Give everyone Sake, in bottles with art that represent their clans, the Crabs get a slightly fancier one with some (easily removable) Jade shards maybe?
Then in private we could possibly give the emprah a much more personal gift (the oar for example, or something carved out of it).
Other than that I'm not really sure what to get, I'm bad at politics.
Who do you bring for your 5 yojimbo?
[X] The most loyal
Projecting unity is probably the best way to project strength without a show of arrogance or ego.
Who do you bring as your chief diplomat?
[X] Stay with Hatsuyuki. She is the most experienced person you have with dealing with nobles, and the Silken Song's recent performance should have won you the Glory that you need to get away with it.
Even with her past she's our most competent diplomat, and like the QM said we should have bought ourselves the glory to get away with it.
What do you bring as a gift for the Emperor?
I'm thinking something made personally by Tsubaki herself would send a good message, and allow us to further our personal relationship with him.
Do you bring a gift for anyone else?
I think we should, I'm just going to list a bunch of thoughts that I had here, let me know what you guys think about these.
Scorpion - This is a little crazy, but maybe an unopened geode would be good for them? We'd have somehow let them know there was more to it than just a rock, but I think it would be fun.
Crane - I think we want to give them something that lets them feel a little bit superior, but also invested somehow in us. If we could start a trend of them giving us advice (because I'm sure Crane loves to do that) it could help repair our relationship with them.
Crab - If we want to target the Yasuki specifically I like Platypus' idea of a model boat. For a general Crab clan gift, I think anything that reminds them we appreciate their service on the Kaiu Wall would probably make a good impression. Maybe a jade model of the wall?
We don't want the other major clans to feel left out, so some sake sounds like a good idea.
One of my concerns about bringing Boss Koibu is that it leaves us vulnerable on the home front. We are going to be away from our lands for quite some time when we are new and there are enemy organizations actively moving against us. We need somebody loyal and competent to sit on the home-front and make sure things don't deteriorate there.
One of my concerns about bringing Boss Koibu is that it leaves us vulnerable on the home front. We are going to be away from our lands for quite some time when we are new and there are enemy organizations actively moving against us. We need somebody loyal and competent to sit on the home-front and make sure things don't deteriorate there.
Remember the people of the city themselves are rather loyal to the Clan at the moment, due to the huge success of the patron of the arts and Inari's Blessing. I think we'll be okay bringing Boss Koibu.
[X] Bring Boss Koibu
[X] the most clever
[x] Bring the very best Sake your city is capable of producing, each bottle decorated for the respective clan it will go to.
-[x] for a personal gift to the emperor, bring something made from the remains of your old Eku. A wooden catfish would probably be well received.
I really think it would be a wasted opportunity, since we went for Patron of the Arts last turn, to then not bring Hatsuyuki with us to court. She's our best diplomat, and as the QM pointed out, the Silken Song performance has bought us enough glory that we should be fine doing it.
I really think it would be a wasted opportunity, since we went for Patron of the Arts last turn, to then not bring Hatsuyuki with us to court. She's our best diplomat, and as the QM pointed out, the Silken Song performance has bought us enough glory that we should be fine doing it.
The Crane will tear us apart for bringing a Geisha to court. The Scorpion won't overly care much at least to our face. The Crab are still bluescreening over being the holders of winter court but probably don't care either way.
Remember the people of the city themselves are rather loyal to the Clan at the moment, due to the huge success of the patron of the arts and Inari's Blessing. I think we'll be okay bringing Boss Koibu.
[X] Bring Boss Koibu
[X] the most clever
[x] Bring the very best Sake your city is capable of producing, each bottle decorated for the respective clan it will go to.
-[x] for a personal gift to the emperor, bring something made from the remains of your old Eku. A wooden catfish would probably be well received.
It isn't the people of the city that I am directly worried about. It is the Brotherhood and the bandits and possibly other clans. It is even something so simple as making sure we have competent decision maker to handle whatever unexpected opportunities or crises pop up. I also question the choice to bring anybody, but our most loyal. In particular when the group that is most likely to give us trouble is the Scorpion who excel at taking advantage of anything less than perfectly loyal subordinates. They don't have to have to be actively disloyal, at least initially for the Scorpion to get their claws into us.
The Crane will tear us apart for bringing a Geisha to court. The Scorpion won't overly care much at least to our face. The Crab are still bluescreening over being the holders of winter court but probably don't care either way.
The Crane are the least able to directly attack us given our sacrosanct advantage. Furthermore, Hatsuyuki has enough experience dealing with samurai to know how far she can push, and how to diffuse problematic situations. They are also the group most likely to be impressed by the big art display. In short, as long as we don't push them we shouldn't have to worry about the Crane doing much beyond some basic posturing/"know your place" type stuff.
Personally I'd much rather the clan be able to pass down "the oar that saved the emperor."
[X] The most loyal
-[x]Include taigan and gohei
[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.
[X] For the emperor, memorialize his friend Yoshitsune in an appropriate medium.
(Both shows off "yeah the emperor shared private childhood memories with me" and goes "so humble pointing out that if if weren't for the Seppun she wouldn't have been able to save the emperor in the first place")
[X] For the crab, decorative oar painted to celebrate a great crab deed.
I do like the idea of something commemorating one of the Emperor's guardsmen, while also giving a nod at the fact that he shared some private memories/stories with us.
The Crane are the least able to directly attack us given our sacrosanct advantage. Furthermore, Hatsuyuki has enough experience dealing with samurai to know how far she can push, and how to diffuse problematic situations. They are also the group most likely to be impressed by the big art display. In short, as long as we don't push them we shouldn't have to worry about the Crane doing much beyond some basic posturing/"know your place" type stuff.
It doesn't really change the fact that we would, essentially, be doing the equivalent of bringing a whore to a high-class party. It's just not going to end well.
It doesn't really change the fact that we would, essentially, be doing the equivalent of bringing a whore to a high-class party. It's just not going to end well.
What does change that fact is the Silken Song performance, which the QM said has won us enough glory to bring Hatsuyuki to the Winter Court. We went with Patron of the Arts, let's not squander the bonuses it gave us.
"Auntie?"
"Hold still, dear. If I smudge you'll have to wash it off and start all over." You dutifully hold still as Auntie Hatsuyuki delicately paints upon your powdered face with a stick of colored grease. After a few seconds, she nods in satisfaction. "Okay, hold still and try not to move too much while that sets and I get the carmine ready. You were saying?"
"Did you really sell your first night for ten thousand koku?" You ask. Ever since you heard the staggering sum you had been trying to wrap your head around the figure. Who even had that much money?
She laughs, warmly and richly. "Oh goodness no. That's an exaggeration - which tends to happen when an Ikoma gets involved. No, in the end it came out to just over a thousand koku - one thousand, one hundred seventy one koku, 3 bu, 9 zeni if I remember correctly." Somehow you have little doubt that she does. You breathe in deeply to speak, and she gives you a tch of her tongue as she takes the red paint out and hovers in front of your lips. "Hold still. I imagine that you want to hear the story?" She says archly.
"Mm." You grunt, lips pressed closed so that she can color them.
"Everyone always does," she says in a teasing tone. "Well, back in my days of glory, I managed through... various means," she says in a sly voice, "to have a young man of the Scorpion and a young man of the Crane fighting over me. Oh, there were gifts, there were poems, both of them wanting to be the one who wooed me, but at the same time it was clear that they were fighting each other more than they were fighting for me. What's worse, it had become such a matter of pride for both of those silly boys that if I picked one over the other it was practically certain to end in blood. And let that be a lesson to you, my dear." She says. She draws a thin line of red around the whole of your top lip, then begins to slowly color it in, making sure to get a firm, even layer of the pigment. "Well just as I was about to give in to the Scorpion in the faint hope that the Crane's honor would keep him from getting revenge on me, in comes this young general of the Matsu, fresh from campaign against the Ide, leading his troops in a triumph through Zakyo Toshi after sacking Shiro Ide, and just all of them are covered in gold and glory, but especially Matsu Masakawa-kun. And in the middle of this, I'm putting on my last performance of the night that I turn eighteen, and the whole city knows it, so Masakawa-kun comes to see as well, and when he learns that the Crane and the Scorpion are competing for me he comes right up to me at the end of the performance and lays the whole damned chest at my feet. Just gold koku spilling out of it, all over the stage."
She gives you a nostalgic smile, and fans herself. "Oh, but he was handsome, and famous, and just one look at him and I could tell how badly he wanted me." Your Auntie, veteran of thirty years in the world of the Flowers and Willows, giggles like a girl. "We barely made it backstage!"
You are tempted to gape, but the rice powder caked upon your cheeks reminds you not to do so. "So the ten thousand..."
"Oh, nobody but me ever got to count it, so the bards made up a suitably impressive number based on what it looked like. Stick out your bottom lip now, dear." You comply, and she draws in a much smaller area of red on your bottom lip, giving it the appearance almost of a flowerbud. "It's not as though any of them have ever seen ten thousand koku before all at once."
You just stare at her in fascination. "What did you do with all the money?" You ask.
She smiles enigmatically. "Part of it built the Smile. The other part, well, where do you think Koibu-kun got the money to start the Warakkoi-gumi from?" With that, she turns and grabs the silver mirror and hands it to you. "Well, what do you think?"
The woman staring back at you from the polished surface is a complete and total stranger. Your birthmark is completely invisible underneath the white rice powder, and somehow a few lines of black and violet around your eyes and a few lines of red around your mouth have transformed you into a creature of desire, someone who could even be called beautiful. "Is this really me?" You ask, resisting the urge to touch your face with your free hand. "I don't even recognize myself without the," you wave your hand in the general vicinity of your right eye, "the carp-spot."
Auntie Hatsuyuki smiles wistfully. "Actually, my dear, made up like this you look very like your mother." You look up at her in surprise. "She was one of mine, you know, one of my girls. She was such a little night-thrush; whenever she wasn't singing or humming she was talking, always gossiping, but never unkindly. Just sharing her life with the people around her. I almost never heard her quiet." Your heart aches in painful memory as you think back to your own memories of your mother, and Auntie flaps her hands at you as she sees your face begin to twist. "Ut ut ut! None of that, my dear. Now, stand up and follow me."
She leads you through the half-built hallways of the Silken Song and onto the stage. There are a large number of girls there being trained as dancers, musicians, and actors for the play Camellia Floats On Violent Waters. And for today, you will be one of them.
You are corrected over and over again. You walk like a sailor, not like a mighty leader, keep your balance, stride forcefully and with confidence! Who would give orders without forcefully gesturing at her troops to go forth? Don't just speak; declaim! pronounce! pitch your voice for all to hear! Don't show emotions so brazenly! A subtle detail emphasized just enough for the audience to catch is far more effective than one that anyone could see! It goes on and on, yet you are surprised at how helpful it is. Being in the environment that you are in, surrounded by other hopeful claimants to the role of Tsubaki, you cannot help be aware of exactly how your body moves and exactly how you speak, nor can you miss the various tricks that the girls use to turn songs from mere music into something that tells a story.
In the few spare moments where you are not at the Song, and during the times when you are being dressed and made up to look like the other girls so that you can secretly train with them, Auntie quizzes you on heraldry, lore, and etiquette. At times she simulates political attacks upon you, veiled insults and subtle insinuations; at other times she simulates open contempt, and lets you prepare for society's censure. Then there is the education in music and politics - what song would you sing to ridicule a Dragon? To flatter a Lion? Which songs would stand a chance of convincing the Crane and Crab not to go to war? You practice singing with desire, with heartbreak, with hope, with courage, with fear. By the end of your training, you feel as ready for Winter Court as you will ever be.
[Gained Insight Rank 5 technique: The World Your Stage. You may attempt to shift someone's attitudes by offering a suitable artistic performance (typically dance or music) and making a Contested Roll of your Perform / Awareness (or Acting / Awareness if more appropriate) against their Etiquette (Courtesy) / Willpower. With a success, you lure them into the attitude or a choice you would prefer. If they have no reason to be on their guard against you, you may also take them as an Ally with 1-point Devotion. The target will be unaware that you are influencing them in this manner. You may only use this technique against the same target once per month.
Additionally, when you spend a void point in a Contested Social Skill Roll against someone who has seen you perform, you gain additional unkept dice equal to your ranks in that perform skill. ]
Who do you bring for your 5 yojimbo?
[ ] The most loyal
[ ] The most skilled in battle
[ ] The most diplomatic
[ ] The most clever
[ ] The most honorable
[ ] Write-in
Who do you bring as your chief diplomat?
[ ] Stay with Hatsuyuki. She is the most experienced person you have with dealing with nobles, and the Silken Song's recent performance should have won you the Glory that you need to get away with it.
[ ] 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.
[ ] Bring Jiro. He is the samurai who can most easily be spared from his duties, and bringing him with you to such an important event would be a show of trust that could secure his loyalty for years to come.
[ ] Write-in.
What do you bring as a gift for the Emperor?
[ ] Write-in
What do you bring as a gift for the Yasuki?
[ ] Write-in.
Do you bring a gift for anyone else?
[ ] No.
[ ] Yes (write-in).
[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.
[X] The most clever
All the Ikoma has to say is "And soon it became told around the city that Matsu Masakawa paid Ten Thousand koku for a single night with Hatsuyki, the geisha as pure as snow!" After all, the fact that people are saying that is nothing by the truth.
[Gained Insight Rank 5 technique: The World Your Stage. You may attempt to shift someone's attitudes by offering a suitable artistic performance (typically dance or music) and making a Contested Roll of your Perform / Awareness (or Acting / Awareness if more appropriate) against their Etiquette (Courtesy) / Willpower. With a success, you lure them into the attitude or a choice you would prefer. If they have no reason to be on their guard against you, you may also take them as an Ally with 1-point Devotion. The target will be unaware that you are influencing them in this manner. You may only use this technique against the same target once per month.
Additionally, when you spend a void point in a Contested Social Skill Roll against someone who has seen you perform, you gain additional unkept dice equal to your ranks in that perform skill. ]
Tsubaki's voice merit works on perform right? I mean holy crap her song rolls must be ridiculous. Is there any clans known for their singing? The Lion's got that storyteller clan and Scorpions's have that actor clan and the Cran seem to have a kinda wide variety of things going on.
[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.
Probably not good having both the top leaders of the clan at the Winter court, but making as good of impression as possible might help us more then we lose. Taking the neutral option Jiro with us might work but... Hatsuyuki is sadly right out due to her geisha status otherwise she would probably have been the best choice.
On the gifts I have no idea. Giving a gift to the emperor somehow symbolising a continuation of his and Tsubaki's budding friendship would probably be the best. Sending a good message both to him and the court.
With a success, you lure them into the attitude or a choice you would prefer. If they have no reason to be on their guard against you, you may also take them as an Ally with 1-point Devotion. The target will be unaware that you are influencing them in this manner. You may only use this technique against the same target once per month.
I'm still trying to figure out why a Matsu would march down through Seiketsu's pass, through the Scorpion Lands and then up Beiden before going home. Considering the Ikoma lands aren't that far from Unicorn lands...
I'm still trying to figure out why a Matsu would march down through Seiketsu's pass, through the Scorpion Lands and then up Beiden before going home. Considering the Ikoma lands aren't that far from Unicorn lands...
