Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Casual conversations about anything you want!
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable
User avatar
Doji Satevis
Chui
Posts: 135
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:37 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Doji Satevis » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:36 am

I've just spent more time than is possibly sensible trying to decide what thread I should post this in, and ultimately guessed that starting a new one would probably be for the best. While I'm coming from the point of view of the rpg side of things, this is about the Crane and not just the rpg iteration thereof, so hopefully is not too out of place.

It also contains some text quotes for the sake of clarity, but I will alter them out if required.

This is an entire herd of teal deer, two even; apologies beforehand >.>;;

--

I first stumbled upon L5R just as the 2e/d20 dual-stat books were coming out. My collection filled out slowly into a mishmash of the dual books, 1e, 2e, and the Clan wars novels which I could still pick up in local bookstores (untangling events was sometimes ... interesting, lol), but before even the end of the dual-stat era personal/RL events let to me losing the thread. I missed 3e L5R altogether, along with related stories.

When 4e was announced I was in a position where I could start collecting again and stay on the horse, although I still haven't managed to make a dent in the CCG. The 4e books are a wonder of neutrality, and it is by far my favorite edition. But oh, the surprises awaiting with Imperial Histories and Imperial Histories 2, once I was devouring them to see what timeframes I might be interested in, what AUs appealed and what developments I'd missed as a fan of the Crane.

Here is a breakdown -- my own opinions, take with the salt box of course -- of the entries in IM and IM2 as concerned the Crane, AU material marked with an asterisk:

Positive:

The Great Famine (Imperial Histories) -- "At the beginning of the Great Famine, the Crane have
been led for nearly forty years by Doji Morito, a highly skilled courtier who has held on to power well past the usual age of retirement. The clan enjoys a tremendous level of power, for Morito has spent his reign making sure almost every influential samurai in Rokugan is in his debt, politically or financially or both." Of course the Crane are then crushed under the anvils of famine and economic collapse, but it's the Great Famine. The Crane do start from a very strong point.

Prelude to the Scorpion Clan Coup (Imperial Histories) -- "This era is one of prosperity and political domination for the Crane, unsurprising given their customary record of success during times of peace."

The Reign of the Shining Prince (Imperial Histories 2) -- "It was in the latter part of Genji’s reign that the Crane won some of their greatest cultural victories, such as the establishment of iaijutsu as the official method of settling disputes, the creation of the the Kakita Artisan Academy, and the creation of the koku, promoting peaceful trade and prosperity."

The Eight-Century Crises (Imperial Histories 2) -- "During this era the Crane are only lightly touched by the troubles facing other Great Clans throughout the Empire. They have a strong political position, high productivity in their lands, and are welcome in the courts of all the Great Clans. In this era Crane political power cannot be rivaled, surviving even the embarrassment of a maho-tsukai disguised as a Crane being presented to Hantei XXII."

4/23


Neutral:

The Dawn of the Empire (Imperial Histories) -- The Crane are just getting off the ground here, so it's a kind of half-full, half-empty thing on the go depending on whether one wanted to argue from expansion, or lacking in much that will make the Crane Crane.

The Reign of the Gozuku (Imperial Histories) -- Crane start the period out quite poorly, as the text belabours, and their dazzling comeback becomes strained under Raigu's political needs. A little of one, a little of the other.

*The Togashi Dynasty (Imperial Histories 2) -- "The Crane have little to no prominence in the
early centuries of this Rokugan’s history. If the Gozoku conspiracy is included in the timeline, it finally creates an Imperial government for the Crane to participate in, and a platform from which they can spread their aesthetics to the other clans." Friend to many, threat to none -- which is said to basically be true ... one could make an argument that this one could go in the negative slate, but it's good enough here I think.

The Return of the Unicorn (Imperial Histories 2) -- "In the years immediately before the return of the Unicorn, the Crane are at a serious disadvantage." And though the Crane Champion gains the Clan a valauble ally in the returned Unicorn, the text notes that "the return of Shinjo’s people never quite pays the dividends expected."

The Four Winds Era (Imperial Histories 2) -- Kurohito is rebuilding, and Lion emity has dwindled, but the Scorpion are not about to let the Crane regain their political influence and the Crab are making angry noises because of the Yasuki mess.

*The Shadowed Throne (Imperial Histories 2) -- On the one hand, the Imperial Consort is a Crane as are the Emerald and Jade Champions. On the other hand, much hay is still made of the disadvantage the Crane are at in court, and there's that whole Second Gozoku mess.

6/23


Negative:

The Era of White Stag (Imperial Histories) -- "In the wake of the Gozoku Alliance and
its fall, the Crane Clan finds itself badly out of favor in most courts as well as in the eyes of the Empress and her successors." Internal schisms, etc etc. Paying for the Gozoku, naturally.

The Clan War (Imperial Histories) -- "At the time of the Clan War, the Crane are faltering after a long period of political dominance." "Once the Clan War gets fully underway it is without doubt a disaster for the Crane." I probably don't really need to list out all the mess that happens here, although there's some economic improvement towards the end of the era.

The War Against the Darkness (Imperial Histories) -- Still reeling from the Clan War, the Crane have the Scorpion returning and the bloody Crane Civil War to go with everything else, including Kuwanan and Toshimoko dying. "Hoping for a better future", indeed.

The War of Spirits (Imperial Histories) -- "They had recently endured a violent civil war engineered by the Lying Darkness, and suffered further when the legendary Great Sea Spider twice attacked and ravaged Crane lands, resulting in widespread famine." And then internal strife once again, courtesy of returning spirits. Kurohito starts to work on putting affairs in order towards the tail end, but still.

*Heroes of Rokugan (Imperial Histories) -- "The Crane are traditionally among the strongest of clans both politically and economically, but by the year 1500 they have fallen on hard times." And are led by a pack of fools, if I do say so myself.

*The Thousand Years of Darkness (Imperial Histories) -- What Crane? They're all dead save for Uji, and Hoturi is an undead horror.

*The Iron Empire (Imperial Histories 2) -- "As the stewards of Rokugan’s culture, the Crane are a living
reminder of Rokugan’s past even as they try to master the new ways of an Empire that embraces technological change. While they have some successes over the years ... they have felt their influence wane in all those areas where progress and practicality are valued. Indeed, so thin is the Crane influence in this time that they are utterly unwilling to yield any inch of what they still have." An argument could be made to move this to the neutral category, but frankly the whole Crane section reads like it's talking about anachronisms that don't know they're dead already aside from Kakita marksmanship.

The Heresy of the Five Rings (Imperial Histories 2) -- "In the aftermath of the Battle of Stolen Graves, the Crane were not in a strong political position." "Ultimately, it took the intervention of the rest of the Brotherhood to bring an end to the Heresy and save the Crane from being merged together with their hated Scorpion rivals. Naturally, the Crane found this embarrassing, and did their best to erase every mention of the Heresy and of the forced weddings it had occasioned." Yup.

The Reign of the Steel Chrysanthemum (Imperial Histories 2) -- "The Crane Clan suffered greatly at the hands of Hantei XVI." "The Emperor’s subsequent falling-out with his once trusted advisor Daidoji Tojo led to a seemingly endless series of reprisals and punishments against the Crane Clan, including the execution of Rin’s brother Hekiro. An entire province was razed for its inability to pay taxes. Crane courtiers became the laughingstock of the Imperial courts and were treated with contempt and ridicule on all sides. A few ingratiated themselves to the people in power and were granted small amounts of power in return, but as a whole the Crane Clan fell on hard times." Crane arts flourished, but as an expression of pain.

*The Shattered Empire (Imperial Histories 2) -- see The War Against The Darkness, post-Thunder messes, etc etc. Bonus points for dwindling political influence and Crane military power being destroyed when Chukandomo's curse is fulfilled.

The Destroyer War (Imperial Histories 2) -- Oh boy! At first the Crane look relatively untouched, but then they take leadership crises and the Plague right in the face. "However, the outward appearance of strength was in many ways a carefully crafted and well maintained fiction. In reality, the long series of conflicts over the last fifty years had taken a deep toll on the clan’s economic coffers, political networks, and military strength. The Crane were still able to maintain the façade of power, but by the time of the Destroyer War it was often little more than that."

The Age of Exploration (Imperial Histories 2) -- "In the wake of the Destroyer War, the Crane face the
task of rebuilding from heavy losses and restoring a greatly weakened political network." And then of course use the Colonies to play with new 'economic warfare' (and get to look foolish) instead of building economic power from Colonial sources ...

*Empire of the Emerald Stars (Imperial Histories 2) -- Wherein the Crane are basically demoted to being the Tourist Trap Clan.

13/23

... Ouch. Let me tell you, reading each of these books was depressing. True, yes, some of these eras (the Famine, for example, or even the Destroyer War) contain plenty of pain for everyone, but when the tally just kept rising it was a very disheartening thing. And then there is this observation, borrowing out the in-play eras + the two AUs written roughly the same time, 1KYD and Heroes of Rokugan:

Prelude to the Scorpion Clan Coup - positive
The Clan War - negative
The War Against the Darkness - negative
The War of Spirits - negative
The Four Winds Era - neutral
The Destroyer War - negative
The Age of Exploration - negative
(The Thousand Years of Darkness - negative)
(Heroes of Rokugan - negative)

... Ouch again. The two AU versions are almost punishingly punitive, really, saved only by their alternate-universe nature.

I want to see the Crane revitalized. I am willing to try to hope that the emptiness of recent times can be filled again; I am looking forward to our initial Paths, and will try to toss in opinions of my own where I can. But I just wanted to lay out on the table, with all the discussion of Crane doing and feeling poorly in the stories and the CCG in recent times -- it doesn't feel that great taken as a whole by a returned rpg player, either.

The Imperial Histories books are lovely work, but they ground me down hard as someone who came to the game because of the Crane. The thrust really does feel, at times, like we're being pushed aside ... and if there's one theme that seems to stealthily rear its head, it would be anachronism. Iron Empire, Emerald Stars, even the canonical Age of Exploration ... it feels like the Crane had an explosion of creativity at the dawn of Rokugan and then died inside, traditional even before Lion, before all else, unwilling to change, to adapt to the nibbling away at all sides. (Crane going Progressive gave me such a boost of hope, you have no idea ...)

So, there is a great herd of teal deer to say that I also feel, at times, that the Crane are being phased out, made obsolete. I do not think it a deliberate action; but even the new material in the IH books weights towards Crane irrelevancy.

I want to change this! Let's try!

User avatar
Daidoji Tacticus
Daimyo
Posts: 325
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:03 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Daidoji Tacticus » Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:43 am

Your analysis is sound, I think. The Crane position throughout the CCG periods of L5R's history has been steeply downhill from our starting point. I suspect a significant part of that is that a lot of our identity is bound up with dominating various positions (Imperial Consort, Emerald Champion, the Chosen) that are now handed out via the CCG... and therefore cannot be dominated by the Crane any longer, because every other Clan needs a fair shot at them too. Hand has promised that there will be fictions forthcoming proving that the Crane can exert vast political influence without needing control of any of these offices, and I'm willing to be convinced, but it has definitely not been reflected in the story thus far.

I think another big part of it is: the Crane's identity is "the people who built the status quo circa CCG-start". With some exceptions - "wars of honour" are a Lion innovation, for instance - but for the most part, the Crane built the structures of the Empire. And that status quo has been put through the wringer over and over again... which naturally means that the faction most closely associated with it finds itself in decline, unless it can adapt to the new status quo (insofar as there is one, rather than a long century of constant instability). And the Crane have not been allowed to do that.
Ceterum autem censeo Otomines esse delendam.

Player of Asahina Umeko at Winter Court IV

User avatar
Doji Makoto
Taisa
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:51 am
Location: Czech Republic
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Doji Makoto » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:45 pm

What is worse, I don't see how can we get from this spiral of decline. We "lost" the war with Mantis and there may soon by another conflict (Currency of War), we will probably have problems with Lion, we backed the wrong son... No signs of things getting better for us :( .
"I am sure this will be a most interesting year."

User avatar
Daidoji Tacticus
Daimyo
Posts: 325
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:03 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Daidoji Tacticus » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:51 pm

The Currency of War conflict was only ever a localised one, and it's over (see the CoW fiction - has the conflict, from beginning to end). And we do seem to have won the peace when it comes to the Mantis war in the Colonies.

Now, the likely difficulties ahead with the Lion, and Seiken taking the Throne... those are problems. Of course, Seiken may not be on the Throne for much longer, although really, that only brings us a new set of problems.

That said... going by the story results from the last couple of Kotei seasons, we ought to be pretty well placed to break out of the spiral and climb again. We have a free coupon for one (1) crushing victory, redeemable against a historic foe of our choice, and we have more of our Icons protected than anyone except probably the Mantis. We should be well-placed to survive whatever badness Kanpeki is about to unleash and capitalise on the aftermath.
Ceterum autem censeo Otomines esse delendam.

Player of Asahina Umeko at Winter Court IV

User avatar
Doji Makoto
Taisa
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:51 am
Location: Czech Republic
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Doji Makoto » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:55 pm

I wasn't sure if the conflict from Currency of War ended... I should read the story again, I have probably missed something :D .

As far as the Kotei results go... I hope that they will help us. It is true that we dominated the last Kotei seasons...
"I am sure this will be a most interesting year."

User avatar
Doji Satevis
Chui
Posts: 135
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:37 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Doji Satevis » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:35 pm


User avatar
Daidoji Tacticus
Daimyo
Posts: 325
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:03 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Daidoji Tacticus » Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:50 am

Ceterum autem censeo Otomines esse delendam.

Player of Asahina Umeko at Winter Court IV

User avatar
Doji Satevis
Chui
Posts: 135
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:37 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Another Road to a View of the State of the Crane

Postby Doji Satevis » Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:16 am



[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Return to “General Discussion”