7 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:After Kyuden Kakita fell, but before the word had arrived at the capital that it had.
That would mean this is all happening very close together, Kyuden Kakita and Kyuden Doji are both within a day's ride of the capital (mentioned in Courts of Stone ). I believe in Emerald Empire it notes thanks to the unicorn the Crane have rediscovered pigeon post too, though I wouldn't put it past the lion to shoot every bird leaving a castle.
14 hours ago, 987654321 said:Out of geniune curiosity: what exactly made you like him so much?
I didn't
For me he was "placeholder Lion champion" over a really long and weird time, so I find his appearance here hilarious.
And yeah, let's see-
The Lion have unilaterally set aside their Clan Champion to follow someone the rank and file like more.
The Crane (booooo! KYUDEN DOJI DELENDA EST!) are about to enter a civil war because Kuwanan has beef with his sister and Yoshi the Idiot backs his play. WHILE the Lion are kicking their teeth in, and while the devastation from the tsunami is still beating them with a stick. Oh, and the Mantis are hitting their coasts and shipping extra hard. And while their nominal allies in the Phoenix are more concerned with the Unicorn (publicly) and the elemental imbalance (secretly) than with bailing them out.
The Scorpion, while currently trying to have more control on it, have a Shoju faction and a Kachiko faction.
The Phoenix... don't APPEAR to be headed for outright civil strife of the same kind, but Tadaka's actions are definitely cause for concern, and the inability to lean on their magic no doubt has a few of them a wee bit panicky. Look for the Council to do something dumb with the best of attentions- the true Way of the Phoenix.
The Crab... are in a weirdly stable place, actually, especially since Shoju intends to give them their jade. Part of that is that we haven't seen much of them, but aside from Yori being Yori, their chief problems are external. True, their eternal war is still grinding away, but once Shoju gets them their jade, they're not exactly as badly off as they have been.
The Unicorn... are looking for trouble on all sides. Internal bickering, burgeoning war with the Lion, at odds with the Phoenix, likely about to be implicated in Daisetstu's disappearance by way of Shahai. Yeesh.
The Dragon are sort of in the Crab seat, although the Pure Land Sect appears to be making greater inroads than anyone cares to admit- but for the most part, the difficulties we've SEEN are external.
Edited by Shiba Gunichi18 minutes ago, Shiba Gunichi said:The Crab... are in a weirdly stable place, actually, especially since Shoju intends to give them their jade. Part of that is that we haven't seen much of them, but aside from Yori being Yori, their chief problems are external. True, their eternal war is still grinding away, but once Shoju gets them their jade, they're not exactly as badly off as they have been.
This should actually be one of the most alarming things as a complacent Crab leads to Kisada looking at the mess the rest of the Empire is in and thinking if only a strong hand could unify that mess and turn its full might against our troubles to the South. Next thing you know Yori is showing up telling him he should use Sukune to set a new Standard for the Crab.
I'll show myself out now 😎
1 hour ago, Schmoozies said:This should actually be one of the most alarming things as a complacent Crab leads to Kisada looking at the mess the rest of the Empire is in and thinking if only a strong hand could unify that mess and turn its full might against our troubles to the South. Next thing you know Yori is showing up telling him he should use Sukune to set a new Standard for the Crab.
You say alarming, I say encouraging and a wonderful opportunity to change Rokugan for the better...…………...
Yes, that's it Kisada. Look north and witness the failure of Rokugan. If only they had a strong leader, maybe they could be saved, but, you are growing old and your children are not yet prepared to take up mantle of leadership in your place. It can only be you, and I will help you. Give me your youngest son and I will grant you the power to change the fate of Rokugan.
-Fu Leng
13 hours ago, MirumotoKatsuro said:Definitely a good point, but who would reveal or provide evidence for that? As far as I remember, only Tsuko, Kuwanan, and some dead ronin know about it.
So far as we know, true (although Kitsu Motso did meet the Warriors of the Boar in The Fate of Flames before Tsuko did, so probably knows they had Kunawan prisoner). His official story is that he was captured, and escaped, and made it to Kyuden Kakita. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to what Tsuko has chosen to do in the aftermath, because, yes, a cynical mind could well spin what's happened as collaboration.
But note that " so far as we know ". I'm not convinced it's actually true.
From "The Fires of Justice":
“I do not know who hired those rōnin,” Tsuko admitted aloud, her eyes locking with Kuwanan’s. “And I do not even know if I was expected to care. I have a suspicion I was meant to kill you, that someone thought my rage would demand it.” She breathed deeply, and squeezed the wound on her right hand to remind her of that cost, the pain a steadying force. “Someone has treated us as pawns.”
If the Warriors of the Boar were not hired by the Lion, then whoever did hire them probably knows they delivered Kunawan to Tsuko's camp after seizing him at Shirei Mura.
They may not know what happened after then (obviously Kujira wasn't around to brief them!), but since they know he was delivered as a prisoner, if they know he then materialised at Kyuden Kakita claiming 'he escaped from the ronin' which is blatantly untrue, they can probably put two and two together.
And it's a fair guess that they're neither a friend to the Lion nor the Crane.
Also, rereading "A Crane Takes Flight":
I increasingly think Kunawan is not a fit champion (debates about Hotaru's suitability aside, if appropriate to your personal view read "a fit champion either "). His reaction to Daidoji Netsu's defeat at Three Trees (essentially " of course he should kill himself, he lost !") seems massively hypocritical given that he's just escaped from the consequences of his own battlefield defeat leading to the loss of Shirei Mura, which he doesn't apologise for or even mention.
11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:And yeah, let's see-
The Lion have unilaterally set aside their Clan Champion to follow someone the rank and file like more.
The Crane (booooo! KYUDEN DOJI DELENDA EST!) are about to enter a civil war because Kuwanan has beef with his sister and Yoshi the Idiot backs his play. WHILE the Lion are kicking their teeth in, and while the devastation from the tsunami is still beating them with a stick. Oh, and the Mantis are hitting their coasts and shipping extra hard. And while their nominal allies in the Phoenix are more concerned with the Unicorn (publicly) and the elemental imbalance (secretly) than with bailing them out.
The Scorpion, while currently trying to have more control on it, have a Shoju faction and a Kachiko faction.
Yup
11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:The Phoenix... don't APPEAR to be headed for outright civil strife of the same kind, but Tadaka's actions are definitely cause for concern, and the inability to lean on their magic no doubt has a few of them a wee bit panicky. Look for the Council to do something dumb with the best of attentions- the true Way of the Phoenix.
Tadaka vs Council seems feasible. I genuinely think the intent is to have two 'factions' of each clan so that a player isn't pidgeonholed into one side of the war (however the 'sides' ultimately shake out) by their choice of clan.
11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:The Crab... are in a weirdly stable place, actually, especially since Shoju intends to give them their jade. Part of that is that we haven't seen much of them, but aside from Yori being Yori, their chief problems are external. True, their eternal war is still grinding away, but once Shoju gets them their jade, they're not exactly as badly off as they have been.
I repeat the observation that I still don't think we've had any resolution of that watchtower going silent. But no, there's no obvious split beyond Yori internally. At the same time "everything seems to be going a bit better for the Crab Clan now" is a phrase which sets off alarm bells.
11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:The Unicorn... are looking for trouble on all sides. Internal bickering, burgeoning war with the Lion, at odds with the Phoenix, likely about to be implicated in Daisetstu's disappearance by way of Shahai. Yeesh.
The Moto are looking pretty restless. External strife all you like, but everyone seems to be heading for some sort of internal leadership conflict.
11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:The Dragon are sort of in the Crab seat, although the Pure Land Sect appears to be making greater inroads than anyone cares to admit- but for the most part, the difficulties we've SEEN are external.
The more I think about it, the more I think we might see the opposing sides - near the capital at least - be the "For the good of the empire" Agasha Sumiko and the rising wave prophecy (which says the clan war and fall of the capital are necessary ) driven Togashi Mitsu.
The Ruby (slash-acting-Emerald) Champion and the Clan Champion's heir give both sides a totally legitimate leader, and if the two start giving contradictory orders to the Army of the Rising Wave, it'll be interesting to see whose they would follow in a crunch.
Edited by Magnus Grendel
Pretty pleased that we now have a clan champion. Our last one got a new job and a grey border.
Tsuko is bringing the lion back to where they should be, engaging in glorious battle. Now the Ikoma bards will have tales to tell. Samurai Klingons get to do there stuff.
Next though I think it’s time to ally with Kuwannen and Yoshi, and put the rightful heir Sotori on the throne. This regency with one heir missing and the other one about to be vanished seems far to much like a coup to me.
^ That there sounds like some Shadowlands talk to me.
14 hours ago, Manchu said:^ That there sounds like some Shadowlands talk to me.
Our brave brothers and sisters of the crab keep the shadowlands at bay in the south. We should be more concerned with ensuring the true heirs safety and waging glorious battle to bring this coup down.
I don't know what you mean. Surely if there was any suggestion of anything improper or unholy occurring, the Kami who ward the inner palace would have intervened?
(Will definitely be interested to see what happens when the Hidden Guard figure that bit out!)
On 10/17/2019 at 3:27 PM, JolOfNar said:This regency with one heir missing and the other one about to be vanished seems far to much like a coup to me.
You know, Tsuko bringing this up after this story would be ironic beyond measure.
56 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:You know, Tsuko bringing this up after this story would be ironic beyond measure.
That’s the beautiful hypocrisy of the lion. I feel that for Tsuko what she’s done she won’t see so much a coup as putting the lion back on track. Yet the imperial situation will seem the other way round (even though we as players know it isn’t)