Highly mystic clans - Dragon, Phoenix, Scorpion
Semi-mystic clans - Unicorn
Low mystic clans - Crab, Crane, Lion

Highly Political Clans - Crane, Scorpion, Phoenix
Mix - Dragon, Unicorn
Highly Fighty Clans - Crab, Lion

High honor clans - Crane, Lion, Phoenix
Mid Honor Clans - Dragon, Unicorn
Low Honor Clans - Crab, Scorpion

Going over this, Unicorn is kind of hard to place on these charts because well... its theme just isn't particularly well unified except in the worst way to be honest. They are defined by a tool of war that all clans should be using.
You see... in truth basically all Samurai had horses, horses are what defined samurai. In a samurai game, every clan should have its cavalry and each clan's cavalry guys would be a bit different... or so you would think.
The guy who made the game... he somehow missed that (probably because a lot of what he understood about samurai came from the later era when they sold off all their belongings starting with the horse)... instead he made riding horses the exclusive domain of a single clan.
And that clan incorporates everyone you would expect to see on horseback from chivalrous knight types to raging Mongol raiders (and, yes, that family is Mongollian while everyone else in Japanese). And their main Kami family is probably the least well defined of any family, there are no real character traits that strongly associate with "Shinjo" beyond "they have a horse".
Much is made of them being "foreign" and having "foreign customs" though it should really only apply to a single one of their 4 families.

Anyway... that's what makes them so very difficult to place. They have both high honor families and low honor families, families that should be good politicians and families that have no mind or patience for politics, and while every clan has shugenja... Unicorn have their own extra unique mystical elements, its just that those elements aren't really terribly called upon frequently enough to say it is a strong factor in defining them.

26 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

You see... in truth basically all Samurai had horses, horses are what defined samurai. In a samurai game, every clan should have its cavalry and each clan's cavalry guys would be a bit different... or so you would think.
The guy who made the game... he somehow missed that (probably because a lot of what he understood about samurai came from the later era when they sold off all their belongings starting with the horse)... instead he made riding horses the exclusive domain of a single clan.

To be fair (because I mean, you're tearing my clan apart here; I need to be fair), the Empire has plenty of ponies. It's just that the Unicorn's warhorses are so vastly superior for military purposes that it makes sense to define them as a gameplay element. We can assume that all the clans have relatively equal access to mounts, but the Unicorn extract a particular advantage from theirs, because horses > ponies.

Just now, Builder2 said:

To be fair (because I mean, you're tearing my clan apart here; I need to be fair), the Empire has plenty of ponies. It's just that the Unicorn's warhorses are so vastly superior for military purposes that it makes sense to define them as a gameplay element. We can assume that all the clans have relatively equal access to mounts, but the Unicorn extract a particular advantage from theirs, because horses > ponies.

Sure, maybe from a lore perspective, but there seems to be two issues to me.

1) We basically never see any other clan using horses (probably as a direct result of "cavalry" in the CCG being a specific trait that had a specific gameplay effect and it couldn't just be put on cards thoughtlessly)

2) Well... who are the unicorn once you take them off their horse? The Shinjo, Utaku and Moto are all horse back warriors, but ones that it seems like have such wildly different personalities and ethics and methods that it is hard to fathom this being a single clan rather than the cavalry families of 3 different clans.

It is really no different than having a clan that says "we have the best swords" and then you literally basically never see any other clan use swords.

I don't know how many times I see a description of the Unicorn laid out and it either comes across as "well, that basically only applies to the Moto, it doesn't seem remotely true of the Utaku or Shinjo" such as an over emphasis on their 'foreignness' or other times they get describes as aggressive and violent and that might apply to the Moto and Utaku, but certainly not the Shinjo or Iuchi. Or other times it might decide to claim that they do care a good deal about honor because the writer has the Shinjo and Utaku in mind... but that most definitely doesn't apply to the Moto.

Moreover.. why are the Utaku and Moto even in the same clan? They are functionally high and low honor versions of the exact same sort of thing-- powerful determined charging horseback lancer... Its like having the Asako and the Soshi in the same clan. Or the Hiruma and the Matsu.

What is it besides "we has horses" or even "we has the best horses" if we were to follow your logic that the other clans do have horses, but for weird mechanical reasons they never get portrayed with them... what precisely are the over-riding themes, concepts, philosophies and ideas that unite these families as a clan? What is universally true about all unicorn families once you have them with two feet on the ground so that you can properly classify them as being "high honor" or "low honor", or "political" or "martial"?

I really have to think that fans of the unicorn clan have got to have latched onto just one of the families and just put the other ones out of their head as at all contributing to the overall theme of the clan. Either that, or I have to wonder if there is far more strife in the Unicorn fanbase than there is in any other clan as no matter what direction they are taken in, it seems wholly contradictory for one of those three hose-riding warrior families.

11 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

1) We basically never see any other clan using horses (probably as a direct result of "cavalry" in the CCG being a specific trait that had a specific gameplay effect and it couldn't just be put on cards thoughtlessly)

The best Cavalry personality when the game began was arguably Matsu Agetoki (Kamoko was a good tie).

32 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

What is it besides "we has horses" or even "we has the best horses" if we were to follow your logic that the other clans do have horses, but for weird mechanical reasons they never get portrayed with them... what precisely are the over-riding themes, concepts, philosophies and ideas that unite these families as a clan? What is universally true about all unicorn families once you have them with two feet on the ground so that you can properly classify them as being "high honor" or "low honor", or "political" or "martial"?

The diversity between the families flows naturally from the Unicorn's history of appropriating foreign cultures, peoples, and ideas. They remain in solidarity due to their shared history, and to the fact that the other clans look at them all as foreign, even if it's mostly because the Moto are obviously gaijin and the xenophobic sensibilities of Rokugan paint the entire clan as gaijin as a result. In short, it's their shared identity as outsiders that unites the families of the Unicorn, which is ultimately why I have such a particular fondness for the family you forgot to mention, the Ide, who work tirelessly to squash this negative image of the clan as a whole. As for the Shinjo, I think it's fair to say that all of the Kami families derive much of their identity from their namesake, and the Shinjo are no different. Shinjo was the only Kami who showed sympathy and compassion for Fu Leng, even going so far as to attempt to reconcile with her fallen brother, which deeply enraged Hantei. Following this example, the Unicorn as a whole but particularly the Shinjo, have an enduring philosophy that favors Compassion in all things.

EDIT: TL;DR the Unicorn are outsiders, and their unity as a clan is more on the order of that flavor than their shared mechanics (because let's be honest: mobility is their key mechanic, so when you take that away it's hard to describe them collectively). Whether they are political or martial, honorable or not-so-honorable, depends on the family your deck focuses on, and your playstyle, of course.

Dragon are (or were, at least) the most 'wuxia' clan. The Lion are almost their opposite. They do have some very interesting metaphysics with the Kitsu ancestor-magic (and the Kitsu's non-human ancestry), but generally, the Lion are the closest to 'real' mundane Samurai.

That said, the level of mystical craziness in the setting as a whole varied depending on who the lead writer was at the time. I do take issue with people who claim Rokugan was *ever* a 'low magic' setting. though. There's always been a lot of mythological and straight-up epic fantasy elements, even when 'The Age of Man' was being pushed.

Personally, I want to keep in as much of the mysticism and non-human races as possible. I acknowledge that it is harder to write consistently compelling stories when there's too much wacky mysticism and non-humans, and it's much harder to balance the game with non-human factions (both due to the nature of trying to balance too many factions in general, and nin-humans not fitting in well with some of the base mechanics of the game).

2 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

1) We basically never see any other clan using horses (probably as a direct result of "cavalry" in the CCG being a specific trait that had a specific gameplay effect and it couldn't just be put on cards thoughtlessly)

As I recall most mounted warriors in Rokugan function as mounted infantry, where they use the horse for greater mobility but dismount to actually fight. Whereas the Unicorn train to fight from horseback.

Besides in the fictions you saw mounted border patrols and people using horses to get from point a to point b from time to time.

2 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

2) Well... who are the unicorn once you take them off their horse? The Shinjo, Utaku and Moto are all horse back warriors, but ones that it seems like have such wildly different personalities and ethics and methods that it is hard to fathom this being a single clan rather than the cavalry families of 3 different clans.

You could say that about the Families of any Clan. They're all unique, that's what makes them interesting. The Hida, Hiruma, and Kaiu are all distinct, as are the Akodo, Ikoma, and Matsu.

As for who are they without their horses, who are the Crab without the Shadowlands or the Crane without their mastery of court. The Unicorn at least have their gaijin-ness to fall back on.

2 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I don't know how many times I see a description of the Unicorn laid out and it either comes across as "well, that basically only applies to the Moto, it doesn't seem remotely true of the Utaku or Shinjo" such as an over emphasis on their 'foreignness' or other times they get describes as aggressive and violent and that might apply to the Moto and Utaku, but certainly not the Shinjo or Iuchi. Or other times it might decide to claim that they do care a good deal about honor because the writer has the Shinjo and Utaku in mind... but that most definitely doesn't apply to the Moto.

I'm of the opinion that foreignness is pervasive throughout Unicorn. Eating red meat, physical contact, and the use of gaijin technology are things you'd see from any of the Families.

Also, I don't see aggressiveness and being honorable as being mutually exclusive. These are samurai after all going to war over slights of honor is a key part of the setting.

2 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

Moreover.. why are the Utaku and Moto even in the same clan? They are functionally high and low honor versions of the exact same sort of thing-- powerful determined charging horseback lancer... Its like having the Asako and the Soshi in the same clan. Or the Hiruma and the Matsu.

You could just as easily ask why the Kakita and Daidoji are in the same Clan, or the Matsu and Ikoma, or the Kaiu and Yasuki. The whole point of having Families is to add variety within the Clans. If all Scorpions needed to be Bayushis or all Dragons needed to be Togashis the setting would be less interesting.

Furthermore, from a practical standpoint you don't need to agree 100% with someone to see working with them as being in your mutual interest.

3 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I really have to think that fans of the unicorn clan have got to have latched onto just one of the families and just put the other ones out of their head as at all contributing to the overall theme of the clan. Either that, or I have to wonder if there is far more strife in the Unicorn fanbase than there is in any other clan as no matter what direction they are taken in, it seems wholly contradictory for one of those three hose-riding warrior families.

I don't see why the Unicorn would be anymore prone to disunity than any other Clan. Sure if you're a fan of one particular Family and their not getting focused on I could see getting upset, but that's an issue that affects all the Clans more or less.

...

This:

"I have to wonder if there is far more strife in the Unicorn fanbase than there is in any other clan as no matter what direction they are taken in, it seems wholly contradictory for one of those three hose-riding warrior families."

Yeah... not really. There's a bit of a schism on the pro-Moto/Pro-Shinjo leadership front, but the Unicorn fanbase is not noticeably riven by strife because their faction's entire schtick is being a big happy family of red meat-eating, peasant-favoring, leather-wearing, hand-shaking oddballs who once traveled the wider world and returned a bit changed, but still themselves. Their whole deal is being a big tent anyone who wants to be a Unicorn can call home.

You want fanbase disunity, swing by just about any Phoenix discussion...

2 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

...

This:

"I have to wonder if there is far more strife in the Unicorn fanbase than there is in any other clan as no matter what direction they are taken in, it seems wholly contradictory for one of those three hose-riding warrior families."

Yeah... not really. There's a bit of a schism on the pro-Moto/Pro-Shinjo leadership front, but the Unicorn fanbase is not noticeably riven by strife because their faction's entire schtick is being a big happy family of red meat-eating, peasant-favoring, leather-wearing, hand-shaking oddballs who once traveled the wider world and returned a bit changed, but still themselves. Their whole deal is being a big tent anyone who wants to be a Unicorn can call home.

You want fanbase disunity, swing by just about any Phoenix discussion...

You take that back! Obviously the Isawa are in charge.

15 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I really have to think that fans of the unicorn clan have got to have latched onto just one of the families and just put the other ones out of their head as at all contributing to the overall theme of the clan. Either that, or I have to wonder if there is far more strife in the Unicorn fanbase than there is in any other clan as no matter what direction they are taken in, it seems wholly contradictory for one of those three hose-riding warrior families.

As an Ide fan, I still absolutely adore Shinjo and Utaku families. And as a member of the Unicorn fanbase, I don't really see any particularly great strife. Our we love each other because we're family. Doesn't mater if the Moto is the crazy cousin I don't like to talk about. They're family.

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 4:26 PM, CEOWolf said:

I don't really know anything bout this game save I had the chance to grab some decks at Origins volunteer party. And Kenku REALLY? Nice bird demons

Kenku aren't 'demons'. Not in l5r. That is more shin megami tensei. rokugan's Kenku are seen as master swordsmen. Or swordsbirds... and if you see one 9 times out of 10 you're a special snowflake that's gonna get at least one rank in the Kenku school. Or at least a Kenku sword.

14 minutes ago, Isawa Syd said:

Kenku aren't 'demons'. Not in l5r. That is more shin megami tensei. rokugan's Kenku are seen as master swordsmen. Or swordsbirds... and if you see one 9 times out of 10 you're a special snowflake that's gonna get at least one rank in the Kenku school. Or at least a Kenku sword.

Or an ass-whooping from a bird.

Just now, Kakita Shiro said:

Or an ass-whooping from a bird.

That's the 10th time.