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

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gman391 said:
That's a fair complaint. I mostly wrote this from the perspective of lost inhibitions, and less so on 'how would you phrase this concept in Rokugan' (Also surprisingly hard to research drunk Japanese people in a language I understand)
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I found it more funny than complaint worthy.
The fact that I now imagine Kuon with an Afro probably says vast amounts about me not being as rascist as I like to imagine. Or that far too much of my street knowledge comes from that movie I forget the name of.
 
[x] Daidoji Kikaze, Daimyo of the Daidoji

...because we are an unhappy Emperor, and *someone* is pushing themselves into our recovery time. Might as well earn that rep for snapping at the Crane.

Are the Utaku Unicorn or Crane at this point?
 
Sirrocco said:
Huh. I could have sworn that there was a canon story at some point about crane clan Utaku (who focused on really pretty horses, rather than "thundering warbeast"), but I'm not finding it now with a trivial search. Might poke around for it later.
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The Unicorn as a thank you gift to the Crane, did give the Crane a small herd of their prized war steeds. The Crane formed the 'Doji's Fan' cavalry unit out of them. As with most things Crane they put a strong emphasis of being as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

The Utaku themselves are kind of interesting in a meta sense. Originally they were called the Otaku but as people pointed out that Otaku kind of meant something else, that was somewhat pejorative, the name was written out and changed to Utaku. That said there politically trained Utaku Battlemaidens in most of the clans, although only one or two.

Now a Tally and a Call for more votes
Adhoc vote count started by gman391 on Aug 31, 2017 at 12:25 PM, finished with 32 posts and 11 votes.
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Year 2: Winter Court IV
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    • -Kitsuki Akane

    The prim and proper Kitsuki Akane is considered by many to be something of an ice queen. Her face frozen by the icy snows that cover the Dragon's home. You like to call those people filthy liars. As your head pounds, the soft feminine chuckle that comes out from her, puts all of those rumours to lie. She's laughing at your admittedly funny looking hung over state. Still, you hate her a little for that.

    "...Kitsuki-san, why are you here?" You growl.

    She stops her chuckling although the smile doesn't leave her face.
    "Forgive me, Emperor, I never thought you would have such...trouble with your liquor."

    "Drink with Hida Kuon then we'll talk. Here why?" You say.

    "Well beyond me drawing the short straw, I was actually here to talk to you about our task"

    "Short straw?"

    "...It was considered...potentially life threatening to wake up the Emperor when he had a hang over. Even if it was necessary"

    You swear your glare should have her on fire right now.
    "What in all the gods, makes it so necessary that you have to see me?"

    "A potential coup in the Crane?"

    "...." You hold up one hand.

    Slapping your arm, you check to see that yes you are in fact actually awake. A few more slaps of your face, as you try to beat your migraine into submission. It doesn't work. Bereft of any comfort, you call for tea, and lean against the wall.

    "Come again, because I could swear you said something completely insane." You say.

    "There appears to be a faction within the Crane that wishes to see Doji Domotai's house removed, in its place, House Kaiwan would become the new Champion."

    You blink, your heads feeling all too fuzzy as you try to remember who tht is...right House Kaiwan, from Doji Kaiwan, the younger brother of Doji Daiken, Crane Champion and daimyo of Doji , during the reign of Hantei XXXVII...that was over a century ago. Doji Daiken had been the grandfather of the legendary Doji Hoturi who fought in the Clan wars. The Kaiwan would be the natural heirs in the event that the House of Daiken was removed.

    "Doji Domotai has brought her Clan through multiple wars and kept the Crane from becoming a puppet either for my father, or anyone else. Why do they seek to remove her?" You ask.

    Akane answers.
    "It appears that the Daidoji are behind this. While Daidoji Kikaze remains somewhat loyal. Rumors that Doji Domotai was prepared to give the Crab the Yasuki lands outright in exchange for you swearing that your family would take brides from the Crane for at least two generations...was a bridge too far for them."

    You've heard stupider things, you aren't quite sure where, but you're sure you have. Land for a mere bit of Crane blood on the throne? Madness.

    "That's an insane proposition, Doji-san would never make it." You say.

    Akane nods.
    "I agree, but that matters less than the perception that she would. The purge that Doji-san under took of the upper ranks of the Daidoji seems to have backfired. Perhaps if she hadn't waited, or had something more recent to her credit..."

    "But the long lull in the fighting, and our own connection to the Crab makes the Daidoji uneasy. They fought and died for those lands, to give them up is not something they are going to want to hear." You finish.

    "Precisely...in any event Otomo-san and I felt that once we were sure this was legitimate that it should be brought for your consideration." Akane says.

    There's a clap at the door that you find yourself groaning at. However, it is blessed tea, an entire jug, you send the servant packing and with a shrug just begin to drink the stuff as fast as you can.

    "How do we use this Akane?" You ask.

    "That is of course the thousand koku question as Yoritomo-san would say. The obvious answer of course is that in exchange for the Yasuki lands, we give all our support to Doji-san and essentially smother the coup in it's cradle. It is a little heavy handed, and it's unlikely that Doji-san will thank us for it. However, it does get us everything we want."

    "Does it? Or does it tie us down to supporting the Crane from then on in order to make sure that the Kaiwan never take power?" You ask.

    "There is that. The other option is of course that we work out a deal around the Yasuki lands that gives Domotai a victory, but not one that the Crab hate." She says.

    You give a grunt.
    "How do we do that. From what Hida-san said, the Crab are not backing down, they need the Yasuki too much."

    "The answer to that my Emperor is to make it so that they don't." She says.


    Your glare at her again.
    "This Yasuki thing needs to be solved. Yes the Crane are correct, Yasuki Hachi was a Crane first and foremost, by every law and tradition, including the ones we just made, the inheritance passes to his nearest relative who happens to be a Crane. However, the Yasuki have been the strong feet supporting the Crab for literally centuries. Neither side is wrong, both are."

    "An apt summary, but why tell me?" Akane asks.

    You answer.
    "Because my head is killing me, and I need to go over it again to make sure I got it right....it looks like the Crane need to be given the land, but then give that land to the Crab"

    "That would play into the coup's hands would it not?"

    "Maybe...I'm going to recover and wait for my meeting with Doji-san. Can I ask you and Otomo-san to find out what they would need to give up the Yasuki Lands?" You ask.

    Akane shakes her head.
    "They want something of equal value to the Yasuki lands."

    "..." You look at your empty tea.

    "I think I might have an idea" You say.

    "My Emperor?"

    "I know you don't have Yoritomo-san here, but can you find out the general tithe the Crane give to the Crab by law? and how much the Yasuki lands make per year" you ask.

    "Hai...reviewing the case. The Yasuki lands produce give or take approximately 40,000 Koku worth of goods a year. This does not include trade or other value added activities. The Crane provide approximately 5,000 koku worth of Jade and other materials a year." Akane rattles off.

    Damn. There goes you idea of suspending the tithes, until the Crane received an equal amount to the loss of the Yasuki lands. That was just never going to happen at those rates. This was, frustrating.

    "So to be clear, Doji-san needs a win to keep her position. We want her to keep the position so the war doesn't resume, given that there is in fact another war coming. However, the Crab need those lands to do their jobs, and they won't give it up. They also still want to hit the Scorpion once or twice. What a magnificent mess" You say.

    "Again, repeating yourself, My Emperor"

    "Then give me a solution"

    Akane frowns.
    She doesn't want to say it, but she doesn't have anything either. There is no web of lies to expose here. No brutal honesty that can force everyone to the table. Maybe...maybe you can't solve this? No that's not acceptable.

    "Keep working on it. Kitsuki-san." You order.

    "Of course, I'll leave you to recover."

    You nod finishing off the last of your tea.
    At least you had a day or so to get yourself back together. Then you had to meet Doji Domotai at

    [] A quiet snow viewing held with you and a single chaperone
    [] A small concert with the best musicians in the land.
    [] At the art exhibition in preparation for judgement tomorrow

    Will you tell her about the information that Akane and Kotaro uncovered?
    [] Yes
    [] No
     
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    • [X] A quiet snow viewing held with you and a single chaperone
    [X] Yes

    Somewhere quiet where Hisao can be honest with Domotai about plans in order to work together without worrying about leaks.
     
    So question: are houses a canonical thing or just a sensible and convenient way to make sense of intra family family politics.
     
    Dark as Silver said:
    So question: are houses a canonical thing or just a sensible and convenient way to make sense of intra family family politics.
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    Canon-wise, sourcebooks talk about vassal families within clans. It's assumed that their minor families which compete to earn glory and recognition. Gives a reason for people to clean house and deal with domestic problems. Thus, you could easily extrapolate family units competing with each other: Daidoji Ei is feuding with Daidoji Bi for the honor or being assigned the rights to protect and manage profitable land, with the feud extending towards generations.
     
    Dark as Silver said:
    So question: are houses a canonical thing or just a sensible and convenient way to make sense of intra family family politics.
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    Very much a cannon thing. Generally outside the Clan or Family you go with your Family name, but each major Family (Doji, Hida, Otomo, Hiruma and such) have vassal families or houses, the samurai from those vassals use the Family name in general so a vassal of house Doji would call themselves Doji Kikaze. In addition you have the houses that are formed by descendants of family members as we have in this case, the amount of those vary from time to time as there have been stretches of long peace which would cause more sub families to form and other times of war and conflict which can grind sub families away along with making it so fewer siblings survive so no splitting into sub families that way.
     
    As @Kiriel , @Void Stalker stated. Yes vassal families have always existed in the setting. My main contribution here is expanding the number of them, calling them Houses. (Virtually anyone outside the main line of a family is a member of a vassal family House is mostly used for cadet lines of a main vassal family) and admittedly creating a new one for the Crane on the basis that I don't find any feudal (or semi-feudal) system as plausibly preventing the creation of Cadet Lines (Which is what the Kaiwan are) In canon otl there's a lot of handing off leader ship of the Family/Clan to random people. I tend to use the cadet line idea to explain how a system with primogeniture justifies that.
     
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    [X] A quiet snow viewing held with you and a single chaperone
    [X] Yes

    The more private, the better.

    I'm inclined towards the heavy-handed answer, for the moment. Start with the plan that we more-or-less worked out with Kuon. Crab lay off the Scorpion in return for a few years worth of medicine. Put Kisada somewhere that he can wield himself and an army or two against the golem army and not freak out the Scorpion too much. Give the Yasuki back to the Crab, give the fan to the Crane as a face-saving measure, and then lean hard on the Daidoji types who are trying to unseat Domotai. If we can use this as a way to draft some Daidoji bodies into the battle against those glass monstrosities, so much the better - and if we pull it off right, we show a bit of strength, too, which will help. We're setting ourselves up for something of a Crane Clan civil war down the line once the Daidoji recover from this round of oppression, but that's something we can manage then. We're also setting ourselves up as having to prop up Domotai, but from an Otomo perspective, that's not as bad as it could be. If the Crane Champion needs us to maintain her position, then we know we can depend on her support when we need it.

    It does suggest that we might want to dial back a bit on Plan "Abuse the Crane for Fun and Profit" once this is over, though.
     
    Alright uh going to tally, but I definitely know I want more votes. So more votes please?
    Adhoc vote count started by gman391 on Sep 2, 2017 at 10:17 PM, finished with 11 posts and 5 votes.
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    Winter Court: Shadow Dragon Strikes
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    • --A quiet Snow Viewing

    As fortune would have it, Horiuchi Shem-zhe does in fact know how to cure a hang over. He graciously helps you with that while you spend the rest of the day preparing for your meeting. The Crane are going to take it in the teeth, you don't see a way around it. You cannot, will not accept a war in the south between your vassals. Not if you may well be needing every samurai, every koku in the North soon. Sad fact is that the Crane while important, aren't as important as the Crab to you. Not when you have to make sure they can handle the Southern Foe without any support from the rest of the Empire.

    The small open viewing room at the top of the Tower of Stars looks out at a frozen moonlit night. The snows have been falling in a soft gentle blanket all day. Coating the land in a pure cloak of white that glitters with reflected glory of Lady Hitomi.

    It's beautiful, all too rarely do you just take the time to do this. Not because you don't appreciate the arts...but because you have so much to do.

    Behind you a carefully managed fire roars at your back to keep the cold from your body. Heavy clothes wrap around your skin as a further precaution. Your chaperone a truly ancient monk from the Order of Silence, tends to the flames.

    As you sip the slightly sweet jasmine tea, you glance over at Domotai, who for the life her doesn't look like she's uncomfortable where she is. Indeed, she seems prepared to wait essentially as long as you needed before the conversation could begin.

    Respectful, but not helpful.

    "Doji-san, shall we begin?"

    "My Emperor, I am ever your servant." She says calmly.

    Snow viewing has two components to it. First obviously is to watch the snow, watch the world as it covers itself in the embrace of the snow goddess Kumaokami. The second part, and why it caught on, was to compose a short poem of how the snow makes you feel.

    As with Paneki's banter these haiku serve a dual meaning, they say one things but also carry another conversation. While you have never been terribly interested in poetry, you are able to keep up.

    Through careful words, you find yourself expressing the knowledge of Domotai's precarious position. A fact that she acknowledges in full. She herself hints that the War of Silk and Steel ended because of another reason than simple exhaustion, and that it is this reason that sees the Daidoji close to mutiny.

    You press lightly, but she refuses to explain. Only saying that the Daidoji have given much to defend the Crane, and they are right to be angry, for they knew not the shame that she purged from them. Idly, you wonder that if perhaps you had focused on courtly matters this year instead of law, you could have stopped this.

    The game continues, metaphor and simile dancing around the true subject like a yuki-onna in a blizzard. Domotai cannot return to the Crane without a victory not and keep her position. Something she cares not for herself, but for the young soul that is now growing inside her.

    How does one respond to that? How does one tell someone else that you don't care about their child. You know if someone tried to do that to you about your daughter...there would be one less person in the world and it wouldn't be you.

    But a victory? How do you give the Crane a victory when the Crab need the Yasuki lands? Domotai is apologetic, but she has no answers for you.

    Sacrifices must be made, and you'd already determined that it was the Crane who would sacrifice for you. Not because you had earned their loyalty, their dedication, but because it was simple politic---

    You frown, something niggled at the back of your mind. You look at Domotai, who is already throwing off her heavy clothes and whirling around. Following her lead, you spin to see a woman, no not a woman. Someone with no face, standing over the corpse of the monk. Her clothing is fine too fine...they look like...

    "What have you done with Utaku-sama" Domotai hisses, drawing her wakizashi.

    Utaku Xieng Chi's clothes. You finish lamely in your head.

    "Slain" The figure hisses.

    "Who are you?" You demand taking your own battle stance.

    It stops for a moment before listening to some unseen presence.

    "A shadow has no name. The Lord of All, the Shadow Dragon demands your death"

    Well that answered one question and raised over a dozen more. For example, how the fuck had one of the Goju gotten in here? Why reveal itself? And why did it need to kill Utaku Xieng Chi?

    You know that it won't answer, but for now you have to win this. Domotai is pregnant if not very far along, but how much that affects your planning you aren't sure. According to Itsume-sensei, the only true way to kill a Goju was to stick crystal into it's body until it stopped being a body.

    You don't have any crystal, more is the pity. However, you do have the sword of the Righteous Emperor, forged by the greatest mortal Tsi Smith and later reforged by the Fortune of Steel. According to your father there was nothing it could not cut. Indeed some whispered that it had been his decision to leave behind the blade that led to your father eventually perishing at the Tomb of the Seven Thunders.

    On the other hand, your better with your fists than your blade in all honesty, and you don't have to win. You just have to get the Goju away from you and get to Shem-Zhe. Dealing with this was literally his job description.

    There's only a moment to make your decision

    [] Use your fists and try to through the Goju out the window to the snow below and run
    [] Take your sword and see if it can cut.

    And you need to decide what to do with Domotai

    [] Try to protect her.
    [] She's fought before, who cares if she's pregnant, she can handle herself.
     
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    • [x] Take your sword and see if it can cut.
    [x] She's fought before, who cares if she's pregnant, she can handle herself.

    She is pregnant, but not enough to slow her down, and not (I think) enough that the fight will endanger the child unless she takes some heavy blow. Further, she's a warrior and a duelist, and she's better at it than we are. Also, the fact is, it's not here for her. It's goign to be targeting us *anyway*. The only real reason it would target her would be if it had to go through her to get to us, if it thought she'd be easier to take down (she's not), or to make us drop our guard.

    Our issues here are multiple. There is the direct physical threat, yes, but there is also the political impact. Defending her might earn us some consideration from her personally, but it won't earn us much else. Her personal gratitude might be nice, but it doesn't actually help us solve any of the difficult bits of political calculus we're dealing with. Allowing her to fight on her own, though, gives us an opportunity afterwards to openly praise her for her assistance and reward her with... something. Not quite sure what - but enough to give her some sort of victory to walk home with, even if we have to hand her a defeat on the matter of the Crab.


    As for whether to push it out the window or try to kill it with the sword... if we're pushing it out the window, we need to close to grappling range. We may be better at jujitsu than kenjutsu, but that's a rather harder task. Also, it gives the thing time to get free even if we do succeed. We have a sword that's almost certainly capable of killing the thing, and a highly competent warrior to stand by our side. I *think* we can take it as is, and the idea of trying to force the thing out a window while it stabs us just seems like a bad idea. We're not *that* good at being a monk.

    Now, I admit, I could be wrong about some of these things. It is possible (though to my mind pretty unlikely) that the sword might not be significantly better than other weapons against ninja-types. It's possible that the difference between our skill at jujutsu and our skill at kenjutsu is great enough to overwhelm the differences in comparative difficulty of the task. It's possible that I'm underestimating how far along Doji Domotai is, and that she'd resent us for not defending her? No. That makes no sense. We're the Emperor. No bushi that maintains a degree of honor is going to resent us for not putting their life before our own. Still, if she does lose the child defending us (and still lives), we're going to have to give her something pretty significant to balance those scales. It still won't be the Yasuki.

    Perhaps we could arrange for a new Crane Fortune? Those aren't all that cheap, and we're not exactly flush with cash as it is, but offering her open recognition of her assistance, and also a ticket good for "I'll raise the fortune of your choice, and I'll pay." that she could then go and spend on some appropriate Daidoji... that's the sort of thing that might work, and recognition of a fortune is the sort of gesture that lasts. Even if it doesn't quiet the grumblings entirely, I suspect that for someone as capable in the courts as the Crane Champion, she could find some appropriate linchpin of the resistance and win *them* over to her side by picking an appropriate relative of theirs. Both cuts down on the grumbling in general, and splinters the support base a bit.
     
    @Sirrocco
    What do you mean pay for a Fortune? Appointing a new Fortune is a matter of politics and spirituality, not money. (Yes someone is going to have to pay for a new Shrine, but that's not your problem)

    To clarify somewhat, both options are workable, but they imply different things for how you handle people trying to kill Hisao.
     
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