I would absolutely love to see Kaito get the pick...I'm less optimistic though because A) we don't know yet what our choice will be for, B) the Kaito were sort of just given a major job directly by Tsukune, and C) I don't know whether too many of the "top players" attending Winter Court are Kaito supporters.

On another note, I'm curious about Toturi's plans to bolster the Imperial Legions. Maybe this time around, instead of building an army of ronin for when everything hits the fan, we'll have him just leading the Imperial Legions instead? Or...if things go super dark, what if Sotorii ends up taking the throne and ronins Toturi along with everyone in the legions who support Toturi/Daisetsu? And so we still get a Toturi's Army, but it's technically the "true" imperial legions fighting to put the rightful heir on the throne?

Updated OP.

Okay, so when the Dragon Clan and Imperial Legion inevitably start fighting...

Just remember that the ones in the emerald green armor with gold trim are the Dragons, and the ones in the emerald green armor with gold trim are the Imperials. Don't accidentally stab someone on the wrong side.

17 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

Okay, so when the Dragon Clan and Imperial Legion inevitably start fighting...

Just remember that the ones in the emerald green armor with gold trim are the Dragons, and the ones in the emerald green armor with gold trim are the Imperials. Don't accidentally stab someone on the wrong side.

Or you know the guys with the Dragon mons and using two swords, versus the guys with Imperial Mons and using all sorts of different tactics since they are drawn from the various clans. What you need to worry about are the Dragon in the Legion who will have been ordered to turn on their fellow Legionnaires at Togashi's signal.

Would love to see Agasha take it home here.

4 minutes ago, Hida Jitenno said:

Would love to see Agasha take it home here.

*not sure if you want dark secrets out to fight the Shadowlands or if someone is hoping for some scrolls to get opened*

4 minutes ago, Hida Jitenno said:

Would love to see Agasha take it home here.

"Hey we found some Scrolls...."

"Those Black ones?"

"Nah, they're just a really dark brown...."

4 minutes ago, Waywardpaladin said:

*not sure if you want dark secrets out to fight the Shadowlands or if someone is hoping for some scrolls to get opened*

Dark secrets doesn't imply Shadowlands!

Besides, don't the Isawa have all the Black Scrolls? I was thinking something sinister, but not necessarily Tainted/Corrupted.

An Agasha does seem like the most interesting of the choices. A Kitsuki could be fun too but we've seen way more from the Kitsuki family in the lore than the Agasha family. Really I can only think of Agasha Sumiko off the top of my head.

The Scorpion still have some of the scrolls.

I'd like to see the Agasha take this vote.

If the old lore still olds the Yogo have most of the Scrolls, the Isawa have a few, and there are two scrolls that are in extremely interesting places...

I wouldn't mind seeing the Agasha take this one if it means figuring out what happened to Ujina.

12 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

I wouldn't mind seeing the Agasha take this one if it means figuring out what happened to Ujina.

I wouldn't be surprised if that plays into the Phoenix choices though.

Yeah, I think the Agasha and the Kitsuki are, narratively, the most interesting choices.

A lot more Agasha love than I expected. I was pulling for Kitsuki myself, but maybe you're on to something. So long as it isn't actually Sumiko. That'd be uninspiring. I'd also like it if Kitsuki Yaruma didn't play into the results.

We're agreed that Togashi is just more of the same from Dragon and that would be boring, right?

Let's assume it's Agasha or Kitsuki, and that we don't know what will be found. How are we wanting either family to pursue this? What sort of things do we want to have narratively?

I agree. By saying Agasha is the most interesting choice in my mind I was assuming we'd meet a new Agasha character. Sumiko is fine, but she not the most interesting character IMO. I agree that bringing a Togashi in is probably the least interesting option.

I was also hoping the Agasha option had something to do with the Shadow/Ujina incident. Perhaps that's about to become a much bigger deal. Also maybe by the time the Agasha arrives something sour will have happened with Shahai and the Meishodo instructions.

I'm not sure what I'd want a Kitsuki to do in the story, but Otosan Uchi certainly has no shortage of shadowy conspiracies floating around currently. Maybe the Kitsuki could come in and shed some light on the stuff the RPG touches on in the In The Palace Of The Emerald Champion adventure. Obviously no spoilers for people who haven't played through or read that yet. Also maybe the Kitsuki could come in and assist Toturi since he's currently standing in the middle of a potentially empire shattering decision.

38 minutes ago, phillos said:

I agree. By saying Agasha is the most interesting choice in my mind I was assuming we'd meet a new Agasha character. Sumiko is fine, but she not the most interesting character IMO. I agree that bringing a Togashi in is probably the least interesting option.

Not to mention, she's not even an Agasha Agasha. At least, if she is a shugenja alchemist, she hides it really well.

As someone who hated how the Agasha defection played out in the old lore, I, too, support the Agasha for some narrative love in their proper home.

In general, I think, when it comes to player choice, my old-lore soaked self is going to be anti-Isawa, anti-Togashi, anti-Hida, anti-Matsu, anti-Moto, anti-Bayushi, and.... well, I loathe the Crane as a whole, but if choosing between their families, anti-Kakita- just 'cause the families listed were often stereotypically deforming to an unfortunate degree in the portrayal of each Clan.

[obligatory "I have no inside knowledge on this topic" disclaimer]

I like the Togashi, and I still have to say I wouldn't vote for their option if this were up to me. They have by far the least interesting verb: who would vote for a character who's going to merely observe, when they could have someone who's going to secure, investigate, or delve? All of the other possibilities sound much more active and engaging.

44 minutes ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

In general, I think, when it comes to player choice, my old-lore soaked self is going to be anti-Isawa, anti-Togashi, anti-Hida, anti-Matsu, anti-Moto, anti-Bayushi, and.... well, I loathe the Crane as a whole, but if choosing between their families, anti-Kakita- just 'cause the families listed were often stereotypically deforming to an unfortunate degree in the portrayal of each Clan.

I can more or less agree with this... if one wants the best possible outcome, the choices ought to be

Crab: Yasuki
Crane: Asahina
Dragon: Kitsuki
Lion: Kitsu
Phoenix: Asako (or Kaito)
Scorpion: ..... Yogo?
Unicorn: Ide

Basically go with the pacifists, pragmatists and merchants. And notably none of the founding or 7 thunder families are on this list.

5 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I can more or less agree with this... if one wants the best possible outcome, the choices ought to be

Crab: Yasuki
Crane: Asahina
Dragon: Kitsuki
Lion: Kitsu
Phoenix: Asako (or Kaito)
Scorpion: ..... Yogo?
Unicorn: Ide

Basically go with the pacifists, pragmatists and merchants. And notably none of the founding or 7 thunder families are on this list.

Oh my sweet summer child, FFG will find a way to screw the Empire up no matter what you do.

It's less about saving the Empire, more about giving the Great Clans nuance and texture in their portrayal, something that the prior canon's habit of leaning on ruling and/or Thunder families as the go-to stereotypes really didn;t help.

7 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I can more or less agree with this... if one wants the best possible outcome, the choices ought to be

Crab: Yasuki
Crane: Asahina
Dragon: Kitsuki
Lion: Kitsu
Phoenix: Asako (or Kaito)
Scorpion: ..... Yogo?
Unicorn: Ide

Basically go with the pacifists, pragmatists and merchants. And notably none of the founding or 7 thunder families are on this list.

I do think it's a bit unfair to make the assumption about "best possible outcome" before we've heard what the other Clans' choices are. Still, I can agree that it'd be far more interesting to see what the less prominent families (Iuchi, Ide, Ikoma, Kitsu, Kitsuki, Agasha) would do than to see what the families that dominated the Clans back in O5R would do.

1 hour ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

It's less about saving the Empire, more about giving the Great Clans nuance and texture in their portrayal, something that the prior canon's habit of leaning on ruling and/or Thunder families as the go-to stereotypes really didn;t help.

This. Very much this.

It doesn’t matter who the Dragon choose, Yokuni already knew it.

14 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

As someone who hated how the Agasha defection played out in the old lore, I, too, support the Agasha for some narrative love in their proper home.

I came into L5R post-Defection, and outside of the Crab, the Tamori were tied with Shosuro as my favorite family. The yamabushi shugenja path was really awesome, and their potions/alchemy just seemed great.

That said, I'd love to see the Dragon Clan not go into such a horrific state as to cause mass-defection of one of their founding families. One of the things I love most about the reset is that things can (and certainly will) happen differently.

But they better give me the yamabushi school. Title, maybe?