Timeline for the Fictions So Far

By KakitaKaori, in L5R LCG: Lore Discussion

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wEhIccleYFIsL_C0zKAV3gk4U7XIcjNXokEsuMBbBZM/edit?usp=sharing

Compiled by Kakita Kaori and Alphasquid.

Feel free to take a look and tell me what you think. This is just my best guess.
Methodology Notes:

In general, assumptions I tried to use. If there is an event related to a piece of very personal information that an important person would be able to know about, and would be at the forefront of their thoughts if they were aware of it, AND if that person didn't have those thoughts/awareness of the event AND that person would have regular communication from a mix of sources during that time, I was willing to go on a limb and say that that that event happened after the POV, or close enough before to be in the same week.
I tried to use seasonal references if I had them, which are obviously very broad.

Though some, like Kurosunai Village, have a more defined seasonal reference like 'Soil baked dry after the long harsh summer' means it's going to be late summer, not early summer.
I generally assume that travel from any major place to a major place takes about a week. Toturi cuts it close a little.

I also use gross numbers and figure most complex mechanations take about a week unless I'm told otherwise. So Kachiko tells Yojiro to rig the Emerald championship a week before the EC. It could be longer, but it certainly shouldn't be shorter.

I also TRIED to bias against having more stories within a single week. I really did. I wanted them to be more spread out, so if given any possibility to do so, I spread them out.

The most awkward boundary was the '6 months ago' one in Children of the Empire. I fudged it a little. It's not exactly 6 months, it's probably more like 6 months + 1 to 2 weeks.

I thought that was fair.
In heart of the garden, the author has the month of Bayushi directly follow the month of Doji in her date planning, which doesn't make sense and blows the sequence of events way off (putting 6 mo ago after Satsume's death) so I think that may just be a mistake and Shiba and Bayushi got switched, which makes for a straight forward timeline.

The Pure Land Stories and the Naga Stories are the most unlinked from the main timeline and you're free to shove those around a little to your liking.

Edited by KakitaKaori

One note on first glance - Seeds on the Wind is a flashback. The author has confirmed this on the forum, and pointed out that Ichiro is not trusted as being new in Seeds , but he's a trusted lieutenant in Snow and Sun .

Other than that, many thanks, this is a great resource.

Have you had any thoughts about Dark Tides and Mask of the Oni?

Thank you for the correction! That makes it make much more sense. I totally missed that and really was swinging wildly with it.

I have not got Dark Tides and Mask of the Oni so I can't really place them. RPG materials in general are hard to place since they are new characters and meant to be timeless. I can place Palace of the Emerald Champion and Topaz Championship due to the proximity of Satsume's death and that Kaagi shows up with Toturi later in one of his fictions, but not to this narrow a timeframe.

I used the dead leaves /cold wind to put it in late autumn.

"Like Seeds on the Wind" takes place roughly five years before the main timeline.

11 hours ago, Kinzen said:

"Like Seeds on the Wind" takes place roughly five years before the main timeline.

I updated the timeline. Did the author say it was 5 years before?

1 hour ago, KakitaKaori said:

I updated the timeline. Did the author say it was 5 years before?

Yes. Source:

13 hours ago, Kinzen said:

"Like Seeds on the Wind" takes place roughly five years before the main timeline.

:P

Thanks!

Over one year ago, upon the collecting of the first several stories as the First Scroll, I wrote a post pointing what I considered were "seasonal" problems with the order. The issue is not fresh on my mind TBH, but this may be helpful to you, or maybe not:

Edited by Mon no Oni
edited for clarity

I had similar problems. I was able to resolve some by making 'Late Spring' as Early in spring as I could possibly think could be called Late (Mid April, with Spring as being March/April/May). At some point you have to take a swing and go for it.

hmm, I can't find some novella:

Court games: Yoshi and Toshimoko last meet (Flashback) & Court games: A new edict is made so no laws will be passed until after the Emerald Championship. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Heart of the Garden 1: Shahai in the Garden & Heart of the Garden 1: Shahai in the Garden. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Repentance Does not come first: Tadaka challenges his Sensei & Repentance Does not come first: Tadaka becomes Elemental Master of Earth. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Well, always the same problem anyway.

Also I can't find Better to Be Certain

10 hours ago, Victarion13 said:

hmm, I can't find some novella:

Court games: Yoshi and Toshimoko last meet (Flashback) & Court games: A new edict is made so no laws will be passed until after the Emerald Championship. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Heart of the Garden 1: Shahai in the Garden & Heart of the Garden 1: Shahai in the Garden. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Repentance Does not come first: Tadaka challenges his Sensei & Repentance Does not come first: Tadaka becomes Elemental Master of Earth. I have only the first one, but are you sure that the second does not have another name?

Well, always the same problem anyway.

These are all examples of one story with a time skip in them mid story. Since this list that is trying to place each story in a chronological order and assign rough dates as to when things are occurring to establish a timeline for events they have been given major story beats separate entries.

If you are looking for a pure reading order list I would suggest this thread.

Quote

Better to be Certain is sort of unbounded in time. I have gone ahead and added it as a summer/autumn event before the storyline begins, but whether it is just the previous year or several years before the storyline can't be determined.

On 6/19/2019 at 10:39 PM, Schmoozies said:

These are all examples of one story with a time skip in them mid story. Since this list that is trying to place each story in a chronological order and assign rough dates as to when things are occurring to establish a timeline for events they have been given major story beats separate entries.

Hmm, in that case it could be helpful to write the pages of that event?

Like Court games: Yoshi and Toshimoko last meet (Flashback) - PAG 1 to 3 & Court games: A new edict is made so no laws will be passed until after the Emerald Championship - PAG 3 to 7 (just example)

16 minutes ago, Victarion13 said:

Hmm, in that case it could be helpful to write the pages of that event?

Like Court games: Yoshi and Toshimoko last meet (Flashback) - PAG 1 to 3 & Court games: A new edict is made so no laws will be passed until after the Emerald Championship - PAG 3 to 7 (just example)

That wouldn't hurt, but there is plenty of possibility of multiple flashbacks in one page, or a story that alternates between flashback and present throughout. In either case the distinction would be meaningless. I figure if you were really concerned, you can go back and read the story. I may make the stories active links for ease of use at some point though.

On 6/21/2019 at 10:55 AM, KakitaKaori said:

That wouldn't hurt, but there is plenty of possibility of multiple flashbacks in one page, or a story that alternates between flashback and present throughout. In either case the distinction would be meaningless. I figure if you were really concerned, you can go back and read the story. I may make the stories active links for ease of use at some point though.

I will check and see if I can do.

How about Gaze Into Darkness? it is also before the timeline?

12 hours ago, Victarion13 said:

I will check and see if I can do.

How about Gaze Into Darkness? it is also before the timeline?

I never really fixed Gaze Into Darkness timewise to much more than "around the same time as Her Father's Daughter". I'd offer that it's reasonable to say it happens immediately before, or at least sometime around the beginning of the current storyline.

I added Gaze into Darkness, in its various parts, in the Month or so before the story begins. It takes place over at least a couple of months.

Updated Timeline for Falling Stars, with an hourly breakdown for Sept 12/13th

There appears to be a mistake regarding the timing of "Roar of the Lioness."

If I'm reading correctly, the start of the fiction happens during the Bon festival. According to "Emerald Empire" (Page 152), that takes place on the last day of the Month of the Dog, which makes it "Late Autumn." That means the fiction should be Late Autumn, with "Wind Falling Through" and "The Price of Failure" happening after that and being Late Autumn as well. Unless I'm missing something obvious.

Edited by SpookyElectric

Spooky fixed this in his podcast, but I'll mention it here.

Katrina came on Discord to share that the date used for the Bon festival in Roar of the Lioness was the date it currently is in real life: August 15. This is not the same date as the Bon festival in Emerald Empire, which, as Spooky says, is last day of the Month of the Dog, or essentially the last day of October. The difference can be accounted for if the Bon festival celebrated by the Lion in Roar of the Lioness is a clan-specific variation, or the Lion celebrate more than one Bon festival a year. Which is certainly possible, given the Lion's reverence for the ancestors.

In any event, I have updated the timeline with the current stories...just working on getting Uji's attack on Kyuden Kakita up.

I'm pretty sure Obon takes place on two different dates in different parts of Japan, so local variation is totally a thing that happens.

Where do you place these?

A Ronin's Path (L5R beta)

A Call to Stewardship - Unicorn Clan Letter

A Call to Leadership - Lion Clan Letter

A Call to Witness - Dragon Clan Letter

A Call for Diplomacy - Crane Clan Letter

A Call for Unity - Phoenix Clan Letter

A Call to Investigate - Crab Clan Letter

A Call to Duty - Scorpion Clan Letter

Core Rulebook fiction - 27th Togashi-December 1118

The Mantis Clan fiction - Undetermined on purpose; maybe is cozy after core (Spring? Because winter is not propicious for naval raids).

Emerald Empire - Undetermined on purpose; maybe is cozy after core.

A Simple Test

Fires of Justice

Sins of Regret