Emote Control
Plenty of genius, not enough sense.
[X] Yes talk to them, nothing is lost by talking.
[X] Try to meet at the Ashen Plain
[X] Try to meet at the Ashen Plain
Burden of the Emerald Empire (A Legend of the Five Rings Tale)
- Thread starter gman391
- Start date
- Fantasy
Year 19: The Ending pt 1
Month of the Horse, 5th day (Early Summer)
You were getting to old for this. For all that you were still technically middle aged the long journey past the Great Northern Wall, past the Dragon lands, into the territory of the Yobanjin had weighed on you. Once you had managed to reach the Towers of Flame, the roads simply...disappeared, and even the roads to the Towers of Flame were closer to dirt tracks, maintained by sheer determination as the land seemed to try and swallow them completely.
The rolling mountain steppe plateau of the Yobanjin lands were beautiful, but they were hard travel, water was scarce, food even scarcer and if not for the Dragon and the Badger both providing their own specialists to support your party, you would have had to turn back months ago.
Yet, now here you were standing on the 'Ashen Plain' a sacred site to those same Yobanjin. You would have expected the place to be covered in thick volcanic ash, instead though that ash had somehow mixed with the mountains creating a bountiful field of wild flowers. The faint sounds of life teamed, an oasis of gentler beauty to the mountain peaks. Yet in the distance a volcano sits, smoke faintly wafting from it's top promising to burn this place like it no doubt had so many times before.
Your own camp was set up in the Lion manner, large rectangular tents set around emplaced jinmaku, walls of tightly woven hemp, specially treated to resist fire, and most arrows. Across from you the Yobanjin camp centered around a grand tent similar in styling to the Moto Yurt, but there was enough differences that you suspect that the Yobanjin and Moto had both come to the same conclusion about how to build a large mobile tent.
The Yobanjin flit about their encampment, men and women bearing long straight swords similar to the old taichi style blades of the past before the invention of the Katana, and naturally fearsome looking polearms. Which drew your eye to the great 'Wyverns' creatures kin to the great Orochi, if much less powerful, easier to ride and control, it had been on the back of these creatures that the Yobanjin defied the Empire for a thousand years.
Despite all that, for all your own training in things courtly rather than military, you can tell they were trained hard, drilled to ruthless efficiency. This was no 'horde' as the Yobanjin had so often been described, but an army.
"Unnerving isn't it?" Togashi Shiko asks. "Never have they ever been so like us...yet so different at the same time."
"Hai, is their Hangeul here yet?" You ask.
You could already hear Isshin once again asking if you really needed to be here, and if you would not be better served closer to Imperial borders, and make his job so much easier for it. However, words had been given and for all your imperial ability to change the meaning of words, you weren't going to break it now, even for a barbarian.
"No, their Gong er, Daimyo in our tongue says that the Hangeul will be here tonight, he comes with the storm." Shiko answers.
"With the storm? What did the Miharu make of that?"
"Empty boasting."
You friend, you aren't so sure of that, to make you wait this Hangeul either would need to know that he could convince you that he was worth your time, or that at least making him hostile wasn't worth it. Coming in on a storm cloud would certainly do better for that.
"So we wait then." You say.
"Hai." Shiko agrees
-----------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the Jeweled City
"So what do we have?" You ask, looking at Aoshi.
Aoshi looks at Teru and Soka for a moment before ruffling a stack of papers. The luxurious suite that you had been given by Ilyas as thanks for saving his life felt strange to you after a near decade in the woods, but you couldn't complain about the view. The hanging silk curtains, simply enormous beds masquerading as pillows, well stocked liquor and confectionary stores, all tied together by beautiful geometric art decorating the ceiling and wall.
The Crane man shifts slightly showing some of his neck.
No, you couldn't complain about the view at all...
"Well Soka-sensei has determined that most of the attackers were made of disaffected Ebonites, after Bayushi-dono took their fortress in the last war, they scattered, the Yodotai seem to have picked up many of them and used their knowledge to get into the city. "
"However, the gate and guard times were provided by someone in the city, someone who had reason to know, that alone would suggest one of the Sultan's staff, but.." you trail off.
Teru had been very convincing as she searched the staff with you, and if she hadn't you had been. Baring some sort of secret foreign magic that hid everything, it hadn't been the Palace staff.
"None of them have done, none of them knew when the meeting was happening until that day and the party was too well armed and organized for it." Soka supplied.
"Which means it was one of the ambassador generals, Sabola, Nicholai, Olav, Arminder or somehow Ilyas." Teru finishes.
"A Kitsuki would suggest that it was Sabola, he did somehow disappear in the fighting and avoid the worst of it." Aoshi says.
"Yet Sabola hasn't been seen since then, which has lead to his second in command Bassel of Hierote taking over, and say what you will about Bassel, he fights hard and well."
And had hit on you multiple times to your profound irritation, but his knowledge of desert warfare had kept the Yodotai from marching on the city for two months so far.
Aoshi gives a snort suggesting that he dislikes your praise for him.
"Given the strife back home, either Nicholai or Olav would be prime contenders, but they fought too effectively back to back for that to be a thing either" You say.
Nicholai you might have believed if he had left Olav alone, but he hadn't the two Pelmyrians had instinctively fought together in that chaotic melee.
"Which leaves Amandra, " Soka says. "And she fought hard too, it could have been a triple cross to be sure, but to what end? The Ivory Kingdoms have no desire for Yodotai ruling over this city."
Teru folds her arms across her chest.
"Revenge, her family might have been caught up in Okimoto's Folly. The Ivindi won handily but they still took casualties."
You kick out your feet lying back on the mattress pillow.
"Sibola still feels right to me."
"The Senpet won't let you disgrace a memory of their general, their 'gods' have a long memory for that sort of thing apparently" Aoshi says.
"Which means we need more evidence one way or another. Wait..." you pause. "You said most of them were former Ebonites?"
"Yes?" Aoshi answers confused where your going.
"Then they must have used the Ebonite Hidden Fortress beneath the city."
"How do you know about a Hidden Fortress?" Soka asks.
"Ilyas told me about it when I visited him, that's where we're going next, we need to prepare and get a few Samurai experienced at tunnel fighting to join us." You say. "We should find something there."
"...Alright, I'll see what I can do to recruit people quietly" Aoshi says.
You smile slightly. While this wasn't the high level diplomatic talks, this was still important, if the enemy couldn't be prevented from wreaking havoc during the actual battle, it's very likely that the city would be lost and with it, the Empire's strongest offensive force.
You had to find the truth no matter what.
---------------------------------------------------------
Month of the Horse 10th Day
Five days, it had taken five days for a rolling thunder storm to come across the mountains, pushed over it by some nameless force, and with it, appearing in a series of lightning bolts riding a wyrm larger than any you had ever seen had come the Hangeul, had come...Yakamo.
It had taken all your training to not simply gawk. Lord Sun...had become the king of Barbarians? The thought was heretical, it was blasphemous, even stripped of his power. He was supposed to be better, be in Yomi or Tengoku or something.
Not standing in front of you with a wry look, like he knew exactly why you were so impressed by him riding in a storm. A smooth bow, of equal to equal, which wasn't...you were going to make so many Otomo and Doji explode.
"Hangeul," you say giving a polite bow of superior to inferior.
"Mikaido...it's been a long time hasn't it?" He asks.
"Depends, how much you remember." You say.
"Bits and pieces, your face though, that I do remember, wasn't all wrinkled with stress then though. Ruling doesn't seem to bring you much joy." Yakamo says.
"Should it?" You ask in a dry retort.
"No I suppose not" He says.
The storm crashes above you as the rain begins to pour down.
"Let's retire to my tent and begin making mochi as the Rokugani say." Yakamo offers.
"I suppose we shall have to. I have many questions Hangeul." You say.
Slowly you begin walking towards the enormous tent of the Yobanjin.
"After...whatever it is that happened to me, I didn't remember hardly anything. I was with a woman, we knew each other, hate, love, all of it intermixed, we fought for a week before finally, well...she made the first move. Then we wandered this land, unsure of us who we were, but wher ever we went, people needed us, needed us to fix things, to make it right. So we did, rebuilding the Yobanjin from...what your uncle did. Changing them, uniting them, and then we found we were more than just heroes...we were rulers, " Yakamo finishes.
"Which doesn't explain why you are here" You say as he opens the tent flap and you step inside.
"To end a war" Yakamo says simply
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the Jeweled City.
The Ebonite Temple had been destroyed by the Shadow Dragon. However, they had a second hidden fortress buried beneath the city, from before man had first trod these lands. Rumors said that it had been forged by the fabled Djinn.
You check armor for seemingly the hundredth time. You don't know if the Djinn made this place, but the glittering glass and crystal walls holding burning fire certainly seemed beyond the ken of most mortals. Beside you two Hiruma ready their bows Mei and Tsuya were there names, you had tried to avoid learning them, if things went...poorly, it'd be easier if they didn't have names.
"Ready?" Tsuya asks.
You nod.
In principle the Ebonite fortress should be abandoned, however beneath the Jeweled City things were...different. Ancient knowledge, forgotten communities, hidden truths laid beneath the sands waiting to be disturbed. So it had been with your investigations. The black crystal fortress emerged out of the underground gloom, shining from reflected torch light. Four circular towers curling around themselves into the ceiling, leading no doubt to secret passages to the surface. In front past a seemingly endless abyss stood a gate.
A daring exploration by a Yogo Zenoman had discovered the Fortress was inhabited, by the Ebonites. With their connections to the attack, there had been no options. You had gathered some of the best foot scouts in the Imperial Legion with you. Five hundred Samurai rallied behind you to take this fortress, a hundred twenty five samurai for each entrance. In theory a sudden overwhelming attack from all entrances should overwhelm all the inhabitants of the fortress and prevent them from destroying any evidence.
A young Fox Clan Samurai joins you in overlooking the fortress.
"Wind, Water, Fire are in position Void Commander." he says.
"What about Earth?" You ask.
"Earth was held up, Jackal trap, the tunnel was collapsed, Komori-san says they won't be able to make it anytime soon, but there shouldn't be anyway for them to escape either." The Fox Shugenja says.
"Do we abort?" Tsuya asks.
You frown, no aborting would be the wrong thing to do. The Ebonites wouldn't miss the signs of your gathering, they'd go to ground.
"No signal Wind, Water and Fire, we're going in as soon as they confirm they're ready to go." You say.
"...As you wish Toturi-dono" The Fox Clan samurai says.
The Hiruma grunt.
"Permission to start picking off their sentries then?" Mai asks.
"Granted, spread it among the archers, I want them blind." You say with more confidence than you feel.
A feral smile on Tsuya appears as she lines up a shot and takes it.
-------
Ashen Plain
While the enormous tent made of felt and fur feels a step down from your own silk enclosures, the brilliant dyes for the hanging tapestries and the tent itself certainly made things colorful. You had settled into a seated lotus position across from Yakamo, a large cauldron of wine between you, cups provided but with a ladle to serve yourself as you wanted. You were going easy on the strong brew, Yakamon wasn't.
"To end a war?" You ask. "With respect Hangeul, I'm in the midst of fighting two wars, and both of those are far from ending."
"Not those wars, the war between the Empire and my people" Yakamo says as he finishes his third cup in as many minutes.
"For most of their existence the Yobanjin have been little better than bandits." You say.
"And now they are becoming a kingdom in their own right. I won't have another Howl of the Wolf, I won't see my capital destroyed because someone like you decided it was easier than finding peace" Yakamo says.
He feels genuine anger for what happened, for the loss of their only real city, for...for the trouble afterwards. You know that were he younger, were he Hida Yakamo you would be fighting for your life right now. Yet, at the same time, the decision you made all those years, ago, it wasn't wrong, selfish perhaps, in choosing the harder threat over the easier one, but it wasn't wrong.
"I'm not going to apologize for ordering my uncle to do what he did." You say. "I weighed the dangers facing my Empire and determined that fighting in the Jeweled City was easier than fighting across these steppes."
The cup in Yakamo's hand cracks a little.
"No, I guess you wouldn't. Emperor of Iron..." Yakamo makes the epithet sound like an insult. "But never again, and the only way for that to happen...is for the Emerald Empire to recognize my people as more than bandits, as a kingdom with it's own rights, laws and customs."
There was a lot to unpack there, but the core of it was a belief that if you acknowledged the Yobanjin right to exist as an independent nation, if you said 'let them live and don't drive them from our borders like the filthy vermin they are' it would give them space. It would give them time to establish themselves, right now as soon as your army came back, you could crush Yakamo's kingdom, oh it wouldn't be easy persay, but you could do it, you or your daughter. If, however you decided to choose peace over war, then your daughter would likely do the same at least at the start of her reign, by the time serious thought was given to finally putting the Yobanjin where they 'belonged' in the Rokugani mind, it would be too hard, too entrenched to happen.
"And why should I do that?" You ask.
Yakamo looks at you steadily.
"Because it is the best thing for your Empire. " He says.
"Another foreign power on my border is hardly in my interests." You say.
"You fight the Yodotai in the west, and in the south the Great Darkness will never leave you. Your Empire could in time overcome the West and myself. But doing so will leave the South broken. Our people were kin once, I would have us be kin again. Secure for yourself someone you can work with, someone not determined to take from you, and your Empire will prosper for it, or will you force another enemy for your pride?"
You take a sip of the strong wine. His argument wasn't without merit, beset by all sides, the prosperity you had brought would slip away generation by generation. Until it was all gone, this land was too harsh for easy occupation and the Yodotai heartland too far to easily overtake.
Yet, the Yobanjin had raided your people's lands for generations, you couldn't just ignore that.
"The people of the Empire will never accept friendship with the Yobanjin not without a sign that they are no longer the raiders that have long plagued the northern provinces." You say.
Yakamo's face becomes a thin line.
"Your war with the Yodotai, if we help would that be enough?"
You pause, if they fought with the Empire against the perfidious Yodotai under Lord Sun, the Yodotai would not totally redeem themselves, but they would show that they were different now.
"...I suppose that would do, is there anything else you want?" You ask
"Well, there are some stories I want to tell," Yakamo begins as he pours another cup of wine.
You drink your own wine.
"I seem to be in your hospitality Hangeul-san." you say.
The san tastes bitter in your mouth, to recognize these barbarians so.
But to give your daughter another layer of protection?
It wasn't a choice at all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The door flies open as you send the Ebonite templar through it. The pale skinned man staggers to his feet, grasping his sword before a well timed arrow from a near broken Tsuya catches his throat. The man crumples as you stride into the Ebonite Commander's personal quarters.
"Good shot Hiruma-san." You say
Neither of you talk about Mai, taken in close combat nearly five minutes ago. Your own armor is battered and dented, your sword not yet cleaned of the blood it spilled.
"Of course Toturi-dono, I'll keep watch" She says.
You walk over towards the desk, riffling through the papers, the strange foreign script is almost opaque to you, but you don't need to know what they say, you just need to find the signs of someone here, someone important enough to write down, that would give you the hint of who the traitor was
You give a soft curse as your eyes alight on the sigil of....
[] Sibola the Senpet
[] Olav the Pelmyrian
[] Amandra the Ivindi
AN: So what's happening here? Well what's happening is that I think I've reached the point where I really struggle to write this, not because any of you are bad players, but because the story is so close to ending that my mind already kind of thinks of it as 'over' and wants to work on something else. However, since its so close just abandoning it doesn't sit right. So this post and the next post are sort of serving as ways for me to close the story. Then an epilogue of sorts with Minoru's coronation, after that well...probably taking some time off of question (What after month gman?
shut up brain) definitely not doing another l5r quest for a while. So this choice here will be the last choice of the quest. It will determine how the Pact breaks apart and who exactly betrays the Pact in the chaotic deciding battle of this war.
I hope you enjoyed this extra long update, and forgive me for just breezing through things to get to an ending.
You were getting to old for this. For all that you were still technically middle aged the long journey past the Great Northern Wall, past the Dragon lands, into the territory of the Yobanjin had weighed on you. Once you had managed to reach the Towers of Flame, the roads simply...disappeared, and even the roads to the Towers of Flame were closer to dirt tracks, maintained by sheer determination as the land seemed to try and swallow them completely.
The rolling mountain steppe plateau of the Yobanjin lands were beautiful, but they were hard travel, water was scarce, food even scarcer and if not for the Dragon and the Badger both providing their own specialists to support your party, you would have had to turn back months ago.
Yet, now here you were standing on the 'Ashen Plain' a sacred site to those same Yobanjin. You would have expected the place to be covered in thick volcanic ash, instead though that ash had somehow mixed with the mountains creating a bountiful field of wild flowers. The faint sounds of life teamed, an oasis of gentler beauty to the mountain peaks. Yet in the distance a volcano sits, smoke faintly wafting from it's top promising to burn this place like it no doubt had so many times before.
Your own camp was set up in the Lion manner, large rectangular tents set around emplaced jinmaku, walls of tightly woven hemp, specially treated to resist fire, and most arrows. Across from you the Yobanjin camp centered around a grand tent similar in styling to the Moto Yurt, but there was enough differences that you suspect that the Yobanjin and Moto had both come to the same conclusion about how to build a large mobile tent.
The Yobanjin flit about their encampment, men and women bearing long straight swords similar to the old taichi style blades of the past before the invention of the Katana, and naturally fearsome looking polearms. Which drew your eye to the great 'Wyverns' creatures kin to the great Orochi, if much less powerful, easier to ride and control, it had been on the back of these creatures that the Yobanjin defied the Empire for a thousand years.
Despite all that, for all your own training in things courtly rather than military, you can tell they were trained hard, drilled to ruthless efficiency. This was no 'horde' as the Yobanjin had so often been described, but an army.
"Unnerving isn't it?" Togashi Shiko asks. "Never have they ever been so like us...yet so different at the same time."
"Hai, is their Hangeul here yet?" You ask.
You could already hear Isshin once again asking if you really needed to be here, and if you would not be better served closer to Imperial borders, and make his job so much easier for it. However, words had been given and for all your imperial ability to change the meaning of words, you weren't going to break it now, even for a barbarian.
"No, their Gong er, Daimyo in our tongue says that the Hangeul will be here tonight, he comes with the storm." Shiko answers.
"With the storm? What did the Miharu make of that?"
"Empty boasting."
You friend, you aren't so sure of that, to make you wait this Hangeul either would need to know that he could convince you that he was worth your time, or that at least making him hostile wasn't worth it. Coming in on a storm cloud would certainly do better for that.
"So we wait then." You say.
"Hai." Shiko agrees
-----------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the Jeweled City
"So what do we have?" You ask, looking at Aoshi.
Aoshi looks at Teru and Soka for a moment before ruffling a stack of papers. The luxurious suite that you had been given by Ilyas as thanks for saving his life felt strange to you after a near decade in the woods, but you couldn't complain about the view. The hanging silk curtains, simply enormous beds masquerading as pillows, well stocked liquor and confectionary stores, all tied together by beautiful geometric art decorating the ceiling and wall.
The Crane man shifts slightly showing some of his neck.
No, you couldn't complain about the view at all...
"Well Soka-sensei has determined that most of the attackers were made of disaffected Ebonites, after Bayushi-dono took their fortress in the last war, they scattered, the Yodotai seem to have picked up many of them and used their knowledge to get into the city. "
"However, the gate and guard times were provided by someone in the city, someone who had reason to know, that alone would suggest one of the Sultan's staff, but.." you trail off.
Teru had been very convincing as she searched the staff with you, and if she hadn't you had been. Baring some sort of secret foreign magic that hid everything, it hadn't been the Palace staff.
"None of them have done, none of them knew when the meeting was happening until that day and the party was too well armed and organized for it." Soka supplied.
"Which means it was one of the ambassador generals, Sabola, Nicholai, Olav, Arminder or somehow Ilyas." Teru finishes.
"A Kitsuki would suggest that it was Sabola, he did somehow disappear in the fighting and avoid the worst of it." Aoshi says.
"Yet Sabola hasn't been seen since then, which has lead to his second in command Bassel of Hierote taking over, and say what you will about Bassel, he fights hard and well."
And had hit on you multiple times to your profound irritation, but his knowledge of desert warfare had kept the Yodotai from marching on the city for two months so far.
Aoshi gives a snort suggesting that he dislikes your praise for him.
"Given the strife back home, either Nicholai or Olav would be prime contenders, but they fought too effectively back to back for that to be a thing either" You say.
Nicholai you might have believed if he had left Olav alone, but he hadn't the two Pelmyrians had instinctively fought together in that chaotic melee.
"Which leaves Amandra, " Soka says. "And she fought hard too, it could have been a triple cross to be sure, but to what end? The Ivory Kingdoms have no desire for Yodotai ruling over this city."
Teru folds her arms across her chest.
"Revenge, her family might have been caught up in Okimoto's Folly. The Ivindi won handily but they still took casualties."
You kick out your feet lying back on the mattress pillow.
"Sibola still feels right to me."
"The Senpet won't let you disgrace a memory of their general, their 'gods' have a long memory for that sort of thing apparently" Aoshi says.
"Which means we need more evidence one way or another. Wait..." you pause. "You said most of them were former Ebonites?"
"Yes?" Aoshi answers confused where your going.
"Then they must have used the Ebonite Hidden Fortress beneath the city."
"How do you know about a Hidden Fortress?" Soka asks.
"Ilyas told me about it when I visited him, that's where we're going next, we need to prepare and get a few Samurai experienced at tunnel fighting to join us." You say. "We should find something there."
"...Alright, I'll see what I can do to recruit people quietly" Aoshi says.
You smile slightly. While this wasn't the high level diplomatic talks, this was still important, if the enemy couldn't be prevented from wreaking havoc during the actual battle, it's very likely that the city would be lost and with it, the Empire's strongest offensive force.
You had to find the truth no matter what.
---------------------------------------------------------
Month of the Horse 10th Day
Five days, it had taken five days for a rolling thunder storm to come across the mountains, pushed over it by some nameless force, and with it, appearing in a series of lightning bolts riding a wyrm larger than any you had ever seen had come the Hangeul, had come...Yakamo.
It had taken all your training to not simply gawk. Lord Sun...had become the king of Barbarians? The thought was heretical, it was blasphemous, even stripped of his power. He was supposed to be better, be in Yomi or Tengoku or something.
Not standing in front of you with a wry look, like he knew exactly why you were so impressed by him riding in a storm. A smooth bow, of equal to equal, which wasn't...you were going to make so many Otomo and Doji explode.
"Hangeul," you say giving a polite bow of superior to inferior.
"Mikaido...it's been a long time hasn't it?" He asks.
"Depends, how much you remember." You say.
"Bits and pieces, your face though, that I do remember, wasn't all wrinkled with stress then though. Ruling doesn't seem to bring you much joy." Yakamo says.
"Should it?" You ask in a dry retort.
"No I suppose not" He says.
The storm crashes above you as the rain begins to pour down.
"Let's retire to my tent and begin making mochi as the Rokugani say." Yakamo offers.
"I suppose we shall have to. I have many questions Hangeul." You say.
Slowly you begin walking towards the enormous tent of the Yobanjin.
"After...whatever it is that happened to me, I didn't remember hardly anything. I was with a woman, we knew each other, hate, love, all of it intermixed, we fought for a week before finally, well...she made the first move. Then we wandered this land, unsure of us who we were, but wher ever we went, people needed us, needed us to fix things, to make it right. So we did, rebuilding the Yobanjin from...what your uncle did. Changing them, uniting them, and then we found we were more than just heroes...we were rulers, " Yakamo finishes.
"Which doesn't explain why you are here" You say as he opens the tent flap and you step inside.
"To end a war" Yakamo says simply
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the Jeweled City.
The Ebonite Temple had been destroyed by the Shadow Dragon. However, they had a second hidden fortress buried beneath the city, from before man had first trod these lands. Rumors said that it had been forged by the fabled Djinn.
You check armor for seemingly the hundredth time. You don't know if the Djinn made this place, but the glittering glass and crystal walls holding burning fire certainly seemed beyond the ken of most mortals. Beside you two Hiruma ready their bows Mei and Tsuya were there names, you had tried to avoid learning them, if things went...poorly, it'd be easier if they didn't have names.
"Ready?" Tsuya asks.
You nod.
In principle the Ebonite fortress should be abandoned, however beneath the Jeweled City things were...different. Ancient knowledge, forgotten communities, hidden truths laid beneath the sands waiting to be disturbed. So it had been with your investigations. The black crystal fortress emerged out of the underground gloom, shining from reflected torch light. Four circular towers curling around themselves into the ceiling, leading no doubt to secret passages to the surface. In front past a seemingly endless abyss stood a gate.
A daring exploration by a Yogo Zenoman had discovered the Fortress was inhabited, by the Ebonites. With their connections to the attack, there had been no options. You had gathered some of the best foot scouts in the Imperial Legion with you. Five hundred Samurai rallied behind you to take this fortress, a hundred twenty five samurai for each entrance. In theory a sudden overwhelming attack from all entrances should overwhelm all the inhabitants of the fortress and prevent them from destroying any evidence.
A young Fox Clan Samurai joins you in overlooking the fortress.
"Wind, Water, Fire are in position Void Commander." he says.
"What about Earth?" You ask.
"Earth was held up, Jackal trap, the tunnel was collapsed, Komori-san says they won't be able to make it anytime soon, but there shouldn't be anyway for them to escape either." The Fox Shugenja says.
"Do we abort?" Tsuya asks.
You frown, no aborting would be the wrong thing to do. The Ebonites wouldn't miss the signs of your gathering, they'd go to ground.
"No signal Wind, Water and Fire, we're going in as soon as they confirm they're ready to go." You say.
"...As you wish Toturi-dono" The Fox Clan samurai says.
The Hiruma grunt.
"Permission to start picking off their sentries then?" Mai asks.
"Granted, spread it among the archers, I want them blind." You say with more confidence than you feel.
A feral smile on Tsuya appears as she lines up a shot and takes it.
-------
Ashen Plain
While the enormous tent made of felt and fur feels a step down from your own silk enclosures, the brilliant dyes for the hanging tapestries and the tent itself certainly made things colorful. You had settled into a seated lotus position across from Yakamo, a large cauldron of wine between you, cups provided but with a ladle to serve yourself as you wanted. You were going easy on the strong brew, Yakamon wasn't.
"To end a war?" You ask. "With respect Hangeul, I'm in the midst of fighting two wars, and both of those are far from ending."
"Not those wars, the war between the Empire and my people" Yakamo says as he finishes his third cup in as many minutes.
"For most of their existence the Yobanjin have been little better than bandits." You say.
"And now they are becoming a kingdom in their own right. I won't have another Howl of the Wolf, I won't see my capital destroyed because someone like you decided it was easier than finding peace" Yakamo says.
He feels genuine anger for what happened, for the loss of their only real city, for...for the trouble afterwards. You know that were he younger, were he Hida Yakamo you would be fighting for your life right now. Yet, at the same time, the decision you made all those years, ago, it wasn't wrong, selfish perhaps, in choosing the harder threat over the easier one, but it wasn't wrong.
"I'm not going to apologize for ordering my uncle to do what he did." You say. "I weighed the dangers facing my Empire and determined that fighting in the Jeweled City was easier than fighting across these steppes."
The cup in Yakamo's hand cracks a little.
"No, I guess you wouldn't. Emperor of Iron..." Yakamo makes the epithet sound like an insult. "But never again, and the only way for that to happen...is for the Emerald Empire to recognize my people as more than bandits, as a kingdom with it's own rights, laws and customs."
There was a lot to unpack there, but the core of it was a belief that if you acknowledged the Yobanjin right to exist as an independent nation, if you said 'let them live and don't drive them from our borders like the filthy vermin they are' it would give them space. It would give them time to establish themselves, right now as soon as your army came back, you could crush Yakamo's kingdom, oh it wouldn't be easy persay, but you could do it, you or your daughter. If, however you decided to choose peace over war, then your daughter would likely do the same at least at the start of her reign, by the time serious thought was given to finally putting the Yobanjin where they 'belonged' in the Rokugani mind, it would be too hard, too entrenched to happen.
"And why should I do that?" You ask.
Yakamo looks at you steadily.
"Because it is the best thing for your Empire. " He says.
"Another foreign power on my border is hardly in my interests." You say.
"You fight the Yodotai in the west, and in the south the Great Darkness will never leave you. Your Empire could in time overcome the West and myself. But doing so will leave the South broken. Our people were kin once, I would have us be kin again. Secure for yourself someone you can work with, someone not determined to take from you, and your Empire will prosper for it, or will you force another enemy for your pride?"
You take a sip of the strong wine. His argument wasn't without merit, beset by all sides, the prosperity you had brought would slip away generation by generation. Until it was all gone, this land was too harsh for easy occupation and the Yodotai heartland too far to easily overtake.
Yet, the Yobanjin had raided your people's lands for generations, you couldn't just ignore that.
"The people of the Empire will never accept friendship with the Yobanjin not without a sign that they are no longer the raiders that have long plagued the northern provinces." You say.
Yakamo's face becomes a thin line.
"Your war with the Yodotai, if we help would that be enough?"
You pause, if they fought with the Empire against the perfidious Yodotai under Lord Sun, the Yodotai would not totally redeem themselves, but they would show that they were different now.
"...I suppose that would do, is there anything else you want?" You ask
"Well, there are some stories I want to tell," Yakamo begins as he pours another cup of wine.
You drink your own wine.
"I seem to be in your hospitality Hangeul-san." you say.
The san tastes bitter in your mouth, to recognize these barbarians so.
But to give your daughter another layer of protection?
It wasn't a choice at all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The door flies open as you send the Ebonite templar through it. The pale skinned man staggers to his feet, grasping his sword before a well timed arrow from a near broken Tsuya catches his throat. The man crumples as you stride into the Ebonite Commander's personal quarters.
"Good shot Hiruma-san." You say
Neither of you talk about Mai, taken in close combat nearly five minutes ago. Your own armor is battered and dented, your sword not yet cleaned of the blood it spilled.
"Of course Toturi-dono, I'll keep watch" She says.
You walk over towards the desk, riffling through the papers, the strange foreign script is almost opaque to you, but you don't need to know what they say, you just need to find the signs of someone here, someone important enough to write down, that would give you the hint of who the traitor was
You give a soft curse as your eyes alight on the sigil of....
[] Sibola the Senpet
[] Olav the Pelmyrian
[] Amandra the Ivindi
AN: So what's happening here? Well what's happening is that I think I've reached the point where I really struggle to write this, not because any of you are bad players, but because the story is so close to ending that my mind already kind of thinks of it as 'over' and wants to work on something else. However, since its so close just abandoning it doesn't sit right. So this post and the next post are sort of serving as ways for me to close the story. Then an epilogue of sorts with Minoru's coronation, after that well...probably taking some time off of question (What after month gman?
shut up brain) definitely not doing another l5r quest for a while. So this choice here will be the last choice of the quest. It will determine how the Pact breaks apart and who exactly betrays the Pact in the chaotic deciding battle of this war. I hope you enjoyed this extra long update, and forgive me for just breezing through things to get to an ending.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Heh. So this is a preferences vote. Given that....
[x] Sibola the Senpet
Honestly, I just dislike them more than the other two. It's a personal thing. Also, we still kind of need the Ivindi for jade
[x] Sibola the Senpet
Honestly, I just dislike them more than the other two. It's a personal thing. Also, we still kind of need the Ivindi for jade
I rather liked it... and, honestly, the fact that we get an ending is a lot more than we get from a lot of quests.
[X] Sibola the Senpet
- Location
- Bulgaria
[x] Sibola the Senpet
- Location
- Virginia
[x] Sibola the Senpet
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
[x] Sibola the Senpet
Ebonites had enough happen to them already.
Ebonites had enough happen to them already.
The War of Sand and Treachery
Your name was Gaius, a centurion, you have marched with the Emperor from the great pillars of salt in the west, all the way through this accursed desert in the east. Countless times you have seen off these foreign 'Samurai' on horses, as you build a great fortress at the conjunction of the Great River and the edge of Leonium Provincum. You were confident you would see them off again. They never stayed to fight in pitched battle, running up on their damned horses, filling a line with arrows and then riding away again. It was cowardly and pathetic, but you couldn't deny the effectiveness. So many of your men now laid buried in shallow graves on the desert sands, you try to believe that they were sleeping peacefully and not devoured by jackals,
You shake the thought from your head as you call out to the troops to finish pulling up the carried wooden post that would form the cornerstone of this new fortified base, from here, you could trace a line of fortifications all the way back to the Queen of Cities, meaning supplies and everything else could come here relatively safe.
A loud trumpet sounds, your head whips around to see a cloud of dust stirring up in the evening dusk.
More riders than you had ever seen, even on the Battle of the Empty Fields, of Great Revolt of the Hucidians the finest horsemen in the known world...so many.
"READY SPEARS!" You shout.
You know that many more of your men will die today.
But by the Ten you will make them pay for each life they took.
As the army rallies around you, and you know that this army of horsemen will meet the same fate as the Hucidians.
Death
-----------------
A swallow of water, one of only a few you have left today. You look towards the now butchered corpses lining the field in front of the horses, some of them are good Yodotai, most are more of those...Unicorn the Vulpes called them. They had fought hard, it had been a near one thing that almost, almost let them break into the fort and set everything alight.
In war, almost was as useful as a pig who could fly.
You Gauius now a Triari Centurion in charge of three centuries worth of men, can only feel relief now that you see the sacred Icons being raised high above the fortress walls, sending the power of the gods outwards towards the city of Heraclium. (Not that the locals knew that was its name...yet)
The Power of the Conqueror surges into your bones, empowering you to stand a little stronger, the Healer knits your wounds, the Judge calms your nerves, and the Mother reminds you of the family you fight for long back in the Empire proper.
And then just as suddenly as you feel it, the holy power of the Icon's simply ceases to be. From Heraclium a great sheet of emerald fire blazes high in the sky, as the power of the gods is seemingly absorbed into it and then flashes outwards as the Icons go quiet.
You are not by nature a fearful man...for five hundred miles you have fought off attacks from Senpet, Unicorn and other misguided fools and sent them all to face the Keeper. Now though, now you look at the city at how it somehow stopped the power of the gods, and feel fear surging through your veins. What manner of monsters were they to do something like that?
You look at the rest of your men, you can see that they feel the same trepidation. There should be something anything to dispel it, but how can you convince them when you can't convince yourself?
----
The Emperor had known what to do, rather than let you rest and the fear of the demons in Heraclium undermine your ability to fight, he had immediately taken the army and hard marched towards the city. This in turn forced the enemy to counter march lest you sweep around and destroy their supply lines. This marching and counter marching had maneuvered around the seemingly trackless desert for weeks until today.
You are Gaius Trinarius Centurion, and you can see the brilliance of the man who had led you through all trials and out the other side. The Emperor had through a cunning feint of the Thirty Fifth Cohort forced the enemy to stand with their backs against the city in a stone valley once flush with a river so the local slaves say. It is here in this valley over seen by two enormous stone pillars on either side that the battle for Heraclium will begin.
The rocky valley means that you cannot be flanked, that they can't bring their superior numbers to bay. If anything this works to your advantage, now that the enemy is forced to fight, they will see the reason why the Yodotai have forged the greatest empire the world will ever know.
The Emperor calls out for you to march forward, you bellow the command out to your forces as you ready your spear.
<--->
The Heraclian War for the Jeweled City has become one of the most popular divergence points in historical analysis with the revelation of the Emperor's private diaries. For a long time it was considered simple fact that the Yodotai would always try to force a pitched battle in ground that favoured the grinding attrition based style of warfare. The Emperor's diaries paint a different picture, of how he had intended to force the Pact Armies to over extend themselves to defend all avenues to the Jeweled City. It is to Hida Ginchiyo's credit and the future Toturi V that this was not done, instead keeping the armies together and forcing the Yodotai to exhaust themselves. When Heraclius finally baited Ginchiyo into a trap, it was not a trap that he wanted to spring, but spurred by the need to keep troops along side, and knowing he would never get another chance, the Yodotai Emperor made the fateful decision to advance.
-Extracted from Cadmus Nikephotes' 'A Judgement of the Leonid Dynasty'
<------>
It was Olav who saved the army, when the foreign wolves broke through it
It was Olav who saved the kingdom when he rallied his fifty to the hammer banner
It was Olav who slew three hundred Yodotai to rescue his blood brother
It was Olav who won the crown with love, not murder
-Traditional Pelmyrian Ode to the War of Sand and Treachery, translated
<--->
"My soldiers, you who have served with me in a hundred battles, you who were with me when we threw Okimoto back into the sea, you who crushed the Gajuput Rebellion with me, you who have faithfully shown the Throne over and over that any one of you is worth a hundred men, I am forever in your debt. So forgive me for making one last request of you. For our friends who have bled for us for so long now can no longer hold, I know that you have fought long and hard against the Yodotai, that your swords have cleaved so many times that they are nearly bent and broken, but I ask you to follow me one last time, to show the world that we Ivindi are greater than any now Charge!"
-"Amandara's War Speech" from the hit historical biographic 'Amandra the Ivory Warrior Queen' critics have lamabasted the play for being inaccurate and contend that the Ivindi decision to rescue the Pelymrians was more born out of momentum than any decision. However, the people of the Ivory Commonwealth do not care, often quoting the final line before attempting some great feat.
<--->
The great tapestry of the Battle of the Standing Stones is considered the finest work of Kakita Chitoge one of the first weavers to use then newly acquired dyes from the far west, brilliant colours show the stout heroic Rokguani armies standing firm against the almost animal like Yodotai, depicted as jackals. While there is much contention of her decision to show Toturi IV at the fore front fighting Heraclius himself in single combat, the essential details of the grinding fighting of the two armies against each other is shown in this tapestry to great effect, and the great victory the army would win right before the Senpet arrive, depicted as spider like men attacking the Rokugani. In this book I would like to examine the decisions of Kakita Shiryo and the political context in which they rose
--Commentary on 'The Battle of the Standing Stones' by Asako Toyoshige
<---->
"I'm sure the Pharoh thought it was a good idea at the time. The Rokugani and Yodotai Empires to him must have both seemed like expansionist powers that needed to be cut down to size so that the Senpet empire could flourish. There are a lot of historical decisions that in retrospect we know are terrible ideas, The False Toturi deciding to draw Burden, the Pelmyrian decision to ignore the potential of their colonies in Hiversal, the Crimson Padishah's decision to kill every last follower of the Flame, all of them terrible ideas, but at the time they thought they were good ones. That's one of the things I want to highlight in this course on the decline and fall of the Senpet Empire. That the people there didn't know they were setting the stage for revolution, didn't think it could happen. So as we examine Sibolas and the Senpet Betrayal, I want you to keep in mind that they had good reasons. Popular culture may paint my ancestors as sinister desperate deceivers, but there is so much more going on that we need to be mindful, and I hope to show that in this lecture"
--Lecture notes from Dr. Nefereti speaking to a symposium in New Otosan Uchi University
<-->
"This statue of the Sun Hangeul, known as Yakamo to the Rokguani stands as a lasting testament to the friendship of Jewelled City and the Wanggan of the Steppes. It shows the famous dive at the Battle of the Standing Stones when the Sun Hangeul saved the Pact armies from the Senpet treachery, and utterly routed them, sending them and the Yodotai into the desert. It was donated by the Altair Family too the Sun Royal family after the Altairs regained control of the Jewelled City. The Altair family donated a similar statue that now sits in Toshi Ranbo showing the Sun Hangeul throwing Heraclius the Fool at the feet of the Shogun Hida Ginchiyo. Notably while both were made by the same artist this statue was made using Ebonite Crystals.."
--Guided walking tour of the Wanggan Capital City Hitomiui Jib
<--->
The sun isn't shining when the servant rises you from slumber. You look over towards your husband and shake your head, standing up and preparing for the first day of the rest of you life as Empress of the Emerald Empire.
<--->
"Toturi IV the Blessed, the Iron Emperor, the Builder, the Reformer, our beloved Emperor was all of these things, but I think his greatest legacy, and indeed the only one he would care about is that of his family. As we stand on the edge of overtaking the Hantei as the longest ruling dynasty in the Emerald Empire, I can safely say that Toturi IV has nothing to fear, here's to you ancestor"
-Toturi XXIII's Toast at the celebration of the Toturi dynasty reigning a thousand years.
Results of the War of Sand and Treachery:
The Yodotai Empire is shattered with the capture of Heraclius, its army retreats back to its Empire to begin a new round of civil wars to try and determine who should be the Emperor
The Senpet are expelled from the Pact despite the insistence of the Pharoh that he did not order the betrayal. They have lost their army and now look warily at their southern border. The Senpet star has begun its long descent, as their perfidy leads them to be isolated on the world stage.
The Pelmyrians acquitted themselves well, but the battle seems to have determined within their forces that Olav is the superior in lines of inheritance with Nicholas' swearing to obey. They now prepare themselves for a new golden age of unity.
The Ivindi came out of the war as one of only two Pact armies to come through the Battle of the Stone Valley relatively intact, taking over much of the the Senpet holdings along their border, they seem set to begin a new round of centralization but have affirmed their place in the pact.
The Zanj have at the insistence of the Pelmyrians and Ivindi been invited into the Pact over the overwhelming objections of the Rokugani, but this has been counterbalanced by treaty obligations for jade and promises to only spread the Liberator's Flame within the Jeweled City.
The Yobanjin now known as the Wanggug of the Yobanjin have in accordance with the bargain struck by the Hangeul and Toturi IV are recognized as their own kingdom and also invited into the pact as a counter balance to the Zanj
For the Rokugani, the War of Sand and Shadow was a terrible blow to the Imperial Legion, but a vast foreign policy triumph for the Toturi, with Toturi V establishing herself as the reason the Senpet Betrayal wasn't worse than it was. Toturi IV is able to retire, and have the first succession without an Imperial death or attempted coup in nearly a century.
The world will continue to change as Toturi V holds court over a golden era of Rokugani culture and the Pact becomes a key foreign policy plank for the Toturi Dynasty over the centuries. She will be remembered as a good Empress, and the creator of the Imperial Universities.
The Toturi and the Emerald Empire inevitably change with the world, as the Shadowlands waxes and wanes in power, the Fallen Hantei always stand in attempt to seize the Empire, but as memory of the Hantei fades, and the Toturi strengthens, Kanpeki and his line find themselves not only frozen out of the Emerald Empire, but with the steady supply of Zanj jade, slowly pushed back.
There must always be Shadowlands until the world is made anew, but under the Toturi the Crab find themselves recovering however slowly, indeed when the Empire is again torn asunder, it is not by the Shadowlands plots at long last gaining fruit, but by a war amongst the Toturi. However that is a tale for a different time.
AN:
And three weeks later here it is, the final story post of the quest. I know this isn't quite what one might expect of a climatic battle, but I hoped that by giving snap shots of it that it would show that each nation took away it's own view of it, had it's own ideas. I didn't give closure to everything, and I think I couldn't closure to everything, and that my wish to is what kept this post from happening for so long. Instead I have put this, and I hope that you all enjoy it.
For now, both Hisao and myself are going to take a bit of rest from L5R. Thank you everyone who participated, everyone who made an effort post, and everyone who simply liked or read without commenting. This quest was for all of you as much as myself, I hope I entertained at least a little.
You shake the thought from your head as you call out to the troops to finish pulling up the carried wooden post that would form the cornerstone of this new fortified base, from here, you could trace a line of fortifications all the way back to the Queen of Cities, meaning supplies and everything else could come here relatively safe.
A loud trumpet sounds, your head whips around to see a cloud of dust stirring up in the evening dusk.
More riders than you had ever seen, even on the Battle of the Empty Fields, of Great Revolt of the Hucidians the finest horsemen in the known world...so many.
"READY SPEARS!" You shout.
You know that many more of your men will die today.
But by the Ten you will make them pay for each life they took.
As the army rallies around you, and you know that this army of horsemen will meet the same fate as the Hucidians.
Death
-----------------
A swallow of water, one of only a few you have left today. You look towards the now butchered corpses lining the field in front of the horses, some of them are good Yodotai, most are more of those...Unicorn the Vulpes called them. They had fought hard, it had been a near one thing that almost, almost let them break into the fort and set everything alight.
In war, almost was as useful as a pig who could fly.
You Gauius now a Triari Centurion in charge of three centuries worth of men, can only feel relief now that you see the sacred Icons being raised high above the fortress walls, sending the power of the gods outwards towards the city of Heraclium. (Not that the locals knew that was its name...yet)
The Power of the Conqueror surges into your bones, empowering you to stand a little stronger, the Healer knits your wounds, the Judge calms your nerves, and the Mother reminds you of the family you fight for long back in the Empire proper.
And then just as suddenly as you feel it, the holy power of the Icon's simply ceases to be. From Heraclium a great sheet of emerald fire blazes high in the sky, as the power of the gods is seemingly absorbed into it and then flashes outwards as the Icons go quiet.
You are not by nature a fearful man...for five hundred miles you have fought off attacks from Senpet, Unicorn and other misguided fools and sent them all to face the Keeper. Now though, now you look at the city at how it somehow stopped the power of the gods, and feel fear surging through your veins. What manner of monsters were they to do something like that?
You look at the rest of your men, you can see that they feel the same trepidation. There should be something anything to dispel it, but how can you convince them when you can't convince yourself?
----
The Emperor had known what to do, rather than let you rest and the fear of the demons in Heraclium undermine your ability to fight, he had immediately taken the army and hard marched towards the city. This in turn forced the enemy to counter march lest you sweep around and destroy their supply lines. This marching and counter marching had maneuvered around the seemingly trackless desert for weeks until today.
You are Gaius Trinarius Centurion, and you can see the brilliance of the man who had led you through all trials and out the other side. The Emperor had through a cunning feint of the Thirty Fifth Cohort forced the enemy to stand with their backs against the city in a stone valley once flush with a river so the local slaves say. It is here in this valley over seen by two enormous stone pillars on either side that the battle for Heraclium will begin.
The rocky valley means that you cannot be flanked, that they can't bring their superior numbers to bay. If anything this works to your advantage, now that the enemy is forced to fight, they will see the reason why the Yodotai have forged the greatest empire the world will ever know.
The Emperor calls out for you to march forward, you bellow the command out to your forces as you ready your spear.
<--->
The Heraclian War for the Jeweled City has become one of the most popular divergence points in historical analysis with the revelation of the Emperor's private diaries. For a long time it was considered simple fact that the Yodotai would always try to force a pitched battle in ground that favoured the grinding attrition based style of warfare. The Emperor's diaries paint a different picture, of how he had intended to force the Pact Armies to over extend themselves to defend all avenues to the Jeweled City. It is to Hida Ginchiyo's credit and the future Toturi V that this was not done, instead keeping the armies together and forcing the Yodotai to exhaust themselves. When Heraclius finally baited Ginchiyo into a trap, it was not a trap that he wanted to spring, but spurred by the need to keep troops along side, and knowing he would never get another chance, the Yodotai Emperor made the fateful decision to advance.
-Extracted from Cadmus Nikephotes' 'A Judgement of the Leonid Dynasty'
<------>
It was Olav who saved the army, when the foreign wolves broke through it
It was Olav who saved the kingdom when he rallied his fifty to the hammer banner
It was Olav who slew three hundred Yodotai to rescue his blood brother
It was Olav who won the crown with love, not murder
-Traditional Pelmyrian Ode to the War of Sand and Treachery, translated
<--->
"My soldiers, you who have served with me in a hundred battles, you who were with me when we threw Okimoto back into the sea, you who crushed the Gajuput Rebellion with me, you who have faithfully shown the Throne over and over that any one of you is worth a hundred men, I am forever in your debt. So forgive me for making one last request of you. For our friends who have bled for us for so long now can no longer hold, I know that you have fought long and hard against the Yodotai, that your swords have cleaved so many times that they are nearly bent and broken, but I ask you to follow me one last time, to show the world that we Ivindi are greater than any now Charge!"
-"Amandara's War Speech" from the hit historical biographic 'Amandra the Ivory Warrior Queen' critics have lamabasted the play for being inaccurate and contend that the Ivindi decision to rescue the Pelymrians was more born out of momentum than any decision. However, the people of the Ivory Commonwealth do not care, often quoting the final line before attempting some great feat.
<--->
The great tapestry of the Battle of the Standing Stones is considered the finest work of Kakita Chitoge one of the first weavers to use then newly acquired dyes from the far west, brilliant colours show the stout heroic Rokguani armies standing firm against the almost animal like Yodotai, depicted as jackals. While there is much contention of her decision to show Toturi IV at the fore front fighting Heraclius himself in single combat, the essential details of the grinding fighting of the two armies against each other is shown in this tapestry to great effect, and the great victory the army would win right before the Senpet arrive, depicted as spider like men attacking the Rokugani. In this book I would like to examine the decisions of Kakita Shiryo and the political context in which they rose
--Commentary on 'The Battle of the Standing Stones' by Asako Toyoshige
<---->
"I'm sure the Pharoh thought it was a good idea at the time. The Rokugani and Yodotai Empires to him must have both seemed like expansionist powers that needed to be cut down to size so that the Senpet empire could flourish. There are a lot of historical decisions that in retrospect we know are terrible ideas, The False Toturi deciding to draw Burden, the Pelmyrian decision to ignore the potential of their colonies in Hiversal, the Crimson Padishah's decision to kill every last follower of the Flame, all of them terrible ideas, but at the time they thought they were good ones. That's one of the things I want to highlight in this course on the decline and fall of the Senpet Empire. That the people there didn't know they were setting the stage for revolution, didn't think it could happen. So as we examine Sibolas and the Senpet Betrayal, I want you to keep in mind that they had good reasons. Popular culture may paint my ancestors as sinister desperate deceivers, but there is so much more going on that we need to be mindful, and I hope to show that in this lecture"
--Lecture notes from Dr. Nefereti speaking to a symposium in New Otosan Uchi University
<-->
"This statue of the Sun Hangeul, known as Yakamo to the Rokguani stands as a lasting testament to the friendship of Jewelled City and the Wanggan of the Steppes. It shows the famous dive at the Battle of the Standing Stones when the Sun Hangeul saved the Pact armies from the Senpet treachery, and utterly routed them, sending them and the Yodotai into the desert. It was donated by the Altair Family too the Sun Royal family after the Altairs regained control of the Jewelled City. The Altair family donated a similar statue that now sits in Toshi Ranbo showing the Sun Hangeul throwing Heraclius the Fool at the feet of the Shogun Hida Ginchiyo. Notably while both were made by the same artist this statue was made using Ebonite Crystals.."
--Guided walking tour of the Wanggan Capital City Hitomiui Jib
<--->
The sun isn't shining when the servant rises you from slumber. You look over towards your husband and shake your head, standing up and preparing for the first day of the rest of you life as Empress of the Emerald Empire.
<--->
"Toturi IV the Blessed, the Iron Emperor, the Builder, the Reformer, our beloved Emperor was all of these things, but I think his greatest legacy, and indeed the only one he would care about is that of his family. As we stand on the edge of overtaking the Hantei as the longest ruling dynasty in the Emerald Empire, I can safely say that Toturi IV has nothing to fear, here's to you ancestor"
-Toturi XXIII's Toast at the celebration of the Toturi dynasty reigning a thousand years.
Results of the War of Sand and Treachery:
The Yodotai Empire is shattered with the capture of Heraclius, its army retreats back to its Empire to begin a new round of civil wars to try and determine who should be the Emperor
The Senpet are expelled from the Pact despite the insistence of the Pharoh that he did not order the betrayal. They have lost their army and now look warily at their southern border. The Senpet star has begun its long descent, as their perfidy leads them to be isolated on the world stage.
The Pelmyrians acquitted themselves well, but the battle seems to have determined within their forces that Olav is the superior in lines of inheritance with Nicholas' swearing to obey. They now prepare themselves for a new golden age of unity.
The Ivindi came out of the war as one of only two Pact armies to come through the Battle of the Stone Valley relatively intact, taking over much of the the Senpet holdings along their border, they seem set to begin a new round of centralization but have affirmed their place in the pact.
The Zanj have at the insistence of the Pelmyrians and Ivindi been invited into the Pact over the overwhelming objections of the Rokugani, but this has been counterbalanced by treaty obligations for jade and promises to only spread the Liberator's Flame within the Jeweled City.
The Yobanjin now known as the Wanggug of the Yobanjin have in accordance with the bargain struck by the Hangeul and Toturi IV are recognized as their own kingdom and also invited into the pact as a counter balance to the Zanj
For the Rokugani, the War of Sand and Shadow was a terrible blow to the Imperial Legion, but a vast foreign policy triumph for the Toturi, with Toturi V establishing herself as the reason the Senpet Betrayal wasn't worse than it was. Toturi IV is able to retire, and have the first succession without an Imperial death or attempted coup in nearly a century.
The world will continue to change as Toturi V holds court over a golden era of Rokugani culture and the Pact becomes a key foreign policy plank for the Toturi Dynasty over the centuries. She will be remembered as a good Empress, and the creator of the Imperial Universities.
The Toturi and the Emerald Empire inevitably change with the world, as the Shadowlands waxes and wanes in power, the Fallen Hantei always stand in attempt to seize the Empire, but as memory of the Hantei fades, and the Toturi strengthens, Kanpeki and his line find themselves not only frozen out of the Emerald Empire, but with the steady supply of Zanj jade, slowly pushed back.
There must always be Shadowlands until the world is made anew, but under the Toturi the Crab find themselves recovering however slowly, indeed when the Empire is again torn asunder, it is not by the Shadowlands plots at long last gaining fruit, but by a war amongst the Toturi. However that is a tale for a different time.
AN:
And three weeks later here it is, the final story post of the quest. I know this isn't quite what one might expect of a climatic battle, but I hoped that by giving snap shots of it that it would show that each nation took away it's own view of it, had it's own ideas. I didn't give closure to everything, and I think I couldn't closure to everything, and that my wish to is what kept this post from happening for so long. Instead I have put this, and I hope that you all enjoy it.
For now, both Hisao and myself are going to take a bit of rest from L5R. Thank you everyone who participated, everyone who made an effort post, and everyone who simply liked or read without commenting. This quest was for all of you as much as myself, I hope I entertained at least a little.
Last edited:
Thank you for that, I really do appreciate it.
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
Thanks for the quest! It was an enjoyable experience from beginning to end.
- Location
- Leeds
Awsome
Whats this. Ebon Stone or Obsidian, I don't like any of the options I can think of off the top of my head.You didn't think Yakamo and Hitomi would leave their followers helpless did you?
Sorry for the double post, but for those of you interested in more of my writing. I started a new quest.
Stone of Honour not l5r, but I hope you can enjoy it all the same.
Stone of Honour not l5r, but I hope you can enjoy it all the same.
- Location
- Leeds
It isn't a double post if there are days between.
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Hmm I suppose. Never really thought about it like that.
- Location
- Leeds
Is double posting even a big concern anymore? It feels like it is a legacy rule back from when threads started to lag at 50 pages.