Has the Empress Guard been mentioned in this new timeline in any of the fictions?

As far as I know, no. There hasn't even been mention made of the Empress...

😔 Thanks, I was hoping for a subtle reference like:

“I will assign Doji X as the Yojimbo for the Phoenix Ambassador”.

”Doji X? wasn’t her the sensei of the Empress Guard?

1 hour ago, Nitenman said:

As far as I know, no. There hasn't even been mention made of the Empress...

She was mentioned in The Stories We Tell.

We know she’s Hochiahime, and that her health is fragile right now.

Thanks, I’ll look for it.

We have seen the Imperial Guard mentioned, by contrast.

15 minutes ago, Manchu said:

We have seen the Imperial Guard mentioned, by contrast.

Now that I think about it, Daisetsu has this yojimbo, Seppun Senosuke, that goes with him everywhere.

I suppose he’s Imperial Guard, but wasn’t this the duty of the Empress Guard in the old lore, to protect the Empress and her childs?

The concept of an “Empress’s Guard” is pretty redundant TBH.

8 hours ago, Manchu said:

The concept of an “Empress’s Guard” is pretty redundant TBH.

Yes and no. The Empress Guard, while officially drawing troops from all clans, were always very Crane heavy in their membership as the Empress was traditionally drawn from the Crane clan and their duty was supposed to be to her as much as the Emperor. When we saw them as a unit in the old Clan War mini's game they were actually a Crane aligned unit.

The official card kind of backed that up as well

Yeah, the notion of a Crane-heavy Imperial unit is the only interesting thing about them.

Then again, I would guess there are also a ton of Crane in the Imperial Guard.

13 minutes ago, Manchu said:

Then again, I would guess there are also a ton of Crane in the Imperial Guard.

I think they are mostly Seppun. I mean, the duty of the Seppun is basically to protect the Emperor. The Seppun Miharu are his personal guard.

Samurai from all of the Clans compete to join the Imperial Guard. Being admitted is a great honor often secured by political connections. Hence why there are probably a lot of CrAne involved.

4 hours ago, Manchu said:

Samurai from all of the Clans compete to join the Imperial Guard. Being admitted is a great honor often secured by political connections. Hence why there are probably a lot of CrAne involved.

Historically it was generally Lion who made up the bulk of the Imperial Legions, that said they tried to spread the commanders out among all the clans to avoid the concerns of one clan taking control of the Legions

i believe the Guard is a separate organization from the Legions.

I thought that they were only the bodyguards of Empress and the Imperial Heirs. The Emperor and Imperial families were under the Seppun Palace Guards. And also that they worked independently from the Legions.

Now, most of their numbers were drawn from the Crane resposabilas the majority of the Empress d they felt it head their rehave been drawn out of the Crane Clan, and they felt it was their responsibility to protect them.

In the current lore, we've established that the Seppun Miharu and the Hidden Guard are responsible for the physical and spiritual protection respectively of the Emperor, his family and, more generally, the Imperial families. I don't think we've established that an Empress Guard exists. It might be re-established in canon at some point but, to me (as in, this is my opinion and has nothing to do with FFG!) it seems redundant. Even the idea that the Crane (or any other clan) feels any particular need to provide protection to the Empress, or anyone else they've married off--even if into a high-status position--seems to me to be unnecessary. First, it implies that the Seppun aren't able to do the job themselves and, second, samurai of the level of skill that one would probably send to protect the Empress are probably far more useful to their clan in other ways. I know that floated around in the old lore, but there are lots of bits of the old lore that I think are redundant, unnecessary or even just plain dumb.

Now, if FFG decides to resurrect the idea of an Empress Guard, then so be it, of course!

1 hour ago, DGLaderoute said:

In the current lore, we've established that the Seppun Miharu and the Hidden Guard are responsible for the physical and spiritual protection respectively of the Emperor, his family and, more generally, the Imperial families. I don't think we've established that an Empress Guard exists. It might be re-established in canon at some point but, to me (as in, this is my opinion and has nothing to do with FFG!) it seems redundant. Even the idea that the Crane (or any other clan) feels any particular need to provide protection to the Empress, or anyone else they've married off--even if into a high-status position--seems to me to be unnecessary. First, it implies that the Seppun aren't able to do the job themselves and, second, samurai of the level of skill that one would probably send to protect the Empress are probably far more useful to their clan in other ways. I know that floated around in the old lore, but there are lots of bits of the old lore that I think are redundant, unnecessary or even just plain dumb.

Now, if FFG decides to resurrect the idea of an Empress Guard, then so be it, of course!

I would agree that the idea did seem redundant, but since they were initially conceived of as a unit to fill out Crane named units for the Clan Wars Mini's game someone obviously felt they were a good idea at some point

49 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

I would agree that the idea did seem redundant, but since they were initially conceived of as a unit to fill out Crane named units for the Clan Wars Mini's game someone obviously felt they were a good idea at some point

Oh, I have no doubt essentially everything that was introduced into the old lore was done for reasons the originator genuinely thought were good. And at the time, they might have been--such as this one, to make a Clan Wars unit. It doesn't mean that, in the end, they WERE a good idea, or were a good idea to bring into other aspects of the setting and its various other games, though!

I was planning to use them for the background of a Doji character who got accepted into the Seppun Palace Guard school and dreamed to become an Empress Guard.

I’ll just change his dream just to be selected to one day to protect the Imperial Heirs...

Thanks to all of you.

I think there is a place for a Empress Guard like unit altough I wasn't that keen on how it was implemented.

If Rokugan has something like the Ōoku/Kōkyū I can see such types of Guard Companies being raised although I would probably make them all female units heavily recruiting from the Matsu, Utaku and Moshi.

3 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

I think there is a place for a Empress Guard like unit altough I wasn't that keen on how it was implemented.

If Rokugan has something like the Ōoku/Kōkyū I can see such types of Guard Companies being raised although I would probably make them all female units heavily recruiting from the Matsu, Utaku and Moshi.

That's an interesting idea, although I think Rokugan has a somewhat prudish culture of monogamy, and would probably view the idea of a harem as somewhat vulgar?

On the other hand, Prince Daisetsu is so dreamy he might pull it off by accident.

39 minutes ago, Mangod said:

That's an interesting idea, although I think Rokugan has a somewhat prudish culture of monogamy, and would probably view the idea of a harem as somewhat vulgar?

On the other hand, Prince Daisetsu is so dreamy he might pull it off by accident.

Funny thing is that despite the salacious reputation (I'm looking at you Burton! And you too, every Harem Anime ever!) harems tended to pop up in deeply prudish cultures...

I can imagine it now: To LOVE-Daisetsu

Anyone get Yasuki Garou's contact details?

I would have to think that the most natural thing would be that the Seppun would guard the Empress, the same as they guard the rest of the palace and the imperial families.

Then again, the Imperials very much do like to give out titles to various Great Clan people-- some position of figurehead power for the clans to bicker and fight and compete over. "Imperial Treasurer" and such positions that sound like they have a lot of power, but for the most part there are properly trained imperial family members who are doing the actual real work, making the real decisions and don't bother with such lofty titles.

The question would be then though-- would guarding the Empress be such a figurehead position?

If the Empress has no actual power, the only actual value she holds is the emotional ties that the Emperor and his children may have for her-- and she basically never leaves the Imperial Palace, and certainly not the Forbidden City, which is all protected by proper Seppun guards... then I think allowing various Clans win what amounts to the purely ceremonial position of "Empress Guard" wouldn't be an issue.

On the other hand, if actual policy discussions are to be made by or be discussed around the Empress, and those talks could possibly get out to the clans that those guards have sworn loyalty to... then it would certainly be an issue.

Of course, even if the Empress had no real political power, I would imagine she would at least be able to choose individuals to assign to her personal retinue. If the Empress wants one of her nephews or nieces to be assigned as her personal guard or adviser or scribe or lady in waiting or such, I imagine no one could really oppose her on this. But then "Empress Guard" would be a rather informal thing based entirely on her personal favor and preference than a proper ceremonial position that would be assigned to those who won the position through merit.

Of course, within the current story there is no Empress and it appears as though we aren't likely to have an Empress any time soon, so the existence or nonexistence of such an organization is a bit of a moot point.