The story from the All and Nothing pack focuses on some Perfect Land sect in the Dragon lands, and touches on a couple of other clans. I can take some blurry photos to make it available if people really want, or wait for better quality ones...

I like that we are actually seeing some threads from the earlier fictions being taken up and continued. Based on what we see here I think its safe to say things will not be as calm and peaceful in the Dragon lands as folks were predicting.

14 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

I like that we are actually seeing some threads from the earlier fictions being taken up and continued. Based on what we see here I think its safe to say things will not be as calm and peaceful in the Dragon lands as folks were predicting.

Definitely, although I will note that it's the same author.

I dunno what predictions people were making... I mean, my note on the Dragon is that we've got almost no idea what they're up to. We know Yokuni ordered them to come down from the mountains, but... they've primarily appeared as non-POV guests in other stories.

I don't know how to stitch them together into a single document, but:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dfKc1d9NRejVquD36GB3M3fq5l0T8YFQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VQoxH5zB-vTkwtS1SzevWTSYW3sInc6o

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tiws5TfCnmdGbBpsLWYiNtGJnmvloT58

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GjDoFxGHAnswdV-WEzGOozSPsw5CAeW4

19 minutes ago, Kinzen said:

I don't know how to stitch them together into a single document, but:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dfKc1d9NRejVquD36GB3M3fq5l0T8YFQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VQoxH5zB-vTkwtS1SzevWTSYW3sInc6o

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tiws5TfCnmdGbBpsLWYiNtGJnmvloT58

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GjDoFxGHAnswdV-WEzGOozSPsw5CAeW4

You should have signed the first page

Now I'm really curious what Masashige has been up to, if his own son is willing to contemplate killing him over it.

10 minutes ago, Mangod said:

Now I'm really curious what Masashige has been up to, if his own son is willing to contemplate killing him over it.

Given the picture on the last page, I'm going to make a guess: Ichiro was adopted from a peasant family as an infant, and that information was kept from him until, well, 3 years ago.

So, now that I’ve read it...

Only the Phoenix are experiencing elemental instability.

Only the Dragon are experiencing a crashing birthrate.

Interesting that the two most mystical clans are the ones whose problems are so localized.

Interesting window on the Perfect Land sect... dangerous bunch, but no wonder they’re winning adherents- they offer the lower social strata, in particular, something to hope for...

1 minute ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Interesting window on the Perfect Land sect... dangerous bunch, but no wonder they’re winning adherents- they offer the lower social strata, in particular, something to hope for...

Did you notice that the devout sensei was not involved in either the questioning of newcomers or the planning session?

Nice to see @Kinzen write up the Shosuro persona-immersion idea into canon. Ms. Brennan is a very smart author and I hope to read a whole novella full of her ideas.

5 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Given the picture on the last page, I'm going to make a guess: Ichiro was adopted from a peasant family as an infant, and that information was kept from him until, well, 3 years ago.

That makes sense with Ichiro saying Masahige is undermining the celestial order. Good call!

When I first read "undermining the celestial order," my mind immediately went to "Togashi Yokuni" and how in the old lore he was actually the Kami Togashi, who lived for centuries instead of participating in the karmic cycle, so I thought that was going to be Ichiro's father. But after the revelation that it was actually Masashige, the adoption angle is possible. Or it could just be that he knows Yokuni's secret and has been a co-conspirator.

I actually think that defying karma by living forever would bother the sect more than samurai adopting peasants, given that their leader tells them that "We are all equal in the eyes of the Little Teacher."

Something that can be missed: the ronin Satto was the student of Shomon, the peasant-teaching Dragon sensei that has a dojo in the City of Lies, appearing in the In the Garden of Lies fiction.

I wonder how many subtle details we’re missing by reading the fictions as separated pieces, and with such a long time between them. I’ll have to make an habit of reading them all together once a year or so.

13 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Did you notice that the devout sensei was not involved in either the questioning of newcomers or the planning session?

Not in the questioning, but Hige was definitely in the planning session.

19 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Given the picture on the last page, I'm going to make a guess: Ichiro was adopted from a peasant family as an infant, and that information was kept from him until, well, 3 years ago.

14 hours ago, Huzbek said:

That makes sense with Ichiro saying Masahige is undermining the celestial order. Good call!

14 hours ago, Vlad3theImpaler said:

When I first read "undermining the celestial order," my mind immediately went to "Togashi Yokuni" and how in the old lore he was actually the Kami Togashi, who lived for centuries instead of participating in the karmic cycle, so I thought that was going to be Ichiro's father. But after the revelation that it was actually Masashige, the adoption angle is possible. Or it could just be that he knows Yokuni's secret and has been a co-conspirator.

I actually think that defying karma by living forever would bother the sect more than samurai adopting peasants, given that their leader tells them that "We are all equal in the eyes of the Little Teacher."

Well, that's the kicker. Mirumoto Masahige is adamantly opposed to the Perfect Land sect and their philosophy of equality, while at the same time uplifting a peasant as his own son in what can only be seen as the rankest hypocrisy.

*Personal aside, I was adopted just after birth, but was always raised with that awareness; one my first books while learning to read was 'Why Was I Adopted?". Several of my friends/classmates were also adopted, but didn't find out until they were much older, and universally they were incredibly angry in reaction to the news, most for a long time afterwards.

He may have not been a Perfect Lands devotee beforehand, but I have no doubt that 3 years ago Ichiro learned he was the son of a dirt farmer not the scion of the noble blood of Mirumoto, and that sparked a deep burning rage in him against his father and the Celestial Order as a whole.

10 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

I wonder how many subtle details we’re missing by reading the fictions as separated pieces, and with such a long time between them. I’ll have to make an habit of reading them all together once a year or so.

This is a challenge for the writers, too. Not only do we not have to forget details, but we have to make a lot of judgment calls on what to remind readers of -- assuming the point of view will even let you. (Miyako knows Satto was Shomon's student, but a different pov character might not.) Even if we had the wordcount to recap everything, which of course we don't, it would make for a really boring story if we were constantly stopping to say "remember X?" ? So it's an ongoing balancing act, and yeah, in the long run doing a periodic re-read is probably the best approach.

12 minutes ago, Kinzen said:

This is a challenge for the writers, too. Not only do we not have to forget details, but we have to make a lot of judgment calls on what to remind readers of -- assuming the point of view will even let you. (Miyako knows Satto was Shomon's student, but a different pov character might not.) Even if we had the wordcount to recap everything, which of course we don't, it would make for a really boring story if we were constantly stopping to say "remember X?" ? So it's an ongoing balancing act, and yeah, in the long run doing a periodic re-read is probably the best approach.

Well, I’ll say you’re doing pretty well. Just by adding little details that reference an older fiction, and that even makes you see them in a new light, you achieve a coherent whole picture.

For example, I just reread The Rising Wave, and there’s this phrase Mashashige says:

”Masashige’s jaw tightened. He imagined his own son kneeling alongside Sanjirō and Yuki, head bent to the strike of the blade.”

First time I read it, I just thought he was trying to humanize the heimin, to empathize with them by comparing them to his own son. A phrase to show us that Masashige is a good person that cares for everyone.

Then I read it now, knowing that his son is part of the PLS and I went “Oooooohhhh! So that’s why!”

You know, little details, but meaningful.

25 minutes ago, Tabris2k said:

First time I read it, I just thought he was trying to humanize the heimin, to empathize with them by comparing them to his own son. A phrase to show us that Masashige is a good person that cares for everyone.

Then I read it now, knowing that his son is part of the PLS and I went “Oooooohhhh! So that’s why!”

*\o/*

I love this aspect of writing anything long and serialized. Dropping in those little details so that later on somebody will look back at them and go ohhhhhh . . .

(Mind you, the flip side is the details that wind up going nowhere because the plan changed along the way. Or worse yet, the ones that trip you up because they contradict whatever the new plan is . . .)

17 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

I wonder how many subtle details we’re missing by reading the fictions as separated pieces, and with such a long time between them. I’ll have to make an habit of reading them all together once a year or so.

The current format does seem to make things harder for both the writers and the audience. The 6 in 6 distribution, and linking the other stories to that, makes for a weird boom/bust cycle. We get a bunch of stories in rapid succession, and then by the time the next cluster arrives, it's long enough that the previous bunch are fading from memory. I feel like uncoupling the story from the card releases a bit would be helpful for maintaining the flow of the story, although I have no idea if it would have any effect on card sales.

Quote

He eyed her for a moment, but not with the speculative gaze of a man thinking about sex

That line took me by surprise

-

Did they inflict her a scar for the sake of her cover? If so that speaks volume of the dedication a d resourcefulness of Scorp's agents

1 minute ago, mirrorcat said:

Did they inflict her a scar for the sake of her cover? If so that speaks volume of the dedication a d resourcefulness of Scorp's agents

I am pretty sure it says a bit later she did it to herself.

2 hours ago, mirrorcat said:

That line took me by surprise

-

Did they inflict her a scar for the sake of her cover? If so that speaks volume of the dedication a d resourcefulness of Scorp's agents

Scorpions in general are legendary for their dedication. However, she still wants it fixed when she gets back from undercover.