Need a Shrine Maiden card! Better to have Shrine Maidens!

Another fiction down and another fiction better than the first one. Both have young, angsty champions and both have secondary characters that are immediately the fan favorites, but this one seemed to be more effective at laying some groundwork for the clan and the world. A special thanks has to be given at giving us some more detail about shugenja, even it's just small tidbits (far more than most of the other fiction).

55 minutes ago, twinstarbmc said:

Funny, the way I read it (which in hindsight is probably WAY wrong) was that it was the Master of Fire himself who started the blaze, and the "gift" he offered was the entire shrine.

The gift was his prayers and the bracelet and he put out the fire. This part was weirdly worded, could have used some clarity.

55 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

What are they doing right here? Just admiring their temple burning?

Bad Elemental Masters are bad.

The had nothing to fear at the moment, they knew the Fire master would work on putting it out momentarily.

54 minutes ago, KerenRhys said:

Maybe, that's not how I read the discussion between the masters. I'll re-read it later to see if your explanation makes sense to me but there are some points that really made me feel it was intentional.

It took me three passes to reread it for clarity, but it is clearly him praying to put it out. Shortly after it says that the shrine was saved by the speedy response of the Shiba and the Fire Elemental master putting it out.

45 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

I suspect that the "old timer" trinity might be political/military/spiritual as well with Shoju being the political, Kisada being the military and Yokuni being the Spiritual.

All 6 (the 5 masters and Tadaka) were trying to understand the Omen that had just occurred.

There is a lot of possible foreshadowing in this story as well as set ups for future plots.

Yeah there were two interesting things here to me.

1. Tadaka is included with all of the elemental masters, is the son of the void one, studies under the earth one, and the fire one invites him in to the council. What makes him so special? He is the only one who stays behind with the masters, yet all of the other apprentices leave. His wisdom is interesting and I am very interested to see where he goes. The Earth master doesn't seem to like him much.

2. The foreshadowing here is good. The main thing I notice out of this is that there are 3 clans worried about the big threats and 2 are bickering among themselves. Phoenix see an imbalance, Crab see the Shadowlands, and Dragon see a major threat. All three seem to have very real threats ahead of them. Meanwhile the Crane and Lion are too busy bickering among themselves to care at all. Fighting for a little teeny province when there are major threats ahead. On top of that there was an (alleged) assassination of the Right Hand of the Emperor and the Crane and Lion don't seem to care, so much for being Left and Right hands of the Emperor if all they care about is their little feud. The Empire is in danger and the only ones who have the Emperors ear are the Scorpion (which is probably a good thing since they don't seem to be caught up in the little squabble). How the Unicorn fit in, I am not sure. Makes me have kind of a distaste for the Crane and Lion. So what if you have honor, doesn't matter if there is no Empire left.

49 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Gunichi doesn't DO 'happy'

We might get 'less disgruntled' though

Nonsense, we can get a happy Gunichi...

*Sets fire to Kyuden Doji*

1 hour ago, Zesu Shadaban said:

You gotta feel sorry for that apprentice, I mean he's clearly well favored to be selected for the ceremony, and now all of a sudden he has to take the fall for the Fire Nation's shenanigans so the masters can save face and prevent a panic.

Duty, as they say, is heavier than a mountain.

My take on what happened is that the apprentice went out to go and do a mini-prayer and offering of fire, and then it went horribly wrong in a way that should not have happened. The Council did not immediately do something with the kami because they don't immediately know what to do. A kami has just gone out of control and started burning down something completely at random. Who knows whether intervening magically would help matters or make things worse. After a while, Tsuke finds the right approach to put it out, and extinguishes it.

So, now what do they do? They can't say they have no idea why it happened. It can't be Tsuke's fault, and the private discussion seems to imply that the apprentice took the blame on himself without being instructed to.

Not one single solitary person in the entire story so much as pricked a finger for some true power. No wonder that spell went wonky.

2 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Duty, as they say, is heavier than a mountain.

My take on what happened is that the apprentice went out to go and do a mini-prayer and offering of fire, and then it went horribly wrong in a way that should not have happened. The Council did not immediately do something with the kami because they don't immediately know what to do. A kami has just gone out of control and started burning down something completely at random. Who knows whether intervening magically would help matters or make things worse. After a while, Tsuke finds the right approach to put it out, and extinguishes it.

So, now what do they do? They can't say they have no idea why it happened. It can't be Tsuke's fault, and the private discussion seems to imply that the apprentice took the blame on himself without being instructed to.

This is what they were going for.

The shrine bursts into flames and the Masters don't react, because they need to keep the cover that they are ultimately in control. THEY know the apprentice did nothing wrong, but the cover up meant that the apprentice threw himself under the bus to keep the secret, that this is a real problem.

8 minutes ago, Kubernes said:

Need a Shrine Maiden card! Better to have Shrine Maidens!

Another fiction down and another fiction better than the first one. Both have young, angsty champions and both have secondary characters that are immediately the fan favorites, but this one seemed to be more effective at laying some groundwork for the clan and the world. A special thanks has to be given at giving us some more detail about shugenja, even it's just small tidbits (far more than most of the other fiction).

I didn't find Tsukune angsty at all. Reserved, yes. Determined, yes. Still grieveing for her brother, yes. But not angsty.

I WILL say, this fiction didn't really talk of anything outside of just the fire chickens. Basically nothing about the Unicorn, despite that clearly being described as their largest conflict.

2 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

This is what they were going for.

The shrine bursts into flames and the Masters don't react, because they need to keep the cover that they are ultimately in control. THEY know the apprentice did nothing wrong, but the cover up meant that the apprentice threw himself under the bus to keep the secret, that this is a real problem.

What I'd really like to know is whether the apprentice knows that he did nothing wrong. Does he realize that something happened beyond his control, and therefore his resignation is meant to conceal that fact and prevent scandal and panic? Or does he really think that somehow, in some way, he caused the incident?

Just now, JJ48 said:

What I'd really like to know is whether the apprentice knows that he did nothing wrong. Does he realize that something happened beyond his control, and therefore his resignation is meant to conceal that fact and prevent scandal and panic? Or does he really think that somehow, in some way, he caused the incident?

Considering that they mention that the apprentice already volunteered to take the blame probably says he understood fully what was happening.

12 minutes ago, wolfien8 said:

Yeah there were two interesting things here to me.

1. Tadaka is included with all of the elemental masters, is the son of the void one, studies under the earth one, and the fire one invites him in to the council. What makes him so special? He is the only one who stays behind with the masters, yet all of the other apprentices leave. His wisdom is interesting and I am very interested to see where he goes. The Earth master doesn't seem to like him much.

IIRC, Tadaka become Master of Earth after winning a taryu-jiai with the previous one, his sensei, 'cos they disliked each other so much.

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

What I'd really like to know is whether the apprentice knows that he did nothing wrong. Does he realize that something happened beyond his control, and therefore his resignation is meant to conceal that fact and prevent scandal and panic? Or does he really think that somehow, in some way, he caused the incident?

From the story it looks like he took the blame and resigned before the Masters could talk to him, so probably he really think he is the cause of the incident

Just now, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

Considering that they mention that the apprentice already volunteered to take the blame probably says he understood fully what was happening.

That's my opinion as well. I'd be interested to see what becomes of the apprentice (maybe he's called Isawa Dairya...)

19 minutes ago, OokamiGauru said:

Enjoyable fiction, gets a good grasp of the Phoenix clan, and the characters, but I wish we hadn't had the champion change AGAIN.

Still, well written and the art pieces were great, should be interesting to see the card previews next week.

I don't think these are Champion "changes" as much as FFG setting up the starting champions and where they are at. They clearly want it to be a time of change and without younger leaders, the old would hold firm.

1 minute ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

Considering that they mention that the apprentice already volunteered to take the blame probably says he understood fully what was happening.

Just now, franzvong said:

From the story it looks like he took the blame and resigned before the Masters could talk to him, so probably he really think he is the cause of the incident

...and this is why I find it so intriguing. Different people can read the exact same passage and use it as support for completely opposite conclusions!

That's good writing to keep us guessing and hungry for more of the story!

5 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

IIRC, Tadaka become Master of Earth after winning a taryu-jiai with the previous one, his sensei, 'cos they disliked each other so much.

Interesting, might make for more drama in the Phoenix going forward, I am very interested in their story going forward.

2 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

That's my opinion as well. I'd be interested to see what becomes of the apprentice (maybe he's called Isawa Dairya...)

Now THAT would be moderately awesome

5 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

...and this is why I find it so intriguing. Different people can read the exact same passage and use it as support for completely opposite conclusions!

At least we all agree that everything happened because Tsukune entered the temple with the wrong foot. Pesky kami!

1 minute ago, franzvong said:

At least we all agree that everything happened because Tsukune entered the temple with the wrong foot. Pesky kami!

No, its because they didn't shed the blood of the innocent before. Seriously... this is Maho 101 here, you spill blood BEFORE invoking the Kansen to melt the hearts of your enemies!

For a Denton piece this is really cheerful.

22 minutes ago, wolfien8 said:

I don't think these are Champion "changes" as much as FFG setting up the starting champions and where they are at. They clearly want it to be a time of change and without younger leaders, the old would hold firm.

Are we sure about this? I'm still learning the old lore but how long did most champions tend to last and should we be expecting about a new champ every major set or will it be a more gradual thing? I do get that they are trying to show that there is a lot of change happening around when the game is starting seeing how we have at least 2 new champions in the last few months with Toturi and Tsukune (can't remember how long Hotaru is supposed to have been champion but it can't have been for more than a few years). There are also indications of change coming in the future with Kisada starting to show his age and his knowledge that he'll need a worthy successor sooner than later so that sets up a possible new champ fairly soon in the arc of the LCG. Do we really know how fast the rotation of champions will end up being? Are there any similar personalities in the other LCGs that FFG does and if so how often do they rotate out?

18 minutes ago, franzvong said:

At least we all agree that everything happened because Tsukune entered the temple with the wrong foot. Pesky kami!

Like a....a Lion!

4 minutes ago, Klawtu said:

Are we sure about this? I'm still learning the old lore but how long did most champions tend to last and should we be expecting about a new champ every major set or will it be a more gradual thing? I do get that they are trying to show change in the moment with the at least 2 new champions in the last few months with Toturi and Tsukune (can't remember how long Hotaru is supposed to have been champion but it can't have been for more than a few years). There are also indications of change coming in the future with Kisada starting to show his age and his knowledge that he'll need a worthy successor sooner than later so that sets up a possible new champ fairly soon in the arc of the LCG. Do we really know how fast the rotation of champions will end up being? Are there any similar personalities in the other LCGs that FFG does and if so how often do they rotate out?

I don't think the Champions will rotate quickly, remember this is a timeline reset, so they can have large amount of Champion changes in the core box that they cannot have later on. I think right now they are taking advantage of the liberty, but will only change Champions occasionally post release. Remember they aren't really getting rid of old Champions when there aren't cards for them already and any old histories are gone retconned. Nu5R is a timeline reset from Old5R

8 minutes ago, Shu2jack said:

Like a....a Lion!

OH THE HORROR!!!!

Is this why the Matsu are...imbalanced? Every morning they....put the wrong foot forward?