https://drafts.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/7/5/dark-hands-of-heaven/

great story. Sets the crab up nicely

Kuni Osaku mentioned by name!!

Joyous day!!

I like how it put us in Kisada's perspective, but still emphasized his silence and concern, instead of constantly raining down his personality on us. We are seeing the Crab through the eyes of the Bear, not having him tell it to us in some long monologue. I really enjoyed that.

And the mention of The Lost and the mystery of the Shadowland's formations and tactics is GREAT. Leaves a solid mystery for everyone going forward.

I completely agree with ItsyBitsy. And I love how Kisada's grunts are adequate communication! Loved it overall!

Hmm, I like it. It gets the Crab's desperate situation across to the reader quite well.

A couple of interesting differences from the old canon:

1) The Lost are a kind of undead now.

2) Undead are voiceless.

I'm a little surprised about number 2, as it limits what can be done with the undead. But I guess they can always introduce a new, previously unknown type later that can talk after all.

Quote

The daimyō of the Hiruma family bowed, the well-oiled leather of her scout garb bending without the slightest creak.

Crab wearing leather. Was that a thing?

Having read both, I think Crab should have gone before Dragon.

1 minute ago, Coyote Walks said:

Crab wearing leather. Was that a thing?

You bring up a good point. I thought they considered leather taboo for the same reason as meat. Mostly it was Metal, Wood, and rope/cloth I think?

The one thing I would say about the Crab fiction vs Lion fiction (and I really liked the Lion fiction) is that Kisada comes off as much more of a tactician than Toturi. Not to say that the Crab aren't tactically smart, but there were times in this fiction where it almost had a Lion feel to me. Not even a complaint, just a thought. This was awesome!

9 minutes ago, Coyote Walks said:

Crab wearing leather. Was that a thing?

I don't recall it being specificaly mentioned before.

However, Crab pragmatism + 'purified' leather = leather pants.

This was a great story, and I think, the best of the four so far. Always enjoyed the Crab under Kisada until Yori convinced him to go dark, and it's good to see that it hasn't changed in the New Rokugan. The fact that the Crab are running so low on supplies will be a major point should this edition have it's own Clan Wars.

I'm with Shu2jack on this, I think that the Crab fiction would have been a better setup for the Dragon's fic. That being said I'm more likely to play Dragon as one of my extra decks than Crab so the card preview was the one I wanted more. Still, was really good and I'm glad to see the Great Bear back in action.

8 minutes ago, Coyote Walks said:

Crab wearing leather. Was that a thing?

Good catch. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or a deliberate change, but if any non-Unicorn decided to use leather, it would be a Crab.

4 minutes ago, YasukiKaito said:

The one thing I would say about the Crab fiction vs Lion fiction (and I really liked the Lion fiction) is that Kisada comes off as much more of a tactician than Toturi. Not to say that the Crab aren't tactically smart, but there were times in this fiction where it almost had a Lion feel to me. Not even a complaint, just a thought. This was awesome!

One of Kisada's sons was a berserker, the other a strategist, and Kisada himself was both at one point or another. I thought it was an interesting take on the characters.

Two things I noticed:

- Looks like it was Hantei I who ordered the Kaiu Wall to be built. But the shugenja who did the water wall stunt was mentioned, so we still have the Attack of the Maw. Interesting.

- O-Ushi is now at fighting age (IIRC, she was not in the old canon).

A third thing that kinda ticked me off:

- If you have a huge wall, then use it. I have no idea whatsoever why Kisada decided to engage the Shadowlands in the open.

Otherwise, nice fic. It feels a lot like the writer only wanted to do 5+ pages of Crab-on-Shadowlands battle, so the other parts fall a little flat, but I really liked the action here, and I guess that's what really counts .

I didn't like it as much as Dragon one. As somebody who doesn't know the old lore I was a bit overwhelmed by name dropping and confused at times by who is talking to whom. Other than that still was pretty ok.

1 minute ago, AtoMaki said:

Two things I noticed:

- Looks like it was Hantei I who ordered the Kaiu Wall to be built. But the shugenja who did the water wall stunt was mentioned, so we still have the Attack of the Maw. Interesting.

- O-Ushi is now at fighting age (IIRC, she was not in the old canon).

A third thing that kinda ticked me off:

- If you have a huge wall, then use it. I have no idea whatsoever why Kisada decided to engage the Shadowlands in the open.

Otherwise, nice fic. It feels a lot like the writer only wanted to do 5+ pages of Crab-on-Shadowlands battle, so the other parts fall a little flat, but I really liked the action here, and I guess that's what really counts .

I caught the wall bit as well. As it was the intro and not the fic it could be a simple mistake, or the 'revisionist history' idea coming back from 1st ed. rpg.

I am glad to see that Yori will not be retconned away from being the visionary that he was in the oLd5R. Unlocking the taint and the power it can lend to the feeble prayers of more traditional shugenja is second only to the understanding the intricacies of Maho. I know it is frowned on by the more recreant samurai but I for one look forward to the discoveries of the honorable Kuni daimyo.

13 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

A third thing that kinda ticked me off:

- If you have a huge wall, then use it. I have no idea whatsoever why Kisada decided to engage the Shadowlands in the open.

They mention that the wall has been hit earlier and is still in repairs, spreading the Kaiu thin and making a siege less viable due to needed repairs, as such the crab hold the forces in place while the siege engines ready a bombardment.

The wall wasn't secure enough for a siege, so they engaged them on the field rather then risk the wall, trading lives for time.

30 minutes ago, Mirith said:

You bring up a good point. I thought they considered leather taboo for the same reason as meat. Mostly it was Metal, Wood, and rope/cloth I think?

Leather was a taboo, but it was also a taboo that sometimes got ignored for reasons of practicality (I mean, all those eta leatherworkers were making leather for someone, right?). For example, it's my recollection that the saddle was such a significant tactical advantage (maybe came up when the Unicorn came back to Rokugan?) that everyone just uses leather saddles and quietly ignores any impurity issues.

With that said, I don't recall there being anything in the prior setting about the Crab using leather for armor. It would be entirely consistent for the Crab to ignore taboo and use leather armor if it was considered significantly* more effective than normal armor options, but I don't recall that being identified as such in the prior setting.

* I say "significantly" because there were some tactics/equipment used by the Unicorn that probably were more effective than traditional Rokugani methods and that were not adopted by other clans, likely for the narrative purpose of maintaining Unicorn distinctiveness.

Well I feel that was certainly well worth the wait. Old Man Kisada was awesome. A few things...

If the Wall was now built in the wake of the First War I'm guessing there was no Maw attack and the Hiruma and Kuni lands are now north of it.

Yakamo came off as rather more of a brute that I tend to imagine him, but I suppose he needs age to forge him into the Sun we all know and revere.

Yay for nezumi confirmation.

Turning over your captured ogres and goblins to Kuni Yori seems like a good idea to me...........

Just now, Ishi Tonu said:

Turning over your captured ogres and goblins to Kuni Yori seems like a good idea to me...........

He is the Kuni Daimyo. It is for the crab's greater good, whatever it is!

(Keep in mind, he is not known as a villain yet, and may not even be one!)

Not gonna lie, I was half expecting the "smaller" otsuchi wielding bushi to be Hotaru...

Also, when I read about Yakamo, Gimli from Lord of the Rings definitely comes to mind.