Here it is - https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/1/2/we-strike-first/

All I can say is "Oh."

I enjoy seeing more everyday examples of the taint.

Taint often had been used as an excuse when the real source is human greed.

In this case, we see that ambition and a desire for glory be the source. Taint is temptation. It isn't a cause of failure but a reaction to characters failing.

Enough failures! My Lord Yogo Junzo will soon right the wrong of this broken world.

Maho! All the cool kids are doing it!

Ah, alas...

Wouldn't it be a thing if the Hare were to be all but destroyed for actual corruption this time around?

1 hour ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Ah, alas...

Wouldn't it be a thing if the Hare were to be all but destroyed for actual corruption this time around?

I think that could be safely called irony.

One interesting note:

Quote

"Explain yourself, Usagi-ue,”

I think that's the first time we've seen that honorific used for a clan champion that's not the champion of the speaker.

So it's not "my champion" but a general honorific which could be expected by any champion being spoken to.

6 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Wouldn't it be a thing if the Hare were to be all but destroyed for actual corruption this time around?

Indeed. Though we've got a fundamentally different roster of Usagi this time around

10 hours ago, Shadrack said:

In this case, we see that ambition and a desire for glory be the source. Taint is temptation. It isn't a cause of failure but a reaction to characters failing.

It's easy to be honourable when you can do everything you need to do honourably.

It's when the chips are down and your life, family, clan and even empire are at risk that breaking the rules becomes tempting......

15 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Ah, alas...

Wouldn't it be a thing if the Hare were to be all but destroyed for actual corruption this time around?

Well this is certainly a good start toward that plot line for the Hare. Clearly Shun understands what happened. So it will be very interesting to see if we get a follow up for Shun. Also depending on how information spreads this could look exactly like an invasion of Crab lands as the Hiruma suspects.

1 hour ago, phillos said:

Well this is certainly a good start toward that plot line for the Hare. Clearly Shun understands what happened. So it will be very interesting to see if we get a follow up for Shun. Also depending on how information spreads this could look exactly like an invasion of Crab lands as the Hiruma suspects.

I think this was always intended as an invasion, at least by Tsukiko. If you read her discussion with Shun again, bearing the title of the story in mind:

Quote

“This leaves many minor lords unable to spare bushi to protect the villages in their domains.”

“So their territory is vulnerable, that could be a terrible temptation for other clans.” [We're another clan. We Strike First.]

“A great temptation, though the Great Clans have larger concerns at the capital.” [We're no Great clan. We Strike First.]

“Everything remains unsettled?”

“The regent struggles against political opposition that claims his position is illegitimate. Skirmishes among the Osari Plains have escalated with so many magistrates attempting to maintain order in the capital, but the Great Clans fight among themselves. Any troubles this far from Otosan Uchi are beneath their notice for the moment.” Tsukiko allowed herself a smile. She had waited for so long. [We Strike First]

"We strike first," and so they do - they make the first strike of the Clan War (notice the title is prefaced "1") and in her greed, their Champion makes a deal with a maho-tsukai.

Although, one thing does confuse me. In Courts of Stone, Tangled Path Village is a Crane holding.

2 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Although, one thing does confuse me. In Courts of Stone, Tangled Path Village is a Crane holding.

Same name, different village. Probably a Yasuki cartographer’s idea of a joke.

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...What.

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Well...

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...Happy new year everyone!

Bunch of opportunistic thieving gits.

I'm guessing the 4th Legion will be seeing action fairly soon.

I'm trying to remember which Minor Clans have decent armies. Wasn't Hare one of them? Alongside Dragonfly and Badger. (The Mantis, of course, have a decent navy).

Hare are called out in the RPG as being a minor clan with a significant army yes

And the Crab are sorta busy, hence this little piece of opportunism.

...

Can't imagine why Kisada might get fed up with the rest of the Empire. No idea.

On 1/4/2020 at 11:49 PM, Tonbo Karasu said:

I'm trying to remember which Minor Clans have decent armies. Wasn't Hare one of them? Alongside Dragonfly and Badger. (The Mantis, of course, have a decent navy).

Hare were probably one of the largest clan and in Old5R had a story of aggression over the Falcon (which I assume must also have had a fairly large army). They also managed to gather around 800 hundred battle ready samurai in less than a day in the Hare clan adventure.

My own impression from the old lore for the "core" mninor clans in terms of size/power was:

Mantis

Fox (Served as Imperial enforcers and part of the Three Man Alliance with clans that were clearly smaller)

Hare

Falcon (able to withstand Fox agression and to juggle alliances with both the Crab and the Unicorn)

Tortoise

Badger (almost certainly far larger than the Tortoise but without the wealth and Imperial backing)

Dragonfly (but with Phoenix and and Dragon support they were pratically unassailable)

Sparrow (probably on pair with the Dragonfly but without the alliances)

Centipede (we actually have the numbers for them as they were 50 households plus 100 Ronin)

Wasp (Although due to Stsume's support they could hit above their weight, there were only 50 of them prior to the Clan War)

How the new entries from this edition fit into this list I haven't quite yet ben able to figure out, but I suspect the Deer should be on pair with the Tortoise.

(old5r stuff)

The Hare annexed farmland in Falcon territory without Falcon opposition but within weeks, the Hare asked the Falcon to save them from "bandit attacks". The Hare then left without further incident. The Falcon refer to the incident as the Three Week Visit.

The Three Man Alliance was formed between the Fox, Sparrow and Wasp to oppose and defeat Scorpion aggression and to ensure the Crane and Scorpion could not find pathways to start a war with each other. The same Scorpion general that was defeated by the Three Man Alliance went on to annihilate the Hare clan.

On 1/3/2020 at 6:27 PM, Tonbo Karasu said:

I think this was always intended as an invasion, at least by Tsukiko. If you read her discussion with Shun again, bearing the title of the story in mind:

"We strike first," and so they do - they make the first strike of the Clan War (notice the title is prefaced "1") and in her greed, their Champion makes a deal with a maho-tsukai.

Although, one thing does confuse me. In Courts of Stone, Tangled Path Village is a Crane holding.

I hadn’t read it that way the first time, but going back over it now that makes total sense

9 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

Hare were probably one of the largest clan and in Old5R had a story of aggression over the Falcon (which I assume must also have had a fairly large army). They also managed to gather around 800 hundred battle ready samurai in less than a day in the Hare clan adventure.

<snip for space, excuse me>

How the new entries from this edition fit into this list I haven't quite yet ben able to figure out, but I suspect the Deer should be on pair with the Tortoise.

The new edition of Emerald Empire has this quote:

"Each Minor Clan has the relative strength of a single Great Clan family. While some are more martial than others, few are able to field an army of any great strength or marshal more than a few hundred to fight at any one time. Only the Hare, Falcon, Dragonfly, and Mantis Clans have sizeable forces, and these fall far short of those of the Great Clans, with the exception of the Mantis navy."

I'd suggest that the reason the Dragonfly got bumped up is that they are playing up the 'face of the Dragon' thing for them - the Dragon portion of The City of the Rich Frog is actually administered by the Tonbo, with one of their Shugenja running it.

3 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

The new edition of Emerald Empire has this quote:

"Each Minor Clan has the relative strength of a single Great Clan family. While some are more martial than others, few are able to field an army of any great strength or marshal more than a few hundred to fight at any one time. Only the Hare, Falcon, Dragonfly, and Mantis Clans have sizeable forces, and these fall far short of those of the Great Clans, with the exception of the Mantis navy."

I'd suggest that the reason the Dragonfly got bumped up is that they are playing up the 'face of the Dragon' thing for them - the Dragon portion of The City of the Rich Frog is actually administered by the Tonbo, with one of their Shugenja running it.

The Dragonfly is one of those clans I think should have been set as more powerful from the beginning. While they overlaped a bit with the Kitsuki when introduced, they held large tracts of seemingly fertile lands, had been the face of the Dragon for two centuries and had the enmity of the Lion.

All these would be an incentive to keep a powerful army and make friends with the Unicorn and the Crane to add to the Dragon and the Phoenix. Their survival kind of depended on it.

I was always bemused by how the Dragonfly never had a Bushi school in the older RPGs... or even just a Path. Yes, yes, their founder hung up his sword, but he was VERY good at using it.

3 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

I was always bemused by how the Dragonfly never had a Bushi school in the older RPGs... or even just a Path. Yes, yes, their founder hung up his sword, but he was VERY good at using it.

That's the downside of most families just do one thing.

That said given their role as the "emissaries" of the Dragon and that the wife of the founder was an Isawa Shugehja a courtier/shugenja focus does make more sense. and most Dragonfly bushi would really be more likely to just be training in the Mirumoto style given their proximity to the Mirumoto school rather than a unique style (even though the son of the first Dragonfly champion who dueled the Lion general to avenge his father's death was trained in both the Shiba and Mirumoto style there is nothing to indicate that a proper school curriculum was founded around his training).

10 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

I was always bemused by how the Dragonfly never had a Bushi school in the older RPGs... or even just a Path. Yes, yes, their founder hung up his sword, but he was VERY good at using it.

7 hours ago, Schmoozies said:

That's the downside of most families just do one thing.

That said given their role as the "emissaries" of the Dragon and that the wife of the founder was an Isawa Shugehja a courtier/shugenja focus does make more sense. and most Dragonfly bushi would really be more likely to just be training in the Mirumoto style given their proximity to the Mirumoto school rather than a unique style (even though the son of the first Dragonfly champion who dueled the Lion general to avenge his father's death was trained in both the Shiba and Mirumoto style there is nothing to indicate that a proper school curriculum was founded around his training).

I always just assumed that it was because easy access to two Bushi schools was enough for a single Minor Clan - being able to basically choose whether to send your bushi students to Shiba or Mirumoto means that there's not much else required.