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Empire of the Emerald Stars (Legend of the Five Rings)

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Crasian01 said:
Also, Pacifism through Massive Guns is totally reasonable. I 100% support Nanoha-style pacifism backed by the threat of catastrophic and irreparable damage to an aggressor's economy, military structure, and overall society.
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Yeah, about that...

I really wasn't kidding when I said that the Phoenix were the smallest of the Great Clans. There are fifty seven star systems within the Empire's grasp, and another thirty or so currently in the process of being claimed and settled. Some of these systems are small, containing only a few uninhabitable worlds rich with minerals. Others are massive, with a dozen or more fertile planets and scores of moons. The newer systems are shared between multiple Clans by Imperial edict, but out of the original fifty seven, only Rokugan proper and the Scorpion-held World of Dreams are owned by more than a single Clan.

Out of those fifty seven, the Phoenix control... two. And one of those is a relatively young system that is only barely habitable (though magically extremely interesting).
 
Maugan Ra said:
Yeah, about that...

I really wasn't kidding when I said that the Phoenix were the smallest of the Great Clans. There are fifty seven star systems within the Empire's grasp, and another thirty or so currently in the process of being claimed and settled. Some of these systems are small, containing only a few uninhabitable worlds rich with minerals. Others are massive, with a dozen or more fertile planets and scores of moons. The newer systems are shared between multiple Clans by Imperial edict, but out of the original fifty seven, only Rokugan proper and the Scorpion-held World of Dreams are owned by more than a single Clan.

Out of those fifty seven, the Phoenix control... two. And one of those is a relatively young system that is only barely habitable (though magically extremely interesting).
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Meaning we will need to focus on our magi-tech so to keep our edge? :p
 
Maugan Ra said:
Yeah, about that...

I really wasn't kidding when I said that the Phoenix were the smallest of the Great Clans. There are fifty seven star systems within the Empire's grasp, and another thirty or so currently in the process of being claimed and settled. Some of these systems are small, containing only a few uninhabitable worlds rich with minerals. Others are massive, with a dozen or more fertile planets and scores of moons. The newer systems are shared between multiple Clans by Imperial edict, but out of the original fifty seven, only Rokugan proper and the Scorpion-held World of Dreams are owned by more than a single Clan.

Out of those fifty seven, the Phoenix control... two. And one of those is a relatively young system that is only barely habitable (though magically extremely interesting).
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That is interesting, thanks. Hmm...

Well economically, that puts the clan in a fairly problematic economic position, unless it's very Venetian and has an absurd amount of trade. Given the specializations of the clan, it seems reasonable to be doing business in unique technologies, but that has the substantial risk of accidentally giving your opponents a leg up on you.

I wonder how seriously the Phoenix take information security. It seems like one would expect them to have the galaxy's most impossibly locked down servers.

In any case, speaking softly while carrying a big stick is still, I think, a reasonable policy. If nothing else, making the costs of attacking the Phoenix far greater than the rewards is probably all that's really necessary in order to have a reasonable position of sociopolitical strength. Barring crazy madmen trying to take over the galaxy, of course.
 
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Crasian01 said:
That is interesting, thanks. Hmm...

Well economically, that puts the clan in a fairly problematic economic position, unless it's very Venetian and has an absurd amount of trade. Given the specializations of the clan, it seems reasonable to be doing business in unique technologies, but that has the substantial risk of accidentally giving your opponents a leg up on you.

I wonder how seriously the Phoenix take information security. It seems like one would expect them to have the galaxy's most impossibly locked down servers.

In any case, speaking softly while carrying a big stick is still, I think, a reasonable policy. If nothing else, making the costs of attacking the Phoenix far greater than the rewards is probably all that's really necessary in order to have a reasonable position of sociopolitical strength. Barring crazy madmen trying to take over the galaxy, of course.
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There's also the matter of Imperial Law to take into account.

Namely, since time immemorial it has been forbidden for any Clan to wage absolute war upon any other Clan. In theory the Lion Clan has enough military power to take on literally every other Clan at once with a reasonable chance at winning, but since the Emperor commands them not to they refrain.

Instead, wars are fought over specific objectives and pieces of terrain, which in this circumstance basically means a Province. You go to the Emperor, ask to be allowed to attack the other Clan, and if he permits it you then muster your armies and attack. Right now the Emperor is relatively non-interventionist, so he'll probably approve it whenever a Clan can muster a decent enough cassus beli. His one restriction is that the war cannot be allowed to 'interrupt the flow of commerce' - generally taken to mean no wars of extermination or scorched earth tactics.
 
That's a little strange, since samurai are supposed to be above such petty concerns as commerce and trade (unless you are a Mantis or Yasuki or something). Have social values changed or something?
 
Does the Emperor have any power himself, or is it merely the force of tradition and culture?
 
Kingofbooks said:
That's a little strange, since samurai are supposed to be above such petty concerns as commerce and trade (unless you are a Mantis or Yasuki or something). Have social values changed or something?
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Well, it has been two thousand years since the default L5R setting...

Which is to say that yes, some degree of social change has occurred. Certain types of commerce are now considered acceptable for samurai to engage in, but only in certain ways and as part of their official duties.

It varies from Clan to Clan, but generally samurai can honorably serve as 'Merchant Patrons', which makes them roughly equivalent to CEOs or members of the board in a modern analogue. They don't directly make products or operate a shop (those things are left for the lower classes), but they can and do negotiate deals, balance the books and decide how and where to invest their profits.

Alectai said:
The Emperor has absolute power. They are simply wise enough not to exert it frivolously.
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He also has command over the Imperial Legions, who are made up of the absolute best samurai from all the Clans under his rule.

That said, just about any Great Clan could theoretically overthrow the Emperor if they so wished. It's just all but guaranteed that the other Great Clans would intervene to stop them - especially the Lion, who are fanatically devoted to the Throne.
 
[X] The Unicorn Clan

Probably a meaningless vote, but if there is any clan that is "Forward, for the Emperor." it's the Unicorn. They're so forward they're right where the falling-off place is on the edge of the known world.
 
Maugan Ra said:
Well, it has been two thousand years since the default L5R setting...

Which is to say that yes, some degree of social change has occurred. Certain types of commerce are now considered acceptable for samurai to engage in, but only in certain ways and as part of their official duties.

It varies from Clan to Clan, but generally samurai can honorably serve as 'Merchant Patrons', which makes them roughly equivalent to CEOs or members of the board in a modern analogue. They don't directly make products or operate a shop (those things are left for the lower classes), but they can and do negotiate deals, balance the books and decide how and where to invest their profits.



He also has command over the Imperial Legions, who are made up of the absolute best samurai from all the Clans under his rule.

That said, just about any Great Clan could theoretically overthrow the Emperor if they so wished. It's just all but guaranteed that the other Great Clans would intervene to stop them - especially the Lion, who are fanatically devoted to the Throne.
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I imagine there might be some revolts from families within the Clan as well if they tried to do that. Also I am now going to be looking for a copy of the L5R book as the alternate timeline sounds neat and I will probably try to find a local group to play it with.
 
I think the key here, is finding a worthwhile ally, and using them to aid our expansion/ensure no one tries to fuck with us. We have a shitton of magic users and the best tech, we don't need to give this hypothetical ally our best tech, but providing them with advanced tech and magical support in exchange for a mutual defense pact and collaboration expanding would be ideal.

I mean it's important to note that despite only having 2 systems, we still have the most Shugenja which means we have the best research rate in addition to disproportionate amounts of magical support.

Unicorn maybe? They're among the more open minded clans, they're great on the offensive and have the mobility to spare. Mantis? I know it seems like our polar opposite but offering skilled shugenja to help develop their worlds in exchange for joint expansion would be pretty useful.
 
Karugus said:
I think the key here, is finding a worthwhile ally, and using them to aid our expansion/ensure no one tries to fuck with us. We have a shitton of magic users and the best tech, we don't need to give this hypothetical ally our best tech, but providing them with advanced tech and magical support in exchange for a mutual defense pact and collaboration expanding would be ideal.

I mean it's important to note that despite only having 2 systems, we still have the most Shugenja which means we have the best research rate in addition to disproportionate amounts of magical support.

Unicorn maybe? They're among the more open minded clans, they're great on the offensive and have the mobility to spare. Mantis? I know it seems like our polar opposite but offering skilled shugenja to help develop their worlds in exchange for joint expansion would be pretty useful.
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Well, the Phoenix are kind of at war with the Unicorn right now. Something about a Phoenix contractor installing cheaper components in one of their ships than he was being paid for and pocketing the difference. So probably not them.

I mean the war is probably about to end because 'we killed your Champion' is a decent enough pretext for the Unicorn to say that honour is satisfied. But still, they're not likely to trust you for a while.

And... OK, I'm just going to say Vote Called here, because the Phoenix still have more votes than the other Clans put together. So, Phoenix Clan it is!
 
So for allies I think our best bets are either the

Mantis, since we have the greatest technology in the empire, and our provinces are very highly developed, we could swing it so in return for some of that crazy Mantis wealth, and aid in expanding our own territory, we help develop their provinces upto standard.

The Lion would be the hardest to ally with, but would give us the biggest military edge, and the force to expand our borders rapidly. They are the strongest can especially, we are the strongest clan magically, so we could be incredible if we worked together. The problem is they are Lion and their traditionalist mindset would make them very unwilling to use any new tech we gave/traded to them. Also their aggression would mesh poorly with our pacifistic attitude.

The Dragon are possible, since we together hold the greatest amount of spiritual/magical power in the empire, and we could push to expand together, with the Phoenix building up provinces and we might get some help from the Throne for helping the Dragon expand.

Crane is an option, since if they wanted to expand they have to really head out into unknown space since everything else is taken up. Problem is they apparently have no desire whatsoever to really expand, they don't really have the bodies to really expand that aggressively, and again their traditionalist mindset means they would be reluctant to use our tech.

Then we have the Crab. While no match for the Crane or Mantis, they are fairly wealth, and more importantly they have the bodies and the skills to lead any expansion we undertake. So again the (I hope to be standard) 'Help us expand and we give you sweet tech in-exchange while helping develop your lands' would work well here. Our Scalpel Battlefleets complementing the Hammer that is the Crab Fleet. Plus Kuni Magismiths working with Phoenix Priestscientists? Yes Please. They are also the Best at defensive warfare, which matches well with our own pacifistic style, and while they can face magic better then any other using martial skill I bet they would enjoy more magical back up.

Those are my thoughts. Any suggestions?
 
@Nix's Warden
Using only the information you've provided, it sounds like the Mantis are the most economically important ally we could go for. Since the economy underpins almost literally everything, it seems best to start there. Once a stable source of significant income is obtained, it seems reasonable to move to expand somewhat further into economically useful systems that can provide a good supplementary income in case the Mantis somehow get attacked by invading space aliens.

Working off of that foundation, it would then be possible to dump cash into a large R&D budget, biasing towards improving industrial and agricultural processes, with the remainder focused towards military research. We could use that as a good reason to pull in Crab magismiths for advice, as well as creating awareness of our endeavors that hopefully ensures a readily available market for the resulting products.

In general, industrial/agricultural technologies are also highly marketable, though the Dragon are the only really available market outside of the Mantis and the Crab. It may be possible that once a solid alliance has been formed between the Mantis, the Crab, and the Phoenix, that expansion into more traditional artisanship would be possible.

I don't know enough about the setting to speculate otherwise, but as a general statement I think it's important to start with ensuring a steady source of income in order to maintain high productivity in all fields.
 
Personally, I'd recommend for the Crab, since they cover not only our material, but often our moral, faults. The Phoenix are prone to thinking their magical prowess allows them to master any spiritual endeavor, and it has in the past lead them into contact with the Taint, the Lying Darkness, and other things that they foolishly assumed they knew enough to control. The Crab provide a crucial counterbalance to that view, knowing that evil must be fought, not mastered or manipulated.

Our pacifistic streak can also be made palatable to the Crab in its own way as well. Peace among the Empire lets their energy be turned outwards to their duties; the Crab keep the Empire's door, much as the Lion keep its sword and the Scorpion keep its secrets. It's all in the presentation.
 
Well I guess that is a difference, last time I was playing the RPG and CCG Phoenix and Unicorn got along fairly well.

Also Unicorn and Lion as two main Martial clans (Crab is one as well but focused on the Wall) tend to butt heads a lot but at the same time get along. Maybe something to do with being able to settle differences on the field of battle and afterwards appreciate the skill of their opponents.
 
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