/L5RG/ Legend of the Five Rings General

Dragon Empire Edition

Previous Thread Adventures, Supplements, and Fiction
kazenoshiro.com

Wiki
l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Legend_of_the_Five_Rings_Wiki

Veeky Forumss Minor Clans
1d4chan.org/wiki/Veeky Forums_Custom_L5R_Minor_Clans

Trove
mediafire.com/folder/c7tfqff9sqp71/L5R
(needs organizing by edition)

Has anyone ever touched the Alternate Histories in Imperial Histories 1 and Imperial Histories 2? Has anyone ever found the fabled expansion of the Togashi Dynasty?

Other urls found in this thread:

scribd.com/document/241877426/Togashi-Dynasty-Expanded-v2
imperialassembly.com/oracle/
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Nah. My game I run now is in an alternate timeline but that's one based off of the shit the PCs did a century before in setting at the end of a two year game I ran a few years back, but I got some helpful stuff from some of the settings.

I actually didn't like the Togashi dynasty one, if any alternate Kami had to get a setting I'd have hoped for Bayushi. I want to see Rokugan where Sengoku Jidai is the norm, not an alternate possible future based on the second Day of Thunder

A Bayushi who won would be a very different person with very different methods. Getting smacked in the face by Shinsei and told to lose on purpose really changed him, probably for the better.

>Hida Kozan was a Crab Clan Bushi and member of the Damned.
Hmm?

>Hida Ruri
Not just a Soshi, also a bloodspeaker that married into the Crab. Shark jumping moments from the official fiction ...

Hida Rohiteki I'll give, though she is apparently from d20 edition. YMMV on whether that counts or is disqualified.

>Hida Kozan was a Void shugenja, Kuni Witch Hunter, and Emerald Magistrate of the Crab Clan.
Hmm indeed.

I quite like the Togashi Dynasty for its emphasis on the mystical, and I really, really like the sidebar suggesting a possible plot hook where Hoshi is considering marrying a bakeneko, which would make her the Empress. He never marries without a reason guided by his family's supernatural foresight, so what does marrying a cat spirit from sakkaku help? Or is it the appearance of interest that is supposed to accomplish something? What happens if the Imperial line is half-shapeshifter going forward? Great stuff.

Expanded Togashi Dynasty can be found here:
scribd.com/document/241877426/Togashi-Dynasty-Expanded-v2

Unfortunately, it only previews the first four pages, and the damn thing rejects my card. Anybody willing to grab and post it?

Now how about the Toritaka alternate path for the Kuni Shugenja school, based on Toritaka methods, named after the family that developed it, and explicitly talking about how other Kuni Shugenja travel to Toritaka lands to get exorcism wards from Toritaka Exorcists (Who are objectively rank 2 or higher Kuni Shugenja).

Clearly it's some kind of trick by the Lying Darkness. You're not taken in by lies, are you?

Clearly we weren't referring to the same material.

In any case, by your literal statement they're a void shugenja and a kuni witch hunter, not a kuni shugenja.

What of it?

His mother was a Kuni shugenja and he was trained by Kuni in their stricter school that really only takes Kuni and very close relatives of the Kuni as students. Notice that his name is and was always Hida. Notice how it was never, ever Kuni even though he was in the stricter of the two Kuni schools.

They live in Toritaka lands because they're members of the Toritaka family, and are at least rank 2 in the Kuni Shugenja school because they couldn't have the alternate rank, that's what. They were never adopted into the Kuni family despite being trained in the School. If they were, they'd live in Kuni lands and there would be no reason for the alternate path to be named after the family because no member of the family would ever be in the school to develop it. Changing your family name changes your officially acceptable loyalties. It wouldn't exist as a path. That's what of it.

The fact that they're charging for something that was on a forum is really fucking dumb.

Is adoption even a thing in Rokugan outside of that one time the entire youngest generation of Scorpions were adopted by the Crane? I know ronin are sometimes allowed to join a family, but that's as adults, and changing your name from marriage is also as an adult.
Lineage and heritage are pretty important things, after all. Making a kid drop that doesn't seem like something they'd do outside of extreme circumstances.

Basically every summer the clans have small scale border wars. These are ended with a negotiated exchance of hostages who are treated as members of the host Clan, and some choose to be adopted into it if they get fully socialized.

Adoption happens. Bushi make orphans fairly regularly, one way or another, and those kids need to go somewhere. The Horiuchi family actually made a point of adopting orphans whenever it could, but relatives of the parents will take them in a lot of cases, either in the parent clan, like Doji Barahime adopting her Crane niece, or out of it, if the only living relative is a maternal uncle or something. Illegitimate children are often adopted by someone too, since even if the father doesn't want to acknowledge them, if the mother was a samurai, so are they.

Yes.

>His mother was a Kuni shugenja
Haven't read that anywhere. Son of a berserker, voice of an empress, stable void shugenja outside the Phoenix. In spite of the snowflakery, I quite like his parts in The Voice Of The Empress fiction, but don't care for the way Rokugan has apparently lost some of its strictness and minor grimderpness.

I can't find a single example of the specific strictness you are saying is canon. Literally nowhere does it say that everyone the Kuni train get adopted into the Kuni family. Plenty of Kuni marrying out of the family and changing their name. Some non-Kuni training in the school(s). Nothing about changing names to go into the school.

Also, void shugenja start to become more common and other schools start to work on training them without the Isawa stealing them away.

>Literally nowhere does it say that everyone the Kuni train get adopted into the Kuni family
It's in the way they talk about the Kuni. Each Kuni has part of the family library in their care. The sum of their knowledge is scattered amongst hundreds of family members, who have been entrusted by parents, mentors, and siblings. Once per year on the winter equinox the Kuni meet to discuss findings and recruit new shugenja - no one outside the family may participate, though the Hida daimyo is given detailed accounts of the event. Et cetera.

The family library has very little to do with training shugenja. Each member of the family has some of the library, and each member of the school has a satchel full of spells and maybe some copied theological texts. Very different things. Recruiting new shugenja means discussing known Crab with the talent and whatever political issues might result in training changes (Whether that's a direct exchange or gaining new students from outside the clan). If a Kuni noticed that a Hida kid probably has the gift, he's going to make sure the kid doesn't blow himself or others up, then pass word up to someone high ranking enough to make the necessary arrangements for that kid to switch from whichever bushi school he was originally slated for.
There are examples of non-Kuni in the schools and Kuni marrying out of the family. No examples of Kuni who were born to other families who didn't marry into the Kuni family as adults.

Read about the Kuni Library in the Book of Fire supplement.
It's not shared among the School, but the *Family*. Almost none of its documents are spells, and very few of them are standardized. Until they graduate their gempukku, Kuni students will probably only see the documents that their sensei personally owns, and probably not even all of those. There'd be literally no reason for a non-Kuni to ever be given those to protect, since maintaining the library is a family duty unrelated to School. Kuni Witch Hunters have part of the Library. Kuni without the shugenja gift might have part of the Library. Members of other families will only have bits of the library if they are allowed to borrow them from the specific individual who is maintaining those specific bits.

>If a Kuni noticed that a Hida kid probably has the gift, he's going to make sure the kid doesn't blow himself or others up, then pass word up to someone high ranking enough to make the necessary arrangements for that kid to switch from whichever bushi school he was originally slated for.
Never disagreed with that. The difference is whether they're inducted into the family or not, and I believe the reading of the setting material in which they are, because the Kuni are appropriately paranoid for a group of shugenja who stubbornly live on the blasted edge of Rokugan and hell, and the Crab as a whole consider most Rokugani to be annoying koma.

>There are examples of non-Kuni in the schools and Kuni marrying out of the family
Marrying out is irrelevant. Of the two non-Kuni, one is referenced to d20 edition by the wiki (I'm assuming that means they're from that era), and the other comes from after the Spider become a great clan. I'm happy to discount both of those as the "Kuni snowflake quota", to be ignored alongside anyone who wants to duel with their tetsubo or otherwise flaunt Rokugani's customs in the way some characters sometimes can.

>No examples of Kuni who were born to other families who didn't marry into the Kuni family as adults.
You know what betrothal is, right? Of course you do.

>Each member of the family has some of the library, and each member of the school has a satchel full of spells and maybe some copied theological texts. Very different things.
I disagree that you're making a relevant point.

>I believe the reading of the setting material in which they are
There is no such reading because it is not stated anywhere at all.

>Marrying out is irrelevant
Marrying out is very relevant. Changing your family means changing your loyalties. If they were paranoid enough to force any shugenja they get to join their family, they're paranoid enough to not let any shugenja go and take secrets with them. Also, the character referenced for the d20 edition is from the CCG. And like it or not, 2nd edition stuff (Meaning d20 stuff) is carried forward as canon in many places.

>You know what betrothal is, right? Of course you do.
No mention of them being betrothed into the family either.

>I disagree that you're making a relevant point.
Half of your argument hinges on the fact that the Kuni protect their library as individuals and wouldn't entrust it to a non-Kuni. Which I agree with, but hear out what the actual canon of it is. A non-Kuni trained in the school is not getting part of the library. They're getting spells and probably a copy of the Tao and some relevant writings that you could find in any temple anywhere in the country. If they have anything else, it's unimportant copies of broad and nonsensitive topics, like the nature of the taint or jade or general rules of engagement. The Library is protected by the Kuni family, not the Kuni shugenja school. Only members of the family have jurisdiction over the library.

>Changing your family means changing your loyalties
I'd say it means dividing your loyalties. The Kuni would not marry away a family member they believe cannot be trusted to remain secretive. This is true no matter which family you're talking about in Rokugan.

>A non-Kuni trained in the school is not getting part of the library. They're getting spells and probably a copy of the Tao and some relevant writings that you could find in any temple anywhere in the country. If they have anything else, it's unimportant copies of broad and nonsensitive topics, like the nature of the taint or jade or general rules of engagement.
>Calligraphy (Cipher), Lore: Shadowlands 2
They would be getting something that the other clans don't want (Shadowlands lore), or the Crab want to keep to themselves. (Crab clan ciphers)

If they are being given "writings that you could find in any temple anywhere in the country", a few unciphered spells, or basic knowledge made fit for Rokugani sensibilities, then they're not being trained as Kuni shugenja. They're not "delv[ing] too deeply into secrets no one should explore", they're not "sacrific[ing] certain inhibitions and reservations in order to serve their Clan and Empire to the best of their ability". Et cetera. They're just being fobbed off with the kiddie shit while the Kuni keep their knowledge to themselves.

>The Kuni would not marry away a family member they believe cannot be trusted to remain secretive. This is true no matter which family you're talking about in Rokugan.
This is also true no matter what school you train in. There's one school that does not uphold strict secrecy, and that's Mantis Brawler, which is also apprentice based.

>They would be getting something that the other clans don't want (Shadowlands lore), or the Crab want to keep to themselves. (Crab clan ciphers)
And if they actually gave away the cipher to anyone, it's a death sentence, probably on the spot. Giving away school secrets, of any school, is considered a heinous crime. If they told anyone about that cipher and it got out, seppuku wouldn't even be an option and war very well might happen if steps aren't taken to right the wrong with an assload of binding oaths or seppuku.

>If they are being given "writings that you could find in any temple anywhere in the country", a few unciphered spells, or basic knowledge made fit for Rokugani sensibilities, then they're not being trained as Kuni shugenja.
Learning things and having part of the library are also not the same thing. You can learn about the shadowlands and have experience dissecting a goblin without holding onto parts of the family's library, and that's what students do. A Crab non-Kuni learns all that and then applies it in the exact same way a Kuni does. A non-Crab can't apply what they learn very well, but they're still going to be the local expert if anything spooky happens. Duties of a school do not apply to non-clan members of that school unless they're a ward and sticking around as such. A non-Crane who joins the Daidoji Iron Warriors is not expected to serve in the Crane military. A non-Lion student of the Akodo is not expected to serve in the Lion military. A non-Scorpion Shosuro Actor probably isn't even directly taught that they can use their abilities for anything more than literal acting. It's the same for Kuni.

>They would be getting something that the other clans don't want (Shadowlands lore), or the Crab want to keep to themselves. (Crab clan ciphers)
Other clans want shadowlands lore when it becomes necessary, they just don't want to hear about it until then. And every single school has secrets that it won't allow its students to share. Every Technique is a massive secret. Every cipher is a massive secret. Spreading them around is dishonorable in the extreme, and also illegal and grounds for blood feuds and similar nasty stuff.

>A non-Scorpion Shosuro Actor probably isn't even directly taught that they can use their abilities for anything more than literal acting
There's another branch of schooling I'd not allow to pass to foreign clanners, though the first rank could get a pass. After the acting initial acting stuff, t's literally the "surprise stab people with knives" school.

...

I was always fond of the Iron Rokugan setting. However, none of my players actually want to look at it (despite me thinking it's more historically accurate (maybe except the train, and dialling it further to the year 1200))

Question for /l5rg/: How many people does it take to consider a Scorpion removing their mask to be utterly dishonourable?

>How many people does it take to consider a Scorpion removing their mask to be utterly dishonourable?
There is no point at which it causes a loss of honour.

I mean, what happens if a Scorpion removes his mask without a full need to do so? Such as in front of one person? Or a group of people? Or even an entire court?

That would be an honor loss - he is betraying one of the core principles of his clan. Sort of. Junshin Scorpion (Scorpion who truly follow Bushido) are the only ones that don't wear a mask - which makes almost everybody distrust them.

Nothing. It's just removing their mask. No more relevant to Bushido than another clan samurai wearing a mask.

...

...

Hoping to run an All-Unicorn game soon set during the Unicorn's return to Rokugan. I've also had ideas for Dawn of the Empire, but I'd like to get some GMing experience under my belt first.

>Has anyone ever touched the Alternate Histories in Imperial Histories 1 and Imperial Histories 2?

Played the Thousand Years of Darkness, Iron Rokugan, Shadowed Throne, and Heroes of Rokugan.
>TYD was ok, but the darkness induced audience apathy kicked in pretty fast.
>Iron Rokugan's utter failure of making the traditionalist side even distantly sympathetic was a boomer.
>Shadowed Throne is underrated. It is a very good setting, had tons of fun there.
>HoR is meh, gaijin shenanigans can't save it from being unremarkable.

>HoR is meh
I had a similar feeling with HoR2, though I think it was mainly due to feeling like the GM was phoning it in, being completely new to RPGs, and the rest of the group being grognards' grognards who couldn't reign in the sarcasm when things were new and exciting to me but old hat to them.

On another note; haitch-oh-argh, or whore?

It is pronounced Whore. Also the guys that used to run the official living campaign were walking talking bags of dicks.

That just means there's another mask in play. A mask of honesty.

The Shosuro Actor Academy (That's the Acting Academy, not the infiltrator school, which is explicitly not open to outsiders) is a nationally famous artisan school that rivals the Kakita Artisans. They definitely get foreign students as part of their cover. The stabbing thing is probably downplayed as self-defense or verisimilitude training.

There's also a "don't think about it too hard" aspect. Even many Scorpion students in that school aren't actually being taught to be ninja, but everyone can tell that there's something more going on. Prying into it just isn't a good idea when you could just focus on what you're being taught instead.

Was there a trove of artwork/card art linked in the previous threads?

There is the Oracle of the Void which has every card printed for the game, with every printing with its own image, but I've never seen a large collection of L5R art linked at the start.

imperialassembly.com/oracle/

...

I can fuckin' see the story here.
>Be average samurai walking peacefully on the road
>Run into this posse
>They provoke a fight, thinking they are some tough cookies who can chase away a samurai "trespasser"
>Leftmost chick lacks confidence, she runs as the fight breaks out
>Second-from-left chick makes a charge but tumbles because of her oversized armor and knocks herself unconscious
>Rightmost chick puts up a fight, but she tries too hard and is quickly defeated
>Second-from-right chick is actually a solid opponent, you guess because she is the leader and now feels responsible for this mess
>You defeat her easily nevertheless
>Thinking these girls are not just some handmaiden with too much time on their hands (and too little brain in their heads), you give them a blunt but heartfelt speech about how women should really stay in the kitchen
>They skulk away, grumpily arguing between each other
>In the next town you learn that these four have a story
>Supposedly, they killed an unarmed monk from ambush a few years ago
>With his dying breath, the monk cursed them that they won't find rest until they defeat a true warrior in a fair fight
>They are also the daughters of the local daimyo btw: great shame will befall to their family if the curse is not broken, and great will be the reward of the hero who can save them

What to do?

Training montage.

You tell the tale to their father and let him honorably cleanse their shame by ordering their seppuku, since they clearly didn't have the guts to ask for it themselves after being so thoroughly shamed.

These girls are BAD. Like, you can truly believe that their biggest martial achievement was ganging up on an unarmed monk from ambush. A simple training montage won't cut it.

> cleanse their shame by ordering their seppuku, since they clearly didn't have the guts to ask for it themselves
They actually did as far as the rumors go.
>the monk cursed them that they won't find rest until they defeat a true warrior in a fair fight
>they won't find rest
As expected, it didn't work out very well.

Thank you so much.

Then in that case go find a shugenja and get your ghost banishment going. Sounds like a good way to form a party. Lead into a magistrate game with it. Are you bad enough dudes to banish these unquiet specters of cute girls?

>No LBS pdf?

Are monks able to handle money?

Not for their own benefit. A lot of what they'd need to buy for maintenance or to not starve to death gets donated by pious folk, but not all of it.

Scorpion kill their Junshin who refuse to be useful.

Perfect for a Togashi Dynasty game. Since it looks like my l5r game might fall through, I might grab the other two players and run them through a few adventures in Because both of them think that canon rokugan is a bit stupid (Consider that one of them had a geisha for a grandmother and loves historical korean dramas- she has a point) and they love the mythic potential of the Togashi Empire.

There are plenty of beggar monks in Rokugan. Only their vows would prevent them. Even of those, not all monks zealously follow their vows - kinda like how the ideal Rokugani samurai is honour 10, while the average samurai is honour 5.

Sometimes. More often, they either scare them into thinking it's die or break their honour, or they just use them as the most honourable face of the clan.

Then what do monk orders of Daikoku do if they can't handle money to buy and sell things?

Not really. During 1E, the Emerald Champion was a Scorpion Junshin.
What happens is that the Junshin is not brought into the deeper secrets of the clan and become one more pawn on the board. While he is still not trusted, the Scorpion know many uses for an honest man...

Wasn't he given a mission to destroy another samurai with the implication that if he didn't than the assassins would kill him instead?

He was. The only reason he did so was because of his loyalty to the clan (something that every scorpion, junshin or not, understands).

Monks dedicated to specific fortunes have different vows. Nuns of Benten don't have a vow of chastity, for example. Monks of Daikoku probably spend a lot of time interacting with merchants and peddlers and generally promoting prosperity. They're still monks.

So, our group only recently started playing a L5R campaign, and I'm still fairly unfamiliar with the setting. So, on a scale of 1 to Stalin, how paranoid should we be about the development that a NPC Scorpion lady has taken an interest in one of the party members, seemingly at random, and is kinda hitting on him?

During 1E, aka right before the Scorpion Coup, Doji Satsume was the Emerald Champion.

The only Scorpion Emerald Champion that has been named in the lore is Shosuro Jimen, and he is anything but a Jushin, in fact his Exp 2 card has the fucking Villain trait.

Bayushi Yojiro, was the Clan Champion and a Junshin. He was also one of Wick's self inserts.

Yes.
She's up to something. But they'll expect you to think that, so she's just a distraction for the real problem. But they might expect you to make two mental steps, so she's actually going to do something because you won't expect it. But then you might outhink that, so she's not.
Or she's just trying to start up a fling so she can humble brag about it anonymously later on.
Or maybe she's actually into him.

The rabbit hole never stops.

About a 7 or so. If you can figure out why she is trying to get into his kimono then you might have something. It could well be mostly harmless.

Maybe she's not after him: The plan could instead focus on the person that loves him from afar.
Or the plan is to goad his family into a particular action.
Or the entire plan is to be a smokescreen that creates a scandal to hide an actual plan that a particular gossiping courtier could otherwise foil...

What is the most Special Snowflake character you've either played or interacted with?

Bayushi Kachiko

The plot twist is that the curse story is BS. The leader girl is actually a lowly castle servant, the tryhard girl is the daughter of an ashigaru, the coward girl is indeed the daughter of the daimyo, while the fatty girl is a random peasant recruited into the group only because three is an unlucky number.

The story is spread by ashigaru dad who wants to protect her daughter with it (supposedly, travelers should hear the story first and encounter the girls later - you are just one of those odd accidents). The parents of the leader girl also support the story, hoping that a suitably gullible samurai will take the bait and they can marry their daughter to him under the pretext of this "quest". The daimyo himself is fully aware of the truth and he finds it highly entertaining (he is also betting to marry his "cursed" daughter to a suitable hero and maybe even adopt the three other girls under the grass to gain even more political munition).

However, there is a dead monk, a former sohei of Bishomen who broke his neck when he accidentally fell off from a nearby cliff, and oh boy his ghost is pissed at being the butt-monkey of the story!

Crane Clan Shota Courtier and engaged to the Clan Champion.

Iron Chef Mirumoto who fought with chef's knives.

Mirumoto Batman, but he sucked at being Batman and got killed trying to outninja a ninja.

Scorpion Junshin who studied at the Ide School and was sooo nice and everyone lubbed her.

Or the plan could involve multiple possible outcomes that are beneficial to the Scorpion.

>Iron Chef Mirumoto who fought with chef's knives.
Iron Chef Isawa shugenja who fought with polearms or a nodachi or some shit.

I tell a lie; that game never got past character generation.

The game I played with Iron Chef Mirumoto got about three sessions then the GM couldn't take his and Matsu "Kill Everything's" shit and ended the game. Matsu Kill Everything was just a lost DnD Murderhobo type who never got past the kill everything for the lulz stage of gaming.

Mirumoto Iron Chef couldn't figure out why no one in the group would eat his food and would get mad at us OOC for it. When I explained we just watch him chop up a fucking goblin with his knives and didn't want to catch the taint he got madder.

Shit was the opposite of cash.

I can believe it. Was this something started on Veeky Forums, too?

Only the Ide trained Scorpion Junshin and Crane were from Veeky Forums games. The rest were RL games. I never actually played with the Crane, it was touhoufag and he had a period where he went full autism on L5R.

The other time I played with Veeky Forums we had a decent group, we just fell apart because of scheduling conflicts.

It certainly is an adjustment just how important the social aspect tends to be in L5R. Even the gruff warrior type can't really get away with completely ignoring it. Particularly when you come fresh from a game where calling somebody a motherfucker to their face was a legitimate form of conflict resolution (or initiation, depending).

However, it does make for a very fun change of pace. And there is a surprising amount of fun to be found in figuring out ways to call somebody a motherfucker to their face without actually offering them formal insult.

Give them the D

>>With his dying breath, the monk cursed them that they won't find rest until they defeat a true warrior in a fair fight
>Give them the D
The fairest fight.

>while the fatty girl is

>thinking any of those girls are fat
She's not petite, but really, user?

>three is an unlucky number
>going for four instead

People here are often dumb, user, don't worry about it.

So I've been given the chance to make up some background characters for this game I am in and I've kind of hit a wall; I can come up with bushi and courtiers all day long but apparently I can't make shugenja seem interesting.
The game takes place in Isawa lands.

Can I get some help? Just throw your shugenja ideas at me.

Shugenja who's a complete lecher and has spells only to satisfy his needs, as he's related to someone important and can get away with it.

Shugenja/architect that builds temples, secretly dabbles in commerce to fund them.

Isawa-trained Kakita who focuses on Taryu-Jiai duels to honor both his ancestors and his teachers.

Guy that's bad at casting spells, but really good at astrology and other semi-magical divination skills, tries to hide his lack of casting ability.

Shugenja that thinks the little kami in places that samurai shouldn't go (brothels, gambling dens, whatever) don't get the veneration they deserve. Goes there to provide it, does not partake, gets terrible reputation anyway.

>as he's related to someone important and can get away with it
Himself?

>Shugenja that thinks the little kami in places that samurai shouldn't go (brothels, gambling dens, whatever) don't get the veneration they deserve. Goes there to provide it, does not partake, gets terrible reputation anyway.

I like this one a lot, user. I'm imagining the kami are very pleased by the attention, and extend blessings to the establishments so the owners and patrons all love the shit out of him. Much to his embarrassment he has ronin, prostitutes, and other unsavory types bowing low to him in the street and swearing to do anything for their big bro.

Various small misfortunes perpetrated by his overzealous 'friends' happen to anyone that could appear to be a rival and it just makes him look like a crime boss.

>Crane Clan Shota Courtier and engaged to the Clan Champion
Did they sing too?

I think the most Mary-sue thing I ever played was a powerful Ox clan shugenja and a descendant of one of the NPCs.
I figured since Morito's brother had the potential to become the Naka, and was pretty strong before gaining that title; his brother's kids could have the raw talent as well.

Glad to help, that's the only one I've actually played. Character was an Asahina, because it got a nice mix of conflicting expectations between Crane courtliness and Asahina compassion.

Not only was my character related to someone very influential and powerful, but his lineage also became a problem in other ways. It became the only reason why the Isawa let him study as a shugenja in the first place, why he had a few teachers so interested in him and caused a few rivalries (I recall one character was very offended that some backwoods peasant was getting so much positive attention.)
And being from a minor clan my character had the duty of being sort of the 'model Ox' and was pressured into strengthening ties to the Phoenix.

I dunno I liked the game but I feel this character was too much of a Sue or Snowflake.

Anyone else think this is a mary sue?

...

I think it'd need at least more explanation to decide if it was a Sue or not.

I guess it's kinda snowflake-y, but it depends on how strictly you wanna look at it and what the other characters were like? It just sounds like the average tabletop PC to me. I don't see much of a problem with it, personally, and we've all seen way, way worse.

Both terms are shit are shit, anyway, that are too often used by people to mean, 'Something I don't like.'

Being from a minor clan that doesn't produce Shugenja isn't special enough? And being strong enough to learn from the Isawa isn't?

Shugenja can happen in the commoner populace. Just because a family isn't known for it, some still happen. And most aren't the Badger who are so isolated they can't even think to send them off to train with another clan. Shugenja are to most rare and valuable and worth investing in to get really trained.

Shugenja can happen in any bloodline. With marriages being what they are, it's not even that rare, relative to shugenja overall. And for shugenja from clans that don't have shugenja schools, the only option is to work out an arrangement with a clan that does have a shugenja school.

Don't worry about.

Sometimes people just do affairs because they're fun diversions. But to be sure, try to figure out what the Scorpion as a clan might gain by her fucking you. Do you have leverage that blackmail might make use of? Is it to make someone else react? Maybe this is all about trying to father an illegitimate heir or something?