1 minute ago, Eisenmerc said:

Just seems that if the champion thought she wouldn't have to take her husbands name, it would indicate she just kinda assumed the man always took the woman's name. Also a clan/family can be matriarchal and still have male daimyo. The Matsu family comes to mind, many male champions from them in the old lore.

Generally, the lower status samurai takes the name of the higher status samurai. in this case Unicorn Champion > Ikoma Daimyo, so she wouldn't normally expect to take his name.

5 minutes ago, Eisenmerc said:

Just seems that if the champion assumed she wouldn't have to take her husbands name, it would indicate she just kinda assumed the man always took the woman's name. Also a clan/family can be matriarchal and still have male daimyo. The Matsu family comes to mind, many male champions from them in the old lore.

Considering she's a champion, it's a logical assumption she's making.

not one based on tradition.

6 minutes ago, Mirumoto Saito said:

No it doesn't?

I mean, if you ask a rokugani to draw a straight line, will they draw something like an "l" or like an "("?

Words mean things. Its absurd that this is even being discussed.

I assumed that they are talking about "old" katanas? In the beginning they actually weren't curved at all.

edit: I mean swords used by Japanese weren't curved at all(they werent named katanas tho)

Unicorn battle tactics 101

When confronted by a large group of bushi, make sure you taunt them by calling their swords straight. This will cause them to discuss the relative straightness of their blades and compare them to other swords.........trample them with your horse while they argue.

It just steels my resolve all the more. My only "win condition" for the Kiku Matsuri is that the Lion do not emerge victorious. Lots of love for the Lion, though!

I'm really beginning to suspect that a fairly prominent Lion advisor is under the thumb of the Scorpion. Not hard to subtly name-drop Ikoma as a possible marriage pact knowing full well what could happen if it's accepted.

4 minutes ago, Mirumoto Saito said:

No it doesn't?

I mean, if you ask a rokugani to draw a straight line, will they draw something like an "l" or like an "("?

Words mean things. Its absurd that this is even being discussed.

Of course it does. To rokugan a sword is a katana, so a scimitar being noticeably more curved than a katana would be a curved sword. That is literally how language is used in real life, descriptors depend on context.

23 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

Every clan, in very real ways, can be called the "bad guys" of Rokugan except maybe the crab.

The Lion are blinded by their honor and aggression, more bound to their rule book then common sense.
The Crane flat out created the rules to suit them more then others and manipulate it to their benefit.
The Scorpion flat out resort to dishonorable methods to accomplish goals they believe is for the good of all.

The Dragon sit outside the empire, but their champion would be constantly grooming them to fit his thousand year old plans.

The Phoenix protect the empire's soul by ensuring they have a monopoly on spiritual matters, harshly defending it over the centuries.
The Unicorn, while kind, are a movement of change in an empire that actually has traditions for a reason, threatening to devalue what makes Rokugan, Rokugan

The Crab sit on their wall and die so everyone lives. Sometimes they throw a tempertantrum but they are doing the "right" thing in the end.

Its all a matter of perspective. Remember that in the real world the progressive ideology of the Unicorn is right to us, but in Rokugan the ways of heaven were taught to them by the actual Kami. The idea that you can buck the ways of heaven if you don't feel like it undermines the entire structure of Rokugani society. Everything is about respect and honoring tradition. In this story you can call the Lion cruel, but in setting, defending tradition is VERY important.

The Unicorn are doing what feels like the right thing, but its also a very dangerous and potentially wrong thing as well. Its why this dynamic of Unicorn and Lion works so well.

There is a reason in the old game the Spider were a clan, their job, their goal was to weaken the ideals and traditions of Rokugan, because Daigotsu knew that without it Rokugan could not survive.

You forget that Crab have a tendency of insulting anyone they are around, and then using their outrage as an excuse to murder them with a tetsubo.

I don't know if I would ever call the Crab 'good guys'.

5 minutes ago, Kitsuki Edogawa said:

Generally, the lower status samurai takes the name of the higher status samurai. in this case Unicorn Champion > Ikoma Daimyo, so she wouldn't normally expect to take his name.

It makes sense but according to the old lore it was the woman always taking the man's name except in matriarchal families like the Matsu and Otaku. Hope they can spell this out a little more to help lore nerds like me sleep at night

Good: we got a lot of name dropping, a good sense of the characters personalities, artwork that I'm assuming is a clever throwback to Iuchi Daiyu (so he's maybe unique number 3), and War, which tends to be entertaining.

Not so good: the convos between Lady Shinjo and genetic crane, then between her and kamoko, felt like a beating around the head with the exposition Hammer.

The nuanced point about respecting Shinjo tradition as well as Ikoma in light of the rank of champion very quickly jumped to an extremely blunt letter that amounted to 'screw the lion, its death or dishonour!'.

Altansarnai came off as a little reckless, or in thrall to her more emotional daimyo, despite being one of the more experienced champions (which is actually fine for the narrative, and plays right into the idea that the clan is slightly reckless and/or gullible).

The notion that Something as key as who marries into which family didn't come up in negotiations is ridiculous, and there is plenty of room for reasonable discussion between the two parties (ide 1: oh hi mr ikoma, apparently you didn't realise that in our clan the lower ranking samurai marries into the clan of the senior one. Ikoma 1: oh ok mr ide, that's not how we do it but let's talk).

And a more general gripe, I didn't like the focus on 'if the other clans don't like our 'magic' well that's tough' and the iuchi being introduced through a firework display. Shugenja are priests, not wizards, and meishodo is as much a religion as the reverence of the kami is. Definitely want more of a focus on the spiritual aspect than that fireball throwing.

but all in, not bad, and I'm still looking forward to pony stomping people.

1 minute ago, Devin-the-Poet said:

You forget that Crab have a tendency of insulting anyone they are around, and then using their outrage as an excuse to murder them with a tetsubo.

I don't know if I would ever call the Crab 'good guys'.

Hey now

We don't insult EVERYBODY, then kill them

......It's just that some folks deserve insulting.....and then being made dead.??

On "curved" and "straight"... A scimitar looks like a curved katana. A Rokugani smith, seeing a scimitar, would want to straighten it into a katana's proper shape.

As someone trying to introduce L5R to several new people at once I am very happy to see the exposition laid out. The description of current conflicts, a solid description of their history, and then a current dispute.

I especially loved the strong feeling of purpose of both kindness and moving away from tradition. I loved the Phoenix story but this story told you what Unicorn was all about.

2 minutes ago, Fumo said:

Good: we got a lot of name dropping, a good sense of the characters personalities, artwork that I'm assuming is a clever throwback to Iuchi Daiyu (so he's maybe unique number 3), and War, which tends to be entertaining.

Not so good: the convos between Lady Shinjo and genetic crane, then between her and kamoko, felt like a beating around the head with the exposition Hammer.

The nuanced point about respecting Shinjo tradition as well as Ikoma in light of the rank of champion very quickly jumped to an extremely blunt letter that amounted to 'screw the lion, its death or dishonour!'.

Altansarnai came off as a little reckless, or in thrall to her more emotional daimyo, despite being one of the more experienced champions (which is actually fine for the narrative, and plays right into the idea that the clan is slightly reckless and/or gullible).

The notion that Something as key as who marries into which family didn't come up in negotiations is ridiculous, and there is plenty of room for reasonable discussion between the two parties (ide 1: oh hi mr ikoma, apparently you didn't realise that in our clan the lower ranking samurai marries into the clan of the senior one. Ikoma 1: oh ok mr ide, that's not how we do it but let's talk).

And a more general gripe, I didn't like the focus on 'if the other clans don't like our 'magic' well that's tough' and the iuchi being introduced through a firework display. Shugenja are priests, not wizards, and meishodo is as much a religion as the reverence of the kami is. Definitely want more of a focus on the spiritual aspect than that fireball throwing.

but all in, not bad, and I'm still looking forward to pony stomping people.

Right, criticism. Um...I didn't like how quotes tended to end with a period followed by the descriptor (e.g. "He supports you, Altansarnai-sama. Not the wedding." Kamoko said in measured tones.)

And yeah, the Lady Exposition bits dragged on quite a bit. But to be fair, these stories are supposed to give new fans a taste of what each of the clans are up to, and the case of the Unicorn is...somewhat complicated. So I forgive this minor issue.

I am seriously in tears laughing about this whole curved vs straght debate.

I hope it never stops.

I hope they keep the Crab/Unicorn simpatico from the old lore this time around ???

1 minute ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

I hope they keep the Crab/Unicorn simpatico from the old lore this time around ???

Sorry we broke your Wall on the way in, BTW. We still cool, yo?

Just now, Ide Yoshiya said:

Sorry we broke your Wall on the way in, BTW. We still cool, yo?

Any excuse for the Kaiu to make upgrades ?

3 minutes ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

Sorry we broke your Wall on the way in, BTW. We still cool, yo?

Hey, any wall that a bunch of barbarians can take down is no wall at all, to a Crab. And thus, construction of the Khol Wall began, as the Crab's way of saying, "Hey, thanks for demolishing that piece of crap for us."

4 minutes ago, GoblinGuide said:

Of course it does. To rokugan a sword is a katana (...)

No. A sword is a sword. A katana is a sword, like a Nodachi, a subset of "sword" in the universe of all swords that exists (in Rokugan or not). A scimitar is also a sword. Both are curved swords, compared to straight swords like jian, arming sword, long sword and rapiers. A thing is a thing, not another, different thing. This is something that I would never ever imagined myself discussing in a L5R forum in my entire life. Seriously.

Quote

so a scimitar being noticeably more curved than a katana would be a curved sword. That is literally how language is used in real life, descriptors depend on context.

No. The words "straight" and "curved" are absolutes, defined by observation of nature, not by their exclusive relation to swords specifically. Two straight things in parallel might extend into infinity and never cross each other. The same can not be said about curved objects.

"Big" and "small" or "long" and "short" or "broad" and "thin" are relatives and can be used interchangeably depending of the era or subject. See broadswords, small swords or long swords. That is even before we start considering the fact that there are physical properties of curved swords and the dynamic of use of a curved sword that make it significantly different from a straight sword.

A katana being less curved than a scimitar don't magically make it straight. It might make it straigher than a scimitar. It is still a curved sword.

10 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I am seriously in tears laughing about this whole curved vs straght debate.

I hope it never stops.

I'm dying a little inside because I can't let it go.

52 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

The proposal probably was a holdover from Arasou the Schmuck 's time.

Yeah, it clearly precedes Toturi's championship.

He has been champion for how long at this point of time? 1 month? Something like this kind of treaty is not made nad accepted in so little time, especially when it forces a Champion to step down from her position.

21 minutes ago, Fumo said:

The nuanced point about respecting Shinjo tradition as well as Ikoma in light of the rank of champion very quickly jumped to an extremely blunt letter that amounted to 'screw the lion, its death or dishonour!'.

To be honest, I want more like this. A character realizes that he/she is being pushed around, and he/she goes "Screw X, it is death or dishonor!" after a moment of profound consideration. Rather than having 2 fics worth of angst and pointless middling that ultimately leads to nothing - or even worse, it completely flukes under the emotional/dramatic buildup.

8 minutes ago, Mirumoto Saito said:

I'm dying a little inside because I can't let it go.

47 minutes ago, Tam Palso said:

...No...preview...?

i am disappoint. ?

Uh, why would you expect any preview? It has been 5 clans already that had their preview article one week after their fiction. Why would they suddently change it for the Unicorn?