3 minutes ago, Zesu Shadaban said:

The part that really has me curious about it is, there seems (at least from how I read it) a definite interest on the part of Kaede, and by extension the Phoenix, to accommodate the ban of meishodo directly and without the need of reinstating a Jade Champion. But maybe it's just a vested interest in not being "replaced" in managing the empire's soul.

Definitely both

Does anyone else marvel at the sheer stupidity of Isawa Atsuko, or is its just me?

I mean by default all prophesy are vague, disjointed, and offer only possible answers...and yet with a handful of images comes to the conclusion that whatever disaster is coming is the Unicorns fault! She didnt even take the time to think it over or decipher the myriad meaning the visions showed just went straight to "Unicorns are HERESY!" and tell Mama Turkey that troubles abrewin`.

I predict one of three thing:

1. The Phoenix ban it: this angers the Unicorn, but low and behold they weren't looking far enough west and a cleaver oni lord hijacks a bunch of old Ivory Kingdom ships, sails around and attacks the Empire from the rear. Unicorn fend off assault, weather many losses and issues with taint and their Champion is lost, but the use of meishōdō proves to be a major asset in repelling the horde.

The Emperor is impressed, apologizes and lifts the ban.

Phoenix are Disgraced.

Lions lose even more territory for (likely) supporting them.

Unicorn share a knowing look with the Crab, who nodes and sends some Kuni to help clear out the taint and rebuild. Beginning of Uni-Crab bro-club.

2. The Phoenix fail to ban it: Kaede, thinking the worst, attempts a last ditch effort to prove that the Phoenix always knows best, breaks the enchantment holding the power Jinn down. The free Jinn burns down the Imperial Palace all the Hantei line is lost, along with the palace. Everyone is angry and start ribbing the Unicorn for bringing something so dangerous into the palace.

Unicorn point out that it was the Phoenix that unleashed the Jinn. Everyone asks why the Phoenix did something so incredibly stupid, for which they have no good answer.

Phoenix are Disgraced.

Everyone is on edge.

Jade Magistrate is reformed.

Almost unanimous vote puts Unicorn in charge of Jade Magistrate (to pour salt on the wound)

Throne is Empty.

Let the Race begin! Phoenix are at -1.

3. Its a Scorpion Trap: The Phoenix plays right into the sinister clans hands. History repeats itself.

...and thus the continuation of the Old Phoenix Tradition of FAIL continues into a new generation.

I think the more interesting result is banning it. It would only heighten the feelings left after the unicorn fiction and really test the Unicorn is interesting ways. FFG will no doubt not REMOVE the magic, but write the art and the cards to reflect it as a more forbidden aspect. Like the Scorpion ninja.

Giving the knowledge to the Seppun does nothing but defuse the plot, making the Unicorn just grumbly complying. It doesn't share the magic with the rest of the empire and thus is a once off thing. Maybe we would see a seppun shugenja using the magic on a card, who knows.

I want the first story choice to be radical and impactful, to really start a marked difference in the setting, so I would ban the magic and see what happens.

57 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

As players, we need conflicts or the game would be boring. And having constant outside threats would be silly. From that point of view, I'd hope for players not taking it too seriously. Today enemies, tomorrow who knows.

Oh definitely! It's just a combination of reflex from AEG history (we lose everything) and also being on the side of the Lion.

52 minutes ago, Zesu Shadaban said:

The part that really has me curious about it is, there seems (at least from how I read it) a definite interest on the part of Kaede, and by extension the Phoenix, to accommodate the ban of meishodo directly and without the need of reinstating a Jade Champion. But maybe it's just a vested interest in not being "replaced" in managing the empire's soul.

I feel like the Phoenix has no prevalent feeling about meishodo either way (other than concern and confusion), and they are more concerned with putting out the first sparks of fire before dealing with the source.

13 minutes ago, Magus Black said:

Does anyone else marvel at the sheer stupidity of Isawa Atsuko, or is its just me?

I mean by default all prophesy are vague, disjointed, and offer only possible answers...and yet with a handful of images comes to the conclusion that whatever disaster is coming is the Unicorns fault! She didnt even take the time to think it over or decipher the myriad meaning the visions showed just went straight to "Unicorns are HERESY!" and tell Mama Turkey that troubles abrewin`.

Confirmation bias is a **** of a drug.

I'm so torn, I'd love to have the Unis as an ally, but they hurt the Lion so much.

31 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

I think the more interesting result is banning it. It would only heighten the feelings left after the unicorn fiction and really test the Unicorn is interesting ways. FFG will no doubt not REMOVE the magic, but write the art and the cards to reflect it as a more forbidden aspect. Like the Scorpion ninja.

Giving the knowledge to the Seppun does nothing but defuse the plot, making the Unicorn just grumbly complying. It doesn't share the magic with the rest of the empire and thus is a once off thing. Maybe we would see a seppun shugenja using the magic on a card, who knows.

I want the first story choice to be radical and impactful, to really start a marked difference in the setting, so I would ban the magic and see what happens.

I could be wrong but I think that you overstimate the impact of the choices.

But as I cannot enter the Void to check the future, I'll have to wait for hindsight.

3 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

I could be wrong but I think that you overstimate the impact of the choices.

But as I cannot enter the Void to check the future, I'll have to wait for hindsight.

Voids our schtick, nobody bring that up.

3 minutes ago, SHARKOSAURUS said:

Voids our schtick, nobody bring that up.

I always thought arrogance and magical stupidity was the Phoenix schtick?

23 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

Giving the knowledge to the Seppun does nothing but defuse the plot, making the Unicorn just grumbly complying. It doesn't share the magic with the rest of the empire and thus is a once off thing. Maybe we would see a seppun shugenja using the magic on a card, who knows.

Not necessarily. Let's say it's accepted. Unicorn teach it to the Seppun telling them "whatever you do with it don't do this" and the Seppun gets seduced by the promise of power or tricked by someone else and the big baddie inside the gem gets let out.

I think the story is going there one way or another....we just don't know what will be the cause yet. Either option has many different routes that can be taken to reach the ultimate end point of some big bad thing getting out.

1 minute ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

I always thought arrogance and magical stupidity was the Phoenix schtick?

I'm hoping desperately that it's not in this new one.

1 minute ago, SHARKOSAURUS said:

I'm hoping desperately that it's not in this new one.

*like*

Well, not a Black Scroll in sight. So, you're already ahead.

I sort of assume that by outlawing meishodo many, if not all, of the talismans would be destroyed, which in turn would unleash the evil spirit that Kaede saw. Along with, potentially, a whole host of foreign spirits on top of it. I'm sure studying it wouldn't end well either and could just lead to the same conclusion that it's bad and needs to be outlawed but at least they'd understand how it works first before taking drastic action.

The removal of meishodo wouldn't all together stop Unicorn magic, but I could certainly see it maybe speeding up the process to getting Death Priests, the other Unicorn magic staple (which the other clans also still wouldn't approve of..)

Just now, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

*like*

Well, not a Black Scroll in sight. So, you're already ahead.

I know it's a tired message from basically every Phoenix player on here, but I really don't want any of us to be super maho prone. Let us do cool things with actual magic. Make void magic more prevalent!

Oh shoot, I've done with Gunichi usually does.

I loved the way Death Priest decks played, so I'm all for heavy metal shugenja coming back to Rokugan ASAP.

56 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

I think the more interesting result is banning it. It would only heighten the feelings left after the unicorn fiction and really test the Unicorn is interesting ways. FFG will no doubt not REMOVE the magic, but write the art and the cards to reflect it as a more forbidden aspect. Like the Scorpion ninja.

Giving the knowledge to the Seppun does nothing but defuse the plot, making the Unicorn just grumbly complying. It doesn't share the magic with the rest of the empire and thus is a once off thing. Maybe we would see a seppun shugenja using the magic on a card, who knows.

I want the first story choice to be radical and impactful, to really start a marked difference in the setting, so I would ban the magic and see what happens.

Banning it could lead to underground meishōdō cults, a concept that I find ridiculously interesting, for reasons I don't even understand. There are probably other interesting applications aside from that. For example, Kaede did see something apparently dangerous within the talisman, so the ban could lead to meishōdō never being studied, preventing that threat from being discovered and eventually leading to the prophecy being fulfilled.

However, if the Unicorn are forced to develop a conventional shugenja school it could dilute the role of meishōdō by a large margin, even if the ban is lifted at some point, and the Unicorn would lose a unique element. In the 4th edition of the RPG meishōdō wasn't even core, with the relevance they are giving it this time around it would be a shame if it ended the same way .

4 minutes ago, SHARKOSAURUS said:

I know it's a tired message from basically every Phoenix player on here, but I really don't want any of us to be super maho prone. Let us do cool things with actual magic. Make void magic more prevalent!

Oh shoot, I've done with Gunichi usually does.

I loved the way Death Priest decks played, so I'm all for heavy metal shugenja coming back to Rokugan ASAP.

No death priests please.

If you want something more goth join we Crab.

Void magic is so dangerous , we'd probably go from maho to some silly Phoenix wiping out a province or something and you'd be back where you started ??

Just now, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

No death priests please.

If you want something more goth join we Crab.

Void magic is so dangerous , we'd probably go from maho to some silly Phoenix wiping out a province or something and you'd be back where you started ??

It's either dangerous or hardly noticed! I'd rather roll those dice than "lol bad magic ur corrupted nao liek erry tiem"

5 minutes ago, Doji Tori said:

Banning it could lead to underground meishōdō cults, a concept that I find ridiculously interesting, for reasons I don't even understand. Plus there are probably way more interesting applications than just that.

However, if the Unicorn are forced to develop a conventional shugenja school it could dilute the role of meishōdō by a large margin, even if the ban is lifted at some point, and the Unicorn would lose a unique element. In the 4th edition of the RPG meishōdō wasn't even core, with the relevance they are giving it this time around it would be a shame if it ended the same way .

They already have a 'traditional' school

meishodo is extra like the Sodan senzo or the Tsangusuri makers

5 minutes ago, SHARKOSAURUS said:

It's either dangerous or hardly noticed! I'd rather roll those dice than "lol bad magic ur corrupted nao liek erry tiem"

You sound like a hillbilly in a Lovecraft story

Just now, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

You sound like a hillbilly in Lovecraft story

Dunwich is a lovely place.

4 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

They already have a 'traditional' school

meishodo is extra like the Sodan senzo or the Tsangusuri makers

Have we already seen that school? I can't remember any mention of Unicorn using regular magic.

It seems like FFG is testing the waters. The traditional vs radical debate that we've seen so many times is perfectly encapsulated in this story choice. Maybe they'll use this choice as a litmus test to see what other boundaries the community is open to pushing.

4 minutes ago, Doji Tori said:

Have we already seen that school? I can't remember any mention of Unicorn using regular magic.

No we haven't. Not yet. But I can't see the Unicorn making ANY cultural traction in Rokugan utilizing ONLY a foreign magical practice.

They most likely were reacquainted with standard practices on their return same as it used to be

1 minute ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

No we haven't. Not yet. But I can't see the Unicorn making ANY cultural traction utilizing ONLY a foreign magical practice.

They most likely were reacquainted with standard practices on their return same as it used to be

Reasonable assumption yes, I didn't take that into account. However, one important thing is that, even if that school exists, it hasn't overshadowed meishōdō yet, which seemed to happen in the old setting.

To be fair, I didn't get a particularly strong feeling of uniqueness from the extras other clan shugenja families have either, so maybe I just want to feel more shugenja flavours than "Phoenix" and "Phoenix but worse". (The family specialties were cool but they felt kind of minor).