31 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

I don't recall it being specificaly mentioned before.

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

Hiruma don't wear pants! BLASPHEMY!

Though in all other seriousness, this was my favorite new fiction so far, and my favorite Kisada fiction to date. I am amazed at this depiction of Kisada, showing him as the consummate tactician and aging warrior, who is not even angry at the fact that the Emperor continues to ignore the needs of the Crab Clan. He has no energy for anger anymore, not in this world where the children of his retainers are fed daily into the maw of evil, in a war which can never be won. This fiction depicted Hida Kisada as a warrior, as a tactician, as a leader, and as a father. This is the man Hida Kisada needs to be. Not the larger than life caricature that gets paraded out ("Hida Kisada has been duly chastised."), but the deeply conflicted man who asked after the woman who paid her life to help him, and knew her name instantly upon seeing her face... and thought of his own daughter upon seeing her.

This is a Hida Kisada worthy of the fanboy adoration he holds in the community.

That, and he backtalks an Oni in a way that would make King Leonidas proud.

Quote

Oni: "I will take great joy in tearing off your limbs and devouring you alive, like the meat you are."

Kisada: "Then let us begin."

41 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?

RPG books that didnt do their research claimed that leather was taboo and thus pretended that there was nothing leather-ly in samurai armor or other equipment.

In Japan, *working* the leather was taboo and unclean, but after being worked leather was considered to be ritually purified and kosher to use.

7 minutes ago, Isawa Omi said:

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.

3 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

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

Kuni dissecting shadowlands beasts for knowledge is old hat.

don't read so much into it

2 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

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.

As far as I understood it, the wall was hit somewhere else.

1 minute ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Kuni dissecting shadowland beast for knowledge is old hat.

don't read so much into it

What was oLd(5R) is New again!

47 minutes ago, Coyote Walks said:

Crab wearing leather. Was that a thing?

They always had a fair number of scouts in the CCG. Hiruma is definitely the scout family.

Glad to see Sukune is still around. I always liked that guy. I hope he has a better go of it this time around. I wonder if any of Kisada's kids will get a card in the core set. I'm guessing not considering so far they've tried to spread the unique characters across all the clan houses.

As to why the Crab marched out to meet the Shadowlands army in the field I also thought that was weird, but it was pointed out that the wall was weakened in that area. They seemed concerned that the fortifications wouldn't hold. I think the idea was they felt they needed to disrupt the Shadowlands activity before the force amassing at the wall could get worse and possibly cause another breach. That's why they wanted to send a force out to bait them back toward the wall to be decimated by the archers and siege equipment.

Also a blink and you miss it reference to the Nezumi, which was great. Glad to see some confirmation that they are in the new setting.

Any bets that the Crab samurai-ko with an otsuchi that we've seen the art for, that was denied being O-Ushi, is Hida Tomonatsu?

7 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Any bets that the Crab samurai-ko with an otsuchi that we've seen the art for, that was denied being O-Ushi, is Hida Tomonatsu?

It's probably the Kaiu Champion. Kaiu Shihobu

So glad Sukune is still with us! There is hope! Crab need pragmatic thinkers as well as warriors.

2 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Any bets that the Crab samurai-ko with an otsuchi that we've seen the art for, that was denied being O-Ushi, is Hida Tomonatsu?

Excellent point.

2 minutes ago, MoZi said:

It's probably the Kaiu Champion.

So glad Sukune is still with us! There is hope! Crab need pragmatic thinkers as well as warriors.

I hear he makes the best and most inspirational standards too!

Also nizumi are confirmed as they helped deal with the oni.

Man, there is a ton of world building, character building, action, tension and information packed into this fiction while limiting exposition. That's the best kind of story telling, in my mind.

13 minutes ago, Mirith said:

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!)

"dark mustache twitching with a too-wide smile"

Maybe the Crab have never seen a human villain before?

Spoiler alert: they have mustaches and weird smiles!

9 minutes ago, phillos said:

As to why the Crab marched out to meet the Shadowlands army in the field I also thought that was weird, but it was pointed out that the wall was weakened in that area. They seemed concerned that the fortifications wouldn't hold. I think the idea was they felt they needed to disrupt the Shadowlands activity before the force amassing at the wall could get worse and possibly cause another breach. That's why they wanted to send a force out to bait them back toward the wall to be decimated by the archers and siege equipment.

I think it was to pull the army to the wall. The Shadowlands army was content to sit their and wait for more and more bad guys to show up to join their masses before attacking and then would have overwhelmed the wall. They needed to pull them now before they grew too large to grow with. Kisada knew this and wanted to make sure that resources weren't strained too thin and having an army of Samuri, he needed to put them to use.

32 minutes ago, BordOne said:

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.

Agreed. I thought it introduced too many named characters too quickly, but meh.

Just now, Ishi Tonu said:

"dark mustache twitching with a too-wide smile"

Maybe the Crab have never seen a human villain before?

Spoiler alert: they have mustaches and weird smiles!

I think it would be neat if they actually let Kuni Yori be a hero this time, and someone else taints everyone. Like the Phoenix.

3 minutes ago, WHW said:

RPG books that didnt do their research claimed that leather was taboo and thus pretended that there was nothing leather-ly in samurai armor or other equipment.

In Japan, *working* the leather was taboo and unclean, but after being worked leather was considered to be ritually purified and kosher to use.

I wouldn't be surprised if a fair amount of changes to L5R will be fixes to '90s research failures.

1 minute ago, Mirith said:

I think it would be neat if they actually let Kuni Yori be a hero this time, and someone else taints everyone. Like the Phoenix.

Listen, it's a big Empire. We can't taint everyone. Some the other clans are going to have to pull their own weight if we're going to accomplish something that grand.

1 minute ago, Mirith said:

I think it would be neat if they actually let Kuni Yori be a hero this time, and someone else taints everyone. Like the Phoenix.

Seconded.

Let the Phoenix have those shenanigans. The Crab are busy.

1 hour 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?

Historical Japan used leather heavily.

(One of my friends' daisho is trimmed with shark leather in imitation of a real one from the 18th century.)

(Yes, I have friends who own daisho. You may mock me.)

Just now, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

(Yes, I have friends who own daisho. You may mock me.)

wait... do other people not have friends with daisho?

3 minutes ago, Isawa Omi said:

Listen, it's a big Empire. We can't taint everyone. Some the other clans are going to have to pull their own weight if we're going to accomplish something that grand.

You need to stop spending so much time playing with your 'Black Scroll', and do something useful. Like persecuting the Unicorn.

2 minutes ago, llamaman88 said:

wait... do other people not have friends with daisho?

You mean you guys don't to tournaments dressed in your clans armor?

3 minutes ago, Cold Iron1 said:

You mean you guys don't to tournaments dressed in your clans armor?

But you leave your daisho at home. Tripping the people trying to walk behind you would be rude.