2 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

Exactly, that’s what what I’m afraid of. Thing is, for the looks of it, Isawa Eju has not too much time left, and then I suppose we’ll get Uona. And without the old (and more wiser) masters, it’s easy for Tadaka to make what he wants of the Council:

Tadaka: C’mon guys, let’s open some Black Scrolls...

Uona: I dunno...

Tasaka: Well, we used to do it all the time with the older guys and it was a blast. All the cool Elemental Masters are doing it!

Kaede: I’m still not sure...

Tadaka: Tell you what, we’ll start with something light, like Oni summoning, and move up to the Scrolls when you’re ready, ‘k?

Tsuke: Idiots, we did not. And if you try that again Tadaka, I'll duel you.

2 hours ago, mirrorcat said:

I'm not entirely convinced if i may be honest. I just don't see how that would benefit them or change the situation

they have already succeeded into triggering a feud between Lion and Crane that has already brought the latter on the verge of an economic crisis (partially with the contribution of Mantis raiders)

Lion, on the other hand, seemed to be in a pretty dominant position and have only profited from this early stage of the conflict and the only menace on the horizon is represented by a seemingly inevitable simultaneous war against Unicorn (which seems to be a spontaneous and completely self-inflicted occurence... Not sure if scorps had anything to do with that tbh)

Personally i think the safest approach would be to let the 3 clans brawl and then intervene on a later date with an imperial decree, forcing the truce and assigning the contested lands under direct imperial control (this would end up in a scenario where the relationship between clans would be strained, they'd have to focus on post-war reparations and the emperor gets extra income)

--

The reason why i suspect scorps to have killed Satsume is due the fact that they seem pretty lax about this murder. (Unless he died of natural causes)

Neither Kachiko nor her Husband seemed particularly worried about the Emerald Champ suddendly dying without leaving any evidence... I mean this is scorp we're talking about, they're entire reason d'etre is to develope and mantain an information network around Rokugan and you're trying to tell me that they are completely clueless about the matter and instead prefer to tamper with thenevidence to shift the blame on Lion just to damage their reputation? That'd be downright irresponsible rather than opportunistic

My thought there is that the Scorpion don't want Kuwannan poking around unsupervised. Hotaru is at this point a known quantity, she just wants to let the matter rest, but Kuwannan? He needs someone to blame. I think Satsume did die of natural causes for the exact reason you lay out. I strongly think that there would have been allusions to it in the Kachiko/Shoju conversation. But that's never going to be an acceptable answer for Kuwannan. So what do you do with him? Pick some random other Clan to blame? Or try to circle him back around to the fight against the Lion, implying that his sister failed their father at the same time, undercutting the Crane leadership?

16 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Definitely Atsuko. Kaede is Lion now, not Phoenix. Her pedigree aside, they're not gonna put her on the council when there's another option available.

Tell that to Doji Akiko...

Just now, Shiba Gunichi said:

Tell that to Doji Akiko...

Yeah, the actual daughter of Isawa gets a pass.

6 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Yeah, the actual daughter of Isawa gets beheaded by her husband

Fixed that for you.

Point is, Kaede isn't wholly impossible... but she is extremely unlikely, not least because narratively, her marriage to Toturi is by far a more interesting angle on both her character and that of her husband...

EDIT: And now, having read it... that wacky, wacky Shadow. The Void is all. The Void is Nothing. I'm... cautiously optimistic about the implied changes to some of the old lore here...

Plus, her current primary role is as advisor to the Emperor on spiritual matters. That's a huge deal for them, and a post you're not likely to pull someone from. "Oh no, Hantei, Kaede's great, really, we just need her wisdom more than you do. Here's a replacement, who's totally better, we swear."

3 hours ago, mirrorcat said:

I'm not entirely convinced if i may be honest. I just don't see how that would benefit them or change the situation

they have already succeeded into triggering a feud between Lion and Crane that has already brought the latter on the verge of an economic crisis (partially with the contribution of Mantis raiders)

Lion, on the other hand, seemed to be in a pretty dominant position and have only profited from this early stage of the conflict and the only menace on the horizon is represented by a seemingly inevitable simultaneous war against Unicorn (which seems to be a spontaneous and completely self-inflicted occurence... Not sure if scorps had anything to do with that tbh)

Personally i think the safest approach would be to let the 3 clans brawl and then intervene on a later date with an imperial decree, forcing the truce and assigning the contested lands under direct imperial control (this would end up in a scenario where the relationship between clans would be strained, they'd have to focus on post-war reparations and the emperor gets extra income)

--

The reason why i suspect scorps to have killed Satsume is due the fact that they seem pretty lax about this murder. (Unless he died of natural causes)

Neither Kachiko nor her Husband seemed particularly worried about the Emerald Champ suddendly dying without leaving any evidence... I mean this is scorp we're talking about, they're entire reason d'etre is to develope and mantain an information network around Rokugan and you're trying to tell me that they are completely clueless about the matter and instead prefer to tamper with thenevidence to shift the blame on Lion just to damage their reputation? That'd be downright irresponsible rather than opportunistic

I think that that the Scorpion's would want to keep directing the Crane's focus towards the lion. The reason for this is that the Scorpion definitely know that there are certain members of the Crane that are out for Scorpion blood.

The Crane are out for Scorpion blood as they see their role and influence in the political courts waning while the Scorpion's role and influence is ascending.

Thus the Scorpion know that the Crane will use this excuse to engage the Scorpion in openly as the Crane trys to increase their political influence.

The Scorpion don't want to give the Crane any excuse to initiate an open conflict with them and thus the evidence was conveniently planted in the Crane guest house. The Scorpion are currently benefiting from not being in open conflict with any clan and thus they will do everything they can to keep it that way.

Note that the Lion being in a dominant position also benefits the Scorpion. This is because they are technically are still in an alliance with the Lion though a deal broker by Lion`'s dead clan champion. Now I will admit that it`s tenuous at best but it is still a thing in the lore currently.

Regardless of that, the Lion` clan is about to be taken down a peg by the Unicorn war they are going to get involved in. Now, while I don't think that the Scorpion anticipated this move by the Unicorn, this war with the Unicorn does a lot of the hard work for the Scorpion. It allows the Lion to be weakened while still having the alliance with the Lion clan. Scorpion has definitely adapted their game plan for the forthcoming Unicorn-Lion war. At the end of the day the Unicorn are their own worst enemy.

Now about the Satsume death. (Note that I am assuming it was a murder for the sake of argument)

I think the Scorpion are nonchalant about the murder because of a couple of reasons.

1) They murder all the time, in secret, for the Emperor so what is 1 more murder to them. (There will always be more Emerald Champions in their view).

2) The Scorpion were already increasing in political power while Satsume was alive so why would they need to risk killing him. There were other less risky methods for them to gain more power.

3) This was a great opportunity to fill the spot with a Scorpion member. (Note that I said "Was" as a Lion ended up claiming it instead of them)

4) They at lease vaguely know who/what did the murder and are holding this information for other purposes. (EX: Bargaining at a latter date, Blackmail, etc.)

5) They are the ninja/spy clan and thus are confident that they will get to the bottom of the mystery eventually.

6) Their spy network already has a lead and they are privately pursuing it.

7) Increased hostility between Lion and Crane over increases the likelihood that both clans will be too weak to oppose the Scorpion, and the Emperor's, goals in the future.

All or only part of these reasons could be true. However, they all point towards an increased unlikelihood that Scorpion was behind the murder.

I personally feel that his murder is somehow related to the elemental imbalance that has been running through the country.

Regardless, I guess we will need to wait and see.

I never understood what the fuss was over shadow-brands. If we've learned anything from Metal Gear solid it is the only thing you need to successfully infiltrate an enemy compound is a box.

Loved this story btw.

6 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I never understood what the fuss was over shadow-brands. If we've learned anything from Metal Gear solid it is the only thing you need to successfully infiltrate an enemy compound is a box.

Loved this story btw.

“I swear Matsu-san, that reed basket has moved clear across the garden in the past 5 minutes.”

”Come now, Akodo-sama, do you notice every peasant that moves a basket? Such are the mysteries of the heimin. Besides who would be willing to shame themselves so much as to conceal themselves within such a thing? It’s unthinkable, even for a Scorpion. Surely even the mythical ninja have pride enough to test their skills against the piercing perception of yojimbo such as ourselves and would not skulk about in the trappings of a peasant’s burden. Let us return to our rounds.”

”As you say. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

On 7/19/2018 at 1:25 PM, Tonbo Karasu said:

Is Sadako actually the real Ninube, with Kaede's mother being a duplicate???

Okay... this? This I can answer, because I live and breathe horror fiction most winters...

After being taken by the Nothing, there is no real Ninube- her identity is just part of the Shadow. And Sadako? Sadako, by carrying a piece of Nothing grafted to her and calling upon it as she does? That means it can act through her as required... including showing an identity it has taken to a target of opportunity...

And Sadako, like all who use Shadow Brands, is going to become both more and less than what she was.

I like that this story featuring a shadow brand user and an Ishika. We get a story in the new continuity exploring Nothing and the Void side by side. I also had assumed that Ujina saw Ninube because he was staring into Nothing and Ninbube was consumed by Nothing. The Darkness must want Ujina and showed him Ninube to tempt him to get consumed by the Darkness. This I'm sure is setting him up to be an agent of the Darkness going forward, which means an awful lot for anyone who liked the old Lying Darkness story line.

Not sure if this story is feeding into the Satsume conspiracy or not. From my reading it seemed Sadako's goals were pretty vague, which makes sense. They would just tell her what to do and not why she's doing it.

7 hours ago, phillos said:

Not sure if this story is feeding into the Satsume conspiracy or not. From my reading it seemed Sadako's goals were pretty vague, which makes sense. They would just tell her what to do and not why she's doing it.

If they hadn't mentioned the fact that Scorpion murdered other Crane and made it look like natural causes I wouldn't have suspected any ties to the Satsume plot. I think it's being mentioned for a reason. It seems to point the finger at the Scorpion, but, I doubt they were the only ones involved.

Can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot exactly what's going on in this story? I don't have any background in the old L5R lore and I'm completely failing at following the discussion here about Shadow and Nameless One and such.

Thanks. ?

9 minutes ago, dbmeboy said:

Can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot exactly what's going on in this story? I don't have any background in the old L5R lore and I'm completely failing at following the discussion here about Shadow and Nameless One and such.

Thanks. ?

The Lying Darkness is the last remnant of the formless primordial void before the Three Gods Whose Names Cannot Be Spoken created the Sun and Moon. The Darkness consumes the identity of people as part of its attempts to unmake reality. A Nameless One is someone who has been consumed by the Darkness, then cleansed of the taint. They retain very little of their identity, though.

The Scorpion Clan makes use of the Darkness to create Ninja. Hence why the story refers to Sadako losing parts of herself.

17 minutes ago, dbmeboy said:

Can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot exactly what's going on in this story? I don't have any background in the old L5R lore and I'm completely failing at following the discussion here about Shadow and Nameless One and such.

Thanks. ?

1 minute ago, Mangod said:

The Lying Darkness is the last remnant of the formless primordial void before the Three Gods Whose Names Cannot Be Spoken created the Sun and Moon. The Darkness consumes the identity of people as part of its attempts to unmake reality. A Nameless One is someone who has been consumed by the Darkness, then cleansed of the taint. They retain very little of their identity, though.

The Scorpion Clan makes use of the Darkness to create Ninja. Hence why the story refers to Sadako losing parts of herself.

Note that while Mangod's explanation is broadly correct as regards the old lore, there are indications in this tale that The Lying Darkness/The Nothing/The Shadow is actually part and parcel of the Void (which is everything and nothing) in some fashion (an idea I find vastly preferable to how the concept played out in the last go-around)

In the old lore, The Nameless One was what became of Isawa Ujina- but the flavor text on his card indicated that it wasn't initially what it would later become- the tie to Nothing was introduced later, much like the Nothing itself.

Quote

Once an Elemental Master, now his name has been stricken from the Histories of the Phoenix and his daughter carries out his duty.

We would later get an Isawa Ujina card in the Scorpion Clan Coup set noting that it counted as an Inexperienced version of The Nameless One.

By the end of the first major story arc of the old lore, the Lying Darkness was not yet a concept (the old lore is full of things that were retroactively introduced due to the vagaries of storylines and brand decisions)- it was introduced, in part, because Fu Leng was dead for a while and a new Cosmic Evil was needed. The tale took some rather dumb turns in places (note: Lying Darkness stories had absolutely no monopoly on being dumb), but FFG is in the position of being able to cherry-pick the good stuff and toss out some of the lamer aspects.

I'll point out that the Way of Shadow for the 1e RPG is a remarkably good and creepy supplement [Side note, something I liked about the L5R RPG was that some of the expansion books were credited to NPCs: The Merchant's Guide was by Yasuki Taka (everyone's favourite Wily Trader) and The Way of Shadow was by Kitsuki Kaagi (who turns up as an assistant magistrate in the Toshi Ranbo intro story)].

Regarding Scorpion murdering Satsume: I'm leaning no... or if he was murdered by them, it was pulled by Kachiko imho.

Kachiko is pushing for Scorps for even more power, while her hubby is leery against it. I am not sure Shoju would be willing to have Satsume killed just for conveniance. Either Satsume was up to something that would be a problem for the Empire, or he died of natural causes. Or Kachiko got it arranged herself.

In regards to plotting, what works best for Scorps is probably trying to drag out the Crane-Lion war while urging the Lion to engage Unicorn as well. If the Lion get some rest between the 2 wars, they may emerge stronger than ever.

As for this one... interesting I knew in general of the brands, and Nothing - Void weird relationship. The Phoenix are really on the backpedal at the moment.

Thank you @Mangod and @Shiba Gunichi for the explanation, now the story makes more sense.

I'm curious to see how FFG intend to develope the story.

Some questions:

1) How and why do scorps use the darkness rather than just train your nin-... agents the orthodox way? (Is it because the extra bonus in stealth + convenient amnesia?)

2) Doji Ninube was part of the Doji tamily of the crane, right? Shouldn't she have eir charatteristic white/silver hair?

( does the Darkness internship involves healthcare plans and benefits like free coupons for interdimensional Beauty saloons?)

-------------

29 minutes ago, Horvagab said:

In regards to plotting, what works best for Scorps is probably trying to drag out the Crane-Lion war while urging the Lion to engage Unicorn as well. If the Lion get some rest between the 2 wars, they may emerge stronger than ever.

We'll probably find out this week but my educated guess is that Lions are already at war with Unicorn.At the very least we know Mako has already invaded at least 1 unicorn settlement, admittedly without the Champion's agreement or even knowLedge of the event.

personally i hope we get to see the ponies stomping their way to a one sided victory if anything just to see a change in Lion's leadership from the current hypocritical,belligerant,reckless to more moderate and rational personalities

16 minutes ago, mirrorcat said:

Thank you @Mangod and @Shiba Gunichi for the explanation, now the story makes more sense.

I'm curious to see how FFG intend to develope the story.

Some questions:

1) How and why do scorps use the darkness rather than just train your nin-... agents the orthodox way? (Is it because the extra bonus in stealth + convenient amnesia?)

2) Doji Ninube was part of the Doji tamily of the crane, right? Shouldn't she have eir charatteristic white/silver hair?

( does the Darkness internship involves healthcare plans and benefits like free coupons for interdimensional Beauty saloons?)

1) The Scorpion have been using Shadow Brands ever since the first day of Thunder. The story goes like this. The Scorpion Thunder (Shosuro) was beloved of Bayushi. When Shiba went to find the Thunders, who had gone missing, he found only Shosuro alive, and her just barely. But the reason she was alive was because she had met the Shadow and made a deal with it. When she returned to Bayushi, she no longer appeared to be herself. So Bayushi put round the story that Shosuro had died, and shortly thereafter welcomed a new retainer and family to the Scorpion: Soshi. Ever since then both the Shosuro and Soshi families have made use of the darkness, partly to fulfil Shosuro's original deal and partly because it does give them help.

2) White hair amongst the Doji is mostly due to fashionable hair bleaching. One of the early Doji (I think it may have been the Crane Thunder!) had naturally white hair since they were an albino. Because they died a heroic death, many of the family (and some other members of the Clan) bleach their hair white in honour and memory of them.

1 hour ago, mirrorcat said:

Thank you @Mangod and @Shiba Gunichi for the explanation, now the story makes more sense.

I'm curious to see how FFG intend to develope the story.

Some questions:

1) How and why do scorps use the darkness rather than just train your nin-... agents the orthodox way? (Is it because the extra bonus in stealth + convenient amnesia?)

2) Doji Ninube was part of the Doji tamily of the crane, right? Shouldn't she have eir charatteristic white/silver hair?

( does the Darkness internship involves healthcare plans and benefits like free coupons for interdimensional Beauty saloons?)

-------------

We'll probably find out this week but my educated guess is that Lions are already at war with Unicorn.At the very least we know Mako has already invaded at least 1 unicorn settlement, admittedly without the Champion's agreement or even knowLedge of the event.

personally i hope we get to see the ponies stomping their way to a one sided victory if anything just to see a change in Lion's leadership from the current hypocritical,belligerant,reckless to more moderate and rational personalities

Here's a picture of Doji Ninube, post Lying Darkness-ing.

49 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

1) The Scorpion have been using Shadow Brands ever since the first day of Thunder. The story goes like this. The Scorpion Thunder (Shosuro) was beloved of Bayushi. When Shiba went to find the Thunders, who had gone missing, he found only Shosuro alive, and her just barely. But the reason she was alive was because she had met the Shadow and made a deal with it. When she returned to Bayushi, she no longer appeared to be herself. So Bayushi put round the story that Shosuro had died, and shortly thereafter welcomed a new retainer and family to the Scorpion: Soshi. Ever since then both the Shosuro and Soshi families have made use of the darkness, partly to fulfil Shosuro's original deal and partly because it does give them help.

2) White hair amongst the Doji is mostly due to fashionable hair bleaching. One of the early Doji (I think it may have been the Crane Thunder!) had naturally white hair since they were an albino. Because they died a heroic death, many of the family (and some other members of the Clan) bleach their hair white in honour and memory of them.

The hair thing stems from Daidoji Hayaku, the brother of the Crane Clan Thunder. After the Day of Thunder, Doji Hayaku travelled into the Shadowlands to look for the missing Thunders. He returned three years later with bleached hair, no voice, and his sisters sword.

He was then given the name Daidoji, "Defender of the Doji", and his descendants have protected the rest of the Clan ever since.

3 hours ago, mirrorcat said:

2) Doji Ninube was part of the Doji tamily of the crane, right? Shouldn't she have eir charatteristic white/silver hair?

( does the Darkness internship involves healthcare plans and benefits like free coupons for interdimensional Beauty saloons?)

I don’t get your question. She has white hair in this fiction.

1 hour ago, Tabris2k said:

I don’t get your question. She has white hair in this fiction.

Huh... You are right.

i'm not sure why i thought it was any different, probably that kunoichi card image threw me off together with the subconcious belief that someone infiltrating in the middle of the night would not have such a flamboyant hair color.

Or perhaps this was all due to the Shadowlands playing tricks on us

-------------

21 hours ago, dbmeboy said:

Can someone explain to me like I'm an idiot exactly what's going on in this story? I don't have any background in the old L5R lore and I'm completely failing at following the discussion here about Shadow and Nameless One and such.

Thanks. ?

Don't feel bad. It might be one of the more confusing parts of old L5R lore to get right. Especially when it's shown side by side with the void.

21 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Note that while Mangod's explanation is broadly correct as regards the old lore, there are indications in this tale that The Lying Darkness/The Nothing/The Shadow is actually part and parcel of the Void (which is everything and nothing) in some fashion (an idea I find vastly preferable to how the concept played out in the last go-around)

I got the feeling the relationship was more or less the same, but maybe I missed some nuance that you picked up on in the story. Also I remember Katrina's talk during one of the Facebook live videos they did during launch where she explained the Lying Darkness in contrast to the Void and it lined up with my understanding. That might be coloring my expectation in the new continuity.

My understanding of the old continuity is the Void even though it is literally the absence of the other elements is still an element itself. It is the intangible element that holds all the other elements together. In my mind I think they are going for something like the Greek concept of Aether or more excitingly Obi Wan's description of the force. In both cases those things would be something. A Void Shugenja can feel and experience the Void. It's described sort of like a river or ocean where all other elements interact.

The Nothing in old L5R was presented as more of an existential emptiness. An absence of anything including the Void. It derives from what was before creation. This Nothing can be harnessed by Shugenja just like the five elements. It's the basis for the Scorpion magic and specifically shadow brands.

They could harmonize the two concepts and make the void one and the same with Nothing, but that would be a major change. Nothing (well specifically the Lying Darkness) is usually colored in a more malevolent way since it seeks to unmake creation to return it all to a perfect emptiness. The Void is a much more neutral concept.

2 hours ago, mirrorcat said:

Huh... You are right.

i'm not sure why i thought it was any different, probably that kunoichi card image threw me off together with the subconcious belief that someone infiltrating in the middle of the night would not have such a flamboyant hair color.

Or perhaps this was all due to the Shadowlands playing tricks on us

-------------

I’m under the impression you’re mixing Ninube and Shosuro.

While Shosuro has black hair (as can be seen in her card), when Ujina looks at her, he does not see Shosuro, he sees an image of Ninube, “her face a perfect arrangement of curves and angles framed by hair so white it glowed [...] smiling at him”.

Which is clearly a trick from the Shadow to lure Ujina and trap him.

Re the Nothing and the Void, since I wrote the chapter about the Nothing in "Enemies of the Empire", I'd offer the following as a bit of clarification of the OLD canon (I'm not saying any of this relates to the new canon, in which all we know about "the Shadow" is really only what's revealed in this story). The Nothing is the existential void (note the small "v") that predates creation. To put it in more modern terms, it's whatever existed before our universe was created via the "Big Bang"...that is, something essentially unknowable, and expressible in human terms only as a complete lack of anything. At some point, the Nothing became "aware" in some fashion, enough that it experienced (and effectively defined) the three great sins--it realized it was all there was and was afraid; in response, it desired that something more existed, so it wouldn't be alone; this caused creation and the beginning of material existence, which the Nothing then regretted, because it made itself less perfect and complete. So the Nothing is still out there, the vast expanse of whatever unknowable "things or stuff" that exists OUTSIDE creation. The Lying Darkness was the vestigial remnant of the Nothing left INSIDE creation--essentially a fragment, left over after the Sun and Moon had named everything else. Ever since material existence came into being, the Nothing--and its "avatar" inside creation, the Lying Darkness (and later the Shadow Dragon)-- has sought to return things to what they once were i.e. Nothing, everywhere.

Okay, that's the big picture. As noted by others, the Scorpion became aware of the Lying Darkness, but only insofar as it seemed to be another...power, or force, or even an element, which they called "Shadow". Shosuro brought this awareness back to the Empire after the First Day of Thunder, then she subsequently "died", but actually became a "new" follower of the Kami Bayushi, named Soshi. Since then, the Soshi and Shosuro families have fiddled with this very useful thing called "Shadow", finding they could incorporate it into physical imprints on their agents, in a form called Shadow Brands. This allowed the agents imprinted with Brands to execute preternatural feats of stealth...BUT, there was a terrible cost. The process of imprinting Shadow Brands is extremely difficult, excruciatingly painful and sometimes kills the recipient (which is why they don't just stick Shadow Brands on all of their shinobi). It also seems to, over time, erode away the identity of the Shadow Branded, and sometimes they mysteriously just disappear altogether. It wasn't until the war against the Lying Darkness in the old canon that the Scorpion realized what they were actually screwing around with, whereupon they gave up the use of "shadow magic" and Shadow Brands and focused, instead, on figuring out how to combat the Lying Darkness.

So, what about the relationship between the Nothing and Void? In "Enemies of the Empire", we introduced some speculation that there was some sort of connection between these two things. For example, there were high-Rank Void spells that could effectively erase things from existence, which sounds like a Nothing sort of thing to do. The Void is believed to encompass all of creation, much like the Nothing, and is even taken to be "everything and nothing" both at once. There was also speculation that the Nothing may have sought to influence pre-historical civilizations; for example, powerful Nezumi had the ability to strip away an individuals "Name" (i.e. their identity), which again sounds like something the Nothing might do. Notably, we never established that there WAS a relationship of any sort between the Nothing and the Void, only that there APPEARED to be some commonalities that the Rokugani had noted.

So, that encapsulates the OLD canon. I can't get into the new canon about this, beyond what's in the story, so you'll need to draw your own conclusions from "Dreams of Shadow" and whatever future fictions, card flavor, etc. that happens be published about/including the "Shadow" (which is actually a Keyword on Shosuro Sadako's LCG card).