Burden of the Emerald Empire (A Legend of the Five Rings Tale)

-Believe

You stand up from your desk, and walk out of your room to the nearest dojo. You need to move, to burn off this nervous energy. The ever present eyes of the Seppun watch you with a furtive worry, that they think you don't sense. Changing into a simple martial training gi, you begin moving through the elemental forms. Oh you weren't a master of Kaze-do, Mizu-do, Tsuchi-do, Hitsu-do or even the poorly understood Kekken-do. You knew them, knew of the swift movements of the Wind, the fluid adaptation of the water, the sturdy stance of the earth, the power of fire and understanding of void. Yet, your own style was something wholly unique, named by your sensei imaginatively enough as the Way of Grasshoppers...you preferred to thinking of it as the Way of the Komainu.

You finished your warm up, and began to train your own style...and your uncle Kaneka steps into the ring with you. He bows, you bow, and the spar is on. His own style is a mixture of the Ikoma-do and street fighting, but it's effective. You punch, you kick, you feel bruises forming on your body, as you try to make youth and skill overcome age and treachery.

Losing yourself to the fight, you can begin to put the logical part of your mind to work.
The fight ends with you on the ground, a victim of your uncle, tripping you with an unexpected hook kick. You look up at the afternoon sky, the Sun and the Moon both believed in you...you had to act.
You blink as the solution comes to you.

Your uncle looks down at you.
"Feeling better?"

The bruises on your arms and torso argue against that...but you do. The ability to just let yourmind work without you interfering had been enough.

You had the beginnings of a plan. You didn't believe Kaukatsu fully, but you believed enough to act.

"Hai....thank you for the match uncle."

"Do you want to talk about it my Mikado?"

You considered for a moment telling him your plan...you decide not to, you need to set some other things up first.

"No Uncle, thank you, I am going to go to the baths for a bit to think. Thank you for the match"

"Hai" He says bowing and letting you go on your way.

As you sit in the hot baths, having fully cleaned yourself, you trace one finger around the clear water.
Your plan was....

[] Quietly speak to Kitsuki Akane when she arrives and set her loose with instructions to be subtle. If there is something, you'll find evidence in the courts and words. Once you find it, you can crush it, not with any blow, but with words. Secrecy was a conspiracy's greatest strength, rob them of that, and they will fall. If there is nothing...well more blackmail never hurt. (TN 30)

[] You do not have an Emerald Champion yet, what you do have is a number of number of Magistrates and other bureaucrats who so far have not had any particular reason to focus on the Unicorn and Mantis lands. Change that, make them work all over those lands and have them find something.
(TN 30)

[] You do not necessarily have to act directly, certainly not politically. While your Imperial Legion is somewhat reduced from the wars...you have enough to bait the Unicorn and the Mantis. Prepare the troops and set it up so that you are a target. Either you scare them into submission or make them act openly, either way you win. (TN 30)

[] What is an army without people, what is an army without koku? While you will have to be very careful, you can probably manipulate Yoritomo Hiroko's greed and chauvanism into acting against the Unicorn, with that the alliance should falter (TN 35)

[] There are a number of monks, priests, and other holy men who could be persuaded to agitate the people against this conspiracy subtly...in particular the Monks of Daikoku have long had the ear of Naizen. (TN 30)


AN: Sorry for the relatively short update on this one. Due to terrible time management skills on my part, I will not be updating this until Saturday at the earliest possibly later.