FFG posted a new Unicorn Clan fiction.

Please see the below link:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2019/8/21/red-petals-scatter/

What a family name drop at the end of the story!

wow... a LOT of things happened here

“It must be the Yogo in me.”

What?

Because this lady doesn't specify any direct Yogo ancestry.

Oh Kami... the curse...

So random thought. The Army of the Rising Wave has been sent on an undisclosed mission based on one of Yokuni's visions. I betting he couldn't tell them exactly what was going to happen because how would the Dragon react to word that the Emperor is about to be murdered. What if he told them their mission was to go to Otasan Uchi where they would intercept a female Shugenja who is fleeing the city with an important member of the Imperial court in fear of their lives and they must be escorted to safety. Now what if instead of running into Shahai and Daigotsu as he intended, the fact that Kaede has used to void to reverse Toturi's fate and save him means that they will run into the Dragon army first during their flight from the city.

5 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

So random thought. The Army of the Rising Wave has been sent on an undisclosed mission based on one of Yokuni's visions. I betting he couldn't tell them exactly what was going to happen because how would the Dragon react to word that the Emperor is about to be murdered. What if he told them their mission was to go to Otasan Uchi where they would intercept a female Shugenja who is fleeing the city with an important member of the Imperial court in fear of their lives and they must be escorted to safety. Now what if instead of running into Shahai and Daigotsu as he intended, the fact that Kaede has used to void to reverse Toturi's fate and save him means that they will run into the Dragon army first during their flight from the city.

That's a pretty good theory.

I really love where this is going. I did think Daisetsu and Shahai were going to discover what had happened and confront Sotorii, but I didn't think it would go down like this and I didn't think they would both end up fleeing the capital. Pretty cool.

I love the idea that the army is suppose to go there to pick up Daisetsu. Also I really like that Kaede could be interfering with Yokuni's guidance by mucking with the void.

38 minutes ago, 987654321 said:

“It must be the Yogo in me.”

What?

Because this lady doesn't specify any direct Yogo ancestry.

Oh Kami... the curse...

It's just Grandfather, don't worry..

One of the interesting idea's, that this story brings up, is what could have happened had the players decided to ban Meishodo.

I think that it can be reasonably assumed that Daisetsu would have killed (or at least seriously maimed) Sotorii had the players decided to ban Meishodo.

After all, Shahai likely would not be in the capital, to stop Daisetsu's rage, if Meishodo was banned.

That also opens up the idea that Shahai's Yogo curse would need to manifest itself in another way....

This story also made me think of the wider timeline in a new way.

Based on this story, I actually think that the decision to not ban Meishodo is leading to a timeline where Shahai does not become a Maho-tsukai.

After all, she stops Daisetsu's "Demon-like" rage, she and Daisetsu heave each other while they are on the run, and her religious practices have not been outlawed by the Empire.

Either way, the storyline continues to be a fun ride.

Shahai would likely have still been a hostage if meishodo had been banned.

1 minute ago, Vulcan646 said:

One of the interesting idea's, that this story brings up, is what could have happened had the players decided to ban Meishodo.

I think that it can be reasonably assumed that Daisetsu would have killed (or at least seriously maimed) Sotorii had the players decided to ban Meishodo.

After all, Shahai likely would not be in the capital, to stop Daisetsu's rage, if Meishodo was banned.

That also opens up the idea that Shahai's Yogo curse would need to manifest itself in another way....

This story also made me think of the wider timeline in a new way.

Based on this story, I actually think that the decision to not ban Meishodo is leading to a timeline where Shahai does not become a Maho-tsukai.

After all, she stops Daisetsu's "Demon-like" rage, she and Daisetsu heave each other while they are on the run, and her religious practices have not been outlawed by the Empire.

Either way, the storyline continues to be a fun ride.

Well the flaw with that is without Shahai in the capital there wouldn't have been anyone to interrupt Sotorii's seppuku so there likely wouldn't have been the confrontation to set off the conflict between Daisetsu and Sotorii.

That said even if Meishodo were banned I suspect Shahai still would have ended up in the capital, in that case she would have been the hostage to ensure that the Iuchi give up the practice rather then tutor for the Seppun Hidden guard.

I think the bigger difference would have been that the wards which may have been disabled by her manipulations may have reacted to Sotorii striking his father and so it would be harder to disguise what Sotorii did.

She gets it from her mama...……….

The question now becomes how will Kachiko spin this. It looks like she was going to just pass off the death of the emperor as natural causes and simply leverage the fallout that the scandal of this magnitude regicide would cause against the people's willingness to accept something false. Now there is someone outside of her influence that knows the truth, and it just so happens that this person has a legitimate claim to the throne. While it's certainly a threat, this seems like a gift for Kachiko who up until this point had pretty much bungled this whole thing.

At the very least she can distract everyone by casting suspicions on Daisetsu and Shahai for trying to take advantage of the situation...……..all the way to accusing them of conspiring to kill the emperor, possibly with help from the missing Toturi.

Can we please hurry up and get to the Shoju story, since he's the person who's actions this whole thing hinges upon?

8 minutes ago, Vulcan646 said:

she and Daisetsu heave each other while they are on the run, and her religious practices have not been outlawed by the Empire.

At least not yet. Once Kachiko gets ahold of this I wouldn't be surprised if she implicates Shahai and the use of meishodo in some way.

I suspect Daisetsu and Shahai will be accused of attempting to assassinate Sotorii. That seems like the most obvious choice for Kachiko since it would discredit any accusation they might make about Sotorii. They've already cleaned up all the evidence of the crime. Since there is no other witnesses it would be their word against Sotorii's and Sotorii's word (as the new Emperor) should probably carry more weight for most people.

43 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

So random thought. The Army of the Rising Wave has been sent on an undisclosed mission based on one of Yokuni's visions. I betting he couldn't tell them exactly what was going to happen because how would the Dragon react to word that the Emperor is about to be murdered. What if he told them their mission was to go to Otasan Uchi where they would intercept a female Shugenja who is fleeing the city with an important member of the Imperial court in fear of their lives and they must be escorted to safety. Now what if instead of running into Shahai and Daigotsu as he intended, the fact that Kaede has used to void to reverse Toturi's fate and save him means that they will run into the Dragon army first during their flight from the city.

Wow, this is a good theory. I've been wondering about the implications of our marching an army on the Imperial City since I read it - not hard to turn it against us, and "Togashi Yokuni said to" likely won't help us if everyone else thinks it's a coup. Even if we do run into Toturi/Kaede/Daisetsu/Shahai, even that might make it worse. The Unicorn are our ally. It could be said that the Dragon engineered this to have Daisetsu brought to us by Shahai, as a hostage or who knows what.

3 minutes ago, phillos said:

I suspect Daisetsu and Shahai will be accused of attempting to assassinate Sotorii. That seems like the most obvious choice for Kachiko since it would discredit any accusation they might make about Sotorii. They've already cleaned up all the evidence of the crime. Since there is no other witnesses it would be their word against Sotorii's and Sotorii's word (as the new Emperor) should probably carry more weight for most people.

This seems like the logical step, I agree, but I'm getting this weird feeling that there are sort of two sides to Sotorii. It seems like there are moments when they want us to sympathize with him, even though he's an angry, petty tool the rest of the time. If they're going to play on the angry, petty side, I think you're exactly right. If they play on the sympathetic side, I can maybe see a version where someone/Kachiko suggests that and he refuses, out of guilt or some shred of family loyalty.

It's interesting to me that now Sotorii and Daisetsu have both now had this blackout moment of violent madness on screen, if the fight between them that Shahai stopped is any indicator. Poor Shahai, you're in it now my girl.

Its also worth noting that we again have it confirmed that Daisetsu hasn't had his gempukku yet. I'm sensing an excuse for him to change his name while in hiding. If they have him go through an emergency gempukku while he's running or he just chooses to adopt a name to disguise his identity what better name then Daigotsu. Keeps the O5R fans happy and really he is looking more and more like someone prepared to tear the old order down, especially now that he's going to be on the outiside looking in on the mess his brother is likely about to make of things.

As someone who is not a master of the old lore, does this seem like a setup to make them the same characters they were before to you? After skimming their pages on the wiki, I can sort of see it with Daisetsu/Daigotsu now, but I'm having a harder time swallowing it with Shahai, I guess.

11 minutes ago, MirumotoKatsuro said:

As someone who is not a master of the old lore, does this seem like a setup to make them the same characters they were before to you? After skimming their pages on the wiki, I can sort of see it with Daisetsu/Daigotsu now, but I'm having a harder time swallowing it with Shahai, I guess.

Depends on how they are treated on the run. Early Shahai is pretty much a no go since she is absolutely not a Bloodspeaker at this point.

That said if she finds herself turning to more extreme and darker magics to protect Daisetsu as they are on the run it could very easily lead to her stumbling into Maho. Especially if she feels the need to release the kami she has in her current talismans so they can return to the palace to protect it (something I can easily see her doing since she at least suspects that she has compromised the wards) and if she crafts new talismans from local kami where ever she is at the time and one of them happens to end up being a kansen that inhabits a skull talisman and like to be called Grandfather and offers to share secrets to grant her power to protect her Prince then we are right back to old Shahai territory.

15 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Depends on how they are treated on the run. Early Shahai is pretty much a no go since she is absolutely not a Bloodspeaker at this point.

That said if she finds herself turning to more extreme and darker magics to protect Daisetsu as they are on the run it could very easily lead to her stumbling into Maho. Especially if she feels the need to release the kami she has in her current talismans so they can return to the palace to protect it (something I can easily see her doing since she at least suspects that she has compromised the wards) and if she crafts new talismans from local kami where ever she is at the time and one of them happens to end up being a kansen that inhabits a skull talisman and like to be called Grandfather and offers to share secrets to grant her power to protect her Prince then we are right back to old Shahai territory.

Honestly, I'd expect her to hold on to the kami in those talismans. They were meant to protect the Emperor; whatever Shahai's own part in that not happening, they can still serve to protect the Emperor's non-patricidal heir now that he's on the run.

Also, I'm dearly hoping that it turns out her mom was Yogo Junzo's daughter or something. Yes, I'm still convinced Junzo was "Grandfather" in the O5R timeline!

I think we still need to wait and see. More is certainly going to happen to these two.

I think one clear thing that is established is that the pair reject the tenets of Bushido and the celestial order. Why they do is understandable, and they may even be correct for feeling that way. Though when you reject institutionalized wisdom taught to you by people older and wiser, how do you replace that framework? Rules often exist for a reason. Chances are they may be open to thing they probably shouldn't be in their current state. They are just kids after all. Kids that have been mostly sheltered by privileged their entire lives. How much do they know about maho or Jingoku?

Daisetsu and Shahai are like lumps of clay waiting to be molded into something more concrete now. We have yet to see the circumstances and people that will shape their world view going forward. I'll be very interested to see where they run to when they leave the capital.

Also cool to see the stag antler dagger come back in this fiction.

It was nice that they brought it back to the antler dagger. Do we think Toturi is going to be exiled this time around? Is he going to be blamed for the Emperor's death (failed to protect him, etc), or be accused of forging his last edict, etc? Seems hard to accuse him of much when he was at death's door himself, although the forgery might still be possible. Shoju's previewed card seems to indicate he does end up as regent somehow - is this something Sotorii agrees to? Maybe since Daisetsu just told him his gempukku was rigged, he lets Shoju be regent until he can do it for real? I dunno.

So we have been saying the story really has not moved much and FFG finally said hold my sake.

Also, would be great if a certain pirate were to meet these “kids” just wandering around.

The compelling thing is that we have a living Toturi & Shoju that both know about the edict, and an absent Daisetsu. Any attempt to consolidate behind Emperor Sotorii runs into trouble from the Master of Secrets & the Emerald Champion, but if something happens to Shoju, then whoever has their hands on Daisetsu has a reasonable chance of claiming the Regency. Meanwhile, we can see from Shahai's thoughts that she likely won't run home towards the Unicorn. The Phoenix, Crane, Lion, and Scorpion are out. So that leaves The Dragon, the Crab, or the Mantis. Given their current attitude towards Bushido, I can absolutely see them making for the Mantis Islands.

16 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

The compelling thing is that we have a living Toturi & Shoju that both know about the edict, and an absent Daisetsu. Any attempt to consolidate behind Emperor Sotorii runs into trouble from the Master of Secrets & the Emerald Champion, but if something happens to Shoju, then whoever has their hands on Daisetsu has a reasonable chance of claiming the Regency. Meanwhile, we can see from Shahai's thoughts that she likely won't run home towards the Unicorn. The Phoenix, Crane, Lion, and Scorpion are out. So that leaves The Dragon, the Crab, or the Mantis. Given their current attitude towards Bushido, I can absolutely see them making for the Mantis Islands.

I could see Daisetsu initially setting out for the Scorpion lands. He has a high opinion or both Shoju and Dairu is his best friend. Now that plan may very well change once we get word that the Scorpion are "supporting" Sotorii that may necessitate a change of plans. At that point turning south towards the Crab may be the best choice they see.

Yes turn towards the Crab lands and into the arms of your new allies "Miki" and "Alteredsarnai" aka the marauding Shadowlands duo in the Crab lands. I'm sure nothing bad would come of Daisetsu and Shahai being introduced to the Shadowlands taint.