Twenty Goblin Winter is for when the Crab want to quickly bolster their ranks of cannon fodder. It isn't like a ronin who makes it back with the 20 heads is going to rise to a place of prominence within the clan. They are more likely to be permitted the honor to die as a member of a Great Clan, holding the line in one of the many, many skirmishes that happen each and every day on the Wall. In the Celestial Order, this would be preferable to living as a ronin and dying in a ditch from exposure. At least as a member of the Crab clan, someone will note your passing.

3 hours ago, DarkHorse said:

Twenty Goblin Winter is for when the Crab want to quickly bolster their ranks of cannon fodder. It isn't like a ronin who makes it back with the 20 heads is going to rise to a place of prominence within the clan. They are more likely to be permitted the honor to die as a member of a Great Clan, holding the line in one of the many, many skirmishes that happen each and every day on the Wall. In the Celestial Order, this would be preferable to living as a ronin and dying in a ditch from exposure. At least as a member of the Crab clan, someone will note your passing.

I...disagree with this. The cannon fodder is the mass of ronin who try to complete the 20 Goblins. Most fail to get that many. And obviously many die in the failing. Those that come out the far side, successful and untainted, have proven themselves to be of uncommon quality. While a former ronin doesn't start from a place of prominence within the clan, I believe they have a chance to rise just like anyone else. Or take an unlucky arrow and die in an "minor" skirmish.

On 2/23/2019 at 2:49 PM, Suzume Chikahisa said:

Exile   : In Rokugan this isn't as feasible as it was in Japan where criminals could be exiled to specific islan  ds. In a way it would be the closest you could find to a prison sentence. Exiles would also be usually tattooed. In Rokugan I can see the Mantis using this as a way to settle isolated island an  d the Dragon or the Unicorn doing the same to tame rougher wilderness areas.  

On 7/13/2019 at 7:59 AM, Lieutenant Obvious said:

This does make me wonder about exile to the Kaiu Wall. Even if someone can't fight, they're stuck there helping the Crab via all kinds of menial efforts (cooking, cleaning, caring for horses and armor, running messages and baskets of arrows all over the wall during battle, resetting siege engines, etc.), and even the Crab can't stop complaining about what a lousy job they have.

In previous editions/when AEG was doing the writing, exile was a punishment that could happen, although the only example we see is on a Clan-wide basis. In the case seen, the Scorpion Clan was exiled from Rokugan and sent into the Burning Sands (desert to the west of Rokugan).

In general, individual samurai would be made ronin before having such a punishment enacted upon them, and peasants would just be executed.