Alternatively, the Scorpion make sure that the most incompetent Imperials are the ones they have to deal with regularly, so that they can be more easily manipulated and scapegoated.

Not to mention, I question Aramoro's perception of the interaction with the Otomo. He doesn't quite seem right in the head.

1 hour ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I have to wonder why every single fiction that is written for the Scorpion Clan seems to require including at least one Imperial Families character and making them out to be completely incompetent, foolish and easily beaten.

Sure, it happened in one Unicorn fiction too, but it all seems to be in the Scorpion fiction.

It feels like the Scorpion are desperately compensating for something. The writers so utterly insecure that they can remotely stand on their own that they require a strawman to beat up to assure us that they don't suck nearly as much as it is pretty obvious that they do in a vacuum.

I can only hope that eventually we will get characters with "Seppun", "Otomo" and "Miya" names that can actually be successful at things eventually.

It would be all the funnier if it turns out that the ones so far have always intentionally put on an act to pretend to be weaker than they were and always let the Clan samurai win whenever possible because then the Clan samurai become self-assured, over-confident and motivated to engage with the actual affairs of the empire. As opposed to seeing the Imperials as a challenge and threat that needs to be beaten and instead turning their energy towards defeating them.

"Yeah, we know that Kachiko desperately tries to act sexy to get men to be agreeable to her."
"Yes, we know that the Scorpion think that Miku still works for them."
"Yes, we know that the Scorpion have their ninja run through imperial gardens every now and again, you really thought a trained imperial guard can't see the girl 20 centimers in front of him! We just figured we would let them do their thing and just keep tabs on it so long as they don't step on our toes."
"Obviously our daimyo could beat that courtier in Go, but we don't want him going home feeling and gloomy and hopeless and pass that on to the rest of his clan."
"Yeah, we knew the bodyguard was going to try to assassinate Kachiko-- and that Kachiko was using a body-double. The plan was to kill the body-double forcing Kachiko to either admit she was using one or to have to hide herself permanently."

This ignores the rampant nepotism that would be running rampant through the Imperial families, and the fact that they should have much a smaller talent pool to draw from as compared to the great clans for filling important positions. At the end of the day the bulk of the Imperials being closely tied to the Emperor would very likely get the "You are perfect milord" treatment more often so haven't necessarily been pushed to achieve greater levels the way an ambitious clan samurai may have.

2 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

This ignores the rampant nepotism that would be running rampant through the Imperial families, and the fact that they should have much a smaller talent pool to draw from as compared to the great clans for filling important positions. At the end of the day the bulk of the Imperials being closely tied to the Emperor would very likely get the "You are perfect milord" treatment more often so haven't necessarily been pushed to achieve greater levels the way an ambitious clan samurai may have.

Well, no clan "picks" its champion or daimyo, well-- other than the Phoenix in a way, but that is the weird exception. Every other one is clearly having its Kami family head pick their favorite child generation after generation. And whatever would be happening among the Imperials, would certainly be happening within the Clans as well.

But rather than various family daimyos and Clan champions being spoiled brats who never had to be good at anything to get all the respect in the world, a situation that would no doubt arise, instead they are projected to be the best of the best at everything that optimizes their clan/family.

Granted, we see that this is most definitely true of Sotorii. It is very obvious that his whole character has been shaped by never being challenged, never losing even when he should and being given more reverence and respect than he has ever had the chance to earn, and being totally unaware that he should do anything to earn it. Either the story is moving in the arc that Sotorii is going to turn out worse than anyone thinks, or he is set for some sort of redemption arc (though readers often find it impossible to let go of their initial negative impressions of a character, so given just how short these stories are a redemption arc might not be possible)

The only weird thing about Sotorii then is... given the deference and groveling shown to any Hantei, given that none of them would be pushed or challenged any more than he has been, given that none of them would be strictly or roughly treated, trained or corrected, given that there is no reason to think any of his upbringing has been unusual compared to any Hantei ever, how could this possibly be only the second time in 38 generations that an individual turned out so delusional and spoiled? He should be typical of anyone brought up that way. Unless the way he was treated was highly unusual, but then-- what could possibly have changed since the time his father was a child?

While it might be more realistic that those furtherest from the centers of power, whose abilities are actually necessary for their continued success and survival are the best at what they do and those who are never challenged are not-- having both the Otomo and Miya daimyos so far made out to be complete push-overs doesn't sit well and Utoshi sets a whole new low for well... any character that has been introduced outside of ronin. If he has any position, any power-- why would he take the kind of disrespect shown by what amounts to a random Scorpion yojibo, whether it is the Imperial Advisor's servant or not? It seems like any other character introduced so far would have anyone who spoke that way to them killed had they at all the power to do so.

Really, I think it just boils down to "we can't make the Scorpion look good in a vacuum, the only thing about them that would remotely draw people in is their skills and so we need someone to be their punching bag... and we can't make it any playable faction, so we've got to make it the neutral guys."

But, they have leaned on this crutch so very, very hard that it long ago ceased to function to make the Scorpion look good, it has just caused the Imperials to look bad unless part of their whole strategy is to be perceived as weak. And if the Scorpions can only trick and cajole and sneak around people who are universally blind, ignorant, naive, cowardly and dumb... well, that's just not impressive. Literally anyone who put in the barest amount of effort could do that.

One is only impressive when they defeat someone who is a decent opponent. But nothing has been done to suggest that these opponents are meant to be perceived as decent and constantly "jobbing" only serves to indicate the exact opposite.

I look forward to reading your stories and novellas about Rokugan. You must have quite the impressive collection building up with all the various corrections and improvements needed to make an acceptable storyline and setting.

Imperials get chumped the most because they have almost zero fanbase.

*shrug*

It's no great mystery.

Narratively, we're in a place where the reigning dynasty is tottering, and the clans are about to start tearing each other to bits.

A strong, competent Imperial authority would get in the way of all of that lovely decay and dissolution. As I say every time I point out what a fool Kakita Yoshi is, we're not at the part of the story where things get better.

1. The Unicorn will go on thumping their chests about their right to do weird stuff nobody else in the Empire likes, demanding that everyone else change to accommodate them.
2. The Lion will go on looking for new fights to have, whatever Toturi tries to do about that (he's already been sidelined pretty hard, in part thanks to Ikoma machinations).
3. The Phoenix will not be honest about their problems out of simple fear, meaning the solution they have thus far failed to find on their own will continue to elude them.
4. The Dragon won't just give people a straight answer about what the **** they're doing because "We don't do things that way." Thereby making their own lives harder.
5. The Crane will continue to act as if everything is fine as they flounder and struggle in truly horrifying circumstances.
6. The Crab will remain so fixated upon their perceived place out in the cold that they push anyone who might be able to help away, making their impression reality.
7. The Scorpion will continue to get so involved in their schemes that they lose sight of what end those schemes are supposed to serve.
8. The Mantis will continue to pursue their selfish ends, indifferent to the wider harm they cause or exacerbate.
9. The Imperials will continue to show signs of a dynasty on its last legs, tottering and reeling from failure to failure, centuries of accumulated "but of course they'll do as we say" blinding them to the dangerous way in which the wheels are starting to come off of the cart.

@Shiba Gunichi You know you've hit a nail on the head when your post gets likes from 2 out of 3 L5R writers frequenting the community.

The only thing my B.A. in theatre and folklore has proven useful for is analyzing fiction from a meta-perspective.

EDIT: Part of why I found some of the decisions in the old lore so blisteringly incomprehensible, really.

3 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

The only thing my B.A. in theatre and folklore has proven useful for is analyzing fiction from a meta-perspective.

Folklorist fist-bump!

11 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Though if you want a 'good' Imperial, we have Seppun Ishikawa. 

Emphasis on the air quotes. It's kind of hard to end up on the narrative side of angels when you're set up as a spoiler for the cutest relationship in the setting. (Before anyone starts, ShahaiXDaisetsu is too teenagery and has too much Old5R baggage. Plus they're going to have to work really hard to outdo Kid!Toturi teaching Kid!Kaede how to spearfish in pure adorableness.)

7 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

The Crab will remain so fixated upon their perceived place out in the cold that they push anyone who might be able to help away, making their impression reality.

Nothing perceived about it. The Crab have an honored and time tested responsibility to protect the rest of the Empire from the things that go bump in the night. Understanding and embracing your place in the world is the foundation of the Earth style of courtly technique. Granted federal funding of recent disaster relief efforts has been somewhat lacking, but we've managed to secure alternative avenues of supply at a considerable bargain.

14 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

The only weird thing about Sotorii then is... given the deference and groveling shown to any Hantei, given that none of them would be pushed or challenged any more than he has been, given that none of them would be strictly or roughly treated, trained or corrected, given that there is no reason to think any of his upbringing has been unusual compared to any Hantei ever, how could this possibly be only the second time in 38 generations that an individual turned out so delusional and spoiled? He should be typical of anyone brought up that way. Unless the way he was treated was highly unusual, but then-- what could possibly have changed since the time his father was a child?

The only possibility I can suggest - the current Hantei's age and workload? I think it was implied he's been on the throne longer than average, and Rokugan is certainly more than averagely messed up over the last few years.

The social structure of the Empire means that the only person who can really say " stop it, you're being a spoiled little brat " to the Heir is the Emperor themselves, which means the greater the age gap between parent and child, the longer the child is sat as the Heir without being given any public duties, or the 'busier' the empire is for the reigning emperor, the more they can tend toward the archetypical 'young nobleborn wastrel', because it's the interaction of father and son which is the only restraining influence with the authority to really be either critical or punitive when it sees bad behaviour.

Note: I'm not sure if the Celestial Order allows the Heir to be risked doing anything (say, an Imperial Legion command or a Governorship) normally, but obviously the fact that - at least at the moment - there's no 'Heir and Spare' because Daisetsu hasn't reached legal adulthood yet, so I imagine the Seppun would howl at the thought of letting Sotorii outside their 'bubble'.

15 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Though if you want a 'good' Imperial, we have Seppun Ishikawa.

A Ronin's Path also features Seppun Hirohide. - an emerald magistrate who appears to be pretty good at his job in that he's prepared to send his aides and yojimbo and go after a dangerous Maho-Tsukai solo (and, it's implied, succeeds, if he's about for the debriefing, albeit 'off camera')

14 hours ago, shineyorkboy said:

Nothing perceived about it. The Crab have an honored and time tested responsibility to protect the rest of the Empire from the things that go bump in the night. Understanding and embracing your place in the world is the foundation of the Earth style of courtly technique. Granted federal funding of recent disaster relief efforts has been somewhat lacking, but we've managed to secure alternative avenues of supply at a considerable bargain.

Embracing scuzzbucket pirates to put a finger in the eye of your shortsightedly stupid Crane antagonist is hardly going to endear you to the system you have thus far been able to work within. The Crab will get some of the jade they need this way, certainly, but how likely are future dealings with the clans that can't seem to find the time of day for them to go smoothly?

The gulf is there, but it wasn;t as wide as the Crab thought it was. Now it will be.

22 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

I look forward to reading your stories and novellas about Rokugan. You must have quite the impressive collection building up with all the various corrections and improvements needed to make an acceptable storyline and setting.

Oh, I don't intend to pretend on the minute level I can necessarily compete with the writers on a lot of the way they convey the story. That doesn't mean I can't pick out where mistake could be and are made.

For instance, with the minor clans-- any attention or focus given to what is specifically meany to be a tiny, insignificant contribution to the overall empire is attention taken away from the major clans in the story. Furthermore, it has already been demonstrated through the Kaito family which is the first truly unique FFG contribution to the setting, that well... it is possible to expand on what might possibly exist within each of the 7 clans, which translates better to an immediately printable card that can functionally impact the shape of the game. But any minor clan? It is a dead-end, especially if there are going to be 2 dozen of them-- it is just impossible to split the what little story the story team is telling across all these factions.

Same can basically be said about ronin. Every ronin that exists within the setting ought to be a bit of an anomaly unless we are given to understand that people are generally so much better off being a ronin that we have to wonder why every 3rd member of any given clan doesn't abandon it and turn ronin. And if being a ronin generally sucks, then how could there be enough of them at any given time that they could have any impact on the story? Functionally, given that ronin represent a societal breakdown, it really could not hurt for those who intend to use them within their stories to consider for a moment how exactly these people came to have allegiance to no one if, at the same time, it is so direly and integrally important that other samurai retain loyalty and status within a clan regardless of the hardship or suffering they may receive.

And before anyone takes even a single step towards establishing a Spider Clan, they really ought to consider how that means diminishing the impact of Shadowlands taint and what any sort of compromise or acceptance means for the rest of the clans within Rokugan.

And, finally, using what amounts to the 8th clan of Rokugan as the eternal punching bag, universally depicting this entire group as inept and incompetent... well, if the goal was that by penning fiction after fiction after fiction of others soundly defeating them without this "clan" claiming any victories of its own, then it ultimately has diminishing returns-- each and every time that you keep having any group lose, and this is not just the Imperials-- the same could be true of the Kolat or the ninjas or any other group-- and there is no counter-example of the group winning, then it becomes less and less important or impressive that the group is being defeated. If a group within the story is incapable of fighting back, then there is nothing impressive about defeating them.

AEG made that mistake far too many times-- and while all the setting may be left with is those who are in denial of any mistakes having been made, presuming that there was ever the goal to attract those beyond those who were desperately hanging on by their fingernails when this setting died a hard death under AEG, and that there is a functional recognition that there is less being produced on a weekly basis than there was under AEG-- then maybe instead of being snarky and arrogant about it, suggestions ought to be considered-- and if you can find good reason to disagree, then and only then should they be rejected. There are many various people penning the stories and the quality differs considerably between the various authors who have taken part so far. I have no trouble imagining that if given various different feedback, they could well alter their stories for the better in the future. And that is far from ignoring that, for the most part, they are surely being given the general thrust of their stories from management and simply deciding on the details.

Moreover, I do definitely get that AEG deciding to functionally ignore the Children of Hantei as a group during the 20 year run of AEG. They put more effort into making snake-people and rat-people a respectable and functional faction within the story. For 20 years, this group that supposedly represents those chosen by the Kami that saved all the others, that represent the first tribes to swear their allegiance to the Kami and become part of the empire-- that they basically only ever got implemented in the context of "what can we take from them as the prize of this random tournament". For whatever reason I just, weirdly enough, thought that it was possible to do a little bit better than that.

Afterall, AEG thrust themselves before a trollish fanbase that would choose Rat-people as a faction or would choose an elephant as governor of a city or would make the "Bat Clan" a Clan because it rhymes with "Batman" and thus can be the basis for a single joke based on the 1960s Batman TV show.

But, well, thanks to the RPG book, I now see so little effort towards the setting becoming better-- and far too much effort towards trying to incorporate every random element that destroyed the setting in its original incarnation as early as possible. You know-- even though we know that a lot of that stuff contributed to the setting become progressively less and less popular. It was a bold decision to start the setting over from basically scratch, but that is entirely undermined by the active choice so far to incorporate every element that contributed to the destruction of the setting in its former state, only this time jumping the gun and doing it as soon as possible.

This really is just a matter of seeing the bandwidth that L5R can produce under FFG and being aware of the elements that contributed to driving people away from the original setting. It isn't even that I have any special insight on it, pretty much anyone who is willing to be critical of the eccentricities and mistakes that the original setting made, mistakes that do not by any long-shot mean that anyone sucks, but that literally just that the creators were human and no human could have done any better without the benefit of hindsight, a benefit we now have. So using hindsight, there is the opportunity to ask "Did the minor clans go anywhere enough to make it worth prioritizing them over expanding and deepening Great Clans?". "Did the whole Spider Clan thing really contribute more to the setting than it detracted, and if it did-- how can it be reworked to detract less?". and naturally enough "Did treating Hantei's Clan like crap and constantly devouring them lead to a more dynamic, positive and rewarding setting?"

If I felt like the writers had this well-in-hand and covered, I wouldn't comment on it.

Really, I wish I had been engaged long enough to lave more positive feedback when it was well earned. for example, the Phoenix and Lion and Crane and Crab and Dragon centered fictions so far deserve an A+++. I even enjoyed the majority of the Unicorn fictions. It is just the Scorpion fictions that seem to be using an obvious crutch.

7 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Embracing scuzzbucket pirates to put a finger in the eye of your shortsightedly stupid Crane antagonist is hardly going to endear you to the system you have thus far been able to work within. The Crab will get some of the jade they need this way, certainly, but how likely are future dealings with the clans that can't seem to find the time of day for them to go smoothly?

I'd hardly call it embracing, the primary motivation for the decision wasn't to spite Yoshi, and if we were able to work within the system the Imperials would have provided us with the supplies we need but since they haven't we need to pursue alternative sources.

The way I see it the Mantis were going to raid Crane shipping no matter what. They could either line their own pockets with the supplies or we could let them give them to us in exchange for a few words at court. And since talk is cheap and therefore makes an excellent currency to buy stuff with we would've been fools to pass up that deal.

The Crane already don't like us and even if they find out we're benefiting from the Mantis' actions they aren't in a position to do anything about it.

On 10/26/2018 at 5:25 PM, TheHobgoblyn said:

Oh, I don't intend to pretend on the minute level I can necessarily compete with the writers on a lot of the way they convey the story. That doesn't mean I can't pick out where mistake could be and are made.

For instance, with the minor clans-- any attention or focus given to what is specifically meany to be a tiny, insignificant contribution to the overall empire is attention taken away from the major clans in the story. Furthermore, it has already been demonstrated through the Kaito family which is the first truly unique FFG contribution to the setting, that well... it is possible to expand on what might possibly exist within each of the 7 clans, which translates better to an immediately printable card that can functionally impact the shape of the game. But any minor clan? It is a dead-end, especially if there are going to be 2 dozen of them-- it is just impossible to split the what little story the story team is telling across all these factions.

Same can basically be said about ronin. Every ronin that exists within the setting ought to be a bit of an anomaly unless we are given to understand that people are generally so much better off being a ronin that we have to wonder why every 3rd member of any given clan doesn't abandon it and turn ronin. And if being a ronin generally sucks, then how could there be enough of them at any given time that they could have any impact on the story? Functionally, given that ronin represent a societal breakdown, it really could not hurt for those who intend to use them within their stories to consider for a moment how exactly these people came to have allegiance to no one if, at the same time, it is so direly and integrally important that other samurai retain loyalty and status within a clan regardless of the hardship or suffering they may receive.

And before anyone takes even a single step towards establishing a Spider Clan, they really ought to consider how that means diminishing the impact of Shadowlands taint and what any sort of compromise or acceptance means for the rest of the clans within Rokugan.

And, finally, using what amounts to the 8th clan of Rokugan as the eternal punching bag, universally depicting this entire group as inept and incompetent... well, if the goal was that by penning fiction after fiction after fiction of others soundly defeating them without this "clan" claiming any victories of its own, then it ultimately has diminishing returns-- each and every time that you keep having any group lose, and this is not just the Imperials-- the same could be true of the Kolat or the ninjas or any other group-- and there is no counter-example of the group winning, then it becomes less and less important or impressive that the group is being defeated. If a group within the story is incapable of fighting back, then there is nothing impressive about defeating them.

AEG made that mistake far too many times-- and while all the setting may be left with is those who are in denial of any mistakes having been made, presuming that there was ever the goal to attract those beyond those who were desperately hanging on by their fingernails when this setting died a hard death under AEG, and that there is a functional recognition that there is less being produced on a weekly basis than there was under AEG-- then maybe instead of being snarky and arrogant about it, suggestions ought to be considered-- and if you can find good reason to disagree, then and only then should they be rejected. There are many various people penning the stories and the quality differs considerably between the various authors who have taken part so far. I have no trouble imagining that if given various different feedback, they could well alter their stories for the better in the future. And that is far from ignoring that, for the most part, they are surely being given the general thrust of their stories from management and simply deciding on the details.

Moreover, I do definitely get that AEG deciding to functionally ignore the Children of Hantei as a group during the 20 year run of AEG. They put more effort into making snake-people and rat-people a respectable and functional faction within the story. For 20 years, this group that supposedly represents those chosen by the Kami that saved all the others, that represent the first tribes to swear their allegiance to the Kami and become part of the empire-- that they basically only ever got implemented in the context of "what can we take from them as the prize of this random tournament". For whatever reason I just, weirdly enough, thought that it was possible to do a little bit better than that.

Afterall, AEG thrust themselves before a trollish fanbase that would choose Rat-people as a faction or would choose an elephant as governor of a city or would make the "Bat Clan" a Clan because it rhymes with "Batman" and thus can be the basis for a single joke based on the 1960s Batman TV show.

But, well, thanks to the RPG book, I now see so little effort towards the setting becoming better-- and far too much effort towards trying to incorporate every random element that destroyed the setting in its original incarnation as early as possible. You know-- even though we know that a lot of that stuff contributed to the setting become progressively less and less popular. It was a bold decision to start the setting over from basically scratch, but that is entirely undermined by the active choice so far to incorporate every element that contributed to the destruction of the setting in its former state, only this time jumping the gun and doing it as soon as possible.

This really is just a matter of seeing the bandwidth that L5R can produce under FFG and being aware of the elements that contributed to driving people away from the original setting. It isn't even that I have any special insight on it, pretty much anyone who is willing to be critical of the eccentricities and mistakes that the original setting made, mistakes that do not by any long-shot mean that anyone sucks, but that literally just that the creators were human and no human could have done any better without the benefit of hindsight, a benefit we now have. So using hindsight, there is the opportunity to ask "Did the minor clans go anywhere enough to make it worth prioritizing them over expanding and deepening Great Clans?". "Did the whole Spider Clan thing really contribute more to the setting than it detracted, and if it did-- how can it be reworked to detract less?". and naturally enough "Did treating Hantei's Clan like crap and constantly devouring them lead to a more dynamic, positive and rewarding setting?"

If I felt like the writers had this well-in-hand and covered, I wouldn't comment on it.

Really, I wish I had been engaged long enough to lave more positive feedback when it was well earned. for example, the Phoenix and Lion and Crane and Crab and Dragon centered fictions so far deserve an A+++. I even enjoyed the majority of the Unicorn fictions. It is just the Scorpion fictions that seem to be using an obvious crutch.

Again what you keep harping on as flaws, others see as a feature. L5R has a long history and a very dedicated fanbase and not all of those players were one of the great clans. As a long time Yoritomo's Alliance Player (yes I started playing them in Crimson and Jade when they became a playable faction and stuck with my "clan" through thick and thin when they became the Mantis clan and when AEG repeatedly "cut" us to fit needed faction space) you are essentially saying that the 20+ years that I and others like me have invested in our favorite faction are a waste since they don't conform to your narrow world view of what makes a great story. Sorry that may be your opinion but it is no more valid than mine that the Mantis and Shadowlands players who have been here for 20+ years and had playable decks in pretty much every incarnation of the game (yes Mantis had a 6 month window during Gold Edition wheree we weren't a playable faction but we still had playable cards) are just as deserving of an option to play our faction as the other 7 great clans.

You also keep fixating on specific instances and not looking at anything related to them in the context that they happen. Rat box was based on a fan vote where we had four choices; Rat, Goblin, Bloodspeaker or I want to say Ogres (but I may be wrong on that last one as I don't think it was actually 3 Shadowlands sub-factions and may have been a Ronin or Zokujin). Given the choices and the anti Shadowlands sentiment among the general public its not a surprise that the rats one out. Players were not screaming give us a Rat box because we need it they were told we are doing a box for one of these four choices you tell us which of them you want so they picked the choice that appealed most to them of those choices.

Bat clan was the natural choice for a clan once a player had selected Yoritomo Kamori as the character to be named as the founder of a new minor clan as an event prize given the background he had. And saying he was a minor player ignores the important role he had in the mantis story and the buildup to the Mantis Civil war being the foster father and protector of Moshi Wakiza and Yoritomo's daughter. You may not have liked the choice but for the Mantis he was an important in story character and the rewarding with minor clan status was a fitting reward for the work he did for us.

You don't like the idea of the minors and the Spider, we get it. But that is YOUR opinion and based on the reaction you seem to keep getting every time you bring it up I think its safe to say you seem to be the minority on that subject so maybe you should give it a rest for awhile and actually let the people running the game go forward with their ideas and see how the game develops rather than just starting off with you're doing it wrong and you need to do this instead. They feel that the Minors give them an option to expand the game in an interesting way and so far with the exception of the Mantis they are confined to the RPG where they actually are a good fit as they allow for interesting story choices by Players and GM's who may want to explore the setting from different perspective than that of the great clans. If they do show up as a greater role in the LCG than they are likely to be the Neutral character slot that may be needed to offer card options to all clans so we don't get situations where certain core Dynasty or Conflict card types are locked to specific clans limiting deck building options while maintaining a coherent theme for those cards. How is that actually a bad thing.

AEG ignoring the Children of the Hantei...

I don't even...

(and I assume that's actually meant to be the children of Amaterasu because the rest of the rant doesn't even make sense otherwise)