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[L5R] Minor Clan Quest

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DarkBlade1980 said:
Is there anyway we can capitalize on the recently demonstrated and currently probably heavily inspired artistic talents of the Geisha?
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Non-samurai entertainers are still Hinin. We capitalised on difference of acceptance of public patronage between Geisha and Entertainers, but it's still not something to be proud about.

Now artistic provess originated from samurai is different, but we are actually bad on that front, ronin usually don't have time for that.
 
[x] The most skilled in battle
[x] Bring Boss Koibu. It will hurt not having him at home in Wave Province, but he is completely unobjectionable as a choice of person to bring, and you do sort of want the Emperor to get the chance to meet him.

I don't want to see Hatsuyuki killed, which seems like an entirely possible consequence of bringing her.

Not sure on gifts, yet, though I like the "sake for the other guests" bit - "Zakyo Toshi is a great place to go on vacation" is entirely in line with where I'd like to see us go.
 
Well, maybe we should think about the sort of message(s) we want to convey to the Yasuki and the Emperor with our gifts?

With the Yasuki, I think it should be something like "we hope we'll be good neighbours, we're looking forward to doing business with you, and we'll strive to make sure our and your trade caravans will be safe".

For the Emperor... dunno. "I really appreciate what you did for us, and will do my best to repay you with my loyalty and support", maybe?

Anyone else got some ideas?
 
storybookknight said:
Hey, it could be something else! You don't know!
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Missed this.

Anyway, Brother "Tiger" is just the cherry on top of the meta gaming sundae. We know the Kolat have influence in this area (given that they walked a small army through it and tried to kill the Emperor) a city full of corrupt authorities and dishonest merchants is exactly the kind of place they like to operate, and Tsubaki's thumbed them in the eye twice, first with rescuing the Emperor and then by trying to turn the wretched hive of scum and villainy they were using into a (more or less) stable and law abiding city.

Heck, the Autumn Brotherhood being connected to them would make a lot of sense given that they're (kind of, sort of) Shinseist and with the Catfish Clan trying to stamp that out...

There are many, many reasons for them to hold a grudge against Tsubaki in particular and the Namazu in general.
 
So I am going to clarify my thinking on the gifting front. I think that sake is a very good idea for all of the major clans we don't a direct interest in. For the Crab we simply want to reaffirm that we like them and are looking forwards to working with them. To that end we might want to tailor our gift to appeal to the Yasuki in particular. For the Scorpion I think we should be saying that we aren't looking to start anything, and are quite willing to continue to facilitate their trade, but we are't pushovers. Perhaps a model river boat based on one of those they failed to intercept. Maybe even go and make it so if you know what to look for its clear to boat is being used to smuggle something. For the Crane we want to try to minimize the negative effects of tying ourselves to the Crab is going to have. They do export a lot of rice and I really don't want to have to go up against the Daidoji Trading Council. One simplistic way to do that would be to emphasize that we are trying to culture ourselves, and ask for their input. The Emperor is the simplest message, loyalty and gratitude, but one of the hardest to select a good gift for. I don't really have any great ideas on that front.
 
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I think for the Crab, Sake in a Jade case or container works perfectly fine as a gift. The Sake is just there to cover it up from the other Clans, with the Jade being the real gift.
 
PlatypusofFail said:
So I am going to clarify my thinking on the gifting front. I think that sake is a very good idea for all of the major clans we don't a direct interest in. For the Crab we simply want to reaffirm that we like them and are looking forwards to working with them. To that end we might want to tailor our gift to appeal to the Yasuki in particular. Perhaps we can play on the fact that there Mon has a catfish on it too. For the Scorpion I think we should be saying that we aren't looking to start anything, and are quite willing to continue to facilitate their trade, but we are't pushovers. Perhaps a model river boat based on one of those they failed to intercept. Maybe even go and make it so if you know what to look for its clear to boat is being used to smuggle something. For the Crane we want to try to minimize the negative effects of tying ourselves to the Crab is going to have. They do export a lot of rice and I really don't want to have to go up against the Daidoji Trading Council. One simplistic way to do that would be to emphasize that we are trying to culture ourselves, and ask for their input. The Emperor is the simplest message, loyalty and gratitude, but one of the hardest to select a good gift for. I don't really have any great ideas on that front.
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Their mon is actually a Carp rather than a Catfish, but aiming something directly at the Yasuki isn't a bad idea. Sending something publicly to the Scorpion is definitely an option, but keep in mind that you have no actual proof of Bayushi Osamu's involvement in the pirate attack, nor any evidence that he was acting on behalf of his clan in arranging it. If he's just running shit like this to line his own pockets, the Scorpion are just going to look at that boat and be like... "Okay...?"
 
storybookknight said:
Their mon is actually a Carp rather than a Catfish, but aiming something directly at the Yasuki isn't a bad idea. Sending something publicly to the Scorpion is definitely an option, but keep in mind that you have no actual proof of Bayushi Osamu's involvement in the pirate attack, nor any evidence that he was acting on behalf of his clan in arranging it. If he's just running shit like this to line his own pockets, the Scorpion are just going to look at that boat and be like... "Okay...?"
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I am completely against directly accusing the Scorpion of anything. That is the path to playing stupid games and we all know what happens when you do that. I am interested in saying to them we know one of your guys was up to something and it didn't really work for him. However, we don't hold it against you and are interested in working with you, just remember we aren't complete pushovers.

I don't have great actual gift suggestions as that is something I am bad at in real life (I tend to delegate that kind of work) and worse at in the monstrosity that is the l5r Court scene.
 
We should probably get something for each Crab family. The other delegations will be representing whole Clans, but for the Crab this is both the empire-wide and the clan-wide court most likely.

Perhaps do the same with the Scorpion. The other Clans are less an immediate concern.
 
Kelenas said:
I think the issue with Osamu is something we'd want to bring up with the Scorpion in a private discussion, NOT via gift.
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I am hesitant to bring it up in conversation, as that is going to be one hell of a minefield. By bringing it up in gift form we can get a message across without immediate risk. Furthermore, a gift allows us to communicate a couple layers at once. So we can simultaneously say "we noticed and dealt with this guy" at the same time saying "we aren't looking to start trouble."
 
Kelenas said:
I think the issue with Osamu is something we'd want to bring up with the Scorpion in a private discussion, NOT via gift.

@storybookknight
Any suggestions for my ideas here, about how to put them into gift-form, maybe?
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Hrm. I'm not the best at this either, that's why I'm trying to crowdsource :p.

Regarding the Yasuki / Crab in general:
If you had invested in local markets this turn, a gift of some of the first pots made by your workers would be a pretty good way of saying 'I am happy to trade with you'. Unfortunately, not an option, and not sure what a similar replacement to that would be.

Honestly, an oar wouldn't be the worst thing as long as it wasn't the specific oar that saved the Emperor. Could be a way of saying "I believe that you are also a trustworthy and loyal servant of the Emperor and will come to his defense." Plus it's suitably martial without being too practical. I definitely think it's possible to do better than that for a gift, but that's the best I've come up with so far.

The Emperor... feh. What do you give to the man who has everything?
 
storybookknight said:
Honestly, an oar wouldn't be the worst thing as long as it wasn't the specific oar that saved the Emperor. Could be a way of saying "I believe that you are also a trustworthy and loyal servant of the Emperor and will come to his defense." Plus it's suitably martial without being too practical. I definitely think it's possible to do better than that for a gift, but that's the best I've come up with so far.
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What about a Oar made of Jade then?
 
Problem is that goods would be a practical gift, and thus insulting. At least, unless we have some fairly strong symbolic stuff to attach to them.
 
Kelenas said:
Problem is that goods would be a practical gift, and thus insulting. At least, unless we have some fairly strong symbolic stuff to attach to them.
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I was hoping we could frame or package it in a manner that would avoid that issue, but your right it is distinctly borderline. At this point I am just throwing out ideas as it seems we are fairly stalled. I do think we can afford to, and might even want to, cut closer to the practical side of things with the Crab and the Yasuki in particular. Here is a safer idea, a piece of art depicting the city, particularly the harbor, at its busiest.

Edit: It occurs to me that it might be beneficial to develop a reputation for being somewhat crass about issues of trade. Don't push it to far, but do like the Yasuki and the Mantis did. It will make things much easier on us later down the road and make people associate trade with us.
 
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storybookknight said:
Hrm. I'm not the best at this either, that's why I'm trying to crowdsource :p.

Regarding the Yasuki / Crab in general:
If you had invested in local markets this turn, a gift of some of the first pots made by your workers would be a pretty good way of saying 'I am happy to trade with you'. Unfortunately, not an option, and not sure what a similar replacement to that would be.

Honestly, an oar wouldn't be the worst thing as long as it wasn't the specific oar that saved the Emperor. Could be a way of saying "I believe that you are also a trustworthy and loyal servant of the Emperor and will come to his defense." Plus it's suitably martial without being too practical. I definitely think it's possible to do better than that for a gift, but that's the best I've come up with so far.

The Emperor... feh. What do you give to the man who has everything?
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I guess its how we want to define our service to him then. A very well crafted riverboat with decorative carvings? Complete with a quotation from Shinsei to cover our butts.
He commands our loyalty, this is his chance to show us off as a new clan personally loyal to him as an individual other than Son of Heaven. In addition to us trying to show ourselves in the best light to the other clans, showing our worth to the Emperor is a must. After all as the wise sage says "When I have a voice in the Emperor's ear, I need no general in the field."
 
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storybookknight said:
The Emperor... feh. What do you give to the man who has everything?
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Little bit of everything. Let the most prominent craftsmen know that we need gifts for the Emperor; offer them a tax credit for their best work to make it happen. Round off with Hideyoshi's katana if we can find it; as its the blade's owner died that the Hantei might live, let its service to the Hantei continue.

re: the Crab

For the the Kuni, a bracelet that incorporates their family mon on the outside, the mon of our family on the inside, and a (replaceable?) finger of jade against the skin; it shows our special relationship with the Crab, but it also appeals to the practicality of the Kuni in their war against the Shadowlands, being both protection from the taint and proof that the wearer is untainted in the same object.

Thinking on other family gifts. Hiruma are hard to give stuff in this time period.
 
Allow me to throw out another suggestion for the Emperor : a personal gift. If you got him something more along the lines of 'to Hantetsu from Tsubaki' than 'to the Emperor from the Catfish' it would probably be well recieved given your burgeoning friendship.
 
storybookknight said:
Allow me to throw out another suggestion for the Emperor : a personal gift. If you got him something more along the lines of 'to Hantetsu from Tsubaki' than 'to the Emperor from the Catfish' it would probably be well recieved given your burgeoning friendship.
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So what a Giant masterfully Sculpted Catfish that is highly inconvenient? Essentially saying "Look man, if you wanna make me to use this embarrassing nickname as my clan name because you find it hilarious, then you'll have to deal with all these sculpted catfishes for the rest of your life."
 
storybookknight said:
Allow me to throw out another suggestion for the Emperor : a personal gift. If you got him something more along the lines of 'to Hantetsu from Tsubaki' than 'to the Emperor from the Catfish' it would probably be well recieved given your burgeoning friendship.
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Hm... we don't really have any artistic skills, so it's not really something we could make ourselves. What would a personal gift in Rokugan look like?
 
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