So we know the Henshin are coming thanks to the preview of the new Phoenix card in the new pack. I never played Old5R but I like to read some snippets here and there of the previous lore.

So why is FFG introducing Henshin in the Imperial Cycle. Are they going to play the long game and briefly introduce them in the lore?

Will they keep the same theme as Old5R:

To the rest of Rokugan, even the rest of the Phoenix Clan , the Henshin Academy appeared to be where the Asako trained their historians and courtiers . The majority of the empire believed this was the purpose of the Academy.

In truth, the Asako perpetrated this belief so that they could conduct their true studies in seclusion. The easiest way to protect their knowledge, they thought, was to let the rest of the world believe it did not exist. To this end, they let their true students taught themselves as they wandered Rokugan, returning to Asako lands only once they were ready to learn their next Mystery.

Early in the training of an Asako student, the student was evaluated by the Fushihai to determine if he was ready to learn the secrets of the Path of Man . If the student was deemed unworthy, he was given the standard training as a historian or courtier. Worthy students, however, were placed under a Henshin sensei and began their true training.

Supposedly these Henshin monks, according to Old5R, know the secrets to the Path of Man. How will this secret play out in this new world? (Assuming FFG is keeping this backstory of Henshin)

I always wanted to play one in the RPG, but the rules were always too complicated.

Henshin used to be abusively good at stuff in the RPG... so much so that at the AEG-run Winter Court 4, the Henshin archer entered in the Bowman's Wager was politely asked to recuse himself, because he was otherwise likely to run the friggin' table.

The Henshin were often presented as physical prodigies (often getting military-themed cards in the CCG), and, as so often happened in the CCG days, what was supposed to be a fringe element of the Asako identity (most Asako ARE scholars and courtiers) sorta overtook popular perception.

I'll be interested to see what FFG's story does with them, but I'm glad they're around.

I'm curious now... does anyone else think they'll introduce some sort of Phoenix internal and/or Phoenix-Dragon conflict by having the Henshin Path of Man and the Perfect Land Sect run into each other?

Perfect Land is already banned in Phoenix lands. Even saying the PLS mantra is illegal there. Last we heard, Dragon does not think it can successfully ban PLS but might try in different circumstances. Then again, Dragon tend to be more "open minded" than Phoenix. Is that because Phoenix can afford to be more certain? Or because Phoenix cannot afford to be wishy washy? Hard to say.

PLS teaches Rokugan has entered the Age of Declining Virtue (Suijindai). Adherents believe that cultivating personal merit is unnecessary because simple faith in Shinsei is enough to free them from the cycle of rebirth. By contrast, orthodoxy holds that people must cultivate personal merit to reincarnate "upwards" ( e.g. , from peasant to samurai) and eventually escape the cycle. PLS ideology is dangerous because it undermines the spiritual foundation of Rokugan's class system and politics.

In old L5R, the Path of Man also had politically disruptive connotations but, unlike PLS, demands extremely rigorous self-cultivation. The Path of Man was also a closely guarded Asako secret, IIRC. It's always been a source of tension between Asako and Isawa that Shiba shared his last words with the former rather than latter. But that seems an unlikely source of intraclan conflict.

1 hour ago, Mangod said:

I'm curious now... does anyone else think they'll introduce some sort of Phoenix internal and/or Phoenix-Dragon conflict by having the Henshin Path of Man and the Perfect Land Sect run into each other?

As Manchu alludes to- and as the Phoenix fanbase hilariously replicates- the Phoenix don't need the Perfect Land Sect for internal conflict (and also seem to be pretty doctrinaire about stamping the PLS out wherever they can).

The Isawa are extremely peeved that Shiba shared the Path of Man with Lady Asako and her family- and not with them.
The Asako (often correctly, in the old lore) roll their eyes at the Isawa on a near-daily basis for their lack of the wisdom to use their knowledge as they should.
The Shiba, tasked with protecting the Isawa, have, at times, had to play mediator between the two other Phoenix families- more than anyone else until the Clan War era, the Phoenix would come within a hair of civil war- and in fact, in the old story, in 1126, the existence of the Henshin getting leaked led directly to the Phoenix being consumed with internal squabbles and therefore missing some of the moves the Crab were making at the time.

When you're led, not by a single Champion, but by 5 Elemental Masters who may or may not get along, and who sometimes represent entire families that don't get along, essentially served by a Champion who may or may not bridle at some of what they're doing, you really don't need much help for internal conflict...

Wasn't The Dragon delegation in the Imperial court presenting a request regarding PLS? I know the fiction for that scene didn't go into much detail, but it would seem the Dragon have decided to do... something, anyways. Hopefully we find out more soon.

Yes, I'm super intrigued by that.

@Kinzen hope you got that assignment!

We definitely need more Dragon stuff. If only so they can catch up to Phoenix and I can whine about having the least fiction of anyone again...

My standard answer on all such things will be that I can neither confirm nor deny anything, apart from the fact that I have indeed written more fiction for L5R that you will see . . . uhhh . . . eventually? You guys probably know the release schedule better than I do. :-P

6 hours ago, Manchu said:

@Kinzen hope you got that assignment!

Hey guys, she already has said that she has a NDA signed with FFG, so let’s keep questions to a minimum. Last thing we want is she being fired and not writing more fiction!

... unless that NDA includes locking her in FFG’s basement and making her write even more fiction if she talks too much ?. Then we should definitely make her break the NDA!