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Killing with Silence (L5R/Exalted)

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[x] The Speaker

There is never enough spirit interplay in Exalted stuff. They are literally the most interesting part of the setting, and using Lunar charms to twist the Rokugani into knots soaking in terror is just.....such a lovely though. You can fight a swordsman. You cannot fight with an enemy you do not know how to reach.
 
[X] The Geisha

I do love the idea of subtle manipulation and spycraft. Of using someone's feelings against them, without them even knowing we're doing it.

Changed my mind, I'm going speaker
 
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ctulhuslp said:
[X] The Speaker
Shapeshifter Robin Hood Constantine? Sounds fun to me.

There is probably some sort of folklore hero like this, but I cannot quite recall one at the moment. Maybe similar to one of Odin's faces, mysterious sage stranger or whatever.
Actually, shapeshifter exorcist Gandalf might be more appropriate description.
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China had one but he's a police constable who can arrest ghosts.
 
[X] The Geisha

I'll admit, I really, really like Changing Moons, but the Geisha's background and place in society is definitely interesting. Even aside from the mystical shapeshifting and face-eating powers, existing as a legal non-entity and seeing where that goes would be fascinating.
 
[X] The Speaker

Teleports! Goes around unnoticed! Stirs up ancient and vengeful ghosts to wreak wrath on the noble houses grown fat on abuse of peasantry!
 
[X] The Ronin

Quite simply, L5R is a weird game. It is ostensibly a samurai game designed for samurai stories, and then weirdly it... Eschews 90% of the actual genre of the samurai story, because the most well-known and popular of these stories almost universally feature ronin protagonists. Instead, L5R focuses wholly on the complex, stifling dynamics of court and vassalage in which everyone is a repressed sadsack who'll probably commit suicide to make a point in a dumb argument about calligraphy, and ronin suck and aren't worth playing.

UNTIL TODAY

It is time to redeem L5R. Yes, there is much worth in exploring how the "non-people" of Rokugan, once given power, challenge their society's sins. Yes, J-Horror is cool. But I don't want that. I want a cool, good samurai story. I want a wandering ronin peerless at the sword. But more than that, I want a character who is free - who exists as a "dark mirror" to Rokugan's hide-bound, miserable and self-destroying samurai caste, one who has shunned their privilege in exchange for freedom and joy; a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of Rokugan under a sandaled fit.

For who better for the Lord of Madness to exalt, than a twisted and broken mirror held up to the face of Rokugan's highest and mightiest?

also iaijutsu c'mon fucking give it to me do it do it
 
Omicron said:
Quite simply, L5R is a weird game. It is ostensibly a samurai game designed for samurai stories, and then weirdly it... Eschews 90% of the actual genre of the samurai story, because the most well-known and popular of these stories almost universally feature ronin protagonists. Instead, L5R focuses wholly on the complex, stifling dynamics of court and vassalage in which everyone is a repressed sadsack who'll probably commit suicide to make a point in a dumb argument about calligraphy, and ronin suck and aren't worth playing.
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Hey! Doomed Highborn Manchildren is a perfectly legitimate genre!

But as for the argument... eh, ronin is fine. You obviously can tell good stories about a masterless man going from town to town righting wrongs or otherwise getting into local problems. But for my figurative money, the appeal of bleeding walls cannot be denied. I just want to see a fancy palace transformed into a nightmarish twisted realm by the weight of sins ancient and recent, and all its inhabitants meeting ironic ends at the hands of their own victims. Is it truly so much to ask?
 
[X] The Ronin

Because while a warrior of peerless skill is incredible, a ronin is more than that. They are, technically, nobility. More importantly, they're nobility that people hate and fear, and would love to cast out. Our very existence demands that we stand before an entire court that would abuse us if given half the chance, and our skill with a blade is such that they wouldn't dare, for fear of death. The speaker is creepy and ominous, but they have no claim to a place in court. Where the dead walk, the speaker could certainly appear and cast ill omens upon the lords of the house. This is true, but the ronin demands respect. The ronin sits in court, and everyone feels their blade hanging over their head. The ronin speaks of a great beast that he has tamed, makes it known that this beast will not strike unless struck first, and then becomes that beast to stand boldly before a hunting party. We have terrible, bloody power, but the ronin doesn't use that power in the way a bandit chief or a ninja does. The ronin holds that violence restrained in their heart, and uses it to demand respect and influence. We are the caged beast that threatens to destroy all things and the beast-master that restrains it, for a price. Everyone knows it, but Rokugan is just so polite, they would feed us the heart of any who dare say it aloud.
 
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