19 hours ago, Daigotsu Arashi said:

"Two people, both in sandals, and one of them expensively perfumed. Shinobi wouldn’t wear such scents and would have had horses waiting in a nearby wood."

Wow, wow, wow Mitsu

Be gentle with the "S" word

Shinobi/Ninja are far less strange and a bit more common in this continuity. Pretty much every clan has some members who are of the profession.

3 hours ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

Shinobi/Ninja are far less strange and a bit more common in this continuity. Pretty much every clan has some members who are of the profession.

To the point you see 2 guards liying down and the first thing you think are shinobi(not ninja)?

They come in a happy bento or in a onigiri surprise now?

On 8/30/2019 at 1:33 AM, Shiba Gunichi said:

Oh, Dragon... raising being pointlessly cryptic to an art form.

Because I'm sympathetic to this gripe, I do want to point out this:

Quote

Mitsu had not yet experienced the foresight that blessed the Champions of the Dragon Clan, but he knew how badly those visions taxed them in body and spirit. The Lord of the High House of Light had undoubtedly shared everything he knew.

The crypticness does, in this iteration, have a reason.

On 9/1/2019 at 11:24 PM, Kinzen said:

Because I'm sympathetic to this gripe, I do want to point out this:

The crypticness does, in this iteration, have a reason.

I agree with this gripe as well. For my part, I would like our role in the Empire to be a bit more defined. "The other Clans don't know/understand the part we play" is acceptable - the Scorpion are more or less in this boat already - but "we're too cryptic for a role" is not.

Kinzen wrote a pseudo self aware joke into this story about it, when Hitomi is thinking about how Ise zumi purposefully act aloof to seem more mystical.

To be fair, for many of them and in many cases, that's genuinely their natural behavior. But are they completely above using that kind of thing on purpose for their own advantage? Not when I'm writing them, they're not. 🙂

7 hours ago, Kinzen said:

To be fair, for many of them and in many cases, that's genuinely their natural behavior. But are they completely above using that kind of thing on purpose for their own advantage? Not when I'm writing them, they're not. 🙂

As someone who has played many of an ise zumi in many a campaign of L5R RPG, being able to be simultaneously aloof and mystical, while down to earth and approachable is a bizarre, highly effectively balance. And incredibly useful when you are basically on the monastic path of "You do you, you crazy diamond".

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 8:52 AM, Kinzen said:

But are they completely above using that kind of thing on purpose for their own advantage? Not when I'm writing them, they're not. 🙂

Or even their own amusement. Wasn't there something written once about a Togashi pastime of trying to make up increasingly ridiculous "ancient traditions" and see which ones they could make stick?

I've always mentally pictured Togashi Ise Zuma as basically being kung-fu versions of Lewellyn from Ozy and Millie:

6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Or even their own amusement. Wasn't there something written once about a Togashi pastime of trying to make up increasingly ridiculous "ancient traditions" and see which ones they could make stick?

I really hope this is a thing. There are far too few characters written (in general) with a sense of humor like this, in my opinion, despite that it's such a normal human thing to do. Ise zumi are people too!

It is a thing! In one of the sourcebooks on superstition - Emerald empire I think?

Edit - pg 148 of the Emerald Empire sourcebook. "It should be noted that a common Togashi pastime is inventing new superstitions and passing them on to the peasantry to see which ones catch on."

13 hours ago, MirumotoKatsuro said:

I really hope this is a thing. There are far too few characters written (in general) with a sense of humor like this, in my opinion, despite that it's such a normal human thing to do. Ise zumi are people too!

NO!!!

They're not allowed to have this level of individuality!

In order to satisfy my pathological need for constant grimderp edgelord brooding, I need each and every character reduced to basic family stereotypes lacking in any selfawareness whatsoever!