I know there has to be a dedicated L5R veteran who is also knowledgeable on history that can list out the references to our actual history from L5R? For instance, Unicorn is clearly based on the Mongol horde. Are there any other historical references I can sink my teeth into? I know the history of L5R is being revamped, but I would still like to check look into this.
Historical References/inspirations?
Any thing Japanese and a lot of other Asian references and mythology.
You can read all the aeg canon history at Kaze No Shiro site.
The Fortunes are similar to the Mythological Lucky Gods.
Yoritomo seems to be named from a real-world figure (and he better return in this game or I riot :))
The Otomo are similar to the Minatomo, the Imperial Family who were not made emperor.
The Mirumoto are pretty much Miyamoto Musashi guys with the whole niten style.
FFG referenced this as inspiration:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/51403981-fantasy-flight-games?shelf=l5r-inspiration
2 minutes ago, Mirith said:FFG referenced this as inspiration:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/51403981-fantasy-flight-games?shelf=l5r-inspiration
Doesn't totally answer my question....but you still win. This is super awesome.
I always thought that the Kami, Akodo One-Eye, was a references to Date Masamune, The One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu.
2 minutes ago, BuzzsawMF said:Doesn't totally answer my question....but you still win. This is super awesome.
Some of the references are historical, not just fiction. I'm not sure you can point at any particular references besides this. Its based on a somewhat sanitized/idolized version of feudal Japanese society combined with a mix Shintoism and Buddhism that I honestly could not talk to beyond naming them. That being said, it still manages to keep it vaguely realistic, but no one really wants to think about how peasants are treated while they pretend battle with their massive armies of magical samurai.
We haven't really seen any fiction yet, but from the description, it seems so far they are keeping this part of the lore consistent with AEG.
That being said, The Mirumoto's Niten is based on Miyamoto Musashi's writings.
10 minutes ago, Mirith said:Some of the references are historical, not just fiction. I'm not sure you can point at any particular references besides this. Its based on a somewhat sanitized/idolized version of feudal Japanese society combined with a mix Shintoism and Buddhism that I honestly could not talk to beyond naming them. That being said, it still manages to keep it vaguely realistic, but no one really wants to think about how peasants are treated while they pretend battle with their massive armies of magical samurai.
We haven't really seen any fiction yet, but from the description, it seems so far they are keeping this part of the lore consistent with AEG.
That being said, The Mirumoto's Niten is based on Miyamoto Musashi's writings.
I was actually looking for the historical references more than the fictional. I am a history buff and before I just listen to all of the history of Japan, China, Korea. I was wondering if I should focus somewhere. I need to get this obsession started on the right foot.
It's a mashup. The courtliness is very Heian, the warfare is more Sengoku (but without firearms), the trappings of the culture like clothing and architecture are very Tokugawa, etc. So it's a broad swath rather than one specific period.
Just now, BuzzsawMF said:I was actually looking for the historical references more than the fictional. I am a history buff and before I just listen to all of the history of Japan, China, Korea. I was wondering if I should focus somewhere. I need to get this obsession started on the right foot.
I would guess anything in the Warring States era of Japan (Oda Nobunaga, etc), I think? I am not a history buff, just watched a lot of anime (And know to take it with a grain of salt), and typically is the popular "samurai" era. However, that style of samurai families is what L5R seems based on to me, but on a larger scale (Remember, Japan itself isn't very large, but Rokugan is).
1 minute ago, Kinzen said:It's a mashup. The courtliness is very Heian, the warfare is more Sengoku (but without firearms), the trappings of the culture like clothing and architecture are very Tokugawa, etc. So it's a broad swath rather than one specific period.
What he said seems more accurate.
I read that the Mantis were more like chinese pirates. Not sure of how accurate the comment was.
2 minutes ago, Mirith said:What he said seems more accurate.
She. :-)
Definitely focus on Japanese history.
1 hour ago, BuzzsawMF said:I know there has to be a dedicated L5R veteran who is also knowledgeable on history that can list out the references to our actual history from L5R? For instance, Unicorn is clearly based on the Mongol horde. Are there any other historical references I can sink my teeth into? I know the history of L5R is being revamped, but I would still like to check look into this.
The Unicorn are very Mongol, post the Legend of the Burning Sands card game. Before then the 'Mongol' part of the Clan stayed in the Burning Sands and the Unicorn in the Empire were a weird mash-up while still being more traditional. Almost more like northern Chinese.
Is it just me or are FFG going for more japanese influences now? The announcement article gave us "mono no aware " to explain the fate machanic and they chnaged the throne from "emerald" to "chrysantenum". Both are distinctivly japanese.
2 hours ago, Kinzen said:It's a mashup. The courtliness is very Heian, the warfare is more Sengoku (but without firearms), the trappings of the culture like clothing and architecture are very Tokugawa, etc. So it's a broad swath rather than one specific period.
And some of the Gaijin are egyptians and ...romans?
3 hours ago, Wintersong said:I read that the Mantis were more like chinese pirates. Not sure of how accurate the comment was.
More like the Ryukyu islands people I believe. Not pirates per se. The Mantis are sea faring warriors who found themselves at an economic advantage with their shipping monopoly.
totally not biased. 
The Kaiu Wall is the Great Wall of China, though it's on the opposite side of the country.
Crab iron turtle ship are the same as the Korean ones except ours can shoot fire like the Byzantines.
The ronin general Sun Tao is essentially Sun Tzu and his work 'The Book of Sun Tao' is essentially 'The Art of War'.
10 hours ago, Robin Graves said:And some of the Gaijin are egyptians and ...romans?
Those are peoples from across the Burning Sands (to the west). The gaijin who invaded the Empire sailed from the fake-Europe from over the seas from the far East.
The Jackal there wouldn't be a Senpet (their faux-Egyptians); the Senpet Empire was actually beyond the Jackal base in the Jewel of the Desert. The "Romans" (Yodatai) were actually more a weird combination of Alexander the Great and the Borg, with Roman cosmetics and a sort of proto-Germanic spiritualism.
15 hours ago, Robin Graves said:Is it just me or are FFG going for more japanese influences now? The announcement article gave us "mono no aware " to explain the fate machanic and they chnaged the throne from "emerald" to "chrysantenum". Both are distinctivly japanese.
I may have missed a bit of details since I mostly played the RPG, but most of the life of L5R has felt mostly Japanese. You comment on some of the foreign invaders, but I don't know that they count, since they were from more recent storylines. I'm not saying they didn't take other influences, but the core has always been strongly Japanese.
I felt that there was something of a move towards China with the Iweko dynasty and Mandate of Heaven.
55 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:I felt that there was something of a move towards China with the Iweko dynasty and Mandate of Heaven.
I thought the Mandate of Heaven was always a thing, and Iweko's stuff was more of a way to make it 'real' rather mythology ("Continuing the line, etc"). And my understanding of the Japanese Emperor is that he was always considered divine as well. That was a big deal in WW2 and a stipulation in the surrender treaty that he renounce this. Unless I'm missing some difference in reference to "Mandate of Heaven".
Edited by MirithThe Mandate of Heaven is the English translation of the Chinese equivalent of The Divine Right of Kings. While both of these, and the Japanese belief, appeal to gods, the specific phrase "The Mandate of Heaven" just sounds very Chinese to me, like something out or Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
1 hour ago, Mirith said:I may have missed a bit of details since I mostly played the RPG, but most of the life of L5R has felt mostly Japanese. You comment on some of the foreign invaders, but I don't know that they count, since they were from more recent storylines. I'm not saying they didn't take other influences, but the core has always been strongly Japanese.
Original L5R was a hodge-podge of asian influences, with Japanese being a majority stakeholder. Since they basically speak Japanese with titles and honorifics, the fact they used Chi always used to bother me.
I feel they are trying to make it more distinctly Japanese to avoid weirdness, and for the better IMO.
Extra History is a great YouTube channel that did a series about Sengoku Jidai. This was the main historical basis of L5R, with lots of Chinese and Korean elements brought in. Romance of the three Kingdoms (China) plays in heavily. Miyamoto Musashi wrote the Book of Five Rings (which is where the five rings come from), and the Akodo tacticians were based heavily on Sun Tsu.