https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/18/46/1846feb8-0cb4-4497-8f7a-c64c924b3570/6_questionable_shelter.pdf

Not the High House of Light, but they’re in Dragon territory, so Imma say I called it

26 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/18/46/1846feb8-0cb4-4497-8f7a-c64c924b3570/6_questionable_shelter.pdf

Not the High House of Light, but they’re in Dragon territory, so Imma say I called it

Yes, but look who they're with . Not just

If I recall, Satto is the former ronin student of Kitsuki Shomon who fled Ryoko Owari after she helped a peasant who turned out to be a smuggler trying to frame her sensei.

Too bad that Togashi Mitsu spent so many years wandering the Empire. He is recognized as Togashi Yokuni’s heir, but he fails to recognize Mirumoto Masahige’s adopted son in return.

There are so many significant people in that group.

So, we finally have the origin story for Daigotsu’s, sorry, Daisetsu’s creation of Shōridō.

I'm finding the contrast rather funny, actually - Daisetsu willingly (naively) exposing himself to the same hardships that Sotorii had forced upon him.

I guess it's now a question of which prince comes out the better for the experience.

2 hours ago, Mangod said:

I'm finding the contrast rather funny, actually - Daisetsu willingly (naively) exposing himself to the same hardships that Sotorii had forced upon him.

I guess it's now a question of which prince comes out the better for the experience.

Define "better"... 🤔

Khanbulak is a smart choice for Daisetsu & Shahai, though. Unicorn land should be safeish, their only friend Doji Shizue is nearby, and Daisetsu can actually meet people from other cultures beyond the Empire to get a perspective on Rokugan from the outside. Heck, Saadiyah al-Mozedu could give him a run-down of politics in the Caliphate and all that’d take is Shahai meeting her new sister-in-law.

Instead, the guy that’s suspicious of Bushido gets to spend winter in a village full of heretics that think the samurai are to blame for everything. All that’s missing is for Senzai to show up in the same village, maybe chatting up Hige, and Mitsu will also complete the quest he was given at the end of the Eternal Knot.

12 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

There are so many significant people in that group.

How convenient, hm?

The most famous Togashi in the Empire, traveling with two people trying to keep their names straight, one witha Unicorn accent, mucking about with commoners...

I strongly suspect this was no chance encounter.

Of course it's not a chance encounter, Mitsu even admits it's probably the work of karma.

Makes you wonder what bad thing he did in a past life to deserve this karma...

7 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Of course it's not a chance encounter, Mitsu even admits it's probably the work of karma.

Makes you wonder what bad thing he did in a past life to deserve this karma...

Giving he was leading people around in secret in the 7th Century, it's possible he started a war with the Dragon.

20 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Define "better"... 🤔

The serious answer: make them better people - humbler. wiser, more understanding of the world and their place in it, more cognizant of what being Emperor actually entails, and what consequences a seemingly simple choice can have, etc, etc.

The Ishi Tonu answer: more eyes !

On 10/1/2020 at 4:07 PM, Tonbo Karasu said:

Giving he was leading people around in secret in the 7th Century, it's possible he started a war with the Dragon

The downside of being Ise Zuma (who remember their past lives) and Dragon (who value sincerity above all) - unlike anyone else asking "What did I do to deserve this?", you know exactly what.

Life is a lot more depressing when you know you actually deserve the suffering you're going through.

But yes, the Perfect Land pretty much holds every flaw Daisetsu sees in bushido as core theology. Added to the fact the sect knows the clan has basically sent it's entire army away....

4 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

But yes, the Perfect Land pretty much holds every flaw Daisetsu sees in bushido as core theology. Added to the fact the sect knows the clan has basically sent it's entire army away....

That honestly feels like a dropped story thread right now, from the earlier fictions it really seemed like PLS was getting ready to make their move when they found out the entire army had left, but now it seems like nothing happened and they're getting ready to hunker down for the winter.

Unless that's going to be a big reveal once they get back to camp, Mitsu and company find out what these dangerous heretics have been up to all this time...

One other thought - since Daisetsu is technically Emperor and as such holds non-trivial authority in the heavens and afterlife, if the Perfect Land Sect's theology isn't just make-up bunkum, what do you suppose happens if he starts Shoshi ni kie -ing?

I would say he loses the favour of heaven, since we know for a fact that the PLS are heretics. I don't think that even the emperor can legitimise something that goes against heaven and the celestial wheel.

45 minutes ago, Matsu Kenshin said:

I would say he loses the favour of heaven, since we know for a fact that the PLS are heretics. I don't think that even the emperor can legitimise something that goes against heaven and the celestial wheel.

I'm a bit out of the loop; has the PLS been declared heretics by the Empire, or just the Phoenix Clan?

11 minutes ago, Mangod said:

I'm a bit out of the loop; has the PLS been declared heretics by the Empire, or just the Phoenix Clan?

Just the Phoenix. Hige has said that he had a vision of Shinsei, explaining how it works. He didn't appear to be lying, but may have been deceived, somehow.

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Just the Phoenix. Hige has said that he had a vision of Shinsei, explaining how it works. He didn't appear to be lying, but may have been deceived, somehow.

I mean, he could have had an hallucination as well, who knows what kind of wild mushroom or berry he ate at the time?

5 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Just the Phoenix. Hige has said that he had a vision of Shinsei, explaining how it works. He didn't appear to be lying, but may have been deceived, somehow.

Chanting the kie probably won’t lead a peasant to being summarily killed outside of Phoenix lands, but expressing the opinion that Rokugan is in the Suijindai and it’s all the samurai’s fault? That’s a no-no everywhere outside of the Dragon.

The Togashi are the only ones willing to consider that they might be right. Given what we now know about the ise zumi cycle of reincarnation, it’s possible that it was in anticipation of it.

Has an emperor issues a royal edict declaring PLS a heretical sect? No, at least not to our knowledge. Has the Phoenix Clan, spiritual protectors of the empire, advised the sect is heretical? Yes, and from what is implied in the story so far, it sounds like other clans have followed suit in rooting out the heresy from their lands (to varying degrees)...possibly all of them except Dragon.

Considering what we know of their core beliefs flies in the face of what we know of the Celestial Wheel and how it works, it's hard to believe PLS can be anything *but* heretical.

The question is, how do you identify a PLS follower until they actually say something heretical. Otherwise, two peasants are out harvesting rice, which is the heretic and which is righteous? Could a samurai tell at a glance?

On 10/2/2020 at 1:45 PM, Kaito Kikaze said:

That honestly feels like a dropped story thread right now, from the earlier fictions it really seemed like PLS was getting ready to make their move when they found out the entire army had left, but now it seems like nothing happened and they're getting ready to hunker down for the winter.

Unless that's going to be a big reveal once they get back to camp, Mitsu and company find out what these dangerous heretics have been up to all this time...

I am limited in what I can say, but I can assure you that it isn't a dropped thread. I don't know *when* you'll find out what they've been up to -- that's up to the Story Team -- but Tyler and I had a conversation prior to me writing this story about where Ichiro and Satto have been and what they've been doing, that they're on their way back from when Mitsu runs into them.

1 hour ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

The question is, how do you identify a PLS follower until they actually say something heretical. Otherwise, two peasants are out harvesting rice, which is the heretic and which is righteous? Could a samurai tell at a glance?

Kill them both and let Emma-ō judge them? 👀

6 hours ago, Diogo Salazar said:

Kill them both and let Emma-ō judge them? 👀

Ok, calm down Hantei XVI.

7 hours ago, Kinzen said:

I am limited in what I can say, but I can assure you that it isn't a dropped thread. I don't know *when* you'll find out what they've been up to -- that's up to the Story Team -- but Tyler and I had a conversation prior to me writing this story about where Ichiro and Satto have been and what they've been doing, that they're on their way back from when Mitsu runs into them.

I'm expecting some kind of "A Girl Worth Fighting For"-moment once our intrepid Prince reaches PLS HQ. Like, everyone's talking about peace and the kharmic wheel and Shinsei's teachings and what-not, and then they crest a hill and there's a peasant army getting ready to march against Mountain's Anvil.

"So, yes, this is the slightly less peaceful part of the Great Way of Peace ."