due. Unfortunately, Tengoku did not approve of this, which is part of the reason why it is abandoning Rokugan during the Kanpeki's rampage.