15 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Although from his behaviour in the story Aramoro may have a little of Amoro's attitude in there as well.

He was quite the ball of hate.

A very clever story, setting up Aramoro as a brutish villain only to have him surprise himself as a romantic naif.

Aramoro just seems like he wants more in life. Like he’s really obviously burning with, ambition.

1 hour ago, JolOfNar said:

Aramoro just seems like he wants more in life. Like he’s really obviously burning with, Ambition .

I saw what you did there!

It'd be an interesting way to take things, certainly, although I'm not sure how far his ambitions would take him. Take Shoju's place, sure, but further than that?

I like Tsundere Aramoro.

”S-stupid Asami. It’s not l-like I would sacrifice myself to save you or anything, baka!”

16 hours ago, Mangod said:

I saw what you did there!

It'd be an interesting way to take things, certainly, although I'm not sure how far his ambitions would take him. Take Shoju's place, sure, but further than that?

He clearly wanted the emerald championship for its status, I suspect the clan championship as well. It all seems a little fierce and forced, especially considering his attitude with Asami at the end. He feels like someone pushed and driven, and battling with himself(I suspect magically).

I’m thinking we are going to see a contest for the throne. And at the end Shoju will have taken the fall, Toturi will be disgraced for his part in it, and Sotori will sit on the throne with Kachiko his prize. Aramoro leading a disbanded Scorpion Clan, who are now Shinobi rather than courtiers.

On 10/7/2018 at 5:37 AM, JolOfNar said:

He clearly wanted the emerald championship for its status, I suspect the clan championship as well. It all seems a little fierce and forced, especially considering his attitude with Asami at the end. He feels like someone pushed and driven, and battling with himself(I suspect magically).

I was amused that the intro for the fiction said that the Emerald Champion position "by all rights" should have been his. That implies that he should have justly won it, and it was through trickery that he lost... Except it's basically the exact opposite of that.

On 10/7/2018 at 5:37 AM, JolOfNar said:

I’m thinking we are going to see a contest for the throne. And at the end Shoju will have taken the fall, Toturi will be disgraced for his part in it, and Sotori will sit on the throne with Kachiko his prize. Aramoro leading a disbanded Scorpion Clan, who are now Shinobi rather than courtiers.

I'm thinking that Sotorii will still end up as the vessel for Fu Leng, but willingly. Sort of like an Iuchiban redux, where he feels the Throne was unjustly deprived from him, and the Shadowlands and Jigoku take advantage of those emotions to lead him into corruption.

I like that Scorpion feel very factionalized. I'm real excited for a full out Scorpion civil war. I hope we are heading in that direction. Shoju versus Kachiko. Aramoro versus Yojiro. Sounds fun.

Between this plot and Yogo Hiroue and Shosuro Miyako's investigation, we've been getting a lot of really good Scorpion fiction.

2 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

I was amused that the intro for the fiction said that the Emerald Champion position "by all rights" should have been his. That implies that he should have justly won it, and it was through trickery that he lost... Except it's basically the exact opposite of that.

I fixed that competition fair and square!

2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I fixed that competition fair and square!

He just used the time-honored Scorpion combat technique...Filthy Cheater. Obviously only acceptable for a Scorpion to use this technique.

43 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

He just used the time-honored Scorpion combat technique...Filthy Cheater. Obviously only acceptable for a Scorpion to use this technique.

I must protest this awful, inaccurate, and misleading characterization of Scorpion combat techniques.

Filthy cheater is a long-con wherein a Scorpion poses as an unkempt ronin to lower everyone's expectations.

Dirty cheater is a move that involves throwing dirt in the opponent's face.

This move was clearly Lying Cheater, which involves merely underhanded but easily-deniable techniques.

1 hour ago, Hida Jitenno said:

I must protest this awful, inaccurate, and misleading characterization of Scorpion combat techniques.

Filthy cheater is a long-con wherein a Scorpion poses as an unkempt ronin to lower everyone's expectations.

Dirty cheater is a move that involves throwing dirt in the opponent's face.

This move was clearly Lying Cheater, which involves merely underhanded but easily-deniable techniques.

You seem to know an awful lot about Scorpion secrets for someone sporting a Crab mon...

So here's a question... in Honor, Duty, Loyalty was that Kachiko that gave Yojiro the order or was it Asami? Kachiko was clearly pushing to have Aramoro appointed Emerald Champ by the Emperor, but was she willing to rig the tournament to get Aramoro that position? I wonder if Aramoro took the initiative to issue Yojiro that order himself (through his wife). In this story it sort of feels like it was his plan that was foiled by Yojiro. I guess it could work either way just fine, but I like that this short story opened up that ambiguity now with Asami running around in the narrative.

That seems unlikely because it is unnecessary. Kachiko suggested directly to the Emperor that he simply appoint Aramoro as Emerald Champion. It is clearly genuinely her goal that he gain that position. The real question is whether this was to exert some leverage over Shoju.

2 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

I must protest this awful, inaccurate, and misleading characterization of Scorpion combat techniques.

Filthy cheater is a long-con wherein a Scorpion poses as an unkempt ronin to lower everyone's expectations.

Dirty cheater is a move that involves throwing dirt in the opponent's face.

This move was clearly Lying Cheater, which involves merely underhanded but easily-deniable techniques.

Thanks for the laughs Hida Jitenno, I really needed them!

1 hour ago, Manchu said:

That seems unlikely because it is unnecessary. Kachiko suggested directly to the Emperor that he simply appoint Aramoro as Emerald Champion. It is clearly genuinely her goal that he gain that position. The real question is whether this was to exert some leverage over Shoju.

I don't know it's unnecessary. Making a suggestion to the emperor is one thing. Rigging a high profile tournament like the Emerald Champs is another. If Kachiko wasn't willing to go that extra mile for Aramoro's appointment then Aramoro seems like he might be ambitious enough to take matters into his own hands.

I think the answer is most certainly yes that this move was meant to gain some leverage over Shoju. I think Aramoro makes his motivations pretty clear in this story, and I'm sure Kachiko would rather have someone loyal to her in that position.

The biggest thing I think against the idea that this was Aramoro using his wife as Kachiko's double is, with how much Aramoro dislikes Yojiro, I doubt he'd have entrusted the task to him. I'm sure Aramoro was involved in the plot, but I don't see him risking it in the "honest scorpion's" hands if he didn't have to.

That's fair. Aramoro's disdain for Yojiro doesn't seem like a new thing in this story. I got the feeling that he's had a history of looking down his nose at Yojiro.

8 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

The biggest thing I think against the idea that this was Aramoro using his wife as Kachiko's double is, with how much Aramoro dislikes Yojiro, I doubt he'd have entrusted the task to him. I'm sure Aramoro was involved in the plot, but I don't see him risking it in the "honest scorpion's" hands if he didn't have to.

No, the biggest thing against that idea is Aramoro’s loyalty to Kachiko. I doubt he would do anything behind her back, much less something as big as rigging an imperial tournament.

A friend trying to explain this fiction to someone in our RPG group:

"so...it's essentially revolving around four individuals (albeit one of whom who doesn't directly appear)

• Bayushi Shoju, the Scorpion Clan Champion.

• Bayushi Kachiko, his wife, and the Imperial Advisor, who may or may not be cheating on him with the Doji Hotaru, the Crane Clan champion, one of his most important political rivals.

• Bayushi Aramoro, Kachiko's Yojimbo bodyguard, who is obsessed with her and also Shoju's brother (and hates him for basically existing so he's not Clan Champion), and who Kachiko tried and failed to make the Emerald Champion - arguably the one position a samurai can hold which outranks a Clan Champion.

• (formerly Yogo, now presumabl Bayushi) Asami, Aramoro's wife, who he only really married because she looks (almost) identical to Kachiko, and who he is using as a body double at court to allow Kachiko to hide her liasons with the Crane Clan Champion."

"So....this is the clan who see 'Duty and loyalty' as their driving virtue, isn't it?"

"I never said either Kachiko or Aramoro was a particularly good scorpion..."

Other thought which popped up:

• Does Shoju know about Asami?
  • Obviously, he knows who his brother is married to (at least by name) - but I mean her occasional impersonations of Kachiko?
  • I mean, one assumes so - Master Of Secrets And Lies and all that - but has it been said (or even implied) anywhere?
  • After all, her role is as much to allow her to have private time with Hotaru without others knowing as it is for her safety.
  • Which more means, does he know about Kachiko's relationship with Hotaru?
  • Kachiko's brother, Bayushi Ago, certainly does, so you'd assume someone would have told Shoju but it doesn't necessarily follow.
• When Kachiko insinuates Shoju is looking for a concubine in The World, A Stage and essentially offers some of her friends for consideration, "a Shosuro" is presumably Hatsuko, her favourite Geisha, but I was wondering if "a Yogo" is likely to be Asami?
  • Is there any indication Asami has ever been called on to 'Kachiko it up' in the Clan Champion's presence?
• Is Asami Yogo 'enough' (she married into the Yogo, and then as a widow-by-complete-accident-which-cannot-be-connected-to-Aramoro married him so presumably is now technically a Bayushi) to qualify for the 'betray those you love' curse? Because she clearly genuinely loves both her son and her husband.

3 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

No, the biggest thing against that idea is Aramoro’s loyalty to Kachiko. I doubt he would do anything behind her back, much less something as big as rigging an imperial tournament.

We'll lets not over sell that. If he doesn't openly discuss it with Kachiko he can always claim to her or himself that he was just trying to execute her original intentions. As Magnus points out an idealized Scorpion would prize duty and loyalty above all else, but is Aramoro an idealized Scorpion?

1 hour ago, phillos said:

We'll lets not over sell that. If he doesn't openly discuss it with Kachiko he can always claim to her or himself that he was just trying to execute her original intentions. As Magnus points out an idealized Scorpion would prize duty and loyalty above all else, but is Aramoro an idealized Scorpion?

Oh, he’s not. And he’s not because he let feelings get in the way of duty. Those feelings, of course, all sprung from his love for Kachiko. He married Asami because she looks like Kachiko, for example.

I’m pretty sure that if Shoju would order Aramoro to kill Kachiko, he won’t do it. Now, if the contrary would happen, he would slit his brother’s throat without a second thought, out of both love for Kachiko and jealousy of Shoju.

15 hours ago, Waywardpaladin said:

You seem to know an awful lot about Scorpion secrets for someone sporting a Crab mon...

Pincer Alliance!

I do love the Clan of Secrets, not gonna lie. Their dedication to Duty is something this old Crab can admire.

8 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

• Is Asami Yogo 'enough' (she married into the Yogo, and then as a widow-by-complete-accident-which-cannot-be-connected-to-Aramoro married him so presumably is now technically a Bayushi) to qualify for the 'betray those you love' curse? Because she clearly genuinely loves both her son and her husband.

I think the answer to that is no. The curse on Yogo was a curse on his bloodline. Asami is not of his bloodline.

23 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

I think the answer to that is no. The curse on Yogo was a curse on his bloodline. Asami is not of his bloodline.

But Aramoro (through their mother's side) is if memory serves so there could be a chance that it could still be a matter to consider.