I picked it because it is an extreme example. This:
The history behind the creation of the family is well known to any samurai with an education.
was never mentioned IC. Now it is a fair thing to say that since that is such an important part of the Daidoji family, the QM probably has not changed it, but you are assuming that history to be true with no agreement from the QM. You are making an assumption.Now mind you, it is a fair one. The QM has neither the time nor the reason to confirm everything.
The understanding between player and QM is based upon the idea that assumptions are made by both in good faith, based upon shared materials, like say the 4e Core Rules. It is when one side makes assumptions in bad faith, like say assuming that someone is behaving in some way because they did in the OTL, that people get burned. The whole system runs on faith, and abusing that kills the game quickly.
Mind you, we can get by with a lot of general lore because we have Int 4 and Sage. So general details are IC knowledge for us. But here is an interesting question for you, with a Lore of 0 and an Int of 2, what do you think a samurai would know about the great clans and their various families? What level of detail is sufficiently common that "
any samurai with an education", as you frazed it, would know it? Because there are plenty of Samurai Schools that do not give you Lore(Great Clan).
Um, Sirrocco? How? What? Why?
My read on things is that she thinks it dishonorable to even entertain the idea that it might have been forged. Of course, some part of her *does* have these suspicions, but she suppresses them ruthlessly, and feels guilty about them (and trapped, because those part of her see the trap, and cannot get the rest of her to do anything about them).
Could you do some quote magic and help me see where you got that from? Maybe I just do not know the culture enough, but that seems downright foreign. My read on her is that she is trapped, and being a capable, independed operator,
she knows it.
Do you think it an accident she told a Scorpion about her bizzare letter? And did so as if talking to herself? She just has been thought to allways, allways
keep her On. Never break it. She's a Crane. Apperance is everything. The moment she felt she could trust us with it, she mentioned it to us, hopeing we would be amenable to investigating for her, what she herself, literally can not. There is no way for her to broach the topic and keep her
On.
Mind you, the meeting to come will certanlly tell us more about her.
Here, have a quote:
It is not that those emotions are controlled, it is that they are not present at all. Indeed, if anything you would say that the Crane looks... resigned.
"I am a samurai. I serve at the command and pleasure of my lord. My life and death are his to do with as he wishes." She says quietly, still walking at a calm and measured pace. "It is not my place to doubt, or to question his motives. If I am given instruction and have no reason to doubt its authenticity, then it is my duty to carry it out."
She falls silent at that, and you find you have no words. Suddenly, you understand why your Clan has always scorned the more restrictive and limiting aspects of custom and etiquette, why they have embraced the shadows and all of their crafts with such dedication. A Scorpion would be able to admit the possibility that their orders were faked, that someone was attempting to exploit their loyalty. To you, there is no shame in such thinking, for your sensei made sure you were aware of such options even if you never learned to employ them personally.
But Mariko is a Crane. Not only would her training have made little to no mention of such tactics, she has likely been brought up to believe that even displaying knowledge of them or thinking of them as a possibility is dishonourable. If the letter does not appear obviously fraudulent (and the chances are delicate correspondence such as this would have been written in a genuine Clan cipher), then she has no viable way to pursue the investigation. Who could she ask to authenticate a letter from the Clan Champion? Who could she confess her doubts to without appearing disloyal? And even if there was such an avenue available, you suspect it would take time to pursue, and if it arrived while she was already en route to Shiro Matsu... well, no wonder she feels resigned. Able to see the trap around her, but denied any means of escaping it.
Except, perhaps, through you.
Slowly, you nod. "I see. An unfortunate situation, Doji-san."
This is why, when asking about it we say: "
Imply that after she expressed her opinion, it seemed to confirm some information we had gathered and led to new clues." as well as the whole argument section if the soft sell does not work.
In the argument we are telling her that there is reason a doubt its authenticity. The argument bit is about convincing her we are on the trail of a possible plot to harm Rokugan by forgeing orders. Orders like hers. And that we need her letter to prove it, because we allready expect it to be forged.
