- Location
- Virginia
[X] Buy Sincerity 3, bank the other 3 exp.
In Thunder's Echo (Legend of the Five Rings Quest)
Quest
The Great One
- Location
- Everywhere
- Location
- Connecticut
- Pronouns
- He/Him
....All three?
<--- Has only read this and the Crabquest.
Check the bottom of my signature for the link to one, and @gman391 has the fourth quest in his sig.
EtchedSteel
*mumble mumble*
- Location
- Lima. Peru
[X] Bank the XPXP
We're gonna be away of the intrigues of the court for four days. Convincing people won't happen until later on.
We're gonna be away of the intrigues of the court for four days. Convincing people won't happen until later on.
- Location
- Earth
[X] Bank the XP
Last time the XP argument was had(and that was a while ago) here was some idea to go for Perception, Inteligence, Or Void, with Void seemingly slightly ahead of the others. Who knows what has changed in the meantime. I think Void may be our best option.It helps with everything a bit, will get us up to Insight 173, and it improves the important Iajutsu(Focus) roll.
I still want Medicine 1 for healing and poisons, and maybe Stealth 1 but that was never a popular opininon. Sincerety 3 gives us no mastery, and only improves us from a 6k4 average of 31.3 to a 7k4 average of 33.7. 3XP seems a bit much for so little gain. We allready had our two big Sincerety checks(Chen+Murder Denial). There is likely to be more, but we are pretty good at it as is.
Finally we are still crap at Earth stuff(Including resisting Corruption), but hey, no one can be good at everything. Keep in mind we still need to talk to Tani, as we never explained what that was all about. If we never do we might lose out on a lot of good will and create potenintial problems.
Last time the XP argument was had(and that was a while ago) here was some idea to go for Perception, Inteligence, Or Void, with Void seemingly slightly ahead of the others. Who knows what has changed in the meantime. I think Void may be our best option.It helps with everything a bit, will get us up to Insight 173, and it improves the important Iajutsu(Focus) roll.
I still want Medicine 1 for healing and poisons, and maybe Stealth 1 but that was never a popular opininon. Sincerety 3 gives us no mastery, and only improves us from a 6k4 average of 31.3 to a 7k4 average of 33.7. 3XP seems a bit much for so little gain. We allready had our two big Sincerety checks(Chen+Murder Denial). There is likely to be more, but we are pretty good at it as is.
Finally we are still crap at Earth stuff(Including resisting Corruption), but hey, no one can be good at everything. Keep in mind we still need to talk to Tani, as we never explained what that was all about. If we never do we might lose out on a lot of good will and create potenintial problems.
- Location
- Leeds
Is now a good time to start buying investigation?
- Location
- Connecticut
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We're already at Investigate 3. Going from 5k2 to 6k2 isn't going to do nearly as much for us as saving for Perception and thus getting to 6k3.
EDIT: In general, once you start getting past a 2-1 ratio on rolled vs. kept dice, there's somewhat of a slope of diminishing returns. That's why I advocated putting something in Sincerity - because we have a high enough Awareness for that to still be useful.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Bank the XP
- Location
- Connecticut
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Fair enough. I'm a bit more paranoid than you are, so I won't change my vote, but what you're saying makes sense.
Resources list
- Location
- London, England
Available Resources
So yes, congratulations - Soshi Naoto is now the official recognized Scorpion Clan diplomat assigned to Winter Court in Shiro Matsu, by the will of his deceased predecessor. His Status has thereby risen to 2.0, and this has brought ten points of Glory with it - people are much more likely to know your name, now that you hold an official position.
This does, however, mean that you now have to take care of all of the various things that Kimoko was previously attending to, including trade agreements, budgetary concerns and basic diplomatic niceties. While you still officially answer to your lords back in the Scorpion territories, the combination of distance and the winter snow means that you cannot rely on them being able to make decisions for you. It's all in your hands now.
Fortunately, during the first month of court no actual formal agreements were struck - everybody was getting to know the court and their fellow delegates as well as laying the groundwork for the actual negotiations. Thus you still have some room to maneuver. Note that Rokugan does not generally rely on written contracts, though records are made of important deals and distributed to those such deals will affect. Instead, terms tend to be verbally agreed upon by the diplomats, and failure to uphold them is a shameful failure on them personally, no matter how far removed they are from the failure point.
Actually breaking a sworn agreement generally ends with death, either on a duelist's sword or through seppuku, commanded by lords who do not wish their Clan to acquire a reputation for faithless dealing.
Funds
Soshi Naoto has a stipend of 10 Koku available to him. This is all he has available for the entirety of the Winter Court, and all expenditures from now on will be tracked, including restaurant bills and other purchases.
There was also 30 Koku left in Bayushi Kimoko's personal funds, which you have access to. Technically this is not yours, and the Clan may expect it back when you return to Kyuden Bayushi after the Court is over. If you spend it, have your justifications ready.
Acquisition of any additional funds will be up to you, and may involve taking out a loan or two, or any number of disreputable activities.
Trade Goods
You have the following goods that you could potentially trade away to other Clans, either for goods, favours or general goodwill. Fortunately, this is a relatively minor court as such things go, and your only real primary objective is keeping Beiden Pass open and the fees charged to your caravans as low as possible. The Clan desires that you make decent deals with all of these, but there is no sharply defined success/failure criteria.
Note that these are defined as being in 'Units' for simplicity's sake. Commerce checks would be required to get an idea of their value in Koku, but oftentimes that value is highly contextual - Jade is much more valuable to the Crab than the Dragon, for example. You can also trade resources obtained from the other Clans if necessary.
(Please don't make your QM learn economic theory for a feudal civilisation by asking for intricate trade deals)
100 units of Lumber
250 units of Copper
100 units of Iron
500 units of rice
500 units of other food
100 units of paper
Note that these are all fixed quantities. More long-term trade deals stretching over years would be handled by other courtiers in smaller, more local courts, as would the details of how exactly this stuff gets to the destination.
Political Favours
Given your position you do not have the ability to negotiate military commitments or any really big treaties. What you do have is the ability to offer places at your Clan schools, and agree to send students to the schools of other Clans. This is an old tradition, and is generally universal - aside from the prestige of attending particularly famous schools, even those Clans which absolutely despise each other see the value in having Clan members with an understanding of how their enemy thinks and fights.
Of course, students who share too much with their parent Clans have a nasty habit of winding up dead, especially if they try teaching what they learned to others directly.
The positions you have available to offer are:
- 5 places at the Bayushi Bushi school.
- 5 places at the Bayushi Courtier school.
- 3 places at the Shosuro Acting school (note - not entirely comprised of ninjas)
- 3 places at the Soshi Shugenja school.
- 3 places at the Soshi Magistrate school.
Trade tariffs
Finally, you have the fees levied on caravans and other travelers passing through Scorpion lands on the way to or from Beiden Pass (fees for other destinations are the province of other courtiers). These will be represented as an abstract measure rated from 1-5, with 1 being low tariffs and 5 being high.
Currently, they are all set to '3', which is treated as the baseline. Again, lots of abstraction involved here.
These will need to be agreed with every Clan by the end of the court, and will shape much of the Empire's economic scene for the upcoming year. You can agree to charge more or less for particular types of trade, if you wish. The Scorpion Clan wants the money these tariffs provide, but also doesn't want to overly antagonize their neighbours or raise them so high that business is taken elsewhere. Balance is required.
Note that it technically is possible for you to charge no tariffs at all, or to deliberately set rates to '6' as a representation of raising them so high no one can afford passage. Both of these are potent tools and must not be employed lightly, for your lords in the Scorpion will be demanding explanation for either result.
So yes, congratulations - Soshi Naoto is now the official recognized Scorpion Clan diplomat assigned to Winter Court in Shiro Matsu, by the will of his deceased predecessor. His Status has thereby risen to 2.0, and this has brought ten points of Glory with it - people are much more likely to know your name, now that you hold an official position.
This does, however, mean that you now have to take care of all of the various things that Kimoko was previously attending to, including trade agreements, budgetary concerns and basic diplomatic niceties. While you still officially answer to your lords back in the Scorpion territories, the combination of distance and the winter snow means that you cannot rely on them being able to make decisions for you. It's all in your hands now.
Fortunately, during the first month of court no actual formal agreements were struck - everybody was getting to know the court and their fellow delegates as well as laying the groundwork for the actual negotiations. Thus you still have some room to maneuver. Note that Rokugan does not generally rely on written contracts, though records are made of important deals and distributed to those such deals will affect. Instead, terms tend to be verbally agreed upon by the diplomats, and failure to uphold them is a shameful failure on them personally, no matter how far removed they are from the failure point.
Actually breaking a sworn agreement generally ends with death, either on a duelist's sword or through seppuku, commanded by lords who do not wish their Clan to acquire a reputation for faithless dealing.
Funds
Soshi Naoto has a stipend of 10 Koku available to him. This is all he has available for the entirety of the Winter Court, and all expenditures from now on will be tracked, including restaurant bills and other purchases.
There was also 30 Koku left in Bayushi Kimoko's personal funds, which you have access to. Technically this is not yours, and the Clan may expect it back when you return to Kyuden Bayushi after the Court is over. If you spend it, have your justifications ready.
Acquisition of any additional funds will be up to you, and may involve taking out a loan or two, or any number of disreputable activities.
Trade Goods
You have the following goods that you could potentially trade away to other Clans, either for goods, favours or general goodwill. Fortunately, this is a relatively minor court as such things go, and your only real primary objective is keeping Beiden Pass open and the fees charged to your caravans as low as possible. The Clan desires that you make decent deals with all of these, but there is no sharply defined success/failure criteria.
Note that these are defined as being in 'Units' for simplicity's sake. Commerce checks would be required to get an idea of their value in Koku, but oftentimes that value is highly contextual - Jade is much more valuable to the Crab than the Dragon, for example. You can also trade resources obtained from the other Clans if necessary.
(Please don't make your QM learn economic theory for a feudal civilisation by asking for intricate trade deals)
100 units of Lumber
250 units of Copper
100 units of Iron
500 units of rice
500 units of other food
100 units of paper
Note that these are all fixed quantities. More long-term trade deals stretching over years would be handled by other courtiers in smaller, more local courts, as would the details of how exactly this stuff gets to the destination.
Political Favours
Given your position you do not have the ability to negotiate military commitments or any really big treaties. What you do have is the ability to offer places at your Clan schools, and agree to send students to the schools of other Clans. This is an old tradition, and is generally universal - aside from the prestige of attending particularly famous schools, even those Clans which absolutely despise each other see the value in having Clan members with an understanding of how their enemy thinks and fights.
Of course, students who share too much with their parent Clans have a nasty habit of winding up dead, especially if they try teaching what they learned to others directly.
The positions you have available to offer are:
- 5 places at the Bayushi Bushi school.
- 5 places at the Bayushi Courtier school.
- 3 places at the Shosuro Acting school (note - not entirely comprised of ninjas)
- 3 places at the Soshi Shugenja school.
- 3 places at the Soshi Magistrate school.
Trade tariffs
Finally, you have the fees levied on caravans and other travelers passing through Scorpion lands on the way to or from Beiden Pass (fees for other destinations are the province of other courtiers). These will be represented as an abstract measure rated from 1-5, with 1 being low tariffs and 5 being high.
Currently, they are all set to '3', which is treated as the baseline. Again, lots of abstraction involved here.
These will need to be agreed with every Clan by the end of the court, and will shape much of the Empire's economic scene for the upcoming year. You can agree to charge more or less for particular types of trade, if you wish. The Scorpion Clan wants the money these tariffs provide, but also doesn't want to overly antagonize their neighbours or raise them so high that business is taken elsewhere. Balance is required.
Note that it technically is possible for you to charge no tariffs at all, or to deliberately set rates to '6' as a representation of raising them so high no one can afford passage. Both of these are potent tools and must not be employed lightly, for your lords in the Scorpion will be demanding explanation for either result.
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- Location
- Earth
Anybody else think commerce 2 might not a terrible idea in light of new information?
- Location
- Leeds
Pale Oak! We need you!
We have another element of trade... much rarer, as it can be done only once, but it is there.
Marriage ours, at least.
@Maugan Ra do we have any marriage contract to broker?
Marriage ours, at least.
@Maugan Ra do we have any marriage contract to broker?
- Location
- London, England
No. You're not senior enough to arrange your own marriage and no Scorpion are marrying Matsu this winter.
Tanks
Another question... on favoit.
How many scorpions do we have to impose in other clans schools?
Probably less than the number of openings right?
We may even have a cousin that we want to send to the Crabs...
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Sirrocco
Pedantic
I'm thinking those Soshi Magistrate positions might wind up being pretty valuable, if we could convince people of their value. It does get a bit tricky, though.
The fact that we have any Soshuro Actor positions to trade at *all*, I find a bit surprising. That's the sort of thing they tend to want to keep under wraps, I'd think.
Didn't you say we produced some Jade? I could have sworn that the reason that we included Jade in the initial gift was that we produced at least a bit of it. Likewise, we should have at least some medicinal herbs for export.
Knowing what sorts of things our clan wants, and about how much, would *also* be useful for this process.
I also note... we've walked out into the area beyond the castle and town twice now. Both times, we've been seriously injured by something that looked like a Crane. Perhaps we'd best avoid leaving town again, lest we be set upon and slaughtered by minions of the Nothing wearing the face of Daidoji Chen.
The fact that we have any Soshuro Actor positions to trade at *all*, I find a bit surprising. That's the sort of thing they tend to want to keep under wraps, I'd think.
Didn't you say we produced some Jade? I could have sworn that the reason that we included Jade in the initial gift was that we produced at least a bit of it. Likewise, we should have at least some medicinal herbs for export.
Knowing what sorts of things our clan wants, and about how much, would *also* be useful for this process.
I also note... we've walked out into the area beyond the castle and town twice now. Both times, we've been seriously injured by something that looked like a Crane. Perhaps we'd best avoid leaving town again, lest we be set upon and slaughtered by minions of the Nothing wearing the face of Daidoji Chen.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think the QM note is meant to mean that it's purely theatre school slots. No training competing ninjas because they aren't ninjas. There are no ninjas.
I think a key to that would be how the Scorpion Magistrates who'll help the Lion here will perform. If they do well, it'd definitely demonstrate their value to the Lion and make those slots desirable.