Link below. See what happens when a Dragon decides to take action.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/9/16/when-the-wave-strikes-the-shore/

13 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Link below. See what happens when a Dragon decides to take action.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/9/16/when-the-wave-strikes-the-shore/

I mean, she is a Dragon who used to be known for taking drastic action once she got round to taking action.

Plot twist.

It's actually the Dragon Clan Coup. 😂

If that had been Matsu Tsuko storming the Imperial Palace, would Bayushi Shoju be dead? I do not see her turning him over to Kakita Yoshi. I do not see Kakita Yoshi passively letting the Lion storm the Palace.

Triumph of the Crane-Unicorn-Dragon alliance, though! If Hantei Daisetsu & Iuchi Shahai go to her family, Doji Shizume is already there and a trusted friend so we’ll have secured the legitimate heir. We have the Regent in custody, while Doji Hotaru has hands on Bayushi Kachiko. The only one in the wind is Bayushi Aramoro. Daidoji Uji & Doji Kuwanan are skirmishing with the Lion on one front, while the Unicorn press them on another, and they’re short food going in to winter.

8 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

If that had been Matsu Tsuko storming the Imperial Palace, would Bayushi Shoju be dead? I do not see her turning him over to Kakita Yoshi. I do not see Kakita Yoshi passively letting the Lion storm the Palace.

Triumph of the Crane-Unicorn-Dragon alliance, though! If Hantei Daisetsu & Iuchi Shahai go to her family, Doji Shizume is already there and a trusted friend so we’ll have secured the legitimate heir. We have the Regent in custody, while Doji Hotaru has hands on Bayushi Kachiko. The only one in the wind is Bayushi Aramoro. Daidoji Uji & Doji Kuwanan are skirmishing with the Lion on one front, while the Unicorn press them on another, and they’re short food going in to winter.

If it had been Tsuko, or some other Lion, storming the palace, he'd have had something else set up in his quarters to deflect them, since I'm pretty sure that Dairu was summoned to protect him from Hitomi.

Oh, Shoju. This Empire doesn't deserve you 😄

A pity, then, that this leaves Kakita Yoshi holding the reins... 'cause that guy is someone the Empire roundly deserves

20 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

If that had been Matsu Tsuko storming the Imperial Palace, would Bayushi Shoju be dead? I do not see her turning him over to Kakita Yoshi. I do not see Kakita Yoshi passively letting the Lion storm the Palace.

Triumph of the Crane-Unicorn-Dragon alliance, though! If Hantei Daisetsu & Iuchi Shahai go to her family, Doji Shizume is already there and a trusted friend so we’ll have secured the legitimate heir. We have the Regent in custody, while Doji Hotaru has hands on Bayushi Kachiko. The only one in the wind is Bayushi Aramoro. Daidoji Uji & Doji Kuwanan are skirmishing with the Lion on one front, while the Unicorn press them on another, and they’re short food going in to winter.

'Cept for the bit where Kuwanan and his boys (who are in bed with Yoshi) attacked the procession with the other prince, who saw it happen without having a good handle on what was going on...

Don't think any Clan is getting out of this looking too good when push comes to shove

IIRC there was reason to believe the Lion's so-called "food shortage" may have been a ploy by the Ikoma leadership to force Tsanuri's hand on raiding the Unicorn (starting with a village that was conveniently harvesting tax crops). If anyone has had any notable mention of food shortages, it's Crane (who cite that as one of the major reasons they couldn't afford to lose control of the Osari Plains when this conflict started).

Honestly I wonder how things are going to splinter going forward, assuming further splintering will happen. At the moment, Crane appear to be allied with Unicorn and Phoenix, Dragon are allied to Unicorn, but Unicorn and Phoenix don't play nice. Crab and Phoenix seem to be getting along*, and Dragon was possibly trying to get support from Phoenix and Crab for...something?...and who knows how Crane/Dragon relations will be going forward, between Kuwanan's ambush of Sotorii's delegation which Hitomi witnessed, and Hitomi storming the palace, even if she did end up arresting Shoju. Scorpion is looking pretty alone right now, and it's hard to believe that's going to change unless someone comes up with Very Good Reasons to side with them (side with Kachiko against Shoju, maybe?). Then there's Lion who are also looking pretty alone, and although they seem happy enough with that up until now, that might change after recent events...

So now that we've had both a literal and a figurative powder keg blow up, what's the next big shake-up? 😁

Oh geez, I just realized... Under the old Emperor the Crab were denied jade then under the regency they were given it. So Kisada's going to march on the capital in support of Shoju.

14 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Oh, Shoju. This Empire doesn't deserve you 😄

A pity, then, that this leaves Kakita Yoshi holding the reins... 'cause that guy is someone the Empire roundly deserves

36 minutes ago, shineyorkboy said:

Oh geez, I just realized... Under the old Emperor the Crab were denied jade then under the regency they were given it. So Kisada's going to march on the capital in support of Shoju.

... oh. The guy who told the Crab to go pound sand when his Clan was in desperate need of allies against the Lion, and then instigated a civil war in his own Clan , is now the guy in charge of the Empire .

Oh, Rokugan is doomed .

3 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

'Cept for the bit where Kuwanan and his boys (who are in bed with Yoshi) attacked the procession with the other prince, who saw it happen without having a good handle on what was going on...

Don't think any Clan is getting out of this looking too good when push comes to shove

Ah, but now, with Shoju having been revealed as a Usurper, Hitomi was in the wrong there. The Crane suspected the Scorpion and were trying to save Sotorii from the Regent’s machinations. Hitomi now knows she was being duped at the time...

2 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

IIRC there was reason to believe the Lion's so-called "food shortage" may have been a ploy by the Ikoma leadership to force Tsanuri's hand on raiding the Unicorn (starting with a village that was conveniently harvesting tax crops). If anyone has had any notable mention of food shortages, it's Crane (who cite that as one of the major reasons they couldn't afford to lose control of the Osari Plains when this conflict started).

It is a ploy, but Tsanuri’s troops were starved. Just before winter. And forced to steal tax rice to eat. That does not do wonders for troop morale. Especially to that of a troop whose commander may still be somewhat loyal to the previous Clan Champion who just went rogue.

1 hour ago, Mangod said:

Oh, Rokugan is doomed .

If you need someone to fail perfectly in order to touch off a cataclysm, you need a Crane.

If Kakita Yoshi is a fool*, then he is the most perfect fool for the times, because this is the Suijindai.

*and he now literally is, having been fooled by his great rival Bayushi Kachiko into arresting her fall guy.

13 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

If you need someone to fail perfectly in order to touch off a cataclysm, you need a Crane.

If Kakita Yoshi is a fool*, then he is the most perfect fool for the times, because this is the Suijindai.

*and he now literally is, having been fooled by his great rival Bayushi Kachiko into arresting her fall guy.

If we are going to fail, at least we are doing this fabulously.

22 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

So now that we've had both a literal and a figurative powder keg blow up, what's the next big shake-up? 😁

Anyone know where Miya Satoshi currently is?

8 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Anyone know where Miya Satoshi currently is?

In his quarters laughing maniacally?

4 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

In his quarters laughing maniacally?

Priming Tamanegi the crime boss with everything he needs to slow-play now-ronin Toturi into the Kolat.

ETA - As far as we know, Satoshi made 2 moves: assassinate Doji Satsume, and help Kachiko cover up Jodan’s murder. That’s super-efficient play to bring down an Empire.

The old Kolat didn't need any help in looking bad, but Satoshi is playing for keeps.

10 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

ETA - As far as we know, Satoshi made 2 moves: assassinate Doji Satsume, and help Kachiko cover up Jodan’s murder. That’s super-efficient play to bring down an Empire.

The other two possibles - depending on whether you see them as specifically 'Kolat moves' - were giving the Unicorn the Emperor's totally deniable blessing to attack the Lion with whatever level of force they chose to employ, and assisting behind the scenes in getting the Mantis minor clan invited to Winter Court and potentially making a minor clan princess a credible possibility for the next empress.

He did also try and kill Sumiko, the ruby champion, which failed, and his assassination of Satsume was to try and strangle the idea of the recency before anyone else in the capital heard of it, which clearly also failed.

He's no inept bond villain, but nor is he infallible...

10 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

The other two possibles - depending on whether you see them as specifically 'Kolat moves' - were giving the Unicorn the Emperor's totally deniable blessing to attack the Lion with whatever level of force they chose to employ, and assisting behind the scenes in getting the Mantis minor clan invited to Winter Court and potentially making a minor clan princess a credible possibility for the next empress .

I missed that; source?

10 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

He's no inept bond villain, but nor is he infallible...

And isn't that part of what makes a compelling villain; they're a credible threat, but not such a threat that it requires Deus Ex Machina to defeat them.

3 hours ago, Mangod said:

I missed that; source?

Winter's Embrace - the PCs can discover that Mantis' presence at Winter Court was the contrivance of three people, one of whom (whether they know it or not) is definitely Kolat, one of whom might well be.

• Ikoma Ujiaki sent the Mantis a fake invitation to Winter Court.
• Yoritomo sent an acceptance to a non-existent invitation to the Imperial bureaucracy in Otosan Uchi, and brought along an attractive younger neice to trail in front of the court as a potential alternative to Doji Chiyoe as an Imperial bride.
• What should have happened was the Imperial responded 'but we didn't send this', which would have started an investigation into why Yoritomo thought he'd been invited and since the fake was delivered by an Ikoma family agent (Ikoma Rumiko), would swiftly end up pointing the blame at the Lion.
• For reasons unknown and which surprised his subordinates, Miya Satoshi instead ordered the Miya to treat the acceptance as valid, and sent last-minute orders to the Crane to provide for the Mantis as formal guests.
• Ujiaki's plan has a minimal benefit if it works, a large chance of failing and a huge potential downside for the lion if it did. His behaviour only really makes sense if he was confident the invalid acceptance wouldn't be queried. Having confidence that Satoshi would act the way he did makes me think Ujiaki is another likely Kolat name (Which potentially puts another point of view on his actions on the Lion/Unicorn borders).

Perhaps in this timeline the Unicorn aren’t really too infiltrated by the Kolat.

Indeed, he was too slow to react to Satsume finding his own solution and the idea of the Regency got to Jodan anyway. And taking a swing at Sumiko tipped her off that something’s up.

Though, now she might suspect the Scorpion did for Satsume to try to make Aramoro the Emerald Champion.

Likewise, gently encouraging Unicorn/Lion rivalry & Crane/Mantis shenanigans is within his general mandate as Daimyo of an Imperial Family, so while offering any legitimacy to the Mantis raises an eyebrow, it’s not too beyond the pale.

16 minutes ago, Diogo Salazar said:

Perhaps in this timeline the Unicorn aren’t really too infiltrated by the Kolat.

This time around it looks like the Ikoma. Which, given their access to unedited historical records makes a lot of sense for getting disillusioned with the Hantei. Also, there’s a Ujiaki/Tsanuri/Tsuko confrontation rife with possibility. What if Tsuko finds out that she was played by her own Clan, that Toturi was right all along?

7 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Though, now she might suspect the Scorpion did for Satsume to try to make Aramoro the Emerald Champion.

Pretty much whatever the PCs do, she ends the adventure aware it was the Kolat because the same room with evidence of the poisoning also has the 'my friend and peer' letter. She might well suspect the Kolat and the Scorpion are one and the same, but part of the reason she so gamely accepted the Edict as genuine despite Toturi having vanished is that she had a degree of advance knowledge of its existence.

Note that she appears to end the adventure highly suspicious of Kitsuki Kagi, the Lion-born, now Dragon-adopted chief Yoriki who was the boss of, and a family member of, the Kolat would-be assassin. He subsequently turns up 'assisting' Doji Kuwanan in the Crane's investigation of Satsume's death where he sets out to find out exactly how the Scorpion did it because it was clearly them .