Some of the 1st Edition RPG books emphasised that the other Great Clans were vying to develop contacts inside the Unicorn as they modernised and assimilated, in the hope that they could develop their influence inside that clan (read: turn it into their ally.) I've often thought that that was one of the missed opportunities of early L5R. There could be interesting stories set in that environment, featuring not only spies and courtiers from every clan, but also a wide range of Unicorn who had begun to learn the ways of each of the other clans, and had influenced their diplomats in turn.

A set of cards set in such a story might be a lot of fun. It features human-scale conflict, philosophical differences, duels, raiding, and the struggle for the soul of a clan: everything one needs, really.

Because I'm in it.

19 minutes ago, Nickciufi said:

Because I'm in it.

Isawa family, I presume.

The Way of and Secret books do an amazing job covering the Clans.

3 hours ago, Suzume Urusai said:

This is one of my favourites. The way of books has more depth. Unicorn never really got much in the way of story.

The Unicorn became more of a focus in the story under Chagatai, the Last Ride being a good example. Before Chagatai, the stories were few and far between. I've always liked "A Ride into Darkness" in the Way of the Unicorn, page 20. It's an account of Shinjo confronting Fu Leng.

I'm not sure if it will still be cannon, but the Blood Rite ritual was a great way to distinguish their clan from others. They would accept foreigners into their clan by using a necklace provided by Shinjo. The clan also employed a strict policy against Unicorn vs. Unicorn feuds. No Unicorn was allowed to kill another Unicorn, and the one time it happened, the killer immediately took his own life to atone.

11 hours ago, Mirith said:

Unicorn feels super popular by me. But no, not much discussion on here. I think they are, at least here, fairly well understood: "Mongol horde on Horses."

You will get less argument about that then any other clan.

Mongol Horde is definitely what they morphed into over time, but at the beginning, I never viewed them as such. A section of the clan was 'more foreign' and resembled the Huns/Mongols. At their core though, they were very much samurai. A strange version of samurai, but samurai nonetheless.

For the people aware of japanese history, I liken their archetype to that of Oda Nobunaga. He also seemed impulsive and strange to other samurai (this is going from books like Taiko and other sources). Bad temper, but generally a good leader. Aggressive. That's the Unicorn to me. Later on, you could see them further evolve into the Genghis Khan/Attila variant, as we saw with Chagatai and the elevation of the Moto.

In some respects, the Mongol element held them back from being the truly versatile and diverse clan they initially appeared to be.

Dragon Clan has only courtiers I ever considered playing instead of going bushi.

Mostly because their courtiers know that in process of they work, they are probably insult about ten thousand people and probably get into middle of some crime-busting action, so they are often martial enough to fight their own duels.

The switch from Takeda to Ghengis( gimme some Timur action we'll talk.) turned me off from the Unicorn that and the colour scheme change.

"The clan also employed a strict policy against Unicorn vs. Unicorn feuds. No Unicorn was allowed to kill another Unicorn, and the one time it happened, the killer immediately took his own life to atone."

Seriously? That is about the least realistic thing from the setting I have ever heard, which is an impressive accomplishment.

21 minutes ago, Eugene Earnshaw said:

"The clan also employed a strict policy against Unicorn vs. Unicorn feuds. No Unicorn was allowed to kill another Unicorn, and the one time it happened, the killer immediately took his own life to atone."

Seriously? That is about the least realistic thing from the setting I have ever heard, which is an impressive accomplishment.

Shinjo's Law (Sidebar, page 28 in the Way of the Unicorn):

"... Because of Shinjo's Law, no Unicorn is allowed to kill another. Thus all duels are fought with boken or shinai. The first time this law was broken a young Samurai-ko with a hot temper pulled her wakizashi, and the shugenja she faced, fearing his life, killed her with a spell. The Shugenja promptly committed seppuku to atone for his defiance of Shinjo..."

Instituting a law for non-lethal duels among clan members doesn't seem unrealistic. Laws can be broken, after all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unrelated tid-bit: I found an excerpt referencing Dairya in the Way of the Unicorn, page 102:

"There is conjecture among the Unicorn that the eye patch worn by the ronin Dairya is, in fact, a sling."

After all these years, amazing. A reference connecting the clan to the ronin (however minor).

I love the no Unicorn vs Unicorn law. And the peasants are important mentality. Compassion.

Honestly, my biggest problem is the Khan aspect of the clan, but I can accept that.

7 hours ago, Anemura said:

Shinjo's Law (Sidebar, page 28 in the Way of the Unicorn):

"... Because of Shinjo's Law, no Unicorn is allowed to kill another. Thus all duels are fought with boken or shinai. The first time this law was broken a young Samurai-ko with a hot temper pulled her wakizashi, and the shugenja she faced, fearing his life, killed her with a spell. The Shugenja promptly committed seppuku to atone for his defiance of Shinjo..."

Instituting a law for non-lethal duels among clan members doesn't seem unrealistic. Laws can be broken, after all.

The Unicorn having a law against intra-clan duels is realistic. Insinuating that a Unicorn only ever killed another Unicorn once is less realistic than demonic zombie courtiers being invited to Winter Court.

3 minutes ago, Rawls said:

The Unicorn having a law against intra-clan duels is realistic. Insinuating that a Unicorn only ever killed another Unicorn once is less realistic than demonic zombie courtiers being invited to Winter Court.

The reference material actually states "first time this law was broken", implying that it has been broken more than once. "One time" was incorrect, yes. I think I was heading in that direction with my concession of "laws can be broken". It was bound to have happened more than once in the last 300 years for the Unicorn.

Back in the day, I'm told that Naga players would abstain from attacking one another during games because "Naga do not fight Naga." Instead, they would play until time was called and then the player with fewer personalities would concede.

I'm not aware of a similar tradition among Unicorn players. If you'd like to start such a tradition then this is probably an excellent time to do so.

5 hours ago, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

Back in the day, I'm told that Naga players would abstain from attacking one another during games because "Naga do not fight Naga." Instead, they would play until time was called and then the player with fewer personalities would concede.

I'm not aware of a similar tradition among Unicorn players. If you'd like to start such a tradition then this is probably an excellent time to do so.

How strictly would they expect people to adhere to that? For instance, if a Naga player who was unaware of that tradition showed up at a tournament, would the other Naga player be offended when the first one declared an attack? If informed of the tradition, was it automatically assumed that everyone would follow it?

Personally, I'd be pretty miffed if I drove several hours to attend a Kotei and the first game someone informed me, "Oh, by the way, we're not actually going to play this game because of some tradition that you won't find anywhere in the rules."

My point is, if you want to have a tradition then that's all well and good, but please don't be too offended if some people choose to break tradition.

3 hours ago, JJ48 said:

My point is, if you want to have a tradition then that's all well and good, but please don't be too offended if some people choose to break tradition.

That's why you need a secret phrase. "The Cherry blossoms are lovely this time of year, don't you agree?" If they look at you like the lunatic you are, crush them because they are pretenders.

Thank heavens the Phoneix have a long tradition of squabbling and occasionally almost wiping themselves out to spare us from that sort of thing.

19 hours ago, WHW said:

Dragon Clan has only courtiers I ever considered playing instead of going bushi.

Mostly because their courtiers know that in process of they work, they are probably insult about ten thousand people and probably get into middle of some crime-busting action, so they are often martial enough to fight their own duels.

My first serious RPG character ever was a Kitsuki back in either 1st or 2nd Ed. Fun times!

On 6/23/2017 at 2:48 PM, Mirith said:

My first serious RPG character ever was a Kitsuki back in either 1st or 2nd Ed. Fun times!

So was mine! I would preform autopsies and then spend hours in shrines cleansing my spirit.

On 6/23/2017 at 4:54 AM, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

Back in the day, I'm told that Naga players would abstain from attacking one another during games because "Naga do not fight Naga." Instead, they would play until time was called and then the player with fewer personalities would concede.

During friendly games and such, this would be nothing more than gaming. During tournaments and tournament settings, I would heavily object to this sort of behavior.

I sincerely state this.

Kitsuki make the best courtiers.

2 hours ago, Suzume Urusai said:

Kitsuki make the best courtiers magistrates.

Fixed that for you.

On 6/24/2017 at 10:35 PM, Devin-the-Poet said:

So was mine! I would preform autopsies and then spend hours in shrines cleansing my spirit.

I briefly played a Kitsuki Magistrate with an opium problem. Really loved him.