My brother -

My talks with Sora continue to prove enlightening, as you suggested they might. The rejection of external influence is a noble pursuit – indeed, a path even the Little Teacher condones – but some among our family take it too far when they reject the Brotherhood's thinking whole-cloth. Yesterday in the temple one claimed that the Brotherhood's strictly traditional readings of the Tao did a disservice to the text's universal adaptability, and that as such no new thinking could emerge from their interpretations. Having spent many mornings of late with Sora, I could not help but smile at my brother Togashi's ignorance.

The ideology we discussed is fascinating, brother. Fascinating beyond words in the way only enlightened thought can be. It is Void, an enigma, at once exciting and calming, mystifying and revealing. It consumes my waking thoughts, and the deeper I plumb the depths of its majesty, the more thoroughly it entwines with my soul. I firmly believe this way, if spread to other samurai, will be the dawn of a grand spiritual awakening in the Empire.

It is Shōrido, the Path of Five Rings.

It is the perfect compliment to Bushido – where Akodo's great moral code serves as a set of ideals to aspire to, Shōrido describes the path of action one must take to attain those ideals – to serve – in essence, to be samurai. Atop that snow-swept peak, Sora described to me the tenets that opened the gates to a new life. The Virtues are a set of weaving paths, coiling and intertwining, each building on and enhancing the others as the student walks the Way.

Knowledge, the basis of right thinking. Seek not only to understand that which surrounds your goal, but all things. In doing so, unexpected roads may present themselves. Thus, knowledge fosters Insight and Control, and when one knows enough to determine a course of action, it fosters Will.

Insight, the ability to see truth behind facts. Observe the nature of all things. Understanding a man's weakness is but the most surface-level observation; to truly understand another, one must understand how they think, must see things through their mindset. Thus, proper Insight fosters Control and guides Will.

Will, the resolve to see a task done. Based in Knowledge and Insight, one determines that a course of action must be taken. Will requires Control over the self, however, lest ones passions overrun them and they act in a way that forfeits Control. Will, therefore, is exercised as much in restraint as it is in action. Fortitude, not single-mindedness.

Strength, the ability to act. This is the tenet so many samurai study to the exclusion of all others, thus a fuller study of Shōrido will benefit all who serve. The Matsu is her sword, the Bayushi is his tongue, but what are they without temperance? They are double-edged blades, as likely to cut the wielder as they are their target. Strength, therefore, is found in discipline, not wrath. Brash application of force is only the weakest display of Strength. Disciplined Strength fosters Control and Will.

Control, the ability to guide events. For a samurai to serve, when set to a task by his lord, he must be able to control the outcomes of his actions. However, a samurai must first exercise full control over himself before he can do so to the world around him. In practice, Control is both gained from and burgeons all of the other virtues.

Its culmination: Perfection. From the Lion's honor to the Crane's artistry, all samurai endeavor to Perfection in order to better serve and honor their lord and Emperor. For a perfect hand must bear a perfect tool, and the blood of the Kami runs strong in the veins of our masters.

A question certainly now arises in your mind, as it did in mine; why call this the Path of Five Rings? It is, I must confess, perhaps a bit of my worldly hubris that I have yet to shed, as I deigned to give it this name. In discussing the Virtues with Sora, I found that each aligns perfectly with the Elements, the fundamental forces that describe the universe! It is the surest sign that this Way is true.

Air - Impermanence - Knowledge. That which is true one moment may be false the next, particularly when one acts to change it; knowledge is by nature impermanent and fleeting.
Water - Change - Insight. The adoption of different patterns of thinking is an immediate act of change in the student, but such endeavors mold ones nature gradually as well when new perspectives reveal new truths. Exercising Insight, therefore, is inherently an act of change.
Earth - Resoluteness - Will. Most Rokugani well understand the relation between Earth and Will. As the mountain never wavers, so stands the samurai's resolve in service of his lord.
Fire - Inspiration - Strength. The relationship between inspiration and the ability to act is readily apparent to any. The fires of passion fuel the movement of any who heed them.
Void - that contains all - Control. In nothing, everything; in inaction, action; in pointlessness, meaning. As the emptiness before existence begat the world, so too does the unguided existence of the Virtues beget Control.
Thus, Shōrido can be visualized as a series of five interweaving Rings, the paths winding and interconnecting. The student walks along the path, seeking the next turn, ever attentive, ever honing himself on the whetstone of Virtue.

Walking the Way, then, to see the rings as they interlock, is Perfection.

Peace be with you, brother. May you find your own Awakening.

Togashi Katsu

Take no heed of this madman. He is lost. A cleansing death is all he can hope for, but more than he deserves.

Well that's just great. Now the Olympic Committee is going to shut down this game before it's even been released! >:-(

Hey, what about Determination and Perfection? Would you leave these two in the dirt?

2 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

Hey, what about Determination and Perfection? Would you leave these two in the dirt?

What? Perfection is right after Control.

5 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

What? Perfection is right after Control.

Oh, I missed that one - it is in a weird place. But Determination is still out.

After so many generations, and yet still there are those who would say Bushido is not enough.

So, a little real-world post-script!

I wrote this as a little peek at what Shourido might look like adapted to the new setting, how it might begin its spread, and why it might be so popular, seen not as an antithesis to Bushido but a compliment... With some hidden, sinister underpinnings that push samurai thinking more of the selfish desires instead of their duty. After all, samurai drama is often about the conflict between personal desire and societal pressure!

I spent a lot of time musing on Shourido during the old setting, and when writing this piece I decided to fold Will and Determination into one, for two reasons. First, even the best explanations of the differences in the old setting do a poor job of delineating the two, and the forces of mental fortitude are, in my opinion, better explained as a whole. Second, and more importantly, it allowed me to do the whole "path of five rings" thing this fiction is about, aligning each Virtue with an Element, and their culmination as Perfection. (Yeah, I know, seven Shourido virtues for seven Bushido virtues, but this worked so much better for my little story here).

Lastly, thanks to whoever wrote the little bit in the Second City sourcebooks on a Dragon monk living in the Temple District for inspiring this story with a single line of text.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed. Maybe, like me, you might find a little something in it, a little alternate history that may be of use for plots in your tabletop RPGs.

Just be careful about defining Shourido as complementary to Bushido, that you are not acknowledging its necessity. When you drop the idea of Shourido as a deliberate subversion of Bushido, you drop its whole identity, and at that point why not create something new entirely?

2 minutes ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

Just be careful about defining Shourido as complementary to Bushido, that you are not acknowledging its necessity. When you drop the idea of Shourido as a deliberate subversion of Bushido, you drop its whole identity, and at that point why not create something new entirely?

Oh, it absolutely is subversive, as I just said above, and as I tried to imply in the story through the character's obsession. It drives one to think more of themselves and less of their duty. It being seen as a compliment to Bushido rather than an alternative was done to give a fictional reason for its wildfire spread. After all, Rokugani society would never latch on en masse to an ideology that says it stands against Bushido in the open. I like the idea of it being a subtle but powerful influencer of thought, like most philosophies that cause great unrest are. Just close enough to seem reasonable, just far enough to be blasphemous.

I always imagined Bushido as a coin: the side that shows the real value is actual Bushido, the other side is Shourido, and the edge is the various minor codes like the Wasp Code. There isn't much around it, because Bushido covers everything, so making a spin on it is just reinventing the wheel.

The only offensive thing is Shourido is that it is kinda like a "Special Needs Bushido" and thus makes a blatant (and far from positive) measurement of character on those who follow it. Being a follower of Shourido is like wearing a fedora or a puzzle ribbon, if you know what I mean.

I always felt that the position that Bushido held in Rokugani society was, essentially, perfect.

It was a foreign moral code created by an Imperialistic demigod, imposed at sword point upon a populace and enforced through generations of dogmatic repetition and needless adherence to tradition. Anything that does not fit, exactly, within the parameters of an abstract set of virtues was rejected by the samurai caste because ANY challenge to Bushido is LITERALLY a challenge to the moral and spiritual core of their societal power.

Which is totally why Clans other than the Lion and Crane look on Bushido with attitudes ranging from "Tolerance" to "You guys are getting this wrong". In many ways, Bushido is the exact opposite of the teachings of Enlightenment and Shinsei's philosophy of the Five Rings itself, which is why ancestor worship (and the reverence of a few SPECIFIC Fortunes) is the dominant religion of the Lion Clan. They have no need of enlightenment. They have Bushido!

Shorido at its best is a subversive philosophy that erodes at Bushido at all its weak points, and serves as a path of enlightenment instead.

1 minute ago, sndwurks said:

Shorido at its best is a subversive philosophy that erodes at Bushido at all its weak points, and serves as a path of enlightenment instead.

With respect, I disagree. Now, at the time I first came to L5R, the Spider Clan had already formed, so it is possible I am getting this slightly wrong, but in the CCG and the 4th Edition RPG alike, the Shourido discipline was strongly associated with the Spider, and by extension their champion, Daigotsu, Lord of the Shadowlands. The ultimate goal of the Shadowlands is to lay claim to the immortal souls of Rokugan's people, souls which, when enlightened, are removed from the Celestial Wheel and are therefore impossible to bind to Jigoku. Therefore Shourido only makes sense if it denies enlightenment from its practitioner, rather than bestowing it.

Now as I said before, there is nothing wrong with inventing a new discipline that serves the purpose you describe, but it would be something distinct enough from the original Shourido concept so as to warrant a different name.

1 minute ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

With respect, I disagree. Now, at the time I first came to L5R, the Spider Clan had already formed, so it is possible I am getting this slightly wrong, but in the CCG and the 4th Edition RPG alike, the Shourido discipline was strongly associated with the Spider, and by extension their champion, Daigotsu, Lord of the Shadowlands. The ultimate goal of the Shadowlands is to lay claim to the immortal souls of Rokugan's people, souls which, when enlightened, are removed from the Celestial Wheel and are therefore impossible to bind to Jigoku. Therefore Shourido only makes sense if it denies enlightenment from its practitioner, rather than bestowing it.

Now as I said before, there is nothing wrong with inventing a new discipline that serves the purpose you describe, but it would be something distinct enough from the original Shourido concept so as to warrant a different name.

Shourido was a philosophy created by Daigotsu and introduced to the Empire through Garen Hawthorne and Doji Saori. It was not a means to deliver souls to Jigoku, but to erode the social power of Bushido. The time during which it was introduced, also, was just after the Rain of Blood, when a much more DIRECT method to delivering souls to Jigoku had already been achieved. It came about during the Search for Enlightenment, if I am getting my timelines correct, and actually predates the Spider Clan itself.

This was during the time frame where Daigotsu was duking it out with the Oni for leadership of the Shadowlands Hordes, having managed to restore his corruption after it was taken from him by Emma-O and getting booted as a leader by Iuchiban. The Spider Clan only was created AFTER Toturi III blew himself up at the end of the Search for Enlightenment, as Daigotsu's bid for the throne during the post-Toturi years. Interestingly enough, both Oni no Kyoso and Chuda Ruri proved that you can become Enlightened even while being corrupted.

Shourido, aside from Garen Hawthorne (as an agent of the Shadow Dragon) and Doji Saori, was principally spread by the Order of Venom and the Order of the Spider, which were monastic groups of the Brotherhood of Shinsei set up by Daigotsu's followers. It is much more a path of enlightenment and a weapon of societal subversion than a direct means of corruption. It weakens the traditional bulwarks of Bushido, which is again only devoutly practiced by two Clans and actually stands in opposition to most of the more traditional elements of Rokugani religion.

But it's okay, because obviously Shinseism and Bushido do not contradict each other. An Emperor said so.

2 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

Shourido was a philosophy created by Daigotsu and introduced to the Empire through Garen Hawthorne and Doji Saori. It was not a means to deliver souls to Jigoku, but to erode the social power of Bushido. The time during which it was introduced, also, was just after the Rain of Blood, when a much more DIRECT method to delivering souls to Jigoku had already been achieved. It came about during the Search for Enlightenment, if I am getting my timelines correct, and actually predates the Spider Clan itself.

This was during the time frame where Daigotsu was duking it out with the Oni for leadership of the Shadowlands Hordes, having managed to restore his corruption after it was taken from him by Emma-O and getting booted as a leader by Iuchiban. The Spider Clan only was created AFTER Toturi III blew himself up at the end of the Search for Enlightenment, as Daigotsu's bid for the throne during the post-Toturi years. Interestingly enough, both Oni no Kyoso and Chuda Ruri proved that you can become Enlightened even while being corrupted.

Shourido, aside from Garen Hawthorne (as an agent of the Shadow Dragon) and Doji Saori, was principally spread by the Order of Venom and the Order of the Spider, which were monastic groups of the Brotherhood of Shinsei set up by Daigotsu's followers. It is much more a path of enlightenment and a weapon of societal subversion than a direct means of corruption. It weakens the traditional bulwarks of Bushido, which is again only devoutly practiced by two Clans and actually stands in opposition to most of the more traditional elements of Rokugani religion.

But it's okay, because obviously Shinseism and Bushido do not contradict each other. An Emperor said so.

In that case, I suppose I should familiarize myself moreso with the precise teachings of Shinsei, so as to learn how they contradict Bushido. I suppose it would make more sense to wait until the topic is brought into focus in the New Legend, however.

That enlightenment was compatible with corruption was in my opinion the single worst story decision in the entirety of the old canon. I certainly hope they do not keep that nonsensical and offensive aspect of the previous setting.

4 minutes ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

In that case, I suppose I should familiarize myself moreso with the precise teachings of Shinsei, so as to learn how they contradict Bushido. I suppose it would make more sense to wait until the topic is brought into focus in the New Legend, however.

Chiefly, it is a value set.

Bushido is a value set for a warrior serving a lord, teaching virtue in the form of steadfast obedience to one's superior and readiness to spend one's life in service. The Tao of Shinsei teaches virtue in the form of introspection, consideration, and questioning.

The best example would be: Your Lord gives you an order to perform a dishonorable task. Bushido teaches you must either A) kill yourself in protest, or B) complete the task, then kill yourself in shame. Shinseism teaches that you to refuse, because performing the task is a concern of the mortal, material world and thus less important than your Lord's enlightenment.

30 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

It was a foreign moral code created by an Imperialistic demigod, imposed at sword point upon a populace and enforced through generations of dogmatic repetition and needless adherence to tradition. Anything that does not fit, exactly, within the parameters of an abstract set of virtues was rejected by the samurai caste because ANY challenge to Bushido is LITERALLY a challenge to the moral and spiritual core of their societal power.

Oddly enough, this wasn't not the case originally at all. Akodo was by far the most competent Kami and most likely the only one who knew what he was doing. People followed him because he was legitimately good and had ideas that were both sound and well thought out. Things started spiraling out of control when Akodo died and other - considerably less competent - people took over his ideas and twisted it to their own ends. You can say that Shourido can't be the subversion of Bushido, because Bushido is already its own subversion.

2 minutes ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

In that case, I suppose I should familiarize myself moreso with the precise teachings of Shinsei, so as to learn how they contradict Bushido. I suppose it would make more sense to wait until the topic is brought into focus in the New Legend, however.

There's several reasons why I wrote this as a reimagining of the concept in the new canon. Foremost among them is that the old story is over. It's done. Much like the new card game does with mechanics from the old, the new canon can pull neat concepts from the old and rework them to find the good within, the gold nugget that will help them tell the stories they want to tell. In my case, I find L5R as a setting best suited to telling stories about the conflict of philosophies, from the societal level down to the internal struggles of the individual. It's a story of moral grays, conflicted emotions and tragic endings, and my vision of Shōrido (the usage of the different anglicization was done in part to draw a distinction from the original) helps me tell those kind of stories. So, there you go. A little more insight into the context of the piece and why it was written like it was, more or less divorced from the old setting.

10 minutes ago, Eugene Earnshaw said:

That enlightenment was compatible with corruption was in my opinion the single worst story decision in the entirety of the old canon. I certainly hope they do not keep that nonsensical and offensive aspect of the previous setting.

I respectfully disagree with this, and love that Enlightenment can be achieved by the corrupted. Corruption can make it harder to achieve it, but it does not stand in direct opposition to it.

Enlightenment is not the will of Heaven. Enlightenment is freeing one's soul from the transitory nature of the kharmic cycle and witnessing the eternal truth of reality (all things are one, and one thing is all things, etc), if only for a brief period. The Will of Tengoku is the maintenance and perfection of a kharmic cycle, where virtue is rewarded through rebirth into a higher, more pure state. The Will of Jigoku is the destruction and subversion of the kharmic cycle, where souls fail to achieve a higher, more pure state through rebirth. Enlightenment moves the soul past the kharmic cycle entirely if achieved.

This is why Bushido is a great way to find virtue in service to the Will of Tengoku, but it is not a way to find Enlightenment.